New chapter is finally up! Whew! I hope this time I've actually updated faster than the last time. I wasn't working so busily this time around so I had enough time to actually think about this chapter and write it. The next chapter is already on the way too! It'll be a really exciting and long one so please look forward to that.

Big thanks to all who read the last chapter! And a special thanks to these people who spent time reading and reviewing my work.

kyoya-sama

Writers really don't hate that, we actually love it! Because, when we hear/read people say UPDATE, that means we really do have readers

Aisian lover

hi! thanks for loving the story. I tried sending you the chapter as a message but an error comes up everytime. I'm actually planning on posting this fic on another site so you might want to watch out for that in case you still haven't read chapter 6 yet.

Yayz HEYO YO-YO

I watched it during the first day of showing here in the Philippines! It was soooooo good! I just find it weird that people say it's somewhat incomplete...well..it actually is right? haha. It's only the part1 after all.

Having a Yumi exclusive anime with POT would be really awesome! haha! I'm working on a Yumi fanart of my own. will link it when I get to finish it.

lovelyanimeangel

Thanks so much for reading again! I was squealing most of the time I wrote that chapter. please do send an entry,it's still open after all. ^_^

invisible-gurl

you'll get the whole picture in this chapter. I know it looks a bit random but my head is so out of it that I just wrote what was running through my mind.

Coco96

it was so weird writing something romantic for twelve-year olds. they're practically teenagers but still, it's still hard to write stuff like this. anyhoo, do read on. it'll soon be exciting!

Disclaimer: Tenisu no Oujisamaotherwise known as The Prince of Tennis is not a property of Ysah-chan the authoress because if it was, Fuji would be a girl and he'd be dating a certain captain (knock your heads off and think of who that captain is. Oh and yes I read YAOI.) It is by the awesome Konomi Takeshi-sama. Other characters mentioned are of Ysah-chan's wicked mind and are not in any way related to a living or non-living person. Any similarities to whoever person you meet that seems like they are from my story is purely coincidental. I'm pretty sure they all just popped out of my head. ^_^

Now then, on with the story~!

Chapter 15 – Yuudan Sezu ni Ikkou

One mistake that Ryoma made that day was when he let his guard down. He was so focused with what he just heard from Yumi that he completely forgot what his captain has taught him.

Yudan Sezu ni Ikkou.

'Darn it, Ryoma! Have you learned nothing?' he mentally scolded himself as he and Yumi were currently sitting at his house's living room, waiting for his parents.

Just after Yumi said her answer, his old man jumped out of the bushes outside of the park gates and ambushed that two. It was like a whirlwind of sorts. Before he realized it, they were already sitting at their family car's back seat and his dad was already, dangerously, speeding towards their home. He was glad that his mom had the foresight to contact the Tezuka household and inform Yumi's parents, but at the moment, he was still mentally debating whether he should push through with this unexpected dinner invitation by his parents or if he should pull Yumi out of the house and run as fast as they can. He wasn't worried by his mom; after all, Echizen Rinko was sane enough to be a lawyer, but a bit questionable since he married the former tennis pro.

"Ah, shonen, your mother said dinner will be ready in a few minutes. You should take your lovely girlfriend to the dining room now," said Echizen Nanjirou in between sniggers.

In Ryoma's opinion, he'd rather give up his favorite tennis racket and brand new tennis shoes in place of this situation. Of course it was nice of his mother to consider inviting Yumi; it was definitely nice to spend a lot more time with her than what they planned originally, but going to his house automatically entails the presence of a certain perverted monk slash former tennis pro.

"Quit sniggering, oyaji," he muttered as he ushered Yumi past his dad.

"I take care of you for almost thirteen years and this is the kind of treatment you give your old man?" the man scratched his unshaved chin.

"I wouldn't be talking like this to you if only you looked presentable enough," said Ryoma.

"Ah! So that's how it is! You feel humiliated in front of your pretty little date? Ah gomen ne! Ryoma-kun! I'll go change and try to look as handsome as you," the old monk said aloud as he walked towards a room.

"Sorry about that, my family's not as normal as most would think of it," Ryoma muttered.

"It's okay," said Yumi.

"Don't worry about what oyaji's saying; I mean the 'girlfriend' thing that he keeps calling you. I know I somehow told you my feelings indirectly but, you don't have to answer right away," Ryoma explained.

"I understand what you mean, plus I'm not quite sure about it myself," said Yumi.

"And I'm pretty sure your brother will have my hide once he found out," said Ryoma.

"He won't but he'll probably have Fuji-sempai torture you ad infinite," said Yumi.

"Yeah," he said awkwardly.

"But this shouldn't bother anything, okay?" said Yumi.

"What do you mean?" Ryoma asked as they sat down the dinner table.

"I mean, we're still best friends and we'll always stay like that no matter what happens. If I accept your feelings or not, we'll still remain good friends like always, right?" Yumi explained sincerely.

"Of course," said Ryoma.

Dinner began after a few minutes later. It wasn't like the dinner that Yumi had at the Tezuka house. There, it would always be calm and quiet, the exact opposite of how the Echizen family spends every meal they have together. Though they all have equal servings of the food; Rinko insisted on this system since her husband and son seems to always get on each others' nerves when one has more than the other, there always seems like a battle for something.

"No fair, shonen! Give me that last piece of shrimp!" said Nanjiroh as he stood up and tried to get his chopsticks past Ryoma.

"Yadda. You have your own," said Ryoma.

"Nanjiroh! Ryoma! Will you please quit it with this attitude of yours? We have a guest!" said Rinko.

"Daijoubu, Rinko-san, it's not that new to me anyway," said Yumi.

"Ah, have you seen them like this before?" asked Rinko.

"Iie, Ryoma often fights over food with Momo-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai so I see them like that a lot," said Yumi.

"Ah, though he's small like that, my Ryoma does have a very healthy appetite. He's about thirteen already so I'm hoping this appetite of his will help him get a little higher," said Rinko.

"Okaa-san, that's like saying you have a dwarf for a son," said Ryoma, making Nanjiroh laugh boisterously.

"That's not what I mean honey, Mama just wants you to grow into a healthy boy," said Rinko.

"Hey Rinko, stop babying him, he's old enough to have a girlfriend so stop with this mollycoddling," said Nanjiroh.

"Ah, but my baby boy is and will always be my baby boy. It's your fault my other son is off who-knows-where so let me spoil my other son," said Rinko.

"You have another son?" Yumi wondered aloud.

"Ah, I'll tell you about him later on," said Ryoma.

"Oh? She must be really special then, for you to actually confide to her about your brother," said Nanjiroh.

"Nanjiroh," Rinko growled at the man.

Sunday

Yumi didn't come home that late last night but she did get a bit of scolding from her older brother. She kept remembering his words in her head even after he had finished. Apparently, Tezuka was the only one who didn't know she was to come home a bit later than planned because he was at school doing some Council work with some of the other officers. He wasn't really angry, but he was a bit cross upon realizing that he got home an hour earlier than his sister did.

"Enjoy your day-off Mayi-san," said Yumi as she waved at her nanny's retreating back.

Mayi-san spends most of the week at their house for work but on Sundays she was given a day-off. She usually leaves on Saturday evenings but today she opted to leave this morning after breakfast. Yumi's pretty close to the woman since she was only in her late twenties. During schooldays she'd help Yumi with fixing her hair or they would simply chat after Yumi finishes her homework. She was more of a surrogate big sister than a nanny.

"Do you have any assignments for tomorrow, Yumi?" asked Ayana as they were in the TV room.

"I finished doing them last Friday and I handed in my projects in advance so I could get extra credit," said Yumi.

"That's very good, Yumi. If you keep up you might get into the top of the class," said Ayana.

"If only English and Physical Education was as easy as reading Mystery novels. I got a B minus on my . practical exam," said Yumi.

"What was the practical exam for?" asked Ayana.

"Basketball," Yumi pouted and lay down on the couch.

"That makes sense," Tezuka entered the room, his face totally stoic as he sat down at the end of the couch.

"Okaa-san, onii-chan's making fun of me," Yumi pouted some more.

"What did the doctor tell you during physical exam day?" asked Tezuka; reminding her about the recent physical exam that all of the first years were given two weeks ago.

"The doctor said that I'm thin and too short for my age too. But it doesn't make sense! I eat regularly. I drink my vitamins regularly. I join tennis exercise in the morning and I sleep a lot." said Yumi.

"Don't think too much about it. Try to ask Momoshiro to teach you with basketball. He's one of the best players in his year," said Tezuka.

"Maybe I need to strengthen my bones and drink a lot of milk like Ryoma-kun. Inui-senpai makes him drink two bottles a day," said Yumi.

"But you drink more than two a day, honey. You drink two glasses in the morning with your breakfast, you bring a bottle to school for break time when you eat your cookies or pastries, and when you come home you also drink milk while doing your homework. I don't think it's with the lack of calcium or milk," said Ayana.

"Okaa-san makes it sound like you're a cheese factory, what with all the milk you've been taking in," Tezuka muttered.

The younger Tezuka sat up and pouted at her older brother. She's been getting really into tennis lately and her lack of strength makes it a big disadvantage even when it's the first years' she's been playing with. Inui did offer for her to test his Inui's Deluxe Bone and Muscle Strengthening Juice but the whole bubbling jug was flushed down the toilet even before Inui could hand it to her.

"Maybe we should visit our family doctor to see if there's something we can do to help you," said Ayana.

"I've only been drinking my new vitamins for a week now so let's wait and see first before we go and visit Hataro-sensei," said Yumi.

"All right then. Why don't you go and check if your father needs help with anything, Yumi? I'll go to the garden and check on grandfather's plants for a bit," said Ayana.

"Ah, I'll go feed the koi," said Tezuka.

Tezuka headed to the koi pond while carrying the fish food. He doesn't usually do this, especially since he has school and a lot of activities to handle as a captain of the tennis club and as the student council president. But today was an exception since his grandfather was still away on a visit to Kyuushu. Kunikazu usually did the feeding for the fish and the tending of his plants, especially his bonsais, but he was off on a friendly visit to Kyuushu with some of his other retired police friends. He would be returning either in the evening of Sunday or the following morning.

After giving out the food, Tezuka's mind drifted on the stationery he had neatly folded and kept in his study table's drawer. It was a love letter that he got yesterday after some uneventful occurrences in school. The council office's door was busted; apparently someone tried to break in and ended up breaking the doorknob instead. They had to wait for the property custodian and the maintenance head to get there before they could open the office. After which, they had to file some papers regarding what happened first before they could proceed with the day's agenda. It was such a big hassle that Tezuka didn't even notice that they exceeded the time limit they had in their schedule. Reluctantly, he adjourned the meeting and set another one this Monday. They had to finalize the plans for the school festival by Monday.

What sent his mind in frenzy wasn't really because of what happened that day though. It was when he got the letter that he snapped. It wasn't really because he got the letter but rather because of WHOM the letter was from. It was from a certain Mizuno Tenshi from Fuji's photography club. Of all the confessions that he's received, this one was the only one that actually caught his attention.

"Onii-chan," he got a hug from the back, distracting his thoughts. He figured it was his younger sister, knowing her antics when she was home.

"What is it, Yumi?" he asked, not really minding that Yumi was trying (A/N: although failingly) to shake him to move.

"Let's go get some ice cream!" she finally stopped.

"Who said you can have sweets?" asked Tezuka.

"Mou, I asked Otou-san already so please, pretty please. Can we go and buy some?" said Yumi as she faced him.

"No. It's still too early for ice cream." said Tezuka.

"Pretty please," said Yumi, giving her brother her puppy-dog-eyes look.

"Sorry that won't work on me, Yumi. If you want to have ice cream, wait until after lunch," said Tezuka.

"Fine," she pouted and then looked at all the fishes in their man made pond.

Meanwhile, Tezuka's mind was drifting back to the letter again. It wasn't a particularly sweet or romantic letter, which was probably the reason it caught his attention. It was direct to the point and very bluntly put.

"Tezuka-kun,

I like you very much. Would you go out with me? I'll wait for your answer.

Mizuno Tenshi"

It was a wonder why the girl even bothered to put it into perfumed stationery when she didn't really elaborate much on what she wanted to say. If it were his usual eco-friendly self, Tezuka would've preferred if it was said in person rather than having a piece of paper wasted like that. But upon coming to terms that it was in fact, Mizuno Tenshi who wrote the letter, talking to her face to face became the last option he had in mind. He found the girl rather attractive and very witty; and she's apparently one of the most talented in the photography club too. During certain instances, he'd sneak glances at her when they were in the same area. It was such a weird feeling for Tezuka.

The day went on as they would usually spend it. He ended up bringing Yumi to the ice cream parlor after a few more tries from the younger ones' part. In the end, even he fell for the puppy-dog-eyes scheme that Yumi usually played when she wanted to eat something. Other than that it didn't really work for anything else. "Couldn't you wait until after lunch?" asked Tezuka.

"Otou-san said it was okay because I ate breakfast anyway. It wouldn't upset my stomach," Yumi smiled as she took another spoonful of her banana split.

"That really doesn't answer my question, Yumi," said Tezuka.

"Only for today, onii-chan, I only want ice cream this early for today. I have some stuff to think about so I wanted to eat something sweet to distract me," Yumi explained.

"Hn," Tezuka only hummed.

While Yumi was finishing up her banana split with three scoops of ice cream, lots of chocolate fudge, marshmallows and chopped nuts, Tezuka ordered a cup of coffee. He took one of his German novels with him so while waiting for Yumi, he just went ahead and read the book. He liked it a lot when he's reading. It was like he's being taken away to another era or another world. This time around he's reading one of Theodor Fontane's books called Effi Briest, a bit different from the usual genre he read but it was interesting so he went ahead and read it.

"Yumi-chan!" said a familiar voice.

When Tezuka looked up, it was none other than Mizuno Tenshi, writer of that letter he received yesterday. She didn't seem any different though, not like she was even affected that he's there with Yumi, or maybe she didn't notice him.

"Tenshi-senpai, it's nice to see you!" said Yumi as she stood up.

"What are you two doing here? Isn't it a bit early to have dessert?" Tenshi asked.

"I begged my onii-chan to bring me here. How about you? What are you doing here?" said Yumi.

"Oh, it's my younger brother's birthday today and I'm buying ice cream for the party," Tenshi explained.

"Say Happy Birthday to Taro-kun for me," said Yumi.

"Ah, I will. Tezuka-san, I trust you got my note yesterday. Do take your time. I'm not forcing you or anything like that and don't worry, I'm not taking advantage of your little sister," said Tenshi.

"Ah,"

"What are you talking about, senpai?" asked Yumi.

"I'll tell you about it at home Yumi. Go and finish your ice cream," said Tezuka.

By the looks of it, even with the captain's stoicness, Tenshi was certainly unfazed by it all. All those years of having that strict look, someone has finally seen through it at some point. Fuji's an exception for this of course; he's not called the tensai for nothing. For now, Tezuka must find out the reason why he feels all weird whenever he faces Mizuno Tenshi. It's a foreign feeling that he's not going to put up with that easily.