Basics of Breathing

Kouki glanced quickly at his phone: 3:58 p.m. He raised the pace, not quite running, but almost. If he didn't hurry, he would be late to meet Akashi-kun, and he had the feeling that even a one-minute tardiness would cause a bad impression, which he definitely didn't want.

As expected, even if he had arrived at 4:00 p.m. sharp, Akashi was already standing by the gate, waiting for him.

"I'm sorry for being late, Akashi-kun, did you wait for long?"

Akashi turned to look at him and offered a gentle smile. "You are, in fact, perfectly on time, no need to apologize." He said.

Kouki took a moment to take in his appearance. He was wearing a long-sleeved, black dress shirt with thin red stripes, and a light, wine color blazer on top. He had dark, tight jeans and a white belt with a pattern of light-grey letters he couldn't read. Kouki, in his casual Dragonflies t-shirt and jeans, felt terribly under-dressed and briefly wondered if Akashi-kun's already unfairly vast set of skills also included the ability to dress perfectly no matter the occasion.

He pushed those dumb thoughts aside and looked up to meet Akashi's eyes. "So… we should head to the subway station, I suppose?" he asked, already turning in that direction. He stopped in his tracks when he realized Akashi wasn't moving. "Uhm… is something the matter?"

"It would be much faster and more comfortable if we take my car." He said, simply, pointing at a shiny red car parked a few meters away. Kouki didn't know much about cars, so all he could tell was that it was a Lamborghini, but that alone was enough to make him fret.

"O-o-o-ooooh, I-I didn't know Akashi-kun could drive!" he commented, slightly amazed by the very expensive looking machine. "Isn't it dangerous to drive this car downtown?"

Akashi smiled confidently and opened the passenger's door, inviting him inside. Kouki didn't really think, and by the time he noticed, he was already inside. The seat was firm and comfortable, and the smell of fresh leather filled his nostrils. He had never been in such an expensive car, and his fingers trembled, worried he would do something like stain the carpet or damage the interior in any way with his uneducated presence.

Akashi-kun slid into the vehicle moments later and swiftly moved to place the key in to turn on the engine, but for some reason, his hand twitched making him drop the keys to the floor. Akashi grimaced, his cheeks turning a light crimson. Kouki giggled lightly, which in turn made the blush on Akashi's face darken.

"I-uhm- apologies. I was-"

Kouki waved his hand and chuckled "Why are you even apologizing, Akashi-kun? Everyone drops stuff from time to time!" It made him feel a little bit less nervous to see that even the almighty Akashi Seijuurou could have moments of human clumsiness. It also helped dissipate that feeling of inadequacy that plagued him from time to time in Akashi-kun's company. It now seemed a lot more plausible that Akashi-kun could see him as a friend in the long run.

Feeling a lot more relaxed now, Kouki briefly pondered just how jealous Shikitani-kun –his roommate, from Engineering- would be when he heard he'd been on a Lamborghini. He smiled, looking forward to telling him and enjoying his furiously frustrated expression.

The ride to the stadium was surprisingly pleasant in the sense that Seijuurou didn't have any embarrassing episode of stuttering or otherwise making a fool of himself –the episode with the car keys had been more embarrassment than he'd wanted to experience tonight. Although Kouki chatted quite a bit, focusing on the road gave Seijuurou a perfect excuse to deliver simple monosyllabic answers without missing a beat of what Kouki wanted to say –mostly a casual conversation about his classes and assignments.

The crowd inside the stadium was sizable, expected of the National League finals. Once they made it inside, Kouki –who was wearing his favorite team's t-shirt- rushed to the souvenir shop, where memorabilia of both teams was being sold. Seijuurou approached, ready to ask Kouki if he wanted anything and buy it for him, but before he could open his mouth, Kouki offered him a small pennant with the Dragonflies' logo on it. Seijuurou held it and inspected it briefly, waving it experimentally. He'd never attended a sports match with the intent of cheering for any particular team, so this was a completely new experience for him.

"Ah! Perhaps Akashi-kun is actually rooting for the SunRockers! I can get you one of those instead."

Seijuurou waved his hands a little too adamantly. A part of him felt he should offer to pay for the item, but another one was way too thrilled by the idea of Kouki buying this small flag for him, so instead he held on to it and shook his head.

"No, please, there's no need to. I really admire the Dragonflies' Point Guard Aikawa-san, he is a very talented player."

Kouki looked up at him, his eyes suddenly sparkling as if he were seeing the most wondrous thing in the world, and Seijuurou finally understood that expression about feeling an arrow piercing your heart.

"I knooooow right?! I didn't know Akashi-kun liked him too, he's soooo cool! It's like he controls every inch of the court!" he squealed excitedly. "Let's go, the game's about to begin!" he added, grabbing Seijuurou's wrist and pulling him towards the bleachers. Although there was no skin-on-skin contact (Seijuurou cursed his choice for long sleeves), the feeling of Kouki's fingers through the fabric made his heart rate speed up and he felt his cheeks burning. He prayed to all the gods that Kouki wouldn't turn to look at him or ask him any question, because he was definitely going to make a disgraceful spectacle of himself if that happened.

They arrived at their seats –the best in the venue, naturally- and were instantly surrounded by the loud cheering of the crowd. The two teams were warming up in the court already. The Power Forward for the Tokyo SunRockers was slamming a dunk to show off, earning the crowd's loud approval. Seijuurou glanced around the stadium and noticed most of the crowd seemed to be wearing the colors of that team –to be expected, truly, they were amongst the favorites in the league, and they were the locals in this game-. He and Kouki really stood out by holding the visitors' colors, he could feel some dirty looks from people in their vicinity. Seijuurou didn't really mind. He had no particular favorite, he followed the League without caring much about winners or losers, but he hadn't lied when he said he thought the Dragonflies had a great Point Guard, probably one of the top three in the league.

The game started and the SunRockers got the ball first. Kouki, standing by his side, way more excited than Seijuurou had ever seen him, was yelling "Defense!" enthusiastically. The Dragonflies' Point Guard intercepted a pass and sent the ball flying across the court, to where the team's ace was waiting and ready to slam it down the net. Kouki screamed, exhilarated, a huge smile drawn on his face.

"Oh my Gooooood! Did you see that, Akashi-kun?! That was soooo cooooool!" his cheeks were lightly flushed, his hands trembling with the adrenaline rush. "I can't believe we're so close, oh my god! I could almost touch them!"

Seijuurou chuckled lightly. There was something unbearably adorable about Kouki's childlike joy, and it was quite contagious too. Seijuurou wanted to do something about that radiant smile and those pink-dusted cheeks, and those stunningly sparkling eyes, something physical maybe, but he couldn't quite determine what, and he imagined just randomly pinching Kouki's cheeks would be quite frowned upon, so he held back.

The game progressed with both teams being evenly matched, the point gap never going further than three or four points for either team. The tension kept growing among the crowd, and even if most of the spectators favored the local team, they still cheered when the Dragonflies scored. Both teams had a very high level of teamwork and individual technique. Seijuurou briefly pondered how much of a challenge they could pose for the Vorpal Swords. He had to admit he was getting infected by the collective excitement. Watching such a high level match from up close had a very different feeling than watching it on TV. Perhaps he should make a habit out of this.

He turned to look at Kouki, who was enthusiastically yelling cheers for his favorite team. Seijuurou was getting the privilege of witnessing a very wide range of expressions in Kouki's face tonight: from wild excitement that made his face light up and his body burst with energy, to adorable joy that turned his cheeks a soft shade of pink and made him squeal and jump in his place, to riveting tension when the Dragonflies were in a pinch and it made him chew on his lip, clench his fist, and fidget anxiously. Seijuurou congratulated himself; this had truly been a magnificent idea.

Around the end of the second quarter, the Dragonflies were behind by four points, and the SunRocker's ace, Fujita, seemed to be in a stride, scoring three consecutive baskets without giving his opponents any chance to breathe. There were only a few seconds left on the clock, and he seemed to be intent on making one more basket to finally widen the point gap.

"Defense! Defense!" Kouki called, anxiously gripping the Dragonflies banner he'd brought, apparently homemade.

Aikawa, the Dragonflies' Point Guard that Kouki so admired, was the last man standing between Fujita and the basket. Seijuurou could tell how critical this point was. If the SunRockers were the first to finally get a breakaway, it would boost their morale for the second half and make it harder for the Dragonflies to catch up.

"Aikawa-san! You can do it, Aikawa-san!" Kouki shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth to improvise a megaphone. Seijuurou's attention was taken away from the game as he imagined himself on the court and Kouki calling his name in support "You can do it, Akashi-kun!" and he was suddenly not interested in the game anymore, or maybe it was just the heat that had shot up to his face and muddled his train of thoughts. He distantly heard the buzzer ring and Kouki screaming with joy beside him, throwing his arms up in the air, but his brain was too preoccupied feeling flustered to pay attention to the real world, his imagination running extraordinarily wild.

"Akashi-kun you can do it!"

"Go, Akashi-kun, go!"

"Akashi-kun! Akashi-kun!"

"Akashi-kun, did you see that?! Aikawa-san is really so cool, oh my god! That was so, so amazing! We haven't taken the lead back, but he really saved it there, it was like woah! I almost missed it, oh god, he's so fast, that was amazing!"

It struck Seijuurou that maybe he should say something, lest Kouki believe he wasn't paying attention, or worse that he misunderstood his distraction for lack of interest or enjoyment. He couldn't quite tell Kouki that he enjoyed observing him as much if not more than the actual game, so he had to try his best to make it seem like he had any idea of what Kouki was talking about.

"Yes, absolutely." He replied, still in a daze. "It was… yes, that point was important… of course… if, if he'd lost that one-on-one and allowed that last basket it would have had a… negative, yes, negative effect on the team's morale."

Kouki beamed, apparently unfazed by Seijuurou's incompetent attempts at communication. "Yeah, I know! I'm sure they'll change the flow of the game in the second half, there's a really good feel about'em now. Aikawa-san is really reliable after all."

Seijuurou wondered if he would go blind from staring at that luminous smile for too long, but he found he couldn't really look away, so the best he could do was hope his eyesight would not be compromised. His heartrate sped up, and he realized it seemed to be doing that a lot this evening. He wished he could make sense of such phenomenon, but he could hardly think straight right now, so he decided it would be for the best to just ignore all those glaring questions for the time being and just enjoy the evening without overthinking that much. That had, after all, been part of Reo's advice for tonight, and it would be foolish to ignore it.

"Your main problem is that you overthink everything, you need to relax a little!" his friend had said as he rummaged through his closet, trying to help him pick an appropriate outfit for the occasion. "You said you can be yourself around him, but in reality you're everything but! You get so ridiculous I can barely recognize you, honestly. I know you want to please him and get him to like you, but what good will that be if he doesn't like the 'real' you?"

Reo had been right about that, but it was harder said than done, especially when he was caught between a natural instinct to do everything in his reach to avoid rejection, and the inevitable emotional turbulence that took over him when in Kouki's vicinity.

"Just go with the flow, act naturally and let things happen on their own."

When Kouki left for the restroom, Seijuurou closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to still his heart.

"Just have fun! If you enjoy spending time with your Chihuahua boy, make it so he notices! And don't think too hard."

"Oh, right on time! The line was huge, I thought I wouldn't make it!"

Kouki's delighted voice and the crowd roaring pulled Seijuurou back to the present. The ball was on the SunRockers' court, and looking at the board, Seijuurou noted that the Dragonflies had apparently scored a three pointer right at the end of the second quarter, when he'd zoned out into fantasy land. That explained Kouki's excitement and hopefulness after the last play, Aikawa hadn't just stopped Fujita's charge but also managed to get the ball to their Shooting Guard in time to close the point gap to a single basket. That was, indeed quite impressive, and he felt slightly sorry for having missed it. He decided he would make an extra effort to keep attention on the game without missing a beat of Kouki's reactions to it.

"Make small talk." Reo had suggested "Get some conversation going. If he asked you to come with him, he probably enjoys your company too. Get to know each other in a different setting."

He pondered briefly about what kind of conversation would be good to start, and figured the best would be something casual, that wouldn't retract Kouki's attention from the game. The topic also had to be something he felt confident about, so he wouldn't have problems keeping up with the conversation. With that in mind, the decision was obvious.

"Have you been a fan of the Dragonflies for long?"

Kouki glanced at him from the corner of his chestnut eyes briefly, and quickly turned to face him.

"Hmmm… I've always liked their style, but I guess I became a fan when Aikawa-san joined, I was very impressed by him since the beginning. That was around the time we were second years in high school, so five years?" he chuckled lightly. Seijuurou's swallowed hard when Kouki said the word 'we'. "What's Akashi-kun's favorite team?"

He swallowed hard again. What would be the most appropriate answer in this situation? His first instinct was to say he shared Kouki's love for the Dragonflies, trying to create sympathy, hoping the common interest would make him appear more approachable. But he also remembered what Reo had said about showing his true self, and that getting Kouki to like a false version of himself would defeat the purpose of becoming friends. And, as was the norm, he had now officially taken too long to answer a relatively simple question and was officially making a fool of himself.

"I, uhm… if I must be completely honest I don't have a favorite team. I do watch the League's games, but with no particular preference. So long as the winning team is the one to give the best performance, I am satisfied."

Kouki raised his eyebrows, a mixture of surprise and wonder in his expression. "Ooh! That's actually a pretty cool way to look at it!" he said, smiling. "As expected of Akashi-kun."

By this point in their relationship, Akashi already knew it was better for everyone to avoid prolonging conversations, otherwise he would undoubtedly make a fool of himself and put his family to shame. Thus, he was most grateful when a roar from the crowd drew Kouki's attention back to the court. The Dragonflies had finally turned the game around at the top of the third quarter. Kouki jumped in excitement, and his long fingers clasped –seemingly mindlessly- Seijuurou's sleeve, holding the fabric tight. Seijuurou begged to all the heavens that Kouki didn't decide to ask him something now, because his brain was currently screaming at him desperately, something around the lines of 'you have to breath, you fool', but he had honestly no clue of what that meant or how on earth to achieve it, too preoccupied with the tingling sensation of Kouki's fingertips on his bicep.

The hold tightened as the end of the game approached. The third quarter ended with the score tied at 79-79, and by that point Kouki's fingers were actually interfering with the blood flow in his arm. Seijuurou couldn't possibly bring himself to point it out and risk losing that little physical connection, so all he could do was hope his arm would not gangrene. While losing a limb for the sake of these few minutes of bodily proximity seemed very much worth it, he would still prefer to avoid it if possible.

By the time the last quarter started, Seijuurou was completely infected with Kouki's excitement. He found himself absent-mindedly waving the Dragonflies' flag that Kouki had bought for him enthusiastically. When, around the third minute of the fourth quarter, Aikawa managed to shake off the SunRockers' defense and shoot the ball through the net without requiring his teammates' assistance, once again taking the lead in the scoreboard, Seijuurou cheered, his usual emotion filter completely neutered by the adrenaline.

"Yes!" he applauded, shaking his fist in the air fervently. He looked down at Kouki, who was doing pretty much the same, and for some reason, Kouki turned to look up at him at the same time. Their eyes met and Kouki grinned, blinding Seijuurou. It was like Reo had said, once he'd stopped thinking and actually allowed himself to have fun and go with the flow, the whole experience seemed to have turned a lot more enjoyable for both of them.

At minute seven, the exhausted Center had made a bad step and gotten himself fouled while the SunRocker's ace scored a basket. Fujita also claimed the extra shot, earning a one-point lead for his team. Kouki's breath got caught in his throat, his hold on Seijuuro's sleeve tightening with worry, his small body inching just a tiny little bit closer, just enough for Seijuurou to notice. It was pitiful that Kouki's team was losing, he pondered briefly, but this closeness was quite nice, he had to admit.

As the seconds ticked away, Kouki's anxiety kept rising, to the point where he had both hands wrapped around Seijuurou's arm.

"Come on, come on! You can do it!" he called nervously, his teeth digging into his lower lip. Seijuurou felt slightly conflicted. Of course he wanted Kouki's team to win, but he wouldn't complain if Kouki would just stay like this, his body fidgeting closer and closer to Seijuurou's, his warmth slowly seeping through the fabric of his shirt.

There was just one minute left on the clock and each team had scored two more baskets, leaving the SunRockers with a one-point lead. Fujita had the ball once again and was trying to make it past the half court, but once again, Aikawa was facing him. Seijuurou briefly wondered about the Dragonflies' decision to make their Point Guard cover the other team's ace, but it took a moment's consideration to acknowledge that Aikawa was indeed the best suited for the job. Seijuurou himself had often taken the role of facing other teams' aces back in high school, especially in their third year. He remembered fondly all those times trying to find a way around Shintarou's three pointers with their ever increasing speed and force, or the dynamism of his combined plays with his partner, or trying to stop Daiki's overwhelming speed and versatility, and how obnoxiously difficult it was to deal with Ryouta when he used Perfect Copy -and how humiliating when he'd been on the receiving end of an ankle break-, or how exhausting it was to keep up with Kagami's brute strength and powerful attacks, especially when he also had to occupy himself with blocking Tetsuya. Now that most of them were third years in college -with the exception of Daiki and Kagami, who had been scouted by different professional teams after graduating- they were all much too busy, which made it harder to arrange a meeting. Watching this game made him realize how much he missed playing basketball with his friends, and he made a mental note to try and schedule something soon.

"Aikawa-san stop him! You can do it!" Kouki's nervous cheers brought him back to the game.

Fujita was dribbling, trying to decide what would be the best course to pass the opposing Point Guard, and the seconds kept ticking away. Seijuurou grew nervous too. Fujita could just pass the ball or back away to kill time, allow the clock to run to zero and he would have the victory in his pocket. And then he realized it. Fujita was stalling to make Aikawa nervous, force him to make the first move and open the path for him to sink the finishing blow. Fujita may not be as powerful as Kagami or as fast as Daiki, but he sure was much smarter than either of them.

With twenty seconds on the clock, the crowd was deathly quiet. Seijuurou wondered if the pressure would finally make Aikawa fall for Fujita's trap. Finally, with fifteen seconds left, Aikawa lunged forward, and Seijuurou knew all was lost. Fujita dodged and ran towards the basket, dribbling quickly, a triumphant grin on his face. But when Fujita was preparing to shoot, he and everyone else realized that he was no longer in possession of the ball. Kouki gasped. Seijuurou scanned the court and found that Tano, the Dragonflies' center, was now dribbling the ball. Seijuurou realized, shocked, that Aikawa had realized Fujita's scheme and lured him into his own, faking an attempt to attack to give Tano the perfect window to steal the ball. With the end of the game approaching, Tano passed the ball to their Shooting Guard, who quickly let go of the ball and scored a perfect three pointer. The crowd exploded in cheers.

There were only four seconds left. The SunRockers' Point Guard, threw the ball in, making a long pass all the way to the half-court. If the Dragonflies could stop this attack, the title was theirs. Kouki was skipping in his spot, his fingers so tight on Seijuurou's arm he was sure he'd have bruises by tomorrow. Uchiyama from the SunRocker's was in possession, obviously trying to get the ball to Fujita. He broke away from three of the Dragonflies' players, his desperation and drive palpable, and called for Fujita, shooting the ball at him. Fujita was in perfect position, if the ball made it to his hands, he would inevitably score and push the game into overtime.

But the ball's trajectory was abruptly interrupted by Aikawa's hand that had materialized out of nowhere. The buzzer rang loud and deadly. The match was over

"WOAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Kouki screamed, his voice already hoarse. "They did it, they did it, they did it!" he threw his arms around Seijuurou's waist. "We won! Oh my god, we really won!"

The force of the embrace knocked the air out of Seijuurou's lungs. Or maybe it was just the fact that he was being hugged. By Kouki, nonetheless. He could hear the cheering of the crowd and the announcer calling the final scores in the background, but everything felt muted by Kouki's body heat. Seijuurou's head was spinning.

Oxygen. That is a thing I need. How do I obtain it?

"Akashi-kun, are you alright? I'm sorry, I got too excited, was I too forceful?"

Breathing. Through the nose, down the trachea, into the lungs. Then into the blood stream and back to the brain.

Maybe it was the loss of that dizzying embrace or the concern in Kouki's voice, but finally Seijuurou was brought back to his senses as the winning team turned towards the bleachers and bowed, thanking the audience. Apparently, he had zoned out for about three minutes. Kouki would definitely think he was strange now. He cursed his inability to cope with Kouki's variety of spontaneous, breathtaking reactions.

"Yes… Yes I am… well. I was… overcome with excitement too… It was a… quite excellent game."

Kouki beamed. "Yeah, it totally was! I can't believe I saw the Dragonflies take the championship from so up close!"

Seijuurou was about to suggest they started for the exit so as to not get caught in the crowds, when a voice called for them

"Hey! You're the kid who was cheering really loudly!"

Aikawa from the Dragonflies had somehow approached their seats without Seijuurou's notice and was waving at them. Kouki stiffened by his side, his cheeks growing a dark shade of red.

"U-uhm, I-I-I'm sorry if I distracted you, I-"

"Oh no, not at all! I came to thank you, knowing someone was rooting for us so badly really motivated me." Aikawa laughed.

"A-a-ah thank you, I mean, it was an amazing game, Aikawa-san is really amazing, I used to play as a Point Guard in high school and I always admired Aikawa-san, I'm a huge fan, you always seem to have the whole court in control and that's really cool and—"

Seijuurou looked down at Kouki, surprised to see him so flustered. This Kouki was a lot more similar to the scaredy, fidgety boy that had slammed to the floor face first on their first game against each other. In the present, Kouki seemed to be a lot more confident and comfortable in his own skin, so it was slightly strange to see him revert to his old self. Seijuurou found his flushed face extremely endearing, but he also felt a slight discomfort at watching another man trigger this transformation. Seijuurou shook the absurd thoughts out of his head. Stop overthinking, he reminded himself. It was natural to get embarrassed and self-conscious when faced with a celebrity or someone you admired, Kouki was clearly star-struck. These feelings of jealousy –an easily identifiable emotion- had no place in his mind, especially when he couldn't determine what exactly it was that he felt for Kouki. Although he could describe it with many words –fascination, endearment, attraction, comfort, happiness-, he couldn't quite label it the way Reo thought he should if he ever hoped to decide whatever he wanted to do about this –for the time being- friendship. He had a feeling this evening would help him discern his own intentions better, but until that time came, it was most ridiculous to get upset when seeing Kouki so flustered by Aikawa's presence. He should, in fact, feel pleased at this lucky coincidence that had allowed Kouki to have an even closer meeting with the player he idolized, which would no doubt make Kouki even happier than he already was.

Stop overthinking, I swear, Sei-chan…, Reo's voice popped at the front of his mind and he realized that, once again he had zoned out. When he was back to his senses he found himself surrounded with the entirety of the Dragonflies team, all of them greeting and thanking Kouki for his enthusiastic encouragement. Kouki was flailing his arms in fluster, his face a deep shade of red, and apparently desperate for words that were clearly not coming. Seijuurou's lips tilted upwards in a tiny smile, thinking Kouki's current state of distress was very similar to his own when overwhelmed by Kouki's kindness or the beauty of his smile.

"We gotta' go now, there's a crowd of reporters waiting for us, but we hope to see you in our future games." Aikawa said, winking. "Come over here quick, we wanted to give you something. It's the least we can do to thank you, your cheering really motivated us, right guys?"

The rest of the team nodded their agreement as Aikawa pulled out a black marker and signed Kouki's t-shirt. One by one, the other players mimicked the action. When they were done, Kouki held the hem of the garment with trembling fingers and stared at it with wide eyes, still unable to articulate any coherent response as the Dragonflies waved and walked away. Seijuurou watched them go and smiled, pleased that the evening had taken such a fortunate twist. Surely this was an occasion Kouki would never forget.

Through the corner of his eye, Seijuurou caught a glimpse of a body collapsing backwards, and he reached out with one arm to hold it. He was surprised to see that the body in question was Kouki's, his expression glowing with bliss and his eyes sparkling –apparently passed out-, but his fingers tightly bunched on the fabric of his shirt. Seijuurou examined the item and realized it that apart from the players' signature, it also had a note that said "For Furihata-kun, our greatest fan".

"Furihata, are you alright?" he asked, tentatively pushing Kouki back to a standing position.

"Akashi-kun… this is the best day of my liiiife…" Kouki replied in a dreamy drawl.

Seijuurou felt his cheeks burning, and a light, bubbly feeling rising from his stomach, making his heart swell and finally flutter past his lips in the form of laughter.

To be continued

I'm very sorry for the long delay my friends! If you follow me on tumblr (liamatsuoka) you'll know I've had a terrible week/two weeks/month. Been having severe emotional lows, been on a cycle of panic-depression-self loathing for like a week now and crying every day, basically nothing's working for me right now and I'm facing a very hard and painful decision that I don't know if I'm ready to make, and whichever road I choose I'm probably gonna hate myself for it (on the flip side, the next chapter of Misery is really fucking sad and depressive so I'm in the precise emotional place to write it? Yay?). So anyway, because of all this shit going on I'm supposedly on break from the internet, but some new developments seem to have rendered even that entirely pointless and idek what I'm doing at this point. And since I already had this chapter written since ages ago, I decided to put it out already because I was in dire need of some positivity.

TL;DR my life sucks right now, so I'm hoping to at least make yours better with this? Or smth like that?

The most recent Dragonflies vs Sunrockers game I found had the Sunrockers winning 98-87. The Dragonflies have had a shit season, they lost all but one out of five games since April ): I don't follow Japanese basketball, but y'all know how picky I am with details. The names of the players are 100% made up, if by coincidence any player in either team has a matching name, it was entirely accidental.

Thanks for all your continued support, I can't promise any updates coming soon since my emotional state is so unstable right now but I hope you'll continue enjoying this story and having fun with it. I'm looking forward to hear your thoughts.