"Ite!" Ryoma sucked on her finger. "Not again…" She got cut again.

Lately, she have been victim of many not funny pranks: someone stole her shoes (A/N: In Japan, you have to wear a different pair of shoes when you're inside the school), hide needles in her pencil case or blades in her textbooks, rudely pushed her against a wall when she crossed the hallway to her class. Sort of disagreeable things like that.

Why would someone do that to her, she don't know why. But she knows that this person must be stupid to waste his/her times to play pranks like that to someone else. She sucked on her wound and took out her last band-aid available. Since she ingured herself so often lately, she always carry band-aids on her, in case she needed them again. And now, she must think to get some new ones.

"Ochibi-chan, what happen to your hands?" Kikumaru asked her, seeing her hands covered with band-aids. Ryoma hide them behind her.

"Nothing. You're seeing things, Kikumaru-senpai."

Someone suddenly grabbed her hands, pressing a little bit hard on the fresh wound.

"Itai!" she yelled.

"Ryoma, what is the meaning of this?" Fuji rudely asked her.

"Fuji-senpai, it hurts…" she pleaded. Fuji immediately became softer.

"I'm sorry…" Fuji said, but don't let go of her hands. He rubbed on the spot where he pressed to smooth down the pain. "What happen to you? Who did this to you?" he asked softly, worried.

Ryoma bite her lips.

"I really don't know, senpai…" she trailed.

"Echizen, you're bleeding," Ooishi stated. "Come here with me." He pulled her to sit down on a bench while he took out the first-aid kit. The regulars were struck by the horror they saw when Ooishi removed her band-aids. She don't have many cuts, but they were deep and awful to look at.

"Hide (1)…" Momoshiro said.

"Echizen, how can you still hold your racket with your hands like that?" Inui asked her as he examined the wounds. "The pain must be awful when you hit a ball."

Ryoma fidged, but don't answer.

"Since when did it start?" Kaido asked her.

"Since the beginning of the week," Ryoma answered.

"Echizen, you won't pick your racket today," Tezuka said.

"But…!" she protested.

"Echizen, do as I say!"

She bite her lips.

"Hai…" she trailed, not happy. Tezuka sighed. She really was a stubborn girl. He kneeled in front of her and put a hand on her head.

"This is for the best for you," he kindly said. She pouted. Momoshiro snickered.

"Hihihi! Echizen, you're an awfully stubborn girl!" Momoshiro said.


Outside the tennis locker room, under the window, Mayuri spied on them.

'What?! Echizen Ryoma is a girl… Grrrrrrrr! She's despicable! Pretending to be a boy so she can have all the boy tennis club alone for her. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! And it looks like it's a secret to the school…' She stopped, thinking momentary.

Then, she grinned evilly.


The next day, lunch time…

She searched everywhere.

'Where is it?' She can't find it. 'I'm sure I put it in my bag this morning.' Yet, she can't find her bento.

She sighed.

'Guess I have to go to the school cafeteria today…'

She walked out her classroom to see Fuji, Kikumaru, Ooishi, Kaido and Momoshiro waiting for her.

"Senpai?"

"Ryoma, come and eat with us outside," Fuji told her, more like ordering her. Ryoma had no idea that it was to have an eye on her because of the numerous weird incidents she met.

"Okay, but I have to stop at the cafeteria before to buy foods."

"Why? You brought your bento with you this morning. Don't tell me you eat it during your class?" Momoshiro said.

"Fsssssh! That only applied to you, baka," Kaido said.

"Nani(2) ?! Said that again!"

"Fssssssssssh!" Kaido picked a fight with Momoshiro.

"That's enough, both of you!" Ooishi said.

"Ochibi-chan, I saw you have your lunch box in your bag this morning. Why do you have to buy foods?" Kikumaru asked.

"I can't find my bento."

"Hmm… That's strange… Alright, we will go with you. Come one!"

Kikumaru and Ryoma went ahead, followed by a quarreling Momoshiro and Kaido and a fussing Ooishi. Fuji watched the end of the hallway before going too. He felt the presence of someone, who was hiding.


In the cafeteria, the line was long, that was why she couldn't get anything before a long time. Not to mention the place was crowd and noisy.

'That's why I never eat in the cafeteria.' Ryoma sighed again as she took her bread and juice from the cashier.

As she walked to the table where the regulars waited her, someone bumped into her.

"Echizen/Ochibi!"

"Look out!"

But Momoshiro, Kikumaru and Kaido didn't warned her in time. The person already spiled all his juice all over her.

'No!'

It was too late. Her white shirt got damped and it hugged her body. Through the wet fabric, all the people in the cafeteria could see that Ryoma wore a sport bra, covering a small but unmistakable girl bosom.

"No way! Echizen Ryoma… is a girl!" someone said.

"What?!"

"Uso!"

"The famous first year regular in the tennis boys club is a girl?!"

"It can't be!"

"But look. She has bosom, so she's a girl!"

Fuji rushed over her and covered her with his gakuran (3) while the other regulars formed a wall around her.

"Let's get away," Fuji told her and he dragged her out the cafeteria with him, the other making a path for them.


In a corner of the cafeteria, Mayuri laughed deceitfully in silence.

'Now the whole school knows her secret. She will get all the girls of the school after her. She might as well be kicked out of the tennis club. And maybe be kicked out of the school too. So, I no longer have to worry about her. Hahahahahaha!'


(1) hide: it should be "hidoi", which means 'awful', 'terrible';

(2) nani: what;

(3) gakuran: boy school uniform, wore over a white shirt.

A/N: If you like or dislike something in my story, please tell me why or for what reason. Thank you.