Seigaku Princess (Prince of Tennis)

Chapter 12: A day out with Tezuka

The following days has been pretty busy for Ryaka. She has guest appearances for various television shows and interviews with the media. There was also the presscon they held at the hotel. Wednesday came and Ryaka together with Hannah saw Ms. Mayuri and the crew off to the airport.

"Don't hesitate to call me if anything happens okay?" Ms. Mayuri gave Ryaka a hug.

"Ms. Hannah, I'm leaving her in your care." she said as she turned to Hannah.

"No problem Ms. Mayuri! I'll take good care of her. Have a safe trip!"

Hannah drove Ryaka back to her hotel to get her things.

"Are you sure its okay to live in the center with you? I can stay here and go there everyday." Ryaka said as she gathered her bags.

"Nah, you're only here for a couple of months and who knows when will I be able to see you again?"

"Well, you're right about that."

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The days have gone by in a flash. Ryaka helped Hannah with Tezuka's rehabilitation training. She devised a specialized program that greatly increased the speed of his recovery. Before she even know it, her vacation was almost over.

"Here Kuni-kun." She handed Tezuka his drink. They just finished the morning training.

"Arigato Rye." He said as he sipped from his bottle. Tezuka sat next to her.

"When's your flight going to be?" Tezuka asked.

"Well, I only have 2 days left. I wish I can extend but Ms. Mayu's been bombarding me with reminders that I must return immediately. Haha." She let out a soft chuckle as she imagines Ms. Mayuri's frustrated face while talking to her on the phone.

"Thank you for all your help. I owe a big part of my recovery to you." Tezuka said to her.

"You're welcome, but its more because you are really determined to get better."

"Rye, would you like to go out today? You've spent most of your vacation in the center and you didn't even get a chance to roam around." Tezuka asked.

"You beat me to it. I was going to ask you to accompany me around. Haha."

They have been close through out the months Ryaka trained with him and they are already comfortable with each other. With Ryaka, Tezuka was always at ease. You could say that "he lets his guard down" when he's with her.

"I'll go freshen up then." Ryaka said as she got up.

"Me too, meet me at the entrance in 30 minutes." Tezuka said.

Ryaka went back to her room and took a bath. She then put on a white and blue striped cotton top, shorts and her white kicks. She also applied her usual make up. After a last look at the mirror, she went out and looked for Hannah. She saw her at the gym, supervising an athlete.

"Hannah, we're going out today, do you want to come?" She asked.

"With Kunimitsu-kun? I wish I can but I still have work to do here. You two enjoy okay?" Hannah waved her off.

She met up with Tezuka at the entrance.

"I asked Hannah to come but she can't so I guess it'll just be us." Ryaka said.

Tezuka just shrugged.

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Ryaka was taking a lot of pictures of the sights around town and more of the camera-shy Tezuka. She also took a lot of shots of the two of them together. Tezuka has no choice but to give in to her.

They went around beautiful tourist spots and she tried on different kinds of food. Tezuka showed her to some of the tennis courts around as well. She got to observe various players.

She tugged on Tezuka's arm as they passed by a big toy store.

"What? You want to go in there?" Tezuka asked.

"Yeap! I love toy shops!!" She nodded.

Tezuka just sighed and gave in. They went inside and Ryaka was like a 6yo kid once again. She wore silly kid masks, poked on the toys, tried on kiddie hats and made goofy faces. Tezuka was just entertaining himself by watching her.

Then she saw a big panda on one of the aisles. Ryaka loved pandas eversince she was a kid. "Kawaiiii!!!!" She rushed to it and hugged it tight. She turned and poked Tezuka with one of its arms and said in a cute voice "Kuni-kun~! I'm Mr. Panda~! Nice to meet you~!" She giggled and Tezuka can't help but smile as well. She put the panda back on the racks and they went out of the store.

"I'd like to show you something." Tezuka then took her hand and led her.

They arrived at a hill with a clearing surrounded by trees that gave a nice shade. Tezuka sat down and Ryaka sat beside him.

"This is my favorite spot. Its peaceful and I get to do a lot of thinking when I'm here." Tezuka said.

Ryaka breathed in the wonderful sight of nature. "This is beautiful." She said. "Hey let's take a photo here!" Ryaka took out her phone and snapped a picture of them with the clearing as their background.

They stayed there for quite a while before they headed back to town. Its almost getting dark so they hurried.

While walking on the street, a guy carrying a baseball bat suddenly snatched her bag and ran away. She shrieked in surprise. Tezuka immediately took off after the guy and jumped on him. The guy fell face down and her bag flew to the side. She ran towards them.

Tezuka turned and kneeled to get her bag from the ground when Ryaka saw the guy got up and was about to take a swing at Tezuka with the bat. She didn't think twice and ran in between them to block it. The bat landed hard on her right hand and she fell on the pavement hitting her right arm. She cried out in pain. Tezuka was shocked but recovered quickly. He furiously got up and was about to punch the guy in the face when police nearby already got him.

The last image she saw was of Tezuka holding her and calling her name before she blacked out.

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