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

CHAPTER 86: Tea, anyone?

Senri layed down on his bed in the room he shared with Aoi. Fortunately, the latter was outside and Senri had the room to himself. He desperately needed solitude and the emptiness of the room provided him with tranquility. Only the wind whistling through the open window gave life into the space.

He was twirling something small on his right hand. He held it to the light. It was Ryouko's red hair clip.

Senri was the last one to know about the terrible thing that happened to Ryouko. He was sulking on one of the rooms inside the hall when the noises outside reached him. There was someone crying.

When he went out and went straight there, he saw that the crying voice came from Ryouko. Ryoma was carrying her and for some reason, both of them were drenched from head to foot. Tezuka-buchou was trying to pry her from Ryoma but Ryouko grabbed tight at Ryoma's neck.

"No, no, no!" Ryouko exclaimed with a weak voice, grabbing the fabric of Ryoma's shirt. Ryoma himself untangled her fingers from it. "It's okay. You'll be alright. I'll be back in just a few minutes, I promise." Ryoma told her with a comforting tone.

Still sobbing quietly, Ryouko was taken away. Tezuka carried her limp body as Ryuzaki-sensei, Hanamura-sensei and the other girls followed right behind him.

Senri couldn't believe his eyes. Was that... Ryouko? Their Ryouko? "Impossible." He thought, his mind as blank and white as a canvass. That couldn't have been her. The strong, proud and confident girl couldn't have been the weak, powerless and crying girl that their Captain carried.

He approached his fellow freshmen as if mesmerized. They noticed his arrival and made way for him to pass through. Senri stopped right at the middle of them. "What on earth happened?" He asked.

Ryoma heard him and he marched straight to where Senri is. His fellow Seigaku teammates stepped aside. Senri watched as he went nearer.

All of sudden, Ryoma lifted his right fist in the air, poised at an angle which told Senri that he's going to get punched. His eyes widened. He braced himself for the impact, clenching his teeth and closing his eyelids.

A second passed and nothing happened.

Another second passed and still, nothing happened.

Senri opened his eye a crack. Ryoma stood in front of him, his fist still in the air. He looked as if he was holding himself back and merely threw something at Senri, a small thing that he was holding in his fist. It bounced as it hit Senri's chest and cluttered noisily as it fell on the floor.

"Just look at what you did, you jerk." Ryoma said, his tone crisp with anger before turning around and leaving the hall.

Senri automatically looked down at the thing that Ryoma had thrown. It was a red hairclip... But not just any old and random one.

His eyes widened and he bent down to pick it up. Ryouko's red clip, the one he threw far into the forest. "How did this... Why..." He mumbled in confusion.

Ritsu walked towards him. "Senri." He called.

He looked up at him. Ritsu smiled slightly which Senri thought is odd. "Let's sit down and have a little chat." Ritsu told him.

Senri heard everything from Ritsu. The fact that Ryouko stayed that morning to look for the hairclip. The discovery of her deep history with Ryoma. The truth of her astrophobia and the reason why she looked so weak and helpless. Ritsu also informed him that Tezuka-buchou called a meeting for all the Seigaku members to attend. They will discuss the matter that started everything which is Ryouko's reason for training the first-years.