➪ 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝐼𝑠 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝐴 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝐼𝑑𝑖𝑜𝑡 ᵏⁿᵇ ᵃᵘ

Chapter 7

"4 p.m. in gym three," he said.

Now where the heck was gym three?

Kagami grumbled to himself as he walked around in circles. This school was necessarily large for a middle school. Like, why did they need so much space?

After who-knows-how-long, the boy finally found the gym he was looking for.

From outside, he could hear the balls hitting the floor and the squeaking of shoes. How nostalgic.

He entered the doors and almost immediately, the whole gym's attention landed on him. 

Feeling slightly uncomfortable, he hastily made his way over to Akashi who was in a conversation with a serious-looking man - assumably the coach.

As if having sensed his presence, the GOM captain turned around and greeted him.

"Glad to see you're on time," Akashi said, his poker face not giving away any emotions.

"You could've at least told me where this gym was located. I went around the school...twice!"

"And did it ever occur to you that you could've used the maps on the notice boards that are placed in every section of the compound?"

No. No, it did not.

Kagami's expression said it all. He was an idiot.

Humming, Akashi quickly introduced him to the coach.

"This is the boy I was talking about. Kagami Taiga,"

The man's eyes scanned the teen from top to bottom, "He's tall, that's for sure. But how are his skills?"

"I was planning on testing them today," Akashi replied.

At this moment, Kagami felt as if he was an object being reviewed. Does he really have no say in this at all?

A small voice at the back of his mind said yes.

"Alright then. I'm only trusting your judgment Akashi because you are never wrong. Let's begin now," Coach Sanada tapped his clipboard.

Akashi nodded and turned his attention to the second-string players practicing on the court.

"Ishigami, Tanaka, and Azumane," he called. 

The said boys quickly stopped their drills and jogged to him.

"Captain?" Tanaka asked whilst eyeing Kagami with a curious look.

"You three will play a match with this person here. Three against one and the first side to reach ten points wins. Use whatever tactics necessary provided it's in the rules," 

"What?! Three against one? Isn't that overkill?" Ishigami blurted.

All it took was one glare from Akashi to shut them up and get into position. They looked at Kagami to see if he was nervous or not but to their surprise, the boy's face was rather deadpan.

It was like he didn't care at all that he was at a disadvantage.

"I hope this is fine for you, Kagami-kun," Akashi said, the corner of his lip turned up slightly. 

Kagami looked at the boy and turned away snorting, "What do you think?"

Dropping his bag to the ground, the tall teen threw off his jacket and rolled his shoulders before heading to the court.

"We'll only use half-court," announced Akashi.

At his words, those who were using the full court retreated to the other side allowing the four boys to take their places.