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

CHAPTER 48: The Tale of the Spare Tire

"Easy on the duffel!" Oishi reminded in alarm. There was chaos in the loading of both luggage and people on the blue bus, and there were considerable shouting and pulling and heaving and bickering going around. Ryouko couldn't help but sigh as she looked down at them from the window seat of the first row of the vehicle, escaping from the noise by plugging on a set of white headphones in her phone and securing it over her ears. Some of the Seigaku members took this little camp a bit too seriously. You couldn't tell if they were really going to a three-day club activity or planning on staying at their destination for life. The sizes of their bags were humongous beyond belief and Ryouko's small case of a few clothes, toiletries and her personal tennis equipment seemed puny in comparison. There was no telling who the girl in the team is.

Ryoma was yawning as he half-heartedly carried luggage after luggage, passing it to the person in front of him, his eyes looking misty. Unlike the others, he did not feel very excited.

As she looked absentmindedly outside the window, music blasting from her headphones, Ryouko caught a glance at the three girls loitering near the side of the school grounds, not far from where the bus was parked.

One seemed to want to get closer to the players but hesitated. The other two pushed her encouragingly from behind. They caught the attention of one of the freshmen, Katou Kachirou and talked to him for a second. Kachirou turned around and yelled something. In a moment, Ryoma went to Kachirou, striding lazily towards them. Kachirou said something and left in a run. Ryoma was left to deal with the girls.

Intrigued, Ryouko took off her headphones. She opened the window of the bus with an effortless upward push with one hand. Ryouko strained her ears to drown out the noise of the Seigaku members and listened hard.

"Sorry to bother you, Ryoma-sama." The girl in the middle bashfully said. "I—umm, I'm a member of your fan club." Ryouko cocked her head on one side at the 'sama', automatically thinking of the twin-tailed girl with the twin-braided granddaughter of Ryuzaki-sensei who always followed Ryoma around. Her lips turned up in a smirk. She loved seeing Ryoma being bothered.

"What do you need me for?" Ryoma answered, looking bored and uninterested. The 'I'm-your-fan' revelation did nothing to soften his demeanor.

"I heard you will be away for a three-day tennis camp and I made this for you." The girl said, handing a box to him. "They're cupcakes, and maybe you can enjoy it while on the road." She added, blushing.

It was not the first time Ryouko saw girls approach Ryoma. She actually heard that his fan club was thriving. About five girls or so in their section hid a photo of him somewhere. She saw a classmate tucking a picture of him, obviously a stolen shot, under the cover of her English textbook. She wondered where it came from and made a mental note to interrogate her cousin whether he was making a business out of selling people's photos again.

"Famous little blighter." She thought, staring at Ryoma from head to foot. She couldn't understand what was so good in him.

Well, anyway, of all the times she saw girls offer him something, he always refused whatever it may be, and so her eyes widened when Ryoma extended his hand to take the box of cupcakes.

"Thanks." Ryoma told her, lifting the box a bit higher in a casual way.

Ryouko leaned out of the window, checking whether she saw it right.

Ryoma turned around and went back to the other Seigaku members, carrying the box by his side. The three girls contained their excitement until they were sure that he was out of earshot and squealed giddily. Ryouko thought it unnecessarily, because she can probably hear them a mile away.