[Name]
apologized as she jostled her way passed people that were leaving the
audience, cursing herself for not breaking free from the crowd once the
ending buzzer had sounded off. She had been too shocked, frozen to her
seat when the game had ended. The feeling of dread had washed over her
entire being as she read the scores over and over again. Kaijou had
lost—granted, it was a very close game, the scores going back and forth
between all four quarters, but the team had just run out of steam by the
time the end of the fourth quarter came around. Their opponents, a team
from a school [Name] had never heard of, just had more stamina than
those in Kaijou, ultimately earning them the victory.Finally
making her way out of the crowd, [Name] ran for the area she knew the
locker rooms would be in. More specifically, she ran towards where she
knew Kaijou’s locker room would be. As she ran, she passed by a plethora
of athletes sporting different jerseys from all over the surrounding
geographical area. Many schools she couldn’t even recognize save for the
few she remembered considering when she entered high school. Most guys
she passed were sporting large grins as they talked about previous games
they played or those yet to come, excitement evident in their voices.
It reminded [Name] of how they all had been only a few days ago when the
competition began.
Bouncing in
her seat slightly, [Name] couldn’t keep the excited grin off her face
as she watched the rest of the Kaijou basketball team load onto the
rented bus. Beside her, Kasamatsu was staring at her behavior with a
confused, yet slightly annoyed expression. His eye twitched a bit as she
obliviously continued to bounce in place, unknowingly bothering
Kaijou’s captain. A complete minute passed and, once she showed no signs
of stopping on her own, Kasamatsu found he would have to take the
initiative. Grasping onto her smaller hand, he tugged on it slightly to
get her attention, effectively getting her to cease her movement.“Oi, what are you so giddy about all of a sudden?”
“Isn’t
it obvious?” She asked, only to be answered with a blank look that told
her to continue. “This is the first time I’m going to see you play in
an actual game and not some practice one or friendly one brought on by
my friends at Seirin.” Lifting her free hand towards her face so it
could rest on her reddening cheeks, [Name] looked her boyfriend in the
eyes. Kasamatsu could practically see them sparkling. “I’ll finally be
able to see you in your official basketball jersey!”Kasamatsu
sputtered a bit at her confession and immediately retreated his hand
from hers, lifting both of his in an attempt to cover up the blush
creeping onto his face. Behind him, he could hear the rest of his
teammates let out a string of laughter at their captain’s embarrassment.“Hey,
what about me, [Name]cchi?” Kise asked, leaning his arm on the back of
her seat. “You’re excited to see me play too, right?”[Name]
could only nod at the blonde boy before Kasamatsu roughly shoved Kise’s
face away from his girlfriend’s, not liking the proximity he was in.
Whining to himself about the rough behavior, Kise retreated into his own
seat, faux tears prickling at the corner of his eyes due to his
senior’s roughhousing.“Enough laughter already,”
Kasamatsu announced to the bus once the last of the team had settled in.
Standing from his seat, he turned to face his teammates. [Name] could
only watch in awe as his leadership skills shined. “I don’t know about
you guys, but I’m ready to win this thing!”The occupants
in the bus cheered as Kasamatsu went through his speech, everyone
grinning with determination in their eyes. When the bus had started
moving and Kasamatsu’s speech had ended, [Name] could practically feel
the team’s excitement rolling around in the air. As he sat next to her,
she couldn’t help but find her initial admiration for him had grown
stronger over the course of their relationship.“I promise to cheer extra loud for you if you promise to play extra hard.”
Kasamatsu merely nodded, grin settled on his features.
Finally
making it to the hallway she knew Kaijou’s locker room was located in,
[Name] slowed her running pace to a speed walk. Five doors down and she
would be just outside the place the team would retire to after every
game. She held her breath in suspense when she noticed familiar blue
jackets that had already exited the locker room. All their faces
dejected, they looked towards the ground as they shuffled their way
towards the stairwell that would lead them to the audience seating. Now
that they couldn’t play anymore, they would have to spend their time
watching the rest of the games before going home.“Oh, [Name]cchi.”
Kise
was the first to notice the young Seirin female, looking at her with
eyes that seemed to be fighting back a good amount of tears. His voice
had lost of all his usual pep and his leg muscles seemed to twitch at
every little movement he made. It came as a surprise to her that he was
still standing, seeing as he had probably played the hardest out of all
the Kaijou members.Jogging the distance between herself and the
team, [Name] noticed her boyfriend’s lack of presence from amongst the
group. Noticing her worried glance, Moriyama pointed back towards the
locker room.“He said he wanted to hang out in there for a while.”
Nodding
in thanks, [Name] made her way passed the rest of the team, a few of
them giving her reassuring pats on the back as they marched off towards
the audience bleachers. [Name] could hear her heart beating loudly in
her ears as she approached the door to the locker room, a hesitant hand
reaching up to knock on the wooden door.“Damn it!” The outburst,
followed by a loud metallic sound, caused her to flinch, retreating her
hand from the door as if its mere presence had burned her. Trying again a
moment later, she immediately reached for the doorknob instead, turning
it and entering the room before anyone else’s prying eyes could see.“Y-Yukio?”
He
was standing at the far end of the lockers, head cast towards the
ground and a fist up against a locker’s door. His arm was shaking due to
punching the cold metal in frustration and his jaw was clenched
tightly, eyes screwed shut in an attempt to not show any more emotion
than necessary. He had failed once again. He had failed his team, he had
failed his coach, and he had failed himself. Kasamatsu felt like a fool
for believing he could carry Kaijou to victory. Growling in
frustration, he lifted his fist to punch at the locker door once again,
the sting from the impact reverberating up his entire arm.Worry
and panic washed over [Name] when she saw a few tear drops fall from his
face to the tiled floor below and she quickly made her way to his side,
removing his now bruised hand from its place against the lockers. Her
heart ached seeing him like this, but it hurt her more knowing that he
was trying to bottle up all his emotion. Not knowing what to do or say,
she merely stood to the side of him, finally wrapping her arms around
his waist once a moment of dead silence had passed. Kasamatsu stiffened
at the gesture, not wanting to seem weak in her embrace.“I think
it’s stupid, you know?” She murmured after feeling him tense up. Her
voice was barely above a whisper, but in the quiet of the empty locker
room it spoke volumes. “It’s stupid how guys feel like they need to be
stronger by not showing any emotion. It’s okay, you know? To feel.”“Y-yeah…”
[Name] tightened her grip on him as the first tears of many started cascading down his face.
{EXTRA}
Once
the tears had stopped coming from his eyes and his body stopped
shaking, Kasamatsu finally got a sense of his surroundings. His knuckles
hurt, his heart ached, there was a pressure on his abdomen from where
his girlfriend was holding him tightly, and his clothes felt a little
damper than they had previously. Pulling away from her embrace,
Kasamatsu held [Name] at an arm’s length to get a good look at her.“Idiot,
why are you crying too?” He said, the usual bite in his insult gone. He
reached his hands up to her face, his thumbs rubbing at the tears that
had gathered in the corners of her eyes.“I-I-I get s-sympathy
t-tears, okay?!” [Name] hiccupped, lightly slapping his hands away
before furiously rubbing at her eyes to rid herself of the embarrassing
waterworks. “S-so it’s y-your f-fault I’m c-crying, st-stupid.”
Oh poor Kasamatsu! So sad!!
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