Aiko Nakahara.

The fragile, weak girl. The one that no one liked. The friendless girl.

“Nice shot!” came a voice.

Today was P.E. day. Of course, Aiko never participated. She had a doctor’s note and a rare illness. Normally, every P.E. day was the same. But today, things went slightly different. She sat on the bench reading her book, occasionally looking up to see what the other kids were doing. Oh, how she wished she could join them.

The kids were playing basketball today. One of the students, a boy named Daisuke Ichikawa, arrived late. He was a new student, tall, muscular, hot, silent, and a big stuck-up snob. So of course, all the girls went fawning over him. While they were doing exercises, playing, whatever, the boy constantly kept glancing at Aiko and giving her this strange look.

Finally, when they were picking teams for the basketball game, he yelled out, ”Hey! Why is she just sitting there doing nothing?” Daisuke pointed a finger accusingly at Aiko. The whole class went dead silent. No one liked to talk about Aiko, and when they did, they muttered things about her and gave her looks like she was contagious. Some ignored her, others tripped her in the cafeteria, threw balls of crumpled paper at her head during class, and some left her threatening and mean notes.

Aiko was burning up inside. But all of a sudden, Chiho Miyori, the Student Body President, stepped up. “Aiko has a special illness. She can’t participate in P.E.”

“Hn.” came Daisuke’s reply. Then, like a flash of lightning, he grabbed a basketball and…

THREW IT. 

AT AIKO. 

- - -

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*WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING? I COULD’VE DIED!* I screamed in my head. But somehow, instinctively, I dropped my book and caught the ball.

Er, well, I *wished* I had caught the ball. Instead, I placed my palms on it and pushed it away. My eyes were shut tight behind my too-large glasses, my legs and arms shaking.

“Jeez, are you so pathetic you can’t even catch a ball?”

A strange feeling rose in my chest.

“I mean seriously, my *two year old little cousin* can catch a ball!”

Normally, I cried or got depressed at these sort of comments, but this was something different.

“Wow, I feel sorry for you, seriously! I mean, what type of loser can’t catch a ball? Can you even walk? You’re-

***”SHUT UP!”*** I screamed. It seriously took me a second to realize that the voice came from me. I was shocked at myself. But more than that, I was angry. Angry at that boy. Who did he think he was? Yeah, I was gonna show him, stand up for once!

I stood up.

“Who do you think you are?”

I took a step forward. My eyes staring at the ground.

“Hot-shot new transfer student, coming in here, acting like you run the place.”

I had taken a few more steps now.

“Thinking you can just bully kids, making assumptions and judging people without knowing anything about them.”

I was standing right in front of him now. And all the students were now standing at the opposite ends of the court, as far from me and the boy as possible.

I lifted my chin up.

*“YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME! I AM **NOT** PATHETIC!”*

“Alright, then prove it.”

I blinked.

“What?”

“Prove it.”

He sighed.

“I challenge you to a one-on-one basketball match. Right now. ”

“Fine!” I didn’t know what happened. Why did I say that? I didn’t know basketball! I physically couldn’t even play basketball!

“Hn. Well, are we going to play or not?” He asked.

“Um, well…”

“You don’t know how to play basketball do you?”

“N-no! That’s not it! Of course I know! Everyone knows that!”

“Oh really? What’s an airball?”

“A shot at the basket that misses everything and doesn't touch the rim, backboard or net,” I said in that as-a-matter-of-fact-ly tone.

“A fast-break? Free throw? Lay-up? Rebound? Swish?”

I was silent. I hadn’t heard any of *those* terms before.

As he was walking away he stopped and said 6 words. That would change my life. *”Meet me here tomorrow. After school.”*

*****——*****

I didn’t know it then, but that day, my sad life would completely change.

And he would be the one who changed it.

And it all started with basketball.