Haa,I can't believe the student council is making me do the dirty work
It is I,Sora Harada,walking through the halls of our magnificent school...while holding a box full of sports equipment late in the afternoon
The student council entrusted me with putting this back in the storage room.Apparently all the sports teams are gonna face off with different schools,so they don't wanna disturb their practice by doing the small stuff so that's my task now
i accepted this request by the student council because I,love helping people out y'know? But that's not my only reason
You see,since i am the one that transports the equipment,I need to actually wait for them to use the equipment.So I stay at school until every student is out and I'm the last one to go
The storage room is right next to the gym,so i get to watch them practice while I'm working.Seeing them trying so hard,being so motivated,on something they like to do,reminds me of my old self in a way
I walked inside the gym,it was too late for students to still be inside the school.But still....
Thwack Thwack
The sound of someone dribbling a basketball.As I looked over,I saw a girl, looks tanned,has black short hair,almost the same height as me.
Is she a player from the woman's basketball team? I thought they already lef–
Thud
It was the sound of a ball hitting the rim....my mind went blank.My body...moved reflexively,I dropped the box I was holding and made a speedy dash for the basketball hoop
I sprang upwards,my hands grab the ball in the air,snatching the rebound nice and clean
I land on the ground,finally snapping out of it i stood there confused
Huh? What just happened?
I looked back to where I stood before that happened,then I looked up surprised to see the basketball rim above me
Shit! It happened again I facepalmed myself realizing that I might've ruined the flow of that girls practice session I've let my guard down
I slowly turned to my left,ready to apologize
"Hey m-my bad if I messed up your pra–"
I saw the girl,eyes widened with her mouth open.Judging by the sparkles in her eyes and her expression that she is completely amazed by what I did
Though I don't know what's so amazing.I just did a regular rebound like a normal person would
"T-that was so cool!!" Her voice shaky but you can tell it was full of enthusiasm
"Heh? You're...not mad?"
"Mad? Why would I be mad? What you did just now was so amazing!"
"....I just did a rebound though"
"When the ball hit the rim,in the blink of an eye I saw you already in the air with the ball.You were so fast! And the rebound was the cleanest I've ever seen!!"
"Oh...well I'm flattered"
Thank God she's not angry
"You are....Harada-senpai right? The one helping with moving the equipment?"
Senpai? Is she a first year?
"Yep, that's me.And you are..?"
"I am Saki Fujimoto! From class 1-3! And a member of the woman's basketball team!"
"Damn! The full profile? Okay,nice to meet you Fujimoto-San
Wow she is highly energetic
"I didn't know you also play basketball Harada-senpai"
"I used to play a lot back then,but I slowly got bored of it.Now I only play every now and then"
"You say now and then,but it seems like you're still good at it"
"Oh my,stop with the flattery~"
Fujimoto-San makes a quick giggle "you're really interesting aren't you Harada-senpai"
She makes the sweetest and cutest smile I've ever seen.....She reminds me of my childhood friend back then.Without knowing it,I had a slight blush on my face
"By the way,do you have other people helping you carry those boxes?"
"Nah,I do this alone"
"Wow,it must be hard to carry all those by yourself~"
"Not really,there's quite a lot of them but they're not that heavy"
"Speaking of boxes.There's one over there"
"What?"
I look over to see the box laying on the ground.Hope there wasn't anything breakable in there
Oh shit I forgot about my job
"I gotta go bring this to the storage room,talk to you later!"
I ran to the storage room with the box,I turned back to see Fujimoto-San waving her hand saying bye
Man,what a nice kid
***
I just came out of the student council office to clock off from my job,he was about to go through the gates of the school...just to see Fujimoto-San waiting there
"Oh, Harada-senpai!" She waves at me
With a slight smile,i raised his hand
So by "later" I guess it means now
"..were you waiting for me?"
"Mhm,we weren't able to talk much before but we can now! Well,unless you don't have the time..."
"No no,I have no plans today.So we can talk all we want"
She gasped,eyes lightning up with excitement "thank you so much!!"
"H-huh? Why are you thanking me?"
"Why? Because I'm talking with Harada-senpai,that's why!" Fujimoto-San says with her cute smile again
....Damn...she is really cute
My face went red,just enough to be visible
"Hm? You look a little red,are u good?"
"H- w-w-what? Uh no,uh yeah I'm fine..." My voice was suuuuper shaky
"If you say so...
Woah,what was that just now,this feeling....is unfamiliar
We started walking to....somewhere,maling some small talk along the way
"You know...I thought the woman's basketball team already finished their practice,I didn't expect someone to still be there"
"Haha..well..I have a lot more to work on in my skills as a basketball player,so I have to work extra hard"
"And why's that?"
"H-huh? Harada-senpai..I am 5'6.Being small is a disadvantage at basketball y'know"
"Heh? Well...take no offence,but then how did you get in the team?"
"Kuh" Fujimoto-San's smile slowly went down ".....it's because I was the last one to join"
"Hm?" Suddenly I feel like the tension in the air is rising
"The schools we are gonna face of against are really strong..so people got scared to join the team.They needed one more player to join,so I stepped up and joined myself"
"Wait...I thought you like playing basketball?"
"I do...at first I didn't join because I think there are people in our school that is better than me....I know the team...probably didn't want a shorty like me,but they had to accept me or the team would be down one player.And they don't want to make an image to the other schools that they are a bunch of scared people who don't have the courage to go against them...."
I see..so she doesn't want to be a burden to her teammates.And that's why she goes overtime on practice,to be better at basketball
"...oh,I'm sorry! I guess I kind of ruined the mood huh?"
"Nah it's good.It was my fault to ask that question in the first place
She giggles in acceptance as her smile comes back
Fucking hell! I should be used to her smile by now!
Yet my face doesn't match my thoughts.Every time she was smiling,I was smiling too
"Hey we're here!"
"W-what?" I must've dozed off,I didn't even know we were going somewhere
"Huh? Wait.thats a-"
"Yep,it's a basketball court!"
"U- I'm confused...why did we go here?"
"To play.duh"
She pulls out a ball from her bag and throws it to me
The first thing I thought of was so that's why her bag was so big
"Hey! Come on! Get over here!"
Though still confused,I rolled with it
***
"You....beat....me" she panted,laying down on the ground
What? But it hasn't even been that long..
"Ehe.....you need to work on your stamina"
"Yes....senpai..."
"anyways,can you tell me why we went here?"
"It was to have fun,what else?"
"....no,there's another reason,right?"
"...Haa,guess you're right" Fujimoto-San gets up and sits,being a bit more serious " I wanted to test my skills against someone strong,and...I lost,shows how weak I am,but also shows the weaknesses I need to overcome"
...Wait.Is this supposed to be a sad moment? That's the vibe I'm getting right now,I mean she knows what she needs to put more work in now.Still,I feel like I should do som-
"Want me to train you?"
Guh why the fuck the I say that
"No wai-"
"R-really!? You'd do that for me?!" Fujimoto-San starts looking at me with her dog eyes.Now she's extra cute! How the hell can one say no to a face like that!
"Uh- y-yeah sure,I'd train you"
"Really,oh thank you thank you!!" She says as she grabs my hand and starts jumping up and down excitedly
"But if you train me,shouldn't you also for my other teammates?"
"U-uhm.." Suddenly,I had an idea pop up in my head "No,I'm not gonna train them
"? But why?
"You said you are the weakest among them right? I should prioritize training the weak"
"But....isn't that kind of..unfair?"
"Nah,not really.I mean picture this,the weakest girl on the team,becomes the schools ace after secret training with her senp-"
Fuck,that sounds wrong
"Y-you get the point"
"Hmm.I guess I get it.....Wait! What do you mean by secret?!"
"Well,we are going to keep our relationship a secret.Make others think that you made progress all on your own,then we are going to expose our relationship.And then boom they'll be surprised like never before"
"Ohh,so like what you guys did in the cafeteria the day before yesterday?"
"Yeah,I guess it is kinda like that huh"
"Okay,I agree to those terms that have been set"
"You know..now that I think about it,I guess you could call it unfair"
"Hm?"
"Let me tell ya,if this exact interaction happened between me and all the basketball girls.I wouldn't like them nearly as much as I like you"
Fujimoto-San's face turned bright red from what I said,she has a flustered expression too,how cute
"W-what...?!" Her voice seems to be shaking
"I'm saying you're my favorite,Fujimoto-chan~~"
"K-kyaa! Now you're just teasing me!!" She started hitting me in my shoulder
D-did she just do the Kya?...I'm gonna die from her cuteness god damn
I said sorry right after.When we grabbed our bags and was about to part ways
"Harada-senpai! Let's exchange contact info!"
"Great idea,I can send you the details of our practices there"
After we exchanged contacts,she seemed suuuuper happy for some reason she was making noises I could caption as [excited noises]
"Talk to you later,Harada-Sensei!!"
"Hmph,likewise Fujimoto-chan"
We bid our farewell.But there was still something bothering me...I don't know how to even teach someone how to play basketball.How does one do that?
Whatever,for you Fujimoto-chan,I will dedicate most of my time to learning basketball again.You will become a better player,and that's a promise
***
After Sora arrived at his apartment.A catastrophe happened
"AAAAAAH!!!" Sora fell down on his knees
What the fuck was all that shit???? I asked her if I could train her.And I said all that stuff about Fujimoto-chan being my "favorite".GWAHHH I could die right about now!!!
He had a mental breakdown
Meanwhile on Saki's end
Fufufu I cant believe I got senpai's contact info