Is Something Wrong?
"Will you guys shut the hell up?!"
Silence fell upon all of us. What's up with him? He sounded like he was in pure rage. After his sudden outburst, he snatched up his things and stormed out in huff, saying nothing to us. I got up and tossed my jacket aside, prepared to go after him.
"Coach, please excuse me, I'm gonna go check on him." I said. Riko rested a hand on my shoulder.
"Wait Makoto-kun, I think Kagami-kun just needs some time to cool off." She protested. "You know how he gets."
"Yeah, but I'm just really worried about him, please let me go." I pleaded. She crossed her arms and frowned with a sigh.
"Go ahead, do whatever you want." She said. I bowed my head.
"Thank you Coach." I acknowledged, and then hurried off after him.
###
Kagami's fast. I was catching up to him and calling out to him, but he ignored me and just sprinted on. Soon, I had gotten tired and breathless, losing sight after him. I looked around, turning my head left and right. Where'd he gone off to now? I continued walking around with no clue where he went off to. Seriously, Kagami says I'm difficult to figure out; hmph, he should take a look at how he's acting.
I made a left turn at a building and finally found Kagami. He was leaning against the wall of a convenience store sucking on one of those chu-chu popsicle bars.
"Oi, Kagami." I called. He glanced up, seeing me, but this time he didn't flee or ignore me. He must've grown tired too.
"There you are; why did you just run off like that?" I began. He continued simply eating. I decided not to pry any further, seeing that he obviously didn't feel in the mood to talk to me. Taking a seat beside him, I let out a distressed sigh and whipped the perspiration off my brows. Suddenly, I heard a little snap sound. Kagami offered me the other half off the chu-chu pop. I took it from his hand and began idly chewing on the plastic tip.
"Tell Coach I'm sorry for ditching the game." He said. I raised a brow.
"Oi, Bakagami, you still haven't answered my question." I reminded, feeling a little annoyed.
"Just leave it, alright. It's nothing and it shouldn't matter." He snapped back. "Why do you care anyway?"
I glared at him and was about to rebuff his retort, but then calmed my nerves, knowing not to make matters worse.
"Okay, okay, just calm down, no use blowing up at me." I tried to soothe. He inhaled deeply and let out a distressed sigh.
"Sorry Makoto, I don't really know what came over me back there." He groaned out, scratching the back of his head. "I guess those dumbasses really ticked me off. They were making such a fuss over you. I can't believe their taking that dream seriously."
I gaped at him, feeling a little bewildered at his answer.
"I-is that it?" I asked, sucking on the melting ice pop.
"Yeah." He replied simply.
"Well, c'mon, we should probably head back to the others now." He said, drinking the last little melted droplets of the popsicle and then throwing it away.
I threw mine away, even though it wasn't finished. I didn't feel like eating. There was a swarm of butterflies in my uneasy stomach. Before he could go off any further, I gently tugged at his shirt to gain his attention. He stopped in his tracks, turned and looked down at me.
"Hmm, Makoto, what is it?" he enquired. My lips quivered. Nevertheless, I forced the words that were choking me.
"S-speaking of that; how come you didn't react at all when I mentioned that I won with your route?" I inquired nervously.
Reluctantly, I forced myself to look upwards, to meet him in the eyes bravely. However, I saw that his head was coyly turned away from me like before.
"Ah, that? It's just a dream; I know some people believe dreams are linked to reality but when you really think about it, it really doesn't matter, right?" he responded impassively. "I mean, it's not like in real life we actually could—"he stopped mid-sentence. "You know what, forget I said anything."
I tilted me head back towards the ground, staring blankly at my own two feet. For some reason, his answer bothered me. What is this feeling? I-it kind of feels like disappointment, but what reason could there be for it? Was it because I actually did have some feelings—no, it's just an innocent curiosity. I just wanted to know if Kagami and I did have some sort of chemistry in the real world besides basketball.
"I see." I muttered under my breath in a dejected tone. I felt his fingers tenderly slide my bangs out of my face.
"Makoto, are you okay?" he asked, sounding concerned. "You sound like you're sick."
I wrapped my hand around his and pushed it away from me.
"Y-yeah, I'm alright. I just feel a little tired is all." I assured.
We started walking back to the basketball court together, saying not even a word to each other. After a few silent minutes, Kagami broke the ice.
"Neh, Makoto."
"Yeah, what is it?"
"You wanna play one-on-one later today?" he asked. Usually I would accept it with ease, but not this time.
"I'm sorry, Kagami, I can't today." I replied with a steady tone.
"Huh, why not?"
I pondered for a few moments to think up some legitimate excuse.
"W-well, I just have a lot of studying to do. There's a test for algebra coming up you know." I lied. He suddenly looked frantic.
"Eh, really?!" He exclaimed. I chuckled. He was back to his old self.
"Yeah, it's been discussed for a week now, how can you not know? God, you're such an idiot, Bakagami."
"Oi don't call me that!" he yelled.
We retorted and laughed a bit. It almost felt as if we were back to our normal selves; to how our relationship was before, but I knew better. The austere mood lingering on us had lifted but it was still there. If I just knew what the heck was going on with us.
