Chapter 271: Give Her a Shot

"Can I come?"

Sakurai Haruka was looking very aggressive, but of course, this momentum was not directed at Shimizumi.

Ichinose Shiki, who was sitting across the table, also vaguely felt that the attack was directed at him.

In fact, on the way to the stadium, Shimizu had already anticipated that such a scene would occur.

However, it is inevitable that this will happen.

From the very beginning, Sakurai Haruka and Ichinose Shiki didn't get along with each other. If you didn't know, you would think that they had a deep hatred for each other in the previous life, like some hatred for stealing each other's husbands.

Judging from her current appearance, Sakurai Haruka has probably already let out a sigh of relief.

And now is the best opportunity.

Although it seems that Sakurai Haruka is ready to rush up and fight with the opponent at any time from her momentum, as long as they don't really fight, there should be no problem in playing a ball on the table.

Moreover, they seem to be the same age, both one year older than Shimizu. Maybe if they play a few rounds of ball together, it can help improve their relationship.

So there was no particular reason for Shimizu to stop him, so he handed the racket in his hand to Sakurai Haruka and took two steps back.

"Eh? Is Miss Sakurai coming?"

"Any questions?"

Sakurai Haruka took the racket and stood in front of the table.

"It's okay for Miss Sakurai to come, but if we just play like this, it feels like something is missing."

"What's missing?" Sakurai Haruka asked.

"Well, if I win, Ms. Sakurai will treat Mr. Shimizu and me to dinner later, right?"

"Betting on dinner... I don't care."

Sakurai Haruka threw the ping-pong ball in her hand to Ichinose Shiki.

Although it was just a dinner, since they were going to have a competition, betting on something would surely liven up the atmosphere. Ichinose Shiki grabbed the ping-pong ball that bounced over from the table and raised the racket.

"Then it's decided. I'll start first - hey."

The ping-pong ball bounced weakly towards me, accompanied by Ichinose Shiki's weak shouts.

Sakurai Haruka also did not exert any additional force at the beginning, and swung the racket to hit the ping-pong ball in front of her back.

The ping-pong ball cleverly landed right in front of Ichinose Shiki and bounced to just the right height. Then she shouted "Hey" and hit the ball back.

Shimizu Mi sat down on the sofa behind Sakurai Haruka to watch the game.

At first glance, it looks like two girls are just playing table tennis.

However, one can sense an indescribable seriousness in their eyes.

The two girls played ping-pong against each other for quite a while.

Sakurai Haruka seemed to be testing the opponent, trying to hit the ball back to a position where Ichinose Shiki could easily receive it.

"Hey."

Every time Ichinose Shiki caught the ball, she would make a slight shout like this, and the ping-pong ball would continue to bounce back and forth on the table.

It seems that the two of them are not serious about it. They probably just want to enjoy the fun of table tennis. Just as Shimizu was thinking this, a strange light suddenly flashed in Ichinose Shiki's pupils.

She fixed her eyes on the ball floating in the air, took a step forward, raised the racket high, and then swung it hard.

"what!"

The ping-pong ball and Ichinose Shiki made a loud sound, drew a long parabola in the air, and then disappeared at the other end...

The ball clearly went out of bounds because she used too much force, so why was she so complacent and even smiling? There is no such thing as a home run in the rules of table tennis like in baseball.

Ichinose Shiki took small steps over to pick up the ping-pong ball that she had hit away, and continued to play against Sakurai Haruka.

This time it was Sakurai Haruka's turn to serve.

She took off her coat and threw it on the sofa, her feet making the floor creak, and she put on the serious attitude of a table tennis player.

Seeing this, Ichinose Shiki held the racket in his hand and said:
"Sakurai-senpai won't really use her full strength against me, right?"

"Full force? Isn't that kind of thing used to deal with sneaky cats like you?"

From this moment on, the atmosphere on the table became completely different from before, and Shimizu even smelled a hint of danger.

It's hard to imagine that they were just betting on a dinner.

Then, Sakurai Haruka aimed at the corner of Ichinose Shiki's table and served the ball with all her strength.

Although Ichinose Shiki complained, she had no intention of giving up. After taking a brief breath, she got into a position to catch the ball.

"Hey!"

Unfortunately, however, Ichinose Shiki's full-strength serve from Sakurai Haruka missed the target, and her skirt started to flutter.

Shimizu almost forgot that she was wearing a skirt today...

It's not that Shimizu was waiting to watch intentionally, but when watching others play ball, his attention will naturally follow the ball involuntarily, so when the ball passed by Ichinose Shiki, Shimizu was the first to notice her dancing skirt.

However, before he could see the scene under the skirt clearly, Sakurai Haruka's figure suddenly appeared in front of Shimizu, blocking his view.

Even though they won the game, Qing Shuijian seemed to be able to hear the sound of her gritting her teeth.

"Oh, sorry, it's a bit inconvenient to play basketball in a skirt..."

After picking up the ball, Ichinose Shiki covered the back of her skirt and trotted back.

Although this was just an accident, Sakurai Haruka seemed to think that the other party did it on purpose, so she showed an even stronger momentum than before.

However, Shimizu still hoped that she could slow down the speed of the ball, otherwise the scene just now would happen again.

After that, Sakurai Haruka won two more goals in a row, and then Ichinose Shiki finally won the first goal.

The score between the two is currently four to one.

Immediately afterwards, the serve fell into the hands of Ichinose Shiki again.

"Then it's my turn to serve."

Ichinose Shiki picked up the ping-pong ball and flicked it lightly on the table a few times, then assumed a serving position.

In fact, when playing table tennis, you don’t need to shout out the name of the skill loudly every time you use a skill like the protagonist in the anime to specifically remind the opponent.

However, after Ichinose Shiki finished speaking, he noticed something and began to look around, and finally his eyes fell on Shimizu Ken.

Qing Shuijian had a bad feeling.

Although distraction is the most taboo when playing basketball, it is obvious that Ichinose Shiki is planning something. Sakurai Haruka also immediately realized Ichinose Shiki's actions and turned back to look at Shimizu Mi who was sitting on the sofa behind him on the right.

"Then... Mr. Shimizu - watch this!"

As soon as Ichinose Shiki finished speaking, he suddenly swung his racket and hit the ball towards him.

Qing Shuijian wondered why his name was called, and then he saw the ping-pong ball flying towards him.

"Be careful……"

Sakurai Haruka immediately shifted his body's center of gravity towards Shimizumi's side, stretched out his racket, and prepared to block the ball.

However, somewhat surprisingly, the angle of the ping-pong ball seemed to deviate from what was expected.

The ball, which was originally thought to be flying towards Shimizu, subtly turned a little to the left after crossing the midfield net. The ball, which was originally slightly biased towards Shimizu, flew to the left in an instant.

The ping-pong ball landed lightly on the other side of Sakurai Haruka with an almost perfect trajectory, exactly opposite to the direction she was defending.

"..."

The ping-pong ball bounced a few times on the ground and then rolled away.

Ichinose Shiki stroked his chest and breathed a sigh of relief:

"Phew... Sorry, sorry, Miss Sakurai, although this is a bit cunning, but no matter what, I can't serve to Mr. Shimizu."

Indeed, Ichinose Shiki had no intention of serving to Shimizu Mi from the beginning, which is why Shimizu Mi sat on the sofa and did not dodge.

If Shimizu Mi had sensed that Ichinose Shiki had the intention of serving the ball to him, he would have stood up and dodged it long ago.

And if I remember correctly, the ball that Ichinose Shiki just used seemed to be an extremely difficult move called a spin ball.

However, judging from the turning angle of her ball, she should have only mastered it in the initial stage. The subsequent turning trajectory could be seen when the ball flew across half court. It was not difficult for Sakurai Haruka to defend this ball with her level.

That's why Ichinose Shiki deliberately stared at Shimizu Mi before serving, misleading Sakurai Haruka and making her think that she would serve in that direction, which caused Sakurai Haruka to be distracted and unable to defend.

Of course, although it feels a bit like taking advantage of troubled waters, for ordinary non-professional golfers, the level of this shot by Ichinose Shiki is already very good.

However, Sakurai Haruka looked a little unhappy.

What made her unhappy was probably not because Ichinose Shiki took advantage of the situation and scored a point, but because she almost thought the ball would fly towards Shimizu.

After Ichinose Shiki scored the second goal, Sakurai Haruka did not let up at all and almost gave her all in the second half, and the gap between the two scores began to gradually widen.

Obviously, the gap in strength cannot be made up by a few tricks.

The two of them asked Shimizu Mi to be the referee and help them calculate the scores, but basically only Sakurai Haruka's score kept jumping.

"It's the last ball."

It was Sakurai Haruka's turn to serve the last ball.

In this last ball, Sakurai Haruka was a little merciful in terms of speed, but chose a very tricky ball path, sending the ball to a position where it was difficult for Ichinose Shiki to receive the ball.

Ichinose Shiki hurriedly chased to the corner of the table, but the ping-pong ball still ruthlessly hit the edge of the table and bounced out with a crisp sound.

The two fought for nearly twenty minutes before the winner was finally decided.

Including this last goal, the score between Sakurai Haruka and Ichinose Shiki has reached eight to four. It can be said that Sakurai Haruka won an overwhelming victory without any suspense.

"As expected, I still can't defeat Miss Sakurai..."

Ichinose Shiki panted slightly, walked to the sofa and sat down, took out a handkerchief from her bag, and gently wiped the sweat.

Although Ichinose Shiki had just used some tricks to cheat, he unexpectedly admitted defeat. If it were someone else who refused to admit defeat, he would probably not put down the racket until he won.

Sakurai Haruka seemed to feel a lot better after defeating Ichinose Shiki, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously curled up slightly.

"Then dinner will depend on you."

"Sure, but can I choose the location?"

Sakurai Haruka shrugged and said it didn't matter.

In fact, for her, it doesn’t matter where she goes. What’s important is not where to eat, because that represents that she has obtained the fruits of victory, or something deeper.

"Mr. Shimizu, I'm really sorry for what happened just now."

Ichinose Shiki put his palms together and bowed slightly to Shimizumi about what had just happened.

To be honest, Shimizu didn't care much about it, and he wasn't that petty, so he said, "It's okay."

"But I still feel a little guilty. How about Mr. Shimizu do the same to me?"

Do it to her too?
No, there's no need for that.

"Then Mr. Shimizu, would you like to come and play for a while?"

After resting for a while, Ichinose Shiki gently swung the racket in his hand.

It's okay to play with her for a while.

Shimizu took the racket from Sakurai Haruka, who was gulping down water, and planned to play with Ichinose Shiki for a while.

It seemed that Ichinose Shiki wanted to regain the confidence that he had just lost from Shimizu Miyabi. He looked very motivated and let Shimizu Miyabi serve first.

Shimizu didn't hesitate and served the ball directly, and Ichinose Shiki reacted quickly to take the ball and hit it back.

Because they hadn't played for a long time, Shimizu was a little cautious at first, fearing that he would not be able to catch the ball, compared to Ichinose Shiki, who had just warmed up with Sakurai Haruka and was gradually becoming proficient in the movements. However, after a few rounds, he gradually got used to it and began to get the feel of it.

The score between the two was 6 to 5, with Shimizu temporarily leading by one point.

Because their strength was similar, they didn't feel too much pressure when fighting.

The only thing that distracted Shimizu Mi was the hem of Ichinose Shiki's skirt, which could flutter at any time. If he kept staring at the ball, he would be distracted by the fluttering skirt from time to time, but if he didn't stare at the skirt, he wouldn't be able to judge the trajectory of the ball.

Because of this reason, Shimizu Mi made several mistakes, which led to the score being tied. Maybe Sakurai Haruka was right, and this was one of the opponent's strategies, which was really despicable.

After playing the next two balls and each of them scored a point, since Ichinose Shiki had just played a game with Sakurai Haruka and her physical strength had not yet fully recovered, they decided to rely on the next and last ball to decide the winner.

Facing the ball served by Ichinose Shiki, Shimizu Michi calmly moved in front of the ping-pong ball, seized the opportunity, and swung the racket backhand to send the ball back.

Because the angle of the ball was almost at the edge of the table, Ichinose Shiki unfortunately failed to catch it. The ping-pong ball hit the edge of the table, making a sound and bounced out.

Although a point was lost due to Ichinose Shiki's skirt, the winner was finally decided because Shimizu won the last ball.

As a result, Ichinose Shiki didn't win against anyone, but she didn't get depressed. Instead, she immediately found other interesting things.

"Mr. Shimizu, go play that for a while."

The direction that Ichinose Shiki pointed to was the bowling area next door. Because they bought tickets for two hours at one time, and only half of the time had passed, although it was all paid for by Ichinose Shiki, it still felt a bit of a waste.

So Shimizu decided to play for a while longer.

(End of this chapter)