Reliability
By: Aviantei
6—Within Proximity III
Even covered in clouds, the sky seems so opaque
Megumi's second practice with the Rakuzan Basketball Club went much the same as her first, minus the requirement of a group introduction. She had also brought a change of clothes, which she found herself grateful for. The temperature was steadily creeping upwards, and the activity of several athletic boys working up a sweat only made the gymnasium hotter. Even though Megumi was only running around sports bottles and towels, perspiration still trickled from her hairline straight down her back.
Midway to the empty girls' locker room to change after cleanup, Higuchi stopped her. While not as out of breath as Megumi, sweat glistened across his brow in the fluorescent lights. He lifted up a large, pale blue binder, and Megumi instinctively held out her hands to receive it. Several centimeters thick and nearly full, Megumi almost doubled over from its weight.
The front cover held a piece of paper, the characters in plain black font:
Rakuzan Boys' Basketball Club
Member Roster and Data
I knew there was a lot of them, but I didn't think… Not all of the team practiced in the same gym, and Megumi had had difficulty speaking during her introduction, let alone getting an accurate grasp of the crowd in front of her. Based on the size of the binder alone, it wouldn't be out of line to estimate at least one-hundred members in the club.
I actually introduced myself to that many people? Megumi couldn't tell whether to be dizzy or elated.
"I should have given this to you last time, but I didn't have time to make the copies," Higuchi said, dragging Megumi's attention back into focus. Had he really paid to make this massive booklet by himself? "You're still just beginner, but a manager is much more than a water boy. Yes, it's important, but you need to be able to do absolutely everything you can for your team." He pointed to the volume in Megumi's hands. "It starts with that."
Megumi tightened her grip on the binder, her sweaty palms slipping against the plastic covering. "Alright. What do you need me to do with this?"
"Memorize it."
Wh-what already?
"You can start with the first and second string members." Megumi tried not to make her relief too obvious. "But if you're serious about staying a part of this club for the long run, you are going to have to learn all the members," Higuchi said as if it was only natural. Megumi couldn't really argue with it. And then, without prompting: I agree with Akashi."
"I'm sorry, Senpai?"
Higuchi grimaced a little, actually avoiding eye contact for a moment. As someone who often said things that they regretted, Megumi knew exactly what he was feeling. "Listen, I'm not saying this to be rude." Megumi clutched the member register to her chest in defense. "But at this point you're like a probationary member. Akashi understands you're kind of a special case, but he expects the best. We all do. We haven't won the Winter Cup three straight years in a row through special circumstances."
Megumi's tongue suctioned to the roof of her bone dry mouth and refused to move.
"You need to earn your keep, that's all I'm saying. At the very, very least you need to be able to recognize all out members on sight, and you should be able to consider their strengths and weaknesses with reference and research. You also need to be able to deal with comparative data from other teams alongside scouting our opponents. Eventually, you might be the one sitting on the bench by yourself. If getting to that point is what you want, I suggest you start now."
It seemed Megumi couldn't escape lectures lately: first from Yamada-sensei, now Higuchi-senpai. Every time she took a step forward, something else appeared in her way to complicate things. These were the sort of events that discouraged Megumi before, kept her from ever thinking of trying. But here, at this place, in this gymnasium, she knew it wasn't the same as before.
"Higuchi-senpai, I think you're misunderstanding something."
With an even gaze, Higuchi allowed her to speak.
"I already understand that I haven't just been given a free pass. In fact, this situation isn't entirely one of my choosing." Without Yamada-sensei's push, Megumi wouldn't have gotten to this point in her first trimester of high school, and she knew it. "However, after being put into this position, I plan to keep it, no matter the effort it takes. I intend to put in the effort necessary." Megumi adjusted her grip once again on the binder, not backing off from its weight. "If you'll give me a series of checkpoints, I'll happily work to bring my skills up to the appropriate level.
"Higuchi-senpai, you introduced yourself as a third-year, correct?"
"Yes," Higuchi said with an air that implied someone who couldn't remember that much didn't deserve to stand in the position of a potential manager.
"Then I think that your dedication to the club is admirable. Even though there are probably plenty of other suitable candidates, you're taking the effort to make sure someone like me has the ability to take care of things after graduation. I think…that I'd like to become as reliable as you someday."
"Kaizuto."
"Ah." Megumi hunched her shoulders in, hoping to appear smaller than usual. "I didn't mean to overstep my boundaries." Why did her mouth always go off when it was most likely to get her in trouble? "Please forgive—"
Higuchi turned on his heel, his expression flickering in discomfort. "I'll think of a suitable learning regimen for you," he said, heading into the boy's locker room. Megumi stood frozen, trying to properly reset her heartrate. Higuchi stuck his head back out the entryway, and Megumi yelped. "Try not to think so hard in front of the others, got it?"
"Understood!"
"You guys really didn't have to wait around for me so long," Megumi said for probably the fifth time before pressing a spoon of strawberry coated soft serve into her mouth. She had plenty of unused allowance lying around, so this indulgence wasn't any pressure on her budget. Across from her, Kenta slurped his way through a fudge-coated cone while Choukou sized up a parfait easily the size of her head. Both treats had been funded by the older cousin's wallet.
"Like I told ya, we just worked on homework in the library. 'S not a big deal." Choukou licked her lips and skewered the top of the parfait. Her spoon came back heaping in colorful bits of fruit before Choukou swallowed the bite whole. "Ah, this is worth waitin' on anyway! Plus your club activities run on Saturdays, too, so this is the best way to do it."
Megumi wasn't sure about the accuracy of that statement, but arguing wouldn't do any good. Choukou had easily imposed her will concerning their meet-up via text, and no hadn't been an answer. At least in this instance Megumi had been willing to go along. She still wasn't sure just what she was supposed to say, but she had always wanted to try hanging out with other people, even if it made her insides bristle a bit.
"Choukou, output speed," Kenta scolded, licking up a stray drizzle off the side of his cone. "You don't wanna overload Kaizuto-san, now do you?"
Megumi tried to ignore the heat in her cheeks at the defense. Definitely not used to that.
Choukou clapped her hands together, though she was hardly visible behind her desert. "My bad, Me-chan. I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut sometimes." As if to illustrate her point, she inhaled the next portion of her desert without hesitation.
"You don't have to say you're okay with it, either," Kenta added, which was exactly what Megumi had been aiming to say. The boy smiled. "I know it's not easy, but you can tell her when she needs to shut up. She'll take it like a good sport. She's used to it."
Choukou grimaced. "Kenta, you're being so mean. How many games did you lose at club yesterday?"
"That's not the point."
"Sore loser, sore loser!"
Megumi giggled against her will. When the Yoshida cousin's eyes turned to her, Megumi shot her gaze downward. "Sorry," she breathed. "You two are fun to listen to." The usual tension in her stomach hadn't surfaced at all; even her pulse was regular. Bickering could still put you at ease. This was how family relationships were supposed to be. "Ah, I mean…"
A grin cracked Choukou's face in half and she threw her arms into the air. "We made Me-chan laugh!"
"High-five," Kenta cheered, mirroring his cousin's movements. They did their best to complete the motion, even if cone and spoon got in the way, and Choukou licked a few drizzles of melted fudge off her palm in the aftermath. Kenta gave another smile to Megumi's confused expression. "Sorry, we were worried you actually didn't feel comfortable with us yet, considering."
"So we're glad you're at least a little okay with us," Choukou continued. Saliva hadn't quite done the job, and she rubbed a napkin against her hand. "Everyone deserves a nice space to relax. So if we can do that for you, it's a job well done."
Megumi wasn't sure what she could say about that. No one had taken an interest in her well-being like this before. Yamada-sensei, with her professional and out-come based interest, didn't count. With a single working mom, Megumi hadn't gotten much in the way of parenting. Or helpful family life in general.
Trying to ignore the sense of nausea, Megumi set down her spoon and looked out the window. The row of buildings on the opposite end of the street locked out the view of the sky, and the amount of people didn't help her nerves either. Megumi silently checked to make sure her collar was buttoned and her jacket sleeves were steady at her wrists.
Chatter from other tables at the café filled her ears until Kenta cleared his throat. "But you probably wanted to ask more about club stuff," he said. Megumi nodded. The present moment was always the best distraction. "Especially with that thing."
Beside her half-eaten sundae sat the Basketball Club binder. Having been too big to fit in her school bag, Megumi had hauled it there by hand. She'd have to break it in smaller sections if she wanted to carry it around for study. Higuchi had probably prioritized delivery over practicality.
"You guys have a lot of members, huh?" Chouko peered at the binder as she slipped another fruit laden spoon into her mouth. "My middle school team didn't have nearly as many members as all that."
"Well, it's mostly data…" Megumi flipped open the cover and thumbed through the pages. Beyond generic member info were a number of estimated stats and possible training regimens, and at least each member had three pages a piece, though the upperclassmen easily had more. Megumi pushed the binder across to Choukou before the urge to find Akashi's page won out. "You played sports, though? Basketball?"
Choukou tossed a stray lock of hair back over her shoulder. "Nah, track." She clinked her spoon against the parfait dish. "Managed to bust my leg so I had to drop out. Which is fine; I like playing go a lot better anyways."
"A-ah…"
"I wonder if our managers ever had to deal with this stuff, though." Choukou flipped through the register's pages without really reading them. "Seems like a lot of things that could be useful, but you don't know when you're gonna need them. Too bad that with this many members keeping a book like this around really wouldn't do you much good."
"We don't really deal with this sort of stuff in the Shogi Club," Kenta added. "We all play each other so we know our skill levels pretty good, and tournaments work on an individual, not team basis." Megumi nodded. "Plus I'm Treasurer, so I mostly focus on figuring out our travel funds and new boards and stuff. Ah, budget requests are in a few weeks…"
Megumi balked. "If I'm taking up your time, Senpai—"
Kenta waved the concern off, polishing off his cone at the same time. The scent of strawberries no longer upsetting her stomach, Megumi focused back in on eating her now half-melted treat. "I have all the papers done, I just gotta present to the Student Council. This isn't my first go round with this sort of stuff."
"Besides, everything's pretty well funded here. The Go Club has no trouble with getting our budgets through," Choukou remarked, glancing back to the binder. "Man, I wonder how much money you guys get. I mean, you're a national level team and you have all these members. But your numbers are wild."
Megumi let out a nervous laugh that warbled in the middle. "I think I'd rather stay far away from that…" Higuchi hadn't slipped any budget forms into that stack of paper had he? "That sort of stuff is way over my head…"
"Well, it's not like that's Me-chan's job anyways."
Thank goodness for that.
"But this binder's nuts," Choukou continued, giving up on skimming its contents and offering it to Kenta. He shook his head, and the girl flipped the cover shut. "I know you're in Class 1-A and all, but can you really learn all this? I mean, they don't really expect you to memorize the whole thing do they?"
Megumi bit her lip, and Kenta nudged Choukou in the side. She nearly lost her latest spoonful of ice cream and glared. Megumi pulled the binder back towards her, trying to ignore the weight under her fingertips. Yes, it was large, and, yes, it was filled with mostly trivial information, but Higuchi had claimed it her duty as a manager to take care of.
And Akashi thought the same.
"Actually, I'm not too worried about it."
The Yoshida cousins froze, Choukou pausing mid poke at Kenta's arm. Megumi hadn't even noticed them beginning to shove at each other. Choukou smoothed out part of her hair and wait back to her parfait as Kenta cleared his throat. "You're not, Kaizuto-san?"
Megumi shook her head, enjoying the sway of her ponytail against the back of her neck. A smile managed to creep onto her lips. "I really don't have much talent sports-wise, but I'm good at information. Sure, this might take a bit, but I should be able to get everyone's names and basics down in a couple of weeks. I just have to add it to my study regimen and try to get names right at practice. I don't know much about scouting, but I think I can learn. That's information again, so once I figure out what sort of data patterns I'm trying to predict, that should be a good start. Hm, maybe I should try to pick up some books on the way home…"
Choukou leaned close to Kenta and stage-whispered, "Class 1-A kids are a whole other level."
"Are you trying to poke fun at me for only making it into 2-B?" he hissed back.
"Ah, but you guys don't have to help me with that stuff," Megumi said, trying to keep the conversation on track. Her ice cream was almost a puddle of soft serve bleeding topping at this point. "Though maybe you could help me bounce off a couple of ideas here and there? Just so I can practice."
Kenta smiled, ignoring the clattering of Choukou's spoon hitting the bottom of her parfait dish. "I don't mind, of course. If you have any questions, just ask me, and I'll do my best," he said. Megumi nodded, resisting the urge to drink the rest of her sundae and worked on spooning it towards her mouth. "But if you don't mind me asking, Kaizuto-san, you mentioned you were pretty much an amateur while we were texting last night. Do you know anything about basketball?"
Ah.
Megumi froze.
I really am no good at thinking, am I?
The Basketball Club hadn't mattered if it was basketball. Being a manager hadn't been because she had the skills. Membership had even become less about getting Yamada-sensei off her back. In the end, Megumi had followed her whims, her one trail of connection, and had aimed to be in the same club as Akashi, regardless of what that involved.
Because I followed after him like an idiot…
"Me-chan?"
Megumi stood up, not even bothering to finish her ice cream. She kept her head down. Without looking to the Yoshida cousins, Megumi snatched up her schoolbag, hefting the club binder under her arm. "Sorry," she said. "I need to do some extra studying so I should go."
"We can walk home with you," Kenta hastily offered, trying to untangle his jacket sleeve from his backpack. "Or at least to the station. Which line do you use anyway?"
"I'm gonna stop by a few places. No need to bother yourselves."
"Me-chan, wait!" Choukou protested, even though Megumi was already fleeing to the door. "Sorry if we scared you! You can mail me later, alright? Promise you'll mail—"
The café door jangled as Megumi stepped onto the street, trying not to gasp for air. She strode down the street, remembering a line of stores on her way there. While it wouldn't make the most exciting reading, she needed to learn as much as she could about the sport, and fast. She was honestly shocked that Higuchi hadn't brought it up before. Maybe he didn't think that Megumi would be as stupid to join a club she knew nothing about.
Well, surprise is on you. I'm the master of getting myself into situations I can't handle.
Stopping at a crosswalk, Megumi peered up at the sky. In the line between buildings was nothing but cloud, not a single blue speck in sight. Pure white covered her vision, and humidity started to prickle under her collar. The signal sounded, and Megumi rushed across the street, finding the bookstore a few blocks later. It would be better on her budget to maybe loan some books from the library, but on short notice, this would work. She would need to have a permanent reference around anyways.
This scenario, this state of panic…
Megumi ran her finger across book spines, trying to find a suitable title.
I really don't think I'll ever be able to be as reliable as Higuchi-senpai is. And I'll never be able to stand by Akashi-kun as equals.
Finding the basketball section, Megumi compared titles and summaries, hoping to find something that would help out even her amateur level.
But at the very least, I want to get as close to that as I possibly can!
Lugging three books alongside her backpack and binder, Megumi headed home, wondering just how much reading she could schedule in between homework and dinner.
[NOTES] An update to one fic just a few weeks after I update another? Who knew that could even happen anymore? Valentine's Day miracle, I guess.
Thanks goes out to anon21 (Guest), loliconkawaii, zerorin05, ClaritaNox, CaptainPanic, Dina Sana, Supix, Rizuki Dhan, MydnightAvatar, AnyDreamWillDo19, and pr0blem0 for your favorites, follows, and reviews! Also thanks to all the people who keep spamming my inbox with notifications on Visibility. With your powers combined, you all urged me to bring this chapter to life.
A brief summary of events: I'm working on a collab with Chronic Guardian titled Faded Lines and Future Signs over on the Sauce Project Collective account; [Shibuya Operation - Story Storm] is happening; I finished a novella draft; I'll be working on finishing up a random Pokemon story titled Save State so I can free up time to work on other projects.
(cough)
That being said, this chapter was slightly different than my original plans for it, mainly because the Yoshida cousins ended up taking on a bigger role than I expected. This is okay, as it gives Megumi more foils to work with. Also, Higuchi. I'm not sure what I'm doing with him. There's not a lot of canon with him, so working him into the story is tricky...
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. For more author ramblings, feel free to check out my twitter ( Plot_K_Bunny) for more story notes and whatnot.
That's enough from me. Please look forward to the next update!
[POST] 02.14.2017