Ootsubo Taisuke's Sunday Morning
It was the first time since he became captain that Ootsubo was able to spend Sunday morning at home. He made French toast while brewing coffee.
"Taisuke, should you really be cooking breakfast on your free day?" It was his mother.
"It's fine. I have nothing much to do, anyway."
"Okay then. I'll be going to the grocery. Call your sister down to breakfast."
"I will." He heard his mother leaving through the front door. The wall clock in the kitchen says 6:04. His sister is probably still asleep, he'll wake her up later. In the meantime, he intends to have a quiet morning to himself. He poured himself some coffee and turned on the TV.
"…lucky item for Cancers is a stop sign." Stop sign? I wonder if Midorima would actually wander around carrying a stop sign. He shook his head. Alright, Taisuke. Don't think about crazy people. He flipped through the channels until he found a rerun of a late-night documentary and ate breakfast while watching how silkworms produce silk. He was so engrossed in the documentary when he heard his phone beep. An e-mail, huh?
"Captain, do you happen to have a stop sign?"
He shook his head. Their crazy ace intends to carry a stop sign around, after all.
"Nii-san, my classmate was asking if you would like to go out with her." He glanced at her sister who is standing by the door in her pajamas. She's up early. What a surprise.
"You are in middle school," he pointed out. Kids nowadays are really bold.
"So? Come on, nii-san… It's not like you have a girlfriend, anyway."
He stared wearily at his sister and stood up. "I'm going to do the laundry."
His sister jumped up to stop him. "Eh? Nii-san! What am I gonna tell her?"
"Tell her that your brother is busy doing the laundry because his younger sister is too lazy to do it."
His sister pouted. Why am I surrounded by such brats? "I wouldn't nag you about it if you invite your cute teammate over." He couldn't help but wonder where youngsters get the courage to give him conditions.
"What cute teammate? There's no such person in the team." As far as he's concerned, their team is made up of players who are crazy in one way or another.
"The one with the black hair who always wears a hair band," his sister answered dreamily.
Takao? When did Takao become cute? He recalled how Takao messed with Midorima's lucky item during their training camp, causing a ruckus so late at night. That guy's a little devil.
"You don't stand a chance. He's the slave of his Shin-chan." He picked up the rag from the table and tossed it in the sink. "Wash the dishes after you eat." Maybe he'll do their knitting project in Home Economics after doing the laundry.
Kimura Shinsuke's Sunday Morning
"Shinsuke! Are you ready with the deliveries?" Kimura finished packing the last boxes before answering.
"Yeah. I'll be delivering them now."
His mother emerged from inside the tool shed carrying a pineapple. "Give this to Kiyoshi-kun. He's always asking for pineapples, isn't he?"
"He only wants them so he could throw it at one of the freshman regulars," he explained, but he took the pineapple anyway.
His mother laughed at his response. "My, my, Shinsuke. Now, don't you bully your kohai."
"You have no idea what devils those freshmen are." Those two sure are spoiled. He shook his head. Now is not the time to be annoyed at those brats.
Kimura's family owns a small farm. Being the eldest child (and admittedly the biggest in the family), he helps in the farm work whenever he's free. He's not talented in growing plants so he mostly helps with packing the produce and delivering them. It's like having training, basically.
"I'll be going."
His first stop is at the mini-grocery near their high school.
"Here's the payment Shinsuke-kun. Give my regards to your father."
"Thank you, Tahara-san. I'll be dropping by again next week." He walked back to the truck when he saw an all-too-familiar rickshaw being pedaled across the street. Those two idiots are at it again. What are they looking for this time? The last time he ran into their crazy freshman regulars, they were looking for a giant stuffed dog.
Ah, I don't have time to deal with those idiots. He has another delivery to make.
His next stop is at the bakeshop three blocks down. The bakeshop is famous for their pineapple pie and has been ordering pineapples from them for as long as he can remember.
"Ah, Shinsuke-san. I haven't seen you for a long time." It was Minako, the owner's daughter.
"Uh… I was, uh, a little b-busy with practice." He mentally kicked himself for stammering.
Minako laughed. "Maybe I should watch one of your games sometime? I don't understand basketball very much though."
He suddenly felt the need to practice for their upcoming match.
Miyaji Kiyoshi's Sunday Morning
He blindly grabbed for a pillow and covered his ears with it. Really, why must people be so noisy so early in the morning? He tried to go back to sleep but the noise downstairs simply wouldn't let him. "Argh!" He threw the pillow on the floor.
He marched straight to the kitchen where his cousins are having breakfast and/or sparring. They are both in first year high school and active in the karate club. Not that he cares. He'll beat them both down to a pulp.
"You! What the hell is wrong with you, two?!" He grabbed two oranges from the counter and threw them at his cousins' faces.
"Kiyo-san! That's so mean!"
"I'm a black-belter in karate, you know."
He smiled at his cousins. "Who the hell cares if you have black belts or whatever in karate? I'm not the scariest player in Shutoku for nothing."
"That's nothing to brag about!" his cousins shouted in unison before scampering off to their rooms or hell or wherever. He doesn't care at all. He had been practicing like crazy for the past how-many months and all he wants that day is to stay in bed and sleep. His grades are rather high so he doesn't even need to study.
"Argh! I want my sleep back!" He was looking out the kitchen window when he saw one of his cousins walking out the gate. That idiot woke me up. He grabbed an apple and threw it at his cousin's head. He smiled to himself when he heard him yelp. Serves you right. He was about to close the window when he heard someone call his name.
"Miyaji-senpai!" Oh. That girl from kendo. What was her name again?
"Yo! Please feel free to kill that cousin of mine when he gets too annoying." He ran his fingers through his hair. He's not really self-conscious but he was so pissed off when he woke up, he wasn't even able to comb his hair. And his hair has gotten quite long, too.
The girl turned bright red and shouted a hurried "Have a nice day, Miyaji-senpai!" before dragging his cousin away. Whoa. Maybe he should just quit basketball club and go into some club where his good looks and high grades wouldn't be overshadowed by their Shooting Guard's lucky items and their Point Guard's over-friendly attitude.
"Or maybe I should kick my cousins out of my apartment." His family's house is just in the next prefecture, but commuting to and from school everyday is rather tiring, especially with their morning practice and all. With his good academic standing (and "personality that could ward off evil", as his mother so lovingly puts it), convincing his parents to let him get an apartment was rather easy. The problem arose when his cousins went to his high school and decided to camp in his apartment. He hasn't had a peaceful weekend since they arrived.
"Whatever! I should call Kimura and order pineapples."
Midorima Shintarou's Sunday Morning
Midorima wakes up at five every morning, makes his bed, washes his face, changes into work-out clothes, tapes his fingers, and goes for his morning jog. He comes back at 6:15, takes a shower, and eats breakfast while watching Oha-Asa. Depending on his lucky item for the day, he either stays home to study or goes out to go item-hunting on his days off.
"A stop sign, huh?"
"Shintarou, you don't have practice today?" It was his father. Now that he thinks about it, they haven't seen each other in over a week.
He finished his glass of orange juice before answering. "We're having a training camp next week, Father, so our coach decided to give us a day off."
"I see." His father set down the newspaper. "Say, Shintarou. I don't mind your playing basketball at all since your grades are excellent as always, however, I have to ask… Are you planning to continue playing until college?"
His mother set down a plate of omelet on the table and chuckled softly. "My, my. Shintarou's only in first year high school. You don't have to be so worried about that already, dear."
"I don't mind at all, Mother." He turned to his father who is now preoccupied with solving the Sunday crossword. "I'm planning to quit basketball after high school. I still intend to go to medicine."
His father nodded without looking at him. I doubt he's listening to me. What's so interesting about crossword puzzles, anyway?
They continued eating breakfast for a while like that, his mother fussing over them, his father solving the crossword puzzle and occasionally asking about actors and movies, and he telling his father to either stop answering the showbiz crossword puzzle or stop asking him because he rarely watches TV and has no idea who the vocalist of Supercell is.
He stood up. "Please excuse me. I'm going to get changed. I have to go somewhere."
"With Kazunari-kun?" his mother inquired. He believes that his mother has fallen in love with Takao and would probably adopt the guy or something along that line.
"Not really. I intend to go alone." Then he suddenly remembered that he has lent Takao his bicycle since the other guy had to send his to a repair shop. I should make him pedal the rickshaw as payment. He turned to his mother. "I changed my mind. I think I'd call him."
When he came down from his room, his parents were already prepared to leave. "Your mother and I have to go somewhere. We won't be home until evening."
"Yes. We're going on a date."
He watched his father get all flustered and make pointless denials. Really, now. People can't really expect him to not be a tsundere with a father like that, can they? Not that he admits being a tsundere or anything.
"Please take care."
"Now, Shintarou. Won't you give your mother a kiss?" He sighed before leaning and giving her a peck on the check, earning a pat on the head for himself.
I swear I'm the only adult here.
Takao Kazunari's Sunday Morning
Takao is the kind of person who likes to sleep in late on weekends (or whenever, really), which is why it took him forever to realize that the ringing he could hear wasn't in his dreams but from his phone. He snatched his phone from the table and answered the call without opening his eyes.
"He-llo," he spoke sleepily.
"Takao. Are you up already?" He appreciates how their ace has finally become accustomed to him but such an early call could only mean nothing but trouble. Especially since Midorima is not quite fond of calling or e-mailing people.
"No, Shin-chan… I'm still in Lala-land. Good night." He was about to hung up when their ace suddenly spoke up.
"Remember the trading card you said you couldn't find? I know where to find it." What? He sat up in his bed. He's fully awake now.
"Eh?! Really, Shin-chan? Really?" He's practically yelling into his phone but whatever. He's been searching for that card for the longest time. He needs to get his hands on it by whatever means.
"You have one hour." He ran for the door.
"Nii-chan! Why are you in such a hurry?" It was her younger sister.
"Ah, I have to go somewhere, Kana-chan. Do you want me to buy you anything?"
His sister made a show of thinking so seriously, it made him laugh. "Why are you laughing at me, nii-chan? That's so mean." His sister's suddenly on the verge of tears.
"Ah, sorry, sorry. It's just that Kana-chan was so cute." He picked her up and the little girl laughed happily. "How about I buy you some strawberries? You like them, don't you?"
His sister's face lit up instantly. "Really? Nii-chan is really so kind and handsome!"
He laughed. "Now, now. Maybe I should get you chocolates, too."
His mother smacked him lightly in the head. "You're spoiling her too much, Kazunari. And don't tell me you still fall for her flattery?"
"Well…" He scratched his head. Nobody in our team has the ability to recognize my good looks and exemplary character.
"That aside, you should eat breakfast first before heading out." His mother poured him a cup of coffee and made him some toast. "Eggs and bacon?"
"Yes, please," he chirped happily, letting his younger sister tie his hair with a ponytail. "Ne nii-chan… When is Shintarou-nii going to drop by?" His sister has taken quite a liking to their ace. Surprisingly, their tsundere of a Shooting Guard was very nice to her. But he treats me like a slave.
"Uh, I'm not sure, Kana-chan. Why?"
"He promised to give me a stuffed penguin since I said I liked penguins. Does he own a toy store?" His sister's innocent question made him laugh. A toy store, huh? For some reason, he could totally imagine that. He ate his breakfast in a hurry and practically ran out the door after saying goodbye to his mother and tickling his sister.
He's so gonna get that trading card.