★ | I, Rhys Kakyoin | Jotakak

36 ★ Suspension

After lunch the next class happens to be PE, and despite me not being supposed to be playing any sports, I still have to put on my gym clothes along with everybody else even if I can sit aside for the entire lesson.

  To my luck, however, I find out from Arata that the class isn't going to be playing any baseball since we're having the lesson indoors today. Instead, everyone excluding me has to join teams of four and play badminton, a sport that I'm not sure I'm too good at. The sensei beckons me to sit on the bleachers near everybody's belongings; wallets, water bottles, phones and others, before he shouts out that everyone should practice first and get ready for a little competition. I sit down after taking quite a while to reach the bleachers, setting my crutches aside. I watch as Jo, Arata, Aito and Mana assemble nearby, Jo having picked up rackets for them beforehand. Mana catches a glimpse of me almost immediately when turning around and gestures towards me shortly before they all approach the net set up nearest to where I'm sitting. My eyes drift towards Jo almost unintentionally. He's in his gym clothes but still wears his loose and almost knee-length black coat over it. I watch his teal eyes, a bright light previously glinting in them having been doused by the water that is the shadow of his cap on his face.

  "Oi, Noriaki! Can you count our scores for us?" Aito calls out to me, forcing me out of my daydream.

  "Uh... no," I reply quickly and absentmindedly.

  "Fine." I feel a tinge of guilt hearing him irritatedly answer me that way. "Jo, can you?"

  "I think so, yeah," Jo responds. Now my attention is attracted to him and I eye him closely as he prepares to serve the shuttlecock. With a near effortless swing, he delivers it in a smooth arch towards Aito and Mana to deflect. Mana parries the shuttlecock back to Jo, and, with more strength this time, he returns it with his racket to the other side of the court and it lands onto the floor right before Aito can catch it. All within a few seconds, it seems that Jo's gotten the first point. I know that I've never seen him play before, but I can tell by how he plays, how he serves and, hell, even his stance while he serves that he's probably better than most of the students in class in badminton, and that's not just sugar-coating because he's my boyfriend.

  Thanks to that rather good first impression at the practice match, I'm now keen on watching Jo play in the small competition that's going to eventually take place. I approach him as he puts a shuttlecock upon his racket, now alone while his three teammates take a break. He notices me walking to him with a brief turn of his head and he shuffles to me completely. "'Ey, Nori. Look at this." After all this time, I haven't appreciated enough how he really respects my preference on who can refer to me as Nori and who can refer to me as Rhys. I'm still adamant about only him calling me by my birth name, and I'm thankful that he's aware of that and abides by my wishes.

  I nod at him and he drops the shuttlecock on the floor before stooping down and scooping it up with a sweep of his racket. It's sent flying upwards into the air and as it plummets back down he manages to break its fall with his racket. He bounces it and we both watch as the shuttlecock bobs up and down in the air a few times before he stops as it flies high up into the air and effortlessly catches it with his left hand.

  Quickly after, however, he sighs. "No. That was nothing. Sorry."

  "Nah. That's cool!" I remark reassuringly. "I could never do that."

  Jo flushes. "Erm, I... suppose. Alix and I used to play all the time. 'E taught me 'ow to do the scoopin' thing, but keepin' it bouncin' up and down is pretty easy," Jo tells me. "I think 'e plays for 'is school in competitions, or maybe that was jus' in primary school. There's a public court near 'is house, so we got to play every chance we got."