Volume 1 - CH 1.10

Lively and bubbly, even her looks were pretty. She did have some annoying sides, but when she was on a date with me like this, she was indeed someone who possessed the qualities of a popular girl. 

“There, try shooting it with a sensation of sending up the energy from the bottom of your body to the top. 

“Okay… I’ll go! Shoot!” 

Yuzu used her whole body to accumulate the energy and shot the ball in front of her chest using both hands. Nonetheless, it proved to be difficult; the ball didn’t reach the goal and bounced on the court.

“I-I can’t…”

“Too close, you nearly made it. There, try again.” I picked the ball up and passed the ball to Yuzu with one bounce.

“The energy seemed lacking. You should jump harder.” 

When doing a three-pointer, one needed to shoot from quite a distance, so it required full energy from the whole body or the ball wouldn’t reach the goal. Therefore, I advised her to do so purely out of good intentions… Yet, Yuzu inexplicably stared in my direction.

“Yamato-kun, are you saying that after you see how I’m dressed today?”

“Ah,”

There, I remembered that Yuzu was wearing a skirt, a short one to boot.

“Yamato-kun, you’re so naughty. You made it like you were teaching me, but your actual purpose was to take a glimpse of my panties.” Yuzu didn’t let slip of the opportunity to tease me.

However, for me whose nervousness had worn off, I was perfectly on guard, “Hey, hey! I was only purely engaging in basketball. Rather, isn’t it you, Yuzu, who could think of such an idea, the one who has an erotic mind? After all, you are the girl who pushed me down in the classroom.”

“Th-that, forget about that!” 

When I replied with a perfect counterattack that conjured her trauma, it had an instant effect. Yuzu hid her face behind the basketball. Alas, her scarlet ears were visible.

Yes, I won this.

“Alright, alright. I’ll forget about that. So, how about you do a free throw next? That way, you don’t have to jump.”

“Wuu…. Yesss.”

Yuzu peeked out from the shadow of the ball. That was cute surprisingly.

Yuzu had good reflexes just like she had been bragging; just two and three more tries, she already could shoot a beautiful free throw. So we played until our time on the court was up. I was about to move to another corner with Yuzu who seemed to be satisfied, and it was precisely at this moment.

We encountered them in front of the elevator.

“Eh, isn’t this Yuzu? What are you doing here?” 

The one who called out to us—no, only Yuzu was addressed—was Kotani in casual clothes.

“Eh, Aki! What a coincidence.” Yuzu responded to her friend after tossing me a glance for a moment.

Then, from behind Kotani, another boy unexpectedly appeared. It was Namase.

“Eh, what? Yuzu, you’re here? …And also Izumi. Were we interrupting?”

He seemed to have guessed the situation when he saw me next to Yuzu, he became a bit awkward. At his sides, there were several other girls who were our classmates—Sakuraba was there as well.

“Yah, both of you.” Sakuraba cheerfully greeted us as if he had completely forgotten the thing on the other day (at least outwardly).

“…Yo.” I also replied cheerfully.

Anyway, Yuzu supposedly would follow up our interaction, yet after that incident, I had no chance to talk to Sakuraba, making this my first conversation with him since then. The awkwardness resulted in very few words exchanged between us, but before it turned into silence, Namase chimed in,

“You both were playing basketball?”

“Yup. Yamato-kun is experienced, so I had him teach me a bit.” Answering Namase, Yuzu responded earlier than me.

Listening to that, Kotani looked at me for an instant and she sent her gaze to Sakuraba.

“That’s just nice! Sota, how about you play with Izumi? You came to play basketball, if you play with others who have no experience, you certainly must find it boring if you can’t play it with full power, right?” 

Hearing that suggestion, Sakuraba wryly smiled as he shook his head, “No, I can’t possibly interrupt their date.”

To be able to say something like that when his crush was on a date with her boyfriend, he really was a capable man. Or he was just as good as Yuzu in keeping up appearance; even then, that was impressive in itself.

“Sorry, Aki. We already have other plans.” Yuzu pressed her palms together as she expressed her refusal.

However—this was where we should accept the invitation.

In order to bring those two together, it was not enough to only making Sota give up on Yuzu. It was vital in closing the distance between Kotani and Sakuraba. For that sake, the quickest and easiest way is by showing off Sakuraba’s cool side and followed by Kotani praising him or something. 

This should be no mistake because I had just received such treatments from Yuzu and it made me happy.

“Not really, maybe we can play for a bit? I also haven’t played with someone who also plays basketball.” Inwardly, I clicked the switch and it triggered a smile on my face.

“Yamato-kun…” Yuzu popped out her eyes in surprise.

If it was the usual, she would already understand why I was doing this, but… her face was gloomy like she was not enthusiastic about it.

Leaving Yuzu in that state aside, Kotani said to Sakuraba, “Isn’t that great, Sota? Izumi also said it’s okay. I also want to see Sota playing basketball, let’s do it.”

That invitation made Sakuraba wear a troubled expression and he looked at Kotani and then, at me.

“…Izumi, is it really okay?” He reservedly tried to confirm, so I complied with my perfect fake smile.

“Yeah. Rather, I’m lucky as I’m now also in high spirits from playing basketball after a long while. I want to show my cool sides to Yuzu as well.”

When I mentioned Yuzu, Sakuraba’s face changed for an instant. 

To him, this might be the best chance to beat the hell out of me who was his rival in love. He probably just realized that.

“…I got it. Let’s do it.”

Together with Sakuraba who got hooked to the bait, I entered the court. We did some warm-up and got in positions for a 1-on-1 match.

“For now, let’s do a match, who gets 3 goals first wins.”

“Okay. No problem.”

I got the ball first. Once I passed the ball to Sakuraba, he immediately passed the ball back to me. This was the cue for the start of a 1-on-1 match.

“Sota!! Do your best!”

“Show us your cool side!!”

Namase and the other girls cheered as they chuckled. On the other hand, Kotani, the one who suggested the match was only staring, not even voicing out a thing. 

I see… So it was not a bluff when Yuzu said she was innocent and naive.

I shut them out of my sight and started dribbling the ball as I gauged Sakuraba’s condition. He really deserved to be someone who snatched the regular position in the high school basketball team; he was fully guarded.

With this, forget about going easy on him, it was easy for me to be thrashed instead.

“Huk—!” I used my gaze to make a feint and dribbled my way through forcefully. However, Sakuraba stuck very near to me—I couldn’t even get close to the goal post.

“Damn!” I had no choice but to abruptly stop dribbling and attempted a middle shot.

Alas, Sakuraba, who had a tall height and long arms, easily blocked my shot.

“Ah? I thought I could make it.”

“That was so close. You’re good, Izumi.” Sakuraba complimented me, who just finished my offense in a state of half-surprised and half-convinced.

chocolala: Yamato-kun just got to show off some skills and now he’s about to be thrashed >.<