➪ 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙝 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙚𝙩𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙡 ᵏⁿᵇ ˣ ᵗᶜᶠ

5. Unlucky is my Middle Name

You know that famous saying that is known as Murphy's Law - 'anything that can go wrong will go wrong'?

There was no better way than to describe the current predicament that Cale found himself in. Actually, now that he thought about it, that saying pretty much described his entire life from the moment he was born. His luck had never been the best and he was about ninety percent sure that the universe was against him. All he wanted was to slack off for eternity surrounded by gold. Was that really too much to ask?

"Cale-nim! I'm finally reunited with my God. The legend himself is before my very eyes - I am truly blessed!"

Clopeh f***ing Sekka.

What the absolute f*** was the God of Death thinking?

To grasp the current situation, let's rewind to 10 hours ago

-----

With the preliminaries for the Inter-high nearing, Seirin has been extra busy and extra hard-working during training. Riko drafted an entirely new training plan based on the one she made last year. 

This was to compensate for things the teamed lacked such as stamina and accuracy. There was no doubt the competition this year would be tougher than ever. The Generation of Miracles in particular wouldn't dare take another loss.

In addition to the physical training, Riko made schedules for the team to watch recordings of their upcoming opponents. Doing that last year really helped the team prepare for their games and get an idea of what type of players they'd be facing.

Come to think of it, Riko recalled Cale asking for last year's recordings and him returning them a week later looking all red-faced and sweaty.

"Did he run a marathon with the CDs?"

She chuckled at the thought. But in all honesty, she nearly had a heart attack thinking he had come down with the flu or something. Instead, he said he just exhausted his brain a bit.

That was obviously not it - who exhausts their brain to the point of nearly fainting? But she didn't pry. So long as he was okay, there was no need for her to nose into his business.

He was however given two days of rest. Forced rest.

And today he was back again looking as deadpan as ever. Looking at his face (that pissed her off for no reason in particular), she sighed and rubbed her tired eyes. Turning away, she waved over the boys who were messing around on the court.

"Enough now everyone. I don't want you guys tiring yourselves out before tomorrow," she said loudly, he hands resting on her hips.

Like obedient little puppies, the boys immediately stopped in the middle of their game and quickly gathered around their coach. Many of them were wearing faces of confusion.

"Tomorrow? The preliminaries aren't until the tenth," Furihata voiced, furrowing his eyebrows.

At this, Riko's lips slowly turned into a smirk.

Immediately, a feeling of dread settled in the group's stomachs.

'Oh no...don't tell me-' Hyuga thought.

"You'll be having a practice match with Touou Academy tomorrow morning."

"WHAT?!" shouted the boys in shock.

Riko laughed, "Yes. Funny enough, it was Touou who reached out first. I saw no reason to refuse since that'll be a good opportunity to get a glimpse of their new players - no doubt, they'll be thinking the same thing."

"Hoo, I get to fight that bastard so soon again."

Only one person would be positively delighted at this sudden arrangement.