Title: Your World; part 3 of 3
Pairings: Ryoma/Sakuno, (with some Momo/An and Eiji/Oishi in the background.)
Disclaimer: PoT is Konomi-sensei's, but the OC's getting pwned in this fic are mine.
Sum: At the very last minute, Sakuno gathers the courage to ask Ryoma to a school dance, and somehow, he ends up agreeing. But will he have more in store for her than some petty little date?
"I'm not going. I can't let Ryoma-kun see me like this."
Tomoka and An were speechless. It was uncanny, how a simple little haircut could bring such a wave of tears to their friend. She must've cried at least three hankies worth of them, and it was less than an hour before her expected date would be picking her up for her big night. How in the world could they tell him that it was cancelled? If he was willing to go an entire day of being mauled by his senpai just for this, it obviously meant something to him. You just didn't take anything away from that boy, especially the new thrill and experience first love could bring.
It just wasn't right. Sakuno's hair couldn't have been that important, could it?
Once her words started to sink in, Tomoka balled and unballed her fists, and landed a skin searing slap across An's face.
"Why did you have to cut it THAT short? Now you've ruined the whole night!"
An clutched her cheek in disbelief, though her face eventually scrunched into the same livid state as the Seigaku girl's.
"It wasn't as if you weren't gung-ho about cutting her hair. If I knew this was going to happen, I wouldn't have done it!"
"You should have known! Aren't you supposed to be her friend?"
"Aren't you!"
The two girls stood there and verbally duked it out over who was the worse friend. It was a belligerent argument, silly even. Five minutes into it, Sakuno forced herself to get it together, with the occasional spasm outright bawling caused, but otherwise, she was well out of tears. And her head hurt. The fact that her two best friends were about to kill each other didn't help, either.
Now that she'd managed to get her face good, sticky, and swollen in her tears, she appreciated the sight of her hair. It wasn't as short as she thought it was the first time she saw it. In fact, it was just a few centimeters longer than Ibu Shinji's hair, and Ryoma never said it was too long for tennis.
That's right, she made this sacrifice for Ryoma. It was the only bit of advice he'd given her that she chose to ignore. Now, she should've truly met all of his expectations.
She couldn't back out now. Things were just getting started.
"A-ano, An-chan, Tomo-chan... I've changed my mind."
They squabbled a couple of seconds longer, Tomo managing one last reason why Tezuka was so much cooler than Tachibana Kippei, before they both paused and turned toward her in awe.
"I-I've changed my mind. I'm going... "
---
"Game, O'Chibi, 3-games-all," Kikumaru shouted, as the battle between father and son raged on. Well, rather, Ryoma was the only one pissed beyond all belief; Nanjiroh just bounced the frame of his racket against his shoulder and gave his butt a good scratch.
"You do know, brat, that ladies don't appreciate their dates hot, sweaty and smelling like-."
"Shut up and serve," Ryoma muttered, pulling the bill of his cap over his eyes. Really, he had to be somewhere less than an hour. Getting in a quick shower after crushing the old guy would be nice.
By now, Ryuzaki should know well enough that Echizen Ryoma doesn't just sit around all day doing nothing, unless it's sleeping. How his senpai managed to keep him trapped in the main room as they blabbered about stupid things was beyond him. Maybe because he knew them too well, and, in turn, they knew him. They knew he was probably bound to change his mind if they didn't keep him in check. And he knew, that if he did back out, Kaidoh would scoff at him for breaking a promise and wasting his day. Momoshiro would scream at at him for "breaking the girl's heart" again. Kikumaru would get so enraged that he'd do something obscure, like demand every cent he ever spent on burgers for his kouhai back (which was probably more yen than his dad paid to get him into Seishun.) Inui would have some strange, sizzling juice prepared for his forfeiture. Fuji would say or do something so disturbing it would cause eternal discomfort in Ryoma. Oishi would probably want to get to the heart of his refusal (and Ryoma chose to save his heart for tennis, thank you very much.) And Tezuka, well, the scary thing about Tezuka is Ryoma had no idea how his former buchou would react, or even if he would.
Ironically enough, that was what scared him the most: If all eight of his senpai didn't try to stop him at once from refusing to go through with this. In some twisted, uncanny way... Ryuzaki Sakuno had gotten Ryoma's attention. Damn it all.
"15-love!"
Ryoma blinked in surprise, as a cloud of dust danced around the newly formed dent in the ground.
"Aww, he was daydreaming about his girlfriend. I guess this match is over, then. Too bad, seishounen."
Before Ryoma could protest, Tezuka of all people stepped onto the court an pulled the racket out of his hand. As usual, one gaze into those authoritative eyes made the scowl he wore omnipresent, as if it could touch the inside of his soul. Well, fine then. Ryoma glared back, hoping in vain that Tezuka'd just get what he needed to say said and give back his racket so he could continue.
"Are you really going to give up?" Tezuka asked. Of course not, Ryoma wanted to say, so please give me back my racket. But when Tezuka's very presence managed to entangle him in a web of uncertainty, Ryoma couldn't even speak. Everything the stoic captain said was rhetorical when he was in this state, and that's just how it was.
"I'll finish this match for you."
"What?" Echizen, father and son alike chimed in unison.
Tezuka turned toward Nanjiroh. "Do you still have what it takes?"
His question was answered with a delighted bout of laughter. "Do I still... do I still have what it takes? Haha, you kids tickle me." Smirk. "Sure, kid. I'll try not to bruise your pride too badly, when you're done scolding the boy, of course."
Tezuka turned back toward Ryoma. "Echizen, I asked you to carry Seigaku in my stead for a reason. From what I've heard, the team has been too lax, and has been losing a games. Care to explain?"
Ryoma moaned. Where was this coming from all of a sudden? He had the sinking suspicion Tezuka was going to speak to him about his lack of leadership skills eventually, just... not now. Not in front of everyone. Not while he was to finish something here.
If God was gunning to make this the absolute worst day of his life, it was working.
All Ryoma could say in response, "Not my fault Horio sprained his ankle when we were up against St. Rudolph."
The court was silent for a second or two, until Momo whispered to Eiji, "He says that like he doesn't care."
"That's because he doesn't," stated Tezuka, just blunt and bitter enough to really startle the younger boy. "I didn't make a mistake by choosing you to lead Seishun back into the Nationals, did I?"
It was at that point, where Ryoma realized where his captain was going with this. He had no faith. When he was a freshman, he shoved himself into the background, just where he liked to be, so he only had to worry about himself. No one was there to disturb his peace, and he could slip under that radar, the "first year" title, if you will, and crush his presumptuous foes once on the court. Now that everybody knew, respected, and depended on him, it wasn't quite as fun, and he was still learning how to handle it. He eventually started to lose his drive for success altogether. They didn't take on Kantou as a team, where all eight Regulars depended on one another. No, they took on Kantou, where the whole team relied on Echizen, which put him on the spot. Not to mention, he hadn't really learned anything from them. He never cared to pay enough attention.
He never knew what to tell his team mates, other than where they were flawed. Many of them just quit the team, after Ryoma practically told them "Give up. You suck." He didn't know why. Weren't they supposed to try to prove him wrong, or something lame like that? Where had that drive, that... connection he had with Seigaku gone? Tezuka Kunimitsu must've taken it with him-
-Of course he did, because the one thing Tezuka cared about above all else was his team, and bringing out the best in all of its members. He had a real passion for that kind of thing. Ryoma had never even tried it before.
Ryoma had to attain a passion for leading his team first, but he need just the right drive for it. That was something he needed to find on his own.
"Sorry to interrupt this lovely staring contest, but you don't have much time to get cleaned up before your date, Echizen," Fuji intervened, eyes open and barely smiling anymore. Seems Fuji caught on to what Tezuka was saying, just like he always did, and had a few choice words of his own, though he didn't have to say them to express them. The tensai was on the road to becoming pissed, and that alone could sink a continent, if Fuji so choosed. Seigaku meant the world to Tezuka, after all, and if that were to go down in shambles, it may very well be the crushing blow that drew the stoic captain into quitting tennis. Fuji couldn't have that. Tezuka was the only player better than himself that he knew, and it's what kept his interest in tennis alive. And tennis was the only interesting thing he knew right now.
The rest of the team had their eyes glued to the wonder boy. None of them could even began to imagine how embarrassed Echizen must've felt.
"Ne, buchou," through his humiliation, Ryoma managed a smirk and raised his eyes with enough intensity to counter the bespeckled captain's. "My team will be the best Seigaku has ever seen."
With that, Tezuka nodded once and turned toward Nanjiroh, who'd been snickering at Ryoma's embarrassing exposition the entire time.
"Let's see that it does."
---
Sakuno never thought the color blue looked good on her. When she was ten, one of her cousins commented that it clashed too much with her hair, which was why most of her wardrobe consisted of pinks, whites, and yellows. Too much blue brought too much attention to her face, and she didn't like to show off.
But when Tomoka insisted that this skin tight, ankle-high gown that pooled out from the waist down was the one for her, Sakuno didn't argue. Apparently, even though she didn't always agree with it, Tomoka had better dress sense than she did. The baby blue brought much more attention to her hair, now dried and curled in the front. Though her face still held a ghost of swelling from her earlier bout of tears, she had to admit, she didn't look half bad.
Maybe, just maybe she'd impress Ryoma tonight. If nothing else, that'd be enough of a feat to carry her through the rest of the year.
"Ryoma-sama should be here any time now. Hurry, hurry, get into your shoes."
Once she'd slid into her dress shoes, she waited eagerly for Ryoma's arrival. She was worried for a moment that he wouldn't find the place, or that he even knew she was here. She figured An would've told the boys, but once the time for him to be there had come, there was nobody at the door. An phoned Momoshiro to make sure they had they were headed to the right house, and even stood outside to wait for them.
After a long phase of twiddling her jumpy fingers, she checked the clock in fear. The dance itself had started five minutes ago, thought Sakuno, with a groan. He couldn't have forgotten, right? No, when Ryoma says he'll do something, he sticks to it. Otherwise, she would've been told 'mada mada dane' in response to her request, or something.
Being fashionably late was what he did, though. She was worrying too much. He was late to everything; school, tennis matches, everything. Always late, always worrying people with his apathy, slow motion, and sleeping habits. She wondered if he fell asleep and forgot to wake up in time. No, his friends would be there to make sure Ryoma got up and got ready. Something was wrong.
Before she could go down the list of all the possibilities, though, An walked though the door with Ryoma and Momo on her tail. Once the dolled up girl got an eyeful of her date, she let rip a tiny giggle. Thank goodness he was here.
But also, "A-ano, Ryoma-kun, w-would you like me to help you with that?"
As she walked slowly up to him, he looked down at the offending object in question. Indeed, buttoning a shirt, sliding into a pair of shoes, and tying a tie all at the same time was about as easy as giving Karupin a bath. All the while, Kikumaru was spraying deodorant under his shirt, and Oishi was trying to comb out the shorter boy's wet hair. Once that was done, Ryoma then realized he still had a toothbrush in his mouth, and fell and landed right on top of his pants. He claimed it didn't matter, but all of his senpai insisted that he go change, even though the only clean pair he had left was part of his spare school uniform. This was going to be a long night.
He made no objections when Sakuno stood there and redid his tie, even if Momoshiro was way too amused by it.
"You're being loud, senpai."
"AHAHAHAHA! Tough break, Echizen."
"Really, it's not that funny."
When Sakuno was finished, she smiled right up at him. It was then that he noticed something... different. Something... missing? Ryoma couldn't quite put his finger on it, though.
"Let's go," Seigaku's captain muttered, not offering to take her hand, or anything romantic of the sort. It was much more like he only wanted to get this all over with. Sakuno wouldn't let that get to her, though. It's how he always was.
Once they were out of Tomoka, Momoshiro and An's sights, who were probably still lingering in the doorway as they walked, Sakuno ducked her head down and sighed.
"I'm sorry I made you go through so much trouble for this."
Ryoma shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me."
"You look nice."
"Not really."
He was in his school uniform, with a tie added on. He was literally out the door at the very last minute, after all, and didn't have time to raid the nether regions of his closet to find anything else even remotely formal to wear.
He hardly looked at her yet, but decided to spare her a glance just for the heck of it. She probably went through just as much hell as him, considering how loud that best friend of hers was and all.
"You cut your hair," Ryoma stated, as if it were just something out of the blue he barely put any thought into. He was glad she'd done it, though. Hair as long as that had no place in tennis.
She took a shuddery breath. "Do you like it?"
"Sure."
That was the extent of that topic. Sakuno didn't know whether to be more frustrated or relieved, that he didn't approved nor denounce the new look. She'd been dreading Ryoma's reaction to her new hair from the get-go, and yet he couldn't seem to care less. Same old Ryoma.
---
Their late arrival went unnoticed, making it fairly painless.
They didn't make it in time to see the awkward moment, where everyone just stared at the dance floor for a half an hour. Not that he minded. It was a waste of time to just stand around a school dance and, well, not dance. That belief would make him a hypocrite, though. Ryoma hadn't quite developed the proper mind set for this situation yet. He thought he'd just be going to this thing. The fact that it was a dance, in which the people, well, danced, didn't really sink in until he was there. He didn't object to it, though. Once he spotted Horio trying to demonstrate he smooth moves to some poor second year girl, Ryoma led Sakuno up to him, trying not to show too much amusement.
"Mada mada dane."
"Oi, Echizen!" said Horio in the middle of a dip. The shock those sudden, smirking hazel eyes gave him almost caused him to drop his date. She looked a little frightened until Horio brought her back up.
He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously. "Ah, gomen, gomen!"
Reluctantly accepting the apology, the two of them proceeded to dance, and Ryoma followed in suit with Sakuno. He'd never done this before, but like all other new experiences, this couldn't be too hard to get the hang of. All he had to do is not step on Sakuno's feet, or draw any attention to himself; that way, he'd look just as stupid as everybody else. Surely he didn't (couldn't) look as stupid as Horio, which was why he chose to dance beside him and his date. Maybe this would be fun after all, if only to see how long that poor girl could last.
"Too bad Tomo-chan couldn't come. Her parents are away on vacation, so she has to baby-sit the twins," Sakuno said.
"Twins?"
"Oh, you didn't see them. Tomo-chan had them locked in their room all day because of an incident with their fridge."
"I see."
Sakuno sighed pleasantly. "That's why she wanted me to come here so badly. I'm... glad I did."
"Ah," well, considering how many boring people there were in this school, Ryoma couldn't blame her for coming to him. Still, "Why'd you ask me?"
"Ah, well, I... " her face flushed pure scarlet. It shouldn't have been any secret to him really. Everyone and their grandma (especially her's) knew she had a crush on Ryoma the size of Tokyo. Some girls on her team often teased her playfully about it, while some others just glared at her jealously. After all, she was riding on their territory. She wondered if, quite literally, more than half the school's female population had a crush on Ryoma. He wasn't just deemed the Prince of Tennis anymore, but he was also prince of the school. It seems he didn't even notice he'd been anointed that title, or he just ignored it. Ryoma didn't notice any other girls, but he did notice her, at least enough to bring her here tonight.
That alone, made this evening enough.
---
After they'd approached the last hour of the dance, Ryoma got thirsty.
About a block away from the courts, there was a vending machine. When Sakuno informed him that she'd be in the ladies room, he told her he'd be buying himself drink. He had to bum some yen off of Mizuno first, since his senpai didn't give him enough time to grab any. Honestly, who here (besides Tezuka) was the captain, anyway?
But grumbling about his stupid choice in friends aside, he was thirsty as hell. Dancing took more work than it seemed. Good thing he had impressive footwork on the courts, because he'd be at a complete loss otherwise on the dance floor.
Ryuzaki didn't complain at all. In fact, she spent almost the entire evening with a smile on her face. She usually seemed so nervous and reserved, but tonight, she wasn't afraid to let her heart shine in her eyes for him. Blue looked nice on her, too.
Once he reached the vending machine, he clicked the first button that said Ponta, not minding the flavor, and was quick to head back to the school. She'd be waiting for him, and she's waited long enough.
Siiiip.
Coming up from the rear came a spiky haired boy with an identical can of Ponta in his grip. If only he were taller, Ryoma could swear it was Momoshiro. He almost told his senpai to buzz off, but then he realized it wasn't Momo, but-
"Enjoying your night, Echizen-buchou?"
Ochi Yukio.
Well, this was going to be a fun situation to weasel out of. Ryoma frowned, and took a nice, long swing of Ponta to keep his lips occupied. He'd deal with this guy personally... later.
"I saw you with that really cute girl. She's the granddaughter of our coach, isn't she?"
Ryoma didn't answer.
"Aren't you going to say anything?"
It was now or never, Ryoma thought. Time to blurt out something right off the tip of his tongue.
"Who are you?"
Eh, that was going to be a tricky one to pull off, but Ryoma didn't mind the challenge. It gave him something mildly amusing to do this evening. Ochi's face flushed, eyebrows knitted, and arms flailed.
Ponta splashed all over the both of them in that instant. The captain made a note to give Ochi fifty laps Monday morning, and an additional twenty in the afternoon if he was in a bad mood. For the moment, Ryoma just let it slide.
"It's not nice to splash people you don't even know with juice."
"What are you talking about, Echizen-buchou? Of course I know you! Everybody does!"
"Mmm, I see-" Ryoma took a moment to ring the juice out of his tie before he continued. "-People mistake me for my cousin all the time."
"Your... cousin?"
Ryoma nodded.
"My name is Echigo Nanigashi, Ryoma-san's identical cousin."
Somehow, Ochi doubted this was truly a mirror image of his buchou. Granted, he'd only recently joined the team and barely knew his captain, the similarities in appearance between this boy and Echizen were uncanny. Hell, he was even wearing a Seigaku school uniform with a tie over it. Why would his captain's cousin be wearing that of all things?
Actually, why would his cousin be there at all?
"Ryoma-san's playing sick, just so he wouldn't have to bring his girlfriend here tonight. He's such a jerk-"
Okay, now that part didn't sound like Echizen. Calling someone a jerk with vehemence, and dancing the night away with a pretty girl. Playing sick, however, was believable, and Echizen certainly was a jerk. He wouldn't even give his own teammates a chance to show him their skill. Albeit one of the best tennis players in the history of Seigaku, he definitely had to be one of the worst captains.
Ochi would crush him.
"Say, Echigo-kun, do you play tennis?"
"Nope. Can't stand it."
There was someone in Echizen's family who couldn't stand tennis? He didn't think it was possible, but nevertheless, "That's too bad. I was in the mood for a good match."
"Well," Echigo started, devising a brilliant plan to wrap up the evening with. Something so good, it would knock Ochi off of his self-righteous pedestal for awhile, and inspire him to rebuild himself. The poor guy needed it.
"Ryoma-san's girlfriend is a good player."
Ochi stared at him like he had two heads for a second, then took a minute to consider it. Of course! She was the granddaughter of their tennis coach, and the captain's girlfriend. Her being good at tennis made perfect sense.
Still, she was awfully dainty, skinny, and shaky to be a great tennis player. He smirked. By crushing her, he was indirectly crushing Echizen, as well. Perfect, he thought.
"Mind if I have a one set match with her?"
Ryoma shrugged. "That's up to her. I'll go ask. We'll meet you right here when we're ready."
Perfect, Ochi thought again. This was going to be easier than taking down their vice captain. There was no way in hell he could lose.
---
"Why did you bring me here, Ryoma-kun? This is the boy's locker room?"
And it smelled every bit as bad as she was told. And it was the 'BOYS' locker room. This was beyond awkward for her; it was just forbidden. She felt the need to cover her eyes and run out the door as quickly as her little legs could carry her.
"It's not like I have the keys to the girl's locker room."
"But... why are we... ?"
"You're going to play tennis. I have to find you something to wear-"
"E-excuse me? What do you mean I'm... tennis? Ryoma-kun? Why? Against who? I don't have my racket. And I'm not very good-"
"You'll be fine. Now-"
His finger scrolled down the first page of some olive green notebook and paused dead in the center of the page. "Here were go."
He began to work out the combination on one of the lockers, until a familiar click satisfied his ears. He pulled the door open and rummaged around the unkempt pile of junk inside of this compact space until he found what he was looking for.
Ryoma handed her a wrinkled uniform and continued to dig about, seeing if he couldn't find a sufficient pair of sneakers to go with it. "A-ano, why would one of your teammates keep and girl's uniform in his locker?"
"Beats me," said Ryoma, feeling rather irritated with the mess that was forming on the floor. Murakami would know somebody had broken into his locker, and he'd accuse one of his teammates of being a stalker, a thief, or a pervert, and rave about it for a week, or so. He was a strange guy, but at least he could play a decent game of tennis, so it wasn't like Ryoma cared.
Ah, sneakers. Good thing Murakami had such tiny feet, too, or else Sakuno would have to play tennis barefoot.
"You didn't... answer my question, Ryoma-kun. Why am I playing tennis?"
"Why not?"
"That's NOT an answer!" Sakuno yelled, then blushed right afterward. "G-gomen-nasai."
"Ryuzaki?"
Once Ryoma had Murakami's nerve-wracking junk pile safely secured back in the over-stuffed locker, he turned toward the bemused girl with what could pass as a pleading look. At least, as close to one as Ryoma would allow anyone to notice. Sakuno almost dropped the wrinkled uniform when she saw it. He'd never asked anything of her, anything at all, but now, for the first time, he looked like he needed her.
She didn't know why; she didn't even know if this was real, or if it was just some hopeful dream. She'd always wished that, someday, Ryoma would need her. No matter what the situation. If he ever needed her, she wanted to be right there with him. Her worth was only wishful thinking most of the time, like the situation broken racket slicing his eyelid a couple of years ago.
It was different this time, though. He requested her help, she didn't just offer it. It was almost too good to be true.
Sakuno bowed. "I'll play, Ryoma-kun."
---
Since (to his knowledge) the club house was locked up, Ochi had changed into his tennis clothes in the closest bathroom his could find. He was waiting patiently by the vending machine he'd found Echigo at.
This was going to be a hoot, crushing Echizen's girlfriend right before his very eyes.
Who the hell was he trying to kid, anyway? He'd heard all about this pretentious young captain throughout the years and wanted to puke. Ryoma always tried to pull stunts like this, making people believe he was somebody else, to avoid being put on the spot. It almost worked, but that careless, stuck up attitude the pint sized buchou carried with him was nothing that could be imitated. Since the moment Echizen refused his offer in the club house, he knew that the captain thought poorly of him. He couldn't stand it!
Just because Echizen went undefeated for two years didn't mean he had the right to ignore his players.
Echizen would pay for his negligence.
"Ne, uh... "
"Ochi Yukio, the most powerful player in Seigaku!"
Ryoma had to repress a snort.
"Okay, Ochi-kun. This is Saku-chan. She'll be your opponent."
"S-saa," the nickname caused her face to burn with an unhealthy, florid color, despite the circumstances. "Ry... uh, Na-kun, are you... sure this guy will... be a challenge?"
He wanted to slap himself, but that'd be a dead giveaway. Sakuno was really bad at acting.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was your girlfriend, Echigo-kun."
"Ryoma-san got to her first, I'm afraid."
Girlfriend? Sakuno stared at Ryoma as if he were a ghost. Ignoring the bemused glance, he just dug into the duffle bag he stuffed her dress into and pulled out a racket. It was time to get serious, before things got unnecessarily awkward between the two of them.
"Let's get this thing over with already," said Echigo, claiming tennis was so boring, and the sooner this was over, the better. Ochi almost doubted this was Echizen once again.
Keyword, almost.
---
"Game, Ryuzaki, six-games-to-three."
Ochi had been blatantly humiliated once again by his captain.
Sakuno stared down at the green frame of the racket she'd used and was trembling. She... won? Was this supposed to happen? Was she supposed to know how to avoid hitting deep shots? How to force her players to backhand? How to detect weaknesses in her opponents play? Surely, any of what she learned in order to defeat the second year boy was from what Ryoma had told her to do. She held her hand out to Ochi, hoping he'd shake and accept defeat just like that, but he completely ignored her.
It looked as if arrows were shooting from his gaze, and every single one was aimed at Echizen Ryoma. She couldn't tell whether the younger boy was closer to crying or killing his captain.
"Echizen-buchou, why do you keep humiliating me like this?"
Ouch. He sounded truly hurt with that, and Sakuno groaned. Indeed, she wanted to know what his intentions were, too. They couldn't have been just to embarrass the poor guy, could they? Ryoma was pretty rude at times, but he wasn't flat-out cruel.
"So, you've figured me out, then," said Ryoma, stepping down from the bleachers. He took a few steps toward Ochi, who was presently on his knees, trying to avoid the first sob. The captain rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Now, did you figure yourself out?"
Ochi tore his gaze from the expectant captain. If he was going to cry, he didn't want to see the look on Ryoma's face. It was too much to bare.
"I... don't know what you mean."
"Well, then figure it out. What shots did Ryuzaki send your way?"
It took him a moment, as he was already trying to block the present defeat from his train of thought. What had she been doing? What...
"Shallow," Ochi whispered. "I had to run up to the net a lot."
"And?"
"And-" And? Was there really anything else? Something else about this match frustrated the piss out of him, but...
"And... and... oh!" His eyes met Ryoma's again. "I had to hit a lot of backhand shots!"
"Bingo," Ryoma dead-panned. "Mada mada dane."
"Ah... oh... " Frustrated tears surfaced, and the second year was officially crushed. His two biggest weaknesses were exposed in the worst possible way. He didn't think such a sweet looking girl could play tennis so well, meaning he also judged his opponents by appearance alone. She was just good enough to expose every little flaw he had. She messed with his tempo, too, hitting balls to the opposite sides of the court so he'd have to chase them, lowering his stamina. She avoided lobbing as much as possible, taking away his ability to smash. And her concentration was flawless. Once she stopped thinking entirely an found herself in game mode, she played well. This was a brand new discovery, even for Ryoma, and especially for herself.
Ryoma evolved two tennis players just now, and he didn't even have to lift his racket. He'd have to try this with the rest of his team sometime.
"Ochi."
"H-hai-"
"Are you done being arrogant?"
"Hai, desu."
"Good. Improve yourself, become a Regular, and help my team make the Nationals this year."
"Hai, desu! Arigatou-gozaimasu, buchou."
Ochi stood and bowed before his captain. He had the wrong idea about Echizen entirely. This whole time, all he wanted was for Ochi to realize where he was weak, so he could improve and join the Regulars. It made the situation far less humiliating and more fulfilling, which he was grateful for. He would always remember this, as the day his road to stardom truly began.
He bid the pair farewell. One down, seven to go. Maybe now, they could make it to the Nationals as a team, rather than their captain's trained monkey squad after all.
He couldn't have done it without Sakuno. Without the fact that she was a girl to really stick it to Ochi, this wouldn't have worked as well. So, tonight wasn't a total waste after all.
---
Once Sakuno got cleaned up and slid back into her now duffle bag disheveled dress, Ryoma awaited her outside of the girl's bathroom for her.
"Thank you, Ryuzaki," he whispered upon her return.
She smiled nervously at him and took his hand. "It was my pleasure, Ryoma-kun, though I wasn't sure if I was going to win-"
"I was," said Ryoma, as they walked off from the school, hand in hand together. He returned her gesture without really realizing it. "You've improved a little. I'll bet it was the haircut."
"You think so?"
"Aa, it was too long before. It made your forehand shots sloppy. Now, it's perfect."
Wow, perfect? She couldn't imagine anything about her being perfect in Ryoma's eyes. One thing was for sure now, she no longer regretted letting An cut it.
"Ryoma-kun... "
"Hmmm?"
"Well... about tonight... ah, oooh... "
"What about tonight?"
She was at a loss for words once again. What she really wanted to do was ask how he felt about her, now that they've... officially dated? No, that wasn't it. Ryoma never dated. He probably just felt obligated to come-
-Or so she thought, until the silence became way too much for either of them to bare. Ryoma bent forward and kissed her square on the lips before she even knew it.
And by the time she did, he pulled back.
"That's for giving me what I was missing."
"W-what you were missing?"
"Aa."
She didn't question that any further. Given that one of his team mates was to evolve because of her, she figured something about that match flipped a switch on inside of Ryoma. From this point forward, he was going to be a real tennis captain in Tezuka's stead, unlike last year, where his Regulars barely made it through Kantou.
How she could inspire the young tennis prodigy so was so beyond her, but as long as she was needed, she'd do her best to be an active part of his world.
"Ne, where do you live again?"
He just had to learn a bit more about her now, and then he'd be all set.
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