Chapter 28: Sasaki Ayami, Ichinose

They say that a great yo-yo player could detect another if they're close enough. Sasaki scoffed at this suggestion until her very first day in third year. She grabbed her yo-yo in her bag and she understood what was going on. There was a great yo-yo player in her class. No, not just great, world-class.

She looked around. Who could it be? Who had such a great yo-yo powers? She smiled. There would be no need for searching, for she knew, from her training, that two great yo-yo powers wouldn't be able to stay away from each other; that they will inevitably clash.

The battle royale ended the first day, but for Sasaki it didn't end there. As she picked her shoes, and walked to the schoolyard, she heard that familiar sound. A sound so familiar, so basic, and so essential to her life that it couldn't be mistaken. The sound of a yo-yo spinning at the end of its string. The sound of a Sleeper. She equipped her mask and simply followed the sound.

There was a student standing in front of a tree, doing a Sleeper. His hair was smooth, split in front revealing his white forehead. From a glance he looked like a high-ranking student. But really his face didn't matter. What mattered was the way his finger stayed still, how the stillness of the string ended in a hum of a furiously spinning yo-yo. Sasaki unleashed her own Sleeper as she walked towards him. A formal invitation for a battle.

They now stood one yo-yo throw away. Both of them returned the yo-yo to their hand and restarted their throw at the exact same time. It was a Spear Hop, a throw where after you let the yo-yo rest on an outstretched string after looping through a finger once, movement of the fingers could make the yo-yo shoot upwards, forwards and downwards. Sasaki shot it upwards while he downwards. However, as Sasaki shot it forward, he did it too, aiming it just a few milimetres below Sasaki's. Sasaki was now sure he's about as good as her.

Sasaki started a loop, with him just a step behind. When Sasaki's yo-yo loop reached the furthest forward it could be, his yo-yo reached furthest backward it could be, and vice versa. This harmonious Loop the Loop continued for seconds, then for minutes. The two returned their yo-yo at the same time, smiling at each other. The two of them then pulled out a second yo-yo, and did two simultaneous harmonious Loop the Loops. Sasaki was now sure he's exactly as good as her.

Sasaki's eyes widened. He stopped one of the Loop the Loop, reached into his pocket, and pulled out two yo-yos with his hand. And then, with one hand, he did two simultaneous harmonious Loop the Loops. This shocked Sasaki and she ended her own Loop the Loops. She could only watch, mesmerised by the way he manoeuvred two yo-yos in one hand, while also doing a third loop with his other hand.

"You are J. J. Aburamsi, aren't you? The winner of the World Yo-yo U18 two years ago, who disappeared from all professional competitions?"

"I did use a fake name, but I am not Aburamsi." He stopped the looping. "I am Makoto Soichiro, second place."

[break]

Sasaki threw the yo-yo. However, at the end of the string, instead of returning to her hand, the yo-yo disk went off the string, making a gentle arc towards [name]. He swung a piece of string towards the flying yo-yo, capturing it and have it return to his hand. Komi and Tadano clapped.

"We call this the Web Swinging, because capturing the yo-yo with a string is called 'the Spider-Man', so it's like moving from one spider web to another."

"That's amazing, Sasaki!" Komi said. "And...Makoto? I feel like we've met before…"

"Komi?" Tadano asked. "Of course you met him. It's Ichinose. From 2-1."

Komi's eyes widened. Ichinose smiled. "Of course Tadano can tell. This is why us four love him so much. He could always tell." He put on his glasses.

"It is Ichinose," Komi said in shock.

"Alright, Ayami, let's practice our next trick."

"Let's go, Soichiro! I'll see you tomorrow, Komi!"

Komi waved them goodbye as she and Tadano continued their journey towards her home.

Author's note: I got the yo-yo throws and world rankings from chapter 111. As you probably guessed, Soichiro and Ichinose both has the kanji for 'one' in it, so I just made them one character. So many ones, it's great.