Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis does not belong to me.
Chapter Twenty: The Meeting at Tezuka's House
Fuji had arrived home on Sunday and called Tezuka.
He told him what he had learned when he was at Kanagawa, knowing that he could be trusted not to tell anyone, including Ryuzaki-sensei about what they were going to do.
Tezuka listened and was silent for a while. Fuji gave him time, understanding that he needed some time to absorb all that.
Finally, Tezuka said, "We will talk about this tomorrow at school after practice. I'll call Inui and get him to contact everyone except for Echizen. We will meet at my house after dinner."
Fuji agreed that sounded safest because if they talked about it at school, chances would be that Echizen would overhear at the worst possible time or Momo or Eiji would give the game away, not that this was a game.
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The next day, Eiji bombarded Fuji with questions like, "Nya, what's up? Fuji! What's up?" and "Tell me, nya! Tell me!" Fuji, extremely practiced at keeping his own counsel, just smiled at him and said, "You'll know soon enough." And tuned him out, thinking about the sad little girl whom everyone saw and nobody knew.
Momo was threatened by Inui's new and not-yet tested health drink if he dared to breathe a word to Echizen. Kaidou never gossiped so he was safe.
Kawamura, in case anyone was wondering, did not attend senior school, having started his apprenticeship with his father.
Oishi knew that it was a serious matter because Tezuka told him a little about it when they met that morning on the way to school, so he would not say anything to anyone, including Eiji, his trusted partner on the court, though one very not-trusted-to-keep-his-mouth-shut friend.
They were all looking forward to the meeting, though for different reasons.
Momo and Eiji were natural busybodies; Kaidou was simply curious about what could have gotten his senpai-tachi so worked up; Oishi was worried about Ryuzaki and Echizen and was anxious to get their 'problem' solved.
At practice, Ryoma would have noticed that his senpai-tachi seemed to be more excited than usual except he was in his own world these days, thinking about his 'missing' girlfriend and basically taking out his frustration on his practice partners, whether they were regulars or not.
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After practice, everyone rushed home to change and head to Tezuka's home. Most of them had never been there before; their buchou being a private person. Besides, they usually congregated at Kawamura's Sushi.
That night, Tezuka ordered pizza, telling his family that some of his team-mates had bottomless pits for stomachs and that they would be more comfortable in the living room on their own.
His family generally respected his wishes and stayed away from the living room that night, thinking that it must be some tennis meeting or the other.
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When both the pizza and the regulars arrived, Tezuka looked at them and said, "I got everyone here because we finally have news of Ryuzaki. Inui and Fuji had even seen her yesterday. She is now studying at Rikkai Dai and she has lost most memories to do with tennis and us."
He let that sink in before speaking again.
Momo, who was about to take a bite of his pizza, was left with his mouth open.
Oishi did not look shocked; he had heard this from Tezuka but hearing it again still made him sad.
Kaidou was expressionless, except for the slight widening of eyes.
Eiji was speechless for once.
Before they could bombard him with questions, Tezuka said, "I'll let Inui and Fuji tell you about it. They know much more than I do. I want you to keep quiet and listen without interrupting because this is more serious than we thought."
Everyone responded to his authority and sat up to listen.
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First Inui began telling them of Yanagi's phone and Miyu's request. He told them of the data he had collected and how Fuji came up to them at the café.
Then, Fuji took up the tale, his face devoid of his usual relaxed smile.
He mentioned Miyu's obvious care for Sakuno and her anger. He talked of the weeks that Sakuno spent getting to know the Rikkai regulars and vice versa.
He added, somewhat bitterly, the question he asked himself, they knew Ryuzaki for three years and more but they didn't know her at all.
He went on to tell of Sakuno's arrival with Niou; describing her happy smile and carefree attitude even with so many boys around.
Had they every seen her so carefree when she was around them? They were her senpai-tachi and yet she was always nervous and shy around them except during games when she would be concentrating on the game.
He halted, not liking the next part of his tale, but taking a deep breath, plowed on. He told them about the attack of Sakuno's headache and how weak she became. He emphasized Niou's gentle care of her and Miyu's mothering.
He gave them the picture of Sakuno slowly reviving under the care of her two friends; one of whom had a reputation for being a ruthless trickster and one of their strongest opponents.
Fuji then outlined Miyu's and his thoughts on what they should do and stopped there, waiting for their reactions.
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There was a long silence, unusual with Momo, Kaidou and Eiji there.
They were all trying to remember if they were really guilty of what Fuji was subtly accusing them of: their kind ignorance towards a girl who did not do anything wrong except for being shy and eclipsed by everyone else.
They were now feeling guilty.
If it had been another girl, Fuji would not have made the accusations but this one deserved better.
She may not be a close friend of theirs but she had always been there.
Part of it was because of her grandmother who kept in touch with most of them even when they graduated. Teams would change when time passed but this particular group had always been very close so Ryuzaki would go to most of their games when they were in the senior section when she was still in the junior.
She would go because she wanted to cheer them, partly because she liked them and partly because she knew her grandmother would want to know about them.
No one asked her to go and no one asked her to support them but she did, in her quiet and shy manner, she was always there. She never asked for anything in return and when they noticed her, she always felt honored.
It would be a lie to say that her humbleness, when some of them spoke to her, was not an ego-booster because it was.
Momo had lost his appetite; Eiji was still silent and hugging a cushion; Oishi did not look at anyone; Kaidou was sorry that he was not brave enough to befriend her before.
Tezuka did not feel any better but he was used to dealing with regrets and he knew that they now had the chance to make it right for her.
At least, they could have a hand in helping her step out of the past for she was in the past. As long as she did not remember them and Ryoma, part of her would always be in the past.
Fuji was not sympathetic towards his friends because he was not feeling very generous at even himself.
He knew that it was always difficult to face your own mistakes but with the Seigaku reputation of being friendly and united, it was doubly hard for them to accept that they had unknowingly helped to push a girl, that should have blossomed beautifully, even more into her bud.
They were supposed to be friendly and down-on-earth, compared with the high and mighty Rikkai regulars. Now, they learned that in their blind arrogance, they had been the high and mighty ones. They had forgotten to look around them and see others who supported them outside the courts.
They did not know what to say.
Inui, being him, had gotten over his guilt pretty quickly. He was never much of a people's person and now he decided that he should just stick to what he was best at and that was take notes so he could take to Renji later.
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Tezuka looked at Fuji, indicating that it would be better for Fuji to take control because he was better with situations like these, as in planning what to do.
Tezuka usually did the planning on his own but he felt that the regulars needed to have a hand in this for themselves.
Fuji spoke and snapped everyone out of their thoughts and guilt, "It doesn't matter now. What's done is done and we have to find a way to make it better. Yanagi said that she should 'step out of her past and enjoy her present' and he was right. We can help her by bringing Echizen to her and if she wants, then taking him away to leave her in peace.
We also need to prepare Echizen because he doesn't know about her selective amnesia. I would be the last one to say this but he needed to know there is a reality outside of tennis and sometimes you need to adopt different ways to approach different people."
They all knew what Fuji meant because Echizen never changed; he used the same attitude to everyone from his father to a stranger.
In fact, they wondered how they did not see it before; why would he be any different in his attitude to a girlfriend who always gave and never took.
It did not make Echizen any less of a person; it only showed that he was still as immature as he was at the age they first met him, twelve.
Some of them were not better than him in fact.
Momo and Eiji still needed to learn some restraint while Kaidou would have trouble finding a job in the future with his lack of social skills or even if he did find, he would not have much of a social life, though he might not care.
This time they were really learning a lesson on growing up, all of them, one way or another.
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That night, all of the regulars had to take home some pizza because Tezuka did not expect them to lose their appetites.
Inui said that he would contact them again when he had talked to Renji.
Fuji felt much better after sharing his bitterness at the loss of such a treasure and Tezuka was glad that they were finally growing up, a little anyway.