I laid in bed that night thinking about Yuki-senpai and her not taking my confession seriously. It was understandable when I really thought about it. All I've done up until this point was annoy and irritate her. What reason did I give her to think I actually liked her and not just enjoyed teasing her?
I tried to set these thoughts to the side so I could get some sleep but all I did was toss and turn. My alarm started to ring right when I finally started drifting off. I looked at my alarm clock in disbelief. It was already six am. I barely slept at all. I shut my alarm off with a little more force than necessary then dragged myself out of bed and started getting ready for school.
I went downstairs to the kitchen. My mom was already there cooking breakfast which wasn't surprising. My sister was there as well, which was a surprise.
"Good morning, Shou." my mom said without turning around. "How is your ankle?"
"Hiya Shou." my sister said with a mouth full of toast.
"Why are you here?" I said in place of a greeting. I kissed my moms soft cheek and sat at the table.
"How rude of ya. You don't get to see me often and this is how ya treat me?" she said. "I was hungry, ya know."
I snatched her last piece of toast off her plate and ate it. She glared at me. I glared back.
"What happened to your ankle?" she asked.
"Nothing." I replied.
My mom sat a plate of food in front of me. "He sprung his ankle last night at his game." she said.
"Shou sprung his ankle? Wow, ya must've been giving it your all, huh?" she said as she stole a piece of toast off my plate.
"It's fine." I said as I stared at my plate. Them talking about my ankle reminded me of my confession and my rejection. I pushed my plate away.
"Sorry, mom. I'm not very hungry today."
My mom and sister stared at me in shock.
"You're not hungry?" my mom asked in concern.
"Are you alright?" my sister asked.
"I'm fine." I said again. I got up and grabbed my bag. "I'm going." I said before they could ask me more questions. I left them staring after me as I walked out the door.
By the time I arrived at school, I was more than exhausted and grumpy. I headed to homeroom looking for Yuki-senpai in the hallway on the way there. She wasn't anywhere to be seen. That just made me grumpier. It was probably best I not see her. I didn't know what I was going to say to her yet.
I walked into homeroom and sat in my seat behind Abe while trying to come up with something to say to her when I saw her. Abe was asleep and mumbling to himself. He always talked in his sleep, the weirdo. I stared out the window, not really seeing anything while I mindlessly twirled a pencil in my hand. Suddenly I heard Abe mutter "Oh, Machida-senpai. Yes, please…". My pencil fell from my fingers. There was only one Machida-senpai. The bastard was dreaming about my Yuki. A dirty dream at that.
"Oi Sensei!" I called out. "Abe is dreaming about something weird."
"What? Smack him awake."
I smiled grimly. With pleasure. I reached out and hit Abe hard on the back of his head. Abe jumped up in such a comical way I couldn't help but laugh.
"What the…" he mumbled sleepily. He turned to me. I looked back at him calmly.
"Why'd you hit me?" he grumbled.
"Sensei told me to." I replied simply.
He mumbled something about kicking my ass later while rubbing the back of his head. I laughed again. Then I thought about Yuki-senpai telling me my confession was a prank and the laughter died in my throat. I pushed back the feeling of rejection that started to creep up on me. She never actually said no, I thought to myself. I'll just have to work on her some more, is all.
I spent the remainder of homeroom thinking of ways to convince her when the bell rung. I got up and left to go to my next class. I barely got out the door when Ichii and one of her friends latched on to me and started chattering away about something. I wasn't listening. I couldn't stop thinking about senpai.
Once again it was as if I conjured her up. I spotted her walking down the hall in her usual brisk manner. Judging by her face she was thinking hard about something. She was thinking so hard that she wasn't paying any attention to her surroundings which was rare for her. It would be conceited of me to believe she was thinking about me. Yea right and pigs fly.
She didn't even realize I was there and she was less than five feet away from me. If I was Kido she would've noticed me, I thought darkly. He was probably the reason she was so lost in thought. I felt that spark of jealousy again. Once again, I was surprised I felt that way. That line of thinking and feeling jealous was unlike me. I said nothing as I watched her walk right into Ichii who was also unaware of anything around her as usual.
Yuki looked up in surprise. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…" she started to say. Her voice drifted off when she finally noticed me. She didn't look happy to see me. The irritation I felt before returned full force. I ignored it and pretended I just noticed her too.
"Oh, Yuki-senpai. You look grim this morning."
She opened her mouth to say something when Ichii's friend said "Yuki-senpai?" with recognition in her voice.
"Ah it's her! She flipped out at the game!" Ichii blurted out.
"The spank you girl!" her friend replied.
I watched Yuki-senpai's face close down. I silently wished Ichii and all her friends went to boarding school in another country. Now she really won't speak to me. Yuki-senpai turned around and walked away without saying another word.
I knew she didn't want to remember that scene but didn't she know her words pushed me to play harder? Would she believe me if I told her? I watched her retreating back, stiff with indignation and embarrassment. Probably not. Ichii pulled my arm.
"Are you even listening, Naruse?" she asked. I didn't realize she was even talking to me.
"Ya." I lied.
She continued talking and I immediately tuned her out again as I went to my next class. She left me to go to her own. I was grateful for the quiet. I needed to think. I tried to think of new plans of attack but all I could see was her face after I kissed her. Completely unmoved. Nothing I came up with could overcome the fear I had of seeing that face again. By the time I finished with morning classes and headed to the gym for mid-day practice, I was close to just giving up. There was no way Yuki-senpai would fall for me.
I pushed that thought away. She just needs more effort. I shouldn't have expected anything less from her, really. I've never really put a lot of effort into anything. I didn't realize how frustrating it was for something to not go your way.
While I thought about that another thought came to me. Would she even still be there? Kido retired so would she have any reason to stay? I felt a knot of dread but immediately squashed it. If she quits, I'll quit and stalk her in the halls.
As soon as I entered the gym I scanned the room, searching for her. The whole team was huddled up to the side. I was relieved to see senpai was there in front of the team with some new guy. The new guy was in the middle of introducing himself as the new captain. I didn't catch his name. I then noticed a bunch of other new faces amongst the familiar ones. I forgot new players would be arriving after the third years retired.
I joined the team, staying in the back. Yuki-senpai didn't notice me, yet again. Was I invisible to her? I thought about it and realized that not only had senpai never approach me first but she also never started a conversation with me. The only times she ever spoke to me first was either for club business or barking orders at me during drills. Anoyance swept through me at that thought. Once again, I ignored that feeling and studied her face. Her face was expressionless as usual but I could still tell something was bothering her. The new captain finished his speech then asked senpai if she had anything to add.
"Nothing really. It's just as you said. Do your best." she said briskly, her face as expressionless as ever. I heard some of the newcomers mutter how scary she was and some whispers about her spanking unruly players. I scowled. I didn't like them looking at her let alone whispering about her with awe.
The captain dismissed everyone and told them to get in formation. Since I injured myself during the last game I was excused from practice for a few days but I had to be the ballboy. My ankle was fine but I didn't mind having a break from drills. Plus being excused from drills gave me time to work on Yuki-senpai.
While the team went through their workout I went in search of her to do just that. She managed to disappear within seconds of the captains dismissal so it took me a while to find her. She was in the last place I looked, the laundry area. She already had a load of clothes in and was going over notes in her always present notebook.
I leaned down on the washing machine and watched her. I knew she noticed my presence but she still ignored me.
"Senpai, do you still like the captain?" I said without thinking. I didn't mean to ask that first but since it was now out there I waited for her reply.
"Hurry up and go back to practice, Naruse. Until your ankle heals you're the ball boy, aren't you?" she asked instead of answering me.
I was still irritated from her ignoring me all day. "Don't wanna. I'm bored." I said, more sullenly than I intended.
"What are you in kindergarten?" she mumbled.
I ignored her comment and change the subject. "Anyway, are you figuring out a new practice plan while doing laundry? You sure do a lot. Captain Kido's not even here anymore."
"The third years are gone so what of it?" she replied. "This is my work after all. The fact that the basketball team is important to me hasn't changed."
I watched her as she pressed her pen thoughtfully against her lips while continuing to study her notebook her brow wrinkled in concentration. A strand of her brown hair caught in the wind, blowing across her cheek. She was just so cute and once again she wasn't paying any attention to me. I was tired of that. I sat up, leaned towards her and kissed her on the cheek. I was rewarded with a whack across my head.
Her other hand flew to her cheek and cradled it as though I hit her instead of kissed her. She glared at me accusingly.
"Look, Naruse. You need to cut this out right now. I swear I will make drills hell for you!" she shouted angrily.
"That's because you haven't been thinking about me. At all. I even said I'd fallen for you." I said, a little angry myself. Being ignored by the person you'd been thinking about for the last twenty four hours could do that.
"Listen, you. If you were really serious you wouldn't be able to touch me so easily. If you really liked me, then your heart would race relentlessly while aching at the same time. But you're...so indifferent!" she returned. "And I don't recall being liked by you or being buddies with you. You're just messing with me, aren't you?"
Yuki-senpai never spoke to me in such a way. Her face was flushed and she was breathing hard. I've only seen her this passionate once before. Looking back, her face that day at the game might have been what made me fall for her. But it wasn't me that brought that flush to her face. It was her feelings for Kido. Did she really like him that much? The jealousy returned again but I couldn't push it away this time.
"What you're saying is your heart ached when you were around the captain?" I asked even though I didn't want the answer. I already knew the answer.
"So what?" she nearly shouted at me. I watched her face go from indignant to embarrassment. She didn't want to reveal all that to me even though I already knew. Why did I have to fall for someone who was in love with someone else? You make plans and God laughs my mom would say. I was so fed up with it all that I just said what I had been feeling all day.
"How annoying."
I wanted to say more but I couldn't take any more of her rejection. I needed to regroup. I turned around and walked back to the gym. She didn't say anything but I could feel her eyes burn an angry hole into my back as I walked away.
Later, just as practice was about to end, Kido and the rest of the retired third years showed up.
"Wassup! Are you guys practicing seriously? We came to play you guys!" Kido called out with a stupid grin on his face.
The second years gathered around them as they talked noisily about entrance exams and stuff. They acted like they hadn't seen the third years just last night. So annoying. I looked around for senpai. She stood to the side quietly watching them, her face so expressionless that even I couldn't tell what she was thinking. She was thinking about him, I was sure of it. I watched, annoyed, as Kido walked over to her.
"Manager, sorry for barging in like this." he apologized even though he didn't look sorry.
"It's okay. Everyone is fine with it." She replied. I studied her face intently for any change of expression. I couldn't find the slightest change. I should have felt relief. Instead, all I felt was worry. How would I ever get her to notice me when Kido was still around to pop up whenever he wanted?
One of the third years approached me and asked me about my foot.
"Why are you here?" I asked instead of answering.
He laughed with a slight edge in his voice. "And you're still an obnoxious brat, aren't ya? Are you telling me to go home, jerk face?"
I ignored him and headed towards senpai and Kido who was once again standing too close to her.
"3 on 3? You guys are playing now? Practice was just about to end." she was saying.
"Yea, just this once. 3rd years against 2nd years." he said to her.
Why was he standing so close to her? I moved closer to them as I heard Abe say they would get smashed if they played them.
"You guys are just bored from studying. You just want to feel better by schooling us." one of the 2nd years called out. The third years laughed while agreeing with him.
"So which three from the second years…" Yuki started to say.
"I'm in. I'm game." I said, cutting her off while inserting myself between her and Kido.
"That's rare. Naruse actually wants to play." someone commented.
"Dude, he's a first year. Plus his foot's still messed up." someone else chimed in.
"Nah, it's fine." I said loud enough for them to hear. Then I leaned down towards Yuki-senpai and whispered in her ear. "So, if we win, we'll go on a date sometime."
Her body jolted and her face paled before flushing deep red. It wasn't a blush of love. Probably a blush of fury but I'd take whatever I could get. I walked away leaving her stuttering what probably was a cutting reply. I headed over to where the other second years were lined up before the third years. I thought briefly about how this was so unlike me. Normally I wouldn't care about a pick up game but I wasn't just playing to win the date with senpai. I was also playing to show her Kido had nothing on me.
The whistle blew signaling the start of the game. It only took 15 minutes for us to win 25-29. My team cheered victoriously while the third years grumbled about my ankle being fine.
"I told you it was fine. Ya deaf?" I said. It was true but my ankle was throbbing a bit. I turned to look at Yuki-senpai. She clearly wasn't too happy about our win. That was too bad but she was going on the date even if she didn't actually agree to the terms of the bet. I started to head towards her to settle on an actual day for our date when Kido's girlfriend showed up.
"Excuse me, is the 3 something 3 already over?" she asked senpai, her voice like tinkling bells. As she stood there next to senpai, I tried to see what Kido saw in her. She really was too frilly. She wore too much make-up. She looked liked every other girl in school. I couldn't understand why Kido would prefer her over senpai but I was glad he did.
"Rina!" Did you just arrive? It's great that you didn't see me lose." Kido said as he walked up next to her.
"You lost?" she said with disbelief.
And he'll lose every time if he ever dares to play me again in front of senpai, I thought to myself darkly. Kido introduced Rina to senpai. I watched as Yuki-senpai made small talk with the girl who won her crush's heart. It looked like her face was about to crack from the effort to remain expressionless. It seemed no one could tell senpai was struggling to not lose her composure but it was so obvious to me. Looks like I'll have to save her once again.
I walked to Yuki-senpai and grabbed her arm. "I won. Date time." I said as I dragged her out of the gym.
"Wait! You said sometime, right?" she argued. "This is…"
"Nope." I said, cutting her off. "I want to go now."
Half an hour later, we ended up at the arcade. I really hate loud, crowded places but it seemed like a good place to get her to forget about what would've been a disaster if she had stayed at the gym.
"You. If you wanted to come here, get your usual friends to come." she said irritably when we were inside.
"Senpai, you just suck at games, I bet." I teased. I watched her face flushed with temper.
"Listen to what I'm saying." she said, annoyance darkening her voice.
When will she realize I am always listening to her? And why was she so cute when she was mad?
"Anyway," she continued "you dragged me out here so I didn't clean up, I didn't write in the daily journal…"
"Whatever. Do it tomorrow." I replied as I led her to a zombie shooter game.
"No, I can't…" she started. I picked up a toy gun and dropped it into her hand.
"Here take it." I said as I fished out change for the game. She stared at the toy gun as if it was real.
"No way. I can't. I've never done this. Ever." She said as she stared at the gun and then the screen of the game like they were aliens.
"Seriously?" I asked as I started the game up for her.
"What's this? Stop. Wait." she said while trying to figure the game out. I watched as she lifted the gun over her head and started shooting towards the screen hitting absolutely nothing. She really had no idea what she was doing and it had to be the cutest thing I'd ever seen.
After that, it wasn't so hard to convince her to participate a little, which was a surprise. We played more games that she was hands down the worst I've ever seen to play them. I was right. She really did suck at games. It was funny to see senpai, who seemed to be good at everything be terrible at simple arcade games. It was super cute. The look that was on her face at the gym was long gone replaced with a serious look of concentration with every game she played.
Depsite how terrible she was, she somehow won a huge gorilla from a mega prize crane game. I carried it around for her since it was almost as big as her. At some point, I realized, it turned into a real date. And despite her serious face, I could tell she wasn't thinking about Kido anymore. I knew we had to leave soon, but I was enjoying hanging out with senpai, even if it was at the arcade. Maybe I didn't like to come here because of the people I was with.
We made our way to a pitching game. She had five tries and she missed the first four. It was still so funny to see senpai fail miserably at such a simple game.
"Shouldn't it be lower?" I asked. Her face was so focused and concentrated that I wanted to laugh but I knew better.
"Shut up. This is hard." she said, her voice stiff with concentration.
"Senpai, that's the last ball. You didn't even touch a single one." I teased.
"Shut up and let me concentrate." she said tersely.
I watched silently as she looked intently at the scoreboard, aimed and threw the ball with all she could. She hit the most difficult section dead center.
"Naruse!" she cried out in victory. She grabbed the sleeve of my jacket without thinking. "Did you see?" she asked. She looked at me and then at her hand that was clutching my sleeve as if she didn't know how her hand got there. She pulled her hand back, another blush coloring her cheeks. This time her blush was because of me. I felt my heart squeeze in my chest. Should making her blush make me so happy? I smiled down at her. She really was the cutest.
It was almost time to leave. I left her with her prizes at a bench and went to get her a drink. I was happy. Senpai was here with me and whether she liked it or not she was having fun. I was too. I got back and handed her a fruit juice then I cracked open mine.
"Thank you…" she said softly, not looking at me. I studied her as she quietly sipped her juice. She seemed smaller, more delicate sitting next to the huge stuffed gorilla. Maybe it was because she wasn't shouting orders. When she wasn't yelling at me she was a completely different person. I smiled to myself.
"You feeling better yet?" I asked. She looked at me as if she had no idea what I was talking about. Good.
"Huh?" she asked.
"Back at the gym you were looking really bad, you know." I said, watching her carefully. Her face froze with embarrassment. I was about to say something else when Ichii showed up with a couple of friends.
"Isn't that Naruse? What are you doing here? Don't you hate loud and annoying places?" she rapid fire questions at me. She really did have the worst timing.
"Oh, is that so?" Yuki-senpai asked, looking at me in surprise.
"It's just for today. It's special." I said. I tried to mentally will Ichii and her crew to go away.
"No way! Is this a date?" she asked covering her mouth dramatically. It was like she she knew I wanted her gone. I wasn't going to let her ruin the evening for senpai and I.
"You really are annoying." I said as I picked up our stuff. "Let's go, senpai." I grabbed senpai's hand and lead her out of the arcade. It was fine. We were about to leave anyway.
"Wait!" Yuki-senpai called out as I dragged her away. "Why did you bring me to this kind of place?"
"Dunno, just felt like it" I said.
"But...you don't like it?"
"Yup. Just thought you'd have fun there. That's all." I replied simply.
I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out to check it. It was a text from Ichii saying she was going to interrogate me about my date at school tomorrow and another text from her friend saying pretty much the same thing. "Geez, these guys are persistent." I mumbled to myself.
I looked at senpai and noticed she was staring at the purikura on my phone. "Oh this? They stuck it on and I can't get it off. They must've used glue or something" I said trying to sound nonchalant. I could tell it bothered her to see it but I couldn't tell why. Was she finally seeing me the way I wanted her to? Was she jealous? I almost laughed aloud at the thought.
"That's that girl? The one you're always hanging out with?" she asked.
Well, she's always hanging out with me. "Yea, same junior high." I said instead.
Senpai said nothing.
"Shall I walk you home?" I asked. I wasn't quite ready to part ways with her.
"No. You can go ahead. I have to go back to the school and finish up my manager duties before I go home." she said in her no nonsense voice. Manager Machida was back.
"You can do that tomorrow, can't you?" I asked. This girl was a machine.
"It's my duty." she said as if that was answer enough. "You don't have to come with me, of course. In fact you should go home and get some rest for tomorrow."
I wasn't going to let her walk back to school by herself at this time in the evening. Plus, I'd get to hang out with her some more if I go with her. I ended up following her back to the gym, her stuffed gorilla on my back. I watched as she scurried around as soon as we arrived taking inventory of what was left undone that afternoon.
"Senpai. It's cold. I wanna go home. This gorilla is heavy."
"Yeah, yeah. Stop complaining. I told you you didn't have to come." she said as she noticed the one basketball that wasn't put away. She mumbled about the daily journal being left out.
"Write in it tomorrow." I told her.
"If I don't write it today, it's not a daily journal, is it?" she returned.
"What a pain." I muttered.
I watched her silently in the dark gym as she tried to remember the date for the journal. I still wasn't sure why I liked her so much but I did. Being with her tonight only made me like her more and made me impatient. I wanted her to be mine. Now.
"Senpai, go out with me." I said. The stillness in the gym caught my voice making it louder than it should have been. Me saying that was probably out of nowhere to her but I'd been thinking about it all day and all of last night. I moved behind her to hug her making her drop the journal. Her small body fit perfectly in my arms.
"Hey, let go." she said.
"I like you." I said instead of releasing her. I hugged her harder. "I really like you."
"Ok! I understand!" she shouted angrily.
"No, you don't."
"Yes. I do."
"Don't lie. You clearly don't." I returned. She didn't understand at all. She really had no idea how I felt about her despite how obvious I thought I was being.
"You have no right to call it a prank. You don't know what I feel when I touch you or how my heart reacts when I'm with you. You don't know anything so it isn't for you to say." Even now, with her in my arms, my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. Could she feel it? Maybe she could hear it in the silence of the gym.
"Naru...Naruse." She she said softly in the darkness. Suddenly she flung around. I released her in surprise. "I'll think about it so calm down for once!" she shouted. Her voice echoed from the rafters and bounced off the walls of the gym. It sounded like there were ten of her.
I stared at her at in shock. She went from subdued to infuriated within seconds. "Senpai, your face." I said. Even in the semi-darkness I could tell her face was lit with the same passionate fury she had during the game.
"What?" she asked, her voice laced with annoyance and temper.
"No...nothing." I stuttered. She nodded her head as if she made a point. She bent down and picked up the daily journal and returned it to the storeroom.
"Are you ready to go?" she asked when she returned. All I could do was nod my head. I was afraid if I said anything she would immediately tell me she'd thought about it and decided it wasn't a good idea.
I followed her out of the gym to the bus stop, still carrying her gorilla. We waited silently until the bus pulled up. I handed her prizes over. She took them without a word and started towards the bus then she stopped and looked at me.
"Thank you...for today." she said softly, almost reluctantly. Then she turned back around and ran up the steps to the bus.
The doors closed and I watched as she struggled to sit with her huge gorilla on the crowded bus through the windows. I stood still as it pulled off and turned a corner. I stood there for a moment longer staring at the corner before I started walking towards my house. I walked about three blocks before I started to giggle. Then my giggles turned to full blown laughter.
All she said was she'd think about it but I felt so light and so happy. Her saying what she said and being with me tonight melted away all the heavy thoughts I carried around with me all day. I was so full of joy that I felt like running home but I decided not to. Though my ankle was better it was still a bit sore, especially after all the extra activities I participated in today.
I didn't regret any of it though. Because of today, I made progress with senpai. I thought of senpai's face in the gym as I turned a corner towards my house and I laughed again. I thought about how I felt this morning compared to how I felt now. Was this what being in love was like? I never really understood it. It was a crazy feeling, going from being so down to feeling so high because of another person.
I was so excited but she only said she'd think about it. I tried to calm myself down but I couldn't. I still had a long way to go, it was Yuki-senpai after all, but I was closer. She was already mine, it was just a matter of time before she realized it. I smiled as I walked up to my front door. For the first time ever, I couldn't wait to go to school tomorrow.
End of chapter 2.