Sigma/Star

Chapter 46: Sakura vs. Toriyama

"Ardwen to bowl," Rick declared. Mr. Toriyama's head shot straight up upon hearing it and he approached the referee cautiously.

"I think you made a mistake there sir. It should be Chase who goes third."

"No I have Ardwen written down here." Rick scanned the page to make sure he was right.

"Oh, Porter must have changed it then. So Chase is bowling after Ardwen correct?" the teacher asked.

"Nope. He goes last. Ardwen to bowl." The colour drained from Mr. Toriyama as he turned a ghostly shade of white. Teeth chattering, he slowly turned to look at his captain.

"P-p-p-porter..."

"Yes sir?" The student calmly answered, fully aware of the situation.

"C-can I s-speak w-w-with you a moment." Porter nodded and followed his leader off to the side, out of earshot of the rest of the team, leaving Ardwen to conduct his pre-shot calculations. "Why is Chase our anchor?" Toriyama whispered through his teeth, resting against the wall beside the bathroom to cease his shaking. "You do remember that the best player goes last, not the worst?"

"That's alright sir, I remember," Porter replied. "I trust in Chase. He's a strong guy and he doesn't want to lose more than anything in the world. I think he'll pull through when the time is right. And if we lose it's ok. We learn and grow. We have all season after all."

"Porter, I didn't tell any of you this but Ms. Sakura is also my wife."

"What!?" The pilot nearly jumped out of his outfit at hearing this.

"We're very competitive and she's always wanted to move up and take my job from me but, more importantly, we put a wager on this. If I lose I have to sleep in my classroom for the next week!"

"But...but your names aren't...but you two seem...sir I didn't even know you were married..." Porter's head spun on a swivel as he tried to weasel his way out of this. He already had assumed they would probably lose this match but he wanted to give Chase a chance and put a little trust in him, as he and Ardwen had discussed last night.

"I can't live out of my class Porter!" The teacher was starting to panic, eyes wides and darting back and forth between looking at the captain and looking over the shoulder at the evil wife. "Nobody has ever seen me without my morning face on!" Toriyama had grabbed Porter's shoulders and was shaking him back and forth.

The teenager was snickering imagining a haggard Mr. Toriyama. "Sorry sir, I'm afraid I can't help you now. You shouldn't have made that bet."

"Porter." Mr. Toriyama's voice grew dark and serious. "If you don't do everything you can to win this I will put you so far into detention you'll never see the White Storm again. Got it?" Porter gulped. He got it.

The two returned to see it was Porter's turn to shoot. With the pressure suddenly on, Porter threw a beautiful shot up the middle that ricocheted just enough to garner the strike and put the team comfortably ahead of their opponents. But the ace of Ms. Sakura (whose choice of name still baffled Porter as it gave no indication that she had a husband) was up. He had brought a personal ball with him, golden with blue stars, and sent it spinning down the lane, curling it perfectly so that it cut right across the pins and knocked them all flat in an instant. It was the cleanest strike any of them had ever seen and it tightened the gap in the score.

Everyone turned to look at Chase. It was finally his turn. The hot head popped up out of his seat with an unearned confidence and strutted over to the ball, giving a little menacing growl at the opponents, instilling a bit of fear and doubt in them. He posed a bit before finally stepping up to the line, and both Porter and Toriyama chewed their nails nervously as they watched.