Chapter 6: Seirin's Models!
"Kaga-kun?" I say softly, as I sit with him while he eats lunch. This was because I found it hard to make friends with people who didn't share basketball as a common interest.
But to my disappointment, Kagami-kun wanted to be alone, left to eat his 10 burgers. Kuroko-kun was nowhere to be seen. Unless he was sitting with the both of us, but we hadn't seemed to notice yet.
"What?" he says irritated, through a mouthful of food.
"Those are really bad for you," I state, as I can't help but stare at him with a bored expression. I hadn't eaten this morning because Satsu-chan was the first to wake and prepare breakfast and lunch for the both of us. But seeing as how she wouldn't talk to me and I didn't have time in the morning to prepare something, I dragged my already thin body to school, starving. I refused to eat anything unhealthy from the school's lunch. The only fruit they had was already beginning to grow old.
So instead, I sat quietly and filled myself up from the inviting smell of Kagami-kun's lunch.
"Yer' not my mom," he argues back, stuffing another burger in his mouth.
"My, my. So this is what it feels like to be Satsu-chan," I muse out loud, thinking about my angry cousin.
When she came to pick me up, she yelled at me, refusing to hear my explanation. She didn't believe that I hadn't gone with Seirin to their game because she knew how passionate I was about basketball and that "you wouldn't give up that easily". Her words shocked me because she was right. My thoughts lately were going cloudy because of Aomine-kun. My reason for playing basketball had slowly been slipping away without even me knowing it.
When her and I got home, she continued to ignore me and Aomine-kun. For the rest of the night, she spent it in her room working on her analyses of other teams. Having also upset myself, I skipped dinner and had my bath before doing my homework.
"Who?" asks Kagami-kun, not really wanting to know.
"No one. You just keep eat-"
Suddenly he begins to choke. Well, who wouldn't when it came to stuffing full sized hamburgers into their mouths?
"Ba-ka-ga-miiii," I cheer happily, as I slap him on the back. He begins to choke some more as he hears my insult.
"Kagami-kun, please drink this," says Kuroko-kun, appearing from nowhere with a water bottle.
I watch sadly as Kagami-kun's body goes rigid, before his face falls into the mountain of burgers. It seems the shock of both my insults and Kuroko-kun's invisibility had killed him.
"Kuro-kun, where've you been? Bakagami-kun was sitting here so lonely," I say, my voice fake with concern as I make room for Kuroko-kun to sit.
Suddenly, Kagami-kun comes back to life, shooting me a dangerous glare.
"I was-"
"That's alright, Kagami-kun. I wish I could say the same, but I think it's good for us to spend some time apar-"
Kagami-kun realizes his voice will continued to be ignored, so he resorts to shaking Kuroko-kun, trying to put some sense into him.
I ignore the two, looking out of the classroom window. The sun wasn't out, the clouds had taken over. A cold breeze in the air. Just the more reason to go out and buy some new tights.
"Alright team. I've called this meeting for a very special reason. Friday after school, I want us all to spend 2 nights and 3 days at the Sakura resort. There, we'll go through some pre-training and planning for our first game at the Inter-High preliminaries against Seiho. But, I'm saving my money for the training camp in the summer and I know all of you are broke. So, we need to come up with a way to pay for our little trip. Any ideas?" says the coach, as her eyes scan the group, landing last on me.
"Why not a bake sale?" I ask, as I lean my body against the railing of the roof, crossing my arms over my bust.
"Eh? What was that Yuki-chan?" she says, as she takes a few steps to listen again.
Suddenly, Izuki-senpai runs and covers my mouth.
"She said calendar, a basketball calendar!" he says, his voice urgent and loud.
He still has my mouth covered, muffling my words. That's not what I said at all! I watch through cautious eyes as Izuki-senpai gives a thumbs up to the other boys.
"A calendar? Like that's gonna work!" says Kagami-kun, as he shoves his hands into his black slacks.
"Wait a minute. It actually could. I mean, our basketball team this year is quite a pretty-"
"Thanks coach," cheers Izuki and Koga-senpai, as I watch helplessly as they're almost thrown off the roof.
"Everyone but you two! Anyways, the boys are all really fit. Girls would instantaneously buy it. And there's also the two beauties of the bunch, Yuki-chan and myself," glee's Riko-senpai, as she cutely sticks her tongue out.
"I only see one-"
Riko-senpai begins to hit Izuki-senpai once again. His jokes lately were beginning to get too- wait a minute, did Riko-senpai mean that I had to be in the calendar? That boys would be buying the calendar for whatever reason! The thought of having my picture in anywhere but my house gave me an uneasy feeling. Plus, I've heard that if the calendar is a hit, that other schools even vouch to get their hands on them!
"B-But, we don't have a professional photographer!" I blurt out, trying to come up with any good of a reason to be out of this calendar. For a moment, everyone is quiet, realizing that my point was true.
How could we find a photographer who'd be willing to do it all for-
"My sister's a professional photographer. I'm sure if I ask her she'll do it for free. In fact, she could come tomorrow!" says Furihata-kun, as he starts to pull out his phone, calling his sister. I watch horrified as the boys begin to tell him that he'd finally done something good. Furihata-kun's smile fades away by those words of sarcasm.
"K-Kaga-kun. You really can't be happy about this calendar, right? Just think about all the girls who'd have your picture in their room!" I say, as I try to sway him over. But instead, I watch as a glaze look overcomes his face. N-Not him too!
"Kuro-"
"Check out these guns," he says flatly, as he shows me his "guns".
I sit back and watch as Kagami-kun begins to fight with him as to how he had none. Burying my face in my hands, I ask myself what the world coming to. And just what type of pictures would be going in this calendar?!
I stand quietly off into the corner of the gym, as the senpai's begin their individual and group shots of themselves to put in the calendar. Hearing their laughs made me happy, but hearing Furihata-kun's sister say, "How about a shirtless?" made me cringe with fear.
After going home yesterday from school, Satsu-chan texted me saying to walk by myself. That was it. No, "I hope you won't get lost" or "I hope you had a good day" like she usually did. It was nothing but silence. But, being a good cook like I was, I had managed to prepare a delicious, nutritious feast for her and I. Something like an apology. I waited until 8 for her, but she didn't show up. Worried, I sent her a text. She apologized and said that her and Aomine-kun had bought something to eat. Not texting her back, too in shock that she took Aomine-kun's side and decided to forgive him. It was something that was eating me up. Not touching the food I made either, I packed it up as a bento and decided to distribute it out tomorrow for lunch to the team.
Now here I was, after had just eating the lunch with them, cowering in the corner until it was my turn. At first, I wasn't too nervous, but then I was nothing but that when Furihata-kun's sister brought in a wardrobe and make-up crew. That meant that this calendar was a for sure deal.
"Yuki-chan, it's about time we get you ready," said a curvy, short, but beautiful women. Her hair and make up was so professionally done. I looked like a rag doll compared to her.
Short of words, she gently takes me to the girls' changing room, prepping me for my photo's. To my surprise, Riko-senpai had already been done with make up and hair. Since her hair was short, there wasn't much to do. But since it had a little length, they decided to curl some of it loosely and then pin it up high in the back, making her hair look fuller and longer. Riko-senpai wore little make up, revealing her already beautiful features. She was absolutely stunning. With her alone the boys would be lining up to buy the calendar!
"I-I don't know about this," I say quietly and hesitantly, as I look at myself in the reflection. Whenever I played ball, my hair was tied up in a high pony. No, not even playing ball I still wore my hair like that. Only down whenever I took a shower. Today, my hair was down and straightened and styled to perfection. Completely different to my coach's sophisticated curls. For myself, they did the same with Riko-senpai when it came to make up, but they made my eyes dark and instead of a red lipstick like Riko-senpai, they made mine a light, almost nude pink.
But that wasn't the part that made me uncomfortable. It was my uniform. It was a Seirin high uniform, but they had it tailored to hug my bodies curves exactly. The shorts were shorter than usual, hugging my thighs. To everyone else, this would be completely normal to be seeing a model in this type of length of shorts. But never showing my thighs to other's, I almost felt naked.
But everyone complemented myself and said that I was breathtaking. Not believing them and wanting to hide in the change room forever, Riko-senpai had to push me out the door in order for the shots to be done.
As soon as I got out, I saw that a photo had just been taken of Kagami-kun and Kuroko-kun comparing their "guns". They were serious about this. And I had to be too if they were. All I had to remember that I was contributing to us all going to a resort to practice. This calendar shoot was all for basketball. My one and only love. Swallowing my pride, I began the shoot, taking pictures at first with just the coach, doing girly things like holding hands to her "training" me with that whistle of hers. From there, photo's began with the boys. They ranged from funny to serious. One of the shots I took was me standing on Kagami-kun's back with a ball in my hand as he did a push up. Another was myself lying on my side, as the senpai's held my body. I couldn't had been more embarrassed when they pretended to be out of breath when they were holding me.
And then finally, the last photo is of the team, but the coach insists she wishes not to be apart of this one. That this idea was hers.
Mortified, I stand in front of the camera with the boys behind me. In my grasp were a couple of black leashes, all connected to the collar's around their necks. Each saying their names on it, in a handwriting that suited their personality. I couldn't stop laughing when I saw that Izuki-senpai's name was written in Comic Sans.
But other than that, I felt bad because I was all holding the people I respected the most by a leash.
"Uhm, Riko-senpai, don't you think this is sending the wrong message?" I say hesitantly, as I stand still for the hairstylist as she sets my hair.
"Eh, how so?"
"Well, people will think that the boys all do say what I want because I'm a girl. Plus, it makes me look like I treat them like they're dogs!"
She gives me a thoughtful look before she smiles, "Well they are dogs!"
I could feel the boys tensing up behind me.
"Not just any dogs. They're all fierce, competitive, determined and well trained. That's the message I'm trying to portray. And with you holding the leashes it only symbolizes you as a peace keeper, always calming them down like I've seen you do before," she says, as a warm, heartfelt smile overcomes her lips.
"S-Senpai," I stammer, taken aback by her sweet words.
"Enough with the talking. We're almost done. Plus, who knows if the principal will even allow some of the photo's we've taken, right?"
That was true. All photo's had to be hand chosen and approved by the school's principal in order to be published. For some reason, my thoughts were eased as I realized that a lot of the ridiculous pictures I had taken with everyone wouldn't even be published!"
Quietly in the corner, I begin to rock my body back and fourth. Sales for the calendar's had gone on today. They were all sold out before lunch. And almost all of the ridiculous photo's I had taken were in them. The cover the worst of the bunch. The picture of me holding the leashes that connected to the boys was the first thing anyone saw. But, I had to admit that everyone did look ridiculously good. And oddly enough, it wasn't me who stood out the most, it was the invisible Kuroko-kun. Something about the blank look on his face made the girls screaming.
After the cover came January, the first picture being an only shot of my beloved coach. She held her whistle up to her lips, with a wink her eyes. She looked very cute, but the intensity in her eyes were something to be feared of. February, the month of love was a sweet and adorable picture of the bond shared between Kagami-kun and Kuroko-kun. The two of them showing their muscles, but adding to the picture was their happy looks on their faces, even Kuroko-kun. March was a self picture of the captain, Hyuuga-senpai. He's seen skilfully shooting a three pointer. April is an only shot of the goofy first years, each making a funny face. May was the shot of Kagami-kun and myself. The one where I was on his back. The balance I have is horrible and anyone could tell after that I did indeed fall. My cheeks were tinted with red. June was the month which had all the girls crying for a copy. The one where all the senpai's were together, shirtless. To me it meant nothing considering they were like family, but the girls were all so happy and couldn't believe the basketball team was this good looking. July was a shot of myself and the coach together, holding hands. August to October were shots of us all in game. November was the shot of when I had been laying on my side while each of the senpai's held some part of my body. That was the second most embarrassing pick of me in it! Finally, December was a group shot, all of us together outside with scarves all around our necks. This shot was natural. We all did our own thing. Whether it was fighting among ourselves or staring at the camera and smiling. It was a picture of what the Seirin team truly was. And with each month came a little summary at the bottom explaining the picture and what everyone's thought was about the pictures, clearing up any misleading facts.
It was now Thursday after school, the trip with the team would be tomorrow. I had to go out and shop for a few things myself. Today would mark the third day that Satsu-chan had been ignoring me. I didn't mention anything of the calendar and the trip to her yet. I figured I'd just leave a note and leave. The calendar sales 2 days ago had been through the roof. We had received more money than we thought. So we put the remaining money in our basketball funds. Thanks to the calendar, everyone had been getting an onslaught of love letters in their lockers. Including me.
After buying a few things, I begin to make way for home. As I do, I pass by the basketball cage that I usually come to. This time, it's actually being used by a group of high school boys. Walking by casually, I look over and see as they all begin to look at me. D-Did I have something-
"Hey, isn't that the girl who was in Seirin's calendar?"
"Eeeeh?! It is! G'ah, she looks so much better in real life."
"Hey, Kiyone, why don't you go up to her?"
I watch as the group of males push forward a small, thinner boy. He awkwardly walks up to me with the Seirin's calendar in his hands. The cage was the only thing in between us.
"Uhm, would you please sign this for me?" he asks shyly, as he slowly hands me a pen. Staring at the boy, I was more than flattered at his words, his kindness, his adoration for me. So instead, I insist that we take a picture together and we do. Each having a copy on our phones. Waving goodbye to the surprisingly nice group of boys, I realize now that not all the boys who purchased the calendar were what I had thought them to be. They were merely shy guys who had a perfectly normal crush.
Looking down at my phone, I can't help but smile at the picture. Setting it as the wallpaper, I continue to walk without looking. Which proved to always be a bad thing. Accidentally, I bump into something soft, dropping my phone in the process.
"Please for-"
Stopping mid sentence, I look at the two people who I had been dreading to see the most. Satsu-chan and Aomine-kun beside her. I watch as Satsu-chan picks my phone up, while glancing at the picture. The picture of myself and the boy who liked me.
She hands it back, with a solemn look. This probably looked bad. Just days ago the picture she had seen had put the wrong thoughts of me in her head, now this boy who clearly didn't go to Seirin by the looks of his uniform, was posing with me, something else to keep her mind busy.
Taking the phone back, I quickly hide it in my bag.
"I think I like this one better," says Aomine-kun, as he points and shoves something in front of me. Glancing down, it's it's Seirin's calendar!
The picture he was showing me was the one of December. The one where everyone was told to act natural. Out of the bunch, I was the only one looking at the camera, smiling as Kagami-kun had his hand pressed down on my head, using me as some type of leverage to yell at Kuroko-kun some more. In that picture, anyone could tell that I was beyond happy. I was in bliss.
About to open my mouth and say something to Aomine-kun, I watch as a small, thankful smile begins to form on his lips. A smile that was almost relieving in a way.
But what Aomine-kun had thought as me forgiving him by talking to him, I was actually about to call out to Koga and Mitobe-senpai who were farther away from the three of us.
"Mitobe-senpai! Koga-senpai!" I yell, as I brush past Aomine-kun, running to my senpai's. Jumping on Mitobe-senpai, I begin talking to them, like the run in with Satsu-chan and Aomine-kun hadn't happened at all.
"Koga-senpai. Can you turn around and tell me if that tanned guy is looking at us?" I whisper, as I nudge behind him.
He turns around, a blank look on his face. Suddenly, he grabs Mitobe-senpai and myself and begins running.
"W-What's wrong?!"
"He has the look of murder in his eyes!" yells a frightened Koga-senpai, with a determined look to get as far away as possible on his face.
Looks as if the jealousy bug had already made it's mark.