I stepped out of the supermarket, holding five heavy grocery bags.
"Guys are so useless…" I muttered, trying to shield my eyes from the bright, burning sun. "They say that they'll help you carry the bags, but nooo. They leave you hanging, making you go shopping for the whole team cause you're the only girl. Riko takes advantage of being a coach." I ranted to myself, earning weird looks from passers. I sighed, turning around and headed back to Seirin where the others were having their basketball practice. I decided to opt out early from Hitomi-sensei's five hours of gruelling practice for a fun three hours of sweaty practice with boys. A dark cloud passed overhead, and I groaned.
"Oh. My. Freakin. Goodness. Really? Really?!" I quickly headed for a covered area where I wouldn't get wet. I made it just in time as it began to pour.
"Wahh! Riko! Kagami! Kuroko! Why did all of you send me out here if you knew it was going to rain?" I wailed, pretty pissed. A low chuckle captured my attention as a familiar blonde and ebony-haired guy stood next to me, also taking cover from the pouring rain.
"You're that girl that was with them from last week!" The blonde commented. I rolled my eyes.
"Duh." He looked taken back, surprised.
"What?" I snapped, not being in a happy-go-lucky mood right now.
"Eto… is it a possibility that you don't know who I am?" He pointed a finger at himself with curiosity written all over his face. The ebony-haired guy snickered, earning a pout from the blonde.
"Who are you again?" I asked without any real interest. I shifted my feet to and fro, ready to sprint in the rain.
"I'm Kise Ryōta! I'm the basketball player from Kaijō High! The Seirin members defeated us in a practice match. You might know about that since you know the Seirin team. I played against you once. You might remember. You know…this is like déjà vu. You asked me about my name since you didn't know who I was…" He prompted. I realized that he was right.
"OH! You're that guy who played with me once, a while ago before we played against Kaijō High!" Shit. I clammed up, forgetting that he knew me as Fujika Masami who played once late at night; and as Fujika Masa who played in the practice match and won. "You're that guy who was at Maji Burger's last week too. Ne, I forgot your name." I nodded my chin towards the black-haired guy.
He glanced in my direction but quickly looked away with a faint pink blush covering his cheeks. "I-I'm K-Ka-Kasamatsu Yu-Yukio." I had to hide a laugh at his stuttering.
"Fujika Masami." I held out a hand and he nervously shook it. I peered at the shy boy. "Ne, you're not…afraid of girls…are you?"
"Eh?!" Kasamatsu quickly drew his hand away as if I burned him. "N-n-no." Kise laughed.
"This guy is so shy that he gets mad every time I have a female fan." Kise casually slung an arm over Kasamatsu's shoulder before getting punched in the head.
"Don't treat your captain like that, you baka!" Kasamatsu roared. I noted his quick change in behavior and came up with the conclusion of him being scared of girls. I sighed again, softer this time.
"Well, I gotta run or else the guys will make me run laps with them…" I grumbled. "And they damn well know that I have to stay slim for ballet…" I hoisted the grocery bags up higher, about to sprint out into the rain.
"Wait!" Kise grabbed my shoulder, making me stumble backwards.
"What now?" I growled.
"Kasamatsu and I will walk with you!" Kise eagerly offered, already taking four grocery bags from me and handing two to the blushing teen.
"You baka!" Kasamatsu furiously whispered.
"Whatever, just hurry up. I have to run to Seirin." I took off in a sprint, leaving the two of them behind.
"Masami-chan! What took you so – " Riko paused. "…long?" The gym door was pushed open, and I was leaning against the door, soaked to the bones with two boys panting next to me.
"You guys should all pay me back for this. I had to run in the damn rain with these two guys." I stomped over to Riko, leaving a trail of puddles. I thrust the bags of groceries at her and swiped a towel off the bench, not caring if it was already used.
"Masami-chan, you realized that you brought back two outsiders," Kuroko's soft voice reached me. My eyes slowly widened in shock and realization.
"Shit!" I shrieked out.
"Kurokocchi, don't treat me like a stranger!" Kise whined as he came closer.
"Oh well, the cat's definitely out of the bag this time…I'll be damned if they don't figure it out." Riko sighed. "We still have an hour and a half of practice. Masami-chan, go get changed. Don't bother with the…uh…hair." Everyone stopped practicing and stared at Riko in disbelief.
"You have got to be kidding. What if she can't play? I mean…you know." Hyūga demanded. Riko proceeded to shrug her shoulders, making my heart drop down into my stomach. Koganei, Izuki, Tsuchida, Furihata, Kawahara, and Fukuda protested loudly, while Mitobe protested with his eyes and facial expressions.
"Whatever you see here, Kise-kun and Kasamatsu-kun, don't you dare tell a single soul. Or else…" Riko didn't need to complete her threat as the two newcomers gulped loudly.
"H-hai."
"You better be right about this, Riko-chan." I whispered as I passed by her.
I emerged from the girls' locker room wearing a red jersey from my middle school years and black shorts with black sneakers streaked with red. It was our usual 5v6 team of Kagami, Kuroko, me, Hyūga and Izuki against Mitobe, Koganei, Tsuchida, Furihata, Kawahara and Fukuda. I had managed to swipe the ball away from Koganei and made my way down the court. I saw Kuroko from the corner of my eye and I threw the ball backwards toward him.
"Wha-?" Tsuchida clucked his tongue but he continued to stay on me. My agility has never failed me before. The second Tsuchida's attention was focused on somewhere else, I vanished.
"Izuki!" I shouted out. Tsuchida's face paled when he realized where I was. Izuki grinned and passed the ball to Kuroko, who passed it to me. I dribbled up to the three-point line and threw the ball.
"Get it!" Koganei shouted. Mitobe jumped up for the ball, just missing it by a centimetre. WHOOSH.
"Blue to Yellow: 67 – 52." Riko announced.
"Yeah!" I fist pumped into the air. I caught Kuroko smiling at me and I grinned.
[Kise's POV]
Somehow, her moves seemed really familiar. I couldn't figure out where I've seen them before, but I know that I have. I played against her that one night. That's all I can remember about her. The way her pink hair moved; her limbs; everything about her captivated me. I want to know more about her. Fujika…Fujika… I know there was another boy on the team with the name of Fujika too… or was it Fujikota? I don't know…
"Ne," I called out, catching their attentions. "Don't you guys have another player? He's short and is really good too." They all froze and gaped at me. Kasamatsu glanced at me.
"Now that you mentioned it, Kise, I think I remember him too." My captain murmured.
[Masami's POV]
Aw, shit. Please tell me he didn't really just ask. I nervously glanced at my captain and coach. I could see that they were lost for words. Koganei, the stupid boy, spoke up.
"Yeah, well you see, Masami-chan is – " Mitobe had placed his hand over Koganei's mouth, silencing him. A sudden look of realization flickered through Koganei's eyes as he realized what he was about to do.
"Cat's outta the bag, Masami-chan," Riko sighed. Hyūga shot her a glare but she ignored him. "Will you two not tell anyone about this please? People won't take it well when they figure out that they were beaten by a girl, especially at the Interhigh Preliminaries." I saw Kise's golden eyes and Kasamatsu black eyes widen in surprise. I trudged over to my duffle bag that was sitting on the bench and grabbed the red wig. Flipping my hair upside down, I began to pin bobby pins, attaching the red wig to my light pink hair. I ruffled the wig up, so it looked like it was natural. Turning around to face Kise and Kasamatsu, I placed a hand on my hip, cocking my head to the side.
"So…I'm Fujika. Nice to meet you."
