Sendoh Akira plays basketball. That's a given; it's like saying the sky is blue.
Sendoh is good at other games involving spheres: bowling, pinball, marbles.
When he moved to Kanagawa for his high school education, he didn't take along his personal bowling ball because it's too heavy to carry, and anyway he'd have nowhere to store it. He did take along his personal bowling glove, though, because he thought he might have a bowling night out with his friends now and again.
Sendoh can play pinball in any arcade, so he didn't bother on that account. (It's his dad's old pinball machine anyway.)
It's been years since Sendoh has played a decent game of marbles, but sometimes he likes to hold them in his hand, feeling the small cold weights of coloured glass. So he takes the small felt bag filled with marbles with him to Kanagawa, loses it in the process of unpacking (he's sure he put it on a shelf somewhere) and promptly forgets about it.
About a year and a little over a half later, he remembers it when Fukuda opens a dusty cupboard (whatever he's looking for, it isn't there) and the bag of marbles, which had apparently been leaning against the cupboard door, empties its contents over his head.
The marbles scatter over the countertop and bounce on the floor; Koshino, running to see what the noise is, steps on a few and falls hard on his ass.
Sendoh doesn't know what the noise is either, but he's sensible enough to halt himself outside the kitchen so he doesn't fall like Koshino did. Inside the kitchen, Fukuda is leaning forward on the countertop, holding his head and groaning quietly; Koshino, on the floor, is cursing his head off as he gets up slowly.
Sendoh has to take a moment to chortle at the absurdity of the situation; as Hikoichi joins him, another one of the curious teammates having a small party in Sendoh's apartment, he steps in carefully and begins picking up marbles. Koshino, now upright, is still cursing as he begins to pick up marbles too.
"-I mean, why the hell do you have marbles in your kitchen? What kind of stupid bastard leaves marbles in his kitchen?! What the fuck do you need them for? You can't cook with them or eat them or anything!"
Sendoh wants to rub his head sheepishly, but his hands are occupied by marbles, and he moves towards Fukuda, who has the empty bag in his hands. "Sorry, man. I don't really cook much other than microwaving stuff or boiling water. I didn't unpack all that tidily when I moved in, either." He puts his hands together, funneling the marbles into the open bag.
"Well, what did you pack them for? This is kid's stuff! It's ridiculous, you're a grown man- well, teen, but you're tall enough to pass- you don't need this shit!" Koshino moves beside Sendoh, so he can add in his share of the marbles.
"But marbles are fun!" Hikoichi pipes up without thinking, and then shrinks back under the force of Koshino's glare. He soldiers on, though. "I've got a marble run in my house. It's really big! My dad and I add to it every month."
Koshino glares on.
"…it's really fun," Hikoichi says weakly. Sendoh turns; his hands are empty now. "What's a marble run?"
Hikoichi sputters in almost-indignation; his hero doesn't know everything after all. "Y-you don't… oh! A marble run is… is…" and then he goes on to describe, in the floweriest of tones, a marble run, and the fun that can be had watching a marble roll in it.
Fukuda sums it up thus: "So, you're saying that it's something you can watch marbles roll around in."
"But," Hikoichi tries desperately, "it's really-" He's cut off by Sendoh, who grabs his wrists with shining eyes (it's odd how a grown lad like him can act so childish sometimes, but there you are) and says, "Let's go!" while grabbing the bag of marbles (thankfully knotted shut this time) from Fukuda.
At Hikoichi's house, with the rest of the team in tow (because Sendoh can talk anyone into anything, really), Sendoh is in awe at the sight of the marble run, which nearly fills a room. Immediately he makes for one of the drop points, opening his bag on the way, but he doesn't look where he's putting his feet and he falls and- yes- the marbles spill. All over the floor, under the chutes and things that make up the marble run. Some do drop onto open chutes and roll the rest of the way to an end point, but mostly they're lost.
Koshino knows immediately what Sendoh is going to say, and is about to leap to shut him up, when an astonished voice comes from behind the crowd outside the marble run room's entrance. "Hikoichi, what on earth is going on? Why are all your teammates in our house?"
Aida Yayoi pushes past the generally tall bunch of boys into the room. She opens her mouth, presumably to begin a tirade on Hikoichi's bringing his teammates home to clog up the corridor so she can't get to her own bedroom, but falters in the face of Sendoh Akira, looking like a sad, lost puppy dog (Face to Gain Sympathy #12) with a hint of humour in his eye (because he hasn't spoken yet).
She opens her mouth again, then shuts it because she can't find anything to say. Then, when she finds something on the tip of her tongue, she begins again, only to falter again because Sendoh has very, very sad eyes and a droopy pout and an empty bag in his hands (Face to Gain Sympathy #18).
(Fukuda is trying to work out how to approximate that face; he often needs sympathy of his own.)
Koshino slaps a palm to his forehead; he knows what she'll ask.
Aida asks: "What happened, Sendoh-kun?"
"I've lost my marbles!"
-
I knew at the point that I mentioned the marble run there'd be a punchline like this. I genuinely just wrote without any ending in mind until the marble run popped into my head.
Nevertheless, feel free to slap me upside the head.
Written for the prompt 'marbles' on livejournal community story_lottery.