YOU GUYS I'M IN JAPAN! It's super cool, and I haven't had time to go do any anime related stuff but I'm hoping to find a lot of Prince of Tennis stuff! I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Niou continuously looked around all morning, wondering if Megumi was actually going to show up at all. Two hours had passed since practice started, and he never got a text back from the previous night. He grew worried about her, wondering if the incident of him showing up randomly startled her too much. He threw a few swings to try to shake off the feeling, but it still crawled inside him.

"Hey, you're super out of it today, are you okay?" Marui came with a bottle of water. Niou let out a sigh and accepted it.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about if Megumi is going to come at all."

"Oh right. You know, I messaged her last night after you told all of us to, and she never replied to me. Are you sure you gave me the right number?"

"I haven't received one either." Yagyuu said.

"I'm pretty sure I did." He sighed again. After a quick scan of making sure the captains weren't looking, he pulled out his phone to check if she had messaged him. There were plenty from his older sister, but none from Megumi.

"Well, we still have another five hours here, she might show up later." Marui tried to tell him. Niou gave a small laugh.

"Maybe, but I doubt it."

Practice came to a close, and Megumi never showed, or gave a reply. Niou faked being okay about it, but his worries grew. He had started wondering if he had already screwed up and if she was ever going to face him again. He packed his things and tried leaving the school without any interruptions, but Marui and Jackal came around him.

"Hey, let's go hang out, I'm hungry." Marui said.

"Right now? Aren't you tired?" Niou grumbled.

"Yeah, that's why I'm saying we should go get food. It's not even that far~."

"Alright." Niou sighed, turning the sound on his phone on so he would know if Megumi would message him at all.

The three of them sat in the middle of the shopping mall, Marui eating half of the food court and Niou and Jackal sipping on a smoothie. Constantly looking at his phone, Niou wasn't paying any attention to what the other two were saying.

"Hey, are you sure you're good? I get that you're tired but you're not even plotting pranks on strangers. Or listening. HEYYYYY!" Marui yelled in his ear, making him jump and drop his phone. He clicked his tongue and picked it up.

"How do you have so much energy to yell after practice? That's the real question." He said and unlocked his phone again.

"You didn't answer mine though. And since when are you a phone addict?" Marui asked and tried looking at it. Niou clicked the button, making it go dark and rolled his eyes.

"I'm not. But hey, I'm just on the really tired side today so I'm gonna head home. See you tomorrow." He faked a yawn and walked away.

"Tell Megumi-chan to answer my message! She hasn't replied in over two hours!" Marui yelled from afar. He threw him a thumbs up, before realizing what he had just said.

'Two hours? She's been talking to him?' he thought and looked at his phone again to see if he had missed a message.

He hadn't, making him wonder what made her talk to Marui but not him. He lifted his head to try to forget it, but then he saw the girl that was making him go crazy all along. She was walking out of a hospital clinic, rubbing her head. Her shoulders were steadily moving up and down, meaning she was taking deep breaths. His worries grew worse, wondering if she was injured, or if she was there because of him. The possibility of her just being sick crossed his mind, but only once. He desperately wanted to know but he didn't know how he could ask her. His pace picked up, wanting to discreetly catch up to her. To his surprise, she turned and their eyes met. There was a distance, but he saw her surprised expression. He gave a small smile and walked up to her.

"Hey Megumi." He said softly and mindlessly wrapped his arms around her.

Her body was still, but he didn't care. His only concern was that she was okay. A surprise came to him again, which was a single arm wrapping around his waist and giving a light pull. Her head dipped in his chest, and she gave a deep sigh. Without a moment's notice, his shirt was getting wet and light sniffles were heard. He realized she wasn't okay at all. One of his hands went to her head and he pet her naturally. Neither of them said a word, and he didn't dare break the silence.

"Sorry." She mumbled and started to pull away. Niou gave her some space, but kept an arm wrapped around her.

"You're okay, I'm not mad." He assured her.

He kept trying to make eye contact, but she wouldn't let him. He figured there were too many thoughts in her head, making it difficult for her to focus on anything. Finally releasing her, he took a step back and gave her an opportunity to breathe. She rubbed her eyes and slouched her shoulders, finally looking more relaxed. Her eyes turned to him and he softly smiled.

"Looking good, Megu." He said, causing a small laugh from her.

"Thanks." She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"But do you want to go somewhere else? You look like you need to sit down for a bit." He said.

She nodded, and Niou led the walk to a nearby park. He stopped in front of a jungle gym and motioned for it silently.

"You're serious?" she asked.

"Yeah, let's go." He answered and started climbing.

He heard her sigh, but the sound of her shoes hitting the bars followed. He looked down to make sure she was getting up okay, since it was a relatively high gym. She turned out to do just fine, since she was able to sit at the top next to him right after he sat down himself. Their feet dangled next to each other, feeling a cool breeze. He looked over at her, and realized this was the first time he'd ever seen her in regular street clothes. Although he had only known her a couple days, it was still a sight. His eyes went to her slightly exposed wrists. He remembered the previous day, when he had teased her by pulling her close, and he had felt the lines. This time, he saw them, but he didn't know what to say.

"Do you want to see them?" He heard her say quietly.

He shifted his eyes to hers, and saw her discomfort.

"I don't need to. Sorry for staring at them." He scratched his head.

"Don't be. It's my fault for not hiding them well." She sighed and tried to pull the sleeve.

He shook his head and lightly laughed at her.

"I was going to tell you to not be sorry, but I don't want to start that cycle. But can I ask something?"

"Is your question about why I was in the clinic?" she asked.

'One of them is.´ he thought, but nodded. She released a deep breath and lifted her head to face the sky.

"Intense therapy session today."

"Oh." He said out loud.

She slowly nodded, and he immediately knew that it was about him.

"You can stop me whenever, okay?" he blurted. Her head tilted, and she looked confused.

"I mean," he sighed, "I'm sorry I pestered you so much about being your best friend, and messing with you so much, and just for bothering you. But I'll stop annoying you and leave you alone."

He saw her expression fall hard and tears welled up in her eyes. She buried her face in her hands, and started tilting forward.

"Woah," he said and pulled her back, "be careful, you'll fall off this thing."

"Masa." She said, and tried to take a deep breath. He rubbed his hand on her back and tried to soothe her.

"It's okay Megumi."

"No it isn't!" she shouted.

"What?"

"It's not okay that I'm treating you like this! All you're doing is being nice to me, but all I can think of is the day that you'll leave me behind, and go back to your real friends." She wiped her face but tears kept falling.

"I don't know why I keep trying to push you away when you're the first person to even see me at school in three years. And now, I've made you feel so bad that you're apologizing about being a friend to me. I desperately need a friend, but I sure as hell don't deserve a person as nice as you." She shook her head.

Niou stared at her. He didn't know what to say, or what to do. The words she was spilling were ridiculous to him, as he genuinely never thought she was treating him badly. The way she talked to him from day one made it clear she hasn't talked to a new person in so long. He knew that she was scared, and that she was just trying to protect herself. And now, he knew that not only did she deserve the best, but she needed to learn to trust again.

"Megumi, look at me." He said and lifted her chin with his hand. The tears were growing hard to bear, but he locked eyes with her.

"Listen. You don't need to believe me, but I'm not going to leave you. You just admitted that you need a friend, and I'm exactly that, okay?" he smiled and wiped a tear off her face.

"Don't say I'm an acquaintance or someone that's like a friend. I, Niou Masaharu, one of the top tennis players in the mother fucking country is someone that you get to hang out with and talk to any time you want. About anything." He moved his hand to her head and pet her hair.

"And who knows, I might become your boyfriend at some point." He joked. She let out a small laugh, along with a slight blush in her cheeks, making him feel like a winner.

"But why would you want to talk to me anyway? I'm such a boring person or a crazy mess, it'll distract you so much from everything." She sighed and looked away from him.

"Why do you hate yourself so much?" he asked, and realized he had said that out loud. He saw her bite her lip and hang her head again.

"Sorry. You don't have to answer that." Niou immediately said and pat her back.

"I don't want to go that far in to it, but I'm not the only one who feels that way." She shrugged.

Niou gave a confused expression and wanted to ask what she meant. Before he did, he looked at her already stressed, and decided that conversation would be for another time.

"Oh, and uh, I'm sorry for not messaging you back at all." She said, looking away from him.

Her phone was out and there were message notifications from Marui, whose contact name was "Pink Hair". Niou laughed at it, but also grew curious of what they were talking about.

"Don't worry about it. What are you and Bunta talking about?" he decided to ask. She was lightly blushing and refusing to look at him.

"That you were apparently upset that I didn't go to your practice today…" she said quietly.

His face grew warm and he swore to himself that he was going to prank him back ridiculously hard. For once, he was glad that Megumi wasn't looking at him since he couldn't imagine how red his face actually was. He quickly shook off the feeling and put a fake smile on.

"Yeah, I was just hoping that you didn't forget." He lied.

She turned her head and looked directly at him. Her tears had dried, but her eyes were still red. He wished he could hug her again, but she spoke before he could do anything.

"That's a lie." She scoffed.

"What?"

"I know a lie when I hear one." She smirked, and turned away again.

Niou needed a moment to himself.

'What? She could tell that wasn't true?' he thought.

Although it was a pretty simple lie, he knew how natural it sounded. There was so much about Megumi that he still hadn't figured out, but something that he had learned, was that she was a mystery. She quietly laughed.

"You don't need to explain yourself or anything. I just think it's best you know that it's not worth trying to trick me like that." She rested her chin on her hand. Niou blinked and didn't know how to react anymore. Naturally, laughter spilled from him and he swung his arm around her.

"Oh, Megumi. I'm so glad we're friends." He said and pat her hair. He noticed she tensed up, but he truly didn't care.

"And I know you know that I'm not lying~." He sneered and let her go. She lightly sighed and turned away from him.

"Hey, you have to say something back. You agreed that we're friends now so you have to be nice to me." He poked her cheek.

"How about you stop touching me." She said and swiped his hand away. He grabbed hers before she could set it down, and put it to his face.

"Here, compliment my skin." He said and rubbed her hand up and down.

"Masa, that's gross, you just had practice." She tried to pull her hand back.

His grip was still pretty strong, causing her to almost fall back. Quickly, she held on to a bar, stopping the motion. She released a sigh of relief and held on tightly.

"Hey, don't die on me once we're official friends." He said.

"Oh, I thought you said you had wings and that you would fly to save me." She rolled her eyes. Before he could respond, she started climbing down.

"What, we're going home now?" he groaned.

"Yeah, we both have practice tomorrow, right?" she looked up at him, with the smallest smile. He leaned forward and sent a smile back.

"We sure do, miss manager~." He said and started to climb down.

The two reached home in peace, and it was the first walk he had with her where she was smiling with only the slightest hesitation. He was happy her day was lightening up, and that she seemed to be okay now. But at the same time, there was a part of him that was worried about if she really was. Although he didn't mention it before, he's just as good at picking out liars, and he knew she was still hiding a lot inside.

"Hey, are you feeling better now?" he asked once they reached their homes.

"I never know if I am." She said bluntly. He let out a light laugh and shook his head.

"Well, you look like you are at least."

"Thanks. And, uh, sorry for being a mess again." She mumbled and started for her door.

"It's okay~, text me when you get home safe~." He said and turned away.

He knew she was rolling her eyes already, but he was happy with how the day was ending. Without a thought, he pulled out his phone as he entered his house, and finally read all the messages his sister had sent him.

"We're leaving for dinner without you." He read the last message out loud.

It turned out that the family had some special event that he couldn't remember, and he had missed the occasion entirely. He shrugged and looked around for food, but after seeing that his younger brother had eaten majority of the fridge, he was stuck snacking on an apple for the time being. Walking up to his room, he took his shirt off, and opened the window. He saw Megumi's house and a set of curtains closed rapidly, making him wonder if it was her room. After a quick laugh, he decided a fun phone call wouldn't hurt. After ringing three times, she picked up.

"Hello?" she said, sounding clearly confused.

"Hey, what's up?"

"You literally saw me just walk in my house." She scoffed.

"Yeah, but it's been, what, seven or so minutes? Where are you?" he said, sitting on his window sill.

"In my room. What about you?"

"Oh, you're wondering about me? That's new~." He heard her sigh in annoyance.

"Look out your window and try to find me."

He stared at her house and waited for her to look out. He heard her mumbling through the phone and he just smiled. A window opened, and she stuck her head out, and made eye contact.

"Hey~~." He said loud enough for her to hear across the street. She gave a small wave, and immediately looked down.

"What, can't handle seeing me without a shirt?" he smirked. She turned around and hung up on him.

"Hey, you left your window open!" he shouted.

"Oh my god, go shower or something!" she yelled back at him, and slammed her windows. He laughed out loud, and did as he was told.

As he stood in the shower, he started wondering what else her therapy session included. It had been a whirlwind of a day, and he was having trouble grasping all of it. And his question of why she hated herself still stuck to the side of his brain. There had to be something that happened that he wanted to learn about her. He stepped out, and grabbed a razor for his face. Although there wasn't much to shave, he still had the need to keep his face clean. After a few strokes, he nicked his chin and started to bleed.

"Damn." He cursed and grabbed a piece of toilet paper to stop the bleeding.

'She does this on purpose?' he thought, and pulled the paper off. Seeing it was just a light scratch, he didn't bother putting a band aid on. Once he was fully dressed, he went back to his room to browse his phone. Surprisingly, there was a message from Megumi.

"Hey, when does practice start tomorrow?" it read.

A wide smile grew on his face, as he knew for sure she would be there this time. He set his phone down, and decided not to reply for at least ten minutes, just as a small form of payback. He knew she wouldn't send another message after, but this was enough for him.

"From 8 AM~ I'll be waiting at your door in the morning." He typed. Laying down on his bed and staring at the phone to see if she would respond, thoughts for the next day grew. But exhaustion from the day started to crawl in and he could barely keep his eyes open. Quickly setting an alarm, he locked his phone, and fell asleep.

Yay to a chapter finally being done! Thank you to all the new followers and the reviewers and for overall reading all of this! 3