Day 4:
All right. So far, so good, Ryoma thought. No flowers at morning practice, and none in his shoe locker again. 'Maybe Fuji-senpai learned his lesson.' He breathed a sigh of relief...which turned into a gasp as he walked into his classroom and saw his desk.
Tulips. On the desk, the chair, even on the floor around his desk.
Ryoma's first thought? 'At least they aren't daises again.'
His second? 'Where does Fuji-senpai get the money for all of this?'
He couldn't help but smile, though, as he looked at the flowers. As far as flowers go, tulips weren't bad...in fact, he kind of liked them, really. And they didn't make him sneeze-always an added bonus.
Still...what was he going to do with six dozen tulips, anyway?
"Oh, I see you found them, Ryoma-kun?"
Ryoma turned upon hearing the voice behind him, and had to suppress a small surge of disappointment that it wasn't Fuji. "Yes. Did you see who left them here, Kaichiro-kun?
"No, they were here when I arrived this morning. And it's odd, too, considering that I was here pretty early myself. Who are they from? Did you read the card yet?"
"Card?" Ryoma walked closer, and, sure enough, there was a card nestled between two of the bouquets on his desk. 'Strange...Fuji-senpai's never left a card before...'
At least, he hoped it was Fuji. The thought that he had two stalkers showering him with flowers was slightly more than he could bear.
Opening the card, he couldn't help smiling again when he read Fuji's message: --Ryoma-kun. I really am sorry about yesterday. The daisies, I mean, not about anything else. Anyway, I thought I'd gift you with something that wouldn't kill you-you just said no more daisies. Have a good day, and I'll be thinking about you. Fuji.--
"Fuji-senpai is giving you flowers?"
Ryoma jumped; he hadn't heard Kaichiro come up behind him. Resisting the urge to hide the card-it would be rather useless anyway, seeing as Kaichiro had already read it-he instead replied, "It's...a joke. A joke that backfired, and he's...apologizing, I guess."
Kaichiro looked skeptical, but didn't press the issue. "Right. But...what are you going to do with them now?"
"You know...I have no idea."
Lunchtime on the roof. Ryoma's second favorite time of the school day, if only because he could escape from the world and think. Usually, he was thinking about tennis, about the game, opponents he had beaten, those he had yet to defeat. Sometimes, he thought about his cat, or his family. Other times, he just watched the clouds go by, thinking of nothing in particular, just enjoying the quiet. It was a place where he could just be him--no games, no agendas, no plans.
Except for today.
More and more, one thought had been turning over in his head-"Why?" And Ryoma realized that he'd have no peace until he at least tried to figure it out.
Why was Fuji doing this to him? He was planning something--Fuji had as good as admitted that to him, if not the specifics...but, what could Fuji possibly want with him, Echizen Ryoma?
Ryoma slid down the wall behind him, mind whirling. That was what it all boiled down to, wasn't it? If he could figure out what it was Fuji was after, then maybe it would all start to make sense. The only problem was, though, was that Fuji didn't seem to be following his standard modus operandi.
He'd seen Fuji in action before, when plotting against someone. Usually it involved a lot of head games, thinly-veiled commentary, and a crushing blow to one's ego. Never, not that Ryoma could think of, had flowers been involved.
Or walks home.
Or notes.
Or...so much physical contact, for that matter.
Was that the difference, the thing that would make it all make sense? Ryoma closed his eyes, trying to remember each bit of contact.
--Fingers pulling flowers out of his hair...an arm around his shoulders...a kiss...--
Ryoma shot straight up, eyes wide as his hand flew back to his cheek. He could still feel Fuji's lips there, burning into his skin. 'A kiss...Fuji-senpai kissed me...on the cheek, but still...that's got to be important...right?' He knew he was turning red, but since no one was around, Ryoma didn't care. 'Flowers, touching...all those comments, that kiss...could he like me?'
His first instinct was to discard that thought as absurd. There wasn't a single thing that he could think of about himself that would be attractive to Fuji. He'd heard it all before-how was stubborn, single-minded, and too obsessed with tennis. He'd never cared before, either. People, with a few exceptions, annoyed him overall, and he was more than happy to give them a wide berth. Hence his getting to high school without ever really dating, while even Horio had had a girlfriend for awhile. So, Fuji, liking him, seemed to be a little off on first glance.
'But,' his logical mind argued, 'why would he do those things if he didn't have some sort of interest in me?'
That was the problem with logic-it's hard to come up with a functional comeback when confronted with it.
Ryoma settled back down against the wall again. 'All right. So maybe there's the slightest chance that Fuji-senpai might...like me. And, if that's the case, then...why the games? And...do I even like him? Should I do anything? Say anything? Let him continue until he comes to the conclusion he wants? What if it's all just wishful thinking, and he doesn't like me, and this is just some sort of torture?'
He laughed. "Or I could just keep obsessing and let it drive me insane," he commented to the wind.
With a groan, Ryoma buried his head in his hands. He hated feeling this unsure, and it was clear that his thinking had gotten him absolutely nowhere-except for giving himself another headache. Maybe he should give up and just stick to tennis. Tennis was so much simpler than people were. Especially Fuji.