The Sun and the Moon

Chapter 24

Dennis' Pov

Never be surprised when things go out of control

The thing about Obito is, you never know how he'd be one minute and then change the next.

I recollected his words. Obito walked past me with nary a glance and joined the crowd.

"It's gonna be tough if he's our competitor."

"True." I nodded.

I gasped as I turned to see who it was. "Rin?!" There she was, in her sports shoes and ruby Reynard house t-shirt. "You're in this too?"

"Hehe, yes." She giggled. "Well, I decided to take you up on what you said that day. And here I am."

I felt a slow, burning fire of determination course through my veins.

"Then let's do this." I grinned at Rin, who nodded confidently.

There were three coaches for the tryouts, one of them being Coach Fred whom Harsh had told me about. He was a tall, well-built beta with tanned skin and a kind smile. The other was Coach Midoriya, who flashed a quick smile in my direction (remember how he caught and helped us when we were found in the staff quarters?).

But the one most participants had their eyes on, was the middle guy. He was easily above 6 feet tall, muscular with broad shoulders and arms and wore a look of mild annoyance and strictness. His very presence felt somewhat intimidating.

"Ok, now listen up here!" The alpha coach's voice boomed. "We'll hold the tryouts in three parts. Firstly, we'll test your basic dribbling and passing. Then your offensive and defensive skills. And the last," There was a sudden silence. And the coach grinned. "will be a surprise."

Chatter broke amongst the crowd.

"Surprise?!" Rin whispered. "What sort of surprise could they keep in a tryout?"

"It could be anything." I shrugged.

I shouldn't be worried about it, but some part of me couldn't help it. Is it something I should be careful about?

We observed the court layout. From both ends of the court, cones were lined up in two rows in a zig-zag pattern till half court. The space between each row of cones was enough for just one person to dribble.

I risked a glance at Obito who just nodded wordlessly at the coach's words. Blank face. Vacant eyes.

Just what could he be thinking?

That's when Coach Midoriya coughed into his fist. I grinned at him and he shot an encouraging smile. "Attention here everyone! The first task is just a warm-up. As you can see the cone arrangement, players will have to dribble till half-court weaving around the cones without knocking any cone accidentally. Then, at half court, you do a crossover. For those who don't know, it means shifting to the other hand for dribbling. Then you end it with a layup."

"However," the alpha coach's voice boomed. "If any of you fail to do a crossover, or let the ball roll away or can't do a layup or whatever, you'll get just one more chance. You take your ball and go back to the end of the line to wait for your turn. If you fail in the second chance as well..."

His voice trailed off, leaving behind an unsettling feeling amongst the participants. Nervous whispers broke out and for a second, Rin too looked anxious. "Then we'll have to get it in the first try itself. It would be too embarrassing if I lost control of the ball in front of everyone." She nibbled on her lower lip.

"You'll get it with the first try, don't worry." I tapped her shoulder. "He's probably just trying to scare us - to see who cracks under pressure."

"Everyone go pick one basketball and form two lines!" Coach Fred's voice startled us as we all hastened towards the basketball box to get a ball and got in line. Rin ended up being a little ahead of me in the line while Obito got to the other line.