am I diligent or what? Nah, I just don't have anything else to do. Nyahaha.. that's why I love vacation! Here's chapter threeeeeeeeee!

Disclaimer: I forgot to place a disclaimer on chapter two (oh, my gosh) so here's for both: I DO NOT OWN POT, just the oh-so-bizarre plot..

~R&R~

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Chapter 3: Complications

Sakuno opened her heavy eyelids as sunrays made their way into her bedroom. She had cried herself to sleep last night after finding about her friend's terrible fate. She has no school today, and since it's almost the end of the school term, she is very much free. It suddenly struck her. She's graduating soon. It was only a matter of weeks. She hasn't decided what career she'll choose but there is something that she is sure of, and that's to get to Ryoma. She's fortunate enough that school will be over soon giving her time to focus on her friend's situation. She has to do something. But how? She's just a normal high school girl; she can't even stop bullies at school, let alone stop the real thing when it probably involves guns, and ammos and a circuit of connections to different organizations looking harmless but actually bites. Still, she can't leave him alone, not now, not ever. She's determined to figure something out she won't back out on it.

Mystifyingly, Ryoma still kept in touch to her, sending her a message once in a while. He probably knows the people who are in the secret and those who aren't—he thinks she's one of those who are out of it. So she responded to those messages as if she doesn't know a thing. Sakuno can't understand what his manager is thinking. Letting him communicate with the "outside world" sure is risky, then why? Why would a kidnapper allow his captive to call his family, his friends to whom he could ask for help? Realization struck her.' That's it; he knows that Ryoma won't ask for help. Damn! His pride will kill him!' she thought as she paced back and forth in her room. Is it really just about his pride, or there's something else? Whatever it is, Sakuno can't wait to know it.

Sakuno decided to drop off her application form at the school which she wants to go into. She's with her loud best friend Tomoka. She managed to forget about Ryoma just this once so she can finish everything that she need to finish. And besides, Tomoka can't know and Tomoka is really good at knowing whether you're keeping something from her, it's hard to take risks.

"You sure you want to apply here?" the loud girl asked.

"Yes, I don't think there's bad about it. Besides, I'm just applying", she shrugged as he placed the envelope in a box labeled "Incoming freshmen application forms".

It was a success. Tomoka didn't notice a thing as they dropped off the last envelope. Sakuno excused herself and told Tomoka that she needs to go home.

"Gomen, Tomo-chan, I really need to go", she said, almost pleading.

"Mou, okay, okay!" responded the girl, and started to walk towards the opposite direction where Sakuno is heading to.

"Arigatou, Tomo-chan!"

"Hai, hai!" she shouted as she waved her goodbye.

She was relieved that her best friend didn't ask anymore questions and let her go. She needs to start working to find out more about Ryoma's difficult situation.

****

When she finally got home she opened her laptop and started her research. She first looked up the name of Ryoma's manager. She found that easily and she almost cursed him when she saw his picture. His name is Satoshi Oda. She found out that he was Japanese who was born and grew up in America. "That bastard, doing such things to his fellowmen. Maybe being born in America has gotten onto his head, so he forgot that he is Japanese."

She then searched about the sly opponent of Ryoma who hit him with a racket. Unbelievingly, he found out that he is also Japanese—although it was only half, he's half American, but since it was his father who is Japanese, (since his surname is a Japanese name) it still counted a lot. The bastard is David Ogata. She wrote their names down on a piece of paper, but she also recorded them to her mental black list.

****

Sakuno walk herself to school the next day. It was a Monday; she was quite surprised to know that the final examinations will be held next week already. No matter how much she wanted to continue unravelling the tight spots in Ryoma's situation, she just have to forget about it for the moment for her to be able to concentrate in her finals. 'Don't worry', she told herself. 'Next week is the last week of all of this. Vacation is just around the corner, so just be patient.'

Everything passed like a blur. She studied for her finals, and when it came, she answered the questions on every test. She's happy that she'll be able to resume her "investigations" soon.

'Just one last test', she thought as she heads towards the class room.

"Sakuno-chan!" it was Tomoka. Like everyone else, she's thrilled that only ones test to answer and it will all be history. "Come with me somewhere!" she said excited.

"Where are we going?" the other girl asked.

"Everywhere! Can you believe it? We'll be college students soon! We need to celebrate!" Tomoka beamed,

Sakuno contemplated to the thought, she can agree to come with Tomoka, but how about Ryoma? She's torn between her two friends.

"Oh, Sakuno-chan. I know that look!" the loud girl commented. "That's the I'm-so-sorry-but-I-can't-come look", she said sadly yet accusingly.

The silent girl decided that she should go. 'I mean, I've been spacing out whenever I'm with her. She doesn't deserves being treated like that', she told herself. "No, I'm coming with you! We'll go anywhere tonight!"

****

The two girls, as soon as they finished the exams hurried home to change. They'd want to wear it as a sign of their last day of being high school students but wherever they're going can ruin it, so they changed. They're rendezvous is the train station. Girls can be all out when they're happy. They literally went everywhere—from fashion boutiques to shoe plazas to cafés, to bookstores, to arcades, to cafés again, to the marketplace, to the mall. Name it; they've been there—in just a matter of a few hours!

They decided to rest in a nearby café (again?! Well, they're tired and need energy).

"Sakuno-chan, isn't it fun?!" mused Tomoka. "We should've done this when we graduated middle school."

"Right. This is so much fun", she said sincerely.

"Oh, wait, I need to go to the restroom. Just a bit", informed the loud girl.

"Hai" responded Sakuno.

She's drinking a Choco Latte as she randomly looks at things around her. As she do this, she suddenly saw their Momo-sempai. She hurriedly went out to talk to him.

"Momo-sempai", she called, just enough for him to hear.

"Sakuno-chan", he didn't seem happy to see her.

"H-How's Ryoma-kun?" she asked as if she doesn't know.

Pain stricken Momo appeared in front of her. He just suddenly had this agonized look the moment she asked about Ryoma. "Sakuno-chan, Echizen doesn't contact us anymore. The last thing he did is the day after I told you all of this. And he didn't tell much", the man said.

"What did he say, Momo-sempai?" she asked while looking down.

"He said that he will continue pretending to be in coma until his ability to play tennis comes back—if it ever comes back", he paused. "And he also said that we should stay away from this."

The girl looked up then. It was Ryoma himself who said it. He wants us to stay away from that—whatever it is. "D-does he know that I already know?"

"No. I told you, besides Tezuka-buchou and me, his family is the one who only knows. I only told you this as a favor, so please Sakuno-chan, don't do anything stupid."

"I won't", she lied.

Sakuno walked away after that. She went back to the café where she and Tomoka were. Good thing, Tomoka is still in line at the bathroom. 'He stopped contacting the others, yet he still contacts me.' She pulled out her cell phone to check the date of the last message that he sent her (he only sends message because she told her that it's her examinations week). "Yesterday" 'It has been two weeks since she and their Momo-sempai talked which means it has been two weeks since he stopped corresponding with them. What the hell is going on?'

"Sakuno-chan, anything wrong?" asked Tomoka when she returned. She immediately noticed that her friend is lost in thought.

"Nandemonai" she lied as she shook her head with a fake smile on her face.

"Okay" Tomoka shrugged. "Anou, Sakuno-chan. While I'm in line for the bathroom, my mom called me. She's going somewhere so she wants me to go home now to take care of my brothers", she explained.

"Oh. It's fine. We've been going around too much already" Sakuno said as she stood up.

"Shall we go then?" asked Tomoka as she picked up her things.

"Yeah"

Chapter three ended already? it looks like it did, oh well, just look out for the next chapter. thank you for reading!