My One With The Guys

Chapter 15: I'm The New Team Manager?

It's been two days since Kaori and I...even just thinking about it makes my face turn red! How am I supposed to look at him now? Do we pretend it didn't happen? I don't want to think that. I'll have to talk to him one way or another. It's a Tuesday today, and it's gonna rain, a great day (I'm being sarcastic). I get up and walk downstairs and smell a heavenly smell coming from the kitchen, I close my eyes and let my body move towards the kitchen. I get to the kitchen and open my eyes and suddenly see Kaori. My heartbeat moves faster, I move backward as I blink multiple times and realize it's my father, and my heartbeat starts to go down. How could I think that Kaori would be in my house? I gotta talk to him when I get to school. I sit down at the table as my father brings me a spoon, bowl, box of frosted flakes, and a carton of milk. I take the bowl and pour the cereal first, then pour the milk about halfway and start eating. I'm about to finish when I hear her son coming downstairs, I get up to go grab him a spoon and bowl, and I grab the bowl as he sits down. I get to the table and place the bowl on the table, I then grab the cereal and pour half a bowl then drown it with milk. I hand it to him as he starts eating. I bring my bowl to the kitchen and place it on the bowl in the sink as I walk back upstairs to go get dressed, I see Kaori's jacket holder, I smiled, and I moved it away as I look at the rest of my clothes and pull out a light blue overall skirt with a light pink knitted long sleeve shirt. I like pastel colors, it's fun to mix and match the colors together. I grab my bag and head downstairs, I put my hand on the doorknob and start turning it.
"Atsuko," I turn around as my name is being called, I see my father walking up to me, "before you're finished school, I'll be dropping off Daichi at the front doors of your school," he tells me
"I told you yesterday that I'm the new manager for the boys' basketball team at school, and we have a practice match after school and I have to prepare for it," I told him "could we reschedule?" I ask him, he looked so much in a dilemma
"Sadly no, I couldn't find a babysitter if I wanted to. What if he came and watched the game?" he asked, I don't know if there are any spectators allowed other than scouts "I'm going on a date tonight with Aika, I'll cancel" he says (my father's girlfriend's name is Aika), but I can't make them reschedule their date.
"If you drop him off at the gym I can take care of him, I'll get him some food before or something. But I really have to go, so send me a message before you're dropping him off," I shut the door behind me and start running for the bus.
I got to the bus stop, the bus was a couple of minutes late which didn't bother me since I had to catch my breath. The bus came, it wasn't packed so it was easy to slip on, I got on and saw Yasuo in the back seat of the bus. I looked around for a seat close by, perfectly there was one beside him. I sat down and leaned my head on his shoulder, he didn't move, the bus started moving as he moved his head onto mine. My heart beat a little faster. We got off at the same spot and waited for the next bus, we got onto the next bus and went straight to school. We didn't talk much on our way, I wanted to say something and start a long conversation.
"Yasuo-" I see him get pushed, what the hell?
"What's going on Yasuo?" It was Genki, he pushed Yasuo a little too hard
"Just because your leg got better doesn't mean you should injure others," I tease him,
"Good morning Atsuko, love the fit, very..." he didn't finish his sentence and went straight to Yasuo "and good morning to you too Yasuo, stay up late?" he asked
"No, it's just that you're annoying," Yasuo tells Genki, I giggled
"Have you guys seen Kaori?" Genki asked, why would he be worried about Kaori?
"He's probably skipping," Yasuo says, Genki nodded his head
"Why would he be skipping?" I ask them, they looked at each other
"He's famous for skipping," Yasuo said
"Oh," I said, the bell rings as we all walk inside together. We changed the subject and went our separate ways (well technically it was only Genki who separated me and Yasuo).
We got to class and our teacher handed us a packet of grammar, I don't wanna do the work today. The teacher came toward me and dropped an extra packet on my desk.
"Can you hand this to Kaori for me?" he asked
"I don't know where he is today," I tell him
"He's normally with you after class so I thought you guys were close," he said, I can't deny that we talked after class and went to lunch with the others, and I guess close friends...my face turned red, I'm so embarrassed,
"I can try to give it to him," I tell him in a nervous voice, he smiles then walks to the front of the classroom
"What was that about?" Did Yasuo see that? Should I tell him what happened between me and Kaori?
"Something happened between me and Kaori," I tell him
"Did he bully you? Or hurt you?" Yasuo was really concerned, cute
"He didn't do anything like that," I tell him "he did something that I kind of wasn't prepared for," I start to blush, I'm getting so embarrassed today
"What did he do," Yasuo's voice sounded forcefully, should I still tell him?
"Before I say anything you have to promise to not tell anyone, " I tell him
"I promise not to tell anyone," he says while crossing his heart with his finger
"And another thing, you two should talk to each other, I don't know both sides of the story but it seems like you're still holding onto your grudge against him. I'm not taking either of your sides but I would like for you guys to try to get along," I say
"If you tell me what happened then I will think about talking to him and trying to clear things between us," he told the truth? Or is he just wanting the information?
"He kissed me," I told him, what will he think? Will he not want to be my friend anymore?
"He kissed you?" he asked
"Yeah," I tell him, he looks confused
"What are your feelings towards him?" he asked me, how am I supposed to answer? I don't know the answer.
"I don't know," I sound sad. How am I supposed to answer that question when I can't answer it myself? My eyes started to tear up, I looked at the ground, and I felt something touch my head.
"It's alright," Is Yasuo comforting me? The tears stop forming, he always knows how to comfort me.
"Thank you," I told him.
Classes went by fast, I was scared that Yasuo would tell our group about my and Kaori's incident but he didn't, I was happy to know I can trust him. When someone brought up the topic of Kaori my face would go red, they did question me but I just lied with a lame excuse. Genki got signed out for the whole day so he could prepare for the basketball game, he was allowed an open gym to himself (must be nice to get out of class and have an open gym to yourself). It was third class, the coach had just called on me to come to the gym, and my father also texted me that he was here. I pack my bags and head toward the gym. I see my father standing at the doors with Daichi, I keep walking, and I see my father looking into the gym mesmerized, I get beside him and look in the gym and see Kaori practicing his jump shots with the machine that once you shoot it comes down into the machine counts if it was made or missed and shoots the ball back out to you.
"Are you twrying to scawre him?" Daichi says, Daichi and I have a twelve-year difference between each other (he's four years old)
"Not at all, I was curious what he was looking at," I tell Daichi
"Since you're here, here's some cash and we won't be back home till ten tonight," when he says some cash he meant A HUNDRED AND TEN BUCKS?! Holy Jesus, I should take care of Daichi more often.
"It's alright," I tell my father, I look at Daichi "do you want to play basketball?" I ask him
"Bwasketbwall?" he said, his voice is so cute and he's just as cute
"Here I'll show you," I lend my hand to him, and he takes my hand, his hand is so small (adorable). My father smiles, and I smile back. We both start walking in opposite directions. I open the door as Daichi's still holding my hand walking inside (honestly I feel like I'll faint from cuteness overload), we get inside, Genki stops practicing (probably because he heard the door open), he saw us and started jogging, once he got to us he bent down to Daichi's level.
"Who's this cutie?" Genki asked
"He's my dad's girlfriend's son," I tell him, he looked up and giggle
"At first I thought he was your son, you guys look just alike," Genki tells me, now that I think about it we do have similarities but we have different mothers
"Do you think the coach will allow my 'younger brother' to watch the match today?" I ask him
"Of course, as long as he cheers for me," Genki started teasing Daichi, and Daichi started giggling
"Twat Twicklwes," Daichi said
"Daichi this is Genki, he's a star player. You gotta cheer for him loud," I tell Daichi, I look at Genki who's smiling
"I'm a star player, huh?" Is he teasing me? The back of my neck turns red, I don't answer.
"How about you play with Genki, Daichi? I have to start setting up for both teams," Daichi nodded his head, and I lent my hand out to Genki as he took Daichi's hand.
Once Daichi let go of my hand I had the will to take him back, I haven't talked to Daichi for so long but for some reason, he feels like my brother, why? It's probably because I've never had siblings and have never had this sort of relationship. I walk into the storage room and take out: the scoreboard, all the basketball holders, and whistles. I bring them out one at a time. I then went back inside and grabbed the table, I brought it outside and set it up, putting the scoreboard on top. I went back into the storage room and picked up chairs. I placed ten chairs on each side of the scoreboard. I finally finished! I'm so tired. I sat down on one of the chairs and saw Genki and Daichi playing together. Daichi was smiling and laughing, and it made me smile. I hear the gym door open, I look back to see who it was, it was the coach, I get up and walk towards Daichi.
"Who's the kid?" the coach asks, I get beside Daichi as Genki is holding his hand. My body starts to tense.
"He's my little brother," I tell him, he sighed with relief (why?) "is it alright that he watches today?" I ask him
"I have no problem with it," the coach tells me, and my body finally relaxes. I look down at Daichi and see him shaking a little out of fear, did the coach scare him?
"Am I in twoble?" Daichi asks with a shaky voice (I don't know if he was asking me or Genki)
"No no, I wouldn't let you get in trouble," I tell him, I bend down and pat his head "go have fun with Genki while I finish setting up, after I'll take you out for ice cream before the game, alright?" I straighten up and walk toward the coach.
I got to the coach and he told me little things that I needed to do. The team came in one by one about half an hour after the coach arrived and they all started practicing. Genki made sure that Daichi was having fun while I finished everything, even when his teammates came they went to the side of a court and Genki made himself a basketball net for Daichi to play with. When I finished, I went to Daichi and picked him up from behind.
"Who wants to go get food?" I swing Daichi to my chest and hold him with one hand with his feet dangling.
"I want ice cweam, and pwizza," Daichi said, he's so cute.
"I'll get you whatever you want," I tell him, I turn around and start walking to the doors.
We got to the doors, I opened the door and started walking towards the pizza place, it's not like it was far, all we had to do was cross one street (was basically a ten-minute walk). When we get inside I place Daichi on the ground as he holds my hand, and I place an order for a medium cheese, after he holds my hand tiger as we walk to the ice cream shop next to the pizza place. I get him oreo ice cream in a bowl. He was so excited when he got the ice cream, has he always been this shiny light? We walk to the convenience store and grab one drink each, I grab Mountain Dew Voltage and Daichi grabs Sunny-D. We went back to the pizza place, grabbed the pizza, and headed back to the gym. We got back to the gym in less than thirty minutes. I sat at the scoreboard with Daichi as he tried to play with the controls. The other team is here too, they're quite tall, and their tallest player has to be at least 6'8". I help Daichi with his food as I start the time to warm up. I grab a piece of pizza as I watch my team, they seem tense and nervous. But as soon as Genki goes they all relax, I chuckle a little.
"Are you choking?" Daichi asked, I can't swallow the piece of pizza fast enough so I shake my head "she's choking!" Daichi yells, I can hear an echo from the other side of the gym as everyone stops practicing and looks at me, I'm still shaking my head, "Someone please help her!" people start jogging towards me as the coach comes to my side and looks at me intensely. I finally swallow the piece.
"I'm alright, keep practicing," I tell him, I catch my breath as the coach hands me my drink off my table. I look at Daichi who has tears forming in his eyes. "I'm alright Daichi," I wiped the tears away.
I help Daichi by picking a piece of pizza and handing it to him. The clock goes off, it's deafening, I forgot it was that loud, I looked at Daichi thinking he would cry, but he was perfectly fine. The teams go to their benches, I can hear both of their coaches, what school are we versing anyways? Wait. This isn't a high school team, this is a college team. Holly, we can't even have a normal practice match unless it is against older guys. The first five of each team head onto the court. Both teams are so tall, though I think the college team is a bit taller (which makes sense cause they're older). Genki came towards Daichi and me.
"Hey little dude, my first basketball will be for you," he rubbed Daichi's hair, he then looked at me "if we win, we're going on a date," he walked away, I freeze, how am I supposed to talk to him? There is already a slight situation with Kaori and me, now I have to worry about a date with Genki?
They all line up ready for the jump ball, the ball goes up, and we get the first tip. He tips it forward to Genki, Genki's having a little trouble grabbing the ball since the person beside him is trying to grab it too. Genki grabs it in the end and starts dribbling waiting for his teammates to set up in their play. I move the arrow towards the other team. His team starts a down screen towards their teammate's defender, as that's happening the person who's getting the screen moves around the screen and goes in the middle and boxes out anyone in the key. Genki starts playing one-on-one, and he's starting to drive as his defender starts pressuring him, Genki moves near the key and steps back going up for the shot, his defender is far so Genki has enough time to shoot. He's doing a one-foot three-pointer. The ball leaves his fingertips, the ball went so fast to the net, it hit the glass and went in. When it went in, Genki came around the score table and had his fist out, I take mine out and I first bump him, and so does Daichi. The game continued, it seemed this was an easy game for us to win, it was half time and I was playing on the nets as the coach come beside me.
"Hey, can you hand out water to the other team? I'll play with him while you hand it to them," the coach asked me, I gave him the ball as I jogged to the water station
I started pouring water into disposable cups, I make thirteen. I put them all on a tray and walk to the bench, I hand them each one, and a couple of them kept staring at me but I didn't think much about it. Their coach was talking to them about a new play, they were thinking of doing a one-three-one defense to keep every one of the key, but double-teaming the ball as soon as it crosses half. I finish handed them their water as their coach finished talking to them, I walk away as I get stopped by two players, I try to walk past them but they blocked my way again.
"Can I help you?" I ask them
"We were wondering if you could get us some more water?" the one on the right asked, I nodded my head and grabbed two new cups, and poured some water into them. I gave it to them, and once again they block my way.
"What now?" I ask, and they both smile
"We were wondering if you wanted to go out after the game?" this time it was the guy on the left who asked
"Sorry but no thanks," I tell them, I walk between them as the one on the right grabbed my arm
"Are you afraid? You don't have to be afraid of us, we were just going to bowl with our team, that's all," he's really pushy, I shrug him off and keep walking "stop playing hard to get and just come with us," I look back as I feel someone pull my arm back
"She already said no, so back off," this was Genki, my heart is racing just from his voice
"And who the hell are you?" that guy needs to quit
"Someone more important then you," his tone is so low, he's always getting into fights
"I'm fine Kaori," I tell him, I look up, he's still holding onto my arm but his hand moves to mine as he interlocks fingers.
"My bad didn't know you had a boyfriend," he finally starts to back off, he walked away and I sigh with relief, I try to shake his hand off but he was still holding which then I keep holding.
"You know we have to talk," I tell him, he nods his head, "we can talk after the game, but right now I have to get Daichi," I start walking, we were still holding hands, and he started to let go but I held on tight, he figured that I didn't want to let go so neither did he.
We walk up to the coach and Daichi, the coach looked at me and handed the ball back to me. The clock went off as Daichi covered his ears. We move to him as I pick him up with one hand holding him as we walk back to the bench. The ref called both teams to the court. I sit down bringing Daichi onto my lap as Kaori takes the other seat, we still have some pizza left, and I place it on the ground so it won't get in the way.
"Can you do the paperwork?" I ask Kaori
"You could have asked me earlier to help you," he tells me, my heart is still racing
Both teams get onto the court, the college team gets the first ball, and they pass it in as the game continues. So far we're up to but thirty but it's not like we're relaxing, we're still working hard and possibly trying to get a higher point difference. The college team's offense wasn't that good as every time they were going to do something we would always be able to block or get easy rebounds. They made a lot of rookie mistakes but sometimes it's just a bad game so I can't say anything. The score kept going up for us, their new defense didn't do anything, I believe our coach made a new play as well to break a one-three-one defense. We were up by sixty with one minute and forty-eight seconds left of the last quarter, we kept playing even if we were up by sixty. The game finished, and we won by seventy-one points. Genki made about half of the points but the rest were all a mix of players, compared to the game I had a glips of, this game was amazing and I'm glad that I became the new manager. All the players left the guy except Genki, he was playing with Daichi as I clean up, Kaori helped me as well but we didn't talk to each other. We put away the scoreboard, chairs, and benches, all that was left was the table. I tried to lift it on my own but it wouldn't, Kaori helped me. We brought it into the storage room, we placed it down then I started walking towards the door.
"When are we gonna talk?" Kaori asked it's not like we can talk right now
"Meet me after I get home, I'll text you the address," I tell him, I kept walking after that, and I walked towards Genki and Daichi. "Let's go Daichi," I reach my hand out as Daichi starts running towards me, he holds my hand as he starts to giggle.
"I can give you a ride," Genki offered
"If you could that would be great," I tell him, he grabs his bag and we head towards his car
"So how come you've never offered me a ride before?" I ask him
"My car was taken away to the shop, I had a small accident and got a lot of tickets," he tells me
"Makes sense, but now that you have it, I'm gonna make you drive me places," I tell him, he laughs
"I'll drive you anywhere anytime," he's very sweet, he always makes me smile.
Genki gets into the car as I help Daichi get up into the back seat, I look back, and I see Kaori leaning on the door frame. I look back and head into the car. Genki starts driving us home, he's playing baby shark as Daichi and Genki both start jamming to it, I see why kids like it so much. We get home. I help Daichi inside, I tell him to stay inside while I got to talk to Genki. I head back out and see Genki leaning on his car door.
"Thank you for the ride," I tell him
"Anytime," he said, I walk towards him
"So you won the game," I say, he looks down and smiles at the ground, I also smiled
"Yeah," he says
"Do you really want to go on a date?" I ask him, I want him to say no, that it was just to get him fired up before that game. I don't want to lose him as a friend.
"I would," he said, my smile dropped "but I know you don't like me," I'm confused, "I know about you and Kaori," how does he know? "For me to ask you to go on a date was a test for if you like him in my perspective, and I got my answer," he patted my head, he turned around and got back into his car with a smile, he dropped his window, "Yasuo told me about you and Kaori, I won't lie, I am starting to have a feeling for you, but I guess Kaori beat me for once," he sounded a little sad, he's also moving me to tears.
"You're very kind Genki," I start to move to his car and bend down to his head level, I move my hand and grab the back of his head and bring it towards me, I kissed his forehead, "that's me repaying you for saving me, and being an older brother to me," I tell him, I turn around and start walking back to the front doors while taking out my phone and text Kaori a location. It's time to figure out what my feelings really are towards him.