Disclaimer: Life sucks... I don't own PoT...
Chapter 7: Spy work
"Echizen, what's happening to you??"
Tezuka took his hand down from the boy's chin. Ryoma was chewing on his lower lip, thinking if he would disclose what happened and is happening to him now. Atobe looked at him with pure concern. He flipped his hair and sat beside the boy, across Tezuka. He patted the boys head. This annoyed Ryoma and pushed Atobe hard.
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!!"
Both of the captains were taken aback. They were surprised that the level-headed Echizen Ryoma would break like this. He was totally a wreck. The two pitied him and tried to comfort him, but they were just rejected. Ryoma wanted to be alone. He wanted to cut any connections. He wanted to end relationships. He wanted all of this to end.
"Echizen…"
"YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M FEELING RIGHT NOW!! HOW CAN YOU? YOU'VE ALWAYS GOT SOMEONE TO PROTECT YOU!! YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE NIGHTMARES I HAVE!! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH!!"
"Echizen, please…"
"Echizen, please calm down… Ore-sama wants you to calm down and let's talk this calmly and rationally…"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP ATOBE! YOU TOO, TEZUKA! JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!! I DON'T WANT YOU INTERFERING WITH MY LIFE!! GET THE HELL OUT!! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOUR FUCKING FACES ANYMORE!!"
I snapped… I snapped in front of them. Those were really harsh words. But I wanted them to leave… And surely with what I said, they will leave me alone… I had to do it… They might end up being butchered… Like my friends… Oyaji and oka-san…
"Echizen, ore-sama--"
Tezuka stopped Atobe and shook his head. He thought it was better for them to leave and give Ryoma his space. Ryoma sat perfectly still, as the two captains stood up and left him alone. He got up and walked to his bag to retrieve his pack of cigarettes. He lighted one and smoked one after the other. In one sitting, he finished the whole pack. He sighed after seeing the ashtray filled with ashes and cigarette butts.
Gomenasai, Buchou… Atobe…Hotou ni gomenasai...
-Thereshouldbealineherethatsuddenlydisappeared-
"MITSU-CHAN!! WHY DID YOU STOP ME!!"
Atobe screamed angrily at his lover. Tezuka's eyes closed as he crossed his arm across his chest. Atobe's limousine finally arrived. It turned around the corner and stopped in front of them. The chauffer opened the door and waited for them to get in. Tezuka stepped in first, and then Atobe followed. The chauffer closed the door and stepped to the driver's seat.
"Kai, drive us to the park."
"Hai."
As Atobe shifted his position to a more comfortable one, something rough and hard came in contact with his rear. He groped around and his hand finally came in contact with them. He pulled them in front of him and turned on the lights.
"Keitai?? (1) And there are two of them… Mitsu-chan. Is one of these yours??"
"Iie. I left mine at home."
"It's not mine either. It's a Motorola V6 Rzr2. It's the latest model. And the other's an I-Phone. I wonder who…"
"Must be Echizen's…"
Tezuka concluded. Atobe nodded and flipped the V6 open. Tezuka tried to stop his curious lover, but it wasn't' needed because the phone was turned off. Out of curiosity, Atobe tried turning it on. A flash of light was emitted and words came in the screen.
SECURITY CODE:
Atobe stopped for a while. The words were written in the English language. There was no mistake. The phone belonged to Ryoma. He thought for a while, thinking what could have Ryoma had for a password. He then remembered the story Tezuka told him about Ryoma's odd liking for his pet Himalayan cat, Karupin. He then smirked and typed "Karupin" as the code. After pressing OK, the code was accepted and the wallpaper was displayed in front of him. Ryoma's phone was now accessible.
"Ne, Mitsu-chan, mitte!!(2)"
Tezuka looked at the background image. It was Ryoma being strangled playfully by a blonde and another man beside him wearing a cowboy's hat. Ryoma was smiling and his hands were in a "peace" sign. The blond was also smiling, but keeping his grip on the brunet's neck. The man with the cowboy's hat was scratching his head and just smiled awkwardly.
"He looked so happy… Ne, Mitsu-chan, don't they look familiar?"
"It's Kevin Smith and Billy Cassidy, the ones from the goodwill games between Japan and US. I coached you back then. Remember?"
"Oh yeah. Kevin was the one who was challenging everyone right? And then you didn't want him to face Kevin because he didn't have the willpower. But then, Akihara got injured and you had to put him in."
"Yeah… And Billy was the one who was always standing by Kevin…"
"So desu ka…(3) I wonder how these three ended up together."
"Weren't you reading the Monthly Tennis Pro?? They are always featured in it. Ryoma was the youngest top seed in the Men's Tennis Pro Circuit. Kevin was in second and Billy in number 5. Ryoma and Kevin are the top 1 doubles pair and were currently undefeated… Well, not until the recent doubles match in the US Open. They had to forfeit because Kevin said that Ryoma was injured…"
"But the US open was just I think 4 months ago. We saw Echizen before the four months and he looked perfectly well… Except for his rotten attitude…"
"Chotto… We were talking about Ryoma forfeiting the match. It was exactly the same time he flew in to Japan right? What if they're both connected? What if Ryoma left for Japan to forfeit the match?"
"It doesn't make sense. He's in the streak of winning. What would cause him to drop the match?"
"Think about it Keigo. Ryoma's changed a lot. Maybe something happened to him and caused him to forfeit the match. Then he thought of Japan as a refuge, but maybe the aftershock was too much for him, so it caused him to change this much."
"If that's the case, then I have to call one of them…"
Atobe looked at the V6. The screen suddenly blacked out. Atobe didn't look pleased, the battery died on him. He tried with the other phone. But judging by the looks, it was brand new. He tried turning it on, and the screen asked for a SIM card. This time, the writings were in Nihongo. Atobe assumed that this was the phone Ryoma bought for his stay in Japan. He turned off the phone and got the SIM card from the V6 and inserted it in the I-Phone. He then restarted the phone. As soon as the start up has cleared, it took five seconds before he was bombarded with messages. He then began reading them.
Sender: Kevin
Where the heck are you? Ryoma, we're worried about you… Please give me a call. I'll email you.
Sender: Kevin
Ryoma! Are you alright? Where are you?
Sender: Kevin
What's happening over there Ryoma?
Sender: Billy
Where are you, Ryoma? Why aren't you answering our e-mails?
Sender: Kevin
Ryoma… Just once… Please call me…
For a good forty messages, all of them were similar. Ryoma seemed to have gone missing and ran away to Japan. After opening the forty-first, Atobe felt his curiosity arise. There were only four messages left. So, Atobe took his time to read them. He started from the very bottom.
Sender: Kevin
We're forfeited!! Damn it Ryoma!!
Sender: Kevin
The match!! Just get your butt here. Got it?
Sender: Kevin
Why didn't you answer our calls?
Sender: private number
We had fun Ryoma. Hope to do it again.
Atobe felt his heart beat faster. He showed the message to Tezuka and the other captain also felt suspicious. They tried pressing the call button, but the number was not accessible anymore. They read the message again, trying to derive the meaning of the ambiguous text.
"What do you think it means?"
"Ore-sama has a hunch… But if the "fun" I'm thinking about is the same "fun" they had, I think my guess is correct."
"Elaborate, Atobe."
"It's just my theory… Alright, what do we do when we have fun?"
"Eat, I guess. Go bar hopping, drinking with the guys…"
"No, Tezuka. The "other" fun."
"Sex?"
"Bingo! I was thinking that this person might have had sex with him. They had their "fun." But I'm thinking it's not the same case for Ryoma. Look at the dates of the messages. This unknown message is a few minutes apart from the time Kevin informed him about the match."
"So you're implying that Ryoma might be…"
"Right. He might be raped. It fits, Kunimitsu. Attitudinal change, smoking, not being able to play tennis, mood swings… It fits perfectly, Tezuka. I'm 99 percent sure."
"99 percent? What happened to the 1 percent?"
"Well, like I said, it's just a theory, an instinct. So I can't be 100 percent sure unless evidence arises…"
"I think we have to do some digging around and look for that 1 percent... Ne, Keigo-chan?"
Author's Note:
(1) Literally means "Mobile Phone"
(2) "Look."
(3) Literally translated as "Ah, I see…"
I'm really sorry for the short chapter... My computer's going berserk... :(
Anyway... Sounds like those two captains are into something, ne? Will they be the ones to save Ryoma from this darkness that's eating him alive? Wow... that's kinda deep...
Review everyone!! Well... I'm hoping you do...
Domo...
xoxo,
maiden.blooddragons
