The Kaijou Affairs

Encounter VI: Frustration

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Encounter VI: Frustration

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The rest of the basketball club erupted in shock and curiosity.

“EHH?” Hayakawa threw his hands up in surprise. There was fire in his eyes. “No way! Captain is actually smiling at a girl!”

“No! More than that, he's putting his moves on her!” Moriyama said, analyzing the situation in great detail.

“He has moves?” Kobori asked, joining in.

“Impossible! He's absolutely inept in communication with the other gender!” Moriyama said.

They received a brutal beating shortly after.

I snicker as I remembered the events that unfolded earlier. I feel something hard fall lightly on my head. "Ow," I involuntarily said. When I look up, I see Kaijou's captain behind me. "That hurt." I rub the back of my head.

He hands me the object that he used to hit my head with---a clipboard. "The coach told me to give you this."

"Thanks..." I take the clipboard from him, looking through the papers on it. I stop when I see Kise's name and data on one of the papers. His data is displayed on the paper.

I had forgotten that he was a part of the basketball club. He had told me on my first day when we were walking to school, but I had paid no mind to it. I didn’t think that he’d be a starter and I certainly didn’t think that he’d be this good. I had misjudged him…

“Kasamatsu-senpai! We’re going to leave!” Hayakawa calls out from afar.

Right… I had forgotten that here, he’s referred to as “Kasamatsu-senpai.” He is the captain of the team after all. I suppose I should follow suit from now on, but calling him senpai would be weird since we’re in the same grade...

“Have fun with your girlfriend!”

I flinched. Girlfriend, huh? I snuck a glance at Kasamatsu who is beet red. Unpleasant memories begin to fill my head. I tried to ignore them by looking over Kise’s data in an attempt to remember them.

“I-Idiot! Don’t say stupid stuff like that!” Kasamatsu yells back.

Hayakawa leaves with a hearty laugh, leaving behind Kasamatsu and I. I continue to stare at Kise’s data, pretending not to have heard their conversation.

“Don’t tell me you’re one of Kise’s fans too.” Kasamatsu’s words broke me out of my concentration. I looked up at him to see the look of annoyance on his face.

“Jealous?” I ask, laughing nervously.

“W-What---”

“I’m joking,” I say quickly, “We’re neighbors, so I was a bit surprised to see his name here.” I look back down at Kise’s data. “I knew he was a model, but I didn’t know he was this good at basketball too…” I begin to trail off.

What am I doing? Why did I have to go and say something so stupid? It's not as if we're going out or anything, so...

I still like him...

Awkward silence hung in the air. I bit down on my lip and clenched my fists. Frustrating. It was so frustrating. Yet I could not say anything or even so much as look him in the eye.

“Mikasa---”

“Mi-cchi!” Kise called out from the gym’s entrance. He waves at me. “Let’s go home together!”

I look up to Kise, thankfully and stand up, leaving behind the clipboard that Kasamatsu gave me. Before Kasamatsu can say another I immediately run over to the entrance.

“Ah, Kasamatsu-senpai is here too---” Kise is about to call him over, but I interrupt him.

“Kise, I’m not feeling well. Can you bring me home?” I say quickly, holding onto the arm of the blazer of his uniform.

My hands were shaking and Kise probably noticed because he took my hand from his blazer and held it gently.

“Mm… Yeah.”

We left the gym and walked home in silence.