Chapter One
Kou Ichijo took a deep breath as he exited the gym, closing his eyes as he reveled in the cool September air. As much as he enjoyed basketball practice, the gym was stuffy even on the coldest winter day. The light fall breeze was a welcome presence. The strange, poisonous fog had lifted from Inaba months before, much to Kou's relief, and so far he had been able to enjoy his final year at Yasogami High School.
Smiling, Kou made his way over to the practice field, where the soccer team was still hard at work. He spotted Daisuke right away, pointing and giving orders to some first years. The new recruits were mediocre at best, and Daisuke – who had vowed to give soccer his all this year – had been growing increasingly frustrated with his younger teammates.
As exciting as it was to watch the soccer team trip over each other, Kou quickly found something far more interesting to watch. On the other end of the field, two female students were running laps around the track. Even from this far away, Kou recognized Chie Satonaka's short brown hair. He could only assume that the black haired girl struggling to keep up was Yukiko Amagi, Chie's lifelong friend.
Even from this far away, she's so cute, Kou thought, watching as Chie backtracked to where Yukiko was now resting. Maybe he should go talk to her? It looked like they were about to take a break… Yeah! He could walk over there, smile, and say, "Oh, hello Chie-san. How's it going?" It wasn't like they were complete strangers, after all… In fact, why should he stop at that? He could just as easily invite her out to Aiya for a bite to eat…
But she was with Yukiko-san… and Kou had made plans with Daisuke… Maybe the four of them could go together? A group date might be fun… or would that be too awkward? The last time he had tried to bring Daisuke along on a group date, that idiot had ruined it before the date had even started.
"Hey," Daisuke said, snapping Kou out of his imaginary scenario. "Basketball's over already?"
"Uh… yeah," Kou said, forcing his attention away from the running girls. "I just got out. How's soccer?"
He groaned, "These first years have no idea what they're doing. We're already in the second term and half of them still don't know the rules."
The team was never that good to begin with, Kou thought, nodding. He understood where his friend was coming from; half of the basketball team hardly knew how to dribble, let alone get the ball through the hoop.
"The new goalie isn't that bad," Daisuke continued. "But we've really hardly got enough guys to make a whole team, and-"
"Look out!" one of the players called. Everyone within earshot looked up, like a deer searching for a predator.
Everything happened so fast. Kou watched as a soccer ball came hurdling towards Chie and Yukiko. He hadn't seen what had happened before that, but Yukiko was covering her head with her arms and ducking for cover.
Chie, on the other hand, was on the offense, charging forward. Leaping into the air, and lifting her leg higher than Kou thought was humanly possible, she deflected the soccer ball, sending it flying back towards the field. One unfortunate player didn't move out of the way in time – perhaps he was as entranced by the scene as Kou was – and was knocked over when the ball hit him in the face.
"Fuck!" the boy yelled, clutching his mouth. "Fucking… fuck! Shit!"
"Holy crap, man," Daisuke said, gaping. "Did you see that?"
"Yeah…" Kou said, watching as the scene continued to unfold. While the injured player continued to curse, his teammates were crowding around him… And Chie escaped into the practice building, tugging Yukiko along with her.
"That… was awesome!" Daisuke exclaimed. "How… I didn't know she could… That was awesome!"
Kou cleared his throat, "Daisuke, you might want to check on your-"
"Oh, right!" he said, rushing over to the fallen athlete. Kou followed at a slower pace, trying to shake off the shock himself. Sure, he knew Chie practiced kung fu, but… that was insane. He suddenly felt very sorry for anyone who ever found themselves on her bad side.
"Are you alright?" Daisuke asked, watching as two other players helped up their injured comrade, who was bleeding from the mouth.
"My tooth!" he said. "I think I lost my tooth! Fuck!"
"Quick!" the boy wearing the goalie jersey said. "Find sempai's tooth!"
"Here, I found it!"
"Dude, that's a rock."
"Man, who was that guy?" one of the players asked. A first year, Kou assumed, since he didn't recognize him. He was short and stocky; not the kind of guy you'd expect to see on a sports team.
"That wasn't a guy, numb nuts," another said. "That was Satonaka-sempai. She's in class 3-2. Her cup size is B, I'd recon, but it's kind of hard to judge when she wears that baggy jacket all the time."
"Dude, how do you know her bra size?" the goalie asked. Kou was wondering that, himself…
The boy shrugged, "It's a gift."
"Aww, it's too bad she's a girl," the short player said, looking disappointed. "We could use a kick like that on the team, eh Nagase-sempai?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah…" Daisuke said. "Hey, do you guys mind packing up? I made plans with some friends and I don't want to be late."
The team looked confused, but ultimately went along with their captain's orders. Kou was almost as surprised as they were. It had been a long time since Daisuke slacked off; normally he had to beg the other boy to leave practice on time so they could get to Aiya before the dinner rush came in. Now he was practically dragging Kou back to the locker room so he could change; at first he didn't even want to do that, but Kou had insisted. He didn't want his friend going into a restaurant smelling like a sweat sock.
"Hey, do you mind if I invite Yosuke to come with us?" Daisuke asked as he emerged, now clad in his high school gym uniform.
"Hanamura? Uh… sure, that's fine with me," Kou said. Since Souji had moved away, the two athletes had been spending more time with the Junes kid. At first, Kou didn't think it would last; Yosuke didn't care much for team sports, and the only thing the boys seemed to have in common was Souji. But as time went on, their conversations moved from the silver haired boy to other topics. Yosuke would never be able to replace Souji, but he was fun to have around sometimes.
The walk to the diner seemed to take forever. No matter how many times Kou asked, Daisuke refused to tell him what he was up to. They had been best friends since grade school, and Kou could always tell when the other boy was up to something. Or maybe Daisuke was just really bad at hiding the fact that something was on his mind.
I hope he isn't upset with Chie-san, Kou thought, following Daisuke into the restaurant. He has to know she didn't do it on purpose…
"Hey, Kou-san! Daisuke!" Yosuke said, approaching them with a smile. He was still wearing his school uniform, with his signature orange headphones dangling around his neck.
"We're sorry this is so last minute," Kou apologized. "I know you're really busy with your job."
"Nah, don't sweat it," Yosuke said, leading them to a booth in the corner. Kou usually preferred to sit at the bar, where he had his own chair, but he didn't object. The waitress arrived as soon as they sat down, taking their orders swiftly before returning to the kitchen.
"So," Yosuke said, stretching out across his half of the booth. "What was it you needed to talk to me about?"
"Well, it's like this…" said Daisuke. Kou noted that he looked nervous, not making eye contact with the boy sitting directly across from him. "You're friends with Chie-san, right?"
Yosuke nodded, "Yeah, we're pretty good fri- Hey, wait a second! Do you want me to set you up? Is that what this is about?"
"No! It isn't like that!" Daisuke blurted out, before Kou even had a chance to worry about how awkward it would be to watch his best friend date his long time crush.
"So that's your type," Yosuke said, smirking. "Lots of girls like you, but you never seem to go out with any of them. I was beginning to wonder about you."
"You've got it all wrong!" Daisuke said, his face growing redder by the second.
"Then what is it?" Yosuke asked, his expression clearly indicating that he didn't believe Daisuke for a second.
"It's like this…" Daisuke sighed. "Do you think she'd be interested in joining the soccer team?"
Kou and Yosuke exchanged a confused glance. That was what Daisuke was so worked up about?
"I donno," Yosuke said. "Are girls even allowed on the soccer team?"
"Who cares about that?" Daisuke said. "Have you seen her kick? She's got so much power; she's amazing!"
"Y-yeah, I know…" Yosuke grimaced. "Believe me, I know. But why are you telling me this? You should just ask her about it."
"Yeah," Kou agreed. "I thought you were done being cold towards girls?"
"Shut up," he grumbled, kicking Kou under the table.
"Owww!" he wined, reaching down to rub his calf. That was going to leave a bruise for sure…
"Look, it's just that I don't know Chie-san very well," Daisuke explained. "And you do, so I thought you could help me out."
Yosuke sighed, "Chie is pretty stubborn; if she doesn't want to do something, than I don't- Oh, wait!"
"What?" the two athletes asked, in unison so perfect that Kou was a little creeped out. Maybe they did spend too much time together…
"Guys, just leave it to me," said Yosuke. "I've got a plan."