CHAPTER 54

The end of practice had come and all the Seigaku player couldn't be more relived. They had all gotten fed up with the watchers. They wouldn't of minded too much if they would keep quiet, but when Ryoma had entered the court it seemed to of just gotten louder. Some would all shout out questions to the players asking what was up with the boy. They had all been confused that he was wearing a hood and all the regulars seemed to be that much more patient with him.

So in the changing rooms once again, Sei was sitting waiting for his forbidden fruits to sort themselves out so they could go home. Ryoma had stayed in his tennis uniform and had found entertainment in opening and closing a locker. Momo had just come out of the showers along with Eiji and Kawamura. They all had towels round their waists. At this point Sumire had entered.

"Hey!" Both Momo and Eiji shouted as they held the towel making sure it won't fall.

"Oh, hush. It's not like I haven't see those things before." She didn't think anything off it and was about to turn to speak to Tezuka when Eiji over reacted even more.

"Nya, she's been spying on us having showers. Our Sensei's a pervert." Sumire wasted no time in grabbing the tennis ball from her pocket and throwing it at his head.

"I meant I have had son's." She yelled back trying to hold in her anger. Eiji moved before the ball hit and looked back at the old lady.

"Oh," Eiji shut his mouth and grabbed his clothes before disappearing back into the shower room.

"Anyway, as I was going to say, it's Momo's and Ryoma's turn to go out and buy the tennis supplies for the club today. The rest of you can go home." She left right after and Momo relaxed.

So as they did, Momo and the cat made there way into the town and got the things on the list. Ryoma had kept as close to Momo as possible when the streets started to get more crowded. They shared the bags between them so they were holding about three each. They were about to return to the school to drop them off when they heard yelling.

"Thief!" A woman shouted. "He stole my bag." Momo dropped the bag and ran after the said man shouting back at Ryoma to take the bags to the school himself. Running down the road he saw a person walking with a bike.

"I'm going to borrow this." He grabbed the bike and hopped on racing after the thief. Shinji and Kamio watched until the vice captain of Fudomine realized who that was and ran after him shouting something about stealing his bike. Shinji watched them go and started to mutter to himself about Momo taking things that weren't his.

Momo left him. All these people. Ryoma felt trapped. He grabbed the bags and had a death grip on them. 'He abandoned me...' Was what the boy thought as he looked around. 'Was I a bad boy?' He could feel the tears collecting in his eyes. The panic rising in his chest and his breathing coming out heavier. He let out a whimper. He was lost. He had never been into the main part of town before, mainly because of the crowds. He was about to grab his phone when he remembered he put it in his tennis bag which Kunimitsu had taken home for him.

He walked slowly in the direction that Momo went hoping it was some big joke that he left him there. Instead he saw the blue-black hair of the Fudomine player. Deciding that Ryoma knew him slightly he followed the other hoping he would take him to somewhere he knew.

Shinji glance behind him when he felt someone follow. He and Kamio were meant to be going to practice, but now it was just him he started to change his mumbles. 'Why is he following me? Is he spying? Did he get lost? He looks lost. I think he's lost. Maybe I should help? He should stop following me though."

This stayed the same the whole way. With Ryoma keeping his distance and Shinji just talking to himself. They had finally made it to Fudomine High school and they were just turning the corner to the tennis courts. An was the first to notice Shinji and was about to ask him where Kamio was when she saw Ryoma appear a few seconds later. "Shinji!" She called. "Why's Ryoma with you?"

The muttering stopped and all she got as a reply was a "Kamio is chasing Momo, who stole his bike." That wasn't the answer she was hoping for, but at least she knows what happened in a way. She looked at Ryoma who had the look of a lost child on his face. An knew she couldn't let the boy stay sad. When she had went out with Momo the other day she had asked about Ryoma and he had actually told he quiet a bit. Sure, he held a lot of information back as well. She also assumed that Momo didn't know the full story either. So far she knew the boy was traumatized and that his past was something that you don't speak about. The trickster had even told her that the boy's mother sold him.

It made sense. Why he acted like a child, why he would try get affection from others and so on. "Do you want me to phone Momo for you?" The other Fudomine regulars soon noticed Ryoma and made there way over wondering what was going on.

Kippei Tachibana watch as the boy cowered and back away slightly. "I don't want Momo. He abandoned me." He spoke up in a quiet voice. An opened her phone and called Momo despite what the cat had just said.

After a few rings he answered. "Hey An." Came his happy-go-lucky voice. An wouldn't admit it, but she was angry at Momo for abandoning the boy. Especially since it was only yesterday that he told her all about how he was left to fend for himself. Yet, the trickster still left the boy on his own.

"Hey, I was wondering if you have Ryoma's house number? Shinji wanted a rematch against the boy." Momo, one didn't get the hint about the boy and second, gave the number without a second thought. So with that An phone the number and told whoever was on the other side of the line what happened. Hanging up she told Ryoma that someone will be here to pick him up in 20 minutes or so.

Ryoma just looked at them, waiting for something to happen. He didn't know what to do. The captain was the first to see this was getting no where. "Come on everyone. We have practice. Echizen you can sit on the bench and watch." He was about to walk away when he felt someone grabbing his hand. Looking down he saw the boys golden eyes staring at him. "Umm... Ryoma?" Both eyebrows raised in question. The cat tightened his hold. Tachibana looked around and saw some of his regulars smirking while Shinji just muttered to himself about how much of a child the boy was, much to Ryoma's annoyance.

It had been about 15 minutes and An was on the bench not far from them doing her homework, while Kippei was yelling instructions from the side-lines. He would of joined them, but Ryoma seemed to not want to let go of his hand much to the everyone's amusement. "So, Ryoma. Why did you follow Shinji here then?" Kippei thought he might as well get a few answer while he's at it.

"Because..." Ryoma shifted from foot to foot as he tried to think of his answer. "He was the only one I could see that I kind of knew."

"You could of just gone home." Ryoma looked around and Fudomine captain could feel the boy's grip getting tighter.

"I've never been to the centre of town before. So I don't know how to from there." Tachibana watched the boy's movements. He could tell he was feeling uncomfortable about this subject.

"How long have you been living here for then?" It was the only excuse the he could come up with. It took him awhile to get use to the layout of a new place when he moved from Tokyo to here.

"I don't know, I would say going on a month. Something like that. It's nice here though in Japan." The captain paused for a second going over what the boy just said. He was surprised that Ryoma came from another country. He would of never guessed. The boy spoke Japanese perfectly like he was born and raised there.

"I never would of guessed. You Japanese is flawless." He saw the boy's lips twitch slightly at the comment. "And you look like your from Japan as well."

"Hmmm... My dad was from here. He went to Seigaku as well." Ishida looked over about to ask their captain what he wants them to practice next, but stopped when he saw him talking to Ryoma and looking absorbed in what they were talking about.

"Ah, so was he the one that taught you?"

"No, he died when I was two. I don't even remember him." He could tell the boy was getting upset over his father so he asked something else.

"Was it your mother then?" He felt the boy stiffen and he could tell that instead of making the talk better he had just made it worse.