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A little sick. ): *shivers*
Hm, I think I'll probably be able to finish 1-2 more themes, and that'll probably be it for me for
31days_exchange since they're all due by tomorrow. I feel so bad not finishing. =/ Especially when there was lots I wanted to write!
FFnet is still not working for me, though I see that other people have been updating their stories. I guess it's account-specific and not a site-wide thing.
Title: He Never Knew part 4
Day/Theme: 14. Good fast fiction fresh off the calendar
Series: Prince of Tennis
Character/Pairing: Echizen Ryoma, his teammates
Rating: PG
Words: 1301
Notes: for
31days_exchange, 31_days masterlist. I took a break from Ryoma's head. Should have done it sooner! (though I think my style is very confused because of this. What is this narrative...and these full names...)
Previous Part
Part 4: Without Tennis
Echizen Ryoma without his memories was a curious thing. He had been popular enough as the first year rookie of the tennis team and always had tales of his impressive skill and his cheekiness trailing after him. He even had his own fan club, one that was of a respectable size, small in comparison with some of the other tennis players in the middle school circuit, but respectable nonetheless. However, when Echizen Ryoma lost his memories and came to school with large, questioning eyes, his fan club swooned.
And began growing in size. Exponentially.
There was something about the way Echizen Ryoma carried himself that made all the females want to give him a much needed hug and to shower him with love. He no longer walked with his hands in his pockets, racket bag slung over his shoulders. Gone was his self-assuredness. Gone was his absolute focus on tennis, the one path he had been following. Without his memories, without tennis, Echizen Ryoma was an entirely different being.
His golden eyes that had always lazily glanced at them (or outright ignored them all together) from beneath his dark bangs now actually focused on them whenever they spoke with him. Those eyes would widen, or they would narrow, his every expression etched clearly on his face, open and vulnerable like never before, unable to be hidden away beneath his tennis cap. Instead of brushing them off with small, conversational noises (like a careless "heh" or a removed "hn" here and there), he responded with interest and politely asked questions when there was something he didn't know.
Echizen Ryoma, asking questions?
Echizen Ryoma, paying attention?
The teachers loved him for it. They could almost cry (after their initial shock). His classmates gossiped about it, fascinated, because how could someone lose their memories just like that?
Rumors spread like wildfire, some true, some false, most merely exaggerated. They said he had been kidnapped on a helicopter and thrown into a den of lions (there had been a helicopter and there had been a fierce team of ruthless rival tennis players but no real lions, and Atobe Keigo would protest to kidnapping Seigaku's rookie when he had so gracefully lent a helping hand). They said he had drowned under a waterfall and had almost been ravished by a savage (while he had been half naked, that "savage" was Echizen's father, for goodness' sake, and he had been trying to dry off his clothes, crazy teenagers and their wild imagination). Everyone wondered, but no one actually sought the truth, for rumors were much better entertainment, and the tennis club was too frightening to approach with its multiple lines of defense, the first being toxic health drinks that made it so that no one even figured out what the second line of defense was (some said it was laps).
The rumors made it so that his fanclub cooed and went "awww" over him even more, not that Echizen Ryoma understood what was going on. He'd been dense and clueless about anything that wasn't related to tennis. Now he was still dense and clueless but in a different way, and he could no longer claim to be an expert in tennis either. It made them wonder how he was faring without the one thing that had driven him because no one knew Echizen Ryoma without tennis.
Their current understanding, however, was that it made him much more approachable as long as you learned to stop mentioning tennis in his presence.
"Echizen-kun, you have library duty in a few minutes. Would you like me to accompany you there?" asked a female student who had always been in Echizen Ryoma's class but had never spoken with him before now. Although they were the same age, even she wanted to mother him when he turned and blinked his confused eyes at her, head tilted to the side.
"Really? Thanks for the reminder...do you know what I'm supposed to do there?" His voice held none of his usual disinterest and rudeness, a stark difference that never ceased to send the females into twitters.
After she explained and they started off together, the students behind them once again started gossiping.
Did you see that?
He was so cute! I should have offered!
And that was how his fanclub kept growing.
-----
Echizen Ryoma without his memories was a curious thing, but only for those who didn't know him very well before he lost his memories. For his teammates, Echizen Ryoma without his memories could only be regarded as a strange being.
"I heard Ochibi has gym class today! I hope they're playing tennis!" exclaimed Kikumaru Eiji, one of the most openly distressed over his kouhai's predicament.
"I don't think he's ready for that yet...besides, I'm sure they're going to have class indoors," replied Oishi Shuuichirou calmly, though secretly, he too hoped their youngest teammate would have the chance to step on the courts once more and hopefully rediscover his passion for the sport. It saddened and frightened them all to think that perhaps Echizen Ryoma had been scared off for good (Echizen Ryoma, scared? Of tennis? The mere thought should have been blasphemous, but no, it was the truth, one that should have never come to be).
"I believe they are playing volleyball today," commented Inui Sadaharu while fixing his glasses. His data told him that there was an 80% chance that the teacher would decide on volleyball, for she always had a pattern in the sports she chose, with volleyball coming after basketball.
"Well, that sucks," said Kikumaru Eiji with a frown. "Besides, Ochibi sucks at volleyball, right? He's not going to have any fun with that."
Oh how wrong he was.
When they passed by a gaggle of first years sweaty from gym class, they overheard tales of Echizen Ryoma's surprising skill in volleyball. He had singlehandedly helped his team win and had left their opponents with dropped jaws at his impressive skill. He had done it with a wide and carefree smile, rumors said, as if he were soaring in the air (and he had been, if only for a few seconds when he'd been spiking the ball down).
"That can't be true!" protested Kikumaru to Fuji Shuusuke in between class. "Remember that time at the beach? He fell flat on his face! And, and...how could he enjoy volleyball so much when he won't even touch his racket?"
If people could be envious of a sport, Kikumaru was feeling that right now. Who cared about volleyball? It wasn't tennis! That wasn't what Ochibi should be playing!
Fuji mused. "Did Inui say anything about the matter?"
With a face, Kikumaru nodded. "He said that maybe it's because Ochibi doesn't remember tennis. Since he kept trying to apply tennis moves while we were playing beach volleyball..."
That was what scared him the most, the fact that Ochibi had so completely forgotten tennis that it no longer colored his actions.
Fuji patted his friend on the shoulder. He knew the feeling too well. Echizen Ryoma and tennis had always gone hand-in-hand, and that was what had brought him to them. Without tennis, the one thing that ran through their shared memories, there was nothing binding Echizen Ryoma to them or even to the Echizen Ryoma of the past. It disheartened him to think that perhaps he would never see to the end of that fateful match cut short by the rain, the match that had filled him with adrenaline and intoxicated him with a thrill so great that it was almost uncontainable. How could Echizen Ryoma forgot the thrill that he had taught others? How could he not feel that missing part of himself?
For his teammates, Echizen Ryoma without his memories, without his memories of tennis, was a complete stranger.
Through and through.
-----
to be continued
Next Part
Hm, I think I'll probably be able to finish 1-2 more themes, and that'll probably be it for me for
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
FFnet is still not working for me, though I see that other people have been updating their stories. I guess it's account-specific and not a site-wide thing.
Title: He Never Knew part 4
Day/Theme: 14. Good fast fiction fresh off the calendar
Series: Prince of Tennis
Character/Pairing: Echizen Ryoma, his teammates
Rating: PG
Words: 1301
Notes: for
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
Previous Part
Part 4: Without Tennis
Echizen Ryoma without his memories was a curious thing. He had been popular enough as the first year rookie of the tennis team and always had tales of his impressive skill and his cheekiness trailing after him. He even had his own fan club, one that was of a respectable size, small in comparison with some of the other tennis players in the middle school circuit, but respectable nonetheless. However, when Echizen Ryoma lost his memories and came to school with large, questioning eyes, his fan club swooned.
And began growing in size. Exponentially.
There was something about the way Echizen Ryoma carried himself that made all the females want to give him a much needed hug and to shower him with love. He no longer walked with his hands in his pockets, racket bag slung over his shoulders. Gone was his self-assuredness. Gone was his absolute focus on tennis, the one path he had been following. Without his memories, without tennis, Echizen Ryoma was an entirely different being.
His golden eyes that had always lazily glanced at them (or outright ignored them all together) from beneath his dark bangs now actually focused on them whenever they spoke with him. Those eyes would widen, or they would narrow, his every expression etched clearly on his face, open and vulnerable like never before, unable to be hidden away beneath his tennis cap. Instead of brushing them off with small, conversational noises (like a careless "heh" or a removed "hn" here and there), he responded with interest and politely asked questions when there was something he didn't know.
Echizen Ryoma, asking questions?
Echizen Ryoma, paying attention?
The teachers loved him for it. They could almost cry (after their initial shock). His classmates gossiped about it, fascinated, because how could someone lose their memories just like that?
Rumors spread like wildfire, some true, some false, most merely exaggerated. They said he had been kidnapped on a helicopter and thrown into a den of lions (there had been a helicopter and there had been a fierce team of ruthless rival tennis players but no real lions, and Atobe Keigo would protest to kidnapping Seigaku's rookie when he had so gracefully lent a helping hand). They said he had drowned under a waterfall and had almost been ravished by a savage (while he had been half naked, that "savage" was Echizen's father, for goodness' sake, and he had been trying to dry off his clothes, crazy teenagers and their wild imagination). Everyone wondered, but no one actually sought the truth, for rumors were much better entertainment, and the tennis club was too frightening to approach with its multiple lines of defense, the first being toxic health drinks that made it so that no one even figured out what the second line of defense was (some said it was laps).
The rumors made it so that his fanclub cooed and went "awww" over him even more, not that Echizen Ryoma understood what was going on. He'd been dense and clueless about anything that wasn't related to tennis. Now he was still dense and clueless but in a different way, and he could no longer claim to be an expert in tennis either. It made them wonder how he was faring without the one thing that had driven him because no one knew Echizen Ryoma without tennis.
Their current understanding, however, was that it made him much more approachable as long as you learned to stop mentioning tennis in his presence.
"Echizen-kun, you have library duty in a few minutes. Would you like me to accompany you there?" asked a female student who had always been in Echizen Ryoma's class but had never spoken with him before now. Although they were the same age, even she wanted to mother him when he turned and blinked his confused eyes at her, head tilted to the side.
"Really? Thanks for the reminder...do you know what I'm supposed to do there?" His voice held none of his usual disinterest and rudeness, a stark difference that never ceased to send the females into twitters.
After she explained and they started off together, the students behind them once again started gossiping.
Did you see that?
He was so cute! I should have offered!
And that was how his fanclub kept growing.
-----
Echizen Ryoma without his memories was a curious thing, but only for those who didn't know him very well before he lost his memories. For his teammates, Echizen Ryoma without his memories could only be regarded as a strange being.
"I heard Ochibi has gym class today! I hope they're playing tennis!" exclaimed Kikumaru Eiji, one of the most openly distressed over his kouhai's predicament.
"I don't think he's ready for that yet...besides, I'm sure they're going to have class indoors," replied Oishi Shuuichirou calmly, though secretly, he too hoped their youngest teammate would have the chance to step on the courts once more and hopefully rediscover his passion for the sport. It saddened and frightened them all to think that perhaps Echizen Ryoma had been scared off for good (Echizen Ryoma, scared? Of tennis? The mere thought should have been blasphemous, but no, it was the truth, one that should have never come to be).
"I believe they are playing volleyball today," commented Inui Sadaharu while fixing his glasses. His data told him that there was an 80% chance that the teacher would decide on volleyball, for she always had a pattern in the sports she chose, with volleyball coming after basketball.
"Well, that sucks," said Kikumaru Eiji with a frown. "Besides, Ochibi sucks at volleyball, right? He's not going to have any fun with that."
Oh how wrong he was.
When they passed by a gaggle of first years sweaty from gym class, they overheard tales of Echizen Ryoma's surprising skill in volleyball. He had singlehandedly helped his team win and had left their opponents with dropped jaws at his impressive skill. He had done it with a wide and carefree smile, rumors said, as if he were soaring in the air (and he had been, if only for a few seconds when he'd been spiking the ball down).
"That can't be true!" protested Kikumaru to Fuji Shuusuke in between class. "Remember that time at the beach? He fell flat on his face! And, and...how could he enjoy volleyball so much when he won't even touch his racket?"
If people could be envious of a sport, Kikumaru was feeling that right now. Who cared about volleyball? It wasn't tennis! That wasn't what Ochibi should be playing!
Fuji mused. "Did Inui say anything about the matter?"
With a face, Kikumaru nodded. "He said that maybe it's because Ochibi doesn't remember tennis. Since he kept trying to apply tennis moves while we were playing beach volleyball..."
That was what scared him the most, the fact that Ochibi had so completely forgotten tennis that it no longer colored his actions.
Fuji patted his friend on the shoulder. He knew the feeling too well. Echizen Ryoma and tennis had always gone hand-in-hand, and that was what had brought him to them. Without tennis, the one thing that ran through their shared memories, there was nothing binding Echizen Ryoma to them or even to the Echizen Ryoma of the past. It disheartened him to think that perhaps he would never see to the end of that fateful match cut short by the rain, the match that had filled him with adrenaline and intoxicated him with a thrill so great that it was almost uncontainable. How could Echizen Ryoma forgot the thrill that he had taught others? How could he not feel that missing part of himself?
For his teammates, Echizen Ryoma without his memories, without his memories of tennis, was a complete stranger.
Through and through.
-----
to be continued
Next Part
no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 03:29 am (UTC)D: Hope I didn't pass my illness to you!
As for ffnet, I seem to be okay with it (livejournal's been acting up for me with needing multiple refreshes before maybe getting onto the page I was aiming for) considering how much I keep tweaking the recent stuff I've been posting.
*dances* More of this fic! *cheers*
"What is this narrative...and these full names...)"
XDD
"And began growing in size. Exponentially."
*actually laughs* *Keeps reading to find out specifically why*
"There was something about the way Echizen Ryoma carried himself that made all the females want to give him a much needed hug and to shower him with love."
XDD He turned cute.
*laughs again at all the gossip* *and then the stuff in the parenthesis*
"Did you see that?
He was so cute! I should have offered!
And that was how his fanclub kept growing."
*verbally flails* Eeeeeeeeee!
*sdkjfa at the volleyball* \o/
"That was what scared him the most, the fact that Ochibi had so completely forgotten tennis that it no longer colored his actions."
*whistles* Wow. But yeah, the crossover between sports doesn't help sometimes.
*______*
no subject
Date: 2011-03-31 03:55 am (UTC)It's quite strange. It's only a few stories that's giving me this error. I tried clicking on some other random stories of mine, and they seem to be working. ): I hope it'll right itself soon. Livejournal has been acting up a bit for me too (I tried loading the tags page of a community but it wouldn't load), though I thought it was my browser since my browser has been a bit funny lately too. When I go to a new page, somehow I can no longer hit on the back button. I've been dealing with this by opening a new tab. BTW, when you're posting to DW and crossposting to LJ, do you have to edit both entries afterwards manually? :O
I don't remember enough of HnG/YYH to continue that fic at the moment, or else I'd be writing that! This one is a little easier, though I was almost getting stuck until I decided to take a break from Ryoma's head. XD; This does throw off my plans a little though.
What would this be called? Third person omniscient? I'm not sure, haha...
This part was a bit more humorous, I think? XD
He seems a lot more innocent, much less snarky without his memories. :3
Ryoma's pretty good at a lot of things and seems to do pretty well with other sports, but he's pretty bad with volleyball, always trying to perform his tennis serve and all that. Volleyballs aren't supposed to bounce. XD; I really wanted to write this part with volleyball, though I kind of thought it would take place in the gym rather than through hearsay. :3
I feel like Ryoma is taking one step forward and two steps back. ;__;
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 09:48 am (UTC)And now the update didn't work so well on ff.net. XD; Though, I can still access replying to reviews and posting stories - I was only blocked from replying to reviews for a few minutes.
"BTW, when you're posting to DW and crossposting to LJ, do you have to edit both entries afterwards manually? :O"
Nope! You can edit the entry on DW and so long as you have the crosspost box ticked, it'll edit the LJ post as well. :3 If it didn't do that, I'd probably read over my entries even more
and still have lots and lots of mistakes"Third person omniscient?"
:3 Yeah, I think so.
You need some lightheartedness to balance out the seriousness!
"Volleyballs aren't supposed to bounce. XD;"
*laughs* No, it's not.
"I feel like Ryoma is taking one step forward and two steps back. ;__;"
;_____; Well, there's more directions than forward and back? There's going forward in another direction! *snerk* XD;;
no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 05:51 am (UTC)Ahhh, yeah, I couldn't login yesterday to ffnet. Reviews wasn't working for me either! Darn, and I posted and updated stories over the weekend too. X3;; Oh, it looks like they disabled both to fix something.
Oooh, how neat! That is one powerful crossposting feature. There are lots of Dreamwidth features I'm waiting for, like the ability to import content depending on tags, and the archiving feature (would make a nice table of contents for longfics).
My narrative style is all over the place with this fic. XD;;; Next part... I should be returning to third person omniscient for it to work, but now I feel like diving back into Ryoma's head. XDD;;
Ooooh, that part about more directions than forward and back. That is profound. XDDD I can so use that in the fic!!
no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 07:14 pm (UTC)"That is one powerful crossposting feature."
I only found out recently that you can actually import your journal more than once! So, I've been crossposting and if I import now (after waiting a couple of days because of the backlog) I'd have all my comments from LJ on my DW entries - and no double-posts! :D!
"There are lots of Dreamwidth features I'm waiting for, like the ability to import content depending on tags, and the archiving feature (would make a nice table of contents for longfics)."
...I need to start reading those code tours again. :O
"Next part... I should be returning to third person omniscient for it to work, but now I feel like diving back into Ryoma's head. XDD;;"
Aaaaah, hope it goes okay and the writing is easy!
*grins widely* Yey!
Pfft, I was actually meaning that he can side-step/go left or right, but looking at it now, I'm not sure if that came acrossEither way... ;)no subject
Date: 2011-04-13 07:42 am (UTC)Oh yeah, I was reading about that nifty crossposting feature. *___* I didn't know importing again would catch your LJ comments and put them in your DW entries that you crossposted from. That is awesome. Makes me consider crossposting a bit more. :3
For some reason, I like to read through news posts and anon memes... XDD I've been reading through the Dreamwidth news posts. Lots of fascinating things. :D There was a post on technical debt that made me go, ah, a very useful new term for me!
I'm kind of stuck on the next part. XDD Rereading the previous parts has made me think that part 4 and part 5 are so drastically different from the previous 3 parts. D:
Ahahah. Well, I think it's profound! Even side-stepping. =P If you see it in the fic, you'll know where that came from, hahaha.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-15 06:49 pm (UTC)*reads the link*
...
Thank you. Now I have been plotbunnied to hell. XDD;;;; Waaaauggghhhhh, dammit I want to write this continuation as well, and I want to continue with Trail and aaaaaaaaaah.
Thank you for the help! :D
It took four days, but all my comments are now over on DW! And now I want to import again, since I'm adding to them again. XDD; I'll probably import every week or something now.
"There was a post on technical debt that made me go, ah, a very useful new term for me!"
I read this bit, and then lost some time reading Denise's post and all the comments. XD
"If you see it in the fic, you'll know where that came from, hahaha."
Heeeeee~! ♥
no subject
Date: 2011-04-18 10:53 pm (UTC)new mount for LanSo handy being able to update comments! *___* Now I see lucathia_rykatu @ LJ everywhere on your DW journals. XDD
Haha, I read all the comments too... as well as comments in other news posts. Kind of fascinating. XD
no subject
Date: 2011-04-19 07:18 pm (UTC)The fun stuff is always easier and faster to come out than the serious stuff! :(
It iiiiis! I don't want to lose the comments~
no subject
Date: 2011-04-20 05:51 am (UTC)Yeaaaah. Though sometimes I wonder if my humor is not-so-funny, but writing humor always sounds less forced to me than writing... angst. Writing humor also makes me gleeful. :3
no subject
Date: 2011-04-22 08:32 pm (UTC)If we trace it back some more, you've been the source of about 90% of all my plotbunnies because you introduced me to the series in the first place. XDD
I guess it's a good thing I've gotten better at scribbling down plotbunnies now before I'm overwhelmed by the new ones. XD;
I like your humour fics. :3
"Writing humor also makes me gleeful. :3"
Haha, this. I had such a huge grin on my face when I was writing Upgrade. X3
no subject
Date: 2011-04-26 01:23 am (UTC)Ahahaha, guilty as charged then. XD; Usually when you start obsessing over a series, it makes me more interested in the series (when it was more of a passing interest before that). I also have Hand x Red on my shelves that I bought, but I haven't read the third volume yet (I think it ends with 3 volumes?).
I still haven't managed to get into that habit. XD; I merely think, "oh, I'd like to see this happen! or explore this!" and then I forget about it all together. XD;;
Eee~
XDDDD Sounds like we should both write more humor. XD; It's so fun!
no subject
Date: 2011-05-11 07:00 pm (UTC)Yey for having a massive plotbunny list. XDD;
:D Yep!
no subject
Date: 2011-06-08 07:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 08:47 am (UTC)Checked it up on mangafox and it hasn't been updated. But on their site, they say that they have translated chapters, but no quality checkers. XD;