Title: Practice

Author: Gum

Chapter 1

Date Written: 6/11/03

I LOVE the character Shinji Mimura from Battle Royale. I thought it would only be fair if I made a fic on him like I did for Shougo Kawada. This fic is also based on the novel, and its about, of course Shinji, there is this big basketball game coming up that Shinji has to practice hard for. With all the distractions going on in his life will he acheive the determination to pull this game off? R&R please, no flames, constructive critisism accepted ^_^

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The ball bounced making a fine rhythmic sound. A red jersey with the number seven imprinted on the back jumped up, and then threw in a shot. It was a hook shot, a rather hard method of throwing the ball in, but the player was directly underneath the hoop so he had no choice. The ball hit the backboard, and then rotated on the metal rim, once then twice. It would have made it in, but instead rolled off to the side. Number seven was just about to grab the ball, but then number three ran by, caught the ball in mid-air and landed a dunk. He stumbled a little after his harsh landing.

Shuya looked a little disappointed by Shinji's 3rd win.

"That was good curve, don't beat yourself over it Nanahara." Shinji grinned and patted Shuya over the back, wiping his soaked forehead with the interior of a red beanie. Shuya, had his hands on his knees and was panting loudly, he shook his head a little and let out a chuckle.

Shinji laughed, and rested his palm on his waist. "Wanna try another game?" he smirked and thumbed his nose.

"Shit… Hell no man… It's no use after 3 games." Shuya stood up straight and reached for his water bottle, he flipped open the cap and poured the cool liquid over his face.

Shinji folded his arms,"Nah... There's better guys than me out there."

"Whatever," Shuya walked past Shinji towards the door, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright." Shinji glanced around for a few seconds, then stepped towards the bleachers and picked up his gym bag.

He unzipped it and took off his jersey, leaving him half naked in a sense. Shinji's body was fairly toned; he was a star athlete after all. Shinji rummaged through the bag until he found a deep blue t-shirt and pulled it out. He was about to pull it on, but then stopped, and smelled it.

'…Clean' Shinji shrugged and pulled the shirt over his head. As he zipped the bag closed, he ran his hand through his slightly bleached hair; most of the gel ran out so it was unusually poofy. So Shinji decided to keep on his beanie, at least until he reached his house.

As Shinji exited the gym, he felt a rush of water pouring on his back. "Ah Shit." He muttered, it was raining rather hard, and he had nothing but a t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts on. "Should have brought that Hoodie..." Shinji paced quickly down the sidewalk, his house was just a few blocks away.

The traffic on the streets was incredible, there were cars sounding their horns, as some people would stick their heads out of the drivers window. Probably yelling some offensive phrase to the driver ahead of them. Police sirens would go off from time to time, some of the children played in the flooded parts of the streets. Their mothers yelling at them to come back inside from a distance.

Shinji finally stopped at a cream and brown colored house at the end of the block. He stepped onto a few stones, which eventually leaded to the door. It was unlocked as usual, so he slid it open and took off his shoes before he came in, no one seemed to be home. The lights flipped on as Shinji stepped into the kitchen. He opened up a refrigerator door, and looked inside to see if there was any food of interest. A can of Grass Jelly Drink sat on the far left of a tray, it used to be accompanied by four other cans, but all were drank in a matter of three days. Hey, what could he say? It was his favorite. Shinji reached in and pulled it out, pulled the metal tab and took a chug of the mildly sweetened liquid.

Shinji closed the door with his heel, and turned towards the counter. He set down the can on the counter and looked through the mail. Junk, junk, more Junk. All of the letters seemed to be just subscriptions for useless credit cards.

Shinji exhaled and picked the can back up, the gym bag still in the other hand, and headed down the corridor where his room was located. He turned the handle of a metal knob and stepped inside, his lungs became immediately filled with the smell of machinery and electronics. Shinji probably had 3 computers lying around in his room, along with wires and cables. A small worktable covered with assorted electronic chips stood near the window, Shinji loved to take things apart, just to see how they functioned.

He threw his gym bag on the floor and put the drink on his worktable, Shinji pulled off his beanie, and other accessories that he had in his pocket, including his pocketknife.

Shinji undressed and turned a glass knob inside the bathtub. He made sure the water was hot enough so that his body could stand it and slowly stepped in as the shower ran. Shinji sighed as the hot water relaxed his tensed muscles. It was a long day; he had almost flunked English, yet managed to make it through with a D minus. Also there was a big game coming up, which he had to practice hard for.

A small echo of the front door being opened ran faintly through his ears. It got louder, to the point where he could hear the sound of a pan hitting the floor.

Shinji reached out a hand from behind the shower curtain and grabbed a dry towel. He wrapped the towel around his waist, still dripping wet, and peeked his head through the bathroom door.

"...Hello?"

Shinji turned quickly in time to see a shadow run past the corridor. He kept himself calm and dashed silently and quickly to his room, he snuck in and shut the door. He pulled on a pair of boxers and rummaged around the floor in time to find his pocket knife. Shinji's hair was still dripping wet, but he didn't have much time to dry it.

Shinji pressed himself on the cold wall and moved along towards the kitchen were he heard the noise. There were more clanging sounds, and they turned into footsteps.

He moved towards the kitchen table with his pocketknife still in hand, his heartbeat moving faster. What occurred next almost gave him a heart attack, an object-no, a hand grabbed his ankle. Shinji gave out a yell and flipped on the lights once he realized who it was.

"Ikumi! Damnit! What the hell do you think your doing!?!"

The face of his little sister peeked out from behind the table cloth; she stared up at him with almond eyes, and giggled loudly.

"Aha! You should have seen your face!"

Shinji scratched the area behind the top of his ear, "Don't ever do that again! You know I had a weapon with me! You could have been hurt!"

Ikumi ignored this comment and crawled out from under the table, "My big brother could never hurt me, and hey did you make anything to eat?"

"No... You'll have to wait till Okaasan gets home."

Ikumi sat down on the floor on her butt and pouted a little, "You forgot to pick me up from school. I had to walk in the rain."

Shinji walked slowly back to his room and flipped the pocketknife back in its place. "I had to practice for the Basketball game with Shuya."

Ikumi's face lightened up at this comment,"Shuya Nanahara? Why didn't you invite him over!?"

Shinji was now in his room, he rolled his eyes and grabbed his towel, drying his soaked hair with it. His little sister had a big crush on Shuya, hell; almost all of the girls in the neighborhood had a thing for that guy. If Shuya hadn't have such a good heart he probably would be more of a playboy then Shinji was.

Shinji threw himself onto the sheetless mattress--or so called 'Bed' in the middle of his room. He layed down on his back and looked up at the ceiling, Shinji still had some homework to do, but he didn't feel like doing it. He had too much on his mind, mostly the upcoming game. His eyes started feeling heavy, before Shinji knew it, he was fast asleep.