Koi ni Ochita Tenipuri ~ The Tennis Prince Who Fell in Love~

The third year girl gave another sigh; she now stood in front of the door which led to her new classroom. A new school year, new classmates… well, there was just one tiny bit of a problem which this girl was about to face…

"Move."

She flinched instantly, her eyes growing big at the voice that came from behind her. "Eh?"

"YOU'RE IN MY WAY, SO MOVE!"

The girl shivered at the loudness as she looked back at the annoyed boy behind her. "Eek, I'm so sorry!" She squeaked.

"Che. Stupid girl."

twitched at this as she glared at the silver-haired boy who had just brushed past her.

Meet Niou Masaharu, the number one trickster in Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku Chuu. He had been in 's class for two years straight, three years including the current one. Talk about fate. The girl could only sigh at her misfortune, praying that she would be nowhere near the poker-faced male. Too bad, though, she did not have the luck of Sengoku Kiyosumi of Yamabuki Chuu.

wanted to bang her head on her desk as she took her seat with a heavy sigh.

"Hey, ."

The girl perked up suddenly, looking to her left where the boy whom she had been so stressed about sat.

"Let me see your textbook."

"Sure," replied almost immediately as she stood slightly to move her desk closer to the infamous trickster of the tennis team.

"What are you doing?"

"What? Because you said you wanted the textbook…"

"Are you stupid? Why would you move your seat closer to in order to share? We're not kids anymore. Just give me the damn book."

"..."

would have sworn she turned red from the embarrassment. She held up the book and glared at Niou. "No, the language art teacher gets easily annoyed." She didn't finish as the door slid open and the teacher walked in.

"I said let me see it!"

Distracted by the teacher, could only gape in silent awe as her textbook disappeared from her hands. Seemingly, the tennis boy took his chance and grabbed the book before anything else was said.

The teacher settled in the front of the room as he took a glance over the class. "I see you don't have your book out…" His eyes landed on . "Your textbook is like your Bible. Be one with your textbook and always have it."

"I'm sorry; I forgot to bring my book..." replied in dejection, cursing silently. Oh boy, she was getting unwanted attention already and this was only the first day.

"Here, I'll lend you mine," came a deadpan voice from her left as a book landed on her desk.

glared as she opened the book rather angrily to the page the teacher had instructed. Ugh! Then don't take my book in the beginning!

**********

let out a tiresome sigh as she made her way to the lockers. "God, I can finally go home now…"

"Hey," Niou Masaharu called out, making her groan. She wanted to strangle whoever decided to put her locker next to his.

"What?" was impatient and she snapped tiredly at the boy. She was too exhausted to even begin to complain.

"This. Is this from you?"

A piece of paper was shoved in 's face. When she turned to read the words on the page, her face immediately paled. Her eyes widened. All the tiredness on her face disappeared in an instant.

To Niou Masaharu,

I like you. Please go out with me.

From

"It's your name and it was in my shoebox," continued Niou, utter confidence smeared onto his features.

"What the hell is this!? I… I don't know…" replied bluntly with a light blush. "It's obviously a prank!" She turned away sharply and tightened her grip on her bag.

"You have any proof?"

frowned; her face must be as red as a ripe tomato now. "Why would I give you something like this when I hate your guts?"

From the corner of her eyes, she noted the fact that Niou twitched at her comment. "Heh. Is that so? Then let's catch the person who did this."

She snapped her head back, taken back by his suddenly purposeful tone, "What?"

"Doesn't it bother you that someone did this with your name?"

"Yes, but…"

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow morning at six. At the gates – you'd better come!"

She didn't know how to react that she nodded out of reflex. She could have sworn she saw red tints on the boy's face. But then, no one would ever imagine the poker-faced Niou Masaharu to be even capable of blushing.

"You'd better come!" Niou called out again before taking his leave.

's hand unconsciously clenched her chest. ‘My heart was thumping just then… What's this feeling?'

The girl stretched out her arms, hoping to loosen all the stored tension, and scowling as she failed miserably, "Who could it possibly be? Who could be using my name like this? Am I being bullied?"

"-san!"

Interrupted in deep thought, turned and blinked. "Oh, hey. Um, Harada-san, right?"

"What were you talking to Niou-san about just now?"

forced a smile, shaking her head at the other girl's question. "Um, nothing really."

"That's good then, but you looked really scared. You were always really cheerful. I know you been separated from your friends this year and… I know how it feels like. If it's alright with you, you can talk to me."

's expression softened at the other girl's friendly speech.

"Someone wrote a love letter to Niou using my name. Although I don't really care about it, he wants to catch whoever did it. So he's forcing me to come here tomorrow at six, and… and…"

It was about ten minutes later until blurted everything out.

"You must been really stressed out," commented Harada as she listened in carefully.

"I'm sorry I blurted everything out…"

"No, it's quite alright. We're friends, aren't we?" Harada gave an innocent smile, a smile without the slightest hint of malice.

**********

"What time is it now?"

"Almost seven."

"No one even showed up," whined as she and Niou hid in another row of lockers. "I bet the person outsmarted us."

"It's so quiet. It's like we're the only people left on Earth."

"Not possible!" She did not hesitate to snap her reply. She said it without looking at him.

"No, not like that!" Niou frowned as he took 's wrist into his strong grip firmly, pushing the girl's small body against the lockers. "Don't you feel anything when you're alone with a guy?"

Silence gave away the answer as found her cheeks burning in their present position.

Niou stared into her eyes as he continued, his body hovering over hers, "I'm pretty nervous. That letter… When I found out you didn't write it… I found myself wishing that you had." His fingers slipped through hers as he brought them up to his lips. "I never cared about the stupid prank. All I wanted was to be alone with you… so… can I kiss you?"

turned away quickly, fighting the urge of her own feelings to just kiss him. "You were always so mean to me…"

"I can't?" Niou's voice was disappointed as he gently rubbed his thumb roughly across her lips. "Even if you say no, I will still kiss you."

Her heart raced as she shut her eyes at their closeness. His warmth was comforting… she could feel his lips barely upon her own…

RATTLE!

's eyes snapped open instantly as she pushed the Niou away and looked over to the direction of the noise. "Isn't that your locker?"

A girl stood in front of the rows of lockers with a letter in hand. She was just opening a locker door which looked like Niou's when the two teens rushed over.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

The girl's long hair flicked, only to reveal Harada. Without a moment to spare, she flung herself onto Niou. "I'm sorry! I was too embarrassed so I wrote -san's name instead of mine!"

frowned and blinked. "So you wrote the prank letter?" Harada is so much cuter than me. Somehow, the discovery didn't make any happier.

"It wasn't a prank!" The girl pouted innocently, staring up at the silver-haired male. "Don't you like me?"

Niou Masaharu looked away slightly, "It's not like that…"

"Hello? Why are you looking away?" frowned at his response; she was obviously frustrated at both of their actions.

"Well, as a friend maybe."

's frown deepened. What? Why is he giving her false hope? Well, it's not like he ever told me that he liked me… I don't like Niou anyways… friends are more important. Am I wrong?

She a huge artificial smile on her face as she nodded, "I'm happy for you two." Why does it hurt?

**********

He won't say a word. It's so stupid of me to keep thinking about it.

"Hey. Let me borrow your eraser."

It's the same as always.

"Here," picked up her eraser and handed it to Niou. But at the moment of their contact, the boy grabbed onto her hand tightly.

"Don't mock me. Just because there are people around. You think I can't do anything." His cheeks were tinted pink, making 's face color as well.

"Niou-kun!" called a cheerful voice belonging to Harada and Niou quickly let go of 's hand. Harada tapped the boy's shoulder, completely destroying the moment which and Niou Masaharu shared.

"What's wrong?"

glanced over, noting the fact that Niou replied with ambiguity. She bit her lip as she stood up and strolled out of the classroom, refusing to look back. She held the hand which Niou had took earlier and kept it close to her chest. Why did he do that? I mean, if someone did that to you, you're bound to fall for them…

"Does this mean you like Niou-kun too?" asked Harada who followed out of the room calmly.

instantly froze at the question as silence filled the air. No one dared to challenge the quiet atmosphere until finally shook her head slowly.

"I'm sorry. I hope you understand…" the girl began, glaring at the ground, too afraid to look at her friend in the eyes. Is she mad?

"Um, but it'll be Niou-kun's choice. There would be no hard feelings when he chooses one of us to be his girlfriend," her voice dripping with honey as she gave a giggle. "Don't worry. When he comes back from gym class, hand him a towel and go with the flow."

And that's what exactly decided to do. Her heartbeat was now well over the range of 150 as she hid herself in the shadows of the building near the field. She ruffled her hair slightly as she took a deep breath and ran out.

The girl pushed the towel she had into the boy's chest, "I… I… I like you!"

"Are you serious?" a somewhat unfamiliar voice asked in shock.

looked up instantly, feeling the chill in the wind blowing through her light clothes.

Bad move. She caught the wrong guy.

The boy held 's hand in his happily, "Woah! I'm so happy. I always wanted to talk to you!"

Niou, who was at the boy's side, didn't seem happy all. Standing behind him was Harada who peeked over with a blank face, looking like she could have cared less.

More and more students gathered, whispering to themselves about the situation they just witnessed.

"Huh? What happened?"

" just made a confession!"

"Sorry, that's not…" began frantically but quickly got shot down by the ever sweet voice of her dear friend.

"I'm so happy for you, -san! Didn't you always say you liked him?"

's eyes widened at Harada's comment. She clenched her fists tightly, unable to explain the truth in this misguided situation. If I deny it, what happens then?

She lowered her head. If a micro-sized being was to look up from the ground, it would have seen the hurt expression upon 's face. Her tears began to flow.

The school day had ended peacefully after her confession. On the outside at least. was currently buried in chaos that only she would know.

"Ah. You're still here?"

tore her eyes from the lockers and glared at the owner of the voice. So this is that people meant when they said to never judge a person by appearance alone.

"Why did you tell such a lie?"

"It's too late to bring it up now," shrugged Harada who was finally showing her bitchy side.

"But…"

"Everyone's rooting for you, so you shouldn't go and start liking new just like that or they won't like you anymore."

With that, Harada walked past , but not before pushing her. She left after that and a fresh round of tears flowed from 's eyes she lowered her head once more, leaning her forehead on the cool surface of the lockers.

Suddenly, pair of warm hands was on 's shoulders, jerking her away from the lockers and into the arms of someone. "."

The boy wrapped his arms tightly around from behind and buried his face on her left shoulder. His lips were tantalizingly close to her ear. Her hands unconsciously placed themselves on his arms.

"Stop. Let go of me."

"I don't want to let go! I won't."

"Let go!" 's throat felt dry as she forced her voice to come out. "I told you before. I don't like you, Niou… so let go!"

She felt the boy stiffen and his arms loosened his hold of her.

"That letter… I actually wrote it myself. Because I didn't think I'd be able to talk to you normally. Because I like you so much. But I'll never do anything like that again. So don't hate me. Please."

shrugged his hands away. Her tears flooded down her reddened cheeks. I don't want to be alone. I want to be with everyone but I'll be so much more miserable without him.

**********

"Che."

glanced over at the sight of Niou frantically searching through his desk. She smiled softly to herself and held out her language art textbook. "You forgot your book again? Here. You can borrow mine."

The boy looked confused for a second before taking the book and muttering a quick thanks as he looked away.

The teacher once again strode into the room and this time, stopping in front of the black board. "Who here has forgotten their book?" He looked around, no one answered. "No one? Good, now let's start…"

But he never got the chance to finish as everyone's attention turned to the center of the classroom.

and Niou Masaharu were half-standing, lips locked and arms around each other.

The whole class stared. Harada looked as if she was going to blow a fuse but she couldn't do anything but watch helplessly in vain.

"What… what are you guys doing?!" began the teacher, obviously shocked by their sudden performance. "You – you two! That's enough!"

As demanded, the two broke apart, both blushing heavily as they leaned their foreheads against each other.

"But sir, it was written in my textbook."

Kiss me right now.

From

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September 17 , 2006
Written by: Yuriko
Edited by: Rikapyon!

A/N: This dream novel is inspired by Shimaki Ako's second story in a shoujo manga called The Prince Who Fell In Love.