Break 20: Count on It
An agreement is one thing, a promise is another
It was close to noon when Etsu and Kaed arrived at Etsu's uncle's beachside inn. They would have been there sooner if not for a few…mishaps along the way, including but not limited to, an argument with a neighbor's cat, falling a foot down a flight of stairs, missing the first train, and reading the map wrong. All in all it was a pretty normal trip with Etsu. Trouble seemed to follow her around whenever she tried going out of a ten-mile radius of her own home.
After getting settled, Etsu deemed it first priority to go bug her uncle. "Oji-san~!" she sang, "Your favorite niece is here with a friend!" Sliding open the door to the foyer, a grin was plastered on her face. Her grin widened as she caught sight of her uncle's unkempt appearance coming from a hallway.
Etsu's uncle on her mother's side looked like your typical laid back middle aged man. He had scruffy and short brown hair and just a bit of stubble on his chin. His own light eyes brightened at the sight of the two high school students. A smile tugged at his mouth, "You're my only niece Ebi-chan. Nice to see you again," he said, pulling the much shorter girl in for a quick hug. "And I assume you're Ebi-chan's friend she always mentions?" he asked tilting his head toward Kaed.
"Ah yes, Tsuji Kaed, it's nice to meet you," she introduced, nodding her head.
Placing a hand on Etsu's shoulder, her uncle smiled at the taller girl, "It's a pleasure Tsuji-chan, Okura Genichi, Ebi-chan's uncle."
"So why are most of the rooms booked?" Etsu questioned suddenly, "I mean, I know it's summer but most people don't come here because it's pretty old."
A short chortle erupted from the man's throat, "Ahaha, well it sure is. But we have a high school basketball team that comes by around this time every summer, and this year another team also booked."
Etsu tapped a finger to her chin, "Well you do have that gym…do you know which schools were the ones that booked?" she inquired. To be honest she was half-hoping the teams would be one they knew. All the more fun for them! But of course they would probably be absorbed in practice.
"Shuutoku is our regular," Okura said, a thoughtful look on his face. Both Kaed and Etsu exchanged uneasy glances at this. "…and I think the other school was, Seirin? I've never heard of them. Do you have any idea who they are?"
Shuutoku, and Seirin in one place at the same time, not a good thing. "Yeah, we know them," Kaed said, "what times are they supposed to be arriving?"
Okura looked deep in thought for a moment before speaking, "I think Seirin is scheduled to come in later today. Shutoku isn't supposed to arrive until tomorrow morning."
"So…" Etsu trailed trying to look as innocent as possible while eyeing Kaed, "how much you want to bet that the moment those two find out about each other they'll play a match?"
A light snort was Kaed's response, "I'd think the answer would be obvious. It's Shuutoku and Seirin."
Okura, looking confused just shook his head as he wandered off to prep the rest of the rooms. Teenage girls, they were an enigma to him. They didn't even notice him take his leave as Etsu mused on. "You think Kise-san would be jealous Kaed-chan?"
The taller girl regarded the other with perplexity, "Jealous of what? Me getting to see Kuroko-kun again or him missing out on playing basketball with Midorima, Kuroko-kun, and Kagami?"
Etsu shrugged exaggeratedly, "Well, that and something else."
"Something else?" now Kaed was quite suspicious of her friend who seemed to be failing at being smooth.
"Yeah, I mean, you've been spending an awful lot of time over at Seirin recently, just the other week you were there almost every day," she looked up at Kaed, scrutinizing her as best she could, "And you've stopped hanging around Kise-san. I there something you don't want me knowing about Kaed-chan?" she added, narrowing her eyes.
An exasperated sigh left Kaed's lips. Now Etsu was beginning to get like her sister and Shimizu with the implications. Great, now that's three people who seem to enjoy messing with her even if it is blatantly clear that what they are probably thinking about is not happening/does not exist. "No Etsu-san, I was just checking on how Kuroko-kun and Kagami were after their loss. And I've been busy with my own practices besides Kise and I am not as close as you seem to think we are."
Placing her hands on her hips, Etsu lifted her chin confidently, "If you say so. But answer this: Between Kise-san, and Kuroko-san and Kagami-san, who would you pick?"
"Kuroko-kun and Kagami," Kaed replied automatically, not even taking a second to think about it. The look on Etsu's face was…priceless to say the least, it took all of Kaed's conscious to not snap a picture then and there. Mouth gaping like a fish, eyes wide, Etsu looked quite ridiculous.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, the black haired girl lifted a finger in disbelief, "H-how the heck does that work?!" she cried, still trying to completely process Kaed's answer.
Kaed rolled her eyes, "Easy, Kuroko-kun is calm and a nice person in general, and Kagami, as much as a hothead he is is passionate about his sport and is quite respectable," her expression became bland as she continued, "Kise on the other hand is annoying, loud, childish, oblivious, and a magnet for more annoyances."
"How can you say that about him Kaed-chan!?" Etsu exclaimed, not quite believing what she was hearing. "Kise-san isn't like that! He's absolutely adorable, loyal, kind, a good listener, a quick learner, friendly and playful!"
A single raised eyebrow was all it took. "Etsu-san…you just described what could be considered the perfect dog." Her tone was dry but her eyes showed amusement.
"Oh…did I really?" Etsu's asked awkwardly, seeming to think back to the adjectives she used to describe the blond, "Heh, I guess you're right, I kind of did…" her grin was now sheepish, "now that's awkward," she muttered, rubbing the back of her neck as she suddenly found her shoes to be very interesting at that time.
Using her fingertips to usher Etsu along, Kaed strode toward the exit. "C'mon Etsu-san, you can do that back in the room," she said, steering her ever so embarrassed friend back to where they were staying for the time being.
Plopping down on the floor at the same time, Kaed looked to Etsu, "So, what do you want to do now?"
Propping her head up with her hand, Etsu hummed. "I dunno, I kind of want to wait until tomorrow to bust in on the basketball teams. We could just take it easy here for now."
"Sure," Kaed replied, not really all that interested, "Say, how do you know Otani and Ueno? You said they were friends of yours but I never met them until this year." She had been curious of their past ever since meeting them, they were friends now, but she knew next to nothing about them.
"Hmm?" Etsu fell to her back, "Well, it's kind of a long story so you better get comfy," she said, raising her head up to look at Kaed, who stared at her expectantly. "We met during our last year of elementary school. My parents sent me to camp for the summer, do you remember?" A nod was her response. "It just so happened that both Ue-chan and Mai-chan were there too, and we all roomed together. We all got to know each other pretty well, though Ue-chan took some prodding, she was much shyer back then. We told each other our hobbies and dreams, and we all sort of clicked together. Eventually, summer ended, but we kept in touch. Mai-chan and Ue-chan ended up at the same middle school while I was with you at Teiko. Once middle school started we all became pretty invested in our area of choice, music for me, music and art for Ue-chan, and tennis for Mai-chan. Stress was building up so I went to see them more often, and…" she hesitated slightly, "some other problems cropped up too. So we all got closer than ever. Now here we are in high school together," Etsu finished with a large breath.
"That was a long story," Kaed said, leaning back on her elbows. "If we're waiting until tomorrow to greet the teams, what do you suggest we do in the mean time?"
Closing her eyes, Etsu hummed in thought. "I guess you could fill me in on what's been going on since I missed most of everything."
"Fine by me," Kaed said, beginning her drawn out explanation.
Somewhere along the course of her very long and tedious lecture, both Kaed and Etsu nodded off. Now they awoke to a few streams of sunlight peaking in. Rolling over, Kaed groped around for her phone to check the time. It was still quite early, around dawn. She inwardly cursed her early riser habits, so as not to wake Etsu, who was quite a grump when forcibly awakened.
Pulling herself up into a sitting position, Kaed rummaged around in her bag to find a change of clothes before quietly tip-toeing off to find the bathroom. Lucky for her, it seemed that she was the first one up, and got the whole place to herself.
Going through her morning routine, somewhat slower than usual due to her grogginess, Kaed splashed a handful of cold water to her face to try and wake herself up; and instantly regretted it. The water was freezing, wiping her face dry, she sighed well at least she was awake now.
Tugging on a pair of basketball shorts and a white shirt, she was just about ready to go see if Etsu was awake yet (probably not). Combing through her hair with her fingers, she was quite happy that she never got the bedhead Kuroko did. Pulling it back, she tied it into a lazy ponytail quite a few strands fell into her face, but no matter she would fix it later.
Going back to the room, Kaed slapped a hand to her forehead, Etsu still wasn't up. Not wanting to deal with an irate petite girl at the moment, the other girl began wandering the hallways. About to go find the dining hall, her walk was cut short by some very loud yelling.
Jogging over to where she thought the yells were coming from, she stopped short. It seemed that Seirin and Shuutoku had found each other. Kind of expecting it, Kaed greeted them casually, "Oh, hey fancy seeing you guys here."
The group of four whirled around and yelled at the same time. "You're here too!?"
Massaging her temple with the palm of her hand, Kaed regarded them evenly, "Can you keep it down? Besides, is that any way to greet someone?"
"Sorry," Kagami muttered scratching the back of his head.
"Hey, everyone is already in the dining hall," Riko said, coming closer. Her appearance wasn't exactly a pleasant one, what with her apron being stained red and her carrying a knife. The boy's faces were sufficiently horrified while Kaed only quirked an eyebrow.
After eating (and watching the Seirin team nearly die by food poisoning) Kaed had ended up back in the room to wait for Etsu to get up already. She had chatted a bit with Kuroko, Kagami, and Riko, just to see how they were doing. It was a relief that they seemed to be getting back into it. As she watched the black haired girl snoring away, Kaed had to stop herself several times from giving into the urge of dumping seawater on her to wake the girl up. But she would rather not deal with a grouchy and wet Etsu in the morning. Growing bored of watching her roll around, snore, and mumble (was that a few familiar names she said?), Kaed stood up to find something else to do. That being: Go watch the basketball teams.
She was in luck today, she had arrived right on time to see the teams get the message that they would be practicing together. Coming in closer, she could make out what Riko seemed to be saying to shocked Kagami.
"Kagami-kun please go buy drinks for everyone!" she relayed, smiling all to innocently. Kagami's jaw dropped. "At the convenience store, 500 meters from here, through the beach," she continued, "To and back is just 1km."
Still in a mild state of disbelief, Kagami exclaimed, "Why?! And through the beach too?"
"But all of those drinks will be pretty heavy. So you may just carry one bottle at a time~," Riko said, still giving off a cheerful aura, contrary to Kagami's annoyed and incredulous one.
"How many times are you expecting me to run?" Kagami yelled, not entirely convinced she was serious.
Ignoring Kagami's complaints, Riko prodded him along, "They already started to play so you better hurry!"
"Don't make me your errand-boy!" the hotheaded player fumed.
Idly watching from the sidelines, Kaed felt that metaphorical drop of sweat roll down the back of her head. "If it makes you feel any better Kagami, I'll go with you," she said, then nodded to Riko, "If that's okay of course."
Looking at the other girl quizzically, Riko shrugged, "Its fine, just make sure Bakagami gets it done."
"Will do," Kaed said, dragging a struggling Kagami out of the gym. Once they were outside, she gave him an appraising glance, "You better get started if you want to get this done."
Kagami, looked at her suspiciously, "Why would you want to come anyway? Why are you even here in the first place?!"
Crossing her arms, Kaed tapped her fingers rhythmically, "Well, Etsu-san invited me to come stay for a bit, this inn is her uncle's," she said, Kagami nodding along, "as for why I want to come. Well, there really aren't any reasons other than I'm bored and I might as well make up the training I would have missed otherwise."
Somewhat appeased by her answer Kagami flicked his head toward where they were supposed to go. "If you're coming along than you should hurry up," he said as he began the jog to the store. Shaking her head, Kaed followed a few steps behind.
It was during their fourth round when Kagami noticed something odd. By this time he was starting to breathe much heavier, and was getting tired, mostly because of running on the sand. But when he glanced over to Kaed he was quite shocked to see her keeping pace with ease. "How are you not tired yet?! I thought you said your physical capabilities weren't that high!"
"Huh?" Kaed turned her head to look at the surprised Kagami. "Oh, that. I'm just used to running on sand I guess. And I am getting worn out, I just keep pace."
"What do you mean 'used to running on sand'?" he questioned, legs starting to ache.
Kaed did the best shrug she could while still jogging alongside the redhead, "My old basketball coach had me do all kinds of drills like this. Because of that I'm actually more used to… unconventional methods of training."
Kagami looked at her closely, curious now. "Training for what?" he asked, hoping she'd be able to tell him why Riko was having him run so much instead of playing a practice game.
Catching on to what Kagami's angle was, Kaed smirked. "Now I can't go telling you that can I? You'll figure it out soon enough, besides I don't think your coach would want me ruining her plan."
After that little exchange, they continued running in silence until they were back at the inn. Seeing a petite figure waving outside, Kaed slowed to a stop once they were outside. "There you are Kaed-chan! Ai-chan told me you were with Kagami-san, so I waited here."
"Nice to see you up," Kaed said, and then inclined her head toward Kagami, "Looks like I'll be staying here. Good luck on your own," she said, ignoring Kagami's irritated aura as he reluctantly began the course again.
Spending the rest of the time switching between chatting with Etsu and discussing basketball with Riko, night came quickly and Kagami still wasn't back yet. After washing up, and making her way back to her and Etsu's shared room, Kaed caught sight of movement out of the corner of her eye. Seeing Kagami (who looked worse for wear) and the multitude of drinks he brought back made her brows shoot up in surprise. He clearly had done much more than necessary.
Days passed as they kept training. Their hard work was starting to pay off, even if they did lose a lot to Shuutoku in the practice games they had. The group's time at the camp was coming to a close, when one night Kaed had seen a very pleasing sight.
She had been taking a night walk around the grounds to wind down when she heard the unmistakable sound of a basketball hitting concrete. Looping around to the lot, a small smile made its way to her features as she saw Kagami still practicing, if there was one thing he had, it was dedication.
It appeared that Riko was there to, talking to Kagami. Kaed gave a small wave in greeting as she made her way over. "What's going on here?"
"Oh~ Kagami-kun was just about to jump," Riko said, motioning toward the now stationary Kagami.
Jumping, Kagami clearly hit above the ring, quite impressive of him, and an obvious part of all the running he had been doing recently.
"Try again with the other side," Riko suggested, Kaed scrutinizing his form. This time he didn't just touch the backboard, he caused it to fall over, nearly hitting a passing Takao. "Get it now? Your greatest weapon is your jump. But you still haven't completely mastered it. For now just train your body, and think about what to do after," she said, walking off, "And remember to place the basket upright again."
Still on his back, Kagami flicked his eyes over to where Kaed was still standing, "I'm assuming this is what you meant. How much do you know anyway?"
A short wave of the hand was all it took, "Enough," she said, continuing on her walk, leaving Kagami glaring at her back for such a cryptic answer.
A/N: …That was a surprisingly long chapter at about 3k words. I'm still debating on which to do first, the extra, or the next actual point in the story. Any preferences?
Edits 4.25.14