PART 8: Selling the Drama
So lonesome Koshino went home, humming to himself, " And to love a God, and to fear the flame, and to burn a love that has a name…" It was a lonely song of a broken heart. He stretched himself on the sofa and slept the whole night. It was already 10 in the morning when his mom shook him awake.
"We will be leaving you and your brother for a while. I've got to get my job interview, ok? Be a good boy and if there's anything you need call me alright?"
"Ok, bye mom."
They had no practice that day so he decided he should go downtown and play ball. But then he realized that he couldn't keep the court by himself, a tall, redhead someone got there first. Hanamichi Sakuragi was waving at him.
"Ei, life gets boring at home? One on one?"
"Er, sure you wanna do this?"
"Yeah, scared?" said Hanamichi but he noticed that his teammate was looking down and weary so he continued,
"Oh, I know. You're depressed because Ryota made a shit out of you, I mean, she was impressed by him."
"Sakuragi, d'you think she likes him?"
"I don't know, I mean Ayako's secretive…" a black top-down two-seater car pulled over bearing two tall guys. One with a long hair stepped out of the driver's seat and the other from the passenger's seat. Sakuragi didn't seem notice them so he continued, "You see, if she likes you too, you'll probably notice it by the way she treats you. And she probably knows by now that you like her and I understand, you see, Ayako's the type of girl who-"
Koshino was trying to tell him to shut up but it was too late, the two guys, none other than Ron and Mitsui seemed to have heard everything. They went to them. Finally, Sakuragi became aware of their presence and stuttered,
"Hiya guys, we were just talkin about-"
"Ayako." The two said together.
Koshino covered his face with both hands in despair. Ron tapped his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, we're not gonna tell anyone and we can help, boy aren't we good at this, Hisashi?"
"Right you are, cousin."
Sakuragi looked at them dubiously and said, "You know nothing about girls."
"These two handsome lads don't know anything about girls?" Mitsui said referring to himself and Ron, who said, "We know they don't usually like sports and-"
"But Ayako does," said a voice from behind and they all froze except Sakuragi who said,
"Yeah and she's crazy about basketball and…" he paused and turned around, recognizing the voice. "Ah Kirin-chan, you're late! You almost missed the tensai's lessons."
Kirin smiled sheepishly and asked.
"So what about Ayako-sempai?"
"Nothing, nothing in particular…" Koshino denied fervently but Sakuragi didn't get the message.
"We were just talking about how well Kosh here likes Ayako, hehehehe!" Before Sakuragi could blurt out any more SECRETS, Ron covered his mouth since he was the only one who can take on Sakuragi, size-wise.
"Mmph… mmmph…" he struggled to get out of Ron's strong grasp but was unsuccessful.
"Why don't we just have a game?" Mitsui asked but Kirin was not too eager to let go of the subject. He turned to Koshino.
"So you like Ayako-sempai…" it was more of a statement than a question and Koshino nodded and then asked irritably.
"OK, you all know so can we just get on with it?"
"Yeah, thanks to genius here!" Mitsui was referring to Sakuragi who had just out-wrestled the larger Ron and was laughing stupidly.
"Sorry, Kosh, I didn't mean to let everything slip, but Kirin-chan, you're not gonna tell, would you?" Sakuragi asked.
"Of course I won't." he answered and Hanamichi ruffled his tan hair.
"That's settled," Mitsui declared, "I'll be the referee then." The game started. Koshino and Ron were paired up and Kirin and Sakuragi were paired up, due to Sakuragi's insistent demands. He really liked the freshman especially his appearance.
They all played impressively but in the end only one shall prevail.
The game finished and Koshino and Ron won by three points. Sakuragi was grumbling about Mitsui being a lousy coach.
Monday at the Shohoku gym…
Rukawa, Kirin and Luka arrived earlier than usual and they were all mopping the gym floors. Kirin was bothered by the silence and he tried to start a conversation with Luka because he looked more approachable than Rukawa who was half-asleep while mopping.
"So… uhm… Luka-sempai," Kirin began, "Why'd you transfer to Shohoku?"
"We moved from Hokkaido to Kanagawa this year," he answered.
"Sou da ne," he was thinking of another question. "So how do you like it here so far?" he sucked at making conversations.
"It's okay I guess," he said and flashed him an angelic smile. "Besides, I like the weather here better. It's really cold up in Hokkaido."
"Oh…" he really sucked at nosing around people's lives but he continued. "How about Shohoku, do you like it so far?"
"I like the people so far," this earned him a sleepy look from Rukawa who was overhearing their chat. "Teammates play great and they make you feel so welcome. The coach is kind and very motivating and the manager looks nice." Luka blushed slightly. Kirin's eyes widened in surprise and before he knew it, he was saying things he shouldn't have. (He's been hanging around with Sakuragi too much.)
"Oh… Ayako-sempai. Yeah, she's pretty and nice but Captain Miyagi likes her too and so does Koshino-sempai. He's crazy about her you know…"
It was Luka's turn to be surprised and he smiled shyly and when Kirin noticed his reaction, his hand flew to his mouth. Rukawa suddenly turned to them and was looking at Kirin with his eyebrows raised.
"Uh-oh…" Kirin looked at his two teammates worriedly, "You wouldn't tell, would you?" The two nodded and went back to mopping with Kirin looking flushed.
TBC
A/N: Reviews please or we'll upload the chapter next week! evil grin Also, FYI, as we're working with our sister, Akin Sijin, you might want to check out her SD story which we've currently collaborated. It's a Ru-Hana shounen-ai attempt with all the sugar coatings of the world. ^_^ Have you noticed anything odd about the titles of the chapters?