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

CHAPTER 49: What on earth...

None of the boys knew what the heck she was talking about. "Now, show me the donut." She told them.

"Do—nut?" Kawamura said questioningly.

"Donut?" The others repeated, some cocking their heads to one side, others scratching their foreheads.

Ryouko rolled her eyes. "Donut. Space saver." She said, pointing it out to them.

She got blank looks as an answer.

"The spare tire." Ryouko told them, enunciating every word in exasperation.

"Oh." Horio said and ran over to the luggage compartment.

Ryouko narrowed their eyes at them. "Sheesh. What use is it to have more than thirty boys on board when not even one can understand mechanical jargons." She mumbled moodily, going past them.

It was not necessary for a person to know about such things actually, but as her gaze grazed them, they felt as if it was one of the must-know information in the world.

All of a sudden, there was a yell from the other side of the bus. It was no doubt that the voice belonged to Horio.

The Seigaku members went to him. "What happened?" Inui asked.

"Is there something wrong?" Fuji said.

Horio was sitting on the ground, looking at the half-open luggage compartment with scared eyes. "The—there's—" He stuttered, pointing at it.

"What?" Momoshiro inquired.

"Eyes. I saw pairs of eyes inside..." Horio continued and gulped.

"Step aside." Kawamura said, stepping closer to the luggage compartment.

Horio stood up and hid behind Momoshiro. "An animal couldn't have gotten in. I locked the compartments..." He said.

The members held their breath as Kawamura placed his hands on the door of the compartment, ready to pull it open. "One, two, three!" He said without hesitation and heaved.

The sunlight streamed in and fell onto the guilty faces inside the luggage compartment.

"Huh?" Kawamura said, blinking at them.

"A ha ha." Mami said, laughing uncomfortably.

"Gokigenyou, minna-san... (Hello, everyone.)" Miyako said uncertainly.

Osakada Tomoka's voice got caught in her throat and all she managed was a cough. Sakuno couldn't seem to lift her eyes and looked as if she was on the brink of melting from humiliation.

Despite the situation, Kawamura stifled a laugh. "Out you go." He said, trying to harden his tone a bit.

One by one, the girls hopped off of the luggage compartment, revealing themselves. "What the heck are you people doing there?" Ryouko said, recovering from being dumb-founded.

"We uh... sort of smuggled ourselves in... Because we wanted to come." Mami replied, her tone soft and her demeanor apologetic.

"Seriously..." Ryouko breathed, holding her forehead.

"Well, we figured you can't send us back once we arrive at the camp." Tomoka pointed out with a shrug. The regulars looked amused.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." Ryoma said, clucking his tongue on the roof of his mouth. Sakuno heard him and wished for the ground to swallow her whole.

"And just how are you guys going to smuggle yourselves on the plane then? Or are you expecting us to reach Okinawa by bus?" Horio asked, stepping out from Momoshiro's back, making a full recovery.