Categories > Anime/Manga > Prince of Tennis > Fixation
Chapter 5: Hope
An entire two days had passed since the news of Ryoma's departure but the initial shock had yet to wear off. One would think that if a class mate or a team mate disappeared there would be a brief moment of sadness followed by a slightly different atmosphere for maybe the rest of the day but after that things would slowly start to go back to normal. One would begin to adapt to the absence of the person and that was it. But for some reason the Seigaku Tennis team could not put the young boy behind them. Although Echizen kept to himself mostly he had wormed his way into the hearts of the people around him. Especially the hearts of his team mates. And as time wore on he had claimed a section of their hearts for himself, some roots digging deeper than others.
The locker room had been eerily silent as they changed. Although no one would admit they were all nervously eyeing the door just in case Ryoma might step through and tell them that it was all a big joke and they fell for it, which would be followed by scolding and assigned laps by the captain. Even the space where Ryoma used to dress felt like it belonged to another dimension. Every time someone walked in the locker room they made it a point to avoid walking through it. It was a pathetic attempt to keep a part of Ryoma there. His presence one could say. Although Ryoma's departure also meant that the original Regulars would all have a place once more on the Regular list it didn't make any of them happy and it certainly didn't give them a sense of comfort. Many of them even thought that they would gladly hand over their regular position to be able to have the young boy, also the first ever Freshman Regular at Seigaku, back amongst them.
Practice was held as usual and although the Regulars tried to hide their disappointment the rest of the team could obviously tell something was wrong. They didn't know what though since no one had made an official announcement. In truth the Regulars were dreading the point they had to tell the rest of the team. Maybe somewhere in their minds they felt that if they only stayed quiet it wouldn't be real. Saying it out loud for everyone to hear would make it seem like a fact that the team didn't want to let that happen. Other than the mood there had also been other small... well depending on who you were, small changes. Sakuno and Tomoko had stopped coming to practices. Sakuno herself had quit Tennis. Her first love, even if it had been one sided, had left ( she had heard it from her grandmother ) and she didn't think she could handle being anywhere near anything that reminder her of him. Then again the only reason she had ever taken up Tennis was because of Ryoma. Now that he was gone it seemed a little pointless to continue. The freshman trio was still there and as loud as ever, the reason being that they were not aware of the fact that their idol was gone and it wasn't likely that he was ever coming back.
Although the mood had considerably changed no one made a complaint. The disappearance of Seigaku's new pillar of support had even made a dent into the stoic Tezuka who seemed absent minded. In the past two days of practice things had gone rather leisurely and to everyone's shock he gave no punishment for those coming in late, not that he noticed much with his mind stuck in the clouds. And today on the third day Tezuka even concluded practice early. Although this was one of the strangest things to happen in the club as of yet no one made a complaint or asked for the reason, it was a blessing and they weren't going to throw it away.
Of course the other Regulars knew the reason for Tezuka's change of heart and they had to admit if the feeling wasn't mutual amongst them all they would be teasing Tezuka about his fixation with Ryoma. Seeing as it had been so bad to cause the Tezuka to walk around in a daze and to cause a complete 180 on his personality. After practice the team parted ways, again no one saying a thing, not that there had to be anything said... not that there was anything they could say.
Momo walked from the school in a daze. His mind completely frozen still, he found it odd that he could still live almost normally with his best friend gone. But it was true that until he had truly disappeared he hadn't understood how much the young boy had really meant to him. They had been good friends and yes he had known that he would've been disappointed if Ryoma had left but he hadn't expected the real thing to feel so... painful. Or maybe the right word was numb? Seeing as Momo wasn't paying attention to where he was walking he ended up colliding his knee against the short brick wall that surrounded the small flower garden, newly built, in front of the burger place he and Echizen used to eat at.
He almost turned around immediately to go find some other place to eat but his growling stomach protested. Knowing he couldn't deprive his stomach of nourishment he went in and unlike usually he ordered very little. Not that he wasn't hungry but he almost felt he was betraying Ryoma, betraying a tradition, if he ate the usual amount. It had been a thing that they did together, it had originally started with their battle for 3rd singles. Momo almost laughed at how it had turned out. They had ended up playing doubles for the sake of their pride.
Meanwhile Eiji himself was remembering the first time he had felt the 'wrath' of Echizen's stomach. It had been after a rather rough day, not only because Ryoma had been attacked by the opposing school but Inui had brought out for the first time his 'Penal Tea' which even with the circumstances brought and unpleasant chill down his spine, even if he had yet to drink it himself. Eiji glanced at his wallet and flipped through the few bills he had left in there. He was pretty sure that he would've preferred it to be empty if that meant he could have the little chibi back. What else was he going to glomp now?
The room was dark, well mostly but the only light was coming from a computer screen that was currently displaying a reel of pictures that the boy flipping through them had taken himself. Fuji's usual smile had disappeared but on the occasion his lips would twitch in an attempt to smile as he passed over a picture of the boy who had caused this unusual miserable state of mind. He had started looking through the pictures as a way to pass time and to find new photos to fill up a new album with. At fist the pictures had been of places and flowers and other such things but as his mind began to grow into a numbing routine he began unconsciously selecting only pictures with Ryoma in them. He didn't remember taking any of them but as he flipped through the pictures he had picked he was glad that he had. Whether by accident or with a point he was glad that Ryoma happened to have stumbled into a good portion of his pictures.
The three of them weren't the only ones suffering from his departure. Tezuka himself had tried to make himself forget by completely exhausting his body playing Tennis against a machine but he should've known better. Tennis wasn't going to do anything for him but remind him that the person he had hoped would take over the Seigaku Tennis team once he was gone had left. All in all the entire team was in 'shambles'. Even their game play had been slightly affected. Although they were still the strongest players at Seigaku their game play had become obviously sloppy.
It was the last day of practice for the week and their moods hadn't improved much. Yes they had managed to sharpen up their game play again to where it was at least clean but they were still slightly dazed. They could now hold a conversation in the locker room and they had even forced themselves to walk through the 'sacred space' of Ryoma. They knew that they couldn't stay moping around forever and that they were hurting their school's Tennis team because of their personal issues. Besides it wasn't as if Ryoma wasn't replaceable. There were other players and such but for some reason just the thought of having someone else take his place made them pale and sick to their stomachs.
The practice had been rather rough. Whether that was the opinion because they had been exposed to leisure for the past week or because Tezuka had decided to work out his frustration at his inability to coldly get over the young boy's departure on the Tennis club was yet to be decided. At the end of practice even the regulars could've said that their legs felt like led and they were about to die from fatigue. Although they had to admit, it had worked effectively to get their minds off of the little baby of the Regulars, and of course the moment they realized that their minds had once more become occupied by Ryoma. Not even Ryuzaki could bring any kind of hope to them. Even she had to admit she missed the rather spunky Ryoma.
It was almost as if the world had ended. But the world was about to start revolving again as Eiji went home. As he sat at his computer he happened to stumble upon a website. As he read through it he felt that he had been turned into a believer. Miracles did happen. Well... it wasn't going to be a miracle unless it actually worked and that was still all up to their couch and of course the school. It was a Tennis program to promote international good feeling. Although it did cost a little more than his allowance for one person it seemed a sure fire way to get to Ryoma. That is until he found that there was a limit of cities they could choose from. Eiji had no idea where Ryoma was. As the probability came to mind he felt his mood slowly sinking again. Besides, what were the chances that they would be allowed to do it anyway?
Eiji shook his head and slapped himself. He couldn't get discouraged now! He had finally found a way to get to see his Ochibi! He wasn't about to let this chance go. Besides, he believed in his luck and there was no way that he had stumbled upon the website simply by accident! Eiji smiled to himself as he printed out the flyer for it as well as the informational sheet that each of the members who wished to participate. Eiji grinned to himself and had to bite his lip to stop himself from exclaiming his joy. Knowing that there wasn't any school tomorrow and no practice he decided that he would call each of the players and call an emergency meeting for tomorrow. There was no way he could wait two days to discuss the matter with them. He decided he would call Oishi first and let him call Tezuka who would then arrange the meeting. Eiji felt that if he had to arrange the meetings himself he wouldn't be able to keep it a secret. He picked up the phone and dialed Oishi number without even thinking of it, his hand knew it already.
"Oishi?"
"Ah, Eiji...."
"Hi hi! I need you to call Tezuka to arrange a meeting tomorrow!"
There was a pause on the other line.
"You sound..... excited and happy. Did something happen?"
"Of course I do! I mean I'm really sad but I think we should have this meeting."
There was another paused and Eiji could almost see Oishi smiling.
"All right. But it better be good."
Eiji promised him it would be and then hung up the phone, joy like he hadn't felt all week bubbling up inside of him. Now all he could do was hope.
Mistress Yami:
Well there it is! SUCKY ending. I know. Don't hate me.
Not much to say....
NEW PREVIEW!
Title: Into The Demon's Den
Author: Evil Cheshire Cat
Rating: T
Reuploaded; has new updates on it. Ryoma thought housesitting would be easy. No one told him, unfortunately, that he was watching a haunted house. Pairings; FujiRyoma, MomoRyoma, kind of KamioRyoma
YAMI"S CHART
Long chapters
Although it's meant to be horror I find it makes me smile, (aka kinda funny)
It has a pairing I'm not used to seeing
I LOVE how it ended
Although it's based off of something different it has an original view to it I think ( at least from the version I know )
------------------------------------------------------- #$
It's not really lovedovey FujiRyoma
The main pairing is MomoRyoma ( not that it's a bad thing I just personally don't like the pairing)
A few grammar errors that just bug me. :P
Remember if you have any stories you like just tell me and I'll flip through it! You can even recommend your own!
An entire two days had passed since the news of Ryoma's departure but the initial shock had yet to wear off. One would think that if a class mate or a team mate disappeared there would be a brief moment of sadness followed by a slightly different atmosphere for maybe the rest of the day but after that things would slowly start to go back to normal. One would begin to adapt to the absence of the person and that was it. But for some reason the Seigaku Tennis team could not put the young boy behind them. Although Echizen kept to himself mostly he had wormed his way into the hearts of the people around him. Especially the hearts of his team mates. And as time wore on he had claimed a section of their hearts for himself, some roots digging deeper than others.
The locker room had been eerily silent as they changed. Although no one would admit they were all nervously eyeing the door just in case Ryoma might step through and tell them that it was all a big joke and they fell for it, which would be followed by scolding and assigned laps by the captain. Even the space where Ryoma used to dress felt like it belonged to another dimension. Every time someone walked in the locker room they made it a point to avoid walking through it. It was a pathetic attempt to keep a part of Ryoma there. His presence one could say. Although Ryoma's departure also meant that the original Regulars would all have a place once more on the Regular list it didn't make any of them happy and it certainly didn't give them a sense of comfort. Many of them even thought that they would gladly hand over their regular position to be able to have the young boy, also the first ever Freshman Regular at Seigaku, back amongst them.
Practice was held as usual and although the Regulars tried to hide their disappointment the rest of the team could obviously tell something was wrong. They didn't know what though since no one had made an official announcement. In truth the Regulars were dreading the point they had to tell the rest of the team. Maybe somewhere in their minds they felt that if they only stayed quiet it wouldn't be real. Saying it out loud for everyone to hear would make it seem like a fact that the team didn't want to let that happen. Other than the mood there had also been other small... well depending on who you were, small changes. Sakuno and Tomoko had stopped coming to practices. Sakuno herself had quit Tennis. Her first love, even if it had been one sided, had left ( she had heard it from her grandmother ) and she didn't think she could handle being anywhere near anything that reminder her of him. Then again the only reason she had ever taken up Tennis was because of Ryoma. Now that he was gone it seemed a little pointless to continue. The freshman trio was still there and as loud as ever, the reason being that they were not aware of the fact that their idol was gone and it wasn't likely that he was ever coming back.
Although the mood had considerably changed no one made a complaint. The disappearance of Seigaku's new pillar of support had even made a dent into the stoic Tezuka who seemed absent minded. In the past two days of practice things had gone rather leisurely and to everyone's shock he gave no punishment for those coming in late, not that he noticed much with his mind stuck in the clouds. And today on the third day Tezuka even concluded practice early. Although this was one of the strangest things to happen in the club as of yet no one made a complaint or asked for the reason, it was a blessing and they weren't going to throw it away.
Of course the other Regulars knew the reason for Tezuka's change of heart and they had to admit if the feeling wasn't mutual amongst them all they would be teasing Tezuka about his fixation with Ryoma. Seeing as it had been so bad to cause the Tezuka to walk around in a daze and to cause a complete 180 on his personality. After practice the team parted ways, again no one saying a thing, not that there had to be anything said... not that there was anything they could say.
Momo walked from the school in a daze. His mind completely frozen still, he found it odd that he could still live almost normally with his best friend gone. But it was true that until he had truly disappeared he hadn't understood how much the young boy had really meant to him. They had been good friends and yes he had known that he would've been disappointed if Ryoma had left but he hadn't expected the real thing to feel so... painful. Or maybe the right word was numb? Seeing as Momo wasn't paying attention to where he was walking he ended up colliding his knee against the short brick wall that surrounded the small flower garden, newly built, in front of the burger place he and Echizen used to eat at.
He almost turned around immediately to go find some other place to eat but his growling stomach protested. Knowing he couldn't deprive his stomach of nourishment he went in and unlike usually he ordered very little. Not that he wasn't hungry but he almost felt he was betraying Ryoma, betraying a tradition, if he ate the usual amount. It had been a thing that they did together, it had originally started with their battle for 3rd singles. Momo almost laughed at how it had turned out. They had ended up playing doubles for the sake of their pride.
Meanwhile Eiji himself was remembering the first time he had felt the 'wrath' of Echizen's stomach. It had been after a rather rough day, not only because Ryoma had been attacked by the opposing school but Inui had brought out for the first time his 'Penal Tea' which even with the circumstances brought and unpleasant chill down his spine, even if he had yet to drink it himself. Eiji glanced at his wallet and flipped through the few bills he had left in there. He was pretty sure that he would've preferred it to be empty if that meant he could have the little chibi back. What else was he going to glomp now?
The room was dark, well mostly but the only light was coming from a computer screen that was currently displaying a reel of pictures that the boy flipping through them had taken himself. Fuji's usual smile had disappeared but on the occasion his lips would twitch in an attempt to smile as he passed over a picture of the boy who had caused this unusual miserable state of mind. He had started looking through the pictures as a way to pass time and to find new photos to fill up a new album with. At fist the pictures had been of places and flowers and other such things but as his mind began to grow into a numbing routine he began unconsciously selecting only pictures with Ryoma in them. He didn't remember taking any of them but as he flipped through the pictures he had picked he was glad that he had. Whether by accident or with a point he was glad that Ryoma happened to have stumbled into a good portion of his pictures.
The three of them weren't the only ones suffering from his departure. Tezuka himself had tried to make himself forget by completely exhausting his body playing Tennis against a machine but he should've known better. Tennis wasn't going to do anything for him but remind him that the person he had hoped would take over the Seigaku Tennis team once he was gone had left. All in all the entire team was in 'shambles'. Even their game play had been slightly affected. Although they were still the strongest players at Seigaku their game play had become obviously sloppy.
It was the last day of practice for the week and their moods hadn't improved much. Yes they had managed to sharpen up their game play again to where it was at least clean but they were still slightly dazed. They could now hold a conversation in the locker room and they had even forced themselves to walk through the 'sacred space' of Ryoma. They knew that they couldn't stay moping around forever and that they were hurting their school's Tennis team because of their personal issues. Besides it wasn't as if Ryoma wasn't replaceable. There were other players and such but for some reason just the thought of having someone else take his place made them pale and sick to their stomachs.
The practice had been rather rough. Whether that was the opinion because they had been exposed to leisure for the past week or because Tezuka had decided to work out his frustration at his inability to coldly get over the young boy's departure on the Tennis club was yet to be decided. At the end of practice even the regulars could've said that their legs felt like led and they were about to die from fatigue. Although they had to admit, it had worked effectively to get their minds off of the little baby of the Regulars, and of course the moment they realized that their minds had once more become occupied by Ryoma. Not even Ryuzaki could bring any kind of hope to them. Even she had to admit she missed the rather spunky Ryoma.
It was almost as if the world had ended. But the world was about to start revolving again as Eiji went home. As he sat at his computer he happened to stumble upon a website. As he read through it he felt that he had been turned into a believer. Miracles did happen. Well... it wasn't going to be a miracle unless it actually worked and that was still all up to their couch and of course the school. It was a Tennis program to promote international good feeling. Although it did cost a little more than his allowance for one person it seemed a sure fire way to get to Ryoma. That is until he found that there was a limit of cities they could choose from. Eiji had no idea where Ryoma was. As the probability came to mind he felt his mood slowly sinking again. Besides, what were the chances that they would be allowed to do it anyway?
Eiji shook his head and slapped himself. He couldn't get discouraged now! He had finally found a way to get to see his Ochibi! He wasn't about to let this chance go. Besides, he believed in his luck and there was no way that he had stumbled upon the website simply by accident! Eiji smiled to himself as he printed out the flyer for it as well as the informational sheet that each of the members who wished to participate. Eiji grinned to himself and had to bite his lip to stop himself from exclaiming his joy. Knowing that there wasn't any school tomorrow and no practice he decided that he would call each of the players and call an emergency meeting for tomorrow. There was no way he could wait two days to discuss the matter with them. He decided he would call Oishi first and let him call Tezuka who would then arrange the meeting. Eiji felt that if he had to arrange the meetings himself he wouldn't be able to keep it a secret. He picked up the phone and dialed Oishi number without even thinking of it, his hand knew it already.
"Oishi?"
"Ah, Eiji...."
"Hi hi! I need you to call Tezuka to arrange a meeting tomorrow!"
There was a pause on the other line.
"You sound..... excited and happy. Did something happen?"
"Of course I do! I mean I'm really sad but I think we should have this meeting."
There was another paused and Eiji could almost see Oishi smiling.
"All right. But it better be good."
Eiji promised him it would be and then hung up the phone, joy like he hadn't felt all week bubbling up inside of him. Now all he could do was hope.
Mistress Yami:
Well there it is! SUCKY ending. I know. Don't hate me.
Not much to say....
NEW PREVIEW!
Title: Into The Demon's Den
Author: Evil Cheshire Cat
Rating: T
Reuploaded; has new updates on it. Ryoma thought housesitting would be easy. No one told him, unfortunately, that he was watching a haunted house. Pairings; FujiRyoma, MomoRyoma, kind of KamioRyoma
YAMI"S CHART
Long chapters
Although it's meant to be horror I find it makes me smile, (aka kinda funny)
It has a pairing I'm not used to seeing
I LOVE how it ended
Although it's based off of something different it has an original view to it I think ( at least from the version I know )
------------------------------------------------------- #$
It's not really lovedovey FujiRyoma
The main pairing is MomoRyoma ( not that it's a bad thing I just personally don't like the pairing)
A few grammar errors that just bug me. :P
Remember if you have any stories you like just tell me and I'll flip through it! You can even recommend your own!
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