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


- Act XXXVII -
[ Fugue Towards Broken-Heart ]


Was winning supposed to be this bitter?

It was his victory, but somehow it didn't feel like one.

Especially when Kunimitsu managed to push him this far despite the injury on his shoulder.

When shaking Kunimitsu's hand, Keigo lifted his hand along with his to express his admiration towards Kunimitsu's unyielding determination. "That was the best match." His voice almost came in a whisper but he was certain that Kunimitsu could still hear it.

Keigo slouched himself on the bench and covered his head with the towel the freshman passed to him, trying to even his breath after losing so much stamina from his match. Since he won the match, Hyotei was tied with Seigaku 2-2 with a no-game. Wakashi was going to execute the last match against Seigaku's shrimp, Echizen Ryoma.

It wasn't going to be easy but he wouldn't want to underestimate Wakashi's potential.

But what worried Keigo at the moment was no longer the match, but more to Hikari who didn't stop weeping ever since the umpire announced his victory. Kunimitsu approached her and patted her head before getting the medic to inspect his shoulder again.

There was a moment when their eyes met, but Hikari quickly broke the contact. The freshmen girls who came to cheer Seigaku were both sitting at each of her sides, and seemed to try to cheer her up. Keigo kept glancing at her, seeing how impassive she was during the entire conversation.

Keigo hoped Wakashi could secure their victory, but Echizen Ryoma exceeded his expectations once again. He easily won the game 6-2 and won the ticket for the next round. Keigo twitched at this but he didn't want that to overwhelm him. Wakashi cried in defeat so Keigo told him that both he and Chōtaro always had the chance the next year.

He was the one who didn't…

Sighing, Keigo walked with his teammates behind him, stopping on his track when he felt his phone buzzing.

[I need to talk to you. Meet me in the training court.]

Keigo tightened his lips and shut his eyes for a moment before replying to her with an 'OK'. After the closing ceremony, Keigo told his teammates including Munehiro to go before him. Munehiro seemed to want to ask questions about this but Keigo silenced him by raising his hand.

When walking to their promised place, his heart was beating anxiously for whatever he was going to hear from her. There she was, standing near the unused training court with her back facing him. She wasn't even in a great distance but walking towards her felt almost like him walking down the courtroom where his final judgment was being held. He stopped two meters away from her and he didn't need to call her to make her turn to face him with her face remaining deadpanned.

It was their hundredth meeting yet at the same time it felt like their first.

"Atobe Keigo-san…"

Why was it weird to hear his glorious name from her?

"So now you know, ahn?" He forced a smile.

What he didn't expect was that she was showing the envelope containing her love letter. Keigo widened his eyes, slowly reverting his attention back to her.

"Where did you get that?"

"Or should I call you… Louis?"

Keigo took a deep breath. "I can explain."

"You don't need to, Atobe Keigo, Louis, or whoever you are." Hikari's face was still red from her previous outburst but it was getting redder at that moment. "I've had enough explanation about how you were using and playing around with me. Are you satisfied now?"

Why did she ask the same question her brother did before the match?

"I didn't play around with you."

"Then how were you going to explain this?!" Hikari raised the letter again. "You've rejected me! Then you came when I was broken-hearted and I accepted your feelings! Was that the plan?!" Keigo didn't answer. "Were you doing that because I kept rejecting you when you asked me out?! Was this relationship your way to retaliate?!"

"No, it's not!" Keigo held her shoulders. "I just want you to love me and not my disguise."

"What's the difference?!" She pushed his arms away. " Both are you! Why couldn't you just reveal yourself to me from the beginning?!" She panted, both hands were clenching into fists.

"I …" He smashed his lips shut. "You won't understand even if I try to tell you about it …"

At that time, there was only one question floating in Keigo's mind.

Was he ready to tell her the truth?

She cynically chuckled while rolling her eyes. "You really love making things complicated, don't you? But it's not like it matters now. I don't want to have anything to do with any of you. No matter how many there are in you." Hikari put both hands behind her neck and to his horror, unhooked the necklace he gave her, handing it to him. "I'm returning this to you."

Keigo shoved his hands into his pockets. "It's yours."

Hikari took a deep breath then tightened her lips. She approached him to pull his hand, opening his palm to shove the necklace in it before pushing his fingers to encase the necklace. "Thank you for everything, Atobe Keigo… But the clock strikes twelve."

No…

"Farewell, Atobe Keigo…" She quickly turned around, placing her palm over her mouth. Her back was getting smaller as she walked further from him.

No, she can't…

Keigo called her but she didn't stop so he took bigger steps to catch up with her. She quickened her phase but Keigo quickly grabbed her arm and dragged her back to their previous spot.

"Let me go!"

"You can't leave me, Hikari!"

She widened her eyes at this. "S-so you knew it… all along."

"Yes. I know who you are all along…"

"Was that the reason you approached me?" Droplets of tears were trailing from her face. Her hands were trembling before she clenched them into tight fists. "To take advantage of me and destroy my brother's career?!"

"That's not true!"

"That's not what I see!" She yanked her arms off him. "You've said that you wanted to gain my trust and that you'd never break my heart but look at what you've done! I've trusted you, Atobe Keigo! You've lied to me! You've broken my heart twice and you hurt my brother!" She smacked her fists on his chest. "You destroyed his career, his dream… and I helped you to achieve that!" He tried to reach her again but she slapped his hands away before storming away from him. But before she could do that, he held her tightly from behind. "Let go!"

"Listen, Hikari." Keigo turned her around so he could see her directly.

She glared at him. Her breathing was raging with fury at this point.

"I knew nothing about you until I saw you coming to Hyotei…" He paused to wipe her tears with his thumbs. "At first I thought you only shared the same surname with him. I never had the intention to use you to win against Tezuka. But…" He lowered his face. "…I must do everything it means to secure my team's path to victory to support their morale as a captain."

She chuckled. "And ironically you didn't. Congratulations, Buchō! Maybe you didn't deserve it after what you've done!"

"You're right. I deserve this loss. But this match is unrelated to us, Hikari. Please, give me a chance to explain everything."

"You've lost that chance since you lost my trust, Atobe Keigo!" She sobbed. "Do you even l-love me to begin with?"

"I love you, Hikari! I didn't lie about it!"

"You don't do this to the person you love, Atobe Keigo! Do you even have a heart?! This is the cruellest thing a person has ever done to me!" She tried to yank her hand off him but he didn't let go. "Let me go!"

"Please, give me a chance to explain everything to you!"

"I don't want to hear anything from you anymore, Atobe Keigo! I hate you! I hate you more than anything!"

His mind was blank. For a moment he felt like he lost his footing to the ground. When Hikari pushed him by his chest, he instinctively wrapped his arms around her and covered her lips with his. He loved her, he only did everything to be with her. He wanted to express all that through the movement of his lips. Hikari pushed his chest but he tightened his hold on her instead.

"What are you—mmph!" He took the chance to enter his tongue into her mouth and roamed around her cavern. Hikari eventually stopped fighting but she didn't return his kiss. Her hands helplessly clutched on his jersey as his hand pulled her waist closer to his body. Keigo retracted his lips from her when the air became necessary, kissing her forehead, eyelid, and cheek before resting his forehead against hers.

"Hikari… I always lo—"

"What's going on here?"

His heart dropped into his stomach upon realizing whose voice it belonged to. Keigo turned his head slowly to see no one other than…

Tezuka Kunimitsu.

"O-Onii-chan…"

"Do you have anything else you haven't told me, Hikari?" Hikari's body was trembling under his hold.

"I…" She placed her trembling fingers on her lips.

"I'm really disappointed with you…" Kunimitsu didn't shout nor was there any hatred interlaced in his tone, but that alone seemed to pierce her heart so deeply that she sobbed. "Come here." When she didn't move, he pressed his tone. "Now."

Before Hikari could approach him, Keigo extended his arm and stood before her. "I was planning to talk to you about this, Tezuka."

"Talk about what exactly, Atobe?"

"Our relationship. I've promised her that I won't hide about this anymore and talk to you."

"How convenient. I was about to talk to you about this also." Keigo furrowed his eyebrows. Nothing crossed his mind on how Kunimitsu found out. "How long has this been?"

Keigo glanced at her past his shoulder. "We've been together for a few months." He could hear the sharp gasps far from Kunimitsu's back. Behind the bushes were the Seigaku lot who were overhearing their conversation.

"Keeping your name a secret did make it harder to figure out it was you but I should've known this since the beginning." Kunimitsu's face remained stoic but Keigo noted how he had lowered his tone every time. "You did a great job ruining everything, Atobe. From her to my family. Are you satisfied now?"

He was impressed that Kunimitsu didn't mention his injury.

Even at a time like this, he still put his personal matters aside.

"That was never my intention."

"Then what do you want?" Keigo glanced at Hikari, for a few seconds their eyes locked as if they were silently communicating that way.

"I just want her, Tezuka. Nothing else."

The crease between Kunimitsu's eyebrow went deeper. "So this is what you want from winning this match."

"Yes. I want to tell you about our relationship and I want your approval."

Kunimitsu pulled Hikari's arm while still eyeing him. "You can have everything you want in this world. But not her, Atobe. She's not your plaything!"

"Plaything?" He snorted. "Now don't you dare say that again! I never treated her like a plaything!"

"Then how about making her lie to me and my family?! Do you even have any idea what she had to go through because of that?! She was in pain! My family was in pain! How much do you want to destroy her, Atobe?!"

"Onii-chan! Please stop!" Hikari stood in the middle trying to calm her brother, her hands were holding Kunimitsu's arms.

"That's what I'm trying to fix right now!"

"You don't need to fix anything, Atobe!"

"I won't give up on her, Tezuka! I will never!"

"Don't!" Kunimitsu pointed his finger at him. "Don't ruin her life more than this. You've done enough."

"Tezuka—"

"Just leave us alone, Atobe!"

"Please stop!" Hikari shouted on top of her lungs. Keigo turned his attention to her the same time Kunimitsu did. A wash of cold showered his backbone upon seeing her slowly fall to her knees, clutching on her chest.

"H-Hikari…"

"M-my chest…" She panted as if she was out of oxygen. Keigo caught her before she hit the ground, trembling to feel how cold her hand was.

"Hikari!" Kunimitsu crouched to check her. "No… Her heart is…"

"I've had the mitral valve annuloplasty when I was small so I'm very healthy now. The doctor told me I shouldn't be too tired or stressed out because it will burden my heart, though."

He widened his eyes when he recalled her heart condition. Her lips turned blue and her already pale face turned white as she crouched forward.

"Ōishi! Call for the ambulance!" The Seigaku lot rushed from the bushes and approached their captain while Shūichirō headed straight to where the medics supposed to be with Takashi.

"Let me—" Keigo quickly put his arms around her to carry her with him but he was being pushed by Kunimitsu.

"Stay away from her from now on, Atobe! You've done enough damage to our life!" Even with the injury on his shoulder, Kunimitsu still carried his sister in his arms, running towards the exit gate.

"Hikari!" Keigo ran after them, seeing the medics who were already standing by the site, already putting Hikari on the stretcher and putting the oxygen mask on her. Kunimitsu quickly boarded the ambulance while the rest of the Seigaku members called a taxi to follow them to the hospital. He was thinking about following them to the hospital but after some thought, he decided that his appearance wouldn't be anything more than a nuisance. He probably was the last thing the siblings wanted to see at the moment.

When they were out of sight, Keigo went back to the spot where Hikari confronted her. Before him was the letter she wholeheartedly wrote for him. He slowly descended to take the letter and held it close to his chest.

"I'm sorry, my queen…" There was a tight dishevelled knot in his centre, pulling his entirety tighter every second that passed; and the letter did little to relieve that as if the words were still magically emitting the love she expressed through it.

How did she find it? He was certain that he hid it inside the Shakespeare book in the study room he didn't allow her to get into. When thinking about the possible scenario, he heard a rustle from the bushes two feet from his spot.

"Rabble, I know you're there. Come out now." What was more comical than witnessing his teammates' heads bulging from the bushes one by one? "How long have you been there?"

"Since you ki—" Both Yūshi and Gakuto lurched forward to clamp Jirō's mouth.

"I knew it, Atobe. You have something with that girl. Was it Niō who took your place during our training back then?" There was a confusion lacing Yūshi's tone but it wasn't one that insisted on an immediate answer.

"Atobe-san… Don't you want to go to her place?" Chōtaro clearly was worried as seen from the way he creased his brows. "It seems like she's in a bad condition." Keigo didn't answer. As much as he wanted to, his presence would probably stir more commotions instead. Rising from his previous position, he shoved his hand into his pocket to clutch the necklace she had returned.

"Kabaji, jacket."

"Usu." The big man obediently put his jacket on his shoulder.

"Good job for today, rabble. Even though we didn't make it to the Nationals, we still have our juniors to carry our mission. Hiyoshi, Ōtori, make sure you're training well and bring Hyotei to the Nationals next year. Kabaji, you go ahead. I have to visit a place before going home."

"Atobe-san…" Keigo raised his hand to stop Munehiro from following him.

Then he went straight to his car, all the while trying to keep his mind off her but he couldn't. He missed everything about her: her smile, scent, laughter, the feeling of having her in his arms and the feeling of her lips against his.

The manor didn't help as every corner of it reminded him so much of her. Even the end of the stairs made him reminisce how she was rotating around it while performing a dance to welcome him home. Emptiness constricted him so much that he strode his way outside the house, ignoring the calls from his butlers and maids. Heading towards his swimming pool, he jumped inside it. He could hear Michael frantically calling for his bodyguards. Splaying his body, he let the water naturally float him to the surface.

"I don't want to hear anything from you anymore, Atobe Keigo! I hate you! I hate you more than anything!"

He could withstand the whole world hating him, but how could he not stand the hate declaration from her? It stabbed his chest like thousands of knives and never did he feel so weak, so lost, and so meaningless.

The droplets of water were cold against his skin, but he could feel warmer droplets dripping around his eyes. Shutting his eyes, he felt more warm droplets dripping.


AN: You must feel like he deserves this punishment. If I were in Hikari's shoes, I would be even madder than her. Don't you think?

So, talking about "Louis", I will reveal what this name is about later as revealing it now will be a spoiler; but what do you think about it? XD

Since I'm in a good mood to tell you the hint to the next chapter, I will reveal the chapter's title and it will be:

Child of God

Hmm, what will this chapter about I wonder? XD

Favorite, follow, and most importantly—review are gold for me! As I mentioned in the previous chapter, the story is also posted in Wattpad. Since the site allows me to post videos and images, I might be able to pamper your eyes there. Check my account in ReikaNanatsuki!

Thank you for reading and have a nice day!