Kaijou's Shiro

Chapter III

The next week seemed to whizz by like a breeze to one white-haired author. Besides sneaking in some quality chapter-writing time in between classes, Shiro had already filled in nicely to her role of basketball manager, much to the satisfaction of their Coach. She'd initially regretted not joining earlier, as by the time she'd applied, Kaijou had already earned itself the title of Champions of the Kanagawa Block and would be playing for the Quarter Finals of the Interhigh Final League in two weeks time. Shiro would be lying if she wasn't trembling with excitement to the point where she had half the members of the Basketball Club coming up to her and asking whether she was feeling under the weather.

(She wasn't. Though she admitted she was excited to the point where she'd caught a really shitty fever the next morning.)

Fortunately, she didn't have to wait that long to watch her team play, as her chance came by this very weekend where Kaijou would be having a 'friendly' practice match against the runner-up of their block, Kamakura High School.

They were a strong school, she admitted. She'd spent a good hour watching some of their match tapes, and with her eyes that she often used to read people's characters, personalities and habits, she had finally come to a startling conclusion.

Her everyday ability to read people was rendered completely useless when it came down to reading a player's movements and thoughts. This was mainly because of her lack of actual experience in the field and overall knowledge of the game and basketball plays. This had resulted in a fifteen minute time period of her depressingly sulking, which sparked off another round of basketball players coming over and asking her whether she needed to take early leave.

(Ryouta bought her nikuman afterwards. She felt thoroughly better after eating it.)

However, her one hour of tape-watching was not entirely vain. She did manage to roughly estimate their opponent's characters. For example, Kamakura High's captain and center – who she was going to call 'Sleazebag-kun' – had a somewhat perverted aura around him, and whenever Shiro saw him playing, it made her feel somewhat violated. Their point guard – 'Violently Handsome-kun' – was very violent and easily provoked to the point of recklessness on court. However, Shiro found them both exceptional players whose aggressiveness and power when playing basketball easily made her overlook those less than desirable traits.

And with that, she went home feeling a little better (especially after the nikuman) and had quickly settled into her routine of finishing the third chapter of Remember Me From the Dead's sequel before falling into a peaceful sleep next to Ryouta.

She was definitely going to give it her all for tomorrow's practice match, she thought to herself.

(And with that, the regulars – and mainly the starters – of the Kaijou High Basketball Team all felt sudden chills ricochet down their spines. Because tomorrow's match against Kamakura High was no doubt going to be the realization point for the entire team that Ichijou Shiro may have attracted more trouble than they'd bargained for.)

(...And may actually be a bit more fragile than they'd initially expected.)

Shiro woke up to the sound of her apartment door opening and the heavenly aroma of fresh breads and coffee hitting her senses.

"Ryouta," she breathed dreamily, eyes still shut in fatigue as she rolled her shoulders, wincing slightly at the tiny 'crack' of her bones as she did so, "you are a godsend."

Shiro felt tiny, unexpected goosebumps appearing on her skin upon hearing the blonde's light, cheerful laughter at her praise, and almost gave an unladylike yelp when she felt herself getting picked up like a rag doll and thrust into the other model's puppy-like embrace. She felt her cheeks redden uncharacteristically when she looked up at Ryouta – who still looked as stupidly handsome and attractive as ever, all smiles and twinkles and shit.