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"Well, there's two reasons."
All the eyes of the basketball players turned to Estelle.
"The guidance counselor told me I needed to be part of an extracurricular, so I was looking for one anyways, when I bumped into Murasaki…bara-san here."
A whole six syllables to remember. There was a slight pause in her dialogue.
"What's the second one?" Liu Wei's soft accented voice prodded.
Pressing her nails into her palm, she thought about what to tell them. The real reason or a placeholder.
"I thought that being a basketball team manager would also push me to exercise more." Estelle smiled to push feelings of awkwardness deep down inside, "Because you know, as an idol, we really have to watch… our fitness and lately I've…"
Her voice trailed off and she glanced down at her tummy slightly.
"Wanting to be fit and healthy is very admirable, Shinya-san," Himuro said.
Her smile felt less awkward. She could count on a gentleman like Himuro to catch her drift without needing to spell it out.
"Then do you have time for this?" Fukui reengaged in the interview, "I mean, you've got your idol stuff and whatnot."
Estelle laughed slightly, "Yes, thank you for your concern. I fully intend on putting my best efforts for this position. I need an extracurricular for school anyways. I would need to make time for it no matter which activity I was in involved with."
She looked at the team's faces. None of them, other than Okamura, showed too much interest in her. Which was interesting, to say the least. She was used to many of the boys in class fawning over her and flirting. But here, maybe all they had in their heads here was basketball.
Or maybe I'm just full of myself.
"Any other questions for me?" Estelle asked, "I'd be happy to answer."
Fukui chuckled, "No need to be too serious. This interview was half a joke."
Estelle's right eye twitched slightly, "Excuse me?"
"Coach Araki's lax about things that aren't actually basketball. Just wanted to make sure you weren't one of Himuro's crazy fangirls. We get some of those sometimes," Fukui seemed to wince at the memory.
"So did I prove I'm not a crazy Himuro-kun fangirl?" She asked jokingly.
"Not 100% yet, but yeah, I think you're good. What about you guys?" Fukui turned to the other guys.
"YES." Okamura said very quickly.
Estelle smiled at him.
"Sure," Liu Wei joined in.
"We're happy to have you on board," Himuro gently smiled.
There was only one person left who had not expressed their approval. The group turned to look at the one holdout.
"I guess," Murasakibara added lazily.
Did he really have to be so rude?
Just pretend you're happy and say yes. How hard could it be?
"Then welcome to the team, Shinya-san," Himuro tactfully turned the conversation around.
"Thanks so much! I'll look forward to helping you guys!" Estelle responded enthusiastically.
"So uh, what should we address you as…" Okamura barely managed to stutter out.
Estelle tried to hold back her grin, "Shinya. Estelle. Either works. I've lived in the states for a while, so I'm used to people calling me by my first name."
Okamura blushed once again, "Then what about—"
"Elle-chin," Murasakibara interjected.
…-chin? Estelle didn't know if this was some sort of Japanese slang she didn't know or was Murasakibara making things up?
"Yeah, that's fine, Murasakibara-san," Estelle tried to be as cordial as possible. "Oh, if you guys in interested something to eat tomorrow after practice, what would you like me to bring?"
Estelle had learned to cook for herself well. Because as an idol, her diet was very restricted and the healthiest, cheapest foods were made at home. In order to make her bland, meal prepped food taste better, she had learned all sorts of tips and tricks to make it appetizing. Her cooking was something she was proud of.
The team of boys around her seemed to think hard about what they wanted.
"Dolsot bibimbap," Murasakibara said.
How very specific.
"Korean food? Wow, um, I definitely can do bibimbap, but I'm pretty sure I can't bring a stone pot around," Estelle said. She could understand why he wanted a stone pot though. The little burnt, crunchy pieces of rice that stuck to the stone pot was the best part. That crunch was the perfect texture contrast to the most of the soft white rice that would fill most of the mouth. Estelle was beginning to drool just thinking about it. She swallowed and grounded herself back in the gym, "But for sure, bibimbap doesn't taste good cold. How about I borrow the home economics kitchen, and I'll call you guys over when I finish cooking?"
"Sound like a plan," Fukui said, taking out his cell phone.
Even the sarcastic Fukui's eyes seemed to brighten at the sound of freshly cooked food after practice. The other four followed suit and they all exchanged numbers. Estelle couldn't remember the last time she willing exchanged numbers with so many people. As an idol, she was wary of giving out her number, but she was going to be their manager now. She had to have all their numbers for contacting them.
"Got it," Estelle inputted all the new contact information into her phone.
The boys departed, leaving her bits and pieces of "looking forward to working with you" or "happy to have you on board," and returned to their practice.
Her mood was instantly lifted by talking to the boys and having something to look forward to doing tomorrow. But there was something still weighing down her mood like balloons tied to a brick. That picture on her phone.
Estelle gulped and her fingers gingerly enclosed around her phone and she opened her photos app. The dark photos were the first in her queue. She zoomed in and scrolled around. Each movement of her finger around the screen caused her heartbeat rate to climb upwards and upwards. Unfortunately, everything was a little too dark and many photos she took were blurry. In the end, she found no conclusive evidence that anyone was there. But she couldn't shake the feeling that maybe someone was.
Estelle had a hefty haul to bring home. Eggs, mushrooms, cucumbers, carrots, kimchi, bean sprouts, gochujang, and roasted seaweed. All ready for tomorrow's cooking session. But she didn't exit the grocery store yet. It was dark outside because by the time she was done observing practice and had bought everything, the sun had set. Her palms were getting increasingly drenched in sweat, despite the cool breeze that blew in every time the automatic doors opened for another customer. Her breathing was becoming shallower.
It's fine. You didn't see anything in the photos. Your apartment is close by. Just walk. Just. Walk.
She tried to convince herself, but to no avail. Her knees felt sorer and sorer and threatened to buckle underneath her.
Calm down. Breathe slower. Just take a step forward and—
Her thoughts were interrupted by a giant who walked past her. She jerked her head to look at which giant it might be. Liu Wei? Okamura? Her heart sank a little within her as she noticed purple hair. Out of the three players above six feet to walk by, it was the one who probably didn't care about her the most. She had really been hoping for Okamura, an easy target to play innocent. But for Murasakibara, she didn't know exactly how she was going to do this. The more she thought, the farther the purple titan walked. It was now or never. She picked up her feet, which seemed to suddenly turn to lead.
"Murasaki…bara-san!" She said loudly, half running after him.
The purple titan turned at the sound of his name. "Elle-chin," he said in recognition.
That bizarre nickname he had given her. But that was the least of her worries.
She tried her best to smile cutely, "Oh you stopped by the grocery store too? What'd you get?"
Small talk was a way to figure out which way he was going, and if she could nonchalantly tag along.
"Sweets n' snacks," he lazily responded, shifting his plastic bag against his chest. He already had half an umaibo in his hand and the other half in his mouth, which he was currently chewing.
"Ah I see, I got ingredients for bibimbap tomorrow," she raised her grocery bag, filled to the brim, "Which way are you going?"
Murasakibara pointed in the opposite direction of her apartment. There was no way to casually tag along.
"Oh is that so," she tried to smile, but the corners of her mouth were twitching, "Then… I'll see you tomorrow."
"See ya," Murasakibara half-heartedly waved at her and began ambling towards the direction he pointed to earlier.
Estelle's feet were melting into the asphalt where she stood. She stared at her feet and her calves were involuntarily slightly spasming for being tense for too long. She didn't want to look up. She didn't want to see anything in the shadows, around corners, behind lampposts. But she had to get home.
I'm almost home anyways. I'm just a few steps from home. I'll just… make sure Murasakibara is gone.
She finally turned her head up and around to look for Murasakibara.
Which way did he say he was going again?
She swiveled her head around to look for him. But then she something shift a couple hundred feet in front of her. Maybe it was just a flickering lamplight casting a shadow. Maybe it was a cat walking around trash bags. Or maybe it was what she had feared.
She broke into a run. But not in the direction of her apartment. The opposite direction. Because she saw that he was still there, a slight purple in the opposite direction of her apartment. She heard footsteps. But she was no longer in a state of mind where she could determine if they were her own or someone else's.
She could see Murasakibara turn around to see who was running behind him. His eyes slightly widened when he noticed that she wasn't slowing down at all, despite the distance between them closing fast.
Estelle ran towards him and, without stopping, essentially body slamming Murasakibara. Murasakibara fell to the ground, like he accidentally missed his chair sitting down.
"Ouch," Murasakibara frowned at the pain he had experienced from being suddenly tackled by Estelle and being brought into sudden contact with the road.
Estelle found her hands, bracing her against impact, on either side of Murasakibara's abdomen. She was between his long legs and her head was facedown towards his stomach. She panted heavily from running the fastest she could. Her palms and knees were throbbing from being thrust onto a rough road. Her hot breath from running materialized in the increasingly cold night air, and she couldn't help but get a whiff of his uniform jacket. It smelled just like the shirt that she had washed the other day, a rather pleasant musky, sweet scent.
Murasakibara didn't seem too happy about being thrown to the ground, but he could barely make out Estelle's expression and features by tilting his chin down. Estelle didn't look too happy either.
"I'm sorry," she heaved breathily. Her mind was coming to terms with what her instincts had made her do. And her head raced to find a legitimate reason for tackling him to the ground. Her face was still warm from the rush of adrenaline and she didn't know what kind of expression she had on. She threw her face upward to see Murasakibara's downward tilted one. Her forehead slightly glistened with sweat and Murasakibara's violet irises seemed to twinkle under the dim light.
"I just remembered I have a bunch of sweets I can't eat at home, would you like them?" She blurted out.
Murasakibara blinked at her.