When I landed, I was met with celebration. She smiled like she was satisfied enough merely having seen me take the shot. As if drawn in by the flowers, I approached. But as a tutor, it was my job to teach her that it was too early to grow complacent.
“Here.”
I offered her the freshly retrieved ball. Looking back at my time on the junior high basketball team, passing the ball was something I’d always struggled with—and yet somehow I pulled it off on my first try.
“Seeing as you already put all that practice in, you may as well give it a shot.” Like I did. “If you make it in, you can have the win.”
Why did I say this, you ask? The only explanation is that I simply felt like it. Maybe I was in a good mood now that all those months of effort had finally achieved something.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded. “And if you win, I’ll do whatever you say.”
“Hmmm…” Her eyes wandered. “I wish I could say it sounds enticing, but…I feel nothing.”
“How come?”
“Instead of someone volunteering to do what I want, I’d rather make them do it.”
“Huhwha?!”
The last-minute reveal of her evil smirk sent a shiver down my spine. Laughing, I straightened up so stiffly, it felt like my spine might burst through my skin. My suspicions were confirmed: she was terrifying.
And so the terrifying lady stepped forward and assumed her stance, holding the ball at a low angle. With her excellent posture, she was like an illustration on a postcard of our town. I watched her intently, praying neither for her victory nor her loss, but still praying all the same.
Her jump was perfectly in line with everything I’d taught her. Softly, she tossed the ball. It traced a lazy, yet unwavering arc straight through the air toward the hoop.
CLANG—a loud, fierce noise like the swing of a fist in protest. Alas, it was the sound of failure.
As she watched the ball bounce backward, Kimono Lady smiled. “I accept my loss, but if you don’t mind, could I keep trying until I make it in?”
“Go for it.”
The grown woman sauntered after the ball like a little girl. She missed four more shots after that, but on the fifth, the hoop relented. “Sensei, I really like it when the ball goes in!” my pupil reported back gleefully.
Her form was all over the place, and she’d forgotten basically everything I’d shown her, and she threw the ball like she wasn’t even trying…but her smile was like fireworks, and her forehead glittered with sweat, and she smelled like a bouquet of roses. So I decided to forego all the complaints and see her off. “You pass.”
As she handed the ball back, she beamed from the bottom of her heart, as though my unamused expression meant nothing in the face of her joy. “Well, you still won. Any requests?”
Just as she wanted nothing from me, I had nothing to ask of her, either. There was no desire between us, yet some form of curiosity had brought us together again…and it was a relationship I actually kind of liked.
“Okay then, um…if you have a little sister, I want you to be nice to her…or something.”
“…What?”
“Picking her up, running around with her… Believe it or not, it’s hard work.” And it’s high time you did some! As I thought back to the way she sat and watched us from the sidelines, I retroactively got a little annoyed. “Oh, and the same applies if it’s a little brother,” I added hastily as the possibility occurred to me.
Unless something was an immediate part of my life, I tended to forget it existed. And since it was near-impossible to change how my brain worked, my only option was to make sure my life was filled with everything I wanted to remember. At some point—be it sooner or later—she, too, would fade from my mind. So I stared up at her while I still could, cherishing our final moments just a tiny bit.
“Okay. I promise I will,” she conceded without argument or delay.
Her smile was no mere decoration, nor was it forced; she was simply wearing her heart on her sleeve. As for how I could have known that, well…most likely, so was I.
“Anyway, if you don’t have a girlfriend by the time I see you again, we should go on a date. See you!”
Of all the statements to go out on. “Girlfriend?” Not boyfriend? It was such a massive leap in logic, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
In the end, she and I never even introduced ourselves—but our brief connection never needed it.
I dribbled the ball, ran around the court like I was doing laps, took a shot and, when I inevitably missed, diligently retrieved the ball once more. Tap, tap, tap. I hadn’t jumped, but I could still hear the rhythm through my soles.
“…Ha ha…”
Alone, dopey chuckles spilled from my mouth like pebbles. Everything from the shoulders up felt so light. Whatever stress that had pinned my head down was gone now…and I was ready to move on.
I looked up at the morning sun, soundlessly washing across the town like the tide. Its orange sparkle was fainter than sunset, filling in the gaps between the buildings. Thin clouds trailed like claw marks with puffy thunderheads rising in columns just beyond. The occasional hum of a car traced a spiral along the road. And oddly enough, the scent on the lukewarm breeze was enough to make me smile.
It had been an eternity since I truly saw the dawn for what it was. At last, it sank in: whether I woke up like an early bird or zoned out like a night owl, the day would begin and eventually end. With a more open mind, my heart stopped charging ahead for once. I let the wave of morning rays splash over me without even bothering to wipe my sweat.
I couldn’t explain it, but…life felt fun again, and it was a load off my shoulders. Or maybe it really was just that simple.
The bounce of the ball felt so good. With a flick of my wrist, I added a spin to it. I was frolicking like a child, but hey, it wasn’t so bad. Yeah…it felt kind of nice.
She was impossible to read, but something about her felt genuine deep down inside. Her laughter was crisp, yet ever so faintly cold. And the mysterious feelings that engulfed my heart quietly ushered me into the best possible mood. It was two conflicting states of being—a peaceful thrill not unlike popping bubbles as they rose to the surface.
As for the answer to that mystery…
By any chance…this wouldn’t happen to be…my first love…?
“Yeah, right.”
As I joked to myself, I slammed the ball down hard once more. When it bounced back up again, I reached out…and in the distance, I saw a girl racing down the bridge on her bike with a bored look on her face. Without so much as a glance, she was gone again—nothing more than a passerby. But for some reason, as I was walking home that day, I caught myself thinking about the trail of dark hair that had flowed behind her.