The Lonesome Fellow

Disclaimer: I don't own SD boys, Inoue does. The events that follow are not included in the original plot but enjoy anyway. (Hindi ako ang nagmamayari sa mga tauhan ng SD, si Inoue ang gumawa sa kanila. Ang mga sumusunod na pangyayari ay hindi kasama sa tunay na istorya pero magsaya ka na lang kahit papaano) Warning: PG 13 for F words.

A/N: Dedicated to the only reviewer of the accursed fic 'The Perfect Guy' (Probably the most decent fic I've come up with). Ummh, don't expect too much because I myself can't think of a plot that would fit as a continuation for that one. But hope you'll like this one anyway. And hey, this is for you.

Summary: Sequel to 'The Perfect Guy'. Shinichi Maki reflects on his last meeting with his toughest rival.' What exactly was he thinking the moment they walked away from each other? Would he tell him about it? One shot.

Chapter I (Final Chapter)

Shinichi Maki flounces about the dense crowd around him, cordially receiving extolments and returning smiles searing from the eager faces of Kainandai's ardent devotees. He has just been named MVP of Kanagawa Basketball League and his team has again secured the highest spot in the upcoming National Basketball Tournament. For the 17th consecutive time, they are the title holder of the city. Barely do these news bring about tumult and surprises; naturally, Kainan players would again claim the private right to swagger amid sparkling faces filled with admiration, and Maki isn't in the least fed up with this.

This is no everyday ordinary smile-a-lot type for Shinichi Maki. This is-pardon my words-a dream come true for him. He is happy of course. No questions about that. But is he completely happy about leaving high school at all? Surely there's a lot to look forward to-college life, higher level of athletic skills, a more serious tone of approach in studies, etc.-but is it finally farewell to everybody, to everything? This is what grates on him. For the last time in his life, he is the best teenage baller in Kanagawa and is saying goodbye to everything he has, until then, come to love. Goodbye to Kiyota, his self proclaimed best rookie lover, goodbye to his team mates, his all-for-him companions in regular kill-time activities, and goodbye to his rivals, they who occupy the same coin but keep stuck fast to the other side. How absurd his feelings are; to miss them even before the school year ends. And it bungles his complacence. Just last week, his nemesis, the wholesome, ever good looking Kenji Fujima, bade him farewell in a loosely formal but courteous manner. Nothing newfangled. Just the same old custom of taking leave of your baneful competitor; that same Hi-Thanks-Right-Goodbye adios conversation. He would certainly miss him and right now, he certainly does.

Everybody has something a little off somewhere. For Shinichi Maki, it's Kenji Fujima's nonchalant and somewhat insipid smile; something in its innocuous existence revitalizes a core feeling of incessant longing in him, the need to tell Fujima that once among the topsy turvy currents of his young life, he fell for him. Yes that beautiful May morning swept the daylights out of his eyes the moment Kenji Fujima turns to his visual screen and fled, leaving him in search for an invisible gleam in a starless dome. There he was, seeming friendly and not in the least abashed to be the amateur Shoyo guard and he, Maki, the tacit and moody rookie of Kainan team who didn't venture a single grin to reciprocate gestures, had eyes for him. Perhaps-pardon my words for the second time-they were meant to be or perhaps also, they would be the never fading forerunners of the fiercest battle of skills between 2 teams-Kainan and Shoyo. Either, but not both.

Shinichi Maki muses in biting recollections of their first meeting. Although it's not an imperative to safeguard his future success, the impulse to confess his foregone feelings for Fujima overcomes all counter-incentives. In his desperation, he finally puts it to his head to call Fujima. So off he strolls outside the stadium with both hands in pockets. Scanning the external angles of the street where Kainan High is rooted, he looks for a caller-less phone booth which he finds immediately. He dials Kenji Fujima's number-4575475. He's memorized it alright.

1 ring, 2 rings, 3 rings and up,

Maki: Hello?

Fujima: Maki? (surprised tone)

Maki: Yeah. Fujima, right? (Here goes nothing)

Fujima: What is it?

Maki: There's something I need and want to tell you. (Phone-fucking blabber, go straight to the point!)

Fujima: Fire away.

Maki: Don't be surprised, please.

Fujima: Break it slowly, then.

Maki: Thank you. (Fuck, did I just say that?)

Fujima: For what?

Maki: For everything. (Oh, gracious fuck, isn't this just weak?)

Fujima: Uh huh,

Maki: And...

Fujima: And?

Maki: Well, remember when you told me I am the perfect guy, just after our last match?

Fujima: Quite...(fucked up heck, of course I do! I've been meaning to tell you all my fucking life,)

Maki: Well, I was thinking maybe you're wrong.

Fujima: Huh? (Double fuck to you, Maki)

Maki: Because you're the perfect guy.

Fujima: Really? (Fucking lame, now what?)

Maki: I'm not mocking you. It's just that you are the epitome of the perfect player, I think. I myself can't even manage what you've been through all this season. (Fucking lame, what am I saying?)

Fujima: Oh...thanks then. But we all know who's the better star, right?

Maki: Perhaps...

Fujima:...

Maki: Fujima?

Fujima: Yes?

Maki: I wanted to tell you...

Fujima: Go on.

Maki:...a story

Fujima: A story, Maki?

Maki: Yeah, I'd regret it if I don't.

Fujima: Ok. (What fucking tale?)

Maki: Well, it happened barely 3 years ago somewhere in the heart of this city. It's a sad story (as are all my stories) but maybe you'll get something from it; a whole new perspective in looking at things...you still with me?

Fujima: I've got good ears. (Fucking good ears for you)

Maki: Well, it so happened during that time that 2 boys of 16, both bound for uncommon stardom, entered the best basketball teams of that city. Boy # 1 instantly fell in love with Boy # 2 but was held back by the rising tension between them; as fate preferred it, they became fast rivals and were sent to vie for the same goal, that is, championship. In time, Boy # 1 surfaced to the top and renounced all feelings thus, failing to confess to Boy # 2. Forgetting then that he loved the other, Boy # 1 refused to reopen his heart and after 2 and half years, he still hasn't told Boy # 2...

Fujima: End of story?

Maki: Yes. That's the story. Up to now he still can't decide whether to throw away the chance to spare him the humiliation or to burden himself with despair.

Fujima: Pretty sad indeed.

Maki: Fujima, d'you know who those 2 boys are?

Fujima:...

Maki: They're us.

Fujima: (Pause, then) Maki, why didn't you tell me?

Maki: You can't love your worst enemy.

Fujima: But I did and I still do.

Maki: Me?

Fujima: Yes. (Who else, horsefucking salamander?)

Maki: Oh shit. (Most holy fuck, what have I done?)

Fujima:...

Maki: Fujima, we've come too late; I'm heading for Osaka after Senior High and I heard you'd attend Hokkaido University, I hope so much that we could still be in spite the distance...Only I see no chance for both of us...(Cries a tear)

Fujima: That I know. (And a fucking good deal)

Maki: Fuck luck! Why haven't I said this to you before?

Fujima: We were too dumb to take initiative, that's all. But there's no comfort for such mistakes; Time, once dumped to the garbage can, can't be recovered.

Maki: Fujima, when you told me I am the perfect guy, did you mean to say I am for you?

Fujima: I did.

Maki: I knew you were, too.

Fujima: Initially?

Maki: Yes, and infinitely.

END