Chapter 10: Let the games begin!

Inter high games! wooohooo hahhahaha

I'd like to take this time to finally thank those who commented:

SilverSapphire34523, BoA, NKloveNK, MDTM, and Guest of honor :)

By the way SilverSapphire34523: If you're still wondering if Akira's father had ever agreed to her genderbending antic, well he doesn't even know. All he knows is that Akira will be attending a school in Tokyo and did nothing more than give her an apartment to live in. He didn't really care. Sorry her dad's a jerk.

Her morning routine was consistent: waking up at 4:45am and changing into her jogging gear before she left her apartment at around 5:15am for her daily jog, arriving back home at around 6:30 and get ready for school, eat breakfast at 8am and leave for school. However, this morning would be slightly different. Today she woke up more nervous than before because the first round of preliminaries was going to start.

In class, a group of girls approached Akira on her table and offered their "good luck" and "do your best" wishes. Some even gave her chocolates as gifts.

"Thank you for your support. Although I probably won't be in the starting lineup, I'll relay your good wishes to my teammates" Akira, not knowing what else to say, blushed.

After classes, Seirin headed off for their first game against Shinkyo Academy. Yesterday, Riko had showed the team a picture of a freakishly tall African player on their team. Akira was running with the bag of chocolates she had received earlier.

"Hayakawa-kun, you're too popular. I hate you" Koganei remarked, albeit jokingly

"Kogane-senpai, gomenasai" she replied shyly. "I meant to share these with everyone"

"Really?! Then I guess I like you after all" Koganei cheered up and helped himself with one of the chocolates before getting hit by Riko.

On their bus ride, Akira sat at the back right next to Koganei and Mitobe as she stared out the window and fell into deep contemplation.

Akashi's probably preparing for his team's first match too….

I wonder if he'll make it to nationals…

Of course he would. He is Akashi Seijuro after all and my father will be even prouder of him…

"Hayakawa. Oi Hayakawa. Hayakawa-kun" Koganei called out to her, shaking her shoulder to wake her up from her daydream.

"K-Koganei-senpai gomen!" Akira jerked up, falling off her daydream

"'Everybody's getting off the bus already. Don't tell me you're nervous as heck for the games' says Mitobe" Koganei said, as if speaking what was on Mitobe's mind as he stared blankly and mutely at her.

Akira stood up and apologized for her spaced out character. She wasn't too nervous despite seeing that over 2-meter player from Senegal. Papa Mbarone Sekai, Papanpa Seki or something. She couldn't remember his name but he was taaaaaall.

Entering the court, it had a lot of spectators but not enough to fill half. After all, it was still the first round of the preliminaries. Most of the supporting cheers came when Shinkyo High emerged out of the court and Papa Mbaye Shiki's head stood out among the crowd. Akira's face, along with Fukuda, Furihata and Kawahara's faces, turned pale when Papa walked past them. Akira stood clearly over a foot shorter than the Senegal player.

During the second half of the game, Akira was able to play, temporarily subbing in for Kuroko. She quivered in fear as Papa stood between her and her supposed pass to Hyuuga. Akira froze in her spot and had the ball taken from her before she even realized it. Shinkyo led a fast break, and Papa scored.

"Don't mind Hayakawa. We'll get the next point" Kagami assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I'm such a useless fool! Sorry Kagami-kun!" Akira bawled and bowed several times before getting smacked by Hyuuga in the head.

"Aho. You've got teammates. Try to calm down a bit, okay?" Hyuuga chided her. "He's just tall but you're faster than him"

With those words, Akira toughened up and pulled herself back together, smacking her cheeks until they were bright red. After the throw-in, Akira ran across the court and received Kuroko's super pass. She dribbled past two defenders and went for a lay-up shot.

.

.

.

.

.

Unfortunately, it hit the rim and rebounded. Everyone on Seirin's bench sweatdropped again, and Akira turned beet red in humiliation. Good thing Mitobe managed to get the rebound and passed it on to Hyuuga, who scored a three.

When coach Riko finally discovered Papa's weakness, she reminded Kagami of his defensive lessons with Mitobe on how to block taller people form shooting. Kagami was successful and prevented Papa from making any more shots. He then proceeded with an electrifying dunk which gave Seirin the lead.

"Kagami-kun, you're truly amazing!" Akira praised her taller teammate

"Uh, yeah. It's nothing"

Seirin won the game! Yaaay! But the day wasn't over yet. They came to watch the next gam which was between Shohoku high and Kinka high. Apparently, Shohoku had also gotten their hands on one of the Kiseki no Sedai – shooting guard Midorima Shintaro.

The next day…. In class….

Akira yawned for the nth time while resting her chin on her palm. The morning seemed to move slowly and the teacher's lecture was not getting to her. She fought her eyelids from closing down, regretting for the first time, why she had taken a front row seat. It didn't help that the teacher's voice sounded pretty much like a drone. She yawned one more time and dozed off before finally being called by their biology teacher.

"Who can answer me? Oh, Hayakawa-kun!"

Akira jerked up when she heard her name being called by the angry teacher. She felt embarrassed as she wiped some drool off her chin. "Sensei?"

"Weren't you listening? I said, is the jugular vein the largest vein in the body?" the teacher asked one more time, his eyes narrowing, hoping Akira could not answer this one.

"Uhm, no" she replied coolly

"Are you sure?" the teacher gave a questioning look

"Yes. The two largest veins are the superior and inferior vena cava. If you want to know the largest artery too, then it's the aorta" Akira continued

"Then how much blood volume is inside man's body?"

"That would be abou liters, sensei"

"How many cranial nerves are there? And name them al!"

"But sensei, we haven't touched the central nervous system yet"

"I'm not hearing excuses. You seem to have read a lot since you're sleeping in my class"

Akira paused for a moment and counted her fingers. "there are 12 sensei. The olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, abducens, facial, vestibulocochlear, glossopharyngeal, vestibular, spinal accessory and hypoglossal nerves. As per function,- "

"Tomare! (stop) Ok I get it! You're a genius!" the teacher burst and returned to face the board. He could hear muffled laughter behind him. "Quiet all of you or I'll give a pop quiz!"

After class…

The bell rang and it was finally time for lunch break. After class, some girls approached Akira and praised her for her amazing ability to answer.

"How did you know all those nerves when we hadn't discussed them yet, Hayakawa-kun?" asked one girl

"Well, I-uh, uhm, I heard them once from a friend" Akira replied

A memory of her and Seijuro flashed. It was when they were still in the fourth grade and they were having a picnic with his mother. Seijuro proudly enumerated the cranial nerves to show his mother that he had learned something new from the encyclopedias given to him. Akira back then, sat and watched in awe as he explained what they were and what they did.

Akira shook her head to forget. "I need to go. See you girls later" she said and hurried off with her lunchbox.

When she returned to the classroom, a couple of girls approached her.

"Ano ne Hayakawa-kun, we saw your game yesterday" one of the girls blushed

"Even if you only played for only 10 minutes, you were amazing"

Akira sweatdropped. She couldn't handle girls getting mushy all over her. It was still too weird and she hadn't gotten used to it yet. All she could do was thank them for their support and hurry to her seat and pretended to occupy herself with a book until the teacher came in.

During practice, more and more girls were dropping by to see Akira. Although the team was grateful for their enthusiasm, it somehow got into their nerves, especially Akira's. She wanted to focus more on her future games and meeting Seijuro in the Inter high games.

A/N: I had fun creating Hayakawa Akira and this fic because I enjoyed turning her into a boy and having girls swoon over her, rather than her being th manager of he boys' team. My inspiration for Akira was Kashima Yuu from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. If you've seen that anime, good for you! If not, I suggest you go watch it. Thank you for your continued support.