Hi! I am back! And this is the last chapter. Minna-san, thank you very much for reading this crossover fic of mine. This ends everything now. I hope you like it.
DISCLAIMER: The Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi-sensei and Gakuen Alice belongs to Higuchi Tachibana-san. All rights reserved to the both of them.
Final Chapter: POT X GA
Chapter Summary: Their lives were back to normal. That was it but was it really all? Find that out in the last installment.
"Ittekimasu!" She shouted as she went to the front door and put her outdoor shoes. She was holding the doorknob when she heard her grandmother's voice from the kitchen.
"Don't stay late outside and be sure to go home before sunset!"
"Hai!" With that she opened the door and went outside. She planned that she would go shopping with Tomoka today.
They decided to buy some tennis gear today. For some reason, Ryoma had volunteered to practice tennis with her in the afternoon. After he said that, she called her best friend right away, and told her the tennis prodigy's invitation. Tomoka, being a very supportive friend, panicked for her. With her unending rant, she was being forced to go shopping with her for a new gear to be used later.
She just needed some stuffs like grip tape, restringing her racket, and some tennis balls.
And there she was, running on her way to their meeting place. At the central clock tower. Tomoka was already there, leaning on a wall as she was waiting for her.
"Late, as usual," Tomoka snorted, "I should have known."
"Gomen, Tomo-chan," She said resting on her knees, "I—"
"I know," She cut her, "You lost your way here."
"Mou!" She pouted as she looked at her best friend, "I told you I am not an early bird especially on the weekends."
"Hai, hai," She nodded as she grabbed her wrist, "Now come on, we don't have all day."
She didn't have the time to protest as Tomoka pulled her inside the mall. As she was doing that, something caught her eye. It was a shadowy figure from an alley.
She caught the figure's scarlet eyes. She blinked twice but when she looked again, the figure wasn't there anymore. As of an instinct, she raised her hand that Tomoka wasn't holding. She felt something near her collarbone. She recognized the shape from her fingers. It was something that she got from someone but she couldn't remember who.
The figure with the scarlet eyes was somewhat familiar to her. She knew that it wasn't Karupin. The figure was big enough to be Karupin and it was really impossible to think that it was Ryoma who would stand in an alley near the clock tower. More on, their eyes were never scarlet in the first place.
Brushing the thought, she focused on what was ahead of her and let her best friend control their shopping spree.
Meanwhile:
He was warming up for their training that day. It was Saturday and they were having a special training that day in request of Inui. Since he was the one who requested it, his concoction was visible and available. They supposed to have classes that day but for some reason, the faculty decided not to for they were planning something for the upcoming festival tournament.
All teachers would be having a general meeting for the whole day.
That was also the reason why he volunteered to teach the braided-pigtailed girl play tennis. It was something that he could offer after of what she had done to his cat.
Sakuno saved his cat from being run over by a car a few days ago. Although, doing that did put the girl's life in danger instead. It was shocking for him when he witnessed that incident. He didn't admit it but he feared for the both of them.
He scolded her for risking her life like that. Sakuno didn't even know that it was his cat that she was trying to save with. Despite everything, he was thankful of her.
…Thankful that both of them were safe.
He was in that state when Momo suddenly leaned in to him and draped his arm to his shoulder;
"Yo, thinking of your girlfriend again huh?" He said grinning in the process, "We are in the middle of practice training, you see."
Ryoma pried his arm away from him, "Urusai, senpai and what girlfriend?"
"Up until now, you are denying Ryuzaki-chan?" Momo said teasing him. He looked away and almost huffed when he heard that, "That's not healthy Echizen."
"…Better than enduring yourself in the cold hands of your girlfriend." He said without really realizing what he was saying. Both of them flinched a little as they blinked at the same time. Momo stepped backwards and he stared at him.
"Why does that sound so familiar?" Momo suddenly said to him.
Instead of answering his senpai, he only shrugged. He didn't even know the answer to himself. Where that come from anyway? He knew that Momo could feel it too. He felt that something was missing. Something that they had missed.
He knew that some of them felt the same thing. He looked at Fuji and Eiji and even Sakuno were oddly feeling different when he looked at her before.
He felt that something was lost to them for the past few days. But the question was… what was it?
Before they could discuss it further, Tezuka called their attention telling them that it was time to practice. They looked at each other first before they silently walked inside the court.
They should be concentrating on their training. Personal thoughts would come next after that as what Ryoma decided on it.
Meanwhile:
In an isolated area in downtown Tokyo, five people were talking on their upcoming plan. The place was pretty eerie and dark so no one would find them there.
"Is this going to help them?" A cool voice asked.
"It will," said the other voice. The person was holding something and it showed it to the first person, "this is the only way."
"How are we going to give it to them?" the third person asked the second person.
The second person smirked at them, "You will see and I have a perfect plan for this," the person looked at the fifth person, "Be sure to give this to him."
The fifth person looked at the second person at stared for a long time but didn't say anything. Without even saying anything they knew what would happen next.
They were only hoping for the same thing… to succeed the mission.
Meanwhile:
It was almost noon time when they ended the practice. Tezuka dismissed them early for that day for Sumire needed him and Oishi for the meeting. Oishi told them not to slack off even though the practice was over.
Ryoma, on the other hand, grabbed his bag and went to the drinking fountain. He was drinking when Eiji and Momo called up to him.
"Want to go eat burger with us?" Momo said walking closer to him.
"I'll pass today." He said as he wiped his face with his towel.
Momo and Eiji looked at each other and them back at him.
"You never decline an invitation, is the world going to end?" Momo said eyeing him.
Eiji began running around the area, "That cannot be true! It's definitely not the end of the world! Tell me that it's not!" He continued panicking until Momo joined in for the commotion.
"Quit it, senpai," Ryoma retorted, who started to get pissed, "You are overreacting."
"But you never rejected an invitation, let alone it's on treat!" Momo said walking over.
"I have other things to do." He said as he grabbed his bag. He was about to walk ahead of them when Momo held him to his collar at the back.
"Are you going to have a date with Ryuzaki-chan?"
That question stiffened him a little, "What—"
"You should've said so." Eiji said slapping his back making his eyes wide.
"I am not—"
Momo pushed him forward before he ran away from him, "We will leave you two alone… for today."
Eiji followed his kouhai not missing to grin at him, "Have fun with your date, ochibi!"
Ryoma couldn't believe what they were saying at that moment. If he was a comedian, he would have collapse on the ground but he could at least slump his shoulder helplessly, "I am not going on a date with Ryuzaki, stupid senpais." He whispered as he glared at his senpais running back.
Sighing, he walked back to the fountain and opened the faucet once again. Staring at the running water, he began thinking of the braided-pigtailed girl.
Date.
Was the meaning of that word could be easily understood at his young age? He was not that dump not to realize what that word mean. He was a teenager and at his age, he could admit that opposites did attract to each other.
He could see Sakuno as someone else. Not a fangirl that he knew so far. Someone that saved karupin from danger but it was more than that.
But what was it?
He thought that she was someone that he could date… maybe in the future.
Realizing what he was thinking, he immediately shook his head and tried to forget what he had recently thought. He yanked the water in his palm and brought it to his face. He needed to cool his face off... and mind. He was thinking ridiculous things about the girl. He was still washing his face when he felt something fast being thrown behind him. Not really looking at it, he moved his face to his right and called the 'thing' above his shoulder with his right hand.
"As expected, you really have the ability to sense things around you."
He looked at the person to his side who he thought the one to throw the 'thing' to him. He stared at the 'thing' to his right hand and noticed that it was a tennis ball. He dropped his hand to his side as he turned around. He had the perfect view to stare at the person in front of him.
It was a boy, around his age. He was wearing a black t-shirt and a red checkered short. The boy stared back at him, he was inserting his hand in his pocket while the other was just resting to his side. His eyes were glaring at him but he was not really bothered… Though, something was odd about him.
He rather seemed familiar to him.
He had the feeling that he met the guy before but he could not remember where and when. He stared back at him and said nothing. The boy's eyes were telling him something. Somehow, he could imagine those hazel eyes being scarlet or something.
Everything did involve of 'something'.
They just stared at each other for the seconds that they didn't know.
"You seemed to be fine."
He could almost thank the fair folk when he started to speak because he wouldn't dare to initiate a conversation at all. But his sentence was bothering him, "What do you mean?"
"You are back to normal."
"I am normal," He stoically said, "Why do I have this feeling that you know me?"
"I do." He said as he closed his eyes.
He flinched a little when he confirmed that. Something was really odd from him but he couldn't name it. He was the master of poker facing so he did that when the weird boy walked closer to him. He stopped in front of him and looked at his amber eyes. Seconds later, he showed him something to his palm. He stared at it.
It was a necklace with stones. Blinking from it, he looked at the necklace carefully. He felt nostalgic at some reason. The stones were two and had different colors. White and Green. Why did he have the instinct that he had seen that necklace before?
"Give this to her."
Hearing his voice, he looked up at him. The boy was still staring at him and not really doing anything. His hand was still hanging in the middle. Looking at him curiously, he asked the first thing that came to his mind.
"I give this to whom? And why would I do that?"
"Because it's a must."
"What?" His answer was blurred and he was not really doing anything.
"If you two want to go back to the way you used to be," He said straight to his eyes, "You'll give this to her."
He stared at the necklace in front of him. Part of him wanted to grab it and part of him didn't. Curiosity came upon him but suspicion was also there. He didn't know why he was feeling that way. Seeing that he was not moving to get the necklace from him, the boy grabbed his hand and placed the necklace to his palm himself.
"Just give it to her," The boy repeated monotonously. His eyes staring at him, "You'll see." After that, the boy turned around and started to walk away from him.
Ryoma stared at him for a few seconds before he stared back at the necklace in his hand. The stones were oddly shining although, he felt at ease when he was eyeing them. The boy seemed to know him and he couldn't be suspicious. Somehow, he knew that he had some recognition of the boy as well. Gripping the necklace in his hand, he thought of doing his next move that day.
After lunch time:
Sakuno and Tomoko finished eating lunch in the mall and were on their way to the court where the former would supposedly meet the tennis boy. They had finished shopping for the whole morning. They even visited a stringer shop to restring her racket and now she was ready to play tennis in full enthusiasm.
Wait… that was not the right word.
She was actually nervous now that Ryoma was going to teach her. It was already a shock that he volunteered to teach her right after their practice training that day.
She would spend hours training with the tennis prodigy and her best friend was not helping her heart to calm down.
They reached the court and Ryoma was already there. Blush appeared on her cheek when she saw him just standing at the corner of the court while inspecting his racket.
"Ryoma-sama!" Tomoka waved at him making her heart almost jump from her location.
Ryoma looked at them but he didn't say anything. Tomoka grabbed her wrist and dragged her closer to him.
"I brought Sakuno here so that you can practice with her."
"T-Tomo-chan!" She looked at her best friend who ignored her. Why was she feeling that Tomoka was selling her to him? That was definitely a ridiculous thought but she couldn't help it.
"Un." He only replied and nodded at the same time.
"Well, I need to go now. I just delivered her to you," Tomoka said removing her hand from her own hand and started walking away, "Good luck, Sakuno!"
"Aren't you going to stay?" Sakuno followed her with her own eyes.
"No!" She shouted a little and was running now, "I've got babysitting to do this afternoon!"
"A-arigatou!" Sakuno called out to her. She knew that she shouted 'no problem' back at her but she was a few distance away from them now. She sighed as she shook her head.
"What are you thanking her for?"
Hearing him ask the question, she looked at him and replied, "T-Tomoka-chan helped me with shopping for tennis gears today."
He looked at her for a few times before he nodded. He placed his racket to his shoulder tapping it in the process, "Shall we start?"
Despite the nervousness, a fire was being heated up inside her. She responded with a firm nod and confirmation, "Hai!"
Later on:
"Raise your arm higher!"
She heard him say. Ryoma was observing her while rallying on the wall. He instructed her to do some rallying on the wall and told her to hit some tennis balls really hard on it.
And that was what she was trying to do.
"Hit it faster!"
"Hai!" She responded as hit the ball back on the wall.
"Aim for the same spot!"
"Hai!"
"Keep the pace up!"
"Hai!"
The routine continued that way. Ryoma kept telling her what to do until she made a sudden mistake. A ball that she recently hit went outbalanced and flew fast towards Ryoma. Sakuno saw this and called his attention.
"A-abunai, Ryoma-kun!"
Ryoma saw the fast ball fly towards him and due to reflex, he hit it back towards the girl. Alas, Sakuno was not prepared for that. Shock was registered to her face. She didn't have time to avoid it so she ended up closing her eyes and shrieked a little and waited for the impact.
Seconds later, there was no impact that she anticipated. She slowly opened her eyes and only to be shocked. The ball was hanging in the mid-air, a few inches away from her nose. She stared at it for a few seconds before she walked a step backward. She released her breath that she didn't know she was holding. She looked at Ryoma who was staring at her. The ball suddenly dropped on the ground.
Sakuno noticed that his hand was outstretched. He blinked for a few times as he was also trying to analyze what had happened. As if he brought himself to where she was, he looked at her and examined her appearance;
"Are you alright, Ryuzaki?"
Blinking twice, she looked back at him noticing that she was also stunned at the event, "H-hai…"
Ryoma walked closer to her dropping his racket to his side, "Are you sure? That could be hurt."
"I… I am fine, really, thank you," She said reassuringly. For whatever Ryoma did back there did save her life… her face. She was really thankful for that, "B-but how did you do it?"
Ryoma raised his hand that he outstretched a while ago and stared at it, "I… didn't know."
Sakuno stared at him who was still looking at his hand. No matter which angle you would look, it was impossible for a ball to stay still in the middle for a few seconds. She could see from his own expression that he was too shock to realize what he just did.
"What are you thinking?"
She flinched when he suddenly talked while staring at his hand. He then looked at her when she was not saying anything. She blinked before she decided to reply, "I-it was unbelievable."
"Unbelievable."
"W-whatever you did back then, it was unbelievable." She said before she could even stop herself from speaking.
He stared at his palm once again, considering what she just said.
"G-gomen, I… I didn't know what I was saying," She said as she looked down, "I was thinking crazy things."
"It wasn't crazy."
"E?" She looked back at him only to see him yanking something from his pocket. He showed it to her making her eyes wide.
It was a necklace with two stones. The stones had different colors, the green and white.
"Earlier, a boy gave this to me," He said looking at her with a curious expression on his face," He said that I should give it to someone."
She didn't say anything as she looked at the necklace. Something was drawing her to the necklace. It was some sort of magic… like she had seen it before.
She felt nostalgic upon seeing the jewelry.
"You… know whom to give it to." It was rather a statement than a question.
Ryoma nodded as he took a step forward to her, bringing the necklace to her neck. His closeness to her somehow made her heart skip a beat. They never been closed to each other like that nor talked to each other in a friendly way… until she saved his precious cat one day.
And everything had changed since then but she knew that it wasn't all that changed. It was more than that.
As long as Ryoma locked the necklace to her neck, a sudden light engulfed the two of them. Both eyes widened as they looked at the necklace which was giving a blinding light around their bodies.
The next thing happened, the area was filled with that light that was coming from the necklace.
xxx
"Ittekimasu!" She called as she went to their front door. She put her outdoor shoes as she heard her grandmother's voice.
"Be careful and do not lose your way."
"Hai," She said ignoring her usual warning. Somehow, she got used to it, "I'll see you later." She got out of the house and walked on her way to her destination.
It was Sunday and there was no school but she was going there for a reason. She was excited about it like she couldn't erase the smile to her face. Her heart was beating really fast and she couldn't wait to reach their school.
For normal students, they wouldn't like that. They preferred to stay at home rather than going to school but it was a different case for her.
It was a total different case for her.
Being too excited, she didn't notice where she was going especially when she entered the school premises. All she could think was to get to her destination. Just as she ran passed to a corner, a hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a corner of the school building's wall. She didn't have the time to scream. She closed her eyes when she felt the cold wall on her back. After a few seconds, she opened them to look ahead.
…Only to be shocked when a pair of amber eyes were staring seriously at her. If her heart was already beating fast due to excitement, it was rapidly beating fast due to their closeness.
Echizen Ryoma was surprisingly caging her to the wall.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" He asked placing a hand to the wall next to her shoulder.
"R-Ryoma-kun," Blush appeared to her face as she stared straight to his eyes, "b-because they are waiting… in the court."
"They can wait," He said not tearing his gaze away from her, "They know that you often lose your way so I thought of looking for you."
Her eyes widened when he said that. She should've been retorting to his words but his last message stopped her. His gaze was also stopping her.
"Ne, do you remember what you promised me?"
"E?"
"When everything is over…" He didn't continue his words making her realize what he was trying to say.
Her eyes widened when he said that. Her heart couldn't stop from panicking and her face was blushing to the fullest. She remembered her promise and she was telling it to him that she did. She remained speechless as he tipped her chin up a little.
"It seems that you remembered," He said smirking in the process, "I want you to fulfill it… now."
She held her breath when he moved closer to her. He was going to do it. She could see him smile before he leaned his face closer to hers. All she could do was to hold on to his sleeves as he lightly pressed his lips to hers. It was, sweet, soft and chaste but he could make her heart beat loudly.
He was making her breathless with that simple action.
She closed her eyes in the end and stayed like that for a few seconds before he broke it himself. Blinking for several times, she didn't know where she got the courage to look at him after that. She was still blushing after the short kiss.
"D-did I fulfill it well?" She tried killing the tension that she was feeling but the way she chose was not the right solution. Ryoma placed a cheek to her hand before he replied;
"What do you think?" He smirked as he looked at her.
Her eyes widened, "I… I…" She tried to think of something to lure him out at a different discussion and she did remember something, "I-Is everyone in the court now?"
Ryoma nodded, "Even the most curious ones."
She knew what he was talking about. The rest of the team was really curious about it even Tezuka had the least curious expression on his face so they ended up telling the truth. They didn't believe them at first but because of the 'magic' that Ryoma did, they finally did. Now they were waiting for them to authenticate the information.
"Stop thinking of them Ryuzaki," He said cutting her from her reverie, "You are with me."
She was surprised when he said that. Ryoma was demanding and she couldn't believe that he could be like that. It was a totally different experience for her. The way he called her name made her remember something so she voiced it out to him, "W-why did I have this feeling that… I heard you call my name… once."
He examined her expression first before he replied, "It wasn't just a feeling," He said before he leaned in closer once again, "…because I did."
She wasn't imagining it when he called her to her name. He did call her to her first name. Now she wished that he would call her to her first name very often. Her eyes softened when she saw him leaning closer to her once again. She wouldn't mind for now she knew that they had the understanding to each other. They were inches apart when they heard something that 'purred.' Looking to their side, they saw the Himalayan cat curiously looking back at them. Seeing the cat, she freed herself from being cornered and went closer to it.
"Karupin," She beamed as she brought it up to her chest, "So you brought it here."
Glaring at the cat for the 'interruption' that it caused, he still nodded, "You promised him the next time we meet."
From her gaze to the cat, she shifted it to him, "You are right. We better go." She said and started to walk away. Being alone with Ryoma was making her heart uncontrollably panicking. Not that she didn't like it but she couldn't stop being nervous around him. At least she needed to prepare when he did. Bringing the cat, she didn't hear Ryoma's sigh as he followed her.
Later on:
They walked on their way to the court together, along with Karupin. Ryoma was right. Everyone was there, even the Captain. Momo and Eiji walked closer to them when they saw them.
"Ryuzaki-chan!" Momo said stopping in front of her, "You brought Karupin, huh?"
"I did senpai." Ryoma said nonchalantly. Sakuno just smiled at him.
"Well, everyone is waiting," Eiji said looking behind him, "They are really curious about it."
Inui pushed his glasses to his nose, "There is 99 percent sure that each of us are a little upset for keeping that secret for a long time."
"Gomen, we cannot tell it to everyone," Sakuno bowed for a few minutes and then she looked at her best friend, "I am sorry Tomo-chan, I hope you'd understand why we did that."
"I guess it's fine although I am a little upset," Tomoka said crossing her arms to her chest, "but I am fine."
"Mou, Tomo-chan." She pouted earning a grin from Tomoka.
"Guys, give us some spare, you will know it sooner or later anyway, "Fuji said calling their attention, "You will know everything."
"I agree," Tezuka said speaking for the team, "Just no more keeping secrets in the future or I'll make you run a thousand laps around Tokyo."
Everyone sweat dropped when the Captain said that. They ended up nodding at him including Sakuno. They knew that when Tezuka declared something, he would let them do it.
"Let's open the gate, minna!" Eiji said raising his fist and looked at Sakuno.
Sakuno nodded and touched her necklace. The moment her fingers grasped the stones, a portal suddenly appeared. The team was amazed at the display. Sakuno looked back at Ryoma who nodded and them to the rest of the team and smiled, "Let's go minna-san."
They went into the portal and just like their first experience, Tezuka and the others felt the same experience as well. The light blinded them for a few seconds before it faded away.
A large green field welcomed them and in front of them was a large school. All of them were eyeing the front gate of the school. They could see a bunch of people standing in front of the gate and were visibly smiling at them.
Sakuno could recognize them. The boy with a raven hair and hazel eyes, the blonde boy who was carrying a rabbit in his hands, smiling at her, A tall boy with a star on his lower left eye, a girl with a stoic expression and was carrying a baka gun, beside her was a little boy holding her to her skirt, a boy who kept smiling, a girl whose hair was white as snow, a girl with a perm hair, and her eyes were closed and a tall blonde man who was… cross-dressing?
As they observed them, they couldn't help but sweat drop in the process. Sakuno and Ryoma looked at each other and smiled a little. They had anticipated their reaction when they saw him cross-dressing like that.
Sakuno noticed a girl with twin pigtails walking ahead, smiling and waving at them, "Sakuno, Ryoma-san! Minna!"
Sakuno smiled as she saw her expression. She looked at Ryoma and nodded at the same time. She waved back and ran to her, smiling in the process.
"Minna! We are back!"
~ Owari ~
Done! How was the ending? I thought of making it this way before they had completely forgotten their GA friends and it was like an open-ended fic when they finally reunited with them. Their story would continue but I'll leave the imagination into your brain. Thank you very much.
About Yuka's case, she was actually telling the truth about the Middle School Principal Division. I ended the issue like that. I hope you will read the GA manga and discover the secret yourself. Right? Right?
I think this was the longest chapter of this fic. I hope it was worth it.
Thank you for reading up until this point. I hope you like the ending. I couldn't think of a better one so I hope this would do it. Thank you once again. ^^
Let me thank the readers who stayed with me until this point on. Domo… ^^
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Minna, thank you for reading until the end. For those who don't have an account or PM messaging is not allowed to your account, I will thank you here instead. Thank you bearing with me. Wait for my future fics guys... Domo... :3
*MitsukiJunko with her Threads to Life - Signing off*