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

CHAPTER 83: Curiosity Killed the Cat

"Stop jinxing it. You're so negative, Horio-kun." Kachiro replied, but deep inside, a gnawing thought began to settle at the edges of his mind. Horio has a point. There's no need to be so secretive if it is about something positive. The way that Senri worded the message was also kind of weird.

"Yea. I'm sure it's just something minor." Mizuno said, more to convince himself than oppose Horio's statement. Horio can be very persuasive at times and his paranoia is getting contagious.

~~~

Ryouko was typing things in her laptop when her fingers suddenly stopped. She frowned at the bluish-white glare of the screen. The results of the agility training did not come out as good as she thought. She had also finished taking a look at the videos from the favor she asked from Amane Hotaru. Having the matches captured on tape was what she asked of him during the third event. Ryouko wasn't entirely pleased with what she saw. Some of them did fine, but others didn't even get to play.

Asking the freshmen for a night training session might make it seem like she is working them too hard, but she couldn't stand looking at the numbers on her worksheet. It would have to be remedied as soon as possible. Their muscles have just started developing and she should take advantage of the situation.

On the other side of the room, An was in bed, lying down on her stomach, her elbows propped up on two pillows. She was reading a magazine and suddenly raised her head at her roommate when she noticed the sudden silence. "What's wrong?" She asked.

Ryouko was so absorbed in her thoughts that she had to be called twice for An to catch her attention. "What?" Ryouko asked back, sounding a little distracted.

"Nothing. I'm just surprised that you stopped working. Is something wrong?" An querried for the second time.

"No, everything's fine." Ryouko said as she closed the laptop. She got up and went to her own bed. An was surprised when she started pulling a change of clothes from the bottom drawer of her bedside table.

Ryouko pulled a jacket over her shirt and put on a pair of long pants. She fixed her long hair into a ponytail and placed a cap on her head.

"Are you going out?" An asked.

"Yeah. I'm going for a walk before preparing for the night training I scheduled with the boys. I need some space to think." Ryouko answered, tying the laces of her sports shoes.

An sighed internally. "Seriously Ryouko... You should give yourself a break. You even suffered from an injury today." She told her with a tone that is a little reprimanding.

"It was just a scratch." Ryouko answered. "And I'm making Shinji and Kajimoto-san take over for me at breakfast tomorrow so I can get some sleep. I can also ask Danchou for some help." She added. "I really can't afford to skip out tonight and tomorrow morning's training. We need all the free time we can get since the schedule is pretty tight."

"Well, I can understand what you're saying but the question is, are the boys alright with all of these training sessions? They're in this camp to have some fun. Aren't you being a bit unfair to them? They must also want a break." An told her.

"Don't worry. They trust me and I trust them. I'm positive that they understand why we have to work hard. After all, 'You reap what you sow'. We can't harvest any result without real hard work." Ryouko replied, pulling out the duffel bag where she keeps the agility training equipment from under her bed.

"Well... Just don't overdo it too much. Like what I always say, health is a vital part for an athlete too. You have to keep everything balanced." An told her.

"I'm keeping that in mind. I make sure that they still get enough rest." Ryouko pointed out, getting a little pissed off. It was as if An is criticizing her training techniques and Ryouko doesn't like it.