Chapter 2: “The ball is cast”

I’m sure everyone is interested in how this story will continue, but in order to see the full picture, it is necessary to turn back time a little.

Morning begins inside a dorm room, where a certain “sleeping princess” remains unmoving, surrounded by a sequence of alarms set at intervals of fifteen minutes, then ten, then five, and finally the exact time she truly has to wake up, because without them, she would simply fall back asleep without hesitation.

Her name is Hattori Yuriko.

Her day starts in a structured way, beginning with light training, followed by washing her face and brushing her teeth, after which she goes out for a short run around the dorm. Once she returns, she takes a shower, prepares breakfast, and after finishing it, takes her bike and heads out for table tennis practice.

Training there is part of her daily routine. She is well known among the others for the way she moves with grace, her playstyle drawing attention naturally, even though no one realizes that she is deliberately holding back to wear down her opponents and increase her own enjoyment until she decides to finish the match.

“Yuriko! Good work!”

A voice called out, breaking the rhythm of the practice.

Yuriko turned around and saw two girls approaching her, both with blonde hair and green eyes, dressed in sportswear suited for the court, towels around their necks and water bottles in hand.

“Kaede, Akane—good work,” Yuriko called back. “Is it already time?”

“Yeah,” Kaede replied. “We figured we should come get you, just in case.”

“We know how you are,” Akane added. “You’d probably lose track of time again.”

“Hehe, I can’t really help it,” Yuriko said. “I just get too into the game.”

“That’s so like you,” Kaede said.

“Yeah, the moment you get into something, you completely forget about the time,” Akane added.

“Yeah…” Yuriko answered quietly.

For a moment, her thoughts drifted elsewhere.

That time too…

She remembered a session when she, “King-kun,” and several others had been playing DnD, and before she realized it, six hours had already passed without her noticing at all.

“Anyway,” Akane said, bringing Yuriko back to reality. “We’re going to shower now. You coming?”

Yuriko discreetly took a small sniff under her arm.

“…I think I’m fine. I didn’t sweat that much, so I’ll just wait outside.”

She turned to leave—

But both girls immediately stopped her, placing their hands firmly on her shoulders.

The atmosphere shifted.

Yuriko slowly looked back, only to be met with their clearly displeased expressions.

“That… wasn’t a question.”

It suddenly sounded like an order.

Yuriko turned around fully, her posture stiff, as if she were about to be scolded.

“…Yes, madam.”

“Good.”

As she was dragged toward the shower room, the two continued talking.

“Honestly, after all this time we’ve spent trying to make you more ladylike, you still do things like this...”

“Soooorrrryyy…”

* * *

Since new characters have joined the scene, it is time for a small introduction.

The two girls are Usui Kaede and Usui Akane, Yuriko’s cousins, who look almost identical at first glance, with the only clear difference being their hairstyles, as Kaede wears twintails while Akane keeps her hair in a ponytail. Because of certain family circumstances, the three of them ended up living together since childhood, and during that time, Yuriko was very different from how she is now.

Back then, she had little interest in fashion or anything considered ladylike, leaning more toward a boyish style, and to make matters more complicated, she kept her distance from others, including them. However, their energy gradually broke through that barrier, and in the end, Yuriko gave up and let them do as they wish.

That turning point changed things, and although they are the same age, Kaede and Akane came to take on a role closer to that of older sisters. They taught her how to dress up, about skincare, and other similar things, while also introducing her to tennis, which has always been these two's shared passion. With a goal of reaching the national level as a duo one day.

Yuriko, however, did not like the idea of running across a full tennis court, which led her to choose table tennis instead.

But going back to the story—

Yuriko, together with the twins, made their way to the university.

“By the way,” Kaede spoke up. “On our way to the court earlier, we found this really cute black-and-white cat,” she said, pulling out her phone and showing a picture.

“Really?! Show me, show me!” said Yuriko, very curious.

She took a quick glance—

And her expression changed immediately.

Her face lit up with clear excitement, to the point that it startled the others.

“So cute!” she shouted without hesitation.

Akane let out a small laugh.

“You really love animals, don’t you?”

“As expected from a Bachelor of Animal Studies student—Wait! She’s not even listening anymore?!”

Yuriko’s eyes remained fixed on the screen, completely absorbed in the image of the cat.

* * *

Lunch break arrived, and the three of them found themselves in a different part of the campus than usual.

“Now that I think about it, this is the first time we’ve been in the Business division, right?” Akane commented, looking around. “Though I have to say that it looks practically the same.”

“Well, yeah,” Kaede replied. “And all this, because of that incident at the end of last semester.”

This university is divided into five separate buildings, each representing a different division:

- Social Sciences and Management, also known as Business;

- Natural Sciences, referred to as Biology;

- Applied Sciences and Engineering - Physics;

- Humanities and Arts - Human;

- and Formal Sciences and Technology - Software.

Just before the previous semester ended, an explosion occurred in one of the laboratories in the Biology division, followed by a fire that caused significant damage to the building.

Yuriko and the twins all belong to that division, and because of the incident, many of their lectures were temporarily moved to the Business building.

“At least no one got hurt,” Kaede said, then turned slightly. “Right, Yuri—”

She stopped mid-sentence. Because she realized that Yuriko was still staring at the same picture, her eyes shining, with a large grin on her face.

“…Yuriko ...can I have my phone back now?”

“Just a little longer.” She answered instantly without even looking at her.

“You’ve been looking at it long enough!” Kaede snapped, stepping forward and taking the phone back.

At that moment, Yuriko’s expression changed instantly.

Her shoulders dropped slightly, and her face took on the look of someone who had just lost something important, like a puppy separated from its favorite toy.

But Kaede tried to hold her ground.

She really did…

In the end, she let out a small sigh and handed the phone back.

“Five minutes. That’s it.”

Yuriko’s eyes lit up again immediately, like with a switch for the lamp.

Akane then tried to shift the conversation.

“So, when are you finally going to introduce us to your Mr. Boyfriend?”

“Are we really going back to that again?” Yuriko replied. “Like I’ve said million times already, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“And after hearing that million times, we still don’t believe you.”

Kaede nodded in agreement.

“After that huge transformation you went through last year, there’s no way there isn’t someone.”

“Also you regularly go out somewhere in the evenings,” Akane added. “And always come back pretty late too.”

“You saw me?!”

“Of course we did,” Kaede replied. “We can see the dorm entrance from our window.”

Yuriko froze for a moment.

—She thought her camouflage was perfect.

Akane tilted her head slightly.

“A large hat, black glasses, and a coat with a cute puppy on the back… there’s no way that was anyone else.”

Yuriko looked at her, startled.

“…Since when can you read my mind?”

“It’s written all over your face,” Akane pointed out.

Yuriko frowned, holding her face to check if that was true.

“Can’t you at least tell us his name,” Kaede said.

“…Name?” Yuriko repeated.

She paused.

And then kept thinking.

The silence stretched longer than expected.

The twins exchanged a glance, their expressions slowly shifting.

“…Yuriko?”

“Are you okay?” Akane asked carefully. “He’s not just messing with you, right?”

“That’s not it!” Yuriko suddenly raised her voice. “King-kun is not like that at all—!”

The moment the words left her mouth, she froze.

“…King-kun?”

They started to look at her with concern.

“…Does he ask you to call him that?”

Yuriko’s face turned red.

“I—I need to go to the toilet!”

She turned and rushed off immediately.

“Wait, Yuriko—Damn, she’s fast?!”

* * *

After that, Yuriko went to the restroom, closing the door behind her as the noise from outside faded away, leaving only the quiet sound of running water. As she stood by the sink and washed her hands, her thoughts naturally returned to the same topic once again, circling back to the realization that, despite everything, she still did not know anything about “King-kun” beyond the matches they shared.

She let out a small sigh, watching the water run over her hands.

“…This might be hopeless…”

Even so, the thought did not leave her.

As she finished and stepped out into the corridor, her mind was still occupied, and she didn’t pay attention to what's in front—*THUD!*

…And so, without noticing, she walked straight into someone.

Their heads collided, and both of them stumbled back slightly from the impact.

—And now, we are returning to the present moment.

The “Crimson Devil” and the “King of Gluttony” stood face to face, not as opponents in front of a screen, but as two students in the same hallway, in the same university, meeting in a situation neither of them was prepared for.

Yuriko made the first move.

“…Were you stalking me?”

“Of course not!” Satoshi replied without hesitation. “I’m a student here, third semester.”

He looked at her more carefully, as if confirming something.

“Still… I didn’t expect to see you here.”

For a brief moment, neither of them continued, as if both were trying to process the overlap between the person in front of them and the one they knew from somewhere else.

But that moment did not last long.

“Yuriko, who is this?”

The twins arrived, their eyes moving between the two, clearly curious about the situation.

Yuriko reacted immediately, not giving the moment any space to develop further.

“It’s nothing,” she said quickly. “Let's go. We’re going to be late.”

Without waiting, she turned and walked off, pulling the conversation to an end before it could properly begin, the twins following her while still glancing back.

Satoshi remained where he was, watching them leave, his thoughts still catching up to what had just happened.

“…What was that?”

“Heeeeeeey!”

Shigeo’s voice cut in as he approached, still carrying the frustration from earlier.

“You seriously left me alone with all of them?!”

Satoshi responded with a relaxed expression.

“Sorry about that,” he said lightly. “So… did you get members for the group project?”

*Sigh* “It took a while to calm them down, but yeah, I managed.”

“Yay! As expected of my best friend.”

“...I thought about this once already, but what do you take best friends for?”

“...”

Satoshi didn’t answer.

And with that, the moment passed, and the day continued as usual.

And despite the fact that they now knew something they had not known before—

They did not meet again for the rest of that day.

* * *

The lectures came to an end, and as the day wrapped up, students began heading back to their dorms, ready to rest after hours of classes and assignments—

…Well, not everyone.

Inside his dorm room, Satoshi lay flat on his bed, staring at the ceiling, with a tsunami of thoughts in his head.

What happened today kept replaying in his mind, but instead of forming a clear conclusion, everything mixed together into complete chaos.

His rival and love of life.

The person he had been chasing for over a year.

The one he wanted to surpass more than anyone else.

—Was attending the same university.

“…That has to be fate…”

The thought alone filled him with a kind of happiness he could not ignore, and it showed clearly on his face.

But that feeling did not last long.

Because another thought followed immediately after.

“…I really don’t know anything about her, huh…”

Shigeo’s words came back to him.

He knew her playstyle.

He knew her habits in matches.

He knew how she reacted under pressure.

But outside of that—nothing.

“…This is bad.”

Satoshi sat up and reached for his phone.

“If I want us to progress… I need to know more.”

He opened Google and typed:

“How to get to know another person”

But as expected…

—Talk casually.

—Spend time together.

—Ask questions.

“…That’s useless.”

He even made a post on social media, hoping for something more practical.

The first reply came quickly.

—“Just ask lol”

“If it was that easy, I would’ve done it already!!!” he shouted at his phone.

The problem was obvious.

The moment they start playing, everything else doesn't matter anymore.

There is no room for casual conversation.

As Satoshi was close to give up—

“Wait a moment….”

Slowly, he got up and crouched down, reaching under his bed.

After a bit of searching, he pulled out a box.

He opened it, moving things aside until he found what he was looking for.

“Found it.”

Then, with a faint smile, he muttered to himself—

“…Sometimes my own genius scares me.”

* * *

This time, let us take a look at what was happening at that exact same moment in Yuriko’s room.

She laid on her bed, hugging her pillow tightly and pressing her face into it, her body shifting slightly as quiet, muffled sounds of excitement escaped her without restraint, while her legs moved unconsciously as if she had no way to release the energy building up inside her.

She still could not believe it, and the thought kept repeating in her mind that “King-kun” was attending the same university as her, which made her chest feel lighter and her heartbeat noticeably quicker, as the memory of their encounter replayed over and over again in her head.

“King-kun… same university…”

That single realization filled her with a mixture of happiness and anticipation, creating a feeling that refused to settle down no matter how many times she tried to calm herself.

However, in the middle of that excitement, something else surfaced.

“…I’m still calling him that…”

Her grip on the pillow loosened slightly as another memory came back to her. She recalled Kaede and Akane and the way they looked at her when they realized that even after all this time, she still did not know his name.

That realization did not sit well with her, and the excitement she felt earlier began to mix with frustration directed at herself, as she slowly sat up and pulled the pillow into her lap, holding it more firmly while trying to organize her thoughts.

“…I have to do something…”

The decision formed naturally, but it was immediately followed by hesitation, since she was fully aware that she could not afford to act carelessly or make her intentions obvious, especially when it came to something as important as this.

Confessing before completely defeating him was not an option she would even consider, as her pride would never allow her to accept such an outcome, no matter how strong her feelings might be.

She stood up and began walking around the room, moving in circles as her thoughts repeated themselves again and again, going through different possibilities, rejecting each one as soon as it seemed too direct or too easy to misunderstand.

Each failed idea only made her more restless, and that restlessness continued to build until, she finally stopped in place as something clicked into place in her mind.

“Bingo!”

A small sense of satisfaction appeared on her face as she realized that she had found an approach that could work without exposing her intentions too clearly. She decided to use their earlier meeting as a starting point, turning it into a natural conversation and gradually steering it in a way that would allow her to gather the information she needed.

Although there was one critical condition that could not be ignored.

She tightened her grip on the pillow once more as that realization settled in.

“I have to do it before we start playing, or else it will be too late.”

Because the moment the match began, her focus would shift completely, and everything she had planned would fall apart right away…

...Later that day, Satoshi challenged Yuriko at the club.