Not Just A Sport!

Episode 34

Sakina wiped the sweat from her forehead and continued to swing her racquet and hit the ball against the wall.

Ever since she had switched to using her left hand, Sakina noticed how much easier controlling the ball was. Despite this, for every one hundred returns to the wall she did with her left hand, she vowed to do double with her right hand.

Sakina finally stopped and sat down in the grass. She had started practicing early that morning and it was already late in the afternoon.

She took a deep drink from her bottled water before standing up again. Her legs wobbled a bit and Sakina realized just how tired she really was.

"I guess I should take a break," She mumbled, walking over to a nearby bench and sitting down.

"Hiya Saki-chan!" A voice rang out.

A boy slid down next to Sakina and gave her a quick hug before leaning back against the bench.

"You're...Takao," Sakina responded, glancing at him.

Takao laughed and said, "You're cute so you can call me Kazu-chan!"

"Okay," Sakina said, a slight blush in her cheeks.

"You're a tennis player right? Shin-chan never stops talking about you, I think the tsun likes you," Takao said, winking his eye before staring up at the sky.

"Shin...chan?"

"Yeah, Midorima. That Carrot guy. I call him Shin-chan 'cause I'm his best friend,"

"Oh...Since I'm going to call you Kazu-chan does that mean we're friends?" Sakina asked.

"Of course! Any crush of Shin-chan's is a friend of mine! Do you wanna hear some of Shin-chan's deepest secrets?"

Takao leaned closer to Sakina and whispered, "Shin-chan...Sleeps with a teddy bear...for good luck," he then pulled back and howled in laughter.

Sakina chuckled a bit as well. "I didn't know that,"

"Oh yeah, come meet my tennis friend! He's at the arcade!" Takao said, grabbing Sakina's hand and pulling her after him, leading her inside a crowded arcade.

"Hey Nio! This is Sakina, my friend. Say hello,"

The boy named Nio stopped what he was doing and looked at Sakina before saying, "Puri,"

Sakina was startled and didn't know what to say. "Um...Hi?"

Takao laughed before slinging his arm around Sakina's shoulders.

"Now that everyone's introduced, lets play some games!"

Sakina was dragged over to some games and stood back and watched as Takao and Nio played. Occasionally, whenever one of them beat the computer, Takao and Nio would high five and continue on. Watching them, Sakina thought about what good friends they were.

She was startled out of her thoughts by Takao.

"Saki-chan, wanna play?"

"Okay, I guess," she responded, hesitantly approaching the game. As her fingers hovered above the buttons and her eyes were on the screen, hidden emotions were brought to surface.

"You're going down," She said darkly and rapidly pressed buttons until the computer was beat.

This was continued until she reached the final boss. Unknown to her, a small crowd has formed behind her.

"Wow, this girl is good,"

"That's the highest score..."

"Woah,  awesome!"