Chapter 12:
New face
"Wow senpai, that was awesome!" exclaimed Kise. "Wait I wanna try too."
Saying so, he promptly copied the third year. The third year was confounded.
"What with this guy...." he thought to himself.
Oddly enough, the third string seemed to be holding it's own in the day's match. Most of it could be attributed to the energetic blonde.
The guy seemed to be imitating moves left and right. Moves that had taken them years to perfect. The guy's enthusiasm also seemed to be catching to the rest of the third string. As a result, they played with much more gusto than usual.
"These brats are really getting it to their heads...." said one of the second string members.
"Yeah. He replied. Time to step it up."
But he soon found that the more he tried, the better the blonde seemed to be playing. He was sponging their moves after all.
By the end of the match, the third string won by a good margin. The blonde was happily laughing and exchanging high-fis.
"We'll be seeing more of him won't we."
"Yeah. This is a sure promotion if I've ever seen one. Maybe with this one, we might even stand a chance against those first string monsters."
"We might. Who knows.... I'm feeling the same thing now."
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Just as the second string members had predicted, Kise was called aside by the coach.
"You're..... Kise Ryouta right?"
"Yes!"
"Hmm..... Even though it might seem a bit early.... too early in fact, I think we'll see what you can do in the second string. You're not a permanent part of them yet. This is a trial. But if you can still keep up after one week.... Good for you."
"Oh..... Thank you sensei!"
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"Oh, man I'm beat...." moaned Kise as he exited. He was feeling thoroughly overworked. In a way, he was. He'd stayed back and practiced the day before. Nanase was waiting again. He'd sort of gotten used to seeing her after practice. She looked bored. Kise knew that he'd taken a lot of time inside. But the third sting never lost a chance to let it loose. They had precious little opportunity of victory after all. So Kise had been put through a lot of enthusiastic fist bumps, head rubs and high-fis. The entire string would probably go out that day. But for his part, he was feeling thoroughly squished.
"Nanasecchi."
"Oh. Ryouta. You took your time."
"Gomen. The guys were really overboard. Couldn't get away."
(Note: Gomen means sorry.)
"I see."
Both of them walked side by side.
"So today.... "
"Oh. Nanasecchi..... I'm really sorry, but I can't I can hardly stand.... I think I might have a sprain. It hurts!"
"So you're canceling on me?"
"No! It's just that, I can't today."
"I see. After all that talk...."
"We'll definitely go! As soon as this damn ankle feels okay again."
"Whatever."
Both of them went into a somewhat awkward silence.
"Nae, Ryouta-kun, can I ask you something?"
"Sure!"
"Why did you join the basketball club? You were an ace in the soccer club. Now you're just a third string player in a huge club."
"Second! I got promoted!" he corrected enthusiastically. "I dunno why I joined though.... Suppose you could say it was a calling."
"Eh..... Sucks a bit though."
"Not at all! The club's awesome. You should see the way the more experienced guys play....."
"I didn't exactly mean it that way."
"Oh."
Again a brief silence. Finally the gate came. Nanase bade him goodbye and left. Watching her leave, Kise felt just a little twinge of relief. And then he shook himself. He'd been with her for quite a while now. She could be a bit high handed but that was probably all.
Ouch! It was his ankle. That confirmed it. Sprain. Kise just prayed that it would get better or at least last through practice tomorrow. After all, he was joining the second string.
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Author's note:
Just out of curiosity, does anyone get who Nanase is? Please comment yes or no alone in the comments.