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

CHAPTER 138: Reservation

He glanced at the clock and upon reading the time, he figured that his parents have let him sleep in. It was ten o'clock and usually, his father would be noisily calling him to breakfast at seven. But since it's his birthday, they must've let him slack off.

When he went downstairs to have something to eat, he was surprised with a party popper raining confetti all over him.

"Tanjoubi omedeto! (Happy Birthday!)" came the delighted cries of his mother and cousin.

Nanako held before him a strawberry cake while his mother has a couple of gift-wrapped boxes on her arms. Karupin mewed by their feet and seemed to be greeting Ryoma with birthday wishes of his own.

"Aren't I too old to be blowing out a birthday candle?" Ryoma said as he stared at the singular blue and white striped candle in the middle of the round cake.

"Nonsense. I don't want to hear that from a thirteen-year-old, and certainly no one is ever too old to be blowing out birthday candles," Nanako answered and almost shoved the cake towards him. "Hurry up, Ryoma-san... The candle's melting..."

With a shrug, Ryoma gave a blow and the candle snuffed out. It turned out that his unceremonious birthday is a little different this year.

"Happy thirteenth birthday, my dear son," Rinko said, holding out the two presents with each hand, opening her arms wide for a hug.

Ryoma returned the hug but when he broke away, he had successfully whiddled out the presents from his mother's hands. Rinko scowled a bit but was moderately amused at her son's uncharacteristic mischief. She watched with increasing amusement as Ryoma gave the boxes a tentative shake, holding them near both of his ears. She always appreciated the few moments that her son actually acts his age.

"Why would you shake those? What are you gonna do if there're fragile things inside?" Rinko commendted with a chuckle.

"It sounds nothing fragile," Ryoma answered matter-of-factly, piling one box over the other and continuing to shake them. He went to the table, took a seat and started tearing into the gift-wrap as Nanako started cutting the cake.

One of the gifts contained a fine maintenance set for his rackets, some replacement strings and a couple of headbands, one grey-colored and the other a bright red-orange. The next gift is a new headphone set for his music-appreciation. Leave it to his mother and cousin to choose practical items for a birthday gift.

"Thanks. I'll use them well," Ryoma told them, smiling good-naturedly. After that, Nanjiro was called to the table and they had a delicious brunch, Japanese-style as the birthday boy preferred. The four family members chatted casually during the meal and even Ryoma was joining in, responding with complete sentences instead of his usual phrases and solitary yes and no. It seemed that he's in quite a good mood that morning.

As she stared across the table at the animated bronze eyes of her son, Rinko felt quite pleased. Ryoma rarely smiles and engages in conversation but lately, he seemed to be more capable of making other facial expressions aside from his blank, uninterested one. She proved to herself that it was quite a good decision to migrate to Japan. When her husband brought up the matter last year, she was more doubtful than excited. Because their son spent most of his time with his father, training and playing tennis, he had grown into an empathically indifferent young lad with no interests other than sports and she was afraid he would have more trouble making friends in Japan. He had been born and raised in the US but he didn't seem to have many friends there. Since Ryouko was taken away, he did not show any regards for making new friends.

However, the move turned out to be providencial. He fit well in Seishun Academy better than he did in his school in America, the tennis club proved to be a healthy addition to his life by helping expand his social circle, and he even got to rekindle friendship with a long-lost childhood buddy.