DISCLAIMER: Prince of Tennis is not mine.
PROLOGUE:
One month, 29 days, 5 hours, 15 minutes, 30 seconds and counting.
This was how long Inui calculated it to be since the US Open ended and Echizen last contacted them. Everyone was worried, and they had a good reason to. Even during the US Open, Echizen would call them at least twice a week, or they would call him to be more exact. Regardless, as cold and quiet as Echizen was, he would always pick up the phone and reply their letters. However, there had been no contact with him whatsoever after he became the youngest person in the world to win an international tournament.
At first, they didn't worry, as they thought that he was probably busy or was asked to become a professional tennis player. Then the excuses shifted to the 0.1 percent chance of him wanting to give them a surprise, as calculated by Inui.
When their phone calls remained unanswered and their letters unreplied, they worried. Oishi, Kikumaru, Takashi, Momoshiro, Tezuka, Fuji, Inui and even Kaidoh along with the first-year trio, Sakuno and his fanclub president began questioning his whereabouts. They waited a whole month before contacting the tennis association, only to find that they could not contact Echizen as well. Not to mention that his family was no longer in Japan.
Nothing. Zip. Zero. Nadah. Nil.
Absolutely nothing.
Oishi wanted to go to America to find him at first, and it was quickly supported by Momo and Kikumaru. However, as worried as Tezuka was about Echizen, he did not let them. The team became restless as the days went by without knowing where Echizen was. Nobody concentrated as much as they did during practises and the atmosphere changed from full of energy to no energy at all.
Finally, not even Tezuka could take it anymore. After almost two months of not knowing, the team managed to get permission from the principal to go to America to look for Echizen.
However, what they find there may not be what they expected.
END PROLOGUE