Secrets, Socials, and Seigaku

Chapter 40

        I thought where to start. “You’ve seen two of my games now, right?” She nodded. “What have you noticed about those games?” I prompted.

        I watched as her head canted to the side. “What do you mean?”

        I smiled, “Right to the point then,” I held two fingers up, “Both of those games didn’t make it past the thirty minute mark.” I pointed out. “As far as tennis games go, they were rather short and to the point.”

        I watched as Sakuno thought it through, and stayed quiet as she thought out loud. “Your game with Fudomine wasn’t long because you only played half of it.” Memories of Echizen’s blood flashed through my mind. I saw a firm frown flit onto her face at the similar thoughts she was probably having. “The second game was against St.Ruldolph…” Sakuno recalled.

        When she seemed to struggle with the details of the game I chimed in. “It did go on for what seemed like awhile.” I told her thinking back to the match. She nodded once in agreement. “But, to be honest it was really me messing around with Mizuki, and it did take a lot of extra energy, but the match didn’t actually surpass thirty minutes.” I told her with a scheming smile.

        She focused her frown on me. “You really didn’t like him, huh?”

        “That’s the understatement of the year.” I replied sardonically. “Point being, I made sure to miss most of the shots after I would return his serves, so the points went by quick, but in actuality that probably only took up twenty minutes of the match.” I told her.

        She looked puzzled. “I don’t understand. Are you saying you did that on purpose then?”

        I bided my time in answering, second thoughts about sharing my strategies with her bubbling up, but I already set my mind on telling Sakuno the truth so I trudged forward. “Yes, I did.”

        “But, why?”

        “You asked me before if my specialty was serving, and you’re correct. That may seem out of the blue to you, but I promise everything will connect in a moment.”

        “I’m sorry,” She apologized to me with a lost expression on her face, “but I still don’t understand.”

        I sighed. “Sorry,” I apologized back, “I’m trying to think of the best way to explain it.” I thoughtlessly stared at the sky a few moments before I figured out how to word my explanation. “Okay, so think of it this way–“ We stopped walking so she could clearly pay attention to me. “What’s your favorite food Sakuno?”

        She blinked owlishly, “What does that have to do with–“

        “I promise it’s relevant, so what’s your favorite food?” I asked again with a smile.

        “Onigiri…” I smiled at the traditional answer.

        “And what happens when you eat too much onigiri?”

        She gave me a confused glance when she slowly answered, “You gain weight?”

        I nodded. “Now, do you have a favorite television series?”

        “Uh, yes?”

        “And what would happen if all you did was binge watch that television show?”

        “I would lose sleep?” She replied unsurely.

        I shrugged, “Either that or your grades would surely go down and maybe you’d become a hermit.” I teased.