Akane Tachibana – Higher Places
He can be such a moron sometimes, but maybe that's what I like about him in someway, but occasionally he can be a total moron and one can't help but be infuriated by him. I was angry when I heard Hiiragi had transferred and I can't deny my anger had changed me. I was close to quitting basketball had I lost the match against him. He was the reason I had started basketball again and he seemed to have filled the missing jigsaw in the huge puzzle of my life. To be perfectly honest, I hadn't stopped thinking about him when he left and I couldn't think straight. We worked well as a team, a two man cell. Maybe Gaku was more serious than I was. Perhaps he was better for Hiiragi.
I suddenly felt something and saw my jacket across his hands around my shoulders. He sat down beside me, but didn't look at me. I was cold, but I Hiiragi would be much colder as he literally had nothing on to keep him warm, but returning the jacket to him somehow made me feel that I'd offend him in some way. I looked at my fingers in embarrassment, fidgeting frantically to distract me.
"I didn't mean what I said earlier." I sat there silently not saying a word. I hadn't known what had come over me. I felt like a total idiot. He took my hands and I couldn't help but look into his deep grey eyes, seeing my reflection in his iris. "Gaku will never replace you. I admit he does have the same style as you, but to be honest, I'd prefer to play alongside you."
"Then why don't you come back?" He looked at me. His eyes and the tip of his nose were going red from the cold and he broke his stare from mine. He didn't have an idea. He did mean what he said. He's a complete idiot. He held my hands tight and I felt like taking them away and running back home. "Is it because I didn't want to go higher places with you?"
There was a long pause. "Because I did, Hiiragi." His grip lightened slightly and I was afraid that he was going to think that I was mocking him, but for what seemed for the first time in my whole life, I was actually serious. He suddenly let go of my hands and was embracing me. My heart was racing and I could feel the warmth of his bare skin against me. I could feel his heart beating and I closed my eyes, not saying a word. What was this feeling? I had never felt like this before. I felt like embracing him and never letting go. I hated it. I had expected Hiiragi to mock me like he usually did as he'd never taken me seriously. Subconsciously, my hands were around him and tears began to fall from my eyes, but it was raining so I wasn't so concerned about Hiiragi seeing my tears.
"Will you come to higher places with me?" he whispered. "Just like you said before our last match had ended." My eyes widened. I remembered that match vividly. I was playing against him. He no longer became my friend, but a rival in that match and I tried my utmost to try and beat him. I had planned to quit basketball after I had played him one-on-one and lost, but I hadn't seemed to realise that he had taken basketball seriously unlike I had done, so having a laid back response to the sport may have hurt him. I'd never take Hiiragi seriously and he's never been 'not serious' about anything he'd done.
"I can't leave Kouzu Hiiragi," His grip lightened around me and I knew he'd been stunned by what I had said. I wasn't so surprised myself as I had been the type to have not wanted to stay in that dump in the first place, but basketball had brought me to him, Kouzu had brought us together. We were able to play together, winning match after match, getting stronger. I did not take winning, loosing, basketball in general seriously at all until I found out he had not been by my side. "Kouzu brought me closer to you; we became friends because of basketball. How can I leave? Isn't that the treasure you said you'd found?" He let go of me and looked towards the frozen river below us at the bottom of the hill.
"I didn't want to leave. The pressure from my brother and father had made me want to achieve more. But I seemed to have lost the treasure I had found anyway." He looked up at the night sky and the stars glistened in his eyes. "It wasn't basketball that was my treasure, Tachibana. It was you and the rest of the team that was my treasure." I turned to look at him in bewilderment. He looked at me and I thought I saw a slight disappointment in his eyes as he stood up. He walked away, but I couldn't help but grasp his hands to prevent him from leaving. He let go of my hand and began to walk in the distance.
"Why did you leave Kouzu then?" I turned around and shouted after him. He paused in his footsteps and it was dead silent again. All that could be heard was the rustling of the leaves that was blowing vigorously in the wind. He stopped and turned around.
"Because that wasn't your treasure, Tachibana."
