Just As I Promised
Chapter 3 – Would the Past Be Forgotten?
Ryoma's POV
"Ne, nii-san," My sister looked up from working on our seatwork. "Why aren't you playing in the tournaments?" She sighed and gave me a note. You know why. I just don't want history to repeat itself. Besides, with all your hard work, I would hate myself if I played and you losing your chance at being best.I frowned. I know that she's better than me, heck she beat me with only one eye open, but for her to say no to a tournament, it's like hell freezes over. I saw her shake her head and continued her seatwork. I continued to frown and worked on my seatwork. 'Nee-san, you would stop playing tennis because of that?'
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I continued to observe Rio throughout the whole practice. She only showed two signals and still beat Kawamura-senpai, and then I was suddenly kissed by a runaway tennis ball. I rubbed my cheek and glared at the culprit. "Gomen, gomen, but it's your fault too." I continued to glare at him while I served. 'She always goes mildly serious when playing then would beat her opponent at the fifth signal.' I thought, returning the yellow ball to the receiver. "Out!" My eyes went wide. I shook my head while pinching the bridge of my nose. "Oi, you ok?" I looked up and saw a worried Momo-senpai. "I forfeit because I think you're troubled, am I right?" I glared at him and started walking away from him, towards the court where Rio was playing against Oishi-senpai.
Again, she only showed two signals and beat her opponent. I met her at the gate and stared at her. She stared at me, and like she knew what I was thinking, maybe it's twin telepathy, "Look, as I told you, you know why. Besides, you worked hard for your regular spot. I was just squeezed in because of oyaji, which reminds me, I have to find out why he bribed the tennis association…"
"Mizu-chan!" Both of us turned and faced our happy-go-lucky senpai with confused faces. "Ah, gomen, gomen, nya, I was referring to your brother." Rio paled at the nickname and I had to refuse the urge to laugh at her face. "Mizu-chan…?" She asked. Kikumaru-senpai smiled. "Yea, since your name in Japanese means 'jasmine thread' and thought it was too girly for you, then I found out your name could mean 'river' in Spanish, so I thought that Mizu-chan could be a good nickname for you, like your brother's Ochibi-chan!" She stared at me and telepathy-like said, Mizu-chan?! I'm being called WATER?! I walked away from her so I can hide that fact I want to laugh out loud.
'Gomen nee-san, you're on your own on this one…'
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Normal POV
'Mizu-chan? It's worse than Ririn-chan…' Rio kept on thinking as she was cleaning the clubhouse, courtesy of Tezuka being all buchou on her since she disobeyed his orders and snuck out to grab a bite to eat. The door opened to reveal Kaido walking in. "Ah, Kaido-senpai, did you forget something?" She asked. "…bandanna…" Rio sweatdropped. 'Is that all he forgot?' Then she realized he wasn't wearing his usual bandana, his black hair was in a wild style and he was wearing his blue sleeveless shirt and white shorts with a towel on his shoulders. "Ah, are you going to train, senpai?" Kaido nodded and went to his locker. Rio continued to clean and started to hum a recent song she heard on the radio.
The junior started staring at her until he had this image of Echizen Rio with long hair in a green sundress. He blushed, shaking his head, knowing that that won't happen and walked out. "Ne, senpai," Kaido turned to face Rio, who had a smile on her face. "Can I jog with you in the mornings?" He gave a small smile and nodded, jogging away to do his usual training. Rio smiled and finished cleaning. She locked the clubhouse and walked towards the burger shop where Momo and Ryoma were about to order to food.
Rio arrived to see Sakuno and Tomoka. She gave them a small wave then noticed that they were staring at the two regulars who were talking to a girl with strawberry red hair, lavender sweater with white skirt and black leggings. Rio was curious as to how she knew them and saw that the girl left, carrying her pink tennis bag with her. She walked up to the two Seigaku regulars who she saw was glaring at each other. "What's wrong with you two?" She asked, tightening her grip on her dark green tennis bag. Ryoma and Momo ignored her and started to order, thus turning into a competition on who could eat a lot of food. Rio sat across the two boys with a sigh. "What's wrong with you two?" She repeated.
"There's only one spot left for singles, right?" Ryoma said with his mouth full, making it hard to understand but being his sister, she sighed. "So you two are fighting over on who would get the singles spot?" They both nodded and continued to eat like pigs. Rio sighed and started munching on the fries that she ordered.
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Rio skid the bike into a halt when she saw the two boys sitting. She got off and rolled the bike to them. "See what happens when you eat too much?" The two boys glared at her. "Shut up." Rio shrugged and sat next to Momo. "Ne, singles 1 and 2 are usually Tezuka-buchou and Fuji-senpai, and doubles 1 are Oishi-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai." Momo stated. "Singles 3 should be me." Ryoma and Momo said and glared at each other. "I don't do well in doubles." Ryoma stated. "Well, so do I."
"Huh? You do well in doubles, Ryoma." The male twin glared at his 10 minute older sister. "Yeah, when I play with you, but with someone else, I suck." Momo smirked. "Then we should let your sister play in doubles with you and I play singles 3." Rio chuckled. "Fat chance, I won't be playing unless you REALLY need me."
In the end, Echizen Ryoma and Momoshiro Takeshi decided to have a tennis match to see who would get singles 3. "Boys," Rio muttered while following the two towards a street tennis court. She changed into her tennis clothes seeing that there might be some action. Instead of wearing her wig, she let her waist-length hair down. When she was done, she saw Momo and her brother talking to two boys. The female twin looked around and saw the same girl from the burger shop. She walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Name's Echizen Rio of Seigaku, and yours?" The red haired girl smiled. "Tachibana Ann of Fudomine," Rio smiled. "So why did you make my brother and Momo-senpai go against each other?" Ann chuckled. "No reason, seeing that he's the prodigy and he's known for his dunk smash, I figured that something might happen. Plus, my brother and his team could use some excitement." Rio smirked. Tennis ball were heard being rallied making her turn her head to see Momo and Ryoma playing doubles, not in a harmonious way, but they're winning alright. The girl groaned, making the red head female laugh. "Their first time?" Rio nodded and sighed. "I just wished they don't tarnish the name Seigaku with their horrible doubles play, even if it is unofficial."
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Rio's POV
I watched as Momo-senpai and Ryoma played against Gyokurin's Doubles players, Izumi Tomoya and Fukawa Kimiyoshi. They have no harmony at all! It was hard not to tear my eyes away from them, fearing that something else might happen. When I saw that they missed a ball in the middle, Gyokurin players were announced winners. I groaned and hit them both at their big heads. "What's wrong with you two?!" I yelled, causing Momo-senpai and Ryoma to blush embarrassedly. "Ne, Rio-chan," I turned my head to see Tachibana-san leaving. "I'll see you boys at the prelims. I hope to see you too, Rio-chan." I nodded. "Ja, Tachibana-san," She smiled. "Just call me Ann." And then she left me with two baboons. I glared at them again and started to walk towards the woods. "Oi, nee-san," I heard Ryoma say. "Tell mom I'll be out for a while."
When I was deep into the woods, I started to hit the poor yellow ball at a tree's trunk. I kept hitting it until my arms ached. I took off the weights on my arms and continued hitting the tennis ball. "What are you doing?" I turned around to see Fuji-senpai with a frown on his close-eyed face. "Just reliving the feeling of a really long rally," I said while hitting the tennis ball. I noticed that there's a mark on the center of the trunk, realizing that I've been hitting on the same spot over and over again. I sighed and caught the ball in my hand, turning to face Fuji-senpai. "What are you doing here?" I saw him make a small smile. "I was just in a clearing stargazing when I heard something being hit so I went to check it out."
I grinned and started bouncing the ball on my racket. "Che, I was just bored so I went here to train for a while. Now that I've got my daily dose of tennis, I think I should go home now." Fuji-senpai smiled. "I'll walk you home, seeing that it's dangerous for a girl like you to be out this late." I had the urge to hit my forehead. I forgot that only Momo-senpai knows that I'm a girl. I weakly smiled. "Iie, it's ok. I can manage. I've been going out here for 3 weeks." I lied, starting to walk out of the woods. I heard footsteps following me and inwardly groaned. 'What did I get myself into??' I thought as I tried to outrun him.
I ran towards the sports store and hid in the alley. I waited until I saw him pass by my hiding spot. I got out and ran back to the bathroom where all my things are. I hastily wore my wig and uniform and looked around to see the coast is clear. I sighed and as soon as I was going down the stairs, Fuji-senpai yelled. "Echizen, what are you doing here?" He asked when he caught up to me. I smirked. "I'm Rio, senpai, and I was just passing by here to see street tennis." I pretended to look curious as to why he was here. "Oh I was stargazing but then I saw this kawaii girl hitting a tennis ball on a trunk of a tree." I blushed when he said I was 'cute' and turned my face away from him, trying to hide my blush. "Ne, can I walk you home?" I nodded without looking at him and continued my way home with the tensai of Seigaku walking next to me.
We chatted aimlessly and found out a lot about each other. Fuji-senpai likes apples and photography. "Stolen pictures are my forte. It's more natural rather than a pose shot since it's like they're forced to pose." He said while I smiled. "Ne, I want to take a picture of you and your brother when I have my camera, k?" I looked at him. "Why?" The tensai smiled. "I want to try and tell you both apart so I won't make that same mistake today." I chuckled. "You go and do that, senpai. The only people who knew were our parents and Meino-nee-chan." I walked up to the Echizen house gate and smiled. "Good night, senpai."
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It was a Sunday and I had the need to just walk around the city, but that didn't happen. Instead, I was stuck training a bunch of noobs who don't know a single thing about doubles. "You guys bought…a 'doubles for beginners' book…?" I slowly said, trying to let every word sink in. When I saw them blush, I started to laugh. "You, haha, seriously, haha, bought that?!" They both glared at me. "Shut up, at least I'm not laughing at you, Ririn-chan." I stopped laughing and glared at Momo-senpai. "How did you know?" He pointed at my twin brother. I glared at him and tossed him a tennis ball. "You, me, court, NOW." I saw his eyes widen and smirked. "Fine," I walked up to the court near the temple and emitted a very dark aura around me. My nickname is only for my family and some who are special to me. I basically don't know much about Momo-senpai so he's not someone special, yet. "I'll murder you, Ryoma, I told you not to tell anyone about that nickname!"
"Well, it was by accident," He said while serving. I saw the ball's spin was different, thus causing me to turn a bit and return his famous Twist Serve. I heard a gasp emit from our senpai when he saw I made a return ace. I smirked. "Number one,"
Normal POV
In the end, Ryoma was seriously beaten up by his sister 6-0. Momo was scared when he saw how demon-like Rio became. According to Ryoma, she showed 6 signs before she dropped the bomb. The male twin lied on his back as he was tired from the game. "GET UP YOU SLACKER!!" Rio yelled. Ryoma groaned as he sat up, glaring at his sister. "You have to train for doubles since you already volunteered for Doubles 2." She smirked and tied her hair into a ponytail. "If you need me, I'll be inside drinking your supply of Ponta." It took Ryoma seconds before he yelled, "MY PONTA!!!"
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The disguised girl walked up to her team while whistling You Got Game by Kimeru. "Ne, Mizu-chan," she twitched and looked behind her to see the Golden Pair. "What is it, Kikumaru-senpai?" Eiji smiled and glomped her. "Kawaii!!! Ne, where's Ochibi-chan?" Rio couldn't breathe and was turning blue before Oishi noticing the color change. "Oi, Eiji, he can't breathe!" Eiji yelped and got off her. "Ah, gomen ne, Mizu-chan!!" Rio coughed and smiled. "It's ok, senpai, and to answer your question, he's right behind you."
"OCHIBI-CHAN!" He then glomped Ryoma, who lost his balance and fell. Rio started to laugh and helped her brother up. "Gather everyone." Tezuka said with authority. He held up a piece of paper filled with the registration for Seigaku. "Buchou, you can register eight rather than nine, I'm not playing remember?" Rio said adjusting her Seigaku jersey and the collar of her shirt. Tezuka nodded and gave the form to the staff. Ryuzaki Sumire arrived and led them towards the court where they were playing against Gyokurin, just as Momo and Ryoma predicted. The two smirked and walked up to the net where they both started talking. Rio only caught bits and pieces since Eiji was one-sidedly chatting to her.
Rio then stood up when she saw that the enemy team was leading and was about to go when Fuji asked where she was going to go. "Get some Ponta for Ryoma, I have a feeling he'll need it." When she arrived at the vending machines, she saw Tachibana Ann just a few machines away from her, sitting on a bench, watching a tennis match. She was about to walk up to her when she realized she's disguised as a boy so Ann won't know it's Rio. She sighed and started dribbling a tennis ball with her black racket. Rio walked passed Ann, looking at what she was looking at. She saw that a man with shoulder-length blue hair was leading his game by 3-0. "Um, what school is that?" The disguised girl asked. The red haired looked at her and smiled. "That's Fudomine, my brother's the captain of their tennis team." Her smile turned upside down and curiously looked at her. "Who are you?" Rio nervously chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. "Um, I'm just someone from Seigaku." She turned around and started walking back to the court where her team was playing.
When she got back, she saw that Momo and her brother won their game. They walked up to Ryuzaki with smiles on their faces. Ryuzaki smiled but then started pinching their cheeks. "THINK ABOUT THE PEOPLE WATCHING!!" She yelled. Rio laughed at the moment and threw a can of Ponta to Momo and Ryoma, with Ryoma catching it and Momo getting hit on the head by the can. "Watch it, Echizen!" She blew a raspberry at him and gave him a goofy smile.
It was the Golden Pair's turn. Rio was excited to see how they play, and since Eiji could do acrobatic play, she was even more excited! Ryoma felt her excitement and smiled. The game went by in just a blink of an eye! Rio was impressed at their harmonious play. With Eiji's acrobatic play, she smiled. She now wants to play against him, just one game and that's it. Eiji ran up to her and glomped her. "Did ya see me play, nya?" Rio smiled and nodded. "That was great, senpai. Now I know why you and Oishi-senpai are called the Golden Pair." The acrobat smiled. "Ya, Oishi and I go way back since we were freshmen."
The rest of day, Seishun Gakuen, Seigaku for short, won all their matches. It was time for the finals, Fudomine, an unseeded school, and Seigaku, one of the seeded schools that are bound to win. First match, Doubles 2: Fuji and Kawamura of Seigaku and Ishida Tetsu and Sakurai Masaya of Fudomine. Rio watched as the match commenced. When she saw one of Fuji's shots, Tsubame Gaeishi (Swallow's Return), she smiled. "I never knew Fuji-senpai could play like that!" She exclaimed as the match continued. Unfortunately, Seigaku had to forfeit Doubles 2 because of Kawamura's injured wrist. Rio volunteered to escort him to a nearby hospital.
"Kawamura-senpai, is your wrist okay?" Rio asked when they started walking back. "Hai, don't worry it'll heal soon." The two regulars heard gasps emitting from the courts where Seigaku and Fudomine are. They both ran to the courts to see Ryoma on the ground kneeling with his left eye bleeding. Kawamura fainted while Rio jumped along with Sakuno. "Oi, non-regulars are not allowed on the courts," the judge explained. "Demo…" The girl sadly said. "Don't worry," Rio assured as she started leading her brother to the benches. "I'll fix him."
Before anyone could touch the Echizens, Rio glared at them. "First Aid, NOW!" Everyone flinched as they scrambled to get the First Aid Kit. "Ugh, it won't stop bleeding! What the hell happened?" Oishi tried calming her down. "Ibu-san started using something called Spot, making Echizen's arm go numb. Echizen twirled making his racket fly to the pole and its pieces flew to his eye." The older twin's eyes went wide and then sighed. "As much as I want to hit on the head, you're currently hurt." She then smirked. "You want to play huh?" Ryoma nodded. Rio picked up some bandages. "Momo-senpai, get his other racket please. Ryoma, this might sting."
A few minutes later, Ryoma has his eye bandaged and in his hand was a new racket. "You're seriously gonna let him play?" Oishi exclaimed. Tezuka looked at his fukubuchou with authority. Seigaku's mother hen sighed. Tezuka then looked at his ichinen regular. "You have 10 minutes to finish the game." Ryoma nodded. His sister hugged him. "Please be careful, I'm still upset that you got hurt." Rio smiled. "Mada," Ryoma smiked. "Mada," The twins high-fived. "Dane!" The male twin gave her a small smiled and walked back to the courts. "Beat him Ryoma!!"
And that's what he did; Echizen Ryoma beat Ibu Shinji a few seconds before his time limit. Rio smiled and hugged him. "You did it!" Ryoma slightly blushed. "Thanks nee-san," he whispered. Seigaku won the district tournament and now advancing to the Tokyo Prefectuals!!
When Kawamura's father found out, he closed the shop and held a congratulatory party. Ryuzaki suggested that Ryoma's eye should be treated. Rio waved bye to him and started walking next to Fuji with a big smile on her face.
"Ne, Rio," the ichinen twin turned to face her senpai. "What is it, Momo-senpai?" Momo smirked and put her in a headlock before she took a bite of her Californian Maki. "Itai!" Momo smiled. "You looked pretty cool handling your brother's situation. Plus when are you gonna tell them?" Rio glared at him. "It'll be a long time before they will find out. I'll make sure of that." She pinched Momo's arms, making him yelp and let go of her. Eiji grabbed the opportunity to sit next to her. "Mizu-" Rio put her hand in front of his face. "Please senpai, don't call me that. Call me anything but that." The acrobatic frowned but smiled again. "Gomen, I'll just call you Rio-chan, ne?" The twin frowned. "Gomen senpai, I-" Eiji hugged her. "Don't worry, I wondered when you'll crack." The door opened to reveal Echizen Ryoma with new bandages on his eye. After looking at everyone for a minute, he slammed the door closed and was about to run when Momo pulled him in.
The party was fun and crazy. Everyone enjoyed their first tournament victory. Kawamura's father thought that Tezuka was a teacher and offered him some sake. "I'm the captain, Tezuka." The sushi man was shocked. "Ah, gomen," everyone laughed. Eiji stole some of Fuji's sushi. When he ate it, he realized it was wasabi sushi. "Tea!!" Rio laughed at her frantic senpai. Then Momo and Eiji started fighting over another set of sushi. They ruined Shiba's picture with Ryoma. In the end, it was a picture of Ryoma with Sakuno.
Shiba then took the camera and took a picture of Eiji bumping Rio, making her sushi fly towards Oishi's face. The restaurant was quiet. Eiji and Rio's laughter broke the silence. "Gomen, Oishi-senpai…" Rio managed to say between laughing. Oishi grinned and threw a piece of sushi at Rio. She ducked and it hit Momo's face. "HAHAHAHA!!!" Rio laughed, falling on the floor. Momo threw the bowl of sushi to Oishi. He ducked but the person behind him was unlucky. Kaido glared at everyone through the sushi on his face and started hissing. Before Kaido could throw the sushi, Eiji and Rio got up. "SUSHI FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!" It was a good thing that Ryuzaki Sumire and Tezuka Kunimitsu left or else they'd be running laps all night long.
When the Echizen Twins got home, Rio had a big smile on her face with sushi all over her. "Oi, Rio-chan, did a sushi bomb drop on you?" Nanjirou asked. She just grinned at him as she took off her wig and started walking to the bathroom. "How 'bout you, did you enjoy the tournament?" Ryoma grunted as he took off his shoes. Nanjirou started laughing when he saw what was written on Ryoma's bandages.
Rio relaxed inside the tub with a towel on her head. "It's been a while since I had some fun like that…" She whispered as she played with her rubber ducky named Daffy. "Oi, I need to use the bathroom too!" Ryoma banged on the door. "Oh shut up and wait for your turn!" She sighed and sank in the water.
'Although, is it enough for me to try and forget what happened back then?'
WAHOO!!!!! I finally updated!!! My mind was empty of Plot Carrots so.... no Plot Bunnies arrived but when I started watching Prince of Tennis again, my mind was filled with carrots that it over-flowed!!! ^^
Ahem, sorry about that....
Anyway, thanks to all the reviewed the last chapter and for all your patience!!! I am in debted to you all....*bows*
