Tennis no Oujisama © Konomi Takeshi JUMP Shueisha / Axis Powers Hetalia © Himaruya Hidekaz

First of all, thank you to all who reviewed the previous chapter. I really appreciate it. So now, I bring you part II—or II.a, to be specific since this particular episode is broken into several parts.

Close Encounters of the Foreign Kind (a.k.a. Five Reasons Why Ryoma Doesn’t Get Along Well With Foreigners)

Two A (Everybody loves Austria…Well, Everybody Except Ryoma and Prussia)

At lunch time, the usually crowded hallway of the Seishun Gakuen Highschool Department was buzzing.

“Roderich-san is so cool.”

“He is, isn’t he? And the way he plays the piano…” Sigh.

“And he’s so handsome, too.”

“And such a gentleman.”

“And so elegant.”

Personally, Echizen Ryoma thought “buzzing” was putting it lightly. The hall was a certified jungle, a jungle which was mostly inhabited by a large group of high-pitched, squealing, teenaged girls who seemed to have found themselves a new object of their overwhelming devotion. Surprisingly, the name he heard was quite unfamiliar. He found it strange that it wasn’t either one of the Johnny’s Entertainment boys, one of the D-boys or one of the other popular local idols. After all, they were the usual targets of this passionate but sometimes bordering-on-creepy devotion.

Now contrary to popular belief, Ryoma was not as clueless about the entertainment industry as most people would assume. (Everyone thought he only had tennis on his mind.) But he had to point out that if it weren’t Sakuno, he would have zero knowledge about showbusiness. Like most highschool girls her age, Sakuno followed the Japanese idol scene fervently, and what kind of a boyfriend was he if he didn’t know a thing about his girlfriend’s other interests? He’s even quite supportive of it, despite the fact that he knew she had a crush on some of these idols.

Like that Nemo guy who starred in a Hollywood movie.

(“It’s Nino,Ryoma-kun, Nino, not Nemo. Nemo was the fish.”

“I don’t see any difference.”

“Mou…”)

Or that boyband—what was its name again? PUTTUN? (1)

(“Ryoma-kun, I really appreciate that you bought their CD for me, but it’s KAT-TUN. It’s an acronym derived from the first letter of each of the group members’ last name.”

“Really? I see…So, what do you like about PUTTUN anyway?”

“Mou, Ryoma-kun…)

Or that guy whom they had recently seen on a billboard.

(“Wow, Ikuta-san looks so much better with his new haircut.”

“Which one is he?”

“There! The best-looking guy in the picture.”

“I don’t see any.”)

Ryoma didn’t really mind these crushes for they were just that—petty crushes. They didn’t mean anything. Sakuno crushing on any of these idols was like him admiring the Williams sisters for their tennis skills. It was simply not reason for him to get worried. Oh, and definitely not a reason for him to be jealous about.

(“Is he really that great?”

“Who?”

“That guy who’s currently on TV.”

“You mean Oguri Shun?”

“Ryuuzaki has been talking about him lately; said he’s a good actor and all that.”

“Well, that’s true. I’ve seen his latest movie. Wicked stuff.”

“I see.” Pause. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“ Shoot.”

“Whose eyes are prettier: his or mine?”

“What the hell–?! Who are you and what have you done with Chibisuke?”

“Very funny. Just answer the damn question, will you?!”

“Did you even hear yourself, Chibisuke? You were asking me who between you and Oguri Shun had prettier eyes. Do you have any idea how awkward and how wrong it sounded, coming from you?”

“What’s the big deal? It’s just a question.” Irritated sigh. “I just wanted to know what you think. Ryuuzaki said that Oguri person has very pretty eyes so…”

“Wait…are you jealous of Oguri Shun?”

“O-of course not! Why should I be? You know what—never mind. Just forget I even asked.”

“Oh, I doubt I’ll ever forget this moment.” Smirk.

“Whatever.”

“And for the record, Chibisuke, Sakuno-chan is right: Oguri Shun does have very pretty eyes.” Teasing smile. “Even prettier than yours.”

“So?” Snort. “I doubt he can do the Twist Serve or Drive B better than I can.”)

Well, not much anyway.

“Everybody seems to be talking about this Roderich-san, ne?”

With his thoughts interrupted, Ryoma glanced to his right where a pigtailed girl walked closely beside him. She had curiosity written all over her face as she listened to the conversation going on around them. They passed another set of giggling girls.

“Roderich-san is so cool.”

“He is, isn’t he? And the way he plays the piano…” Sigh.

“And he’s so handsome, too.”

“And such a gentleman.”

“And so elegant.”

The Tennis Prince furrowed his brow. Was he experiencing déjà vu or didn’t he hear a similar conversation a while ago?

“Who do you think is Roderich-san?” he heard her ask. Her voice clearly expressed her interest.

“Beats me.” He shrugged. He didn’t know and truthfully, he didn’t care. At that moment, all he wanted was to have peaceful lunch with Sakuno in one of their favorite spots: the cherry blossom tree at the back of the school. He could not care less about this Roderich–person and he doubt he’d start caring anytime soon. He was just some guy. That’s it. Nothing special.

Or so he thought.

That was until he met the actual man himself—the one person that miraculously defeated Matsumoto Jun as the number one object of infatuation for the girls of the entire Seishun Gakuen Highschool Department.

One hour later, Echizen Ryoma met Roderich Edelstein.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Tokyo, a light-haired man was frowning in his office. With his elbow resting on his armchair and his chin on his palm, he, with his blue yes narrowing into slits, fervently watched his brown-haired female companion as she continued her animated conversation on her mobile phone. She was smiling, and giggling, and speaking in such a sweetly feminine voice—it made him totally sick. He felt the urge to punch someone— like a certain pretentious, four-eyed pauper from Austria. He didn’t know what she saw in that idiot. He was not even half as awesome as he was. Then again, what did he care?

What did he care if Elizaveta had no taste in men?

What did he care if she and that Austrian git were so close they might as well be married?

What did he care if they were rubbing it to his face that they were oh so happy and oh so meant to be?

He didn’t. Someone like him had no time for such meaningless things.

“I’m happy to hear that you're having a great time with the students. So you have one more class left to visit right? Uh-huh. Coffee? Where? I‘d love to. I'll meet you at the school then.”

Gilbert rolled his eyes. Didn’t they already have breakfast together? How often did they need to see each other anyway? Weren’t they sick and tired of each other’s faces? If he were in shoes, he wouldn’t be able to stand seeing that Austrian pauper so many times in a day. It would be torture.

When she closed her mobile phone, Gilbert straightened up in his seat.

“You two make me gag,” he told her in a matter-of-factly tone.

If Elizaveta was affected by what he said, she didn’t show any signs of it. Instead, she smiled mockingly as she kept her mobile phone inside her pink skirt’s pocket. “Careful, Gilbert, your bitterness is showing.”

”Me? Bitter? “He scoffed. “You are delusional.”

“Right, delusional,” she mimicked, her tone clearly expressing her disbelief. “By the way, I’m going out with Roderich today.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he diverted his attention to the wall on his left. “So? Like I care.”

“Well, I just wanted to remind you that you still have a lot of paperwork to finish. Get them done by the end of the day or else I’ll bash your head with a frying pan. See you later.”

He gave her no reply, never looked at her. Upon hearing the door to his office click to a close, he moved to face the doorway and scowled.

“Going to a date during office hours. How irresponsible.” Leaving his seat, he began walking around his office. “ Hmph! I bet they’ll probably meet in that new café downtown and he’ll buy her favorite coffee and cake and she’ll smile at him and say thank you and hug him and kiss him. But for sure that sissy will end up penniless because that new café is expensive and he’ll most likely end up having only canned sardines for dinner for the rest of the month. Haha, serves him right, stupid Austrian pauper.” he exclaimed with glee while his vision blurred due to unshed tears, tears of happiness he’d like to claim for nothing made him happier than being alone and being free from all the troubles that men in a relationship would often experience. “I’m so lucky,” he declared as he wiped away the tears that were forming in his eyes.

Then, he stared at the doorway; the thought of following Elizaveta suddenly entered his mind. Not because he wanted to be around her or anything. That would never be the case. He was not as pathetic as Roderich. He simply wanted to see the sufferings of hs longtim nemsis firsthand. That would be a sight to behold.

“And besides, if she can slack off during working hours, why can’t I?”

And with this thought in mind, Gilbert hurriedly left his office to follow the path that the Hungarian woman had taken.

One hour later, Echizen Ryoma settled in his assigned seat in Music Class and was keenly observing the events going on around him. For the first time since the school year had started, the class seemed to have its full attention on Suzuhara-sensei. None of the usual murmurs, the usual passing around of notes. Everybody’s eyes were focused up front, looking at the chubby teacher’s direction with interest. But Ryoma knew better than to believe it was Suzuhara-sensei who had captured everyone’s attention. Suzuhara-sensei was never able to do that for the past several months that he had been their teacher; Ryoma doubted he’d be able to do it now, especially after seeing that everyone’ gazes were actually drifting towards his companion.

“Before we start the lesson, I’d like to introduce a very special guest in today’s class. I met him during my travels in Europe, but he recently moved here to Tokyo and opened up a music school. Everyone, this Roderich Edelstein-san, my friend who is an accomplished pianist and a very good music teacher in Austria—and soon, he will be your substitute teacher as I’m going to be on leave for a month starting next week.”

Leaning forward on his desk and resting his chin on his palm, Ryoma studied the brown-haired, bespectacled foreigner from head to foot. ‘So that’s the famous Roderich-san,’ he thought, unimpressed. As he was expecting, Roderich-san was just like any other guy, albeit more decent-looking than the usual crop of male teachers they had in Seigaku. But that’s it. He just couldn’t see what the fuss was all about.

“Good afternoon, everyone. First, I’d like to thank Suzuhara-sensei for that nice introduction. Second, I’m quite glad to have finally met everyone. Suzuhara-sensei has told me a lot of commendable things about this class and I’m looking forward to handling your music lessons beginning Monday,” Roderich spoke in amazingly near perfect Japanese.

Ryoma snorted as his eyes wandered around, noticing the dreamy look that most of the girls in the class had on their faces. It looked like Roderich-san was not the only one who was looking forward to Monday’s music period, though Ryoma seriously doubted if the majority of the female population in the room actually cared about the lessons more than they cared about their would-be lecturer.

‘This is so boring.’ Ryoma yawned as he slumped forward on his desk. He was never that interested in music or semi-attractive substitute music teachers for that matter, so it didn’t take long before lethargy overtook him. With his face buried on the surface of his desk, Ryoma closed his eyes. He barely understood, let alone heard what Suzuhara-sensei and his foreign guest were talking about right then. They might as well be speaking in Russian and he wouldn’t notice.

Then, a soothing piece of piano music filled the room, and Ryoma found himself inching even closer to dreamland. Certainly, there was no stopping him now. He was all set to leave the land of the awake and nothing could shake him out of his lethargic state.

Or almost nothing.

Upon hearing a seemingly lovesick sigh, Ryoma’s eyes snapped open and he straightened himself up in his seat. Slowly, he turned to the person seated behind him. What he saw made him furrow his brow in unmasked disapproval.

With her face resting between her hands, Ryuuzaki Sakuno keenly listened to the beautiful melody that was filling the entire room. There was a dreamy look on her brown eyes as her lips curved to form a blissful smile.

She sighed while looking at the man behind the piano.

Right then, Ryuuzaki Sakuno was certain she was in love.

Ryoma could not believe the vision before him. She had that look. It was not the insignificant look of appreciation that she had every time she’s watching Nemo, PUTTUN or that billboard guy. It was different. He had seen that strange sparkle in her eyes once. And that time, she was looking at him. Call him selfish, egotistic or whatever, but all the while, he thought that look was for him and him alone.

Unable to control himself, he called her attention. “Hey…”

Her gaze slowly drifted towards him. He narrowed his eyes; she furrowed her brow, confused.

“Eh?”

He exhaled sharply. “Stop it. You look as silly as the rest of them.”

She pursed her lips together as he moved to face upfront, his plan to spend the rest of the hour dozing off now completely forgotten. His vision once again turned to the Austrian, who continued to wow everyone (except him) with his musical prowess.

Ryoma was never that fond of Music Class but this was the first time he wished it would end right away. The next forty-five minutes became more agonizing as Roderich-san did not only impress everyone with his piano skills but with his diplomatic demeanor as well. Ryoma had never been happier when the class finally ended. But this moment of joy became momentary and he felt he was sucked into the Twilight Zone when he heard the conversation that went around as he and the rest of the class left the music room.

“Roderich-san is so cool.”

“He is, isn’t he? And the way he plays the piano…” Sigh.

“And he’s so handsome, too.”

“And such a gentleman.”

“And so elegant.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he murmured under his breath.

“Roderich-san seems really nice, isn’t he? And he’s really skilled in playing the piano. ”

He turned to the pigtailed girl walking beside him. The animated expression she had as she talked about the Austrian did not sit well with him.

“I’m glad he’s going to be our substitute teacher. Are you?” She looked at him hopefully.

"I’m utterly brimming with joy,” he answered with an impassive expression.

Sakuno grinned, seemingly oblivious to the sarcasm in his voice. She could be a bit dense sometimes.

“I knew you’d say that. After all, it’s really hard not to like Roderich-san ne?”

No, scratch that. She could be very dense sometimes.

He stared at her in disbelief as if she had grown another head.

And mentally, he added the name Roderich Edelstein to his ever growing black list.

TBC

Footnote:(1)PUTTUN is actually a play on the word puttsun which means crazy.