Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis.
Day 2. The Lateness and The Name.
The next day. Sam ran around town trying to figure out where Rikkai Dai School was located. Sam stopped and asked a lady at a flower shop. "Excuse me. Can you point in the direction of Rikkai Dai?"
"The high school?" she asked nicely.
"Hai."
"Yes as a matter if fact I do. It's about three miles from here." The lady gave a sweet smile.
"Are you serious?!" Sam started to run off then ran back to the flower shop lady. "Excuse me again. In which direction?" The lady pointed down the street with a smile on her face. Sam ran off where her finger pointed. The lady heard a faint shout in the distance. "Arigato!"
'I can't believe I'm late!' Sam shouted in her mind. She ran as fast as she could down the street holding on to her hat. She didn't want to lose her hat again as she ran.
…Sanada…Sam…Kirihara…
'I can't believe she's late!' Sanada thought. Sanada was started to get more impatience. Checking his cell phone, he read 5:30pm. "SHE'S LATE!" he let out his anger by yelling. Nobody made Sanada wait.
'Calm down, Genichirou. Wait another 10 minutes.' he told himself this which made him calm down a bit. Sanada quickly looked around him to make sure no one heard him. He noticed he was the only one there at Rikkai. He thought for a moment then realized…why did he choose to show up at his school after he stayed home all day? 'I'm stupid for showing up to my own school.'
Sanada waited and thought about things for a while. '…I can't believe I've been here for two hours already and I haven't seen anybody around. I guess I'm safe for showing my face around here after I had stayed home all day.' Sanada checked his phone again and noticed twenty minutes has gone by.
Sanada sighed and grabbed his belongings. Sanada questioned himself. 'Why did I get my hopes up that she'll actually do this? This isn't me at all.' He left the tennis courts.
…Sanada…Sam…Kirihara…
Sam finally made it to Rikkai Dai. She didn't want to check the time but she did. Looking at her phone it read 6:00pm. 'I can't believe I'm this late. I can't believe I'm 2 hours late.' she thought calmly. It really didn't surprise her much because she knew it was her fault for not thinking before. Sam noticed the tennis courts but didn't see anyone. It was deserted. She sighed. "He won't forgive me now."
Sam started to walk home feeling upset about being so late, especially on the first day she had promise him.
2 Blocks later.
'I hope he'll forgive Me.' Sam hoped that he will. She walked passed a coffee shop. Right there, she noticed him sitting in front of the coffee shop. He sat at an outside table, drinking tea. She debated if she should apologize her way out or run away and never see the guy again. The next thing Sam found herself standing across the table.
"I'm so sorry!" Sam bowed deeply at Sanada without hitting her head on the table.
"Hm?" Sanada looked up from his cup of tea. He saw the girl from the day before in front of him. "You're late." he said in a strict serious tone.
"I'm sorry. I am truly sorry. Please forgive me. Please." Sam begged keeping her head down. She didn't dare look at his face. Sanada started to notice other people around them stopping to watch the scene. He started to feel uncomfortable from the people staring at them.
"Take a seat." demanded Sanada. Sam did what he told her to do. Then the people around them continued on with their own businesses. Before Sanada could speak Sam spoke first.
"I-I have something to tell you." she said quietly not looking directly at him but at his tea. "The reason I was late...I didn't know where Rikkai Dai was." It surprised Sanada. Sanada open his mouth to speak but she cut him off again. She still did not give any kind of eye contact to him. "Um, I don't how to say this. The stuff you told me yesterday I have no clue what you meant by them. I-I never really played tennis before." she said really quiet that Sanada barely manage to hear most of her words.
Sanada kept his straight face but inside his head, he couldn't control his emotions. 'WHAT?! Now what am I going to do?!' Sanada began to think things over and over through his head. 'I can't turn her down now, it's too late for that. I should have asked these things to her before. Dammit, and there's no one else to take my place.' The first thing that came out his mouth, he asked "Do you own a racket?"
"No."
"I still need you to take my place. What do you know about tennis so far?" Sanada looked at her. Sam didn't look at him.
"Um…the basic rules, I guess."
"Okay. We'll go from there." Sanada got more serious. "Let me lay down the rules you need to follow. First, I don't want you late anymore. I don't accept that. Second, I will train you for three weeks until the upcoming matches and let me tell you. Since you have little experience, the training will double even maybe triple. It will depend on how fast you pick up on things. Third, I also would like you to train on your own time not just when we have practice. Got it?"
"Hai. I understand." Sam said lifting up her head, finally making eye contact with him.
"Good." Sanada looked at his tea. "…Do you want something from here?"
"No, it's ok." Sam replied quietly. Sanada only nodded. For some reason he found himself looking at Sam. He noticed that she wasn't in school uniform but in causal shirt and shorts.
"Why aren't you in uniform?" He asked all of a sudden.
"Uniform?"
"Don't you wear a school uniform at school?" Sanada asked again before taking another sip of his tea.
"Yeah, we do wear uniforms. I hate those uniforms though. Afterschool I walk down a block and change at an ice cream shop. Then I grab something to eat and walk home." Sam explained. "…Why do you ask? Do you really think someone would still wear their uniforms four hours later after they got out of school?"
"Some actually do." Sanada simply answered. He didn't know how to why he got into this topic. The question just slipped out without him thinking about it. "Let's drop this topic. I didn't mean to ask you that question."
Sam nodded and the two were silent for a while. "I have another question." Sam looked at him. "What's your name?"
"Um…Kamio. Kamio Sam. I mostly like to be called Sam, if you don't mind." Sam tried not to blush. It's the first guy who ever asked for her name. Mostly everybody she comes across in Japan either ignored her or they already called her 'the quiet one'.
"Kamio, huh? I rather go by Kamio. My name is Sanada. Sanada Genichirou." Sanada said. He grabbed his one leg crutch and then stood up. "Remember, I don't want you late. Meet me at the tennis courts same time as today." he said before he started to walk off.
"Oh yeah, I think your name doesn't really suit you. I thought it would be more of a girly name not a boys name. Oh-well, See ya." Sanada said. Sanada tried to be a little friendly and make it a little joke. On the other hand, Sam didn't know he was joking. Instead her tiny blush went away, and so did her attitude.
"Jerk." Sam quickly glanced behind and hoped Sanada didn't hear her say that. 'What's wrong with my name?'
