From last time…

'If she already loves someone, then I have no right to tell her my feelings. If I confessed to her, she might rejected me. And I might disturb her and make her feel uneasy too…'

'I don't want to make her feel uneasy. So, it's better to not let her know me feelings for her…'

'I should be happy for her because she finds someone special… I should not let my selfishness takes over me and care only for my feelings… I must think of her too…'

'Who ever he is, he sure is a lucky guy…'

'I wish I was at his place…'

But now, Fuji cannot bear thinking in that way anymore. He cannot bear the thinking that Ryoma loved someone and that 'someone' was not him. He can't no longer pretend that he can let her go to someone else without interfering in between.

'Ryoma, if you must think about someone, then it must be me, and ME alone!'

He stood up and went to search for her.

Ryoma stood in the tennis court, at the exact place where everything was caused, where everything started.

This was where she had her first match with Fuji-senpai.

This was the place where she first paid attention to him because of his amazing tennis skills.

This was where she had the rematch with him, where she lost to him and she ended up at his house because of her pride.

This was place was the cause to why Fuji-senpai found out that she was a girl.

This was the place from where everything brought her to fall for Fuji-senpai.

'This is the place where everything started from that day…'

Now, what will happen in the future?

Flashback

"Chibisuke, have you told Fuji about your feelings for him yet?" Ryoga asked.

Ryoma squirmed.

"Hmm… No… Not yet…"

"Why haven't you, Ryoma?" her mother asked.

"I… I… I am scared that I might hurt him… Maybe he don't like me, so maybe he will reject my me…"

The room felt in silence. Ryoga blinked twice at her. His not-so-feminine-and-way-too-cocky-for-her-own-good-tomboyish little sister was actually scared of something?! The world must be running upside down. Rinko, who was going to put a rice bowl in front of Ryoma, stopped in midway. Nanako stopped stirring the miso soup. Nanjiro froze and pulled down his newspaper. They all looked at her.

Silence.

Nanjiro fold his newspaper, put it aside and stood up. He crossed the room and sat next to Rinko, in front of Ryoma. He cleared his throat.

"Ryoma, let me tell you a story," he started.

Two people travelled together to the same village and took the same road. They came to a river. There was a bridge to cross the river, but the bridge was in a very bad shape. It looked like it will crumble down at any moment.

The first traveller said:

"I don't want to go on this bridge. It looks too dangerous. I might fall into the river. I prefer to search around to find a safer way to cross the river. There must be someone with a boat to cross the river around. I will search for him." And he left.

The second traveller staid in the front of the bridge.

He told himself:

"It's true. The bridge looks very dangerous to cross on. Like he said, I might fall into the river. But it's the end of the afternoon. I prefer to arrive to the village before the sunset rather than facing robbers."

And he stepped on the bridge.

Many times, he almost felt in the river. He was very scared and frightened. But bless his courage, he succeed to cross the bridge and arrived to the village just in time to see the sunsetting down. He reached his goal faster than the other traveller, a more harder way but yet a faster way.

As for the first traveller, we don't know what happen to him. Did he find another way to cross the bridge? Did he find someone to help him crossing the river? Or did he encounter robbers? We don't know.

The moral of this story. Between two bad fortunes, two harms, choose the one one that hurt the most. The pain will be harder to bear but it will ceased faster.

When in life you encounter difficul situations, it's better to confront them the way they are instead of trying to bypass them. Maybe bypassing will be a safer way, but sometime you don't know when you will reach your goal. Maybe it will takes you much much more times than you first expected. And you don't know what other news problems will raise by between the time.

Sometimes, even after you finally bypassed over the problem and reached your destination, you realized that you were too late. Someone else already reached the goal before you and you missed a great opportunity in your life.

"Ryoma, tell Fuji your feelings for him now. Don't let your doubts and your worries to be rejected stop you from confessing to him. Don't miss the opportunity when you still have the chance to meet him so often. Once he graduates, you won't be able to see him anymore and you will miss the chance to tell him your feelings. And considering that I'm talking about a tensai and a future member of the elite of the society, others girls be aiming at him, as well as greedy mothers hunting a good husband for their daugthers. In case he rejects your feelings, at least you will know what he thinks about you. It's better that than never know his answer and live in the uncertainty forever," Nanjiro finished.

Ryoma was surprised. This is the first time she saw her father talking to her in such a serious mood.

She reflected a moment of his words.

Her father was right. While she can see Fuji-senpai almost everyday, she should use the opportunity. Once he will graduate, it will be difficult to meet him everyday. If she must be rejected, then at least she tried and got his answer. If she don't tell him, she will still be living with this uncertainty.

"Hai, I will tell Fuji-senpai my feelings for him."

Nanjiro, Rinko, Ryoga and Nanako smiled at her.

"That's the way, Chibisuke!" Ryoga messed her hair. "Hehehehe!"

"Argh! Hanase (1)!" Ryoma yelled. Her parents and Nanako laughed.

"Meow!" Karupin meowed happily.

"Then, shall we start supper?" Rinko said.

End flashback

Ryoma closed her eyes, remembering her father's words.

'Hai, I will tell Fuji-senpai my feelings for him,' Ryoma remembered.

Suddenly, she felt something falling from the sky felt on her face. She opened her eyes.

"Huh? Rain…?" Indeed, it was starting to rain. "I better go back home before it gets worst."

She turned on her heels.

Boom! Thunder stroked, blinding her.

"Ah!"

Boom!

The thunder stroked again to reveal someone standing in front of her.

"Fu… Fuji-senpai…"

(1) hanase: let me go.