A/N: For those in Singapore, have you been to the Anime Festival at the Singapore Expo Hall 7? Oh, I love the booths alright. I even had breakfast at the café and the boys who were our waiters are so CUTE! 3. I took a picture with two of them and I bought various stuff at the festival, and even sang Heroes Come Back and Blue Bird at the karaoke. I had a wonderful time there, and there are people who cosplayed as POT characters BTW. I nearly laughed at one who was dressed like Yukimura. I got my portrait drawn for free and I can pose with a sword at a scenery background for free as well! The food there was great as well.

"I really hate the fact that the missions are usually at night." Ryoma yawned. He was currently trying to keep awake in English. The teacher was already teaching things he already knew and is tired of hearing it. Thank god, there were no morning practice but there is still one in the afternoon. He fell asleep immediately after he put his head on the table. Shizuka sighed. She shifted her file to cover Ryoma so that the teacher won't notice him sleeping. It's the least she could do, considering he took on the main villain himself last night. Ryoma slept peacefully for the rest of English without any disturbance. At lunch, Ryoma went to the rooftop to sleep again. Shizuka went up, and found him sleeping there. A hand reached out, seemingly going to strangle him, but the hand shook his shoulder gently.

"You're going to catch a cold if you sleep out here, you know." said Shizuka. Ryoma woke up, rubbing his eyes, and Shizuka handed him her lunch (he forgot again because he overslept). Ryoma ate her lunch while she drank a few sips of Ponta, before handing the rest of the can to Ryoma.

"You sure you don't want anything?" Ryoma asked. Shizuka shook her head. She sat back, and watched the clouds go by. "I'm not really hungry." said Shizuka. Ryoma nodded, and they both spent the time at the rooftop together in silence, enjoying each other's presence. This is how they are. They are partners. They are the ones who understand each other the most, the ones who know what the other is thinking. No words were needed to comfort each other, just their presence. Their presence alone can make them feel relaxed and calm. 'And Momo said I have no sense of partnership.' thought Ryoma, smirking. After lunch, they went back to class, where they have to endure yet another round of lessons. Ryoma fell asleep during the last period, which was English, and Shizuka covered him as usual. After lessons, Shizuka knew he had practice, but she couldn't wake him up this time. Sighing, she packed up his bags, carried it along with her bag at her back, and half-carried him to practice.

"Hoi, is that Ochibi?" said Kikumaru, noticing two figures. One was dragging the other.

"By golly, it's Echizen!" Momo exclaimed.

Shizuka literally dragged him to the clubhouse and struggled to open the door. She wondered how Ryoma could be such a heavy sleeper. She stumbled in, just as Tezuka was walking out of the changing rooms, already changed in his jersey. She propped Ryoma on the bench. Seeing Tezuka was about to open his mouth, she cut him off by saying "Don't ask. Just be glad he's early and you don't need to give him laps." She slumped on the bench next to him, and groaned. 'Thank god I got him in the clubhouse in time; otherwise God knows what Tezuka would do to him.' Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She winced and clutched to the said area. The pain was quite intense and it was getting worse by the minute. She gritted her teeth and took out Ryoma's jersey and his racquets from his tennis bag. She filled his water bottle, while ignoring the pain. Shizuka left the sleeping Ryoma on the bench while she staggered out of the clubhouse. 'It's just a stomachache; it'll be fine by tomorrow.' She thought.

However, the next day, the pain returned again after lunch, where she gave Ryoma her lunch….again. She walked him to the clubhouse, and while he was changing, she filled his water bottle. Shizuka couldn't stand the pain in her stomach anymore. She let out a cry, dropped the water bottle, and water spilled everywhere, and collapsed on the floor. Ryoma rushed out of the changing room half-changed. "What's wrong, Shizuka?" Ryoma cried. Shizuka tried to answer him, but her world was slowly getting more blurry before she went black.

Ryoma nearly dropped her in horror. What is wrong with his partner? He fumbled for his phone in his bag, throwing everything out of the way, one of them hitting Kaidoh, who shouted at him, "What was that for, gaki?" Ryoma ignored him and continued looking for his phone-damn it, where did he put it?-throwing his items all over the place-why does he have so many items in his bag?-and muttering about a phone. Kaidoh's brows furrowed in concern, until he saw an unconscious figure sprawled next to him. It then dawned on him that Ryoma was looking for his phone. He quickly took out his phone, and handed it to Ryoma to save time. "Thanks, Kaidoh-senpai!" said Ryoma, dialing the ambulance with Kaidoh's phone.

"Fssssh, I'll go report to Tezuka-buchou that you won't be practicing, because of your friend." He walked off.

"Hey, where's Kaidoh?" said Eiji.

"I guess that's 20 laps for him." said Inui, jotting down something in his notebook.

"Ah, speak of the devil." said Eiji, when Kaidoh walked past them. However, he did not acknowledge Inui of Eiji, instead he headed straight for Tezuka, who was monitoring one of the tennis matches.

"Tezuka-buchou." said Kaidoh.

"Kaidoh, what do you want?" said Tezuka.

"Echizen may not be coming for practice."

"Why not?" said Tezuka.

"Check for yourself. A few minutes ago, he was throwing things around like a maniac. I realized he needed a phone so I lent him mine." said Kaidoh, jerking his thumb to the clubhouse. Tezuka frowned. What is keeping him in the clubroom that requires a phone? He walked to the clubhouse, and opened the door. Sure enough, there was Echizen speaking rapidly in the phone, with someone unconscious next to him. He recognized that girl. Echizen called her….

"Is that Shizuka?" Tezuka enquired.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened to her; she just collapsed all of a sudden, clutching her stomach."

"I see. What has she been doing lately?"

"Well, if you don't count her giving me her lunch, nothing she did was out of the ordinary."

Tezuka approached her slowly, and tapped her stomach lightly three times. It sounded empty, and it's probably full of air. "Did she eat lunch today?"

"No, she gave it all to me because I forgot mine."

"I know why your partner collapsed." said Tezuka, looking at Ryoma seriously.

"Really? Why?"

"Because she's suffering from gastric pain. She didn't eat her meals regularly, since she gave them all to you. However, gastric doesn't come suddenly, it has to be accumulated."

Ryoma gasped. If Shizuka knew about it, then why didn't she say so? Why didn't she take a single bite from him?

A/N: Hmm…if I get a lot of reviews, I will update tomorrow. If not, God knows when I will update again.