Chapter Fourteen: Basketball for Do'ahous Takenori Akagi
I took in a breath of fresh air as Kogure and I walked down the path to Shohoku High School. Shohoku High, where so many good times were had… so many. I threw back my mind to a year ago…
"I AM BASKETMAN!! NYAHAHAAA!!"
Yes, there was the conceited Hanamichi Sakuragi who joined the team. The very same idiot that pulled down my pants in front of a whole audience…
WAIT. I'm not supposed to remember that.
"Kaede Rukawa!"
Until now, I can still hear his voice ringing clearly, introducing himself. This was a turning point in Shohoku Basketball Club, it certainly was. I watched as he blossomed from "Super Rookie" to the worthy ace of our team.
"I… I want to play basketball…"Mitsui Hisashi, with his broken teeth and long, slimy hair, sinking to the ground amidst uncontrollable sobs... the image remains fresh in my mind. Crybaby!
"One day, I'll be Kanagawa's number 1 Point Guard."
Ryota Miyagi entered the team 2 years ago, but sat out an entire 12 months through injury. His return last year strengthened the team, no doubt. Short he may be, but that muffin-headed, love-struck baka certainly added substance to our team.
There were times when words were futile. Like when we defeated Ryonan to enter the IH competition… there was Uozumi, a big, burly guy, sobbing as we embraced in a friendly hug, having been enemies just moments ago.
And of course, when we defeated Japan's number 1 team, Sannoh. As Sakuragi's shot sailed into the basket in the final second, as the referee awarded us the win, as we all came together – regardless of having been team players or substitutes – crying and yelling our hearts out…
That day – those moments of yesterday – they are all buried deep in my heart. I shall never forget them.
"As I was saying, the team – you seem lost in thought, Akagi."
"Nothing," I said, looking up at the sky. If anyone ever got wind of what a sentimental sucker I am, I'll… I'll… hmmm. I'll deliver on their heads my gorilla dunk, or something. No, wait. I am NOT a gori!
"It looks like it's about to rain, Kogure. Let's quicken our pace."
Kogure, my good friend throughout these years, nodded. We were both in university now – the same one at that – and were on our way back to Shohoku to watch the first match of the season.
"Our first match is against Ryonan, what d'you think?" Kogure asked.
Even after we had left the school, the Shohoku team remains in our speech as "our".
"What can I say?" I said nonchalantly. "Only we are a strong team."
Kogure laughed. "Yes, we are a strong team. Certainly."
We are a strong team… I remembered how Anzai Sensei had believed in us till the very end. It was this invariable belief that made us strive harder to substantiate that belief…We arrived at the gates of the school, and were instantly treated like, erm, celebrities.
Fan #1: There's Takenori Akagi! Wow!
Fan #2: Takenori Akagi! He's the legendary captain that guided our team to IH last year, right?
How true, how true.
"Oh my god, he's huge!"
Is that a compliment?"Man, he really lives up to his name!"
?
"What name?"
"Don't you know? That red-headed basketballer always calls him Gori."
$%&@(&@%
Sakuragi!! I'll get him!"Ahaha, ignore them, Akagi." Kogure said with a sheepish smile.
"Damn that bakeru!! How dare he!"
ShizukaI had often heard of Sakuragi, Miyagi and the rest of the morons talk about their ex-captain, who was, apparently, one heck of a gorilla.
And this guy who just came striding into the school definitely fits the bill!Finally! Shizuka Tendou meets the legendary Gorilla captain.
"Wow, Shizuka! Who's that? He's huuuuge!!" You would've thought Yuko was describing a gorilla. But then again, that was pretty darn close to the truth.
"I think he's Takenori Akagi, the ex-captain of the basketball team. Sakuragi mentioned him before," I informed her. I couldn't help it, and added, "Rather gorilla-ish, ain't he?"
Yuko giggled, probably at my very apt description.
"Yes," She said.
Kogure"Akagi!!" I called after him in vain. I think he'd had it with the whole 'gorilla' thing - students referred to him more as 'the gorilla' than 'the great captain'.
I watched in horror as he marched to two vulnerable-looking, innocent girls…
I suddenly realized that it looked like a scene out of 'Planet of the Apes'.
I have to save them…Kogure's imagination
(Akagi beats fist upon his chest, letting off his famous gorilla battle cry)
Akagi the gorilla: Who – dares – call – me – a – gorilla – must – DIE!!! (for I am NOT a gorilla, I am an ape!!)
(Akagi stomps his big gorilla feet about, flattening many buildings. People run about, frantic at the sight of this giant king Kong)
Scared Girl with Messy Hair: It's the gorilla!!!
Scared Girl with Silly Face: Yes!! Oh no!!
(Akagi narrows his black, beady eyes on the two rebels)
Akagi the Gorilla: You two!!
(Akagi stomps towards the two scared girls)
Scared Girls Together: AHHHH!! IT'S COMING TOWARDS US!!
(Akagi is just about to step on then and flatten them, when…)
// Have no fear, my girls, for CAPTAIN KOGURE IS HERE!! //
Scared Girls: Captain Kogure?
Captain Kogure: Take that, you bullying gorilla!!
(Red laser beams shoot out of Captain Kogure's glasses)
Akagi the Gorilla: Eh? Cyclops?!
(Akagi falls down, unconscious.)
// And once again, Captain Kogure SAVES THE DAAAYYAYAY!!! //
Girls: Captain Kogure! Our hero!
/end of Kogure's imagination
Kogure! This is not the time to live your X-Men fantasies! You've got people to save!!
I rushed at once to the scene.
"Akagi! Cool down!!"
I stepped valiantly in front of the girls to protect them.
"Cool down, Akagi! It's not their fault…" I said soothingly.
"What do you mean by… IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT?" He boomed.
"I… uhh…" I stammered. I didn't know how to explain it to him that it was perfectly natural for people to call him gorilla because he kinda looked like one…
"HMMM?"
"Uhhh…"
Whatever happened to Captain Kogure?Shizuka
Who is this bespectacled nut?
"Girls," The bespectacled nut turned to us earnestly. "Go, quickly!"
I frowned. "What?"
"Go! Just go!" He motioned furiously for us to go. It was like asking us to run for our lives. But why?
"Why?" I asked, bewildered.
"Why?! Because he'll hit you!!" He exclaimed, and turned back to the ex-captain, repeating his 'cool down' speech over and over again.
"You're both crazy," I said, and walked away with Yuko.
Akagi
What does Kogure think he's doing?
"What are you up to, Kogure?!"
"You can't hit them, Akagi! However angry you are! They're girls!" He said.
Well, duh, of course they're girls. If not, what? Bean sprouts?
"I never wanted to hit them, Kogure," I said dryly. "I just wanted to ask them if Sakuragi has been saying anymore stupid… stuff about me."
Kogure looked at me, wide-eyed and surprised. "Oh," he said. "Oh."
"Yes." I said.
"Oh."
"Yes."
"Let's, err, head to the gym then."
Shizuka
"Oh look, Shizuka! It's the two guys from just now! They're coming to watch the match too," Yuko exclaimed.
"My dear Yuko," I said with sarcasm, "I do have eyes, you know."
Yuko frowned at me. "Well of course you do!"
I threw my hands up in exasperation. "Never mind."
The ex-captain and his sidekick sank down into the two seats beside us, because there weren't any left. The arrangement was like this: Yuko, me, ex-captain, and sidekick.
"Shizuka," Yuko said nervously, "I've never watched a basketball game before."
"You're hopeless." I told her. Although, quite frankly, I'd never seen a basketball game before, either. Back in England, basketball was the American's game. We English lived and breathed football, nothing else. This English trait followed my brother and I to Japan.
"You must know all about it," Yuko continued. "So you can explain to me later on."
"O-Of course I can."
Of course I couldn't! I didn't know nuts about basketball… but it didn't look a very complex game to me. I hoped to just bluff my way through the whole game. Yuko would never know, anyway. It's not a thing to be proud of if you appear stupid in front of a person like Yuko.
Beside me, Ex-captain and Weird Sidekick were discussing Shohoku's chances. I strained to listen.
"Do you think Ryonan will use Box 1? Sendoh against Rukawa…" Said Weird Sidekick.
"Yes, I think so. They can't stop Rukawa otherwise – they don't have Uozumi this year." Said Ex-captain.
"Hopefully, Sakuragi won't get fouled out… Miyagi too, he's rather rash," Said Weird Sidekick.
"I agree." Said Ex-captain.
Ok… what the hell is "box one"? And "fouled out"? Is that like, a red card, or something?
My thoughts were interrupted by the Rukawa Brigade.
"GO, RUKAWA, GO!!!" They screamed.
I chuckled to myself, remembering how I'd joined them for a few minutes just to irritate the hell out of Rukawa. I turned my attention to the basketball court. The teams had already started warming up.
"Ryonan's Number 7 looks familiar…" I mumbled to myself.
"That's Akira Sendoh, their ace." Ex-captain told me. He looked at me disapprovingly. "You haven't heard of him?"
I didn't like his look.
"Oh, of course I have," I said dismissively. "I know him on a personal level."
Personal level? Yeah right.
Ex-captain snorted.
"Arrogant chap, if you ask me." There was something in his tone I disliked.
"Really? I think he's great." I replied placidly.
Ex-captain sighed and shook his head, mumbling something about 'crazy fangirls'. I managed to stop myself in time from saying "crazy gorilla". I seriously didn't want to get into a brawl with this guy.
"The match is starting!!" Yuko exclaimed with excitement. "And there's Mitsui!"
"Yes, yes." I said.
Sakuragi and another tall Ryonan guy stood facing each other, with the referee somewhere in between. The referee threw the ball up, and both of them jumped. Sakuragi got to the ball first, and beat it down with a shout of triumph.
"What are they doing, Shizuka?"
"They're opening the match," I said.
The ball, unfortunately, fell to a Ryonan player. I couldn't hear what Mitsui was saying, but I could see he was very displeased with Sakuragi, no doubt for giving the ball away.
"DE-FEND! DE-FEND!" The Shohoku supporters shouted as all 5 Shohoku players retreated back to their own half, crouching down in a funny sort of way with their arms spread out. My friend Sendoh had the ball, and he seemed to be bouncing it in quite a leisurely way.
"Steady, guys! Let's get the first two points of the match." He yelled. Rukawa was glaring at him, nothing in his eyes save for loath and contempt.
Sendoh bounced the ball on the spot for a moment or two, as if contemplating who to pass to. If that were so, he certainly made up his mind very fast. Within 5 seconds, he had taken the ball to the inside of the semi-circle (the penalty area, I think). Then, he did something very funny. He took one step, two steps, and sprang up into the air, placing the ball neatly into the net. Rukawa jumped up too and tried to stop him, but it was futile. Ryonan 1-0 Shohoku.
The referee blew his whistle and did some funny sign. Rukawa raised one of his arms reluctantly.
"Free throw!" The crowd gasped.
Free throw? Free kick? But why?! The ball went in already! Basketball is such a silly game. In football, you never hear of penalties or freekicks being given when the ball is already in the net!!Sendoh stood some distance away from the net, and bounced the ball once or twice on the floor. Then, like I had seen some people do, he shot and the ball went in.
Ryonan 2-0 Shohoku.
I looked at the scoreboard worryingly. So early and we've gone 2 down!
-
Scoreboard: Ryonan 3 Shohoku 0
-
Huh? Why 3?!
"Shizuka! What happened?" Yuko kept badgering me.
"Umm, I, uhh… I have a stomachache, I'm going to the toilet."
In truth, I had no idea. I never knew basketball was such a complicated, difficult-to-comprehend, mathematically incorrect game (only two balls went in! Why is the score 3-0??). It was almost impossible to fathom why people like Rukawa were complete basketball maniacs.
As I made my way out of the gym, the crowd suddenly went wild and a resurgent Rukawa Brigade yelled their usual cheesy cheers.
"What happened?" I asked one of the students seated.
"It's Rukawa! He just did a 3-pointer! He's brilliant, isn't he?"
I nodded slightly with a weak smile on my face.
Firstly, Rukawa was anything but brilliant.
Secondly… what the hell is a 3-pointer?
I walked out of the gym with this question in my head. Instead of going to the toilet, I headed to the staff room. I decided to use this time to ask my Physics teacher something about the theory of equilibrium, which I didn't quite understand. By the time I went back in (feeling very much like the Ms. Diligent I was supposed to be), there was only 1 minute left to the game.
As I made my way back to my seat, people made irritable noises about me blocking their view. It was, apparently, the 'climax' of the game.
"Shizuka! Where did you go?!" Yuko asked. "We're losing!!" She wailed.
"We-We are?"
"Yes!!" She pointed to the scoreboard.
-
Scoreboard: Ryonan 90 Shohoku 79
-
"Oh," was all I managed to say.
Instead of the usual calm Ex-captain, beside me was a rather heated gori, barking (or whatever a gorilla does) away.
"WHAT DO THEY THINK THEY'RE DOING? THEIR DEFENCE IS IN SHAMBLES! THOSE IDIOTS!!" He roared.
Beside him, Sidekick looked like his nerves were shot to pieces. "One minute more," He kept saying.
"Ohh!!" The crowd gasped. I turned just in time to see the ball sailing into the net. Mitsui.
"3 points!!" The crowd went wild.
"MICCHY!!!" Some gangsters waving a 'Micchy' banner cheered.
"My Mitsui!" Yuko said in a hero-worshipping tone.
Ryonan 90 Shohoku 82.
RukawaI stared steadily at Sendoh, my glance never wavering. Waiting, waiting…
This is it!I rushed forward to stop him.
"No you don't, Sendoh!!" Sakuragi the do'ahou exclaimed, and rushed forward, too.
He registered no surprise at this, but instead smiled and passed the ball coolly to Fukuda, who was free of his markers.
That DO'AHOU!It was all too easy a shot for Fukuda. The ball bounced off the little square and into the net.
Ryonan 92 Shohoku 82.
Is this… it?I received the ball from Miyagi. Sendoh was eyeing me too closely…
But I can do it. I can, because I am Kaede Rukawa…
Shizuka
Rukawa, with the ball in his one hand, leaped up into the air. And then… he dunked.
This is a very stupid way to describe it, but there's no other way. He just… dunked. I could sense his fury from where I was. The entire gym was suppressed into silence by his one dunk. It's strange, but I felt then that every single person in the gym must know how he was feeling. Through that one dunk. It was his own way of showing people how he felt…
Basketball.
"5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – ZERO!!!" The Ryonan crowd was elated.
I felt kinda numb. Not sore that we lost or anything, but just… numb.
Ryonan 92 Shohoku 84 was the final score.
The Shohoku supporters around me must have felt the same way. There was a sort of dumbstruck silence among us. Even Gori, who had been furiously yelling away a few moments ago, now simmered down into a shocked silence. A few seconds ago we were losing, but now we had already lost. How alike these two terms sound, but yet they were utterly dissimilar.
The shock soon wore off. The swearing and cursing came, as a matter of course.
"Shizuka… we lost…" Yuko sniffed.
"Of course I know that," I said stiffly.
Gori and Sidekick made their way to the Shohoku bench to console a devastated Shohoku team… or so I thought.
"WHAT DID YOU TWITS THINK YOU'RE DOING?! CAN'T YOU COPE WITHOUT ME?!!"
That was Gori, if you haven't guessed already.
I headed to the Shohoku bench with Yuko, wanting to see how they were coping with losing.
Sendoh"Shizuka… is that you?"
A girl vaguely familiar caught my eye. I remembered her as Shizuka, my very uncultured co-host for that night at the Kangawa Charity Concert.
She spun round, looked at me for a moment or two, and then broke into a grin.
"Yo," She said it so that it was "eee-ow" – like how those self-proclaimed hip hoppers say it. I laughed, and so did she.
"Sorry for trashing your team." I said lightly.
"Oh, no matter." She said it almost lazily. "What's up with your hair?"
"That's how I usually style it."
"I see. I think you look better with your hair down." She said flatly.
I swallowed this remark with some difficulty. My hairstyle was my pride and joy, and I spent (almost) every waking moment making sure it was in place…
I merely smiled.
"And you look better in uniform." I told her.
I watched in satisfaction as her face changed. She was obviously remembering my crude remarks about her figure. It was a good athletic figure, but not a nice feminine one, if you know what I mean.
"Is-Is that so? Well, goodbye, Sendoh." She replied shortly, and walked away.
ShizukaI walked to the Shohoku bench. There was Rukawa, head buried under his towel, silent as always. He only looked up once – when Gori tried to talk to him. His eyes, so alive on court just only a few minutes ago, were now just dead pools of brown, devoid of life.
It was like he could see nothing else, didn't want to see anything else…
Then I knew.
He didn't care for anything or anyone; not for Haruko, not for me. Basketball was all he cared about. It was all that he lived for. This was something I ought to have realized oh so long ago!
Silly me.
Author's note:
(29 Dec '02)
Alrighty, Chapter 14 is up! I finished this just after coming back from Versus II (the last local punk/emo/alternative/whatever rock gig of 2002 at substation), and it was a BLAST. [trying to sound cool] Support the local music scene, yo…
I'll probably post this chapter up tomorrow, with the replies. Too tired to do anything else now.
Oh yeah, sorry for the short and crappy basketball scene. I can't describe basketball very well =P
Arsenal v Liverpool later. Eeps!
(30 Dec '02)
Replies:
lambie: oh! Coming to think of it… I can't really remember what I said during the "interview". Haha. Hopefully nothing embarrassing.
White Meteor: Hehe! No mention of Micchy in this chapter though… only one. Ack.
Alexia: ahhaha, a lot of girls start out liking soccer like that (the guy I like likes Manchester United though =P). Glad you enjoy my fic!
Yelen: This chapter has almost no micchy in it, sadly. I'm off to read your Rukawa fic now, you update so fast!
Eliar Swiftfire: Bye bye, Larry!
unchained: you're crazy over Smicer? I think he's one of the most handsome guys in the team * girlish giggle *. But anyway, Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool… Jeffers dived!! Argh.. =(
a-sendoh07: Glad you thought so. I was afraid it wasn't satisfactory…
sLL: Oh no, Akira's not Sendoh. Like, Shizuka's brother is Akira Tendou. Sendoh is Akira Sendoh. Different lah… haha. Just can't think up anymore names =P
tensaispirai: I guess Ru was moping around in his room reading basketball magazines? Hmm... or maybe he was sleeping…
xoxo,
qianhui
myfakenovelty@hotmail.com
(you can add me to msn, or something)