TWENTY-FOUR. GF-FORHIRE
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the room was eerie, no one dared utter a word as the three basketball players walked inside.
heterochromatic eyes scanned the small crowd, in search of the person in charge.
one of the players in the crowd shivered involuntarily at the highfalutin air that surrounded the three niiyama girls.
"seinaru!" inko shimura called happily, emerging from the group.
the basketball players behind her were slightly intimidated by the big three's sudden appearance, and it showed. one of them was even trembling in her shoes.
they were all in casual wear, most of them were just in shirts, a pair of loose shorts, shoes and others were in slides.
hanuka and ichigo blinked, scanning their new teammates' appearance with extreme scrutiny.
"inko-san." seinaru greeted as the coach approached her.
"sorry we're late." ichigo finally tore her eyes away from the small group, looking at her coach. "malls in tokyo hit diff'."
inko smiled knowingly, "of course."
she then looked back at the rest of the japan team that were all waiting expectantly behind her. "oh before i forget. here are your teammates."
"girls, introduce yourselves." she prodded.
the one at the front nodded, she looked very chirpy, standing at the height of 5'5, she was probably the shortest, with short curly dark purple hair and black eyes.
"i'm ainsley jordan!" she chirped, waving. "i'm eighteen, and i'm the swingman— number five, see?"
the three nodded at her, hanuka smiling lightly in recognition of the swingman she once competed with in the nationals.
"are you japanese?" ichigo asked. "i've been wanting to ask that since forever."
jordan shook her head, "oh, no."
she pointed at herself with a proud smile, "my family migrated here in tokyo when i was young, i'm of japanese nationality now, but not by blood, i'm actually aussie."
ichigo nodded, smiling, "oh, cool."
the girl just grinned, and then the next one was up.
it was a girl who had black and blue hair in a pixie cut. she had dark gray eyes, and a piercing look on her face. she fell on the hight of 5'8, most likely.
"mirai nozomi, eighteen. small forward." she looked both ichigo and hanuka with piercing gray eyes, but shied away with red cheeks when she tried to eye seinaru. "i.. i wear jersey number six."
both ichigo and hanuka shared knowing looks.
"you from tokyo?" hanuka asked.
the girl shook her head firmly, "no. i come from okinawa."
hanuka nodded, "oh, right. okay."
then, the next girl came up, she had her blonde hair in two buns, bangs framed her face, and she was sporting a mischievous grin as she tried to come up to seinaru's height— but couldn't because she's barely even five foot eight.
"i've been dreaming of this moment for so long." she grinned up at ymari. "i'm himiko takemichi, seventeen, jersey number 7, and a power forward.."
she then bowed at a perfect 90 degree angle, her hair falling upon her face as she did so. "marry me!"
awkward silence swept through the room as the girl bowed at the point guard.
seinaru blinked, unfazed. "no."
both ichigo and hanuka sweatdropped at the usual answer their captain gave.
takemichi started to cry anime tears as she went down on her knees and held her hands together, "but why???!!!"
seinaru looked at her blankly and took a side step, not wanting to be on the other end of the girl's begging.
"you're not my type." she said, before looking away.
the entire room erupted into snickers.
"amateur." the next girl had an edgy aesthetic going on. a choker necklace was around her neck, a lip piercing shone on the left side of her lip, and her dark green hair was chopped into a curtain haircut, with the rest of her hair tied into a braid.
"this is how you do it." she rolled her eyes at takemichi. her demeanor was intimidating as she stepped forward.
"eko ryuguji, eighteen, power forward, jersey number 8." she then dropped onto her knees, surprising the new people in the room with the sudden switch in her personality.
"will you marry me? we'll have kids and name them tonio, toonu, and tetsuno—"
"no." seinaru cut her off, slightly sweatdropping at the welcome she was receiving.
were all city people like this?
ryuguji slumped as she stood up, "dang it."
soon enough, the rest of the team introduced themselves to the three. there was yuna tomiko, 16 years old, #9 and a small forward, uze inosuke, 17 years old, #10 and a small forward, matsuko chiyo, 17 years old, #11 and a swingman.
and finally..
"ymari seinaru." the light brown haired girl with dim brown eyes stepped forward. her hair was in a messy bun, but it was obvious that it was short. her hands were tucked in her shorts as she glared at the captain of nippon.
"utsui futakuchi." the black haired girl responded with an equally stoic tone as the former.
the crowd around them stiffened as they felt the sudden shift in the air. both hanuka and ichigo looked at each other with perplexed eyes— how did their captain know this girl?
"it's good to see you." utsui blinked, slightly looking up at the girl, as she was only 5'9.
seinaru tilted her head to the side, and suddenly, a condescending smirk flitted upon her face. "how unfortunate it must be that i don't feel the same."
a tick mark appeared on utsui's head, "obnoxious brat."
"pompous prick." ymari smirked, raising an eyebrow as a challenge.
"ambitious asshole."
"i don't need ambition, i'm already at the top, utsui." she looked down at the girl smugly. "anything else?"
utsui pursed her lips, before breaking into a smile.
"ymari you bitch—" she shook the taller girl as she enveloped her in a hug. "i haven't seen you in ages!"
ymari laughed, making three members of nippon's team almost faint at the sound of their crush's melodious giggle.
"it was better that way, i didn't want to see your annoying ass anyway." she teased back.
utsui pouted, "fucking meanie."
"uh.. what's going on?" hanuka curiously asked the question that hung in the air.
seinaru looked at her, "she was my teammate in middle school, she transferred to the states in her third year."
hanuka nodded in understanding, "oh, gotcha."
ymari and utsui were teammates in middle school. the reason hanuka and ichigo couldn't recognize her is because by the time their middle school teams got to compete with each other, utsui had already gone to the united states to live and train with her father.
as the two caught up, inko decided that it'd be best if they began eating lunch, so she instructed them to do so in the hotel's restaurant. utsui stuck to ymari, whilst hanuka and ichigo socialized with the other members too.
utsui was sitting across ymari as the two of them ate, the buzz in the restaurant served as white noise to their ears.
ymari was carefully chewing on her pork steak and rice when the shorter girl struck up a conversation.
"i wasn't able to ask earlier, but.. are you still talking to—"
"no." ymari cut her off with a firm tone to her voice.
utsui pursed her lips, "but are you still working as—"
"yes."
"oh.." she trailed off, stuffing her mouth with a bunless burger as she let her thoughts consume her.
ymari felt slightly guilty that she had to cut her friend off so abruptly so she sighed lightly, "when did you get back?"
the girl looked up at her. "during my brother's spring national qualifiers."
ymari's brows knitted together, then she remembered who she was pertaining to. "oh, the one who plays volleyball in miyagi, right?"
the girl nodded, "yeah, him."
"you're going to his school now too?"
"nope." the girl answered. "i'm only staying here until the youth world olympics end."
ymari nodded in understanding, "ah i see—"
buzz, buzz.
she was abruptly cut off when her phone started buzzing in her pocket. she put down her utensils and signalled a 'wait' sign to utsui, to which the girl responded with an understanding nod.
she pulled out her phone from her pocket and slid the lockscreen open. a barrage of notifications were on the screen.
she blinked, her eyes narrowed lightly as she clicked on it, it was a notification from her website.
New Booking Alert!
Type: White, gray-ish hair with black highlights, golden brown eyes, tall, cute girl please!!
Task: Cheer for me!
Duration: 3 days for sure. I'm winning this tournament, HEY HEY HEY!!
Special Request/s: Wear my jersey, cheer as loud as you can, and help me win!!
Message (Optional):
Good day,
This is the friend of the guy you are going to be dating. Please ignore his request in the "type" option, otherwise you'll be showing up looking exactly like him, and that is highly unacceptable, as it would make you look like siblings, and frame both of you for incest. I volunteer to help you with the "type" option. We are in the Tokyo area, as our Stargle Map pin must state. If you are here as well, kindly coordinate with me. I will send you a text message with regards to this.
Sincerely,
Akaashi
Paid through CashApp ✓
"is it something urgent?" utsui slurped her strawberry milkshake rather loudly, "you look troubled."
the black haired girl looked up at her, "oh, no. it's nothing."
the girl narrowed her eyes at the former. "doesn't look like nothing..."
she then pursed her lips at her suspiciously. "is it perhaps.. a new client?"
ymari shrugged, "perhaps."
utsui looked elated, "what'd they say? is it a boy? ooh, i remember when it was a girl— what was her name again, shimiz—"
"shut up." ymari turned red at the sudden burst of the girl. "you're going to expose me to everyone. y'know no one else knows."
the girl giggled, "whatever."
"so, who is it this time? if you need some kind of help, i'd be happy to offer a lending hand." utsui says. "you know, just like old times."
utsui didn't miss the flash of a certain undecipherable emotion in ymari's eyes. she was about to say something about it when ymari looked back at her phone. she clicked on the rest of the notifications, they were on her text messaging app— all from the akaashi guy who was apparently the potential client's friend.
"i don't know if i should take it." she sighed, leaning forward into her hand as she took a sip of her lemon juice.
"why not?" she asked. "could be fun."
seinaru shrugged, "well, it's basketball season and i already have enough on my plate to begin with."
"ooh, who~?" utsui's eyes sparkled as she prodded.
"not telling." she drank her lemon juice. "but if i do end up needing your help, i'll let you know."
utsui grinned as she twirled the straw in her drink, "i look forward to it."
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