Author's notes:
I get the feeling Yuika turned out to be more prominent in this chapter than Nagisa, who I meant to take center stage.
But Nagisa still gets a nice spotlight I think. Chapter six will see her having the match of her life. Hopefully.
Our cute troubled Oichi and the enigmatic Mariyana also feature prominently in the first scene of this chapter.
I idly hope I wasn't too obvious about certain things concerning them, but I know I was. Oh well.
And with Izumi and Akemi showing up it won't be long before Ushika will get to meet with her old friend again.
I wonder how either woman will enjoy that event :D
I hope everyone will enjoy this chapter. Next chapter will see less talk and more play, as tensions run high and the quarter-finals loom near.
"Listen, you fuckers. You screwheads. Here's a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit.
Here is someone who stood up."
Oichi listened to the hyperspeed synthesized beats hitting her ears through her headphones as the introductory vocal sample of track number 16 in her playlist ended.
Wanna be a gangsta was one of the girl's favorite songs on her meditation playlist.
But today, even the favorite speedcore song of the girl with the gradual black bob failed to help her in reaching out to God.
Moving her legs to the rhythm of the fast-paced music, Oichi started to despair at the absence she felt. It had never before occurred that God didn't respond to her prayers.
She supposed that it was bound to happen at one time or another. But with her being so nervous about her next match in a few hours this silence was deeply troubling to Oichi.
It might have been unfair, but the St. Joseph Kobe High student felt inclined to blame the presence she did sense about three meters distant.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Oichi asked while she stopped the playlist on her smartphone and opened her eyes to the tall handsome girl with the long black hair standing in front of her.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you," Mariyana bowed politely. "I was just interested in the dance you were doing."
The tall Bulgarian was dressed in white training pants with a violet vertical stripe over each in-seam and side-seam and a violet long-sleeve vest with diagonal white stripes over the left chest.
Oichi stared her in the eyes while pouting resentfully. Then she heaved a sigh and sat down with her back against the wall to her right.
"I was trying to pray," She sulkingly told her visitor.
Mariyana tilted her head and walked over to the other girl.
"Pray?" She asked while sitting down on Oichi's right side. "Praying while dancing? Were you trying to get into a trance?"
Oichi took her smartphone out of the pocket of her white training jacket with navy blue accents and started her playlist again.
She held the left head plug to the taller girl's right ear.
The Bulgarian recoiled in surprise as she heard the high-speed electronic beats and hi-hats from the headphone while the voice of Darth Vader told his son to release his anger.
"I made friends with a German exchange student a few years back who was always listening to music like this," Oichi explained. "She was fun and a little rebellious.
People were surprised at our friendship, but I enjoyed spending time with Linna and I helped her integrate into the school. In return, I learned a lot about Germany from her and she taught me to dance to this music.
Linna helped me download a lot of Gabber and Speedcore songs.
It's very aggressive music and the lyrics are often quite obscene, but I think that those are also aspects of God. Aspects that I think I am lacking in.
I feel that this music helps me get closer to Him by introducing me to that side of Him."
"You're certainly no ordinary Catholic girl, are you?" An amused Mariyana grimaced. "I had a few friends who listened to this kind of music when I was in middle school.
They danced like you too. But none of them danced as fast as you can."
"Oh? But I can go much faster than I was going while you watched," Oichi told the younger girl. "I dance like this for up to an hour sometimes."
"Hmmm… I was expecting you to say something like that," Her companion said with a glint in her dark-brown eyes.
Oichi didn't like how the Okayama Prefectural High School student made her feel that she said something she shouldn't have.
Maybe she still blamed Mariyana for her failure to reach out to God. The girl with the gradual black bob decided to ignore her feelings.
"As I said: I use this music to pray and get closer to God," She continued. "But today, for some reason, I haven't been able to feel His presence."
"I see," Mariyana reacted without emotion.
"Do you pray?" her companion unexpectedly asked her.
"Me? No. I'm not very religious," The Bulgarian with the long wavy black hair hastily spoke with a shake of her head while holding up her hands.
"I always found He was much closer to me when I prayed while dancing to this music. I don't understand why I haven't been able to communicate with Him today.
I wonder if I displeased Him by my rejection of His help," Oichi whined while wringing her hands.
"Yes. Communication can be a thing of frustration and error. Even if you think you mastered a language, you can inexplicably make a fool of yourself whenever you most want to reach out to someone," Mariyana grumbled while hanging her head.
The two young women sighed in unison while to their far-right a man from the complex's cleaning crew drove his green cart from between the large and heavy brown double doors which led to the tournament hall.
The tall slim man who was dressed in a white T-shirt and long black trousers closed both doors with his key and drove the green cart near the stairs opposite the double doors which led to the ground floor.
"We're not supposed to use those doors to leave the tournament hall," Mariyana said while she and Oichi watched how the man took a broom and ascended the stairs with it.
"Really? I left the hall that way yesterday," Her companion reacted. "How do you know we're not supposed to?"
"I heard an argument between that sanitary worker and someone from the BJA staff. The organization wants those doors closed to prevent people from sneaking in and watching matches for free, but the cleaning staff has to use them to get to their material stock.
So the cleaning staff closes the doors whenever they use them, but that guy noticed that some of the BJA volunteers have been using the doors without closing them afterward."
"Oh. I didn't think of that," Oichi said.
"No. There's a lot of things maintenance people have to deal with that most people take for granted or simply don't care about. But it always affects someone if they don't take care of it.
So, what do you pray for when you dance to this gabba stuff?"
Oichi suddenly saw the Bulgarian in a new light.
"I don't really pray for anything most of the time," She replied. "I just pray so I can feel closer to God. I feel happy and calm when I pray to Him."
"Calm? While listening to that stuff and moving about like that?" Mariyana asked with an amused grimace.
"I'm talking about inner peace," Oichi pouted. "Something I haven't been able to find today because He has been silent to me, even though I prayed most fervently."
"I could see that."
Oichi realized that the girl with the long black hair wasn't a bad person, but she still found her a troublesome person.
"Leave me alone! You're so annoying!" A sudden voice to her right exclaimed.
Mariyana and Oichi turned their eyes on the two girls who came walking out of the central hallway to their right.
"If you don't do it, Mom might just grow to like me better than you!" A peevish Ayano challenged an equally irritated Connie while they arrived at the stairs where the man from the cleaning crew was brushing the dust off flight after flight.
"As if Mother would prefer a daughter who is so gloomy and annoying to me..." Connie smirked in frustration while dancing around in her black-and-white Frederica Girls badminton club uniform. "A beautiful and bright badminton genius with whom everyday life is like a fairy tale."
Mariyana chuckled quietly in her hands while hiding her face behind Oichi's head.
Connie's vicious grin fell when she saw the pitying deadpan expression on her soon-to-be adoptive sister's face.
"What's with that stupid look?!" She bit while folding her arms before her chest.
"I knew you were conceited, but that was kind of sad," Ayano simply replied.
"Hmph!" Connie huffed in embarrassment. "Whatever. Just stop bothering me about us moving in with you. If I could stop Mother's plans I would have done so already."
The blonde turned around and was about to ascend the stairs on the left side of them, where the maintenance worker had moved to in order to allow her unbothered passage on the right.
"Hey!" The tall thirty-something man in the white T-shirt and black trousers exclaimed in surprise as Connie nearly bumped into him. "Be careful."
Connie stumbled down two flights where she bumped into Ayano, who instinctively held out her hands to support her sister's back as she regained her footing on level ground.
"You girls should take better care where you're going when you're arguing like that,' The man in front of them scolded while Connie grudgingly muttered a polite thank you to her sister. "If I hadn't heard you coming and was still working a few flights higher you might have ran into my broom, hurrying without looking like that."
"Don't lump me in with her!" Both sisters bit while Connie walked up the stairs next to him after all and Ayano aimlessly turned around and after looking behind her turned back into the central hallway.
"I can't believe they're not natural sisters," Mariyana giggled next to her new friend.
"Hanesaki-san!" Oichi called out.
Ayano turned around in surprise but recognized Oichi's distinct halo-like haircut.
"Hi, Shinoda-san. Corrales-san," The Kitakomachi student greeted while walking up to the two.
"So Christensen-san really is your adoptive sister?" Oichi asked the shorter girl when she stood before her with her left hand holding on to the strap of the blue sports bag that hung around her shoulder.
Mariyana and her companion observed the sour look on Ayano's face as she struggled to answer the question.
"She's supposed to be," The girl with the black ponytail said. "When the adoption is finalized."
"Don't you like Christensen-san?" Oichi continued her intrigued inquiry.
Ayano wanted to say something nasty, but for some reason, she felled compelled to be sincere when talking to the kind girl in the white training jacket with navy blue accents.
"She's never said a kind word to me. I wouldn't care if she had to return to Denmark on her own. She's nothing to me."
"I see," Oichi stared with open mouth. "I'm sorry the two of you don't get along."
Meanwhile, Mariyana saw a tall girl with long black hair wearing a knee-length dark-brown dress and a matching vest over a blue shirt walk up to them from the central hallway.
"Christensen-san… It's quite the tongue-twister, isn't it? How about we just call her Christen-san?" She joked to lighten the mood.
Ayano showed her a nasty glare.
"I wouldn't trust everything your friend says," She suggested to Oichi. "She's very deceptive."
"Oh, come on…! I apologize for tricking you yesterday," Mariyana hastily spoke. "I just thought it was amusing that you didn't seem to suspect who I was while being the only other European girl here, so I couldn't help playing a joke on you.
Aragaki-san didn't mind when I showed her my name in the tournament brackets."
"You seem very angry, Hanesaki-san," Oichi empathically spoke. "It makes me sad to see. I know you probably aren't a Catholic, but praying can really help you feel better. If you would like…"
"So here you are?" Erena said as she arrived next to her friend.
"Hello. I am Fujisawa Erena. A long-time friend of Ayano and manager of Kitakomachi badminton club," The young woman with the long black hair bowed politely to Oichi and Mariyana. "Nice to meet you."
"Shinoda Oichi representing St. Joseph Kobe High School."
"Corrales Mariyana from Okayama Prefectural High School."
"So you made some friends, Ayano?" Erena smiled while rubbing her friend's scalp. "That's nice. But why are you so angry?"
Oichi noticed the calming influence the taller girl had on Ayano.
"I had another argument with Connie earlier," Ayano pouted while Nagisa and Tachibana Kentarou approached the scene from the central hallway.
"Hey! Hi Corrales-san!" Nagisa greeted Mariyana who saw Erena's expression cloud over.
"I see," Ayano's childhood friend said while she draped her right arm around the girl's shoulder. "Don't worry about that girl anymore. You have a match coming up, so have a nice warm-up with Nagisa and put your best foot forward."
"That's right. You ready, Ayano?" Nagisa asked with a jovial wink and her racket in hand. "Let's hit the practice court!"
Ayano looked up at the brunette tomboy in the white, blue-and-black bodysuit and grinned.
"Alright, Senpai!" The shorter girl exclaimed. "I'll race you to the court."
"Hey, you devil!" Nagisa yelled. Erena and Tachibana Kentarou smiling as they saw the young woman run after Ayano, who ran through the double doors around the corner of the wall Oichi and Mariyana were leaning against.
"Corrales Mariyana and Shinoda Oichi," Coach Kentarou smiled while regarding the two girls. "I've enjoyed watching you play. You are both quite versatile athletes.
I hope my students get to face you in the tournament later on."
"Thank you, Sensei," Mariyana smiled when she saw Oichi looking away in dismay. "I am more eager with each match to face either Aragaki-san or Hanesaki-san."
"May I ask why you wanted to play badminton in Japan?" Erena asked the black-haired athlete with the slight tan.
Mariyana stared up at the young woman in the light-violet shirt over a knee-length black skirt for a moment. Tachibana Kentarou thought he noticed a sinister light in her dark-brown eyes.
"I am chasing the match I didn't get to play," The Bulgarian smiled. "The match I missed out on gnawed at me so much that I absolutely needed to come to Japan to have it.
My family is not rich, so I played as many tournaments as I could to collect the prize money I needed for the trip and the stay.
But it was all worth it. We both become so much stronger and I see so many amazing talents gathered here," Mariyana grinned with a glance at a confused Oichi.
"...I have been having so much fun from the moment I arrived here with my club."
Oichi looked up at her companion who got up from the ground and rose up to her full towering height.
"Honestly, Japan is so beautiful! I wish I could get married here and start a family, " The girl with the long wavy black hair chuckled.
"Well, maybe your dream will come true," Tachibana smiled. "Meanwhile I should go and keep an eye on my students.
Shinoda-san. Corrales-san. It was a pleasure to meet you. I don't doubt we will see you in the quarter-finals."
The two girls saw Erena and Tachibana walk off through the double doors towards the practice court.
"It makes me happy to see that Hanesaki-san has such good friends," Oichi said.
"Yes. They seem like nice people," Mariyana smiled. "How about you? Do you have anyone you like to hang out with apart from God?"
"I do have lots of wonderful friends at school that I am grateful for," Her companion replied with a look of slight annoyance at the last remark. "And my boyfriend…"
"Aaah…! A boyfriend huh? I knew a girl like you could scoop them up."
"What?!" Oichi blushed in affront. "I don't scoop…"
"... Hanesaki-san has been doing great. But she is going to face her real opponents from now on," The two girls heard from the stairs which had been abandoned by the maintenance worker who was currently cleaning the central hallway.
"I know you want to help her, Izumi. But I don't know if her coach is going to be happy about accepting your input," Mariyana saw a girl with long fluffy black hair tell a taller lanky girl with a short white bow cut whose right hand she was holding.
The two newcomers descended the stairs and stopped on the last flight.
"Maybe you are right," Izumi Takagi agreed with her girlfriend after a sigh. "And Hanesaki-san doesn't need the stress of different opinions around her right now."
"You have done enough for her," Akemi Ono smiled cheerfully while cuddling up to her girlfriend. "A trainer delivers an athlete onto the court in the best form possible.
From then on, it's the athlete's turn to take all the hard work they put in together and go as far as she can with it."
"This is a pretty busy corner of the building," Mariyana observed while watching Izumi and Akemi turn to the left and walk into the central hallway without getting into the way of the maintenance worker.
"This is the only time so many people passed by here though," Oichi commented. "Normally I'm the only person here."
"Alright!" Her tall friend exclaimed while pulling her to her feet. "You need to pray some more to get God to notice you, and I have some questions for those two.
Good luck, Shinoda-san. See you later."
Oichi watched how her new friend walked off into the central hallway, jovially greeted the man from the complex's cleaning crew, and heard her call out to the girls they just saw.
Encouraged by Mariyana's words, she balled her fist with a look of determination and positioned herself in the middle of the space between the sports hall where the practice court was laid out and the martial arts hall to her left. The girl with the gradual black bob put her earplugs in and continued praying to the playlist on her smartphone while dancing vigorously.
About 45 minutes later in the tournament hall, a larger mass was watching the matches being played there than the day before.
The participating athletes were being cheered on by classmates and club members who hadn't been able to make it to the tournament yet.
Family members and friends were also sitting in the grey plastic chairs above the balconies around the large hall.
Currently two women's singles matches and two doubles matches were taking place, with FreGirls' Saki Misato and Suzu Shiraishi having their match on the court Ayano played on the day before, and Nagisa duking it out with Misaki Hara behind them on the court near the climbing wall.
The Kitakomachi student was in the middle of an intense rally.
Standing close to the net, she hit the shuttlecock sharply from below. The birdie jumped up just over the net, forcing Nagisa's opponent to lunge forward.
Pulling her racket close to her stomach, the tall blackette with the low braided ponytail swiped the shuttle up and to her left.
Nagisa had anticipated this and expecting her opponent in the white T-shirt with the green left shoulder, breast, and sleeve and the green shorts to retreat to the middle of her court, the brunette made a sharp turn to the left with her entire body.
The Kitakomachi student swung her right arm to the right and hit the shuttlecock with the side of her racket, sending it on a trajectory over the net on the far left of her opponent's court.
Misaki Hara hadn't moved from her position, however. The handsome young woman lunged to the left and bumped the birdie over the net just before Nagisa could reach it.
After his student won the first game with 21-18, Tachibana saw her return to his side with 10-11 results.
"She's too good at reading me," Nagisa breathed while she sat down and took a towel from Erena to dry her hair and forehead.
"That's true," Her coach agreed while standing behind her with arms akimbo. "But she's also getting tired."
"She's not the only one," Nagisa chuckled after taking a few sips of water from her plastic bottle.
"The plan was to overwhelm her with feints and trick shots and get a quick win, but she's been dragging me into one endless rally after the other."
Erena saw Tachibana gaze towards their other club members in the upper-balcony seats opposite them.
"Thrust me," He smiled. "She was going to give you that point to get into the half-time break.
Hara-san is tenacious and she has great insight, but this is where our gentle way strategy is going to reap its rewards.
I know it's been hard on you, learning to play like this, but remember that if you keep at it just a little longer you can go all out against Yamamoto-san."
"I'll have no choice against her," Nagisa grinned.
"That's the spirit. Now wave to your friends and get up. It'll force Hara-san to start her serve earlier than she wants to."
Nagisa looked up at her friends. They were all there. Miyako, Yuu, Sora, Gaku, and Yukiteru… And Riko, of course.
Riko and Yuu waved enthusiastically, so Nagisa waved back with more vigor than she was feeling and got up from her seat.
As expected, Misaki threw her an alarmed look while still in conversation with her own coach.
The tall young woman from Fukushima prefecture had thrown Coach Tachibana's strategy on its head, but you couldn't say that she and Nagisa weren't having one hell of a match between them.
'Pity most people aren't taking notice,' Nagisa thought to herself as she looked around at the spectators in the seats on the side where her friends were sitting and turned around to take a look at the people in the upper-balcony stadium seats behind her. 'Everyone just considers us to be fighting over who will get slaughtered by…"
With a shock, Nagisa looked straight into the eyes of Chizuko Yamamoto.
The Nagoya City resident sat on the third row of the upper-balcony seats amidst a few friends and fellow club members from her school.
Every bit as surprised as Nagisa was, Chizuko tilted her head to the brunette and flashed her a big smile. Then the blackette showed the Kitakomachi student a thumbs up.
Nagisa never opened her eyes wider than at that moment.
Swallowing in shock, the brunette turned around facing forward again. Then a huge grin stretched out on her face.
She turned her eyes on Misaki, who was standing in the middle of her court, frowning at the strange grimace Nagisa couldn't shake off for the life of her.
New energy was filling Nagisa through and through. The same energy that had helped her through years and years of tedious and intense training.
"Alright!" The brunette exclaimed while she walked onto her court. "Let's go!"
Among the upper-balcony seats to Nagisa's left - where her friends were seated - Izumi and Akemi sought a place to themselves in a block closer to the climbing wall.
"Corrales-san is funny, isn't she, Senpai?" The latter asked while her girlfriend in the black pants and frilled violet shirt sat down in the fourth row of the stadium seats.
Izumi gazed at the competitors in the matches below her.
The whitehead had been to major badminton events before with her mother, but this was the first time she felt personally involved.
It was an unfamiliar, frightening, and exhilarating experience.
"I'm not sure if our answers to her questions will be of any use to her," She told her girlfriend in the long turquoise dress and black-and-grey sneakers.
The two girls watched how Suzu Shiraishi scored a point right before the feet of the tall silver-haired girl diagonally opposite her and clapped her hand against her partner Saki's hand as they took new positions on their court.
"Those Frederica Girls double teams are amazing!" Akemi gushed.
"Yes. They'll most likely win the doubles finale as usual," Izumi quietly reacted. "That'll make them three times consecutive champions."
"Aragaki-san is having a very tough match," Akemi observed while leaning forward.
The black-haired girl pulled her grey knitted vest over her turquoise dress as she saw Nagisa whip the shuttle in a straight line over the net towards her opponent's left field.
Misaki pulled her racket to the left with a slight twist of her upper body and shot the birdie just over the net on Nagisa's side.
Nagisa lunged forward and bumped the birdie over the net on Misaki's side.
Misaki performed the same action and hit the shuttlecock with the side of her racket to send it in a wide arc towards the left side of Nagisa's court.
But in the interim, Nagisa had already hopped to the left and with a swing of her racket over her head she hit the shuttle onto the right side of Misaki's court before the young woman with the low braided black ponytail could reach it.
"Incredible!" Akemi gushed.
"I hope Aragaki-san wins for Hanesaki-san's sake, but they are both fighting hard," Izumi sighed.
"Hanesaki-san's match is after this one. It'll be thrilling to see first-hand what the two of you achieved together, Senpai," Akemi smiled at her girlfriend.
"Excuse me for bothering you," A voice to Izumi's right spoke. "Are the two of you friends of Hanesaki Ayano?"
The lanky Matsubara High student with the short white bowl cut looked into the unwavering eyes of a handsome athletic girl with a black bob.
The girl was dressed in a simple grey middle school uniform with a dark-blue vest, but she looked older and more mature than her outfit would suggest.
"We are," Izumi bashfully replied.
"That's right," Akemi added. "We came to see how she's doing. We expect her to get very far."
"Oh? How nice to have such supportive friends," Their acquaintance grinned suavely while taking Izumi's hand in hers and leaning close.
"Then perhaps can I know the names of Hanesaki-san's loyal and beautiful friends?"
Akemi flared up jealousy at the situation she knew her girlfriend didn't enjoy in the least.
"My name is Ono Akemi," She angrily butted in. "And my very close friend is…"
To the blackette's surprise, the girl who was holding Izumi's hand was slapped against the head by the person sitting to her right and she let go of Akemi's girlfriend instantly.
"Are you gonna embarrass me before you even see me play now, Yõkuro?" Yuika scolded her sister. "Intimidating those who are less confident than yourself is shameful. People will remember how you acted in middle school once you become a student at FreGirls."
"Hahaha!" The mischievous sister of the Frederica Girls captain laughed. "I just heard something interesting and I tried to get some info about it, Nee-san. Don't worry. I'll be on my best behavior."
Akemi and Izumi watched the older sister glare intimidatingly at her almost identical-looking playfully grinning younger sister.
" I apologize if I was a little too forward," Yõkuro Shiwahime bowed to Izumi and Akemi. "My name is Shiwahime Yõkuro and this unrivaled athlete to my right is my older sister, Shiwahime Yuika. Pleased to meet you."
Izumi's eyes went from the person addressing her with a seductive smile to the exasperatedly sighing young woman behind her.
'Shiwahime Yuika!' She thought. 'This is the person Hanesaki-san will face in the quarter-finals!'
The younger sister was a centimeter or two taller and somewhat more robust than her older sister, but the tall white-haired girl could tell that both of them were tightly toned.
Yuika seemed more built for speed and agility compared to her younger sister's more powerful frame.
"Do you play badminton too, Shiwahime-san?" Izumi asked the youngest sister with an intrigued stare.
"My unruly sister here is U-16 champion. She will hopefully learn to behave appropriately when she joins Frederica Girls' team next year," Yuika told the girl, not without some pride.
"Izumi… You still haven't introduced yourself," Akemi whispered to her awed girlfriend.
"R… right! My name is Takagi…" Izumi said while Yuika's eyes narrowed as she heard the name and realized that her match against Ayano would come with a few surprises. "... Izumi."
'Pleased to meet you, Takagi-san and Ono-san," Yõkuro grinned. "I knew this would be a fateful encounter. Are you reserving a couple of seats for your mother and Nanami-san?"
Izumi and Akemi sat staring at her while thinking of what to say.
"You are always so direct, Yõkuro," Yuika ominously addressed her younger sister. "I warned you not to intimidate those less confident than yourself.
Let's just enjoy the matches together. You were interested in Aragaki-san's match weren't you, Takagi-san?"
"Yes. It looks like it's an exciting match."
They saw how Misaki jumped up to intercept the shuttle after Nagisa shot it straight towards the back of her court by hitting it with a sharp, swift swing of her racket towards her left.
The birdie shot down over the net where Nagisa struck it upwards and to her right after having brought her racket close to her chest.
The shuttlecock was about to land on the left side of Misaki's court, but the girl with the braided black ponytail lunged to the left and swung her racket to the left, hitting the shuttlecock over the net where Nagisa bumped it right over again.
Misaki desperately sought her balance and hit the shuttle by swinging her racket sharply to the right.
Nagisa hurried, but couldn't prevent the birdie from dropping narrowly on the line on the left side of her court.
"It really is," Yuika smiled. "A very interesting match. Nagisa has been fighting in a way that comes unnatural to her during the final matches of the tournament. Hara-san is laying bare the limits to her mastery of this new playing style."
"Aragaki-san has trouble anticipating her opponent's defensive maneuvers after returns which she would normally play more aggressively," Izumi observed while Misaki served the shuttle straight towards her opponent, who was surprised by the attack as intended but hit the shuttle back with a quick shot after bringing her racket towards her chest.
"She has been fighting with more vigor since a short while ago," Yuika informed the other girl. "But Hara-san keeps pursuing Aragaki-san's blind spots like a woman possessed."
"They both seem to be at their limits," Akemi muttered with her eyes on the match while instinctively linking arms with Izumi.
"Yes. It's going to be a close call, but I think Aragaki-san will be able to save the match for herself," Yuika said, having deduced from Izumi's previous remark that the girl was familiar with Nagisa's usual offensive playing style.
"I have been following the match of my club members, but my attention is being pulled towards Aragaki-san and Hara-san's match because it's so exciting.
They faced each other before. Hara-san won that match if you recollect?"
"Huh?" Izumi reacted. "I didn't know."
"I thought you and your mother would have watched that match together. It was the first time Aragaki-san proved herself a major opponent to a top twenty player."
"I don't actively watch badminton matches with my mother," The tall lanky girl next to Yuika's intrigued younger sister sighed.
"I visited some tournaments with her, but they were mostly in the senior competition."
"I see," Yuika dryly reacted while she saw Saki and Suzu win their match. "But you saw Aragaki-san's match against Hanesaki-san in their prefectural final?"
"Yes. That was a very stressful match for them," Izumi said as she saw Nagisa sending the shuttlecock towards the left side of Misaki's court from her position on the left side of her own court and score the point.
"Hanesaki-san wasn't strong enough to be a match for Aragaki-san's power and endurance back then. She would win if they faced each other now."
"It would be quite something if Aragaki-san could beat Yamamoto-san, wouldn't it?" Yuika grinned."I think she would have a chance if she used her current ergonomic playing style and mixed it up with her more offensive way of playing. What do you think?"
"Maybe…" Izumi muttered while Nagisa served with a 20-19 lead. "I'm generally not that strong with strategy."
"No. Kinesiology is the field you and your mother excel at obviously," Yuika said in as casual a tone as possible.
"I don't know about that," Izumi replied in a subdued tone. "Though Akemi always says I am a genius."
"You really are, Izumi-Senpai!" Her girlfriend in the long turquoise dress and black-and-grey sneaker confirmed with vigor.
The group watched how Nagisa hit the shuttle with the side of her racket in a down-ward slicing action.
As the birdie dropped just over the net, Misaki lunged forward and scooped it up again in a high arc.
"But… I do think that the way she is now…" Izumi quietly but with some conviction in her voice muttered while staring at the match. "Hanesaki-san might be able to defeat Yamamoto-san."
Yuika gazed at the light in the eyes of the girl who was dressed in black pants and a frilled violet shirt.
"I see," The black-bobbed FreGirls captain grinned.
About an hour later, Captain Yuika sat on one of the wooden benches lined up along the walls of the dressing room for the female players with her soldiers grouped around her.
"How the heck did Hanesaki-san get the personal trainer of the nation's champion to take her under her wing?!" Hina Tagajou exclaimed while idly tapping her knee with her racket.
"Takagi-san and Shindou-san used to be close friends," Saki informed the spirited tanned girl with the short brown hair.
"It makes sense for her as Shindou-san's friend to take an interest in her daughter and as a professional trainer to take an interest in a highly talented young athlete."
"But this explains how Nee-san gained so much power in a relatively short time," Connie pondered. "We really should consider her a major contender now."
Yuika observed the girls standing around her in their black-and-white training vests.
Connie was still dressed in her sweaty black shorts and T-shirt, over which she was wearing her black-and-white training vest after having played and won her match for the quarter-finals on the court next to the one her sister occupied at the same time.
Yõkuro was the only one of them who wasn't affected by the news.
As always, her little sister's mental fortitude added to Yuika's usual impressive strength of mind.
"I always considered your sister a major contender, Connie," The black-bobbed girl smiled while she bowed her head to bind the laces of her right shoe.
"I don't believe I was ever ambiguous about my estimation of her talent and ability?"
"I know that," Connie replied while folding her arms. "But she has become more dangerous now."
"So have we," Yuika smiled as she got up and looked her youngest in the eyes.
"I taught Yõkuro long ago that you don't need to be able to overpower your opponents in order to win a rally.
Your mother has been teaching us how to deal with Hanesaki-san's badminton and I factored in the probability of her withholding information from us.
I am thoroughly prepared to defend the colors of Frederica Girls badminton club against Hanesaki Ayano once I qualify for the quarter-finals.
The only thing I am in doubt about is who you will want to win when she and I face each other tomorrow."
"Wh… what…?" Connie stuttered under the scrutiny of the amused girl in the black shorts and blue T-shirt with a white cross on a red background.
"Of course I…"
The blonde was interrupted by the door to the hallway opening abruptly.
Erena found all eyes on her as she scanned the room.
From left to right she saw standing in a wide arc around Yuika: Suzu and Saki. the short-haired blackette, Saeko. Her long-haired friend with the squinty eyes, Chikage. Hina. And finally Connie.
The Danish girl frowned upon noticing with what determination the eyes of her sister's childhood friend landed on her.
"I apologize for disturbing," Erena said matter-of-factly to the group.
Then, to her dismay, Connie saw the girl with the long wavy black hair who was dressed in a knee-length dark-brown dress and a matching vest over a blue shirt take resolute strides towards her.
Erena stopped her advance when she arrived at the side of her target.
She was about 3 centimeters shorter than the Danish exchange student whose wrist she grabbed unceremoniously before she politely but firmly addressed Yuika.
"Can I borrow this one for a few minutes? I want to have a talk with her."
"Hey! Would you let go of me?" Connie threateningly glared at the shorter girl.
"Hello Fujiwara-san," Yuika smiled. "What do you want to talk to Connie about?"
There was a short pause during which Erena tried to gauge whether Yuika's opinion on the subject was as she had told her Kitakomachi friend or whether she secretly thought Ayano's family situation was strategically beneficial to Frederica Girls chances at the Inter-High.
"Ayano," She eventually replied curtly.
"Good. Take her for as long as you need her. Just be sure to deliver her to their mother in an hour to discuss tactics for her match tomorrow," Yuika casually spoke while she grabbed her racket bag and walked towards the door with her sister.
"Hey! I didn't agree to this!" Connie protested while Erena started to tow her along with her.
"That doesn't matter," The black-haired gyaru adamantly informed the other girl. "This will only take a few minutes."
"I don't… hnnn! … care!" Connie whined while she tried to pull Erena's hand from her wrist.
While Hina, Suzu, and Saki had followed Yuika and Yõkuro outside, Saeko and Chikage watched how both girls braced themselves against each other and pulled in opposite directions. The unstoppable force versus the immovable object.
All the energy she put into fighting her abduction didn't help Connie, however, as Erena inexorably dragged her out of the dressing room and into the hallway.
"How is this woman so strong?!" The blonde whined while sagging backward with all of her weight. "I can't do a thing to stop her!"
"Like the rest of you, I gained strength through practice," Erena commented while she pulled Connie along with her through the grey hallway to the central hallway.
"You and your sister both are a handful."
"I don't care! I have nothing to say to you! Let me go!" Connie exclaimed.
Erena didn't even react anymore.
Once outside the dressing room hallway, the determined young woman mercilessly pulled on Connie's wrist with both hands as her abductee braced her heels and leaned back with all of her weight to fight being dragged towards the public restrooms behind the large scarlet door ahead.
Finally, Erena pushed Connie onto the toilet seat inside a large cubicle for wheelchair users.
"I searched this entire building so I could find a place where nobody would find us!" The furiously glaring black-haired girl announced to the overwhelmed blonde who was staring up at her.
Connie involuntarily swallowed as she observed the other girl threateningly looming over her with her arms akimbo.
"From what I have seen of you, you seem quite arrogant!" Erena angrily declared.
"Of course, I'd have a high opinion of myself too if I was a Danish exchange student at a Japanese high school which was preemptively named after a Danish city at its foundation in anticipation of my going to school there decades later!"
"N… Norway?!" A pale-faced Connie exclaimed in shock and confusion. "There has to be another reason they named the school Frederica Girls!"
"There isn't!" Erena adamantly stated while glaring down with folded arms.
"But getting to the point: How about considering the feelings of others for once? This drama between you, Ayano, and her mother has gone on for long enough!
Why do you keep antagonizing that poor girl? Why make things more difficult for them than they already are?!
Don't you feel bad for your sister, after her mother abandoned her for so long?!"
Connie had no defense against this kind of honest scolding.
She knew she had been unfair and mean to Ayano.
She just couldn't help reacting to her older sister from a threatened sense of self-preservation. Whether that threat was real or imagined.
In Connie's mind, Ushika might send her back to Denmark the moment she becomes dissatisfied with her.
She had done something similar to her own daughter, after all.
Connie couldn't help shedding a few tears as she yelled her equally honest answer to Erena's question.
"Ayano isn't the only one who has been lonely! I had nobody before Mother took an interest in me!
She told me we would come to Japan to meet Nee-san and become a family. But why would they still need me around if they are reunited?!
Where does that leave me?!" The overcome FreGirls student bawled while she wiped her tears with the sleeve of her training vest.
Seeing the girl's sorrow softened Erena's indignation, and she gently tried to comfort Connie, pulling a few paper towels from the dispenser on the far wall - the only one that was not made of red-painted hardwood - and handing them to the girl sitting on the toilet seat.
"Well, but why would your mother bring you along with her if she was going to abandon you for Ayano? You shouldn't immediately fear the worst.
Obviously, you mean a lot to Shindou-san, since she wanted you and Ayano to meet each other.
However wrong her decision was to leave Ayano behind, it seems that the three of you being together is important to her."
"That's not a guarantee..." Connie still wept. "Mother might still tire of me or Ayano might poison her against me."
"Yeah... Ayano might be pissing me off sometimes with her current yandere behavior," Erena grimaced. "But I doubt she'd go that far."
She watched the sad blonde under her gaze and smiled pityingly.
Ayano and Connie really didn't seem that different, Erena reflected. Perhaps in some way, they had always been sisters.
"Look," She said, gently rubbing the other girl's crown. "If we go by the worst-case scenario as you fear, you obviously have made really good friends in your club..."
Erena's sincerity, warmth, and gentleness soothed Connie. She looked up at the encouraging smile of her sister's childhood friend and began to understand why Ayano and Yuika liked her.
"... They won't desert you. But Ayano's mother is adopting you. That means she is responsible for you by law.
Ayano might be Shindou-san's natural daughter, but don't you think a person must really feel attached to a girl before they go to the trouble of adopting her?"
"You think so?" Connie whispered sadly.
Erena squatted before her in the cubicle and put a hand to the other girl's cheek.
"I do. I think your mother realizes what a terrible thing she has done to Ayano and she really wants the three of you to be a family.
Besides… who could ever get tired of such cute and talented girls as both of you are?"
"Don't talk down to me," Connie sulked while trying to hide the blush on her cheeks.
'She really is cute,' Erena thought as she gazed at Connie in amazement.
"But Ayano doesn't even want to talk to Mother anymore. So what does it matter if I want us to become a family or not?" Connie asked with an honest stare at the girl squatting down in front of her.
"I know," Erena sighed. "We can't work miracles. It will take a lot for Ayano's mother to earn her trust back. But I wanted to talk to you because I believe that if you and Ayano can accept one another and grow to like each other you'd be building the foundation for a family between yourselves."
Connie looked at the confidently blackette smiling up at her.
It was hard for her to keep her composure under such a show of kindness and gentle encouragement.
"Do you really think Nee-san and I can become friends?" She asked with downcast eyes.
"I don't think you realize how much you have in common," Erena smiled as she put her hand through the shocked blonde's hair and drew her face towards her. "If the two of you would drop your attitude you'd become friends in no time."
If you walked through the dark-brown double doors of the large hall on the first floor where the people of the Japan Badminton Association hosted a cafeteria for the tournament's players and visitors you could see the bar right in front of you.
It was a beautiful construction built from a combination of pale and dark woods.
Bluish spots shone down on the JBA people who manned the bar in uniform and the rows of glasses resting on the glass shelves behind them.
To the right was a fake grey wall, the compartments of which would be moved aside by means of rails in the floor and ceiling after the final match to create one large party space with the adjoining hall.
To the left, several groups of people were drinking and talking at dark-blue cocktail tables.
Wearing black trousers and a red-and-white training vest over a white shirt, Nagisa scanned each of the people seated at the tables but she couldn't find Ayano among them.
She searched the long open-air balcony of which she had a full view thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows which separated it from the cafeteria.
Only a stout older woman and a tall thin man from the JBA who was smoking a cigarette while staring at the rain pouring down from under the cover of the roofed balcony were out there.
The brunette heaved a deep sigh. She could have sworn her kohai had ascended the stairs to the first floor ahead of her.
"Oh? Aragaki-san is here to buy me a drink as a way of comfort for the painful defeat I suffered at her hands!" The tomboy heard from a table near the balcony.
Nagisa turned her eyes on the five people seated there with an amused grin, the blue sports bag that was hanging off the back of her shoulders swung along with her movement.
Misaki Hara sat in a circle with, starting to her right: her mother, brother, father, and best friend next to her.
The girl with the low braided black ponytail who was dressed in grey pants and grey-and-yellow training vest of her school's uniform grinned at her former opponent while ostentatiously holding up an empty Ramune bottle in her right hand.
"You must be joking?" Nagisa asked the blackette with an arch smile. "How about you treat me to a drink for the painful victory I suffered at your hands?"
"You're only saying that to be kind," Misaki teased with a wink to the amusement of her companions.
"I never played anyone who made a match of two games last this long on me and I hope I'll never have to again," Nagisa sighed while she approached the table her new friend was sitting at.
"Welcome to the top twenty," Misaki smiled. "I play to win every rally until the match is over. It's no fun otherwise.
Meet my father and mother, my brother Yuta, and my friend Higashino Aiko."
"Nice to meet you, Aragaki-san," The man in the dark-grey business suit and the woman in the pale yellow floral dress who sat at the table with their daughter nodded.
"Nice to meet you, everyone," Nagisa bowed. "Your daughter is an amazing athlete. I hope we'll face each other in future tournaments."
"Nee-san might be joking around, but she's actually a little grumpy for not being able to have her revenge against Yamamoto-san," Yuta Hara whispered at the brunette with his hand to his nose
"Don't go telling her that, you numbskull!" Misaki exclaimed in annoyance while making a swiping motion at her 14-year old brother.
"You did say that, Mi-chan," The girl next to her giggled.
"Well… I wasn't good enough, was I?" Misaki shrugged before resting her hands against the back of her head. "If I couldn't beat Aragaki-san I won't beat Yamamoto-san.
I'll just have to sit down with my coach and see what we can do to make me stronger. Because I promise you I'll work my ass off to best both you and Yamamoto-san next year.
Now how about that drink you said you'd buy me?"
"I never said I'd buy you a drink though," Nagisa told the grinning girl with the braided black ponytail.
"Didn't you?" Misaki frowned innocently. "But it's tradition if you beat a top twenty player at the I.H. to buy them a drink."
"Don't listen to her. She tried the same line on me last year. Hara-san just likes to trick people into buying her drinks."
Nagisa turned to the left.
There, near a corner where the hall the cafeteria was in narrowed, Chizuko sat at a cocktail table all by herself.
Leaning her head on her right hand the young woman in the navy-blue training vest and white pants waved cheerfully at her.
"Hello, Aragaki-san! My next opponent!"
Nagisa swallowed and hoped she wasn't coloring up the way she felt like she was.
"Ah… Hello Yamamoto-san!" She waved back.
"Don't you want to join me for a drink?" Chizuko asked. "Misaki has her family with her, but I'm all alone here after Mashiro left me."
"I…" Nagisa began uncertainly.
"Do you really think it's a good idea to have a drink with the enemy?" Misaki slyly suggested. "She just wants to trick you into revealing how you plan on playing against her."
"Hey…" Chizuko deadpanned to her friend when she saw how uncharacteristically confused Nagisa looked at her.
Then more cheerfully: "If you join Misaki's party she'll just make you buy her a drink. Instead, I'll get you a free drink. If you ask for a Pocari Sweat at the bar and tell them it's for me, they won't charge you for it."
"Hahaha! No way," Nagisa laughed, even though she was so starstruck she believed every word of it.
"No. Sadly not," Chizuko grinned. "Nanami-san and I got one free crate after we shot the commercial, but that's it."
"That and the big fee she got for doing the commercial," Misaki and her family laughed.
"Yes. That too," Chizuko chuckled while she walked towards the bar.
"What do you want me to buy you, Aragaki-san?" The charismatic girl with the high black ponytail smiled.
"Ah… Uh… Kiwi-flavored Ramune please," The wide-eyed brunette stammered.
"Pssst!" She heard to her right.
Turning her eyes on Misaki, Nagisa saw the girl with the braided black ponytail lean over her table with her hand to her nose.
"Don't forget to tell her what I asked you to, alright?" Misaki whispered conspiratorially."
"Alright. Don't worry," A sweat-dropping Nagisa assured the girl.
A few moments later Chizuko was watching the Kitakomachi student drinking her Ramune at a table a little farther from the table Misaki and her family were sharing than the one she had occupied earlier.
"Relax, Aragaki-san," The Queen of junior badminton chuckled. "You look like you are sitting at a job interview.
I honestly don't want to try and probe you for any strategies. It's just that we never met before and I'm curious about the kind of person you are."
"Ah… Hahaha. Sorry. I'll try to relax," Nagisa laughed nervously, realizing she shouldn't spoil the occasion by being self-conscious. "I just thought you were mostly interested in Ayano…"
"Yes. I have had high hopes for Hanesaki-san since I learned she was participating in this year's I.H.
She caught my eye last year, but then I learned she stopped playing. That was quite disappointing. I was relieved when I saw she entered the I.H. tournament for Kitakomachi.
Hanesaki-san became as strong as I expected. But I was really amazed by the way you've been playing since your prefectural finals.
Your match against Misaki was so exciting! When you master this new style you're adapting yourself to you are going to be a major player!"
Nagisa couldn't help blushing as she heard Chizuko praising her with such animation that the young woman was balling her fists while doing so.
"I would have been happy if either you or Misaki faced me in the quarter-finals," The girl with the long black ponytail stated. "But Misaki and I met a few times now and I never played against you."
"Yes. Your match in the quarter-finals last year was really something," Nagisa smiled up at the taller girl. "That rally at the end of the first game was nerve-racking."
"Hahaha. Misaki really fought me tooth and nail for that one," Chizuko chuckled. "That's why I like her."
"I know," Nagisa laughed along. "But she became the player she is now after your match against her when you were 14.
Hara-san didn't have an answer to your speed and agility back then. I remember how she tried to trick you into returning the shuttle to the left of her court so she could smash it over the net. But you leaped forward and returned the shot right before her feet. That was like magic!
I trained so hard to emulate that, but I can't seem to get it down with your speed."
"I forgot all about that rally..." Chizuko realized while regarding the brunette with a tilt of her head.
"Oh yeah. That was the year Nakamura-san and you faced each other in the finals after her defeat against Ogatsu-san in the quarter-finals the year before. You beat her after three thrilling games.
I remember how you fought so long for the game point in the second game. Both of you must have been grinding your teeth with frustration. And then you ended the last rally with that explosive jump smash!"
"I did?" Nagisa's one-woman audience smiled at the suddenly so enthusiastically talking young athlete.
"Yes. You did the same thing in your match against Pedersen-san in the sixteenth finals of the Yonex German Junior tournament. But that time it was a strategy.
At 19-17, you kept defending while Pedersen-san was trying to get the game point, and then you broke her spirit with that same jump smash and took the game from her," Nagisa gushed. "You won the tournament after some tough matches. Which in itself was amazing, since you were suffering from food poisoning the day before the tournament started."
"I was?" Chizuko chuckled.
"And then at the Asian Junior Championship later…"
"Aragaki-san… could it be that you are a true fan?" Chizuko joked with a poignant grin while leaning her chin on her left hand.
After talking so energetically, Nagisa was dumbfounded for a second and stared at her idol with mouth agape.
Then she grinned and scratched her head.
"You are the reason I started to play badminton, to be honest," She confessed while trying to avoid the bright dark-brown eyes of her idol who instantly changed her amused smile into an expression of astonishment.
"Really? Oh my!" Chizuko exclaimed while leaning closer with both arms resting on the table. "But you have been playing for a long time now, haven't you?"
"I started playing when I was eight," Nagisa says. "My uncle took me to a tournament one day at a school where a friend of his taught.
We walked up to his friend when we arrived and they started talking, so I got bored and looked around. That's when my eyes fell on you.
You were just a little girl like me, but I watched you swing your racket and duke it out with your opponent. There was so much power in your movements. You looked so cool!" An animated Nagisa went on while Chizuko listened closely, amazed that she had such an impact at that age.
"I became mesmerized by your agility and your vigor. You made badminton look like so much fun. Your match wasn't over before I pulled my uncle by his sleeve and told him that I was going to join the badminton club at school," Nagisa smiled proudly.
"That's amazing!" Chizuko exclaimed while staring at her very first Chizutaku. "It's so cool to play against someone who was inspired to play badminton because of me.
I hope you won't go easy on me. But I think it'll be alright. You are the kind of person who always goes all out in a match."
Nagisa observed the happy smile of her idol and started to sweat, thinking about what she had planned to ask her hero when she gathered the courage to approach her.
"When I knew I made it to the finals of the Inter-High I brought something with me that my uncle's friend helped me with," The brunette smiled. "I was a little worried about bringing it with me, but I really wanted to show you this. And I want to ask you for a favor…"
Chizuko saw her first-ever fan pick her blue sports bag up from the floor and unzip it.
A wide smile appeared on the face of the charismatic young woman when she saw what Nagisa pulled out of it.
"I remember now," Chizuko said with glee in her heart. "I certainly remember. I'm so happy you made it here, Aragaki-san."
Connie nervously walked behind her mother along the grey brick walls of the central hallway towards the practice court.
They would only know for sure whether her opponent in the quarter-finals would be Oichi Shinoda or Yamoto Chikage, but Ushika and her daughter were going to run by the best strategies to counter each athlete before watching the decisive match.
"I'm sorry for Chikage, but I doubt she will be able to finish her match with that unfortunate injury she sustained in her previous match," Ushika said as they entered the cul-de-sac at the end of the hallway which had the double doors to the maintenance staff stockroom and the tournament hall on it's left and the stairs to the ground floor on the right. "And I rate Shinoda-san higher than most as a player. Yuika is crafty in trying to assess her real ability during those practice matches she keeps inviting her to."
Further ahead, there was an elevator on the left and there were other double doors on either side of the cul-de-sac at the end of which Oichi and Maryiana had sat together earlier in the day.
Connie had blocked out her conversation with Erena before and during her match of the day. But once she had won, everything that had been said rushed back into her mind.
The blonde had sat in the dressing room with Yuika beside her, drinking to rehydrate and resting without talking.
She had pondered what Erena had said and how she felt about that. And she was still pondering the questions that had been rising inside of her when she asked the one that slipped out between her lips unexpectedly to the person she loved most in the world.
"Mother… How do you feel about Nee-san?"
"She was very effective today," Ushika sounded visibly pleased. "Ayano has been toying with her opponents a little too much lately.
I was happy to see that she finished her match swiftly and efficiently to save her energy for Yuika. They will both need their energy."
"Right…" Connie grimaced behind her parent. "But that's not really what I meant…
It's because… Ever since we got here you and Nee-san haven't talked..."
Connie held her breath as she saw Ushika slow down before they arrived at the double doors to their left which led to another hallway.
The blonde saw her mother turn around with a sad smile on her face.
"I was wondering whether you would bring that up," Ushika grimaced.
Connie saw the woman struggle to provide her with an answer.
"After Ayano told me that she didn't need me anymore I realized that my decision to leave her with my parents while I came to Denmark must have hurt her. So I thought the best thing would be to give her some room and let her recover from the shock of confronting me like that among her friends. But it seems that Ayano is still very angry with me."
Ushika flashed her near-adoptive daughter a brave smile.
"Maybe we should make the first move to reach out to your sister after all," The woman said. "I'll contact her coach to ask if he can arrange a meeting after Yuika's match.
It might become awkward and difficult, but I can see that you are eager to get to know your sister better and I miss Ayano more with every day."
"Okay," Connie just replied with a blank expression while her mother motioned for her to enter the hallway to the practice court with her.
The hallway turned to the right and then back to the left before it stretched out about thirty meters with several dark-brown doors to dressing rooms on the left and bare grey brick walls with aluminum cabinets to the right.
Up ahead, Connie saw two young men in the blue shorts and blue-and-red striped shirts of the Fukuoka East Public High School walking towards her and her mother.
"I'm sorry you have been apart for so long," Ushika heard Connie say.
The woman with the long black ponytail looked at the girl to her right, who was staring ahead at the excitedly talking boys coming closer.
"I will do my part so we can become a family together," Her daughter said.
Ushika hadn't been fooled by Connie's act up to then. She knew the girl better than Connie realized and was aware that her near-adoptive daughter somehow saw Ayano as a threat to their relationship.
But the tenfold All-Japan Badminton Championship winner had noticed a gradual change in the way Connie talked when it came to her older sister.
Meanwhile, the male athletes who seemed to come from the practice court passed them by. The two young men were obviously upset by something that had happened earlier.
"I used to think only two women could ever frighten me like that!" The one with the wavy black hair exclaimed. "My mother and Yamamoto-san. But this girl gives them both a run for their money."
"Those eyes!" His shorter friend with the spiky brown hair agreed while gesturing with his hands to his face for emphasis. "That girl is a demon!"
Connie heard a continuous rustling noise in the distance.
"Must be another storm picking up outside," Her mother guessed.
The noise became louder as they came nearer to the end of the hallway.
"Who do you hope will win when Nee-san and Yuika face each other in the quarter-finals?" Connie asked while looking at her mother.
Ushika grinned to herself. The noise they were hearing now sounded obviously like a torrent pouring down on the roof of the practice court hall.
"It will be a very difficult match in that respect," The woman said while glancing at the ponderous blonde girl next to her.
"As a FreGirls trainer, I hope Yuika wins. But as a mother, I really hope Ayano wins. I will do my best to remain impartial and I wish them both success."
Connie smiled at her mother as they halted at the door to the practice court on their right.
"Same here," She grinned. "I hope my friend wins. But I also hope my sister will win."
Then, while the sounds of the storm outside beat down above them, they turned the corner towards the practice court.
A short flight of stairs with a low wall on the right lead down to the court, which was spread out to the right of the stairs.
A white table with a chair next to it stood on the platform at the bottom of the flight of stairs.
In that chair sat a short black-haired girl with a ponytail, surrounded by an aura of menace.
With her arms crossed, Ayano looked up at her mother and sister.
Both were transfixed by the sinister light that seemed to shine from the eyes of the girl who grinned at them like a horror.
"Hello, Mother," The blackette spoke up in a guttural voice so as to be heard clearly over the noise of the torrent outside. "It's been so long since we played together.
How about a short match?"
Tachibana Kentarou was standing by the stairs to the second floor near the entrance to the tournament hall with Erena when Nagisa descended said stairs.
The brunette just saw them part with a chubby man in grey trousers and an off-white vertically striped shirt.
"The two of you sure are networking," She observed.
"That was the director of the complex. Nice guy," Her coach smiled.
"Very interesting to hear about their public relations with the resident sports clubs and the logistics involved with the maintenance of the building," Erena commented.
"Is Ayano still upstairs?" Coach Tachibana asked Nagisa.
"I didn't find her there, to be honest," His athlete confessed.
"Where is that girl hanging out?" Tachibana sighed while putting his hand through his hair. "Shiwahime's match is almost starting. I told her we would watch it together."
Nagisa moved her blue sports bag over her shoulder, not noticing that the zipper of the vertically hanging bag got caught on the zipper of her red-and-white training vest.
In sliding the bag further along her bag she opened it on the bottom.
"Let's spread ourselves over the three floors of the building and search for her," She suggested.
"No way," Tachibana said. "I don't want to…"
"Oh! Nagisa. I think you dropped something," Erena interrupted while she crouched to pick up a bright blue metal flat case about the size of an A5 paper sheet.
Tachibana saw that the case was busted open by the fall and at a glance, he saw two young girls standing next to each other at a tournament in a picture protected by the padded case.
"Hey! what's this?" The blonde forty-something frowned.
Nagisa took the case from her friend and awkwardly held it open for Erena and her coach to read the text written on the photographic picture.
"Work hard, Nagisa-chan! I hope we will meet in a tournament a few years from now. Yamamoto Chizuko."
Underneath that message a new message was written:
"Our dream came true! Let's do our best tomorrow and make everyone drop their jaws. Yamamoto Chizuko."
"It's… A… A friend asked me to…" A blushing Nagisa tried while closing the case and hiding it in her bag again.
"Well, well, well. I didn't know you had this side to you, Nagisa," A grinning Tachibana Kentarou teased the annoyed brunette..
"Yamamoto-san is the person who inspired me to play badminton when I saw her at a tournament that day.
We met in the cafeteria earlier and talked. It was really great," An embarrassed Nagisa said while looking away.
"I actually never thought about this, but are you interested in boys or girls?" Tachibana ponderously asked.
Nagisa tilted her head and glared at him while folding her arms.
"I warned you about the sexual harassment, old man!" Erena reminded their coach while slapping him against the back of his head.
"Ow! I'm sorry. I'm simply asking out of an interest in my pupil," The man excused himself while rubbing his sore head.
"I'm firmly into boys," Nagisa answered sternly.
"Then that means your idolatry stems purely from admiration?" Kentarou smiled. "I think it's really beautiful that you got to talk to your idol and will get to play her in the quarter-finals."
"Me too," Erena smiled. "So do your best tomorrow, Nagisa. Show Yamamoto-san how strong you have become."
Nagisa looked at both of them with a pleased smile.
"Thanks, you guys," She said. "Today will certainly only be topped by tomorrow as the greatest day in my life so far.
You have no idea how hard I'm looking forward to our match.
But we better go and search for Ayano now. From the sound of it, the next matches are already beginning."
"You are absolutely right," Tachibana stated with a nod at both of his pupils. "Let's go find Ayano."