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

Part 7

"This skirt...." Ryumi hisses in disdain as she looks at herself in the mirror, turning this way and that. She has her hair braided in a fishtail, courtesy of her cousin. The dark green tinted hair sets off the bright colored uniform in a sharp contrast.

With a sigh, she makes her way downstairs for breakfast, after making sure to drag her little brother out of bed of course. After that, they make for school together, Ryoma carrying her bag for her even though she insisted she could handle it.

A bell ringing catches their attention and they look to see Momoshiro riding up to them by bike. "Morning~!" he calls cheerfully.

"Ah, Momo-senpai." Ryoma and Ryumi greet dully in unison, making him sweat drop.

Ryoma elbows his sister in the side playfully, making her snicker. "You're predictable, chibisuke."

Despite his sister pestering him, Ryoma can't help but smile. Ryumi has become a little more cheerful these past days. It seems she has taken her mind of her predicament for now and the sullen looks and random bursts of anger are growing sparser. There are still times though...

Momoshiro grins at seeing Ryumi dressed in a familiar uniform. "Look here! First day of school, isn't it Ryumi-senpai?"

She nods in reply. "Yeah. I've prepared myself, so I shouldn't fall behind despite the late start." she tells him with a firm nod.

"Alright! Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go!" Momo cheers before quickly paddling away, ignoring Ryoma's calls to slow down.

.........

Once they reach school, Ryoma takes her to the office to get her schedule before quickly running off before he's late for practice.

Swinging her bag over her left shoulder, she eyes the piece of paper she received as she steps out of the school office five minutes later.

"3-6..." she muses, before looking around. "Where is it?" She starts looking all over, but...

"Nee-san? Did you get lost again?" Ryoma asks, looking up at her, making her blink in surprise as she lowers her schedule to find herself outside at the courts.

"No?" she says, unconvincingly, making him sigh. Her sense of direction is pretty notorious among her family.

"Eh? Did you lose your way Ryumi-chan?" Kawamura wonders as he also stands outside the courts, waiting for his turn to practice.

"She always does." Ryoma mutters, making her glower at him. "But she always ends up at a tennis court. It's like magnetism." he explains, making the tall boy look on in wonder.

"Really?" he mutters.

Ryumi glares at the boy that is nearly half a head shorter than her. "Oi. Don't make fun of me." she complains, snatching his racket from his hands and softly hitting him over the head with it. "Now don't you have to practice or something?" she asks while starting to poke him over to the courts with his racket while he tries to snatch it away.

"Incoming!" a freshman calls, making them look up to see a tennis ball coming their way as it flies high over the chain-link fence.

Ryoma's eyes widen while Ryumi's narrow and zero in on the ball. "No!" Ryoma calls as he watches her react as if on instinct, swinging the racket high before giving the ball the proper spin for a return.

"Wha-!" Kaidoh startles as the ball flies past him as he opens the gate to the courts, watching it hurtle onto the court with speed and accurately land in a basket sitting on the opposite corner of the court.

Everyone is silent for a moment as they look at her in surprise. Ryumi seems to snap out of whatever trance overcame then and quickly hands Ryoma back his racket.

Ryoma gazes at her carefully before she shoots him a look, telling him not to fuss. "I should find my class." she states hurriedly, before marching back inside as quickly as she can, biting down the sting in her knee as it protests at the slight skip she made while hitting the ball.

"You Echizen's always have to make a flashy entry huh?" a voice muses, making Ryumi look to see a middle-aged lady in a track suit come down from the upper floor.

"Ryuzaki-sensei, isn't it?" Ryumi wonder. The woman nods in confirmation. "It was just a stroke of luck."

Sensei chuckles at that. "Who are you expecting to believe that? With a racket in your hand, you just can't help yourself. Just like your old man." she smiles for a moment before it drops. "But there lies the danger, doesn't it? If you take too much risk, you're going to ruin your knee right?"

Ryumi stares at her for a moment before speaking up, "Broken bones are nothing. Not compared to the snapped strings of your body."

Ryuzaki nods in agreement. "That's right. But, since you can't seem to get away from the courts, why not do something else? Help train these kids, or something of the like. You have other skills beside just playing ten-..."

"I'll pass." Ryumi interrupts, surprising the woman a little. "I'm not stepping a foot inside a court, unless it's to play."

Finally Ryuzaki-sensei smiles again. "I should have guessed." she muses before checking her watch. "Class starts in ten. You'd better get going. Upstairs, to the left." she motions; watching Ryumi glare at the stairs for a moment before stepping passed her to conquer them.

Ryuzaki-sensei sighs to herself. "You Echizens are all the same. Stubborn mules." she mutters.