The Basketball-Club Middle School Girl Is Sometimes Weird

After finishing my university classes.

Today I only had second and third period, so it was a little after three.

I still had time before my shift, and to do my usual Friday routine, I went home first and then headed to a nearby park.

Although the hottest part of the day had passed, it was still quite hot.

I pulled a towel from my black backpack with blue stripes and lightly wiped away my sweat.

I was almost at my destination.

"All right. Here we are."

In one corner of the park, where the greenery was lush and the air was fresh,

stood a lone basketball hoop.

"One downside of this world is that it's not easy to casually play sports..."

I'd liked sports reasonably well even before I was reincarnated.

I liked being active, and I'd even taken basketball and baseball fairly seriously.

So even after coming here, I sometimes wanted to play, but...

"The community courts are full of women, so it's kind of hard to go in... And I'm not even sure the clubs actually play sports..."

I once thought about asking to visit the badminton club Koumi belonged to, but for some reason, Koumi strongly told me I was better off not going.

I didn't have any friends at university closer to me than her, and if she told me not to go, I had no choice but to listen.

"Well, I can play here without worrying about that, and best of all, there aren't many people."

This park often had people already using it on weekends, but on weekdays, it was quiet.

I set my backpack on a bench and took out my basketball.

I bounced it on the ground two or three times to check whether it had lost any air.

"...All right."

I'd made sure to pump it up at home, so it seemed fine.

I was about to take my first shot of the day at the hoop... when—

"H-hey, mister!"

"Huh?"

I was just getting into the form—"left hand as a guide"—but I reacted to the cute voice calling from behind and looked over.

There stood a girl with a ball tucked under her arm, looking every bit like she'd come to play basketball.

Short black hair. A pretty blue flower hairpin stood out beautifully against it.

Her black athletic shirt had pink stripes that gave it a cute, girlish touch.

Though she only came up to about my chest, she stood there adorably, trying her best to look down at me.

"T-today, I'm going to win! And then... I'll make you give up this spot!"

"Well, look who's here, shorty."

"I'm not a shorty! Yuka's in middle school now!"

My history with this little one—Maeda Yuka—went back to around when I was first reincarnated.

I got desperate to play basketball, bought a ball, and started looking for somewhere nearby where I could play. That's how I found this place.

After that, I started coming here often. Apparently, Yuka had been playing basketball here in the evenings for quite some time, so our schedules began to overlap more and more.

At first, our interactions consisted of me unilaterally saying things like, "You can use it if you want; I'm heading home." But one day, she came up and asked, "Would you like to play basketball together?" and I think we've gotten a lot closer since then.

And at some point, for some reason, it turned into an arrangement where whoever won the match got ownership of the spot.

This is a public facility, though.

"T-today, I'm getting this spot back...!"

Still, I didn't dislike this back-and-forth with her.

"Hahaha! Have you ever beaten me even once, young lady?"

"T-today, I have a secret strategy!"

The first time we met, she was in sixth grade. Now she's in her first year of middle school.

There was no way I'd lose to her, a first-year college student.

Besides, as long as basketball had the absolute barrier of height, it would be difficult for Yuka to beat me in the first place.

But...

(This girl is seriously insanely good...)

I didn't really know what the standard was in this world, but Yuka was incredibly good at basketball.

This was a world where women's pro sports seemed to be more popular, so maybe people here thought women were better at sports—but even setting that aside, this girl was way too good.

Right now, I was using the absurdly unfair advantage of my height to eke out wins, but once Yuka finished growing and reached around average height, who knew?

Actually, I'd probably lose.

"W-why are you spacing out?! We're, w-we're playing one-on-one, right?"

Yuka often took a stance that was hard to classify as either bold or timid. She probably wasn't sure how to act around an older guy. Well, that was part of what made her cute.

"Sure. But make sure you warm up properly, okay? You could get hurt."

"O-of course. I already finished."

"Huh? You just got here, didn't you...?"

I wondered where on earth she could have warmed up.

"Never mind that, l-let's play!!"

She took the ball she'd brought and bounce-passed it over to me.

At the same time, she took a defensive stance. Apparently, I was starting on offense.

The ball was, naturally, sized to suit Yuka.

An adult-sized one would be a little too big for a middle-school girl.

"You're rushing me... Well, here I go."

I took the ball and closed the distance to Yuka with a dribble. Even with a slightly smaller ball, I had no trouble handling it.

I immediately cut in to Yuka's left.

"I won't let you through...!"

What was amazing about her was her agility.

I headed left, and she swiftly moved right in front of me, blocking my path.

"That's far enough for you!"

"Ah!"

But I knew she could keep up with me this much.

We'd played one-on-one plenty of times, after all.

I chose to accelerate suddenly and then stop just as abruptly. Then I went into my shooting motion and sank a mid-range shot.

"All right, that's the first point... Hm? Yuka?"

I picked up the ball after it went through the hoop and was about to pass it back to Yuka when I saw her frozen in place.

Now that I thought about it, I'd taken a jump shot right in front of her, so I thought she'd at least jump to try and block it, even if she couldn't stop me. But it didn't look like she'd made any move at all.

"...What's wrong?"

"Huh..."

Her face seemed a little red. Hm? Was she feeling sick?

"Hey, your face is red. Could you have heatstroke? Want to rest on the bench?"

"A-ah?! No, no! I'm fine! H-hurry up and give me the ball! I'll tie it up right away!"

Yuka hurried back to the starting point with quick little steps. What on earth was that about?

I bounce-passed the ball to Yuka, and this time I took the defensive position.

If I let my guard down, she'd really get past me with ease, so I lowered my stance and prepared for her drive.

"Here I come...!"

No sooner had Yuka said that than she cut sharply in toward my left side.

It was her signature drive toward her dominant hand.

"I know that one."

I blocked her path without hesitation. I'd seen Yuka's favorite patterns plenty of times.

But...

From that right-handed drive, Yuka suddenly crossed over... shifting her weight to her left.

(She's fast... But I know this one too!)

This was one of the techniques Yuka used when she couldn't get past someone on the first try. The crossover.

Since it suddenly shifted her weight to the opposite side, it was quite difficult to react to if you hadn't seen it before.

But I'd seen this one too.

"That's just what I'd expect from you, mister...!"

But today's Yuka had something beyond that.

"What...?!"

After changing direction with the crossover, Yuka had already turned her back to me.

(A roll!)

A technique for getting past your opponent by turning with your back toward them... a roll.

Yuka was supposed to slip past me in an instant with that quickness—

"Ah...!"

Maybe she really hadn't warmed up enough after all.

As Yuka tried to roll, her feet tangled, throwing her off balance.

"...There!"

I have to say, my reflexes were pretty good.

I lunged in from the side and caught Yuka as she was about to fall, cushioning her with my body before she hit the ground and protecting her from the impact.

My vision spun, and I squeezed my eyes shut.

My face twisted at the heavy impact against my back, but only for a moment.

"Ow... Are you okay, Yuka?"

"..."

The only sound was the ball bouncing as it rolled toward the hoop.

"Yuka...?"

The position we were in was really not good.

Yuka was completely on top of me.

...She smells nice.

Crap! This makes me look like some perverted criminal who goes after little girls!!

"Hawa..."

"...Hawa?"

She was light, so it wasn't hard to support her, but it was getting to the point where she needed to get off me... when Yuka finally reacted.

"Hawawawawawa!"

"Hey, what's wrong?!"

Yuka's face turned bright red, and then she started acting like some kind of short-circuiting electronic device.

Still on top of me.

"What the heck..."

With no other choice, I carried Yuka on my back over to the bench in the shade of a tree.

I laid her on her back and folded up a towel to use as a pillow.

Looking at her like this, she really did have lovely features. Her eyelashes were long, and her fine, smooth skin looked fresh and dewy.

She still looked more like a child for now, but she seemed like she might grow into an incredible beauty.

"...I guess I'll shoot around."

I fanned her with the plastic desk mat from my backpack for a while. Eventually, the redness in her face went away, so I decided to go shoot around by myself.