Youthful Days (Book 1)

18. Bad Date

After a match filled with struggles, Ryoma secured his win at 6-4 against Akutsu Jin.

His win sealed Seigaku's fate for the season: the team had prevailed and qualified for regional tournaments as the top-ranking school.

This game's outcome brought awe to both teams. On Yamabuki's side, they found it difficult to believe that their two most distinguished players had lost. Of the two, Akutsu Jin's defeat was especially appalling. He was one of the most aggressive and physically apt players in the region, yet a first-year brat managed to beat him!

What followed was even more of a shock than the former: as he shook hands with a battered Ryoma, Akutsu Jin resolutely announced his retirement from tennis altogether. Confronted with this earth-shattering declaration, Ryoma merely tipped his cap to the senior and picked up his racket to leave.

On Seigaku's side, the regulars were shouting over each other to congratulate Ryoma. Aware of Akutsu Jin's previous assaults and his vicious play style, the older players were impressed to see Ryoma win with aplomb. Ryoma had seen beyond his opponent's superficial anger and abrasive tactics, and remained thoroughly unaffected in the face of turbulence. It was remarkable to witness someone so young obtain such degrees of insight into human psychology.

As Seigaku regulars packed up their belongings, Ryoma found Ayuna glued to her spot on the bleachers, making no move to leave.

When she noticed him approaching, a smile broke through her stiff expressions. "Congratulations. You played well."

"I know," replied Ryoma. With some hesitation, he added, "Couldn't have done as well without your backstory about Akutsu Jin, though." Lowering his cap, he muttered in an inaudible voice, "So... thank you."

This seemed to bring some light to Ayuna's eyes, yet she said nothing more.

Ryoma was about to speak again before they spotted Sengoku Kiyosumi waving from outside the courts. Standing up, Ayuna smoothed away the wrinkles from her skirt and handed him the lukewarm can of Ponta. "I'll see you on Monday."

Watching her walk away, Ryoma was suddenly apprehensive that by next week, nothing would be the same.

***

Even though Momoshiro Takeshi was the champion, he didn't feel like a winner by any stretch on their outing.

The worst part was, it all felt like a tacky movie. Everything seemed to be fake smiles and pretend enthusiasm. Watching the other four walking ahead of him, Momoshiro had a hunch that nobody truly wanted to be here except for poor, naïve Sengoku. Eyeing Momoko and Fuji talking in theatrically chipper voices, while Ayuna responded to Sengoku's slew of questions with strict one-word answers, Momoshiro suspected an alternate plot was really at work under this jolly façade. Meanwhile, he was being used as a prop.

Because of this, Momoshiro tried to speed along their disastrous excursion as much as possible. He recklessly cut through conversations, wolfed down his ice cream and actively searched for a shortcut to the next stopover.

The mirror maze turned out to be a hybrid of infinity mirrors and a haunted house. Unfortunate for the group, they only found out about the haunted house after purchasing tickets.

After they paid, the attendant kindly walked them through the rules of the game. Essentially, the maze was interspersed with ghosts and monsters that would haphazardly jump out along the way. Perhaps the worst part of all was the method of entry: since the house was divided into a series of segregated corridors, players would be randomly assigned to different entrances at the beginning and then find their own way out. While some halls would merge halfway, others would be isolated throughout. In the end, however, all sections would converge at the last stretch and lead to a single exit. The first ones to emerge would be the winners of the group.

"Wow, that sounds super fun, doesn't it?" exclaimed Sengoku upon receiving instructions.

While Fuji corroborated, Momoshiro and Momoko, who had zero tolerance for horror, visibly blanched. Ayuna could only offer a polite smile. At this point, she only wanted the day to be over.

Lucky for her, Ayuna was assigned her own entry. Fuji was paired with Sengoku, while Momoshiro and Momoko were unhelpfully paired together. Just like that, they were sent into the shadows filled with unknowns.

***

Once immersed in the darkness, what fanned out before Ayuna was a panorama of mirrors, spread out wide like the wings of a mythical bird. Alone in these winding tunnels, she focused on geometric refractions from the dim lighting and the opaque blackness spanning beyond the path before her. Surrounded by mirrors crafted in all shapes and sizes, she examined the infinite images of herself in the darkness like alter-egos moving about.

Mechanically dragging her feet, Ayuna inched forward as if an invisible hand was guiding her towards a specific destination. Holding her breath, Ayuna waited for skeletons to spring out from the shadows or a bloody hand to reach for her around the corner. But for some reason, nothing intercepted her.

Moving down the narrow corridor cautiously, she stopped in what appeared to be a small powder room. Strangely, Ayuna found herself compelled to enter like being tugged by a string.

Once inside, she saw there was only a single oval mirror with a faded gold frame, its patterns faint under minimal lighting. The wooden floorboards creaked underneath her feet as Ayuna approached the mirror and her dull reflection.

The second her eyes met those of her mirror image, however, the reality suddenly drained away.

Staring back from the mirror was no longer her own face. Replacing it was an older, slender girl with identical build being shot in the back, the bullet carving into her and wedging itself in her back. There was no blood—only the screams of three voices reverberated from the walls of the room: two females and one male.

"Ayuna!" they cried in unison.

Paralyzed, Ayuna watched in horror as the older girl's body was flipped over: eyes tightly closed and lips drained of all color, the face of the corpse was her own.