Chapter 3:

How are they to know..

Someday they'd meet again..

And have a need for more than reminiscing..

Present..

Kenya is now third-year in his middle school and it has been two years since all that happened. His mind along with his heart have moved on already. He opened up his locker and brought out the indoor shoes when suddenly, someone jumped at him – hugging him tightly. Dark blue orbs stared at the female who just hugged him, blinking. The speed star placed a hand at her head, patting her gently with a grin. The said female looked up with a pout.

"Mou! Why didn't you answer your phone?" She asked, her light emerald orbs gazing at the dark blue ones.

"Sorry, sorry. My phone battery died, you see." He sent her an apologetic smile, showing her his phone.

"Fine, I'll let it go for now~" She smiled sweetly. "Oh right, I almost forgot! I'll be introducing you to my friend today after your morning practice. She transferred here from Tokyo. Be nice to her! See you!" Chiyo Haname exclaimed before running off to the gates to wait for her said friend. Kenya didn't even get to reply and she dashed off already. He just shrugged before heading towards to the courts for the morning practice.

After changing to his jersey, he went out of the clubhouse. "Good morning, Kenya." The known captain of Shitenhouji, Shiraishi Kuranosuke greeted. "Mornin'." Kenya grinned as he went inside the courts, starting to warm-up.

"SHIRAISHIIIIIIIII!" A loud voice came and no one else it could be but their rookie, Kintaro Toyama. "Shiraishi! I didn't get to eat Takoyaki this morning! Buy me some!" Shiraishi couldn't help but let out a defeated sigh. "Not now. Kin-chan, if you keep being like this during morning practices…" He paused for a bit, showing his bandaged arm. This made the first year gulp, his eyes filled with terror then he ran off. It was a pretty much normal morning at Shitenhouji with this scenario; with Koharu and Yuuji flirting, Kenya running around in his full speed, Shiraishi scaring Kintaro and everyone else just doing their usual tasks.

An hour went by and their practice ended. All the tennis members went back to the clubhouse so they could change to their school uniforms. Kenya hates being slow, thus he changed to his school uniform in full speed. He went outside the clubhouse to wait for his friend and classmate, Shiraishi. "Huh? Where is Chiyo-chan? She usually goes here every morning." Shiraishi asked the speed star, looking around for the said female. "Ah, that. Well, she said she's going to pick up her best friend who's from Tokyo. That friend of hers is just a transferee so yeah. I heard she's going to be in our class too." Kenya stated as they walked to their classroom. "I see. Aren't you sad that Chiyo-chan is not in our class? She's your girlfriend, you know." Shiraishi headed for his seat then sat down, planning a hand on his cheek as he rested his elbow on the desk.

"What are you saying. Of course I am. Or well, sad wouldn't be the right word. Disappointed, I guess?" Kenya said before looking out of the window.

The bell rang and every students started heading to their homeroom. A girl ran through the hallway, panting heavily as her dark brown locks tied up to her head to a ponytail and it bounced gracefully as she does so. "Class 3-2. Where is it?" She muttered under her breath between her panting as she looked around, then in an abrupt manner, she went up to the second floor. Finally, Mai spotted a room named 3-2 and she quickly ran towards it, however, she didn't notice that there's a part of the floor that's wet and she slipped right when she was about to open the door. The door slid open as she closed her eyes tight, waiting for her to hit the ground but it didn't happen. Huh.. this is fairly familiar, isn't it? Mai felt strong arms around her petite form.

Slowly, she opened her light blue eyes only to meet with the darker ones. Her eyes widened, remembering how familiar those eyes were. She knew someone with those kind of eyes.. and just staring at it made her heart beat wildly inside her chest – however, she noticed that this guy has brown hair while the other that she know has black ones. Finally noticing the position she's in, she quickly pulled away from him, her face reddening in pure embarrassment. But.. still, her heart was beating strangely.

"S-Sorry about that!" Mai exclaimed, bowing in front of the male.

Kenya's eyes remained wide as he finally realized who this girl was but it soon returned to normal when she apologized. It seemed like she didn't remember him and he prefers it that way, actually. They should just forget what had happened in the past for it is 'past'. What happened back then doesn't affect him anymore. He just sent her a grin. "Don't worry about it. You must be the new student. Being late for your first day, huh?" He teased before heading inside the class, telling the teacher that he has found the transferee now. "Come in." The teacher signaled her to come in.

Mai stood in front of the class and when she saw the boy earlier, her heartbeat just becomes unstable once again. 'Why do you have to look like him..' She thought but her thoughts were soon cut off by the teacher, telling her to introduce herself. Oh right.

There, she stood straight. "My name is Sayuki Mai. I came from Tokyo. You can call me Mai or Sayuki. Nice to meet you!" She bowed as blush crept up her cheeks. "You can save your question for Sayuki-san later, we'll be starting class now. Sayuki-san, you can sit between Kuranosuke-san and Oshitari-san."

Oshitari. The name rang through her ear. No way. She heard wrong, right? Both of the males raised their hands and she went to the seat in the middle of them. Her heartbeat starting speed up even more.

"Hello." She twitched a bit as she looked at her right side, only to see a smiling Shiraishi beside her. He looked.. attractive. With that, she sent him a smile and he held out his hand. "I'm Shiraishi Kuranosuke. Welcome to Shitenhouji." He said, his smile not leaving his lips. "Thank you. " She shook his hand then tried to take a glance at her left-side, feeling her heartbeat raise its pace once again. Kenya was scribbling something on his notebook. Does that mean.. he doesn't remember her anymore..? Well, that's obvious he would forget her. She just suddenly disappeared after that day, after all..

After a few hours of anxiety and nervousness, the bell suddenly rang. "Sayuki-chan, do you wanna ea—" Shiraishi was cut-off when someone suddenly opened the door, revealing a female with vermilion hair and emerald eyes. She quickly ran inside and jumped on Mai, hugging her. "Mai-chan! I couldn't wait for you this morning! I'm sorry! Why were you so late anyway!?" They earned some stares from everyone at the moment however, the students soon started to do their own stuff. Blinking, she smiled at her friend. "Sorry, I woke up kind of late. We just got home late last night from Tokyo so yeah." She explained as the pout of her friend started to disappear.

"Oi, oi. Chiyo-chan, don't be so loud." Shiraishi said as he opened up his lunch. "Hmph." Was all the reply that he got from the girl which made him sweatdrop a bit.

Surprised, Kenya stared at both of the girls at the moment but blinked when Chiyo made him stand up. "Mai-chan! This is Kenya Oshitari! Ken-kun, this is Mai-chan!" Chiyo exclaimed, grinning widely.

Mai's eyes widened once again… just as she thought, it was him. At that moment, she felt as if something grasped her heart tightly and it was so hard to breath. However, she tried to remain calm and looked at the boy.. but not into his eyes. "N-Nice to meet you, Ke—I mean, Oshitari-san." She almost gritted her teeth in embarrassment when she almost called him that, but Kenya just blinked and sent her a smile. A smile that she missed.. so much. "Nice to meet you, Sayuki-chan." He said and stretched out a hand, waiting for her to shake it. Mai just nodded and took his hand… he grew up a lot.. didn't he? His hand was now a hand of a man. Unlike in the past, they were soft and small. Oh how she wished she could hold this hand of his.

"Yosh, now my best friend and boyfriend are friends. I feel so happy." Chiyo stated and she nodded to herself in agreement. Wait… boyfriend. Did she just say… boyfriend? Mai couldn't explain what she was feeling, she felt how her heart started breaking.. slowly and painfully. To be honest, she felt somehow happy to see him once again.. but after finding out about this horrible truth, she suddenly felt the urge to go back to Tokyo. If only she could escape; wait, escape? She has been escaping for the rest of her life.. and because of that, she ruined many things. Memories, bonds, friendship. She ruined all of that because she was a coward and didn't face him when she had to. It's too late to regret it now though, all she has to do right now is to accept this inevitable truth no matter how painful it is.

But how? Kenya is her classmate. She felt like being punished because of this situation. She looked at Kenya who's now starting to eat.. as if none of this matters nor bothering him. Well.. yeah. She left him and broke their promises. Two years passed and she can't expect him to be sad for those two whole years. He has moved on.. found a new love and-

"I-I have to go to the bathroom." With that, she dashed off the classroom, quickly wiping her tears that's on the verge of falling. She couldn't help but wonder if she could even keep up with this for long…

End of Chapter 3.