Running After You

Chapter 27: Bitter

Chinemi couldn't believe it. Youta still showed up to her practice despite everything that happened before. She had to drop everything and talk to him before continuing.

"What are you doing here?" She asked without a hint of the anger she showed him before. Without saying it, she hoped he'd be able to pick up that she didn't actually hate him.

"You made a formal request that I be here." He said in the tone of a person dead inside. "I'm just here to do my job, so go ahead and do whatever it was you wanted me to see." She had never heard someone so dejected before. It was as if she was talking to a completely different person.

"Follow me then." It was obvious to her he was upset with her. Chinemi wouldn't be surprised if he even thought she hated him. Yet even though she wanted to clear up what she said, the girl found herself hesitating once more.

It didn't matter how well one thought they knew her, there was one thing she was most aware of that would be considered a fault of hers. This being the inability to give proper apologies. As someone who was a bit more on the arrogant side and had never had to worry about being on the bad side of other students growing up. There had been few opportunities for her to learn and understand this aspect of life. So now she was stuck between her own apprehension and his now poor attitude.

"I guess here's a good spot." When they returned to her spot for practice for the day. He settled for leaning against the fence behind her to get an okay few of her playing. The coach noticed something off about him, but upon asking he only responded with a simple "I'm fine."

Nothing else was brought up despite the concern as he wasn't her responsibility and there were all the other members of the tennis team to attend to. Such as Chinemi herself as she began with a serve now under his watchful eye. The added pressure continued to build, but at least she was able to make a proper serve unlike before.

Her partner easily returned it, where she engaged in some proper tennis play. However her speed was much slower, her strikes less powerful, and even that sense of grace, even though she had little before, was gone.

All of which culminated into her losing out on the point as she missed the ball. It bounced to the back, hitting the fence before settling next to Youta.

"That looked terrible." He didn't attempt to hold back on his harsh words in critiquing her performance. Youta picked up the ball and examined it, as if pretending to try and find if it was the fault of the ball instead of hers.

"..." While under most circumstances Chinemi would respond in kind. She didn't say a single word to him as she didn't wish to turn their time together into another arguing match. Doing anything to further harm their relationship would be detrimental when she finally did get to the point of saying a simple 'I'm sorry' to him.

Instead of responding to him, she instead took another ball began practice once more. Though now that he was talking to her, the boy began getting into her head, affecting the play. She could no longer concentrate on the ball as she swung her racket wildly.

"Have you been slacking off since the last time I saw you?" He couldn't stop himself from making snide comments. "When I first met you, those were the types of things you'd yell at others for." She sighed and closed her eyes, not turning to look at him.

"What's going on with you today?" Her coach asked. "Are you feeling unwell?"

"I... think I need to go to the nurse." She couldn't tell the truth, so Chinemi came up with an excuse to get herself away for a little while. "Sorry, I'll be right back." Without waiting for permission, she began heading back into the school.