Queen Of Cards || Akashi Seijuro x OC

Chapter 2

The relaxing first day flew by. As the bell rang to signal the end of the day, many students rushed out to the main quadrangle. Airi followed, curious as to which club she would join. Usually she would join the book or literature club, since she enjoyed reading.

"Welcome! Welcome! Line up to join the cooking club!"

"Swimming club! Get your forms to join the swim team!"

"Learn the true art of calligraphy with the calligraphy club!"

These clubs didn't really appeal to Airi. Now if there was a music club, she wouldn't hesitate. Airi loved music. She looked around the range of club table to find her beloved music club to no avail. She decided to ask one of the people canvassing.

"Excuse me, may I please know if there is a music club?" She asked the older female.

"To tell you the truth, kouhai-chan, last year someone played fart noises on the trombone during an education department executive meeting, so the principal banned the music club."

Staring in horror at the senpai after hearing the tale, she thanked her and hurried along. She didn't mind the calligraphy club since it was a new skill she could pick up, but it didn't particularly interest her. Chlorine made her puke so swimming wasn't an option.

Maybe she could be a manager for a sports club? As she scanned the different tables, she accidentally locked eyes with a blonde boy. He was behind a table that her eyes passed over and unfortunately for her, the boy took it as an invitation to talk to her.

"Hey! Kouhai-chan!" His enourmous voice made its way to her ears, and she nearly flinched.

"Hello." Airi bowed, remembering that this person was more likely than not to be older.

"Wanna join the basketball club? You can be the manager!"

Without waiting for a response, he shoved a form into her hands. Airi, a little shaken by the upfront greeting, took a moment to regain her composure before scanning her eyes over the form.

"I believe I could attempt-"

"That's great!"

The male slung his arm over the female, dragging her over to his table. There, she saw a very large and tanned figure sitting besides a slender, shoulder length haired ravenette. Airi was slightly intimidated by their obviously tall figures, despite them sitting down. They were both almost eye level with her and her perfect posture.

"Oh Kotaro-kun. Who's this?"

"H-hello, my name is Yunabami Airi. Nice to meet you."

Airi mentally cursed herself for stuttering. Her parents would NOT be happy with such terrible speech.

"Aww, she's so cute!"

Airi flushed a deep scarlet due to the ravenette cooing. No-one had ever said that to her and she had no clue what to do. The taller male let out a hearty, earth shaking laugh.

"She turned so red!"

"Don't bully her!"

"I'm not bullying her, baka."

"Okay okay I think that's enough. Give her a pen, Kotaro." The blonde grabbed a blue ballpoint from the table, offering it to the girl. Airi accepted, filling out the form and handing it back to the blonde boy.

"Kouhai-chan, my name is Hayama Kotaro but you can call me Kotaro-senpai!" He seemed so genuinely happy and blissful that Airi was rendered speechless.

"I-if you insist, Kotaro-senpai."

"Adorable! I'm Mibuchi Reo but you can call me Reo-nee." He gave her a closed eye smile that was so pure that Airi swore she could feel warmth radiating from him.

"I'm Nebuya Eikichi, but since those two are letting you call them by their first names, you can call me Eikichi-senpai." The tanned male boomed before eating some sort of protein bar in one bite.

"N-nice to meet you, Eikichi-senpai. Please take care of me." She managed to get through most of her speech without stuttering, bowing as she asked to be in their care.

With that, Kotaro dragged the girl behind the table with his arm slung around her shoulder. Sitting down on the grass, he offered her a canned drink.

"Kouhai-chan? How much do you know about basketball?"

"Let's see... I know that there's five players on the court and basic rules such as no travelling and double dribbling."

"That's great! Training starts tomorrow after school in the main gym and goes until 5:30pm, sometimes even longer."

"How many people are in the club?"

"Lots! There's 3 strings in total, but the first string is the string that plays in official matches. In the first string, there's only 5 players, but really it's 4. Half of the team graduated last year and one of them who isn't here, Higuchi Shouta, has other things going on with his family so he doesn't attend training often."

"I see... Does that mean you need at least 1 more player?"

"Well, we already have someone else who gave in their form and left. Luckily they play point guard which is the position we need."

"Point guard is the person who dribbles the ball down the court, right? And they have excellent dribbling skills?"

"Yep! What else do you know, kouhai-chan?" Airi sweatdropped when she saw the sparkles in his eyes. She concluded that basketball must be his obsession.

"Hmm... centre is the person who stands under the net and gets the rebounds and shoot shots near the hoop. They're always the tallest and biggest?" Airi didn't mean for it to come out as a question, but since basketball wasn't an area she excelled in, she looked at Kotaro for confirmation. He quickly nodded his head, remaining silent and waiting for her to continue. Since she was getting everything right, she took it in stride and continued on with a little bit more confidence.

"Power forwards are good at driving and mid-range shots. They're versatile and have good ball handling skills, but not on par with point guards most of the time. They're like a mix and they're also really tall too. Hmm... small forwards are like power forwards, all rounders that combine all aspects of the game to make plays and score from anywhere on the attacking half."

"That's me!"

"You're a small forward? But you're so tall, Kotaro-senpai."

"I'm one of the shortest out of everyone in the club." At this fact, Airi paled. No way her senpai, who stood at the very least at 6 feet tall, was on the smaller side.

"Eikichi is 190cm and Reo is only 2cm shorter than him!" Kotaro whined, angrily drinking his energy drink.

"Eh? What was that Kotaro? Can't hear you from all the way up here." Eikichi had a grin plastered on his face as Kotaro fumed at the giant.

"Stop ruining Kouhai-chan's talk, you two! I have't heard all the good things she has to say about me yet!" Reo-nee whined.

"Does that mean Reo-nee is a shooting guard?"

"The very best!"

"I see... Well, shooting guards are the best shooters from the mid to long range court."

Reo-nee basked smugly in the indirect praise he received from Airi, boasting to the other two. While they argued, Airi observed from her spot on the floor. Unseen by anyone, a small smile betrayed her usual blank face.