Relaxation and an Idol's Homecoming

Hayato steadily walked towards my slumped figure on the ground with his sprained knee and extended his hand.

I accepted his hand and stood up on my own two feet.

"You somehow managed to beat Karin, Mamoru, and Yamashita all on the same team. I can only imagine the kind of rush you're feeling right now," Hayato said, heartily slapping my back.

"Well, it isn't a national championship, but I suppose it was kinda cool, I guess," I said, smiling.

I scanned the street players around me. Their cheers in various languages should've felt cacophonous to my ears, but in the moment it felt like they all melded into a beautiful melody that expressed the spirit of victory in the face of a daunting situation.

Victory isn't always guaranteed and I should appreciate that fact, but the showboat in me wanted to revel in the moment.

Hayato scoffed, scratching the bandage on his nose and then giving a playful tap on my shoulder with his fist.

"Yeah, that right there. Keep doing that. You're the best version of yourself when you say stuff like that. Trash talk doesn't have to be all bravado, bro. It's how we athletes communicate with each other."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But I noticed that sometimes, when I play with that competitive edge, I sometimes forget the world around me, and then the people around me sometimes suffer.

"Kenta, there are moments when you have to be both selfish and selfless. You have to exert your will on the court, in one way or another, without regrets.”

“Kenta, I don’t apologize for putting in the effort necessary to achieve my dreams. If you don’t want to be by my side for all of it, you're free to leave at any time!”

Tch. This one particular intrusive thought came at the worst time, but I tried to shove it to the back of my mind to deal with it later.

"I guess I have issues at times splitting my attention between people when I'm on the court."

"Really? But your court vision is elite, bro."

"Eh, don't worry about it, Hayato. I tend to be my worst critic," I said laughing.

Please don't ever change Hayato. Your dorky naivety helped me avoid an awkward conversation.

I felt a gentle tug at my collar. I turned around to see Fumiko with a glimmer in her eyes.

"Was this the 'Kenta' that Karin and Mamoru spoke so highly of, because if so, I think I kind of like him! But still not as much as the kind and sensitive Kenta I met on that first day," Fumiko said, winking.

I had to resist the urge to jump in the air with light-hearted giddiness. I chuckled to myself to try and bring myself down to earth. I really appreciate the sentiment, Fumiko, but you're perhaps the most biased party at the park when it came to positive impressions about me.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. Fumiko."

"Oh, it's nothing really. Thanks Yamamoto-san."

"Wait, how did we regress?"

"Doesn't feel so good when someone does it to you, does it?"

I clicked my tongue several times, stumbling over a good retort to give her, but any clever wit went out the window when she dove in to kiss my cheek.

"Now that you've had your heroic moment and reclaimed your throne as the best player, that leaves you plenty of time to resume our practice dates. This time, I'll be the one to choose."

I was somewhat relieved by that. I appreciate Kyoko and Shun, but they should never choose our dates ever again.

"O-okay. That's probably a good idea."

The Minamoto siblings were the next to approach me. Mamoru gestured towards us with a wink of his eye and a shake of his head, allowing his younger sister to have the floor first.

Karin stepped forward, with her arms folded over her lap.

"What's up, Minamoto-san? You were fantastic out there, by the way," I said.

I'm not sure if I was making this conversation better or worse.

"Oh, thanks. I actually wanted to thank you, for actually coming back," Karin said.

"Oh, I didn't really do anything. I just decided to return to the sport I loved."

She embraced me in her arms without hesitation. She'd usually crush my vertebrae with the force of her arms, but this time she hugged me with the delicateness you'd give when handling a newborn kitten.

Her breaths became more fractured and uneven, but then she gathered herself and steeled her resolve to continue speaking in such an intimate position, her chin resting on my shoulder.

"Kenta, thank you for standing up for me when the school didn't want me to join the boy's team. I knew in my heart that the school wouldn't reasonably fulfill my request, but I'm happy that you and Mamoru cared enough about me to at least try."

"You were one of my best friends, and an unofficial teammate of mine since junior high. Not doing anything would've been an injustice toward all the progress you've made from the results of your hard work."

She couldn't hold herself back from tearing up. I could hear her hiccupping as she tried to keep her trembling breaths at bay. It was moments like this that made me heavily reconsider my stance on staying single.

She was equal parts talented, hard-nosed, and cinnamon roll.

She let go of me after regaining control of her senses, wiping away the last migrating tear that dripped down her nose with her index finger.

"After seeing you two play against each other, I want to change how I'll play from now on," Karin said, beaming with every single one of her pearly whites.

"Oh. How so?"

"I want to spend more time playmaking for my teammates. I'm my brother's sister after all. There's more to me than just athleticism and offensive talent. Perhaps I can be a leader too."

She gathered the loose digits in one of her hands and formed a fist.

"I'm sure your teammates will appreciate it, Minamoto-san," I said.

"Yeah! After watching them play, I feel like there's something special waiting to be brought out," she said, looking fondly to her left.

"And what about you, Mamoru? How was that thrashing," I said, smirking.

Mamoru chuckled to himself.

"Eh, I've experienced worse losses. And it's not like it was an official game," Mamoru said.

"I'll see you back on the court next semester, then."

"Only if you pass tryouts, slacker. There could be a young guy that ends up taking your spot."

For the first time in months, the two of us slapped our hands together, grinning as we did the same combination of movements with interlocking fingers and fist bumping and finger flourishes we did for each other every time we won a game.

The handshake always lasted exactly twenty-eight seconds, for anyone that's asking.

***

Fumiko and I showed up to the same meeting place as usual, but thankfully Kyoko and Shun had the tact to not show up this time. Apparently Fumiko gave them a good talking to after the picnic at Yoyogi park. Ryuuji had a sudden shift that needed to be filled because one of his coworkers didn't show up.

One of these days I needed to learn just how Fumiko learned to socially 'handle' those two.

"So, we've agreed that the next date has to be at a more quiet place," Fumiko said.

"Yeah, and this time it should just be the two of us," I said.

"Let's just go to the bookstore," she said, rolling her eyes as if calculating a future expense.

"Alright, but I feel like reading the whole day might work up our appetite. We should probably eat afterwards."

"Sure, but it'll take me hours to get hungry. But I guess I'll do it for your sake," she said.

"Haha, look I know it's been a while since I've read a light novel, but there's stuff I want to read too, you know."

The two of us decided to take our usual walk together to the train station, but our path was abruptly cut off by a slender girl with a bob cut and thin-rimmed square glasses, who also happened to be on a collision course with us with a stack of papers in her hands.

"I'm so sorry. I was in a time crunch so I wasn't looking where I was going," the girl said, quickly bowing before she knelt down to recover as many of the papers that weren't lost to the prevailing winds around us.

"Oh no. It's not an issue. Don't worry," I said, kneeling down to help the bespectacled girl pick up the remaining copies of paper.

I took a closer look at what appeared to be a flier. I noticed a blown-up photo of a girl with thick, sweeping red hair, smiling with a twinkle in her eye that was built for show business. She held a microphone in her hand, addressing an audience in the foreground of the photo.

It took me a minute to realize why that red hair looked familiar.

"Excuse me, but what were these fliers for exactly," I asked the girl.

"Umm, I suppose you can say that I've recently become a manager for an idol. Have you heard of Eri Kaname? Even if you haven't I think you should take a flier," she said, handing me a copy.

"Eri's having a concert here at Roppongi Hills Arena tomorrow night. Even if you can't buy a ticket in time, the venue has flat screens outside for any onlookers that might be interested," she continued, adjusting her glasses with a smile.