Chapter 6: Last Resort

I knocked on Anzai-sensei's office door. "Come in," I heard his deep muffled voice from the other side of the door.

     It was one of the rare times that somebody has asked to see me. All the teachers had given up on me, I suppose, so they'd all become rather apathetic.

I felt really curious so I'd forgotten to close the door properly.

"Anzai-sensei you wanted to see me?"

"Yes. I just wanted to ask you something about Takeno-san."

"Takeno-san? Which one?" I thought hard, running through the names of the players on the guys' team, as far as I could remember, that is.

"Takeno Rika," he paused then added," The girl."

A "huh?" almost came out of my mouth but I refrained myself from saying it. I collected my senses and replied as calmly as I could, "Yes, what about her?"

"I do this survey every year, on new players, to observe their attitude. Don't tell her about it. You are in the same class as Takeno Rika, right?"

I nodded in answer.

"Well, what is she like?"

"Erm...She's...," I searched for a suitable word in vain.

******

"She's okay." Rukawa Kaede was saying. Wow, what a wide range of vocabulary he had.

I could catch their conversation because the door had been left ajar carelessly. Who were they talking about? Just hoped he'd hurry up because I had to see Anzai-sensei too!

"Okay? Nothing more?" I sensed a tinge of doubt in Anzai-sensei's voice. "I want to try to understand my players to see what approach I can take in guiding them, Rukawa."

After some shuffling of feet on the carpet, Rukawa decided to reply. "She's okay... apart from the fact that she's unreasonable, petty, accident-prone and unladylike! Frankly, I..."

"You hate her?" Anzai-sensei interrupted.

"It's mutual. Look at this..." There was some smoothening of paper before Anzai-sensei read out, "I hate you." And he asked, "She gave you this?" laughing his trademark laugh.

Cripes! They couldn't be talking about me, could they? But if not, wouldn't it be too coincidental? Yikes...

"Well, is she good?" Rukawa asked. What does that have to do with him? Damn him.

"Basketball? Well, I hope you can be taken into my confidence?"

Apparently Rukawa agreed because Anzai-sensei continued, "Rika has potential but to tell you the truth, she was a last resort. One of the girls had declined her position, to join the choir..." A tear squeezed its way out of my eye.

Last resort? The next words were of no importance... Last resort? Those two words rang in my ears over and over again. Tears flowed down my face. I couldn't take it anymore. I turned and ran away.

******

"Rika had passion. I knew it from the time she actually bothered to stay back to practise."

I nodded as I gazed out the window behind Anzai-sensei. A girl was running away, crying. Sigh... Maybe someone had just dumped her... No, wait. That is Takeno Rika! Heh heh. Who was the wise guy? I wonder. Poor guy must have suffered. I can just imagine that girl going, "Hey! You better give me a teddy bear or else I'll slap you silly!" Anyhow, it was weird seeing her in tears, way too girlish for her sort. Hmm...wonder what the parting words were? "Goodbye sucker"? I had to hold my breath to stop myself from snickering. Wait a minute, why did I care?

"Rukawa?" I was zapped back to Earth. "Yes?" I replied.

"That's all. Thank you so much." It was a dismissal so I said goodbye and went out. One hand in my pocket, I walked along the corridor with my duffel bag slung across my shoulder. Great, now I could go home and watch the match between the Washington Wizards and the LA Lakers that I'd taped. I turned a corner and almost bumped into Takeno Rika. I shrunk back behind the wall. She had her head buried in her hands and was muttering some crap to herself. Crying. AGAIN. I will never understand what's so important about this type of relationships. Curiosity got the better of me so I eavesdropped on what she was saying.

"Last resort...*sob*...last resort...*sob sob*" Huh? As inexperienced as I was, I knew that wouldn't be the kind of thing that a heartbroken girl would be saying. It sounded more like...Then I realized all of a sudden it was more like…more like she had overheard what Anzai-sensei was saying to me! I stood there, stoned and finally I drew in my breath sharply.

The crying stopped on the other side of the corner and I could hear her standing up. I turned to leave hoping that she would not notice me.

******

Damn him, Rukawa Kaede. Laughing at me inside, I bet. Sheesh, why do I feel so cold? Maybe it's the weather. I put on an extra sweater. I looked out the window and saw a couple of snowflakes falling down gently. I sighed and gathered my things. Snow used to be able to put me out of depression anytime but its magic wasn't working this time. I sneezed, then closed my eyes trying to block the path of a tear on the verge of rolling down my cheek. And of all the people in the world it had to be Rukawa Kaede that had heard what Anzai-sensei said. "AAH-CHOO!" I sneezed then I started to shiver violently all of a sudden.

(In the distance, Rukawa hesitated, after hearing that resounding sneeze. He looked at the sweater in his hand that he was about to deposit in his locker and thought for just a second whether or not to approach Rika with it.)

You know what? Maybe I'm sick and I won't have to come to school tomorrow. Won't that be just great? "AH-CHOO!" It's so cold I thought just as somebody placed a jacket on my shoulder.

I froze in shock wondering for a little while whether he had decided to show some kindness. I looked up only to see Kento and heaved a sigh of relief. "Y…yo", I could barely say it without my voice trembling.

"Hey Rika. What's the matter with you?" he asked with a concerned tone.

"I…I…man, I don't know …gosh…Kento…" my voice trailed off as I broke down into sobs. He put his hand on my head and pushed it against his chest going, "Hey girl, you're strong, remember? Aww…c'mon, don't cry."

"K…Kento, it's…so cold." I put a hand on his. A worried look crossed his face. He felt my forehead and exclaimed, "Yikes! You've got a fever! C'mon I'm bringing you home right now! Gimme your bag!"

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and escorted me all the way home on that wintry afternoon.