Tennis no Ojou-sama: A Prince of Tennis Fan Fiction

Chapter 147: Following Tradition

Ryoma shook his head helplessly with a half-embarrassed, half-exasperated smile on his face. "Gee, the words that come out of our mouths these days can put all three e's on the word cheese. Let's stop this before our hands and feet curl up from cringing... We'll need our limbs to get home later," he said.

At his remark, Ryouko scrunched up her shoulders as if shivers just went running up and down her back. "Yeah, you're right... We already know we're both awesome so let's stop complimenting each other and focus on successfully ending our first hatsumōde. It's our turn after the people in front," she said.

Indeed, it was about time the young couple ended their overwhelmingly sweet conversation but not because it was almost their turn but because just a few slots down the lane they were standing in, Kamio Akira and Ibu Shinji stood in line and were listening to every word.

Shinji had his head sideward to get a good look at Ryoma and Ryouko, and his eyes looked quite dead. He had been mumbling dark thoughts under his breath for the past three minutes upon seeing the two together, looking quite compatible with well-coordinated fashionable kimonos and just spreading hearts everywhere.

"How nice... Ryouko looks so pretty... Echizen's so lucky... Why can't I be that lucky? It's unfair isn't it? But I guess it's inevitable... They've known each other since they were young... I guess it's because he had a leg up and had quite the advantage of being her childhood friend... But that's still not fair y'know... I hate this. Why am I even here, just to suffer..."

By Shinji's side, Kamio couldn't have been more exasperated. He gave up on the thought of asking An-chan to go with him for hatsumōde just to keep Shinji company and cheer him up. It had been weeks since they overheard about Echizen Ryoma and Fujioka Ryouko's relationship but Shinji had not gotten over it yet. He had been moping since Christmas and spreading gloom everywhere.

"I guess Shinji's crush on Ryouko was more severe than I thought..." Kamio thought as he glanced at his friend. "But what kind of luck does Shinji have to run into the two people who were the cause of his bad mood, on New Year's day, in a shrine that is supposedly far from their neighborhood?" he sighed internally.

He narrowed his eyes at the front of the line wherein Ryouko and Ryoma were performing the customary two-bows-two-claps-one-bow in front of the shrine before putting their hands together in prayer.

"Then again, I didn't expect those two to be quite the lovebirds after getting together... They're clearly head-over-heels for each other; I was getting quite embarrassed in their place with the words they were exchanging... I wonder if I'll become like that once I get a girlfriend..." he thought and An's face crossed his mind, calling his name with her cute voice. He blushed instantly and slapped himself lightly on the cheek. "Let's not get carried away..." he told himself before placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. Shinji was still continuing with his mumbling, all the more sounding like he's uttering some sort of dark spell.

"Get over it dude... Just pretend you didn't see or hear anything... After this, we'll get our fortunes read and maybe get a charm for good luck on love and romance then go straight home..." Kamio told him.

"I don't need a charm like that. This year, I'm going to devote myself on tennis, think only about tennis and play tennis until the day I die..." Shinji answered with a burnt-out, resigned tone of voice.

Kamio scratched his head and looked even more exasperated. "Well, good luck with that..." he remarked.

~~~

Meanwhile, in the shrine that Ryoma and Ryouko left, there was a new excitement brewing as the ever chummy best friends Mami and Miyako were in the middle of their own shrine visit. They were just walking around with no apparent destination and had been getting closer and closer to where most of the Fujioka cousins were currently hanging out to rest.