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

Part 6

Ryumi stares around the school grounds, wondering where the tennis courts would be, because she's sure she can find Ryoma there. She suddenly spots two girls coming around the back of the school, the one with two braids carrying a tennis bag.

"Excuse me!" she calls, startling the braided girl, while the other looks up at her curiously.

"Y-yes?" she braided girl asks timidly.

"I was just wondering if the tennis courts were around the back." she tells them, noticing the other girl's skeptic look. "I'm looking for Ryoma." she adds, but that only seemed to make a dam burst.

"What do you want with Ryoma-sama?! As official leader of Ryoma-sama's fan club, I demand to know your business with him!" the girl with pigtails shouts rudely.

Ryumi doesn't know whether to laugh or be shocked by her attitude. "Chibisuke has a fan club? No way!" she exclaims in disbelief. "Wait till dad hears this..." she mutters under her breath.

The girl with pigtails is about to open her mouth again, but the girl with pigtails holds her back. "A-ano... Are you Ryoma-kun's sister?" she asks shyly.

Ryumi nods her head at the girl making the other one look horrified, clamping a hand over her mouth. "Ryumi, yeah. How did you know?" she wonders.

The girl smiles gently. "Well, I sometimes hear Eiji-senpai or Momo-senpai mention you." she admits while staring at the ground.

"Really?" Ryumi hums.

The girl nods in confirmation before pointing in the direction they came from. "The tennis courts are that way. You can find Ryoma-kun there." she tells Ryumi, who nods in thanks, a small smile on her face.

"Thanks a lot..."

"Ryuzaki Sakuno." the girl fills in. "And this is Osakada Tomoka." she introduces the other girl, who still looks a bit freaked out.

Ryumi nods in thanks once again. "See you, Sakuno-chan, Tomoka-chan." she greets before making her way around the school.

.........

Ryumi finally finds the courts and sees some boys still training hard, some of them being regulars. It seems the girl's tennis club has already packed up and left.

She spots Ryoma still on the court so she decides to wait for him by the benches. She sits down next to a bespectacled dark haired boy, who's scribbling in a notebook like a mad man.

He looks up with a brow raised in curiosity as she sits down. "You don't mind right?" she asks the boy.

"No. Who-?" he starts to ask, only to startle when a voice calls loudly from across the courts, "Ryumi-chan! Over here! Hoi hoi!" Eiji calls excitedly as he jumps up and down, making her look over, while several eyes turn to her.

Ryumi waves back awkwardly, once again a little taken aback by the redhead's cheerfulness.

"Eiji! Keep your guard up!" a stern-faced boy with spectacles calls from the sidelines near Ryumi, making Eiji cringe.

"G-gomen, gomen, Tezuka-buchou!" he calls back before turning back to his practices.

"Mada mada dane." she hears her little brother mumble before he too quickly goes back to what he was doing, though rounding it up in a hurry.

"Echizen Ryumi huh?" the boy next to her questions, although seemingly rhetorical. "Second place in last years girl's US junior division, this years favorite for the cup, until-..." he halts suddenly, seeing her glare trained on him. She doesn't miss the glance of the captain in their direction.

"Sadaharu Inui I presume?" she questions. "Ryoma warned me about you."

"Oh?" he wonders, taken aback.

"Inui-Senpai. Don't bother my sister." Ryoma cuts in, having stepped out of the court before turning to her. "Onee-san. What are you doing here?" he wonders.

"I wanted to see the place and get some ice cream with you." she admits with a shrug.

"We just had ice cream yesterday." he complains in return.

"Saa, I could go for some ice cream if you'd like Ryumi-chan." Fuji says as he suddenly sits down on the bench as well, nearly squishing her between himself and Inui. It seems he picked up on Eiji's way of addressing her. "It's rather hot today." he sighs, though not breaking a sweat.

Ryoma glares at him in reaction. "Fuji-senpai..." he mutters darkly.

"Uwaa~. Ice cream!" Eiji cheers, dashing out of the courts, making Oishi call after him before shaking his head and giving up.

Ryumi feels uncomfortable enough in her position, but when the captain's stern eyes turn to her, she starts to wiggle in her seat a little. "I'm sorry about this." she mutters just loud enough for him to hear, realizing she is disrupting training.

"We are finished." he states after a second before turning away. Ryumi breathes a sigh in relief.

"You guys are going to get me in trouble before I even start school." she groans.

"Hold on nee-san." Ryoma tells her before quickly going to freshen up.

"It's not like I'm going anywhere." she mutters in reply, feeling Fuji put his arm around the back of the bench in preparation for Ryoma's return. "Why do you pester him like that?" she asks, turning to him.

He shrugs in reply. "It's funny."

After Ryoma returned, he glowered at Fuji some more for his forwardness with his sister. And after meeting the remaining members of the team, that also being Tezuka officially, they took off for the ice cream parlor with nearly the whole team in tow.

It seems that no matter what, these guys can't be shaken off. That will prove something for the future...