Deafening Silence ( prince of tennis) (#wattys2016)

61

Filler + important plot points. Enjoy.

Echizen Household

RING ~ RING ~ RING

Roko's eye snapped open, immediately writhing in pain as the sound of the alarm clock hit him. He had a huge headache all of a sudden, and it felt like his brain cells were being mass-murdered under the piercing sound of the clock and so he gnashed his teeth and grabbed his pillow, burying his head in it to block out the sound.

Ugh, he felt awful. It felt like he had just woken up after he'd knocked his head off a brick wall repeatedly, and the wailing alarm clock was only amplifying the headache.

"Roko..." he heard Ryoma mumble, and Roko knew that was Ryoma telling him to turn off the alarm clock. Roko always turned the alarm clock off, and then dragged Ryoma out of bed. It was one of the many traditions in the Echizen family, but today Roko couldn't care less about the damn tradition. All he wanted was for the infernal alarm clock to shut up.

"Roko..." Ryoma mumbled louder, and Roko responded by burying the pillow deeper into his face. It felt like his head would explode.

Turn the alarm clock off, his consciousness ordered, but Roko was having too much of a headache to listen, burying the pillow into his face in the hopes he would fuse with it and never hear the shrill whine of the infernal alarm clock.

After what felt like an eternity of his head practically screaming in pain, the clock finally stopped, and Roko stopped and thanked every god he knew, turning his body to face Ryoma, who was sat on the edge of his bed looking very irritated. That irritated expression immediately disappeared, replaced with a brief flicker of concern, and then his trademark cocky grin.

"You look awful" he stated amusedly.

I feel awful, Roko mentally replied, and Ryoma caught the message and smirked.

"Dad said you were staying off school today, so have fun" he said amusedly, standing up and leaving their room quickly, and Roko blinked. Did Ryoma just get up by himself?

Suddenly it felt like his head was stabbed by a spike, and Roko shut his eye tightly and rolled around, pressing his face into the pillow again.

Good morning, his consciousness greeted sarcastically.

I am in no mood for you, Roko replied curtly.

I can see that, his consciousness replied.

Go away

Fine, his consciousness relented.

Roko groaned ever so slightly, barely causing a sound but still audible, hoping that his life would just end. His head felt so heavy, and the fact he'd woken up to the shrill alarm clock didn't help at all. Roko closed his eye, hoping to block out the headache and fall asleep again, but it just seemed impossible and he frowned in annoyance, sitting up in bed and glancing around the room. Ryoma didn't bother opening the curtains, and after a while Roko decided he couldn't be bothered to open them either, Blue-chan could last a few hours without decent light.

Roko's eye snapped open at the suggestion, suddenly realising the consequences. If Blue-chan didn't have proper light, it might become stunted and not grow. What would happen? What would he say to Yukimura?

Roko pulled himself out of bed, opening the curtains to allow light in and almost hissing at how much the light stung his eyes, throwing himself back into bed immediately.

It then occurred to him he had just done that for Yukimura's sake rather than his own, and he frowned. Did he have that much respect for Yukimura? Did he really just do that with only letting down his captain - or he used to be - as motivation?