"Ha ha…"
A dry, humourless laugh escaped Hiratsuka Shizuka as she watched Tanaka Masao rolling on the floor like a worm. To her, it felt like an insult.
Sensing the teacher's anger thickening the air like a storm cloud, Yukinoshita Yukino wisely took a half-step back, creating a safe distance between them.
Even Masao, still groaning on the floor, finally noticed the ominous shift in the room.
He cut his performance short and looked up to see Hiratsuka's terrifyingly cheerful smile and Yukinoshita's gaze, which was now filled with nothing but pity.
After a long, two-and-a-half-second pause, a sheepish smile crept onto his face.
"Ha.ha, it hurts,"
—
"Yukinoshita-san, how could you just stand there and let Hiratsuka-Sensei manhandle me like that?"
Masao complained as they walked home, his voice heavy with exhaustion.
Yukinoshita glanced back at him unimpressed.
"You have no one to blame but yourself. That performance was so transparent, anyone would have taken it as a direct challenge."
"It… It wasn't a performance!" he protested, his eyes darting away. "My reflexes are just… delayed!"
Even as he said it, he knew the excuse was weak. In hindsight, his actions did look an awful lot like mockery.
Though, to be fair, Hiratsuka-sensei hadn't actually been that hard on him, in fact, she'd even taught him a few practical self-defense moves.
"Whatever. I have a magnanimous heart. So I'll forgive you and Hiratsuka-Sensei this time."
"Magnanimous heart? I'd say you have a magnanimous gut Masao-kun," Yukinoshita fired back without missing a beat.
They had reached their usual parting point at the crossroad.
"Don't forget the morning run tomorrow. Be there on time."
"I know, I know. See you tomorrow, Yukinoshita."
With a tired wave and a yawn, Masao trudged toward his home. Every muscle in his body ached from the day's ordeal; he needed rest, and lots of it.
Behind him, Yukinoshita stood for a moment, a quiet murmur escaping her lips. "See you tomorrow…?"
She couldn't remember the last time she'd said those words to someone with any semblance of expectation.
"Even though Masao-kun seems pretty hopeless in most aspects…" she thought, recalling their brief interactions in the last two days of knowing him.
He was undisciplined and unremarkable to look at, yet he was polite and understood boundaries, never intruding on her space.
A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched her lips.
"He's… tolerable, I suppose."
With that, she turned toward her own home, her steps feeling just a little lighter than before.
—
The next morning's run was even more grueling than the last. His muscles, stiff and sore, protested on every step.
Yukinoshita explained that while they could reduce the intensity of their exercise, stopping altogether wasn't an option; he simply had to push through this initial pain, and so he ran.
After a quick cleanup, Masao dragged himself to class and collapsed into his seat like a sack of potatoes, waiting for the day's lessons to begin.
'I'm so tired. I'm going to fall asleep for sure…' he thought, his eyelids already growing impossibly heavy.
Just as he was drifting off, he sensed movement at the desk in front of him. He forced his eyes open.
His blood ran cold.
Kawasaki Saki had arrived at her seat. But instead of sitting down as usual, she was standing there, looking down at him.
Her stare was so icy it could have frozen hell over.
After holding his gaze for a long, uncomfortable moment, she let out a snort and finally took her seat.
Masao stared at her back, his mouth dry.
'She knows. She knows I set up that tennis match yesterday. She's going to kill me. Why is everyone so good at figuring me out? How do I get out of this?
He was right. After returning home yesterday, Kawasaki pieced it all together. The whole thing had been fishy and thinking it over, Tanaka Masao was the only possible culprit.
Was she angry? Of course she was. Playing that tennis match against Yukinoshita Yukino had worn her out, too.
But if she was being honest with herself, playing against Yukinoshita was far more interesting than just hitting a ball against a wall by herself.
She just couldn't figure out why Masao had done it.
Was it to use her against Yukinoshita? It didn't seem that way.
The whole situation left her unsettled.
That morning, her lingering glare was just an attempt to figure him out, but to Masao, it felt like a death sentence.
—
The tension stretched through the entire morning.
Kawasaki could feel Masao's eyes on her back and wondered what he was plotting now.
Meanwhile Masao, watching Kawasaki's back, was waiting for the axe to drop.
—
Kawasaki Saki was not one to let things fester. During lunch break, a folded note landed on Masao's desk with a soft thud.
He opened it.
[* After lunch. The rooftop.*]
'Heh. If this were an anime, this is where the love confession happens,' he thought wryly.
He sighed in resignation and decided he'd better go see what she wanted after eating.
He pulled out his phone and sent a message to Yukinoshita Yukino, saying he had something to do today and wouldn't be eating lunch in the Clubroom.
'The last thing I need now is to annoy Yukinoshita too'
—
The school rooftop was a place of legend, a silent witness to clandestine meetings of every kind from confessions, heart-to-heart talks, fights, and even… well, other things.
Kawasaki Saki was already there, waiting, her silhouette sharp against the sky.
"Well?" she said, not turning around. "Start talking. Why did you set up that match with me and Yukinoshita?"
Masao hesitated, then decided to try a half-truth. "What if I said… I thought you looked lonely practicing by yourself? That I was just getting you a partner?"
Kawasaki turned, her eyes narrowing to slits.
"Do I look like I was born yesterday?"
Defeated, he sighed. "Fine. You refused to partner with me. It pissed me off. So I found you someone else to play against."
Kawasaki frowned. She hadn't expected such a childish reason. After a few seconds of silence, she coldly spat out a single word.
"Immature."
Without another word, she walked past him and descended the stairs, leaving him alone on the rooftop.
Masao stood there, stunned.
'That's it? No dramatic confrontation?'
The lack of consequences felt somehow worse than any revenge she could have taken.
___
__
[email protected]/Raven_scroll (30+ Advance Chapters)