Playing Ball

Takagi Kenta had no idea that the stunning, fiery girl in front of him was actually his senior who had been on leave from their club.

So, when he suddenly heard her angry question, his whole body bristled, and he hurriedly tried to explain, "I didn't, I mean…"

Pressed for time and not interested in playing coy, Kirishima, hearing the boy's embarrassed answer, swallowed her shame and, feigning nonchalance, lifted her skirt.

"What do you mean, 'I didn't'? Isn't this what you were looking at?"

With that action, the familiar triangular piece of fabric came into view, and for a moment, Takagi Kenta's mind froze.

His face turned red as he quickly turned his head to the side.

"No, I wasn't…"

Only boys truly understand other boys' desires.

Although this was Kirishima's first time doing something like this, she took on an experienced pose, wrapping her arm around Takagi's neck and pulling him into her arms, whispering hot breaths into his ear.

"What's the big deal? You were just looking, weren't you?"

The softness pressing against his face, the subtle fragrance invading his nostrils, and the warm breath gently brushing his earlobe—all of it was the kind of dream that a teenage boy fantasized about late at night.

Even though he had Tsukimi, a girlfriend who was top-tier in both figure and looks, he was too shy to ever initiate anything.

Moreover, lately, his girlfriend had been pressuring him to focus on his studies, and he had been avoiding her, let alone getting close to her.

Now, there was a girl in front of him who, although wasn't as beautiful as Tsukimi but was far more bold than her.

So, besides his confusion and shyness, Takagi Kenta had no thoughts of resisting.

For a teenager full of hormones, there's no way to refuse a pretty girl who's freely offering herself.

His whole body went weak under her breath, and as his breathing grew heavier, he tried to defend himself.

"I didn't mean to… You fell, and I accidentally saw…"

Kirishima, satisfied with his reaction, kept her left arm wrapped around him as she slipped the fingers of her right hand under his shirt, gently tracing his abdomen while whispering softly,

"You knocked me over and saw something you shouldn't have, and now you're blaming me?"

"I'm sorry…"

Hearing this, Kirishima, mimicking the words of girls she had been with before, lightly nibbled on Takagi's ear and said, "Hey~ You're still a virgin, right? Do you want me to help you lose that title?"

To meet a girl like this on the street, There can only be two cases —she was either a saint or a scammer.

Although Takagi Kenta's brain was flushed with excitement, he still had basic doubts.

Panting, he asked, "We've just met… Isn't this a bit much?"

Kirishima had expected this kind of response.

To lower his guard and get him to cooperate with Sasaki's request, she let go of his shoulder, cupped his face in her hands, and made him look at her,

"I like you, Takagi."

Ugh.

She almost gagged, unable to believe she had just said something so cheesy.

However, stifling the disgust she felt inside, she held Takagi's face in her hands and asked,

"Look at me—don't I seem familiar?"

Hearing her words, a bit of clarity returned to the boy's clouded mind.

As he stared at her face, which was now so close to his, he did indeed feel a strange sense of familiarity.

It felt like he'd seen her somewhere before, but he couldn't recall it.

Seeing his confused frown, Kirishima continued:

"I'm Kirishima's older sister~ We met once when you were doing a team-building event with another club."

Their team-building event was in the spring of last year... there were indeed quite a few girls there, so he might have met this girl back then.

Takagi Kenta wasn't entirely sure.

But since she was the senior Kirishima's sister and knew him, it meant they had likely met.

And now... she said she liked him.

To be honest, hearing a girl say she liked him for the first time—of course, he couldn't deny feeling a bit happy about it.

But he already had a girlfriend.

He wanted to tell her that, but afraid that if he did so, the rare chance to lose his virginity would disappear,

Takagi Kenta hesitated for a moment but decided to play dumb.

"So? Want to do something fun with me? I'll make sure you feel really good~"

After that confused look on her disappeared, Kirishima, becoming more and more familiar with what she was saying, put her arm around Takagi's neck again and led him toward a love hotel.

The boy didn't resist much, half-heartedly going along to the hotel.

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At the hotel.

Sitting on the bed, Kirishima beckoned to Takagi, who was still awkwardly standing by the door.

"Hey, why are you still standing there? Come over here."

"This place..."

Seeing his nervous glances around the room, Kirishima said casually:

"This is just a hotel, a pretty standard one.

First time seeing one?"

"Yeah..."

To be honest, Kirishima looked down on his lack of manly courage but since she was here to do work, she walked up to him and pulled him to sit on the bed.

"Didn't you seem really excited just now?"

"Why are you so quiet now?"

She instinctively knew what to do with girls, but with guys...

She had no experience with this.

So, Kirishima mentally applied what she usually did with girls, pushing aside the strange feeling she had inside, and guided Takagi's hand to the front of her clothes...

?!

"Ki-Kirishima-senpai... what is this?"

She didn't really know either.

But that annoying person said it would be useful for Takagi, so there was no harm in using it.

She needed to get ten marks quickly to be freed from this situation.

With that in mind, Kirishima sprayed some perfume on Takagi and tossed her skirt aside.

......

18:50

At the school's baseball field.

This time, Tougou did not deliberately delay time.

Instead, ten minutes before the school's latest dismissal time, he unexpectedly announced a gathering.

His unusual behavior left the baseball team members surprised.

Just as they were wondering what was happening, the gor..coach stood in front of everyone and began to speak: "Before we dismiss today, I have something to announce."

He scanned the group, ensuring everyone's attention was focused on him before continuing:

"After spending time with us, our manager, Manager Nanao, will be leaving the baseball team for a while due to some personal reasons."

!!!

Hearing his words, a mix of shock, confusion, astonishment, and disappointment filled the air, with all eyes now focused on Nanao Akane, who stood at the other side of the group.

Anticipating their reaction, the girl took a few steps forward and bowed deeply:

"I'm sorry, everyone.

Due to some academic issues, I'll need to temporarily leave the baseball team for a while...

Thank you all for this time... and after..."

Whatever else Nanao said, Katase Shouya, standing in the front row, didn't hear.

At that moment, he had only one thought in his mind:

The thing he had feared had finally happened.

Although the coach had approached him yesterday to discuss the situation and comforted him for a long time after understanding what was going on, today, as he had promised the coach, he didn't show anything unusual in front of her.

But deep down, he always felt that after what Akane Nanao had done, there was no way she could continue staying in the baseball team...

After all, she had originally joined the baseball team because of him...

Now, with their relationship completely broken for reasons he couldn't quite understand, how could she possibly stay?

Even though he felt so pessimistic, a part of him still hoped that she would remain in the team.

Just like the coach had reassured him—what if he had misunderstood Akane?

Maybe she would change her mind...

But now...

That last glimmer of hope was gone.

With lifeless eyes, Katase Shouya followed the other team members to the locker room like a walking corpse.

After leaving the school and returning home, he lay on his bed, then pulled out his phone and opened Nanao's profile page on Line.

The most noticeable things on the screen were the black "Block" button and the red "Delete" button at the bottom.

Staring at the two buttons, Katase Shouya hesitated, torn between two choices.

One would sever all contact completely.

The other would deceive him, leaving a false glimmer of hope.

This…

In the end, the desire in his heart to not lose all contact with Akane intertwined with the coach's advice from the previous day, overcame the 'reasonable thinking he's been so very proud of, leading him to slowly extend his finger toward the black button.

Just as he pressed the button and threw his phone onto the bed, on the other side, Akane Nanao, who had just arrived home and was ready to explain to Shouya the real reason she left the team, sent over a long, carefully written message.

......

17:30

After checking out the new house, reviewing the contract, and signing the papers, Hamazaki Reina stretched her arms out and leaned back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling.

Then called out to her friend, who was wandering around the living room and kitchen:

"So, what do you think? Looks pretty good, right?"

After checking both floors and confirming there were no issues, Sasaki Yukina, now seated on the sofa beside her, nodded.

"Yeah~ it's pretty nice, but it definitely needs a bit of cleaning."

"We can do that after we move in on Sunday. If we tackle it together, it shouldn't take too long."

"True. By the way, we saw a basketball court at the park when we came in. Want to go play for a bit?"

It was too early for dinner, going home would be boring, and it felt too late to go shopping.

Yukina, with nothing else to do, made the suggestion.

Reina, however, glanced at the girl's feet wrapped in black socks and asked:

"Oh, right, it's been a while since we played. But how's your foot doing?"

"It's fine, it's not like my foot's broken! I've been jogging for a while now without any pain, so I think it's fully healed. Just playing for a little bit should be no problem."

In response to her words, Yukina wiggled her foot, showing no signs of discomfort.

Then she stood up, and gestured to Reina, who also wanted to play.

"Come on, let's go. If anything feels off, I'll tell you. We're just playing casually, not in a competition. I'm not that reckless."

Seeing that Yukina really seemed to be okay, Reina clapped her hands on her knees and stood up.

"Alright, let's go then!"

They stopped by a convenience store to pick up a few bottles of water, and also grabbed a basketball before leisurely heading over to the court.

In their minds, they thought most of the school's sports clubs would still be in practice, and those who weren't interested in sports wouldn't just randomly come to play basketball.

So, they didn't expect anyone else to be there.

But when they arrived, there was already another girl playing on the court.

She looked around their age.

Looking at the girl on the court, Reina, holding the basketball against her waist with one hand, called out.

"Hey~ Mind if we join you?"

Thump, thump—

The tall girl, wearing a sports jersey, slowed her dribbling.

She flicked her long ponytail behind her and turned her sun-kissed, sweat-covered face toward them, smiling brightly.

"Come on."

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19:00

As the sky dimmed.

The three girls, having finished their game, sat on a bench near the basketball hoop, towels draped over their shoulders as they wiped away sweat.

Tilting her head back to take a drink of water, Tachibana Yuuka smiled and praised the two:

"You guys are pretty good. Were you on the school basketball team?"

"We were…"

Before Reina could finish her sentence, Sasaki Yukina, feeling some pain in her ankle, gently patted her on the shoulder.

"Reina, give me a hand, my foot hurts a little."

"Hey, seriously? Should we go to the hospital?"

Seeing Yukina purse her lips and make a serious face, Hamazaki Reina quickly put down her drink and placed the girl's arm over her shoulder, ready to take her to the hospital.

"No, no need to make such a fuss," Yukina patted her shoulder, smiling wryly. "It just hurts a bit, not that bad."

"Just take me to your apartment and rub some of that medicinal oil on it. It's not a serious problem."

"Your family's medicinal oil works like a miracle. Shouldn't we just go to your place?" Reina asked, starting to relax as she noticed Yukina was still able to talk casually.

She thought her friend must have just tweaked her ankle during the jump for the dunk earlier, so it should be too serious.

"My brother's home. If he finds out my old injury's acting up from playing basketball, he won't let me leave the house again. What a pain," Yukina grumbled, testing her weight on the foot while leaning on Reina's shoulder.

After confirming the pain wasn't too severe, she explained with a frown.

Hearing their conversation, Tachibana Yuuka, who had been playing basketball with them and overheard that Yukina had hurt her foot, also spoke.

"If it's inconvenient for you to go home, you could come to my place. We've got some good medicinal oil, too."

Though they had just played basketball together, she was still a stranger to them, so Reina wasn't about to agree to go to her house.

"No need, senpai. We live nearby, and the bus will get us home in just a few minutes, so it's no trouble."

"Yeah, I'll just put on some ointment when I get home. No need to bother you, senpai," Yukina added.

Seeing they both declined, Tachibana Yuuka didn't push further and softly reminded them:

"Alright then, just take it easy on your way home. Don't rush…"

Although she acted spoiled and willful around Sasaki just to get more attention, she was polite and friendly with others.

Oh well...

After giving them a few more reminders, Yuuka was about to see them off when her phone, which was in her bag near the bench, began to ring.

"I'll take this call real quick~"

"Thanks, senpai. We'll head out now."

"Alright, take care."

Tachibana Yuuka waved at them as she pulled out her phone.

Glancing at the caller ID, she smiled before answering: "Hello? You better have something important to say, or you're getting a foot massage from me when I get home!"

"..."

There was a brief silence on the other end, followed by a voice that made Reina stop in her tracks.

"Hey, Koharu-nee, Yuka-nee's not coming home tonight. No need to make her dinner."

"Hey, hey! When did I say I'm not coming home?! You're asking for trouble!"

"Tell Aunt Kyouka that Sister Yuka is staying out drinking tonight…"

"You—! Stop messing around! I was just kidding! Don't stir up trouble!"

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