Here's the new chapter! I continue with characters's introduction for one more chapter.
Have fun reading!
Ritsu stretched her sore back while she was walking down the street. Her trial period had come to an end a week ago and, as expected, she became a regular along with two others girls. That was quite the achievement for her to be able to wear the Teikō jersey so quickly, but she didn't have a time to celebrate.
Since her entry in the volleyball club, she often trained with the other freshmen and barely had the chance to practice properly herself which kind of turned her off at the beginning. Nevertheless she kept practicing until she was finally noticed by the captain and the coach.
Now she'll be able to stand on the court and fight for the sake of victory, but more importantly she is part of a team. Practice was hell, nonetheless she liked playing with her new teammates. Sweating, laughing, suffering, helping each other, arguing - that was what made a team whole.
She smiled at her naivety but well, better sonner now than never.
Before heading home, she stopped at a stationery store, in need of a new notebook and an eraser.
Done with her shopping, she finally went home to practice the piano. That was the agreement with her parents, they let her do what she wanted as long as she kept playing the piano at least two hours every day.
As she left the shop, she saw a familiar face coming out of the building next to the stationery store. Midorima noticed her and didn't even try to hide his discontentment.
"Fancy meeting you here."
The annoyed boy glared at her, feeling like he had been played by fate. It has been two weeks since their first meeting, and he was certain he would never talk to her again but...
"...Fate has decided otherwise." Ritsu grinned, enjoying their fated meeting.
"It's just a stroke of luck. Today Aries ranks first on the Oha-asa horoscope."
"How lucky."
"Humpf, it's not like we have something in common. In fact, I don't even know why you're so eager to talk to me."
Midorima sure was a stubborn boy.
"No particular reason."
"Then if it's just curiosity, you'd better stop talking to me. Nothing good will happen. I already told you, our signs are not compatible. "
"Curiosity or not, our sign compatibility has nothing to do with it. I do think we can get along just fine. Compatibility between Aries and Cancer might be low, but it's not down to zero. Don't tell me you're trying to avoid every Aries you encounter?"
"You really don't listen to anything I say, do you? That's why we can't have a proper conversation. Aries are so..." Midorima narrowed his eyes as he pushed his glasses up, eyeing the girl who intended to change his habit.
"I think the problem is personality and not our sign compatibility, Midorima-san. You're the one making things difficult." She remarked bluntly.
She expected him to get angry at her, but instead the boy sighed.
"You didn't follow me, did you?" he asked in a grave tone, out of the blue.
"I don't have that much free time." She had nothing to hide, but despite his calm façade, she could tell from Midorima's question that he was bothered by something. "Did you think I would go against fate and force our meeting? That's too much of a hassle."
"I agree. At least you're not obstinate."
Without another word, Midorima started to walk, leaving her behind.
"We're leaving."
Noticing that she didn't follow him, he waited for her to come along. Surprised by his attention, Ritsu didn't move an inch as she had already given up on his case for the day.
"Where are we going?"
"To look for my lucky item."
That was Midorima for you, a horoscope freak. Ritsu wondered how the basketball club dealt with him. He gave off the vibe of a serious and confident guy, but that personality of his was very peculiar in a sense. His obsession for horoscopes and fate was very weird, but, well, who was she to actually judge him.
"Isn't it a bit late to go look for it? It's almost the end of the day." She lifted her eyes up to the evening sky. "And I have to go home."
Midorima raised an eyebrow, his glasses completely hiding his green irises.
"You- I take the trouble of suggesting to tag along and you turn me down. Isn't it you who wanted to chit-chat?! This is why I can't get along with Aries."
As she expected, he flew off the handle. His reaction was really amusing, but she felt a little guilty making fun of his feelings since he seriously tried to consider a friendship with her.
"It was only a joke, Midorima-san. There's no way I wouldn't come. Take it easy."
"I'm going."
He turned back angrily and stomped away. This time Ritsu followed him, laughing at his annoyed attitude.
Thus, their strange relationship began with the search of Midorima's lucky item.
Across the street from where the two of them were walking, a boy and a girl were kind of in the same situation.
"Dai-chan! Wait for me!" a pink-haired girl shouted, running towards a tanned boy with dark blue hair.
"You're too slow, Satsuki."
"Don't give me that! You just left me alone in that shop! Even though you said you would go with me to buy supplies for the basketball club!"
"Eh? I did? When?" The dark blue haired boy asked ignorantly.
"During lunch!"
"Oh yeah." At that time he was playing basketball with one of his classmates, so he didn't exactly remember what she told him; he'd agreed to it without really listening to her as he was too busy playing his favorite sport. "That's what you wanted me to do."
She sighed as she realized she had been ignored back then and mumbled: "...It's always like that. Even if I'm your childhood friend, basketball always comes first. You could at least be nice to me..."
"Huh? Did you say something?"
"Nothing!" The pink haired girl increased her pace and pouted openly. "You don't how to treat a girl!"
"Why should I? You're just Satsuki."
She pouted even more at his lack of tact. The dark haired boy rolled his eyes then his gaze wandered to the opposite street and he caught sight of a familiar green-haired boy walking with a girl. He froze in place; his childhood friend stopped as well and curiously followed his gaze.
"Isn't that Midorima-kun over there?"
"Yeah and he's with a girl."
Both of them momentarily stayed silent, shocked by that ridiculous sight. The Midorima they knew was a total weirdo who wasn't the kind of guy that would leisurely spend time with a girl after school.
"Do you think—"
"No way...That's Midorima we're talking about!" He didn't let his childhood friend finished what she wanted to say. The girl forced a smile, she couldn't believe it either.
Seeing Midorima and the girl stepping inside a shop, an idea suddenly popped into their heads. They both stared at each other, probably thinking the same: They wanted to spy on them.
However, a few seconds later, they both came to realize how bad that idea was.
"N-No, we shouldn't."
"Y-Yeah, what if we see something we don't want to? Like him being sweet to that girl or other strange things..."
"It'd be impossible to look him in the eyes..."
The silence between them stretched, but the tanned boy interrupted it with a shout as he put his hands on his head: "I need to play basketball!"
Afterwards, he played till night and completely forgot what he saw until the next day.
Guess who's going to appear next?
Thanks you all for reading and following my story!