It hurts. It hurts so much.
Ryoko thought she had a new friend that could see her for who she was, not the shell she puts up to protect herself.
Was the encounter in the park a lie. She thought they were getting along. She felt that Fuji knew he was conversing with Ryoko. Did he believe it to be Ryoma the entire time? Did Fuji only see Ryoma? Was Ryoma the real her or was it Ryoko?
Doubt. Nothing but suspicion filled Ryoko's mind. Is she even real? No one knows who she is, no one sees hers. Is Ryoma the primary personality and is she just the alter?
All she could do is run down the hallway balling her eyes out. Past all the shocked faces of Ryoma's schoolmates, and even some of his tennis teammates. She could have sworn she saw a familiar figure calling out to her. However, none of that mattered. She didn't care if people saw her crying. After all, they wouldn't see Ryoko's tears, just Ryoma's. She chuckled bitterly while tears were streaming down her face. Must be shocking seeing the cool, cocky brat everyone knew crying like a big baby. This will probably ruin Ryoma's reputation, but that didn't affect her. Did anything ever affect her?
Ryoko stopped running and tried to see her surroundings through her blurry vision. Somehow she managed to make it to the park she likes to play her violin at. Ryoko collapsed onto the floor and sobbed some more.
Sure she barely knew who Fuji was, but that was the thing. He was the first person Ryoko knew besides her family. This was her fault. She got too attached too fast.
Ryoko started thinking back to the time they met at the park. She recalled the conversations they had. Was that not real?
No, it wasn't. Ryoko remembered seeing a look in Fuji's eyes during the time they spent together. She should have known. At first, she thought that clouded look was because he was cautious about what he said to her. People tend to believe anyone with a mental disorder to be fragile. She didn't think Fuji would be any different, but she ignored it. She felt that because Fuji was talking to her like an actual person that it didn't matter. How wrong she was.
That clouded look wasn't because he was cautious. No, he was seeing the past. He saw the times he spent with Ryoma. He was hearing Ryoma talk. Ryoko never existed to Fuji. She was only an obstacle Fuji felt the need to remove.
Ryoko stopped her tears and stood back up from the ground. The people in the park that kneeled beside her to try and help went utterly unnoticed as she walked away.
Why did it take that stupid hypnotizing trick for her to notice? She was always observant, why didn't she realize this sooner at the park. Was it because of hope. Did her subconscious know the truth but ignored it because she hoped for a true friend.
This is bad; she got too attached. It has been so long hiding that the moment she was finally out in the open her judgment was clouded. Fuji shouldn't matter to her. She only knew him for a day. None of this should be affecting her like it is.
But, it all still hurt. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad if Ryoko hadn't heard what Fuji was saying during the hypnosis.
She took over the moment Fuji had said to trust him. For some reason, Ryoko had felt as if something was off, so she decided to take over for awhile. When she came to, she saw that Fuji had her pinned to the wall and asked for his trust. Ryoko realized the moment Fuji started to fan himself that he was trying to hypnotize her.
Unfortunately, hypnosis does not work on her. Ryoko had to go through it several times during the first few stages of her brother's training. Due to that she knew how it worked, rendering the trick useless. However, Roko decided to humor Fuji anyway. It would do no harm to play along.
So that's what she had done. It surprised Ryoko that Fuji was trying to make her believe she safe. It touched her heart to know that Fuji cared and wanted to help. Her heart dropped, however, the moment he said just to be Ryoma.
Ryoma, was that who he believed she truly was? It hurt her so much and so quickly that she didn't even think when she kicked him across the room. She felt that he deserved it. Ryoko got so angry and wanted to tell him off desperately. It was only a bump in the road of their friendship, once she explained who she was to him their friendship would get back on track. Although that line of thinking was crushed as well the moment she realized Fuji was trying to get rid of Ryoko so that Ryoma was the only one left.
He only wanted Ryoma; he only saw Ryoma. Ryoko was nothing; she was just an obstacle.
Why did she even exist? No one wanted her. Fuji does not want her; Her father did not want her. Does her brother also no want her? Was he trying to do the same thing as Fuji, did he want to 'cure' her too. What was her purpose? Would it be best for her to never exist in the first place? Should she just disappear and leave Ryoma behind. Everyone would be so much happier if Ryoma were the only one to exist anyway. No one even knew about her in the first place, so nothing would change if she disappeared.
Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. This way everyone would be so much happier.
Ryoko stopped walking and wiped her tears away. Once she knew that there were no signs of her crying left she let out a deep breath and buried her hands in her pockets. A bored look replaced the sadness that was once in her eyes. Ryoko was gone, and Ryoma was now back.
Ryoma blinked a few times and raised an eyebrow at his surroundings. He shrugged his shoulders though and didn't give it much though because this often happened that he stopped being surprised. Instead, he just turned around and made his way back home.
Ryoma stopped however when he felt his phone going off in his pocket. Looking at the caller ID, he groaned and answered the phone.
"Chibiuske should I pick you up after school so we could hang out together?" A cheery voice yelled on the other end.
Ryoma moved the phone away from his face to avoid hearing damage. "Baka-aniki keep your voice down!"
"Ryoma?" Ryoga said confused. Usually, Ryoko answered the phone when he called.
~241~
Momo was super confused when he saw Echizen running out of the bathroom down the hallway crying. Echizen never cried, he was too proud to ever to do something so childish. It was strange, so Momo called out to him to try and figure out what happened. Only he was ignored. Momo was annoyed at being ignored by the brat, but he couldn't do anything about it because the boy had already disappeared around the corner. So instead Momo decided to go to the source, the bathroom. Maybe Echizen was getting bullied. Although, Echizen could handle himself against bullies so that couldn't be it.
Shrugging Momo opened the bathroom door and walked inside. What he saw made him blink several times. Fuji was on his hand and knees muttering incoherencies. Now, this was an unusual sight, but it just made everything even weirder. First Echizen is crying, and now Fuji was insane, wait Fuji was always crazy, but this is the first he's showing the signs so obviously.
"uh?"
Fuji's body twitched, and he moved his body back so he could sit properly on the floor and look at Momo.
Fuji's eyes were fully open, and he looked at Momo with so much regret that it had Momo very worried.
"What happened with you and Echizen?" Momo asked because now it is evident that Echizen was crying because of Fuji and Fuji was looking so unguarded because of something he did to Echizen.
Now, what happened between the two that could cause such an, in his opinion, extreme reaction?
"I may be the worst of the worst kind of person."
Momo raised an eyebrow. Getting information from Fuji may not be as hard as he thought.
~241~
Ryoga stared at his phone in confusion. What happened with his sister? Why had she not appeared the moment he called? Never has Ryoma ever been the one to answer his phone calls, it was always Ryoko. It was strange, and it worried him.
Even though Ryoma said not to go to his practice, Ryoga will go anyway. He wanted to make sure Ryoko was okay. Ryoko has never failed to come out when he makes an appearance before her. Even if its possible that the tennis team could find out about his chibisuke's secret he didn't care. All he cared about was his sister's safety and happiness. His sister was his everything.
For some reason, he had a horrible feeling about what he would discover.
A/N: Sorry guys this chapter seems to be the shortest of all the others.
Anyway I am a day late but at least I followed through with the two updates this week right :)
Oh well, seriously though hopefully this story seems to be going well. I have a specific way I want to end the story but no solid details on how to get there. All I got to say is that this story is almost complete.
Honestly I have no experience with romance so this story's ending will probably be terrible.
I did have more things I wanted to say but I forgot. For now until the next update enjoy.