Chapter 16: Because I Want to Get Even Closer to Hiyori-san
—When you get the ball, first look at the hoop. Then, if there’s an open lane, drive straight for it. That’s a basketball fundamental.
If you decide to do something, push forward without hesitation. If you dawdle and the lane gets blocked, your precious chance will be ruined.
“Good morning, Hiyori-san. Do you have a moment?”
“Morning, Yusuke-kun. What’s up?”
First thing in the morning, I called out to Hiyori-san right as she arrived at school. After exchanging greetings, I immediately got to the main point.
Clutching the smartphone in my pocket tightly, while trying to act as if I wasn’t feeling any impatience or nervousness, I said to Hiyori-san.
“Actually, my mother is planning a yakiniku party soon, and she told me to invite you, Hiyori-san… If you’re not against it, I’d like you to come over. What do you think?”
“Eh!? Really!? I’ll go, I’ll go! Please tell Marie-san I’m looking forward to it!”
“Haha, great. Mom will be happy too… And, this is the actual main topic—”
“Huh…?”
That was just a warm-up. In basketball terms, I’d only just received the pass.
Thanks to the pass from my family, I succeeded in creating an opening to talk. To make the shot, I took out the smartphone I’d been gripping in my pocket and held it out to Hiyori-san.
Then, to her, who was looking back and forth between my face and the smartphone in surprise, I said what I needed to say.
“—Could you share your contact info with me? This too, only if you’re not against it, Hiyori-san.”
“Eh…!?”
Hiyori-san’s already surprised expression became even more colored with shock.
Her eyes widened, a sound escaped her lips, and her face practically screamed ‘unexpected.’ Witnessing her reaction, as I nervously held my breath wondering how things would turn out, Hiyori-san, who had also gasped, excitedly replied.
“I-I’m not against it! Or rather, oh right! We hadn’t exchanged contact info yet, had we!? I completely forgot!”
“Ahaha. Actually, me too. I only realized it yesterday.”
Hiyori-san, flustered and hurriedly taking out her smartphone from her bag and operating it, looked anything but calm.
Though, inwardly, I was even less calm than her… but I desperately suppressed it as I scanned the QR code she displayed on her phone with my own.
“Is this okay? I’ll try sending something.”
“Y-Yeah! …Ah, it came, it came!”
I added Hiyori-san’s account as a friend and sent a message.
Immediately, the ‘read’ notification appeared, and a cute sticker was sent back in reply.
As I smiled, happy that we’d successfully exchanged contact info… suddenly, some girls from our class called out to Hiyori-san.
“Mornin’, Hiyori. What’re ya doin’?”
“Ah, g-good morning! Um, right now, I was just exchanging contact info with Yusuke-kun…”
“Eh!? What’s this!? Exchanging contact info!? Who!? Who asked first!?”
“And Yusuke-kun!? Hiyori, since when did you get into that kind of relationship with Onoue-kun!? Or wait, are you two maybe already dating!?”
“Ah, no, it’s not like that! Uhm, well…”
Perhaps because she was caught off guard by the questions, Hiyori-san seemed to have given some rather careless answers.
To help her out, as she was slightly panicking about how to explain things to her friends whose imaginations were running wild from that one comment, I spoke up with a wry smile.
“We’re not dating or anything like that. If we were, we wouldn’t be exchanging contact info at this point, right?”
“Ehh? But then, why are you calling him Yusuke-kun?”
“A little while ago, I ran into Hiyori-san when I was with my family. We all ended up talking for quite a while, and Hiyori-san is very kind, you see. She properly called my younger brothers by their first names too… and in that flow, I also came to be called by my first name.”
“Is that so? Still sounds suspicious…! And hey, Onoue-kun, you’re calling Hiyori by her first name too! Definitely suspicious!!”
“Well, maybe so. But if someone’s calling you by your first name, and you stubbornly keep calling them by their last name, it feels like you’re putting up a wall, and I don’t like that. Hiyori-san and I are just friends, but… I want to get closer to her, so I call her by her first name, and I wanted to exchange contact info for that reason too. That’s all there is to it. Really, just that.”
At times like these, it’s best to remain natural no matter what others say. The NBA player I admire also stayed true to his game without reacting to his opponents’ trash talk.
Acknowledge what’s true, deny what’s not. At the same time, by vaguely addressing the parts concerning Hiyori-san’s pride while stating my honest feelings, the girls reacted with impressed sounds like, “Ooh~!”
“W-Wow, Onoue-kun, you’re actually quite the assertive, go-getter type, huh…! A little unexpected, maybe…!?”
“Hiyori, you better be careful! If you carelessly show an opening, he might totally pounce on you and gobble you up!?”
“Y-Yusuke-kun wouldn’t do something like that! And besides, you’re teasing too much!!”
“Ahhh, she’s already fallen for him~! Congratulations, Onoue-kun. Hiyori is all yours. Go ahead and grope her boobs to your heart’s content.”
“But if Hiyori’s boobs, Hiyo-Pai for short, were your only goal… you know what’ll happen, right?”
“Hahaha! I won’t grope them, and I get it. Hiyori-san, you’re lucky to have friends who care about you so much.”
“Muu…! Something about the way you said that is annoying! Saying things like you’re my mom~!”
I offered a light apology to Hiyori-san, who was puffing her cheeks in anger, and smiled.
It turned into a much noisier contact info exchange than I’d imagined, but I was overjoyed from the bottom of my heart that I had achieved my goal.