Rikkaidai's Newest Regular | A Prince of Tennis Fanfiction

The Spectrum of Discovery [Mini Arc-Part 1]

3 minutes ago...

Ryoma's POV:

My heart rate sped up until my heart beat was drumming against my ears. Akaya's question brought the undistracted attention of all the tennis members, but I couldn't answer. Of course I couldn't. How could I explain to them that I'm THE Ryoma Echizen, the "missing Rookie Prodigy" that dominated the Toyoko region? 

Yukimura, I thought, I knew he'll find out. He isn't the no. 1 high schooler in tennis in Japan for nothing. And he's the buchou of the no. 1  tennis high school. Yukimura would have access to every single tennis rumour and almost every single tennis information.  

"Echizen!" Sanada growled, "What is it?"

"I...I have to go!" I said, eyes darting to see an escape hole of some sort in the cluster of Regulars. 

As I scrambled and pushed, I felt Sanada's hands clutch my arm.

"Echizen, Yukimura told you to stay put!" Sanada said lightly, slowly pulling me back, which strangely looks like a hug. 

I tried to tug free, to no avail. My breathing became short and rapid. If I keep this up, my emotional state would be severely tipped.....I thought in frustration. And I'll probably suffer relapse!

"Fukubuchou, please!" I pleaded. "I have to explain all this to Yukimura-buchou!"

Sanada's eyes briefly shown with slight guilt, though he quickly hid it away. 

"Fukubuchou," a soft voice said behind me, "let him go."

Sanada whipped his head around, staring directly into Amori's eyes. Familiarity dawned on him, and Sanada's eyes widened a fraction.

"F-Fuji?" Sanada whispered.

Yanagi gave Amori a once-over and barely stifled a gasp. 

"Genichiro, let Echizen go," he said. "I believe Seiichi will understand."

Sanada's grip loosened, and I bolted, the words "thank you" dying on my lips as I concentrated on running. I quickly replayed where Yukimura went in my mind and soon found the dormitories. 

"Where's Yukimura-buchou?" I asked a random student. 

"You must be new. It's on your right, named 'A-9'," the boy said with a small smile. 

I only gave a nod of thanks in my haste. I ran through the A-1s and A-2s until I reached A-9, which was surprisingly a large separate building, larger than almost all of the other dorms and was made up of a lot of glass. Sprinting up to the only opened door room, my heart dropped at the sight of Yukimura holding a photo album, conveniently flipped to the Kanto Reginal Tournament Teams section, with the word 'Seigaku' on the bottom. 

"Yukimura-buchou," I said, as Yukimura's beautiful violet eyes met mine, "I'm so sorry."

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Seiichi's POV: 

I didn't know what to think. Seeing the uncertainty and fear and shock in those cat-like golden eyes made me want to hug him. 

"Ech-Ryoma-kun, sit," I said, surprised at my soothing voice. 

Ryoma sat obediently and waited for my next sentence.

"What happened?" I blurted. "Where were you?"

Ryoma looked surprised at my questions, as I'm sure he suspected that the first thing I'll do is shout at him. His eyes were downcasted, and his grip on the fabrics of his pants tightened until his knuckles were white. I leant slightly forward and saw that his eyelashes were wet. 

"Ryoma," I said softly, "It's okay. I wouldn't kick you off the team. And I won't be angry."

Ryoma looked up hopefully.

"Thank you, Yukimura-buchou," Ryoma said finally. "I-I....Well, the reason I left Japan, was...was because....."

"Yes?" I probed encouragingly.

"BecauseIsufferedfromarelapsefromachildhooddiseasethatmademetemporarilymuteandparalysedandmytreatmentwastransferedtotheUS," Ryoma gasped out in a hurry that no average human could understand. But who said I was average? 

My eyes widened. 

"T-Temporarily mute and paralysed?" I stuttered, a very rare occurrence for me. 

"I underwent surgery in the US, one with a 30% success rate. It went partly successful. I was cured of my "muteness" and "paralysis" at the start of grade 8 back in the US, but I have to keep from going too extreme and I have to keep my moods in check," Ryoma said bitterly. "And so far, my limit is 100 laps around the court. Which means my matches have to be within 2 hours, if I have to stretch my limits to the thinnest, or else. And I'm usually really tired after a match against a "national-level" player, like fukubuchou, so I usually fall asleep right after. I usually don't have to take any medicines or need any more medical treatment, but if my emotional state is too, well, emotional, and if my physical state takes too much of a toll, then at best, I'll faint, and at worst, I'll go into a relapse again."

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Ryoma's POV:

My eyes were clouded with resentment, but as I met Yukimura's, what I expected of pity was instead understanding.