The Reti Opening

“1 game, first to 11?”

“Works with us.”

The teachers were first to serve. Mr Baito flipped the ball up and hit it. Ivey returned it smoothly. It was game on.

It became a rally between the two as I watched on. It was hard to keep up with what was going on.

Smash!

Ivey smacked the ball hard, and Mr Baito couldn’t return it. It went around the net, swerving and hitting the edge of the table. It was 1-0 in favor of us.

“I guess you’ll be getting me a drink,” Ivey said, wiping the sweat on his hands on the table.

“You’re being cocky, y’know? As an adult, I usually go easy on people… But I might need to make an exception for today.”

“How childish…” Miss Su added, clearly unamused by her teammates trash talk.

A couple rounds later we had found ourselves tied at 7-7. Mr Baito and Ivey were going at it intensely, while Miss Su and I contributed a couple of hits here and there. It was Ivey’s turn to serve and He seemed to have been getting tired. His returns had been a bit sloppier than they were at the start.

“Tch. Guess I’ll have to end this quickly.”

He then inverted his grip so that the paddle was facing down.

“Ah… The Chinese Serve technique.”

I recognized that voice. I turned around to find Azuno watching on the sidelines, eating Pocky.

“When did you get here?”

“When you guys just started playing. It seemed interesting… Mr Baito is more of a chop player, since he likes to be on the defensive side, while Ivey seems to be the more aggressive attacker who loves top spin…”

I didn’t really understand any of the jargon he was using.

We resumed playing and we had the upper edge. Before long Ivey and I had found ourselves at match point. It was 10-9.

The final round started off hot. Ivey and Mr Baito continued to rally back and forth. Even I got into the mix a bit, doing my best to return the hits…

Tuttuttut…

The ball hit the ground, losing all its kinetic energy and rolled on the ground. Miss Su hadn’t even tried to go for the ball and had let it fall to the floor.

We had won.

“Rosa… What was that for?”

“It’s getting late. I want to go to bed.”

“No… Let’s replay that point-!”

“Clau.”

“...!”

She smiled and stared at him intently. She put her paddle away, leaving our teacher dumbfounded. She wasn’t someone to mess with.

We followed them to the teacher’s lounge and got our prize. Ivey finally got his coffee and was satisfied. I chose a hot chocolate. Azuno picked some type of tea. He hadn’t played but he somehow got something anyways.

I returned to my residence and decided to call it a night.

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It was 7am in the morning as I laid on my futon. It was still a bit too early to meet for breakfast so I decided to go outside for a walk. It was still quite chilly so I wore gloves.

The campsite was quiet and the only noises were from the morning birds. I trudged along looking around for anything to do. I had walked past the communal room when the sound of a piano could be faintly heard.

Curious, I walked inside and found Rei playing it. Her fingers gracefully caressed the keys, focusing on the piece she was playing. The melody was soft and bright.

She finished her song and stretched her arms, when she noticed me observing her from afar.

“Hm…? You’re awake. It’s quite early.”

“Yeah it is… At least I can see the sunrise.”

I sat down beside her on the piano stool and she began playing another soft piece.

“Hey, I recognize this one.”

She giggled.

“This one is a song from Your Name… I assume you watched it?”

“Yeah, it was a good film.”

“You like romance?”

“Well, it’s not like I hate it or anything.”

“Then… Have you seen any of my movies...?”

She hadn’t looked up at all, and continued to focus on the piano.

“Yeah one of them… I watched the one Aris worked on.”

And also the one where I wrote the script. But I couldn’t tell her that.”

“Oh? Which one?”

“Resonance.”

“Did you like it?”

“Yeah…You were really good.”

The tempo of the music was slightly faster as she turned around, her eyes sparkling having heard the title.

“I’m glad you liked it…! That movie is really special to me.”

“How come? Is it because it was your first major film?”

“No… because… it was special. I want to meet the script writer behind Resonance…Nf3.”

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t believe Rei liked my work and had called it ‘special.’

“There was something about,” she continued. “Like the way it was written… I could really bring out the type of acting I wanted to do. It was thanks to them that I was able to truly show and enjoy being an actress… But when I asked the director who wrote it, he wouldn’t tell me. That’s why I want to find them and properly say my thanks.”

It was quite embarrassing to hear this from her, since she had no clue she was talking to the person she wanted to find. There was a sense of guilt building up inside me.

“Rens? What’s wrong?”

I broke out of my thoughts and quickly recovered.

“Oh, nothing. I’m just hungry. Why don’t we walk to the dining hall?”

“Sure, it’s time anyways.”

She closed the lid of the piano and we made our way over.

I would have no idea that this was the start of something special.