Chapter XIII
* POV: Kojima -
Our official first practice match came to a close.
We battled an incredibly strong opponent in Shinjo Tech.
The aftermath of the game went pretty smoothly.
Coach Miyamura was not bummed about the loss, but rather was excited.
“This was a great game, you all played your best, and because of that, I’ll be able to coach you guys even better.
Going forward, we will keep this starting lineup:
Kojima (Point Guard), Sugahara (Shooting Guard), Yamato (Small Forward),
Nakamura (Power Forward), and Asari (Center).
This was the most balanced and productive lineup I saw out there, so congratulations,” Miyamura explained.
“Lucky you Kojima! You get to start!” Suzuki said.
“It’s well deserved too,” Arisu added.
“You played so well with just the 5 minutes you got,” Yamato said to me encouragingly.
I looked over at Sugahara, where he just had a big smile.
“We got some drinks guys!” Kinoshita said, coming back with a cooler full of drinks with Haruno.
“Thanks, Kinoshita, I’m so thirsty,” Asari said.
“Same here,” Okamoto chimed in.
Everyone scrambled to get their favorite drink.
“Cheers to our new starting five!” Suzuki yelled out.
“CHEERS!”
“So, did you enjoy playing against your brother?” Miyamura asked Yamato.
Yamato smiled a bit.
“Yeah, he’s just as strong as I remember,” he replied.
“I want to keep playing against him,” he added.
“Well considering how close we were against Shinjo, I’m guessing next time we play them, Cain will be forced to play,” Miyamura said assuringly.
“Yeah,” Yamato said.
“Alright everyone, It's time to line up and say thank you!” Miyamura directed us.
Every player from both teams came in the center to bow heads to each other, and thank each other for the match.
It was a great match, and I have a feeling that we’ll face each other again in the near future.
Afterward, we headed to the locker room to change.
When we were near the locker, a bunch of girls came swarming in.
They were all here to talk to Nakamura.
“Wow, you played so good, Nakamura!”
“Yeah wow, I can’t believe we lost that one!”
“We were so close, but we’ll get them next time!”
Nakamura just brushed them all aside.
“Nakamura sure is popular with the girls,” Suzuki said.
“Hey Nakamura, you should introduce me to one!” Asari begged.
“Oh please, what kind of girl would want to talk to you,” Haruno directed towards Asari.
“Ughh, you’re so right!” Asari said beginning to cry.
We all laughed at the situation.
“Don’t worry Asari! If I was a girl, I’d think that you were a pretty cool guy!” Sugahara jokingly said with a wink.
“Too bad you’re not a girl,” Asari said with a sad whimper.
All of the boys eventually changed and began to leave the school premises.
“See ya guys,” Sugahara and Kinoshita waved off to some of the boys.
“I didn’t know basketball was so intense! Like you guys we’re seriously going back and forth with Shinjo, it was so cool to watch,” Kinoshita said to me and Sugahara.
“Don’t you agree Kaori?” she asked Haruno.
“Well, I guess it wasn’t the boringest I’ve ever watched,” Haruno stated.
“Well anyways, are we going to eat or not? I’m totally starving over here,” Haruno said.
Kinoshita looked at me and Sugahara and smiled.
Before Haruno didn’t seem to like hanging out with me and Sugahara, particularly Sugahara.
But it seems like that's slowly changing, day by day.
“Alright, let’s go!”
* POV: Yamato Cain -
I walked down towards the subway.
The air smelt of gas from all the cars and motorcycles.
The sun was setting, as the day slowly faded away.
Today was the first time I had played basketball with my Reo since the incident.
I don’t know exactly what to feel about it.
But me, along with Reo have bigger things to worry about now.
I entered the hospital and talked with the front desk.
They informed me what room mother’s surgery was taking place, so I went over there to wait.
I sat down and proceeded to watch the clock handle slowly turn.
I was impatient, desperately wanting to know how the surgery was going.
However, no doctors had left the operating room yet.
Time kept on moving.
Eventually, my father and Reo came as well.
We all sat down together.
The last time this happened was when Mother first got emitted into the hospital, almost 2 years ago.
Father asked me how I was doing, and If I was taking care of myself well.
I informed him about how I was doing, and that was about all that was really said.
Reo and I did not speak, not even about the basketball game we had just played earlier.
All eyes were on the operating sign.
Some hours later, the sign turned off, and the head surgeon came out.
What the surgeon had to say was devastating to all of us.
“I’m so sorry, but the surgery, it…
Failed.
And because of that, unfortunately,
she has passed away,”
My father was the least shocked, but still let out a few tears.
Reo completely broke down and started to cry.
I was prepared for the worst, mother was right, she knew her body best.
She knew the surgery wasn’t going to help.
And now, she’s no longer with us.
I gripped my fist, my first instinct was to start yelling at Reo, telling him how this was all his fault.
However, upon looking at the state he was in.
Seeing those tears flow down his face.
Even watching father cry, it made me feel…
Jealous
Mother and I’s conversation this morning flashed into my memory.
“You are the strongest in the family,”
“I don’t want to die knowing that my sons are at odds with each other,”
“Please, learn to love him again! For me!”
I remained silent and composed.
Though inside, I was all broken.
We got to go into the operating room to see our mother’s face
and eventually had to sign some forms and paperwork.
Our father hugged the both of us and drove us home.
He dropped me off at Shinjo Tech’s dorms, where I said goodbye to him.
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That whole time I didn’t say a word to Reo.
I walked into my room, threw my bag on the ground, and took my top shirt off.
I stood there in my room, silently.
The ceiling fan slowly turned to cool off the air inside.
All that could be heard after that in my room was the sound of smashed glass, as I had just punched my mirror.
Blood dripped down my hand, as shards of glass impaled me.
Not a single tear
Not ever
I wish…
I wish I was like Reo
vreZ2Lz.jpg [https://i.imgur.com/vreZ2Lz.jpg]
* POV: Sugahara -
“Hey, have you guys looked at the PPA yet?” Asari asked me and Kojima.
“PPA? What’s that?” I asked.
“Player Performance App! C’mon, even I remember that Sugahara, and I don’t even have it,” Kinoshita enlightened me.
“Actually, it’s Profile and Performance App, Aiya,” Haruno corrected Kinoshita.
“E—Eh? same thing!” Kinoshita said embarrassingly.
I opened up the app on my phone and noticed that something had changed.
Our actual stats are still N/A because our showdown with Shinjo
was just a practice match, but our match with them had been logged, and we got to see our individual stats.
The final score was 78 - 84.
“Woah you scored 35 Sugahara? Nice!” Asari mentioned.
“And look at Kojima, he only had 3 points but had 5 assists in just 5 minutes,” Asari included.
“You had a nice double-double for us yourself, Asari.
Says here you recorded 12 points and 10 rebounds,” Kojima mentioned.
“Hehe, that’s what I do!” Asari said cheerfully.
I looked at Shinjo’s players, and some stat lines that stood out were, Cain and Iwasaki.
Iwasaki had 30 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists,
while Cain had 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Cain’s stats were pretty impressive considering he only started playing halfway through the third quarter.
Speaking of Cain, where’s Yamato?
Practice was about to begin soon.
“Have you guys seen Yamato anywhere?” I asked everyone.
All I got back in response were some shrugs.
“He will be away from school for a little while,” Miyamura said coming out of his office.
“What really, how come?” Asari asked.
“Personal matters, but you shouldn’t be too concerned, he’ll be back soon enough,” Miyamura ended off as we began to start practice.
For practice, we started to work on our individual weaknesses that Coach had come up with.
Asari worked heavily on his lateral quickness, as well as his endurance.
Everyone else worked on shooting, quickness, and endurance as well.
Starting April 15th we started to prepare for our next practice matches.
We all worked hard on basketball, but also on academics as well.
Some of the boys were struggling in some of their classes, so Kinoshita convinced
Haruno to hold a study session.
“Asari, stop slacking off or I’m just going to leave,” Haruno told Asari during the study session.
“N—no, please, I'm sorry Haruno, please forgive me!” Asari begged.
Asari definitely needed it most.
Fast forward to the next week, Yamato joined us again in practice.
No one really knows for sure why he was skipping, but rumor has it that a family member had passed away.
We invited Yamato to our next study sessions to catch up and also so we can have fun and make him laugh.
In the same week, we had another practice match against Ryusei High.
It was really not a big game, we went to their school to play, and it ended up being a swift victory.
We held the lead most of the game and won by double digits.
Then the week after that, we had our last practice match against Pearl Prep, which was a closer match, but he still had them beat by double digits as well.
Profile and Performance App
----------------------------------------
Sakura High @Ryusei High
78 — 62
Player
Position
Points
Rebounds
Assists
Kojima Kouki
PG
8
2
12
Sugahara Oda
PG/SG
28
4
2
Yamato Reo
F
13
7
3
Nakamura Haruki
F
11
9
1
Asari Sae
C
6
11
0
Suzuki Taiyou
PG/SG
5
2
3
Ryu Arisu
SG
4
3
2
Okamoto Yuta
F
3
7
0
Total
78
42
23
Sakura High @Pearl Prep
68 — 58
Player
Position
Points
Rebounds
Assists
Kojima Kouki
PG
7
5
6
Sugahara Oda
PG/SG
14
4
4
Yamato Reo
F
10
7
3
Nakamura Haruki
F
13
6
2
Asari Sae
C
8
8
1
Suzuki Taiyou
PG/SG
6
3
2
Ryu Arisu
SG
5
4
3
Okamoto Yuta
F
5
5
1
Total
68
42
22
I was the leading scorer in both games with minimal effort.
I tried harder in the game against Shinjo despite losing that one.
Kojima was able to show us his value, and the coach, along with everyone else recognized his efforts and talents.
His starting role was here to stay now.
Time flew quickly at Sakura High, and now it was May 1st, almost a month since school started and since I’d met Kojima, along with Haruno, Kinoshita, and everyone else.
My high school life has been off to a great start so far, and I hope that it continues.
While I was lying on the couch in my hotel room, playing an FPS game, I noticed that I got a call on my phone.
I ignored it the first time around, because I was in a very intense gunfight in the game, and I couldn’t afford to lose it.
After my FPS match, I picked up my phone to see who called.
“Mrs. V huh,”
It was the person I was booking this hotel room under.
All of a sudden I heard a knock on my door.
I went ahead and looked into the peephole, and sure enough it was Mrs. Veronica in the flesh.
I opened the door and revealed my awful bedhead and baggy-eyed appearance.
I practically played video games the whole night.
“Geez, you look like a total zombie kid, what happened?” Mrs. V asked.
I showed her the controller for my video game.
“Haven’t slept,” I responded.
“Don’t tell me this has been how you’ve been living now, Oda?” she questioned.
“Nah, it’s just that weekends are the most boring days, so video games fill in the void,” I responded.
Mrs. V entered my room and sat on the couch with me to watched me play.
She instinctively pulled out a pack of smokes and pulled one out.
I glared at her as if to tell her not to smoke in my hotel room.
“What kid, you want one too?” she said jokingly.
What she said really irritated me, she should know that…
“Sorry, that was really inappropriate of me, I apologize,” Mrs. V said softly, looking down.
She put the pack of cigarettes away.
“I don’t get what kids enjoy about these shooting games anyway. What’s so fun about them?”
I ignored her and kept pushing buttons on the controller.
“You should play this game instead!” she exclaimed.
She pulled out her phone and showed me a mobile game.
The game was Candy Crush.
“Pfff, haha!” I let out a laugh.
“What’s funny?” she asked me seriously.
“What are you a mom?” I joked.
“Only middle age moms play that kinda game,” I explained.
“Well, I am a mom so what?” Mrs. V replied.
“Really? I don’t recall you ever mentioning anything about you having kids,” I said.
“Well I keep my job and family separate,” she explained.
“Yeah, whatever,” I replied as I continued to play my game.
“You look so dead Oda, hey you know what, I was going to go to the spa today, do you want to come with me?” she asked.
“You could use a little freshening up,” she added.
“Nah, I got basketball practice later today, so I'll pass,” I told her.
“Wait, you still play basketball?” she asked me.
“Even after —”
“Yeah, I ended up making some new friends through it.
And I’ve been enjoying the time we all spend together, so…,”
“I see, well I'm happy for you then Oda, I really am,” Mrs. V said genuinely.
“Anyways, I didn’t just come here to invite you to the spa, we need to talk,” she added.
“What is it?” I inquired.
“I gave you only 2 weeks here, and you’ve been here for almost a month!” she said.
“So what, I gave you more money didn’t I?” I replied.
“That’s not the issue, the issue is that your uncle is your legal guardian now and you need to live with him,” she explained.
“Hell no, not after what he pulled,” I stated.
“I can make him apologize!” she added.
“No! Screw him!” I yelled out.
“Fine then, I'm ending this booking, and kicking you out,” Mrs. V threatened.
“You’ll have nowhere to stay,”
“I’ve made a lot of new friends at school, I'm sure I can find somewhere to stay,” I mentioned.
“You’re going to leech off someone?” she questioned.
“If I have to, anything but going back,” I said.
“Why are you so stubborn Oda?” Mrs. V inquired.
“Cause he’s a crazy son a bitch, that’s why,” I said.
“What will it take? What do you want? Please Oda, just go back, at least until you’re 18.
You can get in a lot of trouble if you don’t,” she continued.
“Nothing, nothing at all,” I replied.
Mrs. V started to get irritated.
“You’re such a child, Sugahara Oda, stop acting like you’re untouchable,”
“I understand what you have gone through, and that’s why I am always going to be here to support you, but you need to abide by my wishes as well,” Mrs. Veronica told me.
“I could have easily sent your ass back to your uncle a month ago when you went and asked me to book this hotel for you, but I didn’t did I?”
“I care so much about you, and I want you to have as much freedom as possible,”
“So I’m begging, just do as I say, please?” Mrs. Veronica said gently and calmly as she started to stroke my bed head down.
After a little while I finally answered.
“Ugh, fine,” I said, letting out a long sigh.
“I’ll give it a shot,” I agreed.
“Great! You’re such a good kid after all,” she said rubbing my hair.
“You know, you’re kinda like a son to me,” she added.
“What a weird thing to say, Mrs. V.
That kinda creeped me out,” I responded.
Mrs. V laughed embarrassingly and awkwardly.
“We can start the moving arrangements tomorrow,” she added, right before she left.
Well I have to go back to my uncle now, guess I gotta prepare for the worst.
“I gotta get ready for practice,” I said to myself as I got up from the couch.
I started stumbling as I walked to the bathroom.
I felt heavy all of a sudden and fell on the floor.
“Nah, I’m way too tired for that,” I whispered to myself as I quickly passed out from exhaustion from staying up all night.
* POV: Practice that day -
“Hey has anyone seen Sugahara?
“Nope!”
END OF CHAPTER