AN: Hey, beloved readers! Wassup! Some of you might know that this was th last chapter I posted before I re-posted the entire thing. Sorry for not updating this one a lot more quickly. I was just being lazy and slept all day. Nah! As much as I want to update earlier, I really don't have time! College life is hectic! I might just surely die if I include this to the things I am already doing (which is a LOT!). Kidding! But I'll try to write more often. I usually do when I have free time. (Which is not really that often.) Enjoy reading and don't forget to review!
Chapter 6:
Ryoma woke up early the next morning to prepare for their tennis practice. He quickly dressed up and went down the kitchen to eat breakfast. Upon arrival he noticed that they were not having the usual American style breakfast (which he was thankful for). Instead what his mother prepared was Japanese style, his favorite. He wondered what was happening and asked his mother.
"Okaa-san, why are you cooking Japanese style today? Is there an occasion?" he asked.
"Nothing much, dear. Go ahead and finish your breakfast so that you could go to school already." She answered sweetly.
Ryoma just eyed her suspiciously. There had to be something going on. Usually it was Nanako who always cook Japanese style breakfast. But today Rinko personally cooked them. It was rare since she preferred preparing Western food over Japanese food. Ryoma thought that this was the bad omen he was thinking about the night before. And something bad is going to happen! He just knew it. He stared at his mother, who was happily eating in front of him.
"Oh and by the way, one of your sempais called yesterday. Saying something about a competition…" she suddenly said, catching Ryoma's attention.
"Captain Tezuka called?" he asked suspiciously.
"No, no, no. Not your team captain on the tennis team. It was from the music club. He informed me of this competition and I told him to register you as one of the contestant. Isn't that exciting?" She said happily, while waving her chopsticks in emphasis.
"Ohh…" Ryoma muttered. He continued eating, as if the recent information did not just enter his sharp mind. Then it clicked.
"What?", he almost yelled, standing up from his seat and staring disbelievingly at his mother.
"Why, dear, do you sound so upset?" Rinko asked in a sweet voice. Maybe a little too sweet because it sent shivers to Ryoma's back and caused him to gulp and move back to his seat.
"N-no Okaa-san. I was just surprised." He said immediately, fearing the wrath of his mother. He knew this tone of voice of his mother. She usually uses it whenever she is not pleased at something or if she is angry. It promised never ending suffering and pain. He saw it sometimes whenever his stupid father acts all perverted with his stupid magazines, though he doubted that his mother would do that to him. But still, it was still creeping him out!
He cursed silently to himself and silently plotted something for his meddlesome sempai. After all, there is nothing he could do now that her mother wanted him to join the stupid contest, but to deliver revenge. After eating the delicious breakfast, he went to school and changed for the morning practices.
As some of the regulars went inside the changing room, they could not help but feel the small killing intent being emitted by the freshman rookie. They could see in his face that he is planning some kind of massacre and was failing miserably to suppress his cold and murderous aura. They silently feared and felt pity for the poor man who managed to make their adorable and cute little chibi this furious.
BANG!
Some of the regulars jumped in surprise as they watched the retreating back of the scary freshman. He just slammed the door of his locker shut and just stepped out of the locker room without a care in the world. Well, maybe he did somehow care, but what do they know about it? No they did not.
~~~~hohohohoho~~~~
This day was starting off badly for our young hero, Echizen Ryoma, who had just found out that he was entered in a musical competition without his permission. Even if that Ishikawa had somehow gotten the permission of his mother, he was still angry that their club president was this meddlesome. Although he could not do anything about joining the damn contest, he just wants to deliver his revenge to the mastermind just to get even.
He played seriously today and thrashed all his opponents during their morning practice. Even playing tennis could not make him calm down. He just needed to go to the president and punch his face real hard. Well maybe, he would not do that since he is not the type to physically harm his opponent, (Unless he uses his secret weapon, his awesome racquet and tennis balls.) so he just decided to improvise.
Right after practice he changed quickly back into his uniform, ignoring the curious questions of his sempais about him being a little bit too hot headed and harsh today. He sped out of the room and headed to his homeroom class. He was determined to make this day faster so that he could meet that stupid person and get his revenge.
As soon as he sat down his chair he immediately laid his head on the table and slept. And surely it did make the day a tad bit faster, since he slept in most of the classes. It was a good thing that Sakuno would nudge him whenever a teacher comes nearby and help him escape punishment from slacking off. He nodded his thanks to the timid girl and went back to sleeping when the teacher diverts their attention from him. Sakuno just sweatdropped and wondered what was going on.
The day went on quickly and soon it was club time. He walked briskly to the music room and searched for the president.
"Did you see Ishikawa-sempai?" he asked Seiko, whom he bumped into as he entered the room.
"Echizen! You're here! Are you going to play some more music with us today?" she asked
Echizen slightly glared at the taller girl and asked again.
"Oh! Hehe! Ishikawa-sempai just went outside to arrange the papers for the competition. He was submitting the form to the principal for approval….oh here he is!" she said pointing at the hallway filled with students. Ryoma instantly sighted the president and glared coldly at him. Seiko slightly moved backward, feeling the dark aura surrounding Ryoma.
"Oh, Echizen-kun! You're here!" Ishikawa stated.
"Why did you enter me into that stupid contest?" he asked angrily. He almost growled but still managed to keep his usual voice as to not completely lose his temper. Losing his temper was a big no-no for him. It's bad for one's health.
Ishikawa sweatdropped and explained, "Isn't it great! Your mom was so happy when she heard about it! And besides you couldn't do anything about it now. I already submitted your registration form."
Sigh! "Whatever. It's not like I could do something about it anyway." He said in a dark tone.
"Besides… wouldn't it be nice to share your talent to others?" Ishikawa exclaimed with sparkling eyes.
"What would be nice is if I actually won that contest and thrash all those people who call themselves musicians…" he muttered. He thought that he might as well look at the bright sight of this situation. Even if he needed to use some of his precious time in practicing his cello instead of tennis, he might as well try to win this. It would be such a bad thing if he loses in a match. (Even if it's not tennis. :D)
Ishikawa now nods in approval as Ryoma seem to be accepting the fact that he will be participating in this competition. And he was even informed that this will be the first time that the young boy will perform in front of an audience. This would be an excellent show.
"Now, would you please move aside, Echizen-kun, so that I may enter the club room?" he asked in a sweet voice.
Ryoma smirked then moved sideward. But he forgot to move his feet out of the way. And of course this caused the unknowing club president to trip and land on the floor face first. His body then flipped and his back hit the cold floor.
The people inside the room snickered and tried not to laugh at their fallen president. It would make him a lot more embarrassed than he already is. Ryoma smirked as he looked at Ishikawa on the floor.
Ishikawa's face was red due to the impact and he was trying his best not to shout at them and order them to shut up. He turned around and glared accusingly at Ryoma, who was not bothering to hide his amused face.
"Thanks a lot, Echizen-kun." He said to him sarcastically. "You purposely tripped me didn't you?" he added as he walked towards him, pointing an accusing finger at Ryoma.
"My bad. It was unintentional. I swear." He said in a not so convincing tone. He was still smirking in amusement at Ishikawa's face, not ashamed of his bad deed. He initially intended to not physically harm him, but he just disregarded his original plan. And besides, he did not intentionally trip him. He just forgot to remove his feet out of the way and his unknowing sempai did the rest of the work. He was just clumsy. It was not his fault that Ishikawa was naturally unobservant.
"You may leave now, Echizen-kun. Oh and come tomorrow for the club meeting, okay? I will tell you the details about the contest." He said. He sighed and then thought, I just hope that he won't be up to something more. And besides, I just made Echizen join the contest! We are so going to win this! Ishikawa just let Ryoma slide this time since he forced him to do the contest.
~~~~hohohohoho~~~~
SMASH!
"Game set and match won by Echizen." Announced the umpire as Ryoma finished the last game with a powerful smash. The last ball made a dent on the court and left a dark mark from the impact it made before. Momo just stood there stunned at the freshmen. He had just lost to the freshman rookie, barely scoring two games from the boy. He sure is hot headed today.
He went to the middle of the court and shook hands with the seemingly pissed off freshman. He watched as the boy went to the bench and covered his head with a damp towel. He noticed that the boy was panting hard. He approached and offered him cold water. Ryoma reluctantly accepted the water jug and muttered a small thank you to Momo.
"Why so hot headed today, Echizen?" asked Momo, as he slung his arms over Ryoma's shoulder.
Ryoma groaned in annoyance. "It's nothing, Momo-sempai."
"Haha! Always so stubborn. Anyway, you should reserve that energy of yours for our game two weeks from now." He told Ryoma.
"Hn. Mada mada dane." Ryoma said as he stood up and bounced a tennis ball on his red racquet. Momo snickered and chuckled as he patted Ryoma's head.
After a few more drills, Tezuka ordered the regulars to gather around him for some announcement. Their coach, Ryuuzaki Sumire was also there standing beside Tezuka.
"Now everyone, we all know that the tournament will start in two weeks' time. I expect everyone to exert more effort in our training and to not slack off." he said in a stern voice.
"Yes!" Everyone shouted.
"Do not let your guard down." Tezuka added as he dismissed the team.
As the rest of the regulars walked towards the locker room to change, Sumire called for Ryoma.
"Hey, Ryoma!"
"What is it, coach?" he asked in a bored tone.
"I heard that you will be participating in some music contest?" she asked in an amused tone.
"I was forced to join, okay." he said, emphasizing the word, forced. "Oh. And I think I will be late for practice tomorrow. Ishikawa-sempai said he will say some stuff about the stupid contest tommorow."
"Well, you do well with that. And don't worry about doing laps. I will tell Tezuka that you asked permission to be late." She said, walking away from Ryoma.
Well that was weird. Ryoma thought as he continued to walk towards the locker room to change.
~~~~hohohohoho~~~~
The next day, Ryoma went to the club room with Sakuno. She told him that Ishikawa also wanted her to attend their meeting today. They entered the room quietly and sat at their usual spot near the windows at the back of the room. Stared outside and wished that Ishikawa would tell them whatever he needed to say quickly.
"Good afternoon everyone. I'm here to announce to you that our representatives for the upcoming music contest will be Echizen-kun accompanied by Ryuuzaki-chan and yours truly accompanied by Hayagawa-kun."
Sakuno was shocked to hear that she would be participating in the contest. Although she would not be a contestant, it still made her proud to be chosen as one of the accompaniment. She looked at Ryoma and noticed that he was staring with interest at Ishikawa. She blushed a little at the amused look Ryoma was giving off because it looked really adorable.
"Echizen-kun, you are free to choose whatever piece you would like to play. Just let me know about it before next week." He told Ryoma, who just nodded in agreement. "Oh I almost forgot." He suddenly added.
"The contest will be held in two weeks. It will be a Monday so we must hurry and practice quickly." He told Ryoma. This got his attention because he distinctly remembered that the tennis tournament will be on a Saturday. It was just two days before the music contest. He suddenly faced Sakuno, who jumped in surprise.
"Ne, Ryuuzaki. Would you mind if we just practice over at your house? I still have tennis practice so we cannot do it here at school." He asked her monotonously.
"Of course, Ryoma-kun. Why don't you just ask baa-chan to be excused for the practice?" she asked.
"We will also have the tennis tournament two days before the music contest. So I need to attend, though I could ask her if I could be dismissed earlier." He said.
"Oh. Okay. Just tell me right away what piece you want to play so that I could already practice my part."
"Sure. I already have something in mind actually." He smirked as he told her about the piece he wanted to perform.
"I think is a nice choice." She said, smiling at him. Ryoma smirked as he stood and prepared to go to his tennis practice. Sakuno told him that she would go home already so that she could practice her part already. He just shrugged off and headed to the tennis courts.
Upon reaching, he quickly changed into his sports attire and warmed up a little. He ran a couple of laps and joined the other regulars.
"Nya! Ochibi is late!" Eiji exclaimed as he noticed the capped boy walk towards them leisurely as if he wasn't late.
"I gave him permission. He needed to do something." told Sumire to them. Ryoma smirked and the others just nodded while the some (namely, Inui, Fuji and Tezuka) eyed her suspiciously.
Tezuka just gave a stern glare at Ryoma, who in turn just shrugged his shoulder. Tezuka called the attention of the regulars and told them to resume their training.
After doing the usual drills, Tezuka ordered the regulars to pair up to have practice matches in singles and doubles. Everyone paired up and it ended in Fuji VS Kawamura, Momo VS Oishi, Ryoma VS Kaidoh and Inui VS Eiji. Tezuka was the one who became the referee of the games.
At the end Fuji, Oishi, Ryoma and Inui won their matches. The rest of the regulars was forced to drink Inui's latest version of his vegetable juice and every single one of them passed out after one sip. They didn't even get the chance to run to the water fountains to wash away the ridiculous taste of the accursed drink. Their corpses were dragged at the corner of the tennis court so that their bodies won't bother the rest of the team who are still training. The others just watched in terror as they saw small bubbles oozing out of their mouth, hoping that they would not have the same fate as them later on after the doubles match.
After the incident, the rest of the regulars plus Inui, paired up for doubles matches. Tezuka was the referee again. The match was between Inui and Oishi pair VS Ryoma and Fuji pair.
Ryoma was still not good enough for doubles. He just keep on running after all the balls going into their side of the court even if Fuji was closer to it. Fuji watched in amusement as Ryoma ran around the court. Tezuka just shook his head and gave up on the thought that Ryoma would be able to play a decent doubles match. The boy was only meant to play singles. He sighed as he proclaimed Inui and Oishi pair the winner.
Ryoma muttered something about rude people forcing him to play doubles and how he despised them. As he was walking to the side of the court to fix his things since they will be dismissed soon, a single glass of greenish, brownish thingy with purplish smoke coming off interrupted his walk. He began to sweat bullets and motioned to grab the glass albeit with shaking hands. He stared at the weird drink and gulped. He glanced at Fuji and noticed that he just finished drinking his share without a problem. He cursed silently about a specific sadistic tensai and about how life is so unfair to him. He glanced at the corner and noticed that the others are beginning to regain consciousness. He just wished that he won't pass out just like the losers slumped at the corner, who were now looking at him with anticipation, waiting for him to join them in their embarrassment.
He took one last look at the glass and slowly brought it closer to his mouth. He quickly drank the awful stuff and immediately made a mad dash towards the water fountain. He quickly washed away the awful taste that nearly made him lose consciousness. He breathed deeply and drank fresh water and sat down, panting.
The others just watched him in awe. They all thought that their young rookie was really an extraordinary kid.
AN: How was the chapter? I hope you really are liking this! Oh my gosh! I am panicking right now! Tell me what you think altready! XP Review!