My hope is to update once a week on Friday or Saturday. My parents don't allow me on the computer any other days.
Chapter 3: Dinner Party
Aida walked slowly down the hallway with a pile of boxes in her arms. She struggled to see over them. As she passed the first years' classrooms, she heard Kagami's loud, obnoxious voice. She stopped and peered in. An idea lit itself up in her mind. "Kagami, Kuroko, come here, please."
A few minutes later, Aida was walking much faster down the hall with Kagami and Kuroko carrying the boxes. "Uh, why did you make us carry this stuff?" Kagami whined as his arms felt like they were going to fall off.
Aida just smiled at him. "Well, after school, you boys are going to give that club room a thorough cleaning. These are old game DVDs and the teacher said I could move them to the TV room."
Kagami sighed. "Cleaning? Really? Cleaning is for girls."
Aida jabbed him in the side. "Yeouch! That hurt! I'm still sore you know!" Kagami yelped and glared at his smiling coach.
"Still sore?" She asked. She was concerned, the match with Touou had been a week before and Kagami's body still had not fully recovered. Now she felt a little guilty making him carry the boxes, but only a little. This must be what it's like when playing at that kind of level, Aida thought. She resolved to give Kagami more vitamin supplements that were to help with muscle ache.
"Coach, what are we going to do in practice today, after we clean?" Kagami's voice broke her out of her thoughts.
"Hmm, if you do get all the cleaning done, then I suppose I could give you guys an easy practice." Aida mused.
"Really?" Kagami cried! "Yes! I'll make sure we clean it quickly!" He practically skipped down the hall. Aida watched him with a twitch in her eye.
Rin watched as the Enoshima Soccer Club members played against each other in a practice match. Iwaki and Nana stood on her right. "Coach," she said. "Captain Sawamura is a little too far up. There's a gap." Right as she said that, Araki on the opposing team slipped around Kudo and Sawamura and ran right through the open space Rin had just mentioned.
Oda moved forward to challenge, but Araki swept around him as well. Dodging another defender, he crossed the ball to Kaoru who was running up the right side and he took a shot. It went right under the goalie's outstretched arm and into the back of the net. Araki's team cheered.
"Good observation, Rin," Iwaki said. "I hadn't noticed it before." He called to Sawamura. "Sawamura, don't let there be such a big space next time." He got a nod in response.
Rin kept watching the players. Kota was passed the ball and he barreled up the field yelling at the others, "Get out my way!" He brought the ball into the midfield of Araki's side and passed it up to Takase. He brought it into the penalty area and then passed it back to Sawamura who was coming up and he shot the ball at the goal. Reo blocked it and kicked it out to Araki again.
Iwaki called for a break and the tired players came to the bench and Nana and Rin were busy giving out water and towels.
As Rin passed Oda, she asked him. "How is your knee?" It was soft enough so no one else could overhear.
He glanced at her and then replied, "Fine."
Rin looked at his skeptically. "You missed a step coming off the field."
Oda shrugged. "There was a hole in the field. It's fine, really." Rin sighed and decided not to press him about it. She clapped him on the shoulder before moving away.
Iwaki ended the practice early and some of the players decided to eat dinner together. Nana and Rin tagged along. They went to a Yakiniki restaurant, which Rin was a big fan of. They were shown to a table and Rin rubbed her hands together in anticipation.
They got a pile of meat and Araki and Mako set about arguing over whether or not Araki can eat it all. During their spat, a shoe flew off and hit Oda in the face, knocking his glasses somewhere and leaving an imprint on his face. All action ceased and then Araki started laughing. Soon the whole table was in uproars.
Rin held her middle as she laughed until tears started to come out of her eyes. Oda just sat there, with a stone cold look on his face as he glared at his offending teammates. "I'm s-sorry, Ryoma," Rin reached over and lightly punched his shoulder. Another fit of laughs came over her and she leaned her forehead against his shoulder. "R-really. Sorry." She tried to compose herself and succeeded more or less to contain the giggles.
"Ah, it's you!" Rin turned around in surprise along with Oda and Nana and the rest of the table. It was Kagami Taiga staring down at her with wide eyes. Kuroko was standing next to him.
"Ah, Kagami! Kuroko!" Rin jumped up and hugged Kuroko. "I went to your game and I saw you win! Kagami, you were a freaking beast on that court!" She held her hand up for a high-five, which Kagami gave, albeit, a little apprehensively.
"Rin-chan, you know them?" Nana asked. She looked up at Kagami and guessed that he must be at least as tall as Takase was. There was another guy who had a slightly absent look on his face who was just as tall, if not taller.
Rin looked at her. "Oh yeah, guys, these are the members of the Seirin Basketball Club. Kagami, Kuroko, these are my teammates from the Enoshima Soccer Club." She introduced the two teams.
Kagami nodded and gave a quick greeting while the glasses Captain, Hyuga, gave a more extensive greeting. Aida appeared from behind him and said hello. Kota immediately got hearts in his eyes and dove across the table to grab her hands.
"Hello, I am Nakatsuka Kota! Will you be my girlfriend?" He was practically drooling on her.
Aida sweat dropped and tried to take a step back, but her hand was held tightly between Kota's. A vein twitched above Hyuga's eye and Rin grinned. "Hey, maybe you can actually get her to go on a date with you," she prodded Kota.
"Really? Oh, will you join me on a romantic dinner on a-" BAM! Kota was knocked out by Hyuga's fist.
"Don't get so familiar with our coach, dumbass." Hyuga said, glaring death at the unconscious boy. Kagami winced, his captain had entered clutch mode and they weren't even near the court. Rin and Nana snickered as Kakeru looked between them. The rest of the Enoshima players were just as confused. Rin and Nana just shared a knowing look.
"There's a table right there, if you want to join us. You can pull it over," Rin suggested as Reo moved Kota's body out of the way.
"Ah, thanks," the tall, slightly absent-looking guy said. "My name is Kiyoshi Teppei, by the way." He smiled as he introduced himself. He pointed at the five other members with him. "The one with red hair is Kagami Taiga. The one with glasses is Hyuga Junpei, our Captain. The blue-haired kid is Kuroko Tetsuya. This is out coach, Aida Riko and the last one is the jokester, Izuki Shun." Each person bowed as Kiyoshi introduced them.
"Ah, these people are Mishima Nana, Aizawa Kakeru, Araki Ryuichi, Hyoudou Makoto, Takase Michirou, Matoba Kaoru, Nakatsuka Kota, Oda Ryoma and I'm Rin Faolin." Rin ended her introductions with herself. Hyuga glared at the still unconscious form of Kota before helping his teammates bring over the other table.
Rin moved over to sit next to Aida. "Hey, is it still okay that I come this week?"
Aida looked at her, chopsticks halfway to her mouth. "Sure, what days?" She bit down on her piece of meat and chewed as Rin thought.
"Nana-chan, what days did Coach Iwaki give us off?" Nana tilted her head as she thought.
It was Kakeru who answered her. "I think it was Wednesday and Thursday. Right, Mako-san?" He looked at the blonde second year for confirmation.
Mako looked up from his plate. "Um, I thought it was Saturday and Sunday." He picked another piece of meat from the grill and ate it.
Oda scoffed. "Idiot, it was Tuesday and Wednesday!" He said with confidence.
Nana laughed nervously. "Actually, Oda-san, it is Saturday and Sunday." She felt bad for the second year. Oda looked at her incredulously.
"What?" Oda asked.
Mako laughed. "Told you! Idiot!" He stuck his tongue out at Oda who scowled and chucked a piece of half eaten meat at his face. Mako ducked and Araki yelled at both of them to stop wasting precious meat.
Rin chuckled at the antics of her teammates and looked back at Aida who didn't look too freaked out. "Yeah, Saturday and Sunday. I'm sorry about my team." She apologized. "They can be crazy."
Aida waved a hand. "Just like our team. Yeah, that's fine."
Rin grinned. "Great! Do you mind if I bring Nana-chan and Kakeru? They want to try it as well!"
Aida looked over at the other female and her male companion. Kakeru was trying to get a piece of meat from the grill while Araki was blocking him with his chopsticks. Nana was just looking on in amusement. Aida looked back at Rin. "Sure, they can come."
"Go where?" A voice startled the two girls. Oda had leaned over Rin's shoulder and had caught the last part of the conversation.
Rin pushed him away gently. "You shouldn't be eavesdropping on other people's conversations!" Oda leaned back, but he still wanted to know.
"Are you guys going somewhere?" He asked again.
Rin sighed. "Yes, Nana-chan, Kakeru and I are going to visit Seirin while we have no practice and learn how to play basketball."
Oda looked at her in slight shock. "Basketball? Why do you want to play basketball?" He had never thought she would be interested in a sport other than soccer.
Rin slapped her forehead in exasperation. "For the last time! I don't hate basketball. I just don't particularly care to play. And besides, it's something different and I bet it would be fun!" Rin glared at the tall midfielder.
Oda adjusted his glasses. "I see." He turned to Aida. "Mind if I join as well?" Aida paused.
At that second both Araki and Mako looked up from their bickering over the last price of meat and Mako asked. "Are you going somewhere, Oda?"
Oda looked at Aida and then at the two second years. "I want to learn how to play basketball." He said simply.
Araki was the first one to recover from his surprise. He released his hold on Mako and scrambled over. "Really? That sounds interesting. Can I join?" He looked at the Seirin coach with hopeful eyes.
Mako hit him in the back of the head. "And since when do you play basketball? Do you even know how?" Araki paused and then said, "You just get the ball through the hoop thing, right?" Aida sweat dropped.
Pretty soon the whole Enoshima table had made plans to go to Seirin and learn how to play basketball. The two teams started talking more about their different sports and what not. Rin and Aida and Nana started talking girl things and the boys tuned them out.
Kagami looked over at Takase and Oda and guessed that they could make some pretty good players with their height and everything. Then he looked at Kaoru and Kakeru and had his doubts. They were probably as tall as or shorter than Kuroko, but Kuroko knew how to play. He didn't think that these two would do that great. He caught himself and then shook his head. Size wasn't the only thing that mattered when playing basketball.
He looked back at his grill and saw that there was only one piece of meat left. He made a grab for it with his chopsticks. Just as he was about to touch it, another pair snatched it up. "Wha-? Hey, that was mine!" He sputtered in protest. He glared at the person who had dared to take his meat and saw Kuroko contently munching on it. "Kuroko~!" Kagami yelled.
I have, like, zero sense of humor so Izuki will not be making puns too often. :'( Sorry