I Became Friends with the Second Cutest Girl in My Class

T/N: If you're wondering, this arc ends on chapter 154.

The referee blew the whistle, signaling the beginning of the second half.

Similar to the first half, Umi quickly marked Arae-san who received the ball from her teammate.

“…Hello, sorry to bother you again.”

“You’re so persistent.”

“Yes, I am a somewhat persistent person.”

During the first half, they double-teamed Arae-san, but now, they added a third defender.

Since they pulled three people to defend her, the other two members had to deal with four people from Arae-san’s team, but since Arae-san never passed the ball to anyone except her single follower on her team, the strategy seemed feasible.

Like in the previous half, Nakamura-san and Umi clung to Arae-san, the new defender was standing by behind them, probably to make sure that Arae-san wouldn’t be able to catch them off guard with a feint again.

Looking at this situation, no matter how amazing of a player Arae-san was, there was no way that she could get out of this easily.

“Tch… Get away from me!…”

“…Oof.”

She tried to force her way through, but she used too much force and Umi fell down. The referee declared that as a foul.

Arae-san clicked her tongue for the umpteenth time after hearing the referee’s whistle.

“Ouchie…”

“Are you okay, Asanagi-chan?”

“I’m fine, I just lost my balance.”

Umi stood up with Nakamura-san’s help. I was worried for a second there since she made a loud sound when she fell down, but it didn’t seem like she was hurt anywhere.

Since there were no reserve members, they wouldn’t kick you off the court no matter how many fouls you made. Instead, they’ll give the opposing team a free throw every five fouls you made.

During the first half, class 10 made three fouls in total (Arae-san’s fouls) and this would be the fourth foul. Umi would definitely take the free throw, so it was pretty much a guaranteed point if she fouled again.

In this situation, Arae-san had to play more cautiously. Instead of trying to break through, she would probably try to shoot from the three-point line instead.

Of course, shooting from that far away would definitely lower her chance to score.

“!”

“Nakamura-san, please!”

“Here I go!”

After the fourth foul, Umi, probably thinking that Arae-san wouldn’t try to force her way again, told Nakamura-san to get the rebound.

Amami-san moved to hinder her, but there was only so much she could do against the taller Nakamura-san.

Then, a petite girl quickly ran toward class 10’s basket. I think her name was… Shichino-san? She calmly took the ball from Nakamura-san and scored, creating a gap between the two teams’ scores.

“Don’t worry, Arae-san. I’ll do my best to get the ball for you next time, you should only concentrate on shooting.”

“…Noisy… I know what I’m doing…”

Five minutes minutes into the second half, Arae-san’s forehead was covered in sweat. It seemed like her stamina hadn’t completely recovered yet.

Slowly, the point difference between the two teams got even wider, meanwhile Arae-san’s state got worse.

Of course, Umi didn’t hold back because of this. She fully intended to break her down completely.

“Arae, foul.”

“What? I didn’t push her!”

“You made contact with her and I saw you leaning over. That’s a foul.”

“Ugh…”

I wasn’t close enough to see what happened, but the moment Arae-san applied a little force forward, Umi lost her balance and fell.

…She should be able to handle that much force though?

Got you…

I saw Umi mouthed those words before sticking her tongue out.

It was up for debate whether her move was smart or cowardly, but all that mattered was it was enough to frustrated Arae-san.

Since this was the fifth foul, the referee gave two free throws to class 11.

“…Alright!”

Umi scored both shots as expected and the gap was now in the double digits.

“Just because you can’t win, you have to resort to small tricks like this? Amazing, it really shows how pitiful of a person you are…”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Umi answered Arae-san’s poisonous words with a relaxed attitude, probably because it was a fact that her team was ahead.

…Still, a pitiful person? Has she ever looked in the mirror?

“It’s fine, Arae-san, there’s still time! If we start attacking together–”

“…Oi…”

“Hm? What is it?”

“I’ve told you that I don’t need that sh*t, right?!”

Arae-san raised her voice before slamming down the ball from Amami-san’s hand.

Her voice echoed through the gym, even the girls who were playing volleyball looked over to the basketball court because of it.

“…Umi…”

“Got it.”

I called out to Umi and moved closer to them so I could stop them immediately if something happened.

Both of them were probably frustrated at how things were going, not to mention the tension between the two of them at the moment. But still, lashing out in front of the teachers like this wasn’t a good idea.

The teacher went to the scene not long after, but Amami-san just smiled at them.

“It’s okay, Sensei, this isn’t a big deal.”

“But, Amami…”

“Everything is fine, Sensei. Just treat this as a child throwing a tantrum.”

Said Amami-san with a smile. Her words were sharp though.

She really was frustrated, huh?

Well, of course she would be, she was a normal human being, she had emotions too.

“Huh, I thought you’ll cry to your friends about this, so is this your true nature?”

“I’ve always been like this, I just happened to have a higher tolerance toward bulls**t than my friends…”

This was probably the second time I’ve seen Amami-san’s anger. Last year’s lottery incident was the first time and it had already turned into a distant memory for me. But it seemed like she was even angrier than back then.

“Arae-san, can’t you see how childish you are right now? You’re acting stubborn and lashing out at people for no reason, causing trouble to those around you. If that isn’t childish, then what is? You called Umi pitiful, but have you looked at yourself in the mirror?”

“Huh?!”

“I don’t know why you hate me in the first place and I honestly don’t care. You could hate me all you want, I don’t give a sh*t. But, if you hate me then, just hate me. Why are you bringing other people into this, huh?”

“…”

Arae-san kept her silence, probably taken aback by Amami-san’s sudden outburst.

Actually, Umi was the same.

“…S-Sorry, I got a bit emotional… The thing is, I could keep calm because my friends were the ones who got angry for me, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have any feelings…”

“…Shut it, I’m sick of hearing you talking. Just stop treating me as your friend, we just happened to be in the same class–”

“I’m not treating you as a friend… We aren’t friends, but we are still teammates. Teammates help each other out, it’s not a hard concept to understand, right?”

“…The people who’ll just slow me down don’t deserve to be called teammates…”

“Huh?”

Everyone who was nearby heard that mutter came from Arae-san’s mouth.

Her overbearing profile turned weak for a second there.

“…Whatever… I’m tired… Sorry, Sensei, I don’t feel so good… I’m going to take a break.”

When she realized what she said, Arae-san ran toward the direction of the girls’ changing room.

“Sorry, Sensei, we wasted too much time. I think it should be okay to start the next match immediately, let’s just say that we lost this game… We’re going to cool our heads for a bit…”

Then Amami-san apologized to the rest of her teammates with a weak smile before going straight to the water fountain outside.

The result of the match was class 11’s victory. Their strategy worked out well and technically won them the match, but Umi seemed unsatisfied.

“Where are you going, Asanagi-chan? We have to record the scores and clean up after this…”

“Sorry, Nakamura-san, I’m a little thirsty…”

“Got it, just leave the clean-up to us then. Amami-chan is your best friend, right? Go comfort her~”

“Mhm… Let’s go, Maki…”

“Mm.”

Both of us then left the gym to console the depressed Amami-san.

Fuel my gacha addiction please