The Princeo f Tennis
Chapter TWO: Mystery one - Familiar Faces
Nanjiro was near panic, Ryoma had been brought to the hospital but the cause had been withheld from him. He drove the bike quickly down the streets flying by everyone on the sidewalk.
"Gommen, it's an emergency." He called back to a couple he nearly ran over.
He never even bothered to lock up his bike, placing it in the bike rack he ran up thepath to the front doors and to the receptionist of the emergency room. The name 'Cathy" was clear on her name tag.
"My son, you called to say he was here. Can I see him?"
"You son's name is Ryoma as per our conversation correct?" She asked. At Nanjiros nodd she directed him to the family waiting area just down the hall.
Nanjiro sat in a chair elbows on his kneas head in his hands. The clacking of heals brought his attention to a beautiful lady in front of him. She wore a blue skirt and pink button-up shirt under her white doctors coat.
"You are Ryoma-kun's father correct?"
"Yes I am, is my son alright?"
"He was found by firefighters in an abandond warehouse that had caught on fire some time ago. We aren't sure how long he's been in there but from the damage it's been a while. He's unconcious right now and we have him on oxygen. When he was found; he was tied to a chair. Do you know why he would be there in that condition?"
"I don't know, he was supposed to come strait home from school, we play tennis once he comes home so I was waiting for him. He never mentioned meeting anyone. How could someone do that to him? And leave him there to burn to death." Nanjiro clenched his fist, it was frustration not knowing the answers to his questions.
Dr. Hue becond him to follow her, she led him to a room down the hall on the right. Ryoma was on the bed tucked in with a mask over his face and an IV in his arm. His face was bruised and his lip was split. The arm on top of the covers that held his IV was severe roap burns hidden by gauze and medicine. Nanjiro walked over to Ryoma's side and held his hand.
"He'll be ok we just need to wait for him to wake up. He will wake up, not to worry; it's only a matter of time. Stay with him, once he wake please call for a nurse. The police will also want to question him as well."
"Of course; thank you Dr. Hue."
Ryoma hadn't show up to school, everyone was worried it wasn't like him to skip and not show up. In all the time he'd been there he had never gotten sick; it seemed among the regulars it was a running joke how Ryoma's immune system was like the perfect little army.
At practice Ryuzaki-sensei (Teacher) gathered everyone around. Tezuka-buchou (Captain) stood beside her and gave Eij 'a look' to quiet him down.
"Ryoma's father called me late last night. Ryoma's been taken to hospital; he's currently in stable condition.' Tezuka Buchou glared again to hush the whispers 'he was found late last night beaten and tied to a chair in an abandoned warehouse. He's been treated for smoke inhilation as well as burns to his wrists from the ropes. He's currently unconcious and not able to answer any questions but Nanjirou said he'd call once he's woken up." Ryuzaki-sensi cleared her throat and looked away for a moment.
"The police will definetly want to talk to him onces he's awake. But depending on what he can remember he may or may not be of any use. Echizen's father has asked us to look out for him, to ensure he's not left alone at any time. Who ever did this to him; they left him in a burning building alive and didn't care if he lived or died."
"we'll look after Ochibi, no problem." Eji shouts.
"I normally pick him up on our way to school any how so I'll make sure to continue."
"There is a 79% chance who ever did this will find out he's alive and come back for him. We'll have to keep our eyes open and really be aware of what's around up."
Ryoma finally woke up a couple days after he entered the hospital, his father was sitting beside him with Nanako. He looked over to Ryoma and smiled the reliefe on his face seemed to melt the ages that seemed to have apeared on his face away.
"He's awake." Nanako replied with a giddiness to her voise out in the hall.
"Good to see you awake Ryoma-kun. I'm Dr. Hue, I've been looking after you while you were unconciouse. You've been out for two days due to smoke inhilation from a fire in the abandoned warehouse you were found in. How do you feel?" she asked.
"Ok, tired but I really want to get out of here." replied Ryoma.
"Well the police will be here shortly and they really want to talk to you if thats alright. I'd like to take a look at you once more and then we'll go from there. How does that sound?" Ryoma nodded, not much else he could do.
The police had asked many questions, he couldn't answere very much of them he remembered very little from that night. He clearly remembered leaving the school after practice and walking home but half way there someone had stopped him and asked him some strange questions. The questions themselves were lost on him but the feeling of strangeness and uneasyness stayed with him.
Not long after the police left another person came in by the name of Shin Wong, he was the police department sketch artist. Even though there wasn't much to go on Ryoma still agreed to give them what he knew. Judging by the majoriy of people who live close to the area Ryoma was found they decided to stick with pure Japanese decent. Add hazel eyes and dark blue hair with light blue highlights with an innocent look about their face and the sketch was done.
The picture looked familliar to him but not a positive ID, so the hunt began for a nameless person, who may or may not be involved; was sought for questioning.