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

CHAPTER 130: Will you marry me?

Ryoma bit the inside of his cheek as he thought of the best course of action. After seeing the unclouded look in Ichidou's emerald eyes, he thought that it would be worse to drag the lie. Ichidou obviously knows the truth. "It's far more important for me to ask how he was able to know..." he told himself.

He breathed in the cold winter night's air and let out a gentle exhale. "Look, Ichidou... Neither Ryouko nor I doesn't really want to deceive everyone like this... It's just-"

Ryoma cut his own words short upon seeing Ichidou slump as if his legs just gave away. The redheaded youth took hold of the fence to steady himself.

"Oi, are you alright?" Ryoma asked with a concerned tone and approached Ichidou to help him up. He stopped in midstep when Ichidou suddenly said, "Yokatta... (What a relief...)"

Ryoma blinked, taken aback at Ichidou's reaction. He was half sure that Ichidou would lash out at him for helping Ryouko hide and getting everyone worried and worked up. But instead, Ichidou looked as if a huge burden had been taken off his chest. He heaved several long sighs, his breath swirling into mists.

Ichidou found the strength in his legs and he picked himself up. "Really... The two of you are..." he said, unable to find the words to finish his sentence.

"I'm sorry..." Ryoma said, his tone genuine and sincere.

"Don't be..." Ichidou said as he looked up at Ryoma's face and to the latter's surprise, smiled gently. "I'm only glad that she's safe with a warm place to stay..."

"You're not mad that I lied? You even asked for me to contact you if she comes here, but I didn't..." Ryoma said, still feeling apologetic.

"I'm a bit angry, yes, but it's nothing compared to the relief I feel. If something bad hapened to Ryouko, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. I'm half to blame why she ran away. It's my fault for hiding important things from her. I should have told her, then we should've thought about what to do together..." His eyebrows knitted together and Ryoma stood silent, just patiently listening. He knows that Ichidou is not done talking yet.

"You know... The reason why I didn't tell her, is because I thought it wouldn't be bad for her to really get engaged to someone from us cousins. She's been drifting farther away from us these days... I thought that this is the only way for us to not lose her. Because no matter how much she rebelled, at the end, she compromises and does what she's told. Ryouko prioritizes the family when she definitely knows she has to. This makes me no different from the clan elders. Everyone is not really saying anything but I know that deep inside, they're blaming me for being unable to stop Ryouko from running away. I was the one close enough to do something but I was unable to do anything..." Ichidou said, putting his back against the fence.

"Ryouko's actions are her own. Even if you stop her, she would do what she wants, and she has the right to do so because she has a will of her own. There's no need to blame yourself, and the others also have no right to blame you. If Ryouko can hear your words right now, I'm sure she'll say the same..." Ryoma replied.

Ichidou couldn't help but smile. "I guess this is the difference between us... It's my complete loss, Echizen Ryoma..." he said with asideways glance.

Ryoma tightened the coat around his shoulders. "What do you mean?"

"I now understand why Ryouko relies on you the most... It's because you're not bound by anything and you understand her best. Even though I say that Ryouko-chan is my top priority, those may just be empty words. I care about what the clan elders and the family think of me. I'm afraid of getting disowned. People might think that me and my cousins are living the way we want to but that's not true. We just compromise to the situation. We do things in a way that both the family and ourselves would be satisfied. That way, we can avoid trouble," Ichidou paused and looked at Ryoma with a serious glint in his eyes. "On the contrary, you don't have to worry about pleasing anyone. You are more capable of giving Ryouko what she wants. I wouldn't have been able to hide her from everyone. You're the only one with enough conviction, and care towards Ryouko, to have done such a feat. And I want you to continue hiding her, until she herself says she wants to come out..."