Author's Note: After going back and forth of revisiting this story and wondering what I should to not only you, my readers, but myself down, I decided to reedit this story! Now it's, I swear from the bottom of my heart, one hundred times even a thousand times better than before! I am still in the process of reediting and writing the story altogether so I don't know when all of that is going to be done, but since I've had this story of mine in mind for such a long time now I have dedicated myself to editing and finishing it. If you have been waiting or just discovered As Time Passed By, thank you for reading and thank you for simply finding my story. Anyway, I hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 1

Raina's Point of View

Standing a few steps away from me is exactly who I thought. Close enough to see his face and the rest of him from his reflective golden eyes to the soles of his feet with the leisure wear he wears and over his left shoulder I stand in front of him wide eyed and speechless. All the while I am looked down upon in bitter annoyance.

Thinking back to what had happened before, I've come to a conclusion; I'm not dreaming.

Hours before.

Looking out into the distance where stars supposedly lie behind a cloud of smoke and city lights, my line of vision is disrupted with a single wave of a hand, "Raina, are you listening?"

I blink thrice.

I take my time to turn my head towards my friend for a forced smile to appear evident on my face in hopes of hiding the tiredness behind my stale coffee eyes, "Sorry, what was that?"

"I was talking about how fun it was hanging out with everyone yesterday. You should've come. You have to hang out with us next time!"

I face forward, averting her eyes.

Before forcing yet another smile, my cherry tinted lips form a straight line, "Maybe."

Maybe not.

"Come on, live a little..! Ah. I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow."

As I look up from the ground, I catch my friend waving goodbye to me as she turns a corner.

I stop walking.

Turning my head to my right, I take a gander not at what is behind glass walls but at my reflection.

Although my friend has left, her presence continues to linger into the midst of the night, what she said replaying in my head like a broken record player.

My face falls.

These past few years each passing day of mine has been the same.

Now these days I wonder..where did it all go wrong?

What happened to the girl who thought she had it all?

"Excuse me, Miss?" Someone else pulls me from my thoughts, drawing my attention towards he who stands in front of glass doors, a man, tall and lanky whose ash gray hair is neat but the corner of his eyes wrinkled the same as the denim he is generously clothed in.

Strange.

"I'm giving away a free book only for new customers. You should take one. If not, you could take a look around. I'm sure you'll find something you'll like."

My eyes squint at the sight I see before me, one I dared not pay mind to - a building once filled with tatters, dust, and cobwebs now illuminated with fairy lights in the shape of teardrops raining from its ceiling, budded plants to fully grown ones huddled together in every corner, and shelves to carts packed with books both new and old.

On nights like this after getting off work I would always pass by this building. Although, it had always been left unkempt and abandoned.

My eyes find the bookstore keeper's smiling eyes once more, and taking one step after another, I allow curiosity get the better of me.

I travel past selections of books one aisle after another, but I eventually find a series of books.

The Prince of Tennis.

From the top of a small miniature bookshelf, the same height as I, I grab a random volume out of the series. And I reminisce about the past, how things used to be, and how things are never going to be the same as they once were before. Flipping each page, I especially find myself immersed in its story all over again.

I throw my head back and stifle a laugh, my side-swept bangs moving to and fro as I do.

Though, realizing how loud I am, slowly do I lower the book in my hand until only my almond-shaped eyes can be seen.

I accidentally make eye contact with the bookstore keeper who is standing behind a counter. I bow. He does the same.

How embarrassing...

Luckily, there aren't any other customers besides myself here. I mean- sadly.

Sadly, there aren't any other customers besides myself here.

I hide my face with the book in my hand as I turn back around to face the bookshelf in embarrassment. However, just as I lower the book in my hand in order for me to continue reading it, I notice an image on the left page of the book moving.

I've finally lost it.

Over the last few months, I've barely gotten any sleep and the fact that I've been overworking myself with college and my part-time job has not been doing me any good either.

Shutting my eyes, I shake my head, taking no mind of my straightened dark hair if it becomes at all messy.

But the moment I open my eyes and look down at the book once more, I am met with a beam of light that disperses into ribbons of light, which blind me enough to let go of my grip onto the book in my hand. I touch my eyes with the back of my hand whilst taking a few steps back.

I stumble into a person, "Ow..!"

I take my hands off my eyes, so to politely apologize to the person behind me, although I find myself unable to. Because the second I turn around I am met with more light. From the headlights of a truck.

As I hear the same person from before call out to me, my eyes widen, "Watch out..!"

Then, I feel someone wrap their hand around my forearm and pull me into their arms.

Engulfed in my savior's embrace, I hear the truck drive by, honking in the near distance.

I get lost in a daze, in utter complete disbelief.

Wasn't I just at the bookstore? Why am I in the middle of the streets?!

The one to pull away first is the other, "If you're trying to get yourself killed do it somewhere else."

"What? Get- Get myself killed? Excuse me, sir, but I was just-"

I stop myself from speaking yet another word.

My words if I were to finish them would sound like nonsense to this man. They sound like nonsense to me and they are nothing but my own!

I allow my eyes to slowly trail off to one side.

Not finishing my sentence after too long of a pause, I hear the man a few centimeters away from me speak to himself as he adjusts the tennis bag on his left shoulder, "Whatever. It's none of my business."

With an arched a brow I shoot my eyes back up to his face.

There is no doubt I am grateful for him, a stranger nonetheless, for saving my life, but this guy's attitude after doing such a good deed is horrible. Getting a good look at this guy from a close distance, I admit he has the looks that ladies would swoon over, but what's with his attitude?

Now that I think about it..he kind of looks like-

Interrupted are my thoughts by a beeping sound from the opposite side of the street.

Keeping my eyes on the man, my brows knit together as I watch him fix the white cap atop his head, pulling the bill of it down some more whilst taking his leave, turning around to walk towards the direction I'm facing.

Still holding my glance, I can't help but follow him from behind and try my hardest to catch up to him even if it means I have to take twice as more steps than he does whilst getting through a crowd of people.

In the middle of the sidewalk, it is not until I am a few inches away from him do I realize that he had already at one point came to a stop, halting in my tracks as I do. Just as I'm about to release a breath of relief from not managing to bump into his back, the man in front of me turns, my face now inches away from his chest.

"What do you want?"

I slowly close my eyes and shake my head again once this time, questioning myself before doing what I decided to do earlier.

It takes all of the courage I have within me to do so, to open my eyes again and look at the man directly in the eye. Though, before I am about to ask him a question, I hesitate as my eyes grow wide once more.

"What's your name? Is your name perchance, Ryoma Echizen..?" My voice becomes small, drowning in a sea of those empowering my own.

For some time, we stay like this, neither of us taking our eyes off each other. Until he turns back around to continue on his path forward this time in longer strides.

I curse at myself under my breath for what I'm doing is ridiculous.

Even so, with one more look at him from afar from where I stand, I continue on my own path forward. First, walking, then, slowly picking up my feet, sprinting. I halt in my tracks when I am the one in front of him and with both arms wide open.

I watch him as he abruptly comes to a stop, his eyes widening instead when he finds my face once more.

I breathe in and out before raising my voice, "Is it or not?"

As the expression on his face resides back to all seriousness, "It is."

I finally hear his answer to my question, and my lips part whilst my arms drop back down to my sides.

And I rush to reach for my black leather crossbody purse, lifting the flap of it with one hand to reach inside for my smartphone with the other. I use it, tapping away, calling away. As I do, my breathing becomes ragged, my vision becomes blurry.

"Ryoma!"

From the corner of my eye Ryoma ever so slightly turns his body, "Momo?"

"Who..?"

"If you're heading this way I'll walk with you."

"Sure."

To my right, Ryoma walks past me. Then to my left, Momo. My body freezes as I don't take my eyes off my smartphone in my hand that has no signal nor service.

Giving up on the device, I throw it back inside my bag only to turn around again but in silence follow the two men who from afar I see walking side by side.

My eyes flicker to Momo who glances over his shoulder from time to time.

On the other hand, Ryoma does not take mind of Momo's whispers about me.

Although, sooner than I thought does Momo say his goodbyes to Ryoma, and Ryoma arrives at his destination.

I stop following Ryoma when I glance at him walking through a gate with a sign next to it that reads, "Seigaku Middle School."

As I sit on the ground with my back against a brick wall, I stare at my right, a middle school's sign.

"You're still here?"

Hearing a familiar person's voice, I immediately turn my head to look ahead of me and stand back up, stumbling as I do.

Standing a few steps away from me is exactly who I thought. Close enough to see his face and the rest of him from his reflective golden eyes to the soles of his feet with the leisure wear he wears and over his left shoulder I stand in front of him wide eyed and speechless. All the while I am looked down upon in bitter annoyance.

Thinking back to what had happened before, I've come to a conclusion; I'm not dreaming.

The man who stands in front of me is Ryoma Echizen from The Prince of Tennis.

I don't know what happened for this to happen to me or why this is happening to me in the first place, but there is too much proof to say that I am dreaming right now. If I needed more evidence to prove to myself that I am not I would do, although I won't. I don't want to. Because I am afraid.

What else is the world capable of that everyone else does not know of?

What's happening to me right now would be part of a show or a movie, but to know that what's happening to me right now is real? There are too many possibilities of what can go wrong from here.

With the sun setting on the horizon, I feel the wind pick up.

What feels like the umpteenth time, Ryoma walks away from me.

"Please listen to what I have to say!" I shout from the top of my lungs, which stops Ryoma from walking for but a second.

"My name is Raina Hatanaka and I know this is going to sound crazy, but..I know you. Not in the way you're thinking though..."

Ryoma doesn't bother to stop walking this time, but I don't give up. I can't.

This time, I go on and on about what I know about his first year as a student in Seigaku, every event, every emotion he felt, every trouble he faced that became secrets of his past not just anyone would know of. I don't miss any detail.

Soon enough, Ryoma turns around slowly to walk towards me, quickening his pace with every step he takes and cover my mouth with the palm of his right hand, "How-"

I push his hand away, "You have to believe me."

Then, Ryoma takes his smartphone out of the pocket of his running shorts.

"What are you doing? Are you- Are you calling the police?!"

Swiftly from behind him, I snatch his smartphone and end the call he started.

"I'm not from here, I'm not part of your world, but if you call the p-police and tell them about me who knows what will happen to me because I don't exist. Not under records. At least, not here."

Ryoma, much quicker than I, snatches his smartphone back from me and dials the same number.

From it I struggle to hear, "Hello, this is the police department. How can I help you?"

"This is Ryoma. I want to know about someone named Raina Hatanaka."

"Oh. Ryoma, it's been a while! Let me see..you said, 'Raina Hatanaka'?"

"Yes."

"I don't see a 'Raina Hatanaka'. Not anywhere at all... Are you sure her name is-"

In a single jump, I yank Ryoma's smartphone out of his hands and hang up on the policeman on the other side of the line.

From my bag I quickly pull out my wallet and identification card and hold it out in front of Ryoma's face.

Suddenly, my body fails to listen to me, and the world around me begins to spin.

I faint.

"Hey!"