Tennis no Ouji-sama © Konomi Takeshi, Shuheisha, Inc.


- Act XXVII -
In Brother's Eyes


Kunimitsu was too little to understand what was going on at that moment. It was one fine summer in Berlin when his mother suddenly came out from her room, holding her big belly. In a flash, her father and grandparents packed everything and went right into the hospital.

Just a second ago, his grandmother excitedly told him that he was going to be a big brother. So they waited in the hospital hall. While waiting, he compared his short legs that weren't even reaching the floor to his grandfather's strong and long ones. His grandmother kept talking about what to call the baby while combing his hair once in a while.

Suddenly, his father came out from a room, wearing funny green clothes just like what the doctors were wearing, falling to his knees, crying. His grandparents approached him; they did some serious talk and Kunimitsu could only hear something like "She might not be able to make it".

He was brought to see a small baby inside the box. "That's your sister," his father told him in tears. There were too many things attached to her. He couldn't even see her face well because of it.

His grandfather took him in his arms, then told him, "Kunimitsu, tell your sister goodbye."

"Why? I haven't even said 'hello' to her." His grandfather didn't answer and only held him. He glanced at his parents who were in tears as they were holding his sister's small hand.

Kunimitsu then banged the glass box around his sister so she would be awake and looked at him. The action got him reprimanded by his grandfather but Kunimitsu didn't stop.

"Don't go! I'll share my toys with you! I'll look after you! Let's play together!" he kept saying.

"Kunimitsu, honey…" his mother tearfully said."Just let her go, okay?"

"No! Take those things off her! It makes her feel bad!" His father talked to the nurse and finally lifted him in his arms so he could get a closer look at his sister. They even opened the box so he could touch her. Kunimitsu touched her hand and she weakly wrapped her small fingers around his.

He didn't want to let her go, so he started to sing the song his grandmother taught him.

My little sunshine, oh my little sunshine…

You light my day when the sky turns grey…

My little sunshine, oh my little sunshine…

You guide me when I'm lost in the darkness…

My little sunshine, oh my little sunshine…

Stay with me forever so I won't be lost…

"Let's play together, little sister…"

Thus, the baby was going to celebrate her sixteenth birthday. Though he mentioned her birthday to no one, Takeshi found it out because he followed Hikari's Insightgram and saw the birthday cake photo she posted on her birthday last year.

His initial plan to check some items for the tennis club turned into present hunting.

"According to research, 27% of women want accessories for a birthday present, 20% want to go to a restaurant, 9% want to go to trip within Japan, 7% want to travel abroad, 5% want branded goods. 10% happier if they got it from their partner," the Seigaku's data bank murmured under his breath.

"Tezuka-buchõ, will she like this bunny-shaped chocolate mould?"

"Oi, Momoshiro. Are you really going to give a chocolate mouldas a gift? Use your brain a little!"

"What did you just say, Mamushi! Go ahead and pick a better idea if you have one! Go ahead!" Takeshi leapt towards Kaoru then grabbed his collar with both of his fists clenched.

"I wouldn't pick a chocolate mould, idiot!" Kaoru snarled at him while grabbing Takeshi's collar in return.

"Since she's dreaming about meeting a prince so much, how about this 'grow your own prince' toy? You only have to put it into the water," Ryoma nonchalantly suggested.

"What's that?!" Eiji burst into laughter as he examined the toy. "Momo! Come here and check this out! I can't believe this kind of thing exists!"

"Oh! Isn't this great?! Let's buy this for her!"Kunimitsu took a quick glance at the item and narrowed his eyes at them because of something rated mature in the item. "Okay. This seems like a bad idea." Takeshi quickly put it back.

"How about this bunny plushie costume? It's soft and comfortable. She will look cute in it," Shūsuke said while showing a cream coloured bunny costume for everyone to see.

"I don't think she will wear that anywhere, Fuji…" Shūichirō sheepishly smiled.

Thus, they wasted his good two hours with all their bickers and arguments over what was good for a girl's birthday. None of them were truly experienced with what a girl wanted and ended up buying what they would like. Eiji eventually asked them to stop in the sports shop to check the newest sneaker collection, which was actually his initial destination before they decided to tag along and messed with the routes.

"Are you going to change your grip, Tezuka?" Takashi stood beside him while browsing for the available grips.

"Yes. The one I'm using is starting to dilapidate."

"I see." Takashi was checking the grip while matching it with his palm. "Do you play tennis with your sister?"

"That's a long time ago. Even years before she went to Germany. She stopped wanting to play with me because…" He pretended to clear his throat. "But since it has been long, she did ask me to teach her again but…" Kunimitsu furrowed his brows when he recalled that Hikari had stopped asking ever since he told her about his injury. "We've been too busy with our own… for too long. Maybe I should teach her again."

Takashi then took the racket that was displayed before him and said, "Then why don't you buy her a—DORYAA! BURNING!"

While Takashi did a great job reminding him to buy her a new racket ("Come on BABY!" he aggressively challenged random visitors), he had to snatch the racket in his hand before he went rampage inside the store.

Genichirō came to his house early in the morning to wish a happy birthday for Hikari and gave her a birthday present—his famous calligraphy. So far, he heard that outside of the Rikkai regulars, Keigo was the only one who received his calligraphy for inventing what Keigo called 'Sanada-friendly phone'. It wasn't surprising for him to give Hikari his calligraphy because for Genichirō, Hikari was a sister he never had. Whenever he bought candies as a kid, Genichirō would always share his with Hikari, never to Kunimitsu. "Real men buy their own candies. I'm not going to get soft with you and share, Tezuka," that was what Genichirō said when he was five, even when Kunimitsu didn't ask for it.

"Hmm… Not seeing is a flower? What's that? Why did he give me this?!" Hikari said with a pout while hanging it in her room. "He can give me a better sentence!"

On the contrary, he thought it suit her very much…

"SURPRISE!" everyone shouted as they exploded the party poppers once Hikari came out to the garden where they were holding her surprise birthday clamped her mouth to stifle her squeal and jumped on the spot.

"Thank you so much, everyone!"

The Seigaku regulars presented her a giant ivory coloured bunny with a red velvet ribbon tied around its collar and she almost went crazy when she saw it, hugging it as tight as she could. The doll's height reached her chest and was quite heavy but she could still carry it on her own.

"I was the one who came up with the idea to get you this, by the way," Eiji proudly pointed at himself. "It's the same place that made my teddy bear."

"Thank you, Kikumaru-san! Do you love bears?"

"I have a bear named Daigoro in my house.But since the doll is thirteen years old, the gravity is off and it always fell to its left side," he said as he showed his doll photo.

She squealed at the photo and said, "He's so cute! Can I see him sometimes?"

"Sure! You can always come to my house anytime you want— with Tezuka, of course!" Eiji quickly added when he glared at him at the invitation.

"Why should I go with my brother?" she pouted.

"Because you shouldn't go to a man's house alone, Hikari."

It was her reaction that grew his suspicion even more. She would usually retort with something like'it wasn't his business' but she didn't say anything and looked away to avoid his eyes. There was a big change in her behavior. Though he did see it in a good way, such as the immense growth in confidence and maturity, he suspected something…

She would excuse herself whenever she saw something in her phone with her most vibrant expression, almost whispering when she talked to the phone. Aside from her glowing face, she put more effort into her looks recently.

Hikari complained about getting too many love letters from his fans in her school but little did she know that he also got some from several men in Seigaku who saw her when she came to his he was being unfair to her, Kunimitsu didn't give the letters due to her being too young to be involved with romance.

Even his father noted this change. With the uprising sexual crimes towards girls around Hikari's age, his father pressed the importance of looking after Hikari and to informed him immediately if Kunimitsu ever suspected something, which he did…

Hikari did mention an 'amazing janitor' in Hyotei and he could tell that she was liking the man romantically. He had reprimanded her numerous times about going to another school for such a silly reason but she had this 'last child'syndrome of getting or doing everything she liked.

Maybe Genichirō was right about him pampering her too much…

Though slightly, he caught a glimpse of her around a man, a man that looked too similar to the last person he wanted her to be with…

When Hikari walked past him, a hint of cherry blossom scent was lingering in the air. Kunimitsu furrowed his brows upon recalling that he indeed smelt this very scent on that man when they were standing close the other day…

Clearly, he was going out with someone. Kunimitsu could always tell whenever his sister was around and he sensed her in that very area at that very same moment.

Was it a coincidence?

When he placed the snacks his mother prepared for them prior the party, he spotted Hikari glancing at her phone with a long sigh, before pursing her lips in a pout then shoving her phone into her pocket. That kind of expression could only mean one thing…

She was very much in love…

And she was seeing someone…

Though her expression quickly transitioned into her usual cheerful one, the way the corner of her eyes slanted still spoke the otherwise.

He needed to know…

He needed to figure out who was that person…

But he decided to do that later because she was supposed to be happy that day.

In addition to the regulars, he invited Ryuzaki Sakuno, Osakada Tomoka, Horio Satoshi, Kato Kachiro, and Mizuno Katsuo, who were all in the same year as her to expand her social circle. Hikari looked rather pleased seeing Sakuno and it didn't take long until the camaraderie happened, along with Tomoka.

Though he regretted inviting Satoshi into his house.

"She was a winner in Tokyo Ballet Championship seven years ago, the youngest 'Firebird' performer that ever made it into Kyoto's stage, and many more!"

"W-wow, you really know a lot about me, Horio-kun…" Hikari sheepishly said.

"Of course! That's because I'm Horio with two years of experience in tennis!"

How was that even related?

"Then you must be… really good, Horio-kun." Clearly, his sister wasn't comfortable with how close Satoshi was sitting beside her. He wasn't a bad man, but most of the time, he crossed the line, even when he played tennis.

"I'm so touched, Hikari-chan! You're the only one saying that so far! To mark the beginning of our friendship, can I have your phone number?" Satoshi was leaning closer to her so he put his hand on her shoulder and that made Satoshi moved away in reflect.

"Hikari, can you help me get sodas from the fridge?"

"O-okay." Hikari looked relieved when he intervened and excused herself from Satoshi. Kunimitsu slowly craned his head towards Satoshi. He didn't need to say a word to drill what he wanted to say until the man bowed in apology and went back to his friends.

"Being protective aren't you, Tezuka?" Shūsuke said as he sat beside him.

"She gets into trouble too much. One second I take my eyes off, something happens, even in Germany."

"Ah, right. She was there to look after Hikari-chan there." Kunimitsu furrowed his brows at this. "So are you still in contact with her?"

"She's probably busy practicing as we do now. Now that Hikari is here, I won't have to burden her with anything anymore."

Shūsuke chuckled. "Or probably you just lose the reason to contact her."Shūsuke patted Kunimitsu's shoulder when he didn't answer. "Try to be honest with yourself, Tezuka."

Kunimitsu stared at his left palm before gripping it tightly, pondering what was the point of being honest if doing so ended up hurting him much more than the injury on his left arm. He looked far to the sky, slowly raising his hand skywards, pulling it slightly before brandishing his fist to feel the only thing that probably connected them at that moment…

Not knowing that someone on the other side of the world had done the same thing…

"Let's climb to a higher place together, Mitsu…"


AN: The Japanese proverb, [見ぬが花] read as 'minu ga hana' means 'not seeing is a flower'. It means that 'reality can't compete with imagination'. I think this fits Hikari who's often overwhelmed by her own imagination. XD

So sorry for not being able to update for a month, guys! I'm starting a new kind of job and I have to adapt to something I never tried before. But yeah, so far I'm enjoying it because learning to do new things is always exciting!

Thank you for reading and have a nice day!