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

CHAPTER 61: Are you okay?

Fujioka Ryouko continued walking in a hurried pace aimlessly and stopped. "Scared the heck out of me." She said before pausing to analyze the situation. Finally, she scoffed. "I'm gonna kill whoever it is that placed that piece of ridiculous paper there. The game managers must be toying with us, seriously." She said, irritated. "Where am I anyway?" She asked herself and looked around. Shoot. She must be in the site of the Beam Balance obstacle. She looked up at the nets and the high beam obove her. "I walked this far?" She said in disbelief.

She placed a hand of her forehead. She shouldn't have escaped like that. It was stupid that she left them with an awkward air like that. She sighed. "I better go and fix it all up." She told herself.

All of a sudden, she was distracted by a gloomy feeling that sent chills down her spine. "What was that?" She asked to practically no one, looking around.

She narrowed her eyes at the corner of one pillar holding the beam in place. Someone was hunched over, hugging his knees, his red head bowed in between, muttering to himself. "We lost. It's my fault. We lost. It's my fault."

"Kintarou?" Ryouko called questioningly. He looked at her. "Ryouko." He said, blinking. He stood up and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"To hide. I'm so ashamed, I can't show my face to anyone today." He answered.

Ryouko smirked. "Are you beating yourself up because you fell when you so confidently said that your obstacle is easy?" She teased.

Kintarou's shoulders stiffened. "Oya, a sore spot. I shouldn't have done that." She told herself. "Are you blaming yourself for the loss of our team?" She asked.

Kintarou stopped and looked over her shoulder. He was wearing an expression that said 'Well, it is, ain't it?' The corners of his mouth were turned downwards.

"Seriously... That wasn't your fault. It was a team battle." She looked thoughtful for a second. "Well... It did contributed a bit to the loss but it wasn't your fault alone." She added.

"Then it's still my fault." Kintarou concluded.

"Oh my gosh, he's behaving like one of my little cousins..." She thought in exasperation. She walked towards him.

"Tooyama. Face forward." She instructed.

Her tone had such authority that Kintarou turned around and faced her. He avoided her eyes though.

Ryouko stepped forward. Kintarou closed his eyes and braced himself for the worst. She was Team 2's representative. Of course, she'll be angry at their loss. Maybe a slap, or a punch was coming his way.

Ryouko gently caressed the side of his head, flattening down the stubborn red locks. "Ooh, his hair is soft. I thought it'll be prickly." She thought. She snapped back to reality as he saw her looking questioningly at her. Back to business then... "Yosh, yosh..." She said as if pacifying a young child. "Warukunai. (You did nothing wrong.)"

"You can just try better the next time. You feel bad for underestimating the onstcale don't you? Then you just have to do better on the next event. Okay?" She told him.

"Ryouko..." He said, quite touched, relieved tears forming at the corners of his cat-like eyes.

"Hai, hai, don't cry now... Let's go back to the cabins and find the others. I was dazed on my way here but I still noticed the camp managers leading the third team to the abin where the stocks are stored." She said.

"But I don't want to go back yet. Some people might be mad at me for messing up." He said, wiping his eyes.

"No one would do that... Besides, we still reached second place." She answered.