Disclaimer: Blah…blah… blah, you know what I'm disclaiming anyway. Lol!
Please bear with the swearing. ;;
Chapter 1
"Another day in…hell. Yeah."
The next day, everyone did the same old things, just like Mitsui attending classes, not listening to his prof and getting scolded again.
Until the dismissal bell rang that afternoon. It was, like always, a very long day for him, but there was nothing like hearing the bell ring, indicating the end of class hours.
"Yehes… saved by the friggin bell." He thought and after a few minutes, students from his class evaporated like air into wherever their destination was. Some went to their respective clubs, some went to the karaoke bars, pachinko parlors, library (to the nerds) wherever, while he was left there in his seat, refusing to stand up and dress for another training day in basketball.
But nevertheless, he did, and prepared to go to the gym, with his usual training wardrobe.
"Yo Mitsui! Practice for basketball again huh? Good luck in the inter-high."
"Thanks dude…" he said to an unknown person who came across his way in the hallway.
Inter-high. Yeah. Our dream, Mitsui thought while making his way to the gym. It's the dream that we've shared. But… is basketball all that there is? His life was getting really boring. What with the orange ball being thrown up to the air, falling perfectly in the hoop, falling back and bouncing again, running a few 18 feet across, sweating, and doing the same thing all over again until 20 minutes are done?
After a few moments of daydreaming, Mitsui arrived in the gymnasium and there he saw the benchwarmers of the team with…
The Shohoku High Women's Volleyball team.
He stood for a while at the entrance of the gym, observing the girls in pack while arguing with some of the guys. From Mitsui's perspective, it was like a gang war being held in the gym, except for the other gang being a set of girls.
"Whoa… what the hell is this?"
Sexy, tall ladies with super short cycling shorts stood at the center of the gym.
Girls, he thought. "But these amazons aren't my type of girls…"
They were discussing some things with the basketball team and Mitsui decided to interrupt the commotion.
He went nearer.
"What's happening here?" he said, feeling like some security person, in time to stop whatever's going on.
"Mitsui, the volleyball team was here when we arrived. They said that they wanted to use the gym for their training today." Yasuda, one of the substitutes said, feeling like the world has eaten him whole.
Mitsui went in front of the guys, and confronted the volleyball players.
"Okay. What on earth made you girls come barging inside our gym at this crucial moment in time?" he said, feeling his ego surge high above.
Then one of the girls stepped forward and lifted her chin, together with her left brow.
"For your information, this is not your gym." She said while locking her gray eyes in Mitsui's. "This is everyone's gym, and we demand our share of it." She said every word clearly with an unexplainable smile on her face. Mitsui couldn't tell if that smile was the kind that intimidates, if it was nasty or just plain irritating.
For the first time in his life, Mitsui was surprised to see a girl come up to him in full force. He thought she was a very pretty girl but with a nasty attitude so he decided to fight back.
"Well, if you're too blind to notice, this gym has been used by the basketball team for three years since I've been here, from 2 in the afternoon until 6 in the evening. And, for your better information, no club has ever complained about the usage of this gym." He exclaimed, feeling victory around his shoulders.
"Yes because those clubs didn't need an indoor gym like we do. We've been wondering why ever since, the volleyball team was shoved out doors to practice. You greedy assholes get to breathe fresh air, jog on squeaky-clean floors and use clean shower rooms while we were always left outside under the terrible heat of the sun, the cemented grounds, and every time we fall on our knees without kneepads, we end up with a scrape." The girl said, with an even bitchier tone, but still with that weird smile.
"Well it's not my problem that you're so dumb to fall on your knees anyway so why bitch about it right here?"
"What? Are you so thick-headed to see my point? We demand our share of the gym because this school is so rotten that it can only afford one multi-purpose hall for the entire department. And because we figured that you guys don't own the gym, we are here to use it for a turn." She said, with a really high tone in her voice, which sounded like some lady's voice in a market place selling fish.
The people inside were listening attentively, waiting for what Mitsui has to say next.
He rolled his eyes, and looked at the girl again.
"May I ask… What crashed into your head and thought about messing our training day, that has been peaceful for the last how many years?"
The girl pointed to the windows, and showed him the droplets of water falling from the sky.
"It's raining, you see." She said flatly, smiling but with her brow lifted.
"Oh. And so? It's not my problem." Mitsui grinned and turned around, "Alright I think it's settled. Boys let's start our training." He acted as if the girls weren't there.
The girl went silent, but still keeping the unpredictable look on her face, until she decided to take things personally.
"Are you some kind of a gay person?" she asked with a very loud voice, making Mitsui jerk and face the girl once more.
"What did you just say?"
"I didn't make a statement. I asked if you're a faggot coz you act like a total bitch in front of me." She smiled, and that smile made Mitsui's blood boil.
"Oh. Let me guess, you feel really defeated and you thought twisting my gender personality would make you win over. Is that it?"
"Oh no honey. It's just that we, girls, were expecting a much more generous guy who would be much more of a gentleman and give way to the ladies." she stood there with her arms on her waists. "We will not leave until you give us a share of the gym."
What is with this girl? Mitsui thought she was getting a little bit too far.
"Let me ask… what's your name and what year are you in cause as far as I can remember, I've never seen you around here before."
"Kei Sanada, First year section C."
Mitsui was bummed. A first year student? Calling him a faggot, a jerk and calling the entire team assholes? What the fuck, he thought.
He chuckled. "… So, a first year bitch like you had all the guts to stand up to us, especially to me, a senior, and act as if you ruled the world. You don't know who you're messing with." His voice was now in serious mode.
"Oh you think I'm dumb? Of course I do. You're that gang person who picked up a fight with these people and now you're a part of them and yeah, don't think I don't know anything about that fake frontal tooth of yours." Kei laughed, and so did the other people in the gym, including the basketball players.
Mitsui's face turned red… with anger. "Why you little creep."
"Why isn't it true? And besides, I don't really give a shit whether you're a senior, or whatever. We're not fighting over age gaps, we're fighting over the gym." she was laughing hard until the chaotic sound of Sakuragi filled the hall.
"Yo! What's happening in here?" He came barging all the way, and noticed the girls. "Whoa… what are these girls doing here? You ladies came to cheer for me?" he laughed that same old laugh whenever he felt like the king of the world, calling himself the genius. The girls exchanged whispers to one another, like, that's Sakuragi Hanamichi, the ever notorious player, etcetera…
"Sakuragi!"
The self-proclaimed genius, stopped to see who called him.
He saw the girl who called his name, who was at the center of the fight, wearing a high ponytail with gray eyes. "Whoa! Kei!" He walked near her. "What are you doing here! Haha!"
"You monkey! I'm here to cause a big fight!"
"What!"
"No I'm just kidding, I'm a volleyball player you see!" Kei laughed, looking a lot like Sakuragi himself.
"A volleyball player? Whoa that's cool!"
"Of course it is! I'm the rookie of our team you see!"
"Oh yeah? Well I'm the rookie of our team too!"
"What? Hey that's really cool! Haha!"
"Hahahaha!"
The rest of the people in the gym sweat dropped, wondering if there ever was a verbal fight a few minutes ago. Mitsui was forgotten, and all of them found Kei as someone with a split personality.
He was observing the two wackos, laughing over weird things like those two people in
'Dude, Where's My Car'. He felt his mouth open a little, hearing really weird conversations that only the two of them could understand.
"This is like, the strangest day of my life. Just a few moments ago, that girl was acting like a huge bitch with an unpredictable but annoying smile, but now, she's acting like Sakuragi himself!"
Mitsui interrupted the both of them, while some other players like Miyagi and Rukawa suddenly entered the gym. "um… so like, are finished with this?" he asked, feeling like some dirt in front of the two.
"Hey Mitchy, this is Kei, my classmate. She's reeeaaallly funny, and you should hear her story about the time she actually shitted in front of the whole class when she was in Junior High." Sakuragi laughed, and Kei laughed harder.
"That is even stranger…"
Kei looked at Sakuragi. "Yeah dude, I know him. In fact, I was just arguing with him a few minutes ago."
"Kei's a newcomer. She just enrolled this second semester." Sakuragi said.
Everything was clear now.
"Oh…." Mitsui began, saying the longest 'oh' ever in his entire life. "I see. You're a fucking newcomer. So that's why you lead the whole volleyball troupe into war with us because you actually don't know what's been going on." He said his realizations out loud and Kei blinked twice, as if his words didn't sink in her head.
She averted her attention from Sakuragi and prepared to continue the argument with the scar-faced boy. "Yes I am a newcomer. And because I am, I decided to put things the right way, unlike what it has been before I came here." She said, while Sakuragi was left standing, not knowing what's happening, in fact, not knowing why the volleyball team was actually there.
Mitsui was about to make another reply, when Akagi, the ever-powerful captain suddenly appeared like some sort of fairy that comes out of a puff of white smoke. "What the hell is going on here?" he asked, looking down on Kei.
She looked up at the 6 foot tall man, who was a prospect for the gigantism disorder, and felt a large shadow overcome her perspective. She tilted her head upwards and at the side of the gorilla-like guy stood a bi-spectacled brunette.
Her initial action to what she saw was the gulping, indicating a sort of nervous feeling, and she was, a bit scared to see a dark man tower over her, asking her a question with a voice that belonged to a giant.
Akagi asked the question for the second time with a serious face. "What the hell is going on here? Why are you girls in the court?"
Mitsui, at the side, felt a little avenged. "Good for you, you sick bitch. Let's see you handle our captain ball and not end up crying like a loser." He laughed in his head, waiting for what's to happen next.
Then Kei straightened up her posture, lifted her chin really high, and breathed heavily.
"Captain Akagi, the volleyball team requests for the usage of this multi-purpose gymnasium as of the moment." She gave emphasis on the word 'multi-purpose'. "Our out-door ground is obviously, soaked because of the unexpected change in weather, and we could not find ourselves a place to train. This gym, I believe, is not entirely for basketball alone. We know that your team has made it to the inter-high tournament, and you need longer practice hours unlike any other clubs, but so do we, because we have also made it to the inter-high." She stopped for air, while the whole gym lent her their ears.
"The volleyball team made it to the inter-high?" Mitsui thought, while listening.
Then Kei continued. "Because of this, we would like to ask you, as captain ball of the team, to grant the volleyball team the permission to use the court, within two hours of your training time." She said the words loud and clear.
Akagi thought for a while. "Two hours?"
"Yes two hours. We know you train four hours everyday, and so do we. Can we at least, half the practice hours during rainy days, so that everything would be fair for both teams?"
He stared at the Kei for a while. She's got a point, Akagi thought. "Who's the captain of your team?"
"She's not yet here."
Then after a few seconds of deep thought, Akagi finally agreed. "Okay. You'll have two hours of the training time in the court, only during rainy days. The tournament will be next month, we've got a little time left, but, I guess three hours wouldn't hurt."
A huge smile formed on Kei's face, feeling the taste of victory. She did the bowing gesture to show respect, and thanked Akagi for his generosity.
Mitsui's eye brows met, and his mouth was half-opened.
"What! What the hell is this?" he pointed to Kei, "You did not propose, nor say anything about that three-hour-training-shit of yours. Why didn't you tell me that?" he was furious, and humiliated at the same time.
Kei faced him with her grey eyes, her long ponytail swinging with her movement. "Oh forget you. What matters now is that you've wasted ten minutes of our training time because of that loud mouth of yours. You should've just agreed in the first place, but, I guess everything's really settled now." She said and stuck out her tongue at Mitsui, making his temple pop.
"Okay girls let's start the warm up, while waiting for our captain."
The basketball team waited for their turn at the sides of the gym while doing their basic drills. The starting members of Shohoku were a little bit itching to play on the court but Akagi decided that during rainy days when the volleyball team would mess them up, he would make the boys do the basic training things, which they fail to do these days. They patiently waited for their turn.
The girls, on the other hand, were really pleased with the ass-kicking that Kei did. They all told her that she was really brave to have pushed around the basketball team, and let her have her way. They jogged around the gym, while some of them turned their heads every three steps to look at Rukawa at the side with a few giggles. He was indeed, irresistible to the ladies, except for Kei who didn't really give a shit about boys.
That afternoon, after which seemed to Mitsui, an entire year, he sat at the corner of the gym while waiting for their turn to use the court.
He was in deep, deep thought.
"I swear to God- that was like the strangest ten minutes of my life. And that girl would shift her personality from bitchy, to arrogant, to dumb and senseless, and to serious in a matter of minutes! She sounded like a moron when she talked with Sakuragi but when she opened her mouth to speak with Akagi, she was like some kind of a lawyer or chief executive in a business, or a speaker, or anything related to thorough brain thinking. She delivered her bull speech in a complicated but intellectual way, which was probably why Akagi easily gave in. Man was I humiliated…
What the hell is wrong with me? Am I really getting insane that I drive the people around me to insanity too? Like that girl Kei? Shit man…"
When suddenly…
boink
A loud hitting sound was heard in the gym, as if a cannonball was fired and crashed into a soft surface.
"Whoa! Kei! You're spike hit this guy's face!"
"Oh no. Get over here and say sorry. Hurry!"
Mitsui felt his world twist and turn before his half-opened eyes. He lay on the floor with his hands and feet widely spread. At the slight opening of his eyes, he could see people surrounding him.
"Mitsui? Mitsui?"
"Hey dude, I'm sorry, I didn't do that on purpose."
"Yo, wake up man."
Crap.
A/N: Sorry if it was a bit too long, and I think there's too much dialogue, and less point here. . But it's still the first chapter anyway! And I know Akagi doesn't really do those things when it comes to practices, but hey, I need to fix up the mess there. Lol! Please review, thanks in advance.