AN 1: Anyone watches/reads Akatsuki no Yona? There's a character named Kang Soo-Jin, and he's a man! I confirmed something with my mother, and the name Soo-Jin is, in fact, a female name. However, she also said that boys could also be named Soo-Jin too.
AN 2: Did anyone get my note about Liu from the previous chapter? Just making sure. When I started writing Liu, it was way before I received any official info on him other than him making a jab at poor Okamura. In the manga, his debut didn't feature him speaking in old-fashioned Japanese, I think.
AN 3: Totally belated answer to a reviewer—I'm sorry about that. But, yes, Won is Soo-Jin's surname. The majority calls her by that, come to think of it.
Chapter 53: Pandemonium
The tournament didn't start until in the late afternoon. It was morning now, and the air was crisp and cool, and it filled Soo-Jin's lungs pleasantly. One thing she liked about winter was how fresh the day started out to be; it almost compensated how unbearably freezing it made the nights and how dangerously slippery the sidewalks were.
Soo-Jin once skidded her way down to school when she was ten, arms flailing and voice screaming, and that bruise didn't go away for two weeks.
Normally, she would have slept in until it was almost time to leave for the stadium, but today was a special day. Today was the day when she would meet up with a boy.
As fluffy and heart-pounding as Soo-Jin would have liked it to be, it was nothing like that. It wasn't a date; it was just the usual generic tall basketball player repaying his debt for breaking her glasses and rendering her helpless and blind. The best part was that, when they spoke to each other on the phone, he sounded like he knew exactly where to take her and that getting glasses was an expensive process. Fate might screw her up (as it always had) and make it so that Kagami was an absolute dunce and brought 5000 yen at most.
Or worse: Aka-chin the shanker came in Kagami's place.
Because she didn't want the same fiasco happening today as it did yesterday, Soo-Jin had called Himuro to drop her off. Then she had to leave her hotel room with utmost care because she shared it with Araki. It was like having a slumbering bear in the room, and she had to tiptoe her way out before Araki would spring out of the sheets and decide to drag her in for an early morning workout—something horrifying and sweaty.
Himuro had picked her up by her door. The boy had greeted her with a polite "Good morning, Won-san" and a wide-mouthed yawn. Soo-Jin felt a little guilty for inconveniencing him, but what could she do? She was helpless and blind, after all.
On their way to the sports store where Kagami said for them to meet, Himuro was being uncharacteristically quiet. He had been ever since Soo-Jin mentioned that she was meeting up with Kagami.
With her polished female intuition, she sensed that Himuro had a problem with Kagami. And, so, she intelligently asked, "Do you know Kagami?"
Himuro flinched. Soo-Jin was hoping that she was just seeing things, but she couldn't fool herself. He flinched. The guilt was digging in deeper. "Well, you can say that," Himuro chuckled weakly.
And when she had the chance to just drop it, her mouth just kept the ball going. "How?"
"Well, he's my brother."
"You have a brother?" she gasped.
"Not in the literal sense. We're actually childhood friends; we grew up together in America."
"But why call him your brother?"
"It's just—we're good friends, so we're like brothers."
"What? Seriously?" She was under the impression that siblings were designed to harass each other or pretend that the other sibling didn't exist. For the latter, sometimes it looked like that with the Fujioka brother and sister.
Himuro either didn't have siblings himself or had a really stellar relationship with his. It was hard to imagine the latter though—all of her friends and classmates back in Korea had frequently complained about their brothers and sisters that it made her glad that she was an only child.
"Yeah."
"Then why you sound uncomfortable when talking about him?" she asked.
"We didn't exactly part ways on good terms, Won-san," Himuro sighed. "It's complicated."
"Does it have to do with basketball?"
"Yes, it does, actually. How did you know?"
"Everything has to do with basketball," Soo-Jin said with distaste.
This time, Himuro laughed softly under his breath. "You still don't like basketball? Even after being our manager for this long?"
"Not like I want to be manager," she muttered.
When they reached the sports store, Kagami wasn't here yet. Himuro waited along with her, saying that he didn't want to leave her by herself until Kagami's arrival. Aware that seeing Kagami again would be probably be an awkward situation for the older boy, Soo-Jin could only voice her gratitude and smile genuinely up at him.
"You know, this wouldn't be the first time I'd see Taiga since coming to Japan," Himuro said.
"Hm?"
"When Atsushi, you, and I visited Tokyo together, there was this mini basketball tournament going on. This happened when you were going to that boutique."
Soo-Jin winced at the memory.
"I couldn't resist, so I attempted to worm my way into the game. Coincidentally, Taiga and his teammates were participating as well. I was shocked to see him, but my ego decided that I should flaunt my skills before him rather than have a heartwarming reunion," Himuro sheepishly admitted.
"So you played by yourself?"
"I intended on joining a team that was about to play against Taiga's team, but then Atsushi stopped me. He was furious at me for not keeping an eye on you." He laughed, holding his chin with one hand. "He was quite worried about you—so worried that he wasn't listening to Taiga flinging insults at him, trying to provoke him into playing against him. Atsushi also apparently didn't even notice his former teammate from middle school."
"Oh." Soo-Jin felt the blood running to her cheeks. She rubbed them self-consciously. "I-I did not think he be so worried…"
"He certainly was. I was too after I received a call from Fukui-sempai. Sure, Atsushi wasn't happy, but Fukui-sempai was downright pissed. It was a bit frightening. Now that I mention it… Do you know that, despite all the teasing, Fukui-sempai cares about you?"
"I know," Soo-Jin said, and then scowled. "But he is so very annoying."
"You two do seem to have a near-rancorous relationship," Himuro noted with a good-natured sigh. "I admit that it's comical to watch, but I'm afraid that it made you become rather violent."
"Was it when I threw a ball at his face?"
"Well, he did deserve that one, I believe, but that's not what I'm talking about. You developed a bit of a habit of punching people."
Yeah, she did, and with that pretty much decimated her reputation's recovery at school. It was likely a cemented belief that she really was a terrorist spy now. She wasn't comfortable with whatever impression that she had laid on the newspaper club so much, and who knew what Akiyama had told the others?
"Only to boys who annoy me," she assured.
"Seeing how I've never been punched by you, I'm happy to know that I don't annoy you."
Soo-Jin was about to open her mouth to say something in return. Probably something touching like how she appreciated the sunbae's sincerity and kindness, or probably something that a Won Soo-Jin would say like how she did find him annoying before but was too shy to act upon anything. It was just her luck that a loud and obnoxious voice interrupted the moment.
"Don't lie to me, Midorima! I know you're not here for that."
"Hmph. If you must know, Kuroko informed me of your meeting."
"Kuroko, that prick…! So he was eavesdropping all along!"
That was Kagami, if Soo-Jin guessed correctly, but Shintaro was here as well? From what she could make out with her blurry vision, two tall young men were walking to where she and Himuro were standing. Kagami caught notice of Himuro as he cut himself from his retort at Shintaro, crying out, "T-Tatsuya? What are you doing here?"
Himuro, however, didn't acknowledge Kagami's outburst as his eyes were trained solely on Shintaro. "You're Midorima? As in, Midorima Shintaro?"
The said boy stared back at Himuro. "I am," he replied slowly.
"I've wanted to have a word with you. You see, there's going to be a problem if you continue hurting Won-san's feelings," Himuro said calmly. Soo-Jin blanched.
"Midorima, you made a girl cry?" Kagami said incredulously.
Shintaro appeared to be just as bewildered as he sputtered out, "Made her cry? Me?"
"Midorima-kun, that's just awful," a new voice said monotonously.
"What—Kuroko!"
"Oi, Kuroko, just why you had to go informing Midorima where I was meeting Won?" snapped out Kagami.
"I thought that the results would be interesting."
"What!"
"Ahem," said Himuro, immediately gathering everyone's attention. "So, Midorima-kun."
That was when Soo-Jin decided to intervene before things got messy. "Ah, Himuro-sempai, it is okay now. Shintaro and me are friends again."
Himuro paused. "But that doesn't change the fact that you were upset over him."
"It is fine. It is okay."
"Are you sure? I could call Liu-sempai and have him deal with this if you prefer."
The thought of the Chinese student handling anything made her wary. She would have to buy him coffee first before they make him try anything.
A hand grabbed her shoulder. "Did I really make you cry?" Shintaro said somberly.
Her breath hitched.
"I'd appreciate it if you don't touch her so casually."
"And I'd appreciate it if you let me have a word with my friend." Shintaro returned his attention back to Soo-Jin and leaned in closer. "Well? Did I?"
Technically, she did get teary-eyed (which shouldn't directly mean that she cried), but there was no way that she was going to confess that. Additionally, Fukui, the only person who saw her at her vulnerable state, wouldn't have mentioned what happened to anyone. Not even to Liu and Himuro, who seem to be interested in her wellbeing, as strange as it was to think about it.
What was stranger was how warm she felt despite the chilly air. Apparently, her entire face bloomed red as Shintaro's face was pinched in an unfamiliar expression. "You're flushed. Are you ill?"
"No," she blurted, stepping away from the boy. "I am fine! Everything is fine!"
His face then contorted into an expression that was familiar this time—irritation. "No need to shout, moron."
She promptly ignored that and went on to say, "I did not cry. Shintaro did not make me cry. It is okay, sempai."
Himuro didn't look convinced. "Won-san?"
"Really!" she insisted.
"If you are so sure… Then I better go inform Liu-sempai so that he wouldn't jump at Shutoku's Midorima-kun."
"Jump at me…" she heard Shintaro murmur to himself in disbelief.
"Tatsuya," Kagami began to say, stepping forward, "what in the world is going on here—"
"I knew that Shin-chan would meet Won-san here!" And then entered Takao.
Soo-Jin groaned.
"Takao, what are you doing here?" Shintaro asked in surprise.
"What else? To give Won-san back her 'candy'," Takao exclaimed. He shoved a zip-lock bag into her arms that contained her tampons. "You got issues, Won-san. I mean, seriously? This is upright harassment!"
She gaped at him. "It was an accident!" she protested vehemently. "I just realized later that night!"
"Then why didn't you give me a call? I spent a whole night dealing with weird looks from my teammates, you know."
"I deleted your number," she groused.
Takao gave an aggravated sigh and hung his hung. "Do you still hate me for what happened before?"
"No. At that time, I was really angry, but I'm not anymore."
"Okay, then why not give Shin-chan a call?"
Soo-Jin opened her mouth to answer, but then closed it in contemplation. Her eyes flickered over to where Shintaro was standing, and then looked back at Takao. Finally, she admitted, "I did not want him to yell at me. He is very loud at yelling."
A pause.
"Well, I'll give you that," Takao conceded.
Shintaro gave an angry grunt.
"What is going on here?" Kagami cried out, throwing his arms in the air.
"What is in the bag?" Kuroko inquired.
"You don't need to know," Shintaro deadpanned.
Suddenly, storming out of the sport store was a hunched-over elderly man. In his grip was a broom, which he was holding high up in the air menacingly. "Get away from my store, you noisy brats!" he screamed, whipping around the broom so fast that it could lop off their heads if they got close enough.
None of them needed to be told twice. Everyone scattered. Shintaro grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the way. Himuro jogged up to her side, tapped her shoulder, and told her to call him when she was done getting her new glasses. Afterwards, the second-year took off into the direction of where the hotel was.
Soo-Jin wasn't sure where the others were. Shintaro and she had been running for a bit, and when the boy slowed to a stop and released his grip on her, Soo-Jin folded over and tried to catch her breath. Of course, Shintaro barely broke a sweat, looking as immaculate and unruffled since his arrival.
"Where is Kagami?" Soo-Jin asked in between wheezes.
"He's coming up. Takao and Kuroko must have gone their own ways."
Good. She couldn't take any more of Takao—he was basically turning into her walking chronicle of lifetime embarrassments. And who the heck was Kuroko?
"Whoo! That was crazy," Kagami said when he reached them. He rested his hands on his waist and looked down at Soo-Jin. "You know, I have questions that I'd like you to answer."
The Korean transfer quoted from Fukui. "I am not obligated to do so."
"Idiots, did you forget why we're here?" Shintaro grumbled.
"Do you have an appointment?" the receptionist asked.
"What? We gotta make those?"
Soo-Jin groaned.
AN 4: In case you don't remember, in Chapter 36, Soo-Jin pretty much poured her heart out to Himuro, who later informed Liu about it after gaining her permission to do so. Any HimuSoo shippers out there? :D
AN 5: We hit the 600 review mark! Thank you for your support, everyone!
