01x13 - I Want a Back-and-Forth Rally

[bunniefuu]

BLUE BOX

EPISODE 13
I WANT A BACK-AND-FORTH RALLY

How are you feeling?

Good.

You'll be gone until next week, right?

If we win.

Good luck! Don't get hurt.

Thank you.

I'm off, then.

CHINATSU
NATIONALS

The stars are still out.

Chinatsu Senpai!

Taiki.

You forgot this.

- Thank you.
- No problem.

I should say something.

"Good luck" doesn't seem like enough.

"The other team are high schoolers,
same as you!"

No, that feels weak.

Your ankle bracelet hasn't broken yet.

Yeah, it hasn't.

The wish I made was to go to nationals.

Then how about making another wish?

Another one?

It hasn't broken, so it should work.

May Chinatsu Senpai stay safe

while showcasing the fruits of her labor

and ultimately emerge victorious.

That's a lot for one bracelet.

It managed to get you to nationals
without breaking.

This should be fine.

I'm sending it power!

I'm not sensing any.

Give it to me directly.

Go get 'em!

Thanks.

If you run out of power,
I'll send you more from here.

You're kind of a flirt.

Okay, I should get going.

Take care.

I don't mean to be rude,

but I don't wanna hear that from you!

You're both guilty
from where I'm standing.

The one asking for a high-five
is clearly the flirt.

You're no slouch yourself.

By the way,

I don't know if this has anything to do
with what Chinatsu Senpai said,

but Imada from the girls' basketball team
knows you and Chono went to the fireworks.

So Chinatsu Senpai probably knows too.

I mean, it's pretty much guaranteed
since they were there together.

What?

Wait, hold on.

I'm going in a group.

That makes it sound like I was lying!

So, in Chinatsu Senpai's mind,

I'm the kind of guy who'd lie
about going to see fireworks with a girl.

I mean, I did go with a girl, but still!

He froze.

I'm going to practice.

You bounced back quick.

She might think you were on a date.

I can't blame her for that.

I'll apologize for telling her
what ended up being a lie.

But I have more important things
to worry about.

So does Chinatsu Senpai.

I doubt she cares.

That kinda sucks too.

Sorry.

Okay, so I do that, then that...

Hina's locked in too.

It's the nationals, after all.

He's pretty worked up as well.

Come on, don't you think it's messed up?

Where the nationals are held.

Basketball is in Kyushu,
volleyball is in Tohoku,

and rhythmic gymnastics is in Kansai,

but badminton is in
the next prefecture over.

But that means we can go cheer you on.

That's not the point.

Sorry.

I want to eat good food
and soak in hot springs.

Haryu's on edge. He loves traveling.

It's because nationals
are three days away.

What's amazing is that
he still keeps his cool on the court.

Who am I facing next?

I'll play!

I'm not going easy on you.

Okay.

NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
BADMINTON TOURNAMENT

There's so many people here.

They all made it to nationals.

That's Yusa from Sajikawa.

The two slots to nationals next year

will go to Yusa and Haryu.

Taiki Inomata?

Karen!

Of course, she's here
to cheer on Haryu Senpai.

Perfect timing.

I knew she had a game today,

so I'm talking to Chii right now.

Want a turn?

I do want to talk to her.

Hello?

Sorry, was it disconnected?

She totally did that on purpose!

She really is Haryu Senpai's girlfriend.

Sorry, I know you probably wanted
to talk to your crush.

It's fine.

Why did you say "crush"?

Your reaction
is all the confirmation I needed.

How long have you liked her?

Before you started living together?
Or after?

You even know that we're living together?

Chinatsu told me.

Must be hard for you,
living with your crush.

I wouldn't call it hard...

Right.

She can tell Karen things she can't share
with her classmates.

So, how's it been?
Is Chii a good housemate?

She's almost too considerate.

She's really careful
with everything in the house,

and she always helps clean too.

Does she sometimes stare off into space?

She does.

And then when you start eating snacks,

she stares at you instead?

She communicates a lot with her eyes.

It almost feels like
time slows down around her.

I don't hate it.

Okay, I can see how she can live with him.

You actually came?

What's that supposed to mean?

I know how busy you are.

I made sure I was free for this.

It's good motivation, isn't it?

Having your cute girlfriend
cheering you on.

Cute and humble.

Is your opponent good?

About the same as me.

Did you warm up?

I was about to.

You better win.

I will.

This way?

Yes, it's court five.

Sorry, I need to reply to work real quick.

Okay.

Wow.

You and Haryu Senpai

are able to juggle work,
badminton, and your relationship.

Are you thinking about how to handle that
if you and Chii start dating?

I'm not talking about me!

It's not that impressive.

We struggled at first,

thinking it was better
to focus on just one thing too.

I've known Kengo since the fifth grade.

I started having feelings
for him in junior high,

but I figured we both had our own goals.

I sensed he felt the same way.

But as we hung out and talked
on the phone from time to time,

we started wondering what we even were.

Then one day, our relationship
took a giant step forward.

She's started narrating.

I was really down about work one day,

and I was talking to Kengo
about it over the phone.

After we hung up,
he texted me a while later.

KENGO HARYU
CAN YOU COME OUT?

Kengo!

What are you doing here?

I went out for a run,
so I thought I'd bring you this.

What is it?

My journal from second grade.

You're the first to see it.

Journal?

TODAY I SMASHED ICE WITH MY HEAD

It's totally stupid.
Makes for a good read.

Read it before bed
and laugh at what an idiot I was.

Knowing you,

you were going to overthink things
and not be able to sleep.

I'll help you
figure out a plan in the morning.

You really are stupid.

Told you.

In particular, I'd recommend...

With you doing something like this,

all I'll be able to think about is you.

Then I confessed my feelings for him.

I couldn't hold back anymore.

She's on an Olympic level too.

A gold medalist!

We talked it over,

and he was really torn at first.

Ultimately, we decided we would break up

if either of us started lagging
in our careers.

We couldn't go back to how things were
once we knew we liked each other.

And I couldn't keep imagining
how things might go wrong

without actually giving it a shot.

Really, we're still experimenting.

Let's go!

You've got this!

I always thought Haryu Senpai and Karen

were just natural-born winners.

EIMEI

WAKABAYASHI HIGH

- Nice one!
- Go, go, go!

Yeah, Haryu!

First game won by...

Nice!

I have no idea
what Chinatsu Senpai's thinking.

And I haven't told her
what I'm thinking either.

Good job making it this far.

I can't lose until I face you.

It's just too bad it'll be
in the third round and not the finals.

By the way,

I heard you had an interesting chat
with one of our first-years.

About who would be the two
to make it here next year.

Are you not satisfied with me and Taiki?

The venue won't be here next year.

This guy's clueless.

I have no complaints at all.

The winner gets to go, that's all.

But...

Haryu.

If you don't take a game off me today,

you might not make it back next year.

What are you talking about?

I'm here to win.

Attention please.

Hyodo from Sajikawa High School

and Haryu from Eimei High School,

please report to court nine.

That's what I'm talking about, Haryu.

You could've scored if you were
one step faster on the attack.

But you get too cautious
and start playing defensively.

You've let me score this way
dozens of times already.

You're used to losing.

He's down one game.

He can still win, right?

Games are played to 21
in a best-of-three format.

This is bad.

Hyodo's controlling the pace.

It's like a flashback
to the prefectural qualifiers.

She looks so worried.

She's not usually like that.

GRADE 5 CLASS 2 SCHEDULE

The first time I met Karen
was in the fifth grade.

Haryu.

Can you help us with math after school?

Sorry, I have swimming on Wednesdays.

My parents enrolled me
in a bunch of lessons.

Piano on Monday. Swimming on Wednesday.

Cram school on Saturday.

I also did calligraphy for a while.

Then one day,

my dad took me to a badminton club
where I got totally hooked.

But that's another story.

SWIMMING SCHOOL

I was decent at most things I tried,

and I thought that skillfulness
was my greatest strength.

Then I met Karen.

Please welcome our newest classmate,

Karen Moriya.

Nice to meet you!

- So cute.
- She's so grown-up.

Such long legs. She's beautiful!

- Let's get started.
- Okay.

Anybody could see she was beautiful.

But nobody there
would fall in love with her.

Moriya?

Put your feet down! That's your hand!

Oxygen never tasted so good.

Hey.

Why are you even taking swimming lessons?

You're clearly bad at it.

You'll just embarrass yourself.

What the heck!

Then teach me!

If you feel sorry for me
for embarrassing myself,

then you should teach me
since you know how.

That's why I'm taking lessons.

I'm not...

I have to learn how to swim.

It's my dream
to go swimming with dolphins.

That's why you're learning?

I also don't want to say
that I'm bad at something

until I'm satisfied
that I gave it a real try.

Just because I'm bad at it right now

doesn't mean the future me
will be bad at it too.

In the end,

Karen could swim a 50-meter freestyle
by the time she quit lessons.

She made our coach cry.

And while we went to different schools,
we lived near each other.

We started hanging out.

Yo.

What're you doing here?

I heard you won your badminton tournament,

so I thought we should celebrate.

We always told each other
about our lives, motivating each other.

Even when I wanted more,

I kept making excuses
about not getting in her way.

That's why...

I love you, Kengo.

...it made my heart ache.

Standing there smelling her shampoo,

thinking about how silly it was
that despite how much I cared about her,

I never told her how I felt
just because I was embarrassed.

I felt pathetic.

She was always the cool one.

Just like with swimming,

she always chooses to challenge herself
rather than be afraid or embarrassed.

She's amazing.

This is my chance
to show her what I'm made of!

He's catching up!

Go!

Let's go, Haryu Senpai!

Use your feet!

Go!

He won a game back!

I can do this.

I still have a chance.

Get in there!

I can feel my temperature rising.

My legs still work.

Senpai!

I can hear their cheers.

I'm feeling good.

I'm still making good decisions.

And yet...

I can't close his three-point lead.

I need to concentrate more.
Watch him carefully.

I took a game off of him.

He's not that much better than me.

Don't stop, keep reacting.

Then I can reach him.

I can reach him.

I can reach him!

Game, set!

The winner is Hyodo from Sajikawa High.

Damn it.

He still had that smash in the tank?

How can I compete with that?

Playing against you these past two years

has been fun.

Thank you very much.

The one thing about badminton
is that the matches go by so fast.

Yeah, it's over before you know it.

I'm gonna go for a run.

After all that moving around?

Yeah. Hold this for me.

I'm sure it's obvious by now,

but nothing motivates me more
than watching someone work hard.

I agree.

You work hard too, Inomata.

I will.

In badminton and in love.

You won't tell her how you feel?

You're already ahead of most couples
since you're living together.

That's what makes it hard to tell her.

If she rejects me, I'd have put her
in an uncomfortable position.

She's already being considerate enough
in her day-to-day life.

But you like her, right?

Yes.

Like you want to date her, right?

Yes.

Then isn't it creepy living with her
when you have these ulterior motives?

I didn't think of that!

I do look at her a lot.

And smell her when she passes.

That sounds so creepy now!

Everyone's overthinking things.

It's nice to consider
how the other person feels,

but in the end,

that's just how
the Chii in your head feels.

Sometimes it's important
not to think about anything.

Anyway, at this rate,

you'll be hitting the ball
against the wall forever.

Are you okay with that?

I want a back-and-forth rally.

Good. Keep your chin up.

Welcome back.

What's up? You heading out?

I need to make my train.

Thanks for coming.

It was more fun than I was expecting.

This might be insensitive to ask,

but is it hard for a second-year
to get any further?

I guess so.

Most of the others are third-years,
but I held my own.

I see.

Well, I should get going.

Karen.

Next time,

I'll win more.

Yeah.

You smell like sweat.

Hey.

All right, go watch
the other matches and study.

Yeah, get home safe.

If you don't, I'm reducing
our number of dates.

Okay, okay.

You're the one who'd hate that more.

What court is Hoshino High playing on?

Court 11.

Come on, Taiki. Let's check it out.

Okay!

Why does he smell good?