Chapter 430.


    <strong>Chapter 430. Soul Exchange. (2/7)</strong>


    <span style="font-weight:400">I rose to my feet and sized up the tree again.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’lle down now.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t, I refuse to let a tree beat me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Seeing it somehow brought back memories of the yers on defense raising their hands up high in the air in front of me.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s just a tree, what’s the big deal if you lose to a tree?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s not a big deal, but I just always hated to lose back then. The bitter feeling of defeat was frustrating.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Losing to who?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“The developmental team lost to every other team they yed against.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Seriously? You didn’t win once?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No. Not even once.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What position did you y?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“The forward positions and point guard.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, doesn’t that mean you were good at scoring?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“If it was one-on-one, yes. But in official games, it waspletely different.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I started climbing while I continued to talk.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Be careful.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’ll be fine.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“If you say so.” Rosa looked up from the ground and continued to swing her feet back and forth while staring into the distance while I continued with my story.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Haaaah. Whenever I passed the ball to teammates back then... they’d never be able to score despite being wide open with no one even close to them. We could gain the lead in the beginning if I forgot about teamwork and focused on scoring myself, but when the other team realized I was the only one who could score points, they’d double or triple-team me. It sucked.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I made it to the first branch, reached out, and grabbed it without losing my grip on the belt this time.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Our team couldn’t even execute a proper pick and roll when I called for it. As for any ys after that, it was a mess. Nobody even tried. Everyone would ck off and no one pulled their weight. If there was a breakaway, I would be the only one who’d run full speed with everything I had to catch up and y defense or score. I’d often find myself guarding multiple yers at once because none of my teammates could keep up. There was no chemistry at all, but I guess my personality didn’t help much with that.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I climbed one branch after another as I recounted all the shitty experiences I had with basketball in middle school.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“At some point, I started questioning what I was even trying so hard for. What was the point? When my second year in middle school came around, I was put on the developmental team again so I quit. I wasn’t going to go through that a second time.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You stopped ying altogether after that?” Rosa asked while still staring straight ahead into the distance.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No, notpletely. After that, I just stuck to ying by myself, mindlessly practicing shooting or doingyups over and over again whenever there was free time during P.E. sses. Sometimes, other students would y me in one-on-ones thinking they’d show off how good they were in front of girls, but they’d end up suffering an embarrassing loss. I was naturally disliked by a lot of guys.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Wait, but if you were good at basketball, shouldn’t there at least be a few girls who might have taken an interest in you?” She tilted her head to the side, seemingly puzzled.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No. I was just seen and treated as a weird misfit who didn’t belong. In the end, I stopped ying basketball altogether after middle school. I haven’t touched a basketball since.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">When she heard the branch beside her move, she finally looked down my way and smiled. “Hehe, you finally made it up here, huh?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rosa held her hand out to me.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I grabbed it and she pulled me up.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Not bad for your first tree climbed.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I still fell twice.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I fell more the first time I tried when I was a kid. My dad had to catch me every time. He always looked so anxious and on edge when staring up at me from the ground.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The image of a younger version of Rosa climbing a tree popped into my mind and I couldn’t help but think that she’d look cute.


    <span style="font-weight:400">I slowly inhaled the cool fresh air amidst the foliage as I took in the view. From our vantage point about sixty feet off the ground, we could see a highway between two darkened fields. Farthest away was the starry night sky with the moon just short of being fully visible. A few tree branches carved out a frame around it all making it feel as if we were looking at a scenic picture drawn by a skilled painter. It was a simplistic description that didn’t do the view justice.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“The view’s pretty nice from up here, don’t you think?” Rosa asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, but it’s only so nice because you’re here with me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmm~ is that so?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So what made you want to climb up here so bad?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You being here.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I pulled the burger she cooked out from my side pocket.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You brought it with you?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“To eat up here?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No, to eat it together where you are. Apparently it tastes better that way.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I took a bite out of it.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Isn’t it cold by now though? Would it taste worse?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s still a little warm since you wrapped it in aluminum foil. It tastes really good. Here, have some too.” I held it up to her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I already ate mine while you were gone. It’s all yours, you don’t need to share.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Just help me eat it.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Did you get something to eat in the city with Dawn?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, tell me about it already.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Sure.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">As I recounted the day’s events after we split up, Rosa cutely opened her mouth and took a small bite out of the burger I held up to her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">I started with Dawn’s episode right after we split up and all the things I’d tried to get her to snap out of it.


    <span style="font-weight:400">As for her reaction to it, she burst out into a fit ofughter, “Hahahaha! Like seriously? You really tried all of that to get her to snap out of it?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, it wasn’t funny, you know. I feltpletely defeated at the time.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So much so you simted a kiss with your hand? You weirdo, just kiss her if you’re going to try that method.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I refuse to acknowledge that method. It’s utter nonsense.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“And what if it really worked though?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’d be very troubled if I’d done it and it worked.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hehehe, but in the end, it worked a little while ago~ didn’t it~.” She poked my cheek yfully.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That waspletely different.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It wasn’t different at all.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It was.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Whatever, continue with your story.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I continued from where I left off and went over what happened after we got to the city. How she suddenly snapped out of it on her own. What Dawn revealed about her family while we went for a short little walk around the city. How she enthusiastically gobbled up the food at Popeyes. When we bought the battery. Andstly, when we went to the hospital.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Pfft! You seriously took her to a hospital?” Rosa held her gut as her smile widened and her eyebrows raised up in amusement.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, it was really concerning, okay?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What happened at the hospital?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well, I guess it’s the climax of the day’s events.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, go on.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I think I saw Dawn’s mother there.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What? No way. As if, you probably just saw some pretty woman and wanted to chase after them.” Rosa leaned in closer to me and took another small bite out of the burger.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I swear it really was her. Their eyes were too simr. Their hair color was even the same.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You’re sure?” She rified while she chewed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, I am.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rosa swallowed and asked, “Did you tell Dawn about her?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No. I couldn’t confirm it. I ran after that woman and tried to catch up to her, but I was unable to due to something unexpected happening.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Something unexpected? What?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Try to guess who else I bumped into at the hospital on my way out the front exit to catch Dawn’s mother.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rosa raised her hands to her sides, shrugged, and joked, “How would I know? An even prettier woman you wanted to chase after?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No, so stop making me out to be some skirt chaser. It was Wisteria.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What? No way, really? You bumped into Wisteria there?” Rosa’s eyes lit up animatedly.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You’re the one who told her where we were headed, weren’t you?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I mean… I did… but I didn’t think she’d reallye running.” Her expression turned hesitant.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, well she did. And now I have to go see a movie with her sometime while we’re here.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Haha, how’d that happen?” Rosa’s curiosity red up once again.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Haaaah. I got her to honey trap the doctor to ckmail him so we could get Dawn’s MRI done for free.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Pffthahahaha! Really? No way, you didn’t really go and do all that, did you?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“We really did. I walked in on the doctor with his pants down right before he got to have his fun. Wisteria instantly switched to ying the damsel in distress being assaulted by an evil man abusing his authority and power.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rosa burst out into a bout of hystericalughter, wheezing to catch her breath while imagining it. “I seriously… hahaha… can’t breathe. Hahahaha!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">When I recounted the exchange that followed leading up to how he signed his soul away, Rosa almost fell out of the tree in tears.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Please stop! I’m going to like seriously die here fromughing too hard! Hahahaha!” She leaned forward clutching at her stomach.