Yo--

Anna's STILL busy, so I'm here again instead.

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"THE BEST OF ONE SET! ECHIZEN SERVICE PLAY!"

Ryoma served, and it shot straight past Momoshiro. The onlookers gasped as I brought out my book again.

"Fast! He started with an ace?!" I smiled slightly.

"Awesome! He's really good in tennis, let's cheer for him, cheer!" I heard someone say. A girl, it sounded like.

"Um...yeah." Sakuno-chan's voice came. I'm guessing that the first girl that spoke was her friend...?

I continued reading my book when I heard a shout and looked up.

"Momoshiro was overpowered? The timing was right! Does that mean the ball has so much strength in it?" I smirked. Ryoma must have done the twist serve.

When I looked up, I grinned ever so slightly as Momoshiro barely returned the serve. Sakuno-chan's voice came to my ears.

"That person...is starting to return his serves." she said. I smiled. Clever girl.

"That was just his first! Ryoma's twist serve is still unbeatable!" said the other voice from earlier. I giggled quietly. It seems as though Ryo's gonna have a fanclub soon.

Eventually, Momoshiro began to return the serves more accurately, but the ball was hit towards the net. Ryoma, being the show off he is, did a Drop Volley, and easily scored. Ryoma's eyes flickered to me, and I pretended not to see. I could tell he knew what I was doing, since he had an anime irk mark on his head. I giggled as he switched to his left hand. I sighed and stood up; this had gone on far enough.

"Ryo, stop." I said softly. Everyone's attention was drawn to me, and I fidgeted under their stares. Momoshiro looked at me strangely, and Ryoma shrugged and came over. I smiled at him as he put his racket away. Momoshiro came over to us and shook hands with Ryoma.

"Youre pretty good for a first year." he commented. Ryoma shrugged, and I rolled my eyes.

"Good match." I said to him, and his gaze fell to me, and he nodded, grinning.

"Thanks. Who are you again?" he asked, trying not to be rude. I laughed.

"I'm Koyuki. Nice to meet you, Momoshiro." I said, and he sighed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Call me Momo-senpai. Everyone in the tennis club does. Except for the captain, of course. He's a bit...strict." he said, muttering the last part to himself. I still heard it though, and giggled. We shook hands, and he then left. I brought out his spare shirt I usually carry around in my bag (in case of unplanned matches like this), and waited for him. Sakuno-chan and another girl came up.

"Hi there! I'm a friend of Sakuno. My name is Osakada Tomoka." she said cheerfully. Ryoma looked confused as he took his shirt off, handing it to me.

"Who's Sakuno?" he asked, and both Sakuno-chan and I sweatdropped. I sighed, handing his shirt to him. He took it and rose an eyebrow, silently asking me the question.

"The girl that gave us wrong directions to the Garden, and came to apologise after we were disqualified." I said, and I saw a flash of recognition come over his face.

"Oh! You!" he exclaimed. I giggled.

"Yes, her. Ryo, this is Sakuno-chan." I said, pointing. He looked at her and nodded.

"I'll remember next time." he assured me. I rolled my eyes.

Riiiight." I muttered.

--TIMESKIP--

When we got home, Ryoma and I had a bath.

"Yuki, Ryoma, how was the school clubs?" Rinko -san asked. I smiled, as did Ryoma.

"Garphin, you can't come in here, you'll get wet." I said softly to the cat. He sat down and tilted his head at me. I smiled.

"We're still far from done." Ryoma said.

"But don't underestimate us." I added.

--TIMESKIP--

"I thought it was weird. That Momoshiro-senpai was only using half his ability since his ankle was twisted." Horio said, sighing.

"You noticed, so you went easy on him, even using your right hand...right, Ryo?" I said, and Ryoma nodded curtly.

"Echizen! Are you listening?" Horio asked, unaware of our short exchange.

"Of course, there's no way you could have played that evenly with senpai." Horio continued as Ryoma tied his shoe laces. I was having trouble with mine. He noticed and kneeled by my feet to help. I huffed as he gave me an amused smirk at the knot I managed to make.

Even though I wasn't a part of the club, since it was for boys, I was still here, for Ryoma. If Ryoma wasn't here, would I have joined the girls' tennis club? No, probably not, since I wouldn't have come back to Japan anyway.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a boy coming up to us.

"Are you that great first year?" he asked. Ryoma looked up at me from his spot on the ground, and I looked back at him. We shrugged, and both pointed towards Horio.

"So that's him. How obvious...he's the only one wearing the weird shirt and jumping around." he muttered, and headed towards Horio. Ryoma continued to battle with the knot on my shoe, and I just watched, since he forbade me to touch the other side.

When he finished, and I now had two neat bows on my shoes, he stood and held out a hand to me. I took it and he pulled me up gently. Just then, I heard four voices at the same time.

"Ah, that one was a bit off..."

"Maybe I can set it straight with another one...?!"

"See that guy with the cap?"

"Uh oh. Look out!" Ryoma and I snapped our gazes to the two balls coming towards us. I grabbed my racket from where it was on my back (like a sword) and hit the ball into a basket with other balls, as did Ryoma.

SILENCE

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-

Ryoma smirked.

"Eh...doesn't seem that hard." he said, and I giggled at his 'I'm so cool' expression.

"You punk!" came the voice of the boy who came up to us earlier.

"I was right all along! This is no place for a first year to be showing off!" he said, grabbing the collar of Ryoma's shirt. I fixed him with a glare.

"Don't. Touch. Ryoma." I said, grabbing his wrist that was holding Ryoma's shirt, and twisting it slightly so he would let go.

"What is the meaning of this in the courts?" came a rather serious voice.

"C-Captain!" this was the captain of Seigaku Tennis Club? He looked...mean...like...him. I hid behind Ryoma, who rose an eyebrow.

"H-He scares me." I mumbled, embarrassed. Ryoma blinked and snickered.

"The two of you there! ten laps around the court for causing such commotion!" the captain said. The boy's eyes widened.

"But, it was because-"

"Twenty laps!" the captin said, raising his voice over the other boys. I flinched, and Ryoma noticed, then glared at the captain.

"You're scaring her. Stop." he said cooly, and everyone's attention snapped to me. I gripped the back of Ryoma's shirt tighter, and he tugged it loose, holding my hand.

I could feel the eyes on us as he led me to the building he signed up for the club in. He left his rackets with me and began his laps around the courts, giving my hand a small squeeze.

"Everyone start warming up! Starting from those who finish, the 3r and 2nd years will use the courts! 1st years, be ready to pick up the balls. That's it for today!" he called out, then came over by me to set his tennis bag down on the bench I was sitting on. I winced as he set his stuff down. He seemed to notice, and muttered a slightly inaudible 'sorry'. I smiled slightly. Maybe he wasn't so mean after all.

"Why are you here?" he asked. I looked up at him, to see him staring down at me.

"I'm here to support Ryo." I said, pointing to Ryoma who was doing his laps. He sighed, then noticed my tennis gear.

"You should be on the female's tennis team." he said. I felt a little better that I was having a normal conversation with him, and scoffed.

"They will never get to where Ryo's going." I said, straightforward. I inwardly winced at how mean that sounded, but it was true. Ryoma always told me 'never leave anything out, get straight to the point' ever since I first met him, because I was a very shy child.

The captain looked shocked, but left it. For that, I was grateful.

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Hope you liked it. The next chapter's coming soon.

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