The Kunoichi of Tennis (by DaPsionicFox)

Chapter 16- Back to America

Chapter 16: Back to America

Karupin lifted his head up as his ears picked up a distinct sound. He recognized it as his master's ringtone for an incoming call on his cell phone. He looked up at the nightstand and saw that the cell phone was indeed ringing. Karupin walked over to his sleeping master's head and started meowing. Ryoma slowly opened his eyes and his mind slowly registered Karupin in front of him.

"What's up, Karupin?" Ryoma mumbled drowsily. "It's not morning yet..."

Karupin climbed onto the nightstand and signaled Ryoma to the phone. Ryoma forced himself up as he answered the call.

"Hello?" he yawned.

"What are you doing?!" a girl's voice boomed on the other end, startling Ryoma and knocking him wide awake.

"Ayame, do you know what time it is?!" Ryoma said grumpily as he recognized her voice.

"Yeah, it's five in the morning! I texted you last night and asked to play a match with you at five today! And you said it was okay!"

Ryoma hesitated. "I thought you meant five in the afternoon..."

"I meant in the morning!"

"You could've been specific!"

"Well? You gonna come down?"

"Can we talk about this another time?! I'm sleepy."

"Fine!"

Ryoma crankily hung up. He was very irritated at Ayame for not being specific about when to play the match and that she called him this early in the morning, despite the fact that she knew perfectly well that he was not good at getting up. He decided to go back to bed and didn't want to think about anything else.

Ayame hung up while having a satisfied look.

So this is how he responds when he's called very early in the morning... she thought.

The text she sent last night was part of her plan. She knows Ryoma very well, but she wanted to know one more thing about him that she doesn't know – how he responds on a non-school day very early in the morning.

The annoyed part was expected, but the anger was not, she thought.

When it was close to noon, Ryoma got out of bed, still pretty angry at Ayame for calling him at five in the morning. He was going to go to her to give her a piece of his mind, so he got dressed. As went downstairs, Rinko was on the telephone, and she seemed genuinely concerned about something. She hung up, and she saw Ryoma behind her.

"That was Takeda-san," she said. "He said that Ayame-chan had fallen out of a tree and broke her arm. She's at the hospital right now, but she seems to be doing okay."

Ryoma became shocked. The anger he had at Ayame eviscerated, and he ran to the hospital. He went to Ayame's room.

"Yo," Ayame greeted as soon as she saw him.

"Are you okay?" Ryoma asked. "I heard that you broke your arm."

"I did," Ayame stared down at the cast wrapped around her left arm. "Good thing it was my weaker arm so I can still hit a few light rallies... as long as I stick to forehands."

"How did you break it?" Ryoma asked.

"Well, earlier this morning I was passing by and this little boy's dog was stuck up in a tree. That's right, I said dog, not cat. Don't even ask me how it got up there, but it just did. So I climbed the tree to try to get the dog. However, when I grabbed the puppy, the branch I was standing on snapped, and I fell and landed on my left arm. I was rushed to the hospital after that."