Chapter 4
“You messed up? What do you mean? What happened?”
“I-I tried to invite Andrei for lunch a-and I panicked and run away…..”
Surprise is written all over their faces.
“You…invited him…for lunch?”
Surprise is also in Hisao’s voice.
“I-I tried to invite him! But I…I…”
“Calm down Hanako, take a seat and tell us slowly what exactly happened.”
Lilly’s initial astonishment fades away quickly and her usual calmness is shown again, which puts me at ease. I sit down and take a sip of the prepared tea. After I have settled down, to some extent, I tell them about the incidents in the hall and the cafeteria.
A giggle escapes Hisao’s mouth.
“Sounds a little bit like the first time I met you in the library.”
“I-It’s not funny Hisao! He probably t-thinks I’m…weird.”
“Maybe, but don’t trouble yourself with that. Next time goes more smoothly!”
“If there is a next time...”
“I agree with Hisao, there is still a second time. But my, what an intriguing character this Andrei has. From what I’ve heard, I always thought of him of a more… indifferent person.”
“That’s true. I never imagined him as someone who helps other people either. I guess you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”
Now that they mention it, his actions didn’t really fit to him. It was like he was another person…..or maybe this is his person.
“However, I’m sure he doesn’t think of you as weird but as a shy person. As we already said, the next time will be more successful!”
“M-Maybe, but I really d-doubt that.”
“Aw come on, Hanako. Stop thinking like that; be a little bit more optimistic! We both believe that you can do it!”
“I think so too.”
Lilly simply nods.
I however am still unsure. Though I think I should trust their judgment, they have more experience in that kind of things.
“I hope y-you are right.”
“Of course we are, but you shouldn’t think about it so much. By the way, we should start eating; lunch break is over in 5 minutes.”
And without further ado, we start to eat our lunch quietly.
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Sitting on a bench behind the female dorm, Hisao, Lilly and I are watching a basketball game which is about to begin. We were actually on our weekly trip to the convenience store when we saw two guys from the parallel class going to the court. Of course Lilly and Hisao were curious enough to follow them and now here we are.
“We play One-on-One: First you, then him. You know the rules?”
Andrei is talking to the two seniors from class 3-1. I hardly know about them, only that Jinta, the tall guy, suffers from anemia and from time to time faints in class.
It’s strange that you can hear some rivalry in their voices.
“You don’t? Alright, this is how it goes: We check with a bounce pass, if you rebound the ball you’ll have to go back to downtown before you can make a shot and after someone scores, the loser gets the ball. Make it, take it, a’right? We play till 11.”
“Who starts?”
“You got a coin? Heads, I begin; Tails, you have the ball.”
With a metallic sound the coin gets tossed. One of the guys catches it with his right hand and puts the coin on the back of the other hand.
“Tails. Looks like I’ll get the first points.”
“We’ll see.”
Andrei goes to the sideline where his black and old ghetto blaster is standing. After rummaging in his bag to find a cd, he lays it in and presses the
play button. Andrei starts to bump his head when the beat starts. They throw at him weird looks and shaking heads.
“You finished tinkering with your old cd recorder? Then let’s start already.”
“
Relax bro. You will lose quick enough.”
With a grin on their faces they get in position and starts to pass the ball to each other. After Andrei passes the ball back to the senior, he doesn’t hesitate to play him off. He gets behind Andrei, but strangely the ball isn’t in his hands anymore. Before he could realize it, the ball is already in the air, flying towards the basket.
*swish*
“Well…looks like I got the first two points.”
Andrei’s face has a big smile on it as he points with his finger on the ground. His feet are right in front of the three-point line.
“Yeah, smile as long as you can, because you won’t make any more points.”
“You sure?”
They pass the ball to each other and the second attack begins, only with the difference that Andrei starts his attack.
Unlike the senior, he dribbles without hurry, waiting apparently for the opponent to make a move. It doesn’t take a long time until Andrei gets attacked by him. The senior quickly reaches in for the ball with his right hand but Andrei is already spinning to his right, giving him free view on the basket. The defender can’t keep up and with a small jump Andrei lays the ball in the hoop and makes his next point.
“Didn’t somebody just say that I won’t make more points, or did I mishear something?”
“Tz.”
“
If I hit’em high, hit’em high, hit’em high/And you hit’em low, hit’em low, hit’em low...”
He starts laughing and sticks his tongue out.
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The sounds of dribbling, quick footsteps and
music are still present in the late afternoon. While the first senior didn’t stand a chance against Andrei as he was losing the game without making a single point, Jinta has a higher chance of winning. The ball changed possession at least one time in every single attack and in the end it is a match ball for both players.
“Match ball, my friend. You think you can handle the pressure?”
“How about you?”
Andrei has a slight disadvantage at this point. He has to defend the basket and by his ragged breathing and sweating forehead you can tell that he’s pretty much worn out. But his tall opponent isn’t better off, either.
He’s panting heavily while stepping up to the midcourt line.
“
C’mon, let’s go!”
With much force goes the ball flying back and forth. The attack begins instantly and puts much pressure on Andrei. At first it doesn’t look like either one of them is making progress as Andrei is always at him. It only takes a small gap in the defense to allow Jinta a shot on the basket.
“
Damn!”
The ball recoils from the backboard and only hits the ring. Andrei catches it midair and now, the positions have switched. Though it doesn’t look any different than before; both of them are fighting for the last point, not giving one another a chance for an easy bucket.
After a good minute, Andrei detaches himself from the defender with a fakie. He implied to go right by getting the ball to his right hand, but he instantly passed it back to the left with an incredible speed. Jinta, who is visibly at his limits, sees the change of direction too late and gets out of balance and thus lands on his butt. Andrei sprints towards the basket and jumps up. My breathing stops. He gets closer and closer to the ring. The hoop is in his reach and he only has to lay the ball in, but instead of just laying it in…he slams it in with all the power he has left. Andrei lands unsteadily on his feet, but his face keeps grinning.
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“You think it was a good idea to leave Hanako all by herself, Hisao?”
The sun nearly vanishes behind the mountains as Lilly and I go the downhill road to the city hand in hand.
“You worry too much, Lilly. We can’t always drag her along with us; she’s strong enough to act on her own. I mean, she tried to invite a stranger for lunch! That’s the last thing I would’ve expected from her.”
“Maybe…maybe you’re right. I can’t be mothering her forever, can I?”
“It’s not like you should stop protecting her, but you need to have more trust in her. She’s stronger than you think. Of course she won’t have it easy, nobody does, but protecting her from everything isn’t the right way.”
Lilly is nodding slightly with a sad smile on her face.
“But I still have a bad feeling about leaving her alone.”
“Well, we had to leave; the store would be closed if we had left later. Also, she said it herself that she wanted to watch a little longer.”
“She really enjoyed watching the game, didn’t she?”
“I wish you could’ve seen her face. She only has this face when she’s reading or talking about books with me…though I have the feeling that it wasn’t the game which kept her from going.”
“Well, did you enjoy the game?”
“Ugh, just watching them gives me a light heart-attack.”
I guess Lilly came to like my black humor as she giggled lightly.
“But it’s impressive that he can play basketball although he has this problem with his leg.”
“Problem with his leg?”
“Oh, you didn’t know? I’m not sure what it is exactly but he’s limping slightly on his left leg.”
“Then it’s quite a feat to play basketball. Though, isn’t playing bad for his leg?”
“Huh…I didn’t think about that. I guess his leg isn’t that bad if he still can play.”
I hoped that changing the topic would keep her from worrying too much about Hanako, but seeing her sad and aloof smile indicates that this was not the case.
“Lilly, I told you she’ll be fine, she’s…”
“I know, I know…I just can’t help but worry about her…especially because she shows so much interest in Andrei.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If they get know each other better…I don’t know how he will treat her.”
“I guess you also didn’t know how I would treat Hanako either when we first met, right?”
“I have to admit that I was concerned, but that changed quickly after I spent some time with you.”
Lilly’s slightly embarrassed voice makes me chuckle.
“You see, all we have to do is get to know him better. If we don’t know him, we shouldn’t judge him, right?”
“Again, I guess you’re right.”
Lilly stops and turns to me with her puckered lips.
“Thank you, Hisao.”
“No need to thank me for a kiss, I don’t dis…”
“Not for the kiss, for being by my side.”
She interlocks her fingers with mine and rests her head on my shoulder. With a small kiss on her head we start walking again.
“It’s my pleasure.”
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I don’t know why I decided to stay; I was never a fan of basketball. Though something told me stay here and watch him some more. Somehow, he fascinates and worries me, I can’t exactly tell why, though.
Only he and I are present at the court. The two seniors left after they lost the match. The sun is nearly behind the hills but he’s still playing. It feels like there was nothing else in the world right now, only he throwing hoops and me watching him.
Though I slowly start to notice something, his face is tense…and I think he’s even gritting his teeth. Before I could even think further, he jumps to throw the ball but he falls with a groan to the ground.
I jump up and start running to him but I stop in my tracks as he starts to laugh loudly.
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Goddamn, took me long enough to write this chapter. Not because it was difficulty, I'm simply hadn't the time/motivation to write on it these last 9(?) months.
I'm halway into Chapter 5 and I hope I can finish this one quicker than Chapter 4.
