It's a bit late, but I was on a trip so I couldn't update earlier. Anyway, I'm happy for the interests you all showed for this story! To be honest, I like reading all the reviews! I read all of them and is ever grateful. They hype me up to write more! I don't reply to every reviews, but I really do read all of them! I usually reply to a review when it asks for a clarification or is a question. Oh yeah, and this is IMPORTANT to the story: Kobayashi Hideyoshi, Teikō's Principal is stated to be fifties to sixties, I'm changing it to late thirties to suit his part better. That's it!

To xxjaelee: Welcome! And thanks! Well, I tried so it's nice to know that the characters are portrayed well-enough. As for NijiYume, maybe after this chapter I can say that Yume has developed an admiration towards the ravenette Captain? It's not a crush, I have to emphasise that. It's the kind of respect one have for an older senpai, responsible and all that. Eh, who knows? I don't know yet of Yume's love interest. And no, this is not a discontinued story until it is completed, of course. A hiatus is possible though.

Pairings : Undecided

Warnings : Teikō Middle School Days.

Disclaimer : I own only the OCs.


Chapter 36 - Hope for the best, plan for the worst

It was another day of Summer in Tokyo, the air was chiller than the day before but as always, it was a relatively hot day in Tokyo, which wasn't a good news for the students of Teikō. The school's gate was open despite it was Saturday to welcome the armed students with various cleaning supplies on their person.

With minimal uniforms of only a paleblue-buttoned shirt and black pants for males, with few wearing their black ties to complete the set and same shirt for females, only with a black bowstring around the collar and a black skirt, the students were all scattered around the field before the school building. Most of the them forming small groups as they chattered away.

With approximately 315 students each year, segregated into 8 classes with around 39 students in each, the crowds gathered in one place was indeed quite a surprising view with the grand numbers. It wasn't until the clock struck exactly at 7.00 in the morning did the noises died down.

"Ehem. Good morning to all of us; my proud students and teachers. Today, we assemble here to maintain our beloved school, Teikō. As your Principal, I have to say I am pleased to have nearly the whole student body present. Thank you for your participation students. And of course, the teachers are all in perfect attendances. Good work."

The man stood in his well-tailored suit, his ashen brown eyes sweeping past every students who had broken up from their little groups soon after he called for attention. Kobayashi Hideyoshi was quite a handsome man with his hazel almond-shaped eyes and matching coloured hair neatly styled to accentuate his features of a man in his prime; late thirties, and women would still swoon for his charisma.

"Without further ado, let us now proceed to the main event. Students, you know what to do; follow the student representative of your class and your homeroom teacher who will show you to the designated areas for each class. Teachers, please guide our students through and ensure all is well. Best of luck to all of us."

Applauses echoed covering the whole field, some teachers giving affirmation nods at the quite young and freshly-elected Principal. Kobayashi had just taken up his office five years ago and this was his sixth year. It was expected that he would head the institution for at least four more years and another five if his work dynamic was proven to be remarkable, thus; fresh.

As the well-groomed man backed away from the slightly elevated ground, his sharp gaze watched as the hundreds of students slowly began to form lines according to their class, with four or three students from the same class standing at the very front, as well as each class' homeroom teacher to round up the students and for head counts.

Satisfied, Kobayashi took his first step to vacate the vicinity, his eyes unconsciously searched for, and almost immediately found a soft-amber haired female who was quietly listening to a pinkette, her lips quirked into a small smile as they both walked towards a group of their classmates.

There were especially many valuable talents this year, more so since his instalment as the Principal of Teikō five years ago. A certain redhead who he had his eyes on even before the first day of school; a form of perfection. He had at least a handful more, and the two girls he was gazing at earlier were part of his list. They would be most beneficial to Teikō.

Unbeknownst to others but himself, a cold, calculating smile took over his face on his walk back to his office.

"Is everyone here? I'm so proud of you all, my students! Indeed, I am! And to think you were all groaning when I announced about school cleaning... Oh, how much you've grown! I can still remember whe—"

"Yoshi-sensei. Please let us take over," Takahashi smiled, one that quickly silenced the twenty-years- something old man. He had learned not to oppose the younger girl's authority for she could be as scary as his mother when she had to.

Takahashi kept her smile, although it appeared less threatening and more sincere as she turned to 1-B's student representative. "Manai-san, if you may," she gestured for the brunette to take the lead.

It took a nudge from her bestfriend to abate her slight hesitation, but she eventually did. The brunette still didn't like standing before so many eyes focusing solely on her, it was... suffocating. Oh, the pressures.

"U-Uh, as we have discussed yesterday, 1-B will be responsible for the cleaning of our class, hallways to 1-A, 1-B, 1-C and 1-D, the bathrooms on the second floor, the eastern stairs to second floor and the small yard on the eastern side of the school building," she began, her tone faltering but was intoned clearly. Although the same couldn't be said for her flitting gaze.

"We have decided to clean our class last and begin with the school yard and the area around the stairs, also that we will split into two groups for this," she continued, slowly getting the hang of things, her breathing starting to stabilise.

"After which, one-half will clean the bathrooms and the other half to join students of 1-A, 1-C and 1-D to clean the hallways as a shared-responsibility," the brunette breathed out, her hesitant limegreen eyes rising enough to see her classmates' supportive looks. It warmed her chest somewhat.

"...Lastly, we will clean our class together," she let a small smile graced her lips, it was subtle but enough for her classmates.

"Ganbatte kudasai, minna-san. (1)" a soft whisper escaped her lips, her cheeks slightly pinked as she dipped her head to curtain her expressive eyes with her fringes.

The brunette was more known as 'Momoi Satsuki's bestfriend' and 'the girl who hangs around the colourful bunch' than as 'Manai Yume of 1-B'. Even her classmates weren't lucky enough to hold a conversation with her, she wasn't bullied of course, but she rarely came out of her own volition to interact with her classmates, if ever. Some of them even formed a negative sort of opinions of the girl.

So the moment her classmates registered her words of encouragement, various responses were given, from accepting smiles to condescending smirks, affirmation nods and embarrassed head-turns, but nevertheless positive reactions. Something which didn't fail to elate the good-natured Yoshi-sensei. Before he could open his mouth and praise whoever for whatever following by reminiscing, Takahashi cut in.

"Okay, people. Let's get a move on!" the girl chirped as she took the lead, taking and pulling the brunette to walk by her side, a delighted smile on her face.

The quiet vice class president followed obediently after the females, the tiniest smile quirking his lips, a stammering Yoshi-sensei next and the amused students of 1-B at the very back. This was the dynamic of 1-B.

The homeroom teacher of each class as well as the student representative, herded their class towards the areas they were tasked to clean for the day. It was done without so much ruckus although some complains could still be heard travelling in the air. 1-B was one of the quietest class as they left the field earlier than the other, with less talking and more actions; something many teachers silently envied.

As she briefed her classmates earlier, the students of 1-B soon began to separate themselves into a perfect half of nineteen-nineteen, one-half was led by Takahashi —the class president— and Yoshi-sensei to clean the stairs area and the other half to be led by Yume and Katou —the class vice president— to be responsible for the school yard.

Although none was particularly delighted to clean, most of her classmates still had small smiles and slight excitements, likely from her earlier encouragement, which was thankful yet embarrassing. As they began to trickle to their positions, a smile lifted her features as she realised how nice it was to see that her classmates were all responsible.

Which reminded her of the golden-haired boy who was trying to skip the cleaning when she saw him the day before.

'Did he skip? Or is he here...?' she wondered, more curious and concerned for the ravenette's sake.

It seemed like a lost-lost situation whether the boy attended or not as his 'fangirls' could go either way; help cleaning or botch altogether. 1-D had it hard, she was grateful she was in 1-B.

"Yuu-chan! Are you listening?" her bestfriend huffed and pouted, knowing the brunette's mind was floating away and not with her.

The not-so-quiet call jolted her from her train of thoughts, and after seeing her friend's miffed expression, she smiled apologetically. "Uh, sorry, Sat-chan... Please continue," she urged.

Momoi huffed once more, but as always, she brightened up seconds later, chirping, "Anyway, I was saying that the National's preliminaries will start next week on Saturday! We're going against two opponents in one day, one of them, the Yamagata West, finished the prelims at the top four the year before! They still had their previous line-ups with new promising additions, so it's going to be a tough match."

The two girls were currently trailing behind the rest of the group on their way to the school yard and the brunette was ever thankful she was in the same group as her bestfriend. Katou was walking at the forefront to lead the group while she flanked the behind to make sure no one escaped or forgotten.

"Is practice going to be stepped up?" she asked, knowing full-well that it was one of the ways to prep the players for a difficult game. At least Momoi's basketball notes said so.

The pinkette however, shook her head. "Not necessarily. Shirogane-kantoku, that's our Head-coach, believes we are ready so he plans for the freshmen's debuts in the prelims."

'Freshmen? Which means... Daiki-kun and the rest?' surprise flashed across her expression but quickly replaced by understanding, her friend noticed.

Momoi nodded to confirm the brunette's ideas, she smiled, "According to schedule, the first stringers will be practicing from Monday to Thursday and the practice is specifically designed to rest the muscles while still maintaining the accumulated muscle memories from all the trainings. Friday is for resting before the preliminaries in Saturday."

It was always an awe-inspiring moment whenever her bestfriend switched into what she called the 'manager mode', the girl would show why her opponents had all the rights to fear her with how organised and accurate she was while still having the benefit of doubt and keeping second plan, if not third and fourth as well. Kuga, the Secretary of Student Council, was competent in what she did, but she couldn't stop thinking her bestfriend could do better.

"Daiki-kun must be excited then," he is a basketball junkie, she smiled in slight amusement and even lighter excitement. Although she had to wonder why her friend hadn't told her about this when he spoke basketball 24/7.

Said boy's childhood friend sighed painfully at this, frowning. "He is. You don't know how excited he is. I have to make sure Dai-chan doesn't overexert himself from excitements so I have to continuously tells him that the line-ups are already decided and there hasn't yet a concrete plan to involve the freshmen —which is a lie but he buys it."

Ah. Truly, it wasn't hard to imagine the navyblue-haired teen to react with such vigour that he ended up straining his muscles. Often times, he was far too much of an idiot when he pursued his passions. Heaven was fair in giving him a caring childhood friend like the pinkette.

It was probably easier for the basketball-boy to accept her lies because he didn't want to be disappointed like during the practice match with Tomigaoka, where he was throughly amped up and yet the first years were barred from participating, him included. Although they still ended up playing, thanks to an interference she hadn't yet known. Akashi seemed to know though.

"Dai-chan is the only one under this impression, you know? Of freshmen not playing in the National because he is too gullible," the pinkette giggled slightly. Her childhood friend had been grumbling when she told him not to expect too much but there could still be a chance, however slightest.

As Akashi was the vice captain to the club, he was aware of the plan, and by extension, Midorima, who regularly interacted with the redhead. Murasakibara might have known but couldn't care less. Without doubt though, the last three could take care of themselves unlike this basketball-for-brain-boy mentioned.

The brunette shared her friend's giggles, hers more meek and sheepish. If Aomine found out he was being lied to, about basketball on top of that, he wasn't going to be happy and Momoi would be sorry, which meant that the pinkette would be owing a favour to the tanned teen.

Yume could already picture it; an annoyed navyblue-haired, an apologising pinkette with a matching smile, followed by a grumble from the boy then words to tell the girl she owed him one, finished by the latter agreeing sheepishly before everything returned to normal. Predictable.

And while the childhood-friend pair's dynamics were predictable together, they were one-hundred-eighty degrees alone. Proven when the pinkette had these sudden sparkles in her eyes as another idea crossed her mind, something which undoubtedly involved her friend.

"Ne, Yuu-chan? Why don't you come watch our matches next Saturday?" she began, her smile wide and cunning. Before any words could escape her bestfriend, she continued, "We have two matches, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. You can come, right?"

Cue to quivering pink lips, wide, doe-eyed peach eyes here, slightly moist to highlight her puppy-dog eyes look that made the brunette took a back-step and trying (and failing) to avert her eyes away from the strangely magnetic gaze.

"..."

"..."

"...I can go on the morning. I have a part-time at the bookstore from noon until afternoon," she finally conceded, her chest heaving in defeat. Her bestfriend knew her too well. Just when she started to build immunity to 'the look', her friend had to enhance it at least two more steps.

Momoi pouted at this, but at least she got what she wanted. She knew she couldn't make her friend take a day-off from her work, so she settled for one match. Her bestfriend didn't have it easy, she had to earn her own living at this age. It compelled her to thank her father and mother, who raised her well and provided her enough.

"Well, okay then~" she sang-sung, skipping three steps ahead in happy mood as the brunette sighed before slowly picking up her feet, "The boys will be sooo happy!", she stopped here, glancing backward at her friend with a meaningful smile on her face, "Nijimura-san too!"

The sudden mention of the ravenette Captain halted the brunette in her steps, her cheeks immediately burned as she raised her gaze to eye her friend in surprise, she stuttered,

"W-What...?"

A sly smirk bloomed in her face as the pinkette turned her head forward, skipping once more as she sang, "Nothing~!"

There it was again; an answer that was not an answer that was starting to annoy the brunette these days. Especially when someone as calculating as Momoi or Akashi said it, the latter more terrifying in a way that was downright scary.

"Yuu-chan, you can come to the gym next Tuesday, right?" she piped up, doing a topic change to avoid further questioning.

With her cheeks still holding the pink tints, the brunette nodded. "Y-Yeah..." she muttered in a slight daze.

"Good then!" Momoi continued on her merry way, intent to not receive a question regarding a certain ravenette captain.

Although embarrassed, she wanted to know what exactly her friend was implying, so her mouth parted opened, only for the pinkette to speak once more.

"We are here~!" she said in a tone happier than it should be, smiling innocently at her friend.

Which meant the brunette had to begrudgingly drop her question and join the quiet vice class president who had been giving her this inquiring flat look for a while now. So she trudged ahead and complied, allocating her classmates throughout the school yard with few instructions.

If anyone saw her coloured cheeks as she directed each one an area to clean, they didn't say anything.

And if anyone could read her mind, they would be able to see a certain ravenette captain filling her thoughts.


(1) Ganbatte kudasai, minna-san: lit. Please do your best, everyone. However, I like to see it as words of encouragement and support than its literal meaning which sounds demanding somewhat.


So yeah, how is it?

Reviews are very much appreciated!

Next time, with everyone on the ride, will 'something' happen?