A Popular Girl Confessed to Me, the Loner—Thinking It Was a Prank, I Tried to Scare Her Off... But She Was Actually Serious. - Chapter 23: Deciding Events for the Ball Game Tournament

During morning homeroom, our teacher stood in front of the blackboard and taped up a flyer, sounding unusually pumped.

“Next Friday is the ball game tournament! So today, during HR, we’ll be dividing into teams and submitting your event preferences!”

The classroom instantly buzzed with excitement.

Suzu let out an excited “Wooooh!” like a sports commentator. Hiyori and Amane leaned forward in their seats, laughing.

“Alright, dodgeball’s a no-brainer! I love throwing stuff!”

“You’re more likely to get hit than to hit someone, Suzu.”

“Shut it! What about you, Manabe-cchi? What’re you doing?”

Suddenly pulled into the conversation, I turned around. The topic had clearly shifted to “Who’s entering which event?”

We were handed survey sheets asking us to list our top choices.

The events were: Soccer, Basketball, Dodgeball, Table Tennis, and Volleyball.

(Soccer? Too much running. Out.

Basketball? Way too many extroverts. Pass.

Volleyball? Involves jumping. Nope.

Dodgeball? Way too flashy. Death.)

That left me with just one option…

“…Table tennis, I guess.”

“Eh? You play table tennis, Masato?” Hiyori looked at me curiously.

“Well… just a little.”

“Just a little”—technically true.

In middle school, I was in the table tennis club for three years. Even made it to the Tokyo prefectural tournament once. But that was the past. No need to talk about it now. Not like it matters.

At our school, table tennis is done solo—no teams. Some weird tradition.

Honestly, I’d rather do a solo event where I won’t drag anyone down than screw up a team event.

“Hmm, Masato playing table tennis… kinda unexpected,” Hiyori said.

“What’s unexpected?”

“Just seems like you’d be quiet and emotionless while smashing shots.”

“I do move, you know.”

Hiyori let out a giggle.

“But I’m kinda looking forward to it. Right, Suzu?”

“Yeah, seriously! Total plot twist! I wanna see Manabe-cchi go smash! Baaam!”

“Please stop talking like that…”

***

During break, people started figuring out the final teams for each sport.

Predictably, the basketball slots were filled by the extrovert trio: Kurokawa, Nishina, and Soma.

“You picked table tennis, huh, Manabe?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll hype up the crowd during basketball. If our games don’t overlap, we’ll come watch you,” Soma said casually.

“…Uh, sure.”

I didn’t really know how to say no to their easygoing attitude. Nishina laughed.

“Masato, maybe you’re more athletic than you let on?”

“I dunno. I think I’m just average.”

“That’s the scariest kind of player,” Kurokawa grinned.

(Stop it. Don’t jinx this with a ‘hidden powerhouse’ flag.)

I sighed to myself.

***

That afternoon during HR, team assignments were announced.

I was officially representing our class in the boys’ singles table tennis match.

It was a 1-on-1, class-versus-class format. No team games this year due to the number of students.

Hiyori ended up on the girls’ dodgeball team, along with Suzu, Amane, and Mei.

“Girls’ dodgeball is gonna get wild…”

“Will you cheer for us?” Hiyori asked.

“…Yeah.”

She smiled, clearly pleased.

There’s just something about her smile that makes me want to say yes to anything she asks. It’s kind of a problem.

***

The next day in PE class, the teacher shouted from the field:

“We’re doing a light practice today to prep for next week’s tournament!”

Dodgeball teams went to the court, the basketball group headed for the gym, and the table tennis crew made their way behind the school to the equipment shack—a worn-down prefab building used as the table tennis club’s practice room.

Sliding open the heavy door, I found the place deserted. Just one old, scuffed-up table, a net, and piles of paddles and balls.

“…Man, this takes me back.”

The moment I picked up a paddle, my body instinctively fell into proper form.

It remembered everything—the grip, the timing, the feeling of a clean hit.

Something about that stirred a strange feeling in my chest. A flicker of who I used to be.

(Not that it matters now. No one knows.

As long as I win quietly, that’s enough.)

***

After school that day, I was heading to the shoe lockers alone—Hiyori had gone to club activities—when I happened to hear voices behind me.

It was Suzu and Amane.

“Apparently, table tennis is way deeper than it looks,” Suzu said.

“Yeah. What if Masato’s actually super good?”

“Then boom—Hiyori’s falling even harder for him~ ♡”

They hadn’t noticed me. I didn’t turn around, just opened my locker and kept moving.

But my ears were burning.

***

That night, in Hiyori’s room—

Still in her school uniform, she lay on her bed, phone in hand.

“Table tennis, huh… I’ve never really watched a full match before…”

She tapped through search results on TouTube, then tapped a video: “Table Tennis World Finals.”

“If Masato’s playing… maybe I’ll get into it.”

Her soft voice floated quietly in her room, so low no one else could hear.