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Date Started: 100803

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Confessions
by
Jennifier D.









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To love, is to show the greatest courage of all.

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01:


It would be easier to pretend that he had his interest devoted to the school textbook before him, but he also knew it would be useless to do so. Even his teachers were aware that nobody could ever catch him at a moment where he was unaware of his surroundings. Currently, the only reason why he was still in class after school ended was mainly because his class had requested for extra lessons. Everyone wanted to make sure they could pass their promotional examinations with flying colours.

Next to him, one of his closest friends fidgeted in his seat, restless. The other was never known for patience and had an extremely short attention span when it concerned things that did not interest him. The hyperactive boy didn't have a single quiet bone in him, and was constantly moving about.

Fuji made a soft huff of amusement upon seeing Kikumaru Eiji twitch in his seat with a look of pure agony on his face.

Knowing that his friend would last for most of the lesson, at least, he turned his attention outside of the window. Several moments were spent watching the first and second year students of their tennis club conduct their practice for the day. His rare open-eyed gaze was focused on a certain lowerclassman, who was purposely making the lives of the non-regular second year seniors difficult by serving non-stop into each of the baskets holding their tennis balls precisely, a nonchalant look on his face.

'Heh...'

He had noticed the younger boy since the day they met on the courts.

There was something... refreshing about Echizen Ryoma. Something delightfully wicked, and at the same time, something insufferably proud about him. He liked that. There were certain characteristics the both of them shared, and at the same time, the other's advancement through the club was eerily similar to another's.

Ryoma looked up then, almost as if he had felt the cheerful gaze of his senpai on him. The lowerclassman stared at Fuji, curious. The tensai gave a cheery smile in return, and resisted the urge to wave. There was only this much indifference his teacher could tolerate, after all.

"Ne, Fuji-" there was a hurried whisper from his right, and the tensai turned to give Kikumaru a faint, questioning look.

"Hm?"

"What're you looking at nya?"

"Ahh..." Fuji's smile was vague.

"Mou~! Tell me nya, Fuji~"

The fair-haired boy knew that he was probably going get his friend into trouble with what he wanted to say, but it might just be worth it. The class was getting incredibly dull after all.

"The love of my life."

"UUUUNNNNYAAA!" The hyperactive boy almost jumped out of his chair at the unexpected revelation.

"Kikumaru-kun, what's the matter?"

By then, the whole class's attention was on the acrobatic player.

"Eh?! Eto... eto nya... anou... ehh... nyaaaa~ sumimasen nya, sensei~!" The bright-eyed boy gave everyone an apologetic look and bowed repeatedly before sitting down again in embarrassment.

Fuji was laughing softly into his hand. Kikumaru gave his friend a dark look before turning back to his textbook and pouting adorably at it.

Later, after their lesson was over, the acrobatic player was out of his chair and on Fuji's table in a shot, gazing out of the window curiously. He nudged the brunette on his shoulder in a careless manner as he scrutinised everyone around the courts critically. "Dare? Dare nya?"

The tensai only laughed, soft.

There was a mildly horrified tone to Kikumaru's voice when he spoke again. "Don't tell me you like one of those girls from Ochibi's fan club nya!"

"Yada."

"Ehhh? Mou~ Fuji~ tell me, tell me nyaaa~"

"Maa, Eiji..." The grin on Fuji's face made the other boy stick out his tongue at him, wrinkling his nose at the same time to make an ugly face at the fair-haired boy. "It's tennis. Ten-nis. That's the love of my life."

"Uso nya!"

There was more soft laughter from the tensai. "Saa..."

"Moooouu~" Kikumaru gave a puppy-eyed look as he almost latched himself onto Fuji in an attempt to make him say the truth. "Tell me? Tell me nya? Fuji~"

"Hm..."

"FU~JI~! Tell me tell me nyaaaaa~ onegai~!"

The tensai shook his head, amused. "Ok... I'll tell you."

At this, Kikumaru's ears seemed to perk up like a cat's. He leaned in close to Fuji with his head tilted, ready to hear what the other had to say.

Fuji only grinned. "It's my brother."

"FUJI~!"


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Ryoma glanced up towards the classroom blocks, but Fuji was no longer gazing down. What was the older boy doing in his class at this time of the day? Curious, but not curious enough to want to have an answer, boy wonder turned back to practicing his almost perfect serves before his senpai tachi.

Ohh yes, he was annoying the people around him. He knew that. He liked doing that, in fact. And now that he had nothing to do, nobody good to play against-- he had to do something else before he turned insane from boredom.

"What are you looking at, Echizen?"

Ryoma looked up at Momoshirou's question, then shrugged. "Nothing."

It was a pity, but he wouldn't get to play against any of his third year seniors in the upcoming ranking matches. All of them had stopped coming to the tennis club ever since the final term of their school year began. It was a regulation enforced by the school to make sure that the students had their concentration focused in the right direction.

But this didn't stop their buchou from coming to observe their practice. He would be around for the first half an hour, at least, before leaving the school. Ryoma actually missed having those third year regulars around. Inui with his annoying notebook. Oishi with his gentle hesitance. Kikumaru with his loud and cheerful nature. Kawamura with his passion and uncertainty. Fuji with his... constant smiling presence. And Tezuka with his observant indifference.

He knew he would miss their team when the third year students graduate.

They had been through a lot, after all. The prefecture tournaments, the regional tournaments and then the nationals. They had fought long and hard, and it was kind of disappointing to part at the end of such a long journey. He also knew that if he had mentioned this to Momoshirou (which he never would,) the older boy would declare him a sentimentalist.

Furthermore, all of his seniors were heading for Seigaku Senior High, a place where he would eventually head at the end of his three years in junior high. It was almost assumed that all of them would meet up again in high school. What Ryoma wasn't happy about though, was the fact that he had to wait at least two years before he could meet them again. And right after that, the seniors would be graduating from high school.

Some of them might turn professional. Some of them might pursue further studies in the university. Some might even come out to work.

The future was uncertain.

Usually, boy wonder wasn't this nostalgic about things. But it had been a rather inevitable thought on his mind. Their school year was ending, after all. The same thing would happen again next year, and he would have to watch Momoshirou and Kaidoh leave for senior high. It was probably his own fault for being the youngest of the team.

Ryoma shrugged. He could deal with all these. He was no longer a child.

He glanced over to the side of the courts, where he knew Tezuka would be watching them with the same indifferent expression on his face. The former buchou seemed to notice his glance, and gazed back evenly in acknowledgement. Ryoma shrugged again. Very soon, even he wouldn't be standing there watching over them anymore. He would be spending his time doing constructive things. Like studying.

'How boring.'

Ready to move on from those (annoying) thoughts, Ryoma picked up a tennis ball and served, watching it arc through the air almost beautifully. There was an awkward (and unfamiliar) sound when the ball finally landed, and boy wonder realised with something like vague alarm that he had served the ball in the direction of Momoshirou. He eyes widened slightly in surprise at the unexpected outcome.

"Itai!"

Ryoma turned and started walking towards the benches beside the courts nonchalantly, looking as if nothing particularly wrong had just happened. There was a pause as Momoshirou turned and tried to find the culprit, then spotted boy wonder's rapidly disappearing back among the crowd of first years who had gathered to see what was wrong.

"Echizen! Was that you?!"


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"Ne buchou, is it okay if we continue playing tennis after you're in high school?"

Tezuka glanced over to where Ryoma was standing beside him, a curious look on his face. There didn't seem to be any hidden meanings behind what the younger boy had just said. The question was direct and simple; Ryoma really wanted to continue playing against him after he graduated.

He gave a curt nod. "Hm."

Satisfied with the older boy's answer, Ryoma wandered off back to the courts where the other club members were practicing hard for the upcoming ranking matches. With the absence of the third year members, it meant that there were five vacancies in the school team for the other first and second year students to fill into. There was no doubt that Kaidoh, Momoshirou and Ryoma would emerge top in the ranking matches and maintain their positions as regulars.

Tezuka didn't want to speculate, but he was able to give a rough guess of who could possibly join the school team. Of course, they were not going to be as strong as they had been before, but that was unavoidable. The loss of the Golden Pair would be a big blow to the doubles formation of their team. After all, all three remaining regulars were not cut out to be doubles players despite the amount of training Inui had given them.

Kaidoh was the most difficult of the three. It appeared that other than Inui, nobody else was able to either tolerate or understand the mamushi well enough to be his doubles partner. There were chances of Momoshirou and Ryoma forming a doubles team, but that would be a waste of their talents as singles players. The same could be said for Kaidoh.

But it was already over. His regime as a captain of the famous Seigaku Tennis Club... it was already over. He had handed the baton over to Kaidoh, despite some misgivings. Momoshirou would have been a friendlier choice for the students joining in the next school year, but Kaidoh was more stringent about training, and that had actually been the eventual deciding factor. Tezuka hadn't exactly been the most approachable person in the club either, and everyone had survived fine without a friendly captain.

Furthermore, there would still be Ryuzaki-sensei around to do damage control when things got out of hand.

Of course, the position of the vice-captain was given to Ryoma. He had almost wanted to make Ryoma the captain. _Almost_ being the key word here. He felt that boy wonder wasn't ready yet. Maybe in a year's time, he would have settled down enough to become a good captain.

Tezuka knew that he wouldn't be around to witness all these, though.

It wasn't easy separating the current team. This was one of the best teams Tezuka had ever been in before, and although the foundation of their team dynamics was not as strong as Fudomine's, there was still that certain bond between all of them. It was almost a pity, to say the truth. But he, above everyone else, should be clear about the fact that when it was time to move on, he had to.

He had fulfilled his promise to Yamatou-buchou and to himself. He became the pillar of Seigaku. He led them all the way to the nationals, and came back victorious. Although he wasn't with them when they fought against the best of the country, his heart was always with them. After he returned from Germany, he was told that his absence actually made everyone in the club work harder; all of them aspired tirelessly towards the same dream.

He had done his job.

High school tennis was another issue entirely though. High school tennis would be far more competitive than what things were like at junior high level. It might involve the professionals, and the professionals-to-be. Tezuka was sure that he would probably meet players who were much stronger than him in various matches after he reached high school, but that was only in the future. The future wasn't here yet.

Now, all he had to worry about was getting himself promoted to high school.

It wasn't a very big issue, to say the truth. He knew his own abilities and he also knew that promotion wouldn't be difficult for him, even though it had always been rather competitive to secure a place in Seigaku Senior High. Talents all over the area would be heading for that place, after all. There weren't as many high schools in their region as there were junior highs, and that might be a obstacle to ascension.

He wondered if he would meet some of his former rivals in his new school, even.

"Tezuka," a soft and familiar voice sounded beside him and he turned, noting the other's presence with a barely discernable nod. Fuji only smiled. "Did Echizen ask you... if it's okay to continue playing against him after junior high?"

The surprise must have showed up on his face, somehow. Because before he could reply, Fuji had chuckled and nodded understandingly.

"Ahh, so he did ask you too."

Silence, as he watched his opponent out of the corner of his eyes.

"For a moment," Fuji paused and grinned, as if finding something extremely amusing. "I thought I'm the only one who is granted the privilege of playing against him after junior high."

The bespectacled boy didn't bother to reply.

"Saa..."

He watched as Fuji raised his face, eyes closed, to receive the light caresses of falling leaves brushing against his face in their descent. The tensai then lowered his head, the usual smile fixed on his face.

"No holding back, remember?"

"Nn."

Fuji opened his eyes, watching Ryoma practice with a type of strange intensity.

"I don't plan to lose, Tezuka."

"Neither do I."

"Heh... That's good then, isn't it?" Fuji gave a soft laugh before turning to face his former team captain. The sharp look in his eyes would have surprised Tezuka had he not been Tezuka, a person who understood the tensai on several levels. He was not only his team captain; he was also the other's friend, year mate and... something else.

"Maybe."

He wasn't going to back down just because the other was Fuji. The both of them had their eyes trained on the same target, and both were trying their best to acquire the younger boy's heart without making this into some sort of petty competition between them. They would never treat Ryoma as a trophy to be won and showed off to the other. Tezuka was sure that he wouldn't do that, and although Fuji had a sly and cunning nature which very few understood, he wasn't cruel and he definitely wasn't an idiot.

"Maa, I guess I should be making my way home soon." The tensai's murmur was almost inaudible.

He only nodded.

"Ja ne, Tezuka."

"Ja ne."

And Fuji left without looking back.

Tezuka glanced over to the courts again and noted Ryoma staring at him. Boy wonder raised his racket to tap it against his shoulder in an almost nonchalant gesture, but his gaze was trained on Tezuka, sharp and knowing. Ryoma smirked.

When the younger boy eventually spoke, his voice was strangely clear amidst the noise coming from the tennis courts.

"Mada mada dane."


to be continued...

Date Completed: 110803
Date Revised: 220803