Pairing: Fuji x Atobe
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis does not belong to me
Part: 5/?
Warning: Few background facts regarding the characters have been altered
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Color
Flashback
"Atobe-kun, I want you to relax and we will take good care of you."
I was lying on a cold hospital bed with a large group of well trained surgeons and nurses around me. I knew I was supposed to feel nervous but I just felt numb. I almost felt like I don't give a dame about seeing the world again. I wanted Shusuke to be the first person that I saw when I open my eyes but I knew that was not going to happen.
I started to feel drowsy and next thing I knew I lost consciousness.
End flashback
The weather was surprising warm for a typical day in November in the city. The leaves on the trees had all undergone changes and yes, I can distinguish weather again with a mere glance. It had been a little over four years since I last saw Shusuke. The same thing always happened, I would think of Shusuke but no matter how hard I try I just can't picture him and that bothers me.
I don't know if Shusuke had rub off on me but being a sadist was becoming more entertaining as time goes. My father wanted me to achieve the highest ranking and make connections with influential people while I am attending this school. In a certain aspect I had become better at pretending. I guess Shusuke was wrong when he say that I had no talent as an actor. It seems that he was the only one who was able to see through my pitiful acts.
I followed my father's wish and attended a prestigious school of his choices. Attending a great school wasn't hard with the help of my father's wealth and my high scores on the placement tests. While I was temporarily blind I had wanted to attend school with people from my own age group, but majority of the people in this school just reminded me of perfect clones and I quickly made up my mind that they are not worth a moment of my time.
To be blunt, they can all vanish and I wouldn't have notice a thing. I can say with great confidence that I have but one real friend here, Oshitari Yuushi or maybe I should say two real friends. The other person's name was Mukahi Gakuto, a close friend of Oshitari, at first I simply ignored Gakuto's hyper active ways but I soon realized that Gakuto was never far away from Oshitari.
In a way, I can safety say that my friendship with Gakuto was like a bonus from being friends with Oshitari. I am not sure how my friendship with Oshitari started but it might have something to do with tennis. I developed a sudden interest in tennis because of Shusuke and during my first week at the school I decided to stop by the tennis court to watch a match. Unexpectedly, my new school had a very good tennis team and during the first week of school I accidentally sign up for tennis.
I had no one to blame but myself since I wasn't paying attention when I wrote my name on the piece of green paper that later turn out to be a sign up sheet. The school was pretty diverse but the percentage of Japanese students still remained fairly small. I don't know if tennis was popular in Japan but somehow most of the Japanese students end up being on the tennis team and they are quite good but not as good as me because I am brilliant. Oshitari once told me that I should made up my own catch phase since I am such an ego manic. I laugh over Oshitari's comment but I never thought that I would be good at tennis.
It was a pleasant surprise, because tennis made me feel closer to Shusuke. I was surprised that tennis turned out to be more interesting than I had anticipated. I remembered Shusuke telling me how he continued to play tennis because anticipating his opponent's move excites him.
The second name that I would immediately recall at the mention of tennis was Tezuka Kunimitsu, the person that Shusuke wanted to play against the most. Shusuke sounded so excited when he mentioned this Tezuka person and I don't like that feeling. I want Shusuke to be equally if not more excited when he said my name.
I wanted to learn tennis. I wanted to be better than this Tezuka person and more importantly I wanted to beat Tezuka in front of Shusuke.
I am still not sure why I wanted to beat Tezuka so much but the desire to beat this unknown person had fueled my desired to learn tennis. The better I become the more I started to enjoy this sport. There was a certain sense of satisfaction that I felt when I beat my opponent. It is hard to describe the adrenaline rush but I love the feeling of beating my opponent to the ground.
The more I play tennis the more I wonder how it would be like if I were to play against Shusuke in the same court.
Who would win?
I don't miss Japan but I miss Shusuke. I promised Shusuke that I would be back before his middle school graduation. There are only few more months left of my last school year and I wonder if I would still feel the same about Shusuke after all this time. Would I be able to recognize him? Would he still remember me?
I have gotten used to living in New York City. When my father told me that I will be living at a boarding school in New York City, I made a mental note to look up the place.
I quickly ignored the boring details of New York City being the largest city in the United State with a population of 8.2 million residence and such. My curiosity was aroused at the mention of the city being the home of many of world's most famous skyscrapers. New York City has two interesting nicknames, "Big Apple" and the "City that never sleeps."
The origin of "Big Apple" implies that it was the place where people's dreams come true. I laugh at the irony, the place where dreams come true. My dream was nowhere near New York City.
I haven't had a good night of sleep since I first move into the dormitory so yes it is the city that never sleep. But Oshitari decided that it was called the city that never sleeps because of all the freaking lights. I admit the amount of lights in this city are enough to keep any sane person awake and the fact that there is a coffee shop at every corner help keep the insomnia population alive.
This morning, out of nowhere Oshitari asked me what I was thankful for. I was confused for a second before I realized that tomorrow is November 24, in other word, Thanksgiving. Apparently, it is a pretty big family holiday in America, something that I knew absolutely nothing about. .
The sky has gotten darker and night was fast approaching me. The walk around the city had turned out to be longer than I had first intended.
Lights
Neon signs
Loud music
Indeed the city that never sleeps
So what am I thankful for?
TBC…