Hidden Plays

2: I had a friend

Satomi walked into a tennis club as just herself. She introduced herself as 'Tomi'. She was with her aunt.

She was wearing a nice little outfit her auntie picked out. Along with an eyepatch to cover up with silver eye. Due to her heterochromia iridus she was born with a blue eye and a silver eye. She always kept her silver one covered.

They told the front desk that 'Tomi' wanted to find a good place to practice tennis. To be honest Satomi wanted to see if there was any good competition. She sat on the side as she watched a session go on. Suddenly a girl was taken out of another sessions and put into the session Satomi was watching. The girl must have been Satomi's age. As the session proceeded with the added member a few older kids were annoyed. They bullied the young girl during break and Satomi was about to step in, but the girl got up from being pushed down and grabbed her racquet. She challenged the older girl to a match. As they played the young girl confidently won all the points and matches. When the practice was over Satomi approached the girl with her aunt.

"Hello, I'm Tomi. I was watching you guys. I just wanted to tell you that you were really good down there." Satomi said. The young girl smiled as she held her mom's hand.

"Thanks! I'm Noriko Akimoto. This is my mom Hikari Akimoto!" The girl said.

"Do you play tennis too?"
Noriko asked. Satomi nodded.

"Do you want to meet up here on Saturday and we'll play each other?" Noriko asked. Satomi looked up at her aunt and her aunt just nodded.

"Sure!" Satomi said.

"Okay I'll see you on Saturday at 9:00 in the morning!" Noriko said leaving. Satomi headed back home too.

This was the first important encounter.

On Saturday the two girls met up. This time Katashi was the one watching Satomi. Noriko's mother was there too. The girls were playing each other.

"I'm glad Noriko finally found a friend her age." Her mother said.

"Same..." Katashi mumbled.

"Noriko's never lost a game." Her mother bragged.

"Neither has Satomi." Katashi said.

"Her name is Satomi? She introduced herself as Tomi?" Her mother asked. Katashi freaked out for a moment.

"Her name is Satomi, but she likes being called Tomi by everyone." Katashi said.

"You look familiar." Noriko's mother said. Katashi was very nervous now.

"Look! This is match point for Tomi!" Katashi said. Noriko's mother's head snapped to the court. Satomi was serving and with a jump and snap of her wrist she served the ball, but Noriko returned it, and they kept playing the point.

Satomi found an opening and rushed to the front and did an overhead slamming the ball fast to the point Noriko did not see it coming. Noriko couldn't react fast enough. Satomi won the match.

"You were a good opponent, best I played yet, but you still don't have your own style of tennis." Satomi said to Noriko.

"Style of tennis? What is that?" Noriko asked.

"Everyone has their own style. When I was playing you, you must have noticed how inconsistent I was when moving around receiving and returning the balls. My style right now is 'Speed Play Tennis' I work on playing with speed." Satomi mumbled to Noriko.

"Do you think I will find my style of tennis?" Noriko asked. Satomi nodded. Noriko's mother was looking at Katashi wondering why he had to hide his face. Then she saw a few features.