Her Version
by Annie D
the_80s_chick@lycos.com
PART 3
A week passed. Miyuki had successfully pushed aside as many of the strange thoughts that had clustered in her brain, ranging from the need to find Haruko-san, pinch the muffin boy and beat up the tall bike boy. There were other things, including completely unrelated mental imagery that she found disarming, like the strange vision of a flying white paper fan that popped into her head whenever she saw the curly-haired girl.
She told herself that all the strange thoughts didn't matter, because she had the gundam whom were practically becoming family. They hung out regularly, always finding something to do or some gang to beat up, which was always fun.
What she never did, however, was join them when they went to watch basketball practice.
"Why do you care? You're not on the team," Miyuki asked them.
"Haruko-chan is a friend," said Takamiya.
"Although I do admit that watching the team hasn't been as much fun since…" Noma's voice trailed off. "You know."
"No, what?" Miyuki asked eagerly, peeking her ears out.
The four looked at each other. "We rather not talk about it," Yohei said finally.
"Why?" Miyuki sighed.
"Maybe soon," said Yohei. "But not yet."
Miyuki growled in frustration, flapping her arms wildly. "You people are so frustrating! What's so interesting about a stupid game?"
"You play volleyball, don't you?" Yohei argued.
Miyuki flushed. "Used to."
"Why did you quit?" Ohkosu asked.
Miyuki shrugged. "Lost interest."
"Then maybe you should give basketball a chance!" Yohei said cheerfully.
"Gak!" Miyuki half-punched him in the shoulder. "Stupid."
"How do you know?" Yohei asked, draping an arm around her shoulder. "Basketball is very interesting. Haruko-chan could introduce you to the game and all… Would that be fun? How about it?"
Miyuki drew her lips together. "Um… Maybe."
"Good!" said Yohei, thumping Miyuki so hard on the back that she fell off the bench they were sitting on. "We'll go to practice tomorrow together!"
Miyuki jumped to her feet. "Why did you push me like that? You dare push the tensai?!"
Yohei laughed. "You are so weak, Miyuki, that was hardly a push."
"You!" Miyuki growled.
"You are just a girl, after all," said Takamiya, twiddling his thumbs together.
"Nani?! Just a girl?!"
A vocal intra-gundam fight erupted, and Yohei smiled gently as he quietly stayed out of it. It was just like the old days, and at that thought he rubbed his palms together. Tomorrow should be interesting… It had taken time, but he'd been watching her carefully, and each minute served only to strengthen the theory that had been forming in his head. But unless Miyuki was willing, they'd never be sure. What they needed, he knew, was a trigger.
*****
And so the next day after class, the gundam with their newest brown-and-red-haired member went to the gym to watch the Shohoku High basketball team practice their thing. Yohei explained that the Inter High eliminations were less than two weeks to go (although their actual first game would be much later on) and they were practising hard to maintain their ranking as the second best team in the Kanagawa prefecture.
A twinge of pride flichered in Miyuki's heart. The second best team…
"Ooooo…" Miyuki watched as a tall boy with thin spectacles and a ponytail made a beautiful three-point shot.
"Hey, what's she doing here?!" a familiar voice shouted at them.
Miyuki turned to see the muffin man in basketball attire stomping toward them. Miyuki glared right back. "What's a shortie like you doing in the basketball team?"
The boy's left eye twitched horribly. "I. Am. The. Captain."
Miyuki stared. Then she laughed hysterically, tears streaming down her face. "Hahahahahaha! You? Captain? How sad! Hahahahahaha!"
A vein started to throb in the boy's temple. "You…"
"Ahahaha!" Yohei laughed nervously, waving his hands between the two. "Miyagi-san, don't be upset, she just wanted to see your famous basketball team."
"Famous? With a shortie captain like that? Nyahahahahahaha!"
"You're Takemoto-san, right?"
*piku* Miyuki stared at the pretty girl Haruko-san that had appeared in front of her. "Uh, hai." In the background, two of the other players were slowly dragging a steaming Miyagi back onto court.
"Do you play basketball?" Haruko asked.
Miyuki's blood turned to ice. *Do you play basketball?* She did not notice how Yohei was watching her closely.
"No," Miyuki managed to say.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll love the game anyway," said Haruko, smiling. "I'm Akagi Haruko, the assistant manager. Come on in, I'll show you around."
Haruko grabbed Miyuki's hand and half-dragged her into the gym, causing Miyuki to start blushing for no apparent reason while the rest of the gundam (*sweatdrop*) looked at each other and then just followed.
Fuji, the curly-haired girl and another girl with a pair of ponytails were by the bench, along with an old man white hair and glinting spectacles.
"Uh… Konnichiwa," Miyuki said, bowing slightly before them. "I'm Takemoto Miyuki, pleased to meet you."
"This is Ayako, our team manager," said Haruko, gesturing to the girl with the curly hair, who stood up and smiled warmly. "And this is our coach, Anzai-sensei."
"You finally made it, Miyuki-san," said Fuji. "Come watch."
"Fuji has told us all about you," said the girl with ponytails. "I'm Akemi."
"She sure has," Ayako said, eyes flitting to Fuji with some amusement. "Have a seat."
"Oh-okay." Miyuki plopped down on the bench alongside the rest of the girls. "I can't say I know much about basketball, though…"
"That doesn't really matter," said Haruko, whose eyes were sparkling in excitement. "We're getting ready for the Inter High games, and we're going to be seeded in one of the blocks because we made the Best Four in Kanagawa last year, you know. We did so well last year, but I'm sure we'll do just as well… no, we'll do even better, this year!"
"Ah. Hai." Miyuki nodded dumbly. Damn blush was getting in the way of the smooth operator.
"Last year we had my oniichan, as well as Mitsui-san and Kogure-san, and they were all such good players," said Haruko. "But there are good freshmen this year as well, like Nakajima-san and Nori-san."
"Don't forget that the sophomores have improved greatly," added Ayako.
On and on Haruko chatted eagerly, more than happy to have a new pair of ears to listen to all the updates and information that everyone else already knew about. She hardly noticed how Miyuki had started trembling, first at her fingers, and then slowly up her arms… Haruko's enthusiastic chattering blurred off as her attention focused itself on the court.
The squeaking of shoes on the polished floor. The rhythm of a ball being bounced. The slap of a ball being passed. The swish of a ball sliding through the net.
She knew this.
Miyuki opened her mouth suddenly. "I play."
All eyes on the bench turned to her.
"What?" Haruko asked.
"I play basketball," Miyuki said, standing up.
"Huh?" Haruko said.
Miyuki swallowed, then slowly sat back down. "Nothing. Sorry. I meant volleyball. I play volleyball."
"Oh!" Haruko smiled. "Your height is good for that, too. You're so tall! For a girl, I mean."
You're so tall!
There was the inexplicable feeling of deja-vu. Miyuki shivered again.
"Miyuki, are you okay?" Yohei asked softly, leaning close to her. "Is something wrong?"
Miyuki shook her head quicky, trying to watch the boys practising in front of her. Basketball… She'd never played, she'd never seen a game, she'd never cared. Yet…
Let me play, oyaji!
Concentrate on the game!
He who controls the rebounds controls the game!
National champions!
Miyuki shut her eyes and half-leaned forward, breathing deeply. Great, she was hallucinating. She didn't know which was worse, imagining things that couldn't have possibly happened, or having a skull-splitting headache.
Just then, she felt something hit her foot. Miyuki opened her eyes and looked down to see a ball resting gently against her left foot, and when she looked up she saw the captain, Miyagi, looking at her dubiously. He started to walk toward her to fetch the ball, but Miyuki took it and stood up.
Throw it? Nah. Miyuki slowly walked onto court, keeping eye contact of the muffin boy Miyagi. He was glaring at her, but the look turned uncertain as she approached him.
"Your ball, shortie," she said, tossing it to him.
"Hmph," Miyagi grunted, turning away.
Feeling like the world had fallen away in a blur, Miyuki raised her head, just realising that she was standing on a basketball court. The two hoops on either side, high and practically glowing like halos in the sunlight. Players running and jumping and shouting at each other. Sweat and tears, laughter and head-bashing (head-bashing?!), cheers and celebration. It all passed her by like echoes of a distant memory.
"Sakuragi!"
Miyuki's head snapped around sharply, and her hands jumped up to automatically (and effortlessly) catch the ball that had been thrown straight at her chest. The one who'd thrown it was none other than the tall bike boy with the expressionless face.
"Stupid kitsune!" she snarled, waving a fist at him.
Somebody gasped. Miyuki turned to see most of them gaping at her.
"Nani?! What's wrong with all of you?"
Haruko took a few cautious steps toward her. She had clasped her hands to her mouth as though in horror. "Why did you answer his call?"
"Huh?" Miyuki asked.
"He called you Sakuragi," said Yohei, walking onto the court toward her. "And you responded."
"And you called him kitsune," said Ayako.
Miyuki blinked. Sakuragi… Wasn't that the name of the boy that had…? Miyuki shook the thought away. But as for kitsune… "Well, he looks like a kitsune," she said, shrugging.
"But Sakuragi…?" Haruko asked. "This is not funny, Takemoto-san."
Sakuragi. Saved my life at such a cost... She knew that name as well as her own, but at that moment, hearing Haruko say the name with that soft familiar voice of hers, something was switched on deep at the back of her mind… something she hadn't realised had been hiding there. Miyuki looked down at the basketball and dropped it quickly.
"Stupid basketball," she muttered. "I am tensai Takemoto Miyuki, volleyball player! Not basketball player!"
"Tensai…?" Miyagi muttered.
"Well, I am the tensai!" Miyuki laughed, glaring at him. "You should know that, Ryocchin!"
Miyagi froze. "What did you call me?"
Miyuki stared back. Ryocchin. Was that his name? Where had it come from? She had certainly never met him before, she'd know, right? Miyuki stared down at her own hands, and they suddenly looked so small. Weren't her hands bigger? Harsher?
More images slammed into her head, more determined now than ever to make their presence known. Miyuki reached up to press down the headache.
"Are you okay?" Haruko asked.
Miyuki stared at her with wide eyes. "Haruko-san." Her eyes flicked across the people whose faces somehow stood out to her. "Ayako-sempai. Yasuda. Kakuta. Shiozaki. Ishii. Oyaji." She had no idea whether those really were their names, but judging from their shocked responses, they probably were.
How do know these people? I've never met them before!
In a panic, she stared to back away to the door.
"Sakuragi Hanamichi!" Yohei shouted.
In a mesh of flailing arms, Miyuki fell down, face first making contact with the floor with a loud bang. Slowly, she got up and found Yohei standing over her, looking very worried. Reaching out silently, she picked him up by the collar and headbutted him. She had never done it before, but it felt right.
Tossing the boy aside, Miyuki said softly, "My name is Takemoto Miyuki." And she ran away.
*****
Miyuki wandered around the town for a long time afterward, feeling confused and alone and suffering from yet another pounding headache. It felt like something was trying to get her attention, by force if necessary.
Walking blindly, Miyuki suddenly found herself at the same basketball court she had seen the bike boy Rukawa playing at the week earlier. She stepped into it and looked up at the hoop.
"Stupid basketball," she muttered.
Do you play basketball?
Miyuki's body turned cold again as Haruko's voice echoed in her head. Do you play basketball? You're so tall!
She plopped right down on her butt as more voices entered her head. You really shouldn't bang your head like that. Look at the funny kid with the red hair! Pay attention to the game! Stupid red-headed monkey! Do'aho. You think you're so tough? Your father passed away last night. We'll go to Shohoku together and rule! Five fouls, you're out! Hana-kun, I'm sorry for what happened…
Miyuki felt the tears long before she realised she was crying. Achingly slow, she crouched into a kneeling ball and sobbed softly.
A hand touched her shoulder. Miyuki looked up into the face of Yohei, looking more concerned than ever.
She knew what was wrong now. Memories were in her head, all of them belonging to someone else, and that someone was Sakuragi Hanamich, the boy that had saved her life. That's what the pounding meant: Sakuragi had been in her head, wanting to break out. It was as though he was fighting to take over her own identity, and seeing how her life had been ruined at her old school, he seemed to be succeeding. But why? For what purpose?
She whispered brokenly, "What's happening to me?"
*****
"I have a theory," Yohei told the members of the emergency meeting in the Shohoku gym, who were in no particular order: the gundam, Haruko, Ayako, Miyagi and Rukawa.
"Which is?" Ayako asked.
"Hanamichi's spirit is partially possessing Miyuki-san," he said. "He has unfinished business."
"Like what?" Miyagi asked. "He still wants to win the Inter High is it? Or is it…" His eyes flicked briefly to Haruko, who did not notice. Yohei shrugged.
"How can you be sure?" Haruko asked softly. Her eyes were brimming with tears. "How can you be sure she's not bluffing? That this is all some trick to—to… Sakuragi-kun is dead! He is!"
Ayako hugged Haruko, who started bawling uncontrollably.
"I've known Sakuragi since first year of Junior High," said Yohei. "He was my best friend. He had this aura about him, I can't explain it, that no one else has. But here, Miyuki has it! She knows things, and acts a certain way…"
"Hai, hai," agreed Takamiya, Noma and Ohkosu.
"But she seems as confused about it," said Ayako, who was patting Haruko's head comfortingly.
"She doesn't understand what's happening to her, either," said Yohei. "But what's important is this… I just found this out from her."
"What?" Miyagi asked.
"Remember that Hanamichi died saving a girl from an oncoming truck?" Yohei asked.
A shudder passed through the group, minus Rukawa who was still stoic as usual.
Yohei continued, "Well, the girl he saved is none other than Miyuki."
Another pass of silence.
"Unfinished business."
All eyes turned to Rukawa in surprise. There was no evidence that it was really him that had spoken, because he was looking down at the floor, apparently inasmuch deep thoughts as someone like Rukawa was able to get into without falling asleep.
Ayako then said, "A witch doctor?"
"Can you think of anything better?" Yohei asked.
Haruko hastily wiped her tears. "We go. As soon as possible."
"Can you handle…?"
"I can!" Haruko said quickly. "We must let Sakuragi-kun rest in peace."