-x-

Do you ever stop and wonder where this road will take you
What's around the corner, will it make or break you
Is this your destination
Or is it the start of something new (1)

-x-

Ryoma heaved a deep sigh. Usually, if he’d had breakfast already, he wouldn’t bother with lunch anymore. But today, because he woke up late, he had to skip breakfast to get to school on time. And today, of all days, the cafeteria had to be doubly packed.

‘Sheesh. I wonder if the entire school just happened to wake up late and skipped breakfast too.’ Ryoma thought idly, sizing up the line.

Just then, he noticed a familiar figure. Next in line to the cashier was unmistakably the school’s dubbed tennis genius- Fuji Syuusuke.

As if feeling someone’s eyes on him, Fuji turned around and flashed a smile when he spotted Ryoma, only to turn his attention back to the cashier when it was his turn to pay. He then headed to where the younger boy was as soon as he was done, two melon rolls and an apple juice on his hands.

“Heh… I didn’t know even a genius wakes up late and skips breakfast.”

Fuji chuckled.

“Saa. My thoughts exactly.” He countered, reminding the shorter one he was no less of a genius himself.

Resenting his inability to come up with something to retaliate- and shoving the blame on his empty stomach for affecting his brain- he resorted to the first reaction his hampered brain could process. He pouted.

“Che.”

Fuji tapped his head with one of the rolls.

“A peace offering.” He smiled sweetly.

And just when Ryoma’s hand was about to reach out for the presented bun, Fuji promptly added “To the angered princess.”

Right then and there Ryoma had decided to reject it. But the words ‘No thanks’ had barely escaped his lips when his stomach growled. Cursing his stomach, Ryoma learned the hard way never to skip breakfast again.

“I’ve never met a more insolent prince.” Ryoma retorted, but grabbed the offending roll anyway before trotting off.

--

With a bright gleam in his eyes, Eiji gazed at a form he had just filled out. It was almost complete, save for the only remaining blank- the one at the top of the page labeled “First choice”.

Giggling, he carefully wrote down the name of a school, making sure it was his best penmanship and the cleanest possible. After finishing the last character down to the very last stroke, he nodded with satisfaction then carefully folded the application form and tucked it in his bag.

“Hmmm… So that’s the college Eiji is aiming for.”

“Gya!” Eiji jumped and almost fell off his seat, startled by the voice that came from behind. “Fu… Fuji! Don’t scare me like that! My poor heart…” He clutched his chest theatrically.

He was so engrossed in what he was doing, he hadn’t noticed his best friend’s presence at all. Then he remembered why he was so preoccupied in the first place. He bounced up and down his seat, making the chair wobble.

“Na, na, Fuji! I’m handing in my college selection form today, and I’m really excited! Can you guess why? Can you guess why?”

He tugged on Fuji’s dark sleeve like a child.

“Hm…” Fuji closed his eyes with a cheerful face, his free hand pressing his index finger on his cheek while the other still held his lunch. “I wonder…”

Too excited to wait, he eagerly asked. “Give up?”

Fuji laughed, playing along. “Yes, I give up.”

“Because Oishi and I are going to the same college!” Eiji yelled, raising his arms in the air.

“Eh?” Fuji looked puzzled.

His excitement faded a little seeing Fuji’s reaction. Eiji peered curiously at the other boy’s face. “Fuji?”

“Ah, no… It’s nothing. It’s just, I thought Oishi was aiming for a national university. Like Tezuka.” Fuji muttered pensively.

Eiji frowned. “No way. Oishi said so himself! He promised we’d stay together even after high school. He did!” He answered defensively.

Fuji sighed, seeing the cheerful atmosphere around Eiji rapidly dissipating. Unable to bear seeing his best friend’s downcast face, looking like he’s about to cry, Fuji squatted beside the other boy’s desk then patted his head.

“Eiji, aren’t you always the first one to believe in what Oishi says? No matter what?”

Eiji briefly bit his lower lip, then finally faced the other boy. Seeing his smiling face, he couldn’t help but grin back.

“Mm!”

Satisfied with the reply. Fuji retreated to his own desk, which was right behind Eiji’s, and turned his attention to his neglected lunch. Eiji wasn’t sure if he had imagined it, but it seemed as though Fuji smiled at the melon roll before tearing open the wrapper. As the other boy blissfully munched away, Eiji wondered if it was actually that tasty. He suddenly felt hungry again even though he had already finished his own lunch.

Sensing Eiji’s stare, Fuji stopped right before taking another bite. Grinning, he cut the roll in two and gave away half of it. “Here. You can have that. I can’t finish it anyway.”

Remembering how Fuji could barely finish even the finger sandwiches his mother sometimes prepares for him, and always ends up sharing it with Eiji, erased the latter’s guilty feelings from taking the offered portion.

“You’re the best, Fuji!”

As he chewed the roll, the filling oozed into his tongue. The cold cream perfectly complemented the fragrant, freshly baked bun and the sweetness was just right. Now he knew why it was the most popular snack in the campus.

“No wonder this is Ochibi’s favorite.” He uttered as he tossed the rest into his mouth and licked the tips of his thumb and index finger.

“Oh, is it?” Fuji glanced at him in the middle of unwrapping the straw for his apple juice.

“Yup! He doesn’t eat school food that often, but whenever he does, it’s always just that. Come to think of it, I think I saw him with another one when he passed by our classroom on his way to the rooftop.”

Fuji wordlessly popped the straw into his juice as the Eiji ranted on and on.

“Well, at least I’m glad to know the little one ate something. Do you remember? I told you this morning that I saw him from this window running across the school grounds. He probably rushed to school and didn’t have anything for breakfast. And that’s no good! Our Ochibi needs too eat to grow taller! Well, not that I’ll complain if he doesn’t because right now he’s just about as big as my teddy bear! The perfect size for cuddling!”

He sniggered, wrapping his arms around an imaginary object.

“Still… Fuji, you took such a long time to come back. There was probably a long line, right? But to think Ochibi would actually be patient enough to line up for that… Nah, don’t think so. Someone else probably got it for him. Like Momo or one of the ichinen trio or something.”

With a knowing smile, Fuji looked out the window as he continued to sip his apple juice.

“Achoo!”

Up on the rooftop, Ryoma’s sneeze shattered the silence. He rubbed his nose, sniffling. It was supposed to late Spring already yet it was still unbearably cold. Thinking on it but not really caring whether he figured it out or not, he continued to chomp on his melon roll and finished it just right before the bell for the next period rang.

--

As it was raining pretty heavily, Ryoma wasn’t surprised to hear that tennis practice was cancelled, so it wasn’t unexpected to see Oishi in the library. It’s just, other than Tezuka, he rarely ever saw the other members venture into this part of the school. Seeing the vice captain there was a first for him.

Not that the older boy gave the impression of indifference towards books. Rather, he was just too busy juggling tennis club and student council activities to drop by. He seemed to be immersed in a sheet of paper clasped in both hands and looked somewhat torn for a moment, before his face straightened as if he had made up his mind.

Not wanting to bother him since he looked deep in thought, Ryoma moved along. With a light pile of books in his arms, he headed for the home economics section to put the recipe books back into their respective shelves.

A mop of sunny gold hair caught his attention. The light colored locks stood out as it clashed with their dark uniform. The boy was reaching for a book on one of the upper shelves.

‘If Kevin was a student here, he’d probably look like that.’

Finally discerning Ryoma’s presence, the boy turned to him, blinking owlishly. Ryoma blinked back before his mind clicked and he remembered the broken stepladder. He nonchalantly wondered how a school rich enough to afford huge tennis grounds and the latest sports equipment could possibly lack budget for a meager stepladder. Of course, he would have considered offering to help had it not been a ridiculous idea, seeing he was about the same height as the other, if not shorter.

“ ‘Quick and Easy Japanese Homestyle Cooking’… Is that what you wanted?”

Ryoma heard Eiji’s lively voice as the older guy walked past him and approached the third boy. With his height, he effortlessly reached for the aforementioned book on the top shelf and handed it to the blonde kid.

“Th… Thank you.” The boy timidly stammered in a weird accent.

“No problemo!” Eiji beamed proudly, before turning to Ryoma.

“But really, Echizen, how mean. Why didn’t you help him?”

“Kikumaru-senpai, I’m surprised that you actually do know my name.” Ryoma sighed then walked towards their subject of conversation and stood right beside him. He gave a scolding look to the very person who baptized him with the name ‘Ochibi’.

“Now tell me, senpai. Between the two of us, who’s lacking more on the height department?”

“Oops.” Eiji stuck his tongue out, smiling sheepishly.

In the corner of his eye, Ryoma noticed how their little banter seemed to ease tenseness, which was visible in the other boy’s face earlier. Eiji seemed to have noticed too, as he flashed a smile and extended his arm to him.

“Kikumaru Eiji. Nice to meet you.”

The other boy shook his outstretched hand and grinned back. “Um… Ono Haruhi. Pleased to meet you.”

“And this little one here is Ochi…”

“Echizen Ryoma.” Ryoma cut in before Eiji could spread his evil nickname any further. Unable to shake hands as he still had the books in his arms, Ryoma settled for a nod, and Haruhi politely returned the gesture before walking off.

“Oh yeah, Ochibi, have you seen Oishi? I remember him mentioning the library at the club room after Ryuzaki-sensei dismissed us.” Eiji asked offhandedly, looking around.

“Ah, he was by the biology section. Corner desk right beside the window.” Ryoma nodded to the right, to the direction where he last saw Oishi.

“Ah! There he is. Great! Thanks!”

Eiji steadily walked towards the other senior. As the hyperactive ball of bottomless energy got closer to his target, his pace lessened until he was just tiptoeing. Ignoring Eiji’s antics, Ryoma turned his attention to the unsuspecting Oishi.

He observed that the tennis club’s vice captain was still looking at the same piece of paper he had been earlier. He wondered if the contents really bothered his motherly senior that much. But seeing Eiji get closer and closer to Oishi, Ryoma couldn’t help but feel slightly relieved.

After all, the one person who knew how to make all of Oishi’s troubles go away was his other half in their legendary duo.

At least, that was what Ryoma thought before Eiji froze in place as soon as he got to Oishi’s side. Far from his playful demeanor just seconds ago, Eiji’s eyes were wide with shock, before his face contorted in anger.

“Oishi…”

Unable to spot the other boy’s approaching figure at all, Oishi was equally surprised to see Eiji there. But he noticed him a little too late. After bellowing “Oishi, you idiot!” he swiftly dashed for the exit.

“You there! No running in the library!” The librarian roared after Eiji.

Ryoma thought it was probably useless, because in his furious state, he doubted Eiji would care. Turning his eyes to the other person involved, Oishi looked so helpless as his shoulders slumped and he plopped down on the chair. Deciding to shove the recipe books on a random space in the shelves, the younger boy walked towards his senior.

“Oishi-senpai, what was that about?”

“E… Echizen. So you saw that just now, huh.” Oishi sighed, traces of exhaustion visible on his gentle face. He then handed a form to Ryoma- the very same one he had seen Oishi looking at since the start of his library rep shift.

“It’s all because of this.”

“Tokyo University application form?”

“When the school choice forms were handed out, Eiji asked me which college I wanted to go to. If I had told him that I wanted to go to TokyoDai, Eiji would have aimed for the same place without hesitation. But that’s precisely the problem. I know which school he really wants to go to, but between the school and being with me…”

“Kikumaru-senpai would have, without fail, chosen to be with Oishi-senpai…” Ryoma unconsciously voiced out his thoughts.

“Damn it. I’ve really done it this time…” Oishi exhaled, resting his head in both hands.

It was the first time Ryoma ever heard the well-mannered boy curse, but he stayed by his side and listened without batting an eye.

--

“Just as I thought…” Fuji mumbled, looking grave, as he hung the silver cordless handset on its base on the wall. He had just finished his conversation with Eiji, which was mostly one-sided, where the other party had whined to him about the events that took place at the library earlier.

It had been almost an hour ago when the phone rang while he was in the middle of watering his potted cacti on the windowsill. He picked up the beige mini sprinkler with an intricate white rose design near the base and resumed his task. He looked out the window and briefly admired the sunset when he noticed a rainbow.

“How pretty…” He instinctively reached for his Leica before turning the rod that closes the blinds.

He walked out of his dimmed room and sauntered down the stairs. As he reached the bottom, the door opened and his sister walked in.

“I’m home.” She announced to no one in particular as she closed the door behind her.

“Ah, Syuusuke. There you are. Is everyone home?” She asked as she took off her white lacquer-finish pumps and put them in the shoe cupboard.

“Yup. Mom’s in the kitchen and Dad’s in his study. Yuuta’s not coming home tonight.” The younger Fuji replied as he took his sister’s brown coat hanging from one arm and hung it in the coat rack before taking his own chocolate brown jacket.

“I see. Where are you going?”

“I’m just going out to take a picture of the rainbow before it fades then I’m going to Eiji’s.” He answered offhandedly as he donned his jacket. “He’s kind of upset about something so I’ll hang out at his place for a bit. Neesan, I have my house key so please don’t wait up for me.”

“Gotcha. Oh, Syuusuke, bring a towel with you.”

“Hai?” Syuusuke tilted his head to the side. “Neesan, Eiji’s pretty depressed but I really don’t think he’ll cry that much.”

“Not that, silly. It’s cold outside so bring a towel, ne?” Yumiko flashed her notorious ultra-sweet smile before trotting off to the kitchen. “Mommy dear! What’s for dinner?”

Fuji could only gape.

Not an umbrella. Not a jacket. Of all things, his sister had to tell him to bring a towel. He mused that it was a good thing he had his camera bag with him. It would have been odd to walk around carrying a towel.

--

Even as Ryoma got home, what took place at the library still followed him. Unable to take it off his mind, he rummaged through his cupboard, ignoring Karupin who had been pawing and meowing at his feet, occasionally rubbing its furry head against his legs. Random things went flying across his room until he finally found what it was that he was searching for.

“Got it.”

He grinned with satisfaction as he looked at a protection charm in his hand. On the day of his flight back to America three years ago, Oishi had given him what was called an omamori. He had kept it with him ever since, especially whenever he went on a trip, as that was what the charm was supposedly for. At least, according to what his cousin said anyway.

Ryoma reached for his school bag and opened it. However, before he could even put the charm in, Karupin snatched it and ran away.

“Karupin!”

Ryoma sorely regretted his habit of leaving his bedroom door open. He chased the feline all the way down the stairs, into the kitchen, round and round the living room, until the front door opened and his father walked in.

“I’m home.” He boisterously yelled.

Karupin seized that opportunity and ran out the door.

“Ah! Stupid old man!”

Ryoma frantically tore past Nanjiro and went out to the sunset painted streets.

“What did I do this time?” Nanjiroh whined, lazily scratching his stomach barely covered by his tattered yukata

--

‘Impudent feline. See what I’ll do to your catnip when we get home.’

All sorts of sinister plot towards the favorite toy’s untimely demise ran through Ryoma’s head as he continued to chase his cat. He knew it was his bad for not playing with the spoiled pet when it demanded his attention, but still… His train of thought halted when Karupin jumped into one of the bushes and headed straight for the riverbank.

Ryoma squatted behind shrubbery, waiting for Karupin to let its guard down before sneaking an attack. Just as he had figured, Karupin eventually settled on the sloping lawn then blissfully played with the stolen item.

As swiftly as he could, Ryoma jumped out of the shrubs and grabbed a hold of the protection charm. After successfully retrieving it and safely tucking it in his pocket, Ryoma thought to himself ‘Mission accomplished!”

So he assumed, one second before the slippery grass underneath his feet betrayed him.

As a result of the earlier downpour, the grass was still wet causing him to slip and fall into the shallow river, inelegantly landing on his butt. With a colorful line of curses running through his mind, Ryoma grudgingly pushed himself up.

The water he fell on was knee high so it was almost like plunging into a tub, the only difference being arctic waters instead of a nice warm bath. A cold wind blew, making him sneeze. While rubbing his nose, he suddenly heard something flutter above him before he felt its weight on his shoulders. A fluffy fiber tickled his nape.

Looking up, he was surprised to see an all too familiar smiling face.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, sniffing unflappably, before shifting his gaze to the little fur ball behind Fuji.

He glared at the little one, making it jump into the older boy’s arms. Fuji caught Karupin smoothly, as if he had done it so often until it became a habit.

“Good evening to you too, Echizen.” Fuji smiled pleasantly, scratching the back of Karupin’s ears. “I was just on my way back from Eiji’s place when I saw you squatting behind the bushes. I was curious, so I decided to watch you from a distance. All of a sudden you just jumped in then I heard a splash.”

‘Geh. I wonder if anyone else saw…’ Ryoma inwardly cringed.

“Still, wandering around my part of the neighborhood conveniently carrying a towel when I coincidentally needed one… Fuji-senpai, I’m starting to think you’re hanging around Inui-senpai a little too often.”

“Saa… It’s cold outside.” Fuji blithely echoed his sister’s words, who made him lug the towel in the first place.

“I didn’t know it’s your habit to bring a towel with you whenever it’s cold out side, Fuji-senpai.” Ryoma smirked.

“I didn’t know you had the habit of swimming in random rivers when it’s cold outside, Echizen.” The older boy threw right back at him.

Once again failing to come up with a retort, Ryoma huffed. He reluctantly rubbed his arms and legs with the towel before wrapping it around his shoulders in an attempt to warm himself albeit thoroughly soaked clothes.

“Thanks, Fuji-senpai. I’ll give this back to you after it’s been washed.” He spoke in an honest, childlike tone and briefly flashed a smile to the older boy before walking up the slanted riverbank, this time careful enough not to slip.

Karupin hopped off Fuji’s arms and leapt into his, meowing apologetically. Seeing his cat looking regretful for what he did, all evil thoughts harbored towards the catnip evaporated as Ryoma held his pet.

--

After being reprimanded by the librarian for half an hour for not putting the recipe books back to where they should have been, Ryoma’s ears kept ringing as he started on his library rep duties. He was thinking of asking if he could get off early but the idea flew out the window as soon as he met with the librarian’s deathly glare upon stepping in.

He wanted to talk to Oishi about something, but since he failed to find him during lunch, he had to put it off until after classes. He was going to try to catch him after club activities but with the amount of books he had to put back, it looked like he wouldn’t be able to do that either. He never expected to see Oishi in the same desk, at the same window spot, with the exact same spaced out expression as he had the day before.

Only this time, he wasn’t looking at a piece of paper but out the window. And with the weather being devoid of rain clouds, Ryoma knew that practice was far from cancelled.

‘That’s rare… Someone like him skipping practice…’

Then, remembering why he had wanted to talk to Oishi, Ryoma decided to grab his chance and approached the vice captain.

“Oishi-senpai. Can I ask you something?”

Oishi jerked, as if he had just been roused from a light nap.

“E… Echizen. Sorry, do you need something?”

Ryoma reached into his pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled but completely dry protection charm.

“This… I was cleaning up yesterday when I found it among my stuff.” Ryoma unconsciously averted his eyes from Oishi at the blatant lie. When he met the other boy’s eyes again, he was grateful to see that the older boy was obviously too troubled to notice, then he continued without averting his eyes again. “You were the one who gave this to me three years ago. I just remembered that I never really knew what it was for. What do these characters mean, Oishi-senpai?”

Watching the younger boy’s youthful curiosity, Oishi couldn’t help but smile. He gently took the protection charm and read the characters out to Ryoma.

“To find one’s way home…”

Turning from the protection charm to Ryoma, Oishi gazed into the younger boy’s bright, golden eyes as he said. “That was what I prayed in the temple for you. No matter where and how far you are, you will never go astray. You will always, always, find your way home.”

Ryoma, in turn, looked from Oishi to the protection charm.

“A home…” He muttered pensively. “Somewhere I want to return to… someone I want to return to…”

Oishi ruffled Ryoma’s hair. “That’s right! You got…it…”

The bright smile suddenly vanished from Oishi’s face, only to re-emerge with double the megawatts. He grabbed Ryoma’s shoulders and shook them a little too forcefully.

“That’s it! Echizen! Why didn’t I think of that before!? Sorry, I’ll see you later. There’s something I have to do.”

Oishi dashed out of the library, much like Eiji did only the day before. Ryoma once again heard the librarian’s frightening howl.

“You there! No running in the library!”

As his gaze followed Oishi’s retreating form, Ryoma grinned to himself.

‘Looks like it worked.’

--

On his way to the train station, he saw Eiji and Oishi inside an apartment agency as he turned the corner. He wasn’t the least bit stunned to see the two all over each other again. He was glad the ‘protection charm’ tactic worked after all.

With a playful smile on his face, Ryoma thought of how many laps Tezuka made the vice captain run for skipping club practice that day.

He made his way up the stairs and boarded right before the signal rang and the double doors closed. As the train moved forward and gathered speed, the colors outside started to blur. The only color that seemed unaffected was the cloudless blue towering over the changing scenery.

Looking up at the infinitely high sky triggered memories to resurface.

--

It was a humid Sunday afternoon, and exams had just finished. As their coach’s treat to them for getting good results, Ryoma and Kevin were given full three days off. So while everyone else were getting brutally scolded and given more intense training, Ryoma was on the open fields surrounding the public tennis courts, taking his time relishing a thick paperback he had been looking forward to since he bought it months ago. He just never got around to starting on it as real life kept getting in the way.

After a somewhat drawn out introduction, he was just finally getting to the interesting part- the one where the plot was actually starting to move- when he suddenly felt something land on his lap.

“Man… You sure lose sight of everything else as soon as you open a book. You obviously didn’t detect my presence at all, even until I got here.”

Kevin shifted a little to make himself more comfortable, using Ryoma’s lap as pillow while the rest of his body was sprawled out on the grass. Deciding to ignore his friend, he flipped the page and kept on reading. He failed to finish the sentence when he saw Kevin’s little and ring fingers block the last few letters as the other boy grabbed the book’s spine.

“On a beautiful day like this, don’t you think it’s a waste not to pay more attention to your surroundings? Come on, you can read this later when you get home. Look around you a bit more, will you?”

“I’m reading. Your hand’s in the way.”

Ryoma tried to pry Kevin’s fingers off but the latter simply strengthened his hold on the book and completely took it away from Ryoma.

“Give that back!”

Ryoma tried to reach for it.

“No, man. Not until you do as I say.”

Kevin only kept pulling it away.

Ryoma sighed, giving in. The sooner he did what Kevin wanted, the sooner he got the book back. “Fine. What do you want?”

“Like I said, look around you. Isn’t it nice out today? Just look at how gorgeous the sky is.”

Ryoma looked up. Maybe it was because he was reading continuously for more than three hours, but his eyes felt refreshed as he looked up at the calm azure. The longer he looked, the more he realized that it wasn’t just his eyes, but his entire body seemed to feel a whole lot lighter.

“It’s so high up isn’t it? It feels so far away… so unreachable. That’s where you are, Ryoma. Isn’t it great? Isn’t that where you’ve always wanted to be?”

--

Ryoma snapped out of his thoughts when the train stopped and the station’s name was announced. As he got off the train, Kevin’s voice resonated in his mind, repeating the question he was asked back then.

/”Isn’t that where you’ve always wanted to be?”/

Ryoma frowned.

‘Where am I?’

‘Where do I want to go?’

‘Kevin… I still haven’t found the answer.’

To be continued…

(1) Quoted from the song “Story of Your Life” by Ali Slaight

A/N: Once again, sorry for the delay (cries). Real life keeps getting in the way. XD