Tennis no Ouji-sama © Konomi Takeshi, Shuheisha, Inc.


- Act VIII -
[ Realisation ]


As someone who loved seeing something beautiful, seeing his nymph stuck in the hole he deliberately shrunk to her waist size was a pitiful sight. However, he must do everything necessary by any means to make sure she didn't get away from him that time.

"W-w-what are you doing there?!" she shouted, still struggling to get herself to the other side like Tinkerbell trying to get herself out from the keyhole.

"Trying to save a damsel in distress." He smirked as he squatted beside her. "Do you know that you can free yourself if you move backward?"

"And allow you to drink my blood?! Like hell, I will!"

He chuckled at the fact that he could see her expression even though he could only see the lower part of her body. "The sun hasn't set yet but here I else should ore-sama do to convince you that he's not a vampire?"

"Anything you do, you'll still be a vampire to me!"She pushed herself several times until she sprawled on the ground with a grunt. "Say… are you responsible for this shrinking hole?"

"What if I am?"

"How dare you!" She wildly kicked her feet all around. "How could you take my shoe hostage and trap me here?! What do you want from me anyway?"

"I only want you to come with me without putting up any fight." He sighed when he lowered his gaze, seeing how her skirt was dangerously high due to her wild movements. "That aside, you better stop moving or you're going to show me something you don't want me to see."

She sharply gasped, seeming to want to stretch her arm to fix her skirt but she couldn't. "D-don't look! Please don't look!"

"I won't." He took off his jacket and covered her. "But it would be better if you can move backward and come with me."

"No! I won't go anywhere with you!" She stomped her toes against the ground. "Just give me back my shoe and leave me alone!"

"I will return your shoe—only if you come with me.I want to bring you somewhere you're going to like," he said with a smile, feeling confident that she was going to hail his greatness after she saw what he prepared for her. "That's all."

"Somewhere I'm going to… like?"

"Yes. But first of all, I want you to trust me."

She snorted in response. "Why should I trust a man I just met yesterday?! I can't even trust the friends I've been with for five years!" She sounded very bitter upon the mention of her friends.

"I'm not blaming you if you find it hard to trust people after what happened. But ore-sama will do everything in his power to win your trust."

She fell silent for a good thirty seconds. "W-why do you want my trust? What does that mean to you?"

"Everything," he responded. "Ore-sama owns enough money to buy himself an island but that still won't be able to buy myself a trust. So I would be very honoured to get that from you."

"I still don't see why you want to win my trust! You should hate me instead for occupying your court for a while." She stomped her feet on the ground several times.

"In fact, I don't. I want to see you dance again—that's why." He smiled to himself, recalling the feeling he never experienced when he saw her dancing that night.

"Did my dance mean that much to you?" He raised an eyebrow at this, slowly pulled a triumphant smirk because he seemed to make a progress in getting her trust.

"I've seen many world-class ballet performances but none of themcould make me feel what you make me feel," he sincerely said, laying his eyes on her. "None of them…"

She didn't answer him but she seemed to calm and moved backward so he walked back to make a room for her. However…

"Shit…"

"What is it?" he asked.

"I'm stuck…" She started to move again. "I'm stuck! I'm stuck!" she started to sound very panicked and sobbed. "What should I do?! I'm stuck here and it's all your fault! Were you planning to trap me here forever?!"

"Hey, calm down. I wouldn't ask you to come with me if I did." Keigo knelt beside her. "Now, if you'll excuse me," he placed his hands on her waist, "I'll help pull you out from there."

"Don't touch me!" She tensed at his touch and jerked her feet to the air. "Get your hands off me or I'll burn those filthy hands with every garlic essence in my body!"

He chuckled. "Seriously? Are you still at it?" Keigo shook his head disbelievingly. "You better calm down and tilt your body a little. You won't be able to get out if you keep struggling." His thumb slightly rubbed her waist when she still sobbed. "Easy there. I'll get you out, okay?"

She finally moved her body slightly to her left and Keigo waited until she was around thirty degrees from her original position before he pulled her, letting out a shriek as he freed her from the hole. Keigo quickly placed his other arm around her shoulder and pillowed her fall as he fell to the asphalt road.

"Phew… finally!" she said as she panted. But Keigo didn't immediately let her go as the scent of her hair roamed his sense. Every pore of his skin were memorising how holding her felt like.

Somehow, it felt perfect.

"Uhm… can you let me go?" she blinked as he resurfaced from his reverie and helped her up, but his hand still held her wrist to make sure she didn't escape. But to his pleasure, she didn't struggle this time. He wiped the trail of tears on her cheek, smiling as she stared at him with her doe-like eyes.

"I'm really sorry for putting you into trouble."

"You better be!" She slapped his hand from her face and pointed a threatening finger at him. "You better finish whatever business you have with me, return my shoe, and let me go home!"

"Don't worry about that." He entwined his fingers on hers although she was too tense to tightened her fingers around him. "Let's go."

Throughout the one-minute drive from their location to his destination, she kept staring at him like a cat that was ready to scratch him if he dared to make any move to her. But Keigo returned her glare with an endearing smile. The more she scrunched her nose, the wider he smiled at her. He wouldn't blame her for setting her defence up against him but his magnificent self would slowly melt that defence.

When they reached their destination, Keigo opened the door for her. The girl stepped her left leg out, widened her eyes upon seeing the Asakura Mansion, then returned to the car.

"Hey, what's the matter?"

"I d-don't want to go there! Nope! Never!" she said with trembling voice. "Once is more than enough!"

"Once? You've been here before?" She bit her bottom lip and stared at him with guilty eyes. "It's okay. You can tell me what happened. Whatever you did back then, I don't mind."

"I-it was four years ago…," she gulped. "I w-was dancing in the court when the rain suddenly poured down like crazy, so… I ran to the mansion to shelter myself but suddenly the door was… opened from inside. I went inside but found no one. Suddenly I heard someone screaming something about a g-ghost in the court…" She held herself. "I-I couldn't help but cry because I was scared…"

"Someone cried in the hall!"

Suddenly Jirou's story popped into his mind. The one who screamed about the ghost in the court was definitely Gakuto.

"T-then… I hid behind the armour. A-and t-there were footsteps approaching me s-so I pushed the armour and ran away."

"An armour attacked me in the midnight!"

Then came Ryou's story.

"A-after that I ran into another room. T-there was a piano in the center of the room. I w-was approaching it when a black cat appeared out of nowhere. I wanted to take it with me but when the cat walked on top of the piano's key, I heard another scream…"

"The piano played by itself!"

Continued by Chotaro's story.

"I quickly ran into the kitchen since it was the only place that had a light in it, even though it was a dim light. B-but… Two will-o-wisps appeared. I-I tried to shoo them away by throwing anything within my arms reach…"

"Two will-o-wisps?" Keigo rolled his eyes when his logic tried to match her story with Yuushi's. He quickly turned his face away so she wouldn't see how he stifled his laugh, so much that he had to clenched his fists in an attempt to relieve his desire to burst into laughter. The will-o-wisps were definitely Yuushi's glasses' reflection that probably looked like two balls of light in dim light.

To sum it all, she was the ghosts they were seeing.

What was funnier was that she thought his friendswere the ghosts.

How he wanted to announce to the world that his brilliant mind had solved the mystery that engulfed the mansion for years. However, he had a better scenario regarding the ghosts so he would use it for his benefit.

"Ah yes, regarding the rumour. I must admit that there are indeed some activities in this mansion. People did report a lot of sightings." She turned pale at this. "But worry not because ore-sama is ghost-resistant. You won't be bothered as long as you stay close to me," he confidently added.

"R-really? Did your ancestor sign a pact to never bother their blood heir?" she asked.

He was honestly very impressed with her imagination. Despite her being frightened by the ghost, he bet that she actually knew things related to horror so either she actually enjoyed it or someone close to her did.

"Probably," he shortly answered, making her gasp.

"I knew it! You truly are a vampire king that rules over the ghosts in that mansion!"

Keigo's lips tugged in annoyance. Getting this stubborn girl into following what he wished was the hardest thing, next to asking Kunimitsu Tezuka for a match.

"You don't have to worry, okay? You're safe with me."He offered her his hand, waiting for her to accept his hand.

She looked reluctant at first but eventually accepted his hand this time and walked very close to him when he opened the door to the mansion. She held herself as if the room gave her chills while it was actually warm inside.

"What's that?" he suddenly said, making her shriek. The girl quickly clung her hands on his left arm and Keigo smirked at this. When he thought of the benefit of keeping the ghost tale, this was definitely one of them.

"W-what? W-where? Did you see something?" she asked as she simultaneously glanced at her sides.

"Sorry. Just my imagination."

"S-stop scaring me!" She slapped his arm but still clinging to him.

"Even if I see something, I've told you that they won't bother you as long as you stay near me." He patted her hand to calm her and continued walking until he stopped before the door to the place he wanted her to see. His heart was thumping in excitement;he couldn't wait to see how she would react to what was waiting for her behind the door. He stepped aside and let her stood before the door. "Open the door."

She slowly tilted her head to him, staring at him with confusion visible in her eyes, then to the door. Putting her shaking hands on the golden handle, she gulped before proceeding to push the door and revealed what was behind it.

Keigo softly smiled when she covered her mouth the moment she saw the English Garden he recently revived after abandoning it for years. He was amazed himself when he saw how the then decayed garden became the most colourful canvas he ever saw. The multi-colour tulips were lining at each side of the pathway, greeting them until the bridge that would lead them to the pink wisteria trees that almost shielded them from the sun.

"What do you think?" he asked.

She shook her head while slowly stepped into the garden, rubbing her eyes every now and then. "My gosh… This garden is…" she shook her head again, "it's too unreal… Am I dreaming?"

"This is much more beautiful than the court you were dancing in, isn't it?" he said as he approached her from her back. "Also, you're welcome in this garden anytime you want. Dance all you want in it."

She stared at him with eyes widened in excitement at first, but later lowered her head and slowly shook it. "I appreciate it but… I can't."

"Because you can't trust me?" he asked.

The way she quickly craned her head told him that it was a yes. It disappointed him greatly to hear that, but on the other side, he knew well why she did. It wasn't easy to trust people after getting betrayed by the people she trusted.

"Then take your time, Princess." He covered her small hands with his. "I won't ask you to trust me right away, so take your time… until your heart is ready to trust people again."

"I…" She bit her bottom lip. "It's just… we just met yesterday. I can't understand why are you doing this for a stranger like me…"

"Ore-sama is someone who appreciates the value of beauty," he smiled, "and I see it in your dance, which is why I think it is a shame to let such talent end up in a dirty abandoned court."

"It's still my favourite place," she said with a pouty face.

"Then you can dance there too if you want," he added. "You can dance anytime, anywhere in this mansion. I will always welcome you here… In exchange, you will take your time to trust me."

She snorted. "What is my assurance if you do something inappropriate to me?"

Keigo smiled at her challenge. He took the brown package from the table nearby and gave it to her. She frowned upon the item and wasted no time to unpack it, revealing a hair shaver.

"So… does a hair shaver have anything to do with your punishment?"

"I'm giving you the privilege to shave my beautiful hair if I do something that is against your will," he said while proudly flicking his bangs.

It was the first time she showed him how melodious her laughter could be. "You really are an imbecile." She amusedly looked at the hair shaver and said, "I really hope there will never be a moment when I will have to use this."

They spared a moment exchanging a smile one to another before Keigo extended his hand, asking for her hand. "Shall we stroll around the garden?"

This time, she accepted his invitation without any hesitation. Keigo held her hand firmly and led her as he told her how he chose the flowers in the garden. Though he didn't show it at all, he wished she didn't know, how the touch of her hand had driven his heart beating in an immense strength that screamed a foreign feeling he never experienced before.


"You wished to renovate the court?" she asked as she sat on the bench.

"Yes, but I change my mind seeing how you enjoy dancing in it." Keigo knelt before her and put the shoe on her naked foot. She took her shoes off once they entered the court because she loved walking on the grass bare-footed. "It fits," he teased.

"Of course it fits, you dummy! It's my shoe!" Her expression quickly transitioned into her cheerful one once she observed her shoe. "I really don't mind if you want to renovate it into a proper tennis court though. My brother is a tennis player and I bet he would like how it turns out."

Keigo felt like his soul was sucked into a small hole upon the mention of her brother.

"Your brother is a… tennis player?"

"Yes. A professional and the greatest player I've ever known," she proudly said. "He's quite well-known in this neighbourhood because he had been featured in tennis magazine a lot of time."

He swore that there was a moment when his heart stopped beating, resulting in a freezing sensation throughout his veins. He observed her, this time taking his time to study every detail of her face feature.

How could he not realise it sooner?

The very same surname, also their similar dark brown eyes and hair could only mean one thing…

She was the sister of none other than the Seigaku Stone-Faced King…

His greatest rival…

Tezuka Kunimitsu.


AN:Uh-oh! Keigo finally realises that their similar names aren't just a mere coincidence. What will he do? How will he react? You're going to find it out soon in the next chapter!

I hope you're happy with the longer chapter this week. The next two will also be longer than before because *cough* lots of characters *cough* show up. XD

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