𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔓𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔢'𝔰 𝔓𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔰𝔰 [Ryoma X OC]

Chapter 8

Author's POV...

Many gasps and an evident shriek was heard as the sound of a slap echoed through the classroom of 1-A...

"This is all your fault. You stole Ryoma~sama from Sakuno~san and that's what you get," Tomoka snarled.

Yuri's head had snapped to the side when Tomoka slapped her. As tears started to form in Yuri's eyes, her cheek started to swell and redden as moments passed. Yuri felt her mental state start to crumble and she couldn't handle the stares or the comments that floated around her. Not to mention the feeling of the pressure she felt at the moment. She felt her emotions become a jumbled mess and she quickly escaped the scene, running out of the classroom.

Ryoma on the other hand had woken up to Yuri's sudden shriek and when he was fully awake, he didn't see Yuri, but he did see the class surrounding his desks. Well, to be more specific, they were crowded around Yuri's end of the desks. Many looked shocked, and once Tomoka noticed that Ryoma was up, she acted as if she knew nothing and was "innocent."

Knowing that Tomoka would be no help, he went to the only sane ones of the freshmen trio, Katsuo and Katō. "Katsuo, what happened? Where's Yuri?" he asked. He noticed Tomoka's deadly glare and paled slightly.

Katsuo didn't want to face Tomoka's wrath, but he didn't want to lie so he found a loophole and said, "Yuri left the classroom in a rush. I don't know where she is right now, but she seemed to be in a hurry."

Ryoma wasn't happy with his answer and turned to Katō, but only got a similar answer. He went to the last resort, Horio. "Horio, tell me. Where. is. Yuri? What. happened. when. I. was. asleep?" Ryoma asked, fully frustrated and annoyed.

Since Horio wasn't scared of Tomoka and pretty much despised her, he snitched on her, telling Ryoma all that he could about what happened, "Tomoka slapped Yuri once the teacher was gone and class ended. She was crying as she left. I don't know where she ran off to, but once she left the classroom, she took a right out the door. That direction leads towards the dance rooms if anything."

Horio knew that Yuri was special to Ryoma and he didn't want to fool around. He didn't think that bragging at that moment was necessary and he had to get to the point.

Ryoma's eyes lit up in anger as he bolted out of the classroom. Before doing so, he ordered that the freshmen trio watched and took both his and Yuri's things to the tennis courts. He ran in the direction that Horio mentioned and when he checked in the dance rooms, as Horio mentioned, he found Yuri crying as she danced. She was dancing to the song that he remembered was a sad one, according to Yuri's explanation of the song's meaning. He remembered that it was about a girl being ignored and abused. Having been fed up with the lies and everything in life, she wanted to give up, commit suicide, and leave the world. He thought he could cheer her up a little by joining in, so he joined into her dance and slightly startled her.

When she noticed that Ryoma was trying to dance with her to the song, she smiled and his presence and efforts made her feel a little better. They finished the dance and Ryoma immediately embraced her, caressing her hair as he said sweet and calming things to her. He let her cry on his shoulder to help soothe her nerves. Soon she had calmed down enough that she was only sobbing quietly into his shirt.

He pulled away from the hug, looking over her face. She was a mess: her cheeks covered in tear stains, her hair a little messy, and her eyes were red and puffy. He used his thumbs to rub away any of the leftover tears that spilled from her eyes.

She smiled and leaned into his touch, enjoying the warmth that his hand gave. He smiled gently at her sweet action, not moving his hand away from her. She opened her eyes and Ryoma stared into her forest-green orbs, feeling as if he was in a trance.

The slam of the practice room's door opening startled them, before Yuri was soon enveloped in a suffocating hug. Ryoma looked on towards the door to find all the regulars, Arai, and the freshmen trio. He noticed that Fuji and Taka had their things and he nodded to them, a simple yet quiet thanks.

"E-Eiji get off of me!" Yuri wheezed. Eiji immediately got off, sitting down criss-crossed in front of her. The others that were standing at the door walked in, closing the door as they filed in.

"Are you okay Yuri~san?" Taka asked timidly. Yuri nodded.

"Ryo~chan here helped me..." Yuri explained, pointing towards the emerald-haired boy sitting next to her.

"Well, someone wants to say something," Fuji commented, moving a bit to reveal Arai who was looking down at his hands. Fuji nudged him with his elbow, making Arai look up. Arai's eyes were full of regret and guilt.

"I-I'm sorry Yuri. I was mean to you and said those stupid comments because I was jealous of the fact that you were on the team so easily. I see now why you were given that position and I reflected on my actions during your punishment. I know what I did was completely retarded and stupid, but I hope you'll forgive me," Arai apologized. Yuri seemed a little happier and smiled.

"It's alright, but who let you get out of the punishment? I didn't do it," Yuri teased. Arai paled, but Fuji saved him from having to explain himself.

"I let him off. He was sweating a lot and he was crying that he wanted to apologize after I told him your history with Ryoma," Fuji commented. Yuri pouted but nodded.

"Yuri, what happened exactly? Horio only told us of the fact that you were crying and that you were with Ryoma. He told us you ran out of the classroom after lessons were done, but he didn't say why..." Momoshiro commented.

Yuri wanted to cry all over again as her anxiety started elevating at the memories of the incident that happened not long ago. Noticing that she was going to cry, Ryoma held her close to him and whispered to her that she would explain the situation. She nodded and basked in his warmth, trying to comfort herself as she cried.

"I was asleep when it happened but from what Horio told me, Tomoka slapped her. Apparently she did it for Ryuzaki's sake. Something about Yuri taking me away from Ryuzaki. I don't have any idea what that means, but Horio said that Yuri ran out of the room after that. That was a little earlier after class and it was before I woke up and noticed the crowd that was around Yuri's desk. I was sleeping on her shoulder at the time, so I could tell that she was missing. I came here as Horio told me the direction that she ran in, and I found her crying in here," Ryoma explained, rubbing Yuri's back as he spoke.

The team seemed shocked at the revelation of who did it. Tomoka? What did Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter have to do with this? Did Sakuno like Ryoma? They couldn't believe it.

"D-Do you have the mark still?" Fuji asked gently.

Yuri had expected that they probably wouldn't have believed her, but she knew that the mark on her face was still there. Besides, she still felt the small stinging pain from it.

She turned her head to show them the mark and their reactions were anything but happy...