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

CHAPTER 121: Bizarre Waltz

While manning the front counter of their café, Mami is still thinking of what happened yesterday afternoon and whether Ryoma and Ryouko are in good terms or not. They had too little interaction that day because of Hotaru-kun's presence and Mami could not detect a single hint.

For starters, she felt quite relieved that neither Ryoma nor Ryouko questioned her about the warehouse incident nor did the two of them seem to be at total war with each other. She's betting a lot on Mr. and Ms. Seishun pageant. Mami wished that it would play a part for them to make up with each other.

Meanwhile, the members of Class 1-2 talked about the arrival of Fujioka Hotaru while he and Ryouko were gone for lunch. They exchanged occasional gossips in between serving customers and resting in the storage or changing areas. May it be him or Ryouko, how can the Fujiokas be so beautiful? Most of them have seen Ichidou once or twice, and some had gotten a glimpse of Natsu, Ren, Gaito and Setsuna when they visited the Seigaku tennis courts from a while back.

All of them had such great looks and fresh personalities, and for such rich kids, none of them are snobbish. They always thought that most rich kids would act high and mighty. But Hotaru-kun is so sweet and so shy. He's like a delicate prince, perhaps a male counterpart of Snow White herself. They liked his vibe a lot.

That is... up until Ryouko and Ryoma had left to prepare for the third round of the pageant.

Hotaru forced himself to behave an hour before they had gone but a few minutes later, he reached his limit. Acting like a good boy is such a pain in the butt. "Well... Ryouko's not here anyway... I guess I can drop my guard now..." he told himself.

"Atsui... (So hot...)" Fujioka Hotaru said with a different tone of voice from what they have heard earlier. Slowly, his proper and timid posture changed and his demeanor became a lot heavier and somewhat domineering. His shoulders slouched and his back relaxed as he placed his right leg over the other and cross his arms over his chest.

With a sharp gleam in his eyes, he turned to nearest person waiting tables. "Is there something wrong with your air-conditioning system? I understand that this isn't a posh school but can't the owner at least do something about the temperature of this place? I'm getting roasted here," he snapped, his tone full of complaints.

"Eh?" Jun said dumbly. He was the unfortunate person that Hotaru had randomly picked. Other members of the class turned to their direction as they overheard the change in Hotaru's voice.

"Umm, Hotaru-kun... Is the temperature too uncomfortable for you? We can't really turn the air-con on without permission. Shall we open the windows?" Kurumi said. After all, Ryouko had left him in her care.

With an annoyed glint surfacing on his gray eyes, Hotaru looked at Kurumi. "Ehhh? Maji de? (Seriously?)" he droned, his tone half-bored and half-annoyed.

He uncrossed his legs and arms and began to stand up. Putting his hands inside his pockets, he looked around the room skeptically. "The ventilation system sucks, the building itself is mediocre, the rooms are suffocatingly small and the facilities are nothing to look at... Yare, yare... (My, my...) Why is our Ryouko forcing herself to attend this second-rate school? She could've gone to a better one," he said.

The class members looked at each other in confusion. Are they hearing Hotaru's words right? Is this really the boy that Ryouko had brought with her that morning? All of a sudden, he felt like a totally different person.

"Hotaru-kun..." Miyako said, approaching him. She was about to ask him if there's something wrong when he suddenly cut her off before she could say anything.

"Would you stop calling me so casually? Mukatsuku... (Pissing me off...)" he snapped, giving her a particularly icy scowl. Miyako became tongue-tied at the shock and watched Hotaru walk towards the counter.