For the umpteenth time that afternoon, his sharp eyes repeatedly ran over the same highlighted line over and over again. It was a slow day. His choice of studying in the kitchen to not feel sleepy was proving to be not an effective choice. He yawned.
At times like this that he needed his mind active, he would resort to a quick wall rally. But as it was only two days since his injury, he was strictly advised to not do any practice. Now, his old self wouldn't have cared. But over the years of experience and going pro, restraint has been a new lesson that he's been trying to polish. So for the day, he chose to study. It was the best time anyway as final exams for the semester are coming up and he won't be attending classes for the week.
He continued his struggle, breathing deep and stretching his neck on both sides to wake his body. Just as he was continuing reading, his phone buzzed.
"Probably just Kevin." he thought.
He ignored the buzzing of his phone by the kitchen table. It eventually stopped— much to the tennis prince's satisfaction, until it buzzed again, repeatedly in intervals. Ryoma knew that it was just text message notifications, but it was starting to bug him.
So he reaches for his phone. True enough, the message notifications were from Kevin. He opens it, seeing why his phone kept buzzing.
3:05 PM
Kevin: Hey
Kevin: So exam season's getting near
Kevin: What are your study plans?
3:08 PM
Kevin: Nvm.
3:10 PM
Kevin: Hey
3:11 PM
Kevin: Ryoma
3:12 PM
Kevin: We're coming over.
Kevin: Don't kick us out.
Kevin: I swear...
3:13 PM
Kevin: Just getting some snacks for our study night!
3:15 PM
Kevin: sent a photo.
An eyebrow twitched, seeing the message of his blond friend. That Kevin. His friend really had the audacity to just announce his upcoming stay without even asking permission. An irate scroll to the messages, and he saw that Kevin sent a photo.
It was a photo of Ryuzaki and Kate, obviously enjoying themselves over shopping for snacks.
When his eyes took a glance at the smiling Ryuzaki, his chest tightened. Somehow, the idea of his friends staying now drew a different feeling from him. Rather than annoyance, there's the unexplainable discomfort on his stomach— surely not from his lunch, but closer to the feeling of nervousness.
Ryuzaki is coming.
"Hey... Sakuno-to-Earth?"
Kate snapped her fingers in front of Ryuzaki Sakuno who was lost in her thoughts.
"Girl?"
"Oh. Hey, Kate-san." Sakuno recognized, "Were you saying something?"
"Are you okay?" Kate asked. Her tone worried.
The girl immediately nodded.
"Yes..." she replied, "I was just lost in my thoughts for a bit."
"What is it about?" A curious grin made its way to the blond girl's face, "... perhaps, about Ryoma?"
At the mention of the tennis prince, Sakuno's cheeks heated.
"Mou..! Kate-san, what are you saying?" she waves her hand rapid, shaking her head in denial, "I-I don't always think of Ryoma-kun... what if someone hears you?"
"Oh..." Kate's cheshire grin widened as she put her face closer to the embarrassed girl's left ear and whispered, "So you do think of Ryoma..."
"What are you guys on about?" An innocent question from Kevin made Sakuno flinch and distance herself from her friends, still sporting the blush on her face.
Kate laughed– her teasing a success.
"Kevin, did you get the snacks?" she asked.
"Yeah, I just paid for them." Kevin lifts up the plastic bags on both his arms.
"Good. Let's go?" Kate motioned to Sakuno for them to go.
"Sure." Kevin agreed, "Kate, don't forget to carry my stuff."
"What?" The blonde girl shoots the boy a look of surprise. "Is that any way to treat the girl you like?"
It is Sakuno's turn to be surprised. It was as if her ears did not register the girl's words. She blinked, looking at the two who continued to bicker. Did Kate already know of Kevin's feelings?
"What what?" Kevin chuckled, "I thought we live in an equal society, Ms. Thompson...Plus, who will be carrying the groceries?"
And then, Kevin winked at the blonde girl.
Kate Thompson gritted her teeth, lips pouting a bit as the faintest flush on her cheeks cannot be more specific. Huffing, she continued to pick up the boy's study materials along.
At the scene, Sakuno can't help but show an amused smile.
"I sure hope you can go over these materials before the exams."
The stack of handouts made a small thud by the small table at the living room. Ryoma's eyebrow twitched, not amused at all as he watched Kevin taking out the remaining handouts from his backpack.
Just then, the two girls came out from the kitchen. Kate had the pitcher of juice and cups to be used on her hands while Sakuno held the plate of sliced fruits. They approached the boys, placing the snacks beside the review materials. Ryoma immediately picked the stack of papers and made space for the table.
"Shall we start?" Kate beamed.
The quad started their study session. They initially sat on the floor, using the living room table in unison. But over time, as their legs grew tired and sore, they made themselves comfortable in the different parts of the house.
While the tennis prince retreated back to his room and use his study table there, in no time, Kevin followed. The two girls used the kitchen table, sipping tea while they worked. As they flipped through the pages and wrote their study notes to memorize, night has arrived.
"Oh yeah, Sakuno have you finished that essay for Professor Slimko?" Kate asked, pausing on the essay that she's working on.
"Not yet, I still can't think of what to write." Sakuno replied, "Have you finished yours?"
"Nah, I'm still working on it too." Kate smiled, "Still, isn't the topic too philosophical?"
"Raison d'etre, huh?" Sakuno mumbled, "The reason for living."
Busy fingers scribbled through the paper. The draft isn't anywhere clean, with pencil scratches and annotations everywhere on the essay. The girl in twin braids couldn't help but scrunch her brows, obviously having a hard time.
"Why does it feel like I've only been rambling about my life story? I need something more specific. What is my reason for living?"
From the kitchen table where she sat alone in the middle of the night, she stood up, stretching her arms above her head as she yawned.
"I think I need to move around." Sakuno mumbled, "I am starting to feel sleepy."
Silent, she walked to the living room. There was no one– she assumed everyone must have already slept. So much for studying overnight. She let out an amused smile before going upstairs. She passed by the tennis prince's room, door closed as usual.
She continued to the the room she used to occupy back when she still lived there. She opened the door to see Kate fast asleep on the bed, phone in one hand. Sakuno let out a small chuckle, shaking her head as if she already knew that this is what would eventually happen. She gently closed the door and descended the stairs silent. From the living room sofa, she got her cardigan—gently folded on the sofa seat.
In a swift motion, she wore it. She slowly walked towards the door to the porch. She needed some air in order for her thoughts to process well.
The mahogany door opened and just at the corner edge, in the side of the single elevated step, her arms laid comfortably against the baluster as she leaned. She took a deep breath, wondering how she could ever finish up her remaining projects in time.
"What are you doing outside, Ryuzaki?"
She immediately stiffened, looking back to the door as she knew that voice. But he wasn't there.
"I'm here."
And there he was, unexpectedly.
She can't help the wonder escaping her voice.
"What are you doing outside, Ryoma-kun?"
True enough, the boy stood a few yards at the side of the porch. Her eyes wandered to the tennis racket in his hand. If she squinted harder, tennis balls formed circle shapes on the pockets of the thick gray hoodie that he wore. He still has his white cap on, its shadow covering the bandage of the old wound still on his forehead.
Ryoma didn't reply right away, almost stepping back as she stared. She took it as a chance to continue.
"I thought you weren't supposed to practice until the end of the exams, Ryoma-kun?"
"Ah..." He spoke, pausing a bit as if finding the right excuse, "I was just doing some immersion training—you know, imagining practice."
Sakuno thought of how suspicious that the tennis prince would actually explain himself to her. It was a bit hilarious, his confidence that surely could convince anyone except those within his circle. She can't help but prod him further.
"In the middle of the night? Outside?"
He cleared his throat as he looked away.
"Precisely."
She giggled then, finding how cute the small pout that he does whenever he's doing some mischief and he gets found out. It made her heart swell- warm, and she wondered if it was okay for her well being to be left alone with him.
"So what are you doing outside?"
He asked nonchalant, approaching her as they talked. She can't help but feel uncomfortable as she maintained eye contact. He leaned his back on the opposite side of the baluster, his arms a few meter close to her own. Ryoma shrugged, as if accepting her refusal to answer his question.
To that, she replied immediately focusing on the ground.
"I was just getting some fresh air." She reasoned, "I'm stuck in this essay assignment."
"What essay?" He asked, eyes wide in curiosity turning his head to look at her. "The one from Professor Slimko?"
"Yes." She was surprised to hear that he knew about it, "Is she also one of your professors?"
He nodded, "Raison d'etre?"
She duplicated the nod, albeit more haste.
"What's so hard about it?" He had an eyebrow raised in confusion.
To his demeanor, Sakuno can't help but get worked up. She straightened her posture. She wanted to reply, to defend the way she can't answer but all she did was sigh.
"The most important reason or purpose for someone or something's existence... I'm not sure if I have anything grand like that."
She wasn't sure if she should've said that. For a moment, the girl resorted to looking afar. Avoiding the assumed judgment from the boy she liked. She felt embarrassed, but she thought that It's unfair that the boy who won the talent lottery and have been achieving great things left and right could really understand.
"Does it have to be grand?" He replied, his voice lacking the usual nonchalance.
"I-I don't mean grand in a literal sense." She defended, hands waving to dismiss, "How can I say it..."
Sakuno muttered, "Sometimes, I feel like I don't have the deep reason. I just exist as is. I just try to live in a way that I woudn't burden Grandma... or just go with the flow..."
Ryoma didn't reply and the girl realized she must have been babbling. Feeling her face heat up in shame, she continued.
"And even after if I said all that... here I am getting bothered and worked up over a school paper. So much for going with the flow." She smiled awkwardly, fiddling the hem of her shirt. She slightly stepped back, leaning away from the baluster.
"Ryuzaki..." he spoke, loud enough to get her attention. "What are you saying?"
"Eh?"
His voice was serious– carrying his usual tone of arrogance. Ryoma looked at her. His golden eyes stared at her straight, almost piercing. It made her feel more conscious, the intensity of the attention he's giving her.
"It's strange how you said all of that despite being one of the most stubborn people I know."
"W-What..?" She didn't know if it was a compliment, or just a passing word that he just threw. Still, she listened.
"Despite not being good at it— didn't you train so hard and won a place on that contest tennis tournament?" Ryoma spoke.
"What tournament..?" she felt confused as she never really pursued the sport enough to win any contest.
"Third place. When we were first years in Seigaku." Ryoma turned to her with disbelief, "You went to the airport and personally showed me your certificate."
As Sakuno heard him, her cheeks went to a shade of tomato. How can she forget? She must have had a computer's memory as she never forgets any moment from her middle school that included him. What surprised her was the fact that he remembered.
"And I'm the one who's supposed to have forgotten." Ryoma teased the girl "Mada mada dane, Ryuzaki."
Sakuno couldn't find it in herself to speak, so she continued to listen to the boy who was uncharacteristically been telling her things that she deemed unimportant enough to deserve any remembrance.
The prince of tennis smirked, even lifting a single finger to count. "English was far from your best subject, almost always failing—"
"Mou..! Why are you bringing it up now." She tried to stop him, her whole face beet red in embarassment. Did he really need to bring the past back?
"-but you are now so fluent that you take English Literature as your major."
"But..."
"Let's not forget." He flashed her a genuine smile, "Timid Ryuzaki Sakuno who everyone thought can't stand up for herself. She now lives independent in a foreign country with a different language, culture, and all."
His eyes shone faintly against the moonlight that it almost made his features soft. As he looked at her, serious, eye-to-eye, she's afraid that she would burst. How can he just say those things? Did he remember those from years ago? Did he deem those memories with her important enough to remember now?
"I don't think someone who doesn't have any reason for existence can work as hard as that."
"R-Ryoma-kun..."
"What do you think, Ryuzaki...?"
A/N:
Hey everyone! I'm not dead yet, haha. Lol. Sorry I wasn't able to update this fic for the past couple years. It's just I've been through a lot in the past years and I, myself, couldn't believe that it has been that long. But really, if you're one of those people who has been reading this fic since 2014, (I seriously doubt there anyone left lol) you would know the almost four years break that I had for this fic. So yeah, it doesn't make the waiting time any better. (Sorry for that.)
I already finished the draft until the last chapter. This fic would have 30 chapters. If everything goes well, I would finish with posting them by January at the earliest and February the latest.
Again, I'm sorry that I can't be as active as 2020 when it was literally pandemic. I'm in a Big 4 auditing firm (if you know, you know) working now, so time hasn't really been my friend. But I'm trying to squeeze my writing schedules better this year.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading. I may not be able to reply as frequent as I like, but I appreciate all of your comments.
Next chapter would be posted around the weekend.
Thank you!
P.S Kindly prepare for the upcoming rollercoaster :'D