PG-13 for mild language. Or strong languauge, if you're one of those irritating types who cannot even hear the word 'shit' without bursting into tears. No offence. =)
Dedicated to, of course, my darling
Mitsui Hisashi. Happy belated birthday dear!
There's just something about birthdays. They kinda make you want to think about the past and remini... uh, whatever the word is. But I mean, they make you nostalgic of the past. Of how things were. For whatever reason.
I was young and misguided once, of course, even though I'm much more learned and mature now.
Okay, so only a year has passed since I was young and misguided, and okay, I am still young, but you know what I mean, don't you?
Here's a story for you. I turned seventeen last year. It was a low-key, simple celebration, but I remember it like I remember my own name anyway. It's probably the best story I'd ever tell, because it's so non-descript and yet so... stupidly sentimental. To me, that is.
A year ago, I didn't think school was all that important. First of all, it was a royal waste of my time. I could actually spend all those precious hours wasted in school by hanging out with my friends instead, whom I didn't even get to see much anymore because of school.
Second of all, Shohoku sucked. The people were such complete morons, especially the basketballers. I just didn't understand how such airheaded pea-brains could think of themselves as the world. Give me a break.
Third of all... well, there wasn't a third of all. 'Shohoku sucked' pretty much summed everything up.
So there I was, strolling down the hallways of this ancient building, my hands in my pockets, totally oblivious to the hustling around me and basically not giving a fuck about being late for class, when who was to be walking in my direction but the Almighty Principal himself. I looked at him; involuntarily, of course. It was a reactionary thing. That was what one does when one sees somebody one recognises, right? Of course.
So I looked at him. Big bleeding mistake, because he looked right back. And what did he see? My shirt in a total mess, the whole thing hanging out of my pants like some fucking latern. Or something.
I wanted to bolt. I really did. But it was too late, for Our Beloved Principal was already stalking towards me with a more-than-murderous look on his face. And I had absolutely nowhere to run; I was surrounded by useless, occupied classrooms. What was I to do, open one of the doors and barge in and letting Oh Mighty Principal know that I was avoiding him? Of course not.
So I did the next best thing: I did an about-turn and started walking in the other direction. Before that, I pretended to have suddenly remembered something. I stopped walking. I widened my eyes; dropped my jaw a little. I anxiously glanced at my watch, and then remembered that I never wore watches. Then I smacked my forehead, like, "Oh shit! How could I have forgotten?"
And that was when I did the about-turn. And started walking - hurrying - in the opposite direction.
I thought I acted pretty well. Okay, except for the watch business. But how was I supposed to know? That was an impromptu skit, for crying out loud.
And of course, the Great and Powerful Principal didn't buy it.
"Stop right there."
Of course, he was talking to me, and of course, I acted as if I didn't know even though I was not only the only student left in the hallway, but the only person as well. Other than the principal, that is.
So I continued walking, quickening my steps in vain hopes of getting out of there fast.
But no. Fate wasn't on my side.
"Mitsui Hisashi. I'm ordering you to stop walking right this instance."
I exhaled. Oh well, no choice now. I stopped dead in my tracks and kept absolutely still. Behind me the principal shook his head. I knew this, because it was what he always did whenever we ran into each other. And we ran into each other a lot.
This was seriously grating on my nerves. Just because I found tucking in my shirt absolutely redundant, doesn't mean that he had to breathe down my neck all the freaking time.
But I told myself to be patient and not to call him an annoying motherfucker in his face. That would definitely garner me another detention and I didn't have time to waste on such crap, not when I really wanted to hang out with my friends and have fun.
So I forced a smile onto my face and tried not to clench my fists. The principal was a good ten centimetres shorter than me, and beating him up would be easy. Way too easy. It would be like beating up some pathetic mousy freshman with glasses and a calculator in his pocket. And after you've been doing that for months, there was simply no fun in it anymore.
"Young man, how many times must I tell you to tuck in your shirt? Do it now!"
I complied. Very reluctantly, of course. But I would've done almost anything to get out of that scene. The truth was, I was planning to cut school in ten minutes' time. I had everything planned out nicely: I would go up to the third-floor classrooms, pretend to be a student running an errand for a teacher, get Norio and the others out of there by telling the teacher that Norio's grandmother was dying, and then we would get the hell out of this boring shithole and have fun.
If the principal didn't get lost now, I would miss my chance.
So I hastily stuffed my shirt into my pants, all the while cursing the little man in front of me in my heart. See what I meant about school being a drag? It wasn't enough that they had to waste my time; they had to hassle me about something as minor as the way I wear my ugly school uniform as well.
"Wipe that smirk off your face," the principal was saying, glaring at me as though I were an eight-legged freak and blissfully unaware of the fact that I was actually smiling. "If I catch you one more time with your shirt tucked out, then you'll have to ask your parents to come to school and explain why I should let you stay. Got it?"
I smiled - smirked, according to him - and nodded.
"And why aren't you class?"
Because I want to cut school. Aloud I said, "Oh, I had a stomach upset just now and I was held up at the toilet. I was hurrying but..." I ended my speech with a shrug of my shoulders and a 'oh-well-what-can-you-do' smile.
Primary excuse to get out of trouble. And apparently, it was ineffective as well, for he immediately whipped out his detention pad and issued me one, all the while reprimanding me: "At the rate you're going... never going to be promoted... let alone graduate... your second year... important... look at the way you dress... look at how long your hair is... are you even serious about your work..."
Blah blah fucking blah. By now my blood was boiling beyond boiling point. And since I was already down for detention, I simply didn't care anymore.
I snatched the yellow slip of paper out of his hand, pulled out my just-tucked in shirt, taking special care to do it with extra force, and tore the detention slip into two. Flicking the two pieces of paper onto the ground, I glared at the principal and walked off without another word.
Was I afraid? No, I wasn't. Did I have a reason to be? Certainly not. The truth was, I simply didn't care. And the thought of expulsion was great; it would then mean that I wouldn't be wasting my life on pointless crap like school anymore.
So what happened was, I walked out of the school a free man. The principal didn't come after me. He didn't even do anything. At least, not at that precise moment; I only felt the repercussions of my actions a while later. But that's not the point of my story.
I was Mitsui Hisashi. Still am, of course, but I was the Mitsui Hisashi. Chief trouble-maker of Shohoku High, the most-feared gangster in the whole school, even though I was only in my second year. But those third year wimps were afraid of me anyway.
It was pretty amazing at first. But after you got used to it, you just didn't really care that much anymore.
But anyway, I whipped out my mobile phone and called Norio the very second I stepped out of the school building. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Oi, Nori. It's Mitsui. Get out of there right now.
Norio: What happened to our plan?
Me: Got caught by our pal the principal for not tucking in my shirt. I couldn't be bothered with him so I just walked out.
Norio: Oh. Okay. See you in a few then.
He answered the phone right in the middle of whatever lesson he was in. It was really quite funny.
I waited patiently by the school gate, and two minutes later, my friends sauntered towards me, talking and laughing loudly as if they had every right to stroll out of the school in the middle of a school day.
"Hey Mitchan! Got caught for your uniform again, eh?" Norio guffawed. "I told you to wear the T-shirt you dumbass!"
I flipped Norio the finger. "Shut the fuck up. At least I wasn't caught for reading porno magazines in class like you were."
We glared at each other for a while, and then we burst out laughing. He slapped me a high-five and I punched him lightly on the shoulder. You know, typical guy stuff. It was pretty stupid. But fun nevertheless.
So we wandered around the neighbourhood, kicking mailboxes and over-turning dustbins and yelling and snorting loudly at the occasional small kid or old person, basically scaring the living shit out of them and pissing our pants with laughter. It was a pretty crappy day prior to that, but that - wreaking havoc with my mates - seemed to be the cure to all my problems.
But mind you, life wasn't all rosy and wonderful. Perhaps I shouldn't blame them, but still, they just had to stop at a basketball court and go for a pick-up. What the fuck. All I could do was sit by the sidelines and scowl as my friends shot pathetic shots after shots and lost to a bunch of junior high-schoolers.
I suppose you're just waiting for me to get all philosophical about basketball, right? Well, I'm not going to do that. Firstly, it's just so not me. Secondly, my story, amazingly, isn't about basketball. Of course, I was pissed off throughout the entire pick-up game but what was I to do? Storm off and throw a temper tantrum? They didn't even know about my past at that moment.
But as I sat there watching, I did get a few urges to get up and join them and cream those retarded junior-high kids. The urges were actually pretty strong, too. I had to actually press down on my legs to prevent them from making me stand up.
After my friends were done humiliating themselves, they glumly trudged to where I was seated.
"I can't believe we lost," Takana was saying. "How embarrassing."
"It's all your fault," Namiki retorted. "If you hadn't missed that jump ball, we would've won."
I rolled my eyes. "Jump shot, you mean," I muttered. "Oi, can we get the fuck out of here? This place is boring."
So we split and roamed the neighbourhood somemore, until it was time for the sun to set. We found a nice spot on the beach and sat facing the sea, with the waves lapping at our bare feet. And oh yeah, we got our school pants totally sandy and wet, and basically disgusting, too.
"Shit. This is my only pair of pants," Norio said. "I lost my other pair."
I shot him a look. "How the hell can you actually lose your pants?"
Beside me, Namiki reached over and swatted Norio on the shoulder. "You baka. I told you not to leave your clothes around in the toilet. Do you know how many poor despos there are in school? They must've stolen it."
"But who would want to steal my pants? They're so smelly and disgusting."
"I told you. Poor despos. No money. Get it?"
"But..."
"Shut up."
Shocking as it may be, but our conversations weren't limited to stolen pants and lousy basketball games. I admit that my friends aren't the brightest light bulbs around, but they are good people. I couldn't have survived those years of wilderness without them.
"Hey Mitchan, happy birthday."
I snorted. "Sure took you guys long enough to remember."
Takana grinned. "We didn't forget. Why else did you think we're here right now?"
"Oh, I don't know," I said sarcastically. "Because... school's really fucking boring?"
They laughed. Mitchan, they said, we really do enjoy school. We just thought you'd be lonely hanging out by yourself on your birthday so we sacrificed precious curriculum time, just for you. We're such great friends, aren't we?
A crock of shit, for sure. But I smiled anyway.
When it was close to twelve midnight we broke into a bakery. We hunted for a hammer to break the lock on the fridge, and upon finding one, Takana hurled it at the lock, and it broke with a loud snap. Eagerly, we opened the fridge and was greeted with cakes of all assortments and varieties.
Yeah, I have a pretty wide vocabulary, I know. Bet you never knew that.
Anyway, it was really awe-inspiring. We've done lots of things before but we've never stolen a cake, let alone broken into a bakery. If you ask me why the shop wasn't wired with security alarm though, well, you're asking the wrong slacker. And frankly, I don't give a shit.
We sat on the floor near the fridge, they made me choose a cake and I chose a chocolate one. And my god, the chocolate was amazing. It practically melted in my mouth. It was at that precise moment that I fell in love with the substance.
Anyway, we rummaged around the drawers and produced seventeen candles. And then we realised that we'd already cut out a slice from the cake.
"Shit. Namiki, you idiot, how can you forget the candles?"
"Shut up Nori, it was your idea to cut the cake!"
I was too busy sticking the candles in the candle-holder thing to argue with them, so I just let them be, while Takana stuck the candles onto the cake. I took out a lighter from my pocket and, well, lighted the candles.
"Happy birthday, self," I whispered. That caught Norio and Namiki's attention. They stopped squabbling with each other.
"Happy birthday, Mitchan!"
"Here's to more years of great friendship!"
They stopped short of singing me a goddamn happy birthday song, which was a relief because I didn't think I could sit through their off-key singing. Whenever they open their mouths to sing, I swear, windows and glass and all things fragile never fail to shatter.
I blew out the candles in one mighty breath, and my audience broke into hearty applause, causing me to throw a half-melted candle in their direction.
"Oi! What the hell was that for?"
That was Norio's cry of indignance.
"You want to fight, huh?"
That was Namiki's cry of manly manliness.
"The cake is awesommmeeee..."
That was Takana's cry of pure chocolate-y ecstasy.
I shook my head. "You guys are such morons. I swear to god. And I thought the basketballers were stupid enough."
I cut up the cake into almost-equal portions and passed them around. By the way, we weren't eating with our bare hands. That's absolutely disgusting. Takana was actually smart enough to dig up a few paper plates from wherever he got it from.
I was about to polish off my wonderful chocolate cake when Norio held up his plate.
"Here's a toast," he intoned. "To Mitchan. May all your wishes come true."
"May all your wishes come true," Namiki and Takana chorused, lifting up their plates as well.
I laughed. I lifted my plate. We touched the edges together, all four paper plates, forming a perfect circle.
**
Like I said before, that happened exactly a year ago. I'm 18 years old today. A lot of things have changed, mostly for the better. I'm back with the basketball team and they're really not all that stupid.
... Then again, they are. I mean, Sakuragi is definitely the epitome of 'moronic' and Rukawa might as well be walking block of wood. Akagi would never have become the captain if I never quit the team. And Miyagi? That little punk made me waste my precious money on bleeding dentures. I'd never forgive him for that.
Still, they are great team-mates, trust-worthy and reliable. Although I'd never admit it to their faces.
Anyway, you'd think that I'd drift from my three friends after going through a major revamping of my life. You'd think that they'd hold it against me for betraying them. You'd think that they'd think that I betrayed them.
But no such things happened.
I'm playing against some lousy team today, as part of the elimination process leading to the Inter-High. The entire team is huddled around my beloved Anzai-sensei, taking instructions from him. We're not very worried about losing this match because we've seen our opponent play, and trust me when I say that they really, really suck.
So I'm pretty relaxed right now, enjoying the mild air-conditioning and revving myself up for an easy game. My target for the match is ten consecutive three-pointers. And you know what? I have a feeling that it's going to be really easy.
I'm doing some stretching exercises by myself, taking special care not to overwork my left knee, when somebody from the audience starts to yell like a crazy lunatic.
"Mitchan! Go do your best! We're behind you all the way!"
I look up. I don't really see anything at first, just a sea of random faces that I don't recognise. Then, I catch sight of this... orange thing.
Oh, my god. It's a fucking flag. And someone's waving it enthusiastically.
Shit, I should've known. My crazy friends. Norio, Namiki and Takana. They are here, at my basketball match, waving an orange flag that says "Mitchan Rules Forever And Ever!" and hooting and shouting my name, jumping up and down like three over-aged and over-sized teeny-boppers.
Under such circumstances, there's not much one can do... except to acknowledge such insanity, obviously done out of goodwill.
So I raise my right arm to my friends and form a fist.
A mutual salutation, between friends whose friendship means more, so much more, than circumstances.
-end-
***
A/N: Ha! Bet you all thought that I'd forgotten about Mitsui's birthday. But NO. I haven't. How can I forget my soulmate's birthday? It's just humanly impossible.
I didn't post this shit earlier because I couldn't finish it on time. School's been really irritating and a royal waste of time, but there's not much I can do about it so I shan't complain. I know, Namiki and Takana aren't characters in the manga but I don't know what Mitsui's friends are called, apart from Norio. So Namiki is the dude with the glasses and Takana is the other person. Just, like, work with that, okay?
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, DARLING! I LOVE YOU!
-Yelen