Chapter III

While walking down the stairs I realized I didn’t actually know where the lost and found was.

I knew it was on the first floor, but this school was just way too big.

Unexpectedly, however, I ran into Sato-Sensei in the hallway.

“Why hello Sugahara! So what did you think about your first day?” she asked me.

“It was really good yeah. I think I was able to make some new friends.” I replied.

“Oh, how great! Good to hear, remember your always free to ask questions, and I’ll be happy to answer them for you,” she said politely.

“Well actually, Sato-Sensei, If you can, could you point me in the direction of the lost and found?” I asked the teacher.

“The lost and found? Oh sure! Just go straight and take a left. It should be the second door on your left,” she explained to me.

“Yeah, actually my daughter is doing some service for the lost and found right now, so if you ask for her she may be able to help you out,” continued Sato-Sensei.

“Okay sweet, thank you! I’ll see you tomorrow then,” I said.

“Yeah, of course. See yea,” she said sweetly.

Sure enough, the lost and found was just where she described it to be. I opened the door and looked for someone to talk to.

There was no one here, however.

The lost and found was just a storage area with a ton of boxes and chairs.

I looked around and spotted another door to go through.

When I stepped into the door I saw someone with their head down on a desk.

“Is she sleeping?” I thought to myself.

Crap, I don't know what to do. Should I wake her up?

Just then and there I heard a phone ring from across the room, promptly waking up the sleeping girl.

image [https://i.imgur.com/HyY6QE0.jpg]

“Are you gonna answer that?” she asked me with a slurred tone.

“Um, am I supposed to?” I replied.

“Well nah, but I'm lazy, so pick it up will ya?” she directed me.

I headed over to the phone and slowly picked it up.

“Hello?” I answered the phone.

“Hello, oh wait a minute, isn’t this Sugahara? Hey did you get to the lost and found alright?”

It was Sato-Sensei again.

“Did you find my daughter okay? How come she didn't answer the phone?” she continued to ask.

The phone was on speaker so that the other girl in the room heard everything.

I glanced at her when Sato-Sensei asked.

“Shhhhh… don’t tell her I was sleeping on the job! Tell her I was in the bathroom or somethin’,” the girl whispered to me.

I rolled my eyes and then just told Sensei that she was indeed in the bathroom.

Everything was well and I just hung up.

“So that’s your mom huh?” I said to her.

“Yupp,” she said with a yawn.

“Anyways who are you? And what do you need?” she questioned me.

“Oh, I’m just here to pick up something that I lost,” I explained to her.

I told her my situation about the debit card and she went to go grab something.

She came back with a card, and sure enough, it was mine.

Right when she was about to hand it over, she took her hand back.

“Nuh uh uh, Ima need to see your school ID first,” she demanded.

“There’s a rule in place where I'll need to verify your identity before I can give you stuff like this back,” she further explained.

I pulled out my wallet and was about to give her my school ID.

“Woah that's a nice wallet!” she said aloud.

She snatched it from my hand and started to look at it.

“Is it fake?” she asked.

The reason she was probably so interested was because the wallet was a pretty expensive designer brand.

“It’s whatever you think it is,” I said, taking my wallet back.

“Hm, so you rich or somethin’? Hey, I bet this debit card has a lot of money in it.”

“Would you care to donate to a poor girl such as myself?”

“Uh—”

“PLEASEEEE!” she whined as she grabbed my shoulders and started shaking me around.

“There’s this pretty nice camera that I wanna buy,”

She got up pretty close to my face.

“Pretty please?” she said with a somewhat seductive look in her eyes.

I was so tired of this bullshit honestly. All I ever wanted to do was simply go get my card and leave. This is so draining, geez.

“Okay sure, just give me my card and I’ll order you your camera online,” I told her

Her eyes lit up with stars, along with a wide grin on her face.

“REALLY? OKAY!” she said excitedly, as she handed me my debit card.

As soon as my hand gripped the card, I immediately booked it and ran.

“HEY COME BACK HERE!!!” I heard her yell.

The hallways on the first floor were super confusing. It felt like I was running through a maze. As I took a right turn, a certain someone was standing there waiting for me with a big smirk.

“Thought you could get away huh?” the lost and found girl said walking towards me.

Damn, how did she even know which direction I went?

I started running in the opposite direction again, hopefully losing her for good this time.

I ran away as fast as I could, eventually locating some stairs.

Though the stairs were pretty far away, I took the chance and headed straight for them.

Unfortunately for me, I was so close, yet so far.

Right when I got near the stairs, seemingly about to be free, she popped out behind a trash can next to the stairs. It seemed she was baiting me to take the stairs.

“AH HAH,” she said aloud.

However, she came out at the very last second, surprising both of us. With me being unable to slow down my momentum in time, it would prompt our bodies to collide with each other.

We both took a strong hit and were both now on the floor.

I was on top of her and our faces were very close to each other, staring directly at each other’s eyes.

It was pretty fuckin’ awkward, to say the least.

Something straight out of some romance manga or something.

It was a strong 5 seconds of pure silence, but then something broke it.

Burrp!

This girl just burped in my face!

“Um did you just…” I said softly.

Her face turned into a shade of red I didn't even think possible.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

She used her hands to push me off of her and she sat up.

“Okay we’re even!” she exclaimed.

“Even off what?” I questioned her.

“Well let's just say that I won't tell anyone you were running around the halls looking like a total idiot, and you won't tell anyone what just happened,” she explained.

After thinking about this whole scenario in my head of what just conspired in the last 5 minutes, I couldn't help but start giggling.

Seems like she thought about it too since she started laughing as well.

“Okay deal,” I said to her while standing back up.

I stuck my hand out to help her stand up too. She smiled and took it.

“Why’d you even run stupid, there was no point,” she stated.

“My bad, I just got a little too impatient back there. But then again, what kind of high school girl asks a complete stranger to give her some money,” I replied to her.

“It was a harmless joke geez. Boys are no fun at all.”

“But I guess chasing you around was pretty fun,” she said while stretching her arms out.

“Speaking of which, how are you so good at navigating this place? These halls are essentially a maze,” I asked her.

“Oh, you’ll get used to it. After all, I did and this is only my second year,” she said back.

So she’s a second-year? That explains how she knew the halls so much better than I did.

After she was done stretching she walked up to me and looked me in the eye.

“So let's see it,” she said.

“See what?” I asked.

“THE DAMN SCHOOL ID YOU IDIOT!!!” she yelled angerfully.

“WHY ELSE WOULD I HAVE BEEN CHASING YOU FOR?” she added.

Then it clicked in my head that I never actually showed it to her.

“Ohhh!, sorry, I thought I showed it to you already. Guess I didn’t,” I said to her as I handed her my school ID.

“Sugahara Oda huh, I’ll remember that,” she said in a mischievous tone.

“So what’s your name? I finally asked.

“Huh? None of your business,” she said.

I stared at her with a blank expression.

She then started to giggle some more.

“Just kiddin’! The name’s Sato Kaede, but you can just call me Kaede,” she said with a smile.

“Anyways, my lost and found duties are over. Time to head to the basketball tryouts!” she exclaimed.

“I thought the girl's tryouts were next week?” I asked.

“Oh Nah, I mean the guys' tryouts. See I'm the school photographer for the school paper, so I have to go take some photos of them or somethin’.”

“Especially since this highly-ranked player is trying out for our team!” she added.

Highly ranked player? Even though Sakura is a prestigious school, I don't recall us having a strong emphasis on sports.

“Why would a highly ranked player come here? I thought our sports programs were shabby at best,” I asked Kaede.

“Yeah! That's the cool part though. Supposedly the school has been adding more funding towards sports to make us a more competitive school. A few years ago we actually hired a pretty sought-after head coach for basketball. I believe his name was Miyamura Shinji. I think,” she explained to me.

“But year after year we’ve been getting better and better,” she also added.

Hmm, Miyamura? I feel like I know who she’s talking about.

“Here look,” she told me, showing me her phone.

It was an Instagram account of a student named Nakamura Haruki.

“This is the guy that's joining our team! Isn’t he hot?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t know, I'm not a girl,” I replied.

“Apparently he was the top player in his province. Isn’t that so cool?”

“Well, it depends on what province he played at. Some provinces don't produce good players at all,” I told Kaede.

“Ugh, typical loser fashion. Always hating on someone who’s doing better than you,” she said rolling her eyes.

“I'm not hating, that's just the honest truth,” I stated back.

“Yeah yeah, you wouldn't even be able to comprehend the level of basketball he plays at!” she added further insult.

It was starting to bother me a bit.

“Well I bet it’s not that high,” I replied back.

“Loser loser loser loser loser loser loser…” she repeated, teasing me.

“Ha, fine then! Let's make a bet,” I told her.

“Huh? What kind of bet,” she asked me.

“If I attend the tryouts and show that Nakamura guy up, then you owe me lunch for the next month!” I explained to Kaede.

Pfffff

She laughed.

“Haha, and what's in it for me,” she asked.

“I’ll buy you any camera you can dream of,” I respond back.

She laughed even harder, then took my hand and forced a pinky promise.

“That doesn’t sound like a bet. That sounds like a FREE camera!” she exclaimed and started twirling around.

“Seriously you weren't even planning on going, what makes you think that someone like you could be a better player like Nakamura?” she stated.

“How’d you know I wasn’t planning on going?” I asked her.

“Cuz tryouts started 15 minutes ago!” she said crying with laughter.

“I doubt they’d even let you in. The coach is pretty strict I’ve heard.”

“Whatever will see, let's go,” I told her.

We ran pretty quickly to the gymnasium together.

“Do you even have the proper attire?” she asked.

“Well I’m wearing shorts underneath my pants, and I have spare shoes and a shirt in my bag,” I replied.

“Ew, why are you wearing shorts under your pants? You're so weird,” she commented.

“Old habit I guess,” replying to her question.

Anyways, I'm pretty lucky. The backpack I have on just so happens to be the backpack I took with me the last time I played basketball indoors.

My lazy ass never took my basketball shoes out.

We arrived at the gym door.

“Okay good luck, I’ll get my camera set up, so go ahead,” she said.

I nodded and headed into the gym.

✾❀✾

POV: Kojima

I stood by the gym door waiting for tryouts to start.

It started to get pretty crowded, as it looked like many students intended to try out.

There were probably 40 of us with more people coming.

The head coach hosting the tryouts finally came and unlocked the gym. Everyone clogged through the doorway trying to get in.

When we all got in we all got into an extremely long line.

The coach introduced himself as Shinji Miyamura.

He’s a great basketball coach from what I heard.

However, apparently, he’s particularly strict about who he lets in on the team.

“Okay listen up everyone!” the coach spoke with a loud voice gaining everyone's attention.

“Looks like there's roughly 70 of you guys. Listen, only a small sliver of you guys will be making the team. If you never played basketball before, do yourself and favor and get lost,” he said coldly.

This prompts a large chunk of students to already start leaving.

“Talent is the name of the game. If you are not talented then you aren’t worth my time.”

Wow, never in my life would I have thought to hear such harsh words from a school staff member.

“Only 5 players will be selected today. I will hold a second tryout tomorrow for the last two roster spots.”

Everyone started to freak out.

“There's only 7 spots?”

“What the hell is wrong with this guy?”

“Seriously?”

I heard complaints and whispers from amongst the boys.

Many more left as well. Now it was a closer race.

I wonder if this was a tactic to scare off those who weren’t serious enough.

Well, it sure as hell didn’t work on me.

I'm ready.

After all that, everyone changed into their sports attire.

I put on a black tank top and navy shorts.

I also slipped on my basketball shoes.

Everyone started to do their stretches and warm-ups.

The tension could not be any higher right now.

I even saw some boys start shaking nervously.

There was one guy, however.

He didn’t seem nervous in the slightest.

He seemed bored if anything, he was just lying down on the floor staring at the ceiling.

“That Nakamura guy pisses me off,” I heard a whisper.

“Yeah, he’s too cocky.”

“I guess he has the right, I mean he's a top talent.”

“I heard that the coach specifically sought to recruit him.”

“Apparently he declined an offer from Weiko Academy to go here.”

I’ve heard around school today that a top athlete was attending school here.

I guess it must be that guy.

The coach told us all to get ready and he handed out different colored mesh jerseys to random people.

There were eight colors.

We all got with teammates of matching colors.

I had a gray jersey, so I went ahead and found my fellow grays.

It looks like there’s a perfect 8 teams.

Coach stood in the middle and announced what we would be doing.

“Attention everyone! We will be playing 5 on 5s, elimination style. The first round will eliminate 4 teams. The next round will eliminate 2 teams.

The final round will be fought to decide the winning team.

Though it’s not fair to deem a player unfit to make the final cut if their team gets eliminated too soon, you will highly benefit from making it to the later rounds.

This will require teamwork and trust, though it’s every man for themselves in the sense of displaying talent.

I wouldn’t have high hopes to be seen if you get eliminated in the first round.

With that, I’ll have purple match up with gray, red match with blue, green match with orange, and finally black match with white.

Everyone go to an open court!” Coach Miyamura explained everything.

Pressure and stress started to grow even further.

According to the coach, we won’t even get a chance if we lose in the first round.

All of a sudden everything was quiet.

And the huge gymnasium doors creaked open.

Standing at the door was a familiar silhouette.

It was Sugahara Oda.

A guy I had just met this morning, but has left a great impression on my mind.

Someone like him definitely belongs here.

“Hey! No more of you brats are getting in! You’re 15 minutes late so get lost!” the coach yelled to Sugahara.

It was an awkward moment for Sugahara for sure, but then something completely unexpected happened.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” coach Miyamura started laughing hysterically.

“Get dressed kid, hurry,” he told Sugahara.

Sugahara nodded then jogged to the back to get changed.

When Sugahara came back I waved at him and he noticed me.

“So you decided to join after all eh?” I told him.

“Well let’s just say I found a new resolve,” he said confidently.

“Do you think that guy looks good?” He asked me directing at Nakamura, the guy everyone was talking about.

“I would hope so, after all, he’s all the talk I’ve been hearing about in here,” I replied.

There was one big problem with Sugahara being here.

The teams are now uneven.

One person would need to sit out.

It looks like Coach Miyamura already figured that out. He told this one kid to sit out.

The guy not mad at all understood and went to go sit on the bench.

As he walked back towards the benches he walked past Sugahara and me.

He was pretty tall.

He was probably near Hanami’s height, maybe off a few centimeters, but still.

“Sorry you had to sit out for me bro,” Sugahara said apologetically.

“It’s all good,” he replied to Sugahara.

“I’m already on the team, that’s why Coach told me to sit out.”

“Oh really? What were you doing here then?” Sugahara questioned.

“I was just going to use the tryouts as a means of conditioning, but it's okay if it's for someone like you,” he said replying back.

“Good luck out there,” he ended off.

“Someone like him?” I thought to myself.

He went and sat down and started to observe.

With the teams now set, it looks like Sugahara joined the black team.

With all the preparation finished, the tryouts officially began.