Game Changer | Petalz 🌸🍃

Chapter XIII

Ugh… and then I’m surprised that Hana-chan is judging me.

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The combo of a shower, a jogging session, and another shower, does wonders and Sakura feels significantly better, her energy restored and headache gone. But as she’s sitting on her bed, drying her hair with a towel, her phone on the nightstand vibrates; the word Dad flashes briefly. And just like that, the queasiness is back.

She reaches for the phone and checks the message. But it’s the same curt order to meet him, the only difference being that the time is earlier - 5 pm instead of the usual 6 pm.

We wouldn’t want to have one normal day off , she thinks with reproach as she tosses the phone aside. At the same time, there’s a knock on the door. 

“Just a minute!” 

Realizing she’s just in her bathrobe, she jumps off the bed and puts on some t-shirt and shorts. She tries to fix her hair but since it’s still wet, there’s not much she can do about it.

When she opens, Kazuha’s smile greets her for the second time today.

“Hey, so I thought that since we have a day off, we could maybe hang out at the arcade?”

Right, the promise she made a week ago. She has completely forgotten about it.

“I’m so sorry, Zuha. I have this urgent issue that I have to take care of, today,” Sakura says, and it really pains her that she has to reject the girl’s invitation, again. 

She would love to go. It’s been years since she last went to the arcade, but on the other hand, she needs to know what her dad has to say about that last match. 

“Oh, I see. No problem.” Kazuha shakes her head dismissively, still smiling, but dejection is clear in her voice. She looks down for a moment before she meets Sakura’s eyes again. “Uhm, see you later then.” And she returns to her room.

Sakura closes the door and leans her forehead against it. “Fuck,” she mutters under her breath.

Here goes the first broken promise , she thinks, and wonders how many more will follow. 

  

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When Sakura arrives at the sports center, she’s surprised to see her dad standing in front of the building as if waiting for her. Normally, they always meet inside on the court so she starts thinking that maybe that’s the part when her dad announces his departure, disappointed by her recent performances.

But as she stands before him, his face emotionless and unreadable as usual, he says nothing and simply enters the building. She doesn’t bother asking him what that was just now; she knows she won’t get a satisfying answer anyway.

The training routine her dad has prepared for her today is surprisingly standard and easy. For once, he doesn’t expect her to perform the same grueling drill until she almost passes out. 

It’s strange because she thought that since it’s their first training in almost a week, he would prepare for her something much more demanding than this. As much as she’s grateful for his ‘mercy’, she doesn’t know what to think of it.

“I saw that you’ve reminded yourself how to score goals,” her dad says after he signals her the end of practice.

With her ball tucked under her arm, she approaches him and says, “I’ve never forgotten.”

Her dad clicks his tongue. “Debatable. Anyhow, I trust that you know that scoring the same amount of goals as her is still not enough. But at least, there is some progress.”