Obnoxious silence 10 – The Stares we Hold
“What?” I could hear Seirin’s basketball team stare at the large gym in confusion. “We’re playing on half a court?” from my spot in the middle of the group I could feel the tension rising around me. While I wasn’t a sports fanatic I knew this was an insult to Seirin and its players.
“Ah, you’re here.” The chubby Kaijo coach spoke boredly, “Nice to meet you. We’ll be playing on only this side of the gym, you don’t mind do you?”
Looking around the gym I could tell that the hoops Seirin was going to use were probably not up to par with the main hoops, and past the net that was dividing the gym into two, the rest of Kaijo’s basketball team was practicing like we weren’t even here.
“Nice to meet you too.” Riko looked a little apprehensive, “And what do you mean?”
“It’s just like you see.” The coach didn’t put much effort in his explanation. In fact he looked like he just woke up with his unflattering stubble and crumpled off-white polo. “Today’s match is just a light warmup for our team. But the club members that won’t play just won’t see anything worth learning by just watching so… In order to not waste their time, the other members are going to practice as usual.”
The tension continued to grow and the only thing I could do was glare that the coach with my pink and blue eyes.
“But even though I say it’s a warmup. It’s still our regular members. Please don’t get yourself defeated by triple the points.” After the coach finished his mockery, Kise went over to the bench and started to put on his basketball uniform. “Why are you putting on your uniform?” the coached asked his star player, “Kise, you won’t play!”
‘What?’ I couldn’t stop my head from tilting to the side as Kise and his coach talked to one another.
When they were finished, Kise turned to us and spoke some cold words. “If you can’t even make me play in this match… You’ll have no right saying that you want to take down the ‘Generation of Miracles’.”
‘Oh…’ I stared blankly at the blonde in front of me, ‘He’s back.’ Walking past him I took a seat on one of the benches with Ms. Ochiwara by my side.
Tyki-kun… Are you okay?” Ochiwara asked, worry evident in her eyes.
“Y - Yeah…” I gave a weak smile, “It’s just… I – I don’t know who this Kise is… He’s nothing like the guy I consider to be one of my best friends. He’s a total stranger…”
“Let the practice match between Kaijo and Seirin begin!”
~~
‘Holy shit!’
I couldn’t help but stare at the court in amazement and horror. I knew Seirin’s team shouldn’t be underestimated… But this is ridiculous!
“Oh my!” Ms. Ochiwara gasped as she stared at the scene in shock. Seirin just scored the first point of the match, and while doing so, Kagami… Kagami broke the hoop right off the head board.
“Sorry for breaking your hoop, but since we can’t play like this, could we use the full court?” It was Kuroko who spoke in his wonderfully monotone voice while the coach looked about ready to go ballistic.
Reluctantly the coach agreed and the gym got set up so the full court could be used. And as everything was getting set up I jogged over to the towering red head with a smile on my face.
“Kagami-kun” I signed to the team’s resident monster, “That was amazing!”
“What?” Kagami quirked an eyebrow at me, “Me breaking the hoop?”
“Yeah! I mean you’re obviously strong - I mean you being built like a brick shit house, but still! And now Kise will probably be forced to join the game!”
“And here I thought you didn’t like basketball.”
“I can appreciate a good team when I see one” I smirked evilly
“Oh really?” Kagami returned the smirk full force
“Yeah! Kaijo’s a great team don’t you think?”
The look on Kagami’s face was absolutely priceless and it sent me into a fit of silent (but still hysterical) laughter “I can’t breathe!” I mouthed as I clutched my stomach from laughing as hard. “You should have seen your face!”
Glancing up at the red head, I saw him giving me an odd look while his face was almost the same shade of red as his hair. Of course I don’t really blame the man for giving me an odd stare. I’ve been told that when I laugh hard enough, I make a strange wheezing noise.
“I’m sorry” I signed once I calmed down more “Couldn’t help myself.”
“Whatever” Kagami grumbled, his face still slightly red.
Tilting my head to the side I reach my hand out and feel the other teen’s forehead with the back of my hand. Of course I had to stand on my tippy toes because the monster of a man was a lot taller than me.
“Wh - What are you doing?” Kagami asked, his face growing hotter by the second.
“Kagami, are you sick? Your face is really warm.”
“Huh?”
By this point my hand was back by my side and I stared at the teen worriedly, “Are you sick?”
“No, no.” He shook his head “I’m fine and you should go back to the benches. The game’s about to start back up.”
“Okay” I smiled at Kagami once again. “But seriously, Kagami, Seirin’s a good team. Just don’t forget that you are in fact, on a team and you aren’t playing one – on – one.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Kagami smirked and roughly messed up my hair causing more than a few strands to fall from its hair tie.
“Jerk” I huffed and pulled the rest of my hair out of its prison. Before I walked back towards the benches I stuck my tongue out at the giant and pulled my left lower lid down.
As I went to sit down I saw a lone Kise staring at Kagami with a concentrated look on his face. But instead of contemplating on why the blonde was staring, I took a seat and was about to pull my hair back up when Ms. Ochiwara stopped me.
“Tyki-kun, keep your hair down.”
“Why?” I typed after pulling my phone out.
The older woman smiled wickedly, “You’re really beautiful with your hair down and I think more than a few people would enjoy the view.”
“What?” I stared at my land lord with nothing but confusion on my face
“Don’t worry about it hon! Just let your hair breath.”
‘That was weird…’ I couldn’t help but wonder what Ms. Ochiwara meant by ‘more than a few people would enjoy the view.’ I mean there wasn’t much to see when you looked at me, so why would anyone ‘enjoy the view?’ That in itself sounds weird… Ms. Ochiwara is really a strange one.
“Let the game resume.”
‘Good luck Seirin.’
~~
‘Jesus… Kise wasn’t kidding when he said that he had fangirls…’ over by the gymnasium doors there was a group of squealing girls that were dying to get Kise’s attention. ‘You now Kise… If you didn’t encourage them so much, you wouldn’t be constantly bothered by the opposite sex… Of course that’s probably what he’s looking for’
“AHH! Kise-Sama!!” the girls shrieked violently.
What really surprised me was one of Kise’s teammates came running at the popular Blonde and kicked him violently in the back “Quit waving to them! I’ll hit you!” The violent man shouted.
‘I think I like this guy’ I couldn’t help but stifle a giggle at the sempai’s outlandish attitude.
The next this I knew the game restarted and Kaijo had the ball and Kise was dunking the orange ball into the hoop, much like Kagami did but without breaking the new looking hoop.
“You Idiot!” Kise’s sempai roared, kicking him in the back again, “I told you to break it!”
“I’m sorry!” Kise cried after getting hit.
~~
All I could say was that the beginning of the first half of the game was high paced and extremely intense. Kagami would dunk whenever he got the ball and Kuroko would pass the ball around, making it seem like the ball magically moved.
Five minutes in Seirin called for a time out to cool down and regain focus. But instead of focusing on Seirin’s team, my attention was torn away by the fat pig of Kaijo’s coach.
“What the hell are you doing?!” their coached roared in blind anger, “How many points are you gonna let them take?! Is the defense asleep?! Huh?”
I could feel my heart skip a beat at the harsh tone of voice and I had to stop myself from flinching violently. I hated irrationally loud and sudden noises and that man just caused my anxiety to spike. While I enjoyed my little chat with Kagami, I could feel the pressure all round me and I didn’t like it.
Shortly after the game restarted, but this time at a much slower pace
“Why don’t you acknowledge it already?” I heard Kise speak to Kagami on the court, “You’re years away from challenging the ‘Generation of Miracles’.”
“What did you say?” the irritated red head questioned
“The gap between our scores might get bigger, but it certainly won’t get any smaller. I’ll admit you have potential, but you’re still far below me. No matter what you throw at me, with one look, I’ll return it twice as good. No matter how hard you struggle you can never beat me. The real world isn’t that easy.”
‘Kise…’ my bangs fell over my eyes and I couldn’t stop the shiver that ran down my spine when Kagami burst into a fit of laughter after hearing what the blonde had to say.
“Sorry, sorry.” Kagami apologized, “I’m just so happy.”
“Happy?”
“It’s been a long time since anyone’s said that to me. I heard it all the time over there.”
“Over there?”
“In America.”
“You lived in America? That’s amazing.” Kise stared at Kagami in amazement and I think without realizing it he added “Tykicchi lived there too.”
“I thought I jumped the gun coming back here to play. Hearing you say that is encouraging, really. Life is all about challenges. There’s no point in living if there’s no one strong to play. It’s better if I can’t win.”
‘What?’ I was confused by Kagami’s last statement yet also intrigued by the fact that he once lived in America. I wonder where he lived… For all I know he could’ve been in the same city as me, but I high doubt that. There’s no way I could forget such wild hair and eyes.
“In other words! This guy is your weakness!” Kagami placed his hand on Kuroko’s head in a similar fashion that he did to me as he proclaimed Kise’s apparent weakness.
“This is getting interesting!” Ms. Ochiwara giggled. “Don’t you think?” she asked, fixing me with a soft smile.
“Uh… Sure, whatever you say.”
~~
“What the hell are you doing?!” The first quarter ended and both teams were taking a two minute break, and Kaijo’s coach was raging once again. “They’re closing the gap! Your fundamentals suck!”
Dragging my attention back towards Seirin I could only stare in shock and slight amusement as Kuroko (Who’s the shortest player on the team) stab Kagami (Who’s the tallest on the team) in the stomach.
“You bastard, where did that come from?” Kagami gasped in pain as he clutched where he got stabbed.
“You want to beat Kise-kun, don’t you?” Kuroko asked.
Kagami grunted and responded, “Of course I do.” And proceeded to stab Kuroko in the stomach as pay back
~~
The second quarter started out great. Kuroko and Kagami were working together and Seirin was closing the gap. Everything seemed great until the invisible man fell.
“Kuroko-kun!” Riko cried as the bluenette toppled to the floor. Kise had accidently hit the boy on his temple, sending him flying.
“Referee time out!”
‘Kuroko!’ I stared at the court in horror. The small boy was sitting on the floor and when he lifted his head there was blood running down the side of his face.
“Are you okay, Kuroko?” The captain ran over to the now bleeding player.
“I feel lightheaded” Kuroko informed
“Get a first aid kit!” Riko ordered as Kagami and captain brought Kuroko over to the bench.
Sitting next to Kuroko I waited for the first aid kit to arrive. When it did I took it before Riko could and began to work on the slightly smaller boy.
“You know first aid?” Riko asked as she observed me whilst I worked on Kuroko. Since my hands were full I simply nodded and continued to work. Back in America I had to take care of my sibling a lot. I have two little siblings: Yusuke, my twelve year old brother, and Ruka, my seven year old sister. Both of them have a knack for trouble and receiving injuries so I played nurse a lot. That and I also took a first aid class when it was offered in my middle school.
I was ripped from my train of thought when my temporary patient got off the mat he was resting on and headed towards the court. “Hey wait, what are you talking about?” Riko questioned as she stopped the boy from going any farther
“But you just told me to go.”
“I didn’t tell you to do that. It just slipped out.”
“Then I’m going.” Kuroko spoke with determination, “If I can change anything by going out there, please. Besides… I promised Kagami-kun that I would be his shadow.”
With a haggard sigh Riko finally agreed, “Fine. But if you think you’re in trouble. I’m switching you out immediately.”
Walking forward I tapped Kuroko on the shoulder to get his attention. “Kuroko-kun” I typed, “Drink this and be careful.” I held out a water bottle to the bluenette and insisted that he dink some of it.
“Thank you.” Kuroko nodded his head in my direction before he was tagged by his team mate and he walked out onto the court to play.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
~~
“I won’t lose.”
It was down to the last five minutes and both Kaijo and Seirin were tied. That is until Kise displayed more power than before and scored more points for his team. All I could do was stare at the teen with a small amount of horror.
“Not to anyone. Not even to Kurokocchi.”
‘Please, Kuroko… Kagami… Win.’
~~
The score:
Seirin – 100
Kaijo – 98
We won