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

CHAPTER 49: What on earth...

"Hey, move, won't you? You're hogging all the space..." Mami complained and elbowed Tomoka.

"You're the one who's taking so much space." Tomoka hissed at her.

"Clam it, you two. You've been at it for an hour already." Miyako scolded.

Miyako looked at Sakuno for assistance but the latter simply shrunk in her corner. Miyako sighed. She couldn't expect anything from Ryuzaki-san. She would have to do something on her own.

"Move it." Miyako said, pushing herself sidewards.

"What is it? Stop moving around, Miyako..." Mami asked in exasperation, Miyako's arm hitting her nose on its pointy end.

"I'd rather be positioned between you and Osakada so you won't kill each other, okay? Just bear with it until we've reached the destination." Miyako told them.

After a minute of maneuvering and adjusting, Miyako was seated between the two problematic girls.

Suddenly, they heard a loud pop. "What was that?" Sakuno said in hushed surprise.

Then the bus lurched, making them tumble all over each other and struggling to find anything they could hold onto. It was a miracle that they didn't shout their lungs out or otherwise, the people above would be extremely mystified.

The bus stopped, skidding so suddenly that they were carried by the force. It became steady again, and the engine of the bus stopped growling.

"What on earth happened?" Tomoka asked in a foreboding tone.

"I don't know..." Sakuno answered, cowering.

"But whatever it is, I don't have a good feeling about it..." Mami commented.

"Me too." Miyako said, clutching Mami's forearm.

~~~

"Okay, everybody out..." Oishi instructed.

The freshmen disembarked one by one, growling, groaning and complaining.

"Stop behaving like that... No one wished for the tire to get busted." Momoshiro told them, placing his big hands on the passing heads, bumping them encouragingly.

"Nobody panic. We'll sort this out." Tezuka told them. He turned his gaze at their 'capable' club manager. "Somehow..." He added, but he couldn't hide the doubt in his tone.

"Are you sure you can handle changing the tire?" Momoshiro asked Ryouko.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I know it looks doubtful, but trust me, senpai... Anyway, we've got no choice. You guys might as well assist." Ryouko pointed out, inspecting the lug wrench. She placed her fingers over the steel socket and ran it over until the pry bar on the other end. "Looks good." She commented.

She checked the other tools on the large toolbox. "Hmm." She said, looking at the jack they had at hand. "I've only used scissor jacks before. It'll be my first time using a bottle jack." She said, bending over and boring a hole at the piece of equipment with her stare.

"It looks like you do know what you're doing." Kaidoh told her.

Ryouko brandished the lug wrench like a baton. "I've watched Licht change the tires on cars tens of times. When we got a flat tire on the road coming home to Manchester, I volunteered to do the job. It won't hurt to know and I think it's cool." She narrated.

"I think you're cool, Ryouko-san..." Shimada Ritsu said with a mesmerized tone, looking at her with bright, admiring eyes.

Ryouko smirked. "Yeah, right... Whatever." She replied with an air of arrogance. "This is a lot, lot bigger than a car though." She placed her palm against the bus. "We'll need to use the new torcgun air tool. That's pretty exciting..." She added, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.