Chapter 3: Futarikiri (no Meari- Kurisumasu) [Merry Christmas with Just the Two of Us]
Ryoma fidgeted as the final bell rang, lazily raising his head and glancing sleepily at the classroom's clock. "Uu..." he grumbled, picking himself up and slowly packing up his things when the loud bell woke him up suddenly. Walking out the door, he headed in the courts' directions, only to halt in realization.
He paused for a second and then turned on his heel, walking in the opposite direction. Fuji and Momoshiro, who had caught sight of him, raised their hands in greeting, but were surprised as their favorite first year headed the other way.
"Fuji-senpai?" Momo said slowly, in confusion. "Do mine eyes deceive me, or is Echizen going to neither the courts nor his house?"
"Hmmm?" Fuji looked over to where Momoshiro was pointing. "Huh...that's weird..."
"I wonder where he's going?" Momo asked.
"What do you mean, you wonder?" Fuji gave him a smile and began retracing Ryoma's footsteps.
Momo understood. "Oh, right." He turned and sprinted in Fuji's direction.
A couple minutes later, the two creepiest tennis regulars had followed Ryoma all the way to Fudomine's gym. "Ne, what's he doing in Fudomine?" Fuji asked.
"How would I know? He's heading for the tennis courts...let's follow him." They discreetly followed Ryoma, only to find a bunch of girls and guys warming up with one another. Ryoma was saying something to the coach, who nodded and told him to go warm up with the others. Taking out his racket, Ryoma headed over to where Sanada was standing so that he could have a rally with him.
"A tennis club?" Momo asked. "Why would he come here? He prefers to practice by himself, doesn't he?"
"No, Momo. That's why." Fuji smiled, pointing to his right. Momo glanced over to where Fuji was pointing, and his face broke out into a huge grin when he saw Sakuno and Ann rallying with one another.
"Oh!" Momoshiro laughed. "So young, so young..."
"Why don't we, along with the rest of the team, join as well?" Fuji continued, smile in place. "After all, Echizen would be so lonely without us."
Momoshiro understood in a flash. "Hell yeah! Let's call the others!" Whipping out their phones, they quickly explained the situation to all the other regulars, who made it over to Fudomine in less than 10 minutes.
"Ochibi!" Kikumaru bounced over to Ryoma and choked him in a hug. "What are you doing here?"
"Kikumaru-senpai...can't...breathe..." Ryoma gasped as he tried in vain to escape his senpai's crushing embrace.
"Hello, Echizen." Oishi and Kawamura, and Kaidoh came out of nowhere. Slightly surprised at the appearance of all the regulars, he tugged his cap down.
"Echizen, what are you doing here?" asked Oishi.
"That's what I wanted to ask. I thought I'd join this club. What are you doing here?"
"Coach Ryuzaki suggested this place, and since Eiji started bouncing all over the place in hyper joy, I ended up coming too." he shrugged, grinning wryly.
"Oi! Boys over there! Are you joining or not?"
"Ah-hai!" Oishi called back hurriedly, tugging Kikumaru by the elbow. "Eiji, come on, move it!"
"All right, all right, Oishi, jeezus." Kikumaru sighed at his doubles' partner.
Sakuno turned around, sure that she had recognized those voice. Noticing Oishi and every other regular standing not far away, she flushed slightly. And seeing Ryoma...her face colored to the point where it resembled a tomato.
"Hey, what's up?" An asked, noticing Sakuno's blush. She turned, and noticing Momoshiro, who was giving her a grin, she flushed as well.
"Ann-chan...why'd you blush when you saw Momo-senpai?" Sakuno asked innocently, before something struck her, and she grinned mischievously. "Ooh~~" she cooed teasingly.
Ann slapped her lightly. "Oh, shut up. As if you don't have a crush on Echizen..."
"Hey!-"
"Girls! Get over here!"
"AH HAI!" the two of them grinned at each other, running over to their coach. And the day began...
"All right!" the assistant coach clapped her hands. "Practice is over for today! First years, pick up tennis balls. Second years, bring them in. Third years, go change!"
Everyone began moving towards their assigned duties except for Ryoma and Sakuno. The latter went over to the coach, asking timidly, "Could I stay a bit longer here to practice?"
The coach looked at her, to Ryoma, and back to her. A grin slowly spread across her face as she grasped the situation. "All right, kiddo," she said, patting Sakuno's head, "go for it."
Sakuno beamed widely. "Hai! Thank you very much!"
She bounded away back to Ryoma, whose eyes, the coach noticed, had not left Sakuno while she and the younger girl were talking. Wow, that's a first, she smiled. I'll leave these two alone now.
"Ryoma-kun! Are you staying back, too?" Sakuno asked, blushing slightly.
"Yeah, I have nothing better to do." Ryoma replied with a bored expression on his face.
Sakuno felt her stomach drop a bit as she served the ball to him. I thought he wouldn't be so bored if he was practicing with me, she thought sadly. Clearly he's only here because the senpai-tachi had to leave.
Ryoma hit a drop shot back almost immediately. Sakuno, not expecting this, suddenly had to sprint to the front and managed to hit the ball back over the net. He parried her ball back easily, and she hit the ball in a drive volley, hoping to score a point. Her attempts were futile, and he once again hit it back with ease.
"Mada mada da ne!" Ryoma said. "You're not even paying attention."
I'm so bad at this! I can't even score a point!Sakuno focused on the next ball, which curved upward. She leaped and smashed it. This time, he had a bit of a hard time going for the ball, but still hit it back.
That time, the ball had a weird spin on it. Frustrated with herself beyond measure, Sakuno blindly hit the ball, not paying any attention to where it was traveling. The ball, not even going into the court, hit one of the bushes surrounding it.
"Ite!" the bush suddenly yelped.
What? Sakuno thought, bewildered. A talking bush?
"Ryuzaki?" Ryoma called her. Clearly, she wasn't the only one who was puzzled. "Did you hear that?"
"The bush...it just talked..." Sakuno pointed warily at said bush.
"Talking bushes don't exist, Ryuzaki." he replied dryly.
"Hai..." She threw the ball up again, and served it straight at the bush. This time, it didn't scream, but it rustled more than the average bush. "That's weird...I think someone's in there..."
"Yeah, probably the senpai-tachi. They never leave me alone." Ryoma rolled his eyes, smiling slightly. He pulled his cap down.
Mind your own business,Sakuno scolded the senpais playfully in her mind. Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck her.
"Ryoma-kun, do you have an extra Ponta on you?"
"Sure." He pulled one out of his bag and tossed it to her. For once, she actually caught it. "Why, you thirsty?"
"You'll see..." she smiled and shook the Ponta can until she could feel it frothing through the metal. Suddenly, she threw it into the bush.
"Ryuzaki, what are you-"
Before Ryoma could finish his question, a fairly loud explosion occurred right where Sakuno had thrown the Ponta.
-BOOM-
The originally dry bush was now well soaked, and a very wet and angry Momoshiro and Fuji stood up (well, Momoshiro was pretty pissed, but Fuji was still smiling. He had managed to escape the explosion with his amazing reflexes. Besides, Fuji Syusuke just doesn't get caught in embarrassing situations like that).
"What was that for?" Momoshiro glared at Sakuno, who was practically rolling on the floor laughing, as was Ryoma. "Momo-senpai, mada mada da ne..."
"BURNING!" Another voice suddenly came from the bushes.
"Baka, Kawamura-senpai, there isn't even a racket near you! What the-"
"No! My eyes! They're BURNING!" Kawamura suddenly stood up and rubbed his eyes, clearly in pain from the Ponta which had probably exploded right in front of him.
At this, Sakuno and Ryoma went from "laughing out loud" to "laughing their heads off."
"Oh my God...Kawamura-senpai...burning..." Sakuno gasped between fits of giggles.
"Ryuzaki...you're amazing" Ryoma chuckled loudly, unable to restrain his own laughter.
Sakuno blushed mid-laugh. Amazing? He said what I did was amazing! Maybe he does appreciate me! (AN: Sakuno-chan, I don't think that's what he meant...)
"Ari-arigato..."
"Nice job, Sakuno-chan." Fuji smiled.
Sakuno blushed even harder. "Thank you, Fuji-senpai!"
Ryoma, who had suddenly stopped laughing, noted her face reddening slightly at Fuji's compliment and his familiar address of her; his eyes narrowed, but his facial expression shifted back to its usual bored look before anyone would notice. This minor change, however, did not go unnoticed by the ever-watchful tensai. So he does care. Interesting,Fuji noted with a sly smile.
Sakuno turned to the now sheepishly grinning regulars. "Senpai-tachi, could you please go now? I'd like to practice, if you would kindlyoblige." Despite some of the regulars being unbelievably dense, even the most thickheaded could hear the pointed message in her request. Immediately, most of them dashed off back home...except for Fuji, who stood there smiling.
Ryoma did not like the look on the tensai's face. "Senpai...why are you smiling like that?"
"Like what?" Fuji played dumb.
"Like what?" Sakuno echoed earnestly. Ryoma resisted the urge to facepalm.
"Never mind. Fuji-senpai, leave."
"Fine, fine." Fuji was gone within the next minute.
"Ryuzaki, I need to leave," Ryoma told her after about twenty minutes of rallying.
"H-hai...but I need to practice more...could you meet me here tomorrow at four?" Sakuno asked rather timidly.
"Yeah, you need to work on your smash." Ryoma replied.
Sakuno's heart soared. Even if he did comment on her smash, he had agreed to help her. "Tomorrow at four, then?"
"Sure." He put his racket away and zipped up his bag. "Jaa ne." He raised a hand in parting and walked out.
"Bye!" Sakuno waved and packed up to go home.
