Lakad
I planned on writing this in Tagalog, but my Tagalog writing sucks, so I settled on using English. The translations of the lyrics of the song "Lakad" are in italics, the original lyrics are in italicized bold letters. The title means "Walk" or could also mean "Journey" or "Trip" depending on the context.
The song "Lakad" is something I wrote while the characters of Slam Dunk were created by Inoue Takehiko.
This is my first SD fic, please be nice to me.
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"Pick yourself up and start walking, that's the easy thing to do. Figuring out where you go from there is a lot more difficult. Such is navigating life." – Paris1601
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Naglalakad ng walang pupuntahan
Walking without a destination
Taas-noo pero walang minamasdan
Head held high, without a thing in sight
Pinipilit na buuin ang loob
Forcing to strengthen my resolve
Kahit di alam kung kaya ang pagsubok
Even though I don't know if I can handle my trials
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"We'll be the number one team in Japan!"
Those words echoed over and over again in his blue-black-haired head as he ran through the cold, but familiar streets of Kanagawa. The autumn evening chill nipped at him, despite his jacket and jogging pants. He smiled ruefully. Those words he had said over three years ago was so close to coming true, but somehow, for some reason, the happiness he felt was somewhat empty.
He knew quite well what that emptiness was. Though he had swallowed his pride and was forced to learn humility, his dream remained his dream. Mitsui Hisashi's dream was to take the Shohoku Basketball team to the topmost spot. He felt a little more than a bit envious of their new captain, Miyagi Ryouta for being given the opportunity to lead Shohoku to number one; he felt a little more than a bit insecure of Rukawa Kaede for being the one to take the team there; and it frustrated him that a newbie like Sakuragi Hanamichi would surpass him as a player sooner than he would like to admit.
MVP in middle school. He had long known that he wanted to surpass that title. He wanted to accomplish something else that would remove that stupid cliché that was stuck to his name. No, becoming MVP was not stupid; it was just stupid that that was all he was known for. That was the accomplishment of a young boy; he wanted to accomplish something as a man.
The top five players of the district—the Kanagawa dream team chosen at the end of the regionals—included the two Kainan players Maki Shinichi and Jin Soichiro, the Ryonan genius Sendoh Akira, Shohoku's own captain Akagi Takenori, and Rukawa. No, Mitsui wasn't one of them. That told him that he was far too overshadowed and outclassed to choose basketball as a career.
As reality had slapped him on the face with the fact that his dream was meant to be fulfilled by someone other than him, he found himself wondering what he had to look forward to. What lay beyond his dream of becoming number one? During his freshman year, basketball was all he thought of so that dream was enough. Now that he was in his senior year and was soon going to be thrust into the real world where futures that included basketball seemed a little less than bright, suddenly he was coming to realize the limitations of his childish views.
His mind wandered to his various options. He would be a high school graduate; he could probably get a minimum-wage job somewhere. Despite his grades, he wasn't a stupid kid; he might be able to somehow scrape his way to a halfway decent college. But in that situation, he would still have to get a job because college would require money. He pondered if there was a cook or an artist or a TV/movie idol buried somewhere under his skin. He almost laughed at the last thought. TV/movie idol. He wasn't ugly, but he had been in far too many brawls to be counted among the flawless boys whose pretty and picture-perfect smiles graced commercial ads and music videos. Maybe he could become a singer, put up a band. He could play the guitar pretty well. Maybe there was a composer or writer in him.
Now, where was basketball in all that?
He didn't really want to think about it at that moment lest he get stuck with one ambition that he knew he couldn't reach.
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Kahit pa wala na ang panaginip
Even if the dream is no longer there
At hindi alam ang gagawin ngayong gising
And I don't know what to do now that I'm awake
Sa gitna ng gabing di matawaran ang dilim
In the middle of a night with unforgiving darkness
Naduduwag at baka nangangarap pa rin
Fearing that I might still be dreaming
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Running like that, without thinking of his route, he didn't realize that he had run all the way back to the school. He did it out of habit, perhaps. The school was already dark, partly because the days were shorter due to the approaching winter and partly because most of the lights were being turned off. There were still a few people milling about. Mitsui imagined where they may have come from. From the library, perhaps? Club activities? Or maybe activities that Mitsui had participated in during his basketball hiatus?
This was what he had chosen to mull over when he saw the gym lights were still turned on. He chuckled humorlessly at the irony as he walked towards the court he practiced in with his teammates.
"It always goes back to basketball, doesn't it?" he commented wryly about his thoughts.
Mitsui had a pretty good guess who was in the court at that time. So, without second thought, he called out to the person inside as he pushed the doors open to allow himself in. "Oi, Rukawa, it's late. Give it a rest."
Mitsui's blue eyes met warm glass-covered brown ones.
"Ah, Mitsui-kun, Rukawa-kun already left."
True enough; the only person in the gym was the chocolate-haired former Shohoku vice captain dressed in his school uniform, standing at the sidelines of the court. Kogure Kiminobu dared not step on the game floor because he was wearing leather shoes.
Mitsui laughed shortly at his mistake. "I guess even Rukawa goes home to rest at this hour," he supposed as he entered the gym. "What are you doing here, Kogure? Shouldn't you be studying?"
"I just came from the library," Kogure explained with a small smile.
Mitsui didn't doubt that, especially judging by the large bag behind the other boy. That bag, Mitsui recognized it because it used to hold Kogure's Shohoku uniform and training gear, but it probably held books, sample exams, and notes now.
Pushing his glasses up, Kogure regarded the shooting guard, who had come to stand by his side, curiously, "So what are you doing here so late?"
"I missed it somehow," was the reply. It was, in a way, true. He followed Kogure's gaze, which appeared to be fixed on the empty court. "Probably the same way you do."
There was an almost imperceptible nod from the brown head. "I know I haven't been away that long, but it feels like I don't belong here, anymore." He chuckled at some joke Mitsui missed, so he felt the need to ask, "Is it stupid of me to feel nostalgic about something that happened only a few weeks ago?"
"No," Mitsui grinned at a distant memory. "I was that way after only a few days..."
...A few days in the hospital with an injured knee, over-stressed during practice. Mitsui felt nostalgic only after a few days in the hospital. He missed the court so much after being gone for a few days. He wondered if he could leave the basketball court again. He wondered if he would be thinking these thoughts if he had never left, in the first place. He wondered what he would be, what kind of player he would be.
He would have probably fulfilled his dream as well as the dreams of his fellow seniors Kogure and Akagi. He would probably be even better than Rukawa and have been hailed MVP for a second time. If he hadn't...
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Ngunit kahit ganito lang ako
But even if this is all I am
Gusto pa rin kitang pasalamatan
I still want to thank you
Di katulad ko, hindi mo ako binigo
Unlike me, you never failed me
Salamat, kaibigan
Thank you, friend
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"Don't think about those things that give you that expression, Mitsui-kun," Kogure advised in a soft voice that seemed to resound in the silence of the gym. Mitsui found himself turning to see his own remorseful countenance reflected in Kogure's glasses.
Mitsui watched as his reflection sighed and smiled, "I know." Satisfied, Kogure averted his gaze back to the court, so that the shooting guard found himself staring at Kogure's profile instead of his own reflection in the other man's glasses.
New meanders in the flow of Mitsui's thoughts appeared. His mind wandered over to his current companion's role in his life.
He had so many unwanted memories and, for a long while, he had hated Kogure for bringing them all back in full color. For a while, Kogure was a reminder of his wasted past. But, he had come to realize that this man was a colleague and a true friend who supported him fully without thinking twice about his past actions. Even before Mitsui had realized that his dream since his freshman year had not changed despite his gangster ways, Kogure already believed it to be true. Mitsui began to appreciate Kogure for that. "By the way, I never got to thank you."
Kogure blinked. "Huh?"
"For holding onto my dream for me," Mitsui answered. "And for giving it back to me."
His former teammate's tone held so much sincerity that it touched Kogure and rendered him speechless for a while. His next words were spoken after a fairly long stretch of silence.
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Naglalakad ng walang kasiguruhan
Walking without certainty
Taas-noo pero hindi alam ang daan
Head held high, though I don't the way
Pinipilit na maging higit sa kaya ko
Forcing myself to be more than what I can be
Kahit masyado nang pagod
Even though I'm too tired
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"I borrowed it for a while and it was wonderful while it lasted. Thank you."
Kogure's words echoed in Mitsui's head as the Shohoku player ran through the familiar streets of Kanagawa.
He was alone again. Kogure had headed home over an hour ago and Mitsui was still pushing himself by running back to his own house. Even as his chest burned with every breath of cold air he took, even as his legs protested further movement, the starting shooting guard of the Shohoku team kept running.
Rukawa was better than him, now. He could have been better than Rukawa had he not let his pride get in the way and given up on himself. His mistakes had cost him greatly, but still, the chance of becoming number one was there. That was what was important, right? Mitsui forced himself to focus on that thought, the thought of becoming number one. He forced himself to think less about being the one to take them to that place. He pushed himself harder to make himself stronger, his short-term goal, for now was to increase his stamina so he could do more during the games. To be able to find a new dream and fulfill it, that would be his accomplishment as a man.
For now, this was enough.