Lincoln's new life

Second basketball game

It was now February 10th. It was Lincoln's second basketball game. The white-haired boy was currently in the locker room. He was hearing his coach trying to rev up everybody. Lincoln was nervous. After what happened in the last game and his concussion not fully healed, he wasn't very confident. 

"Aoki kōchi" Lincoln said, catching his coach's attention, "Kore o yaritai ka dō ka wakaranai" (I don't know if I want to do this) Lincoln said. Aoki looked at him and said, "Dōiu imidesu ka?" (What do you mean?). "Kinō to onajiyōni, yoku wakaranai. Watashi wa dekimasen." (Like with what happened yesterday, I'm not sure. I can't.) Lincoln said. "Nani ka iwa sete kure, Lincoln" (Let me tell you something, Lincoln) Coach Aoki said as he got closer to Lincoln, "Watashi wa katsute anata to onaji basho ni ita anata no itami o rikai shite imasu. Anata wa jishin o motte tsuyokunakereba narimasen. Anata wa jibun no osore o kokufuku shinakereba narimasen." (I understand your pain. I was once in the same place as you, but you must be confident and strong. You have to overcome your fears.).

 "Watashi wa dekimasen" (I can't) Lincoln said. "Anata wa dekiru" (You can) Coach Aoki said to Lincoln, he then walked up closer to him, getting really close to his face and whispered, "Anata wa dekiru" (You can). His breath smelled like a mix of cigarettes and coffee. "Watashi wa dekiru" (I can) Lincoln said quietly but not whispering. Coach Aoki backed up a little bit and said again in a louder tone, "Anata wa dekiru". "Watashi wa dekiru" Lincoln said, he then stood up and shouted it, "WATASHI WA DEKIRU!". The whole team and Coach Aoki cheered. "Sore wa seishinda! Sā, dekakemashou!" Aoki said as they all went out to the court.

As they were out, Lincoln saw his mother in the stands. "Go, Lincoln!" Suziko said as she cheered him on. "Thank you, Mama!" Lincoln said as he waved at her. Meanwhile with Suziko, she felt her phone vibrate. She then took it out and saw it was Krysia. She pressed 'accept', put the phone up to her ear while covering her other ear with her hand. "Hello, Krysia? You're in Japan, now? Where? ... Oh, motel. No, I'm not, I'm at Lincoln's basketball game. Yep. Oh, sure, you can, just don't make a mess. Oh, you're going to love Lincoln. Marcel and Liliana will too, I'm sure. Definitely. Alright, see you there. Bye.". She hangs up the phone.

It cuts to Lincoln sneaking behind Akari, who is with the cheerleading squad. Akari lets out a yelp as Lincoln puts his hands on her eyes from behind. "Guess who?" Lincoln said with a smile. "Hmm... let me guess..." Akari said as Lincoln giggled, "Umm... has white hair...". "Mmmhmm" Lincoln hummed. "Has beautiful hazel eyes..." Akari said. "Yes..." Lincoln said. "Is extremely cute..." Akari said. Lincoln giggled and said, "Really?". "Yep." Akari said. "Who is it?" Lincoln asked. "Lincoln-San!" Akari said as she took Lincoln's hands off her eyes, turned around and hugged him. "Hey, Akari-girl!" Lincoln greeted her as he hugged back. "So, are you feeling better? How's your concussion?" Akari asked Lincoln as they broke the hug. "Yeah, actually. I'm feeling a lot better." Lincoln said, "But it's still not fully healed, yet. How are you doing?" Lincoln asked Akari. "Just fine. I'm about to do a pyramid here in a few minutes!" Akari replied. "Really?" Lincoln asked. "Yep! Now, as flying in the air scares me, I love doing the pyramid! It's so fun!" Akari replied. That's when Lincoln heard a whistle. "I got to go." Lincoln said. "Good luck, Lincoln-San!" Akari said. "Good luck to you too!" Lincoln said running on the court.

Lincoln sat down with some of his teammates as they watched the other side of the team play. After 6 minutes, he ran to his position. The current score was 2-4. Lincoln got into position and tossed the ball back and forth three times before running while dribbling. Before one kid could get to him, he tossed it over to Muto. Muto shot and scored. Lincoln and Muto fist bumped each other. On the court, they were a powerful duo. They were Coach Aoki's first- and second-best players. The score was now 4-4. "Good Job, Linc" he thought to himself. 

It was now the other team that had the ball and Lincoln ran to the other side of the court as did the other players. Lincoln was guarding the boy closest to the hoop. It was thrown to the kid that he was guarding, and Lincoln intercepted it. He ran back with the ball, but in the middle of the running, he decided to throw it to one of his teammates, and it was intercepted yet again. The other team scored. 4-7. Damn. They can still win though, it's just the beginning of the game. After a while, he heard the clock go off. It was the end of the first quarter.