Chapter 4: Don't Forget
Did you forget that I was even alive?
Did you forget everything we ever had?
Did you forget, did you forget about me?
Did you regret ever standing by my side?
Did you forget what we were feeling inside?
Now I'm left to forget about us...
The next day, phone rang in the Echizen residence at around 2:30. Pulling himself out of bed (A/N: yeah, yeah, he sleeps in on the weekends, OK? It's Ryoma we're talking about. Come on.), Ryoma trudged over to the phone and picked it up. "Who is it?" he asked in a groggy voice.
"Echizen, it's Fuji. So there's a game at the street courts today at 3:30. You wanna go?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll be there in a few." Hanging up, Ryoma toddled off back to his room and got dressed, still yawning all the while.
"Ryoma-kun..." Sakuno paced back and forth on the courts, looking at her watch for the billionth time in the past half hour. She looked worriedly at her cell phone, which was sitting silently on the bench next to her. "Did he get in an accident or something?"
Horrifying scenarios began to play through her mind, her imagination taking over her reason (or lack thereof). Oh no! she panicked. What if he got stuck in a car crash? Or got hit by a train? Or was kidnapped? Or...the possibilities were endless, and the more she thought about it, the more Sakuno had to resist screaming in fear and frustration of not knowing.
"Argh!" Sakuno mussed up her hair, finally whipping out her phone from her pocket. She punched in a number (yes, she had him on speed dial) and put it to her ear. Pick up, please, Ryoma-kun.
Ryoma's phone buzzed on the bench. He looked at it, the caller ID simply reading "private caller." He reached for it, and picking it up, pressed the talk button. "Hello?"
Before she could reply, however, she heard another voice. "Oi, Echizen, get over here! The view's better here!"
Sakuno froze. Momo...senpai?But she could not bring herself to take away the phone from her ear, despite the heavy feeling of dread in her stomach.
Ryoma's hand dropped to his side as he walked over back to the upperclassmen. "What?" he asked without much interest, the ongoing phone call forgotten.
Sakuno strained to hear the voices which had become much quieter. She picked up the familiar noise of tennis balls striking the rackets and the ground. What on earth...?She listened harder.
"...Echizen, look at that guy. He's pretty good, no? "
"Mada mada da ne..."
No.
He wouldn't!
But he did...
At this point she was sure she knew what was going on.
Sakuno gripped her cell phone tightly, her knuckles beginning to turn a horrid white. The blood drained from her face, and she held onto the bench for support. Fuji-senpai. Momo-senpai. Ryoma-kun.
He forgot to come.
No, he's at a tennis game, so he probably didn't even want to come.
He stood me up.
As the moments went by, this message sunk in deeper and deeper. And it is a universally known fact that one's feeling of misery increases at an alarming rate as does the "sinking in".
Sakuno was too shocked even to cry. I can't believe he would do that...
"If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again. If..." Sakuno barely heard the operator's message. She let out a mirthless laugh. "Try again? No way. I am never going to try again. Ever."
I've been here for an hour and a half. There's no point in staying here anymore. I'm leaving.
Picking up her racket and cell phone, Sakuno blindly ran right out of the club court and back home, not even looking back.
Somehow, Sakuno had not shed a single tear over her way home. Only when she had collapsed on her bed did the tears come freely.
At least the tears prevented her from thinking too much. Thinking was a very dangerous thing to do now. But every now and then the flow would cease, and she would recollect the situation, and they would start again.
What have I ever done to deserve this? Sakuno thought, anguished. I've never been treated like this before! I should have known that I don't mean anything to him. All he cares about is tennis, tennis, tennis.
Tennis.
Picking up her racket, Sakuno went out to her backyard and unconsciously picked up the tennis ball that she had drawn Ryoma's face on. Throwing it aside, she picked up another drawing-free ball and made a half-hearted swing at it towards the wall. Needless to say, she missed. Fault...
Picking it up again, she tossed it and swung at it again, but this time her shot lacked power and sunk near the base of the wall.
I'm so bad at this.
Another shot. This time, it hit the wall and bounced off in a random direction.
He didn't even care enough to come.
Tears welled up in her eyes again as she positioned herself for another shot, but she instantly rammed her racket into the ball to avoid another waterfall of tears.
I don't mean anything to him.
Another hit.
He stood me up.
A stronger hit.
He. Stood. Me. Up.
An even stronger hit.
He lied to me.
The shot she hit was so hard that it nearly collided with her face when it bounced back. She moved out of the way just in time. And Sakuno suddenly felt a sense of indignation.
He made me waste my time there!
Another extraordinarily powerful shot. Not that he would have known that she had improved, because he hadn't bothered to show up. She scoffed. How appropriate.
On that thought, Sakuno searched around for the ball with his face drawn on it. Throwing it upwards, she let out a cry.
"Why?" she yelled. "Why did you do this to me? Take this, you baka!"
But the racket never came down. It hung in the air, unmoving, as Sakuno's arm only shook, her head drooping down as her entire body shook with the tears.
"Why'd you stop?" Tachibana Ann suddenly appeared, frowning a little. "Finish that shot!"
Sakuno's head snapped up and turned around slowly, her eyes wide. "An...chan?"
"It's not like you to be so indecisive!" Ann scolded Sakuno. "Hit the ball already!"
Sakuno shook her head; her racket dropped to her side. "I can't."
"Do you love him that much?"
"I don't know. I don't know. I don't know." Sakuno just kept shaking her head, voice trembling. She crouched on the ground, her hands on her face as she tried to hold in the tears.
"Oh..." Ann walked over, crouching down next to her best friend. She rubbed Sakuno's back, hushing her with soothing coos. "Shh...it's ok. Just let it all out."
Sakuno didn't say anything for a few minutes, just sobbing into An's shoulder.
"Sh..."
Her sobs eventually diminished to hiccups. "Hic. I had a practice-hic-with him, but-hic-he didn't come. Hic. He went to a different-hic-tennis game instead. Hic. Hic. I think he didn't-hic-even want to come. He-hic-missed it on purpose."
Ann frowned. Echizen, you have got to be the densest and most retarded person I've ever laid eyes on."Sakuno, look at me. I don't understand why you're so sad."
Sakuno looked at Ann like she had lost it. "What do you mean?"
"I said, why are you sad?" Ann flicked Sakuno on the forehead. The latter covered her forehead after uttering a small cry of "Ow! What was that for?"
"There's no reason to cry over him!" Ann had to stop herself from yelling. She was frustrated at Ryoma, not Sakuno. Patience, patience, she told herself. "If anything, you should be mad at him. Why should you cry over him? You didn't do anything wrong!"
Sakuno looked away. How could she respond to that?
Ann lost her patience just a little. "Pick up the ball."
Sakuno picked up a random tennis ball. Ann took it out of her hands. "No, not this one. The one with his face on it." Sakuno obeyed.
"Throw it up."
She did.
"Hit it as hard as you possibly can!"
Sakuno swung blindly at the ball. Her racket collided with it and sent it streaking through the air to the wall, off of which it bounced and flew back to her. Ann caught it.
"That's how he should be hit."
"Wh-what?"
Ann swiftly moved so that she was standing right in front of Sakuno. She grabbed her by the shoulders and literally shook her. "He stood you up! He cheated you! Don't you want to hit him so hard he begs for mercy?"
"H-huh?"
Ann was ready to burst, but she tried to hold down her indignation. "Next time we go to club, if you get a match against him, HIT HIM! I literally mean aim for him! Aim for his face, his solar plexis, anything! Well, preferably not his solar plexis because that would kill him and you would go to jail. His face is good enough. But hit him!"
Sakuno stared at Ann like she had gone crazy. "But...that will hurt him!"
"That's the point!Sakuno, protect your dignity and your self-respect! He treated you so badly! You should get back at him! Did he make you feel horrible?"
"Un..."
"Did you feel like you wanted to cry your heart out?"
"Un..."
"Now, do you feel like you want to get back at him? Make him feel the pain you felt! No one deserves it more than he does!"
Ann's message began to sink in. Sakuno's eyes flashed with a spark of anger which An had never seen before. "Let's have a practice match. I want to be ready for tomorrow."
In all honesty, Ann was a bit taken aback by the viciousness hiding behind that usually sweet, rather naive smile which etched its way onto Sakuno's face. Nevertheless, she was glad Sakuno had made up her mind. "That's the spirit!" Ann cheered, and the two proceeded to play a match, commenting kindly on each other's tennis styles and plays. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by Sakuno's grandmother.
"So, Sakuno wants to play Echizen tomorrow?" she smiled. "I think that can be arranged..."
