Chapter 4: A Kind Interruption
"You're late again, Atsushi," I huff out, as I place my hands on my hips.
"Yeah, my bad. I got lost again."
"It's been a while," says Kuroko.
Atsushi notices him, a deathly look overcoming his face. "Dead serious, as always."
Atsushi pats him on the head like a child, to which Kuroko kindly swats his hand away.
"I thought you weren't coming," I muse out loud.
"Well, you're bad to change the meeting place all of a sudden! I thought you wanted to go sightseeing?"
"Yeah, but this looked more appealing," I argue back, as I flash him my winning smile. He sighs out in response, pushing his palm down on top of my head.
"Wait, Yosen's supposed to have played in the Inter-High right up until yesterday!"
"Why are you here?!"
Atsushi pulls out a chip from the newly opened bag in his hands. "Ah, I didn't play," he says, as he begins to chew the food up.
"But, why?" asks a shocked Taiga.
"Perhaps because Aka-chin said so?"
"Akashi-kun. He used to be the captain of the Generation of Miracles," states Kuroko, as he answers everyone's thoughts as to who Atsushi was referring to.
"Hey! You can't just disrupt a game like this!" yells a nearby ref, as his patience suddenly runs thin.
"Oh, that reminds me. Yosen doesn't allow us to go for non school related competitions," reminds Atsushi, as he places another chip in his mouth.
"Eh, really? I didn't know that we had such a rule. No choice I-"
"Great, let's go!"
Atsushi begins to push my small body off of the court.
"Wait, you can't just disrupt a game and leave!" yells Taiga, as he places a hand on Atsushi's shoulder.
Atsushi stops, deciding to turn around and face whoever had touched him. I watch in speculation as Atsushi leans into Taiga, pointing at the gap between his eyebrows. "Let's not talk about that now. What's wrong with your eyebrows?"
"Ouch, you trying to pick a fight or something?"
"Really? Sorry- your eyebrows are really long."
"Listen to what I have to say!"
"I don't want to. You're tiring me out," mumbles Atsushi, as he turns to walk away from a pushy Taiga.
"What? Are you a coward? Running away?"
Atsushi stops again, turning to give Taiga a deathly gaze. "I wasn't running away."
"It's fine if you're scared. Don't be so hard on yourself," pushes Taiga, his voice growing more and more defiant and arrogant.
"What? I'm not scared. And I'm not being hard on myself at all," says Atsushi, his voice full of confusion.
I watch as he asks the boys on my team if they had an extra shirt. They all begin to scramble around, finding an extra shirt for the large man. I could tell that they were very much afraid of the repercussions if they didn't find him one to wear.
By now, it was clearly apparent that the referee was tired of yelling over us and really just wanted to get the game to a start without any further interruptions.
We all line in position once again, getting ready to play against Taiga and his friends. Seirin gets possession of the ball first, thanks to Taiga's insanely high jump. They quickly pass to Kuroko, who inhumanly makes a pass that flies wild with speed and power. One of their players, the bigger of the bunch, dunks the ball in. I watch Atsushi stand under the hoop with a blank face as he watches the man who had just scored 2 points. Was something wrong with Atsushi?
As if a light switch being turned on, I watch relieved as the wheels start to kick in motion in Atsushi's head. He grabs the ball with one hand, throwing it towards me where I stand at the half court line. Grabbing it with ease, I position myself readily, about to jump. But the court grows silent when it suddenly begins to pour down upon us.
"The game is cancelled for now! Everyone, return to the stands!"
Immediately the crowd begins to disperse, each searching for shelter away from the cold, steady pitter patter of the rain.
I search around for Taiga, who I find staring intently towards my direction. I stare back at him, my eyesight beginning to grow blurry due to the sudden rainfall.
"Try to defend me, if you can," I yell over the crowd, challenging him to a quick, one on one.
Jumping up, Taiga does as well, his jump skill fully high and his long arm rose up to the sky, ready to block my shot. I land back on the ground as the ball crisply flies into the net with ease, making that beautiful sound as the net swirls from side to side.
A shocked, confused expression overcomes the faces of Taiga and his team mates as they watch in awe over the rain as to what had just happened. They must've been wondering as to how I had managed to get it pass Taiga, when he clearly had the upper hand.
"Well, I suppose this is it for now. I'll see you next time," I ensure, as I squeeze the water from the tips of my pig tails. Giving Taiga a small, reassuring smile, I had to reassure him that we'd meet again, taking in the sudden worrisome look on his now, matured, handsome face.
I walk away from him, having nothing else to say to my childhood friend. We'd do all the talking on a real court at the Winter Cup. Hopefully before then.
Grabbing my bag that was now getting drenched and dirtied due to everyone running by it, I watch Atsushi in time to get his hand swatted away once again from Kuroko.
Running up behind Atsushi with my stealth-like powers, I slam my small body into his large frame. But I find myself toppling over in the process of it all.
"You know that it's you who always ends up getting hurt," he groans out, as he reaches out to catch my arm.
"If you want to make me think otherwise, prove it to me at the Winter Cup," finishes Atsushi to Kuroko, as he walks away from the blue haired boy with me being dragged along.
"If you know Kuroko doesn't like it when you do that, then why do it?" I ask, as I rummage around through my bag for some towels.
"Hm? It's nice to see something else but that dead serious expression on his face."
I throw a towel up on his head and mine, as we continue to walk home in silence. Neither one of us wanting to talk about the others' rival.