Polar Opposites
Chapter Four: Club Activities
The last bell of the day chimed and Naoko could feel her nerves rising. She gripped her bag close to her chest, still seated. She could see everyone else around her, shuffling to get out of class as soon as possible, everyone happy to head to their after school club activities while Naoko dreaded going to her own trial one.
She felt the presence of someone walk up and Naoko saw Himeyori approach with a soft smile on her face. "Hime-chan…" The taller girl tugged on her sleeve and Naoko got up, despite wanting to stay glued to the chair.
"I'll show you which gym it is." Himeyori announced, walking side by side with Naoko. The brunette nodded and kept her eyes glued to the ground, maneuvering past students in the flooded hallways.
"You know, Nao-chan," Naoko tore her gaze from the floor and looked at Himeyori quizzically. "Just remember what I said." The taller girl smiled sweetly, making Naoko smile as well.
They left the school building and soon ended up at one of Seirin's large gymnasiums. Naoko stared up at the gym and looked at Himeyori. "I- I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Just be sure to text me when you're done with work and tell me how everything went!" Himeyori grinned. Naoko blinked, having almost forgot that they exchanged numbers the previous day.
The smaller girl nodded hastily, making a soft giggle bubble from Himeyori's throat. "It'll be fine!" She said, rubbing Naoko's shoulders. Naoko gave the door a look of distrust before letting a sigh fall from her lips.
"I'm just going to get this over with." She said, clenching and uncurling her fists.
"Go get 'em- uhh… bunny?" Himeyori finished lamely, thinking that 'tiger' did not really suit Naoko. Naoko gave her a look and she held her hands up. "Sorry." The silver eyed girl replied sheepishly before turning on her heels. "I'll talk to you later!" She said before racing off to her own club activity.
Naoko watched her only hope leave and she faced the gym again. "Usami-san?" Naoko jumped, turning swiftly to the side. She saw a familiar blob of blue and stared.
"… Kuroko-kun?" Kuroko nodded. "What…" She stared at her classmate and wondered what he was doing there, until it hit her. "You're in the basketball club?" She asked weakly.
Kuroko nodded and looked up at the taller guy who just approached, bag slung over his shoulder. "Kagami-kun, as well."
"Huh?" Kagami stared down at Kuroko before his gaze fell on Naoko. He twitched and looked away, frowning. Naoko frowned, as well, before facing the opposite way.
Kuroko looked in between them and hummed. 'Maybe Kagami-kun was right… He really must not get along with Usami-san.' He thought. Kuroko turned and opened the door, wanting to escape the suddenly tense atmosphere. "Usami-san, did our coach drag you into this?" He asked.
Naoko fixed her gaze on Kuroko and nodded slowly, "Yes – U- Uhm, not to make it sound bad, or anything." She quickly said, cheeks burning. "She just said that if I truly don't like it, then I don't have to stay."
Kagami clicked his tongue and went on ahead, leaving the two behind. Kuroko sighed, "I'm sorry about Kagami-kun. So, are you in this like a trial?" As he entered the gym, Naoko followed behind, almost hesitantly.
She nodded in confirmation. "Your coach wanted me to watch the practice match and I suppose make my decision then."
"Hopefully we'll be playing against one of them, and then you could get the full experience from the match." Kuroko smiled, making Naoko suddenly curious.
"Them?" She asked. Kuroko shrugged and a ghost of a pout formed on her lips. As she was about to press on the matter, the coach came skipping up.
"Naoko-chan!" She cried, so very tempted to hug the girl. "I'm Aida Riko, coach of the boys' basketball team at Seirin High!" Riko introduced herself properly, her hands on her hips.
"U- Usami Naoko… Uhm, student." She said lamely, making Riko and Kuroko chuckle. She bowed her head, mostly in respect, but also to hide her embarrassed flush.
"Once the boys are all changed, I'll introduce you them all." Riko offered, walking in the direction of the bench. The two girls sat down at Riko handed Naoko a clipboard, "These are just some duties I listed down, that a manager should do."
Naoko accepted the clipboard with a small thank you and read over the contents. "It- This isn't as bad as I thought it was." She replied honestly, making Riko grin.
"Right? Being supportive, handing them towels and water bottles, helping me with smaller things, and offering advice is just some of the easier things. I know you haven't done anything like this before so I wanted to keep it simple." Riko told her.
Naoko smiled softly, "Thank you, Aida-senpai."
Riko twitched, "R- Riko is fine." She stuttered, wanting to hug Naoko all over again. "C- Uh… N- Nevermind." She shook her head, making Naoko blink at her in confusion.
"Then, Riko-senpai." Naoko said a moment later.
Riko could not help it. She squealed and hugged Naoko, holding her tight as if she were to disappear. Naoko froze, not moving as Riko huggled her. "Se- senpai…" The second year whispered, her face heating up.
The girls heard footsteps approaching and Riko looked up, her eyes brightening. "Everyone, this is Naoko-chan!"
"U- Usami Naoko." Naoko bowed her head politely; glad to be free of Riko's death hug. She fidgeted under the gazes of everyone, playing with the hem of her blazer. "I- I'll be here with you for a few days."
"Naoko-chan, this is the captain, Hyuuga Junpei! Also, Kiyoshi Teppei, Izuki Shun, Mitobe Rinnosuke, Koganei Shinji, Tsuchida Satoshi, Furihata Kouki, Kawahara Kouichi, Fukuda Hiroshi, and I'm sure you've met Kuroko-kun and Kagami-kun!" Riko beamed at Naoko. She turned to the new first years, listing off their names, as well.
"Also, Takeda-sensei is our adviser, but he is away currently because he said something about visiting his son in the Miyagi Prefecture." Riko tapped her chin in thought. "His son is also an adviser, isn't that funny?" She laughed.
Naoko smiled, despite not quite understanding why Riko was laughing.
Riko instructed everyone to begin practice as normal, telling Naoko that she should observe closely. "If you can see anything that you may even feel as 'off', then don't hesitate to tell me!" The coach said, grasping Naoko's hands.
The second year nodded hesitantly and sat on the bench, keeping her eyes glued to everyone who was practicing. 'I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be looking for…' Naoko thought, watching Seirin's captain jump and toss the ball high into the air.
She blinked and watched it soar from halfway across the court, swishing through the hoop. '… Is that good? I'm sure it is.' The girl was beginning to have her doubts, but she kept on watching, for her senpai's sake.
After half an hour of keeping tabs on everyone, Naoko began to feel boredom stir. She lowered her gaze, suddenly feeling bad about it. Riko patted her shoulder and she looked up, tilting her head. "I'll have the boys play a little game, so be sure to stay focused!" Riko gave her a knowing look and Naoko nodded briefly before turning her head to watch everyone again.
The 'little game' had a team of five on each side, shirts against jerseys. Everyone played seriously, each side determined to win. Naoko watched, her interest piqued in the slightest. The quiet girl practically fell from the bench when Kagami let out a loud roar, breaking past Kiyoshi. She watched with wide eyes as he slammed the ball through the hoop with such force, it gave her chills.
Naoko looked away, focusing on someone else. No matter how hard she tried to observe the others, she always found herself watching Kagami. He was different from the others, maybe more talented, even she could see that.
Despite the obvious difference in skills, he still played well with his team, especially Kuroko. Naoko thought that they both made a good pair. She found herself smiling.
Riko glanced down at Naoko from the corner of her eye. The coach smiled, seeing that the shy, quiet girl had a ghost of a smile on her lips. The brunette turned back to the game, watching her player's dash from one side of the court as the game progressed heatedly. Riko's own smile dropped, noticing Kagami lagging behind. 'What is wrong with him?'
Naoko's brows furrowed in confusion as she watched Kagami slow, wiping the sweat from his face with his shirt. He had a serious look on his face although from the outside, it looked odd. She tilted her head, unsure of what to make of it. She watched Kagami raise his hand, calling for the ball loudly.
A first year clumsily tossed it to him and Kagami charged forward. He passed by two blockers and was about to smash the ball in yet again, but Naoko blinked when she saw the ball suddenly get smacked from his hand. Kiyoshi smiled in a teasing way, "What's wrong, Kagami?" She could hear the older boy ask.
"Where'd your fire go?" Hyuuga shouted at Kagami, making the two-toned red head scowl deeply. It seemed as hard as he tried, the more he messed up. Things that could have been avoided became easy to screw up and shots that could have been made were stolen.
Naoko watched with her fingers curled into fists, her eyes trailing Kagami the entire time.
When Riko blew the whistle, signalling the game to be over, everyone was out of breath and sweaty. Naoko grimaced and sat still, although she currently wanted to escape. The boys who played huddled around Riko who had her arms crossed with a frown on her face.
"It was going well, until it wasn't." The coach whispered hotly, focusing her gaze on Kagami who clicked his tongue. Her eye twitched, "Can anyone tell me what Kagami-kun did wrong?"
Silence filled the gym, everyone either thinking it was a rhetorical question, or they were too afraid to answer. Naoko avoided Riko's gaze, but she felt the coach's hand land on her shoulder. She jolted and looked up at Riko, a small pout on her face. "Naoko-chan, do you know?"
"N- Not really…" Naoko fretted, squeezing the fabric of her skirt. She felt everyone's eyes on her and she kept her eyes glued to the floor, staring at everyone's shoes because it was way easier than looking into everyone's eyes. "But…" Naoko whispered, making Riko tilt her head.
"But…?" Riko pressed softly, urging Naoko to continue on. The coach knew that Naoko knew nothing about basketball; and she was interested to see if someone like that could tell what was wrong.
"I- I don't know… I just… At first, I thought he was being serious, but then gradually… Maybe he stopped taking it seriously? I'm not sure ho- how to explain it, but–" Naoko did not get the change to finish when Kagami stepped forward, glaring down at her.
"You don't know anything!" He seethed.
Riko smacked his head lightly, making Kagami blink and look away, a small frown-like pout on his face. She changed the subject, drawing the attention away from the sudden tense atmosphere from Kagami and Naoko, "Everyone, to finish off this practice you'll all do ten laps around the school!" Riko announced.
Half the team groaned but they all left. Kuroko tugged on Kagami's shirt before the peach-skinned teen finally went. Naoko slowly looked at Riko, her lip quivering. "Di- Did I say something wrong?"
Riko looked at her and smiled, shaking her head. "No, Bakagami is just a hot-head. I'm not sure what you were about to say, but I think you were right." Riko patted Naoko's head, making the girl smile softly. "That brat really was behaving oddly. I think he was a little put-off by you, no offense." The coach mumbled.
Naoko stared at Riko for a moment before nodding, "I agree. Not to mention we are complete opposites and we don't get along well, in the first place."
Riko hummed as she helped Naoko gather up all the things lying around. "Well, I'm sure you'll rub off on him."
"Truthfully, I would rather that not happen. He scares me…" Naoko mumbled.
The coach laughed, patting Naoko's shoulder. "He isn't so scary once you get used to him, actually. Did you know he's afraid of dogs?" Riko snorted.
Naoko blinked and smiled, "I love dogs. Well, most animals, actually."
"Wow, you really are like opposites." Riko whistled. "I'll be right back, I need to go make some phone calls about the practice match, okay?" Naoko nodded. "You can put the cart of balls away – they go in that storage room – and go home! I'll see you after school, tomorrow, Naoko-chan!"
"O- Okay." Naoko replied. As much as she did not want to come back, she wanted to at least stay until the practice match. She could do that much, at least.
Riko left and Naoko gathered all the orange basketball's up, tossing them into the cart. Once she had them all, she pushed the cart into the storage room as instructed and closed the door with a soft click. She let a small sigh out and turned around, walking straight into someone's chest.
With being so small, Naoko bounced back, staggering. She steadied herself and looked up, about to apologize for being so oblivious to her surroundings. Her amethyst eyes met dark red orbs and she stopped, her voice dying in her throat.
"…" She lowered her gaze, looking anywhere but the angry-looking Kagami.
Kagami took a step forward, making her freeze. "Oi…" He uttered.
Naoko's grip tightened on her bag and she looked off to the side, her lips in a tight frown. "Leave me alone…" She whispered, her heart hammering against her chest as Kagami glared down at her.
"Just because I said that does not mean you need to suddenly corner me..." She spoke with her voice wavering slightly. Naoko glanced in the direction of the door, wishing that everyone would just hurry and come back. Her eyes burned and her hands shook ever so slightly.
"You don't even like basketball!" The hot head exploded, causing Naoko to flinch back. She backed into the wall as Kagami advanced on her.
Kagami slammed his hand against the wall right next to Naoko's head. His eyes were a burning fire and he had a scowl on his face, his eyebrows furrowed. "Where do you get off saying all that?"
"I do- don't know what you're talking about…" She stuttered, shaking. Naoko pressed herself close to the wall, wishing it would just swallow her up. Kagami leaned forward and she squeezed her eyes shut. She could feel the body heat radiating off of him and she briefly wondered if he could smell the fear rolling off of her.
"You seriously think it's okay to just show up out of the blue and start saying stuff like that? You have zero experience!" He punched the wall, watching Naoko jolt.
"I wa- was only here b- because Riko-senpai asked me!" Naoko said in her defense, her vision going blurry from the hot tears that formed in her eyes. "An- And I thought that a manager was su- supposed to h- help… I didn't mean it in a bad way, I sw- swear…" Naoko hiccupped, the tears flowing down her cheeks, leaving hot trails in their wake.
Kagami froze, staring down at Naoko. A wave of sympathy filled his veins and suddenly he felt like he was the biggest jerk on Earth. Worse than Aomine, even. He lowered his arm and took a few steps back, giving the crying girl space.
He rubbed the back of his neck, not knowing what to say suddenly. He wanted to apologize but the words would not come out of his mouth. He sighed heavily and looked back at the quivering girl, opening his mouth. Just as he was about to speak, he was suddenly knocked to the side.
Kagami yelped and crashed into the ground, landing hard. He whipped his head at the source and his eyes widened when he saw Riko glaring down at him. Her face was twisted into an anger he never saw on her before and it made his blood run cold for a mere few seconds. "Co- Coach…"
"BAKAGAMI!" She screamed, making him stumble just as he stood up slowly. "What did you do to make Naoko-chan cry!? You're despicable! I knew a hot-headed idiot like you was bad with girls but to think you were this bad?!" Riko scolded him harshly and Kagami lowered his head, feeling ashamed.
By now, Naoko stopped crying and she wiped at her eyes, sniffling. She looked away, keeping her gaze off to the side until Riko pulled her away. "Come on, Naoko-chan. Let's go wash your face." The coach offered, sticking her tongue out at Kagami just before the two girls left the gym.
Kagami was left there to wallow in his guilt, until he was joined shortly after by the rest of the team.
After practice, Kagami silently changed and collected his things before leaving the club room. He could feel Kuroko's eyes on his back as he left, but he knew his shadow would wait until later to talk to him. Kagami groaned and clutched his head. 'Why did I do that? Usually I'm nice to girls! But she… Ughh.' He scrubbed his face as he neared the school gates.
'I should tell her I'm sorry, at least. I don't want it to be weird while we're at work, also.' He thought, leaning against the gate. He knew that Riko was still with Naoko, so he decided to wait for the girl.
Not even five minutes later he could hear the scuffle of shoes approaching. He looked up and felt relief when he saw Naoko slowly walking towards the gate. Her eyes were cast to the ground and her eyes were slightly red and puffy from crying. The guilt and shame washed through his body again and he awkwardly greeted her, "Y- Yo."
Naoko nearly tripped over her feet as she came to a sudden halt. Her eyes widened and she took a step back, but Kagami reached for her to stop. He grabbed her arm, making sure to be gentle. He tried to keep his expression soft, but he was not entirely sure how to do it.
She did not try to run, so he thought it was working, so far. "I just wanted to… To say… You know, that I-… I'm sorry." He finally said it, bowing his head slightly. "I'm just a hot-headed idiot who is terrible in dealing with girls." Kagami said honestly.
"…" Naoko stared at Kagami, eyeing him cautiously before she looked down at her shoes. "I accept your apology. I can see where you were coming from, since I'm just an outsider who claims to hate the very thing you love so dearly. I must apologize, as well. I–"
"Don't apologize!" Kagami said with a raised voice, making Naoko jump. He recoiled and cursed at himself softly. "Sorry. I just mean I'm the one who should be sorry. I took your words the wrong way and scared you and made you cry." He mumbled gruffly, not entirely used to giving out heartfelt apologies.
Naoko stood there silently, staring. He could feel her eyes on him and he met her clear, amethyst eyes with his dark, ruby-red orbs. "If it'll make you feel any better, you can hit me. I know the coach did a good job of it earlier, but it'd actually make me feel less of a jerk if you hit me, too…" He muttered truthfully.
Naoko blinked at him in surprise. She lowered her head, unable to hide the smile of amusement. "That was pretty funny…" The brunette could not help the giggle that rose form her throat. She covered her mouth, her cheeks flushing.
Kagami stared at her and he felt his own cheeks suddenly burn. "WE- Well, we should go ho- I mean, to wor- Ma- Maji Burger." He wanted to slap himself as he hastily turned the other way, keeping his eyes locked ahead of himself. "You're working tonight, right?"
"Yes." Naoko smiled, following behind Kagami as he led the way to Maji Burger.
I'M FANGIRLING SO HARD RIGHT NOW. *dies*
… And yes, I may or may not have made Takeda (Kuroko no Basket) related to Takeda (Haikyuu!)… 8D I just thought it would be funny to add that in. Good job if you got it! On another note, tell me what you all think~
~WinterAssassin~