Gambler of Feelings:
Chapter Fifteen
Sports Festival served as an opportunity to unite students of Konoha High School. However, what made this occasion special for them was the amount of the work they placed in designing entertaining games. Sarada hated the large crowds, but as the extremely competitive person, she enjoyed participating in various contests during this event every year.
"Sarada, we're over here!" shouted Boruto when she noticed him jumping up and down in the middle of the large crowd of students. She ran in the direction of the club members passing through other students feeling relieved that they were here.
"Hnn..." she groaned trying to catch her breath. Running seemed like a stupid thing to do, but a minute ago was a logical option for her. She should add the fifth rule to her mini-book that forbids running in general.
"Hahaha! Look at our stoic Sarada Uchiha running to us like we're experiencing the end of the world. It's priceless seeing her like that, ya know?" Boruto couldn't stop his fit of laughter after seeing Sarada chicken like running.
"Very funny, Boruto! I just didn't want to lose the sight of everyone in this large crowd." Sarada grimaced at his words more than his reaction. "Glad you made it out alive, Sarada!" First to interrupt their bickering was Mitsuki that tried to ignore Sumire and Chō-Chō staring at him.
"Now as the most amazing person in this group, I propose to check out food booths!" Chō-Chō ignored disappointed looks of her friends because she indeed felt like the most amazing in the entire group.
"I'm getting kind of hungry as well so count me in." Sumire supported Chō-Chō's idea since she still was grateful for what she did for her during the winter break. "What a drag." Shikadai yawned and was less lively compared to others.
The whole club was walking around food booths with Sarada and Boruto bickering about everything, while Mitsuki felt uncomfortable with the presence of two girls he rejected. Meanwhile, Shikadai regretted he can't eat popcorn because observing his friends was more entertaining than a drama movie.
"Mitsuki, come here for a moment." Shikadai sighed being fed up with watching Mitsuki reaction to the whole love triangle happening around him.
"What do you want from me, Shikadai?" Mitsuki whispered a little bit irritated but glad he could get away from Sumire and Chō-Chō for a moment.
"Are you trying to avoid talking with Chō-Chō and Sumire forever?" Shikadai tried to solve at least part of the drama for the sake of his new friendship with Sumire.
"..." A silent response from Mitsuki meant more than any remark.
"You caught yourself in a complicated situation you can't resolve with using your snakes to scare the girls that love you because they're your friends and that puts you in a delicate position. Am I right?" Of course, Shikadai based it on his assumptions.
"For your information, both Sumire and Chō-Chō received a rejection from me. It's normal we're going through awkward talking phase." Mitsuki looked calm on the outside, but Shikadai knew him well enough to know when he's angry.
"Scaring people with snakes isn't a valid strategy for you right know, Mitsuki." Shikadai decided to back down giving his silver-haired friend a warning.
"Thank you for your awesome troublesome sarcasm. Besides you're the one who hides a lot more than me, Shikadai." Mitsuki at this point felt extremely annoyed. He rejected both Sumire and Chō-Chō for personal reasons. His love-life had nothing to do with Shikadai at all.
"Shikadai, Mitsuki you both know me and Sumire can hear everything right?!" Chō-Chō made her and Sumire presence know to the boys.
It wasn't too long before the tense atmosphere between Shikadai and Mitsuki escalated with Sumire and Chō-Chō joining in their quarrel. Sarada stood paralysed while watching Boruto playing a mediator in the group.
"Sarada, can you help me?! At this rate, their arguing will destroy our chances during the games, ya know?" It went to the point Boruto had the problem to deal with his mad at each other friends.
"H-hnn... I-I am not a person you should ask for help. " Sarada averted her gaze trying not to look into Boruto's eyes.
"Why?!" Boruto questioned bitterly. Was he disappointed in her reaction?
"I'm terrible with dealing my own feelings, not to mention in understanding how the other people feel!" Sarada shouted. The whole group fell silent at her outburst of anger. The only person that remained with a sour look in his eyes was Boruto.
"Y-yeah! We should enjoy the Sports Festival instead of arguing with each other." Sumire words stopped the club members from arguing further. They continued visiting the next food booths with an awkward atmosphere.
"Brother!", yelled from candy apple booth Boruto's little sister, Himawari.
"Hima, what are you doing here?!" Boruto expressed his surprise, and his younger sister went into a fit of giggles.
"Did you forgot, bro? Sports Festival is the event where visitors not going to your school can enter freely." Himawari sounded disappointed with Boruto not remembering she announced to him her visit during family breakfast.
"Oh, now when you mention it I remember you saying you would come during the breakfast. I didn't forget, ya know?" Boruto obviously lied gaining a disapproving look of the club members standing behind him.
"Hehehe! Unfortunately for you, I know you too well, big bro!" Himawari couldn't stop her smile.
"Ehh, I should know you of all people could see through me, Hima." Boruto scratched his nose trying to hide embarrassment. His younger sister was sharp, really sharp when the subject involved his love life.
"I'm a psychic after all! Anyway, I will be rooting for you to win in the next contest and trying to sweep off her feet this beautiful lady next to you." Himawari pointed out towards surprised Sarada.
"Yeah, yeah... I would win even without your suggestive manner of speech, Hima." Sending his sister off to the spot where other visitors were gathering Boruto sighed heavily. This day was meant to be fun for a whole group, but it turned out into a one, big mess. He was thinking about Sarada response to his request for help. Maybe it was too soon for her to open up to him so he should back down?
After all, he decided to befriend Sarada because of his injured ego.
" I wanna team up with you, Sarada, ya know?" Boruto stated boldly.
"Sure." Wasn't Boruto still mad at her? With this question in her mind, Sarada agreed to pair up with him.
"Glad you agreed!" Boruto pumped his fist in the air feeling overwhelming joy.
"Idiot..." Sarada mumbled, but Boruto in his joy wasn't worried about this word directed at him in comparison to their first meeting.
The next contest was a three-legged race, so naturally, everyone picked a person to pair-up with. In that way, Mitsuki ended up with Shikadai, since Sumire and Chō-Chō paired up running together towards the goal Sarada decided to initiate conversation with Boruto.
"Umm... Boruto?" She started being unsure if it's a good idea to ask him this question. However, she promised Chō-Chō to discover why the club president lost passion for gaming.
"Ya know, you can just ask me anything in a straightforward manner, Sarada! Formalities are boring." Boruto answered in the middle of running. Does this guy isn't feeling tired at all? Sarada felt like all her energy was absorbed by this long-distance running and it was hard for her to keep-up with Boruto.
"How you got into gaming? I mean the idea of being president of our club to be precise?" Sarada was really confused about why Boruto wanted to be the club president. He seemed like a guy that was naturally talented but avoided these type of responsibilities.
"Well, ya know... How did you get into gaming? " Boruto decided to respond with his own set of questions.
"It's a long story." Sarada thought that she wasn't ready to tell anyone about her past. At least not now.
"Good, because my story is long too." Was Boruto more upset than before? But why? Did she do something wrong? Sarada couldn't stop feeling worried.
"My bad! I'm not angry at you or anything it's just... ya know... Nevermind! Are you still planning to go buy a new phone with me?" Boruto noticing Sarada's gloomy look started to think of himself as an awful person. That's right he needed to remember she was socially awkward around people.
"Yes, I-I d-do!" Why did she stutter? From what she remembered, she never had a problem with speaking in her life before. What's worse it was always happening when she was together with Boruto. Was he an alien from an unknown planet? Maybe she was ill? It was these sort of excuses that were popping out in her head. In reality, she knew what could this phenomenon mean. She was just too much stubborn to admit it herself.
"Sarada, are you feeling well?" Boruto smirked knowing she went into the state of her chicken-like-running. He held back his urge to explode from laughing at her stoic face during the race.
"I'm a-alright." Sarada pretended that her stuttering comes from her being tired. "I just was thinking a person like you is similar to an alien in our current society." She added after calming down a little and said something crazy by accident.
After her words, Boruto couldn't hold his laughter in anymore and fell down together with Sarada on the ground.
"Hahahahaha! An alien! I'm not handsome, popular guy in your eyes, but an alien! It's the first time a girl thinks I'm coming from another planet, ya know? It's hilarious!" Boruto's reaction made Sarada forming a pout. What's wrong in suspecting such a cheerful person as Boruto is an alien?! Oh, no! Is she the reason why they lost in the three-legged race?
"I'm sorry, Boruto!" She suddenly shouted.
"Huh? Why?" Sarada sudden apology confused him greatly.
"I'm the reason we lost the race, right? So I'm sorry I dragged you down with me." Boruto didn't know how exactly he should react when Sarada showed little signs of opening up towards him. This strange apology counted into one of these situations where he wasn't confident how he should behave afterwards. He experienced this feeling just with one person in the past. Although, Sarada wasn't fundamentally the same girl... No, it was just his imagination.
"Don't apologise to me! I had a lot of fun, and that's what matters the most, ya know." He petted Sarada's head, untied the rope tying up their legs and helped her to stand up.
"You're right. I h-had a lot of fun as well!" The smile she showed on her face looked a little forced. She probably still blamed herself. Boruto sighed heavily, he has a limited time for making Sarada being more comfortable around him. Time is flowing soon, so that little string of connection between them that is a bet will vanish sooner or later, right? Will, he ever gets to know why Sarada takes winning and losing so seriously? Those dark thoughts started to spin in his head, but he still decided to smile.
In the end, Chō-Chō and Sumire were unbeatable pair during all contests and the entire Sports Festival. Sarada really felt foolish about being worked up with winning or losing. Maybe it seemed stupid, but Boruto words saved her from feeling anxious during the entire festival.
If you're Uchiha, you must always win.
If you're Uchiha, you can't associate with idiots.
Those rules that she always blindly followed were like chains, but at the same time helped her a lot during the difficult times in her life. Were those rules destroying some parts of her life? She never will know the answers to all her questions.
Why Boruto was so mad about her questioning how he got into gaming? Remembering why she wanted to join a club in the first place, Sarada started questioning her own motives.
"H-how it ended up like this... I never wanted to..." It wasn't a good idea to say it after all. Sarada never wanted to admit she had a crush on Boruto Uzumaki this entire time.
AN:
Here it is the chapter 15 of this multi-chap story! Like usual sorry for any mistakes etc. This chapter took me a while to write. It's hard to believe that in this story has already 15 chapters and just couple more will make a finale of the story.
Hope ya all enjoyed reading it!
Your clumsy author - Karinrumi ;)