A bead of sweat slid down Ryuzaki Sakuno's cheek as her face flushed under the intense heat. Her long braided hair leapt with each swing of her racquet and her tanned skin gleamed under the sun as a result of hours of tennis practices.
The worn tennis ball bounced repeatedly against the wall, making a rhythmic thudding sound in the deserted tennis court. The faint afternoon sun shone warmly upon the girl as she caught the ball in one hand and tried to catch her breath.
Still...not as good as him...obviously... The corners of her mouth lifted as a warm light, which had nothing to do with the sun, glowed within the depth of her eyes.
Not that anyone can possibly be as good as him... Sakuno let out a small laugh as she clearly pictured the familiar figure in her mind. Tightening her grip on the tennis ball, she replayed his graceful moves on the court inside her brain. The sudden pang on the inside of her chest was all too familiar...
It has already been two years and yet the longest he has ever looked at her was about 5 seconds. She wonders if he even notices her when they walk past each other. From her point of view he takes no more interest in her than he would in a lamp post.
Sakuno sighed as she gazed at the drawing on the tennis ball in her hand...the boy wearing a cap seemed to stare back, yet his eyes were blank and expressionless.
Just like how he has always looked at me, ever since I first met him in my first year in Junior High. Sakuno thought bitterly, and perhaps he always will.
Sliding the furry cover back over her tennis racquet, the girl collected her belongings from the bench nearby.
Does my presence even affect you at all, Ryoma-kun...?
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Sakuno stood, annoyed, at the door to her classroom as the huge crowd of girls in front of her chatted and giggled excitedly despite her stares. Having had three unsuccessful attempts already at walking around the loud group of bubbly girls, she was reluctantly but seriously considering a fourth.
"Sakuno! S-Sakuno!" Sakuno caught sight of an arm waving madly in the middle of the troop of girls but she had no way to see its owner, who was well sheltered from sight by a thick wall of Seigaku girls' uniform.
Sakuno sighed and walked away from the door, by that time simply giving up on the idea of entering the classroom.
"S-Sakuno! I-I've just received the latest news!" Two bouncy pigtails popped up in front of Sakuno's face as Tomoka practically screamed into her ear, still breathless from squeezing out of the pack of girls still blocking up the classroom door.
"W-What is it?" Even though Sakuno really isn't one for gossips, her eyes widened at the sight of Tomoka's untidy hair and flushed cheeks from the excitement clearly shown in her voice.
"T-There is going to be a school ball...a Christmas ball...on Christmas Eve...at the school hall..." Tomoka panted, clutching her chest dramatically.
"Err...ok...what's the theme?" Sakuno tried to hide the growing discomfort growing within her mind.
"..F-Fairytale! And since its a ball you must find a date which means that all the girls will be asking Ryoma-sama which means he will be surrounded, TOTALLY surround by girls until he decides on who he's going with which means I won't be able to get close to him for at least a week-" Words tumbled non-stop out of Tomoka's mouth like a magnificent waterfall... it should really be included in the "Seven Wonders" of Seigaku…although she guess it wouldn't be much of a wonder after three years of constant viewing.
Fairytale...? What an original idea...Sakuno thought sarcastically. Now all the girls are going to dress up as princesses and fairies just to please Ryoma-kun...
Sakuno was roused from her thoughts when she heard a great crescendo of screams and looked up just in time to see a head of emerald green hair disappear under masses of shoving arms and bobbing heads.
Looks like I won't be able to see him for a while either. Sakuno smiled bitterly and walked into the classroom, which is now free of any girls since all of them had rushed out to the corridor as soon as Echizen Ryoma appeared.
Great, just great, there's a ball coming up and he still hasn't even seen me. Sakuno's eyes lingered on the massive group of girls now blocking up the entire corridor and thought she saw a flash of golden eyes in the gap between two girls' waists, but the gap was soon covered by more girls joining the wrestling group of females.
She sat down and took out her Mathematics textbook, but was distracted once again by a heavy thud on the seat behind her. As if it had all been planned in perfect timing, she 'coincidentally' turned her head and met the gaze of no other than Echizen Ryoma. Although unwilling, she blushed slightly as his golden eyes bored into hers while he panted heavily after the near-impossible escape.
"G-Good morning, Ryoma-kun" Sakuno broke the silence which seemed to last forever but was, in fact, only ten seconds.
Ryoma merely responded to her greeting with a small grunt.
Sakuno smiled, trying to hide the disappointment showing on her face, and turned back her head towards the direction of the teacher who had just shut the door in the face of the group of girls still looking eagerly into the classroom.
Such a Ryoma-like response...and yet...so unsatisfying.
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"Ryuzaki-san...will you go to t-the b-ball with me?" A fair-looking boy asked nervously, his eyes shone upon Sakuno with hope.
"Umm...I-I'm sorry...but...I'm not planning to go..." Sakuno murmured, still slightly shocked by the fact that someone has asked her.
"Oh...no, no it's ok..." The boy quickly stopped her when he saw that she was about to apologize again. "Ahh...how I envy Echizen! I bet he worries about who he should go to the ball with!" He laughed.
Sakuno felt her heart gave another pang at the mention of his name and laughed as well, not at the comment but at her own foolishness.
"Well then, thanks anyway!" The boy smiled and gave a cheery wave.
Sakuno smiled and waved back, then she started in the direction of the boys' tennis club. Why did I even refuse...? Am I so stupid as to hope that a miracle would happen and Ryoma-kun would ask me? Her naivety was truly hopeless.
"Hey Sakuno! You going to Ryoma-sama's match this afternoon?" Sakuno turned to wait for her friend as Tomoka caught up behind her.
"Yeah...I have to...my grandma is the coach remember? She promised to drive me home today..." Sakuno replied.
"Right! I'm cheering him on as well! Those goddamn brothers of mine have a babysitter until 6!" Tomoka smiled gleefully and suddenly pointed at court B, all the while jumping up and down with excitement. "He's there! He's over there! Ryoma-sama!"
Sakuno laughed at her friend's exaggerated moves and soon found herself being dragged to the place outside the wires behind where her grandma was sitting.
"Ah, Sakuno! Came to cheer Ryoma on have you?" Ryuzaki-sensei saw her granddaughter standing behind her with a very hyper Tomoka screaming words of encouragement to Ryoma at the top of her lungs.
"Grandma...! How...how is he doing?" Sakuno felt her cheeks growing pink just from hearing her grandma's teasing words and watching Ryoma play under the shimmering sunlight.
"Well...you really needn't ask me, it's quite obvious how he is doing." Ryuzaki-sensei laughed lightly as Ryoma scored yet another point, making the match 5-0. Sakuno smiled and felt the familiar admiration sweep over her as she watched Ryoma's arm muscles ripple with the after effect of a twist serve.
"Oh yeah, Sakuno! There's a ball coming up isn't there?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked casually.
"Hmmm? Oh, yeah...there is..." Sakuno answered half-heartedly as her eyes followed Ryoma as he walked back towards them, having just finished the match with an easy 6-0. Ryuzaki-sensei eyed her granddaughter with an evil gleam in her eyes and waved Ryoma over. While, completely unaware that an unforgivable plan was forming inside her grandma's mind, Sakuno fumbled in her school bag as Ryoma walked closer.
"Ryoma-kun! H-Here..." Her fingers closed around a can of Ponta Grape and stuffed it through a hole in the wires. Two years of watching Ryoma closely clearly hadn't come to waste.
"...thanks." Ryoma coolly took it after a brief hesitation and gulped the cool liquid down his dry throat as Sakuno quietly watched, failing at an attempt to hide a satisfied smile.
"...Ryoma! You played well! How were the other regulars in the school team?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked purposefully.
"They still have lots more to work on." Ryoma coldly replied with his infamous saying.
"Oh? Quite confident are you, Captain? Well, well... then I'm guessing you've got a date for the ball already?" Ryuzaki-sensei's eyes glittered with mischief as Ryoma's shoulders stiffened, obviously caught off-guard. "...no." He always replies with the shortest answer possible, without explanation of any kind.
Sakuno's heart leapt and her head shot up as she looked at Ryoma in surprise. What? After being surrounded by flirting girls whose purpose is easily detected...it's impossible that he hasn't tried to get rid of them by simply agreeing to a random invitation thrown at him...
Yet the boy's face remained expressionless as he drank up the last drop of Ponta.
"Have you? Sakuno?" Ryuzaki-sensei turned towards her granddaughter who was still staring unbelievably at Ryoma.
"...err...no...h-hang on... Grandma! You're not thinking...you can't...I-" Unfortunately, when Sakuno had finally realised what her grandmother was plotting, it was a split second too late.
"Why don't you go with Sakuno, Ryoma?" Ryuzaki-sensei suggested innocently, chuckling when Sakuno choked on her last sentence of "I'm not planning to go".
Ryoma threw the empty can of Ponta into a bin which was 3 metres away with dead accuracy and adjusted his white cap under three pairs of intense eyes. "Did I even say that I'm going?"
Sakuno looked away as the cold words stung her eyes, making tears well up in the sockets. She held them back and was just planning to walk away when she caught sight of Ryoma lowering his cap and smirking.
"...But since there will probably be a constant supply of Ponta...I'll go."
Sakuno's head turned back when she couldn't help but let out a small laugh.
"And you will go with Sakuno?" Ryuzaki-sensei smiled; obviously this was going just as she had planned.
"...if she doesn't mind me getting dragged away by other girls all the time." Ryoma lowered his cap again, hiding his eyes from view. Yet his smirk hadn't left his lips.
Sakuno felt Tomoka gasp beside her and she felt like doing the same. Yet at that moment fainting seemed more suitable. She clutched the wires with both hands and had an instant urge to rip it apart and rush through into the courts to hug her grandma for thinking up of this brilliant plan. She was so shocked even the loud squeals of Tomoka beside her were blocked out from her brain. She simply stared after Ryoma as he walked away towards the boys changing room after he had waved a hand in response to Ryuzaki-sensei's suggestion of "7 o'clock at our house!".
However, Sakuno was soon snapped back into reality when she saw her grandma laughing at her expression and saying "Now to decide what character to dress you up in and how to fend off his fan club from strangling you..."
