6. Proving Skills (1)
The following day, Kaito stepped into the gym ready for training and was met once again with the disgruntled expressions. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at their childishness, Kaito walked to that same quiet corner and started stretching his muscles. Others in the gym were either chatting or shooting some hoops but Kaito figured they wouldn't let him join in. Not that he minded.
He knew the only way to win these people over was if he could prove he had the ability to make it here.
"Hey you,"
Kaito was stretching his legs on the floor and looked up hearing the voice. There was a boy, tall but still shorter than him, looking down.
"Can I help you?" Kaito asked politely.
"The name's Nakayama Kyo, third-year starter." the boy introduced himself. Kaito stood up having completed his stretching and nodded at him.
"Takahashi Kaito. Nice to meet you senpai."
Nakayama was pleased that Kaito spoke with respect. He was worried the junior might be arrogant having easily made it here but was relieved that he seemed like a good guy.
"Do you wanna join us and shoot?" He pointed towards four other boys on one court and Kaito recognised one of them as Hirano-senpai. They were taking turns shooting from different spots.
With raised eyebrows, Kaito answered, "That's nice of you to invite me but your friends might not want me there."
"Nah they won't care if you join or not." Nakayama leaned forward and spoke in a lower voice. "The five of us are the starters for the team. We meet a lot with coach and probably know him the best. You being able to make it here is no fluke nor did you cheat because Coach Fuwa is incredibly observant and thorough when it comes to assessing player's skills. Plus, he's not the type to take bribes."
"Is that so? In that case, I wouldn't mind joining in."
Kaito received a firm pat on the back and he followed Nakayama to the court. The four shooting hoops didn't bat an eye on the two's arrival except for Hirano giving a small smile. Kaito observed them with curious eyes. 'So these guys are the starters huh. They're pretty good.'
From what he saw, their shooting accuracy must be high as most of the shots went in the basket. He was planning on watching a bit longer when and ball rolled to him and he picked it up catching the attention of the group.
"What're you waiting for?" Hirano grinned. "Take a shot,"
Kaito nodded and stood at the three-pointer line before getting into position. He jumped and released the ball which went directly through the hoop.
"Nice," Nakayama gave him a thumbs up.
"Thanks."
"Takahashi-kun, right? I'm Ichikawa Akira." A tall, brown haired boy introduced himself. Third-year starter and shooting guard.
"Nice to meet you senpai." Kaito bowed slightly.
"Kuze Souta. Power forward." Kuze gave a small salute. He wasn't as tall as Ichikawa but not short either, and he had black spiky hair.
The next boy had a serious look on his face and wore big black rimmed glasses. "Kobayashi Hachiro, small forward."
"We're all third-years except Ichikawa who's a second-year." Hirano explained to Kaito.
'Well it's not surprising that they're mostly third-years. Ichikawa on the other hand managed to beat out the other third-years for that spot.'
"I see. Once again, it's nice to meet you all." Kaito didn't hold back being polite. He had no reason to disrespect his senpais and being an arrogant brat wouldn't do him any good, plus, it just wasn't his personality.
"You must have a lot of potential for coach to place you here. I look forward to seeing your skills," Kobayshi said in a monotone voice.
"I hope I won't disappoint," Kaito flashed a smile.
A minute later, Coach Fuwa walked in the gym with a stern expression. Without a word, the firs-string players lined up in front of him ready to begin training. Kaito stood at the back not wanting to gather unnecessary attention - not like it helped much. The boy next to him was giving him the stink-eye which Kaito chose to ignore.
As always, the players warmed up in different groups before doing actual training. Coach wanted to work on strength and stamina therefore, he made them run several laps around the open field as a start.
Kaito didn't push himself to get first place and instead kept a steady pace. One by one, players who couldn't take it any longer dropped out and coach made sure to note their names down. The only ones who finished the laps were the starters and two others including Kaito. When he reached the end, he panted and glanced at the other guy who finished. It just so happened to be the same kid who was glaring at him earlier.
"Good job you six. Take a short break and we'll move on to the next thing," Coach Fuwa said and walked to talk to the ones who didn't finish.
"Hey you,"
Kaito raised an eyebrow at the glaring kid. "Yes?"
"Don't think that just because you managed to keep up means you deserve to be here. Everyone worked their butts off to get to first-string so how the hell did you get in on the first go?"
Kaito tried not to laugh. This boy didn't seem intimidating at all and actually quite cute. "I'm not sure. You'll need to ask coach about that."
Kaito started walking away before stopping and saying, "Don't assume I didn't work just as hard as the rest of you."
The boy stared at Kaito's back and gritted his teeth. He had to teach this rude kouhai a lesson.
.....
'That dude's totally gonna try and teach me a "lesson" ' thought Kaito. Now he wasn't usually the type to be provoked nor did her get angry easily but he despised it when people assumed things about him. He probably worked the hardest out of everyone here and even studied the theoretical side of basketball - not that it helped much since you need actual experience from playing.
He got his experience from street ball matches that he'd take part in when he was free. There was where he tested several tactics and strategies which amounted to his current knowledge. This was the reason the brat's words ticked him off and he couldn't wait to prove him wrong.
~Let's see what interesting thing that brat will do.
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