Hey, guys, what's up? This is EnigmaMemory here, and I'll be taking over for IQ cause he's a fagg-
*Smash* Ow, what was that for?
IQ here, and I assume you've met my alter-ego Enigma. In case you're wondering, I changed my screename because-
The real mastermind behind all your stories was me!
*Kick* You wish. Anyways, as I was saying, I will now be publishing under my alter-ego's name because I'm obviously an idiot who can't keep a damn promise when it comes to uploads.
Yeah, and you find your name embarrasing.
...And probably that, too. Anyways, here's Chapter 3, coming in more than a month late, I think. Special thanks to kawaii-witch181, who kindly pointed out how I made Fuji's hair BLOND for some reason, not to mention I got Tomoka's name wrong in Chapter 2. Hopefully those have been fixed, as well as any grammatical errors...
Say, did your editor even fix that chapter yet?
Good question. I have no idea. I'm she'll tell me soon enough though. Now say the disclaimer.
Fine. Neither IQ nor I own any part of Prince of Tennis, though I would like to say that IQ's a faggot.
Chapter 3
Ryoma would've considered running for it, but he doubted that stories about him fleeing with his tail in between his legs spreading among the senpais would've really helped the situation. Even if he did decide to run, some people just wouldn't give him the chance.
"Ryoma-saaaaaaaamaaaaaaaa! You're actually here!"
…This is a nightmare. Just one super large nightmare. Just a nightmare, just a nightmare, just a…
Ryoma's train of thought was interrupted when he was tackled by a girl with a pair of pigtails.
"Oh my god, you actually ARE here! I can't believe it!" squealed the…something hugging him.
I can't believe it either, but I have my stupidity of actually trusting my senpais for that. Stupid Ryoma, stupid Ryoma, stupid Ryoma…
"Oh, you can stop smothering him now, Tomoka, he looks like he's going to commit suicide any second." A lanky guy with brown hair called out as he watched the scene with a look of amusement.
Hell yeah, suicide seems like a good option right now. Wait, did Horio just say that? When was he ever capable of saying something intelligent?
Tomoka scowled at the accuser as she released her stranglehold on Ryoma. "As if you would know anything, Horio." She rolled her eyes.
"Actually, he's right for once." Ryoma muttered under his breath as he rubbed his neck, trying to dull the pain there. Well, that was painful, and I'm not staring at the ceiling of my room in the comfort of my bed, so it's not a nightmare. Dammit. He began to edge away from Tomoka in hopes of just melting away into the background, though that proved futile three seconds later.
"Ryoma-sama, that's so mean. Why are you still as cold as ever?" Tomoka pouted.
"Why are you still as noisy as ever?" Ryoma grumbled back tersely as he walked away from her and hopefully to a safer location with sane people. Wait, no, I'm with my senpais and my old acquaintances from school, the meaning of sanity probably doesn't even compute right now.
"Well, see what I care!" He heard behind as he made his escape. "I can't believe why anyone would find an interest in you!"
I prefer it if you don't ca- wait, what was that last part supposed to mean? Ryoma briefly considered turning back and forcibly interrogating Tomoka about what she just said, but decided that such a plan would very likely backfire. Instead, he decided to meander over to a vending machine, fingering out the coins in the pocket of his pants for the money to buy his only form of salvation: A can of Ponta.
"Ponta again?"
Ryoma nodded in a listless manner as he heard the voice behind him. "Why do you ask?"
"I was just wondering if you were still into that." Horio replied as the drink thundered down the vending machine, landing in the niche at the bottom. Ryoma pushed open the flap and reached for the can as he pondered over Horio's behavior.
"You're Horio, right?"
"Yeah. Surprise, isn't it?" Horio gave out a forced laugh. "If you want to confirm it, I can talk to you about my two year's worth of experience on being a total idiot."
Ryoma couldn't help but smirk at the sound of that. Looks like seven year's worth of life really gave him something to think about. "Hn, it might actually be informative for once."
"Perhaps." Horio slipped in a bill into the machine. "The story of how a clueless being became enlightened was always something worth talking about."
Another thud sounded as a can fell down into the niche. Horio retrieved his soda and popped the can open as Ryoma mulled over what he just heard.
Well, then…I wonder since when did…hn.
"Anyways…" Ryoma drawn out as he decided to steer away from what might look like an emo attack, "What are you doing in college?"
"Well, I'm studying…" Ryoma sighed as the rest of Horio's words became incomprehensible muttering. He abruptly stopped in the middle of it as a thoughtful expression crossed his face "Say, I've noticed something. We haven't been disturbed by anything for the past five minutes…" Horio trailed off.
"…Damn senpais…"
###
Sakuno berated herself for the tenth time as she listened to her best friend rant about the unexpected arrival. I should've seen this coming.
"…And that arrogant little sucker is still walking around with that stupid looking smirk on his face, and, and, and…ARG!" She leaned on a wall in a huff and looked at the chaotic crowd of shoppers walking to and fro past them.
"And you want to know what's the most frustrating? Why would ANYONE be INTERESTED in such an ARROGANT, COLD WALL?"
"Um, Tomoka-chan-"
Tomoka froze as she realized that she was getting strange looks from the passing people. "Oh, uh, it's just…angst. Yeah. Um, you can go back to whatever you were doing now…"
"Tomoka, you really should consider keeping your voice down, though." Sakuno whispered as they headed back towards the group. Why did she drag me all the way over here to begin with anyways…?
"But I can't, not about this. I mean, this is such an injustice. Even as I speak, I still think that pipsqueak actually looks cool whenever I see him, and I bet I'm not the only one, and…" She trailed off as she saw Sakuno pull off a facepalm that would've made Picard proud. "Oh, I don't mean you, you're special-"
"What I want to know is how you came to THAT conclusion of all things." Sakuno deadpanned, cutting right past Tomoka's remark.
"…You're serious, right?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Fine, maybe I do, but there's no way I would admit it.
Tomoka shook her head in exasperation. "And people say I'm hard to deal with..."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, nothing…"
Sakuno rolled her eyes before giving her friend a pointed look. You expect me to believe that? Now I feel stupid.
Unfortunately for her, Tomoka had already diverted her attention to something else and took absolutely no notice of her friend's skepticism. Instead, she busied herself with what she considered the most important task to consider at the moment: Rousing up the senpais.
"Come on, guys, what are we all still standing out here for? Let's go! Movemovemovemovemove…" Tomoka shouted as she began to march into the arcade.
"I want to see Buchou play Dance Dance again! Nya!" Eiji declared happily as he bounced off in her wake.
Fuji smiled as he started walking in as well, throwing out in a casual manner, "Hm, seems like a good day to watch Momo and Kaidoh square off in Tetris again…"
"That's right, Viper, I'm going to kick your ass so hard, you're going to end up in next Friday."
"Fsh…you wish, dumbass…"
"Excuse me, but did I hear what just came out of your mouth?"
As Momo and Kaidoh's trash talking faded into the distance, Oishi turned to Fuji (who mysteriously ended up behind the pair, watching the spectacle with an air of amusement, even though he was walking in ahead of them to begin with) with an exasperated look.
"You said that on purpose, didn't you, Fuji?"
"Mm…I can't say, Oishi…you'll have to interpret that by yourself." Fuji's grin only got wider as he finished. Oishi shook his head in misery.
"Let's say I don't want to and leave it at that."
"Wise choice, Oishi."
Eventually, Sakuno was the only one who was still standing at the entrance, pondering on the abrupt case of strange behavior from her friend. Now that I think about it, I think she began to act a bit…shifty ever since I told her about Ryoma-kun being transported around my car without me knowing today.
She rolled her eyes again. I think I can guess what she's doing. I probably shouldn't have told her about that. Actually, no, if I didn't, I probably would've been a mess right now. Stupid Echizen. It's his fault that this is-
"Oi, Ryuzaki, it's time to move." A voice in front of her said.
"What?" Sakuno's head snapped back as Ryoma's head suddenly popped into her view. Mou, where did he come from?
Ryoma sighed. "Unless you want everyone to go back to staring at you, I suggest you go follow the senpais." He said slowly, barely disguising his annoyance over the situation. "Stupid loudmouth, this wouldn't have to happen if she didn't go around screaming like this mall was her house or something" He muttered as an afterthought.
Sakuno meekly peeked around Ryoma to try and grasp just exactly what he meant. She was greeted by the sight of a bunch of random shoppers watching Horio wave his arms around in a fashion suitable for a chicken. It seemed to her to be a desperate bid for their attention. However, Sakuno also noticed that some people, despite Horio's acting, were still stealing random glances at her every once in a while.
"So, you know, she's kinda like a boombox who was left on after a huge rock concert or something. That's why she, likes, I don't know, blows up every once in a while?" Horio started making incomprehensible hand gestures while Sakuno watched with a growing sense of embarrassment.
"...Were they staring at me the whole time because I was the only one left?"
"Brilliant, Holmes." Ryoma rolled his eyes.
Sakuno only squeaked as a response before she rushed through the entrance, leaving Ryoma to watch Horio continue to divert everybody's attention to himself. Horio, noticing that Sakuno had left the spectators' line of sight, began to wrap up his monologue.
"So, yeah, I'm really sorry about what just happened, and, uh, you guys can go back to whatever you were doing now! So, um, bye?" With that, he bowed deeply before dashing away to the safety of the arcade. The crowd stared at the arcade entrance for a few moments before they dispersed, returning to whatever they were doing before the spectacle.
Ryoma sighed as he stepped out from behind the vending machine's shadow, where he was previously trying desperately to act like a normal human being who wouldn't warrant any attention. Briefly wondering for a moment why he, out of all people, was destined to associate with what seemed to consist of only wackos, he shook his head before following Horio back into the nightmare.
Buchou's performance in Dance Dance better be worth this…
###
"The two of you've done a good job. I've managed to spread the word to everybody else thanks to your efforts."
"Well, of course I did a good job, what else would you have expected? This plan have better work, though. The tension has dragging on so long that I could classify it as 'mentally retarded'."
"Why am I even doing this, anyways…?"
"Because it's obvious that those two belong together."
"Really now? I seem to remember a totally different scenario…something involving you and a bunch of photographs of things I can't believe you would take pictures of."
"Stop whining before I DO carry out my threat."
"What the- I thought you promised not to do anything as long as I do my part in this – ok, fine, it's not ridiculous, but…whatever. Anyways, you promised not to-"
"That includes whining about it."
"I don't remember you saying that in our agreement, dammit!"
"It's not like you made me sign a contract or-"
"Alright, that's enough, you two. We're going to get unwanted attention if you guys descend into another shouting match again. Now, just blend in and mingle with the crowd. I'll handle the next stage myself."
"Right..."
"Sure, whatever. And you don't forget your side of the agreement."
"Just shut up before I – dammit, he's gone already. Dumbass."
"Don't hold his mannerism against him, his third year really shook him down to the core. It can take years before somebody fully recovers from a shock like that, and even then, the personality could still have concluded in a drastic shift."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Well, I'll go 'blend in' then."
"See you."
As she disappeared into the crowd, Fuji felt yet another evil smile spread onto his face. Ah, yes, it's a good day for evil smiles. With so many plans going along seamlessly, how can I not be?
###
Ryoma was feeling high-strung as he watched Momo and Kaidoh furiously mash buttons while they maneuvered their blocks on the screen. Mainly because nothing bad has happened yet. You can say I'm jinxing myself, but I've been with my senpais so long that I know that I don't need to jinx myself for something bad to happen, so I might as well take the risk anyways.
"So, Ryoma, how are you doing?"
"I'm fine, Fuji-senpai." Ryoma twisted his head a bit to give his senpai a dead stare. "Where did your disguise go?"
"Disguise? What are you talking about, dear Echizen? I don't remember my profession of choice requiring any need for…disguises. You can ask Eiji about those, though, I'm sure he has plenty from acting practice."
"Hn." I bet you asked him for one.
Ryoma returned his attention to Momo and Kaidoh's furious battle, frowning as he saw on both screens that neither of them seemed to be anywhere near losing. "Is this normal?"
"Hm, this? Well, how long have they been going?"
"15 minutes."
"Yeah, that's normal. They'll be just about done in another ten, though."
"Hn, I see. Is Buchou playing Dance Dance right now?"
"I'm not sure. Last time I checked, Eiji and Inui was still trying to drag him up to the platform. I'm sure he would be forced on eventually though, everybody there is going to rally him onto the stage once they realize who he is. He's became quite a well known figure ever since we dared him into playing Dance Dance in the first place."
"Was the penalty for not doing the dare involving Inui Juice?"
"Frankly, I can't remember…"
Ryoma noted the grin on his senpai's face. Meaning that it was. Of course. He rolled his eyes. I feel a bit sorry for Buchou. Anybody would prefer Dance Dance to that monstrosity.
"Well, I'll go and check that out, then." Ryoma muttered as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, preparing to leave.
"Wait, Ryoma, before you go, I have to explain something to you."
"Yes, senpai?" I've got a bad feeling about this.
"For the past several years, every time we gathered here, we would also play a game of Truth or Dare. Well, without the Truth part, but let's ignore that for now."
"Hn. Go on."
"It's pretty simple. One person gets to dare anybody to do anything related to this arcade that he or she want. After that person completes his or her dare, he or she gets to dare anyone except the person who dared him or her. We did put restrictions on what exactly is considered a suitable task for a dare, but I'm confident you wouldn't consider pulling something like that out of your head."
"…let me guess. Inui Juice if I refuse?"
"Of course!"
"That's great. So, I assume I should watch my back now, right?"
"Actually, I have a dare for you right now." Fuji smiled as he pulled out a red baton from his pockets and waved it in the air mockingly. "See this? This is proof that you're 'It'. As long as this baton is in your possession, everyone would know that you are allowed to give out dares to any person. It's just a form of identification, really, since it was a mess when we just trusted each other's word."
Ryoma resisted the urge to throw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "You were probably the one who caused the trouble to begin with anyways."
"I won't deny it."
*Sigh* "Well, tell me what to do so I can get it over with."
"Don't worry, since it's your first time, I'll give you something simple. Just go down to the 3D Demon Shoot-Off stage and challenge as many people as you can without losing. See, nothing horrifying, right?"
"Oh?" Why do I sense a catch to this?
"That's right, I forgot to mention that I will be tracking your progress, so don't try to lose on purpose, or else I'll have to ask Inui for a new…batch."
Ryoma shuddered as he saw a pair of square glasses blinking ominously with an evil grin under it flash before his eyes, before a giant cup of bubbling liquid rose up to take its place. "Ok, fine, I'll go do it."
"Good, Echizen. You can choose whenever you want to start. Although, the game ends once we have to go, which is around ten, so make sure to finish before then if you want to use up your dare."
"Hai, senpai." Echizen muttered as he walked away from Fuji, trying to decipher just exactly what his senpai was up to.
Ah, whatever, I'll worry about it after I watch Buchou's performance. Let me see if my phone still has enough battery for a video...
###
"Why is it that every time we come here, I must be dragged up that…hellish contraption?"
"Oh, don't be like that, Bochou, you know you actually enjoy being up there!" Eiji said happily as he looked behind his shoulder at his former captain, who was being dragged along by the back of the collar like some rag doll.
"Besides, you DO need to uphold Seigaku's reputation, don't you, Tezuka? Or would you rather have them call us a bunch of cowards?" Inui grinned wickedly as he dogged alongside Tezuka, his glasses flashing ominously.
Tezuka brushed aside the dirty-blond bangs that fell over his eyes for the millionth time since Eiji began dragging him to the "hellish contraption" before giving Inui a dead stare. "Don't tell me you're actually going to take data over this…"
"Oh, don't worry, I've done so the last dozen or so times too. It's very quite interesting, how much information I can get from someone's Dance Dance sequence. I should really bring this up with the homicide department later."
Tezuka resisted the urge to snark back as he sighed and continued to allow Eiji to weave around the crowds towards the Dance Dance machine. "It's been seven years, and they still haven't made my life any easier for me. Maybe I should've stayed in Germany." He mumbled to himself before noticing the noise that suddenly seemed to gather around him.
"Is that him?"
"Looks like it. He's always being dragged along by some hyper redhead."
"He's back!"
"…" Tezuka closed his eyes in despair as the crowd around him suddenly erupted into noise.
"It's him! The legendary champion Kunimitsu Tezuka is ACTUALLY HERE!"
It's either the tennis fans or the…Dance Dance fans…why…?
"And here comes your first challenger, Buchou!" Eiji cheered as a lanky young college-looking person came up to the former Seigaku while pointing up at the stage. "Good luck! Try not to lose!"
Tezuka sighed again. "Inui, go tell Fuji that I'm sending you, him and Eiji to run fifty laps around a city block after all this, and next time, just give me a disguise or something. Between your police disguises and Eiji's actor arsenal, surely there must be something that could avert this stupidity."
"Sure, Tezuka. Now enjoy yourself."
"I'm doing this for Seigaku. Nothing else. You understand?"
Inui chuckled as Tezuka got out of Eiji's grasp on his collar and mechanically began to walk up to the stage. "Perhaps you're just taking all this too seriously, Tezuka. I doubt the atmosphere of a Dance Dance contest is exactly the same as one you would experience in a tennis match, so why would you treat it as such?"
"Inui, one hundred laps." He heard over the din the audience was creating over the return of "the champion".
"…Damn."
###
"Oh, sorry, Echizen!"
Ryoma scowled a bit as he rubbed his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Taka-senpai, I'm fine… Why rushing so much though?"
"Oh, well, since this place is usually packed with people, I make sure to take my time and do research every single time I come here. I have to keep the sushi business alive, you know?"
"Hn. Business is going well?"
"I guess you can say that…I'm a bit nervous, though, since a lot of people in the store has been passing around rumors that Dad is going to hand the business down to me soon. I don't think I'm ready for that."
Ryoma snorted. "No worries, we'll have a way for you to cope with that." Like maybe giving you a racquet…
"Really…" Taka's voice trailed off as he lost himself in his thoughts. Suddenly remembering what he was here to accomplish, he jerked himself awake again as Ryoma began to walk past him.
"Oh, wait, Echizen! You're a potential customer, too, so I'll like you to fill out this survey. It would really help in making the shop even better than it is now!"
Ryoma blinked in surprise as a piece of paper suddenly appeared in the clutches of his hand. He skimmed across it, trying to grasp just exactly what the survey was trying to accomplish. "Say, how many times have you guys changed the menu?"
"Oh, I forgot, you haven't been around for the past seven years…" Taka scratched his head sheepishly, embarrassed that he forgot such a prominent fact. "The menu changes aren't really a big deal though, all we did was add some new dishes as experimentation. The survey is supposed to determine whether or not the experiments were successful, and also to come up with future experimentation ideas. Everything that you knew of seven years ago should still be there."
"…I see."
"Anyways, you can try out the new stuff the next time you come to the restaurant. Come to think of it, we're probably going to host a party there for your return, since this arcade visit thing doesn't really count. So, I'll make sure to serve some of the new dishes then." Taka said happily as Ryoma groaned. I thought today was going to be bad enough…now I learn I'll have to go for round two in a few days anyways.
"Oh, come on, don't be like that." Taka said as he noticed Ryoma's rather annoyed look. "Nothing bad is going to happen, right? Besides, I'm sure there's going to be a lot to talk about. I mean, it's been seven years, there must have been a bunch of things that happened to you, right?"
Ryoma grimaced as his eyes focused on some speck on the ground. "Yeah, I guess…" he muttered as he began to walk away.
Taka's grin faltered just a bit as the gears in his head turned furiously over this development. "…Right…?"
###
…Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to take a vacation here.
Ryoma sighed as he weaved through the crowd, making sure to blend in with the crowd and keep his head down. The chance of someone recognizing him just by glancing at his face was simply not something Ryoma was willing to gamble with. That wasn't his concern right now, however.
"Of course, I should've seen it coming. What irony." He muttered to himself. His feet followed the same pace as the strangers around him, his eyes barely paying attention to his surroundings as his mind mulled over matters Ryoma believed he had left behind.
-Bump-
Ryoma shook his head a bit as he zoomed back into reality, his eyes in a daze as he spent his time figuring out exactly where he was. He looked down at the floor and saw, to his surprise, a boy sprawled on the floor. Quickly realizing that he himself was the culprit, Ryoma hastily grabbed one of the boy's hands and hauled him back onto his feet.
"Sorry about that." Ryoma mumbled. He began to turn away, but something on the boy's back caught his eye.
"You play tennis?" He gestured at the boy's racquet bag behind him.
"Yes, sir." The boy nodded slowly, his eyes glancing at the stranger in front of him skeptically. "Are you wondering what a kid is doing in an arcade with a tennis racquet?"
"Not until you mentioned it."
"Oh."
"Well, what are you here for, then?"
"I've heard that the legendary player Kunimitsu Tezuka-san would be visiting here today, so I came to do some investigating."
"How did you know he would come today? I didn't hear this from anybody else walking around here."
"My coach told me."
Ryoma raised an eyebrow. "Your coach?" There's no way she can still be coaching…right?
"Yeah, my coach was also the coach of that famous Seigaku team that defeated the long standing champions of that time, Rikkaidai, to win the Nationals. Tezuka-san was a part of that team, if I remember correctly."
"I see." Ryoma nodded before muttering under his breath, "The old hag must be crazy…"
"Did you say something?"
"No, nothing." Ryoma said smoothly, throwing off the boy's suspicion as if he had been doing that for a living. "So, I guess that means you're from Seigaku, huh?"
"Yep. Why do you ask?"
"Just wondering."
"In that case, I best be going now." The boy turned to leave.
"It's the Zone, isn't it?"
The boy stopped moving. "…Yes."
Ryoma smirked, "Well, in that case, I guess I should accompany you."
"…Sure…"
###
The boy took yet another glance at the hooded stranger standing next to him, observing the scene in front of him with a nonchalant air. He wondered for perhaps the fiftieth time why he agreed to allow the stranger to accompany him in the first place.
This is so weird…who is this guy?
"Oh, so that's how he does it. Amusing." the stranger chuckled.
Guess he really does know what a Zone is. The boy noted as he began to observe the stoic person just shuffling his feet around on the stage.
"Why do you want to observe the Zone, anyways?"
"Because," and the boy just left it at that. He heard the stranger sigh.
"Fine, how do you think the Zone works?"
"Dunno. Why do you think I'm observing it?"
"Hn" A moment of silence passed as they wordless watched the spectacle among the chaotic audience. "You do realize that all you can see from here is the footwork, right?"
"So? That could be important."
While the boy couldn't see the stranger's expression through the hood he was wearing, he was positive that the man was smirking under it. "That's true, the footwork is important. Good footwork makes returning shots easier, as you're not tripping over your feet or something."
The boy rolled his eyes. Anybody could've figured that out, genius.
"More importantly, though, good footwork helps increase your range. A higher range means you have less effort to spend to get the ball to come to you." The stranger continues. "Unfortunately, the change in range is not particularly great, so while a higher range does make it a bit easier for the user, it does little to change the difficulty of performing a Zone."
The boy glanced at the stranger briefly before returning to his observations. Wonder where he's going with this…
"Maximum range of a human player for a proper Zone is probably only a bit over a meter and a half. Your own range, given your height," the hooded stranger gave the boy a quick one over before saying, "…is probably only a meter and a quarter. To cover the rest of the distance requires hits with incredible amounts of spin, as well as knowledge of where you opponent would hit the ball. It's not an easy move to do."
"…I don't really care about reproducing it." The boy said slowly.
"Ah, so that's your real intention. You want to beat it."
"…" The boy didn't answer, instead focusing all his attention onto Tezuka's rather strange performance on stage.
"I wonder if the person you want to beat is the same as that guy up there. Serious, unmoving like a rock, never knowing how to smile. I wonder if you noticed that his mouth hasn't even cracked a small curve while he's been up there. Then again, he probably isn't enjoying himself up there." The head in the hood shifted, giving the boy the impression that the stranger was smirking at him again.
"…How do you know that's what Tezuka-san's like that well, anyways?" The boy questioned skeptically.
"Well, let's just say that I was also a student at Seigaku when I was your age. At the very least I knew who he was by reputation." The stranger chuckled. "Anyways, if you want to figure out a way to defeat a Zone, I'm not going to help you. There's more than one way, and the solutions are far too simple for anyone to need help with them." He began to walk away after saying that.
"Wait! I…"
The man's hood turned back to face him. "Just remember that a Zone works because of tremendous spin and intuition of where the opponent would hit the ball. Work the rest out by yourself. You look like someone who can actually play, after all." The head inside the hood suddenly cocked itself to one side. "Say, what's your name?"
"…who are you?" The boy asked in reply.
"You tell me first."
"…Haruki. Haruki Sora."
"Hn. Good bye then, Haruki-san"
"Hey, wait, you didn't-"
The boy saw a cocky grin flash out from under the hood. "As for me…I think you can figure out my name if you try."
And as Sora watched, the stranger was swallowed up by the crowd. He shook his head wordlessly, wondering just who was this hooded person, what he meant, and if they would ever meet again.
Well, I want to say no on the last part, but…ugh.
###
Safely among the audience of Tezuka's avid Dance Dance fans, Ryoma stopped to think about the strange encounter he had with the boy Haruki Sora. He smiled slightly as he thought about the serious look on the boy's face when he revealed his intentions.
I don't really care about reproducing it.
"Hm…I wonder why I feel like I've seen this kind of situation before…" He said quietly to himself as the crowd erupted into a round of cheering. Looking back onto the stage, Ryoma saw his captain beginning a rather impressive display of quick yet smooth footwork all around the stage.
Perhaps my troubles could wait. It's a vacation, after all. Ryoma considered as he took out his phone. Deciding that the video wasn't really worth it, he stuck with the camera option and prepared to take a shot.
###
On the outside, Tezuka was just stoically cruising around on the floor, hitting each and every move with absolutely no mercy. On the inside, though, he was wondering just why did he put up with this embarrassment every single time without fail. He idly noticed a flash in the audience as he mulled over the question.
Wait…a flash…
Tezuka pressed his lips together into a line as he realized the significance behind it. He stopped moving as he heard the Game Over drone on his opponent's side of the floor, standing up straight and facing the audience as they began to cheer hysterically. He opened his mouth and called out over the din:
"Echizen, fifty laps."
And though there was a huge din amongst the crowd, he was satisfied to hear in the midst of it a bout of rather nasty swearing.
###
Dude, that ending sucked.
Thank you, Enigma, I think I could've figured that out.
The readers are going to flame you.
Ok... Anyways, I'm just going to ignore Enigma-
Why, you're a fag.
-and just continue on with the end notes. Hopefully, the name Haruki Sora would remain as the most screwed up Japanese name I could come up with, because I think I'm really bad at coming up with Japanese names. Also, while I am mostly positive that I got all that info about a Zone correct, please notify me if you believe there's some wrong information. Finally, review if you have any suggestions about the writing so I can improve upon it and maybe get the motivation to upload again before winter break ends and I get swamped over with work once again.
Make sure to tell IQ he's a fag, too. Thanks.
