Hi I'm like eight years late to contributing to this fandom. Sorry.
Himeno's lunch daydream was interrupted by slap of a newspaper on her desk. She looked up at her classmate staring at her with a blank face. He pulled out the chair in front of her desk and sat down calmly.
"Is this your doing?" He asked, gesturing at the crumped paper in front of her.
'Seirin High School's resident underdogs, one step further from publically confessing buck naked' was the headline. Himeno sniggered proudly at her headline. She didn't expect her article to occupy the front page of the school's monthly newsletter.
"Hmm, front page," she unfolded the newspaper to see the full article, "that's a first for me."
"So, it is your doing," Izuki sighed in defeat, "don't you usually do thought pieces?"
"I was encouraged to branch out this month. Looks like it paid off. You don't like it?" She asked innocently.
"You don't have to bring up the naked confession thing." Who would have thought that Izuki would find himself talking about being naked and love confessions with Yamamoto Himeno, known throughout the school for her chic looks and cheeky mouth. Whenever they talked, it was usually her giving his puns a score out of ten, even though he never asked for it.
"Actually, I do. It's like the first rule of journalism: get the readers' attention," she stated bluntly. Himeno began reading the first paragraph, "Our school's basketball team, established only a year ago, overtook last year's impressive achievement by qualifying for the national championships – the Winter Cup. Having beaten several formidable schools so far, Seirin has quickly become the team to watch on the high school basketball scene. Can this dark horse make it all the way to the top? Or will a few 'lucky' girls be receiving some unconventional declarations of love soon?" She looked up from her work and pouted slightly. "You don't like what I've written?"
"No, I just-…" He was weak when she busted out the puppy dog eyes. From the corner of his eyes he could see Mitobe sitting a few metres away, silently telling him to stay strong. Yamamoto was known for being able to make students and teachers bend her way without them even realising. She was kind of like Teppei in that sense. Izuki composed himself, not letting her charm throw him off his game, "the team is not too pleased with this paragraph."
"What do you mean?"
He gently took the paper from her hands and turned it to face himself. He read, "Freshman bad boy, Kagami Taiga, and wildcard, Kuroko Tetsuya, team up to form one of the most unorthodox duos the sport has seen, only adding to the run and gun style solidified by the second years and coach, Aida Riko. The other players who make up the starting line-up consists of the airheaded, nice-guy Teppei Kiyoshi, known in the sport as 'Iron Heart;' the pretty boy Izuki Shun, who has an eagle eye for puns; and hot-headed Hyuuga Junpei, an oddly fitting captain for a team full of misfits." Izuki placed the paper down and stared at his classmate blankly, she stared back at him with the same expression.
"I thought of all people, you would appreciate the pun I slipped in there. Eight out of ten, if I don't say so myself."
Izuki felt the corner of his lips turn up slightly. She was right. He did enjoy her play on words.
No. He quickly shook his head to regain concentration.
The team had specifically chosen him to deal with this situation. He was chosen due to not being an overgrown muscle head, and coming off as unnecessarily intimidating or forceful, while having a serious enough demeanour (the team made him promise that he wouldn't use any puns during this conversation). "That's not the point. Run and gun? Eagle eye? Do you even know what you're talking about?"
"Nope," she admitted, proudly shaking her head. "All I know is that you have to get the ball through the basket, hence the name 'basketball.' But I used those terms correctly, didn't I? And only after one chat with Riko-san."
Izuki found himself rubbing his face in frustration. She was right, she had used them correctly. If only she hadn't then maybe Izuki would have some leverage over this nonsense. "And what about these descriptions? Bad boy Kagami? Nice guy Kippei? Why are these necessary?"
She shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm trying to give you guys an individual image, kind of like a Korean boy band. You don't like that I called you a pretty boy?"
"I'm scared to ask why we need to be presented like a Korean boy band."
Himeno began folding up the newspaper neatly on her desk, "if I create an entire personality and convey it to the reader, an emotional attachment is created and they're more likely to invest in the rest of your journey. Which will be great when part two comes out."
"There's a part two?"
"The article got a lot of hits online, so the committee asked me to make this an online series reporting on your progress in the Winter Cup. You guys better keep winning, or I'll be out of a job."
"A series…" Izuki muttered under his breath in disbelief. This conversation did not go the way he wanted to. How was he going to report back to the team?
The bell for the next class went off. "Oh, I need to go change for our next class," Himeno stood up and began packing her bag.
Izuki, also needing to go change, stood up as well. This was the first time in the conversation that she wasn't at his eye level. With so many oversized idiots on the basketball team, he wasn't used to looking down to talk to someone. "Why are you doing this?" He asked, expecting a spiteful answer.
Himeno gave a sincere smile and replied, "wouldn't it be nice to play in a stadium full of people cheering for you?" She proceeded to walk out of the classroom without a second glance.
Girls confused him so much. What did that even mean?
They had done it, somehow. Seirin had defeated Touo Academy in the first round of the Winter Cup. Izuki wiped his sweat on his jersey and embraced his nearest teammate, Kuroko, as the stadium cheered for their victory.
In the final line up after the game, Izuki noticed high pitched screaming from the seats. The second years turned in the direction of the sound to find a group of girls wearing their school uniform in the front row. They were holding up decorated signs and waving.
"Is that…?" Hyuuga didn't dare finish his sentence. "It can't be."
"A fan club?" The captain of Touo, Imoyashi, said as he adjusted his glasses to have a better look. "Very impressive, Seiren, bringing a fan club to cheer for you. I'm jealous."
"Uhh, no," Hyuuga put his hands up in defence, "I have never seen them before. It's probably a misunderstanding."
"Now, don't go feigning innocence on me. It'll make our loss more painful," Imoyashi said with his infamous fake smile.
Izuki noticed his journalist classmate a few rows behind the screaming girls. She somehow caught his attention despite not wearing the school uniform like the other girls. Her long and dark hair, which was usually tied up in a ponytail at school, fell past her shoulders. He almost didn't recognise her.
Realising that he had found her hiding in the audience, she closed her notebook and stood up. Flashing a smile, she waved at Izuki and walked up the stairs towards the exit.
"This is her doing," Izuki said to himself.
"Hmm? Who?" Hyuuga overheard and looked in the direction that his friend was staring. "Isn't that Yamamoto from our class? The one who wrote that article about us?"
Izuki silently nodded as he continued to watch her walk away.
"It's kind of nice to be cheered on by a fan club though," Teppei smiled.
"Umm, senpai?" Kagami suddenly interjected. "Kuroko is out."
The three turned to see Kuroko slouched over Kagami's shoulder, barely conscious. In a panic, they quickly left the court to tend to Kuroko's needs.
Yamamoto's words "wouldn't it be nice to play in a stadium full of people cheering for you?" replayed in Izuki's mind until he fell asleep that night.
"She posted another article about us," Riko said to Hyuuga and Izuki during their break.
Opening the article on her phone, she began to read the opening paragraph. "Seirin's basketball team successfully avenged themselves in the first round of the Winter Cup. After experiencing their first and only loss of the year during the inter-high preliminaries, the team has repaid their debt to Touo Academy in a tight game that ended with a score of 101-100. Newbie Kagami Taiga stole the show in his one to one against the Ace of Touo Academy, Aomine Daiki. Audience members were on the edge of their seats the entire game, captivated by who would come out on top: the highest jumper or the fastest player in the high school basketball league. All eyes are on these rising stars in the next match against Nakamiya South High."
"How does she even know all this information about Touo and Aomine as well?" Hyuuga asked.
"I told her," Riko said, putting her phone away.
"Why would you do that?"
"I've known Himeno-san for a few years now. So, for the first article, I did it as a favour because she said she wanted to try writing a sports piece. After her first piece got so much traction online, I agreed to talk to her about our last game. I figured that if we got the word out that Seirin has a strong basketball team, we might get more talented players enrolling next year."
"You're already thinking about next year?" Hyuuga asked.
"Of course," Riko smiled too friendlily, "All you dipshits have to do is win this bloody tournament and we'll all have a good time next year. wOn'T wE?" The two boys shuddered in fear. They both knew that the happier their coach looked, the more scared they should be.
"Coach, you said you've known Yamamoto-san for a few years. Did she go to your middle school?" Izuki asked.
"No, she was a client at my dad's gym. One of his VIP clients," she recalled. "I'm sure Hyuuga would have recognised her if he wasn't so angry and frustrated from losing all the time in middle school."
Izuki could see the metaphorical knives being stabbed one by one in his friend's chest with every word Aida spoke. The days when Hyuuga didn't know what winning tasted like was selectively erased from his memories.
Hyuuga suddenly revived himself, "VIP client? Doesn't that mean that Yamamoto-san was some kind of elite athlete?"
"If I remember correctly, she was a rhythmic gymnast on the National Team. I think my dad mentioned that she competed in the World Championships at the beginning of last year."
"Why have I never heard of this before?"
Riko shrugged. "Maybe it's because she retired before the school year started. My dad didn't tell me why, but it seemed sudden so I haven't asked her about it in case it's a touchy subject."
"One of the top athlete's in the country suddenly quitting a sport? It's definitely a touchy subject," Hyuuga concluded, being taken back to the short period of time he had quit basketball.
"But anyways, don't hate her too much for writing these articles. A few students from our school came to watch our last match and they cheered loudly. It was good for morale. Himeno-san is doing more good than harm," Riko said.
Izuki couldn't shake off what the coach had said about Yamamoto being a retired athlete and suddenly quitting. Without much effort, he found videos online of her competitions. This was a whole new world. Playing basketball, Izuki had seen his fair share of monstrosities and abnormalities. But the way she moved was nothing like he had ever seen before. The nature of this sport was so different to basketball, Izuki couldn't even comprehend how the human body achieved this level of control and flexibility.
After watching a few of her videos online, he realised something strange. Earlier videos from her national competitions were filled with cheering and applaud from the moment she walked onto the mat and continued long after she had walked off. But in her international competitions on the National Team, there was silence. It was strange. Why did her teammates receive thunderous applauses when representing Japan, but Yamamoto was left high and dry?
"Wouldn't it be nice to play in a stadium full of people cheering for you?" her words rang in his ear again.
With a bad feeling ringing in his chest, Izuki searched up his classmate on Google. Hundreds of hits came up, the most popular one being 'Who is Yamamoto Himeno? The most hated athlete in all of Japan.' The second most viewed article being 'Did Yamamoto Himeno sabotage her own teammates for a spot on the National Team?" Before he could open and read any of the articles, his bedroom door creaked open.
"Shun," his sister called as she entered his room, "I brought your clothes up from the laundry for you. Dinner's ready, by the way."
"Thanks nee-san, you can just leave them on my bed."
His sister caught glimpse of the video on his laptop screen. "Oh? Who's this cutie pie?"
"She's a classmate of mine, and I can't seem to work out what her deal is," Izuki said as he closed his laptop and stood up to go eat dinner.
"If you can't work it out, then you should go work out," his sister said.