Hello again. =) As apology for the first chapter being so short, I made this chapter really long. ^.^
Thank you for your reviews!
kirana46: Thank you! And I continued it, so there you go! =3
Sapphire Cheetah: Ahaha, I won't tell you what happened to him and when he left or why his teammates didn't notice him leave. You'll just have to read and find out~! =3 And if you wanna know what happens next, just continue reading this fanfiction. ^.^ Keep reviewing and I'll probably update faster. =3
Sakoori Sakura Koori: Yes, I am continuing this. =3 And if this helps you with your writing mysteries, review and help me with my story~! =3
MintLeafeon: Ahaha, I won't tell you where he disappeared off to. Where's the fun in that? =3 Can't wait? Well here's the update!
Read the second chapter if you wish to. =3 And criticize well! =D
Chapter Two
Two Years Later
"Fuji," Tezukirana46ka placed a hand onto Fuji's shoulder just when Fuji was about to leave the class. "Remember to go there today." Fuji turned and nodded. His usual smile was gone, and in its usual place was a slight frown.
"I know," Fuji murmured quietly. Tezuka nodded in response and let Fuji leave.
One Hour Later
A single gate stood between the Tokyo High tennis regulars and the person they wanted to see. All the Seigaku tennis regulars had made it as regulars at Tokyo High. Except for him, who they had come to see today. Time had not changed their features, save the one or two inches they had grown in these two years.
Tezuka looked around at all the regulars' faces. He could practically taste the heavy atmosphere. Even Eiji's usual cheerfulness was gone, only to be replaced by a somber mood. Tezuka turned, opened the gate, and walked into a…
Cemetery. The trees that lined the sides were bare, except for the single sakura tree planted behind the single gravestone in the cemetery. The regulars walked over to the headstone and stood awkwardly for a few moments before cleaning the stone.
Here lies Echizen Ryoma,
A treasured friend,
A wonderful son,
A tennis regular and the pillar of support for the Seigaku tennis club.
A cocky brat for all of eternity.
May he lie in peace and let his soul be blessed forever.
After the cleaning was done, the regulars each placed a bouquet of flowers onto the stone. A single tennis ball was placed onto the headstone. Each regular got down onto their knees and talked silently to Echizen Ryoma.
"Echizen, I'm sorry. I let my guard down," Tezuka whispered.
"Ochibi, we will always remember you," Eiji softly said. "We won the Nationals last year again in your honor. We will do so this year as well."
"Echizen, I miss those times when we went to that burger shop together after tennis practice," Momo said sadly. When they were talking, the only thought going through their heads was, 'Echizen/Ochibi, I miss you.'
What wasn't true, however, about the engravings on the gravestone was the "Here lies Echizen Ryoma" part. After that fateful night…
~Flashback~
"EH? Ochibi called in SICK?" Eiji asked, dumbfounded.
"Sensei told me," Fuji shrugged. Momo nodded in agreement.
"When I went to pick him up today, his mother told me he was sick. I don't know why, but she looked kind of… worried. Might have been my imagination though," Momo informed.
"Fshuu… Probably your imagination, baka," Kaido hissed.
"What did you just say? You looking for a fight, Mamushi?" Momo shot back.
"Fshuu… What did you just call me, baka peach-butt?" Kaido hissed back. The two rivals started bickering.
"Ie data," Inui muttered. "So even Echizen calls in sick. 90% from yesterday's storm, 9% from other reasons, 1% from slacking off."
"Is he alright?" Kawamura wondered shyly, but was then handed his racket by a smiling Fuji. "OOH! YEAH! BURNING! LET'S VISIT ECHIZEN AT HIS HOUSE! YEAH, BABY!" Kawamura dropped his racket on accident and looked around meekly.
"Echizen is sick! Oh no, we shouldn't have let him head home by himself yesterday. What if he catches pneumonia and dies, OH NO!" Oishi fussed, mother hen genes kicking in. "We have to go visit him!"
"Saa… Yes, let's go visit him," smiled Fuji the Sadist.
All in all, Tezuka entered the tennis courts to see utter chaos ensuing. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed and inhaled deeply.
"Fifty laps, everyone, for the disorder in here!" Tezuka shouted.
"But-!" Arai, a non-regular, started to complain.
"Sixty, all of you! Don't make me assign you more!" ordered Tezuka.
"Hai, buchou!" a chorus of replies sounded, along with dirty looks directed at Arai. On his way to run his laps, Oishi filled Tezuka in on what had happened. Tezuka sighed and let Oishi go run his laps. If Echizen wasn't here tomorrow, the regulars would go visit him tomorrow after school.
The Next Day
"Yay! Yay! We get to see Ochibi!" Eiji cheered, bouncing along. Echizen had not been at school that day either, so Tezuka had decided to let all the regulars go visit him. What they saw at his house, however, was not the scene they were expecting.
A police car was parked in front of the Echizen household, and an officer was talking to the Echizen parents. Nanako, Ryoma's cousin, was leading another officer with a tracking dog into the house. The Echizen mother, Rinko, seemed slightly tearful but looked as if she were trying to hold herself together. The Echizen father was completely breaking down and sobbing.
"Seishounen, seishounen!" Echizen Nanjiroh sobbed. The eight regulars, shocked by the scene, ran towards the two parents.
"What happened here?" Tezuka asked, stoic as usual. The Echizen parents looked at the incoming regulars like flowers to a sun. Yet the flowers withered after every face in the group had been searched.
"Have you seen Ryoma?" the Echizen mother asked, hope evident in her voice.
"No, we haven't seen him since the day before yesterday," Tezuka replied.
"Has something happened?" Oishi asked politely. After the Echizen parents explained that Ryoma had not come home the day before yesterday or yesterday, the regulars felt guilty. They should have checked if he had gone home.
"Ochibi!" Eiji wailed. The very sound, filled with such plain grief, seemed to echo into the empty, desolate sky.
~Flashback End~
The police never found him. After three months, the media on the case of his disappearance subsided and the police proclaimed Echizen dead. The grieving parents had moved back to New York, and Nanako continued her college studies. The regulars had their own funeral in Japan, and the parents had one in America, which meant there were two graves for Ryoma. Two years had passed, and the regulars still mourned Echizen's passing.
"Let's go back to my house," Tezuka suggested, getting up. The rest of the regulars nodded and followed suit.
"I remember how I used to put him into a headlock," Momo joked around with Eiji.
"I used to hug him!" Eiji smiled cheerfully for the first time that day. "He was so cute and cuddly I couldn't resist~!"
"Saa… Wasn't that because he was the shortest?" Fuji smiled.
"Who's the shortest now?" Momo wondered idly, looking around. "Eiji-sempai is!"
"Wha-!" Eiji exclaimed in disbelief. "No way, Fujiko grew taller than me!" Eiji pouted. "Well, Ochibi would probably still be shorter than me, right?"
"There is a 35% chance of that," Inui calculated. As the regulars continued to bicker, they soon reached Tezuka's house.
"Sorry for intruding!" the others called. Tezuka took off his shoes and called, "Oka-san, I'm home."
"Aa, welcome back!" Tezuka's mother called back. "Speak of the devils…" The group of regulars reached the dining room and saw Tezuka's mother speaking to two males.
"Oka-san, who are they?" Tezuka asked with utmost politeness.
"Clients that came to your grandfather with a request to repair some swords," Tezuka's mother replied. One of the males turned around, stood up, and bowed.
"Nice to meet you, the name's Yuki," he grinned and introduced. Yuki was about Fuji's height and looked to be around 17 years old. He had light brown hair like Fuji's and green eyes like Oishi's, along with a Momo-like personality. He wore a brown shirt and ripped blue jeans, along with blue Vans. Yuki's hair was brushed like Eiji's.
"Ah, nice to meet you as well," Oishi politely replied.
"Who's the person next to you?" Eiji asked curiously, since Yuki's companion had not turned.
"Huh? Oh," Yuki realized his companion had not spoken, "hey, be polite and introduce yourself!"
"Hn," a smooth, velvety voice sighed. The tone clearly meant 'oh-wow-why-the-heck-do-I-even-have-to-do-this-kind-of-idiotic-thing'. All that was conveyed into one grunt. The person got up and turned around, sighing again.
'This guy is tall.' That was the first thought that ran through the regulars' heads. Starting from the bottom, the regulars examined him from head to toe. He wore black Converse and black ripped jeans. He had an open black and gray plaid shirt over a closed white shirt that hugged him in all the right places, effectively showing off his toned chest. Both shirts were short-sleeved, showing off his perfectly muscled arms. The male's greenish-black hair reached his neck and he had a white Fila cap on his head. Any girl or guy would thing 'Whoa, he's hot.' and whistle. Yet what shocked the regulars most was his eyes. The male's eyes were hazel-golden. The same color as Echizen's. Oh wait, he was introducing himself.
"Ryoma. Yoroshiku."
That was the second chapter! Lol who is this new person calling himself Ryoma? Is he the original one who disappeared? Criticism is much appreciated. =3
