Broken Strings (Prince of Tennis/ slow burn love story)

Part 3

Ryumi looks up when she hears footsteps approaching, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looks over to see a boy approaching and the first thing she notices is that he wears the same jersey her little brother has lying around in his room.

"May I join you?" he asks kindly with a closed eyed smile. His light brown hair sways slightly in the breeze that carries through the area.

She shrugs indifferently in response. "I don't mind."

"Thank you." he nods, sitting down and leaning back on his hands. Fuji glances innocently at the tennis bag left with her, her right foot resting on it to keep it raised for a moment of respite. "Saa. It that yours?" he questions.

Ryumi rolls her eyes up to look at him, boring into him with her sharp eyes. "You're joking right?" she asks with a hint of disbelief. Is the guy blind? He does see she has a broken arm right? Or he doesn't.... He does seem to keep his eyes closed the entire time.

"Sorry, silly question. You're with someone then?" He questions right after apologizing. She raises a brow in response, wondering why this stranger is asking her all these random questions.

She blinks up at him for a moment, making him tilt his head in curiosity. "Mmh?"

"Ano... Is this common practice? To ask questions you know the answer to I mean? You guys have been following after us for the thirty minutes or so..." she drawls, flooring him for a moment. She doesn't look creeped out, but guarded.

Suddenly he begins to chuckle and rubs his neck in apparent discomfort, though it all appears false. "Looks like we've been found out. You're rather sharp huh?"

Ryumi looks at him unimpressed before a surprised voice sounds to her right, "Fuji-senpai? What are you doing here?" Ryoma wonders, holding two ponta's in his hands.

"Ne, your peers are stalkers Ryoma." Ryumi muses bluntly, making him blink.

"Peers?" he wonders before looking over when three of his teammates come stumbling out of the brush, falling over each other.

"Itai! Watch it Kikumaru-senpai!" Momoshiro groans, pushing the upperclassman off of him.

"You guys..." Ryoma sighs with a deadpanned look.

Fuji chuckles again. "Saa, Echizen-kun, care to introduce us?" he asks, seeing it fit to get to the point.

Ryoma stares at him for a moment with a bored look that borders on annoyance. "Why are you sitting so close?" he suddenly asks, making Fuji's smile widen as the sadistic side of him crawls to the surface. He does enjoy pestering the boy more than he would care to admit. Him being overprotective of this girl is just another way for him to do just that.

Ryoma finally sighs before turning to his sister. "Let's go." he states dryly, opposed to dealing with them and their blatant curiosity.

Ryumi's lips twitch in amusement. "Are you always this rude chibisuke?" she asks, making Ryoma nearly pout as he takes her outstretched hand to help her up.

"Eh? Chibisuke?" Eiji questions at hearing the nickname.

"Nee-san... Stop calling me that." Ryoma groans, embarrassed as he pulls his cap down further to hide his eyes.

His friends stare in shock, all but Fuji, who looks accomplished. "Well then, I thought that was the case." he hums.

"Now that you mention it..." Oishi breathes, seeing the similarities between the two, from their hair color, their eyes to their overall facial features.

"Waaa~. You never told us you had a sister o-chibi! How could you~?" Eiji complains before darting forward happily to greet the girl. "Nice to meet you! I'm Kikumaru Eiji, your little brother's teammate and friend!" he introduces excitedly, making Ryoma mutter something under his breath about being called 'little'.

"Echizen Ryumi." she introduces after recovering from utter cheerfulness wafting from the redhead.

A guy with very short black hair steps up beside him. "Oishi Shuichiro. Sorry about following you around. We don't mean to be rude." he apologizes, making Ryumi nod in appreciation at the polite gesture.

"You've met Fuji already." he gestures towards the boy who sat next to her as he raises his hand in greeting.

"Fuji Syusuke." he introduces, still with that smile on his face. Ryumi simply nods before turning to the last guy who also has short black hair, but not as much as Oishi.

"Momoshiro Takeshi, but just call me Momo. Nice to meet ya." he grins. "I'm glad to know that the brat has a good reason for standing me up everyday." he states, pulling Ryoma close to give him a noogie.

"Cut it out senpai!" he complains, trying to pull free but failing miserable. He is only released when Momoshiro lets him. He laughs loudly at the younger boy's expense.

"Ne, I'm curious... How come we've never met you before?" Eiji asks Ryumi, a finger to his chin as he looks down at her slightly shorter form with his large blue eyes.

"Eiji! Don't be rude!" Oishi scolds, making his friend stagger.

"S-sorry. I don't mean to be rude nya." he quickly apologizes, waving his arms about.

"It's fine." Ryumi tells him, not bothered. "I just moved here from the States."

He blinks curiously, like he wants to ask more, but refrains from doing so for now.

"Can we go now?" Ryoma asks impatiently, making Momoshiro bristle.

"Why are you so eager to get away from us? At least play a game with me now that we're here." he urges.

Ryumi can see her little brother waver. She knows he's always in for a match and she doesn't want her ruin his fun on her behalf, just because she sore about... Hmph. Forget it. Besides... "Ryoma... I haven't seen you play yet since you came here. Why don't you show me what you can do?"

He blinks up at her in surprise. "Are you sure?"

She nods in reply, not letting anything show onher face but a hint of encouragement. "Go for it."