Deafening Silence ( prince of tennis) (#wattys2016)

16

Seigaku Tennis Courts

"No, Fuji-senpai, I don't know who you're talking about"

Fuji frowned at Ryoma, and Ryoma had to restrain himself from telling him to piss off. Ever since the end of Seigaku's first official match, Fuji had been asking who that boy was that made signs to Ryoma, and suddenly everyone - excluding Tezuka, Kaidoh and Kawamura - took an immediate interest and suddenly they were also asking who the mystery kid was.

Ryoma had been fine the first few times people had asked, brushing off the question like it was nothing, but that only stirred their curiosity even more, and suddenly Ryoma couldn't go an hour without someone asking.

"Come on Echizen-kun, I saw him make signs at you, and you smiled. You must know who he is" he said persistently.

Ryoma didn't know why he was denying that he knew the mystery kid. At first he denied it out of annoyance at being punished for winning, but now he didn't know what it was. He assumed it was the protective older brother instinct - he was technically older by a few minutes - that he didn't want his friends bothering Roko, not that they could, considering he goes to a different school. But something about the fact that people desperately wanted to know about Roko made him even more protective.

Maybe it was the fact that Roko hated attention that Ryoma was flatly denying it, but whatever it was he wasn't quite sure.

"I don't know who he is or why you care so much, but I'd like to get back to tennis practice" he said, quelling most of the anger in his voice, and strode away from Fuji without another word spoken. He had a practice match against Kikumaru anyway.

"Nya! Ochibi!" Ryoma heard, and he turned only to be tackled by the hyper active Kikumaru, nearly throwing him to the ground.

"Kikumaru-senpai!" he snapped in annoyance, but Kikumaru was unfazed by his tone.

"Nya, Ochibi, who was that guy at our first match?" he asked, still on Ryoma's back. Ryoma felt a vein in his head pop.

Don't kill him don't kill him don't kill him don't kill him don't kill him

"No one, Kikumaru-senpai" Ryoma said flatly, and shifted, so Kikumaru fell off his back but caught himself before he hit the ground. Ryoma quickly moved to the court, waiting for Kikumaru to move to the other side of the court.

"Let's make a deal" he said after a while, with a devious smile. Ryoma raised an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked curiously.

"You have to answer any question I ask you if I win" he said triumphantly, as if he had somehow won already.

"No way" Ryoma said flatly. Suddenly Inui materialized next to them, and Kikumaru jumped back in fright.

"Inui! Don't do that!" he wailed.

"Hmm" Inui began, completely ignoring Kikumaru, "an interesting deal, you should take it, Echizen". Ryoma didn't instantly refuse, because he knew what was coming next.

"Or" Inui continued, "You could test my newest vegetable juice". Ryoma sighed.

"Fine, I'll answer one question if you win, but if you lose, you get to test Inui-senpai's new juice" Kikumaru paled at that, and hesitated before nodding once.

All through the conversation, Fuji watched unnoticed, and couldn't help but smile devilishly at this new deal. Either way it will be very interesting.

Kanagawa General Hospital

Yukimura had been in hospital for one week now, and was slowly becoming accustomed to the white, sterile room that he was staying in. The doctors had still not found out what exactly it was that he had, and he was becoming very impatient.

He had heard from Sanada that they had won their first match with flying colours, with Echizen taking the game with a flawless 6-0. Yukimura honestly felt guilty about ordering Yanagi to fix their relationship, making it only worse in turn, but when he spoke to Sanada, that acidic tone when he spoke of Echizen was gone, and Yukimura knew instantly that they had made up without Yanagi's help. He had smiled widely and his mind was somewhat put to rest, at least now knowing that the two of them won't be at each other's throats.

It was honestly painful to hear Sanada talk about how much the team was improving. It made Yukimura ache at the thought that his team was going on ahead without him. But it wasn't that he didn't want his team to progress, he wanted the opposite, but it still hurt that they were out there on the tennis courts while he was trapped in a bed in a white room with false-faced nurses and cold machines.

Yukimura had decided on the first day of being admitted to the hospital that he was not going to worry about the team, and only about himself. They did not need him in order to win, Sanada would lead them well and they would take the nationals again.

Suddenly the door opened and Yukimura looked up, expecting to find one of the nurses, but instead he looked into the golden eye of Echizen. Yukimura paused momentarily, lost for words before he found his voice again.

"Ah, Echizen, it's nice to see you" he said softly, and Echizen nodded in response and moved to sit on the stool next to Yukimura's bed. Yukimura was immediately struck by the situation, since Sanada wasn't here Echizen couldn't respond to his questions, and yet he had come anyway. Why? Was he going to attempt to communicate or was he just here to assure himself that he was alright?

Actually, now that Yukimura thought about it, Echizen had never visited before.

"What brings you here?" he asked, hoping that Echizen had some method of communication. Echizen reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen and a piece of paper, and started writing on it, before holding it up to Yukimura.

'Sanada was busy today so I left practice to come see you' the paper said, and Yukimura chuckled to himself.

"Sanada will kill you for that" he stated, but Echizen just shrugged. The two shared a rather comfortable silence between them, with Echizen critically examining the room around him, and Yukimura just watching the freshman.

"You've never visited me before" Yukimura commented. Echizen nodded and scribbled more on his paper.

'I didn't see a reason to, considering you were my captain for half a day" Yukimura was surprised at how blunt and truthful his response was, even if it was downright rude. He surprised himself even more by laughing at his response. Echizen raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry" Yukimura said after a while, "it's just nice to see someone who treats me like a human being". Echizen visibly frowned, and wrote more on his paper.

'What do you mean?' Yukimura sighed loudly and began to explain.

"Everyone at school calls me the 'Child of God'" he began, and Echizen nodded, "but they don't treat me like a middle school student. They treat me like an actual child of God, practically bowing in worship when I pass, and losing all words if I stopped to help them or talk to them". Echizen narrowed his eyes, but nodded for Yukimura to continue.

"At first I thought it was a very nice gesture, they treated me like I was royalty, and I felt absorbed in it. Then after a while I found it impossible to do anything at Rikkaidai without wide eyes and people whispering 'The Child of God'" Yukimura paused. "Even my own teammates do it, but while they don't use my nickname, they look at me the same way, especially Akaya"

"I can't stand it when they do that anymore, I want to be normal, and I want to get away from all of this talk of the 'Child of God'. I'm not a child of God, I never was a child of God and I never will be. They call me it because I'm perfect in my subjects, the tennis club captain and that I look attractive, but that doesn't make me royalty, and I just can't stand it anymore!" Yukimura stopped as he realised he was shouting. Had he said too much there? Would Echizen think of him differently?

But Echizen was still sat there, unmoving, with his face in that perfect passive mask, and he wrote a sentence on his paper.

'It's the opposite for me, you're the 'Child of God', and I'm the mute boy'.

Yukimura suddenly felt so guilty his gut squirmed. That's right; he was the one that people whispered about, the one who was believed to have a disease or to be too stupid to talk. Yukimura had heard many rumours like that, and he understood what he meant by they were opposites.

"I understand perfectly" Yukimura said, even though he knew he couldn't understand. Echizen made no move to write on the paper, and instead nodded.

They shared another comfortable silence between them, and then Echizen began writing again, and Yukimura just watched his freshman prodigy with a smile.

Seigaku Tennis Courts

Ryoma seethed in anger as he watched the rest of the team deliberating on what to ask him. Kikumaru had won by the narrowest gap after it went to tie-break with a drop shot, and Ryoma was too tired to reach it in time. He had mentally scolded himself afterward, saying that he should have never taken the bet. But now it was done, so Ryoma just prayed that Kikumaru would screw up and ask a stupid question.

After a while they had finished and all turned to him, Tezuka included - why was Tezuka interested? - and Fuji took a step forward.

"Alright Echizen, I believe we've decided on the perfect question" Fuji said softly, with his sadistic smile in place. Ryoma just sighed.

"Get it over with" he said bluntly.

There was a long pause.

"Why was he with a girl?" Fuji asked sweetly, and Ryoma froze, not expecting that at all.

Wait... what?

"He was with a girl?" Ryoma repeatedly stupidly, and Fuji smile wider.

"Yes, he was"

Ryoma thought for a long time.

What? Does Roko have a girlfriend? When did he meet this girl?

"Saa" Fuji noted, "Judging by your reaction I can see you're being protective. Is he related to you?" Ryoma's eyes widened and he took a step back.

"W-what?" Ryoma spluttered, "Roko isn't-"

"Ah, so his name is Roko. You're on first-name basis with him, so he must be related to you. Is he your brother?" Fuji asked.

Ryoma could feel his mask crumbling. What was going on? How was Fuji doing this to him? He looked behind Fuji and noticed the others were looking on with amusement. That seemed to snap him out of it.

"I've already answered your question, Fuji-senpai" he said irritated, before turning to walk away.

"He must be your brother" he heard Fuji say, "he looks like you". Ryoma kept on walking like Fuji had said nothing.

"Definitely his brother" Inui said in the background.

"Hey, Echizen!" he heard Momoshiro call, "how come I've never seen your brother?"

Keep walking, Ryoma told himself. He'd already given too much away, and wasn't in any mood to make it worse.

Meanwhile Fuji shared an evil grin with Inui, who had finished scribbling in his data book.

"We must meet this Echizen Roko, don't you agree?" he asked, and Inui smiled widely.