Yuigahama had already made prior appointments, so Isshiki and I arrived at the tennis courts with winds fiercely blowing through them.
“Your receive is too slow! You can do a little better than that!”
The cute voice that resounded throughout the courts belonged to the captain of the Tennis Club, Totsuka. With his racket resting against his shoulder and his other hand on his waist, he yelled out advice to his underclassmen. It looks like he was already accustomed to being the captain.
Upon arriving at the junctures of the tennis courts, Totsuka noticed us. He jogged over to us while waving his hand.
“Hachiman! Hello to you too, Isshiki-san.”
“Hello there, thank you for your time today.”
“Sorry for interrupting your practice.”
Following along with Isshiki’s respectful bow, I did a ceremonious chop with my hand as a form of greeting to Totsuka.
“Oh no, not at all! Um, you’re taking pictures, right? Feel free to start whenever you’d like.” Totsuka shook his head. After, he stretched out his hands and turned towards the entirety of the courts. He then rotated his head our way and smiled. Yep, I’d say we’re perfectly ready to go!
“Alright, let’s get started…”
Since Totsuka looked so cute spreading his hands out like that, I started off first with a photo of that. I posed with the camera and pressed the shutter. In doing so, Totsuka looked confused—I took another picture. He cutely tilted his head to which I took another shot. I was just about to take another one of Totsuka’s curious look, but just as I readied the camera into position, he opened his mouth in bewilderment.
“Um… aren’t you going to take pictures of our practice?”
“Yeah, you’re right. You’re right, but this comes first.” I declared to him, taking a considerably forceful and open tone. Totsuka faltered in the face of my intensity.
“R-Really…? It’s kinda embarrassing… mmm…”
Totsuka placed his hand on his cheeks to hide his embarrassment from taking photos and brooded over it. But after a glance towards the tennis courts, he muttered. “But we might get new members if they see this…”
“That’s right, it’s possible the new students will use these photos to decide what to do.”
When Yuigahama went to make appointments with every club, we also had her inform them of the objective of this free newspaper. For the clubs, this was a perfect chance to promote themselves. When I responded to him, Totsuka lifted his face as though to ready himself.
“I-I’ll try my best…”
He then clenched his fists in front of his chest and looked motivated.
“Y-Yeah…? Alright, let’s do our best.”
It’s fine that I was able to convince Totsuka, but somehow, I was starting to feel like I had deceived him into a photo shoot. This feeling of guilt… No, wait. This isn’t guilt, but…… immorality! Heck, in a different sense, I was raring to go now!
“Alright, let’s go nuts with the pictures.”
“Yeah!”
After hearing his spunky reply, I readied the camera.
“Can you try taking a stance with your racket this time?”
“S-Sure.”
I took shots from a low angle of Totsuka swinging his racket as well as spectacular shots of Totsuka in animated motion. I captured Totsuka hold his ground with a step when he lost his balance in the viewfinder. Shutter chance!
I took shots of Totsuka in motion to my heart’s content and proceeded onto the next stage.
“Next, can you try hugging your racket?”
“Sure… Hmm?” Totsuka bended his head in puzzlement while hugging his racket to his chest. That’s where I took consecutive shots, spectacular shots, and even panoramic shots. While we’re at it, let’s throw an optional towel in there. That’s good, that’s real good. Let’s get a little bolder, why don’t we? I continued taking photos in that enthusiastic fashion. Beside me, Isshiki was looking rather dismayed.
“Senpai, haven’t you taken enough photos already…?”
“Really? Well, I guess so.”
“Yes.” Isshiki nodded. Indeed, Isshiki had a point.
“True, I guess we have enough of the racket. Let’s take pictures without it this time.”
“Huh?” Isshiki went stiff.
Ignoring her, I looked into the viewfinder and thought about what to take photos of next.
“Totsuka, can you do this for a bit?”
“…Sure.”
Totsuka’s response was somewhat dispirited, as though he was a bit exhausted. I know what this is. He’s reacting like my house cat that’d lose all his energy from posing too much. In other words, he was that much cute!
Heeding my instructions, Totsuka set his racket down at his feet and sat down hugging his knees. I took shots of him at a front angle and a diagonal angle. I had him take even more varied poses going through a pattern of consent with his gaze. As for his gaze, he was stuck between a smile and a look of boredom.
“H-Hachiman… Are you still taking more?” Totsuka said with a stiff smile and a broken voice.
“O-Oh, right…”
I guess Totsuka’s kind of tired right now. What should we do…? I thought, and it hit me.
“Let’s take a quick break, then.”
“So you’re still going to continue…” Totsuka’s shoulders dropped.
Yep, so I wasn’t mistaken in choosing to take a break now, after all. To prepare for the second half of the photo shoot, I fiddled with the camera and checked the pictures taken thus far. I then realized something important.
“Isshiki.”
I called Isshiki, who had long given up on dealing with me and watched us from afar. She walked over with an annoyed look.
“Yes?”
“Do you have spare memory cards? This one’s, like, out of space.”
“Just how many pictures did you take…?”
“I actually already got rid of the extra images, though…” I said.
Isshiki let out a deep sigh and grabbed my sleeve. She then pulled on it and began walking.