Ten down, ninety to go!

X. Sweet Sixteen
Words: 423

Mamoru watched in amusement as Usagi adjusted the cap on her head and smacked Motoki in the arm while gesturing madly. The two had been arguing vehemently for the past fifteen minutes over a crumpled piece of paper the blonde had crumpled in her hand and his curiosity was starting to get the better of him.

Wandering over to the counter, he slid onto the empty stool next to Usagi and snuck a peek at the paper that was causing all the commotion. Perplexed, he stared down at a typed document that had several team names printed in English and in messy handwriting the letters "S.S.," "E.E.," and "F.F.," scrawled by several of the names. Laughing when he finally realized what the Odango held, he snatched the paper from her hands.

"Wow Odango! I didn't know you paid attention to American basketball! Or are you just picking the teams to win that you think have the prettiest colors?"

Glaring at the upperclassman, Usagi half-heartedly attempted to snatch back the paper the upperclassman was holding just out of reach above her head. Noticing her approach wasn't working, she switched tactics and huffed as she sat back on her stool.

"For your information baka you don't know everything about me! I won the Sweet Sixteen bracket here in the arcade last March you know!"

Sniffing indignantly, she valiantly attempted to grab the paper from his hands again and succeeded in snagging the now extremely crumpled paper from his shocked fingers. Ignoring the blonde's victory dance, Mamoru turned to the amused looking Motoki.

"I thought you won the March Madness contest last year!"

Blushing, Motoki nervously ran his fingers through his hair. "Well I did win. But it was Usagi here who filled out my bracket for me. I don't know enough about college basketball to win the pool, so I worked out a deal with her. She does my March Madness brackets for me, and if I win, she gets free milkshakes for the year."

Suddenly enlightened, Mamoru laughed. "Trust the Odango to become an expert on a subject if the reward is food!"

"Hey!" shouted Usagi as she stomped as hard as she could on Mamoru's toes. Ignoring his yelp of pain, she handed Motoki the extremely crumpled piece of paper and directed, "I marked those that will be in the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and Final Four. Good luck Motoki-kun! See you tomorrow for my shake!"

After watching her leave, Mamoru turned back to the counter for his coffee and shook his head.