Thank you for the reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Hana chuckled remembering how her kaa-san had been forced to become the assistant manager of the basketball team that her father was a part of. Momoko, who was still one of her mother's closest friends and one of their many babysitters, still had a knack of getting people to do anything she wanted without her even asking (mostly because they weren't given a choice in the matter).

"So what happened after that, kaa-san?" asked Ayame, excited. Amaya sighed, shooting her husband a halfhearted glare as she continued from where she had left of the night before.

I sighed for the umpteenth time as I watched everyone else exits the doors. When I had told my mother that I was now the (reluctant) assistant manager of the basketball team, she had been delighted and forced me to stay. Not that Momoko would have allowed me to quite anyway.

"Come on Amaya, or we'll be late," trilled Momoko, moving to stand behind me. I took my time getting up, feeling decidedly sulky. Why had I even agreed? Oh, thats right, I'm too nice for my own good.

Flashback~

"Excuse me?" I asked, my eyes narrowing. "Yep, you'll be my assistant manager for tomorrow onward," she said, completely ignoring me. The rest of the regulars blinked, looking nonplussed. I blinked. "Why?" I asked. She blinked back at me and replied, "We're friends, right?" I shifted, not liking where she was going with this. "Right," I said. "So, don't friends help each other out?" she asked. I sighed. "Yes." Momoko beamed. "Great. I can't handle these dunderheads on my own, so you can help me out," she said. The guys looked mildly insulted at being called dunderheads. How the hell was I suppose to say no with everyone watching, and especially to a face like that.

"Fine," I said. Momoko grinned broadly. "Great, you can start coming from tomorrow."

End Flashback~

We headed over to the gym, Momoko scolding me on being so slow, and me trying to tune her without seeming too impolite. i had already been here for over a week, and gotten used to watching everyone. The way they played basketball astonded me. I wasn't the 'go to' person on basketball, but I was pretty sure that high school level shouldn't be this high.

I sighed again, dropping my bag before heading over the coach. In all honestly the coach scared me. She looked stern and I couldn't tell what would get her angry, so I was cautious around her. The coach had high expectations for her team and expected them to be fulfilled. I knew that it was only her faith in Momoko's skills as a manager that allowed me to join as an assistant.

I did basic things like getting drinks and snacks for everyone, making sure that everyone (except for Murasakibara, who was Momoko's responsibility) to practice.

"You look as though someone ran over your cat Amaya," said Fukui coming to peer over my shoulder at what I was reading. I had made it clear to everyone after a few misunderstandings that I would only respond to my first name, preferably without any honorifics.

"I don't have a cat," I said, frowning as I read the stats of the players of other schools that Momoko had collected. I was going through the people that we'd most likely be facing for the Winter Cup. Our school had only managed to place 3rd for the InterHigh. That meant that we were already qualified for the Winter Cup.

"It was only a figure a speech," he said. "Why are you looking over the data of other schools?" he asked. I rolled my eyes. "Hmm, maybe because we have to be ready for the Winter Cup when it comes along," I said sarcastically. Fukui laughed. We got along quite well. After getting used to and comfortable with the basketball players I didn't bother to watch my words around them and had been dubbed 'the second Fukui'. My reply to that had been 'come on, I'm not that bad yet."

"Seirin High is impressive, especially for a new school. Defeated the two kings, Seiho and Shutoku," I said as I read their data.

"Tatsuya, is Murasakibara coming today," I asked Tatsuya who had just entered. He frowned and walked up to me. "f he's not here then that means that he probably won't be coming," he said. I sighed, and ran a hand through my hair. I seemed to be doing that lately.

"Momoko," I called as the boys began their practice. "Yes?" she asked. "I was wondering," I said. "Seirin seems to be quite good at offence. I haven't seen any of their matches. Should we be worried about them?" I asked. Momoko frowned as she glanced down to the paper in my hands. "honestly, not at the moment. But they can get much stronger, and when they do, we should be careful." I nodded thoughtfully and turned to watch the practice.

Practice was over quickly today. I sighed as we walked out together. "You've been doing a lot of that recently," said Tatsuya falling into step next to me. I shrugged. "I guess I'm still trying to get used to this," I said. A small smile played at the corner of his mouth. From what I knew of Tatsuya he was polite but rather calculation. He didn't go out of his way to make conversation, but he could be described as friendly to an extent. I still couldn't completely figure him out, which was different from the rest.

"I DARE YOU TO SAY THAT AGAIN FUKUI KENSUKE!" Momoko shrieked. Most probably Fukui said something to Momoko without thinking again. I knew that if I had to choose between making Momoko angry and going for three days without books, I would choose the latter. But Fukui managed to get Momoko angry on a weekly basis. I watched passively as punched him sending him flying.

"He really doesn't learn does he?" I asked Tatsuya as we continued home. I had discovered that we lived in the same neighborhood after the first day of practice when we headed home in the same direction.

"Apparently not," he replied, sounding amused.

Where Fukui landed

"Oww, is Momoko insane or what?" he groaned rubbing his head. He blinked the stars out of his eyes and blinked a couple of more times to be sure. "Are you alright?" asked a girl with short brown hair.

"No," he groaned trying to get up. "Where am I?" he asked. "Your in front of Seirin," she replied, looking puzzled.

"What?"

Although that shouldn't be possible it's fanfiction so anything can happen. I was originally planning to put Momoko with Murasakibara, but now I'm considering Fukui. Please state your preference in your reviews

SilverFox