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

CHAPTER 40: Ryouko and the Monkey King

"Finally, it's the big day." Katou Kachirou said before breathing in a hefty amount of air. He held his chest and exhaled.

"What are we going to do if we fail?" Katsuo Mizuno randomly said, anxiety in his eyes and voice evident.

"We can't possibly fail. Stop jinxing us." Horio Satoshi told him, annoyed. But deep inside, he was also feeling anxious. The pit of his stomach was heavy with nervousness.

"That's right. After all everyone did for us, we can't afford to fail that easily." Shimada Ritsu replied, fixing his resolve harder.

The assessment examinations of the freshmen was underway and Class 1-A was patiently waiting for their teacher to arrive.

"It's a real pity that Ryouko-san won't be here to cheer for us..." Mizuno mused.

"It can't be helped. She got a message from her Grandfather asking her to take care of an important matter. We can't keep her from that." Kachirou answered.

They remembered Ryouko sending them off early that morning.

"I can't come to school today because my Grandfather asked me to take care of some company matters. I am excused from the assessment exams anyway. I would like to go to class just to see how you'll do but Grandpa said that the client insisted on my presence to oversee the contract signing." She explained to them.

The three sighed in resignation.

"It's alright... We still have Echizen-kun to rely on." Ritsu told them encouragingly.

"Well, that Echizen is nowhere in sight though." Horio commented as he looked at Ryoma's empty seat.

"He was just here a moment ago... Where is he?" Ritsu asked.

"Oh. The teacher called him for something. I'm not sure what it is. He'll be back..." Mizuno told them.

Several seconds later, the teacher arrived. Ryoma followed in, carrying a stack of papers that was no doubt their assessment examinations.

The class greeted their teacher before the murmurings about the exam started. Their professor tapped the desk for attention.

"Quiet down now..." He called. Then he took a chalk and started to write the subjects of the exams and the allotted time for each. "I expect that every one of you studied well and hard for today's exams." He continued as he wrote.

Everyone looked alive and serious. The silence was tense and heavy. The students definitely took the matter very seriously as it will determine whether they will take supplementary lessons after class and forcibly leave their beloved clubs and extra-curricular activities. That will take all the fun out of their lives.

"Echizen-kun kindly agreed to assist me in giving you the exams. Fujioka-kun was supposed to come and assist but she had urgent matters to attend to. She won't be coming to school today." Their teacher announced. "I already said it last time and I'll say it again just to remind you. Both the top-scorers of the whole freshmen batch came from this section so the faculty will be having high expectations from the whole class." He added.

This was again greeted by a chorus of moans and groans from the class. Ryoma smirked.

"We'll start with Japanese, shall we?" The teacher said. He nodded at Ryoma, signaling him to give out the papers.

Ryoma nodded back and started on his task. After finishing, he sat down on a chair near the door.

He let his mind wander, stopping at intervals to check the time. He looked at the sky visible from the window and wondered what Ryouko could be doing at that moment.