title: The sound of your voice
author:
yumeyanatheme: # 14 voice recorder
genre: sap, drama with a wee bit of humor. (^^;)
rating: pg-13
Author’s Notes: I had wanted to write this for days now but my computer was giving me a very hard time. I only got to write this while I downloaded some stuff in a computer rental store. Anyway, this continues from where I left off last time. Thank you for the heart warming reviews I received last chapter. They really made me happy.
Disclaimers: Tennis no Oujisama and all it’s characters belong to Konomi Takeshi-sama who is currently giving us a hard time in deciding who he will put in Singles Two. The other anime and the characters that I will mention in the story don’t belong to me as well. Only the plot is mine.
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The sound of your voice
“I know how stupid this is, Kojiroh, but please don’t laugh at me. Syusuke chuckling beside me is enough.
“Eto…
…
…
“Syusuke, if you don’t stop chuckling, I’ll make you run laps fifty times around your house. And you know I can make you do that even if I’m not your buchou anymore.
…
…
…
“SYUSUKE, FIFTY LAPS NOW!
…
…
“Now that Syusuke’s gone, I can start. This is not like me, isn’t it? But you and Syusuke always manage to make me more in touch with my, let’s just say… caring side.
“I don’t know what happened after Sanada told you that weren’t working although I have a vague idea about it. I’m not going to ask you about it either. You… you’re not ready to tell me, tell us anything and that’s fine. We’ll wait if that’s what you want. We won’t ask you anything and just let it fade with time if you like.
“But Kojiroh, I won’t advise you to keep everything bottled up inside you. That won’t be healthy for you and the people around you. We care for you and we wouldn’t want to see you rolling on the floor with your heart constricting, ok?
“I watched this anime when I was a child. Yes, I watched anime so erase that funny look on your face. Don’t deny it. I know it’s there.
“Anyway, this anime I’m talking about… I won’t go into the details since it would be too hard and too long to explain. I think I have a copy so I’ll just lend you a copy.
“Oh wait. My phone’s ringing.
“Moshi mo-Syusuke. No. I said fifty so run fifty and don’t call me while you’re running.
“And stop chuckling for goodness sake.
…
“Sorry, Kojiroh. *sigh* Sometimes I can’t understand how I became friends with your brother-slash-best-friend. *sigh*
“The anime, let’s get back to that. The main characters are a boy named Yuu and a girl named Miki. I haven’t watched this in years so don’t trust my memory of the anime much.
“Miki had something to tell Yuu but she couldn’t tell him face to face. She had this little voice recorder so she decided to use it and tell Yuu what she wanted to tell him through it.
“That’s actually the purpose of this. It’s hard to tell us straight about the events that took place but it’s not good to keep them all to yourself. So I suggest that if you need to tell us - me and Syusuke - about anything, use this and just give it to one of us. We’ll know and then we’ll answer you through this as well. It’s a little weird but at least you’ll get everything out of your system little by little.
“I’ll always be here, Kojiroh. And so will Syusuke after he’s finished with his laps. We won’t be replacing that hole he’s created in your heart but we’ll be trying to fill it in somehow.
“And if you’re asking, yes I want to kill him. But I won’t. You’ll be killing me.”
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Saeki smiled softly, the fog of sleepiness and fatigue due to crying still present. He was surprised and curious when he saw that small and old-looking voice recorder beside him when he woke up. There was only a small note with Tezuka’s writing, saying that he should press the ‘play’ button.
And he was more surprised when he did.
He hugged the item close to him as he snuggled deeper into the blanket. He hadn’t expected such a gesture from Tezuka even if they had been very close friends for a very long time now. Sure, he and Fuji had softened up the coffee-haired a bit but still…
Tezuka’s deep voice in the recorder wasn’t the usual commanding and nonchalant voice he used in the club or in everyday life for that matter. The voice that resonated was soft and full of concern. He almost didn’t believe it was Tezuka at first.
But it was Tezuka’s voice.
Those words he relayed with that tone had more impact than if he had said it with his usual one. Those words had - even a little - made the weight in his shoulders and heart lighter than last night.
It was as if his voice was a kiss of sunlight in his darkened world.
Arigato, Kunimitsu. Arigato.