Author's notes:
It took a little longer, but I can finally upload the first chapter of the final match. Tomorrow I'll upload the second chapter.
Mind you: The story isn't over just yet. I'll start working on chapters 20 and 21 next week, doing some timelapsing and showing how Ayano, Connie, Nagisa, Chizuko, Mariyana, and their friends are doing weeks, months, and years after the Inter-High.
For now, I hope nobody will hate what I've done in the last chapter.
Turning the conventions of mangas and animes upside down and inside out is kind of my thing, but apart from that I just think the way I concluded the tournament suits the story and Ayano and Uchika's arc better than if I had done what you might expect.
Although it did feel like I was repeating myself a little bit in the end. Like I said before: I just want a happy ending and maybe I got a little too soppy here and there.
In any case, I had a good feeling while writing the last chapter. I hope that comes across and everyone will feel emotionally satisfied.
You'll have a few more flashbacks to struggle through to get there and a few of my lame jokes lol but I think it'll be worth it.
Please enjoy.
Nadia heard the sound of a bouncing saxophone coming from the apartment she rented with her lover as she ascended the staircase.
The young woman with the long blonde curls carried the mekitsas she had bought from the local bakery with some honey, soft cheese, and a bottle of orange juice from the market in her arms.
Alvaro was very much into old jazz songs lately. Nadia thought she recognized the voice of Nat King Cole as she stood close to the door to free her right hand and pull the handle.
"Love was made for me and you!" She heard the much-beloved musician sing.
Opening the door to their apartment, Nadia saw a young man in dark-brown trousers and a loose blue long-sleeved shirt and a young woman in a red sleeveless shirt and a green short skirt who wore a green-and-blue handkerchief around the back of her head of long straight black hair dancing to the music together.
The vision stabbed her heart.
Alvaro and Karolina parted while giggling and laughing at the end of the song.
"That… Haha. That was…" The man with the neatly combed dark-brown hairdo laughed before he saw his girlfriend standing at the door opening.
"Oh, Nadia! Did you get the mekitsas cakes? I thought I'd show Karolina to dance to swing jazz, but she's actually a really great dancer."
"Hahaha. Thank you, Alvaro. You're such a flirt. That was a lot of fun. You dance very well yourself," Karolina laughed as Nadia closed the door behind her and quietly spread out the breakfast she bought on the table in the middle of the room.
Karolina had been hired by Alvaro as an all-purpose maid for him and Nadia when they started living together a year ago to do the housework and cook for them in the evening.
About four months ago, Nadia started to notice Karolina and Alvaro becoming increasingly enthralled with each other.
She was still weakly fighting for her boyfriend's attention, but it had become clear to her that Alvaro was firmly under Karolina's power.
If only she had the self-respect to end their relationship and move out, but Nadia still loved Alvaro too much to take such a step.
Nadia fell in love with Alvaro Corrales when they met at a party organized by her family after a successful business deal with his family.
After that, Alvaro visited Sofia a few times and eventually decided to continue his education in sports science at the university there.
He and Nadia were in the last year of their master's degree now.
"Where did you learn to dance like that, Karolina?" Alvaro asked the woman he had fallen in love with.
"It's a little embarrassing," The young woman chuckled while she brought a thermos with coffee from the kitchen to the table she prepared for breakfast earlier. "My mother and I didn't have a lot of money when I was younger, but I really enjoyed dancing. I taught myself from watching a youtube channel specializing in teaching various dances."
Watching Alvaro go to the multimedia set in the corner of the room to insert a CD with more mellow songs she gently poured his coffee humming the tune they had been dancing to.
This to the pain and mortification of Nadia, who stood by passively and fought to keep her tears from shedding.
"Here, let me serve you, Miss Nadia," Karolina suggested with a condescending smile to the slightly shorter woman. "Please sit down and enjoy your breakfast."
Left alone by their maid, Alvaro and Nadia both sat down and started their Saturday breakfast.
Nadia stared at her lover's thin mustache and smiled sadly at the lips she so loved to kiss.
The blonde nervously glanced at Karolina who was washing the dishes of the previous evening in the kitchen.
A cute idea had snuck into her head.
Taking the spoon from the bowl of honey they poured over their mekitsas she carefully dipped the tip of her nose in honey and quickly placed the spoon back.
"Oh!" Nadia playfully gasped. "Look at me now, Alvaro. What a mess I made of myself."
Alvaro looked up from his plate with wonder and burst out in an amused chuckle when he saw the state of his girlfriend's
"Haha, let me get that for you, miss Nadia," Karolina laughed as she used a paper napkin to wipe her mistress's nose to the at once pale blonde's distress and humiliation. "It's as if I'm a nursery teacher sometimes with the two of you."
"Thank you, Karolina," Alvaro laughed. "I'm afraid you really do get into situations with us sometimes."
"Oops! I didn't get that little drop at first," Karolina suddenly spoke with a serious look in her eyes.
Nadia wondered what she was about when the blackette bowed closer to the young woman in the beige knitted vest over the flower-patterned yellow dress and extended her finger at her.
The next moment, Karolina touched a spot underneath Nadia's eye and licked up the drop of honey on the tip of her finger afterward.
"It's like I'm licking up your tears," The beautiful woman with the long wavy black hair winked before returning to the kitchen.
"It's going to be an exciting match this evening for the final between Tanvi Gutta and Uchika Shindou in the All England Open," Alvaro told his girlfriend. "Okay if I watch it on the laptop in the bedroom?"
"Okay…" Nadia quietly nodded while eating her mekitsas.
"Unless you want to watch it with me?" Alvaro asked.
"Hmm… Maybe," His girlfriend smiled sadly.
Oblivious to her distress, Alvaro turned to Karolina.
"Women's badminton is very competitive right now," He told the young woman who was drying the dishes in the kitchen. "China's dominance is being broken by a handful of upcoming players from India, Korea, and Japan. "Shindou especially has an explosive attacking style which the Chinese women find hard to counter."
"Ah yes. Uchika Shindou," Karolina smiled. "You told me she only just made her debut as a professional athlete a few months ago. You seem to hold her in high esteem?"
"She could be an Olympic medalist next year," Alvaro said before drinking his coffee. "The way she defeated Zhou Wihan and Bang Yun-Ja earlier this week showed a young woman who can play consistently at a high level."
"Excuse me, Alvaro," Nadia said while getting up. "I'm going to take a walk in the park and feed the duck."
Alvaro watched his sad girlfriend in the long yellow flowery dress pick up a tin can from the counter in the kitchen and leave the apartment.
He fell to silently eating the rest of the thin deep-fried cakes she had bought.
It wasn't fair to Karolina nor Nadia how he kept stalling his decision. He knew this.
But what he knew just as well... What he knew as clearly as that day turned into night was the fact that there would be hell to pay if he told his family he had broken up with Nadia in order to live together and (if she was willing, because he didn't second guess his own feelings on this point) eventually marry his housemaid.
Karolina didn't allow him to do anything but share a hug or a kiss on the cheek as long as he was still in a relationship with Nadia, but Alvaro knew she loved him as much as he did her and was just as eager to be together.
There was no question of bringing Karolina back to Spain with him after graduation like he had planned to do with Nadia back when they started dating.
His father nor his mother would accept her as his wife.
He and Karolina would have to live together in Bulgaria and he would have to start to work in the family business by proxy. Flying over when he needed to be at the office.
Still… It should be doable, he naively thought.
"I'm going to the dry cleaners to pick up your tuxedo, Alvaro," Karolina said while he was musing about his troubles.
"Oh! Okay. See you later, Darling Karo," Alvaro smiled at the beautiful woman with the long straight black hair.
"See you later," His beloved smiled back before she left.
On her way through the park near the house where her beloved Alvaro rented his apartment, Karolina still smiled while remembering his affectionate greeting.
Ever since she met the Spaniard life had been full of joy. Even the house where she lived with her mother was less gloomy.
The young woman had worked as a personal assistant to a university professor before being employed by Alvaro and came with a generous recommendation.
She was a little bothered by the idea of working in a residence at first, but Alvaro was very understanding about setting clear boundaries as to her job description and duties.
It wasn't about his wealth. At least… Karolina hoped that Alvaro might make her mother's life easier if they got married when he started his professional career.
But from the start, the young Bulgarian had been mostly endeared by Alvaro's passion and his free spirit.
Alvaro was a kind man and he treated others well. But he was also a man who wasn't of two ways about a thing. Alvaro tended to follow his heart and did as he felt was best.
He had the money to do so of course. But Karolina felt that there was a strength of purpose and an honest conviction in her beloved.
The young woman recognized those qualities in herself.
Although, she had to admit to feeling less compunction about the effects her actions had on others when following her heart.
When she realized that she had fallen in love and that her employer seemed to be developing similar feelings, Karolina didn't hold back in nurturing those feelings and bringing them to full fruition.
After Nadia came to realize the situation she and Karolina fought a bitter but subtle battle for Alvaro's heart.
A battle that evolved into a brutal emotional slaughter when Karolina discovered how deeply it was wounding her rival.
In the tension of the situation they were stuck in, the beautiful black-haired young woman came to relish her torture of the vanquished young woman.
This pleasure was the reason she was walking toward the dry cleaners through the park.
Because there to her left she found her angelic and rich blonde rival sitting on a raised concrete platform with a flower-grown pergola in the middle.
A few meters in front of Nadia was a beautiful pond where a handful of ducks were feeding.
Karolina smiled to herself as she saw the young woman with the long blonde curls sit on the edge of the platform in her beautiful yellow dress.
Nadia was sobbing quietly while covering her face with her hands. She had no idea her rival was near, half-hidden from view behind a small tree and a few shrubs.
Karolina had overheard the blonde weep and seemingly seriously contemplate suicide a few weeks back.
The event made her consider it would be a clean way out of their situation for all of them.
She wouldn't do anything to push Nadia into taking her own life, but the blackette certainly did not hold back on the thousand venomous ways she made it clear every day to Nadia that she had lost Alvaro's love.
'Watching her in misery is so delightful,' Karolina reflected as she heard Nadia whisper Alvaro's name in distress and sob more loudly. 'It's so satisfying to see Nadia feel so wretched. But I don't want it to end with her killing herself. Alvaro should make the choice to be with me. If he can't do that our love doesn't have a future.'
The young woman in the short green skirt and the red sleeveless shirt watched her destroyed rival wipe her eyes with her hands and make another sobbing sound before lying on her side and staring at the ducks.
'Don't expect me to feel sorry for you, you pathetic thing,' Karolina smiled coldly. 'You fought just as hard as I did and had a clear advantage from the start. It was a pleasure to slowly tear you apart after defeating you.'
Mariyana closed the Word file with a sigh. Her friend looked up from his smartphone at the sound and looked to his right, seeing the teenager sit quietly at her father's desk with her eyes on the open map window on the screen of the laptop before her.
"That bad, huh?" Todor asked.
Mariyana met his gaze. Her eyes had an empty sadness in them. It's not easy to be confronted with the cruelty of a parent whose actions caused the death of another woman.
"Hey. Are you okay?" The boy in the blue jeans and the green jacket to her right asked her more seriously.
"If this is what Father accidentally discovered on this old laptop and read I can imagine his grief and disappointment over what happened after he broke up with that girl and declared his intentions to start a relationship with Mother and over Mother's feelings concerning the matter.
Mother was very cruel to this Nadia."
"Well… In love and war…" Todor tried to comfort his friend.
He watched the girl in the blue jeans and the thin white sweater with a pattern of dog pictures on it close the laptop.
"Thanks again for breaking into the laptop, Todor," She said.
"Hey. That's what friends are for. And it was no biggy. Easy job.
But I got the feeling I caused you more harm than good. Remember the good about your mother too. No matter what she did to that girl she's been a good mother to you, no?"
"Yes. She is," Mariyana smiled. "Even if what she did caused the death of…"
Todor saw his friend come to a realization.
"I guess that plays into the matter too," Mariyana thoughtfully muttered. "That might mean there is still a chance."
"What?" Todor asked while rubbing the back of his black bob.
"Nadia killed herself after Father broke up with her and started dating my mother. It's not just that he is disappointed and shocked by the way Mother felt about her rival's distress. He also still feels guilty about the girl's suicide."
"So he doesn't just blame your mother," Todor deduced. "He blames himself too."
"Correct!" Mariyana smiled while getting up.
Todor returned her smile with glee. It was a pity Mariyana wasn't into boys. It had taken him a lot of time to get over the fact that he made no chance with her. Then again, that was true for a lot of other boys at school.
But after becoming one of the young athlete's closest friends Todor could say with certainty that Mariyana was the most fun person he knew.
"Let's go to Aladin's for dinner and planning!" Mariyana said while pointing to the door. "I'm going to save Mother and Father's marriage!"
In the cafeteria manned by the JBA volunteers on the first floor, Souichirou Watari and his athletes sat in a circle around two tables celebrating the achievements of Fredericia Girls Badminton Club.
"This round is from Saki and me," Yuika smiled as the two young women brought a plate with soft drinks and coffees to the tables.
Connie watched her captain as the black-bobbed girl handed her younger sister an iced tea on the rocks.
"When are you treating us to a round, Sensei," Saeko playfully teased the bearded man in the dark-brown trousers and the pale pink shirt sitting to her right.
"Treating you to a round? Didn't I just treat you all to desert in the cafeteria downstairs, you brat?" Souichirou laughed.
"Here's to Connie's semi-final and Saki and Suzu's victory in the finals!" Yuika loudly proclaimed.
Everyone raised their glasses beside hers over the middle of the tables.
"Fredericia Girls fight together! Defeat and victory are fleeting, but sisters are forever!" Came from twelve mouths before everyone brought their beverage to their lips.
"I'm going to miss this so much," Chikage whined while swinging an arm around Suzu's neck and hugging the girl's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Wild Thing," Saki smiled while patting her friend on the head. "You're not rid of us by a long shot."
"That's right," Yuika grinned. "The five of us will have lots of fun in university while Yõkuro, Connie, and Hina proudly build on our legacy. Isn't that right, Miss Grumpy Pants?"
Connie pouted at the playful criticism and averted her gaze. Upon which Yuika left her seat and walk around the tables.
"Oh come on, Connie! Don't be like that," Saeko, Chikage, and Saki sang in unison while pulling the saddened blonde close. "You made us all proud!"
"That's right. You were really amazing," Yõkuro winked. "I look forward to training with you next year."
Connie observed the younger girl's grin with a subdued expression.
Then she tried to look behind her as Yuika stood behind and wrapped her arms around the Dane, resting her hands on Connie's flat belly.
"It hurts that you can't contest the final win your sister," Yuika softly spoke. "But look at what happened this week: You and Ayano became friends and sisters.
Your sister and mother opened up to each other and decided to try and be a family again with you in it. You made some good friends and you had some spectacular matches.
There will be other chances to face Ayano on the court during a big tournament. I'm sure you'll get your chance to have a great match together within the next year.
So cheer up, little one. We all feel sorry seeing you so downtrodden."
"That's right," Souichirou smiled. "You girls always think you have one chance to shine. Oh my!
Take it from me: You have many years before you - if you are willing and able to devote them to this sport - in which you'll meet any opponent at least three times.
Don't worry about this tournament anymore in which you performed spectacularly. If we get the chance next year we are going to train you so that you'll be more than a challenge next time you have Corrales-san or your sister opposite you."
Connie's faint smile turned brighter as she looked from her coach to her friends.
"Ah… You're right of course. I'm sorry for spoiling the mood everyone," The blonde blushed. "Thank you for trying to cheer me up."
"That's more like it," Yuika commented with a kiss on Connie's right cheek. "Don't apologize though. We understand how much you wanted that final against your sister."
"Will you be okay, watching the final, Connie?" Hina asked with a worried frown. "I could have a match with you on the practice court if you prefer not to watch it?"
Connie closed her eyes in a bright smile.
"No thanks, Hina," She answered. "I want to watch the match of my sister against Mariyana with Mother and my friends by my side more than anything…
But I see another friend who wants to see me first I think."
At that remark, everyone looked in the direction of the bar.
Oichi and Linna approached the group from behind Saki and Yuika's empty seat.
"My apologies for interrupting your conversation," Oichi bowed. "Connie, I was wondering if you could help me out with a selfish request of mine."
Ten minutes later Oichi and Linna descended the stairs to the hallway with the athletes' dressing rooms on the below ground floor level with Connie and Yuika behind them.
"I don't why I should come along for this," Connie sulked as the group walked towards the women's dressing room.
"I know how you feel," Her friend said while patting the blonde on the back. "But if it's at Oichi's request I feel we should give it a shot."
At the door farthest from the tournament hall, Oichi knocked softly before going in.
"Hey Oichi," Mariyana greeted her friend with a smile. "Oh! And you're here too, Linna?"
The face of the Okayama Prefectural High School student turned sour as she saw a displeased Connie enter with Yuika behind her friends.
"Up to no good are you, Saintess?" Mariyana asked Oichi while narrowing her eyes at the shorter girl.
"Please, Connie. Mariyana. Give me a chance to make things right between you two," Oichi pleaded. "I was aware that each of you had great expectations concerning your match and you've both been left disappointed by it."
"I'm not disappointed in the match we had," Mariyana viciously grinned. "I'm disappointed in the behavior of my opponent."
"What?!" Connie burst out at the girl in the violet T-shirt and the white skirt.
"So you see no problem with your own behavior when you harassed Connie before the match?" Yuika came to the aid of her friend.
"Hey, please! Don't start a fight before Mariyana's match begins!" Linna exclaimed while physically standing between Connie and Yuika before her and Mariyana behind her.
Mariyana and Linne had started to open up to each other lately. Nevertheless, the Bulgarian hadn't expected the diminutive German to take her side in a conflict.
"Please? It is obvious that you both feel hurt and you think this is the other's fault," Oichi said, her voice alone enough to silence the vocal outrage of her friends.
"I would like to show you both that this is not true and that from the start you might have become great friends if you didn't misinterpret each other.
Please sit on each side of me if you are willing to let me help you feel better about what happened between you."
With doubt in their hearts, Connie and Mariyana watched the girl with the halo-like black bob sit on the wooden bench behind the latter and extend both of her arms towards them.
"Come on, Connie," Yuika nudged the blonde in the blue jeans and the frilled pale beige shirt.
"But…"
"Let's trust in Oichi," her friend smiled.
"I know you too were blessed by the wisdom and awesomeness of Oichi, Mariyana," Linna smiled up at the girl with the high black ponytail. "So you have no reason to refuse her help."
"Oh… Very well," Mariyana sighed as she sat to Oichi's left and Connie sat to her right.
Oichi smiled up gratefully at Linna and Yuika who stood facing their respective friends.
"Before we start, I would like to lay down some rules," The girl in the white skirt with navy-blue accents and blue vest over a white shirt said.
"Let's make no judgment on each other when we talk. We won't say that the other person did something wrong and we won't ascribe any qualities to the other person.
We are just going to describe the other person's actions in as objective terms as possible.
I'd like each of you to tell us why you feel sad in turn. Let the other person describe their situation and if you want to comment and you are afraid you will forget what you wanted to say ask their permission to interrupt.
But let us first patiently wait until the other person explains why they feel sad. Let's handle it as two confessions and not as a discussion. I think that is important.
Also: Please be as honest as possible. There are always things someone feels uncomfortable admitting. Or things that someone feels they shouldn't confess in light of how they feel the other person wronged them. But we will understand each other better if we are complete in our accounts.
When we heard each person's feelings we can discuss what actually happened.
Is that alright with each of you?"
"Yes."
"I suppose so."
"Then I'd like to hear what made Connie sad first," Oichi said. "I think Mariyana already knows why you are sad, but she will understand better if you properly explain yourself. And I think you will both understand each other better if you hear what Mariyana has to say last."
Connie watched Oichi nod at her.
"Well…" She slowly began. "I…"
The blonde turned her eyes on Yuika and then on Mariyana who sat with her arms crossed facing the door.
"The first time I met Mariyana was at the European Junior Badminton Championship," She began before thinking again and shaking her head.
"Or… My parents died in an accident when I was only a little girl. I don't remember much about them and I felt their absence keenly all my life.
I didn't have a lot of other relatives. My grandfather took care of me at his house and I went to school in the neighborhood.
I never made any real friends and I felt very lonely, but one day Uchika Shindou found me at my badminton club.
She told me she was impressed with me and wanted to train me. When she told me she wanted to adopt me I was so happy.
So I trained hard because I wanted to please Mother. We worked hard towards the European Junior Championship and at the Championship I was happy to be victorious until the final.
But…"
Connie heaved a deep sigh and watched Mariyana's sulking face with a frown.
"I got the idea in my head that Mother might desert me if I couldn't keep winning…"
Mariyana's expression softened at those words and she watched the troubled expression of the blonde as Connie looked at the floor.
"I don't feel right explaining that because it involves other people, but I eventually learned I was worrying over nothing.
But I was really terrified of losing my match against Mariyana at the European Championship and when Mariyana forfeited the match… I can't remember ever having been so relieved."
Yuika watched her friend with pitying eyes.
"But when I learned that Mariyana was here in Japan and was competing at the I.H. I was annoyed at being confronted with that time I despaired so much over my future.
So I suppose I worked it out on her and I shouldn't have done that.
I came here wanting to show Mother that I was better than Ayano and I was confrontational to my sister too at first, but in time I realized how much we have in common and I allowed myself to recognize that Ayano was someone I could be friends with.
So after I stupidly sought my sister's enmity at first I grew to value her very much and I was looking forward to contesting the final with her as Mother hoped we would.
So losing to Mariyana was distressing to me for that reason. Also because I wanted to bring Fredericia Girls to the final."
"I'm sorry you don't get to be up against your sister in the final," Mariyana sighed.
"I don't blame you for that," Connie awkwardly reacted. "But…"
"Please wait with that," Oichi gently but sternly interrupted her friends. "I think it is important for us to listen to Mariyana telling us why your semi-final left her unhappy."
Mariyana saw the stout girl with the gradual black bob look her in the eyes.
"Alright," She said. "If that's how you want it.
Everything started when I and two friends from our badminton club got a chance to study at Syd Gymnasium through a student exchange program."
"Huh?!" Connie and Yuika reacted.
"I had great fun there even though most of the girls at the school's badminton club didn't seem to like me very much," Mariyana grinned.
"But that all changed when I volunteered to join the handball club for an exhibition match at the school festival and made them look bad.
They positively hated me after that. Hahaha."
"Hahaha," Connie laughed in unison with the Bulgarian while imagining Maja and Vigga's frustrated faces.
"I was told I was as bad as Connie," Mariyana continued to Yuika and Oichi's amusement.
"When I asked who Connie was they showed me a video of her competing in a local tournament.
I thought she was amazing. I fell in love with her movements and her strategic insight. I decided then and there that I would have a match against her."
Connie listened with surprise to the blackette who was looking her in the eyes.
"I had my father train me to my best form ever in order to be a match for you. I was told you were being trained by Shindou Uchika and my father was as hyped as I was after I told him.
I was so happy when both of us ended up winning our semi-final match.
But when our final was about to begin and I wanted to come and get you in your dressing room I overheard you muttering how you feared your mother would abandon you if you lost."
Connie, Yuika, Linna, and Oichi watched Mariyana intently as she continued.
"I panicked," The Bulgarian said. "I wanted our match more than anything, but I wanted to help you and the only thing I could think of at that time was to forfeit the match.
I was so angry with myself afterward and I started to doubt if I heard you right and might not have imagined the part about your mother deserting you if you lost.
When I heard you mention going to live in Japan I decided I would get my match against you there. So I worked hard to improve and get the grades I needed to enter a student exchange program in Japan.
That is why when you didn't play properly at first in our semi-final I was disappointed. And when you started to cry because you didn't win I felt rejected and hurt."
Oichi patted her friend on the shoulder as Mariyana sighed.
"I guess neither of us got to have the match she wanted," The girl in the white skirt and violet shirt muttered sadly.
"This is why Oichi wanted you to talk this through," Linna said. "Mariyana just wanted to have a fun match with you, Connie. She thinks your awesome."
Connie watched the short blonde. Then she sighed and looked at the floor.
"Thank you for forfeiting the final of the European Championship for me, Mariyana," She quietly spoke. "That means a lot to me. I was really terrified back then.
I thought you really suffered from stomach cramps. I had no idea you overheard me and gave up on the match you wanted for my sake."
The Dane ventured to look to the side and found Mariyana's eyes upon her.
"Well… I was really scared for you," The young woman with the long high black ponytail smiled.
"I've been really stupid ever since I met Nee-san," Connie said with a dismayed grimace. "I'm sorry for spoiling our match. I really did have fun playing against you."
Mariyana's smile grew brighter at those last words.
"I… I even forgot about the final I wanted until I realized I lost. I cried in shock at my defeat in the end, but your reaction speed and your strength and the tactics you used were a blast to measure myself up to."
"Likewise," Mariyana said. "I'm sorry if my being here troubled you. And I did feel sad because of the start and end of our match, but it was really cool to finally experience having you against me on the court. You really are an amazing athlete. I'm a little sad you're not going back to Denmark so we can keep competing in Europe, but I hope we can have a three-game match together someday."
"I hope so too," Connie smiled.
"There. You see?" Oichi happily smiled. "I knew you'd feel better if you understood each other.
The Lord blessed us with the power of friendship to make things right."
Mariyana and Connie grinned at each other as their selfless friend squeezed their hands.
"But he couldn't do it without the help of his number one representative on earth!" The first teased.
"What? No!" Oichi panicked as the two girls glomped her. "That's His Holiness the Pope!"
"Thank you, Oichi," Connie smiled while Linna jumped into the huddle to the amusement of Yuika. "You're the best."
"That's right! I'm happy you both realize how cool Oichi is! But I want a hug too!" Their German friend exclaimed.
Down in the sports hall that served as the practice court, Uchika stepped to the left and used a backhand shot to return the shuttle her daughter sent over the net.
She watched Ayano easily hit the projectile back to her and reacted with a shot to the left of the short black-haired girl who had her ponytail bound with a white handkerchief.
"So... You don't seem a bit nervous?!" Uchika remarked while the shuttle already went to her right.
Ayano waited for the birdie and whacked it towards her mother.
"Not really! I just want to beat Corrales-san!" She replied.
If anything, her laid-back warm-up session with her mother felt calming to Ayano.
It reminded her of a simpler time when all the emotional turmoil she went through in the past two years was nothing but a far-away nightmare.
Connie wasn't even with them. Not that Ayano would have minded if she had been.
"I see," Uchika sighed after a few more easy exchanges. "You want to avenge your sister?!"
She hit the shuttle to her daughter's right, testing the girl's backhand.
"I only hope you will be vigilant not to let your antipathy for Corrales-san provide her with an opportunity to catch you by surprise!"
Ayano returned the shuttle to her mother in a fluid motion.
Nagisa told her it was revealed on J Sports 2 that Mariyana's father was the person who trained her.
"I won't!" She groaned while hitting the shuttle back. "I'm just completely focused on winning the match!"
Standing in the middle of her court, Uchika dropped the shuttle over the net to the right of Ayano's court.
When he saw Ayano move towards the projectile, Tachibana Kentarou got up in alarm from the bench he shared with Erena on the side of the court.
But before he managed to do so, his student already appeared at the spot most difficult to defend for her and landed the shuttle on the floor in the corresponding position of her mother's court.
"Alright," Tachibana sighed. "I allowed you the pleasure of warming up your daughter before the match, Shindou-san, but not so you could jeopardize her chances by pushing her into actions like that."
"I'm sorry, Kentarou-san," Uchika bowed. "My competitive side got the better of me again. I wanted to make sure Ayano really was ready for the match."
"It's alright, Sensei," Ayano said. "I caught the shuttle."
Erena laughed at her friend's joke as she got up from the wooden bench and Ayano joined in, causing Uchika and Tachibana to share a contented smile.
"But I think I agree with your mother that you should leave Corrales-san out of the equation if only a little," The manager of Kitakomachi Badminton Club suggested.
Erena looked Ayano in the eyes. Happy just to see her childhood friend in her black, blue, and white one-piece practice with her mother as they used to, but at the same time proud to think that the girl who was so troubled up to a few days ago had conquered the nation and was about to play the final of the I.H.
"Look at what you accomplished, Ayano," She smiled. "You beat the Captain of Fredericia Girls. You defeated the Queen of badminton. And now you are contesting the final of the All-Japan Inter-High Badminton Championship."
Erena stepped forward and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.
"Do your best. But make sure you enjoy yourself above all else. Okay?"
Ayano returned the taller girl's smile and held out her hand.
"I promise," She said while she and Erena shook on their deal.
"You better check your cellphone, Ayano!" Uchika said when she heard a short signal from the table where her daughter's sports bag lay.
Ayano hurried to the table and pulled her smartphone from the bag.
She smiled to herself when she read the first part of her sister's message.
"Ayano! Quickly come to the tournament hall! The women's final is about to start!"
But then she read the second part with an annoyed scowl.
"Please don't be angry with Corrales-san for my sake anymore. We talked things over between the two of us. She is actually really nice and kind.
Enjoy your match together."
"And with the men's doubles, women's doubles, and the mixed doubles finals behind us the time has come for the final match in the women's singles!" Mami Kashiwazaki told the viewers of J Sports 2. "Kitakomachi's Hanesaki Ayano takes on Okayama Prefectural High School's Corrales Mariyana.
Both girls are relative newcomers to competitive badminton at this level, but they made their mark earlier today.
Hanesaki-san proved herself the first ever person to defeat the previously invincible Yamamoto Chizuko.
Corrales-san - on her part - came to Japan to defeat the European champion: Christensen Connie."
"Hanesaki-san won her semi-final after a taxing three-parter," Hanabi continued. "Same as her epic quarter-final against Fredericia Girls' Shiwahime Yuika.
Corrales-san has the advantage here, because she was able to achieve surprising victories over Christensen-san and the King of female badminton, Nakamura Mashiro, in two games each."
Down on the court, after Ayano won the coin toss, the Kitakomachi student was about to go to her side of the court.
"Hey, Hanesaki-san!" Ayano heard behind her.
Turning around, she saw Mariyana staring at her with a tense frown.
"I'm sorry you can't play this match against your sister," The Bulgarian said. "But Connie and I are friends now…"
Mariyana thought she saw her opponent grimace at the word.
"... so I hope we can have a fun match together without bad feelings between us."
Ayano turned a hard look on the girl.
"If my sister made a friend of you that's her business. But I still don't like you…"
"That's too bad," Mariyana sighed. "But it won't change the outcome.
This tournament will be won by the villainess!"
"... So prepare for the villainess to win this tournament!"
The two young women regarded each other in confusion at their simultaneous self-disparaging statement before the umpire urged them to start their match.
Nagisa, Riko, Yuu, Yukiteru, Sora, and Gaku observed the match from their usual place.
"So, what are you planning to do after graduation?" Nagisa asked her closest friend.
Riko regarded the brunette tomboy in surprise for a moment and nearly missed Ayano's opening service.
"You know what I'm going to do!" The bespectacled girl with the long ponytail smiled while applauding. "I'm going to Kanagawa Sports University with you."
"I'm not talking about that," Nagisa chuckled. "I meant: What do you have planned to celebrate the end of your high school years? Everyone has something they want to do for themselves to celebrate taking that milestone, don't they?"
"They do?" Kaoruko asked Miki in a whisper behind them before her friend sheepishly shrugged.
"Oh?" Riko awkwardly reacted. "Well… Since my parents will let my niece stay in my room when I'm off to Yokohama with you we thought about letting them all have a try-out to get used to the idea of Junko taking care of the little ones.
So my parents presented me with a weekend at Senami Onsen in Murakami so Junko can have a test drive."
"Wow! That's nice of them," Nagisa smiled.
"Yes. Isn't it?" Riko beamed. "They told me that they felt I deserved some time to myself for being so diligent year-round for the past years."
The bespectacled blackette in the blue jeans and the white shirt noticed a slight pout on the face of her friend.
"Is something wrong?" She asked Nagisa.
"Oh? Erm… No," The brunette tomboy in the dark-blue trousers and blue T-shirt absentmindedly reacted.
"Are you sure?" Riko frowned. "It seems like you are unhappy about something."
Nagisa looked guilty without wanting to return her friend's gaze.
"Well…" She slowly spoke. "The reason I asked about your plans was that I had it in my mind to invite you, Ayano, Erena - and I guess Connie too now - to an afternoon of jet skiing in Yokohama bay during spring break. I found a rental place and …"
"Oh!" Riko sat up with radiant eyes. "I would love to! That sounds awesome!"
"Are you sure? Will you find the time?" Nagisa asked in surprise.
"I will make time," Her friend adamantly said. "What a fun idea, Nagisa! I think Ayano and Erena will love it. Connie too I bet."
"That was a very hard shot to reach," Hyousuke commented when he saw Ayano leap from the back of her court and return a shuttle Mariyana had dropped over the net to her right. "Hanesaki-san keeps doing amazing things with her agility and speed."
"Yes. But they are both like that," His girlfriend smiled while leaning her chin on her joined hands. "That is why this is such an exciting match."
Chizuko saw Ayano calmly return a surprise smash to the right of her court back to the left of her opponent.
A quick back-and-forth developed between the two athletes.
"Ayano is a phenomenal defensive player because of her reaction speed and her inexhaustible stamina," The former Queen of badminton said. "She also has superior tactical insight and a keen eye for the shuttle.
But those are exactly the same qualities that make Corrales-san such a lethal offensive player.
Both have become more all-around athletes recently, and with much success. But it is where they differ that currently determines how they approach one another."
"Hey, Ishida-san," Mashiro unexpectedly addressed the handsome young man with the dark-brown hair.
Hyousuke turned to the King in confusion at her subdued tone.
"I know you haven't got much reason to do me a favor," Mashiro said while she watched how Mariyana scored the 10 - 9 which saw her almost caught up with her opponent just before the interval. "But would you mind introducing us to your new friends from Okayama?"
Chizuko stared at her friend for a second, but she turned her eyes discretely on the match again with a low-key smile.
Her boyfriend didn't notice her comprehension of what he was totally unaware of.
He simply smiled, gratefully that he had a chance to thaw the ice between him and his girlfriend's BFF.
"Oh? Of course,' The Fukui athlete said. "I told you, Nakamura-san. I don't bear any grudges toward you.
Taniguchi-san and Takeda-san are very nice people to hang out with. Although Takeda-san has some weird kinda humor sometimes. Shinoda-san and her friends are very nice people too."
"Thanks, Ishida-san," Mashiro kindly nodded. "They do seem like a fun bunch and I never saw most of them at a tournament before. I look forward to getting to know them."
"Smooth," Arisa Yamamoto coughed.
Mashiro narrowed her eyes as Mariyana came level with Ayano and tried to lean back with her arms behind her head to pinch her friend's mother in the thigh to the woman's amusement.
Ayano sent the shuttle in a high arc over the net.
'That's right. Move over there,' She thought as Mariyana stepped back. 'I know you expect another long rally, but I'm not letting you outmaneuver me like that again.'
When the shuttle came back to her, she smashed it to her opponent's far right. Too fast for Mariyana to reach it.
Ayano looked towards her loudly cheering and waving mother and sister when loud applause rose up from the spectator's seats.
"Yay! You're ahead, Ayanon!" She dimly heard Yuu scream and waved at the short brunette while walking over to Tachibana and Erena.
"You're doing great, Ayano," The latter smiled while handing the girl a bottle of Pocari Sweat. "She thinks she can confuse you, but you just keep sending that shuttle back."
"Thanks, Erena," Ayano smiled before putting the bottle to her lips.
"I think we need to revise our strategy," Tachibana told her while she gulped down the liquid.
"I thought I noticed this with Corrales-san's match against your sister: She's too good at anticipating your movements.
I suspect it's got to do with both of you having been trained by your mother. Corrales-san might have studied both of you extremely hard, So I propose you focus on using strategies and techniques you learned while Takagi-san and I trained you. Make Corrales-san unsure of what you'll do next."
Ayano nodded at her coach and turned her eyes to her opponent. Mariyana, however, was not looking her way.
With a blank searching look, the tall young woman with the high fluffy black ponytail scanned the seats among those occupied by Ayano's friends.
She could see Yuto and Arisa Yamamoto there, but no sign of their daughter or her best friend.
'They're probably to the toilet,' the Bulgarian reflected.
She heard the umpire announce that she and Ayano were expected at the court in twenty seconds and quickly ventured another look and wave toward Oichi, Linna, and her clubmates.
To Mariyana's surprise not only was Mashiro sitting among them, but the blonde tomboy was just looking in her direction.
Mortified as she found Mariyana's eyes upon her, Mashiro turned pale and unable to avert her gaze.
For five seconds the two girls stared at each other.
Then, Mariyana with a dead-serious expression pointed at herself, made a V-sign with her right hand, held up four fingers, and pointed at Mashiro.
'Don't pull that kind of embarrassing crap here, you lame-o! There are cameras everywhere!' The blonde complained internally, her face turning bright red as her admirer walked back toward the court.
Ayano waited for the sign from Mariyana to start her service.
Her opponent awaited the shuttle and returned it to the shorter girl's right after it came to her.
Ayano hit the shuttle back to the Bulgarian's position. Smashing it to Mariyana's right.
The Kitakomachi student hurried forward as the taller girl returned her shot over the net and hit it in a high arc toward the back of Mariyana's court.
Mariyana stepped back and tried a jump-smash to her adversary's right corner, but Ayano was on the spot in a flash and attacked with a drop shot which the taller athlete narrowly retrieved and sent high.
Ayano stepped to her baseline and hit the shuttle to Mariyana's right.
She sent her opponent's return to her far right with a drop shot and hurried forward when Mariyana lunged deep to react with a drop shot of her own.
The Bulgarian sent Ayano's drop shot to the girl's left corner, urging Ayano to hurry there.
But when the Kitakomachi student returned the shot to the left corner of Mariyana's front court, the Okayama student's control was off and she sent the shuttle over the line on the right side of Ayano's court.
'She was trained by her own father,' Ayano remembered with some chagrin as the two athletes took their places for the next rally. 'Was he the one who helped her study the way Mother, Connie, and I move?'
The girl who had her black ponytail bound by a white handkerchief sent the shuttle over the net and abruptly moved to the left to hit her adversary's return shot to her baseline.
'They must have studied Connie's style hard if that really is the reason she came to Japan," Ayano reflected while moving to her right corner and hitting Mariyana's return shot back to the taller girl's baseline.
'... Which means she knew Connie better than I did before they came to Japan.'
She lunged to the left to return a drop shot and quickly lunged forward to return another one while sending the shuttle back in a high arch.
'After my match against Connie I wasn't really that set on winning this tournament,' Mariyana thought to herself as she stepped backward toward her baseline to intercept the shuttle. 'But after making that promise to Mashiro I gotta see this through!'
Ayano returned the projectile to the left of her opponent and moved to her right corner to retrieve Mariyana's return.
She sent the shuttle to the left of the taller girl.
'Now!' Mariyana thought while moving swiftly.
With a cunning reverse smash, she landed the shuttle on the left of Ayano's court before the shorter girl was able to reach the spot.
Ayano regarded the Bulgarian with an annoyed scowl as she took position in the center of her court to anticipate Mariyana's service.
'While I was trying to win tournaments to get Mother back Mariyana was being trained by her father to counter the way Mother was training Connie.'
Ayano stepped into her pale pink slippers in the genkan and walked into the hallway while pulling her schoolbag from her shoulders.
She inhaled the smell of… something. Cooked cabbage, she thought.
Quietly walking into the kitchen and closing the door to the hallway behind her she saw Uchika trying to roll minced meat into leaves of cabbage with what seemed like soup cooking on the stove.
'It's nice of Mother to try,' The girl reflected sadly before crossing into the living room on her way to her bedroom.
Inside, Ayano prepared her school bag for the next week.
Placing her mathematics reference book on the shelf next to her desk she found the envelope with the card she received from a classmate today.
As the girl in the white shirt and black skirt sat down on her bed she pulled the card out of the envelope.
It was quite a pretty card, with a flower bouquet lying in a wicker basket drawn on it.
Ayano was impressed the boy who confessed to her bought such a pretty card for her.
She wondered if she should have accepted him even though she didn't feel like being in a relationship yet.
Maybe she would have felt like trying if they might have fun together without the divorce behind her.
Could Funai-san have stood a chance if he had confessed to her before spring break?
Ayano lowered the card onto her lap and stared ahead. She felt like calling her father. But she knew he would be asleep.
She supposed she'd have to wait until he was back in Japan.
Grandpa sat to Ayano's left at the dinner table, while grandma sat to Uchika's right.
The stuffed cabbage leaves were surprisingly tasty and paired well with the rice and eggplant.
"Erena said she'd surprise me with a new look when she comes to fetch me for cram school after dinner," Ayano remarked.
"Ah… Young girls start to explore fashion and make-up at your age don't they?" Her grandmother chuckled. "Aren't you getting interested in that stuff, Ayano? I remember what fun we had trying out lipstick together and judging ourselves in the mirror when I was young."
"Hm-hm. I'm not really interested," Ayano smiled. "But it's kinda fun when Erena wants to try out a new lipstick on me."
"Well, I sure would like to see what she's done to herself," Uchika smiled. "That girl has been poking the limits of what a student is allowed to do with their appearance. If she's making this big a deal about it I'm curious."
"You? curious about make-up?!" The woman's father laughed. "That'd be the day! Like mother like daughter is how it is with the two of you.
My beautiful wife will never know the joy of visiting a beautician with her daughter and granddaughter."
'Maybe not that much has changed,' Ayano tried to tell herself as she watched her mother and grandfather quibble. 'Father and Mother used to leave on trips in the past. There were lots of times when I was here alone with Grandma and Grandpa.
It's only that I'll rarely see Father here anymore and I visit him at his place when he's in Japan.'
"When is Father coming back from Arizona?" She surprised herself by asking.
Uchika's eyes widened in shock at the question. Making Ayano wish she had kept quiet.
She knew the divorce was painful for everyone.
"As far as I know he'll be back ho… I think he'll fly in next Thursday," Uchika said. "Which is nice, because you can visit him for the weekend. He'll like that."
"Okay. I'd like that."
Uchika quietly observed her daughter when the girl went back to eating her dinner.
"We could try calling him in the morning?" The woman suggested.
"Yes. That would be nice," Ayano simply replied.
Ayano knew there had been problems between her parents for a while. So when they told her they were going to get a divorce she wasn't really surprised.
It seemed to her that both of them felt like they failed their family. But neither of them felt capable of fixing what was wrong.
"I was confessed to today," The girl with the short black bob surprised her mother again.
"What?" Uchika sat up. "Really?"
"That's my girl!" Masashi laughed. "You are a stunner of course! Just like your mother and grandmother."
"What kind of boy is it, Ayano?" Cho asked.
On her part, Ayano felt it was up to her to cover up awkward situations like the one she unwillingly created a minute ago.
Whenever she saw sadness in the eyes of her mother or father she tried to anticipate and come up with some piece of news she had stored away to brighten the mood.
Ayano might feel lonely when she was lying on her bed before sleeping sometimes or when both of her parents were out of the house.
But she felt lucky to have Erena. And she didn't want her parents to feel lonely without each other.