A/N: Chappie 2 is uppie!
Vote if like, comment is you think it needs improvement!
*****
Chapter 2: New Manager
Hikaru Ayari sat in her English class, not listening to the teacher at all. All she could think about was the offer that she had been given earlier that day. To become the manager of the Basketball team.
If she was right, the Inter-High was coming up, and that means that they will need to work really hard on training. Even though they did win the Winter Cup, that doesn't mean their victory is guaranteed this time. No doubt their opponents would have improved as well. They probably have like a 10% chance of winning the Inter-High. Plus, their centre is gone. Their defence is probably really weak now.
Welp, looks like Seirin is done for this Inter-High, she thought. This sounds like a pain...yet, why do I keep thinking about their offer?
She used to play some basketball, and she was rather good at it. If she were to join this team, then that means, she'll have less time to join the street competitions. She was a little tight on money now.
Her whole family and life was in a mess right now. Her mother and step father was gone. Her grandparents basically had cut her off after her mother died. Her real father wouldn't even meet her, not that she had the intention of ever trying to go look for him. And now, she was just living in a small apartment living off the money that her mother had left her. Which will only last her a year or so.
Yup, her life was basically a mess, and she had been going to these street competitions trying to gain some extra money. The manager job would totally take time away from that. But, yet, there was something appealing about the offer.
I wonder... Just how good they are, she thought.
*****
Ayari walked stood outside the basketball team's gym. The door was opened, and inside, she could hear the sounds of the basketball game going on. She looked in, and saw, yet another school playing with Seirin. Everyone was so engrossed in the game, that no one noticed her slip into the gym, and went to the second level gallery to watch the game from above.
It was the last quarter already. She could see all the sweat dripping down their faces and onto the floor. She could see every inch of their muscles as they ran around, trying to get their hands on the ball.
They were all tired, but their eyes still had their fighting spirit. She could tell that the Seirin team was strong, but the team they were facing was a mediocre team. No wonder the score was 128-97.
But yet, the team took them seriously.
As she continued to observe them, she noticed a blue haired player. No one was marking him. Well that's stupid, they should really mark every player if they want a chance to win, she thought. Why is no one from the other team marking him?
Just then, she saw him start running, and he intercepted the opponents passed. A steal!
"Damn! Where did he come from?" one of the players from the opposing team cursed. She was surprised to hear him say that.
Now that I think about it, no one seems to be able to see him, it took me quite a while to notice him too, she thought as she leaned against the parapet of gallery, watching the game unfold.
The point guard of Seirin, Izuki-senpai caught the ball, and he dribbled towards their own hoop, and scored a goal after dodging the opponents centre. Not bad, he saw where his opponents were coming from, bet he has the eye too, she thought smiling.
It was the opponent's ball now, but just as they were counter-attacking, she saw him again. The blue-haired player that isn't marked. He intercepted their pass again, no, more like he stole the ball right out of the player's hands. He dribbled back to his team's hoop. He's slow, he's dribbling is amateur stuff, she thought, frowning. He's a regular right?
Just then, he stopped and was about to shoot. She leaned over the railing, confused, trying to get a better look. What is that form? He shot the ball, and for a moment, she lost sight of the ball, before it reappeared in the hoop. He scored?!
She continued to observe the game. The tall red head, Kagami-senpai, is really strong and he can really jump. He's on par with the Generation of Miracles...
She watched the whole game in awe. It was soon over, with Seirin winning, as expected. No one noticed that she was there, since she made a point to choose a spot at the corner where the light was the dimmest.
She watched them continue practicing, doing drills, and practicing their own plays, as well as combos. Though they were high levelled, and their basics were good, she sensed that there was something missing to the whole team, though they don't know it yet.
She watched each of their forms, and noted every time one of their forms was off, even if it was by a few millimetres. But even so, with all the people there, her attention was drawn to that one particular blue-haired player. She had not seen him around at all. By now, she would have already recognised all the faces of everybody in the school. But, until now, she's never really seen him, though she would admit that he looked kind of familiar.
She watched as he played. He has really little presence actually, she thought. No wonder nobody marked him during the game. But the effectiveness probably drops after a while.
Just then, his blue eyes looked up and caught hers.
*****
Ever since the practice match, Kuroko felt as if they were being watch. She was standing up there, at the corner, watching them play. Nobody else had noticed her, but he could feel her observant eyes sweeping around the court, sucking in every single piece of information she could find.
He let this go on for a while as he continued training. He wondered if the coach knew that there was someone watching them. He found her strangely familiar, but then again, she was wearing the school uniform, so he had probably seen her around the school sometimes.
When she wasn't looking at him, he observed her. She was muttering some stuff as she watched the practice. Somehow, before someone does a minor mistake, she seemed to know that it would happen before it even does. He could tell that because every time she would bite her lips before moving her fingers to countdown from three.
After a while, he finally decided to reveal her presence. He looked at her, directly into her eyes. They stared at each other for a few moments, each not looking away from the other.
Until Kagami finally noticed that Kuroko was just standing there, staring up at something. "Kuroko, what are you looking at?" he yelled from the other side of the court.
Everyone stopped, and looked at Kuroko. They looked up at where he was looking at, and saw a red haired girl standing on the second level.
"Hikaru-san!" Iwazaki, Daichika, and Katatsu exclaimed, recognising the red haired immediately.
"Hi? I was wondering when you guys would finally notice me," she laughed. "Looks like phantom man was the first to do so." Kuroko stared at her blankly.
"Who are you?" Koganei asked.
"I'm Hikaru Ayari. Nice to meet you all," she smiled.
"So, you decided to join the team yet?" Hyuuga asked. Riko stood next to him, smiling at her.
"Well, I am impressed by your skills in the match, though I only watched the last quarter. Now I can see how you all beat the Generation of Miracles, even if it was by a few points," she said. "But as far as I know, beating them again is going to be hard. Didn't you lose to the Aomine-kun in the Spring Tournament?"
"Only by one freaking point!" Kagami yelled.
"Exactly, one point. That's all that takes to lose. If you want to win the Championship during the Inter-High, one point just won't cut it. I'm pretty sure all of you know that," she stated.
"Though your forms are alright, but sometimes, all it takes is one or two centimetres off, and you miss the goal, that could cost you the game. All I can say now, is that you have a lot of work ahead of you."
Kuroko looked at her, though on the outside he had his usual blank stare, but on the inside, his mind was trying to understand who this girl was. She seems to know a lot about basketball. She talks just like a real coach. Just by looking at her, he could tell that she was a veteran. She knew what she was talking about.
Unknown to him, Ayari was also trying to analyse the blue haired guy. He had this blank stare on and she just couldn't seem to read him. He seemed weak in everything amateur, but when he played, his 'no presence' on the court seems to affect it a lot. And what's more, she felt as if he was analysing her too.
"So what are you trying to say? Will you join us or not, Hikaru-san?" Riko asked. Ayari giggled.
"Well, trying to whip you boys into shape does sound like a lot of fun..." she said.
"That's a yes then?" Kagami asked.
"Sure, why not?" she smiled. "By the way, you guys can call me Ayari."
*****
Riko was now showing Ayari the ropes to being the manager of the team. She was really surprised when Ayari said all that to them, and could tell where their problem was just by looking at them practicing.
They were currently in the clubroom, where Riko showed her where everything was.
"I'm sure you'll fit in with the team soon. The first years seemed really happy to have you. Although, the second years and third years, I can't say much on them, after that speech you gave," Riko said.
"Well, Hyuuga-senpai's form is pretty much perfect all the time. But sometimes he rushes things, and that causes him to go off balance, and he misses."
"Izuki-senpai has another eye, doesn't he? But I can tell that his range of vision isn't very wide. He needs to learn how to widen his vision. That'll be a big help. Though I can tell he's the game maker."
"Koganei-senpai, he moves on instinct. That's good, I guess. But he really needs to practice on shooting. If he could really shoot from anywhere, that would be big help."
"Kagami-senpai, he's really rash, but he has power. He's almost on par with the Generation of Miracles. All I can say on him is to actually learn how to shoot, and not do dunks."
"As for, um... what #11, um..."
"Kuroko-kun."
"Oh, as for Kuroko-senpai... um... I guess... he needs to become faster."
Riko stared at the girl. She could tell everything about their regulars after just watching them for an hour or so! We've gained an invaluable scout, she's on par with Momoi-chan from Touou!
"Anyway, I think I got how the manager thing works now. All I have to do, is to organise the practice matches, and book training camps, as well as scout on other teams, right?" Ayari asked.
"Yup, I'm sure you'll be just fine," Riko beamed.
*****
Practice ended that day, and everyone had already headed back home. Kuroko was at Maji Burger with Kagami eating dinner. They were seated at their usual table, with Kagami with over 30 burgers on his tray again, and Kuroko had his usual vanilla milkshake.
"Kagami-kun, what do you think of our new manager?" Kuroko suddenly asked.
"I don't know," Kagami answered. "Even though she did kind of indirectly say we were weak, but she did have a point. Even though we won the Winter Cup, that doesn't mean we'll always stay top. Plus, we were defeated by that Ahomine again."
"Yes, she did sound as if she knew what she was talking about," Kuroko answered. "But didn't she looked really familiar?"
"Hm? Yeah, she did actually. Maybe we saw her somewhere in school before?" Kagami answered, not really worrying much about it. Kuroko didn't answer to that. He was deep in thought as Kagami continued to munch down his burgers. "I'm wondering whether or not she can be a manager."
"She will be a great manager, and will be able to contribute to the team," Kuroko said without hesitation. Kagami looked at him.
"How do you know?"
"Because she was assessing us the whole time she was watching us," Kuroko answered. "She's a veteran. She knows what she was talking about."
"Yeah, I heard from the first years that she was some kind of pro-athlete when she was in America. Maybe she played basketball?" Kagami thought out loud.
"Maybe."
There was once again silence, until Kagami spotted someone hurrying down the streets. "Hey, isn't that her? Ayari-san," he said.
The two looked out the window, and saw a red ponytail waiting by the traffic light. It was Ayari-san. Though, she wasn't wearing her school uniform anymore. She was wearing a wide-neck purple shirt and white jeans, with sneakers. As soon as the light turned green, she was running down the street and onto the next. She seemed to be in a hurry to somewhere.
"Where do you think she's off to?" Kagami asked.
"Somewhere," Kuroko answered. Kagami rolled his eyes and continued eating his burger. Though Kuroko had seemed indifferent, inside, he wondered where she was going in such a hurry, and wearing that outfit.
A/N: ELLO! Chapter 2 is here up! Hope you guys liked it. Not sure if it's okay or not.
Please tell me your thoughts in the comments! I want to know if there's anything I can improve on!
Keep on reading and watch anime!
~ DBlank