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.

Title:  Kanagawa Blues

PART 20: FOOLISH GAMES

           

          Koshino went home absorbing everything Mitsui told him. Maybe he's right. But I don't know what I want. He was confused. He went to bed quite early, he didn't even have dinner. When he woke up, he still had 2 and ½ hours to prepare for practice.

          "Darn, I shouldn't have slept that early." He said to himself but he decided to go to the gym early to help Kirin and the sophomores clean.

He was utterly surprised to see that their gym had only two occupants at the time; Rukawa and Luka.

Luka attends practice 30 minutes before schedule to clean but I don't know about Rukawa. Whatever. I'll just help them. He went to them and asked,

"Want me to give you guys a hand?"

"That'd be fine." Luka said smiling at him, Rukawa, however, didn't seem to be very glad about this. Koshino noticed Rukawa's slight disappointment but he chose to ignore this, after all, he was just trying to help.

Koshino grabbed a mop and started the floor on the other side of the gym while Luka and Rukawa did the other half. They cleaned silently.

Four minutes later, Koshino excused himself to wash his face and he went to the shower room. When he got there he forgot to bring a towel so he went back to collect it. When he got back, he caught Rukawa mopping the floor while staring very intently at Luka who was busy washing his mop. Rukawa didn't seem to notice Koshino there and that he had been mopping the same spot for eight minutes, which was already as shiny as a disco ball.

Koshino didn't know how to react so he coughed to get attention. Rukawa immediately moved his head towards the opposite direction. Koshino grabbed a towel from his bag hastily and went back to the washroom.

10 minutes later, Kirin and Sakuragi arrived. Rukawa's eyes rolled, luckily, only Koshino noticed it.

"We're just in time. Ey, Kosh, why so early again, huh? I know, you want to help Luka cos he arrives early and no one else helps him aside from useless Kitsune who's, well, as I've just mentioned, obsolete." Sakuragi said, his face cracking to an evil smile. Rukawa's eyes rolled. Kirin sweatdropped and said,

"Er, why don't we just start cleaning, ne? The seniors will arrive in no time."

They mopped the floor while Kirin polished the balls. Rukawa, Koshino couldn't stop noticing, was stealing glimpses of Luka every five seconds.

So Mitsui and I are not alone. Hell, Hiroaki, what are you thinking? It's none of your business. Koshino thought.

They finished cleaning before Miyagi arrived. Minutes later, Ayako arrived with Mr. Anzai. Ayako had told him about the practice game and he was very glad about it. He asked the team to listen to him for a while.

"I'm glad that you managed to beat Shoyo without me," his eyes on Miyagi and Mitsui who seemed to be overwhelmed by this. "I hope you'll show the same teamwork in the next season. You all did a great job, I suppose."

They had practice 'til 4. Miyagi had stopped ignoring Ayako. He had been a bit warmer towards Koshino as well, Maybe Ayako had talked to him. He thought.

Everybody left the gym at exactly 4:30 except for Mr. Anzai and Ayako who were talking about offering a practice game to Kainan.

Ron and Mitsui said goodbye to everyone and rode home. Miyagi left with Sakuragi, Kirin and Yasuda. Rukawa was waiting for Luka who was fixing his stuff. 

Koshino biked his way home without thinking of Ayako. When he got home, his brother told him that Sendoh called. His heart almost leaped with this news though he didn't know why. He missed him but he didn't want to admit it.

He dialed Sendoh's number.

"Hello. May I speak with Akira?"

"This is Akira, Hiroaki?"

"Yeah, it's me. Waki said you called, er, what about it?"

"I was just wondering, well, would you go out-I mean-there is this film The Count of Monte Cristo, that's your fave book, right?"

Koshino paused, it's okay if I see it twice he thought but, "Er, I've seen it…but if you wanna watch it I'd be glad to accompany you,"

"Ah, it's okay. What about another movie?"

"Sure. Well, I guess we just check out what's showing when we get there."

"Right. So when?"

"When are you free?"

"I'm not doing anything today, tomorrow I'll have practice."

"I'm not busy at the moment as well."

"Ah…can I see you at 7?"

"Alright, then…well-"

"Yes?"

"Well, I'll see you later, bye."

When Koshino arrived at their meeting place, he realized that Sendoh had been waiting for more than half an hour.

"Sorry I'm late, dad was home and I-"

"That's okay, we're just in time."

They made their way to the cinema. When they got there they couldn't decide what to watch. Truly, Koshino didn't care, he was just happy to be with Sendoh again. Sendoh, on the other hand, was so picky when it comes to movies.

"Why don't we just, er, I know you're not quite fond of it, but let's just check out what's new in the Arcade Center?" Koshino proposed. Sendoh agreed at once, It'd still be a good night he thought.

They decided to play Tekken 4, Koshino challenged Sendoh and thought for sure that it'd be a piece of cake though he didn't usually play the game. So what? I'm an expert in Tekken 3, sure there's not much difference and Akira doesn't usually go here. Koshino thought, he also had a Playstation at home. He chose Paul Phoenix while Sendoh chose Yoshimitsu.

However, he was wrong, Sendoh was good and he seemed to have memorized Yoshimitsu's every special move.

"I didn't know you play this much-I mean-you've never won against me in any fighting game, what happened, been hanging around here lately?" Koshino asked

Sendoh was to answer No, it was because of you, been acting down and lonely lately so mom and dad bought me a PS2. But he just said, "Well, mom said we wouldn't be going out of town this summer and that would be a boring vacation so I asked her to buy me a PS2."

"Really? Wow, I was begging dad to buy me one but Waki insisted that we should just buy an Xbox or a Gamecube, he said they're more advance."

"Wanna come over at my house this Friday? We'll have no practice, coach said we should have a break."

"Coach Taoka giving breaks? I mean, that'd be great but we'll have practice 'til 4 so…"

"You can come over anytime, you know." Sendoh said, Koshino couldn't help smiling.

At 10:30, they said goodbye to each other. Koshino made his way home, his heart couldn't help but leap. He wasn't sure if he liked what he was feeling.

Tomorrow came and again, Koshino reached Shohoku 30 minutes before the time. This time the gym had three occupants: Mitsui, Luka and Rukawa. Koshino greeted them and he called out to Mitsui.

"Mitsui-san, why so early?"

"Nothing, just woke up early." He said as he went over to Koshino, "care for a walk?"

"That'd be fine." They left Luka and Rukawa to clean and went to the school grounds. Mitsui spoke,

"You see, I've just met with Kimi-chan an hour ago and he left earlier than expected so I just thought I'd better go here…" Mitsui started

"I see…hey, have you noticed something about Rukawa lately? Something out of ordinary?" Koshino asked

"Yes, he's been, well, compared to how he was last season, he's been being friendly to other people. I mean, it's about time, hell, he never talked to anyone before if it wasn't about basketball but now, I'm just glad about it."

"Is that so? You mean to say he's not really friendly? I mean, perhaps he's popular and he probably has loads of friends and fans."

"Fans, yes but friends, well, you can say Luka's his closest friend, he has never been close that to anyone before. True, he's very popular around here and he drives girls crazy for whatever reason, I mean, he sleeps in class and he's kinda slow and snob, I dunno, he's really strange. Why, is he your type-I mean- what brings you this interest?"

"No. I thought he was supposed to be like Sendoh, I mean, an outstanding player and every schoolgirl's dreamboat and popular and friendly and everyone's favorite and teachers' pet and all."

"Well, he doesn't care about anything except for basketball. He probably wouldn't look if a stray chick crossed his path. He doesn't even bother making friends with his classmates. But he managed to improve his grades for the sake of playing to the nationals."

"I see, well, do you think he's, er, you know, gay like…?" Koshino finally asked. Mitsui stopped his pace and looked at him, slightly surprised.

"What made you think that?" Mitsui asked, still looking perplexed.

"Well, I was here yesterday quite early too and I, er, I wasn't spying I just observed that he had this certain interest on Luka. You know, staring at him every time out of everyone's notice, just like, well, me when I first got along with, er, you know, that." Koshino said, his face was as red as Sakuragi's hair. Mitsui, however, didn't seem to be listening, he was grinning evilly and his mind was obviously wondering off somewhere. So Koshino spoke again, "So, er, what do you think?" trying to snap Mitsui out of what he was thinking.

"We'll see about that-I mean-Luka's quite an adorable guy, you know good-looking, pleasant, cool and an excellent ball player. That's not as impossible as it may seem." Mitsui answered beaming handsomely, he couldn't hide his glee.

"Well, I'm just curious…I never thought of it at first, just like what I expected from Sendoh…but Mitsui-san, you're not gonna confront him, are you? It was just my view." Koshino asked Mitsui knowing the nosy git that he was.

"We'll learn the truth sooner than we expect. I'm not gonna squeeze anything from him or something, I'm thinking of something better…" Mitsui said still grinning.

"But what if I'm wrong? What if he just wants to have someone as a friend? Someone to talk to?" Koshino asked

"I know when a person's gay-I mean-trying wouldn't hurt anyone. Besides, if he really is, I can have a good job helping him make his move."

"Mitsui-san, this is getting too far, you're already making plans about something we're not sure of."

"Relax, Kosh. I'm a Tensai-I mean- I'm not gonna get you in trouble. Why don't we just head back to the gym, I think we had enough talk-I mean-walk"

They went back to the gym and had their practice. Koshino was relieved to see Miyagi acting the usual way again, Ayako seemed to have cheered him up very well.

TBC

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