Kurobasweek 2017 – Day 1: Team “Our Basketball”

Day 01: Team –
“Our Basketball”

Kawahara’s chest felt like it was going to burst. A
throbbing tempo beat against his temple but he kept running. Ahead he could see
Kagami with the third years while he and the rest of the seconds were
struggling to keep up the pace. His legs ached and he was sure his toes were
blistered and bleeding by now. Soon enough he fell behind the group, even
Kuroko was ahead of him, and inhaled a deep breath.

He closed his eyes, slowing his pace further. Why was he
trying to hard? It’s wasn’t like he’d be off the bench any time soon, especially
with Koga honing his shots. Depressed thoughts consuming his consciousness,
Kawahara slowed to a walk. He felt just like last year when the temptation to
quit almost overwhelmed him.

A moment later, a hard hit to his back jarred him out of his
dark considerations.

“Come on,” Fukuda said, shoving him forward.

“Yeah, no slacking!” chimed in Furihata.

Kawahara groaned but picked the pace back up, the three of
them closing the distance to join the rest of the team.

“Alright, shooting drills!” shouted Riko when they made it
back to the gym.

Kawahara picked up a ball, bouncing it idly as he watched
the rest of the team moving about the court. Kagami was giving Kuroko a hard
time about his many missed shots earning a yell from Hyuga and a smack to the
back of the head from coach. The familiar scene made the small forward smirk.

His eyes moved to his fellow first years, the guys he’d
joined the team with. They’d all managed to get off the bench at least once
last season and now were pushing each other to get better, to not roll over and
just give away starter spots.

He couldn’t let them down by giving up now.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, Kawahara lined up
his shot, muttering something under his breath.

“What’d you say?” Koga asked sidling up next to him.

Kawahara looked at him, a friendly challenge in his eyes. He
pivoted, shooting the ball and nailing a perfect three-pointer. Looking back at
Koga he affirmed, “It’s our basketball,
too.”