Disclaimer: These characters have not been shown in the anime yet, so if you despise spoilers read with caution.

Special thanks to my reviewers: Kaynx, Guest

Brats

Sometimes Mayuzumi wonders if it was really worth becoming a starter if it meant having to put up with his bothersome kouhai. All of them had to be "prodigies" with egos bigger than Japan and none of them treats him with what should be the proper respect for a senior.

They were all brats and idiots. All of them.

There was Hayama Kotaro who acts like he is a little kid on sugar high. . . all the freaking time. The guy spazzes out like there was no tomorrow and was always looking for attention. Hayama could never keep still and Mayuzumi lost count of all the times the guy had ran into him by accident as if Mayuzumi's lack of presence wasn't bad enough with a sugar high brat running around all the time. Sometimes Mayuzumi finds him simply annoying, most of the time Mayuzumi feels like strangling him.

Then there was Nebuya Eikichi who was Rakuzan's center. Mayuzumi swears that the guy could eat out all the food in Kyoto if he put his mind to it, but what really annoys him was that the Nebuya decides that it was a smart idea to add the word "muscle" to every dunk he does even if it was only practices. Which means he hears it a lot and each time he hears it, Mayuzumi wants to bang his hand on the wall. Not to mention how many time Nebuya had preened his muscles declaring that he was going to beat some guy named "Kiyoshi" despite the fact that no one listened nor cared.

Then there was Mibuchi Reo who decides that he wants to call Mayuzumi, Chi-kun instead of senpai, as if Mibuchi needed to flaunt his effeminate nature more than he already had. Mayuzumi had of course refused this, but who on this team ever listens to their senpai? The shooting guard had absolutely no respect for him. The only reason for the nickname was to annoy him even more than Mibuchi already had. Though at least Mibuchi was at least tolerable compared to his loud mouth "Crownless General" buddies.

And last of all was the red-haired demon himself, walking in (fashionably late of course) with everybody near him wilting from the sheer presence that he emited. He looks over them and announces double drills to prepare for the Winter Cup. Everyone starts to do it because protesting would simply result in triple drills. Mayuzumi has long since forgotten what a regular drill was after Akashi Sejuuro had became the Rakuzan captain. Akashi glares at him as if he could read Mayuzumi's thoughts and by now Mayuzumi would not be honestly surprised.

Mayuzumi wonders why he had been stupid enough to agree to use his weak presence to be Rakuzan's sixth man. Little did he know back then that he had been giving his soul to the devil, though admittedly a very short one.

Thanks for reading and please leave a review!

- SWP