Fujii

"Aniki," I heard a voice call from my doorway.

Turning to look at Yuuta, I smiled my signature smile, and asked, "Yes? Is something wrong?"

"I saw Echizen a few days ago."

I froze. "What?" I asked incredulously. "Where?"

"At the public courts. He seemed pretty…different."

I didn't say anything, thinking back to the day we won the nationals. The last day we spent as a team.

Yuuta just stared at me with a calculating expression on his face, then asked, "What did you guys do to him?"

"What?" the question caught me off guard.

"To Ryoma. What did you guys do to him?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said.

"Onii-san, I know that face. You're hiding something, aren't you?"

I didn't reply, instead I rolled onto my back, and stared at the ceiling, thinking back to that fateful day…

Flashback

"Finally," said Kaido. "You know, I was kind of skeptical at first, but the brat really did get us the nationals."

I was about to chastise him for his mean words, then saw flicker of movement from the corner of my eye. It was Ryoma.

"Yeah, he did. Now, can we kick him off the team yet, buchou?" I fake whined.

Tezuka looked at me questioningly from the corner of his eye, then seemed to notice Ryoma.

"Of course," he said. "He's done his job, he's no longer useful to us. We can just tell him to focus on the grand slams, aim higher or something."

"Good riddance," said Momo in an un-Momo-like tone. "You have no idea how tired I am of pretending I actually care for him. Best friends? Yeah right! My only best friend is Mamushi. Isn't that right?"

Slinging his arm around Momo's shoulder in a way I hadn't seen in months, Kaido said, "That's right. I can't believe he actually thinks that we care for him."

It was hard for me to just stand there and let them say stuff like that about Ryoma, but I had to do it. For his sake.

Suddenly, I heard a small sob from Ryoma's general direction. Alarmed, I turned and saw his face streaked with tears.

"Ryoma," said Oishi, reaching out towards him.

He just jerked away from, then turned around and left. By now, everyone was watching, stunned looks on their faces.

It took all I had not to run after him. As it was, Tezuka had to put a restraining hand on my shoulder to get me to stay.

Later, at the party, there was a heavy mood hanging over our group. We decided to split up early, and everyone went home after only an hour at Taka's father's restaurant.

As I was walking home with Kunimitsu, I almost broke into tears quite a few times.

Arriving at my house, I turned to look at my friend before going in. "We did the right thing, didn't we?"

He didn't seem to have the answer, and I turned and went inside without saying goodbye.

End Flashback

Feeling tears prick at the corners of my eyes, I looked over at my little brother.

"If you loved someone, you'd do what was best for them, wouldn't you? Even if you couldn't survive without them, wouldn't you let them go, if you thought that they would be happier that way?"

He just stared at me as my tears spilled onto my cheeks. Turning my head so that he couldn't see my crying face anymore, I laughed bitterly. "But what would you do if, instead of helping them like you had intended, you hurt them more than you could possibly imagine? Would text him a hundred times a day, apologizing for what you've done? Would you call him every chance you got, in the hopes that he might finally pick up so that you could apologize again? Would you send him emails and handwritten letters, repenting for what you have done? And what would you do if he didn't forgive you? What would you do if he never returned your calls or replied to your texts, and returned all your letters? Then what would you do?"

Yuuta seemed bewildered, not able to say anything.

"I-I'm sorry," I said, my voice wavering. "C-can you please leave me alone? I've got studying to do."

It was quiet for a moment, then I heard the door gently close and the soft padding of Yuuta's feet, walking down the hallway to his own room.

Falling back onto my bed, I just stared listlessly at the ceiling. I stayed like that for a long time, and before I knew it, I had drifted off into a fitful sleep.

Kaido

As the tennis ball rushed past me once again, I threw down my racquet in frustration. What was wrong with me? Stalking off the court, I sat on a bench with my towel on my head, hissing loudly, daring anyone to approach me.

Suddenly, my towel was removed, and I felt something cold pressed against my cheek.

Glaring up at the person who had disturbed me, I saw that it was Momo.

"What do you want, momoshiri?"

"Why so touchy, mamushi?" he asked, sitting down beside me.

I didn't reply, opening up the drink, and chugging it down.

Sighing, he said, "I bet I know why your tennis is so lousy today. You're thinking about the gaki, aren't you?"

I hissed loudly at him, "Why would I be thinking about that obnoxious brat?"

"Easy," he said in an annoyingly cheerful tone. "Because you miss him."

"Like hell I do!" I shouted, effectively claiming the attention of everyone within a 3 meter radius.

He laughed. "You do. And so do I. Wanna help me apologize to him?"

I hesitated, then finally said, "Whatever."

Pumping his fist in the air in a celebratory manner, he shouted, "Yoshi! Ikuzo!"

SkyeSyren: Ah, it's all starting to make sense, isn't it? Lol, anyways, sorry for taking so long to update. Please review, and tell me what you thought of this chapter, and until next time, ciao!