Chapter Two

As soon as Ryoma got his bearings back, he bolted in the direction she had gone. He didn't pause to think, didn't question why. All he knew was that a strange urgency had settled in his chest, something tight and relentless. He needed to make sure she made it home safely.

She walked with certainty, her pace steady and unhurried, like someone who had long memorized every step. Ryoma followed quietly from a distance, his footsteps silent, his eyes never leaving her slender figure. The late afternoon light casted a soft gold over everything, making the edges of the world blur like a dream.

Her white cane tapped rhythmically against the pavement, its gentle sound oddly soothing, but every so often, Ryoma's muscles would tense as she neared a crack in the sidewalk or a slight dip in the road. Her awareness was sharp. She didn't falter once.

But then she reached the street crossing.

Ryoma almost had a mini heart attack. His body moved before his mind caught up. He walked up beside her, standing wordlessly at her side. She didn't acknowledge him. She didn't need to. She waited, poised, for the traffic to still.

When the light turned green, she stepped forward.

Ryoma moved with her, making sure the passing cars saw her, that nothing would hurt her. Even now, she seemed so fragile—petite and delicate—but she moved with more strength than he remembered. More certainty. It was as if the world had reshaped itself around her blindness—and she had mastered it, all without him. It was a bittersweet realization, proof that Ryuzaki Sakuno could live without him, even without her sight.

After they crossed, Ryoma fell back again, maintaining a safe distance. He didn't want to spook her, didn't want to be seen. Not yet.

He followed her through narrow streets, past quiet storefronts, until they stopped at a gate he recognized immediately.

The Ryuzaki residence.

He ducked behind the low wall across the street, heart pounding, as the door opened.

Coach Ryuzaki appeared, wearing an apron and a deep scowl.

"Sakuno! How many times have I told you not to go wandering around alone!"

Ryoma watched as Ryuzaki tilted her head slightly, the corner of her mouth lifting. "I wasn't wandering. I knew where I was going, Obaa-chan."

"Still! Anything could've happened!" the coach huffed, taking her granddaughter's arm. "Inside, now. Honestly, this child."

The door closed behind them with a soft click.

Ryoma didn't move.

He stood there, rooted in place, staring at the spot where Ryuzaki had disappeared. His fists clenched in his jacket pockets. He hadn't even said anything. He hadn't had the right.

And yet, the ache in his chest didn't lessen—it was so strong, it felt like it was choking him. Why had no one told him? He couldn't understand why no one informed him about this.

Minutes passed. The evening sun dipped lower. Finally, Ryoma pulled out his phone. He scrolled until he found a number he had barely used in years.

"Momo-senpai," he said the moment the call connected.

There was a beat of silence on the other end. Then—

"Echizen?! No way! Is this really you?!"

Ryoma allowed a small smirk. "Yeah. It's me. I'm in Tokyo right now."

There was a crash on the other end. "You're kidding me! Why didn't you tell me beforehand? I could've picked you up at the airport!"

Ryoma smiled, his senpai didn't change at all. "It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you."

"You, brat! You didn't change at all, Echizen," Momo-senpai replied, laughing loudly.

He almost rolled his eyes. "Can we meet? At Kawamura-senpai's restaurant?"

Momoshiro didn't hesitate. "Hell yes. Give me thirty minutes."

The warm aroma of grilled sushi and miso soup greeted him as he stepped inside the familiar restaurant.

Kawamura-senpai immediately greeted him with his usual booming voice and a bear hug. "Echizen! You've grown up, Echizen! Look at you! Champion of the world, huh?"

Ryoma smiled, shaking his head. "Still the same Kawamura-senpai."

Momoshiro arrived a few minutes later, grinning from ear to ear. "Damn, it really is you. The last time I saw you, your hair was shorter, and you barely said more than five words."

"You still talk too much," Ryoma replied dryly, though his tone lacked bite.

They sat around a table, plates of sushi and grilled fish slowly accumulating as conversation flowed more easily.

Momo and Kawamura filled him in on the others.

"Tezuka-buchou is doing well in Germany. We caught his last match on TV—guy's still a wall," Momoshiro said, sipping his tea.

Ryoma nodded, sipping on his tea. "Yeah, we did play against each other a couple of times."

His senpais grinned. "We watched that!"

Ryoma couldn't help but smirk at their enthusiasm.

"Fuji-senpai's a surgeon now," Kawamura added. "And Oishi-senpai's a pediatrician. Both of them are still single, if you can believe it."

"Fuji doesn't surprise me. Oishi does," Ryoma said, chewing on his favorite sushi.

"Kikumaru's coaching with me at Seigaku," Momo grinned. "Can you imagine him teaching? The kids adore him. He's got that bouncy energy still."

Ryoma nodded, listening to the stories with a strange warmth in his chest. It had been so long since he heard any of this. Too long.

"Kaidoh married Tomoka, by the way. Can you believe it? Those two yell at each other like cats and dogs, but they're solid."

Ryoma paused, blinking. He could barely believe it. For a second, he thought Osakada would end up with Horio. "That's a surprise. I thought Kaidoh-senpai was allergic to girls."

Kawamura and Momo-senpai guffawed at his comment, and Ryoma couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

"And you?" Ryoma suddenly asked.

Momo-senpai scratched the back of his head. "I married An. One kid, and his already swinging a racket."

It wasn't a surprise, really, Momo-senpai was interested in her since highschool. What was surprising was Tachibana-san (well, she's Momoshiro now) even agreed to date him, let alone marry him. His senpais were indeed full of surprises.

The conversation went on, casual and warm. But Ryoma hadn't come for nostalgia. When there was a lull in the conversation, he finally said it.

"I saw Ryuzaki today."

The table went still.

Momo's hand froze mid-reach. Kawamura's wide eyes locked onto him.

Ryoma let out a bitter chuckle. "So you all knew. You all kept it from me."

"It's not like that," Momo quickly interjected. "We didn't hide it. We just… didn't know how to bring it up."

Ryoma glanced away, trying to hide his expression. "Someone should've told me."

Kawamura sighed. "Echizen, we're sorry for not telling you. But, would you have listened if we tried? You were always so focused. Everything outside of tennis… didn't matter to you."

Ryoma said nothing, because he knew—he damn well knew—they weren't wrong. But they weren't entirely right, either. Ryuzaki was someone he cared about, even if no one would believe him. He would've… he would've done something.

Momo crossed his fingers on the table, his head bowed. "It happened the day after you broke up with her. She was involved in a car accident after finding out about you dating Alexandra Jones."

His eyes widened, and he instantly jerked his head up to stare at his senpai's solemn expression. Momo-senpai was serious, he wasn't joking around. Of course he wasn't!

All along...it was his fault. He had caused it. He was the reason Ryuzaki Sakuno became blind.

Ryoma could barely tell where he was as he felt the world crushed on him. His mouth felt dry, and his voice seemed to be trapped somewhere deep inside him.

"Tell me everything," Ryoma rasped, barely able to speak.

And so they did.

They explained how it all started after graduation. How Ryoma had broken up with Ryuzaki with no explanation, just a cruel, sudden end. The next day, she saw the news about him and Alexandra.

"She didn't even have time to process what happened," Momo said, voice heavy with anguish. "One day, you're with her, and the next... you're with someone else. She didn't have a chance to breathe."

Ryoma's stomach twisted into a painful knot. He hadn't even given her a moment to understand. He hadn't told her why—just ended it like it was nothing. Why hadn't he told her? If only he did. If only he just uttered enough words for her to understand. Maybe she wouldn't had….

"She found out about you and Alexandra," Kawamura continued. "The very next day. She saw the news."

Ryoma clenched his fist, looking down at the table cloth. His thoughts raced back to the day he had agreed to date Alexandra Jones. He hadn't had feelings for her—not even for a second. Her family had offered him a full sponsorship for his tennis career in exchange for a public relationship. It was all for publicity, for the future of his career.

But Alexandra... she had fallen for him, and he had treated her like an obligation. He had never cared about her, never wanted her. Yet, he had gone along with it for three long years, faking a relationship that meant nothing to him.

And all the while, he hadn't known how much he made Ryuzaki suffer. The girl who had cared for him, and loved him unconditionally—he had hurt her so deeply, and now the weight of his selfishness was eating him whole.

"She ran away that night," Momo continued quietly. "In the storm. We couldn't reach her. She just...disappeared."

Ryoma bit the inside of his cheek. His chest felt like it was caving in, knuckles turning white.

"Where did she go?" He continued staring at the table cloth, ashamed to look his senpais in the eye.

"She took a taxi," Kawamura said, eyes downcast. "She was heading to the airport. We assumed that she intended to find you. To personally confront you."

The image of her—devastated, running off into the storm to find him and demand answers—haunted his mind, bile crawling up his throat.

"But the rain was so bad," Momo continued. "The taxi crashed. A drunk driver ran them off the road. Sakuno was rushed to the hospital. She was in a coma for three days."

Ryoma could feel the tremors in his body. His world spun around him, everything blurring as he struggled to process the reality of it all. It had all been his fault. His stupid decision to end things with Sakuno without an explanation, his failure to realize what his actions would do to her—had all led to this tragedy.

"Does she remember me?" Ryoma choked out, his voice cracking with the weight of his guilt.

Kawamura shook his head slowly. "Not clearly. She sometimes dreams about a boy with a cap. But she doesn't know who he is."

Ryoma tilted his head up to stare at the bright light on the ceiling before taking a deep breath and clenching his eyes shut. He had become a shadow in her life, someone she couldn't even recall clearly. And all because of the choices he had made, choices driven by his own selfish ambitions.

It was painful to look at his senpais now, ashamed to meet the eyes of the people who had watched him walk away from someone they all cared about. He had been too focused on his career, too willing to ignore the consequences of his actions.

"How can the two of you greet me as if I haven't ruined someone's life?" Ryoma whispered, his voice strained, barely able to get the words out.

Momo looked away, a flicker of pain crossing his face before he finally met Ryoma's eyes, the weight of their shared history between them.

"We hated you at first," he admitted quietly. "We were angry, confused... because you walked away when she needed you most. But time passed, and we realized... you were just as lost as she was. We didn't think it would help to bring you back into this mess. You had your life, your dreams, and we thought maybe it was better for you to stay away. You were already moving on, chasing your future. We didn't want to drag you back into something that was already broken."

Kawamura's voice softened. "We're not the same as we were back then. We've forgiven you, Echizen. But you have to forgive yourself too."

But it wasn't better.

It was worse.

Ryoma put a hand on his face. Hiding his expression from his senpais. The tightening in his chest was choking him, the guilt closing in around him like a vice. The tears gathered in his eyes but he knew he didn't have the right to weep for her.

His mind raced. He had walked away from her without a single word of explanation, and in doing so, he had left her shattered. He had let her slip through his fingers, and now, six years later, he could barely breathe in the face of the damage he had caused.

He had done this to her. He had been the one who had broken her heart, who had broken everything. He had used Alexandra, faked a relationship for a sponsorship, while the girl who truly cared for him had suffered in silence.

He stood up from the table, mumbling a quiet apology and he started to walk towards the door. His senpais called out to him but he didn't acknowledge them. The room felt too small, the walls closing in on him. His legs wobbled beneath him, but he couldn't stay seated. He couldn't stay in the place where he was drowning in his own guilt. His thoughts were a blur, but there was no escaping the truth.

He was a damn jerk who had ruined Ryuzaki Sakuno's life, and he didn't know how he could ever atone for his sins.

He left the restaurant later that night, his steps unsteady. The city lights outside blurred together, and everything felt surreal. His chest felt tight, weighed down by the truth and the crushing guilt.

He had walked away.

And now, six years too late, he learned of what he did. He wanted to drop to his knees in front of Ryuzaki-sensei and Sakuno, to beg for their forgiveness. But wasn't even sure if he deserved it.

To be Continued...