"So, how did your tennis lesson go with Ryoma-sama?" Tomoka asked Sakuno over the phone.

"A-Ano, it went well, I guess," Sakuno replied.

"Did you confess to him?"

"Eh?! Tomo-chan, no!" Sakuno blushed as she recalled today's earlier events. She can't believe she let it slip out that she used to like him. She blushed even harder as she remembered Ryoma's response to that. He could tell she still liked him. Was she really that easy to read? Mou!

"Just kidding, Sakuno-chan. I wouldn't expect you to confess on the first day. I expect you to tell him after you get to know him more, so maybe like tomorrow!"

"Mou, Tomo-chan, I'm not going to confess to him. In fact, I'm going to do the opposite; I'm going to get over him," Sakuno said, only half-way determined.

"Okay, Sakuno," Tomoka replied unconvinced, "if that's what you really want to do. Honestly, though, Sakuno, do you really think it's going to work?"

"I can do this…I have to do this," Sakuno said, mostly to convince herself. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, Tomo-chan."

"Okay, bye."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The next morning, Sakuno walked to the courts extra early to make sure she'd be at tennis practice on time. When she reached the courts, she saw that Ryoma was there already, practicing his serve. 'I thought I came early?' she asked herself, checking the time on her cell phone. According to her cell phone, she was half an hour early.

Sakuno decided to quietly watch Ryoma serving, observing his graceful form. Watching him behind the fence reminded her of five years ago, when she would watch her crush play tennis every day. Soon, she was off in memory lane.

Little did she know, while Sakuno was staring blankly ahead because she was in memory lane, that Ryoma saw her behind the fence. He secretly glanced at her in between every serve, and she was still watching. Ryoma smirked after he finished serving all the tennis balls he had, and looked back at the fence to see Ryuuzaki still staring at him.

"Ryuuzaki," he said.

She didn't answer, but was still staring straight at him. Ryoma just smirked again and walked up to the fence, right in front of her.

"Ryuuzaki, you're staring at me," Ryoma finally broke through Sakuno's thoughts.

"Oh, R-Ryoma-kun! Gomen," Sakuno apologized, but blushed a vicious red. 'Mou, how embarrassing,' she thought.

"Why were you staring at me?" he asked.

"I-I wasn't staring! I-I just got here early, so I d-decided to watch you play until l-lessons started."

"Hn, looked more like staring to me. Do you find me to be easy on the eyes?" he teased.

Sakuno blushed even harder, "N-No! Th-That's not it! I w-was just watching you play tennis!"

Ryoma smirked at her, seeing her blush and stutter, "Sure, Ryuuzaki, whatever you say. Well, come on inside, it's time to start your lesson."

Sakuno walked inside the court and got her tennis racket out.

"Since you're actually here on time, I can give you a real lesson. But to warm up first, start by hitting against the wall," Ryoma began.

Sakuno walked over to the wall and began to hit some groundstrokes. Ryoma leaned back on the fence with his arms above his head to rest. He watched her warm up. While he was watching her, he remembered the times he used to teach her tennis five years ago. 'Hair's too long,' he remembered. Smirking, he decided to say that to her later on during practice, just to see if she would still respond the same way.

"Ryoma-kun, I'm done warming up now," Sakuno turned back to tell him. However, Ryoma didn't hear her; he was still reminiscing about five years ago.

"R-Ryoma-kun, why a-are you s-staring at m-me?" Sakuno asked nervously. This got Ryoma's attention back again.

Trying to hide his own blush, Ryoma lowered his cap over his eyes, "Hn," he smirked, "It seems you're a little easy on the eyes yourself, Ryuuzaki."

Sakuno blushed and looked away. Ryoma lightly chuckled at her response.

Ryoma walked past Sakuno and raised his hand and motioned for her to follow. "Today you're going to work on consistency. Using more topspin will help keep the ball in more often. I'll show you an example." Then he added in a smirking tone, "Watching my example should be easy for you, since apparently you enjoy staring at me."

"Mou, Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno pouted.

Ryoma continued to example the shots and form she was to use. "Okay, now go over to that side of the court and rally with me, keeping the ball in."

Sakuno went over to the other side of the court and began to rally with Ryoma. After five consecutive shots, Sakuno hit the next one into the net.

"Hn, try again," Ryoma said and fed her another ball.

This time they got to ten shots before Sakuno hit it out.

"Let's try to hit twenty shots consecutively. Don't worry about your power, just focus on getting it in," Ryoma said.

They got to ten again before Sakuno messed up.

Ryoma sighed. She was hitting so well against the wall earlier during her warm-up today. Why was she not hitting like that now? He hit her another ball to start another rally, watching her closely to see why she wasn't performing as well like she was in her warm-up. Then he found the reason. Sakuno wasn't watching the ball when she hit it. What was she looking at anyway? Ryoma watched more closely to see where her eyes were looking when she hit it. He smirked. She was looking at him while she hit every shot.

"Ryuuzaki," Ryoma started, "keep your focus on the ball instead of staring at me."

"Ryoma-kun, I'm not staring!" Sakuno blushed.

"Yes you are. In fact, since I'm distracting you so much from your practice, maybe you should go hit against the wall again today. That way, you won't be able to see me."

"Mou, Ryoma-kun, the wall is so boring," said Sakuno, but she walked over to the wall anyway.

Ryoma smirked at her as she made her way over to the wall again. He resumed his position of resting his head against his arms while leaning on the fence. Watching Sakuno, he was able to see what she needed to fix her shots on. 'Knees too bent, arms too straight,….hair's too long,' he thought. Talk about déjà vu; this was exactly what Sakuno had the most trouble on five years ago.

Sakuno was getting frustrated. Her shots just weren't going right today. She was fine during warm-up, but that was before Ryoma decided to endlessly tease her today. Knowing that he was watching her made her a little nervous. That was part of the reason why she was playing so badly right now, but something was still off. Wait—Ryoma was watching her. He's her instructor right? 'Maybe I'll just ask him what I'm doing wrong so I can get better,' Sakuno suddenly thought.

"Ryoma-kun, what am I doing--" Sakuno started to say as she turned around to face him, only to see him two feet away from her.

"—Knees to bent," Ryoma interrupted her. Then he took a step forward so that he was almost touching her. "Arms too straight," he said quieter.

"R-Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno asked.

Taking one more step towards her, he whispered, "Hair's too long." He ran his fingers through her ponytail.

"R-Ryoma-kun, m-my hair is not too l-long," Sakuno quietly stuttered back, becoming distracted by Ryoma playing with her hair.

Ryoma found her the hair binder that was in her hair, and slowly, carefully, started to pull it down to let her hair loose.

"R-Ryoma-kun, what are y-you d-doing?" Sakuno finally stuttered out. His gaze was putting her in a trance.

Ryoma smirked at her and decided to run his fingers through her hair some more, getting closer and closer to her.

"Ryuuzaki," he said in a low voice, "you're blushing and stuttering again. Are you sure you don't like me anymore?"

"I-I-I….a-ano…I-I'm n-not changing m-my mind," Sakuno tried to speak coherently.

"Hn, well you're staring at me again. I think I'm changing your mind," Ryoma whispered dangerously in her ear and got closer to her.

"A-Ano," Sakuno could barely speak while looking into Ryoma's smoldering eyes. It took all her will-power to look away and turn her head down, looking at the ground. "A-Ano, I-I think m-my l-lesson time is u-up. I don't w-want to b-be taking y-your t-time away f-from you." Then she hurriedly walked past him and put her racket away in her bag.

Ryoma smirked the entire time watching Sakuno becoming flustered. As she walked away out of the courts, Ryoma said to himself, "Hn, looks like I'm winning, Ryuuzaki. Fifteen to love."