Chapter 3

Lucky

"Thanks for accommodating me. I really appreciate it," Chia told Akagi graciously before going to bed.

"No problem," Akagi answered with a lovestruck grin. "Oh, by the way," he looked at Chia. "How old are you?"

Chia looked surprised. Like what happened awhile ago, it took her a while to answer. "Twenty-one,"

"Twenty-one? But you really look like a teenager… anyway, I'm eighteen years old. I'm a third-year student in senior high." Akagi said.

"Really? Then you're gonna be graduating soon," Chia smiled. "That's nice,"

Ooh… I just love the way she smiles… Gori turned red.

"What do you do for fun?" Chia asked.

"I play basketball," Gori proudly said. "I play for my high school team and I am the team captain."

"Basketball?" Chia's eyes glowed. But the glow faded immediately. "My ex-boyfriend used to play basketball… in fact, he's very good in it." Chia slightly frowned.

"I see," Akagi whispered. So stupid of me to talk about something that makes her sad!

"Can I come during your practice? I wanna watch everybody play, including you. I wanna see how your teammates look like," Chia told Akagi.

"Sure, you can, but… won't it make you sad looking at everybody? I mean, won't it remind you of your… you-know-who?" Akagi asked.

Chia shook her head vigorously. "Of course not!"

"Well, then, you can come. Haruko, can you do me a favor? Can you fetch Chia here tomorrow afternoon just in time for practice?" Akagi asked his sister.

"Sure! Chia-san, practice starts at 3:30 PM," Haruko turned to Chia excitedly. "I'm so proud of my brother. I wanna show you what he can do!"

"Really? Now I'm getting excited too," Chia giggled.

Akagi sighed. The guys are gonna be jealous of me.

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"Oh Takenori…. You are so cute… I think I'm in love with you too,"

"Really? I'm cute? You are, too!"

"You're so cute that I just wanna give you a big kiss!"

"Oh, Chia… kiss me!"

"You're such a great basketball player too… I was such a fool to stay with that stupid ex-boyfriend of mine...""

"I promise you a good life if you marry me… Now kiss me!"

Akagi closed his eyes as Chia's lips went nearer and nearer to his. He blushed so profusely.

"Here it comes!"

Then a ball crashed on Akagi's face.

"Oh my god!!!! I'm so sorry, Captain!" Yasuda ran quickly to Akagi.

Akagi, whose face was still red, shook his head. "It's alright, it's alright,"

"Are you sure, Captain? I'm ready to do a thousand push-ups—"

"Akagi is absent-minded. He has been thinking about the girl whom he just met yesterday." Kogure smiled.

"I wasn't thinking about Chia," Akagi muttered while blushing.

"Is it true that you and that girl already live in one house?" Mitsui asked.

"Mitsui, you have been annoying me for quite some time," Akagi growled at Mitsui.

"I was just saying what I've heard from the people in our batch," Mitsui argued.

"Shut up and play," Akagi walked to Ayako to ask for an ice pack to soothe his face.

"Brother!"

Akagi turned his head to see Haruko at the door. He smiled. At last, Chia's here!

With Haruko were Matsui, Fujji. Chia was nowhere to be found.

Yipes… Where's Chia??? Akagi thought he would get crazy.

"Chia's out here, hiding. She's so shy!" Haruko called out to Akagi.

The glow on Akagi's eyes went back. He grinned. "She shouldn't be!"

"Chia was kind enough to bring cookies for everybody," Haruko told everybody.

"Haruko, let Chia in," Akagi danced his way to the door.

Everybody from the Shohoku team cringed. They all thought it wasn't very much like Akagi to dance around because of a little thing, especially girls.

Sakuragi laughed wildly. "Nyahaha! A dancing gorilla! Now where else in the world would you see a dancing gorilla but here in the Shohoku High School gym!"

"Crazy boy!" Ayako slapped Sakuragi with her paper fan.

"I was just joking," Sakuragi muttered.

"For the first time in history, the idiot is right," Ayako heard Rukawa whisper.

"What do you mean, Rukawa-kun?" she asked.

"You know what I mean," Rukawa shrugged and sighed.

"Don't be shy, Chia! C'mon in!" Akagi called Chia from behind the door. "So nice of you to come!" He opened the door widely.

Everybody looked at Akagi and the shadow of the lady.

"Hello, everybody!" Chia greeted cheerfully.

All of the guys in the team were surprised to see such a very beautiful lady. And to think that Akagi was not the type who'd go gaga over pretty girls (well, except for Britney, that is). The girl was indeed very eye-popping.

"Hello, Miss!" All the players greeted cheerfully.

"Hello," Chia greeted as well. "You all look so good today!"

"Thanks!" they all answered in unison. They were all so flattered.

"I wanna see you play! I wanna see a game!" Chia clapped her hands in excitement. "But before that, I want you to have some cookies," she said as she went to the table to put down the large container of cookies. The boys went after her like a swarm of flies.

"Everybody, have some," she said with a huge smile.

Ahh… she's so pretty… Akagi sighed as he looked at Chia dreamily. Then somebody nudged him.

"I never knew the girl you were talking about was this beautiful," Mitsui whispered.

"Hah, well you know me, I have very good taste," Akagi said smugly.

"I wish I saw her first… then she would have been staying at my house instead of yours," Mitsui lamented as he munched on a cookie.

"I just happen to be luckier than you, that's it." Then Akagi began singing the song 'Lucky' by Britney.

Mitsui sighed whiled covering his ears. "Mind you, I've noticed something about this lady,"

Akagi abruptly stopped singing and looked at Mitsui. "What is it?"

"Don't you think she looks a lot like—"

"I'm the basketball genius, Chia so I think you should see my perfect basketball skills!" Sakuragi said loudly.

"Stupid," Rukawa muttered.

"Is that so? Then I wanna see you play!" Chia clapped her hands again in excitement.

"Idiot! Don't act big in front of Chia because you haven't proved anything much yet!" Akagi gave Sakuragi a good one on the head.

"But I'm a master dunker and rebounder!" Sakuragi protested.

"Shut up!" Akagi roared. Then he faced the other players.

"We're gonna show Chia how powerful our team is! We're gonna play a small basketball game and I'm gonna divide our group into half." Akagi called out the names of those that would belong to Team A and Team B.

"Wow, I'm so excited! I just love basketball… I mean, I just go crazy watching a game! Also, I'm so excited to see Takenori play!" Chia bubbled with excitement.

"I'm really proud of my brother. Watch them and see the powerful Shohoku Basketball Team!" Haruko told Chia.

"This is going to be an exciting one, Chia," Fujji said.

"You bet!" Chia, Matsui and Haruko all said in unison.

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