13 Rena's Visit

"EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH!!??????"

Everyone's shout reverberated inside the court. Everyone except those who knew that this would happen have shocked looks on their faces, even the seniors who are watching at the back.

Meanwhile, the culprit of all this, Aida Riko, is just smiling sweetly, waiting for these guys to really take off their shirts. After a brief pause, these freshmen basketball club applicants finally noticed that the coach didn't show much of a reaction to all this.

Thus, with no other choice, they reluctantly took off their shirts and stood in their positions like some planks of woods. They're like teens who got signed into the military to join some world ending war or something.

Seeing that these guys finally listened to her, Riko moved towards the very last person on the line and took out her clipboard with a piece of bond paper on top of it. She first asked the guy what his name is, his preferred position, and then evaluated him by just looking at him with her eyes. When she is done saying her piece, she would move onto the next one like it's something normal.

"For a person of your height, you're quite malnourished. I think you should build up some muscles more…"

Inside the now quiet basketball court, only the sound of Riko's footsteps could be heard.

*step*

"Nagata Izanagi… Your preferred position is point guard? Hmm, your arms are pretty well developed but your legs and thighs are not. Have you only been practicing stationary dribbles? Include daily jogging in your morning exercise. You could also include some sprints if you want."

*step*

"Saeki Takeo? Oh, you want to be a power forward? Let's see here… your ability to move instantaneously is just horrible for someone who would usually be guarding the perimeter."

*step*

"Your body is too stiff. Do some stretches after a bath…"

*step*

"You… you have a really big stamina problem. Do some cardiovascular exercises, along with some sprints to solve that."

Riko constantly moved from person to person, evaluating every single one of them and giving them some sort of advice. When she arrived in front of Seiji, all she could do was stare blankly at him for more than ten seconds.

Noticing that Riko was not saying anything, Seiji looked down and saw her looking at him in the eye with shock written all over her face. Thus, Seiji couldn't help but ask her to check if everything's fine.

"Hmm? What's wrong Riko?"

"Ha? E-Eh, it's nothing. Your body's in pretty good shape so you don't have to worry Seiji," she then scurried away like a frightened rabbit.

Watching her leave, Seiji couldn't mask the confused look on his face. However, Seiji didn't have enough time to think about this as coach Chu Lin asked them to do some drills in order to have more sample data for when they begin to separate them into different teams.

※・※・※・※

"Alright. Now that everyone is properly evaluated, you guys will be separated into different teams and play against each other or maybe even against your seniors tomorrow. You youngsters may go home now," Chu Lin announced.

The freshmen each sighed a breath of relief before leaving for the locker room. While they were leaving, they heard the sonorous voice of Neko from behind them.

"Be sure to visit this same gym tomorrow for your practice match okay!?"

Upon hearing her voice, these freshmen who have experienced a roller coaster ride of emotions suddenly felt energetic. With spring in their steps, they happily headed towards the locker room.

Seiji didn't follow after them at first as he first had a word with Kosaki, who has been watching them the whole time in silence. She didn't really know much about basketball so she opted to just stay quiet.

"You guys head out first. I'm gonna be changing my clothes in the locker room as well so just wait for me on the car."

"Un, Mia-san will be waiting for us on the front gate right? We'll be waiting for you," Kosaki said with a slight smile on her face.

"Alright, I'll see you guys then."

With the conversation over, Seiji headed towards the locker room as well, changing his clothes to the school uniform.

※・※・※・※

Riko, Seiji, Mia, and Kosaki engaged in some casual conversations while driving away from the school. Today is one of the days when Rena will come to visit Seiji here in Nara so, knowing that she is quite close with Riko and Kosaki, he invited the two to stop by his house for a while. They also invited Hyuuga but he declined the offer, saying that he is going to practice his shooting for a few more hours.

As they passed by the mansion's gate, the four of them saw a lone blonde girl standing in front of the entrance door. When the girl saw Seiji come out of the car, her face immediately brightened up as she ran at full speed towards Seiji.

This girl who's probably around 10 or 11 years old have a waist-length blonde hair and a pair of baby blue colored irises. She's wearing a pink pleaded skirt, a white blouse with a red ribbon design just slightly below the middle of the collars of her blouse, and a white pair of sandals that looks expensive as heck.

"Seiji-samaa~! I've come to visit again!" said the girl while hugging Seiji tightly.

"*sigh*… How many times do I have to tell you? Do not run at someone at full speed!"

Yes, this little lady is Rena. Over the span of a few years, the little girl who calls him 'onii-chama' has grown up. She refuse to adress him 'onii-sama' nowadays and prefers to call him by his real name with a '-sama' suffix attached to it.

Seiji have a slight idea as to why this is the case but it's just a wild guess with no concrete evidence to prove it. This is why he just ignored the sudden change of how she address him and treated her as his precious sister still.

"Ehh~, but we've never seen each other for like… FOREVER!"

Looking at Rena's pouty expression, Seiji just smiled wryly before pinching her nose with little to no force behind it.

"We just met the day before yesterday. Don't exaggerate."

"But it feels like forever to me! Everyone in the mansion is just too stiff and it feels so stuffy living there!—"

After a brief pause, Rena buried her head on Seiji's chest before murmuring something. If not for Seiji's enhanced sense of hearing, he wouldn't have heard her otherwise.

"—It's all because of that old man. Once I get my hands on him, I'm really gonna tear him apart. It's also HIS FAULT that Seiji-sama had to leave in the past. Stupid old geezer."

Seiji just ignored her little monologue, not wanting to say anything more. This girl is too headstrong sometimes, you can't change her mind once she decided to hate on someone.

"Should we go in now? As you girls can see, this spoiled sister of mine won't let go for atleast more than a minute or two. We can't remain standing here for that long a time."

"Rena-chan… you never change. You're like Haruka right now when she clings onto mom and me."

"Yeah, she's always like a baby."

In response to Kosaki and Riko's words and chiding, Rena just stuck her tongue out to them.

"You girls are teasing me now!? How cruel~. If you didn't have my permission, you wouldn't have been able to get close with Seiji-sama."

"Why do they need your permission in order for them to get close with me?"

"Ouch ouch ouch ouch! Gently, gently Seiji-sama! I was just joking~!"

This made Seiji react as, this time, he pinched her cheeks hard. He didn't let go of her cheeks until he was satisfied.

A few moments later, Rena can be seen stroking her cheeks while looking up at Seiji with her tear filled eyes.

"How cruel~. Seiji-sama you demon!"

Seiji just ignored this troublesome girl and led the group towards the mansion. Seeing that she was ignored, Rena pouted her lips and followed them inside.

Inside the living room, Seiji and Rena did some catching up while Riko and Kosaki would sometimes join the conversation. Mia didn't disturb them and just brought some refreshments and snacks for them to eat.

She is happy to see that Rena is just doing fine and is not at all affected by the stunts that those old geezers of the clan would pull off time and again. It seems like Rentarou, Hanna, and the head butler is doing a great job of protecting her from those idiots.

Later that day, Seiji decided to walk Riko and Kosaki to their houses, accompanied by his little sister Rena. On their way home, Rena talked to him some more as they pass by some Sakura trees and sika deers that are roaming around.

"Dad said that I will finally be moving here in a few months."

"Hmm? Just you? What about mom and dad?"

Rena skipped and walked in front of Seiji before saying, "Well, they said something about taking care of the still growing business there. They will visit us from time to time but they wouldn't be living with us."

"Hee… I see. Even if they decides to live with us, they'll just have a harder time driving back and forth from here to Tokyo. That'll take a toll on them."

Upon hearing Seiji's reply, Rena halted her footsteps before facing Seiji with a bright smile.

"Yep! That's why… please take care of me when the time comes… Onii-sama~!"

※・※・※・※

To be continued…

[A/N¹: I created Rena's character with Yumina Urnea Belfast's more outgoing and headstrong characteristics in mind. The princess-like status, the hair color, her slightly clingy and pushy attitude… There's many parallels between them.]

[A/N²: Still no basketball action this chapter but I'll make sure to make it up in the next chapters. The practice game is approaching so I'll do my best not to somehow screw it up.]

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