Reality's Blade

Chapter 19: Badminton

"Fu-ji-mi-yaaaa." Airi wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "I choose you." I was enclosed in her tight grasp and couldn't escape, not that I particularly needed to.

It was physical education today, the girls were inside playing doubles badminton. The hall was cold and echoing with the relaxed chattering voices and resounding thuds and squeaks of trainers on the varnished wooden floor.

A mini-tournament was being played in groups of four pairs, the winners of the first matches would play each other to decide the overall victors while the two defeated teams faced off to decide who came third and fourth.

I wasn't amazingly fond of badminton but I preferred it to some of the other sports we were forced to play, even if you weren't great you could still get a good game out of it just hitting the shuttlecock back and forth. I was surprised we were doing a tournament for the first lesson but maybe it was just to invoke some fun after the torturous weeks of us playing football in the cold. It was too easy to let the good players do all the work and to just stand to the side and watch. Finally we were all getting a fair chance to have a go.

"Come on, where's your spirit?" Airi pouted. "Let's win!" She held her hand up for a high five. Her enthusiasm forced a smile to creep across my face, I returned the high five.

"No promises. Let's not come last." I compromised.

"Hmmmmm. Well I'm playing to win." She stuck her tongue out, not satisfied with my wishy-washy answer.

There were four courts in the hall, allowing two of the groups to be playing while the others sat and watched. Airi and I were in group 2, we'd be on court after the first group had played their first matches.

As I watched the shuttlecock get tossed back and forth it became obvious who was taking the game seriously and who was not. In one game the shuttlecock was going high and slow, the rallies carried on longer but neither team expended much energy to chase it if it went too far forwards or out of their reach. In the other match there was a fast paced exchange and far more noise as trainers rushed across the floor and grunts of effort sent the shuttlecock back to the opponents, strategically placed so it was hard to return.

I felt something like a competitive spirit start to groggily awaken within me. Could I play like that if I wanted to? Like the other waiting students my eyes were drawn into the whirlwind match, I felt nerves trickle through my stomach like ice melting as my turn drew nearer.

The first matches ended, disappointment and excitement filled the air. It was clear who would win in their next set, the losers from the fast match would wipe the floor with the losers from the slow one. They deserved second not third place, everyone could see that.

I stood up and waited with the rest of group two to hear which court we were on and who we were facing. I twirled the racket in my hand, it was something I often saw Hikage doing with his sword and tried to imitate, but it never had the same effect. In my nervousness the habit had now manifested itself. I was surprised by how light the racket was in my palm, the balance feeling completely different to that of my legendary sword of Tamotsu. I smiled to myself as I wondered if I could apply my sword skills to badminton. The flooring was solid, the varnish giving an alright grip but the accumulated dust made it slippery in places, but I felt like I could lunge if I needed to. The swing would need to be more horizontal and less vertical to get it over the net, but perhaps with my swing I could direct the shuttlecock instead of hit it aimlessly.

"You're getting fired up." Airi nudged me with an elbow as she whispered in a low voice.

I tried to smile but found my face was already at it's maximum, I had been grinning to myself. I felt my face heat up as I envisioned what a creepy expression it must have been to the onlookers.