Youthful Days (Book 1)

10. Opening Up

After buying supplies for the team, Ayuna took an unpaved trail across the park to meet the senior girls at the front gate.

To save time, she cut through copses of maple trees that broke into a clearing after a short distance. Faced with a practice tennis court, she stopped instantaneously: standing in the middle of the court was Fuji Shuusuke, batting a ball against the wall.

She cautiously moved towards the court until she was outside the netted fence. His back was facing her. When he swung his racket, his arm would draw a flawless arc, propelling the ball forward with an elegant curve. His shots should've been beautiful, yet they came out combative like he was trying to knock down an invisible opponent.

Wind rustled over the treetops, tearing Fuji's focus away from his turbulent thoughts. Sensing somebody watching him, he let the tennis ball bounce once against the wall and roll out of the court boundaries. Spinning around, he found Ayuna standing by the entrance.

She hastily bowed to him.

Fuji relaxed. He walked out to greet her. "Hanamachi-san, what are you doing here?"

"I'm on my way out. The badminton team also has a game against St. Rudolph this afternoon."

"I see," he said with slight chagrin. "That's too bad."

Eyeing the hair matted to his forehead, she rummaged around the bag of supplies and handed him a towel. "I think you might need this?"

Fuji ran a hand through his damp hair and then smiled sheepishly. "Needing a towel before the actual game... I guess I must seem in pretty bad shape."

Ayuna said nothing. She waited for him to accept the towel. For a split second, their hands touched, and to her surprise, Fuji hung on. His palm was warm as the sun.

Pulling away, Ayuna tried to ignore the flutter in her stomach. "You look like you have something on your mind."

"Maybe I do."

She considered this and then said, "Your younger brother played an impressive game."

"Really?" Fuji couldn't help but sneer. He mopped his forehead once and turned away. "You seemed fairly sure Echizen would win before the game even started."

"Believe me—I didn't mean it to be offensive."

"Regardless, you were right about the outcome. So tell me, how did you know?"

"It was just a lucky guess."

The spring breeze whistled through thickets of Japanese maple. Before he could stop his words, Fuji heard himself say, "What do you think about me?"

Ayuna blinked. "What?"

"How do you think my game with Mizuki will go?"

Furtively releasing a sigh of relief, she said, "Based on your skill level, I think you'll likely win. Everyone else seems to think so, too."

"That's all?" The corners of Fuji's lips sagged with disappointment. "You don't sound as certain as you did with Echizen."

Ayuna scrutinized his face. The sun had just climbed over Fuji's head, enveloping him in absolute brilliance. She waited for the familiar prescience to surface, waited for a sure answer. When she probed further, what came instead was an intense pain drilling through her skull.

"I'm sorry," whispered Ayuna, biting down on her lips to dampen the paroxysm of pain. "I'm not a prophet. What I said about your brother's game was only a hunch."

"I see."

Tentatively, she asked, "Are you angry at Ryoma for defeating your brother?"

Fuji shook his head. "Echizen is a player in continual evolution and he's much more collected than most players I've seen. His win against Yuuta didn't come as a complete surprise."