Translated from the original one in Thai.

###### Here And There - 3 Challenge ######

There is always a first time for everything... Once we try something for the first time, there will be second time, third time, fourth time and subsequent times. And we will eventually get used to it.

"I like you."

Sawakita still remembered the first time when he said the words. His lips were so trembling that he was almost unable to speak clearly. His heart was beating even harder than when he played basketball. It was so hard that he felt like it would be tens of meters away from his body if it could really jump out. But believe it or not, at this moment, he was able to say those words almost as easily as ordinary words… Although the result was the same every time.

"... Idiot."

It was the 8th time…, or 9th time… Isn't it? No matter how many times he said the words, the response from Rukawa remained unchanged. He felt as if watching a replay of the same scene, in the same place, around the same time, over and over again. Sawakita couldn't help thinking that maybe he was unknowingly stuck in a time loop. The event repeated itself so many times that he could even foresee Rukawa standing up and walking off the court in a few seconds.

But Sawakita intended to break that loop this time. He grabbed Rukawa's wrist before the other could get up and leave.

"It's true. I've liked you from the first time we met."

"Idiot."

It's a pity that his attempt didn't seem to work at all… But, the more challenging it was, the more exciting it became.

Sawakita began playing one-on-one basketball with his father at the age of 4. At that time, he even failed to score a single point. And his father had become an exciting target for young Sawakita ever since then.

For today's 20-year-old Sawakita, his new target is Rukawa. It's not about basketball, but heart. And even though the number on the scoreboard had not yet changed so far, he was confident that he would succeed in scoring, just like when he finally defeated his own father.

The lifestyle in America was different from that in Japan. Japanese people may prefer to travel by train, but that was not the case in America. Because of the vast size and relatively poor public transportation here, most people preferred traveling by car, especially in the city where Sawakita lived. And that's why he recently decided to buy a car.

But having a personal car was not the answer for everyone, due to the expenses and following burdens. As a result, many foreigners chose to use public transportation instead.

Sawakita ran to the outside of the basketball court, then held Rukawa's right hand while the other was trying to call a cab.

"I'll drive you home."

Rukawa looked up at the owner of the voice with displeased eyes. He pulled his hand back and moved his fingers trying to press the phone screen again, but the bag strap held over his left shoulder was snatched away before he could do that.

Sawakita quickly walked towards a black car parked nearby beside the pavement, and placed Rukawa's bag beside his own on the back seat. Then he moved to open the front passenger door, deliberately bowed to the other and stretched out his hand towards the seat inside.

"Please get in."

His smile could already be wider than the opening gap of the door in front right now. Sawakita ignored the displeased expressions of the other person who inevitably followed. He waited until Rukawa got into the car, then walked back to another side.

As soon as the driver side door was closed, Sawakita leaned over the seat on the right side of the car. He gripped the backrest of the front passenger seat to tighten the space around, and reached out his other hand to stop Rukawa's hand pulling out the seat belt.

"I'll put on the belt for you."

"I can do it myself."

Trapped in a space between Sawakita's arms, Rukawa tried to push the other away. But probably because of the difference in body size, no matter how much he Sawakita was pushed, he didn't seem to move at all. He pulled the belt buckle out of Rukawa's hand and leaned in even closer.

Their faces were close with only a small distance apart, so close that they could feel each other's breathing.

"I guess I should provide some service for my first guest."

"..."

.

.

.

The traffic usually didn't flow smoothly in a big city with a lot of cars. Getting stuck on the road for a while by the red traffic light, Sawakita tapped his fingers repeatedly on the steering wheel and swept his eyes around. There seemed to be nothing worth looking at for him on both sides of the road outside, so it wasn't long before his eyes started to move inside the car.

He turned his head to his companion who was crossing his arms and facing the window. Looking from the driver's seat, he could only see the back side of the other. There was no way to know what expression the unseen face was making. He wondered what was going on in Rukawa's mind.

Glancing through the mirror, he saw the reflection of the bag on the back seat. Sawakita remembered seeing Rukawa carrying something out from the fast food restaurant where he worked part-time several times, including today. It was probably in that bag right now.

"Hey, do you want to live with me?"

As an unexpected invitation came out of nowhere, Rukawa turned to look at Sawakita with a question mark on his face.

"My housemate has just moved out. I'm looking for someone to share the rent."

"Then why do I have to share with you?"

"You have to save money, right? You can cut the travel expenses if we go back together every day."

What he saw Rukawa carried was a paper bag containing food from the restaurant, and the expiration date on the tag was within tomorrow. He didn't bother to ask why, it was clear to him that the reason was money matters.

It was quite frustrating thinking about Rukawa eating such food frequently. If they lived together, he would make sure that Rukawa always ate well.

"Take your time to think over it."

It would be fine even if there was no one to share the rent for a while. Sawakita decided to wait for Rukawa to move in.

As soon as the black car was parked near an apartment in the city, Rukawa unbuckled his seat belt and pulled the car door handle preparing to get off. But his arm was suddenly grabbed by another person before he could move.

"I drove you here. Won't you thank me?"

"... Thank you."

"Not with words. How about giving me a hug as a reward?"

Not just speaking, he opened his arms wide to wait for a hug from the other. But it seemed like he got a deadly gaze instead.

You even looked cute with such an expression like a hissing cat … Sawakita giggled. In fact, he didn't expect that Rukawa would accept the request from the beginning.

"Then what about this? Let me hug you, okay?"

An interrogative sentence could be a declarative sentence in disguise sometimes. Asking the question, Sawakita actually did not intend to wait for any answer. He quickly wrapped his outstretched arms around the other before he could even react.

And because of the limited space, Rukawa who tried to avoid the hug couldn't move away much.

"See you tomorrow… No, see you in the dream tonight."

Sawakita meant what he said literally. Since their reunion in America, Rukawa became the main character in his dreams with a different setting every night. The dreams were like movies with many different genres he would never get bored of. Sometimes it was exciting. Sometimes it was romantic. And sometimes, the content could be R18+.

Ding~

Sawakita, who was in a daze imagining a new dream, regained consciousness at the same time as Rukawa was getting out of the car. He took out his phone and wondered what message someone had sent him.

But there was no new message. The notification sound he heard was not from his phone.

.

.

.

It was still true that there would be another time once the first time had come. After driving Rukawa home that day, many more times followed, no matter whether they played one-on-one or not. It seemed to almost become one of his daily routines these days.

"Have you thought about living with me yet? If we stay together, we can go back together easily, no need to take a detour sending you home like this."

Rukawa's residence was actually not very far from the court where the two played basketball together. It was just that the direction was different from his residence.

"Then don't do it. I've never asked."

"Hey… If we live together, both you and I can reduce expenses. It's a win-win situation. And having your housemate speaking the same language as you is always better."

Sawakita didn't just try to give any reasons to convince. He sincerely thought that way.

The past three years have made him understand very well that living alone in America was not easy, especially when the goal was to play basketball in the NBA. Japanese players who came to pursue their dreams here usually faced a lot of pressure and problems. Sometimes they could feel discouraged. Even the former No.1 high school player in the country like him had a difficult time as well. If they could have someone who could understand each other staying close, it would help them not to feel alone.

"And if you quit your part-time job, you'll have more time to prepare for the exam. You're supposed to focus on your grades now, right?"

Being an athlete didn't mean there was no need to pay attention to academics at all. Having good basketball skills alone was not enough to join the NCAA, you had to meet the academic standards as well.

From what Sawakita had heard, Rukawa was still in a prep school expecting to get recruited by NCAA D1 university. In his opinion, Rukawa's skill was already at the level that he could even be selected as a starter. As there was no problem with ability, the only one concern left was academic results, which he thought Rukawa still had problems with.

"Maybe I can help you. I mean, your studies."

Their eyes met as Rukawa turned towards the driver seat for the first time. Under the calm expression as usual, Sawakita could see those beautiful eyes trembling. It was a short period of time before Rukawa turned around and rested his head against the window, casting his eyes outside.

There was not a single word in response, but Sawakita knew that sometimes silence could say more than a thousand words.

"Think about it again. I'll wait."

The silence continued even after arriving at the destination. Inside the car right now, there was no conversation at all between them. And not even a sound of movement was heard.

Rukawa was still sitting in the passenger seat. If it was as usual, Sawakita would have rushed over to the other and hugged him like before. Strangely, none of the two show any signs of moving. The only movements were probably their eyes that gradually turned to meet again.

Sawakita was not sure whether Rukawa had become accustomed to the reward he asked for every time, but something in those eyes made him feel like Rukawa was waiting for him to hug. He stretched out his arms and wrapped around the other, intended to tighten them even more than before. This hug wasn't only what he wanted from Rukawa, but also what he wanted to give, wishing it would pass on the warmth to tell the person in his arms that he was there beside.

He gently caressed Rukawa's back. It was a hug that lasted longer than ever, but Sawakita still didn't want to loosen his arms. It would be great if he could stop time from moving forward and stay like this for as long as possible.

Ding~

Unfortunately, there was no way to actually stop the time. Upon hearing the notification sound from his phone, Rukawa immediately pulled himself away.

It was not unusual for people to send messages to each other, but Rukawa's reaction made Sawakita strangely irritated. And he became even more dissatisfied when thinking that he had heard the notification sound from Rukawa's phone many times before. Even though he didn't know who those messages were from, he was sure that it was the same person.

And the moment Rukawa picked up his phone, Sawakita saw someone's name on the screen.

"Who is Sendoh Akira?"

"... Just, someone who called you Kitazawa."

"Huh?"

.

.

.

The name of an unknown person made Sawakita unable to concentrate all the way driving home. He had no idea who the person was, and it kept bothering him a lot. Soon after arriving at his residence, he took his phone up and started to search for that name.

[Sendoh Akira]

Sawakita repeated the text he typed in his mind before pressing the search button, and then checked the results that appeared on the screen.

Tokyo University student?

Still having no idea how the person was related to Rukawa, Sawakita slowly scrolled through the next search results. Then his eyes got caught by an old article from several years ago.

[Genius of Ryonan - Kanagawa Prefecture].

It was an article about a high school basketball player who performed excellently in a preliminary tournament for Inter High. The pictures in the article were probably from the tournament in Kanagawa.

Seeing the pictures of the young man in a blue jersey, Sawakita's hazy memories seemed to gradually become clearer. Probably because they didn't meet each other in any high school tournament, he forgot that he once found an interesting opponent, named Sendoh Akira.

In the article, Rukawa was mentioned as Sendoh's rival. But Sawakita's sense was telling himself that there was something more between the two of them. Whether for basketball or love, Sawakita had to admit that 'Sendoh Akira' was really a formidable opponent.

However, the more challenging it was, the more exciting it became...

- TBC