Teiko's basketball III: Three's a charm

Crane thieves

"Akira, no matter how you try, you don't look like a shoujo heroine," said Mayu who had a suspicious vein throbbing in her forehead.

"I think she's 'trying to grow mushrooms' like in that anime..." said Sora thoughtfully.

"Oh! I thought she went to vomit in the corner," teased Yukiji with a giggle.

"Go talk to her, kouhai!" said Sora dramatically to Mai, "Only you can heal her imaginary wounds."

"You know, I can hear each and every one of you morons!" said Akira. "I'm trying to tie my shoelace dummies"

"Oh. Damn..." said Sora.

"I thought you were mad at us," said Yukiji.

"Yukiji-san!" protested Sora.

"Feeling passed," said Akira with a shrug.

"You're being surprisingly mature today," muttered Sora.

"But mou! Mai-chan, must you leave?"

"The drama queen is back in the house!" said Mayu.

"Plus, we're going to the training camp and all... It'll be loads of fun but you'll be marinating in chlorine..."

Sora and Mai exchanged glances. "What, now you two have a code?" said Yukiji with a facepalm.

"Oh no, it's nothing. It's just that, senpai invited me to stay till the camp is completed," said Mai hesitantly. Akira looked up with a sniff. She stiffly walked over to Sora and extended her hand. "We are now even." Sora began to laugh loudly.

"What? You're supposed to shake it back," said Akira.

"Uh-huh..." managed Sora.

"Okay, comedy time's over. Coach alert," said Miyu who was standing near the door.

"Okay, team. Resume positions. And if anyone asks, the score is ten-ten," said Sora.

"Right!"

"Hold it, hold it... Then how do we keep score?" said Akira.

"Subtraction dummy," said Yukiji rolling her eyes.

"I know, but if a team who normally scores about sixty, give or take, scores seventy, won't she be suspicious?"

"Oh yeah, and also if anyone asks, we're in full form today," said Sora.

True to the word, not only Akira but most of the club was excited about the camp. Particularly as both the coaches had a habit of collaborating with each other and thinking about fiendish challenges that would supposedly develop skills that would aid the teams in matches. Last year's tag game was memorable enough to start with. The girls had somehow managed to beat the g.o.m last year although Sora doubted that that unlikely phenomenon would ever repeat itself.

Even though none of the teams openly expressed it, anticipation was thick in the air. Sora had heard from Satsuki that there had even several 'subtle' challenges exchanged between the various strings of the boys' team. Someone had even gone so far as to stick a note saying 'The storm's coming' to a basketball and lob it in the midst of practice. Sora never assumed that the tension would touch the first string but later that day she found Midorima hiding something under his desk.

"What's up, Midorima-kun?" she said, curious.

"Nothing, nanodayo," said Midorima.

Sora watched fascinated as he quickly drew a small paper from his desk and then appeared to fold it a couple of times before returning it into the desk and drawing a fresh paper and repeating the same thing. Sora could make out that he was folding it into a shape of a crane.

"Cranes, huh? Why..." began Sora.

"Luck," finished Yukiji, "How many do you have in there, Shintaro?"

"It's none of your business, nanodayo."

"I see," said Yukiji. Sora could see a very cheeky expression on her face and sighed. There was no clearer expression saying 'Hell's about to break loose, baby!'. "See yah..." said Yukiji and left the class with a wave.

Outside the class, Yukiji met up with Akira. "You're right," said Yukiji, "Shintaro is indeed folding cranes so that he'll have more luck that us for the regulars match ."

"That's not fair!" protested Akira.

"I know right!"

"Then we'll just fold more!" said Akira in a determined tone.

"Can't," said Yukiji shaking her head, "He's got a lot and he won't tell me how many."

"Drastic measures?

"Yeah. Operation Swipe is a go."

There was a relative period of calm after this exchange. Sora, who wasn't a member of 'Operation Swipe' could feel that something was up but had no idea what it was. Finally the bell rang signaling the end of classes for a day. Midorima immediately rushed outside. His luck item was a rubber float and he wasn't allowed to bring it inside. Sora assumed he had gone to fetch it. As soon as Midorima disappeared from view, Yukiji and Akira got up and rushed to his place. They began to scoop up the cranes in their hands. Midorima entered and looked at them in dismay. His treasure had gone into the hands of the enemy.

"What in the blazes..."

"Your luck in is our hands now," hollered Akira, "Prepare yourself."

Both of them escaped from the class leaving Midorima in a state of mental torture. "I'll return them to you..." said Sora uncertainly.

"Are you guys taking this that seriously? This is childish..." said Midorima adjusting his glasses.

"We're not," assured Sora but just then a piece of paper landed on her desk.

'This is war.'

Sora turned with an indignant expression to find that Akashi was innocently doing sums on his notebook. He would easily deny any accusation that she might put forth. Looked like Akira and Yukiji weren't the only ones into the whole 'challenge' idea. "On the contrary, your captain has ideas of avenging his team-mate..." said Sora carefully, "I take it back, Midorima-kun. This is war."

Midorima watched her leave the class and went back to his desk. "I hope they didn't take the paper too..." he said rummaging under the desk.

Sora meanwhile was in search of the two. "Why did you nick the cranes?" said Sora.

"I told you, they're luck," said Yukiji.

"So you guys are that serious..." said Sora.

"Yeah..." said Akira, "But we'll return them if you want us to."

"Nah, keep them. We're in war."