Evidentual
By Chiharu
Stage two: love of masquerade
---
"So that's how they ran into each other again." Sammy finished, smiling at the table. "Isn't it awesome?"
"Wow." Nora turned side way to smile at her nephew. "Ryoma Echizen is that rising tennis player, right? You never mentioned you knew him."
"His skills are pretty good." His uncle added in, grinning. "Why don't you invite him over and we can have a few matches?"
"Dad." Samantha laughed, cutting through her steak with the sharp knife. "He's a professional; you won't last a minute with him. Right, Kevin?"
"He's okay." The blonde grumbled, taking another bite of his bread. He leaned back to allow the maid to collect his plate.
"I think it's rather exciting." A dull voice spoke up. They turned towards the direction of the end of the dinning hall where the woman had been sitting. His grandmother usually didn't speak up a lot; to cut into their currently conversation of tennis was rather... Odd, to say the least.
"Well." Sammy grinned. "He's a really good tennis player. During the match, he was super fast."
"Really." The elderly woman looked slightly amused. "And you say Kevin played tennis with him?" Her tone was almost demeaning.
"Eh, Yes." Kevin quickly nodded in return. His grandmother had long since found extreme interest in taunting the boy; Kevin had a slight idea that it was because of his previous background as apposed to his father. He had managed to deal with her for awhile now; she didn't live full-time with his aunt, but next weekend happened to be Eastern Sunday. Kevin silently cursed the Eastern Bunny for this.
"Yeah, Gramma." Sammy quickly came to the rescue of her cousin. "Ryoma even said they played together in the Jr. Tournament a few years ago."
"I see." The woman's glaze softened upon her grand daughter. "A few year ago. Tell me, Kevin, when was the last time you saw him?"
Kevin slightly cursed the fact that the woman was bias towards his cousin, but nodded anyway. "I was twelve, and I saw him in the New York Tournament as well."
"He was invited to the New York Tournament and you weren't?" Voice intimidating, she smiled cautiously at the boy.
Kevin inwardly reminded himself to count to ten. "Grandmother, he was competing in an international tournament, and I happened to be in the law suit at the time."
"I see." The sixty-eight year-old looked slightly disappoint, returning to her meal.
"Either way." His uncle spoke up again. "I think you should invite him over for dinner next Friday with you; we can play a few games of tennis in the back court."
"I'm not sure if that's a good idea." Nora carefully phrased, eyeing her mother. "Wouldn't he be busy? Besides, I'm sure Kevin has better things to do with his friend than to attend the Easter Dinner-"
"I think it's a wonderful idea." His grandmother spoke up once again, silencing the law.
Damn.
- - -
"Let's play tennis." Kevin declared rather randomly over his cup of coffee.
Ryoma blinked, sipping onto his can of Fanta. "Now?"
"Here's your soup." One of the waitresses intercepted between the round table, giving Ryoma a shy look before going back to the corner.
"I don't know. Sometimes this week?" Kevin looked out of the glassy, front-side window installed in the small cafe. "I just finished exams, so I need some relaxing time."
"We haven't played tennis together in seven years." The Japanese boy replied rather dully, picking up his spoon. "I don't want you to get hurt."
"I'm gonna ignore the fact you just insulted me." The blonde declared, returning his glaze back on the boy-no, young man in front of him. "Let's play tennis Friday."
"Friday." Ryoma looked up. "I'll have to ask my manger, but I'll probably be free. Why the sudden interest in tennis?"
"You, being the pro here, probably shouldn't be talking." Kevin smirked, messing around with his mixing straw. "I've been waiting to ask you though, how did you go pro?"
Ryoma blinked.
"I mean." He quickly explained. "We're the same age, so shouldn't you be in collage or something?"
The raven haired boy fell quite. "Friday... What's happening on Friday?"
The freshmen quickly acknowledge the sudden change of topics; years spent with his grandmother told him it probably wasn't any of his business. "To tell you the truth... My uncle wants to invite you over for dinner."
"I see." Ryoma looked up. "Why Friday? I'm free, but couldn't he have picked a day where there's less socializing amongst people. What if I had a date?"
"Well, you don't." Kevin quickly replied, smirking. "But Friday's when I have dinner at the main house."
"Main house?"
"Yeah, I live on campus with a few friends. But I visit my Uncle's... Manner, every Friday night for a family gathering."
"Family Gathering..." The term easily rolled off the Japanese boy's tongue. "Wouldn't I be interrupting something private, then?"
"Not really." Kevin shrugged. "Besides, my grandmother requested that you come as well. You can't really turn her down unless, of course, you want to wake up on the wrong side of the bed for the rest of your life."
"Your grandmother." Ryoma frowned. "From your mother's side?"
"Yeah." The blonde rubbed his head awkwardly. "She... Doesn't really like me too much. I think the only reason she invited you was because she wanted a chance to make fun of the poor state of the people I hang out with. And since my roommates are all from big families, she couldn't pass down a chance of meeting you, The Free-Lance Tennis Player."
"I see." Ryoma smirked rather unnaturally, setting his wallet down. "I'll come, then. The Free-Lance Tennis Player can't possibly turn down a possibility of being insulted."
"You asked for it."
- - -
Ryoma turned up on the Hemming's Mansion doorstep at about 4:51 on Friday afternoon.
"I'm sorry." The maid smiled apologetically. "According to Mistress Hemming's orders, all unauthorized personal are to report from the back door."
"I'll tell you when I see one of them." The tennis player replied dully, pushing the girl aside as he made his way in through the door way.
"Ah-sir! I can't-"
"What's all that noise?" Kevin chose that moment to come into the halls from the dinning room, yawning slightly at the maid.
"Master Kevin." The girl immediately bowed. "I... He-"
"Relax, Freasa." The blonde smirked. "I invited him."
"Ah." The maid instantly blushed, offering words of apology at Ryoma while bowing down in an unnatural speed until Kevin dismissed her, reassuring the girl that the guest needed to get used to it either way. He turned around to scan the other's choice of clothing: black t-shirt, jeans, watch and wristband. His grandmother was gonna have a ball with this.
"I told you to dress casually." Kevin hissed, leading the way to the main dinning room.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware of the fact that "casual" means church clothing in The Rich's vocabulary." Ryoma replied, voice dripping with sarcasm as he followed the blonde into the ball-room light dinning space.
There were promptly ten or so people already seated on the dinning table; they quickly looked up upon the boys' entrance.
"Hey, you weren't lying." One of the blonde girls quickly grinned at Samantha. "He really is the tennis player from that tournament!"
Kevin quickly took a seat next to another boy, hissing for Ryoma to do so next to him. The blonde was slightly relieved that Samantha's friends had showed up in jeans as well; he himself wasn't dressed very formally to be truthful, but the fact that his grandmother was obviously going to notice that made him edgy.
"Now that we're all here." The elderly woman sitting at the end of the table spoke up. "We may begin. Freasa, bring out the food." The maid quickly nodded, heading towards the kitchen. "Although, Samantha, I am rather surprised you invited so many people. You must help to refresh my memory a bit."
"Well." The girl quickly smiled. "You told Kevin to bring a friend, so I thought I could bring Jake as well since he was in town this weekend." She quickly smiled at her boyfriend. "Well, Delphi wanted to come because she heard you were making your famous pie, and then Eli wanted to latch along. It would've been impolite to not invite Stephanie as well, since she was with us; and of course, Billy tagged along because he's just protective like that."
"It's my fault, really." Delphi smiled politely towards the older woman. "It's just that I love your pie so much the last time you made it; I couldn't help myself."
"Daphne, dear." Julia Hemming laughed whole-heartedly. "You're always welcomed here. And so are the rest of your friends." They paused as a couple of maids entered, setting the plates of food down onto the dinning hall.
"Now." His grandmother turned towards Ryoma. "And you are?"
"Ryoma's a profession tennis player, Grandmother." Kevin quickly replied for the boy. "He's currently in the 68th annual k Grand tournament and-"
"Did I ask for you to speak up?" The woman's demanding tone cut through; the rest of the diners looked slightly apologetic at Kevin. Julia Hemming's dislike towards her grandson was more than common knowledge. She turned towards Ryoma, "please continue where he left off."
Ryoma looked up dully, voice flat. "I've just proceed onto the quarter-finals last week. If things go according to plan, I shall be moved up for the Wimbledon tournament by next month."
"I see." The woman replied in the same demeaning tone. "You are the same age as Kevin, right? I know that most pros tend to swing this way, but do you mind if I ask exactly why you are not in collage right now?"
Kevin could feel Ryoma automatically stiffen from his seat. He quickly shot his friends a look, begging for someone to speak up and cut into the conversation.
"Mrs. Hemming." Quite Stephanie slowly spoke up. "A lot of people wait a year or so before collage so they can pursue after their currently opposition. It's really not very uncommon amongst young professionals."
"Oh?" The women replied, still staring at the Japanese boy. "Then, prey tell, which collage have enrolled you in a temporary out program?"
Kevin was growling inwardly, teeth clutching. He blinked when a hand moved across his lap under the table, silencing him before he could do something to regret about.
"Actually, Mrs. Hemming." Ryoma spoke up easily. "I have a degree in international translation from Duke due to an early acceptance; I fail to see how else we could be communicating other than that." Duke, Kevin paused. That was one of the Ivy League schools; was his grandmother really going to buy that?
"Really. Then you wouldn't mind demonstrating a few languages already. I personally took Russian when I was in collage. Please, I'm sure your talent is quite remarkable already." She smiled slowly.
Ryoma smirked in return. "Madem, possiamo discutere questa tutta la notte sull'oggetto, ma troverei quello rude." The tone easily rolled off of his tongue; Kevin couldn't help but stare along with the rest of the dinning hall. He hadn't been lying.
"Ah." She smiled, satisfied. "I suppose you're right; let's all enjoy dinner, shall we?" The tense atmosphere suddenly lighted remarkably. Kevin could only star at disbelief; amazing, he managed to get the she-wolf to accept while it took him years to get slightly comfortable.
The Japanese boy quickly ate his meal, desert, and asked for a cup of water before excusing himself from the table. The others nodded pleasantly at him before Kevin quickly followed him out the dinning hall.
They paused upon walking into the garden a few minutes later.
"I don't believe you." Kevin spoke up slowly.
"Nobody asked you to believe me; the objective was for your grandmother to stop harassing you and get over with her past offerings before she rot and die." Ryoma replied simply, stretching into the fresh breeze of oak in the yard.
"Not all that shit about your degree." The blonde boy quickly replied. "I just can't believe... You tame her obsession to make fun of people I associate myself with."
"Actually." Ryoma turned around; his featured glowing in the afternoon sunshine. "I've known you for awhile now; wouldn't that be before you met those Friends she, let's say, disapprove of?"
"I don't know." Kevin frowned. "She likes Sammy's friends. Scratch that; couldn't you see she adored them?"
"Please don't tell me you're jealous because she doesn't spoil your friends like the way she does hers." The tennis player replied slowly, eyeing the setting sun as he took a seat on the porch. "Because nothing is ever really fair."
"Ah, I know." The freshmen took a seat next to him, following his glaze. "With my Grandmother... She's not very fond of me because..." Kevin paused; he really needn't to tell Ryoma about all this. "It's a long story."
"I see." Ryoma murmured, pausing to enjoy the moment of sunset. Kevin could almost feel a quite comfort coming from the other boy. "She's not spoiling you because she has higher expectations from you. People tend to do that a lot."
Kevin frowned. "You-"
Ryoma's cell phone chose than time to start ringing. The Japanese boy blinks before snapping it open, pressing it against his ear. "Hello?... Yeah. Okay... She what?"
Kevin frowned, exploring all possibilities of this phone call's origin. His mother had an accident. His girlfriend committed suicide. His grandmother died. Maybe he's aunt is in the hospital?
"I have to go." Ryoma cut into his train of thoughts, tucking his cell phone away.
"Eh, what happened?"
Ryoma blinks, as if he didn't expect the boy to ask him about this sudden emergency. "Eh... My manager just reminded me that I had an interview tonight."
"Alright." Liar! Kevin wanted to say, but he couldn't. The guy looked worried, and he wasn't in a particular mood to make it worse for him.
- - -
"You know, about that friend you brought to dinner." Delphi spoke up slowly, reaching for another slice of pizza. "He seems very sad. Like... I don't know how to explain it."
"I agree." Stephanie joined in, leaning back on the couch. "It's like he has something to say, but can't take the risk of doing so."
"How did you meet him again, anyway?" Billy spoke up, turning his attention away from the T.V. They're at the weekly student consul meeting. But since none of them were on the student consul, they used that name as an excuse to randomly eat pizza and watch a movie every week.
Kevin blinked. "Run into him at the tennis matches. He doesn't seem that different to me."
"Mmm." Billy took another bite of his pizza. "Maybe his tennis doesn't seem that different to you, but I agree to the fact that there's something odd about him."
"He's right, Kev." Eli waved his pizza. "You're kind of bad at analyzing people."
"I must insist that the conversation takes a turn from criticizing me." The blonde replied, snapping his coke can open. "Whatever's going on with Ryoma... Well, it's his business. If he wanted to tell me about it, I'd know already."
Delphi paused. "Are you good friends with him?"
Kevin blinked. "What kind of question is that?"
"I mean." The girl quickly explained. "Were you guys close before? Or are you two just being civil right now, but neither of you are old enough to admit that you're not twelve anymore? So if you weren't really good friends to begin with, maybe that's why it's so awkward between the two of you."
Kevin frowned. The girl was actually making sense. "You know, I can't speak for him, but I thought we were friends to a degree."
"Well, he seems nice." Stephanie smiled. "Just... A little lost."
"To where?" Eli blinked.
"Figurative language is not your forte." Billy patted Eli on the back, smirking at his girlfriend. Kevin silently wondered about that. Maybe he was blind to body language, but Ryoma did change a lot.
The blonde understood that people change as they grow up, but the Japanese boy strayed very far from the Ryoma in his memories. Kevin's not sure if it's for the good of him or not; Ryoma Echizen is now extremely matured. It was a good thing, but there was also such thing as being "too mature" when you're only nineteen.
"He plays professional tennis, right?" Eli spoke up again, snatching the last piece of pizza away from Billy. "Is he good?"
Kevin paused. "He's pretty good."
"Better than you?" Delphi smirked.
"Let's not go into that." Billy laughed.
- - -
"When's your next match?" Kevin swung his racket around, smoothly returning the ball in a backhand motion.
"Next week." Ryoma took a step back, easily putting the ball back in motion over the net. "Why?"
"Nothing, really." Kevin runs towards the left, slicing the ball into the other court. It landed swiftly behind Ryoma; not the he bothered to stop it. "You just seem to be pretty busy."
"I'm always busy." The other boy shrugged, picking the ball up. He threw it in midair, swinging his right arm around to smash the ball down into a serve. Ryoma was playing with his right hand. The ball landed right in front of the line as Kevin moved up to return it with both hand on racket.
He used too much strength, and the ball went out of the court.
Ryoma picked it up, walking towards the fence. "Let's stop; I'm hungry.
The blonde was about to say the same himself. They had played three sets already; he was dead tired. Kevin honestly didn't expect the other boy to suddenly agree when he had called that morning, asking to play a game of tennis.
Ryoma replied with the fact that he was free and in dire need of something to do; New York was, apparently, boring to him. They met up at a tennis club. The two were originally supposed to pay a small fee to get in, but were set aside to an exception when the manager realized 'Hey! You play tennis on T.V."
"I don't like fast-food places." The tennis player declared rather randomly. "Let's go to a restaurant or something."
"Fine. But you're paying."
Ryoma blinks. "Hey. Who got us into the court for free?"
"Yeah, yeah." Kevin waved it aside, looking around. "Where do you wanna go?"
"I'm not the one that lives here." The Japanese boy replied. "Why don't you surprise me?"
"I feel obligated to inform you that my idea of a perfect meal is an order of extra large pizza." The collage freshmen replied semi-seriously. "So I wouldn't really be the right person to ask."
Ryoma paused, looking around. He quickly spotted something in the distance before turning around towards the girl managing the courts. "When does this place close?"
"Uh?" She blinked. "Uh. Ten at night."
"Alright." He pulled his stuff up and grabbed Kevin's tennis bag out of his hand. "Can you keep this for us? We'll come back and get it before the courts close."
"Eh." The girl blushes. "Well, I'm really not allowed to do that. The boss will get mad an-"
"If we don't get here before then, you can keep my stuff." He insisted, pushing the bags towards the girl. "They're all name brand; YONEX. If I don't come back, you can keep them."
"Eh.." She paused. "Alright."
Ryoma grabbed Kevin's arm before pulling him into a pack of bushes behind the tennis court. The blonde blinks as he is being sneaked onto a parking tour bus.
INTERNATIONAL REVERSES AND Co., it read.
"Shh." Ryoma whispered as he climbed onto the back, opening the door. The attendance was standing in the front, going over the tour map of New York. They quickly took a seat in the back, locking the back-door up again.
The attendance was going doing the aisles, checking.
"Quick." The dark hair boy hissed. "Act foreign."
"How to I-"
The woman was now standing in front of them, blinking. "Excuse. I seem to have misplaced you on the list. May I ask for your name?"
"Boku wa Echizen Nanjiroh." The Japanese boy quickly offers.
"Un I ham derman." Kevin adds, smiling foolishly.
The attendance gets the hint and let it go, heading back towards the front of the bus. The driver informs them on the speaker that this trip will be very meaningful.
The first sight was the New York local theater. It was constructed in 1983 and rebuilt after being torn down during the nineties; or, at least, that's what the attendance told them. Somewhere during the narration, Kevin stopped listening. Pressing his head against the window, he apparently fell into a light slumber until Ryoma offered a sharp jab on his side.
"Oww- What?" The blonde looked up to see that everyone getting off the bus. Ryoma was standing in front of their seat, smirking.
"We're in front of New York's 'Number One Restaurant'." The Japanese boy declared. "Or, that's what called it. I hope that's not the actual name."
"That's really nice." Kevin mumbled, going back to sleep. "But neither one of us have any money. This is New York, hell for freeloaders."
"Okay." Ryoma smirks slowly. "Then why are they handing out money as "complimentary offers along the tour"?"
"Alright." The taller boy quickly stood up. "Let's go."
Most of the tourist carefully selected meals off the menu with the money they were offered: twenty dollars each. Kevin silently noted that INTERNATIONAL REVERSES AND CO. is actually ripping people off with their own money, but he kept quite.
The two tennis players took one look the menu and started ordering. Beef stew, a chicken sub, some Mexican rice, and a bottle of water. It was a pretty good deal considering the fact that they only had forty dollars put together. And the fact that the money was free also.
"We're going to hell for this." Kevin reminded his companion, picking up a spoon.
"Too late." Ryoma hisses under his breath. "I'm already heading there."
They reloaded the bus thirty minutes later. Ryoma looked impressed with the poverty stricken areas of New York as the bus so glamorously took them wherever. They stopped by China Town fifteen minutes later.
"Wow." Kevin remarks quite sarcastically. "This so American culture-like. Very cinematic. It's like the stuff the government never wants tourists to see; and they're taking us here. I admire their guts and attempts to overthrow the Tourist Agency."
Ryoma kept quiet, following the crowd through the stands of China Town. The group paused at a marketing center.
"Look at this." Kevin picks up a tennis player profile card off a random booth's stand. "Who in the world is Less Gordon, anyway?"
Ryoma ignored him, paying another woman a dollar for a key chain in the shape of a tennis-ball. It was the money left over from their free-lunch. Kevin still couldn't believe they got away with that, either.
"Hey.." A bright voice spoke up behind them. "I know you! You're Echizen Ryoma-sama!"
The two froze.
Crap, Kevin silently swore. Their cover was blown.
Freetalk.
I don't like this chapter very much. Kevin and Ryoma were so out of character, it hurts. oO If you live in New York, I apologize about making up all the stuff about the tour; I've only been to New York once, and yes, I did go see China Town.
Why was Ryoma drinking Fanta and soup together? The answer, I do not know.
About YONEX, I think it's the company that sponsor the sporting goods. You know, that circle-triangle circle-triangle sign we see on PoT rackets and uniforms. I'm pretty sure it's an actual brand, and the YONEX company is sponsoring PoT for whatever reasons that tennis material companies do. XD Actually, I admit that I'd probably buy a YONEX racket after seeing it used in PoT, but I'm just shallow like that.
Thanks to everyone who responded about the Fanta vs. Ponta thing. There's also something I'm confused about, though. If Ryoma's cap used to sport "F"s, why are they now "Rs" in the anime? And since I haven't kept up with the manga, did Konomi-sensei starting using "Ponta" in the manga after the anime was released? You know, for the same reason the anime couldn't use "Fanta"? Questions, questions.
