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

CHAPTER 13: The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

"It's totally not fair... How come Tachibana-san and Kamio went here together last time and now, they send me on my own..." Ibu Shinji mumbled to himself. He was passing by the shade of a gigantic tree.

"No one really cares about me on that team... That's right. They didn't even make someone accompany me. They think I'm alright on my own. That's just very nice..." He continued mumbling. "The next time they do this, I'll really— Ouch."

Shinji stopped walking. Something just fell on his head, and it was quite painful. He looked down at the thing.

It was a shoe. A girl's black school shoe. Shinji made a confused face.

Why would a girl's shoe come falling dow— He stopped thinking as he instinctively looked up. "Oh." He said in expressionless surprise.

A girl in Seishun Academy uniform with long, dark hair was on one of the branches, leaning on the tree trunk, fast asleep. Her hair fluttered in the breeze and her chest heaved up and down as she breathed in and out in her sleep.

Shinji looked at the shoe in his hand then back at the girl. Her legs were hanging down and one slender foot was missing a shoe.

Shinji thought. What should he do? Should he wake her up? After all, sleeping on a high tree branch looked really dangerous. She might fall dow—

She stirred and leaned sideways to her left and Shinji's eyes widened as she fall down.

Shinji ran instinctively to the spot where she will land. A fall like that will be serious!

In the middle of falling, Ryouko's eyes fluttered open. She realized the situation she was in and maneuvered her body in a tumble so that she will fall feetfirst.

To her surprise, a guy with shortish hair was standing on her landing area. "Dang!" She thought as she maneuvered to avoid accidentally kicking him.

Shinji held his arms out in a position that it will be easy to catch her.

Ryouko crash landed towards Shinji. Unable to catch her since her legs came first, Shinji fell down and he found himself on the ground with the girl on top of him.

"Ouch..." The girl mumbled.

Ryouko opened her eyes and looked at the guy who ruined her landing. Shinji opened his own eyes almost at the same time. They looked at each other questioningly.

"Uh. Excuse me, but can you get off?" Shinji said.

"Oh. Right." Ryouko said as she stood up.

Shinji was at a loss for words. What should he say? He's not really accustomed to talking to other people much. And this kind of first meeting isn't exactly usual.

"Excuse me." The girl told him. Then she held out her leg with the missing shoe and meaningfully looked at the footwear that Shinji was holding with his right hand.

"Oh. Right." Shinji said, holding out the shoe towards her.

She didn't take it and simply stayed on the position wherein she's holding out her leg in front of her.

Shinji hesitantly bent down and fitted the shoe on her small and slender foot.

"Thanks." She said as she stood up straight. Then she walked away.

Shinji can only look at her back, confused at what just happened.

"What an odd girl..." He thought.

~~~

"Hanamura-sensei... Do I really have to go?" Wakato Hiroshi complained. He was currently on the passenger seat of their coach's car.