A Matter of Memory

Ryoma will make an appearance again in the next chapter, so please
don’t kill the author.  I don’t own them
so don’t sue me either.  Also, this is
kind of letting me down, so for those of you actually reading, I need more
reviews to keep posting here, otherwise this story will come down and those
looking for it can contact me to get the site it’s on.

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Tezuka, Fuji,
Sanada, and Atobe were back in the limo heading for the Seichundai Tennis Club
that Oishi had mentioned.  Atobe and Fuji
were both busy making calls on their cell phones while Tezuka watched for Ryoma
and Sanada held Karupin.  The cat had
insisted on going with them, she had latched on to Atobe’s pants when he said
‘let’s go find Ryoma’, but they had left her in the limousine when they stopped
at the street courts earlier. 

            “Nee-san
have you gotten any new information?..style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Ryoma’s missing…style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  No we found his hat at the street courts but
no one’s seen him…  No, Karupin hasn’t
calmed down yet.  It’s like she’s looking
for him too…  Yes I’ll call Yuuta. The
more people we have looking the faster we’ll find him.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Call me if you find out anything.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Bye.” Fuji
looked even more worried when he hung up.

            “Look
Ore-sama doesn’t care how much it’s going
to cost!  You shut down trains, subways,
flights, buses, and taxis until he’s found! 
If someone has him I don’t want them getting anywhere!” Atobe nearly
yelled into his own phone.

He’d already gotten the police to agree to set up road
blocks at all city exits in an earlier phone call, and was now shutting down
public transportation.  He’d called the
private investigators that were on the Atobe payroll earlier and emailed them
the picture Fuji had on his cell
phone; Fuji had been the only one
who’d managed to capture a picture of Ryoma.

            “Kunimitsu
what was your player saying about Nanako’s boyfriend?” Sanada asked.

            “Momoshiro
said that Nanako’s boyfriend despises Ryoma because of his relationship with
us.  The man is apparently homophobic but
he puts on an act for Nanako.  However
Oishi seemed to be implying otherwise.” Tezuka replied sounding worried.

            “Yuuta…style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Listen, Ryoma is missing…style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  No we checked there, all we found was his
hat…  Yes I know…style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  We need help finding him.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Our team is out looking as well as some of
Fudomine but the more people searching the faster we should be able to find
him.  Will you help?..style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Thank you, keep in touch.” Fuji’s
phone conversation interrupted Tezuka and Sanada’s discussion.

            “Does
anyone know where her boyfriend is?  What
if he’s made a move against Ryoma?” Sanada continued.

            “Oishi,
Kikumaru, and Kawamura are on the way to see Nanako; I’m sure they’ll ask.”
Tezuka replied.

            “NO!style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Ore-sama will repeat his self one last
time.  I DON’T CARE WHAT IT COSTS!style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  JUST FIND HIM!” Atobe finished his phone
conversation by yelling at whoever was on the line.

            “Genichirou,
Keigo, will your teams help look?” Fuji
asked turning to the two of them.

            “Ore-sama’s
team is on vacation.  A
cruise that Ore-sama provided for them as a treat.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Even if it turns towards shore now it will be
several days before they get back here.” Atobe stated.

            “Several of
my team are also away but I’m sure the rest will
help.  I’ll call Seiichi to start off
with.” Sanada replied taking out his own phone.

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Momo, Akira, and Shinji just barely managed to duck out of
the brawl that was going on in the arcade.

            class=GramE>“Momoshiro!  This is class=GramE>all your fault!  If
you hadn’t been hitting on that girl none of this would have happened.” Akira
shouted as the three ran down the street.

            class=GramE>“My fault?!  No
way!  I wasn’t hitting on her either; I
was just asking her and her friends if they’d seen Ryoma.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  I’ve seen them at all the games we play.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Besides her boyfriend didn’t start throwing
things until after you started laughing at his hairdo!” Momo shot back.

            “It was
rather strange to see someone of his build with a spiked rainbow colored
Mohawk.  Really one should take care of
their hair and find a style that suits them best.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  It is his hair though so I suppose it is his
choice.  Unless he was
dared to do that.  He should
really be careful about the dares he accepts…”

            class=GramE>“SHINJI!” Momo and Akira yelled in unison.

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Oishi winced as Eiji wailed yet again coming up with another
strange, highly unlikely, scenario that he thought his favorite kouhai might be
experiencing.  The teams vice captain
hadn’t seen his lover this distraught since his mother had taken his teddy
bear, Kumano
Daigorou, to wash it without telling him.

As
it was Oishi had already confiscated Kawamura’s racket to calm him down, or at
least to make him manageable.  It wasn’t
that he wasn’t worried about Ryoma, he was very much, it
was just that he had his hands full keeping Eiji from jumping everyone they
passed to interrogate them on whether or not they’d kidnapped his ‘Ochibi’.

            “Eiji you
need to calm down.  We don’t want to
panic Nanako and we’re almost at the house.” Oishi tried.

            class=GramE>“Uwaaa!  Shuichiro
you’re right, we can’t make poor Nanako worry!” Eiji yelled in Oishi’s ear.

            “class=SpellE>Meino-san will be frantic, especially with Ryoma’s parents
out of the country.” Kawamura added fearfully.

            “We have to
try and play this down.” Oishi whispered helplessly as they approached the door
and knocked.

            class=GramE>“Ara?style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Ah, Oishi-san, Kikumaru-san,
Kawamura-san.  How pleasant to see you
again.  Please come in.” Nanako said as
she opened the door and moved to allow them into the house.

            “Ohayou
Nanako-san, and please call us by our names as we’ve asked before.” Oishi said
politely.

            “Come in,
make yourselves comfortable.  Can I get
you some tea or anything?” she replied with a smile.

            “No thank
you.” All three responded looking a little uncomfortable.

            “What can I
do for you?”

            “Um, we
were just wondering if you’ve seen or heard from Ryoma today.” Oishi asked.

            “No not for
a few days.  Why?style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Is something wrong?” the girl sounded
concerned.

            class=GramE>“No, not really.” Oishi stalled trying to come up with a
reason that they would have asked.

            “Practice
was cancelled today so Ryoma went off on his own for personal training.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  He forgot his cell phone and we kind of need
to get a hold of him.” Kawamura said suddenly coming up with a quick excuse.

The other two boys stared at him in a moment of awed wonder.

            “Oh.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Well good luck then.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  When Ryoma-san doesn’t want to be found he
rarely can be.  He’s quite good at ending
up in places you wouldn’t think to look for him.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  If he calls or I see him I’ll tell him to
call you.” Nanako said with a look of very slight disbelief.

            “Thank you
Nanako-san.  We’ll be going now.” Eiji
said somberly looking ready to burst into tears.

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            class=GramE>“Fssshh.”

            “Kaoru
don’t worry.  There is nearly a 25
percent chance that we will find him before the others.” Inui replied to the
worried hiss.

            class=GramE>“Nearly 25 percent Sadaharu? 
That estimation is not up to your normal standards.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Either you’re worried about Echizen or there
is something more going on here than the other know about.” A new voice
interrupted.

            class=GramE>“Renji.” Inui stated without turning around even as Kaidoh
jumped slightly.

            class=GramE>“Sadaharu.  What’s
going on?  Why do you style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>need to find Echizen before the others?”
the Rikkaidai data specialist asked.

            “Kaidoh, we
can trust him to help us.” Inui whispered as the younger boy tensed.

            class=GramE>“Renji who else is looking?” Inui asked turning back to his
friend who had, despite his insatiable need for all knowledge, respected their
privacy.

            “Atobe’s
team is out of town as are most of our members. 
The only ones available to join in the search when Sanada called were
Yukimura, Kirihara, and I.  Now please
explain what is going on.”

            “As Kaidoh
put it earlier when he told me, Echizen lost his memory and he lost
Echizen.  I’ll explain as we walk.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  It’s important that we find him fast.” Inui
responded after receiving an almost imperceptible affirmative from his kouhai.

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            “Ne,
Kouya.” A young man said to his twin as he stared across the street.

            “What is it
Keita?” the other responded as he fiddled with a small video camera.

            “Isn’t that
the kid sempai said we’re all supposed to be looking for?” the first said as he
pointed to a teenager with green black hair who looked a little lost.

            “Nice spot
Keita!  We’ll be full investigators in no
time.  Maybe Atobe-sama will even give us
a raise.” The second man replied.

The two started trailing the teenager, trying to record his
every move without being noticed.

            “Ne Kouya.”

            “What is it
now Keita?”

            “Are you
sure the code sempai sent us with the picture of this kid means find and
record?”