Six miracles: Crossed paths

Chapter 7 || Seirin High

"Every single time..." muttered Akira with a grin, "Three, two, one..."

"Excuse me, I'm right here."

"Bingo!" said Akira, as Riko shrieked. Akira jotted down Kuroko's stats before Riko finished. She had, after all, known him for three years. Akira stretched. This was all for today. As the boys began to disperse, Riko joined Akira at the bench.

"Oh, you've taken a lot of effort. You've written down almost everything I said. Good going," said Riko, glancing at Akira's notes, "You'll do just fine."

"Thank you," said Akira, blushing from the compliment.

"Nae, what do you think?"

"Senpai?"

"About our potential line-up?"

"It will be quite good."

"Good enough to ensure our victory?" said Riko, looking intently at Akira.

Akira simply bit her lip, refusing to commit. There was no way she could say 'yes', knowing the monsters that were out there. Riko read her expression and refrained from asking further questions of the sort.

"Nae..." said Riko suddenly, "Your friend from Teiko..."

"Hmm?"

"Was he really on the line-up with... them," said Riko.

"Umm... Yeah," said Akira.

"His stats..." said Riko, searching for a way to politely express what she was thinking, "It's a bit tough to believe... I've seen the stats of a few others who were on the bench, and judging from anything I've seen so far... they're different, and he's..."

Akira sighed, understanding what Riko was hinting at. "Senpai..." she began and trailed off, not knowing how to explain.

"Yeah?"

A couple of minutes passed in silence, as Akira struggled to gather her thoughts. "Kuroko-kun is not like other players," she said finally, "He's got... a weird skill-set. Ri-senpai, will you give him a chance to play in the trial match tomorrow?"

"You realize I don't understand a word you're saying..." said Riko. Akira smiled and shrugged apologetically. "It's best if you watch him play," she assured.

"Eh..." said Riko, shaking her head, "I'll see what I can do... But, he's going to be a tough one to coach."

"Why?"

"Let me put it this way... His body is pretty much at its limit. So even if he were to—"

"Senpai, I wouldn't worry about Kuroko-kun," said Akira, gently but firmly.

"If you say so, kouhai," said Riko, her voice still retaining a tinge of doubt, "We'll see what happens tomorrow."

Riko did follow Akira's advice the next day and put Kuroko's name among those who were playing in the trial match. Akira on the other hand, had to run a couple of errands, but she didn't mind. It was just the first day, and she would probably miss nothing of importance. Besides, Riko had promised to update her later. Her mission was to tackle Takeda-sensei. Akira had to get a few seals affixed on the club admission forms and a couple of signatures. Riko had warned her that the job required a lot of patience. Akira had accepted, to satisfy her curiosity more than anything.

Akira accosted Takeda-sensei in his corner of the staffroom. He gave her a docile smile and asked her what she wanted. Akira explained the procedure and set the forms slightly to his left. He immediately reached in that direction, albeit a bit slowly.

"So you can see..." muttered Akira.

Takeda-sensei raised his head, as if asking if she wanted to add something else. Akira swallowed and shook her head with a huge fake smile. Damn that was close... This guy is quite sharp.

Akira stood there patiently as Takeda-sensei took his time signing each form and occasionally reaching into the desk for a stamp. Halfway through, he stopped and motioned towards a tiny bowl of candy on his desk, indicating that she should take one.

"Thank you," said Akira, who instantly warmed up to him because of his considerate nature. Takeda-sensei finally finished and showed her the places which needed signing from a few other people. He even handed her a crude map which was almost unreadable. Akira thanked him and left the staffroom to find the head-coach of the sports department and the sports secretary.

Akira noticed that all the forms in the file contained details of the members in the club. Out of curiosity, she dug through them until she found Takeda-sensei's file. She shrieked when she read it. "Seventy eight years! Shouldn't you retire already..."

Although severely shaken, Akira completely all her errands and headed back to the court, only to find that the match had ended. She found Riko in a state of ecstatic shock. "He... This is the first time I've seen someone..."

"Yup, senpai."

"Just... Look at our line-up," said Riko, shaking her head, "This year... We actually have an excellent chance!"