General Drabbles Part 2
Author's Note: I realized I would probably not have the patience to go through a month's worth of drabbles if I keep writing at this pace, so...schedule shift to weekly for now.
Disclaimer: Don't own.
7. Letters (Ogiwara Shigehiro, 262 wds, T)
He tries to block it from his mind, but of course he cannot. He goes on internet forums, looks for hope, ways to let go. Slit your wrists, beat the person up, just smile a fake smile and soon it will become real, hypnotize yourself, go to therapy, just man up and forget—nothing seems like a viable solution, really. Here, no one knows his name so it would be easier to put on a smile because no one would pity him—but somehow he can't bring himself to lift his eyes from the ground.
Write letters, he sees at the bottom of a page. Write letters to the people you know, but don't send them.
He starts out, Dear Mochida, Dear Kuroko, and so on and so forth, but even though he knows they won't read the letters he really has nothing to say to his (former) friends. He starts a letter to his coach, a letter to the girl who sat next to him in class—but these don't seem appropriate either.
Finally, he prints, Dear Akashi-san, and from there the words start flowing. Questions, accusations, statements, everything, even things unrelated to basketball and unrelated to friendship and teamwork and morals and everything. He starts off preachy and stiff and ends conversational, as if speaking to a friend.
He touches the tip of his cigarette to the paper. The smoke curls off and dissolves into the air and the corner of the paper withers, blackened now. He feels just a little bit better, and maybe that little bit is enough.
8. Sharp (Shirogane Kouzou, Takeuchi Genta, 326 wds, K)
Shirogane Eiji is a sharp man. Takeuchi's not going to say it to his face, but his brother Kouzou is even sharper. He notices things that even Eiji doesn't, and his leadership skills—well, how is it possible to be a better leader than the captain of a national sports team? Apparently it is possible, somehow, and Takeuchi can't take time to marvel about it.
He acts like a pest, bugging the guy who always ends up tagging along, whether by Eiji's request (well, okay, they're never really requests with Eiji) and inviting himself over to Kouzou's apartment, asking him about what he thinks of this and that and how he could help Takeuchi become a better basketball player. All the guys on the team, and even some of the bolder members of the women's team, tease him about it, telling him he's just like a loyal little dog. But then it's Takeuchi's turn to laugh when his game improves, when his tactics improve, when he starts to offer decent advice to the other players.
It's natural that both he and Kouzou would end up as basketball coaches, Kouzou for the most prestigious of all those sports-factory middle schools and Takeuchi for a high school with a strong basketball tradition. Kouzou even nudges a few of his players Takeuchi's way, and they're among the best Takeuchi's ever had the privilege to teach—excellent fundamentals, good work ethic, and a will to win above all else.
Then, Kouzou gets sick, and Takeuchi visits him in the hospital, incredibly worried. But Kouzou greets him with a smile, tells him all about this kid who's a natural and Kouzou has just started coaching him—he reminds Kouzou of Takeuchi a bit, and Takeuchi's not sure what he means by this and can't ask because visiting time is over.
He calls Kouzou up after Kise's first practice. "Was I really this much of an airhead?" he says.
Kouzou just laughs.
9. Physics (Mochida, Furihata Kouki, 414 wds, K+)
Furihata's never seen this kid before but he's destroying his opponent in one-on-one, faking and dribbling around him and taking very wise, conservative shots. He's a very good player, and he plays in a sort of familiar style. Furihata's quite sure he faced something of the sort at some point—possibly in a rec league against a rival basketball academy, or maybe in middle school. Most of it blends together.
His fingers clench around the wire of the fence. The match is really exciting, and he can't wait to see what this guy's going to do next, but his opponent throws up his hands and gives up, striding out through the gates, winded but still wanting to salvage the tiniest bit of pride.
The other guy frowns and shoots the ball from where he's standing, a few feet behind the free-throw line. It goes in with a decisive swish. Glancing around, he spots Furihata.
"Hey, want to play?"
"…me?" Furihata squeaks out.
The guy shrugs. "If you don't want to, that's fine, too."
"No, wait!" He jogs around and into the court, thankful that he decided to wear athletic shorts today. The guy gives him first possession, something he weakly protests but is grateful for. As fun as he is to watch, he's really intimidating. Finally, before they start, they exchange names—he's Mochida, a name that totally doesn't ring a bell. Furihata isn't sure whether it's prying to ask where he went to middle school or if he played in a rec league, so he just takes the ball and starts dribbling.
He hasn't been able to warm up (Furihata cringes as he hears Coach Riko's angry shouts in his head but continues playing nonetheless) so Mochida gets the early lead. Still, Furihata's managing to stay with him and manages to get around Mochida's defense. He's got an excellent dribble, though, and he shoots a fairly decent three, so on the defensive side Furihata doesn't have much of a chance. Still, he can keep the deficit from widening.
It turns out Coach's horrible exercises have paid off, because Mochida loses half a step while Furihata's still going strong and he manages to steal the ball and drive past him a few times. Finally, though, they both agree to stop because Mochida's getting pretty tired. The score is tied and it is getting a bit late, so Furihata decides to go on home.
He wonders if he'll ever see this guy again. Probably not.
10. Never Again (Kasamatsu Yukio, Moriyama Yoshitaka, 165 wds, T)
They're graduating, and all Kasamatsu Yukio can think is fucking finally. He won't have to deal with shitty high school classes and crowded hallways and these teachers who have made his life hard. He won't have to wear a stupid uniform anymore (he seriously never wants to see this particular shade of grey ever again) and he won't have to deal with certain annoying classmates. By "certain annoying classmates" Kasamatsu of course means Moriyama Yoshitaka. Seriously, if they exchange absolutely zero words after this it will be great.
Of course, after the ceremony Moriyama is hanging out uselessly beneath a cherry tree, offering his buttons to the girls who are practically running away. Kasamatsu certainly won't miss this guy's annoying obsession with romance and finding the perfect girl. Still, no matter how much he wants to laugh or roll his eyes at Moriyama, he finds there's something caught in his throat and in his eyes.
Damn it. He really is going to miss that idiot.
11. Snow (Papa Mbaye Siki, 173 wds, T)
It doesn't snow in Senegal. Yeah, he's heard about snow, seen pictures of it, but it seems bizarre, removed from reality. Is it fluffy? It's frozen water, so isn't that just ice? But how is it so opaque? Is it just cotton candy with no food coloring?
He doesn't think of snow often, until somehow he ends up in Japan on a basketball scholarship. His teammates are curious about Senegal, but his Japanese is so shitty at first that it doesn't make a difference and he can't answer their questions because they're saying things that weren't in his language textbook.
By the time it snows, he understands more, speaks the language better, can adequately express himself and say in perfect Japanese, "What the hell is this?"
"It's snow," one of his teammates says, both exasperated with his short temper and amused by his lack of familiarity with what to him is normal precipitation.
It's not fluffy or sticky or really all that much like regular ice. Still, he might grow to like it.