Opening Credits:

Haru no Ao

Sakura saku hi ni Omoi no hane wo todokete Negai wo sora ni hanatsu

Uta yo todoite Shouri no hana wo sakasete Itsu made mo inotteru

Kono akogare ga umareta basho e FENCE-goshi ni tatazumu

Kata wo narabete Aa Arukitai Amaete wa irarenai

BALL wo oikaketa hibi Muda ni wa dekinai tsuyoku naritai

Hanabira maite Kokoro wo ao ni someage Negai wo sora ni hanatsu

Omoi todoite Mirai mo yume mo kibou mo Kono te ni tsukamitoreru

Sakura saku hi ni Omoi no hane wo todokete Negai wo sora ni hanatsu

Omoi todoke yo Tsubasa Hirogete tobitate Koko kara mimamotteru

Episode three: Change of Heart

"If I were you, start finding yourself a new man to love," Ritsuko said while combing her hair. It was now midnight and its time for the maids to rest. Ritsuko asked Koyuki, the head maid, to transfer her room to be the same with Isumi, so that they can chat and get to know each other more.

Isumi continued on writing something on her notebook, evil auras coming out from her body as she chuckled, quite creepily.

Ritsuko sweat dropped. Her roommate sure is an interesting one. "What are you writing there, Isumi-chan?"

Isumi chuckled like a witch.

"Isumi-chan?"

"My plans on how to get rid of Echizen Ryoma!" Isumi finally answered.

"What? I thought I told you not to harm Ojou-sama or else Echizen-sama will- wait, what did you say?" Ritsuko stared disbelievingly at her.

"My plans on how to get rid of Echizen Ryoma!" Isumi answered, with the exact same tone she used for the first one.

Ritsuko shrugged and her brows creased, "You're planning on getting rid of Echizen-sama? So now you lost it huh? You can't accept the fact that he can't love you… so the only way to do things is to destroy him."

Isumi chuckled more.

"If you can't have him, nobody can. That's what you're probably thinking right now," Ritsuko commented as she lay on her bed.

"Wrong, wrong, Ritsu-chan. I'm planning my revenge on him because I despise him!"

"So you're saying that this morning, you're head over heels in love with him, and now, you just plain hate him," Ritsuko turned on her side to face the wall.

"Right, right."

"Whatever. Sleep, we still have loads of work to do tomorrow. Even with more than fifty maids and butlers and all, it's still not enough to clean the whole mansion."

"Hehehehehehe…"

Ritsuko sighed and slept.

_-_-_-_PoT_-_-_-_

The next morning, Isumi went down to the dining room to find Ryoma and Sakuno eating breakfast together. She quickly turned her sweet smile on and went beside Sakuno lovingly, "Ohayo, Sakuno-sama!"

Sakuno smiled sweetly, "Ohayo, Isumi-chan. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes. And I had a wonderful dream!"

"Maids aren't supposed to get all lovey-dovey with their masters," Ryoma commented out of the blue.

Isumi glared at him. She groaned annoyingly at him.

"Ryoma-kun, how rude! Isumi-chan is my friend, so stop bullying her, or else I'm going to stop attending to your practice and official matches!" Sakuno said before sipping her coffee.

Isumi noticed that Ryoma stiffened. She smirked at him and pretended to be hurt when she turned towards Sakuno, "S-Sakuno-sama… do you still remember the first time we met? My hand was bleeding back then…"

Ryoma clutched his chopsticks tight. He knows what she's planning. She's not going to tell her, is she?

Sakuno nodded, "I remember. Why?"

"Y-You see," Isumi started (fake) sobbing, "Echizen-sama was the one who caused it."

Ryoma's eyes widened. Oh no she did not!

Sakuno looked shockingly at Ryoma, "I-Is that true, Ryoma-kun?"

Ryoma paled. He can lie to every one in the world except for Sakuno. He just can't stop telling the truth whenever he's staring at her beautiful brown eyes. So the only way to do it is to not look at her beautiful brown eyes, "No."

"Isumi-chan, Ryoma-kun said he didn't cause it."

Isumi twitched. "Sakuno-sama, it's the truth! He pushed me towards the vase and he stepped on my hand, making the vase's shattered pieces get into my palm!"

"She's lying! Don't believe her, Sakuno!"

"I'm telling the truth, Sakuno-sama!"

"Liar!"

"Stop talking to yourself, E-chi-zen-sa-ma," Isumi said mockingly.

Sakuno sighed and stood up. She said gently, but enough for the two to stop fighting, "I'm going out."

_-_-_-_PoT_-_-_-_

Isumi was currently dusting the knight statue when Ryoma approached her, "Ne, maid…"

Isumi stopped dusting and turned to look at him, "What can I do for you, Echizen-sama?" Don't forget the sarcasm in her voice.

"Do you play tennis?"

Crap. Welcome to Ryoma's Torture time (according to Ritsuko-chan). And he purposely chose the time when Sakuno-sama is not around. The sly creep.

"No, I'm sorry, Echizen-sama, but I don't play tennis."

"Then," he let out his arrogant smirk "let me teach you, maid."

"No thanks. I'm busy do-" she was cut off when Ryoma dragged her towards the basement.

Crap-a-doodle-do! He's definitely going to do it!

"S-Sakuno-sama… help me," she thought while they were heading towards a darker area in the basement.

There are three macho men (the same with the guy who was with Sakuno in the first chapter) wearing mafia suits waiting for them. One guy opened the gate, to what seemed to be a jail. "Echizen-sama, I see you've got another victim," he said.

Ryoma smirked creepily, "Yeah. But she's a different one. She's not here because she likes me. She's here to steal Sakuno away from me."

"Oh I see, sir," the other guy grinned sheepishly at her, "is Ojou-sama around?"

"No, she's out. Fortunately," the tennis prince replied.

"Good. Then we can start," the last guy said, while trying out a whip he got from his pocket.

Isumi trembled.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Isumi's voice echoed throughout the whole mansion.

"Oh my, oh my… Looks like Echizen-sama is at it again…" Koyuki said while feeding Karupin cat food.

"Isumi-chan…" Ritsuko murmured worriedly. She was standing outside the mansion, watering the rose bushes when a figure approached her.

"Did you hear that, Ritsuko-san?"

Ritsuko's worried face suddenly changed into shock when she saw Sakuno behind her, "S-S-S-S-SAKUNO-S-S-SAMA!"

"I thought I heard Isumi-chan's voice…" Sakuno said innocently.

Ritsuko began to sweat continuously, "BAD. BAD, TERRIBLY BAD! I didn't know Ojou-sama will be back so soon! W-What am I supposed to tell her! If she found out about Echizen-sama's doing, then Echizen-sama will definitely KILL ME!"

"I-Isumi-chan's voice? You must be daydreaming, Ojou-sama! I-Isumi is out b-buying g-g-g-groceries!" Ritsuko tried to lie.

"But… Isumi-chan is only in charge of cleaning the area near our room…"

"S-S-Sometimes, Ojou-sama, b-birds forget to f-fly and they f-fall off t-their nests l-leaving their c-cute chicks b-behind p-parentless!"

"Demo, Ritsuko-san, I'm not talking about birds who tend to forget to fly, leaving their chicks parentless. I thought that once a maid is assigned to a job, she sticks to the job?"

"Y-Y-Yeah, b-but o-one unicorn forgot that there is another w-way b-besides the r-rainbow!"

Now, Sakuno began to be suspicious. "Ritsuko-san, tell me honestly. Where is Isumi-chan?"

_-_-_-_PoT_-_-_-_

"Next will be my Twist Serve," Ryoma crouched into his position.

Isumi felt her tears drying up in her face, "N-NO! Y-YOU CAN'T STOP ME FROM-"

"Tickle her," Ryoma commanded.

One of the mafia men tickled her side.

"HAHAHAHA! S-SAKUNO-SAMA D-D-DOES NOT DESERVE-HAHAHAHA YOU!"

Ryoma started dribbling the tennis ball. He threw the ball upwards, ready to be hit by his racquet for a nice and painful twist serve, "Mada mada da-"

"RYOMA-KUN!"

"-ne…" Ryoma involuntarily dropped his tennis racquet and ball.

"Sakuno-sama, you came!" Isumi blushed and tears of happiness took place.

"Ryoma-kun! I can't believe you're doing this to the maids! So that's why some of them suddenly disappeared!" Sakuno looked at the three mafia men who were involved, "And you three! You should've stopped Ryoma-kun! You know it's against human rights!"

Ryoma noticed Ritsuko behind his girlfriend. "Ritsuko…" he thought angrily.

Ritsuko suddenly felt like life is better in hell than with Echizen Ryoma. "Sorry, sir! I-I-It's just-" Ritsuko thought.

Sakuno freed Isumi from the chains tied around her arms and legs and supported her walking, "It's okay Isumi-chan, I'm here."

Isumi blushed again and felt her heart beat faster. "Sakuno-sama… I think I'm…"

"Ryoma-kun," she turned and smiled sweetly at Ryoma, "Have fun sleeping on the couch tonight."

Ryoma looked at his side, "Che."

_-_-_-_PoT_-_-_-_

"Good thing that Ojou-sama came home early huh?" Ritsuko said while putting on her night gown.

"Yeah, and thanks for telling Sakuno-sama where I am."

"It seems like Echizen-sama really despises you. The last time I saw him look at a person like that was when Tooyama Kintarou-sama came over for a visit."

"Who's Tooyama Kintarou-sama?" Isumi asked as she lay down on the bed.

"He's one of the other two guys who may have a hold on Ojou-sama's heart," Ritsuko replied as she turned the lights off.

"What! Two other guys!" Isumi asked. Her hope suddenly deflating.

"Yes. Well actually, there are a lot of other men who is in love with her. But Ishikawa Hiroyuki, Tooyama Kintarou and Echizen Ryoma were the ones who everyone thinks that Sakuno-sama is still in love with."

"H-Hiroyuki Ishikawa?"

"That's right. He's the grandson of the owner of Seishun Academy, where Echizen-sama and Sakuno-sama used to go to during their junior high days."

"What?"

"Hiroyuki-sama used to date Sakuno-sama for two years, before she started dating Echizen-sama."

"Oh. And Tooyama?"

"He got Sakuno-sama's attention back in their freshmen years in junior high. Sakuno-sama treats him differently from others, too."

"Tough competition," Isumi commented.

"Huh?" Ritsuko asked as she lay on the bed.

"Ritsuko-chan, I think… no, I know it!"

"What do you know?"

"I'M IN LOVE WITH SAKUNO-SAMA!"

Ending Credits:

Egao no Ryuu

Itsumo no wake up sukoshi mae

CURTAIN no mukou wa Mabushii Morning call

Ugokidasu yo Ichinichi ga

Kyou wa So Nani ga okiru

Sunadokei no you ni Hitotsubu hitotsubu

Nagareteku Tsuioku wa

Itsu no ma ni ka Bokura wa yattekita

Furikaeru to Tookute

Futo kizukeba Hitori ja nai kara ne

Egao no riyuu Kimi ga iru kara

_-_-_-_PoT_-_-_-_

A/N: Yes, Ishikawa Hiroyuki is a real character from PoT. He's the principal (or owner?) of Seigaku. He's an old guy, so I figured, why not make Ryoma's rival younger, at least the same age as them, and so Ishikawa Hiroyuki III was born! Cap to Bin (Eiji, Momo, Inui, Taka, Kaidoh's image song) made a song just for him, entitled, 'Ishikawa Hiroyuki'.

More revelations coming up next and it will start to focus more on the RyoSaku stuff! And school's back for them next chapter, so we'll see the other Seigaku regulars! Please review, ne? And sorry for the short chapter. Next chapter would be longer than this one, promise!