Chapter 6

A concoction of hysterical giggling and evil laughter shot across the Shohoku gym, followed by a deafening echo.

The Shohoku team stared at them for a moment, to later on return to their occupation when the Guntai gathered around in a closed circle.

'This is it. Mystery solved.' Youhei said with the sort of grin Satan would've been proud of.

'And only three days at it. I congratulate us.' Takamiya said.

'So, what now, can we read the rest of the entries? Surely there's nothing more we can juice from it.' Noma proposed with a longing expression on his face.

'You dummies.' Ookusu said lazily while shaking his head. 'There is still the third party, remember page three? The object (Mitsui) of his (Rukawa) desire also drinks from another person's water jug. And Rukawa, if he really is the owner, doesn't seem to be happy about it.' He continued, arms folded across his chest.

'Oh, yes, nearly forgot about that one. Well, we can observe, or we can read another page today for more clues. Who says 'I agree'? Youhei asked, his face lightening up even more.

'OK, fine, but only one more page and then let's observe.' Ookusu agreed.

'My turn to read, but let's find a private place.' Noma announced, after which they left the gym and headed outside to the motorcycle parking lot.

Dear Page 4,

I have blue eyes and so does he. He has black hair and mine's black too. So together we look smashing. But he has blue eyes and black hair too. Which sucks major shit. And I think he likes sempai too.

Sempai said goodbye to him so I said goodbye to sempai also and he waved back. I beat him. Sempai just said goodbye to him without waving.

Love,

'Hmm. We'll have to observe. If Mitsui drinks from someone else's jug then that someone else must be the object of Rukawa's insecurity.' Youhei said.

'Well everything seems to fall into place; Mitchy has blue eyes and black hair and so does Rukawa...only one question remains. WHO THE FUCK IS HE?' Takamiya queried, shooting his arms in the air to stress the question's importance.

'We'll have to wait for the next practice which is on Thursday with Ryonan. It's gonna be a little harder to observe. I can't think of anyone else who has blue eyes and dark hair.' Noma explained with a disappointed sigh.

'We can still check whom Mitsui will say goodbye to.' Takamiya suggested brightly.

'You're right.' Ookusu said. All at once they jumped from their seats to say goodbye to the players.

It turned out that Mitsui said goodbye to everyone; even to them.

'This is more difficult than I imagined. Why don't we just ask Rukawa who the other boy is?' Noma offered impatiently.

'Then take all the fun out of our stealthy observations?' Youhei shot back.

The Guntai went home. When Thursday arrived, they met up the gym and took their positions at the court sidelines.

The team members were shuffled, which resulted to a tight match.

They watched Mitsui closely which only annoyed and frustrated them very much because the senior had given every team mate who made a shot a high five, even those from the Ryonan. And he winked pretty often too.

After the game the Guntai collapsed on the bleachers.

'What a flirt. No wonder Rukawa's getting all horny over him.' Takamiya complained in utter irritation.

'Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if he planted Taoka a kiss on the cheek after winning.' Youhei added in exasperation.

'Well, that's Mitsui for you. Uh, I'm gonna give Sendoh his team mate's boxers.' Ookusu volunteered since he was keeping the object, after all.

'Yeah, whatever.'

Ookusu stepped up to Sendoh.

'I have it. Here you go.' The blond boy told Sendoh who was rummaging through his school bag.

Sendoh stared at him for a while and said in a very low voice, 'Can we, uh, it's kinda embarrassing to hand it to me now, maybe-'

'Baka, of course I have something to wrap it in; what, I'm not about to look like a pervy fag in front of your team...and Shohoku. Here it is.' Ookusu thrust him the item which was wrapped in a filthy jersey. 'No need to thank me.' He added finally, to commence his discussion with his friends.

Sendoh felt the cloth and squeezed it as if to check if there was something more inside. He sighed and let his head fall, making him seem very frustrated. He held his head up, regained his composure and took a deep breath. He called out to Ookusu.

'Hey! Uh, Blondie!' he called out.

Ookuso stopped on his tracks and turned around to see Sendoh walking toward his direction, almost skipping his steps.

'I-well, is this it? I mean-' Sendoh asked incoherently.

'What, that's not it? That's not your underwear? You said it was pink, right?' Ookusu asked, loud enough for everyone to hear. Just then, a buzz issued out from the crowd.

'Well, it's complicated, I-well, there's supposed to be something inside it.' Sendoh said slowly and color began to darken his complexion.

'You mean a pair of pink briefs? Sorry, that's all we got...But actually, it was Sakuragi who found that; he found it lying on the locker room's benches. He still had his sweat on it.'

'Sa-Sakuragi?...No, I mean, not a pair of briefs...' Sendoh was finding it difficult to find words. Ookusu studied him for a while then he asked,

'Well, what is it?'

"..."

'I can't help you if you're not gonna tell.' Ookusu said politely but firmly. And when Sendoh still hadn't uttered a word, he started to walk away for effect.

And then, the Ryonan ace spoke,

'It's some kind of a notebook; well, not actually a notebook, but a journal, where you write your stuff and...The truth is, this pair of boxers is mine. And I kept that journal inside this for security. Yeah, that's all. Perhaps you've seen it lying around somewhere some time ago?' the taller boy finished nervously. On the whole, he was looking almost apologetic.

Ookusu stared at him expressionlessly for a very long time before he could say, 'You're shitting me, right?'

TBC