Disclaimer: We do not own the SD boys but we sure as hell want to own Akira

Sendoh drool We also do not own the songs featured in this fic. The other characters are from One on One, a basketball game on PS based from Takehiko Inoue's character designs.

Reviews onegai!

Title:  Kanagawa Blues

PART 13: BLAZE OF GLORY

Monday. Koshino woke up looking as though the world has fallen upon his chest. He didn't feel like having a practice but he had to. He had to confront Ayako; he had to hear the words straight from her lips, from her heart. Who does she like better?

          The practice started with a game between the seniors and the lower year. This made Koshino feel a bit better for he didn't have to guard Miyagi, and make a fool of himself again. But he knew he had to catch up with Miyagi, he couldn't take the idea of competing out of his mind. It was absurd, and he knew it. After the game he heard Ayako praise Miyagi.

          I've got to be better. This is stupid, he's one of the top players in the prefecture, and probably the best point guard since Maki and Fujima already graduated. How can I be a match to him? I bet he'll just look at me as though I'm a sea slug if I challenge him to a one on one…but I have to impress her, if that's the last thing I could do, I would. After this practice, I'll ask her.

          And so the tiring practice ended at 4 in the afternoon. Everybody seemed to be exhausted except for Sakuragi who was, well, mocking Rukawa who had just missed his team's winning shot.

          "If he hadn't missed so many shots we wouldn't have lost that bad. hahaha"

Although Rukawa just missed 3. Everyone didn't feel like leaving the gym yet, even Koshino. He knew they had to rest and wash themselves. Until all of them were fresh and ready to depart. Kirin and Sakuragi left after Yasu and the other three seniors. Luka and Rukawa walked home together talking about, well, basketball for it was the only thing Rukawa was keen at. Ron and Mitsui, however, were in the corner as Koshino went to them.

          "Well, aren't you two going home yet?" He asked looking at them curiously noticing their red faces and the cans they were holding.

 So they drink alcohol inside the gym. He thought.

          "Why wanna, hic, walk with us? hic…"  said Ron pretending to have hiccups. Koshino didn't answer, he didn't know how to react.  But just then Ayako emerged from the locker room.

          "Oh, I know, we'll leave you here, shall we?" said Mitsui who was pretending to be dizzy. "Sure you don't wanna walk with us, do you?"

          "Er, right," stammered Koshino. And the two zigzagged their way to the door.

They left their cans as Koshino decided to check these out. To his dismay, they were drinking coke. What were they doing? But they were so red they can't just pretend to blush like that. So he smelled the cans, which turned out to be, well, coke. So he went to the washroom to throw the cans. Inside, he noticed that a fog of steam was covering the whole area, it was hard to see inside so he left the door open to let it out. After throwing the cans, the way was clear enough to see through, just then he noticed that the heater was in maximum, somebody must have forgotten to- hey wait a minute, they locked themselves in to be steamed lobsters! They weren't drinking, they left when they saw Ayako and me, THEY WERE SPYING ON ME! HELL I'll be in deep shit with Miyagi… but they swore they wouldn't tell, oh whatever, maybe they'd keep their word.

          On the other hand, Miyagi was walking home when he noticed he left his dirty shirt in the locker. Guess I'll go back, mom's gonna kill me, it's been there for three weeks. He thought. He went back to the gym.

          When Koshino walked out of the locker, he found Ayako writing on her tablet. He approached her; his knees were soft as jelly.

          "Er, hi, I hope I'm not disturbing you."

          "Oh, hi Hiroaki. What are you doing here when everyone has left?"

          "Well, I just cleaned the washroom, you see Ron and Mitsui left the heater on and I, er, I had to clear the place. Want me to give you a hand with that?" he pointed at Ayako's tablet.

          "Oh, ah no it's ok. I usually do this, well, in case you don't want to be late for dinner, say, you should go home now. I'll be fine here," she said kindly, smiling at him.

          "Well actually, I'm, er, I was wondering if I can, er have a word with you again, but if you think I'm asking too much, well, you can forget about it and get on with that and I'll wait till you finish. I hope it's okay." He couldn't believe what he had just said. But what's next? He thought.

          "Okay, I'll just take a minute here."

When Ayako had finished, Koshino turned to her and asked, "I, er, I know this is quite personal and this is not the right time and place but…" he paused.

          "But what?" Ayako said looking puzzled but beginning to blush.

          "…you see, it hurts me so to see you, er, you know, facing our captain and everything and…I know I don't have the right but I've already told you and I also know that, uh, that he likes you so much probably as much as I do and that you've known each other for long so it has been bothering me for days, weeks I can't remember. Perhaps I have no chance and I don't know what I'll do if you turn me down, Miyagi is far above me and everything, he was the first to, well, like you. I'm sorry I just don't know what I'll do if…but…for all I know well… I love you." He said the last words with conviction and before he could say anything more, Ayako held his hand with both of hers.

The wind was cold. Koshino felt as though he was a king and his kingdom was heaven. He wasn't dreaming, it was real. The leaves were trembling. And before he absorbed everything he gained at the moment, he leaned closer and touched her face with his free hand. He was in heaven indeed. He looked at her, she closed her eyes. The night was dark. He leaned even closer and so did she. The moon was pale. Before their lips touched, the door behind them swung open to see the horror on Ryota Miyagi's face.

He stood frozen which seemed to last for hours, his lips trembling, face pale as the moon, eyes dark as the night, stare cold as the wind outside, his fists clenched. Koshino looked away and so did she, letting go of his hand, no one spoke a word until…

          "Sorry to disturb you…" throat to tight to speak, Miyagi made his way straight to the locker room to gather his filthy shirt and left without another word. Pain was in his eyes, agony in his heart. A storm was about to burst and a lightning was about to strike after a tornado had left the place or so it seemed.

TBC