Youthful Days (Book 1)

53. Silent Treatment

With the tennis team's continued absence, the first half of the week passed in silence.

Since being eliminated from regional tournaments, badminton club meets became few and informal. These sessions mainly consisted of girls sitting around gossiping and a few team members playing half-hearted rallies.

Days began to overlap with the same routines. Each day, Ayuna would run through the cherry blossom grove at the crack of dawn, sit through eight classes, eat Umeko's packed lunch, then finally cramming herself onto the packed Tokyo trains to home.

From morning to night, she followed an orderly schedule she'd adopted over the years. Solace never bothered her as much as it did others. The mundane familiarity of each day used to cushion her with comfort.

Now, however, she passed each day with an eerie vacancy invading her. Unluckily, the nightmare began to recur with increasing intensity: it was a cycle of the lone gunshot and the desperate voices replaying throughout the night. The repetitive dreams agonized her. It made Ayuna feel more disconnected to reality with each passing day, as if she was slowly being unplugged from this world.

In these dark moments, she thought about Fuji.

She missed him dearly, yet missing him only brought on more pain: she knew he hated her.

***

The regulars returned to the school a week later.

Ayuna was doing her morning jog when she spotted the file of boys with blue-and-white jerseys running laps around the tennis courts. All but instinctively, she stopped short and then started back towards the gymnasium.

It was a cowardly move, but there was nothing she could do except run away.

After coach Ryuzaki's dismissal, she was too ashamed even to think back to the days in Nikko. Before the incident with Atobe, Ayuna had always been welcomed at the tennis club despite her relationship with "the prodigy". The upperclassmen respected her because she saved the captain at a time of crisis. Aside from that, she never interfered with team dynamics and always stood on the sidelines as a silent observer.

Over time, even the coach approved of her proper conduct. She then allowed Ayuna to be a part of the team, delegated her errands and trusted she would help to take care of the regulars. Yet her involvement with Atobe had likely shunned her from the tennis club forever. Having missed her chance to defend her integrity right away, any words from her would be futile. Worse, Fuji never showed his face again after returning, which was proof that he wasn't even willing to consider an explanation.

Everything was over.

Ayuna walked in a swamp of jumbled thoughts as she made her way to class. There was still half an hour left before homeroom. All the windows had been opened to let in the cool morning breeze. In the back of the room, she spotted Ryoma sweeping the floors, his jerky movements sending clouds of dust flying in all directions.

Ayuna glanced at the caretaking chart, where Ryoma's name was neatly printed in this week's block.

"Oh, it's you," said Ryoma with feigned nonchalance. "Morning."

Ayuna nodded mechanically. For a long time, she stood at the doorway staring at him, unsure how to respond. It had been so long since she was spoken to, his greeting almost sounded like a foreign language.

Receiving no response, Ryoma stopped sweeping and met her eyes. He wondered if Ayuna had questions for him after all that had happened. Before coming here, he tried to predict them and script appropriate answers. Meeting her steady gaze now, Ryoma braced himself for a barrage of interrogation.