Ciel let out a laugh of relief as she pushed loose strands of hair out of her eyes. At last, it's over!
The game had been a hard one, but it was fun nonetheless. It had been a challenge guarding the very tall player in jersey number 4, but it was a challenge she was used to.
She looked up at number 4's face, and smiled. "That was a hard game to play, but I had fun. If it won't be too much trouble, may I know your name?"
The guy stared down at her for a long time, but eventually, his lips formed the semblance of a smile. "Akagi Takenori. And you?"
"Ciel Duvalier."
"That was a good game, but just like Mel said, you're too slow in the head," CJ told the redhead in jersey number 10.
Just like Ciel expected, that comment didn't sit well with the redhead. In fact, the guy seemed to be literally smoking at the ears. "NANI?!?!?!"
At once, Kogure came running over, trying his best to calm Redhead down. "Ma, ma Sakuragi-kun! You don't want to lose your head around a girl, do you?"
Ciel glanced at Akagi, and noticed that a vein was starting to throb in the latter's forehead. After a while, he strode over to Redhead, apparently named Sakuragi, and hit him hard on the head. Ciel sweat dropped when an egg-shaped lump formed on top of his head.
CJ laughed at the sight, making Ciel look at her. She was standing a little ways off, the basketball balanced on her hip. "So the saying IS true! Men are ruled not by what's between their ears, but by what's between their legs!"
Ciel winced. CJ may be very witty, but she can be a little crass and inappropriate sometimes. She approached CJ, and said, "CJ, I don't think that was a good thing to say…"
CJ blinked. "You think so?"
Ciel sighed, and shook her head. She's completely clueless AGAIN! She knew that CJ wanted to be an ambassador, but how could she be one if she wasn't tactful? She might cause an international scandal if she keeps this up…
In the meantime, Jesse walked over to Sakuragi, and grinned ruefully. "Sorry 'bout that. CJ has a tendency to run off at the mouth." She paused, then held her hand out. "But it was a fun game. Hope you won't be TOO depressed about losing."
Sakuragi eyed her with a glare, but after a while, he snorted. "Hmph, you were just lucky today. We couldn't play at our best because you were girls."
"That's stupid," Melina said. "We've played against other guys before, and they're lots better than you. They never treated us like glass statues that could break at the slightest contact."
Erin nodded. "Yeah, that's right. We played basketball in the slums and ghettos of New York, and believe me, guys there RARELY play fair. In fact, we were almost expecting that you wouldn't treat us so nicely."
"Well, we're just not used to playing against girls. This is the first time we've ever done such a thing," Miyagi explained.
Melina was surprised. "Really?"
Ciel was only mildly surprised. After all, things are very different here. The beep of her cell phone startled her out of her thoughts. She checked it, and realized that she had one missed call, and that an email from her parents was waiting for her. She turned to the others, and smiled. "Look, I'm sorry for just leaving you guys like this, but I really gotta go. I've got something important to do."
* * *
Erin watched as Ciel exited the gym, leaving just five of them with the guys. Not that she was worried about anything, of course. They could put six guys in their places just fine on their own.
"But I still think Melina's right," Aleine said. "We have played basketball against guys who didn't care one whit if we twisted our ankles. Being so concerned about us only signifies weakness." She glanced at the boy in jersey number 14, and smirked. "Don't you think so……do'aho?"
Number 14 suddenly yelled, "My name is NOT do'aho!!"
"Oh? Isn't that what the other guy called you?"
"My name's Mitsui Hisashi. And don't you use the word 'do'aho' EVER again! Do you even know that it means?!"
"No. Why don't you tell me?"
"It means 'asshole'."
"Asshole? Well, I think that word suits you perfectly – do'aho."
"NANI?!?!?!"
Aleine smirked, apparently oblivious to the fact that Mitsui looked very ready to cause trouble. "What, you don't like do'aho? I can always just call you asshole, if you'd prefer."
Now Erin knew Aleine had gone too far. She ran over to her friend just as Kogure and Miyagi went over to Mitsui. "Hey Aleine, I think you've gone just a little TOO far."
Aleine glanced at her, her gaze inquiring. "Am I, Erin?"
Erin gave her a half-smile. "Take a look at the poor guy and you'll see what I mean."
Aleine glanced at Mitsui, and blinked when she saw the expression on his face. She shrugged, and turned away. "Whatever."
Erin sweat-dropped. "Err, yeah, right." She glanced at the others, who all just looked back at her with expressions that seemed to say that they had seen it all before.
Melina checked her wristwatch, and hopped down from the bench she had been sitting on. "Hey girls, it's nearly twelve. Let's go back."
Erin sighed. "Yeah, got it." She turned to Kogure, and grinned. "Thanks for letting us play with you guys. To return the gesture, why don't you come by our house sometime?"
Kogure shuffled his feet a little, but replied, "Sure, we'll come by when we have the time."
"Great!" Erin pulled out a notepad, and scribbled down the address of the flat, along with the phone number. "Here, this is the address and the phone number. Give us a ring before you come, so we can at least prepare a little."
Kogure looked at the paper, and grinned. "Arigatou, Erin-san."
Erin shrugged. "No prob." She started walking out of the gym, her hand fumbling in her pocket. At long last, her fingers touched a cold piece of metal, and she smiled.
With a confident stride in her step, she walked over to the parking lot, and sourced out a black Porsche. Not that it was too difficult to find. It's easy to spot a sexy black Porsche amid bicycles and Toyotas.
Just as she had unlocked the door of her car, she felt someone staring at her. When she turned, she found the entire basketball club staring at her and her friends, mouths handing wide open in amazement. "Did you want something?"
Rukawa pointed at the Porsche. "Is that your car?"
Erin nodded. "Yeah."
"Do you have a license?"
"Yeah." Erin pulled out her wallet, and showed them a small plastic card. "International Driver's License. In New York, the driving age limit was recently dropped to 16, so we all got our licenses before we went here. After that, we applied for an International Driving Permit. This little baby legally allows us to drive anywhere in the civilized world, regardless of that country's driving age limit." She raised her eyebrow. "Got a problem with that?"
Rukawa didn't say anything further, and lowered his hand.
Erin grinned, and got into the car, sliding into the leather seat as she started the engine. Jesse joined her in the passenger's seat of her car.
Aleine had been the first to pull out, her Ferrari gleaming a bright fire engine red in the spring sunlight. She paused in front of Mitsui, and waved at him. "Ciao, do'aho!" Before Mitsui could even react, she had already driven off with the sound of screeching tires and a little dust cloud.
Beside Erin, Jesse chuckled. "Same old Aleine, never lets
go of anything until the very last minute."
Erin shifted gears, and pulled out of the parking lot. "Yeah, but I wish she'd be a little more tactful about it."
"Whatever. She knows how to get herself out of trouble anyway," Jesse said with a shrug as they drove off.