“Yamato-kun, what are you staring at Kunie-chan for?”

And then, perhaps because my gaze was so blatant, Yuzu pointed that out to me with a wry look in her eyes; she looked like she was in a bad mood.

“I can’t believe that while you have this very cute girlfriend next to you, you can still ogle that girl. If that’s the case, I can’t help but be jealous.”

Yuzu puffed out her cheeks deliberately. It was supposedly the way of showing her dissatisfaction.

“I’m not.”

“Do you like girls like her?”

Despite my negation, Yuzu’s interrogation did not stop.

“No-no, it was not like I was attracted to her as someone of the opposite sex.”

“Not as the opposite sex, but there was something about her that interests you. Hmmm, I see…”

This girl, just how sharp can she be?

As I swept my gaze to find some way to divert the conversation, I saw that God had decided to be on my side, and the girls came trickling into the gym.

“Oh, looks like the girls team is here. Now you can talk to them!” I quickly pointed out.

“…You’re blatantly trying to change the topic.”

Yuzu was still giving me the suspicion, but it wouldn’t do if our job here was neglected just to pursue the matter, so she swallowed her words in frustration.

And there, one of the schoolgirls left the crowd of female players and ran towards Kunie-san. Kunie-san’s friend, perhaps? That makes it easier for us to talk to her.

“Come on, come on, let’s hear the…story from…that girl…” I was about to say something to Yuzu when my words trailed off.

“Ah, Sanae! I’m sorry to have made you prepare by yourself…What, Yamato?”

This was a perfect example of ‘Talk about the devil, and it shall appear’..

The girl who casually tried to talk to me was a girl I knew….Um, no, I knew her well in the past. Long black hair down to her waist. She didn’t have a flashy face like Yuzu or Kotani, but her face is still pretty enough to be considered cute.



“Hina…”

She was a classmate of mine in junior high school.

“…”

“…”

Silence.

In fact, only less than a second had passed, but the stiffness was long enough to feel like an hour.

But Hina broke it down and smiled a friendly smile. “Wow, it’s been a long time. What’s the matter, Yamato? Are you ready to join the basketball team?”

Hina talked to me as if nothing had happened.

─ Oh, I see. So that’s your stance.

“No, I’m helping with the school festival. The basketball team seems to be way behind with the preparation, so they sent me out here.” Like Hina, I replied with a mask of normalcy on my face.

“Oh, so you came to save me? That’s just like you, Yamato.”

“It’s the whole basketball team. Did you hear what I said?”

“I assume I didn’t hear that.”

“Wow, now you have an impenetrable barrier. Then I can’t help it, interpret it as you wish.”

“Yay!”

Just from this exchange, we somehow established a sense of distance between us.

“Hiiragi-san, you seem to be close with my boyfriend. Oh, you guys went to the same middle school, right?” Yuzu entered the conversation with a too-perfectly fake smile, more or less emphasizing the words ‘my boyfriend’.

But Hina nodded cheerfully as if she hadn’t noticed the thorn in Yuzu’s words, or maybe she had and just brushed it off.

“Yes. We were on the same basketball team back then. So today I was wondering if Yamato would come back to the basketball team…” Hina glanced at me with a meaningful look.

""

But for me, who totally had no such intention, could only put on a sullen face.

“Don’t be stupid. I don’t intend to play basketball in the club anymore. First of all, I can’t keep up with the practices.”

The current me was nothing but a frail indoor person. There was no way I could make it on our high school’s basketball team, which was a powerhouse in its own right.

“Do you think so? Yamato, you were really good and I think you can do well.”

She overestimated me; I shrugged my shoulders.

“I can’t. I just had a one on one with Sakuraba the other day and got beaten up.”

When I said that, Hina widened her eyes. “Oh, you played against Sakuraba-kun? Wow, that’s unexpected.”

“We had something going on a while back. Well, I couldn’t defeat him at all. I went against him twice and lost twice.”

As I frowned, remembering my past defeats, Hina smiled.

“That’s right, Yamato is a Point Guard. You’re at a disadvantage against Sakuraba-kun, a Forward1.”

“Well…it is.”

A ‘Point Guard’ or PG would be the commander in a basketball team. A PG would not score points all by himself to be the star of the match, but an expert in group warfare, leading his teammates to fight. This position usually would be held by someone with an inferior body build compared to people in other positions; they certainly would be at a disadvantage in 1-on-1 matches.

“It’s different in real matches. That’s right, you should try out for the boys’ red-and-white match. I don’t think they have enough players today.”

“No, thank you. I told you we’re here only to talk about the festival, after all.”

When I flatly rejected her, Hina paused to think for a moment, then smiled a little mischievously. “Hmm…Well, if you win the red-and-white match, I’ll tell you about the cultural festival. How’s that?”

“You…Haa, okay. Only for a quarter of the time.”

I nodded at Hina’s suggestion, deciding that it would be faster to play in this match.

“That’s the spirit! I hope you get to show your girlfriend some good stuff.” Teasingly, Hina headed toward the men’s basketball team.

“Good luck, Yamato-kun.” I looked next to me and saw a smiling Yuzu cheering me on.

“O-ow!”

I’m scared. So damn scared.

Yuzu was a girl who cared a lot about appearances, although she didn’t say anything outwardly, I sensed something hidden inside her cheer.

“Yamato, the men’s team said they are OK with it too.” Hina waved her hand to me, telling me the result of her talk with the boys right when I was shuddering from fear by being alone with Yuzu over here.

“Okay, I’m going to go get basketball shoes, so wait for me.”

As I thought of words to explain myself later, I left the scene, half in an attempt to escape reality.