Rei hummed with the radio music as she ate her breakfast toast. Eita noticed as he also nibbled on his food, "Huh? What's up with you today, sis?" Eita looked in confusion. Rei stood up and smirked confidently.
"Heh, it's cause your big sis is gonna be the second manager of the basketball team!"
Their mother overheard the conversation from the kitchen, "Oh really? That's very nice, Rei-chan."
Grabbing her pastel backpack as her keychains jingled from the motion, Rei waved goodbye to her mother and little brother. "I'll be heading out, bye everyone!"
"Take care, Rei-chan." Her mother replied. Eita, however, was left stunned.
"Basketball team?"
Riding her black utility bike, Rei hummed with the music in her earphones playing Kimi Ga Suki Da To Sakebitai's chorus. Yesterday's event, Sakuragi's duel with the captain of the basketball team inspired her, Rei could no longer refuse Ayako's offer to her as a second manager to the team.
"Yosh! Let's do this!"
"Oh? So you're gonna accept the position?" Ayako said in amazement.
"Yes! It would be a waste to decline such an offer." Rei giggled nervously. The two were at the hallways of the 2nd year students, since Ayako herself was a 2nd year.
"I'm glad you accepted it, Genji. Here, these are the papers you'll need to sign up and give it to the faculty." Ayako said as she handed out a folder to Rei's direction. Rei nodded in agreement as she took it with her hand, she flipped and scanned the document before returning her gaze once again to Ayako's.
"Thank you, Ayako-san." Rei said.
Since class wasn't gonna start for thirty minutes, Ayako and Rei decided to chat for a little while. They chatted about basketball and slowly the topic was changed into anything that came into their mind, Rei felt very close to her senior already since Ayako was very easy to talk to.
"Class is gonna start soon, I must go now." Rei said as she looked at her wristwatch. "I had a nice time, Genji-chan. I'm looking forward to manage the team with you!" Ayako said as she waved to her junior and Rei nodded back to her before running through the halls.
Classes commenced and throughout the whole day, Rei was with Haruko who helped her to find some teachers to sign the form. They need to be witnesses of Rei's position to the basketball team after all.
Tomorrow came and Rei was already finished filling up all the blanks of the form.
Rei's POV
I finally filled everything up, all I need to do is to give this form to Ayako-san then I can finally finish everything and start my days with the basketball team. As I continued to walk, I saw Yohei in a distance who seems alone. Strange, where is his troops?
"Yo, Yohei."
"Oh, Rei-chan." He turned his gaze to mine and I stopped with my tracks as I stood in front of him face to face, well more like looking up and down face to face, he is a bit taller than I am. "Where are your pals?" I asked as I turned my head to look for them around the area.
"They went home ahead without me, they didn't want to get up with Hanamichi's shenanigans with the basketball team again." Yohei said as he let out a nervous chuckle. But I was confused to what he meant.
"Sakuragi? What's up with him now?"
"Yesterday he breached the lockers of the athletes and wore the captain's uniform. And earlier this day, he sent "gifts" to him which was bananas and pictures of women. Lastly, he called us to help him clean the lockers, it was a very dirty locker room if you ask me."
"Really? It seems that he really wants to join the team." I said in surprise, to think Sakuragi was very spiteful against the sport and now he seems desperate to join.
"Hmm? What's with the paper you're holding?" Yohei asked as he pointed to my hand's direction.
"This? It's the completed form for me to become the second manager. I have to return this to Ayako-san."
"So you actually agreed to the position, that's pretty neat." Yohei said with a smile.
"Gee ,thanks. I hope Sakuragi will be recruited though, that duel was pretty amazing." I looked down as I reminisced the image of Sakuragi dunking his score to win the battle, it was very astonishing.
"Well, I gotta go now and deliver this to the senior." Before I could bid farewell, Yohei stopped my sentences and started his. "If you don't mind, can I tag along?" He asked with his hand on his hips, waiting for an answer.
I was a bit surprised but hey, what the hell. "Sure. My chaperone, if you please." Jokingly, I lifted the paper up that was on my hand flamboyantly.
"Of course, mademoiselle." He bended down slowly and took the form from my hand. After the silence and knowing how ridiculous our actions were, we burst into laughter as few of the students around us looked at our direction with weird faces. I can't blame them though.
Covering my mouth as I try to calm myself down, Yohei straightened his back showed off the form that was now between his index and middle finger, "Shall we?"
I nodded to him and we continued our way to the stairs, "I , Genji Rei, has assigned to be the assistant manager of Aya-"
"You don't need to read that aloud." I said in annoyance, listening to him teasingly read aloud the contents of the paper was embarrassing.
"Hahahahahaha, I'm just teasing." He chuckled.
We were able to deliver the form successfully to Ayako-san and she told us that I will start my days as the assistant manager tomorrow, and tomorrow was also the new members recruited for basketball. Yohei also got the news since he was with me and after meeting with Ayako, we went away to take our to leave.
I marched gleefully as the keychains jingled in the back and the bike slowly rolling as I handled it's handlebar grip, Yohei seemed pretty happy about the news too. Before we could land our feet to the road as we exit the campus, Yohei called, "Rei-chan." I turned my way to his and hummed as an answer.
"Since you are now officially a second manager, how about we celebrate a little." He tilted his head to the side as he waited for my answer. It was a bit of sudden but spending time with a friend wouldn't hurt.
"Of course! Let's make our stomachs happy, cause I'm hungry." I said with a giggle. We both found ourselves in a diner. Sitting on a couch like seat, we picked and ordered what we liked from the menu. I chose a carbonara dish and a lemonade as a drink, Yohei chose the same and we waited for our plates.
I sighed as I sat my elbow on the table and my chin on my palm, "What's wrong?" Yohei questioned. He was just right in front me so of course he was gonna notice my stature. "Oh it's nothing, aren't your parent's gonna be mad you'll be home late though?" I asked in slight concern.
"Nah it's okay, they're used to it." He said as he smiled gently. I remembered Yakumo's comment about Sakuragi and Yohei-kun, she said they were a frightening gang that would always get in trouble. I wonder that is the case why he gets home late.
It did give me some concern but seeing him personally, he doesn't look like he has some trouble in his life. So I decided not to ask such things.
Yohei crossed his arms as he gently rested his back against the seat, "What about you, Rei-chan? Aren't your parents gonna be mad too?" He asked.
I straightened myself to my seat and replied, "It'll be fine."
A waitress with a tray approached us, "Here are your orders..." She said as she set the table with our food. The sauce was steaming and it's aroma hit my nose with delight, "Smells so good." I drooled as I looked at the carbonara glimmering against the light.
"Enjoy your meal." The waitress bowed to our direction and we nodded to her as we thanked her.
I grabbed my lemonade drink and raised it on the air, "Here's to my position to the basketball team!"
"Genji Rei, assistant manager of Shohoku High basketball team!" Yohei added as he clinked his glass with mine. We both laughed then continued to eat our pasta, soon enough we finished our meal and ordered cheesecake for dessert.
We chattered about school and studies but later our topic was changed. "By the way, what made you join basketball when you were in middle school?" Yohei asked as he rested his elbow on the table and his chin on his palm.
I was caught off guard by the question and turned my gaze to the side as there was a glass window beside us. Seeing the lights of the town, I remembered the lights of the basketball court as loud cheers spread across the stadium.
"I ran across to someone who inspired me to play ball, that's all." I recalled the memories I had when I encountered Mitsui at the empty gym and the championship game he aced when he was in middle school.
I felt my lips gently curl into a smile but slowly fade as Mitsui's statement pierced through my mind, "You disgust me."
I curled my hand into fist as I held the fork on the table, "Rei-chan, you okay?"
I returned back to reality and looked at Yohei who's eyes are now widened still his chin rested on his palm. I nodded and told him in reassurance, "Yeah, I'm good. This cheesecake is pretty tasty." I took a part of my slice and slid it inside my mouth, melting it's flavor to my tongue.
I rested my hand on my cheek as I felt warmth from the flavor, "So good~."
I heard Yohei hum in happiness so I turned my gaze to his. He smiled at me as his eyes were gentle, I felt a bit weird from his stare so I asked, "What're you starin at?"
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know." Yohei stuttered a little with light shade of pink was visible on his cheeks. He quickly took a slice from his sliced cheesecake and ate it, "Hoh! You're right, this cake is so good!"
I giggled from his remark and continued to eat my dessert. I glanced to the window again, 'Come to think of it, I haven't seen Mitsui for a while now.' I thought to myself.
After hanging out at the diner, we went our separate ways to our homes, I passed the campus as I headed on my way riding my bike and soon enough I saw the basketball locker room in a distance who's lights were on. I squinted my eyes and then saw Sakuragi inside the lit room.
"It's already 9pm, what is he doing?" I was curious so I decided to climb the campus walls to get in since the gates were shut. Getting closer to the doors, I heard Sakuragi's voice inside the locker room. I slowly slid the door and as I peeked inside, I widened my eyes to see Sakuragi inside.
I took off my shoes and invited myself in, "Sakuragi-kun?" He quickly turned his head and looked at me in surprise, "Ah! Haruko's friend!"
"I have a name you know? It's Genji Rei." I said with a tone, I couldn't believe this guy never knew what my name was even though we see each other a lot because of Haruko.
I scanned to what he was doing, he was on the floor squatting as basketballs were around him with a towel in his hand. It seemed like he cleaned a bunch of them already, "Sakuragi-kun, don't tell me you cleaned them all by yourself?" I said as I pointed to the basketballs that were now shining in neatness.
"Nyahahahaha! Of course, I did! I am Sakuragi Hanamichi the genius after all!! I am a man of cleanliness, Nyahahahahaha!!" He said confidently and laughed too. I could only smile from this action he intended to do.
I took off my bag to the side and sat down on the floor with him, he seemed confused to what I was doing. I stretched my arm to his direction, "Got more cloth? I'll help you clean them."
Sakuragi was now teary eyed and quickly wiped them off before they could fall to his cheeks, "R-Rei-chan! Y-You're so kind!!" Sakuragi cried in happiness. He gave me a cloth and I took a dirty ball to start wiping the dirt off.
"But I don't understand, why is Haruko's friend helping me?" He asked in confusion. I continued to wipe the ball and did not return the gaze, "When you made that dunk and won the duel. You helped me realize how great basketball is. This is the least I could do to thank you for that, Sakuragi-kun." I stopped my work and looked at him who's face was focused.
"I also heard from Yohei-kun how much you've tried to convince captain Akagi to let you join the team." I giggled at the thought of Sakuragi sending bananas to the captain. Sakuragi was now mad as he recalled the things he did for the captain, "Gori is so mean! I did everything out of kindness but still he can't see this genius's generosity."
"But you won't give up right?" I asked him with a smile. He stopped and looked at me in disarray. "After all, basketball is an amazing sport." I looked down to the ball I handled that is now half clean.
Sakuragi went silent as well, and to my surprise he did not say anything and continued to clean the items in focus. I hoped Sakuragi would be recruited soon, he has potential in him and I know that since Haruko saw it herself too.
We continued the night cleaning the balls but I still needed to go home. After an hour of cleaning basketballs, I left Sakuragi alone in the gym. He was determined to clean the whole gym himself.
Exiting the campus with the bike beside me, I looked back to the gym and smiled, "Genius, huh?"
Thank you so much readers for reading this fanfic of mine!! Lately I've been down all the time and never knew the reason why but when I see there are reads each chapter I upload, even if it was just 3 or 2, it would make me smile ear to ear.
I've always thought my fanfictions are no good but seeing this support really does make my day. I will do my best to continue this fanfiction until I can change the info of this ff into Completed
Yours truly, MaryLaine