They all stood there like statues, the tension was undeniable, the silence deafening. Some of them gapped with opened mouth, others bit their lips. Most of them could feel the droplets of cold sweat forming on their foreheads and in their palms, making their hands clammy.

The stand-off, maybe half a minute, maybe one; felt like an ice-age (though none of them could imagine how long an ice age would feel like, and that applies to you and me).

A light cough from Fujima broke the silence. He was the first to speak, "Listen, just calm down. OK? Calm down."

"Yes," Hanagata, steeled his nerves and concurred, "Whatever it is, let us talk it throu…"

But before he could finish mouthing the last word, the nurse hissed back, "Shut up! You, shut up! I hate you the most, and that boyfriend of yours!"

Everyone in the room now turned to look at the two Shoyo's players at the word 'boyfriends', some of them mouthed a silent "Oh", and had a look of epiphany their face.

"Boyfriend?" Hanagata didn't quite understand it at first. As far as he knew, he was single and did not have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. He peered at Fujima who was beside him and giving the exact same expression.

Then, they both made faces of sudden revelation, at the same time.

"I think you got the wrong idea." said Hanagata firmly as he realized what the nurse was referring to, while turning to face her, "He's my captain. Basketball team captain, you know?"

"Yeah, we are not in that kind of relationship." nodded Fujima as well, waving his smooth, slender hand that looked nothing of the sort of basketball player, "We are just good friends."

"Yes, really good friends." nodded Hanagata.

"And team mates." nodded Fujima.

"Yes, team mates. And he's my captain."

"We went to the same Junior High together."

"Yes, same Junior High, and Elementary School as well."

"And Kindergarten…"

Everyone until now was switching between Hanagata and Fujima in a tick-tock kind of manner as the two recounted merrily their fated friendships. They were probably lying next to each other in cot of the same hospital since they were borne!

"Shut-up!" growled Maki, "This is not the time to discuss this now!"

The two Shoyo's member bit their lips.

The nurse, who was surprised by the development until now, turned and looked at Akagi, who was standing in the back of the group, "Why…? Why did you do that?" her voice quivered, "Why you, of all people?"

Everyone now turned and looked at Akagi.

"I thought you were a nice guy!"

"What?" Akagi swiveled his head to look at his teammates with wide eyes, then to the nurse holding Kiyota, "What did I do? What have I done?"

"You… It took all my courage to express my feelings to you…." She was almost hysterical now, the expression on her face was like that of a mad devil, "And you just throw it away like it's a worthless piece of junk!"

Feelings? Express? Worthless? Junk? Thrown away?

Akagi's and Maki's eyes widened and their jaws dropped, "So, that letter, was… from you?"

Mitsui's and Sakuragi's jaw fell to the floor as well and looked at each other. So the sender of the confession letter was the nurse!

"That putrid-smelling thing?" Maki asked, the memory of the stench made his stomach churned. A scowl from Akagi made the usually composed MVP regret what he said immediately.

"The scent was banana-vanilla!" scowled the nurse.

Banana-vanilla? After hearing the name, Mitsui and Sakuragi couldn't hold it back any longer, ignoring the seriousness of the circumstances they were in, "Wahahahahaha! Even the woman who crushes on you thinks you like banana! You are a gorilla alright! Hahahahaha!"

Even Maki, Fujima, Hanagata and Sendoh snickered at the comment. They knew they shouldn't but they just couldn't help it. Akagi liked banana huh? Rukawa snorted, which everyone missed with a wink.

Akagi very much wanted to kill everyone right there and then, including Maki, but decided otherwise.

"OK, maybe it was a misunderstanding…" Akagi took a cautious step forward.

"Stay where you are!" hissed the vicious command that immobilized Akagi in his track. The scalper now pressed against the skin on Kiyota's neck, which stilled the shaking rookie.

Everyone froze.

The situation took a sharp turn from being casual to being dreadfully tense.

For a while it was as if time had stood still.

Then, Rukawa felt a slight nudge on his left side.

It was his rival and roommate, Sendoh; still wearing a nonchalant look on his face.

He gave a look that said 'What?'

It appeared that the Ryonan Ace could read his silent language, and whispered, "Take this." as he extended a loosely fisted hand to his neighbour.

Rukawa reached out his hand to receive, and immediately wanted to jerk back as he felt something cold, wet and wiggly being transferred into his palm.

He looked down at it, a long, brown, tubular being. A worm; an earthworm, to be exact. It was twisting and turning uncomfortably in his palm, leaving a trace of slime.

Rukawa's brows knotted a little, his eyes narrowed less than a little, and his lips twerked even less than that.

"What's this?"

Sendoh looked at him in disbelieve, as if that was the most ridiculous question he had ever heard. "A worm." Sendoh replied in a matter-of-factly tone, though still in a whisper, "What else does it look like to you?"

Maki gave them a disapproving glare to signal for their silence.

"I know it is a worm." Rukawa whispered back, "And what am I supposed to do with it?"

"Toss it." The Ryonan Ace hissed back, gesturing with his chin to the hostage situation in front of them.

The look on Rukawa's face indicated that he was confused, "Toss it?"

"Look," Sendoh leaned in, whispering in his ear, "Girls are usually afraid of worms. Toss it at her, she gets scared, she releases Kiyota, you save the day, case close."

"Why don't you toss it?"

"I don't have the heart to. It is a worm for goodness sake."

"And you have the heart to have me toss it?"

"Do you have better idea?" Sendoh raised an eyebrow as if challenging him.

In fact, Rukawa couldn't come up with a better plan himself, so he shook his head.

"Why do you have a worm in your pocket?"

"It's for the goldfish outside." came the casual answer coupled with a shrug, as if it was the most normal thing to do.

Rukawa pictured Sendoh's pockets full of wiggly little worms that would crawl out and about onto his bed, his uniform, and onto the basketball… A look of disgust passed his face, which wasn't very different from his normal expression anyway. He contemplated about changing room, but that would have to wait for now.

So, with a sigh, he got into a pitching position, raised his right fist with the worm in it, and his left leg bent towards his abdomen. In his mind he had written off his biggest rival as an idiot.

Then he used all the strength he could muster, and tossed. Tossed like he would toss a baseball, instead it was a worm, an earthworm that was released from his palm.

Sendoh watched in anticipation, his eyes followed the path of the worm. Everyone else was startled by the sudden movement.

Kiyota held his breath.

The worm flew from his palm.

Maybe it was because of the stickiness of the slime, maybe it was a bad pitch, he would never know. The worm flew a mere two feet, then took a downward trajectory and landed about a foot away from where the nurse and Kiyota stood with a quiet splat.

It wiggled a little more as if in pain, releasing more slime and a tiny wet patch formed on the floor.

"What's this?" the nurse asked in annoyance. The scalper that was pressed on to Kiyota's neck pushed in a little harder against the soft skin, which broke under the pressure. A tiny trail of blood started to slowly trickle down his neck.

"Good one, Rukawa, good one." hissed Sendoh sarcastically.

"Trust you to come up with that stupid idea!" he hissed back.

Maki growled at them, "What did I say about doing something stupid?"

Rukawa only jerked his thump towards the unsuspecting-looking Ryonan's ace, indicating the idea was not his.