Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis and any other associated characters and situations are property of Takeshi Konomi. I make no claim to the ownership.

Well, I love Prince of Tennis so much that I am itching to write a story. So here we are!

This is the first fanfiction that I have published so I hope you enjoy it despite my not very good grammar. Thank you!

Summary: A boy named Echizen Ryoma just came back from America. Coincidentally, he meets some people that he will be seeing frequently in the future.

1. The Prince From America

April 15, 2008 - Tuesday - 6:30 pm

Echizen Ryoma, a 12-year-old boy with emerald-colored hair was skateboarding along the sidewalk. He wanted to find a place to eat Japanese food and stopped in front of a simple but neat-looking sushi place that passed his standards. It's not necessarily required to be in a good place to have good food but this is the first time this year that he came back to Japan and his first food that should come down in his stomach was delicious.

His family came back to this country once or twice a year but he never really explored this area so everything was new to him. It's not his fault that his mom and cousin cooked delicious Japanese food that finding a place like this was totally out of the picture.

Ryoma slides the door open to see a comfortable-looking place and the fragrant smell of foods being cooked. He was greeted by a cook and a waiter as he walked towards the counter to sit. Both of them have similarities in facial features so they are probably father and son based on their age differences. He put down his skateboard together with his two bags; one is a tennis bag and the other one has his clothes inside. Their family will stay in Japan this time for a long while because of his father's whim. He was even enrolled in the school near the area.

Speaking of school, this year was a hassle for him. In America, school starts in September and ends in June. In Japan, on the other hand, starts in April and ends in March. Therefore, he needed to finish school two months earlier just to be a junior high in Japan. He got no vacation because of it.

"What would you like to eat, okyaku-sama?" (customer) The cook in front of him asked. Ryoma looked at the big menu above him and his eyebrow twitched very slightly when he saw hundreds of unfamiliar characters.

'What's with the Kanji? Did they know that I can't read them well?' Ryoma refrained himself from telling those words out loud as he pointed out several sushi dishes on the menu. The cook then went to the kitchen while the waiter served him a glass of water and asked to wait for his order.

While waiting, Ryoma suppressed the bubbling yawn escaping from his mouth. He wanted to sleep but his stomach was not cooperating. To avoid sleeping, he took a look around the shop for a bit. He admits that the atmosphere in this place was welcoming and simple. There are no extravagances or anything that cost much. It's just several Japanese dining tables, a second floor where he deduced that was full of tables too, a counter, and a kitchen on the side where all the cooking materials were placed. It was almost home-like that it makes you feel comfortable to even sleep.

That thought alone produced a big yawn that he can no longer control. He was exhausted after long hours of flight from America and although all he did was sleep on the journey, jet lag can be a pain when it counts.

Then suddenly, he noticed that the only customers inside aside from him are the three middle or maybe high school students of whom one of them was staring at him with twinkling eyes. There was nothing wrong with twinkling eyes but the way he looked at him, he can feel danger creeping out.

And just like that, his intuition was correct. His father always complained about his intuition of him that was said to rival a woman's because he can't prank him when he gets childish sometimes which was interpreted as all the time.

The older boy who was looking at him moments ago was now sitting beside him with a wide grin on his face.

"Ne, O-chibi-chan, can I hug you?" The boy asked excitedly, his face leaning closer that Ryoma needed to back away from him.

Ryoma's face remains passive but deep inside, he's thinking about what to do with this strange situation. 'I never encountered someone who wanted to hug me at first sight.' He thought.

"Eiji!" Another boy exclaimed towards his companion as he approached them. He got black hair at the top and the lower half seems to be shaved. Overall, his appearance looked like a bowling ball.

"Don't disturb Taka-san's customer!" He grabbed the one called Eiji away from Ryoma despite his protest. "Demo, Oishi, I wanted to hug him!"

Ryoma was surprised for a moment but never showed it on his face when the guy named Oishi lowered his head and bow slightly in front of him to apologize for his companion's behavior in which he just nodded at, unable to say anything at this really strange situation.

'It feels different when someone bows in front of you.' He remarked mentally.

In America, nodding one's head is a sign of acknowledgment, greetings, or acceptance. He thought that Japan's bows were the same except it was also used when saying goodbye. He did not know that it's also used in apologizing. On the second thought, in China and even Korea's ancient history, bowing was used in those kinds of situations especially in front of the royal family. Japan was definitely the same.

Ryoma sighed quietly. Although he was born Japanese, he was still raised in America and never learn Japanese culture other than their language and writing that he learned from talking with his family in Japanese, a tradition his parents made up in America. When they came here every year, he always stayed at home, or he sometimes went to Ryuzaki-baasan's house but no one was this formal where they bow or something. He encountered bowing in movies and real-life when he stayed here but only from afar. Adding to the fact that the only time he really explored Japan was two years ago and it's not even in Tokyo but in another prefecture.

Returning to the matter at hand, Ryoma's sharp sight followed the figure of Oishi who came back to their table to observe as Eiji has been berated by him. He also had taken a closer look at the appearances of the two companions of Oishi; Eiji, aside from his twinkling eyes, has red hair with a parting on the middle and a plaster on his right cheek. The other guy who has a stoic expression and remained silent from the beginning have dark brown hair with a parting on the left side and wearing glasses. If not because of his uniform, he would think that he was a professor because of his look. But no matter how normal the table looked, he got this feeling that there's something strange within them.

'But what is it?'

Thinking about it was tiring him out. The only thing that came to his mind was his encounter with a certain boy in the other prefecture that he went to two years ago. That boy was weird like Eiji when he suddenly asked for a hug.

'Maybe people who grew up here in Japan are strange.' Fortunately, he grew up in America. He wondered what may happen to him if he grew up here. Imagining it just made Ryoma gave up. He just leaned his head on his right arm that was placed on the counter to sleep a little. Keeping awake was difficult for someone like him who makes a habit of sleeping most of the time. He was sure that they will wake him up if the food was ready.

April 15, 2008 - Tuesday - 6:30 pm

"I wonder why Ryuzaki-sensei seemed happy this week?" Oishi Shuichiro asked curiously. He is the vice-captain of the famous tennis club in Seishun Gakuen.

"Maybe she won a lottery." Kikumaru Eiji, also a regular along with him thoughtlessly deduced as he ate most of the sushi at the table. He sweatdropped at the sight of eating Eiji.

The redhead boy just happened to meet them on their way back home and heard that he and Tezuka Kunimitsu, their captain are planning to eat in Kawamura Sushi Shop, so he followed them. He had no qualms about Eiji coming with them if he will pay for his food but no, it's him, Oishi Shuichiro. Fortunately, Tezuka will be paying for himself so his allowance for this week was not totally gone.

"Ryuzaki-sensei told me that his disciple's family will be coming back from America. His disciple's son will also be attending Seigaku this Friday." Tezuka informed them.

"Friday? That's pretty late. Shouldn't he start on Monday instead?" Eiji asked.

"She was recommending him to join the school ranking tournament."

"Recommending? If he's a second or third year then..." Oishi's eyes widened in realization. "He's a first-year!" The tournament from April to July is mostly composed of the 2nd and 3rd years. A first-year student participant is a once in blue moon occurrence. He glanced at Tezuka who was the second person to compete and became a regular as a first-year even if it's not yet August.

"A first year? Is he good at tennis?" Eiji inquired excitedly. Oishi agreed with him. For Ryuzaki-sensei to recommend someone, he's probably good as them.

"She didn't specify. She just asked me to observe him if he is deserving to be in the school ranking tournament." Oishi nodded in understanding. So that's the reason he will be attending school this Friday.

The school ranking tournament will commence next week and Tezuka will post the matches per block on Sunday. That first year will only have one day to show his skills to see if he will be qualified to participate.

That's a hard feat for him especially for that first year who was being recommended. Usually, the first years are only in charge of picking the balls and fixing the net as well as doing basic training until the August school ranking tournament. If they wanted to have a match, it would only be against their fellow first year. The second and third years are allowed to have matches against each other during practice. Unless you have been invited by one of them to play, that's the only time you can play with upperclassmen even if it's not August yet.

To be honest, first-years can ask the upperclassmen to play a friendly match with them as long as it's not the result of conflicts or bullying. But some members would often see the first year as arrogant that they would become scared of losing or facing criticism of others. In the end, having a match against the upperclassmen was just impossible for them. To show off your skills in that environment was practically impossible unless you've got the courage to face the criticisms of others and having the confidence to get through all of them.

'It looks like Ryuzaki-sensei has confidence that he will make it.'

The sound of the door being opened was heard. The three of them looked to see a grade-schooler boy carrying many things that made him even smaller than his height that Oishi deduced to be around 145 to 149 cm. The boy was wearing a white cap with the red R embroidered in the middle, black shorts, and a red sweatshirt. He also has this emerald-colored hair and sharply shaped and big hazel eyes, giving him an appearance of childishness despite the air of confidence surrounding him. But it's surprising for a grade-schooler to have that kind of charisma. Oishi only felt that kind of aura to certain someone. He glanced at Tezuka who was calmly looking at the boy, his famous stoic expression on his face.

'He must have felt it too.'

They secretly watched as the boy with a skateboard and two bags ordered food by pointing at the menu and saying that and those. Oishi wondered why he won't read the name of the foods rather than point at it.

'Maybe he's lazy?'

"Look Oishi, he played tennis." Eiji whispered without taking his eyes off the boy. Oishi saw the tennis bag and tried to find his name but it's being covered by the other bag so he can't tell. He became too immersed watching the kid looking around this place that made Eiji unnoticed when he went to ask the kid for a hug.

"Eiji!" Oishi dragged him away from the kid. Despite the boy having a passive expression, it's still rude for Eiji to suddenly ask for a hug from an unknown person. "Don't disturb, Taka-san's customer!"

"Demo, Oishi, I wanted to hug him!" Eiji protested but he ignored it and pulled him back to his seat.

"But you can't just ask him for a hug!" Eiji pouted at that.

Oishi sighed. Eiji was easily like that. When he saw something cute and cuddly, he will do everything just to hug that something. But this time, it's different. The person he wanted to hug was a boy and not a stuffed toy. It's not like he can blame the boy for looking childish and cute despite having such natural charisma around him.

"Just one hug, Oishi." Eiji pleaded and before he made a move, Tezuka stopped him with a gaze. Aside from his infamous stoic expression, he also got a kind of look that they knew even with their eyes closed. It was called 'The Look'. They did not know who made such a name. But they knew that gaze means, 'if you don't stop now, a punishment awaits for you'. Only someone like Fuji was immune and not scared of it. Talking about that person, he was always immune to anything, bad or good that makes him quite scary as well.

Eiji plopped down in defeat and looked at the boy who was awake a moment ago, was now asleep at the counter. "He fell asleep." He stated. "And I still want to hug him. How cruel! How can a boy be that cute and cuddly?" He murmured and murmured as he drowned his sorrow for not being able to hug the boy with food.

Moments later, the food ordered by the boy was served by Taka-san, the waiter. He was also part of the tennis club and one of the people who have a big chance to become regular in Seishun Gakuen this year. Their family owned the Kawamura sushi shop which was quite famous not only with the tennis club as they frequently eat here but to this whole area as well. That's the proof that their sushi shop was one of the best in this place.

Taka-san woke the boy up and Eijj who was sitting beside Oishi watched with twinkling eyes and anticipation as the boy groggily opened his eyes.

"Oh, Thanks." The boy has the looks of vacancy in his eyes, probably from waking up and unknowingly speak in English.

"Doitashimashite." (You're welcome) Taka-san smiled. He is not a proficient English speaker but still knew some words. He then returned to the kitchen to continue his work there. Oishi noticed that the vacancy in the boy's eyes disappeared a little as he looked around the place.

"I forgot I'm in Japan." He muttered in English before putting the foods in front of him.

"Looks like you just came back from abroad, boya?"(boy) Taka-san's father who just went out of the kitchen, asked.

"Hai." (Yes) This time he replied in Japanese. He picked up the chopstick with his right hand and was about to eat but stopped. Oishi was observing all his movements as he found the boy interesting for no reason. Must be because of his aura. He then heard Tezuka cough softly to get his attention.

"What is it?"

"You need to be subtle, Oishi. You're gawking at him." He did not know if Tezuka's words were a joke to tease him or he was really serious because of his expressionless face. But it did make his face go red from embarrassment. To think that's how he looks while watching the boy.

'How very rude of me!'

He heard Eiji laughed as he teased him. "If you are gawking then you agree that he's so cute, ne? Ne?" Eiji wiggles his eyebrows up and down.

"Oji-san, do you have a spoon and fork?" The boy asked, cutting off Eiji's teasing as he went to watch the boy again.

"Don't know how to use a chopstick, I guess. That's to be expected from someone abroad." Taka-san's father handed him the utensils. "I know how. Just not used to it." The boy said as he started eating.

Oishi was still calmly analyzing the boy. He did not look like a foreigner. In fact, he's certain that boy is pure Japanese so he was probably a kid that grew up abroad but just came back to Japan. His English is good and has an American accent so he must be from America.

'Just like Ryuzaki-sensei's disciples' family. They are also coming back from America.'

After eating for a while, the boy suddenly glanced in their direction. He must have felt that they were staring at him. Tezuka knew how to observe a person secretly so he has no reason to be embarrassed. Oishi, on the other hand, instantly look away blushing. And only Eiji remained to stare at him with his twinkling eyes. He even grinned widely and waved at him. The boy just looked at him and went back to his food.

"He's really cute and cuddly! I'll definitely hug him!" Eiji declared excitedly. Unlike before, the Kawamura father and son were in the kitchen and the boy was sleeping on the counter, the only one who can hear his voice was him and Tezuka. But now, except for Taka-san whose working in the kitchen, Eiji's voice can be heard by everyone including the boy he was talking about.

Oishi put his hand on Eiji's mouth to shut him up. He looked at the boy and noticed that he put down his spoon and fork after finishing a set of food.

"Oji-san, I'll just take it out. How much is it?"

'And now, they've done it! They cost Taka-san's family a customer!'

Eiji put his hand away from his mouth. "EHHH??! You are going home? But I still haven't hugged you yet!" He complained. Oishi sweatdropped. 'That's not the point, Eiji!' He exclaimed mentally.

Taka-san's father chuckled. "He must make you uncomfortable, isn't he?" He asked merrily. The boy just impassively waited for taka-san's father to finished packing his food. After that, the boy paid and leave with his things but halted at the door.

"I almost forgot." He turned back and showed a paper in front of Taka-san's father. "Do you know how I can get here?" Taka-san's father read the writings on the paper before answering.

"Just turn right on the first corner, walk straight, then turn left. Do you understand?" The boy nodded.

"Well if you don't, the three of them can take you there." Taka-san's father offered.

"No thanks." The boy quickly answered. "I might not get home if that happens." Oishi winced at the blunt words. But deep inside, he knew it's true. There's a ninety percent chance that he might wind up at Eiji's home instead.

Taka-san's father chuckled at his reply. "That might be true." He agreed on much to Eiji's protest. The boy then finally left.

"He left nyaaa~. And I still want to hug him." Eiji's shoulder slumped down in disappointment.

"Eiji! The boy left because of you!" Oishi reprimanded him. "And now he might not come back here again." Eiji straightened out in his seat. Oishi, who knew what he was thinking wanted to mentally slap his face.

"You mean he will never come here again? Impossible! I'm even planning on coming here again tomorrow to see him." Oishi sighed helplessly.

"Oh, I know!" Eiji suddenly brightened up and look towards Taka-san's father. As his doubles partner, he knew that Eiji would probably ask for...

"Oji-chan! Can you tell me his address?"

'And now he's done it.'

Taka-san's father was about to tell it when he saw Oishi gestured not to give the boy's address. Based on the direction given by Taka-san's father earlier, he determined the place but not the exact location of his house. And it's not good if Eiji found out about it.

"Oh, I forgot! Besides, I'm not sure if that's his address." Eiji pouted. Taka-san's father's words were reasonable. Not all address being asked was referring to their homes.

"Oh, where's the boy?" Taka-san asked, appearing from the kitchen.

"He's gone nyaa~" Eiji answered him.

"Gone?" The boy ordered many foods. He couldn't have left that quickly.

"It's late." Tezuka suddenly said. "We should be going." The three of them paid up and say goodbye to the father and son.

As they walked home, the three of them passed by the skateboarding court just beside the park. This court was supposed to be a basketball court. But because skateboarding was highly popular in Japan, they made this into a skateboarding area instead. Up until now, it was still a place where most of the skateboarders meet. The regulars often passed this area when they walked home so they occasionally watched those skateboarding masters performed amazing stunts. But this time, what made them stop in front of the court was not because of an amazing skateboarder but they saw a familiar boy with emerald-colored hair.

"That's...O-chibi!" Eiji ran forward and the Oishi followed with a rather reluctant Tezuka. They hid on a tree to see what he was doing.

The boy was not just skateboarding on the court but performing an exhibition. Up, down, tumbling and any tricks that they frequently see on skateboarding masters who went here. Oishi and Eiji stared at the boy with amazement and even Tezuka's face has the slightest bit of difference as he saw him skateboarding.

"He plays tennis and has amazing skateboarding skills. How cute!" Eiji said in awe. Oishi then recalled the tennis bag he saw. 'So he is an athletic person. I wonder how good he is in tennis?'

"He's finished." Before Oishi managed to stop Eiji, he already ran out to greet the boy.

"Hello, O-chibi-chan!" Eiji went forward to hugged him but landed on the floor instead. The boy luckily sidestepped fast enough to get away.

"How cruel, O-chibi!" The boy just walked past him to leave. Oishi noticed the direction he was going. "Hey! Where are you going?" He asked.

"Home." The boy answered without looking back at him. Eiji, understanding what Oishi was thinking, stopped the boy.

"O-chibi-chan, stop!" But the boy continued walking. Tezuka, as usual, was quietly watching them.

"You're going the wrong way!" Oishi shouted to the retreating back of the emerald-colored-haired boy that made him stop. "That's the direction to Taka-san's father shop!"

The good thing was, the boy listened to him by going in the opposite direction but he still ignored them and went away. The boy just came back from abroad so he must be confused by his surroundings. Taka-san's father's direction was simple so since the boy was in the right direction, they can just leave him alone if he did not want to be with them.

"O-chibi-chan, matte yo!" Oishi grabbed Eiji's collar before he could annoy the boy again.

"Oishi, let me go!" Eiji protested but his grip remained firm.

"Eiji." One word from Tezuka and Eiji became tame once again. The three continued walking with Eiji still staring at the boy's back. No- maybe three since Oishi himself was still watching him in worry in case he got lost again and Tezuka, despite trying to hide it, he still noticed the hint of interest in his eyes. His thoughts were interrupted by Eiji's loud voice.

"O-chibi-chan, you have already passed the first corner! Turn back!" They are in a place where there are few people outside so Eiji's voice should be heard by the boy but he remained walking. Oishi sighed. Looks like they can't leave this boy alone. If they do, he won't get home at this rate.

The three of them ran after the boy. "Hey, your home is not this way." Oishi grabbed him in the shoulder.

"Huh?" The boy looked up.

"You already passed the first corner." Eiji stated.

The boy yawned. "First corner?" He asked groggily while wiping his misty eye.

"Kawaii..." Oishi heard Eiji mumbled beside him. Oishi sighed again. He did not know how many times he'd done it today. Looks like the boy didn't understand Taka-san's father's direction at all and he was also sleepy. If they left him alone this late at night by himself, he won't fell asleep because of worry for this boy. "Where do you live? We'll take you there."

"Will this guy came?" The boy dazedly asked, pointing at Tezuka. "He looks like the only one who can control this weird guy." Oishi nodded hesitantly.

After getting his confirmation, the boy handed him the paper he showed Taka-san's father earlier.

"Oh! This house is close to Momo's." Eiji said quietly with a wide smile on his face. He was probably thinking of many tricks and reasons on how to get close to this boy by getting close to Momo and using him as the bait. Oishi was starting to feel sorry for him for being indirectly involved in this situation.

While walking towards the boy's place, Eiji kept asking many questions that the boy ignored as he walked between him and Tezuka so Eiji won't do something such as hug him. All the boy did along the way was keep yawning and yawning and not caring about his surroundings. If Oishi didn't catch hold of his right arm earlier, he will fell after tripping on the rock earlier.

"Answer my questions, O-chibi-chan!" He demanded in a childlike manner. But he was still ignored by the boy.

"We're here." Oishi announced when he looked at the house number.

"Woah! Your house is so big, O-chibi-chan!" Eiji exclaimed as he looked at the house in front of them. It's a big two-story semi-Japanese-style home. Oishi agreed with Eiji, it's big, really really big. The one with the biggest house among them was Tezuka but this house was way bigger. This boy's family must be quite rich. Speaking of family... He read their family name on the wall beside their gate.

Echizen.

'So that's his family name.'

"Arigatou. Oyasumi." The boy bid goodbye and went inside. Oishi can't help but smile.

"What is it, Oishi?" Eiji asked.

"That boy... He's tired and sleepy but still remembers to act cool."

"That's what makes him cute and cuddly!"

April 15, 2008 - Tuesday - 7:30 pm

Echizen Ryoma went up to his room as soon as he got home. He even ignored his shocked cousin who found that he's already in Japan earlier than his parents.

As he surveyed his room, he noticed that it's still the same as ever; clean and big. The king-size bed was in the middle. On the left side of the bed is his study corner, then there was a mini living room, a door to the closet, a door to the bathroom, and his favorite place of all, the balcony. That's why he has chosen this room when his parents first took him here after the place was renovated.

He put his bags and skateboard beside his bed as he lay on the soft mattress. But sleeping here without his beloved cat, Karupin, was difficult. He was used with the cat sleeping beside or on top of him. And then there was no one he could play with whenever he was not playing tennis or sleeping. Thoughts about Karupin filled his head as he went to dreamland.

April 16, 2008 - Wednesday - 11:30 am

It's nearly lunch when Ryoma woke up from his sleep. He was surprised to see that his cousin and college student, Nanako Meino was still at home.

"Aren't you supposed to be at school, Nee-san?" He asked.

"We don't have morning classes today. The other professors have a meeting but I still have classes in the afternoon." She placed the heated food from last night in front of him. Now that he saw it, he remembered that he left it somewhere before going to his room. He initially planned on eating it at home but because of his tiredness and eating a set of food at the restaurant, he changed his mind.

"So you and oji-san should be coming to Japan on Thursday. But you came here ahead of him without his knowledge. Nande?" (Why?) She must have called the old man last night when he suddenly appeared.

"That's why I went ahead because I will be coming with him." He replied. Ever since he learned to travel on his own, he never went with his father on a plane unless his mother was with them to control his father. No one knows best how embarrassing being together with that man for a couple of hours on a plane except him.

"Demo, you should have called me or informed Oba-san instead." (But) Nanako remembered how Ryoma, despite his quiet and cool nature to be very pissed with her uncle and vent all his anger by telling her how bad his father was when he was younger. But as her younger cousin grew older, his patience got longer and he rarely got pissed. Maybe because he learned to be nonchalant at the most part. The only thing that never changed was the fact that only uncle can push Ryoma to the burning point almost every day despite his longer patience

But no matter how they bickered a lot, Ryoma remained the closest to his father. It was really cute how the father and son communicate and show affection to each other in their strange way.

April 16, 2008 - Wednesday - 7:00 am

Oishi noticed something was off in the morning practice this morning. Some of the second and first years were talking about something that he did not know about. He tried to listen secretly to one of these conversations and found what he was looking for.

"Hey, did you hear?" A second-year asked his classmate and teammate.

"Is it about the school ranking tournament?"

"Yes. I heard that someone really strong will be coming to Seigaku."

"Is he really strong? Like Tezuka-Buchou or Fuji-senpai?"

"Maybe. But all I know he's a late enrollee coming from abroad."

"You must be joking?!"

"Of course, I'm not!"

"But only one student is coming from abroad and that is a first-year! There's no way a first-year will become a regular!"

"Eh? He's a first-year? Then I must have heard it wrong..."

"Curious?" Fuji Shusuke's voice startled him. He turned around to see his eyes smiling face. His eyes are seemingly closed due to him always smiling but when he sees something interesting or he became serious or angry, he will reveal his sharp blue eyes. He also has a well-layered chin-length light brown hair that covers most of his forehead and he had been dubbed as a tensai of Seigaku, only second to Tezuka. Just like the captain, both of them never failed to be regular since they became one.

"Yeah." He answered him. "How did they found out about those?"

"You mean it's true?" Oishi stopped what he was about to say when he felt trapped. Fuji laughed seeing his expression.

"You fell on your own intelligence, Oishi. I did not expect that you would admit that the rumors are true." He ignored him and asked another question instead.

"So how did that became a rumor?" The only one who knew about that was Tezuka, Ryuzaki-sensei, and himself who were tight-lipped about it.

"A second-year heard Inui murmuring about how he heard the conversation between Tezuka and Sumire-chan and how he needed to collect data about that first year." Fuji explained. Oishi sweatdropped. That is Inui Sadaharu for you, his Data Tennis was not to be trifled with. To think he even managed to hear about that conversation. Oishi was starting to feel sorry for the first year. Inui has not yet met the freshman but he was already planning to get his data.

"This school ranking matches will be interesting, don't you think? I am looking forward to this first year." He then walked away to start hitting some balls. Even Fuji knew how hard it is for a talented first year to show off his skills. He must be excited this coming Friday. Everything that interests him, he will pay attention to it just like how Eiji was with cute and cuddly things(or a person).

April 16, 2008 - Wednesday - 12:15 pm

Echizen Ryoma planned to visit his new school to get his uniform, id pass, and schedule. Nanako-neesan saves him time since she already brought him school supplies.

"Are you going out?" Nee-san asked. Ryoma nodded as he put his signature white fila cap on his head. The R in his cap should be letter F that stands for Fila but his mother changed it the same time she made his blue with white lining wristbands that he was wearing now. This wristband, just like his hat has an R that stands for Ryoma embroidered in it. Today he was wearing his favorite white short sleeve collar shirt with red sleeves and black shorts together with his fila shoes that he just brought before boarding the plane. "I'm going to school."

"And you're bringing your tennis bag as well. You can't really go anywhere without it." She has a warm smile on her face but frowned as soon as she recalled something.

"Are you allowed to play? Your left hand is not yet healed."

"I'm fine. It's just a sprain. " Ryoma said simply as though it was nothing.

Nanako-neesan furrowed her eyebrows. "Just a sprain? Oba-san told me that it's a very bad sprain and that you were lucky it's not a broken bone you sustained. You're not even allowed to use it too much."

Noticing that his cousin will continue to fuss about his left hand, Ryoma changed the subject. "Can you tell me where the school is?"

"Oh! Wait!" She gave him a paper- no, it's a drawn map.

"What is this?"

Nee-san smiled cheekily. "You have a terrible sense of direction so I have taken the job of drawing this map this morning in case you wish to go to school."

"I don't have a terrible sense of direction." Ryoma denied but he knew it's the truth. Unless he had been to certain places many times, he will get lost no matter how easy the direction you've given. He blamed it for him being absent-minded all the time. That's why in America, he always has a map with him whenever he's in other places besides New York. But he rarely used it since he was frequently at home when not in school. Besides, going to other places in America without getting lost was fairly easy because of transportation and signages everywhere. He just needed to tell the driver where he's headed to. In Japan, students frequently go to school by walking or biking, and because of his poor knowledge of kanji, signages and such will be useless unless written in kana.

Nee-san giggled and pinched his cheeks.

"Itai-su!"

"You are really cute when you tried to act cool." The word cute activated the memories from last night. He remembered the weird guy who likes adds nyaa in his sentence, wanted to hug him because he was cute and cuddly.

How can they say that? Cute is a word used for children and he is not a child anymore. So he is not cute at all!

"But take care and be careful to not get lost." She kissed his cheeks before he can even react. "Ryuzaki-sensei told me that she will give you a detailed map that her granddaughter carries around. They've just moved to Tokyo before the classes started and she also gets lost a lot in unfamiliar places like you." Ryoma just stared at Nanako-neesan with the look that says he was not going to be happy just because someone has a terrible sense of direction like him.

But Nee-san just pushed Ryoma outside the house and said her goodbye before shutting the door. Ryoma then started his adventure to get to his new school.

AN: I wonder how Ryoma sprained his left hand? curious?

Older women in their 50's and up are addressed as oba-san. It is also used to address your aunt and your grandmother in Japan.

Older men in their 50's and up are addressed as oji-san. It is also used to address your uncles and your grandfather.

AN: How was the story? Did you like it?