Waiting for classes to be over couldn't possibly be as painstaking as that day for three of Class 1-2's residents, but their reasons for such impatience are completely different.
"I want to get on the court as soon as possible!" Ryouko said inside her mind. It was just after Ryoma mentioned a tennis game that Ryouko realized how desperately she needs tennis as her leverage. Tennis would surely help her get back on track. Everything would be fine as soon as she gets her hand on a tennis racket.
On the other hand, Ryoma's thoughts are on a different page. "I want to get this over with as soon as possible!" he told himself, dotting on a blank page on his notebook with a ballpoint pen and almost boring a hole on it. He felt as if he would back down on his original plan if time keeps on delaying everything. Asking Ryouko to formally date should be easier than admitting to his feelings, however... he just cannot stop himself from being nervous.
Just a seat away, there is another who is also being tortured by the wait. "I want to follow them as soon as possible!" Mami screamed inside her mind. "Classes are a bore, classes are a hindrance! To hell with school!" she thought unreasonably, tapping her foot under her desk impatiently.
At last, the bell rang that signalled the end of the final class. Ryoma gestured to Ryouko that he would be heading out first and she should follow afterwards. If they kept on going home together from school, people might get certain ideas and that might increase the chances of creating another rumor. Goodness knows that they don't need another rumor to circulate around campus.
They conversed casually and Ryoma slipped a note on Ryouko's hand before he went out. He wrote that they should go to Den's tennis dome separately and meet by the entrance to avoid suspicion.
Meanwhile, Mami didn't notice anything strange with their conversation and missed Ryoma's note-slipping because Horio blocked her view. She was bewildered for a second that Ryoma and Ryouko are going home separately. What could be going on? She was sure they would head home together and go somewhere.
"Hmmm..." Mami hummed suspiciously and pulled on Miyako's arm. Miyako turned to her curiously and Mami proceeded to whisper something in her ear.
Shuu noticed the two girls whispering about and narrowed his eyes. His gut tells him that Mami is up to no-good once again. He gave an internal sigh. And here he thought she's behaving quite quietly these days... So it was the calm before the storm... Well, whatever it is about, he'd be sure to stop her this time before she causes trouble to whoever is the current target of her schemes.
Mami's scheme was pretty simple but it required the manpower of at least two people. Since Ryoma and Ryouko are going home separately, one should follow Fujioka Ryouko and another should keep an eye on Echizen Ryoma. If Mami's instinct proved true, they would be meeting together somewhere.
Miyako understood what Mami told her and gave a thumbs up. She volunteered to tail Ryouko, and Mami would be the one to follow Ryoma.
One might wonder why Mami and Miyako are overly interested in Ryoma and Ryouko's private lives when they supposedly has nothing to do with them nor do they have a right to meddle in their affairs.
The two girls have their own reasons that justified their actions. For Mami, those two are a source of artistic inspiration. By observing them, she could create better plots and scenarios for her stories and playwrights. As for Miyako, she was just in for the fun of it. A common ground between the two is their curiosity about Fujioka Ryouko's love life that stemmed out from being friends with her. To sum it up, they're just playing around. Ryoma and Ryouko would surely be frustrated if they learned about what the two girls are up to just to satisfy their own selfish motives.
However, tailing the two proved to be a lot more tedious than Mami and Miyako thought. For starters, Ryouko and Ryoma became aware halfway that they were being followed.
Ryoma was in no mood to confront whoever it is that was following him for he has more important things to prioritize. He made an attempt to lose the person by zigzagging though several alleys in town without slowing his pace. As the streets are frozen over, Mami was unable to keep up and ended up slipping on an icy sidewalk and hitting her behind hard. Fortunately, Shuu was also following her in an attempt to keep her from causing trouble.
It can be said that Mami asked for this karma to backfire on her and Shuu gave her a harsh scolding as he helped her get up. With this unfortunte situation, Ayase Mami was unable to continue her mission and Ryoma was able to drop home for a bit to change clothes and grab his tennis racket.
As she was being carried on piggyback by the grumbling Shuu, Mami wished that Miyako had better luck with Ryouko.
On the other hand, Miyako indeed had better luck because Ryouko didn't particularly mind being followed. She saw Miyako's reflection off the rearview mirror of a parked car and ruled her as harmless. There would be plenty of opportunities to lose her nosy friend so she went home firsthand to drop off her things and bring her personal racket.
Miyako stayed by the gates and waited for Ryouko to go out but it wasn't until fifteen minutes later when she noticed that Ryouko is oddly taking too long. "Maybe Mami-chan thought wrong and Ryouko-chan isn't planning on meeting Echizen-kun all along? In this case, I'll freeze in here waiting for nothing!" she thought, rubbing her hands together.
Suddenly, Miyako heard someone going out of the gates and she concealed herself before peeking out. She screamed out loud when she suddenly came face to face with Ryouko's red-headed cousin Ichidou.
"Licht told me there's someone suspicious lurking by the gates and I came all the way here to check. What a waste of time. It's just one of Ryouko's classmates..." Ichidou said, narrowing his emerald eyes at Miyako.
"Please! Can you not appear out of nowhere like that? You almost gave me a heart attack!" Miyako exclaimed, one hand on her chest.
"It's your fault for acting so sneaky. You must be up to something for you to be so surprised. What are you doing here anyway?" Ichidou said, rearranging the scarf around his neck.
Miyako was hesitant at first and she considered lying. "I... Well, I just..." she stammered and gave a sigh of surrender. She's no good at making up good excuses so she might as well just tell the truth. "I'm waiting for Ryouko-chan to come out..." she fessed up.
"She already did though..." Ichidou suddenly said.
"Eh?" Miyako replied in a surprised tone. "But I've been here all this time. How come I never saw her go out?" She stepped closer to Ichidou and peered at his face, her eyes demanding answers.
Ichidou leaned backwards and gave Miyako's forehead a quick flick to get her to back away. "Too close..." he said.
Miyako realized that her actions were improper and quickly pulled herself together. "Sorry about that... I was just... overly-excited..." she said and cleared her throat.
Ichidou raised an eyebrow at the gal with the shortish caramel-colored hair. It wasn't the first time he saw her but he remembered her to be a little more demure than this particular girl in front of him. Anyways, he should probably just answer so she'll go home. "Ryouko told us she has something to do and took the exit by the back garden... I did think it was strange for her to use the back exit... So it was to lose the person tailing her..." he answered matter-of-factly.
"I wasn't tailing her!" Miyako blurted out, faking an innocent tone.
Ichidou looked at her with an expression saying 'you're not fooling anyone with that'. Averting her gaze, Miyako admitted her guilt.
"Okay, I did follow her, but it was just to check whether she'll rendezvous with Echizen-kun somewhere... The two of them seem to be acting strangely right after she returned to school and my friend and I were just curious..." Miyako explained without beating around the bush.
Upon hearing that, Ichidou looked intrigued. "'Acting strange', you say? What kind of 'strange'?" he said, a kind of malicious glint surfacing in his green eyes.
Miyako absent-mindedly arranged the cap on her head and gave an honest answer. "Well... Strictly speaking, they're not really acting out of the ordinary but that in itself is suspicious because we just can't understand how they would remain the same after everything that happened in the camp and the festival... It's about time they actually start dating for real, or maybe they were already dating secretly but we don't really have any evide-" Miyako cut her own words short as she reminded herself of who she is talking to at the moment.
She gave a gasp and covered her mouth. She may have said a word too many! How can she babble on and on about Ryouko-chan and Echizen-kun in front of Ichidou-kun who is obviously one of the people who might be against them?
She looked at Ichidou with wide horrified grayish blue eyes. Ichidou almost laughed out loud at her expression and pursed his lips to keep a poker-face. This girl looked a bit thick in the head but she might actually be useful...
He surprised Miyako when he suddenly opened the gate and said, "Do you have some spare time?"
"Huh?" Miyako said, sounding confused. She obviously still haven't recovered from her thoughtless information leakage.
"If you have some spare time, would you mind joining me for a cup of tea?" Ichidou told her, giving a smile that looked rather threatening to the nervous Miyako. However, she thought that it might do her more harm if she refuse so she answered a hesitant 'yes' and entered the gate.
~~~
Meanwhile, both Ryouko and Ryoma had reached Den's tennis dome, the place they visited with Jessica and Kevin that was located in the next town. There's a considerable distance from their neighborhood and the next town so there's less danger of them running into students from their school. The entrance fee and rental fees are also quite hefty for a normal junior highschool student's allowance to afford. That makes it a safer place for them to meet up.
As they brought their own rackets, they went straight to rent a single court and in about five minutes, they began warming up.
"Ahh, the sounds of the ball hitting the face of a racket, the feel of a court under my sneakers... I really missed this..." Ryouko murmured. Indeed, she felt at ease the most stepping into a tennis court.
She turned to Ryoma with a smile. "Even though I haven't played for a while, don't even think of going easy on me... I won't forgive you if you do that," she said teasingly.
"Don't worry..." Ryoma answered as he checked the tightness of the strings of his racket. "I'm not planning on holding back..." he added unsmilingly.
Ryouko blinked and wondered what might be wrong with him. He seemed to take a hundred and eighty degree turn of mood, suddenly becoming so serious compared to when they separated ways at school.
They agreed to self-judge and Ryouko was given the privilege to serve first. As she hit a normal speedy serve, Ryoma returned the ball quite viciously.
Ryouko was taken off guard. That was definitely a serious shot. Being true to his words, Ryoma is not holding back at all.
"Fifteen-love," Ryoma declared, keeping tabs on the score.
Ryouko got over her shock and a competitive glint settled on the surface of her rust-colored eyes. Time for her to get serious.
However, she was more out of shape than she originally thought. It had been a couple of weeks since she last played a game. The last one was her match with Keigo at camp. There was the one week during the festival that they did not have any training sessions and another week that she missed school and faked going missing. She was also sick for a period of time. Her condition is definitely handicapped but Ryoma did not show any signs of holding back. She did tell him not to go easy on her, but she was only half-joking about it. She was expecting a light and friendly game.
Ryoma scored another two points and counted 'forty-love' in his advantage. Annoyed, Ryouko mustered what remained of her current stamina and kept up with a really long rally, however, she messed up on a shot and lobbed a little too high. Ryoma hit a cyclone smash right past her.
Ryouko was positively flabbergasted. A cyclone smash in a friendly game? Is Ryoma screwing with her or what? Did he invite her to play so he can crush her miserably like this? And it's not as if he doesn't know that she haven't played for weeks!
Suddenly, she was distracted at Ryoma making a fist and yelling 'Yes!' with a pleased tone of voice. Ryouko gave a huff. He's that happy?
Ryouko's eyes darkened. "Why that little..." she hissed inside her head, quite annoyed. She thought that Ryoma had invited her for a game so he can help her relax but it seems she got it all wrong.
She glared at him as he started approaching the net and gestured for her to do the same. She stepped towards the net, dragging her feet and still glowering at his face.
He held out a hand towards her. "I won a love game fair and square," he said.
Ryouko was about to argue that it wasn't fair and square because she's not in her best condition but she doesn't want to seem unsportsman-like and petty by making such excuses. It was the first time ever that she didn't score even a point against him in one game. She never lost a love game against anyone except for his grandfather. The loss left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth but she accepted it like a good sportsman.
"I'll give you this one but I'll get you next time. Mark my words," she answered and clasped his hand.
Just when she was about to let go, Ryoma tightened his grip on her hand. "Actually, I..." he suddenly said, making Ryouko look up.
Ryouko blinked as she saw an unfamiliar look on his face. Ryoma looked somewhat reluctant and his cheeks are pink, but it might just be the result of the exercise.
Meanwhile, Ryoma swallowed first before continuing what he was trying to say. "I actually... told myself, before I asked you to go here with me, that if I don't win a love game against you, then I don't have the right to ask you this question..."
"What question?" Ryouko asked, a bit intrigued. It's the first time she saw Ryoma make such an expression.
"Will you..." he started and squeezed her hand. "Will you go out with me?" he finally said.
"Go out where?" Ryouko answered, blinking in confusion.
Ryoma looked at her and blinked back.
"Do you have somewhere else you want to visit after this?" Ryouko asked.
Ryoma himself became confused for a moment then he shook his head. "No, not that kind of 'going out'... What I mean is..." he stammered and couldn't help but place his free hand over his forehead, laughing in a half-amused, half-exasperated manner.
"Ahh, I can't believe we're so similar..." he murmured under his breath, remembering his internet post from last night.
Ryouko looked quite at a loss for words as she stared at him in a calculating manner. She didn't know that Ryoma had some bipolar tendencies, acting chummy and friendly and sweet then competitive and cold and then laughing so suddenly like a lunatic. But even if he's a psycho, she still loves him so maybe she's the real abnormal one?
"What I mean is..." Ryoma said, ceasing his laughter. Because Ryouko had said the same thing he did to the commentor from last night, he no longer felt nervous. He took a step closer and took her hand in both of his. "Ryouko... Will you date me formally and be my girlfriend?" he asked shyly, looking into her eyes and biting his lower lip as he waited for an answer.
It took a couple of seconds for the words to register to Ryouko's brain. "Formally what?" she asked, wondering whether her ears are playing tricks on her.
"Formally date," Ryoma answered. "Formal dating... The official kind of dating?" he added, sounding unsure as if he also doesn't understand what he's saying.
Ryouko blinked a few times, making sense of the situation. It seemed like she didn't really have to wait so long for what she and Jessica wanted to actually happen. Alas, she is now saved from the risk of looking clingy and desperate on the event that she asks about it first.
She gave a smile and lifted her eyes to Ryoma's face which is now looking anxious and uneasy. She stared at him with a somewhat amused but delighted gaze without uttering a word of response.
Ryoma began to squirm uneasily under her gaze. "Don't look at me like that..." he said, averting his eyes and looking embarrassed.
"They told me that I should ask to date formally, and that if I don't make it clear, it might make the relationship vague. This question had to be asked before I can actually call you my gi-" he stopped and covered his mouth with the back of one hand, "girlfriend..." he finished, the word muffled from behind his hand.
Ryouko let out a small laugh and decided to stop teasing him. "Strange enough, that's also what Jessica told me last night..." she answered.
Ryoma was surprised at what she said. "You talked with Jessica last night? The same Jessica we both know?" he asked.
"I only know one Jessica..." Ryouko remarked, squeezing his hand back. "I was at a loss on what to do about our situation since I don't really know anything about romantic relationships... So I asked for advice..." she explained, sounding a bit abashed to admit that she asked for romantic consultation from someone.
"And you told her about us? That's surprising... I thought you don't want to risk anyone knowing..." Ryoma said. He was surprised but pleasantly surprised. It wasn't just him who was at a loss on what to do. Ryouko was also the same...
Ryouko crinkled her eyes in an adorable way and bit down on her lower lip before answering. "I didn't really have a choice. Jess seem to have a lot of experience on romance despite her age so she's the only person I thought of whom I can be comfortable enough to ask. And I'm not worried about telling her since she doesn't have any ties to our family... She also seem to be really open-minded, eager to give advices and can properly keep a secret. I thought I'm pretty smart, but when it comes to you, I feel so stupid..."
She let go of Ryoma's hand for a moment to go over the net. Then she held it back as she stepped close to him. "Of course I'll date you. In the case you don't ask me, I was prepared to ask you. After all, you have to take responsibility for making me into a fool..." she said, flicking a finger on his forehead.
Ryoma rubbed his forehead and made a face before smiling in trumph. "I'll gladly take responsibility. It's an honor to make the great Fujioka Ryouko into a fool..." he replied, teasing her back.
Ryouko laughed and playfully tried to kick him. Ryoma dodged and restrained her by going around at her back and putting his arms around her. Then he figured he shouldn't act that way in public and let go almost immediately.
"By the way, who's this 'they' that told you about asking me to formally date? I don't think you have anyone to ask about romantic advices..." Ryouko asked, genuinely intrigued about it.
Ryoma took someting from his pocket and showed her his phone and search history. "The internet people," he answered, sounding like a little kid.
Ryouko looked amused and pleasantly surprised. She laughed and pulled him close into a hug. "What am I supposed to do whenever you act this cute?" she said with a giggle.
Ryoma reddened at her sudden advances and looked around warily. "Hey, what if somebody see?" he whispered at her in a worried tone.
"It's okay... We're in the next town... There's no way someone from school would go all the way here to play tennis after a winter schoolday..." Ryouko said matter-of-factly, sounding confident and tightening her embrace.
Ryoma bit the inside of his cheek and silently admitted that she has a point. But he was still wary and reluctant when he lifted a hand to touch the back of her head.
"I'm really sorry..." Ryouko suddenly apologized, pressing the side of her face to Ryoma's shoulder.
"Why are you suddenly saying sorry?" he asked, glancing down at her and running a hand through her hair.
As he's almost a head taller than her, Ryouko looked up at his face. "Well, we've agreed about dating and all but neither you nor I can say anything about it... It's not as if you have some fault with that... It's all to comrpromise to my needs so my family won't catch us... So It's kinda unfair to you," she answered.
"Oh, it's just that?" Ryoma said with a smile. "I don't mind at all, keeping us a secret. Besides, both you and I aren't very fond of broadcasting what happens in our private lives, so it's not really a big deal..."
"Are you sure?" Ryouko asked, blinking in an innocent manner and looking so adorable that Ryoma almost melted.
"I'm sure..." he replied, hugging her tight and placing his chin on the side of her head.
"By the way..." Ryouko said. "If I were to ask you first about dating, would you think of me as clingy and desperate?"
"Of course not... Who told you that?" Ryoma replied.
"Jessica did... And she warned me many times not to ask first," Ryouko told him.
"In that case, she's not as knowledgeable as you thought she is since I would never think that..." Ryoma said and lowered his voice into a whisper so only she can hear him. "And also... I like it when you're clingy," he admitted coyly.
Ryouko giggled and gave him a light and playful punch in the stomach. Ryoma chuckled along with her.
All of a sudden, someone let out a whistle. "Hey Coach, I didn't know that this place have also become a famous dating spot for youngsters! You should've told me, I would've recommended this place to my son!" a middle-aged man called out as he passed by Ryoma and Ryouko's court with another younger male.
Ryoma and Ryouko abruptly let go of each other and looked at the by-passers with wide eyes. The younger guy laughed and made an apologetic gesture at the two of them. The older man caught their eyes and gave a wink. "Carry on, carry on... Don't mind these old men... We're just jealous..." he said playfully and gave another laugh as they disappeared into another part of the dome.
Ryoma suddenly felt tugging at the hem of his shirt. He looked sidewards and Ryouko who had the fabric of his shirt enclosed in one fist, tiptoed to his ear and whispered, "I think we should get out of here before I feel even more embarrassed. And I don't think we can visit this place in another month or so... This is humiliating..."
Ryoma pursed his lips to restrain a laugh but he silently agreed with her. "Come on... Pick up your things so we can go," he whispered back.
As Ryoma and Ryouko vacated their rented court, we zoom to the back of the court next to theirs and see some familiar faces... faces as frozen over as the roads outside.
Ryouko was indeed right to speculate that no one in Seishun would go to the next town to play tennis in Den's tennis dome but she forgot the fact that some people they know study in the school located in that town, a school called Fudoumine Junior High School.
And so we see Tachibana An, with Kamio Akira and Ibu Shinji who unfortunately chose that day to pool over the remaining of their allowances to rent a court in the famous tennis dome equipped with bath services and a jersey shop. Needless to say, they had been there even before Ryoma and Ryouko arrived. They were about to say hi just as the two finished warming up but the game suddenly started and so they quietly watched without having themselves known.
And now, they became the third batch of people, next to Ichidou and Jessica, to know about Fujioka Ryouko and Echizen Ryoma's current relationship status.
"Wow... I can't believe what I just witnessed..." Kamio commented, completely baffled.
"Neither do I. Though I thought them suspicious during camp, I didn't think it would be that serious..." An murmured. "Ryouko is always... a step ahead of me. Even though I'm supposed to be the older one..." she added, still out of it.
Kamio looked at his side and gave Ibu's arm a little pinch. "Oi... Shinji... Breathe, Shinji... Are you still alive?"
Indeed, Ibu Shinji was reduced into a hollow husk with eyes open staring into nothingness. For a moment, Kamio thought he would disintegrate to ashes just like in anime.
It looks like he would have to drag this hollow husk back to the Ibu's residence before he could proceed to walk An-chan home.
~~~
After escaping from Den's tennis dome, Ryouko and Ryoma decided that they had enough excitement for one day and braved the cold on the way home. Ryouko had insisted that they walk home instead of taking a bus that would stop near their neighborhood. That way, they would spend more time with each other.
But not even that distance seemed to be enough, for Ryouko thought that they still reached home too fast. They couldn't hold hands as soon as they entered the familiar landscape of their town. After all, they have to be more careful than most teenage couples.
After they both ate dinner and washed up, they exchanged good night messages and went to bed with their hearts full to the brim with warmth and sweetness.
The day that followed was Friday and it was the last free day of the Seigaku tennis club members for training would resume on Saturday. Thus Ryoma and Ryouko planned to spend their time together after class and hang out in the Fujioka mansion later. Ryouko told Ryoma that she has something interesting to show to him.
Meanwhile, they got through the classes and lessons and acted as normally as they could while avoiding even their hands grazing each other. Acting naturally is one thing, not reacting to skinship is another. Both of them do not have enough confidence that they could keep their smiles hidden with those subtle touches. And so they ended up placing some distance between the two of them, all for the sake of not getting found out.
When they had lunch together, Ryoma told Ryouko about being tailed by Mami after class yesterday. Ryouko also told him that she was followed by Miyako all the way to her house and that she had to leave the manor by the back exit to lose her.
"I wonder what they're up to..." Ryoma wondered aloud.
Ryouko chewed slowly and a thought hit her. She lowered her voice and said, "You don't think... that they suspect something?"
Ryoma shook his head. "There's no way... We've been hiding it well..."
"Hiding what well?" a cheerful voice said from behind Ryoma. The two of them almost jumped out of their skin.
The very people that they were talking about suddenly showed up behind them.
"Miyako," Ryouko breathed out, steadying her pulse.
"Ayase..." Ryoma said. Mami smiled at him in response.
"Aren't you going to eat lunch in the classroom?" Ryouko asked the two girls.
"We are... We're just going to buy dessert first..." Miyako answered.
Ryoma and Ryouko watched them warily from the corners of their eyes until they bought what they came for and vacated the cafeteria, waving at them as they go.
Ryouko lowered her voice once again and asked the same question. "You really think they don't suspect?"
Ryoma blinked deeply once. "I don't think so but let's be careful around them until we know for sure..."
However, they needn't go to such trouble because Mami and Miyako already satisfied their curiosity. They both know that Ryoma and Ryouko are indeed dating.
This is due to Ichidou telling Miyako about it yesterday when she got caught red-handed tailing Ryouko home. Miyako told Mami about it but excluded the detail that she heard it from Ichidou. She lied that she saw the two of them in the middle of what seemed to be a date.
As for Miyako lying to her best friend, she had a proper reason for doing so. She only told Mami about them dating so Mami would stop trying to catch Echizen-kun and Ryouko-chan by herself. Mami had to be kept at bay for Miyako to properly do her job.
As Miyako recalled the talk she had with Ichidou-kun over tea yesterday, she couldn't help but frown.
Flashback from yesterday afternoon, Fujioka Manor
Miyako followed Fujioka Ichidou inside the huge mansion, wondering whether she made the right decision to follow him inside.
After they got seated around a small table and tea was served by Ichidou himself, he opened the conversation and told Miyako that Ryouko and Ryoma are dating for real. Miyako pressed him for details about how he was so sure about it but got flat-out rejected.
"You don't need to know how I came to know about it," Ichidou snapped, sounding a bit bitter.
Miyako shrunk in her chair and proceeded to sip tea from the delicate China cup. She had thought before that this boy is particularly short-tempered compared to Ryouko's other cousins that they have met so far but she didn't expect him to throw his temper around complete strangers as well.
"Well, I'll get straight to business... I invited you here because I think you can help me with something..." Ichidou suddenly said, cutting into Miyako's thoughts.
"Me?" Miyako said incredulously, pointing at herself.
"No, that vase on your right," Ichidou answered smilingly in a sarcastic tone, gesturing at the rose-filled porcelain jar and wiped the smile as abruptly as it appeared on his face. "Of course I'm talking about you. There's no one else here besides you and me," he added matter-of-factly.
Miyako made a face but kept her mouth shut. She should be the mature one and let him off the hook. Still, it surprised her how different the Fujioka cousins act whenever Ryouko-chan is around compared to when she's nowhere in sight... Hotaru showed them the same haughty attitude. "These cousins have serious problems..." she thought, shaking her head internally.
Well, she might as well ask him what he wants so that she can go home. "So what is it that I can do for you, your highness?" she asked, unable to keep the sarcasm from her voice.
It was at that moment that Ichidou realized that he's unintentionally picking on the girl because of his bad mood. He cleared his throat and talked in a more levelled tone.
"You see, I'm a little worried about Ryouko dating Ryoma because if they get found out, Ryouko might be taken away and forced to go back to England. I'm sure the two of them are keeping this in mind but still, it's not as if they can control how they act around each other at all times... So I need a pair of eyes and ears that can survey them in school, keep them on track and ward away any strange rumors about them," Ichidou explained. His forehead furrowed as he continued. "Also... I still can't trust Ryoma that well yet... Not after what I saw..." he added with a lower tone of voice.
"What was it that you saw?" Miyako asked, quite intrigued.
"I told you, you don't need to know..." Ichidou said, treating Miyako to one of his fake smiles once again.
Miyako frowned in response. "So are you asking me to be your 'eyes and ears' whenever the two of them are in school?"
"Indeed," Ichidou answered. "As for what you can get in return, I'm willing to pay any price you name and you'll satisfy your own curiosity at the same time... I don't think it's a bad deal for you..." He brandished his business smile at her.
Miyako took a butter cookie from the plate in front of her and studied Ichidou's fake smile. It's a pity that Ichidou-kun is nowhere near the level of his handsome twin brothers. She would've said yes without any compensation if Tetsuya-senpai or Tatsuya-senpai asked her a favor.
"My services won't come cheap," Miyako declared.
"I told you to name your price..." Ichidou replied with a shrug.
Their talk ended with a definite price for every day of service that Miyako would provide and Ichidou gave a condition that she would keep their transactions a secret from anyone, even to her best buddy Ayase Mami.
Miyako was hesitant to agree at first for she never kept a secret from Mami before. But when she was negotiating with Ichidou about it, the redhead commented that she might be uneasy not to tell Mami because she's not capable anough to handle the job on her own. Offended, Miyako told him that she accepts the condition and that she would show him personally that she doesn't need Mami to get the job done.
After that, Ichidou drafted an actual contract and had Miyako sign. She signed without any second thoughts and the agreement was sealed. However, once she snapped out of her senses, Miyako regretted everything. She stood by the gate completely dumb-founded at how impulsive she had been. Somehow, she felt like she just entered a contract with the devil himself.
Thus, that day was the start of Miyako's 'spy' job. Ichidou sent her a text message every two hours, demanding information on how Ryouko and Ryoma are faring.
"This jerk..." Miyako said as she typed up a reply inside the girl's bathroom. "Just because he has nothing to do all day, he kept on asking for non-existent updates!" she hissed under her breath.
It was only several hours since she entered into this so-called contract and she's regretting her actions even more.
Miyako had only properly exchanged a conversation with him yesterday but she's sure about one thing. He's rude and his temper is as fiery as his red hair. Fujioka Ichidou is so not cute! She's positive that he's going to make her life miserable!
As she went home with Mami that day, she kept on murmuring under her breath. "One month..." she told herself. "It's only for one month and that stupid contract would be null and void... Hang in there for one month... One month..." she said over and over to calm herself.
Mami casted her a curious side glance, the beginning of what would be a supposed crisis in their deep-rooted friendship.
~~~
After classes, Ryoma just dropped by his house to get changed and quickly went to the Fujioka manor afterwards. Ryouko received him warmly into the house personally and led him to her room.
She went down to fix them a snack and returned with tea and freshly-baked biscuits.
"Straight from the oven..." she told him as she set the platter down on the small table in her rom. "I baked these in a hurry but I'm sure they turned out edible..." she added.
Ryoma narrowed his eyes at her. "Stop trying to act all humble... You know you'll never mess up with mere biscuits since you're a good cook..."
Ryouko smirked in response. "You know me too well..." she commented.
Ryoma reached over for a biscuit and asked, "Where's Licht? Why did you answer the door yourself?"
"Licht is out shopping and I haven't seen Ichi anywhere so I'm guessing he tagged along to the supermarket..." Ryouko answered.
Upon hearing her answer, Ryoma choked on the biscuit. Is she saying that they're totally alone in the house at the moment? Yet, she led him to her room and not in the large living room downstairs?
"Hey, slow down on the pastry... No one's taking it from you..." Ryouko said and went behind him to pat his back.
He took a cup of tea and tried to swallow the biscuit with it. "Hey that's-" Ryouko said but was cut off by Ryoma blanching and spitting the tea out back to the cup.
'-hot..." Ryouko finished. She gave a small sigh of exasperation as she took several tissue papers from a box by the bedside table and gave them to Ryoma for him to wipe his mouth with. He coughed as he dabbed the tissue on his lips.
"You are so clumsy... What's gotten into you?" Ryouko commented, switching Ryoma's cup with a clean one. It was a good thing she carried an extra cup.
Ryoma coughed again and cleared his throat. "Well, I'm just not expecting for you to be home alone..." he said and stood up. "We better change venue and hang out downstairs..."
"But it's cold downstairs... My room's heating system is the best in the house..." Ryouko pointed out and pulled on his hand to make him sit back down.
Sitting with his back rested on the bed, Ryoma glowered at Ryouko with a calculating look. "Are you saying, that you're totally fine with the two of us staying in your room, with no Licht nor Ichidou in the house?"
"Sure, why not?" Ryouko answered, munching on a biscuit.
Ryoma frowned at her answer. In this case, nothing's really changed between them... Is Ryouko seriously thinking of him as a proper boyfriend? How come she seems totally fine about this situation? Ever since he discovered his feelings for her, he had been scared of staying with her in one room and yet... They're officially dating now and she's still like this? Does it really not bother her or does she trust him so much that he won't try anything funny?
However, in reality, Ryouko wasn't really thinking anything. She just want to spend quality time with Ryoma and wanted to show him something that her mother showed her during their last tea time together before she and her Dad went back to England.
She crawled on her warm carpet and took an album placed inside the lowest drawer of her dresser. "Take a look at this..." she said and flopped down the cushion by Ryoma's side.
As she sat too close to him, Ryoma moved a few inches away and kept a good half an arm's length between them. However, Ryouko closed the gap and opened the album, placing it on half his lap and half her lap.
"I never really browsed through my baby pictures, but it turned out there are a lot of photos in here with both you and me on them..." Ryouko said.
Intrigued, Ryoma got distracted and didn't mind the fact the they're practically glued side to side.
"Are you saying that this one is me?" Ryoma pointed at a baby in red and white overalls beside another baby in a teddy bear onesie.
Ryouko nodded and smiled. "Mom said that we first met each other when we were about a year old... We were both chubby with dark hair so whenever she and Rin-chan goes out to shop for clothes, she said that we always get mistaken for twins..."
"I don't think I like that trivia..." Ryoma commented and moved on to another photo.
"This one... we were about two... Since a lot of my parents' work involved America during that time, they frequently flew there and met with your parents... We were always dragged around since both mothers refuse to skip even a session of breast-feeding. We were raised with such care..." Ryouko told him.
"We owe our mothers for growing up so strong then..." Ryoma remarked.
Suddenly, he found a familiar photo and said, "This one, I remember... That time on the beach when you tore your dress by the bushes because of some shell, and you told me to help you hide..." He gave a small smile at the nostalgic memory.
"Thinking about it, you've been helping me hide ever since we were little..." Ryouko commented.
As they talked about every photo on the album, they laughed and leaned on each other comfortably with their backs rested on the side of the bed. Ryouko impulsively rested her head on Ryoma's shoulder and Ryoma unconsciously placed an arm around her shoulders to support her.
"And this one..." Ryouko said, chuckling in amusement. "You were so scared of the clown in that party. You practically ran to me in tears..."
"I can't help it. Clowns were scary back then... I was six," Ryoma said, defending his younger self.
"I was six as well and I wasn't scared," Ryouko told him in a teasing tone.
"No, but you were scared of dolls, even though they looked like you," Ryoma teased back.
Ryouko had her head rested by his chest and she gave him a small pinch on the neck.
"Hey!" Ryoma said and gave her arm a light slap in revenge.
Then they laughed at their childishness and snuggled closer together, with Ryoma pressing his cheek on the top of her head.
Ryouko shifted slightly and ended up looking up at him and Ryoma looked down and met her eyes. They went silent as they realized the situation they placed themselves in and Ryouko became self-conscious of Ryoma's arm wrapped around her shoulders.
They stared at each other for a second and both felt their pulse quicken. Ryoma began to lean down and Ryouko tilted her chin and closed her eyes when-
'Tok, tok, tok' Came the knock on the door.
"Ryouko-chan! I just came from the spermarket! They had the brand of cookies I was looking for!" Ichidou announced as he barged though the door, brandishing a pack of the said cookies.
Ichidou blinked at the sight that greeted him. Ryoma was by the bed browsing through a photo album and Ryouko was by the table a couple of feet away, pouring tea on two cups.
"Oh, you're here?" Ichidou said, looking at Ryoma.
Ryoma nodded and closed the photo album. "Just came to hang out..." he told Ichidou.
"Training resumes tomorrow so it's our last chance to goof around..." Ryouko added.
Ichidou blinked at them, shrugged, snatched a cushion from the foot of Ryouko's bed and flopped down on it. "Let's eat some cookies!" he said in a delighted tone.
"That goes well with warm milk... Let me get some..." Ryouko said and stood up.
"I'll help," Ryoma remarked but Ryouko told him to stay. "You're a guest... So just sit down and rest," she said.
As Ryouko went downstairs to fetch some milk, Ichidou opened the pack of cookies and placed them on the empty biscuit platter.
He offered one to Ryoma and the latter took a piece, mumbling 'thanks' under his breath. They munched on the cookies in silence for several awkward minutes when Ryoma suddenly caught Ichidou glaring at him.
But he didn't have any chance to look twice because Ryouko had arrived with a pitcher of milk and three tall glasses. Ryoma quickly picked himself up from the floor and gave her a hand.
"I told you I should help... What if you fell down on your way here carrying all of these?" Ryoma scolded as he took the glasses from her.
"But I didn't fall down..." Ryouko pointed out.
"I said 'what if'... You should always be careful..." Ryoma told her.
Ichidou surveyed them with dead fish eyes, nibbling on the rounded end of his fourth cookie.
"The two of you..." he suddenly said with a tone that made the hairs on the back of Ryoma and Ryouko's necks to stand on ends. "...are kinda more considerate to each other..." he finished and the two heaved internal sighs of relief.
"Not really..." Ryoma said.
"I think we're the same as always..." Ryouko added.
"No..." Ichidou said. "Ryoma is definitely more considerate of Ryouko-chan now... You wouldn't have fussed over such a minor thing like fetching glasses before... And you're also being overprotective..." he continued.
Ryoma and Ryouko stayed silent and busied themselves with the milk and cookies but they couldn't stop their cheeks from glowing pinkish.
Ichidou narrowed his eyes at their pink cheeks and thought, "Ohh, just look at them blushing at one single innocent comment... In this case, it's only a matter of time before they get found out... Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
He glanced at Ryoma and cursed him in his mind. "You wolf in sheep's clothing! You look all fluffy and innocent but you're actually a kiss maniac! You should've waited at least a few months! Why are you in such a hurry? It's highly unlikely, but in the situation that it was Ryouko-chan who wanted to kiss, you should have had the sense to stop her! It takes two hands to clap but you're still the one to blame!" he told himself, wrapping his head in unreasonable and biased thoughts.
After finishing the cookies, Ryoma mentioned that he should be heading home soon since he has to buy dinner for himself and feed Karupin. As he got ready to go downstairs, Ryouko said that she's feeling stuffy and wants to take a walk outside.
With that, they successfully escaped the Fujioka manor with Ichidou narrowing his eyes at their backs from the balcony. As they walked side by side, not daring to hold hands for the sake of being careful, Ryoma told Ryouko that Ichidou is kind of acting hostile towards him.
"But isn't your relatonship with Ichi much better now than before?" Ryouko asked, tugging at her scarf.
"I thought so as well, but I was positive I caught him glaring at me earlier..." Ryoma said, a thoughtful line furrowing on his forehead.
"You probably saw wrong... Ichi has no reason to glare at you..." Ryouko commented in a confident tone.
"Maybe I did see wrongly..." Ryoma murmured, trying to recall the earlier scenario more vividly.
They reached Ryoma's house a few minutes later and faced each other for a proper goodbye. "I'll see you at school tomorrow..." Ryoma said, reaching a hand to her head and brushing off a snowflake that got stuck on her cap.
Ryouko nodded and smiled. "I'll see you at school..." she said and turned around to leave. But she stopped in midstep and turned back. After looking around from right to left, she wrapped her arms around Ryoma's neck.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Ryoma said, trying to untangle her arms from him.
"No one's around... I checked..." she told him and stood on tiptoe to whisper near his ear. "'That' in my room earlier, before Ichi barged inside... Can we continue... where we left off?"
She placed her feet back flat on the icy ground and looked at him meaningfully.
Ryoma bit down on his lower lip and looked at her shyly. "Can we, really?" he asked, a bit hesistant.
Ryouko took a hand off from his neck and placed a forefinger on her lips, stars dancing on her rust-colored eyes. "Just a very quick one... To help me get a good night's sleep..." she said coyly and pulled on Ryoma's scarf to force him to lean down.
Ryoma gave a small laugh before planting his lips on hers. Their cold lips blown by the winter air gradually turned warmer with each other's body warmth. What was supposed to be a 'quick one' lasted three seconds.
When they pulled away from each other, Ryouko opened her eyes, chuckled and quickly ran away. "See you at school!" she yelled without turning around.
"Don't run! You'll trip!" Ryoma called out to her and she looked over her shoulder, and blew him a kiss before disappearing at the next corner.
Ryoma gave a pleased huff and shook his head helplessly. What should he do when she acts that cute?
But all of a sudden, cold ice water was thrown over his supposedly sweet and warm night when a familiar voice came from behind the light post. "Umm... Ryo...ma-san?"
He slowly turned his head to the direction of the voice and a lady in a purple winter coat and pink scarf stepped out from behind the shadows. She is none other than Meino Nanako, Ryoma's only cousin.
"I was... not spying on purpose..." she said reluctantly, her cheeks flushed. "I just... didn't come out because I thought I'd be interrupting your..." she cleared her throat and apologetically lifted a hand to her head whilst smiling in amusement.
Only one thing ran across Echizen Ryoma's mind at that moment.
"I'm screwed."
Dating secretly? 😂
How many people now knows about this 'secret' relationship? Someone please do a head count. 😅😂