courage dear heart | Yuki Ishikawa

12

We played for almost three hours. At first, there were only six of us, so we split into two teams.

Ishikawa brought out a competitive side of me that I never knew I had. Sure, I was competitive with myself when I tried to improve at snowboarding, but playing on a team was entirely different.

We found ourselves cheering and shouting for every point, as if we were in the final set of a world championship match.

We contested every little thing that might give us an advantage, our voices rising with every play.

We were so loud that others began to gather around, drawn by our energy.

Reira, Ran, Yamamoto, and three other players joined in, while others stayed to watch and cheer us on.

I desperately begged to have Yamamoto on my team, trying to bribe him with promises of food or anything else he wanted, making him embarrassed by all the attention, especially since Ayumu did the same, thinking the teams were becoming too unbalanced.

In the end, Ishikawa picked Yamamoto, Reira, a gymnast, and a volleyball player for his team.

Ran and two of his teammates joined Mayu and Ayumu on the opposing side.

I mostly focused on setting the ball and spiking whenever Ishikawa set it up for me.

I was still terrible at receiving, but thankfully, Yamamoto was always there to cover for me.

I absolutely adore him!

Playing with them, seeing how hard they fought for every point, was exhilarating.

Every time I managed to spike the ball and score, Ishikawa would run over, shouting with joy, high-fiving me, and telling me I did great.

I felt something inside me swell, something that wanted to burst out, and I wanted to do even better just to hear him say it again.

Even Reira, who was playing for the first time, managed to score a few points, and we all celebrated with her, showering her with compliments. Overcome with emotion, I hugged her tightly.

But the moment that completely melted me was when I scored the winning point with a spike—though it was more of a fluke than anything. Ishikawa came running over, beaming with pride, and cupped my face in his hands, telling me with that beautiful smile of his that I'd done well.

Ahh, seeing his smile up close was even more breathtaking.

I cried inside, overwhelmed with emotion.

---

After sweating so much, we decided to freshen up before exploring the building a bit before lunch.

On the way back to our rooms, Ishikawa and I talked about the game, with him sharing anecdotes from his past matches.

Sometimes, Yamamoto and Ran would chime in, teasing their captain about his past mistakes or funny moments.

I laughed so much with them, and before we parted ways, I promised I'd come to their matches and cheer for them with all my heart.

About half an hour later, we all met up in front of the elevator.

Since I'd be going snowboarding afterward, I put on a pair of leggings and threw on an oversized hoodie.

Ishikawa, on the other hand, wore a white t-shirt and comfortable pants.

He looked so handsome even off the court...

When he saw me, he smiled and walked over.

"Hey you again," he greeted with a playful grin. I looked at him, a bit entranced. "Hey you again."