Page 59 of Faking the Goal

His expression tells me he'd probably prefer a question about save percentage.

"Come on. Something that has absolutely nothing to do with hockey. What makes Kentaro Azuma happy?"

He goes quiet as we continue skating.

For once, I don't rush him.

And weirdly, I'm actually curious about the answer.

"Reading."

I wait for more, but apparently that's the entire answer.

"Reading? What kind?"

"Manga, mostly."

That gets my attention.

"Wait. You read manga?"

Then I remember the night I stayed in his room at the hockey house and the bookshelf against his wall, packed with dozens of manga volumes.

"Right, right. I remember now. You have a whole collection in your room." I glance at him. "So what's your poison? Attack on Titan? Berserk? Please tell me it's something appropriately dark and brooding."

"Fullmetal Alchemist."

"No way. That's one of my favorites. The 2003 version or Brotherhood?"

"Brotherhood. The 2003 ending wrecked me."

"Same! Although the homunculus backstories were better in the original. Fight me."

"I'm not fighting you over that."

A low laugh slips out of him, and I can't help smiling.

This is actually kind of funny.

Kentaro and I agree on practically nothing. Half our conversations somehow turn into arguments, and I'm pretty sure being around me raises his blood pressure.

But apparently, put manga in front of either of us and we're equally useless.

I think about the shelves in his room again, all those volumes lined up beside each other, and suddenly I want to know what else he has in there. What he's finished. What he's currently reading. Whether we have more favorites in common.

God, that's weird.

If someone had told me a few weeks ago that Kentaro Azuma and I would be skating around a rink talking about our mutual manga addiction, I would've laughed in their face.

Turns out Grumpy Goalie and I have at least one thing in common.

And, annoyingly, we apparently have good taste too.

"What else?" I ask before remembering myself. "Oh, shoot, I'm out of questions."

"You are."

He lets me skate a little farther ahead before easily catching up.