Tennis no Ohjisama Halloween Special!
by Suke

5. About Ponta and Consequences

Here's the very last of this fic. This was a really fun fic to write though Suke-san feels a bit like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes writer) now, hee, since the reviews for this fic have surpassed that of my previous POT fic that was really much harder to write. I thought that fic had much tighter writing and more thought in the plotting and a nicer ending (fluffy epilogue!) but ah, everyone seems to prefer this one!

Aa, not that I'm complaining mind. (I bet Doyle didn't mind either) Suke- san is SUPER happy! DOMO ARIGATO GOZAIMASU, minna-san (meaning everyone ^_^)! To everyone who reviewed, THANK YOU!!! And even to those who didn't review, thanks for reading till here!

See how excited Suke-san is? I never use all CAPs as a rule (bad writing habit) but YAY! THANK YOU!!!

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Instalment Three of Three: About Ponta and Consequences

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Momoshiro Takeshi arrived at the street tennis courts exactly forty-two minutes and six seconds early. He was hoping it would not be so but was not surprised when he found the courts mostly occupied.

It was the usual line-up. Fudomine players Kamio and Shinji, with Ann-chan, were using one court. St Rudolph's Mizuki and Yuuta were at another court. The last court, a larger distance away, was taken by a random assortment of doubles players and run mostly by the Gyokurin pair.

"Ah, Momoshiro!" Tachibana Ann hailed him as she skipped over. "You look really handsome today. Is it a special occasion?"

Kamio bristled immediately at the compliment offered to another guy but it was true, Momoshiro did look particularly well turned out today. His tennis clothes were neatly ironed and spotless. His shoes were gleaming. His tennis bag was neat. Even his hair seemed spikier than usual.

And of course it did. Momo had spent a good half hour in front of the mirror combing it.

He had to look his best. After all, today he was going to meet the girl of his dreams again. After so much badgering, Eiji-sempai had finally agreed to arrange a date for Momo with that cute girl he had met at the party.

Momo was so excited. He was going to see her again. He was going on a date with her. They would talk about life and he would get to know everything there was to know about her and everything would be perfect. He was perfectly happy. If not for a certain bratty kouhai of his that Momo couldn't stop thinking about.

To lose the girl of your dreams was devastating. But to lose your bestfriend -- not just his bestfriend -- to lose Ryoma! Somehow, that seemed worse?

*****

The day before:

"You should be really clingy and needy. People like that are so annoying!" Kikumaru Eiji declared to his team mates.

"That's not really so bad, Eiji," Oishi said thoughtfully. "I think it's much worse to be secretive. Then, other people can't help you."

"What's wrong with being secretive?" Fuji asked, truly puzzled.

"Ya, it's worse if you can't even take care of yourself! Like if you always need him around to encourage you and support you." The red head was adamant about it. "And it's worse if you talk a lot of nonsense too!"

"Well, I suppose that would annoy you," Oishi acquiesced quickly.

"Well, just be really spineless and agree with everything he says," the mamushi suddenly spoke up from his corner of the room. "That's really annoying."

"No, it's not!" Eiji disagreed fiercely. "It's worse if you're completely quiet and don't react to anything."

"Or if you react oddly," Oishi added.

"Yeah, that's quite bad, sempai," Kaidoh said, now that he had thought about it.

"What's wrong with being quiet?" Fuji asked.

"Reacting oddly could be cute," Inui said.

"No! It's creepy!" Eiji pouted. "Isn't it, Oishi?"

Oishi immediately agreed.

"I think it's the absolute worst," Fuji opened his eyes and everyone turned to look at him as he continued, "if a girl is manipulative and evil, like Mizuki!"

"Nya, Fuji, Mizuki isn't a girl." Eiji informed the tensai.

"But he's such a sissy," Fuji said, eyes narrowing irately at a distant rival. "I will destroy him yet."

Everyone sweat dropped at the smiling tensai's uncharacteristic and out of point show of wrath.

Never cross Fuji.

Tezuka waited quietly and watched them with a racketless Taka-san who also didn't seem inclined to participate. All the regulars, minus Momo, had gathered inside the locker room after practice to help Echizen. Standing in the middle of the room, Echizen didn't look like he appreciated the help much.

Eiji had called for an emergency meeting and Fuji had briefed all of them, under Echizen's stormy glare, on the developments. Tezuka was sure that Echizen hadn't confided in the pretty tensai but of course Fuji knew enough details that even the younger boy looked surprised from time to time.

Tezuka who had, however reluctantly, been informed daily of the proceedings remained unmoved as the members of the team alternately gasped in disbelief. Another person who did not seem surprised was Inui, hastily scribbling in his note book as usual.

Apparently, according to Fuji's interpretation, Ryoma was in love with Momo. But Eiji had overheard Momo pining for girl-Ryoma, which meant that Momo couldn't return Echizen's feelings because he thought he was still in love with someone else even though he was really in love with Echizen.

Hence, the plan was that Echizen should dress up as the cute girl again and meet Momo. But in order to make Momo fall out of love with the girl, Echizen should be as annoying as possible. It seemed simple enough.

Now, the team members were currently in the process of teaching Echizen how to annoy Momo.

"I have consolidated all the data, removed all the contradicting information and come up with the perfect behaviour for Echizen," Inui announced, adjusting his glasses so they glinted. "Chance of annoying Momoshiro: 75 percent."

"In order to annoy Momoshiro, Echizen should be bratty and arrogant. He should complain at once if there's something he doesn't like. He should challenge Momo's every decision, even if the decision is sound. He should never back down even in the most trivial things. And," Inui read from his book, long finger sliding to the bottom of his page, "Echizen should also be standoffish and a smart aleck."

"So," Oishi smiled at Echizen encouragingly. "That's what you need to do."

"Nya?" Eiji frowned a bit. "Didn't Inui just tell Echizen to act like his usual self?"

"I am not like that!" Echizen retorted.

"Well," Oishi said, thinking quickly for a tactful way to agree with both of them.

"Ma," Fuji beamed at everyone. "Now all we need is a skirt."

*****

The short white tennis skirt had come from the coach's granddaughter, Sakuno. As a result, she too had been apprised of the situation. She had reacted, somewhat oddly, by congratulating him.

"But, Ryoma-gen," Sakuno had then asked him, "why don't you just tell him it was you dressed as a girl?"

Ryoma froze. It did seem like sensible advice. If he just did that, he wouldn't have to dress like a girl again. He wouldn't have to stand there and let his sempais pull painfully at his hair. He wouldn't be wearing that cute tennis skirt or the girly pink t-shirt or those stupid hairpins that seemed to get his hair into his eyes more than keep them out.

He was about to gain enlightenment when Fuji, noticing his escaping quarry, broke into his thoughts.

"Ma, but isn't that a bit embarrassing?" Fuji questioned innocently. "I can imagine Momo's reaction."

And so could Ryoma. His stupid sempai would probably laugh to death. And then, Momo-sempai would tease him like crazy and Ryoma would forever be reminded of having worn a skirt, something he'd much rather forget.

Fuji smiled placidly at the expression on Ryoma's face, satisfied that his game would run to the end. He picked up a large pair of pink tinged sunglasses and placed them on Ryoma's face. Without the mask, they had to resort to the partly obscuring lenses to avoid easy detection.

Apart from loaning the skirt, Sakuno was also entreated to give Ryoma some advice about behaving like a girl.

"But Ryoma-gen, you can't play like you always do," Sakuno protested worriedly.

"Hai!" Eiji-sempai agreed. "Momo is sure to recognise your moves. Play like Sakuno-san instead."

"But then I'll lose," the boy pouted cutely. He had already lost to Momo- sempai on purpose once. He had no intention of losing again to that idiot.

"And Ryoma-gen, sit nicely. You're wearing a skirt."

*****

They arrived forty-seven minutes late.

Momo didn't mind. He was beginning to worry that they wouldn't show up at all. His heart beat a little wildly. He saw her. She was here! She was here! She was here!

That vision of infinite cuteness. A mass of dark curls, pale skin with the lightest blush, she wore a white pleated tennis skirt. The fact that she was alternately tugging at the hem of the short skirt and brushing a persistent curl behind her ear only made her seem cuter.

"Ne, Momo," she said suddenly. "What are you staring at? Let's play."

Momo blinked at his name, blinked at the words, blinked at the tone.

"Hai," he said, mentally shaking his head to clear it.

This was the first time he'd actually heard her speak. He hadn't expected her to be like that or to say that. He wasn't expecting an apology for the lateness but a greeting would have been nice. It's not like he was asking for poetry. Suddenly, he felt an unexpected irritation.

But then, there was something familiar about being treated this way too. Eiji gave him the victory sign and Fuji gave him a thumbs-up. Oishi smiled at him encouragingly. Momo just wished they would all go away. What was this? A soap opera?

Moments later...

"That's not fair! You hit it too hard! I'm a girl you know!" The girl whined and scowled at him from across the net.

"Ah, gomen," Momo was quick to apologize but the smile didn't come so easily. He wanted to slap her.

Echizen, mostly, couldn't hide his grin in time before his sempai looked at him again. This really was kind of fun. And the plan was working really well. He was being as rude as he'd ever wanted to be to his sempai, he could see Momo-sempai becoming increasingly irate, and he could do all this and possibly also win the game. Just a bit more and his sempai would crack.

The girl suddenly walked off the court and sat down on a bench by it. Momo looked at her in surprise and barely withheld frustration. What was she up to now?

"Get me a drink!" She commanded him.

"What?" Momo snapped. "Why can't you get it yourself? You were so nice during the party! What in the world happened to you?"

Her eyes widened and for a moment he thought she was going to cry. Momo almost started to feel sorry for snapping when she continued.

"I don't care if I never see you again but now, we're on a date! Go buy me a drink!" Ryoma demanded.

The tennis game on the next court had ended and Kamio and Shinji, together with Ann-chan, passed by on their way off.

"Ah, so I was right. She is the high-maintenance type," Shinji could be heard mumbling to himself as they disappeared down the stairs.

Momo broke off from the staring contest they were having. He wasn't that immature! He turned abruptly and headed for the vending machines. He will never, never, never go out with that monster again! He wanted to hit her! He wished right now that she was a guy so he could whack that spoilt, obnoxious girl across the court.

Then again, Momo suddenly had that feeling that there was someone, sometime when he had been treated like this. And at that time, he hadn't hated it all that much. At that time, it had been fun. Of course, that was impossible! Momo dismissed the thought, sliding coins into the slot of the vending machine.

"What do you want?" He growled at her.

Ryoma was congratulating himself on his success at making Momo-sempai hate the girl. His sempai's shoulders were stiff and hands were clenched in barely withheld anger.

"Ponta," he replied automatically.

And something in Momo's head clicked.

"E-chi-ZEN?"

"Nande?" Ryoma responded rudely before he saw his three overseeing sempais' frantic waves and horrified faces.

Oh no, a mistake! Echizen froze like a deer caught in headlights, and stared unintelligibly at the similarly frozen Momo. Quick! He needed to say something! Think! Think, Echizen commanded his brain, before Momo-sempai says something else.

"Ah, uh, E-chi-zen chi-gau (I am not Echizen)," Ryoma said in unconscious but perfect imitation of his father dodging the reporter Inoue.

"Echizen?" Momo had no other word to express his shock.

Now, now he saw the resemblance. Now he knew who it was this so-called girl reminded him of. Now he understood why he was so traumatised and unsure of whom he loved. And now that he knew it was Echizen, he couldn't understand why he hadn't recognised him in the first place.

Ryoma knew he was caught. Oh great, now Momo-sempai was going to laugh himself to death. And then, Momo will be reminding Ryoma every other day from now on how Ryoma had worn a dress to a party, and then later even worn a tennis skirt. He could hear the jokes already: "Ryoma-chan, not wearing your cute skirt for training today? Inui-sempai might let you off his juice you know."

Instead, his sempai's reaction was diametrically opposed.

"Echizen! So this is all a trick is it?"

Ryoma flinched from the words. Momo-sempai glared at him but Ryoma could hear that it was hurt in his voice, not anger. This was actually, strangely far worse than what he had expected. Getting hurt was one thing. Hurting Momo-sempai was, well, even more painful.

"I know you don't treat me as your sempai but still," Momo glanced off to the side. "Still, you shouldn't play with people's feelings."

Momo looked back at his kouhai who was now hanging his head. Ryoma actually looked sorry and quite miserable too.

"Do you have any idea what you've put me through?" Momo demanded, and then continued more softly, "I thought I was in love with two different people."

This brought Ryoma's head up. His sempai's look had changed. No longer was his expression wounded but instead he looked rather, well, raccoon-ish.

And Ryoma didn't know it but his own face held a look of hope. Momo almost laughed in relief. So his kouhai had some feelings about him too, did he? Momo took hold of this new possibility and plunged in all the way.

"I'm not the kind of person who holds grudges but I expect you to face the consequences." Momo paused for effect, "I love you and you'd better be ready to live with it!"

Identical smiles spread over two faces.

"Mada mada dane, Momo-sempai," Ryoma responded but he was grinning uncontrollably.

"Mada mada yourself, Echizen, don't you know what you're supposed to say at this point?"

Momo walked up to the smaller boy and leaned forward until his face, and lips, was millimetres from Ryoma's.

"Sempai!" Ryoma said in alarm. Not here! Not in front of all these people!

"Say it, or I'll do it," Momo's mouth twisted into a smile.

"Iyada! I can't say it in front of them!" Ryoma's face was stained an alarming pink at the prospect of returning the confession of love before an audience.

The taller boy closed the space between them and their lips met, slowly, gently and with incredible sweetness. The taller boy pulled his kouhai closer against him and the kiss grew fiercer.

Fuji smiled his usual smile and turned to go find his own stern-faced boy to kiss senseless. The hyper red haired boy was waving his arms excitedly, practically about to dance some victory dance around the court. He looked at his doubles partner inquiringly when Oishi caught one of the wildly waving hands but didn't resist when the taller boy tugged him away. In the further courts, others still played tennis.

And wrapped in the arms of his tall, spiky-haired sempai, Ryoma submitted himself to the consequences.

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It's over!!! Suke-san is happy. And I know, "Ah, so I was right. She is the high-maintenance type,"... was immensely out of point but, seriously, Suke- san couldn't help it! Gomen!

I hope you liked it!

Please review!!! The fic is over and I can't threaten you with slow updating (not that I ever managed to) but please review! It is the source of Suke-san's nutrition! It is all that keeps me alive! Okay, not really. Finally seeing an end to this fic is making Suke-san deliriously light- headed.

I always try not to write too much here in case my rambling becomes longer than the actual story but for this special occasion, that is the end of the fic, I will indulge in very long meandering thank yous.

Thank you to every reviewer I've ever had. I'm not receiving a prize on stage but if you want to be a good cook, you should never let such small things bother you. (inane paraphrase from Chuuka Ichiba's Shell-san)

kuokioku! Yami no Tenshi! Cheeseburger of Doom! firedraygon97! DemonicElf! joanne! mew mew! hikaruchi! Anon! JMJV! Hirame! IchigoCake! Regatto!

I owe all of you so much for reviewing. My grasp of this language is inadequate for me to express myself. Yes, Suke-san is being so dramatic ^_^ But really, arigato! I don't know if every fanfic writer here feels this way but having a reaction to my work, having people like it and tell me what they like, it's really great. I could write just to get reviews. It's so encouraging ^_^

On another note, Suke-san is evil. I apologize if I have made Ryoma-gen or Momo-chan suffer too much but I cannot say I did not enjoy it immensely. If I have written OOC, mengo mengo.

kurokioku-san: Thank you so much for the fanart! I hope you got my email ^_^

Regatto-san: Don't apologise! I hope you'll do well for your exam! But, hee, it's too late to add anymore Oishi into this. ^_^ Next time, next time!

Yes, and gomen for previous obscure reference to Doyle.

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