Sequel to Tennis no Himechan! Potential suitors are coming but Ryoma's indifferent attitude as well as her one flaw drives them away. But only one man outside her circle manages to stay in her abysmal memory for good. Will she choose that man or will it be the otherway around?

Chapter 5: Dealing with suitors

xOx

That day when Ryoma went home...her family was having a field day.

'Hey Ryoma!' said Ryoga. 'This Atobe guy just sent you a maountain of presents and letters! Big boxes of who-knows-what, chocolates and love letters!'

'I don't even wanna know.' Ryoma sighed wearily. 'Who's that guy anyway?'

'I sent that brat a challenge letter.' said Nanjiroh. 'He'd have to go through your entire team, you included in a Tennis match, before facing Ryoga and me. If he won all matches without losing even ONE game...then he can date you.'

'That's impossible oyaji, no one can win against the Samurai Legend!' Ryoga scoffed. 'If he lost even a game against YOU, he's toast!'

'That's exactly WHY I set up those conditions.' Nanjiroh smirked smugly and Ryoma felt safe enough. All she wanted is just Yukimura anyway so she went to freshen up and take a good long sleep.

That next day...there were more of said 'junk'. This time, photos of the senders came so Ryoma left, ignoring the damn packages, as her dad had to send it back...again. It does not end there...

At school...

Her locker was full of love letters...from the same sender that made the girls in her class jealous. Not only that, there was a poster of Atobe hung on the blackboard by tacks, along with a poem of declaring undying love.

'W-what the hell?!'

'Echizen!' said her English teacher. 'Might you explain what's going on here?'

'How the hell should I know?! I don't even know him!' Ryoma whined in exasperation as the teacher took down the poster. That did not end there however...

'Ryoma!' Oishi called, barging into her classroom after apologizing to the teacher. 'Your club locker!!'

'What now?' Ryoma whined miserably. 'Let me guess: gifts from this Atobe guy?'

'Er no.' Ryoma sighed in relief, but Oishi isn't done yet. 'But they are from St. Rudolph, a lot from Yamabuki's Sengoku, from Midoriyama's Kiraku-san...' before he could finish, Ryoma fainted. 'R-Ryoma?!'

That club...Ryoma was VERY pissed off as in practice, she slaughtered the non regulars that day. The whole school was brimming with rumors about Ryoma being the most popular in school due to the presents she's got. After club, no one made sure to piss her off today.

'Hey Ryoma, how about a day at the usual burger joint?' Momoshiro offered while taking precautionary in his tone. Their team girlfriend was so angry she was embarrassed the whole day due to the many presents she's got.

'Yeah, I could use stress relief...I've never felt to embarrassed in my whole life!' she choked. 'I'm hounded ALL day by my female classmates on who the hell those guys are when I don't EVEN know them!' she whined. 'I don't know the idiots who sent me those gifts and letters!'

'Er...in case to give you a reminder, said idiots were our opponents back at the Tokyo Tournaments up to Kantou.' Momoshiro pointed out. 'You always forget people you only meet once and never see the next day permanently. Buchou told us before you played on the intra rankings.'

'Do I?'

'You do, while we meet people once and at least remember their faces and names.' said Momoshiro wryly. 'C'mon, my discount coupons expire at 6 so let's hurry.' and as they left school...when they were far enough, stalkers showed themselves.

The Burger Joint...

That day turned out to be bad. REAL bad. Players they met before were THERE eating. 'Whoa...they're our ex-opponents.' Momoshiro crowed, seeing them all.

'They are?'

'Duh...some of them sent you those freaky presents.' said Momoshiro. 'It's up to you now. The object of admiration in the midst of admirers is a not-so-good idea. To beat this is IF you have a boyfriend already. Count the Fudoumine guys out, all they want is Ann-chan.' he added.

'We'll eat in the park.' said Ryoma. 'Use the coupons and Dutch style and take out.'

'OK...but what's Dutch style?'

'That means we pay for our own orders so here's my wallet.' said Ryoma, giving him her wallet and she went out.

'...this is gonna be tough...'

The two met at the alley while dividing the load among themselves and went to a park to eat their loot. 'Ryoma, if you want to put a stop to this, you gotta announce to the public you're already taken.' he said. 'You HAVE someone you LIKE, right?' he asked as he ate his burger. Ryoma went stark red.

'I DO have someone...but my family's condition is that he beats everyone, including me in Tennis before facing my brother and dad...and NOT lose a single game in each opponent. That person still can't do it in his condition and I know he could.'

'Er...the way you talk...is it buchou?' Momoshiro asked her curiously. 'He's the one who fits the bill.'

'It's not buchou. He DID confess to me that he liked me...' Momoshiro blurted a 'WHAT?!' spitting the chunk he bit off in disbelief, '...but I can't give him false hope. I only like buchou as a friend and he accepted it...although I bet my life I hurt him bad. We're still friends though.'

'Then if it's not buchou, then who's this lucky guy?' Momoshiro asked while feeling sorry for Tezuka. In his opinion, Tezuka was best for his best friend.

'The person I visit in the hospital everyday.'

'Uso?! Yukimura-san? Er how far are you as a couple?' Momoshiro asked her curiously. The stalkers who were hiding gawked for two reasons. To those who doesn't know Yukimura, gawked that Ryoma already HAD a boyfriend! To those who knew Yukimura also gawked. Yukimura was well known for his reputation.

'I don't know why but he rushed our friendship into first base.' Ryoma sighed. 'I don't know why and I got a funny feeling he's not telling me something, that's why he's rushing the both of us. All we've done is kissing and on his part, courting me.'

'That's fast...' Momoshiro sweatdropped. 'And you're confident that this guy can beat all of us without losing games?'

'At our current level, yes. But I doubt it if he faces dad.' said Ryoma. 'Dad's got a lengthy history with Tennis...if you know the name Samurai well.' Momoshiro thought about it.

'Samurai...samurai...ACK!! You mean THAT guy is your dad?!' he choked as he remembered certain articles in Pro Monthly Tennis. 'That monk?!' he gawked as he saw the man AGAIN when he found the guy stalking the girl.

'Yeah, that guy.' Ryoma sighed. 'He still hasn't lost his touch despite twenty years of not holding a racket. He can beat all of us with eyes closed.'

'You're exaggerating!'

'Ryoga and I tried, believe me.'

'Scary...and if your dad's THAT tough of an opponent, you'd be an old maid.'

'Urusai!'

'So, you'll be visiting Yukimura-san again?'

'Yeah...just to get these guys off my mind even for just two hours. Just in case...I need a chaperone. Will you be the guy for the job?'

'Sure!'

That next day, at Seigaku...to their surprise, Ryuzaki came to the club.

'Guys!' she called as she went for the courts. 'I just got us a way to practice before those matches with Rokkaku: Several schools offered to play practice matches with us!'

'WHAAAAT?!'

'And they all said singles only but I don't get why!' all of them were baffled and confused. 'Of course I refused, because we only do team practice for pete's sakes! But they agreed with the doubles eventually although what possessed them to suddenly help out a rival school...' Momoshiro, Inui and Fuji, kami knows how he knew, looked at Ryoma discreetly. 'We're in for a busy day so do warm ups until they arrive.'

'Er...sensei? WHAT schools?' Fuji crowed as Ryuzaki replied, 'Yamabuki, St. Rudolph, Ginka, Midoriyama and Hyoutei.'

'5 schools off the bat?!' Kikumaru cried in disbelief as they heard an army of footsteps.

'Ryoma...I think the minute we got out of school we got stalked.' Momoshiro whispered. 'There's no way everyone'd act like this unless they overheard us--which they DID.'

'You two know something about this?' Fuji asked, eyes open, indicating he was serious, so they told them about their conversation at the park...including about Tezuka which shell-shocked the team.

'...OK...no wonder...and if that's the conclusion about you and Tezuka then it's OK between you two?' Ryoma nodded.

'But he doesn't know who I chose yet. But I think he'll be OK with whoever I choose.'