First Of Many 25

 “Ready?” Reo teased, twisting his wrist around.

“As I’ll ever be.” Shuna leaned over the table, ready for the first blood.

“Then here I… go!”

As soon as those words left his throat, Reo pushed his hand forward, and hit the disk perfectly with his pusher.

“HAH!”

Shuna struggled but deflected the disk back with her own deflector.

As it was evident the two were engaging in the most noble of acts. A round of air hockey, in the most boisterous arcade in Bushijima. Or the only arcade, for that matter.

Colorful lights danced along the surfaces of sparkly clean, and equally colorful game machines as kids and adults of all ages had their fun around the game center.

But between Shuna and Reo, a battle was underway.

“WOAH!”

“YAH!”

Reo considered himself a champion in air-hockey, having played many rounds back in the day with his friends. Yet here he was, going head to head with Shuna. Or perhaps he was just going easy on her?

He couldn’t lie that seeing her this excited about such a simple game certainly did a number on his concentration.

“Hey look! Isn’t that Ristiano Cronaldo?”

“Who?”

“Gotcha!”

While Reo looked away in a lapse of concentration, Shuna quickly flung the disk inside the small gap between his pusher and the side of the table.

The goal sounds echoed from the machine, and the scoreline changed to favor the mischievous girl.

“Hey! That’s not fair!”

“Eyes on the prize, mister.” Reo’s surprised face was met with Shuna’s mischievous grin. A face he rarely saw on her.

“Hm.” He smirked back, in the same evil fashion, and kicked the game back up again. It seemed she had a weird way of igniting his competitive nature.

❖ ⚽ ❖

“Uff, now I’m famished.”

“Here’s your order!”

After the two were all sweaty and exhausted from the fierce battle of reflexes and wit they engaged in, a proper meal other than popcorn was exactly what was necessary.

“Well, the popcorn I had did weigh me down all through the game though…”

“Less complaining, more eating.” Shuna rolled the pasta around her fork, and smiled. “And less of being a sore loser, please.”

“Hey, I didn’t lose. We were tied!”

“The scoreboard says otherwise.” Shuna stuffed the fork in her mouth, before her eyes narrowed in bliss. “Delissshh!”

“Pfft.” Reo scoffed, as he took a bite out of his pork cutlet set too. The place that provided them their meal was not a fancy nor famous restaurant, but a local and simple diner instead. Not exactly the place you’d go on a first date, but since Shuna was happy with it, Reo could hardly find something to object about.

With a smile, he got to eating. It seemed that during half a day, he got to see more sides to Shuna, that he’d seen in these few weeks he’s been in Hinami altogether.

And of course he was more than happy to continue learning more.

“Stop smilling like that… I’m not giving you any.”

“…”

Reo ‘s internet connection didn’t enable him to hear Shuna’s blushing words. His router’s network search was probably already heading far off into the future.

“Hey…”

“…”

“Fine.” Shuna looked down at her plate, and rolled her pasta in her fork once more. After hesitating for a moment, she brought it across his face.

“Eh?” Of course, when met with a forkful of pasta across his line of sight, Reo had to snap out of his trance.

“For me?”

“Of course it’s for you. Or what, do you think I’m advertising my food?”

“Are you not gonna say—“

“No.”

Reo shrugged. He could always pretend she did.

“Aaaaah.”

And then he bit into the pasta, savoring the sensation and taste as best he could.

“I hope… you’re satisfied.” Shuna cleared her throat, and elegantly continued to eat once more.

“That was the best pasta ever.”

Reo exhaled in content, as he opted to finish his meal too.

Soon after, they split the bill, and made their way towards the bus station where they would take their bus back to Hinami.

As they walked through some quite narrow roads Shuna claimed as shortcuts through sheer experience, a few male voices got the both of their attention.

“You bastar— GAH!“

“Shut it.”

A couple of what appeared to be high school students, were getting their asses handed to them by a tall, brawny, mountain of a young man. He moved fast for his size, and seemed to be in complete control of the fight, as the two students quickly found themselves lying on the concrete.

“I told you to learn your place.”

The young man spoke. He had bluish long hair pushed all the way to the side with what shone like gel, and a pair of eyes as red as blood. If Reo didn’t know better, he’d think they had come across some sort of vampire, or werewolf roaming the streets only when the moon was full.

“Hm?”

As he turned towards them, the light of the lamp fell wholly on his face, illuminating the small tattoo on the center of his neck, and the golden earring adorning the upper part of his left ear.

“And who might you be?” His strong, heavy voice resounded as Shuna and Reo stopped.

“Wait… is that Tsukimi Shuna, I’m seeing?”

Shuna sighed, despite feeling tense. She wasn’t scared despite the intimidating aura that man gave off, but she wasn’t exactly comfortable either.

“Kyogo Anzai. What do you want?”

“Me? You walked up on my territory yourselves.”

“Territory?” What’s this? Some gang feud or something?

Reo narrowed his eyes at the exchange, unable to understand the meaning of it all.

As soon as the blonde young man spoke, Kyogo Anzai turned to glare at him too. His eyes were sharp, like that of a serpent. He didn’t appear like he was itching for a fight, but gave off the impression he would never shy away from one no matter the circumstances.

“So you dragged your boyfriend out on a date is that it?” The tall delinquent scoffed. “Hinami don’t have enough hotels for you to screw or something?”

“Get lost, jerk.” Shuna clicked her tongue, seemingly irritated by his mocking tone.

“I haven’t seen YOU around, though, little guy.” Kyogo Anzai spoke with a smirk, as he seemingly towered over Reo, even if he were still a few steps away. “New here? Haven’t heard shit about a new guy, so you probably ain’t much.”

“I couldn’t care less about what you’ve heard.” Reo shrugged. “Let’s go.”

He stepped up, and grabbed Shuna’s hand, who was taken aback but followed along.

“Woah. We weren’t done talking, were we?” Anzai’s sheer build cut off Reo’s and Shuna’s way out of the alley, and the three were caught in a stalemate once more.

“Oye, Anzai!”

Just then, and much to their relief, Kyogo Anzai was addressed by a voice coming from the back of the alley. The mountain of a man turned around to meet the eyes of a shorter, but still tall teenager. His hair appeared to be dyed white, contrasting against his black eyebrows. He had hair similiar to Reo, but more symmetrically cut, and a pair of big earrings on each ear seemed to sway with the slight wind.

“Come on, it’s time to get out of here.” The lighter but strict voice that came out of his throat was accompanied by a narrow stare through his strikingly white eyes.

Without another word, and only a click of his tongue, Kyogo Anzai turned around and left, with the same authority as the one he used to stop Reo and Shuna.

“The hell was that?” Reo couldn’t hide his surprise at the event, but this time it was Shuna who tugged on his hand to get them away from the narrow street.

“Ah, it appears I made a mistake. Not all shortcuts are good.”

“Hey it’s not your fault.” Reo smiled a little, attempting to lighten the mood. “But more importantly, who the hell were those two?”

Shuna soon guided them to a more crowded street and spoke with more confidence than during the whole ordeal.

“Kyogo Anzai is just a… jerk. He’s a few years older than us but keeps repeating the same year for the past 3 years in high school… He’s got a grudge against Hinami, or rather… all teams in Shinrin.”

“Wait! That dude plays in the same league as us?”

“For Ozoku, yes.”

“You have to be kidding me… did you see the size of him? I’d bet my lunch he’s done jail time!”

“Well you just lost your lunch. Or half, since he does look like it.” Shuna chuckled a little.

“And the other one?”

“That’s Shinnei Nagano. He’s probably the second best player of Ozoku but apart from being the coach’s son… I don’t know much about him personally.”

“I see…”

As Reo was continuously dragged towards the bus station, he thought of the whole ordeal a couple times over. But on the bright side, he mustered the courage to hold Shuna’s hand at the very least.

Although he was getting dragged himself instead.

❖ ⚽ ❖

The ride back to Hinami was even less noisy than the one away from it, and funnily enough the traffic around the bus station and along their route back home wasn’t exactly bustling either.

Without any further mishaps, or incidents in sight, the day was winding down to an end. The streetlamps illuminated their path as they walked, the sea breeze just barely passing through the streets to carry over to them and give them a taste of salt and cool.

Reo was somewhat skeptical despite all the fun. Or rather, precisely because of that. He had so much fun, he secretly didn’t want it to end. And Shuna, silent herself wasn’t feeling any different. Maybe another round around the block or…

Suddenly, the voices of children dancing in the air reached the both of them stuck in their thoughts. The two raised their heads to see a few of them playing football inside a nearby park, with lamp posts as makeshifts goalposts, and nearby trees marking the shape of the imaginary pitch.

As if mere fate dictated it, the ball left the field and rolled over to their feet, the kids looking up in awe at once.

“Oh, it’s Yurei!”

“Wha?!”

As the children recognized him, Shuna couldn’t suppress her laughter.

“Hey can you show us that move you did back against Kame Hama?!”

“Or that pass against Nagareboshi?!”

“Wait, guys…”

“Wow, you’re famous now!”

“Hey, help me!” Reo pleaded, as the two kids at the forefront grabbed one arm each and tugged him to the centre of the impromptu football field.

“Yurei, play with us!”

“Yeah, you need to!”

Suddenly all the kids turned into one unified front, the likes of which Reo couldn’t refuse.

“Okay, relax…” He sighed, looking off to the side, and more precisely at Shuna, who folded her hands atop her lap, simply sitting on a bench.

“Go on.” She said, pointing to the kids smiling mischievously and excitedly from ear to ear.

For a moment Reo realized he couldn’t dare deny them.

“I’ll play…”

But in an instant he decided he wouldn’t be doing it alone…

“Only if Shuna plays with us, too.”

“Eh?”

With a grin, Reo dragged the girl into the circle too, as all the kids cheered at the sound of that.

“Wait, wait!”

“Oh no, you’re coming with us!”

Reo refused to take no for an answer and soon the game was afoot. Reo played for one team, and Shuna played for the other. The rules of course were the same, but as one would think not all of them applied. It was a ragtag game of simple football. Score more, and you win.

“Ah, damnit!”

At first Shuna had missed the ball a few times, and was dribbled past by Reo more than that, but her reflexes only seemed to get better by the second.

“Here!”

Shuna asked for the ball, as she headed it into the goal.

“WOAH!” One of her teammates, a blonde girl, cheered. “That was amazing!”

Shuna laughed at the praise and continued playing with the same smile on her face, despite the slight dirt mark on her forehead. Seeing her enjoyment, Reo couldn’t help but smile too. Shuna seemed to be having the time of her life, laughing and playing like a little kid. Despite getting sweaty or ruining her outfit, she seemed like she existed in a world of her own. Her smile was contagious, and her energy unmatched. Her technique also seemed far beyond beginner level, and her reflexes and style spoke volumes of her experience.

Was she actually a football player too?

“Here, pass it!”

“Shoot!”

“GOAAAAL!”

Underneath the streetlamps in the middle of the night, Reo, Shuna and a bunch of kids played to their hearts content like they once used to every day of summer.

They didn’t care about age, nor status, clothes nor attitude. Football united them as one. And that’s what made the moment magical.

❖ ⚽ ❖

“Phew… I’m beat…”

Shuna exhaled, as Reo walked her home, her steps sluggish.

“Can’t say the same.” Reo bragged, while the girl beside him raised a brow.

“You’d better not. You have a match tomorrow.”

“…Right.”

Reo might just have forgotten about that.

Wiping away the reprimanding tone from her voice, Shuna turned to smile at her boyfriend a few steps away from her home.

“I had a lot of fun today, you know.”

“That’s something I can agree on.”

Reo tried to play it cool, but his joyful smile may have just given him away.

“So, see you tomorrow, right?”

“Yep, see you tomorrow.”

Right as Reo, was about to wave goodbye, a certain surprise came his way, and swept him off his wits. Shuna inched closer, and planted a peck on his cheek. It was light, and feathery but the impact it had on his heart was definitely of the knockout variety.

“Goodnight.” Shuna smiled broadly, before winking. “You know, you could have held my hand earlier though, right?”

“Eh? Wait, I… you realized?”

“It’s a secret.”

Giggling, Shuna brought a finger to her lips, causing a contagious smile to reach Reo’s face.

“…Goodnight.”

He muttered back, at her retreating form, as she entered her home.

Goodnight.

He also bid the day farewell. The day of his first date. The first of many, he silently prayed, as he walked back to his own home.

The first of many.