You felt like you hated her, you felt like you never wanted to see her again, and you felt getting angry everytime her name came up.
But its funny how the mind could think one thing and the heart could do something so opposite.
Ryoko showed up more and more in the newspaper and media sites because of the so called 'blossoming love' with Atobe Keigo, the couple could be often seen going to ballets all over Japan and eating at nice expensive resturants. It wasn't the kind of thing you and her did, and you wondered if she ever missed the simple sweet dates you had. You tried to not read about her so much, but you couldn't help it and you wanted this feeling of pure heartbreak whenever you saw her. Time passed and your wound seemed to heal just a little bit, and that was a good sign considering Nationals semi-final was today and the opponent was super tough. It was Shitenhoji Middle School, the runner up against Rikkaidai last year. You had heard rumors about all the people on their team, they were scary indeed. You were focused on tennis, very focused and your nerves seemed to be getting to you, you were going to be playing next and for once you were very nervous about the outcome of the match.
Eiji suddenly descended on you and broke your concentration, he pointed upward "Ryoko-chan, what are you doing here!" You didn't believe it was her, but looking up you met her clear blue eyes. Your nervousness faded in an instant. She froze when she saw you, and she simply nodded in achknowledgement of you. You looked away and tried to act like you didn't see her. She was here with Atobe and the rest of the Hyotei team to wish Seigaku luck in the tournament, and it was surprisingly a generous thing for them to do. Ryoma came over and seemed to read your mind "I can tell its hard for you and I remember your face well that day when you found out, but the senpai I know isn't like this. It would be good for her if you said something, she looks nervous for you." You stole a glance and he was right, she was looking concerning at you, but when you made eye contact, she looked away and she started getting agigated for a long time and finally she had to leave. Your heart dropped suddenly for driving her away and being so cruel before. "Where did Ryoko-chan go?" Eiji asked, Atobe shrugged "Probably going to see her aniki I guess, she was really excited to seeing him all week." "Her aniki? What a weird place to meet someone." Kawamura said. "Not strange at all, really, she mentioned this earlier but it slipped my mind. Her aniki is a regular on the Shitenhoji tennis team, hes the captain in fact. Hes a very strong player." Atobe said. Before you had the chance to comprehend what he had to say, you were called onto the court.
On the other side of the court, your opponent faced you with a smirk. And then you remembered something
"I have one older brother who plays tennis at Shitenhoji Middle School..."
"He is a third year at his school and he is really good at tennis, people say he plays perfect tennis and that hes like the tennis bible. My aniki is really good."
"My brother was never once defeated."
Without looking across the net, you knew who your opponent was. The announcer gave a call "The National semi-finals will continue with the singles match between Shitenhoji third year Shiraishi Kuranosuke, versus Seishun Gakuen third year Fuji Sysuke." you went up to the net to shake your opponents hand, and when you looked up to his face you could see all the similar features he had with his sister. They both had the same light brown hair color, the sharp and focused eyes, the determined smirk. "We do look alike don't we? Me and Ryoko?" you couldn't find the words to say anything back to him "I can see that you're afraid of me, its scary isn't it, meeting the older brother?" He thrust your hand away after he had shaken it "As well as you should be, I won't forgive you for hurting my little sister, I'm going to utterly crush you, Fuji Syusuke." He turned his back to you and took his position at the other side of the court. Behind him, on the Shitenhoji side, was Ryoko. She looked at you with concern "Be careful." she mouthed, it was the little encouragement from her that you needed to start the match "Lets end this quickly." you started with the disappearing serve and hoped to finish with a love game, but he was able to return the first one with precision and strength, you couldn't even touch it "Was that fast enough?" he laughed "Ah, ecstasy."
It took about ten minutes for the match to go to halftime. Shiraishi was leading now and you had only won one game. You were utterly exhausted while he was in perfect condition. "Don't give up, you're tiring yourself out with all this thinking." Atobe had joined the bench next to you, at this time it wasn't him you wanted to see at all "You're nervous because Shiraishi Kuranosuke is Shiraishi Ryoko's onii-chan right? Why should you be afraid of him for that?" "I am not afraid of him." you said curtly. "Well you sure play like you are." "If this is a pep-talk you're not very good at it." Atobe sighed "I agree, I actually am not. But being serious now I just want you to know that Ryoko doesn't check her phone even once to see if I'm texting her, but she talks about you non-stop. She really likes you, and I know secretly shes rooting for you in this match, she was talking about how much she wanted to see your Triple Counters, it would give her some inspiration to start dancing again." you looked at him "Inspiration to start dancing, what are you talking about?" "Ryoko hasn't danced since her accident, shes scared and she imagines the pain even when its not there. She falls because of fear, and its easier to stay down then to stand back up. Show her how to keep fighting, inspire her, she'll be watching." Atobe got up and stretched "Or you could just continue this miserable game and lose like a little girl." he shrugged and walked off into the stands. You looked over to Ryoko and saw her sitting next to her brother and she was laughing while he petted her on the head and pinched at her cheeks, she simply punched him back and kept laughing. You got up from the bench and took your stance back on the court. Shiraishi noticed and jumped down to the court as well, he swung his raquet around and slung it over his shoulder with a bored expression "Do we have to finish this boring match?" you shook your head and pointed your raquet at Ryoko "Be sure you're watching me, I'm going to show you a real fight. I'll show you how to keep fighting against everything. I'll show you a good tennis match, watch me Ryoko, only me."