CHAPTER 38
They where now at the park where the tennis tournament for the different schools where being held. It was busy and packed with people. Tezuka was signing the team in and Ryoma had thought it best to stay with Fuji. He had hidden the photo in his secret box. He told the captain that he'll keep it safe and that he didn't bring it with him much to the others relief.
The boy was wearing his baggy trousers along with his Seigaku regular's shirt with hood. He had also put on his black hoodie on, hoping he wouldn't have to take it off. He didn't really want others asking what happened to his arms. He thought it was just lucky that he distracted the others in the house earlier by blackmail. He hoped he did it right. The blackmail anyway. He had seen Fuji do it on many occasions and tried to take a leaf out of his book. He was actually happy that it worked out so well.
He was brought out of his thinking when their captain was walking towards them again. He still seemed slightly annoyed at the fact Ryoma was still playing, but he couldn't risk having that photo made public if it made both Sei and Syu react that way. "Right," he announce bring all the regulars and the five freshmen who came to watch attention to him. "Ryoma, you and Momo are playing the first doubles match. Then well have Oishi and Eiji. Kaidoh is singles 3, Kawamura singles 2 and Fuji singles 1. Don't let your guard down." With a nod from everyone Ryoma went to Momo to asked what they where going to do.
"Alright, well do it like we talked about. Ah-Uh. Okay, you're Uh. Any questions?" Momo grinned down at the boy. He was concerned. Unlike yesterday the boy seemed less enthusiastic. So he could only guess something happened to make him like this.
"I want ponta." Momo grin got even bigger. Giving him 200 yen coin and pointing towards where the vending machines where at. Ryoma left without a second thought. The two girls Tomoko and Sakuno followed hoping they would get to talk to their prince.
Ryoma picked up the can when it dropped from the machine and went to sit down at a nearby picnic bench. It didn't take long to finish it and he was about to rest his head for a couple of minutes when he heard a voice shouting. The cat banged his head on the table. He just wanted 5 minutes to himself. He wanted to go home and sleep, but he wanted to stay and play tennis since sleep was something that he didn't want to do. After all he doesn't want to wake up to another nightmare. Tomoko was about to speak up again when the cat stood and walked away.
"Hey, Ryoma-Sama! Wait up!" Yelled Tomoko and she and Sakuno tried to keep up. Ryoma had made it to the courts and Fuji could tell the child was going to lose it with someone sooner or later. He saw the two girls with the love struck looks on their faces.
Syusuke Fuji was known to get jealous easily. Especially when it comes to someone he is interested in. This made it so when he saw the girls trying to start a conversation with the boy. He wasn't sure whether to save the kid or let him take his anger out on his two followers. Deciding he wanted to speak with the boy and show the other that Ryoma was not theirs, he went over with his ever present smile on his face. "Ryo-Chan." Syu said and Tomoko seemed to get annoyed at the tensai's interruption.
"Fuji-Senpai. We want to talk to Ryoma-Sama. Please can you give us a moment." Ignoring her he walked up to him and pulled him into a hug. Syu had discovered that depending who you are to the boy, when tired he could either be as wild as a tiger or as tamed as a house cat. That's saying that your on the boy's good side of course. Fuji looked at the boy in his arms who had his eyes slowly going closed. Ryoma made no attempted to move or give a hug back though much to the other's disappointment. He like seeing how the other reacted to different situations.
"Tired?" Syu asked in a slightly concerned voice. He knew injuring himself wasn't the only reason Tezuka didn't want him to play. When he heard Tomo say that Ryoma was an emotional wreak when he was very tired they weren't sure if he could concentrate long enough for a match.
"They won't leave me alone." Ryoma mumbled into his chest. Ryoma himself never understood why five freshmen in particular followed him round. He knew he was childish and didn't act at all like his age so why were these girls so interested. Syu getting the messaged turned to the two. Sakuno was red in the face. Probably at seeing to guys act like this and the other was fuming.
"Could you please leave me and Ryo-Chan alone for a bit." It wasn't question, it was a nicer way of saying 'leave now or suffer with the consequences.' With that Sakuno nodded and was about to leave.
"Sakuno..." Tomoko whined. "If we leave now we may not get to talk to our prince. He never has much time for us or the other freshmen." Ryoma wanted to bite back and say something along the lines of. 'What do you expect, you annoy me.' Or 'Will you just get the hint and leave.' He was thankfully saved by Sumire.
"You two leave the boy alone. I'm sure he needs to get ready for his match." The two left after hearing the terrifying voice of Sakuno's grandmother. After all, everyone knew never to make old people angry. Fuji sent a thankful smile to the elder.
"Come on Ryo. Your match is going to start soon and you still need to warm up."
On the courts they were introduced to their opponents. Ryoma only listening slightly to what the referee was saying and giving a small yawn. Him and Momo were playing first. The teams walked over to their separate sides of the courts so they could discuss before the matches began.
"Captain, I was wondering what is wrong with Ryoma?" Tezuka looked to see the boy getting his racket from his bag. All the others listened in hoping to catch what was being said about the boy.
"He just didn't get enough sleep." Nearly all the regulars gave the captain a look of confusion.
"Nya! Captain, how would you know." Eiji asked as he attached himself to Fuji's neck. It was Inui who had answer knowing that if he did he could possible get more information.
"I would say it's nearly a 80% chance that he and Echizen along with Fuji are all living in the same house."
"Saa... And where did you get this information from?" Syu wanted to know who told. It wasn't like he cared about people knowing, he just knew that Mitsu and probably Gen where both very private people.
"Hmm... We all knew Echizen was living with Yukimura. It was the phone call when he called Tezuka and not you. I wouldn't of noticed anything different. It was then you told Tezuka that there was going to be new glass placed in the sliding door did I realize you where living with them. I could also assume Keigo Atobe is there since he made quiet a show yesterday when he came to our school demanding something about a photo. Which I would like to know the details of seeing as I could get good information. Then there was Genichiro Sanada who I saw at the park with Ryoma this morning when I was meeting up with Kaidoh to go though a training schedule." He finished on that and pushed his glasses up his nose seeing the slight glimmer in them.
They where all left speechless. They could all tell that Inui could be scary when he wants to find out something, but this was plain ridicules. They hadn't even been living with each other that long and they had been already found out. "If your so sure, why only 80%?" Ryoma asked when he finally decided to take interest.
"Because they could only be living there temporarily and not permanently." With a nod from the boy he pulled Momo to the courts. It was then they saw who their opponents were.
"One set match." The referee called. "Gyokurin to serve." The two on the other side smiled.
"Heh, this could be an easy win. Especially if they where anything like Thursday." Fukawa spoke and Ryoma just narrowed his eyes at the comment. He was tired and not in the mood to be insulted by others.
So the game started and so far Ryoma and Momo had made no mistakes. They were both actually doing pretty good with the Ah-Uh strategies they came up with. It was when the scored the next point making it 30-0 to them did Gyokurin's Izumi realize the fault the other team had in playing doubles.
Meanwhile An Tachibana was watching from the other side of the fence. "Hmm... So those two did decided to make a doubles team. I wonder if they have gotten any better?" She asked herself.