Watashi No Ai (My Love) (RyogaXReader)

Chapter 3

School at Seigaku continued as usual, Ryoga and I bickering and growing closer as the weeks passed by.

I still didn't have a place I could play tennis at alone or whenever I wanted to. I mean, I didn't for about a month or two.

Until Ryoga gave me an offer I couldn't refuse.

"You need a place to play tennis, and I need someone to piss off my Nanjiro. We've got an area at our house you can use whenever if you promise to piss him off," Ryoga said one day, grinning mischievously at me as he leaned forward on one elbow, his breath brushing my ear as he moved closer. "What do you say, Y/n?" He whispered, a tingly feeling running down my back.

"Fine," I muttered.

"Can't hear you," Ryoga grinned.

"I said 'fine'," I scowled, smacking the top of his head lightly as he frowned at me.

"If you wait until the end of the day when Chibisuke's done with his practice, you can come home with us," Ryoga shrugged. "But you cannot fall for Nanjiro. That pervert."

"The pro that quit," I asked.

"Yeah. That's him. Echizen Nanjiro," Ryoga said.

"No wonder you're a whiz at tennis," I muse with a raised eyebrow.

"A whiz? Pretty sure that's an old school word, but I'll take all the compliments I can get, my dear," Ryoga said, right back to being a flirt and a pain.

"You're a pain," I muttered. "I'll go to your house, but only because you have a court. I refuse to romance you or your father. I. Re. Fuse."

"Jeez, Y/n, do you hate me that much?" Ryoga pouted, looking at me with his bottom lip sticking out.

"I don't hate you, but you're like a thorn in my side. Or a gnat that won't leave me alone," I scowl.

"So you're saying you kissed a gnat, is that it?" Ryoga smirked as he wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"I didn't kiss anyone!" I whine. "And I certainly won't kiss you. Not now, not ever!"

"Now, now," Ryoga tsked, wagging a finger at me as the teacher walked into the classroom. "Never say never, Y/n. Unless you're a prophet, you're not a prophet, are you?"

"No! I'm not ever going to kiss you. If I do ever kiss you by my own free will, on your lips, I swear I'll let you take me wherever you want and do activities with me for a whole day and I won't complain one single bit."

"Deal!" Ryoga grinned, sticking his hand out to me to shake. I scowl at him and reluctantly shake his hand. "Now write that all on paper so I have proof you said that when you do kiss me."

And that's how I ended up making a note to Ryoga and then giving it to him. And how he ended up trying to get me to kiss him for the rest of the day.

His nonstop flirting and pickup lines were all cheesy and annoying, and not a single one of them worked.

Well, they certainly made me think . . . But I definitely wasn't thinking of Ryoga.

Ryoga is an impressive tennis player, and a teenage one too.

But he's also a flirt and a jokester and trickster.

As much as I dislike his flirty side, his confidence is admirable with how easy and smoothly he can just use pick up lines to flirt with other people.

Confidence is a key necessity needed to play tennis and other sports. If you don't have confidence, you've basically already lost the game. You've given up before it's began.

Back at the beginning of the school year when I was just getting to know Ryoga, I've always wondered where he got all of that confidence and what made his such a good tennis player.

Looking back at it again, he's a good player because of his confidence and his dedication. I've seen him around the public courts a lot the last few weeks.

As for his confidence . . . He totally got that from Nanjiro.

I've read about Nanjiro before, and a lot of the articles say he was cocky, arrogant, and brimming with confidence in all of his matches.

Ryoga and Chibisuke might only be half brothers, but they really resemble each other in their confidence and skills. You could call them both prodigies if you wanted.

And it would be true. They're both prodigies.

"So are you thinking about me?" Ryoga teased as he leaned in front of my view and waved a hand in my face.

"Why would I be thinking about a flirt like you?" I lied, scowling as I looked up and returned to the present.

Exactly.

Why would I be thinking of someone like him?

"Are you sure? You're okay, right?" Ryoga asked, a genuinely caring expression on his face as he looked at me. "You keep blanking out on me."

"Yeah. I'm good," I nod, a small sigh slipping out of my mouth.

"Don't forget to come find me by the school courts after school's out today. I need to show you where I live so you can use our courts," Ryoga said with a half smile as he leaned back in his chair. "If you're sick or something you should tell someone before it gets worse, you know?"

"Yeah," I nod, looking up at him.

"Promise?" He asked with a smile.

I smile back and nod. "I promise."

-August 13-14-19-21-22, 2023
-Edited September 11, 2023