ludic

Chapter Two

As if she didn't just drop a bomb on everyone, Izanami kept on chatting with the managers, all while smiling. The managers were shocked with the news as well, but the girl in question wasn't making it a big deal so they were trying not to as well. But of course, the boys were way too curious for their own good.

"Wait, niece??" Miyuki asks, eyebrows furrowed, "You look just like him besides the eye color."

"Well, that tends to happen when you're family, y'know?" Izanami chuckles with a shrug, "My mom is his younger sister. I got most of mom's looks beside dad's eye color and height. Mom's actually shorter than me."

"Really?" Sachiko asks with eyes wide.

"Mhm! I'm 5'8, hoping to reach 5'9. Mom is 5'5 and dad is 6'1. Did you know that Coach used to use mom as an armrest? She absolutely hated it," the girl snickers as she looks through her phone pictures.

"What's with the blonde in your hair then?" Kuramochi asks with a raised brow.

"Honestly? To represent a bit more of my dad. I got my hair stylist to match it as close as possible to his hair. He doesn't show it, but he gets real pouty when people tell us that I look more like mom than him," Izanami smiles, playing with a few strands of the blonde hair framing her face, "Looks nice doesn't it?"

When the girl gives Kuramochi a closed eye smile, Kuramochi's face breaks out in a blush before looking away, unable to verbally reply to her question.

"You call your uncle Coach?" Jun asked, eyes wide.

"Most of the time, yes," Izanami shrugs, "When around just family though I'll either call him uncle or uncle Tess, those two either in English or Japanese, or oji-san."

"I just want to confirm something real quick," Shirasu says, making the girl tilt her head in question at him, "You said you have two years left so... you're a first year?"

"Yes," She smiles, "Soon to be second year, from what Rei told me when she talked to my teachers back home. I technically already did some high school back home."

"Mind if I ask how old you are?" Yui asks, Izanami happily nodding.

"I'm 16~" She grins, "My birthday was on June 16th which already happened so yup. So technically I already completed a year and some change back in America. If I was back home right now, I would already be in my second year of high school since our school year starts in September. Depending if I do decide to transfer here, my parents will work things out with both schools so I can just start fresh from my second year here."

"Uhm... Back home for you is where exactly?" Tanba asked.

"Oh!" Izanami smiles, "Los Angeles, California. My dad is one of the physical trainers for the LA Dodgers so..." That fact alone had everyone almost ready to burst out of their seats, "Plus mom is a coach for gymnastics and helps out with cheerleading at the University of California in Irvine."

"W-Wow that's... Los Angeles, huh? Your family sounds so busy. Did you go to a big high school too?" Takako can't help but ask. Izanami already sounds like such a big shot.

"In size, yes. I went to a public high school though since I had other things in my schedule. Plus a lot of my friends went there too." The observant players in the room don't fail to notice that the girl didn't reveal the name of her high school unlike where her parents worked. Though she didn't divulge that information right now, they figured they'd ask about that later seeing as she was looking to transfer schools anyway.
A chorus of acknowledgement rang out in the cafeteria, amazed with the new girl. Though that little moment was cut short as Coach stepped back in, "Iza."