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

CHAPTER 101: Sabotage

Summer; London, England

Ryouko stared across the table at Seijuro, prodding the lettuce on her plate tentatively. The latter is cutting bacon with a sober expression, his eyes fixed on his hands.

"Your staring is going to bore a hole through my head soon," Seijuro suddenly said.

"Huh?" Ryouko said, a bit startled.

Seijuro looked at her and smiled amusedly. "I said that you're staring at me so intently," he answered.

"Oh," she replied. She speared a sausage piece with her fork and ate it. "I didn't realize," she added as she chewed.

Seijuro merely smiled and took a portion of tomato salad. "What is your agenda for today?"

"None. I requested for a day off. You'll be leaving tomorrow night so I'll just keep you company until our lessons this afternoon," she told him.

"Oh?" Seijuro said and smirked. "You went to such lengths for me then. It's delightful," he added.

"Delightful huh?" Ryouko thought. He looked at his smiling lips and unsmiling eyes. "It sure doesn't look like it's delightful..." she added, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at her tutor. When Seijuro looked back, she averted her eyes to her plate and acted nonchalant.

It was the third summer that she spent with Seijuro and even though he only stayed for a week annually, Ryouko was pretty sure that she knew more of him than average. But since he arrived from Japan five days prior, Ryouko felt as if she was conversing with a stranger.

He did not actually behave differently from his demeanor for the past two summers. The servants have greeted him with glee and he interacted with them the same way as before. But somehow, Ryouko sensed something different.

Seijuro is indeed smiling like he used to but there was no warmth in his eyes. The glint that Ryouko used to see in them have completely disappeared, replaced by a void that she could not recognize.

"Should we go out?" Ryouko said, taking off the table napkin on her lap and folding it neatly. "The weather is nice. It's a perfect day for a walk in the park."

"Are you allowed to go out now?" Seijuro asked, raising an eyebrow. He remembered his last visit when he took Ryouko to the mall.

Ryouko shrugged. "If there's no sign of rain, I'm allowed to go anywhere I want." She pointed at the two men wearing black suits standing outside the glass doors leading to the garden. "Under surveillance, that is," she added.

"Oh," Seijuro said, nodding solemnly. "Well, at least you've been granted more freedom," he commented.

"Freedom ei?" Ryouko said with a slight smile. "That's a nice word." She got off the chair.

Seijuro stood up. "I'll go and change my clothes. Wait for me in the hall," he told her.

Ryouko nodded. She stared at Seijuro's back as he left, wondering what could have possibly changed him. "It couldn't have been basketball, right?" she wondered. Usually, whenever she asked him about how his team is doing, he would reply good-naturedly with a nice and long paragraph. She remembered bringing up the topic two days ago and all he said was, "Everything's fine. We're aiming for our third win this year and I'm confident that we'll get the championship. As long as everyone does what I say, everything will fall in place perfectly."

Ryouko thought it an odd answer. She went to her room to change and immediately proceeded to the hall to wait for Seijuro. He arrived a minute later and they were escorted by the two bodyguards to the driveway where a car awaited them.