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

CHAPTER 25: The Invitation to Atobe's Camp

Ryouko smiled in satisfaction as she looked at the glare of the light from her laptop screen that night. The freshmen showed such promise. She felt proud of them and she felt prouder for herself because of the looks of surprise at everyone's faces as they surveyed the practical exams earlier that afternoon. It had been a pleasure to triumph over them after they threw 'not-so-good' commentaries over her coaching.

See? Fujioka Ryouko really was more than capable of training other people. She had that much strength, prowess and knowledge.

She showed them all, she did...

Her thoughts were interrupted by Ichidou peeking in the door of her room. "Ryouko-chan... It's half past 4 a.m. Aren't you going to sleep?"

"It's 4 a.m.?" She repeated, surprised. She glanced at the grandfather clock at the corner of her room. Indeed, it read 4:34. And class will begin at 8 am.

"Just a few more minutes. I'm going through the individual results of the first years today... Then I still have to group them into categories depending on their strengths. Pretty soon, I would also need to prepare individual programs for each of them. I have to get the data sorted out so I won't have any problem. I also still have to prepare the individual programs of the juniors and seniors. Half of them are still unfinished." She said as she typed some more and stared at the screen of her laptop.

Ichidou sighed. "Licht and I are getting worried over all these all-nighters that you've been pulling since you started working as the tennis club's manager... Don't you think you're working yourself too hard?"

"Nonsense. You know me... A few all-nighters won't break me down. Don't worry... I'll sleep after 30 more minutes..." She told him. She looked back from her shoulder and smiled at his cousin. "I know what I'm doing, okay? Don't worry about me." She said in an assuring way.

"Okay. But if I peek in here after 30 minutes, you should be in bed or I'll yell and run around the house like crazy." Ichidou replied.

Ryouko gave a small laugh. "Don't tempt me, dear cousin. I may want to see that."

Ichidou smiled and closed the door.

As he walked on the corridor towards his own room, Ichidou thought. Sooner or later, all this sleepless nights will catch up on Ryouko's body. She always said that she knows what she's doing to herself but there had been many a time that her statement proved wrong.

"Maybe I should talk to Ryoma. She almost always listen to what Ryoma has to say..." He thought to himself.

Then a voice in his head interrupted him. "You shouldn't ask Ryoma. He's not exactly part of the family. Ryouko's matters should be solved by the family members. If Ryoma will be the one to solve this, then what's the good in having twenty-eight cousins?"

"Right. I shouldn't ask Ryoma. I'll use him as a last resort. After all, Ryouko-chan listens to Gai and Setsu-nii. I should call them first." Ichidou told himself.

He was so deep in thought that he bumped a table and the vase there full of flowers almost crashed down. It was a relief that he caught the handle an inch from the floor. He sighed.

"Ichidou-sama. Is the young miss already sleeping?" Licht suddenly said from behind him.

"Nope. She insisted on 30 more minutes." Ichidou answered as he set the vase on the table and arranged the flowers.

Licht sighed. "Ojou-sama always bickered to other players to take care of their health when she's not setting a fair example."

"I know right... She's so good at nagging at others when somebody has to nag at her. Too bad that I can't be that someone. She doesn't listen to me. Ryouko-chan is hard to control. So I'm thinking of calling Gaito and Setsuna-nii to set her straight. She listens to them." Ichidou replied.