[Prince of Tennis] My Childhood Friend Is a Little Too Cocky

[Everyone dotes on her; Ryoma pairing; third-person narration]

Hoshikawa Aya believes Echizen Ryoma will be her best friend for life, and that they'll understand each other better than anyone else in the world.

They met when they were so young they could barely walk without stumbling. They wore overalls together, learned vocabulary together, collected seashells together, and secretly stayed up late together.

But after they started middle school, she found Ryoma a little hard to understand.

After she politely turned down Senior Fuji's invitation to a photo shoot and explained to Senior Kikumaru that she was busy over the weekend, she turned around and saw Ryoma scowling.

She felt wronged and couldn't figure it out.

She hadn't been sneaking away Karupin's little fish toys lately, so why was Ryoma mad again and again and again and again?!

–

After knowing Hoshikawa Aya for ten years, Echizen Ryoma has watched her go from barely being able to hold a game piece to dominating the court.

He thinks she's been clingy as ever for all ten years, but he also thinks something about her has changed since they started middle school... She reminds him a little of Karupin, and he can't help wanting to get closer.

At first, Echizen Ryoma's head, full of tennis, is too slow to notice that anything is off.

Later, when she's taken off to have fun with the upperclassmen yet again, he squeezes Karupin's paw pads and thinks it over and over

Does he want to take little Aya home and keep her?

Theme: Love is all around us.