The ball that Isshiki smashed flew in a large parabola and disappeared into the distance. It was gone, yet Isshiki had a triumphant smile going, “How’d you like that…!?” There’s no come-from-behind grand slam in table tennis, girl.
I went to pick up the ping pong ball. Although we resumed with my serve, I made some clumsy hits and it became Isshiki’s turn again to serve.
“Okay, so it’s my turn now, right?”
Isshiki bounced the ball on top of the table and took a serving stance. But as if she had noticed something, her gaze swam around and she lightly raised her hand to pause. “Oh, senpai, could you wai—HIYAH!”
Right about when she tried to pause the match, she made a sudden serve with all her energy. But I wasn’t one to fall for little acts like that. I calmly shifted over to the front of the ball and made a return ace to the opposite of where Isshiki stepped forward.
“…Too easy.”
My pops always used that trick with me in table tennis when I was younger, so in order to extract revenge, I’d do the same thing multiple times to Komachi, and she’d get so upset about it! I couldn’t have you underestimating the worthless genes of the Hikigaya household now! The way Komachi would really cry when she was a toddler and tell me, “I’m not gonna play table tennis with you anymore, onii-chan!” was just so cute…
Of course, Komachi had a tantrum since she was a child back then, but how would Irohasu, who was an adult now, react? When I looked at her, she was gritting her teeth as if her plans had been foiled.
“Grrr…”
“If you’re going to resort to things like that, I guess I’ll have to get serious…” I said, and took off my sweater. I rubbed the floor and took on the form of a table tennis athlete. When I did, Isshiki waved her racket in protest.
“S-Senpai, you’re being very childish!”
“Says you… Whatever, here I go. It’s my serve now.”
I was in a different mode from earlier’s handicapped mode for entertainment. I positioned myself at the corner and made a full-power serve. Even though Isshiki was complaining, she seemed awfully ready as she let out a short sigh and chased after the ball. “Uryah!”
And then, her racket cut through the air and the overenthusiastic Isshiki’s skirt fluttered. Crap, now that I think about it, she’s wearing a skirt, isn’t she…? I’d better avoid hitting too many fast balls…
After that, I returned back to handicapped mode and lightly returned the balls. But now that I was conscious of her skirt, my gaze would move on its own. Isshiki’s skirt flapping up and down just wouldn’t stop bothering me.
Tch! How cowardly!
What’s cowardly? It’s the table that would obscure my vision and absolutely keep me from seeing anything! What’s with this defective sport…!? Oh, I know. What if someone invented a table tennis board made of “Clear and See-Through” skeletal material? It’d definitely get popular. Heck, I should invent it and get rich.
Either it’s because I had idiotic thoughts or even the delusions about skirts, I repeatedly swung at air and Isshiki was able to score some points.
Isshiki let out a sigh and took out a mini-towel from her bag. She patted her face with her towel to wipe off the sweat and began counting something by bending her fingers.
“Ummm, so senpai has eight points right now, and I have… one, two, three, four… Oh, senpai, what time is it?”
As I pondered over this familiar and curious development, I looked at the clock on the wall and answered, “It’s about eleven.”
“Eleven. Okay. Ah, so my points are twelve, thirteen—“
“You have six points. Six.”
You’re being way too bold with the Time-Noodle4 act. Just how many numbers did you skip over? Then again, you’re pretty refined to know about an old rakugo story like that, Isshiki.
When I pointed it out to her, Isshiki pouted. But pouting wasn’t going to get her anything here.
“Here, let’s go.”
I called out to her and did a light serve. I held back on the speed of the ball, but I aimed for a considerably difficult spot. Isshiki ran to one end of the table, but the ping pong ball mercilessly struck the edge with a plonk and bounced away.
Seeing it off, Isshiki made a smile and faced me. “Ah, that was out, so I get the point, right?”
“There wouldn’t be a bouncing noise if it was out…”
What’s with the straight-faced lie…?
For a while now, weren’t her methods kind of unfair? And especially… the way her skirt was moving all around the place, I think that’s totally unfair!
From then on, I was able to amass my points, making the occasional misses due to her skirt, and there was finally a winner.
The result was my complete victory.
We both took a seat at the nearest sofa when we finished our game. My breathing was a little rough since it had been a while since I played table tennis.
On the other hand, Isshiki’s shoulders were dropped in dejection as if overcome with shock from losing… You’ve still gotta long way to go!
“…So it’s my win, right?” I asked to confirm with her.
Isshiki reluctantly nodded. “I guess that’s how it is… I’ll take the loss this time…”
She was surprisingly honest in accepting her defeat despite her cowardly tactics from earlier. Had this been a certain sore loser, first or foremost, she would’ve been the one who’d win the match.
I wasn’t one to dwell on my victories, but winning wasn’t a bad feeling. I unknowingly spilled an unpleasant smile, but after seeing Isshiki’s downcast look, I couldn’t really laugh at her.
“Well, thanks for lunch.” I restrained my smile with a cough and stated as nicely as possible. When I did, Isshiki’s shoulders shook… H-Huh, don’t tell me you’re crying, Irohasu? E-Eh, wh-what do I do…?
As I freaked out, a low chuckle came from beside me.
“…Fufufu.”
When I looked at her, Isshiki had a fearless smile.
“Huh, what? Something wrong?” I asked.
Isshiki placed her hands on her waist and pointed at me with a triumphant smile. “I said you had to treat me if I won, but I didn’t say anything about you winning, senpai.”
What in the world is she blabbering about…? I looked at her with a suspicious look and I recalled our conversation before the match… Hmm?
“……That’s true.”
Indeed, the only condition she gave was that if she won… Not bad, I definitely learned something here… The next time I challenge Komachi to something, this was what I’d use. Just the thought of Komachi showing me hate after so long got my chest jumping in joy… But you know, the things that Irohasu says and does were the absolute worst.