Chapter 149 : The Last Day of the Training Camp, Before the Sparring Game
However, no dissatisfaction was sounded by the players. They all knew this was the necessary step they had to take to grow stronger. Moreover, they could see their growth pretty clearly, which gave them the strength to grit their teeth and continue their training no matter how tired they were.
Alex was pretty happy with their attitude. For a high school team, talent and ability are not the most important things. It was the humble attitude and self-discipline to keep improving themselves that any coach would appreciate. And now, with all her players having those things, she was pretty content with what she had right now.
"Good job, everyone! Take a rest!" She shouted, stopping the training instantly. Just a second after her words, all the players fell onto the ground as if the heavy burden was just relieved from their shoulders.
"Finally! This is over!"
"Yeah! I don't know if I could hold any longer than this!"
"The rest is just the sparing game, right? Who do you think will be our opponent?"
"Furihata, you idiot! Why do you think about the next game just right after the training is over?! Let us rest for a bit, goddamnit!"
Alex couldn't help but smile widely as she heard the players retort to each other. At first, she was worried about her players' state. However, after seeing them like this, it seemed her worry was unnecessary. If they could still banter with each other this energetically, they should be alright.
"Okay, you have about three hours to play and explore. We will meet again in front of the inn's gate later. But don't go overboard! You still have the sparing game later, and the opponent would arrive before that. So, I hope you can be responsible and don't make any trouble, okay?"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
After that, all the players ran away instantly, all the life that was drained from the training in the last few days was back again. Some of them created a group to go together, either to play on the beach or to go sightseeing in the town nearby. Even though Chiba is not that far from Tokyo, it was still a bit troublesome for a student to travel here, so a few of them had never been there before. This time, three hours were enough for them to explore the surroundings here and buy some delicacies. If they were lucky enough, they would probably be able to find a good spot to take a photo and post it on social media.
"Captain, do you want to join us?" Kawahara asked. He, Tsuchida, Mitobe, and Izuki had already changed their clothes and were ready to go explore.
"Why do you want to explore? It is too tiring. Let's just lie down and enjoy the sun. It is not often we go to the beach, after all." Koganei voiced his opinion. A few of them whose personal training was focused on physical ability like Fukuda and Kiyoshi also nodded, still exhausted after the long training.
"You are such an old man, Koganei." Izuki clicked his tongue, showing his dissatisfaction. "Where is your sense of adventure?"
"Where is your sense of comfort?" Koganei retorted back. "You are on a beach, why do you need to explore outside?"
"Okay, enough!" Hyuga interrupted before things escalated. "First of all, you have already created your group to do things you wanted to do. So, why bother arguing with each other here?" Koganei and Izuki who were the culprit rubbed their head sheepishly. "Second of all, I won't go with you all. I still want to train before the sparring game later."
In a second, all the heads who were just arguing with each other snapped at the same time in the exact same direction, staring at their captain in disbelief. There was an awkward silence for a second as they looked at Hyuga as if he had just grown another head.
"What?!" Hyuga snarked with an unhappy face.
"Junpei…" Izuki touched Hyuga's face dramatically. "Blink if you were threatened by Riko or Kagetora-san! Quick!"
"What the hell?!" Hyuga slapped the hands on his face hard. "What's wrong with you? It is just a small training, right?!"
"No!" Koganei moaned horrifically. "Hyuga, don't tell me you became another training addict member?!"
"Since when did the training addict group exist?" Hyuga showed his confusion and dissatisfaction. "And I just tell you, it was just a small training! Kuroko-kun and Kagami-kun will also be here." The two first-year players who were mentioned nodded simultaneously. However, it only made Izuki and Koganei more dramatic.
"That's our point!" The point guard cried. "You were infected by them and became addicted to training! If we let you here, you will start to become antisocial like them!"
"Hey!"
"We are not antisocial!"
"Then tell me, other than the basketball team, with whom did you interact normally?" Seeing the blank look from Kuroko and Kagami, Izuki sighed tiredly. "See? That's my point!"
"Okay, okay! You don't need to insult the other, right?" Hyuga clicked his tongue in annoyance. "If you wanted to go out, just go! Don't bother us here!"
Under the glare of the captain, all of them finally backed down, leaving Hyuga with Kuroko and Kagami alone on the court. To be honest, their decision to stay here and continue training wasn't that hard to understand. Kuroko and Hyuga who experienced a breakthrough during the camp were still on the cloud-nine and wanted to get used to this new feeling. As for Kagami, he hit a bottleneck here and was too anxious to do anything except training. The red-haired boy wanted to pass this uncomfortable phrase as quickly as possible.
However, they all forgot one player who slipped sneakily during their argument, and right now, that player was having fun in peace, not having to worry about his nosy teammates.
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"So, Kou-chan, how are you doing?" A woman could be spotted sipping the drink in front of her calmly while sitting next to the Seirin player who managed to sneak away from the team in a small yet cozy cafe. "Do you have fun in the camp?"
"Yeah, it sure is fun." The player nodded. "How about you, Mom? How have you been?"
"It's good. The flight was nice and I went to a lot of interesting places. But I miss home and I miss you."
"So, will you take a break from your flight attendant job?"
"Not really. I have already talked to my boss and I don't have to go abroad for at least one month. I would still go if the designation was still in Japan, but it would only take two or three days at the top. I will be at home most of the time."
"That's great!" The boy sighed; his shoulder dropped as he began to relax.
And in case you were wondering, that's right. The boy was Furihata, the main protagonist of this story. The moment he received the news that his mother visited Chiba, he asked permission from Alex and Riko to leave the camp for a while. Fortunately, it was a coincidence that the time he asked to leave was the same as the free time the coaches gave the team to relax, so he would still be able to join the sparing game.
Furihata left sneakily on purpose. He didn't want his horny teammates to act like fools in front of his mom. Even though she was already 40, his mom still looked like a teenager. Coupled with her mature charm, Furihata was afraid his teammates wouldn't survive for too long and had to leave the camp early after losing too much blood from the nosebleed. At first, it was just a rush decision. However, after pondering for a moment, he felt it was the best decision.
'If they couldn't survive Momoi, there is no way they could be polite in front of Mom. This is the best.'
"So, Kou-chan…" His mom suddenly turned solemn. "I haven't heard any news about Hana-chan for a while. You haven't neglected that girl, right?" Just right after she said that Furihata choked all the drink he had just drank in a surprise, looking at his mom speechlessly.
"Really, mom?"
"What? It was a legit question." She giggled innocently at Furihata's reaction. "I won't have a scumbag who treats a girl badly in this family, you know?" She wiggled her point finger playfully.
"Nothing happened, mom." Furihata sighed helplessly. "We are busy with our respective clubs, so we didn't have time to hang out together. But if you want to, you can just invite her again like in the past."
"Is that what you hope for?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and giggled madly when she saw him groan. "But that's good. Saya-chan also said the same. It seems you don't have any trouble with her."
"Wait! What do you mean Saya-chan said the same? Did you ask her to be your spy?"
"Yup! There is nothing wrong with it!"
"Nothing wrong?! Mom, this spells wrong in every sentence! Can you be more serious?!"
"I am serious here!"
They kept bickering and laughing, attracting the attention of the other. However, they didn't care.at all. They ignored the stares and the whispers that kept getting louder, At this moment, time seemed to slow down, trying to capture every tiny detail of the heartwarming interaction between the pair mother and son.
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Unfortunately, just like any other good thing in the world, it would meet its end sooner or later. And for the pair of mother and son, their meeting only lasted for two hours as Furihata had to go back to the camp and his mom had to catch the train and go back to Tokyo. However, this short meeting was enough to boost Furihata's spirit. He went back to the camp with a new expression, startling the other for a bit.
"Furihata-kun, do you have a good time?" Koganei asked.
"Why do you ask?" Furihata asked back, looking at his senpai strangely.
"Because you had this bright disgusting smile on your face! Now tell us, did you meet a girl? Wait! We didn't know where have you been, right? Is it a girl, right? Fess up!"
Furihata stared at his senpai in disgust, not wanting to answer the question.
"Hey, what's with that look?" Koganei showed his dissatisfaction. "Come on, it is a girl, right? Just admit it!"
Fortunately, before anything could happen, Riko stepped in once again to stop the ruckus. "Enough, Koganei. He had already asked for permission and we granted it, so don't bother. And no, it was not a girl, you hentai. Don't think everyone is just like you."
"Hey, what do you mean by that?! Everyone should be honored to be like me!"
Hearing that, all the players nearby took a step away, trying to pretend they didn't know Koganei. Riko just rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly, asking God why she had such a difficult player.
To be honest, having Koganei is such a blessing for any team. Even though Seirin had Hyuga as the captain on the court, it was Koganei who actually glued the team. He could interact with anyone without any problem. Whether it was a quiet boy like Kagami or a person full of sarcasm like Furihata, he could approach them with ease. This was the leadership talent that any team would die to get.
Unfortunately, along with Koganei's leadership talent, came his peculiar perk. His loose mouth was a time bomb, sometimes it could insult someone without him noticing. This could make the relationship between players on the team worse. And coupled with his perverted and goofy nature, controlling him was always a headache for Riko.
'Well, I couldn't ask for a perfect player. Better appreciate what I had now and think how to fix it later.' Riko shook her head, trying to gain her focus back. "Okay, is there anyone who wasn't here?" After checking for a while and finding out that the team was complete, she went out of the inn. "Okay, follow me!"
"So, had our opponent already arrived?" Hyuga asked curiously while following Riko from behind. The other perked up a bit, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation.
"Yeah." Riko nodded. "Alex-san was already there to greet them too, so let's not make her wait."
Hyuga and the other nodded, walking faster behind Riko. Unexpectedly, they didn't go to the court they usually trained. Instead, they walked in the opposite direction. Even though they were curious, they decided to not ask and just wait until they arrived at the place where they would play later. They knew Riko had a tight lip and wouldn't spill anything about the sparing game.
They kept walking for a while until they arrived at an elite gymnasium that was way bigger than they had in school and definitely far more luxurious compared to the court they rented near the inn. Looking at the place that was almost as big as the Tokyo Gymnasium, they had their jaws dropped, dumbfounded at the revelation. After spending a few seconds in silence, they finally realized something.
"Wait, we would play in this place? Who will pay for its rent?!"
"Don't worry about it." Riko dismissed their concern nonchalantly. "Our opponent was rich and kind enough to pay all of this. We just need to show up and play. Other than that, don't think too much. Come on!"
All the players looked at each other nervously as they realized they misunderstood something from the beginning. It was not Seirin who invited another team for a sparing game. Instead, it was them who accepted the invitation. Then, the opponent should be a rich school and was pretty serious about their basketball team. However, no team rang a bell in their mind. So, the only thing they could do was just wait and see.
Fortunately, it didn't take too long for them to get the answer. Right after they entered the gym, they met a familiar figure who had sweat all over his face. When their eyes met each other, they widened their eyes simultaneously and pointed at each other in surprise.
"AAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
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Author note :
If you want to support me more, you can visit my Patreon page on patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes
You can read this fanfiction up to chapter 169 on that page. Also, you can read my other fanfiction, Diamond no Ace: The Prince of Hitter up to chapter 30 too.
Thank you! :)
-Zeta Faes-