My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected

Page 370

At first, Isshiki was on tenterhooks, afraid she wouldn't be able to catch the ball, but she seemed to gradually get used to it and start to get the hang of it. It seemed she was beginning to enjoy the game of billiards—just as I was thinking this, a strange light suddenly flashed in Isshiki's eyes.

She stared intently at the ball floating in the air, took a step forward, raised her racket high, and then swung it forcefully.

"Go to hell!"

"Wait, who shouts like that while playing basketball..."

The ping-pong ball made a loud sound, drew a long parabola in the air, and then disappeared into the distance. The ball was clearly out of bounds, so why was she so smug, even wearing a "you know how powerful I am now!" smile? There's no such thing as a home run in table tennis rules.

I picked up the ping-pong ball and continued playing against Isse. Although it was my turn to serve this time, due to a small mistake on my part, the serve fell back into Isse's hands.

"Then it's my turn to serve."

Iroha picked up a ping-pong ball and bounced it a few times on the table, then assumed a serving stance. However, noticing something, she started looking around and raised her hand to signal me to wait a moment.

"Ah, senior, hold on, hold on—take this!"

One second she was calling a timeout, the next she suddenly smashed the ball with all her might. But such tricks couldn't fool me. I calmly moved in front of the ping-pong ball and smashed it back with a backhand.

"...You're still too green."

When I was little, my dad always used this move against me when we played ping-pong; to vent my anger, I used the same move on Komachi, and she ended up hating me! Don't underestimate the terrible genes of the Hikigaya family! Honestly, the way little Komachi cried out, "I don't want to play ping-pong with my brother anymore!" was quite endearing...

However, Isshiki is no longer a child. I turned to look at Isshiki, whose trick had been exposed, and saw her biting her lower lip in resentment.

"hateful……"

"If you're going to try this trick, then I'll have no choice but to use my full strength..."

I took off my jacket and tossed it aside, stomping my feet on the floor with a creaking sound, striking a pose typical of a table tennis player. Seeing this, Isshiki waved his racket and protested loudly.

"S-Senior, you're being way too childish!"

"I'll return that line to you verbatim... It's my turn to serve, let's begin."

Unlike the previous friendly match, I aimed at the corner of the table and served with all my might. Although Isshiki complained, she showed no intention of giving up. After a brief sigh, she assumed a receiving stance.

"Hey!"

She swung her ball wide, missing completely, her skirt billowing in the air. Oh no, I almost forgot she was wearing a skirt today… I'd better slow down the ball…

Afterwards, although I switched back to my usual relaxed mode and all-out attack, the scene from before kept replaying in my mind, and my gaze was unconsciously drawn to the fluttering skirt.

Ugh! That's so despicable!

You ask what's so despicable? It's this pool table, of course! This lousy table is blocking my view, preventing me from seeing anything! This sport is fundamentally flawed! If someone were to develop a pool table with a transparent surface, it would be a huge hit. I might as well develop it and make a fortune from it.

Perhaps it was because I was overthinking things, or perhaps the sight of the same dress blinded me, but I kept making mistakes, and the score of the dress started to rise rapidly.

She took a breath, took out a small handkerchief from her bag, and gently wiped away her sweat while counting on her fingers to calculate the score of the competition.

"Um, senior, you're at eight points now. My scores are one, two, three, four... Senior, what time is it?"

Although I had a vague feeling that something was amiss, I still glanced at the clock on the wall.

"It's exactly eleven o'clock."

"Is that so? Oh, my score is twelve, thirteen..."

"Your score is six points! Six points!"

She even used a story from "Toki Soba" (Note 21: one of the famous themes of Japanese rakugo, which describes a customer who tries to cheat the owner by undercharging him for a dollar when paying the bill for soba noodles). This guy is really blatant. Speaking of which, I didn't expect Isshiki to know classical rakugo. I'll have to look at her in a new light now.

Isshiki, realizing his trick had been exposed, put on a disgruntled expression, his cheeks puffing out. "It's no use trying to cheat now."

"I'm serving now."

I held back on speed, but chose a tricky trajectory, serving the ball to a position that was difficult for Issei to return. Issei quickly chased to the corner of the table, but the ping-pong ball still mercilessly hit the edge of the corner and bounced away with a crisp sound.

Iroha watched the ping-pong ball drift away, then turned around and smiled at me.

"Ah, the ball went out of bounds, so it's my point."

"If the ball goes out of bounds, it won't bounce away or make a sound..."

This guy can lie without batting an eye... He's been using all sorts of tricks since the beginning, especially that... that skirt, it was so despicable!

The game continued, with me scoring most of the points, though I occasionally lost a point because of the matching skirts. The two went back and forth until a winner was finally decided.

As a result, I won an overwhelming victory.

The match finally ended, and we both plopped down on the sofa to rest. I was still breathing a little rapidly, probably because I hadn't played pool in a while.

On the other hand, Isshiki seemed to have suffered quite a blow; her shoulders slumped, and she looked somewhat listless… You still have a long way to go! (Note 22: A catchphrase of the character "Echizen Ryoma" from *The Prince of Tennis*.)

"...So, I won the match, right?"

I asked Isshiki for confirmation, and she nodded reluctantly.

"Well... let's just say the senior wins this time..."

Although Isshiki made several dirty moves during the match, he unexpectedly conceded defeat. If it were someone who was more competitive, they probably wouldn't have put down their racket until they won.

I'm not one to dwell on winning or losing, but the feeling of winning is certainly not bad, so a smile unconsciously crept onto my face. However, seeing everyone's dejected expressions, I suppressed the urge to burst into laughter.

"Then lunch is up to you."

I coughed to hide my smile and spoke in a casual tone. The next second, Isshiki lowered her head, her shoulders beginning to tremble. Huh…did I accidentally make her cry? Oh no, this is bad…

Just as I was panicking, I heard her low laughter.

"...Hehehe."

Looking closely, I saw Isshiki raise his head and smile at me.

“What, what happened?”

I asked him, and he put his hands on his hips, pointed at me with one finger, and made a smug expression.

"I did say 'I'll treat you if I beat my senior,' but I never said 'I'll treat you if my senior beats me.'"

What nonsense is this guy spouting now...? I stared at her in astonishment, trying to recall what I'd said before the match... Huh?

"...It really is true."

Indeed, Isshiki never said what she would do if I won... This move is not simple, I should learn it. I'll use this move next time I bet with Komachi. Just thinking about being disliked by Komachi again after so long makes me unable to suppress the excitement rising in my heart—come to think of it, Isshiki really goes to great lengths to be despicable, I'm completely defeated by her.

"I never intended for you to treat me, so it doesn't matter, but don't you think you're being a little too cunning...?"

Isshiki appeared completely unconcerned. However, a gentle smile did appear on his face.

She placed her hand on her chest, leaned forward slightly, and moved closer to my face, a hint of mischief in her eyes.

"A little cunning is what makes a girl."

"is that so……"

Despite being at a loss for words, I was inexplicably convinced. I vaguely recall a Mother Goose rhyme that goes something like this: "Girls are made of sugar, spice, and all that is good."

This statement couldn't be more fitting for Isshiki. Although I think the amount of perfume used on her was a bit excessive.

"...Whatever makes you happy. But you should know that this theory doesn't work for all guys. Especially the kind of thing you just did."

That's right, there are some guys in the world who are particularly obsessed with winning and losing. When playing cards with friends, they get angry and embarrassed when the other loses, and they will all point at him and say "So cool~" and then laugh.

However, I believe that Hayama and the others won't mind her attitude, and considering Isshiki's appearance and communication skills, most people wouldn't mind either. To be honest, even I don't mind!

Isshiki seemed to understand what I meant, and with a look of sudden realization, she quickly shook her hands from side to side.

"No, no, of course I wouldn't do that in front of Hayama-senpai. What if he dislikes me?"

"...I think Hayama actually prefers your method."

"Where did this senior get the information, real or fake?"

"There's no source of intelligence!"

Suddenly, Isshiki leaned her upper body closer to me, and I could only move my body slightly to the side. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and began to think.

"Then we can't trust it so easily... Maybe we shouldn't actually do it yet."

"You don't need to be too anxious, that guy hasn't..."

I was interrupted halfway through my sentence by Isshiki's movement as he leaned closer.

"So, for now, let's leave it at that—"

As Yise said this, she suddenly brought her lips close to my ear, as if she wanted to tell me a secret.

She uttered a sentence softly, full of sugar and spices.

"—You only do this to your senior."

"...That statement could also be interpreted as 'It doesn't matter if I hate you,' right...?"

I leaned back and answered. Isshiki laughed.

No matter how much sugar is sprinkled on top, a Tyrant pepper is still a Tyrant pepper. And jalapeño sauce doesn't change the fact that it's jalapeño sauce just because it's coated in sugar syrup.

Without beautiful things, nothing can exist.

× × ×

After moderate exercise, I started to feel hungry.

As we walked out of the bowling alley, Isshiki patted me on the shoulder.

"Is your senior hungry?"

"Yeah, a little. Let's go get something to eat."

"it is good."

I turned to look at Isshiki, and she smiled at me without saying a word, just keeping the smile on her face.

...Could it be that I finally have to bring up "that question"...?

I made up my mind and uttered the secret password:

"...What would you like to eat?"

"It will be all right!"

Here he comes! The guy who only answers "Anything is fine" when asked what he wants to eat!

I've heard that girls score boys' proposals based on their content. It's really pathetic to be a boy... But please allow me to say something here.

If a guy understands that he's not just being chosen by girls, but also choosing girls at the same time, that might be the secret to his success.

I want to share a message with everyone.

"When you gaze intently into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." (Nietzsche)

...Oh no, it's all because of that article I read a while ago, "Absolutely number one! Jianjian's 'successful' job application experience at a publishing house!" It suddenly popped into my head and made me inadvertently become an "elite"... I'd better pull myself together and face reality.

If it were the old me being asked that by Isshiki, I would have been so angry I'd transform into a Super Saiyan. But I'm different now. After going through many trials and tribulations, I'm much more mature now.

"So, shall we go for pasta? Or perhaps arrabbiata (Note 23: Spicy tomato sauce penne, a type of pasta)? Or maybe tagliata would be better?"

"Aren't they all just pasta...?"

"Tagliata is not Italian pasta."

As far as I can remember, tagliata is a dish made by slicing beef into thin slices.

Isshiki seemed displeased with my banter, his eyebrows twitched slightly, but he maintained a smile, which I greatly admired.

Even so, she was definitely furious inside, so she muttered a complaint under her breath:

"...I already knew, but my senior's personality is really bad."

"You're pretty much the same."

When I retorted, Isshiki put her index finger on her chin, tilted her head, and made a cute "I don't understand what you're saying" expression.

"People often say I have a great personality, right?"

To be able to say something like that without even blinking, one must have a very strong mind... Well, "strong mind" is definitely a good personality trait... Her inner strength might even be stronger than that of the Japanese national football team.

As I continued my stroll along the avenue, I kept thinking about good places to dine.

"If either is fine... how about 'Salia'?"

Isshiki shook her head and said, "No." Didn't you say anything was fine...? Looks like I'll have to guess her preferences.

I hereby announce the official start of the "Gourmet Guessing Game: Lunch of Iroha" special program. No elimination, no call-in, no call-out, everything is up to you.

"So, how about 'Jolly-Pasta'?"