My heart started to pound with anxiety as I walked into the teachers lounge.
My home room teacher noticed me come in and smiled. "Oh! Sōdai, what brings you in here?"
"Well here's the thing..."
——
"You're asking if our school has a mascot.?" He said questionably.
"Well yeah! I think it's a great publicity idea, I would volunteer to be the mascot at all basketball games from now on."
"Well technically, at one time our school did have a mascot but that was a long time ago, they aren't as popular these days."
"Well let's bring it back! The people will love it! Besides I already promised I was gonna go to all of the games I might as well make myself useful."
"Alright... if you really think you want this. I'll wash it and give it to you before you guys set off to the game tonight."
"Great thanks!!"
——
"Daiki!!" I shouted as we walked out of the school.
"Oh, hey Sōdai whatchu doin." he said in husky yet kind voice. "And what's with the giant duffel bag?"
"Ohhh, it's for the game tonight, you're gonna be SUPER surprised." I said laughing evilly, we were playing a team called Seirin, apparently they're pretty good. Kuroko the blue hair boy was on that team too.
"Aomine, you guys said that you couldn't see Kuroko right? If you started to spar against me, I bet I could help you be able to see through the misdirection thing."
"Yeah, that's not a bad idea."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the team went into the Lockeroom I made a turn to the girls bathroom, I quickly took out the costume. "Hehe, I'm basically a furry now." I joked, it appeared to be a black panther with a gigantic head, it wore the Tōō jersey too. I giggled and put it on, it was a bit too big.. who am I kidding I was practically tripping over myself, I'd have to get it adjusted for the next game. I used a belt to keep the pants up and decided that was good enough, I walked out of the bathroom well aware of the judgmental stares of the girls fixing their makeup in the mirror, I waved to them and walked away.
With this costume NO ONE WILL KNOW WHO I AM, now I can cheer as loud as I want or be as crazy as I wanted without anyone judging me, it was the perfect plan. I marched into the Lockeroom and did enthusiastic jazz hands. All the boys and Momoi stared at me in shock and confusion.
I giggled and took off the head. "It's me you guys! But you can't tell ANYONE that I'm the one under the mascot."
"What! Kessaku!!" Momoi said laughing her ass off.
"So this was the surprise." Daiki said trying to hold in his laugh, the rest of the room burst out laughing.
"You look so funny." wakamatsu said, he was nearly in tears.
"It may be a bit.. big for you." Imayoshi said cackling.
"I know I know, I'm getting it tailored this weekend! Now quit laughing and get serious!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kuroko's POV
"What the- since when did Tōō have a mascot?" Kagami said, staring as the other team lined up, I spotted Aomine poking at the panther playfully, I smiled knowing who it was immediately." And he's so short too!" Kagami said laughing.
"Why do you assume it's a he?" I said hinting at who it was, he just looked confused, I chuckled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sōdai's POV
"Quit messing with me and focus!" I yelled at Aomine, he surrendered laughing.
As the coach explained the game plan to them I quietly stood with the huddle, I could hear the other team laughing at me... maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
"Is that clear for everyone?"
"Yessir!"
As the game began momoi told me to stand up by the sidelines and act flamboyant, I could certainly do that. She said it would help distract the other team. Hopefully it'll distract them and not Aomine.
The tip-off began and I started to get the crowd reared up.
"Hey! We got a mascot!!"
"Since when?"
"Who cares!" They laughed.
The other team had gotten the ball first, I gasped dramatically falling to the floor, (she's in character right now) but right before the red head with weird eyebrows could dunk Aomine stole the ball, like lighting he dribbled to the other side of the court and dunked.
"Ugh.." I pulled out some of the gigantic paper from my duffel and a marker and wrote "AOMINE ITS OKAY TO PASS THE BALL!!" And then showed it to the audience who laughed and started chanting it, Aomine heard them and turned towards the noise confused, then he saw what I had wrote, he shook his head and smiled, I smiled back.
Being the best in a team is okay, but I'm not a big advocate for one person hogging the ball the entire game, the rest of the Tōō basketball team cheered at my statement while the Seirin team looked at eachother in confusion.
Throughout the game Aomine got better at passing the ball and acting like a team player. It was great for us. The other team was pretty good but, I felt like they were missing something. Each of their members was a solid player but they lacked something basic.. what was it? I'm not exactly a basketball genius maybe Momoi would know...
Due to that fact it was pretty easy for Tōō to get an early lead on them. Poor Kuroko.. it must be hard facing Aomine, well that's what I thought, but the look of Kuroko's face as he watched Aomine happily play basketball said otherwise. It was like.. he wanted Aomine to beat him or something, perhaps just like Kise, Kuroko was affected when Aomine stopped enjoying basketball.
As the first quarter ended I jumped up and landed in the splits, yes, the martial arts I practice makes me very flexible. I then got up and ran to the bench tripping on my face as I did, the whole gym laughed, they probably thought I did it on purpose.
The score was 56-13, I actually felt kind of bad. They're not a bad team, but they don't seem complete. They lack experience and that's why they're so far behind.
"Sōdai-PFFFT" Daiki said, trying to tell me something.
"Well spit it out!" It was getting hot in this suit, I was sweating in so many places...
"That trip.. it was hilarious." He wheezed, I punched him in the shoulder.
"Enough of that you two." Coach said, he looked to momoi to talk, she nodded.
"You guys are doing an excellent job of keeping that first year duo at bay. Like I said before it's okay to let Kuroko pass as long as you can block Kagami's dunks. At this point in time it's really all he can do, and that'll be the reason for their downfall. Their center is weak so they shouldn't be trying to go for inside shots. They're inexperienced." everyone nodded.
"Now go out there and let's triple their score!" The coach yelled.
Oh hell.. they're riled up now.. I noticed ever since I started coming to their games Aomine has been getting along better with his teammates, it almost feels like a real team now.
As the second quarter started it became increasingly clear that Seirin was not a team that would back down so easily, and that excited Aomine, he began to go even harder than before. Him and the redhead were going head to head but the red head just couldn't quite keep up. He's definitely got potential, but he's not there yet.
By the end of the second quarter the score was 115-26 ouch. Our team was getting tired from keeping Seirin from scoring though.
As the teams went down to the Lockerooms I went outside on a balcony to cool off, I took off the sweaty mask and breathed in the crisp air, the sun was setting and the whole world seemed to calm down, as did my beating heart from all the acting.
"Phew."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kagami's POV
Her hair was dark black and a total sweaty mess, her cheeks were blushed from the hot mask she wore, her coal black eyes were half closed as she layed her arms lazily on the balconies rail, staring off into the sunset, and of course she was wearing that ridiculous costume.
I turned away, blushing from the hilarious yet slightly beautiful sight. That was the first time I met Sōdai Kessaku.
"So you're the one under the mask?" I said from behind her, she yelped in surprise and stared at me in annoyance, once she saw me she calmed down and shrugged.
"You got me."
"I saw your videos on the internet, you're the one who changed Aomine."
"That's what people say, I think of it as a group effort though." she giggled, cute.
"Ahem- then, thank you." I said bowing,
She looked confused. "For what?"
I looked back up at her then walked close enough that I was directly over her. "For giving me someone I can look forward to beating in the future." I then turned around and walked away, she didn't stop me or seem surprised. She just turned back around to stare at the sunset, what a weird girl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sōdai's POV
The game ended with the score being 173-42 after the second half started Tōō slowed down in exhaustion. Keeping up with the hyperactive Seirin proved tough, nevertheless we still completely crushed them.
"I'm pooped." I said as we headed towards the bus.
Aomine laughed and took the duffel bag holding the suit off my shoulder.
"You did great though." He said winking.
"Huh? I wasn't the one playing." I rolled my eyes.
"No, but thanks to you we were having a lot of fun out there today, you sure kept things interesting."
I smiled. "Glad I could help, I had fun too."