Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of Tennis.

A/N: Bonus, since you really like the series. :3 Here is the last installment.

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The Part-Timer at Chiyo-Ni's

III

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2006.

Sakuno was eleven years old when her mother told her she was divorcing her father. Sumire had been in the room with them, watching, listening; ready to intervene if called for. If she knew anything about her granddaughter - with the little time they've shared, the mother and daughter having moved back to Tokyo from Nagoya - her granddaughter was a crier. A snotty, tearful little thing, she thought her.

At the news of her parents divorce however, the wide-eyed young child only looked up at her mother without so much of a sound; her doe eyes trembling and glittering expressively. Sumire's daughter only looked back at her young child, not knowing what else to say. With her voice light and cautious, she asked the girl, tenderly cupping the latter's full cheek. "Are you all right, Sa-chan?"

The little girl just nods. And her mother smiles.

"You've always been a good girl, Sa-chan." The office woman starts to grin. Herself weary, she leans on a propped hand and watches her daughter lovingly. "Are you ready for your surprise now?" At this, the light in Sakuno's eyes brightens. And the emotionally-worn woman's smile grows. "Have you ever tried frozen yogurt?"

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2009.

Ryoma frowned as he followed his rather irritating upperclassmen. It didn't matter how much he could learn from his "much taller" senpai, how he didn't yet know all the tricks in the book, how there was more to life than tennis - honestly, the thirteen year old just wanted to live in the courts forever.

Let him be a social pariah, he couldn't care less.

"We're here." His cheeky upperclassman, Eiji, grins at him before knocking his other upperclassman's head, Momoshiro's, for trying to get into the desserts shop before him. Ryoma could barely contain his disdain for their childishness. They were an embarrassment to be seen around with, he grumbled to himself as he followed them into the store filled with bright pastel colors and school girls.

"It's your treat, right?" Eiji hooks an arm over his kouhai when they ordered. Ryoma's eye twitched.

"It is tradition for the rookie to treat his upperclassmen." Momoshiro seconded, taking his order of delicious fro-yo from the tray it was served. The three stood idly by the counter.

The freshman's brow rose. "So," He starts, his eyes firmly looking back at the cheeky gazes from his teammates. "This is what they call extortion."

At his cool, nonchalant statement, both Eiji and Momo ball in laughter; saying it was uncanny how similar he was to their chilly cold team captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu. They also told him how excited they were for them to meet, what with their bespectacled boss being out of the country.

Eventually, it was Eiji who paid for their order, laughing as he did.

While the boisterous group of three walked out of the store with their respective cups of fro-yo, Sakuno was frozen outside the shop, counting the change in her hands for the nth time - in utter devastation. She was a few coins short for one small cup of fro-yo. And, as the fact dawned to her, she grew close to breaking down where she stood.

This, of course, went unnoticed by the ever aloof Ryoma who just walked by her, rather taken and fascinated by his colorful new friends, no matter how annoying they could be. And it is only when he hears Momoshiro speak that he turns to look over his shoulder.

"You all right, miss?" The redness on Momoshiro's cheeks was an obvious giveaway.

Sakuno looks up at the stranger who called to her; her teary eyes, confused. "I'm so-sorry?" She stutters, her face flushing from the embarrassment of having to talk to boys she didn't know; and to make it worse for the shy girl, they were boys from a different school. And they were rather tall too.

Then, she starts to cower, thinking they were from high school when she was just a freshman in junior high.

Eiji tries to save Momoshiro from the increasingly awkward situation, grinning warmly as he stood by his good friend. "Is anything wrong?"

The girl with the ridiculously long braided hair took an uneasy step back, almost choking on her saliva from the intensity of having three strangers, three boys rather, look at her with confusion in their eyes. Sakuno would very well rather fall into a bottomless pit than be where she was at that moment.

Then, before she could run away from the intimidating boys, someone grabbed her sweaty palm and placed a crumpled bill of money.

"Mada mada dane." Ryoma scoffs, not even meeting the surprised look on the girl's face before walking away with his fro-yo. Momoshiro and Eiji exchange shocked expressions. And, excusing themselves to the doe-eyed girl, ran after their kouhai, asking the cool young student what just happened. To wit, Ryoma only keeps walking forward without so much as a glance their way; trying his best to quell the growing darkness on his cheeks. Nevermind the insane beating in his chest, nor the growing uneasiness in his gut - which he thinks came from the fro-yo he was consuming. So, thinking it was the reason he suddenly felt sick, without finishing his serving, he chucks the same into a waste bin and forever associates fro-yo with stomachache and heartburn.

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2010.

The first time Sakuno went to a tennis meet was at the invitation of her good friend Tomoka. The latter had told her that there was this insanely hot, cool guy from a different school she had her eye on since freshman year. And, having grown some sizes in her breast-al region, the proud Tomoka eagerly declared that she was ready to put herself out there and get herself a boyfriend.

Sakuno, worried for her friend, didn't have to be told twice to agree to the request. So, early in the morning, the two girls met up and commuted together to the neighboring school of Seigaku.

"Which one?" Sakuno flushed. She couldn't believe she was asking her friend such a daring question as her eyes scanned the team of handsome-looking young men. She was a rather conservative fourteen year old. But, being in the midst of such specimen was like watching a concert of her favorite boy group. It was unreal, really; she thought.

"That one," Tomoka excitedly pointed to a young man with dark hair and sharp eyes.

Eyes following her friend's pointed finger, Sakuno had to hold her tongue from saying something untoward. The young man Tomoka had fancied - he looked rather scary. And, when they watched him play doubles later, the said guy teamed-up with a senior with thick, black-rimmed square eyeglasses, Sakuno's unease only intensified. Tomoka was a feisty, boisterous girl while, the hissing student barely uttered a word the entire tournament - being so, wasn't Tomoka concerned about their compatibility?

When the tournament ends, with Seigaku, a prestigious school renowned for its tennis team and high NCT country ranking, taking home the trophy, Sakuno uneasily follows behind a screaming Tomoka rushing to the side of Seigaku with several other rabid fangirls. What surprises Sakuno, however, is that one of the teammates of the scary-looking regular nudged the said student and gestured to their direction. When Kaidoh, the same one Tomoka had her heart set on, turned to the crowd, Sakuno couldn't believe what she saw. Standing beside her best friend, her eyes widen at the beautiful grin on Tomoka's shinning face. The girl was rather subdued, and the blush on her face didn't seem to come from her typical fangirl bought of delirium.

Then, this Kaidoh almost smirks.

If Sakuno hadn't been looking at him, or had been distracted like the other girls around them, she wouldn't have caught it. But she did. And, it was incredible; she thought - how there could possibly be something more to her friend's one-sided crush.

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Later that day, Ryoma video chats with Momoshiro. It was evening in Tokyo and morning in California. In the course of their conversation, the young man coyly tells his upperclassman, his good old friend, that - he never doubted their team would win. To wit, Momoshiro replied rather coolly, jokingly saying that he's learned a thing or two about being suave from Ryoma and that, they were expecting the same from him - that like them, he'd win his match - the U.S. Open.

Not being one to disappoint, Ryoma did.

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2012.

May.

Sakuno thinks, blushing as she did, holding hands with her boyfriend, that she's become pretty mature. And, timidly looking up into her boyfriend's soft, kind-looking features, she thinks that she's rather lucky for having quickly met him - the man she'd be in love with her entire life.

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Two weeks into his return to Tokyo, starting freshman in high school, Ryoma surprises his parents when he tells them he got a job working part-time as a store clerk. His mother, Rinko, couldn't shake the surprise from her face. And Nanjiroh, he balled in laughter - wholly believing his son to be joking. Only his cousin, Nanako, gave weight to his good news and congratulated him by visiting the place of his employ and enjoying a cup of fro-yo, while of course watching as Ryoma, the boy she babysat when he was younger, took orders monotonously and nonchalantly deal with an endless wave of girls giggling as they placed in their orders and flirted with him.

Later in the day, as she waits for her cousin to finish closing up the store, she asks him innocently and from a good place, "Why did you get a job?" Rather than, of course, asking - Do you need money? Don't you like playing tennis anymore? Why get a job here? -

It doesn't take Ryoma a second before straightforwardly answering Nanako as he stacked the chairs over the tables. "My crush goes to this store."

The moment Ryoma says this, Nanako chokes and starts to cough in utter shock. Back in storage, Maya, Ryoma's co-worker, locked herself in the backroom, honestly not knowing how she'd be able to face Ryoma with all the love letters their customers left with her to deliver to the dashing professional athlete.

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June.

"Did you hear?" One of her schoolmates tell her.

"I didn't believe it at first!" Another gushed in disbelief and excitement. Sakuno's brows only knot, unable to follow their conversation. "But then, I- I saw it myself! I'm still shaking!" She squealed, holding her trembling hand in front of them to see. Their male classmates could only listen in with disdain at the object of their conversation.

"Why?" Sakuno finally asks, dying to know what they were talking about. "What happened?"

"Ryoma Echizen!" Her seatmate exclaims. "He's a part-timer, down by the store in Kobushi Dori - the run down one!"

Sakuno's heart skips. And her eyes narrow in growing alarm. "You don't mean -"

"Chiyo-Ni's!" Her friend suddenly remembers. "Chiyo-Ni's Frozen Yogurt shop!"

"That's the one!" Another giggled, clenching her fists in excitement. "Let's pass by later, after school, neh Saku-chan?" She began drumming on her desk, unable to contain her enthusiasm.

Sakuno turns to her friend, feeling rather dazed. "I- um-"

"It'll be impossible to see him. What with every girl in the district flocking into the store."

A pencil breaks. And, the conversation suddenly stills, surprised eyes turning to the broken material in Sakuno's hand.

The quiet brunette was shocked herself. And, her throat locks, unable to explain herself to her peers.

"Honestly, I don't think we'll ever taste another fro-yo from that store for a long time."

Later that day, on her own, Sakuno fearfully and rather angrily decides to walk by her favorite frozen yogurt store to verify her classmates' news for herself. And, much to her horror, upon arriving on the street itself, around three blocks away, from a distance, she finds a waiting line outside Chiyo-Ni's she never once saw before. Nevermind the store's growing business. The sight made her blood boil. And, she realizes - she had only one person to blame.

Thus, it begins.

A/N: OFFICIAL END. Thanks for reading!