Chapter XIII: Burning Passion! Balls of Fury!
A/N: Some surnames have been remained as they are because of bloodline reasons.
Today's homeroom will be a volleyball game with 1-C!
The class representative of Haruka's class always had rivalry issues with the other class: particularly Satoshi's class. The two representatives always had little trust for each other and decided to settle their score in a three-set volleyball game. The big cheese of 1-C didn't need to get the consensus of the entire class to play. It was entirely of his own accord—much to the annoyance of the rest of his classmates. The same thing happened with 1-C. That morning, the two classes met in the volleyball court outside the high school building. Of all the people on the court, the class representatives were the only ones who seem very motivated. The rest were, well…let's just say they just want this to be over as soon as possible.
It just happened 1-C's representative was none other than Satoshi himself. "Shigeru (Gary Oak), prepare to lose!"
"Did I hear you right? That's supposed to be my line…minus my name." That was the reply of Shigeru Ookido.
"I'll show you, you overgrown arrogant piece of—"
"Save your curses AFTER I humiliate you. Let's go, girls."
Meet Shigeru Ookido: 14 years old; brown hair; born on the 5th of May; and also a native of Masara Town. He got elected as the class representative of 1-A thanks to majority of the girls who were so madly in love with her; they formed a cheerleading squad exclusively for him and him alone. Of course, not everyone was attracted to Shigeru.
"Arranging a volleyball game with the other section just to solve some personal rivalry?" Kanata said; a bit annoyed. "Just who does he think he is; king of the sea?"
"K-Kanata…" Haruka tried calling out to her friend but to no avail.
"Just look at those girls constantly following him. Why did somebody like him become our class representative?"
"K-Kanata…"
"We were just better off with Konomi as our class representative. She's smarter and more responsible than that jerk."
"Kanata…!"
"WHAT…?"
Haruka paused for a while, took a deep breath, and said: "How do you play volleyball?"
Much to the surprise of her purple-haired friend, the brunette girl shrugged; putting up an innocent face in front of her friend. She felt like a dagger went straight through one end of her ears and went out through the other.
"Haruka…it's too soon to be making practical jokes." Kanata said; laughing.
"That wasn't a joke, kamo." Haruka replied. "I…I never played volleyball before."
"Haruka, sometimes I wonder if you were even born on this planet."
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Two teams of six filled up their respective sides of the volleyball court. The class representatives acted as coaches with neither of them having actual volleyball playing experience. Each team consisted of three boys and three girls—anybody who at least knew the basics or who just sucked at everything else but this. The girls were on standby in the benches while watching the game started off with the first serve from Shigeru himself.
"Shigeru, we're here for you! Kyaaaaah…!" His cheerleaders were just behind the benches squealing and cheering for him (not for the team).
"(Shigeru, I want to beat the crap out of you!)" Kanata restrained herself from going berserk.
Shigeru managed to secure his team's first six scores with his deadly spikes. The game was only beginning and Satoshi's team was already in a bind. Fortunately, he called for a substitution and replaced one male player with one from the bench—a certain green-haired heartthrob.
"They're putting Shuu in." Haruka said. "I wonder how he plays this sport."
"All the more this game makes me want to throw up." Kanata replied.
Shigeru goes for an underhand serve. Shuu received and tossed the ball with his fingers and let somebody else in the front spike back to 1-A territory. It was a clean hit; giving the team their first score in the first set. This kind of attack went on until both teams were tied at 15-15.
"Maki, get in here!" Shigeru called for the purple-haired girl; replacing one of the female players on the court.
"Watch and learn from an amateur pro, Haruka." She bragged.
"Amateur…pro…?" Haruka replied; clueless. "Aren't you contradicting yourself?"
"Just watch and learn, jeez!"
The ball was served by Satoshi's team. It was heading straight for Kanata—right where she wanted to land.
"I got it! I got it!" She bent her legs low and positioned her hands for receiving by hitting. But instead of the ball landing firmly on her hands, the ball came short of the landing and settled on the ground as she lifted both arms in an attempt to hit it. For the next few seconds, she felt like she humiliated herself in front of her brunette friend.
"Amateur pro…? I think it's the other way around, noob!" One boy from the other side of the court laughed along with his buddies.
Frustrated, Kanata picked up the ball and kicked it as if it was a soccer ball. The boy took a nasty headshot and flung several feet away from the bench.
"Don't you EVER use Internet lingo on me, buster!" The purple-haired girl warned him.
GOAL! The crowd goes wild.
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Finally, it was Haruka's turn to play the game. She wished she never had to play this game. Kanata failed to show to her even the fundamentals. All she knew was to hit the ball with the right hand and arm position and send it back to the opposite side. Well, that was easier said than done. Her arms and feet were shaking as she stood at front and center of the court. To make matters worse, Satoshi was the one serving for the opposing team. She asked herself whether to send it back or let it be.
"(I want to win. But I don't want Satoshi to lose, kamo.)" Haruka said to herself. "(What should I do?)"
She was so lost in thought; she didn't notice that Satoshi already made a spike serve and the ball was heading right for her.
"Haruka heads up!" Kanata yelled at her from behind.
By the time she did lift her head up it was too late. She received the ball right in the face with full force. The ball bounced off from her delicate face as it went over the net one more time and settled on 1-C's territory. Believe it or not, it was a lucky shot—a lucky shot that won them the first set: 25-22.
"Haruka, are you alright?" Kanata came rushing to her friend's aid.
"Have you ever wondered why the sky is blue? Ha, ha, ha, ha…" The brunette girl's eyes were that of a Patchiiru (Spinda).
"Yup, you're okay. Get up, come on."
"Not until you answer my question…"
"AH! Look over there! Satoshi's kissing Hikari!"
That did the trick. The once pair of dizzy eyes returned to normal and all she saw was Satoshi giving her the thumbs up from beyond the net—no Hikari; no kissing; none.
"Whew…for a minute there I thought it was true, kamo." Haruka sighed.
All of a sudden, Hikari rushed to the court and handed over a face towel to Satoshi. The trainer used it to wipe his face off tons of sweat. Although there was no kissing involved in the scene, that alone made Haruka very agitated.
"Kanata, let's go! We have a volleyball game to win!" The brunette girl quickly stood back on her two feet.
"I guess a little bit of motivation goes a long way." Kanata giggled.
Much to the surprise of everybody, on the second set Haruka was on a roll. Despite fierce resistance from 1-C, the brunette girl managed to keep her team on a lead. That was the case because her aim was so accurate; it seemed to hit Satoshi right in his balls. For any male, that was really going to hurt seriously.
"I know hitting Satoshi's balls is not forbidden." Kanata said. "But aren't you taking it a bit too far? The poor guy's face seems like he's fighting a losing battle in the toilet."
"Wow, I never thought that volleyball is actually fun kamo!" Haruka replied; disregarding her friend's concern. "Ah, I feel great!"
"Okay, forget what I said."
Shigeru placed his arm right at the brunette girl's shoulder and laughed, saying: "Those were some sweet moves, Kumano. That's showing him; aim right for his balls."
"Come on, let's win this one kamo!"
Kanata let out a deep, long sigh. "Just like I said; what's worth doing is worth overdoing."
There were a lot of occasions that the trainer dodged the shots or received them with his hands but it didn't end the fact that his balls were still in danger of being hit another time. Eventually, Haruka seemed like she had already learned the fundamentals of volleyball—a huge change happened from the time she didn't want to play the sport at all.
The match ended without a winner. By the time 1-A was finally going in for the win; the school bell rang—marking the end of their first period. The match was tied at 24-24 and they needed to plan another day to finish their match. It was only then Haruka snapped out of her recent frenzy.
"S-Satoshi, a-are you alright?!" Haruka cried. "You poor thing…you got hit pretty bad there. Let's bring you to the infirmary."
The trainer didn't know how to react. Just a while ago, it was her who was sending the ball right on his balls. Now she was the one who was about to bring her to the infirmary.
"Just like I said; what's worth doing is worth overdoing." Kanata said.
TO BE CONTINUED
Kamo! Trivial Trivia #8: In most places, friends call themselves by their first names or nicknames. But things run differently in the land of the rising sun. People actually address their close friends by their surnames. In Shigeru's case, he addresses Kanata and Haruka by their last names respectively. It's not really disrespectful as long as friends stick together like glue.
Kamo! Trivial Trivia #9: For those new to the Internet community (and others who don't really know), the word "noob" is an Internet lingo which its meaning is as close as "novice" or "unskilled". The first meaning usually describes somebody new to the Internet community while the second meaning means that "noob" is a very insulting word since it describes a person with lack of experience especially at online gaming. Believe it or not, I was once a noob when I first joined FF. But you know what they say; practice makes perfect.
Then again, nobody's perfect. So why practice? XD (disclaiming this statement since this came from a movie)