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

Part 8

"I'm Echizen Ryumi, relation of. I just moved here from the U.S. to join my family. Please be kind." she introduces herself, causing a buzz of voices to fill the classroom.

After officially introducing herself in class, which happens to contain Eiji and Fuji, the rumor mill started going like a wildfire. Somehow everyone seemed to contain themselves, until lunch...

.........

"Mm. Special deluxe bento~." Eiji sings, quickly digging in his lunch while Fuji starts eating at a more leisure pace beside him.

"Mh?" Fuji hums, looking up curiously when two members of the girl's tennis team stop in front of Ryumi who is sitting in front of them. One of them shows her a playback of a tennis match from her phone.

"That's you, isn't it?" Mizuri, the one holding the phone asks.

Ryumi hesitates for a moment. "That was me." she finally answers, though with little enthusiasm.

Fuji leans forward in his seat to see a bit better. He guessed that the shot she made at the courts that morning wasn't a fluke, but then again, she's Ryoma's big sister. There should be no surprise that she plays, or rather played.

He's not sure what happened, but Ryumi suffered a beating. There is no doubt she is unable to play for now at least. And judging from Ryoma's terrified shout this morning, she wasn't supposed to try either.

"It's too bad what happened. You would have gone off with first place for sure. You would be playing internationally this year." the other girl, Sasaki states.

Mizuri nods in agreement. "It was a real foul move to have your car rammed. They should have locked her up for that." she huffs, catching the boy's attention, wondering what and who they are talking about.

Ryumi has stiffened, her shoulders have gone rigid.

"Or at least kicked her out of the competition. Now she's happily run off with the title." Sasaki adds with a nod.

"Stop it." Ryumi hisses, taking the girls aback. "None of that was Peters' fault. There was no sabotage involved."

The two girls opposite her hesitate for a moment before Mizuri chuckles awkwardly. "You're kidding right? It was her brother that ran into you. Did they pay you hush money?" she suggests.

They startle when Ryumi jumps to her feet, her chair tipping over. "You shouldn't talk about things you know nothing about!" she shouts, drawing the attention of the rest of the class. She lets out a shaky breath, anger clearly visible before she rushes out of the classroom, leaving her startled classmates behind.

Fuji is about to go after her, but Eiji has already jumped to his feet, shooting a harsh look towards the two girls, shaking them visibly. Fuji raises a brow. He can count the times he's seen his friend so angry with someone on one hand.

"That was a really mean thing to say... I don't like people who hurt my friends." he says with a dark scowl plastered on his face before gathering his and Ryumi's lunch and waltzing out of the room with large angry steps.

"Eiji..." Fuji breathes before sighing. He sits back down slowly, knowing it's best to leave them be for now. Eiji can take care of himself and Ryumi will be in good company with him.

He throws one more look at the two girls for good measure, making them scuttle back to their seats on the opposite side of the room. Pitiful.

.........

"Ne, Ryumi-chan. Are you okay?" a voice asks carefully.

Ryumi opens her eyes, slightly startled, and fixates them on the person squatting down in front of her. "Oh, Eiji-kun." She is surprised he came after her and found her so quickly as well. She took refuge outside on the rooftop.

She watches him curiously as he sits down next to her before holding out her lunchbox for her to take. "Thanks." she says quietly, setting it down on her lap, but not making a motion to eat.

"Don't mind them. They usually only read gossip anyway." she hears him say.

She doesn't look at him, only stares placidly in front of her, not really focused on anything as she speaks up, "How can you be sure they're not telling the truth?" she counters.

"Eh? I don't believe that!" he scoffs, making her finally look up at him.

"Why not? You don't know me all that well. You don't know what happened." she states.

He blinks for a moment. "But, you're my friend... and I have a good sense of character, don't you know? So I don't think such a thing can be true." he tells her, leaving no room for argument.

Ryumi is startled into silence. She leans back on the fence, turning her eyes back to her front.

"Ne, Ryumi-chan... What happened?" he finally asks very softly, pulling his knees to his chest.

Ryumi hesitates, but something about Eiji makes it feel okay to talk about it, somehow. "I'm a little surprised." she admits.

"Huh?" Eiji muses cocking his head in curiosity.

"I don't think anyone ever asked straight out before. People see me, but somehow are afraid to ask." she muses. "It's refreshing to hear someone just ask."

"Oh..." Eiji breathes in understanding.

She glances at the redhead beside her. "You really don't mind listening?" she asks, still uncertain about his sincerity. She has met a lot of fake people in the past years, which leaves her guarded.

"Of course not! Tell me whatever you like. I'll listen." he assures her.

Ryumi takes a moment before gathering herself, "I was driven to practice. There was an important match coming up, one that could cement the start of a promising career." she starts out.

"I'm not sure how it happened myself, but I was told another driver didn't give us priority before turning into the road we were on. They were driving pretty fast. The car rammed the passenger side where I was sitting, hence why the right side of my body received the brunt of the impact. My shoulder was dislocated, my arm broken and my knee twisted up to the point where my tendons ruptured." she explains, staring at the brace that has been sitting for the past weeks around her knee, unhidden because... well... that damn skirt.

"The driver turned out to be the brother of my opponent in the finals... I understand how that looks, but I don't believe he did that on purpose. Peters... June... My opponent was also my best friend. And we always got along fine, her brother and me too. He always looked out for the both of us."

A frown etches deeply into her face. "He got hurt too, but no one seems to care about that. And nobody seemed to care how much the accusations hurt my friend. People believed what they wanted to believe, without taking our feelings into consideration. It was unfair. June won the finals of the competition and she deserved it, but she didn't get to enjoy it, because other people wouldn't let her."

"After a week in the hospital, I learned they weren't allowed, or didn't want to have further contact with me. I'm not sure which. But as I tried to come to terms that my career that I worked so hard for came to a standstill, I also had to come to terms that I had lost my best friend. When I started secluding myself after that, my parents taught it was best to have me move here, so I did." she finishes.

They sit in silence for a moment before Eiji speaks up. "I can't begin to imagine what that must be like. But Ryumi-chan, I promise you, you will have friends here that won't leave you." he promises.

"Eiji." she starts sternly, making his head snap up. "I don't want any pity." she states resolutely.

He nods, a serious look on his face. "Got it." His eyes then lower to her unspoiled lunch. "Ne, can I have that anago-sushi?" he asks, his eyes widened and a little drool gathering at the corner of his mouth.

Ryumi blinks in surprise at the sudden change of mood before smiling, happy to be diverted from the subject. "Go ahead. I don't like it that much."

"What?! No way! How can you even say that?" he gasps, before quickly picking out the treat from her lunchbox, stuffing it in his mouth. "Mmmh. Delicious~." he sings with his mouth full, smiling when he hears Ryumi laugh at his antics.

There, finally some more background on Ryumi. It's pretty intense. Luckily Eiji is being a real sweetheart.