Currently watching Yowamushi Pedal. I like sport animes and mangas. I'm really bad at sports but I do like reading/watching them. The 'rise to the top' theme always gets me, and sports is a really good medium in which development stories can progress.
During this summer break (let's hear a round of applause) I will also be editing my earlier chapters because there are some grammar/spelling mistakes. Please don't get angry at me if you see an update email and then it's really not an update... (x_x) Trust me, I understand how that feels...
Congratulations to Sezu-nii who is out of high school and onto some adventure (whether it's college or some job, I'm not sure, but I really appreciated her help this year!)
BTW everyone, I've had a predicament recently. Remember I took the SAT back in June? My parents told me to have a minimum of 2200 for this to let me go back to Journalism class at school and my score was a 2030.
I'm not sure what to do now. I asked my counselor what I should do and she said I had to follow my parents' wishes.
What should I do?
Chapter 13 - Let's Go!
After the talk Hyuuga gave, the Seirin team members went on their respective ways around the gym, chatting about the upcoming preliminaries.
"Once Golden Week ends, it's almost immediately the preliminaries... it's quite soon huh?" Furihata asked Kawahara.
"In about three weeks I think," Kawahara said.
"Our senpais made it to the Final League last year," Furihata said confidently. "There's also the addition of Kagami and Kuroko. The first two or three matches should be easy!"
"Idiots!" Hyuuga punched their heads. "What are you talking about?"
"OUCH!" They chorused.
"Sorry..." Furihata muttered.
"It's a tournament that ends if you lose even once," Hyuuga said sternly. "Whether it's the first match or the final one, we can't afford to go easy in any of them."
The two freshman gulped at how naive they were.
And most of the power that led us to the finals came from Kiyoshi, Hyuuga thought grimly. It's unlikely that he'll make it back for the Interhigh preliminaries.
Hyuuga sighed.
Why can't Kiyoshi have a younger brother with great basketball abilities? Hyuuga thought irritably. But then again, I do NOT want to have two annoying airheads on this team... the result of him and some sibling together on our team at the same time would be disastrous.
The thought of being that desperate made Hyuuga's forehead sprout tick marks.
"Captain, I've made copies of the tournament's chart!" Fukuda walked into the gymnasium with a stack of papers.
"Thanks. Give them to everyone," Hyuuga said, calming down somewhat.
"That guy from the Generation of Miracles is in Shuutoku," Kagami muttered as he read the chart.
Hazuki glanced at the Shuutoku seed team with curiosity. I wonder which Miracle that team has...
"When you look at it this way, there's a lot of teams," Fukuda said. "Wait.. there's a second page!?"
"There are four blocks from A to D," Hyuuga said. "The winner of each block is qualified for the Final League. The best three teams of this Final League is then qualified the for the Interhigh tournament."
That's a lot more complicated than the middle school basketball tournaments, Hazuki thought.
"Wasn't there just one championship for middle school basketball?" Hazuki asked Kuroko.
"Yes," Kuroko nodded. "Did you play for the girls' middle school championship?" Because the girls' championship was held a couple days before the boys, he never actually saw them.
"No," Hazuki said with a sigh. "I could only watch matches."
"The middle school girls' basketball teams must be at an extremely high level then," Kuroko said in surprise. Hazuki was good enough to keep up with the 2nd years and beat most of the first years except for Kagami.
"Oh jeez," she said, getting a little embarrassed at the misunderstanding. "I never joined a middle school basketball team... I actually just watched..." she trailed off, not sure how to end her response of white lies.
Kuroko gave a her curious side glance at her strange response.
"Among more than 300 high schools, only three are chosen," Hyuuga said. "This is a stage that only 1 percent of high school teams in Tokyo can get into. This, is the Interhigh tournament."
The freshman trio looked uneasily as each other.
"I get it," Kagami said, breaking the silence. "But you're mistaken on one thing. They're not chosen. They won, right? ...Senpai."
"I'm back," Riko closed the gym door wearily.
"Ah, coach you're here. Our first opponent was having a practice match nearby and she went to watch." Hyuuga explained to the first years.
"Coach, you skipped when you told us about the match with Kaijou right?" Kawahara asked.
"Coach, will you skip today?" Furihata asked.
"LIKE HELL I WILL!" Riko yelled and glared.
"Sorry!" Furihata squeaked.
"Morons..." Hyuuga said. "There's no way she's going to skip for regular matches too you know? But... is the opponent that strong?"
"They have a player that could give us a lot of trouble," she gave her phone to Hyuuga. "I'll show you a video later, but take a look at his picture first."
"...That's!" Hyuuga gasped.
An adorable fluffy kitten appeared onto the screen of the phone.
"Really cute... but..." Hyuuga trailed off.
All of Seirin felt their hearts soothe as they saw the cuddly looking kitten.
"We're going to lose the first match," Hazuki said solemnly. "It's too fluffy."
"Huh, what!?" Kagami exclaimed.
Kuroko nodded, agreeing with Hazuki completely.
Riko face palmed. "Sorry, it's the next one."
"The next one... HUH!?" Hyuuga yelled.
"His name is Papa Mbaye Siki," Riko explained. "200 centimeters, 87 kilograms and an exchange student from Senegal."
"EHHHHH?" The 2nd years exclaimed at the height and high leveled physical prowess of the player.
"He's just huge," Kagami said, unfazed. "So?"
"This Papa Mbaye... what was it?" Hyuuga asked.
"Papanba?" Izuki asked.
"It's Papa-Try Hard!" Koganei suggested cheerfully.
"It's papaya," Hazuki said.
The team began chuckling over the ridiculous of the nicknames. Riko sighed.
"We're going nowhere! Kuroko-kun, make a nickname for this guy."
"Um..." Kuroko pondered. "What about 'Dad?'"
"What's with that naming sense!?" Koganei demanded.
"Otosan!" Izuki gasped and snapped out his pun notebook. "Dad's company is a dud..."
The team (except for Kuroko) began to giggle and laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
"I still like papaya," Hazuki chimed in.
But Riko was not amused at the team being off-task.
"LISTEN!" She commanded.
"YES!" The team straightened like an army lineup.
"He's not just tall. His arms and legs are long as well. More and more Japanese schools are inviting exchange students to increase their battle power," Riko explained. "The next opponent, Shinkyou Gakuen, was middle-class team last year, but by recruiting just a single foreign player, they seem like a completely different team. If we can't reach him... there's no way to stop him."
The Seirin team fell silent.
"Hey!" Riko yelled. "I didn't say there was nothing we could do you know? Starting tomorrow, Kagami-kun and Kuroko-kun will have a special training menu with Hyuuga-kun and Mitobe-kun. Hazuki, you'll practice one-on-one with Izuki. The preliminaries start on May 18! Until then, I won't along you guys to have enough free time to whine!"
"YEAH!" They chorused.
Over the course of a few days, Hazuki came to a realization of what coach was trying to do for her training and her long-term improvement.
Despite her strange maneuvers that could often trick players, Izuki was able to steal the ball from her from time to time. Hazuki began to suspect that Riko wanted her to learn the techniques of a point guard.
And also know what to do when I meet point guards with good 'eyes.' Kiyoshi did tell me about the 2nd years' abilities, but it's hard to really understand them until it's right in front of you, Hazuki thought as she dribbled the ball, trying to find a way to break through his defense.
"Eagle-eye," She murmured, loud enough for him to hear.
What? Izuki blinked in surprise. How did she know?
Hazuki made a subtle glance left. Izuki made the mistake of looking to his right.
When she made her glance left, she positioned her feet to make them able to circle step around him, allowing her to race towards the goal and score.
Izuki looked at her wonder then laughed as he went to get the ball.
"Looks like there's a lot I still have to learn," Izuki said.
"Not at all Izuki-senpai," Hazuki laughed, "There still are a lot of things I need to learn and have fun doing it on the way right?"
It took a couple of seconds for Izuki to realize the startling familiarity of her statement. He would come to the realization of why it did much much later.
After the rigorous morning practice, most of the team began trying to fight off sleep.
Kagami was once again sprawled onto his desk snoring (much to the displeasure of the teachers) and Kuroko was safely invisible, sleeping with one hand supporting his head.
Their practice is probably more rigorous than mine, Hazuki thought sleepily herself.
Although the bell rang for lunch, they didn't even stir (not even Kagami).
"Hello, hello?" She tried shaking Kagami.
She tried shaking Kuroko awake. "Hello, hello? Oh no."
If they don't wake up for lunch, they're going to collapse during practice, Hazuki thought. What to do, what to do...
"What's wrong?" two voices asked in unison. Hazuki looked up.
"You are...!" Hazuki exclaimed.
Two girls looked at her with curiosity. One of them was a girl with sharp delinquent looks. Her eyes were sharp and slanted, making her look a little yankee-like, but she wore her sailor uniform neatly and tidily. The other was a peppy looking girl with twintails similar to Hatsune Miku's. The peppy girl's hair was black however, not teal blue.
"...Sorry, who are you?" Hazuki asked, scratching her head.
"EHH?" They exclaimed in unison.
"Have you forgotten about us already?!" Delinquent girl demanded. "You don't remember the..."
"So you're going to playing as a member huh?" A girl that looked like a delinquent said with no bad intent that was mismatched with her aura. "Well it's true that Seirin doesn't have a girls basketball team."
"I was standing far away, so I didn't really hear you... it seems like the basketball team has a tradition of making new members shout their goals on the rooftop! So what was yours?!" A peppy looking classmate jumped onto her desk.
"And the..."
"Thanks Fuji-chan, I'll treat you to something sometime!" The girl with the sharp delinquent looks shouted as the flow of the crowd pushed her back.
"See you!" The peppy and pretty girl from last time saluted. "Thank you for saving us!"
"Oh!" Hazuki said. "You two are the Suzuki twins!"
"Finally she gets it," Delinquent girl sighed.
"Mah, mah," Peppy girl patted Delinquent girl's head. "It's not like we introduced ourselves officially after the first day of school."
"My name is Suzuki Akiko," Delinquent girl pointed at herself.
"And my name is Suzuki Beniko," Peppy girl put her hand on her chest.
"Please call us A-ko and B-ko," Delinquent girl (A-ko) sighed. "When people call us Suzuki-san, it gets confusing."
"A-ko and B-ko?" Hazuki asked.
"The A-ko and B-ko part idea came from a manga she liked," Peppy girl (B-ko) explained. "And it stuck."
"Pretty much," A-ko huffed. "But people laugh at the fact that it came from a manga with yankees in it. Why do they do that?"
"I have no idea either," B-ko stifled a giggle. "Anyways, we came over to find out why you were panicking."
"Oh..." Hazuki frowned. "Right! I've been trying to get two of the starters on the basketball team awake, but as you can see they're kind of out cold."
"Two?" A-ko frowned. "I only see a extra-large sized tiger."
Kagami gave a grumbled snore in response to her comment.
"The other one is here I assure you," Hazuki took out her purse and pulled out a couple of thousand yen bills.
"Could you guys do me a big favor and get me a Super long BLT and some sandwiches? I can't go to the bread store and get any right now," Hazuki said apologetically. "By the time I manage to get them awake, lunchtime is going to be about over..."
"Kids these days," B-ko laughed and took the money. "Sure."
The Suzuki twins skipped off arm and arm with the lunch money. Hazuki gave a long sigh and looked at Kuroko and Kagami.
"What am I supposed to do with you guys?" she said.
Suddenly Hazuki had a stroke of inspiration.
She rummaged into her bag and took out the sharpie marker she had bought last week. She popped off the cap and studied the tip.
"Fresh," she commented, and then went to work.
A couple of minutes later she stood back at looked at Kuroko and Kagami. They had impressively stayed asleep throughout the entire process without a single stir.
"We're back!" A-ko waved the Super Long BLT.
"Oh, welcome back," Hazuki capped her sharpie.
"Eh? What were you doing with a sharpie?" B-ko asked.
Hazuki startled, then began to sweat drop. I hadn't thought of the consequences until now...
"Well..." She began to explain.
"Huh?" B-ko frowned then saw Kagami.
"BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She laughed. "What in the world is that!?"
Sharpie flower doodles dotted all over his head. Feline whiskers covered his cheeks. But the worst part were what happened to his eyelids. Hazuki had drawn shoujo manga eyes in each eyelid with eyelashes and cat-like eyeliner.
"I got bored," Hazuki admitted, then gave a quick guilty glance at Kuroko, who was still sleeping.
"THIS IS HILARIOUS!" A-ko clutched her stomach, cackling.
"Hng?" Kagami stirred and blinked. He gave a long drawling yawn.
"Lunchtime is going to be over soon," Hazuki said.
"WHAT?" Kagami yelled, alarmed. "I haven't bought lunch yet!"
"Here you go," Hazuki put the Super Long BLT on his table.
"It's lunchtime?" Kuroko asked.
"Whoa! When were you there?!" A-ko yelped.
"I was here all the time," Kuroko deadpanned.
A-ko and B-ko stared at his face while Hazuki looked discreetly away.
Black swirls covered each of his cheeks. Black Sharpie sunglasses framed his eyes. A goatee and a Hitler-styled mustache had been drawn under his mouth and nose.
"BWHAHAHAHA!" B-ko choked, pointing at his face.
Hazuki placed a couple of the sandwiches onto his desk and saluted. "I'll be taking my leave now."
She edged backwards towards the doorway and fled.
Kagami frowned and turned around to Kuroko. "What was that—"
"What happened to your face!?" Kagami exclaimed.
"Kagami-kun's is worse," Kuroko said.
A-ko took out her compact mirror and showed Kagami his face, trying to hold back her laughter.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" He bellowed, his roar echoing into the hallway.
"Uh oh," Hazuki muttered, running towards the East Wing of the first-year hallway.
B-ko popped her head around the doorway and grinned.
"She went that way!" She pointed.
"Why did you say that B-kooooooo!?" Hazuki yelled.
Thundering footsteps began to resound behind her. Hazuki craned her neck slowly and looked back onto a terrifying sight.
"Come back you bastardddd!" Kagami yelled, holding his Super Long BLT like a baseball bat.
"HELPPPPPPPPPP!"
The thundering footsteps and screaming resonated in the first year hallway. In Class 1-D, Furihata and Fukuda looked up in confusion."What's going on?" Furihata asked.
"I'll go look," Fukuda said. He got up and walked to the doorway of their classroom.
"SAVE MEEEEEEEE!" Hazuki yelped as she ran past Class 1-D.
"Save you?" Fukuda asked in confusion as he looked around. "From what?"
"COME BACK YOU BASTARDDDDDD!" Kagami had put his Super Long BLT into his mouth and was munching it like a beaver as he chased after her.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hazuki shrieked, pushing through the doors of the staircase and bolting upstairs with Kagami leaping closely on her heels.
"What was that?" Furihata asked, walking towards the doorway.
"...Let's not get involved."
"Huh?"
"..."
"Wait, why are you making that sort of expression!?"
Riko sighed as she made some adjustments to the regulars' training menus. To improve their stamina, I might have to make some sacrifices in improving other attributes, she thought as she took a sip of her strawberry milk.
Hyuuga yawned and felt that she was about to collapse, despite having eaten lunch.
I'm so bored as well... why can't something happen? he thought.
"Senpai! Please help me!" Hazuki yelled as she ran into the 2nd year classroom.
"Hazuki?" Riko asked. "What's wrong?"
"Kagami-kun is really angry!" Hazuki rambled.
"What?" Hyuuga asked until he saw Kagami thunder into the classroom.
"BWHAHAHA!" Hyuuga roared with laughter. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?"
He immediately snapped out his phone and began taking pictures of him.
"Coach, captain! Save me!" Hazuki hid behind Riko.
Although Kagami was still gnawing on his BLT, he looked as terrifying as ever.
"Kagami-kun, calm down," Riko sighed.
"WHY SHOULD I!?" He bellowed.
"How did she manage to draw on your face this much?" Hyuuga asked, trying to contain his laughter.
"He was sleeping for the entire half of the day," Hazuki explained. "Kagami-kun... I got you lunch... please let this go..."
Kagami's right eyebrow twitched. "THIS IS PERMANENT MARKER!"
"Not on the skin it isn't... I think."
"The bell is about to ring," Riko said. "You two should go back to your classroom. By the way Hyuuga-kun, please send me the photos that you took."
"COACH!"
"Calm down Kagami," Hyuuga snorted. "You shouldn't have been sleeping in class anyways."
"Like you weren't!" Riko slapped his head with a paper fan.
"OW!"
Kagami-kun grumbled. "Anyways, Fujidana—"
She had already fled from the classroom.
"...I better avoid him for the rest of the afternoon..." Hazuki mumbled.
During their afternoon practice, Kagami spent all his time glaring at Hazuki with his tigerish eyes. His glowering aura was terrifying all of the first years (except for Kuroko) along with Hazuki. She decided not to show them the photos A-ko and B-ko had sent her after lunch.
At Maji Burger after practice it was even worse. Kagami refused to sit with them and continued to glower terrifyingly at her from the next table.
"It feels like laser beams," Hazuki mumbled. It's almost akin to a titan's glare from Shingeki no Kyojin.
"He has quite the temper," Kuroko agreed.
Hazuki sighed. Hopefully he would forgive her before the beginning of the preliminaries.
"Did you finish lunch?" she asked.
"Yes, thanks to you," Kuroko tore off the straw's wrapper and stuck it into a vanilla milkshake. To Hazuki's surprise, he hadn't been angry at all about her doodling on his face. But then again, he wasn't the type to get angry easily.
Hazuki felt a bit guilty about that because she had saved the photo of him from B-ko as her phone's screensaver.
Hazuki shook her purse upside-down in angst. "I have no more money for this month... Kagami-kun eats too much. Speaking of which, is he going to ever forgive me?"
"He's just stressed," Kuroko said, passing his milkshake to her. "Here."
Hazuki cocked her head sideways in confusion. "Here what?"
"You couldn't get a milkshake today because of us right?" he asked. "Sorry, I don't have any money left either."
She took the milkshake tentatively.
"I'm trying to convert you to vanilla milkshakes," Kuroko said seriously.
"Not going to happen," Hazuki smiled. "But thank you."
Kagami glared at Kuroko for associating with the enemy. Kuroko ignored him.
"Kagami-kun, do you forgive me?" Hazuki asked.
His response to her was to devour another burger furiously.
"Kagami-kun, you're being childish," Kuroko said.
"I am not! And tell her that!"
"Why can't you tell that to her directly? You are being childish after all."
"I AM NOT!"
"Everyone here is looking at us," Hazuki muttered, feeling the agoraphobia come back. "Everyone—"
Her phone lit up with a new text from Kiyoshi. He must be replying about the two photos I sent him earlier today...
...
Re: Re: My doodles
(*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ)) Ahaha! Those doodles are amazing. I can't wait to meet them when I come back.
The preliminaries start tomorrow right? It's a shame that it won't be on TV until the finals though. I want to watch~
Take care of yourself, Riko's training menu is hard! But she means well for all of us. (・ω・ )/
Bye bye, love you.
Teppei~
...
Hazuki smiled fondly. As upbeat as ever. I wonder if I can ask Riko to videotape our games so he can still watch.
"Who's that from?" Kagami asked, forgetting that he was supposed to be ignoring her.
"Oh, are you not mad at me anymore?" Hazuki asked. "Thank you."
"...Damn it!"
"Kagami-kun, you failed," Kuroko said. His sulking didn't last that long.
"Shut up!" Kagami grumbled and went back to his last burger. "I was just curious..."
Kuroko also gave a glance at Hazuki's cellphone curiously. If Kagami knew, he would probably call him a hypocrite.
Who would make her smile as much as that? he wondered.
A few days later was May 18th, bringing the first day of the preliminaries with it.
"Everyone is here!" Riko looked at all the members of the team.
"LET'S GO!" Hyuuga said to the team.
"YEAH!" Seirin chorused.
"Kagami-kun, your eyes are bloodshot again," Kuroko commented.
"Sh-Shut up," he retorted.
Seirin V. Shinkyou Gakuen was the first match of the day. Their early arrival gave them a little more practice time than the other team.
"Dad doesn't seem to be here," Hyuuga said.
"Now that you mention it..." Izuki said.
"OUCH!" The sound of a head hitting the top of the doorway resonated across the gym. Everyone turned to look.
"Everything is so low in Japan..." Papa rubbed his forehead.
"He's HUGE!? And kind of long?" Koganei tsukommied.
"Whoa," Hazuki said as she tip-toed to see. The photo on the cell phone really didn't accurately portray his height.
"What were you doing!? Hurry up!" Shinkyou's coach scolded.
"Sorry I'm late!" Papa bowed.
"Why is that the only thing you can say fluently?" Their captain laughed then stopped when Hyuuga's basketball rolled to his feet.
"Sorry," Hyuuga said.
"By the way, did you guys really beat Kaijou?" he asked as he threw the basketball back.
"It was just a practice game."
"I see. Is the only rumor of the girl player on your team true as well?"
"She's right there," Hyuuga pointed.
"Am I being targeted?" Hazuki asked Kuroko.
"Maybe," Kuroko shrugged.
"Why would you be?" Kagami demanded.
"I just felt it would sound cool if I said that," Hazuki shrugged.
Shinkyou's captain snorted as he looked at her. "I guess the Generation of Miracles aren't as strong as we thought then."
Everyone in Seirin tensed up. A tick mark sprouted on Hyuuga's forehead.
"The Generation of Miracles lost?" Papa asked. "I was called here to defeat the Generation of Miracles. I'm disappointed that they're this weak."
Kise was really strong, Hazuki frowned. It took all our strength to defeat Kaijou.
After Papa took a couple steps he bumped into something. "Huh?" He looked down.
"No good, little boy," he picked Kuroko up. "Kids shouldn't be on the court."
Kuroko's shirt waved a bit, showing the Seirin jersey he had underneath.
"They lost to a team with a little kid?" Papa snorted after he put him down. "Are all the Generation of Miracles kids?"
"Haha, maybe!" Shinkyou's captain snorted.
All the Seirin members clutched their stomachs and tried to suppress their laughter. Hazuki puffed up her cheeks to control her laughter and patted Kuroko's shoulder.
"...To be honest I am quite irritated right now," Kuroko said.
All of them straightened their backs like a soldier.
"You sure don't like to lose!" Kagami snorted and whipped his shirt off. "Well then... let's teach Dad and the others that kids can be quite scary!"
"He's not going to be happy to be called a kid again Kagami-kun," Hazuki said, walking past him to the court.
In case anyone would like to know the meaning of the twins' names, Akiko literally translated as "Autumn Child" and Beniko translates as "Vermillion/Red Child." In case anyone wanted to know what manga they are referring to, its name is "Yandere Kanojo." Yandere refers to a Yankee that is deredere in this case, not a psychopath.
When I typed Class 1-D to talk about Furihata and Fukuda, that made me laugh. Class 1-D lol. I hope you guys understand that. XD Oh, this is such a puntastic situation!
If you guys can, please help me with the problem I mentioned above. :) Thanks.