Tennis no Ojou-sama: A Prince of Tennis Fan Fiction

Chapter 146: Face It, He's Special To Her

"So what's happening on your side?" Ren asked over a phone call. He had on a single Bluetooth airpod in one ear as he, Umino and Hibiki strolled around the shrine.

"No worries. Kaname-nii has an iron grip on Ryouko; I'm backing him up; Tetsuya and Tatsuya even joined in the fray unknowingly," Natsu answered, watching his cousins as the twins and Umino entertained Ryouko with talks about protective charms.

"Great," Umino said. The five of them were all connected to a single call so that they could inform each other of their current positions. "We're still looking for Ryoma. Where did that kid go?" he added.

"Wouldn't it be more efficient if we split up?" Hibiki said but at that instant, Ryoma's kimono-clad figure was caught by the corner of Umino's eyes.

"There's no need for that," Umino said and pointed at the foot of a large Inari statue. Ren and Hibiki turned simultaneously at that direction and also locked on their target.

"Ohh? Look who dressed up for the occasion? He seemed to have spent a great deal of effort on that getup," Hibiki commented.

"Talk about trying to look more mature..." Ren added, a bit pissed at the fact that Ryoma indeed looked older than his age and had quite an air of cool masculinity about him. A thirteen-year-old has no business looking like that; so much that Ren felt personally attacked.

"So what're we gonna do?" Umino asked. "We'll just pull him over and interrogate him like what we originally planned?"

"There's far too many people here. I'd like for us to take him somewhere more eerie and private, someplace where he would feel threatened for his life," Hibiki answered, sounding quite sadistic.

However, before the three boys could even exchange ideas with Natsu and Kaname on the phone, there was a change in the circumstances. Ryoma was staying close to the Inari statue, looking here and there and he seemed to want to check the other side of the sculpture when he came face to face with a brown-haired girl wearing a pink kimono. The boys watched questioningly as there was an awkward several seconds of silence as Ryoma and the girl just stared at each other. Ryoma then recovered, quickly averted his gaze and seemed to be pretending that he saw no one and was about to turn away to the opposite direction when the girl suddenly called out to him.

Ren and the others were too far away for them to hear the conversation but Ryoma and the girl clearly exchanged a few words before moving to a different location.

The Fujioka cousins looked at each other as Ryoma and the girl walked towards the back of a shrine.

"Oh, oh, oh, what the heck was that? That wasn't a normal atmosphere!" Hibiki said with his tone full of outrage and suspicion, pointing at the direction where the two adolescents went.

"That bastard, is he cheating on our Ryouko?" Ren murmured darkly, his aura emitting blood and murder.

"We haven't even clarified yet if Ryoma and Ryouko are dating or not, but I have to agree that what we saw isn't a normal situation... Those two moved location, which meant that they have to converse in private," Umino remarked.

"Then what are you guys waiting for?" Natsu interjected, his voice sounding exasperated from Ren, Hibiki, Umino and Kaname's air pods. "Go follow them and hear what Ryoma's got to say..." he added.

"Do we really have to eavesdrop on some thirteen-year-old's conversation? I feel pathetic doing this..." Kaname suddenly said, joining in the call.

"Kaname-nii, aren't you supposed to keep Ryouko busy?" Natsu piped up.

"Don't worry... Tetsuya, Tatsuya, Hiruma and Haruta are all keeping her more than busy..." Kaname told them.

"Geez, pathetic or not, didn't we already agree we'll get to the bottom of Ryoma and Ryouko's relationship status before the day ends? We need to talk to Ryoma anyways, so we'll just wait for his prior appointments to be over. There's no harm hearing what he has to say to the girl he went with as well," Ren remarked.