BASKETBALL
DISCLAIMER: I always like to think that Gakuen Alice is mine, however, it is heartbreakingly not true. Gakuen Alice doesn't belong to me. -sighs-
They were good-looking, that was all Mikan could think of, and that was something that she would cry over for the next few years. How could she not think of anything else when looking at someone? It was absurd.
A pair of claret eyes eyed Mikan warily while the other, a pair of blue eyes seemed welcoming.
"So you're our new roommates?" the one with crimson eyes coldly asked and closed the door with a thud. Mikan immediately came off with the impression that he was a taciturn person. She nervously nodded and hid behind Hotaru who ignored them and began eating. Hotaru always chose the best times to begin eating her crab brains.
"Natsume! You're scaring them! Hello our new roommates and sorry, Natsume's just in a bad mood, how about we introduce ourselves like we do in class!" the blond-haired guy brightly said. Natsume scoffed and flopped onto his bed. Mikan noted that it was the bed beside hers.
"I'm Ruka Nogi and I'm 16 years old. I play Hockey," Ruka said. "Natsume, your turn next, and do it properly."
Natsume sighed, sat up and faced Mikan and Hotaru, who was still ignoring them and munching on who-knows-what-she-was-eating-now.
"Natsume Hyuuga, 16, Basketball."
"How about you two?" Ruka asked, he was trying very hard to make every get along well. Mikan wondered why, but came up with the explanation that Natsume didn't have many friends later on. It probably wasn't true, but that was the best her logic could come up with.
"I'm Mikan-"
"I'm Haruto Imai, 15, " Hotaru cut off, putting emphasis onto Haruto. She shot Mikan a glare before continuing. "I play Hockey."
"Mikan? Is that your name?" Ruka asked, his face portraying nothing but confusion.
"Oh! Mikan's not my name, my name's Ren Yukihara and I'm 15 years old and I play basketball!" Mikan flusteredly rambled. She brushed some hair out of her eyes and put on a convincing smile.
"Then why did you say you were Mikan before your companion cut you off?" Natsume questioned suspiciously while flicking a page of his manga.
"T-That was because, well, everyone calls me Mikan, so yea…it's my nickname!" Mikan laughed. Hotaru face-palmed and looked away, Mikan was the worst liar ever, therefore it wasn't surprising that Natsume didn't look convinced, however, he pursued it no further.
"Anyways, so you play basketball right?" Ruka eagerly pushed on. Mikan slowly nodded, wondering why that would be of any significance. "That means that Natsume's your team captain then!"
Mikan's jaw fell to the ground, she couldn't believe that that guy was her captain. Mikan made a mental note about being more careful about her identity in the future.
"Main Hall," Hotaru stated, it was the first thing she said in a long time. Mikan made a little 'o' sound and her hand flew to her gaping mouth, indicating that she forgot.
"I completely forgot!" she gasped, unaware that the others had already realised that fact.
"Let's go down together then." Ruka stood up and held the door open for them.
"Welcome, welcome students! How were your holidays? The new term has started…" the principal rambled animatedly on, although no one was listening. Mikan squirmed in her seat and twiddled her thumbs as she waited for the principal to finish his introduction.
"Stop yawning, it's annoying," Natsume said from beside her. Mikan shot him a look and shut her gaping mouth. He smirked. She couldn't believe that Natsume was her Captain, the one who she was going to follow orders from a jerk like him all day. Though, Natsume did look pretty athletic. Mikan concentrated so hard on her thoughts, she almost didn't feel the kick that Hotaru gave her. Mikan's head snapped up and she gave Hotaru a questioning look.
"Assembly's ended, idiot."
Mikan's eyes bulged out and she looked around her, there was no one around here except for Hotaru, an annoyed Hotaru.
"How many times do you want me to call your stupid name and kick you?" she fumed while dragging Mikan out of the assembly hall.
"W-Where are we going now?" Mikan whimpered, Hotaru was scary when she was angry.
"Class."
"E-Eh? B-But we don't know what class we're in…"
"They said that the class lists are outside, near D block."
"O-Oh."
"Now shut up and walk properly."
Mikan stumbled after Hotaru and soon, they reached D block. There was a humongous crowd in front of the class lists, everyone was pushing and shoving. To put simply, it was hectic.
"Okay, let's do this!" Hotaru said while pulling up her sleeves, getting ready to push through the crowd. There seemed to be a strange glint in Hotaru's eyes which scared Mikan slightly. Hotaru placed a strong grip on Mikan's shoulder and dragged her through the crowd with her. After ages of hustling and bustling, pushing and shoving, they broke through the crowd and could see the class lists.
"Hmm…I wonder where I am…" Mikan muttered to herself while her eyes rapidly scanned the lists of names.
"Ah, I found it," Hotaru said. Mikan's head whipped around and her eyes sparkled.
"Where is it?" Mikan piped.
"My name, that is."
Mikan's face fell immediately.
"Ah," Hotaru said.
Mikan looked up again, hoping that Hotaru found her name.
"…There's a birdie over there."
Mikan's face fell again.
"Just joking, I found your name."
"Really? Where?"
Hotaru pointed to her name. Mikan followed her finger and found her name on class 2-B.
"We're in the same class," Hotaru stated before turning and began pushing her way out of the crowd. Mikan tried to follow, however, a new wave of students stopped her. Mikan was lost in the sea of people. Mikan looked around wildly for her best friend, however she could see no familiar faces.
Suddenly, someone bumped into her really hard, knocking her down.
"Ouch!" Mikan squeaked and rubbed her back.
"What are you doing?"
Mikan snapped her head up and saw someone blocking the light above her.
"Get up, would you! You're blocking the way," the mysterious person grunted and all of a sudden, Mikan felt a hand pulling her up and dragging her away.
"W-Wah!"
"Wah? What's that?"
The person let go of her hand and faced Mikan. Mikan's eyes widened, it was her roommate, Mr. Cynical.
"Thanks," Mikan muttered. Natsume smirked and sauntered off wordlessly. "What's with that guy, I say thanks and he just walks off!" Mikan thought while looking for the classroom 2-B.
"Idiot, what are you standing there dazed for?"
"Eh? Hotaru?"
"Who's Hotaru? It's Haruto here."
"Hota-Haruto! Where were you?"
"Forget about questions, we're going to be late."
Hotaru sighed and began walking away.
"Wait!" Mikan shouted and ran after Hotaru.
"I'm Narumi-sensei and I'm your English teacher!" a blonde guy wearing a frilly shirt decorated with flowers and ribbons and a pair of matching pants. Mikan could do nothing but stare at him in disbelief. This guy was a teacher, an actual proper real teacher? She couldn't believe it.
"Mikan, it's rude to stare," Hotaru whispered, unaffected by Narumi-sensei's, well, shall we say, unusual taste in clothing. Mikan blushed bright red and she stared hard at the table.
The lesson dragged by, and finally, the wonderful shrill ring of the bell rang and Mikan immediately packed up. The rest of the day continued in a similar manner. Mikan thought English was too long, however Maths and Science were even worse!
"Hmm… what do we have next, Ho-Haruto?" Mikan asked while playing with her pacer.
"Sports."
Mikan's eyes widened and excitement was clearly written on her face.
"I'm so excited! What about you?" Mikan exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her seat.
"Yukihara-san, what are you doing? Stop bouncing around and sit down!" the teacher scolded. The rest of the class laughed. Mikan's face turned beetroot red and she idmmediately sat down with amazing speed. Sometimes, she hated how her face could turn red so easily.
"I'm not excited, we're going to have to deal with the problem of changing," Hotaru whispered, a grim look on her face.
"C-C-C-C-CHANGING?"
"Yukihara-san! What exactly are you talking about? Do not talk about inappropriate matters in my class!" the teacher shouted angrily, his forehead was becoming more wrinkled and a vein could be seen throbbing.
"I'm sorry!" Mikan apologised. She felt stares and laughter around her and at that moment, Mikan wanted to dig a hole and die. The teacher gave her one last sceptical look before he resumed teaching.
"I was just saying that we can't change with the others, we need to get a toilet and change in there," Hotaru quietly said.
"Oh. Hotaruuuu~ Why couldn't you choose basketball too? Why did you have to do Baseball? Why? Why?" Mikan moaned, careful to not raise her voice in case of being heard again.
"Baseball requires the least amount of energy out of the sports, plus, I'm good at it."
Mikan raised an eyebrow before hurriedly taking down the notes written on the board before the teacher decided to rub them off.
A wonderful sound, also known as the bell, rang out. It was normally the sound which Mikan looked forwards to in every class, however, this time was different.
It was sports next, with the additional baggage of changing.
Mikan grabbed her books, said a hurried goodbye to Hotaru, and sprinted off at full speed. Hurry, hurry, was all she could think off, and she did indeed hurry. In less than a minute, she reached the change rooms.
No one was there yet.
"Hmmm…I remember the teacher said that my locker was number 27 hmmm…where is it…" Mikan mumbled while her eyes desperately scanned for the number. "Ah! Found it!" Mikan flipped the door open and grabbed her sports uniform, which was laid neatly inside.
"Ah! Natsume, is that the newbie? What was his name again…? Ooh, I remember, Yukihara Ren!" someone chirped.
Mikan frantically looked around, trying to find the source of then voice, and she found it. There were a couple of boys standing in the doorway, with Natsume in the middle.
"Wow! He looks so cute, so feminine!" another one commented.
Mikan nervously looked away and tightened her grip on her sports uniform.
"I-I have to go change!" Mikan squeaked before dashing off into one of the free toilets.
"…He's shy isn't he? But I mean, seriously, we're all guys, why does he have to change in the toilet?"
Natsume didn't say a word and made his way to his locker, number 26 and changed into his sports uniform.
"I guess everyone has heard that we have a new student, Yukihara Ren. Now, let's have you do a self-introduction," the coach said while patting Mikan on the back. Her eyes nervously scanned her teammates; they were more or less in one place, waiting for her self-introduction.
"U-Um…I'm Yukihara R-Ren…" Mikan trailed off, she didn't know what else to say.
"Any questions?" the coach asked the class. There were none. "Ok then, we're going to engage in some warm-up activities and practices now. Everyone, jog 5 laps around this gym."
Mikan could hear moaning and complaints, however, the class did as they were told and began jogging at a relatively slow pace. Mikan hurriedly joined in.
"You know, you're pretty short for a basketball player," the person next to Mikan commented. Mikan glanced at him. His dark blue hair flopped messily over his eyes and under his left eye, there was a star tattoo which everyone seemed to notice when looking at him.
"I-I-I"
"No need to be that nervous, Shorty. I'm Tsubasa Ando, nice to meet you!"
"S-Shorty…"
"Ah! Tsubasa, you're getting along so well with him already, move it, it's my turn to introduce myself!" a person with blond spiky hair whined and elbowed Tsubasa playfully.
"YOU RASCALS! NO TALKING, RUN LIKE YOU MEAN IT!" the Coach bellowed.
"Ehhh…how boring…" the person who elbowed Tsubasa moaned. "But, whatever Coach says, I'm still gonna introduce my self, I'm Kokoro Yome, nice to meet you, Number 27. By the way, just call me Koko, everyone calls me that."
"N-number 27?"
"THAT'S IT! YOU STILL TALK? THEN 10 MORE LAPS FOR YOU WORTHLESS BUNCH!"
There was a series of moans, groans, complaints, cussing and protests.
After they finally finished the 'warm-up', the coach dumped a pile of skipping ropes in front of them.
"Fundamentals are essential, get moving," he boomed before disappearing into the sports equipment storeroom. Surprisingly, the class did know what to do, and one by one, they snatched a skipping rope and began skipping so quickly that the rope was a blur.
"We need to skip continuously for around 5 minutes or so, but in in this case, until Coach comes back" Tsubasa explained to Mikan before grabbing two ropes, throwing one to Mikan.
"Ah, thanks, umm…Tsubasa-senpai."
Tsubasa winked at Mikan. "No probs and you don't need the senpai."
"YUKIHARA! DO IT MORE QUICKLY! SIDE-STEPS ARE CRUCIAL IN IMPROVING YOUR AGILITY!"
"Y-yes!"
Mikan could feel beads of sweat emerging on her forehead which was crunched in concentration as she side-stepped as fast as she could, however, that was not still enough for Coach.
"YUKIHARA! FASTER! ANDO, CONCENTRATE!"
"Cooaaaccchh….we're tireeddd!" Koko moaned and made a big show in slumping to the ground.
"Finish this activity, as I've said before, FUNDAMENTALS ARE IMPORTANT! Oh, ten minutes is up, five minute rest all of you!"
Although the ringing in Mikan's ear drowned out practically any noise, she could hear the cheers of her class.
"That was a tough start, Coach must be serious about the competitions this year, hey are you ok Shorty?" Tsubasa asked while handing Mikan a towel and bottle of water.
"Thanks, I'm fine, just a little tired."
Mikan gulped down the water eagerly. At the corner of her eye, she saw Coach set out cones in a zig-zag pattern.
"What's that for?" she asked.
"It's the Weaving Fundamental or so the Coach calls it," someone answered.
"Ooh, I see, wait, who are you?"
"The name's Youichi."
"BREAK TIME OVER! THE WEAVING FUNDAMENTAL IS READY!" the Coach hollered. Mikan wondered if he ever got tired of yelling before closing her bottle of water and heading towards the cones where Coach was standing.
"Get into teams of five," Coach said. Mikan looked around nervously, hoping to not get left out. It was her first day here, so it wouldn't be a big surprise if she was left out, but she still hoped to be in a team where they wanted her.
"Ren! Over here!"
Mikan whipped her head around and spotted Tsubasa madly waving for her to come. Mikan hurried over, grateful that she wasn't left out and someone actually wanted her in his group.
"Oh, so isn't it the newbie, that idiot, my roommate."
Mikan's face fell, Natsume was on her team.
"Just roommate is enough! And I'm not an idiot!" Mikan protested while glancing at her other team-members. There was Tsubasa, Natsume, Youichi, Kokoro and her.
"That's right, Natsume, that was rude!" Tsubasa piped.
Natsume shot Tsubasa an evil glare which shut him up immediately.
"Natsume, it looks like Coach is about to same something, I would advise against talking anymore," Youichi said calmly.
"How do you kno-" Mikan said, only to be cut off by Coach.
"EVERYONE, SEE THE CONES IN FRONT OF YOU? ALL SHOUT YES IF YOU CAN!"
And, everyone did, they sounded like kindergartens.
"How did you know?" Mikan continued.
"Well, before Coach says something, he sucks in a big breath and the vein on his forehead sticks out," Youichi pointed out.
"ALRIGHT THEN, WHEN I BLOW THE WHISTLE, SPRINT AROUND THE CONES AS FAST AS YOU CAN, THIS IS A RELAY!"
Coach took a big breath and blew into the whistle. It made an ear-piercing ring which set off the first runners.
"Go, go!" Tsubasa shouted and pushed Natsume forwards. Natsume scowled, however lost no time and immediately darted forwards. He weaved in and out of the cones gracefully and returned in no time.
"Wow…" Mikan gaped at him. Although his mouth was foul, had a horrible personality, annoyed her, and she could name all the things Mikan didn't like about him for all day, however, she had to admit that he was good at basketball.
"What? Fallen in love?" Natsume teased, earning himself a glare from Mikan.
Soon, it was Mikan's turn and she sprinted at full speed, determined to not waste Natsume's skill to her clumsiness. Her light build aided her through the cones and she dexterously weaved in and out of the cones with little difficulty. However, her clumsiness took over near the end and she tripped, falling into the arms of Natsume and it was not pleasant. His body was almost rock hard and it hurt only a little bit less than banging into a brick wall.
"Watch where you're going, idiot," Natsume grumbled and walked away.
"So uncute," Mikan muttered and rubbed her head. Coach wandered over and blew his whistle loudly. How come everything Coach did seemed to be loud?
"Time for a small practice match," Coach said and began handing out bibs. "First years, no practice match for you guys, your match is tomorrow where your abilities and strengths will be tested." Coach passed Mikan and handed out a red bib to Natsume.
Soon, the whistle blew and the game started.
"ALL RIGHT! EVERYONE, CHANGE," Coach hollered.
"Man, I'm so sweaty, I'm going to have to take a shower!" Tsubasa moaned and dashed off to the showers. Natsume wordlessly headed back to the changing rooms with the rest of the group trailing behind him.
Mikan eyed Natsume, a frown emerging on her forehead. She'd guessed that Natsume was a good player, however she had never known he was that good. It had almost been a one-sided practice match, with Natsume's countless goals and offensive plays. His defence wasn't bad either.
"Amazed?" Koko asked, appearing beside Mikan suddenly.
"N-Not at all!" Mikan denied.
Koko raised an eyebrow sceptically and shook his head. "Don't deny it, Natsume is a genius basketball player who has been recognised by many. Today, that match may have been seen as one-sided, but that doesn't mean that the others aren't any good. People such as Hideaki and Tsubasa are also our ace players, however after the holidays, their play has decreased and what you've seen wasn't their true potential."
Mikan slowly nodded, taking in the information as she entered the change rooms. The first thing she noticed when she stepped into the room, was that there people inside that weren't from the basketball team. They were big and bulky, probably from the rugby team.
"Why are they here?" Mikan whispered to Koko who shrugged.
"I have no idea why the rugby guys are here, but a word of advice, don't do anything to annoy them, the consequences are horrible," he whispered back and made his way to his locker. Wide-eyed and cautious, Mikan tentatively walked to her locker. There were a few rugby players talking in front of her locker.
"U-Um, excuse me," Mikan squeaked and squeezed between them. Mikan yanked open her locker door and grabbed her change of clothes before backing off to the toilets.
"Oi you," one of the rugby guys who were in front of her locker called.
"Y-Yes?" Mikan stammered and clutched her clothes tighter.
"Where are you going?"
"T-To the t-toilets." Mikan was vaguely aware that everyone in the change room had stopped talking. There was a strange atmosphere in the room, and it was pleasant one bit. All eyes were on her and the rugby person.
"Huh? Why? Be a man and change with the rest of us," the rugby guy continued and began to walk slowly to Mikan.
"I-It's personal issues."
"Are you not going to do what I say?" The rugby guy continued to lumber forwards, and the distance between them was getting shorter. Soon, he was so close to Mikan that he loomed over her. She could see his disformed face and the odour which seeked out of his mouth. His beady eyes narrowed until they were slits. Mikan heard whispers around the room and she begged for someone to come help her.
"What did you say about personal issues?" he hissed and raised a hand to grab Mikan's shoulder. Suddenly, there was a flash of white and someone smacked the rugby guy's hand away. Mikan let out a soft gasp and she looked up to see Natsume glaring at the rugby person.
"No one has to listen to you, I won't forgive anyone who dares to mess with one of my teammates," Natsume growled and stepped protectively in front of Mikan.
"N-Natsume?" Mikan whimpered.
"Go change," Natsume whispered and pushed her away. Mikan stumbled into a cubicle and changed with trembling hands. As she was changing, she noticed that it was eerily silent outside with only the occasional whisper. Mikan slipped her jumper on before rushing out of the cubicle to see what was going on outside.
"Oh, Ren! Were you scared?" Tsubasa asked.
"Wait, where's Natsume and that guy?" Mikan said while checking her wig hadn't slipped off while changing. It was intact.
Koko turned to face Mikan, wide-eyed. "The rugby guy said to settle it outside and Natsume agreed. He wouldn't let any of us come with him! What should we do? The rugby guys are really strong!"
Mikan grabbed her bag and yelled a hurried goodbye before racing out of the change rooms. Where could that guy go? Mikan sprinted around the school, searching for him and at last, she found him on a tree. Mikan jogged under the tree and leaned on it for a few moments, catching her breath.
"Hey," Mikan whispered and looked up. A pair of crimson eyes met her gaze. Natsume was actually quite unharmed except for a few scratches here and there.
"Don't look so surprised, did you expect me to loose?" he said, his usual smirk on his face.
"How did you do it? That rugby guy was like ten times your weight!"
"It's called brains, that guy only had the muscle, and shouldn't you be thanking me?"
"Thanks, really." Mikan placed her small hand on the tree and smiled as a wind blew the Sakura petals onto the ground, forming a small blanket of pink petals.
"Many of you are probably wondering why we, the basketball team, are sitting in a classroom and getting ready to watch a video," Coach said, "but this isn't just relax time, this is the time where I play the video of our last matches and reflect on our errors." Coach signalled for the lights to be turned off and pressed play. Mikan's eyes widened in amazement at the intensity of the game. Suddenly, the coach paused the footage at the point where the other team scored a three pointer. "This here, could have been avoided through..."
By the end of the video, Mikan had realised a fact that chilled her. It was the fact that Mikan had joined a team who were insanely strong.
Second chapter up!
Reviews are greatly appreciated.
Also, it has been decided that that the sport is basketball, sorry for those who wanted other sports.