Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis.
Part Two
Chapter 11: A Sunday at the Café (Part One)
It was a beautiful sunny day when Yukimura Seiichi woke up. He looked out the window and wondered if Miyu, his sister, would like to go shopping or do something together since their parents were away. Since he entered senior high, the amount of time he spent with Miyu had lessened considerably and he missed that. They were so close and he could still remember Miyu in nappies, running after him with a tennis racket in their garden.
He went downstairs and heated some milk to drink. Since his collapse when he was in junior high, he had gotten very careful about his eating habits because he did not want to spend any more time in the hospital while his friends were training and going to matches.
He thought that Miyu would probably be still asleep so he was surprised when he heard her running down the stairs. That was somewhat unexpected because she never got up until at least twelve o'clock on Sundays.
He looked up to see her fully dressed, with a bag slung over her shoulder. Seiichi raised his eyebrows, "Are you going somewhere, Miyu?" Miyu looked at her brother and smiled, "Ohaiyou, Onii-san. Yes, I'm meeting Renji-niisan soon, so I have to run. Bye!"
With that, she ran out the door, leaving her brother reeling from her words in confusion. Meeting Renji on a Sunday morning? Were they dating? Would Miyu be marrying Renji? What should he do? Should he be congratulating them?
With thoughts of various natures running rampant in his mind, Seiichi started to pace around the living room.
He mumbled under his breath, "Maybe I should call Genichirou; maybe he would know what to do? No, knowing him, he would just say something like, as long as it does not affect the team, he doesn't care. What about Hiroshi? No, he would tell me to wait until they announce it on their own. Jackal? No…"
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While Yukimura was thinking all sorts of silly thoughts about Miyu and Yanagi, she was hurrying towards a roadside café where she was meeting Yanagi and his friend, Inui.
As we can see, it was not a date as Yukimura had thought so mistakenly. She saw the two already sitting at a table with their drinks in front of them. They were under a canopy of some sort that was stuck onto the table giving them some shade from the bright sun.
Miyu sat down and greeted them, "Ohaiyou, Renji-niisan, and Inui-san." The two nodded coolly to her. Miyu rolled her eyes. "Alright, before anything else, I need food."
She ordered a huge breakfast and a large orange juice. She did not even bother to look at the price because she definitely did not believe in equality when it came to paying bills and going to the movies and shopping and anything else that included money.
While she was waiting for her order, she started to talk about the main point of their meeting. "So, Inui-san, what have you found out about Sakuno when she was at Seigaku?"
Inui cleared his throat and took out his trusty notebook, "Well, I found out quite a lot of things. First, I found out that she started going out with Echizen in the first week of the term when they both came up into Seigaku Senior High.
Second, they ate lunch together most of the time with some other of their friends, three boys who are not important to the facts at hand, so I will leave out their names. However, the girl who is… was Ryuzaki's friend, called Osakada Tomoka is important to the facts at hand.
Third, she was also very much in love with Echizen since the first year of junior high.
Fourth, the day of the accident, Ryuzaki was supposed to be home because she was sick. However, she was seen at school going to the rooftop where she was told by fellow classmates that she would find Echizen. Later I found out from Momo who found out from Echizen that he was kissing Osakada on the rooftop that day.
Therefore, the most likely scenario would be this: Ryuzaki went up to the rooftop while they were kissing; she was shocked and she ran away, then got hit by the car and was sent to hospital.
After she was released from the hospital, she was sent to Kanagawa immediately because Ryuzaki-sensei found out about Echizen's betrayal and did not want Ryuzaki the younger to see him again."
He took a deep drink and continued, "Now, the facts that remain are these, Ryuzaki has lost parts of her memory, most of it to do with tennis and the Seigaku tennis club. Echizen has tried to find out where Ryuzaki is from sensei but without success.
My sources have told me that he no longer has contact with Osakada. I have observed him at practice and his recent games have been most vicious which I conclude as an effect of his distress over Ryuzaki's disappearance.
Now, Yukimura-chan, you say that Ryuzaki is very happy at Rikkai Dai and that she is very friendly with the regulars there, is that correct?"
Miyu nodded, "The boys take really good care of her. Right, Renji-niisan?"
Yanagi agreed, "They do take care of Ryuzaki. When she sprained her ankle and had to go to the san to change bandages everyday for two weeks, either one or two of them would go with her and Miyu. Mostly it was Niou, Akaya or Bunta. Sometimes Yukimura, Jackal or Yagyuu would go too."
Inui was writing that all down while Miyu thought that these two really were friends because earlier when Inui was speaking, Yanagi was doing the same thing. Inui opened his mouth and was about to say something when some one put a hand on his shoulder.
He looked up and saw Fuji Syusuke smiling down at him. "I was sitting behind you when I couldn't help but overhear what you were saying, Inui, may I join you?" Fuji asked but sat down next to Inui anyway.
Inui asked him, "What are you doing in Kanagawa, Fuji?"
Fuji told the waiter to bring his order to this table and then, he turned to Inui and said, "I was visiting some relatives yesterday and stayed the night. I was going to have something to eat before going back to Tokyo but how fortunate that I met you here."
He was smiling in his harmless way but Inui knew him well enough to know that he was as harmless as a lion and cunning as a fox under that gentle façade.
Still he thought Fuji might be able to help fix this mess that was Echizen and Ryuzaki. He would have added Osakada but ultimately she did not affect Echizen like Ryuzaki so he dismissed her.
Miyu's food arrived at that moment together with Fuji's food and the two started to eat.
In between bites, Miyu filled in Fuji on how she met Sakuno and what happened after she sprained her ankle.
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It appeared that Yukimura had told his sister about Sakuno that very night, knowing they were friends. Initially, Miyu was so angry that she told her brother to tell the stupid regulars never to go near Sakuno again.
The next day, she changed her mind, more because of practicality than anything else because she realized that even after Sakuno had got her crutches, she was so clumsy that she would take two steps and then the crutch would somehow either slip by itself or her left foot, the not injured one, would trip over the crutch and she would fall.
Miyu was a strong girl but she could not carry their books and support Sakuno at the same time. If they change classrooms, they would have classmates to help them but other times, they found it very difficult to go anywhere and by the end of the day, Sakuno was in tears because she was so guilty of burdening Miyu.
Miyu did not mind but she told Sakuno that she would think of something so they could get around.
That night, Miyu went to her brother and told him to order his regulars to help carry Sakuno around during lunch so they could go to the san quickly and still have time to eat and relax.
Yukimura was used to her high-handed ways because he was the one who spoilt her so much that she turned out that way. He promised that they would help; it was their fault to begin with anyway, no matter what Sakuno said.
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True to his word, the next day at lunchtime, Miyu found two of the regulars outside the door of their classroom. She just did not expect these two. It was Sanada and Niou. She then realized that it made sense.
The regulars were very popular among the girls in their school and if they helped Sakuno, she might be bullied despite Miyu's protection.
However, by sending the two most formidable of the regulars first to show that she was under their protection, no one would dare touch her. Miyu reminded herself to congratulate her brother on being so smart.
Niou carried Sakuno to the san that day and Miyu was struck by how gentle he was with Sakuno, as well as how comfortable Sakuno was with him.
She was also not scared of Sanada and that was really weird because he scared her when they first met in junior high. She remembered that she hid behind Yukimura until Sanada handed her a lollipop to show that he was harmless.
To her mortification now, it had worked and for a while, she had trailed after Sanada every time she saw him, much like Bunta trailing after Sakuno now.