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

Part 23

"That will be 560 yen please." the cashier tells Ryumi who quickly counts out the cash before handing it over. "Thank you have a nice day!" they call before Ryumi steps outside.

She hoists the back up higher in her arms before setting off again, though struggling a bit with the large bag. She has trouble pressing the button for the crossing without dropping the contents; luckily someone is just in time to help her.

"Oh! Eiji! What are you doing here?" Ryumi wonders, surprised to see him standing there with a big grin on his face.

He holds up a bag of his own proudly. "These new tennis shoes were on sale. Gives me an extra bounce!" he exclaims, making her snicker.

"Like you need the extra bounce." she jokes, making him stick out his tongue at her before blinking at the bag she's carrying.

"Ne, Ryumi-chan. What's that?" he wonders curiously, making her tilt the bag for him to look inside. "Rabbit food?" he blinks in wonder.

Ryumi nods. "Some friends of mom's had a litter and I got to pick out two a few days ago. They really eat a lot, so I've had to get a good supply of food." she explains before she gets an idea. "Hey, do you want to come and see them?" she asks.

Eiji grins once more. "Of course nya!" he exclaims before quickly slapping his hands over his cheeks before Ryumi can squeeze at them again, causing her to laugh.

"This way Eiji!" she calls, heading towards the shrine where her dad usually resides once the light springs on green.

He follows after her happily, but snatches her bag from her, trading it with his. "Let's switch. It looks heavy." he tells her as she looks at him confused.

"Right. Thanks Eiji." she smiles gratefully, making him smile again before sighing contently as they walk the rest of the way together, talking casually and Ryumi checking out his new shoes, joking that he probably owns more pairs than her mom and her cousin together to which he pouts playfully.

When they step into the shrine, Ryumi can't see her dad around, which makes her sigh in relief. He must be out getting lunch. However, there is something else that completely horrifies her. The pen where she kept her rabbits is empty.

Eiji's eyes widen as he spots all the holes covering the ground from the entrance all the way to the back where the tennis court is.

Ryumi releases a squeak in fright. "My dad is going to kill me!"

Eiji's eyes flit to movement under a brush, seeing a black tail disappear underneath it. "Ah- ah! Don't worry Ryumi-chan. First we'll catch them, and then we quickly repair the mess they made." he says determinately, putting down the bag.

"First, let's fix the pen, so they won't be able to escape again." he urges. Ryumi nods, glad that she ha Eiji there to keep her head on straight and not run around in a panic. They fix the pen before setting off to find both rabbits.

"Here rabbit!" Eiji calls, darting after one with a pale reddish brown coat. But it darts nimbly out of his way before disappearing beneath the structure that holds the shrines bell.

He sighs in dismay. "He's quick. Will it come if I call its name?" he wonders.

Ryumi smiles a bit awkwardly from her squatted position by a bush. "I don't think it will. I only named them a few days ago."

"Hm~." Eiji muses. "What are they called anyway?" he questions, blinking in surprise when Ryumi blushes in embarrassment. She mumbles something that makes him strain to hear, but he catches it anyway and immediately he's caught in a fit of laughter.

"Eiji! Don't laugh at me~." Ryumi wines, her face beat red.

"Eh? I don't think rabbits can laugh." Eiji counters with a snicker, making her throw a stray tennis ball at him which he dodges effortlessly. Ryumi sighs as she waits for Eiji to stop laughing.

Eiji heaves a deep breath, finally calming down. "Okay! Okay! Let's put this Golden pair back in their pen." he states, a small snicker following. "I'm going to catch my name sake if you catch Oishi over there." he suggests.

Ryumi nods and as she tries to coax the black rabbit named Oishi from under the brush, she catches Eiji running all over the grounds in an effort to catch the reddish brown one, who seems to like making things difficult for the boy.

"There." Ryumi sighs happily as she gently lowers the black rabbit into the pen. It immediately hops over to the drinking bottle, thirsty after its adventure.

"Hoi hoi!" Eiji cheers as he comes bouncing over, the other rabbit in his arms. He puts it down beside the other one. "I get why you named him after me. He was all over the place!" he gasps, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Ryumi smiles before paling when she hears a familiar humming coming closer. She and Eiji freeze. They still haven't fixed the holes!

"Oh! Totally forgot my magazines!" the voice exclaims. "Better run back now." Nanjiro muses before turning back around, continuing to hum as he goes.

As his voice fades in the distance, the two teens breathe a sigh of relief. Ryumi quickly jumps up, going to search for shovels. She eventually finds a spade and one small garden shovel.

Eiji takes the spade and they quickly set to work in closing up all the holes the two rabbits dug during their brief period of freedom.

Ryumi finishes one and shuffles backwards before stumbling over another, crashing right into Eiji who is working next to her. She can feel her face grow red as she plants her face right into his chest. He has automatically wrapped his arm around her waist to stop her from falling.

"Whoa! Careful Ryumi-chan. You could sprain something like that." Eiji warns, watching the girl look up at him and wipe her hair from her reddened face. He blinks as a blush grows on his cheeks as well at the proximity.

They jump away from each other as if burned. "Er... Let's continue. W-we're almost finished." Ryumi stammers. Eiji nods silently, not trusting his voice, and they manage to finish and flee the scene before her dad returns.

.........

"Wha~. I'm beat nya." Eiji moans, slumped over a bench in the park after having downed an entire bottle of water.

"Here here." Ryumi agrees before yawning loudly and rubbing her eyes cutely, making Eiji grin.

Ryumi then turns to him, catching him smiling, but he quickly turns to his bottle, pretending to read the label. "Thanks Eiji for the help. You didn't have to, but did anyway. I don't think I could have managed without you." she tells him gratefully, making him scratch the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it. I had fun." he tells her with a gin plastered on his face again.

"I'm glad." Ryumi sighs, leaning back.

Eiji chuckles then. "Ha ha! Wait till Oishi hears about your rabbits!" he laughs, already imagining his reaction while Ryumi hides her face in her hands.

"Eiji~!" she moans in complaint while he continues to laugh.

Many years ago, I had two rabbits named after our Golden pair. They were insane haha.