Hard to Notice

Youta couldn't describe his new mission in a positive light. It sounded much simpler than his first one, as it fit closer to what he figured sports managers did, even if the job was better reserved for a coach. What made it more difficult was realizing just how bad this girl was at her supposed craft. If Fuwaka was viewed as a master, then Takame would be akin to a child learning for the very first time.

"Did you get a chance to talk to the coach?" As per the standards for clubs, he kept up with Mikimasa due to the latter's role as the club supervisor. Due to the convenience of this being his homeroom teacher. They were able to have these conversations during class break periods instead of after school. "I met with Yoshinaga and she certainly has some problems that need working out."

"Her coach certainly agrees." Said Mikimasa. "When I asked her why she was neglecting one of her students. She told me she really didn't mean to. Now I've known this lady for years now, so I know she isn't one to lie or slack off on one of her students. But it was odd for me to hear her say that she always loses track of that girl."

"That is strange." Youta didn't want to say it, but something about that statement and his own personal experience by somehow missing that girl while looking for her seemed connected. Yet it also didn't sound realistic either. How could anyone just miss someone the size of that girl?"

"So you understand my problem, right?"

"It's just odd, but sure…" He answered, but realized those words did not come from his teacher. As he turned his head, Youta found Takame standing right besides him as he talked with Mikimasa.

Suddenly appeared caught them both by surprise as the two expressed loudly their shock as if receiving a jump scare from a horror movie. Mikimasa even fell over from his chair.

"Young lady, when did you get here?" The teacher asked as he struggled to get back up.

"Well, I've actually been here the whole time." She answered. "Because I wanted to ask again to make sure he would come back because I was really awful yesterday…" Takame looked as if she were about to tear up from the failure.

"Of course I was. It's my job after all." He quickly answered to reassure her. "Just that I'm surprised at how good you are at sneaking up on people." Youta couldn't believe this girl managed to stand next to him the entire time without him noticing. Somehow she also did so without his teacher noticing, despite the man looking in her direction.

"Ms. Yoshinaga, if I may have a moment of your time." Mikimasa took the opportunity to get more information from her while she was here. "You mentioned the feeling of falling behind your peers in the sport of basketball. Yet you tell me that your coach is a kind person and that there's no concerted effort to isolate you from the others. So it seems there's more to this story that would be of utmost importance if you want Youta here to be able to perform at his peak level."

"Okay, but it's very hard to explained." She looked down as she spoke. "You see, my whole life it feels like people just don't notice me. But since I get nervous real easily, I didn't mind it that much. It's strange though, when I got older and, well, taller. People still don't see me, even though they aren't trying to be mean."

"How are we all missing this girl?" Youta quietly murmured to himself. Even while she talked and gave her backstory, he kept running thoughts in his mind to try and explain this phenomena. Since they all wished to help her, and therefore had no intentions of ignoring this girl, the fault had to lay somewhere on her end. But what was it she did that led to this?

"It actually used to be easy to hide in small places when I was younger. But as I got older, I started to get a little bigger than the other kids." She continued her story. "Anyway, when I got into high school. I decided that I can't live like that anymore. I don't want to be that quiet girl no one sees. So I went looking for a club to join, then I heard that tall people were good at basketball. That's how we ended up here."

"I can see why you're not satisfied right now." Mikimasa said after hearing her out. "Fortunately it doesn't sound like you have any problems with your teammates, so we're off to a good start. The only thing now is for Youta to take care of things."

"I'll handle it." He said, but silently thought to himself that he wished his teacher would at least pretend he helped the boy on these issues. "We still need to work on your skills too, so you better be ready for some hard work."

"Y-yes!" She stood up straight and put up a salute as if he was the drill sergeant of a boot camp. An idea he did like the sound of.

After school was a near repeat of the previous day as when he arrived to the gym. Youta failed to see her there. Though now knowing the truth about her, the boy was much more diligent in seeking her out. Unfortunately this didn't help him any more than before as he failed to spot her among the girls basketball team.

"Yoshinaga, come here!" Tired of battling this phenomena, Youta decided the next best course of action was the calling out for her. Which worked better than expected.

"O-okay." She spoke, which finally allowed him to realize where she was in this spread out group. Takame slowly walked past her teammates and towards him with her a hand attempting to hide her face away from the other girls. She had a bright red blush on her face from the awkwardness and anxiety of the thought of every single person in the room staring at her from the call out. "Are you going to do that every time?" She asked in a manner as if begging him to never repeat those actions.

"If I can't find you in a timely manner, then I'm calling for you every time." He spoke in a clear, direct tone. "So if you spot me first, then come to me right away. Don't make me yell out for you again if you don't want that happening."

"That's the sports manager?" One of the basketball players whispered to a friend as everyone watched. "He's really strict."

"Yeah, but he doesn't look very tough." It was true that Youta didn't fit the bill of an athlete. His frail frame and unfortunate weight were proof he'd be more at home, being at home watching TV. "Some nerve he's got picking on Takame. She's so nice, why would anyone want to be mean to her?"

"Go grab a ball." He commanded her, pointing over to an isolated spot on the court. "We'll try some simple things first, like free throws and layups." She did as he asked, taking a basketball and rushing over to the designated location as quickly as she could. Another difference from her he couldn't help but notice compared to his work with Fuwaka.

He pointed her to the free throw line without saying anything else. There were no need for words as the boy positioned himself under the hoop to grab rebounds from her shots. Takame understood and quickly took her shot with the same poor form as before.

Her shot unsurprisingly missed again. And yet again it hit the front part of the rim and ricocheted hard straight down so fast that Youta didn't have time to react. So again his head would meet the full force of a basketball.

"Are you okay!?" She asked, grimacing in empathy from his apparent pain.

"Kind of walked into that one." He held his hand over his forehead in pain as the ball bounced back to her. "I gotta say your shooting form is awful. "Haven't you watched how people actually shoot a ball?" After the last time they met, Youta took the time to watch a basketball game from overseas. The way they played gave him a better idea of some of the fundamentals.

"I've never played before I joined the team." She answered. There were no need for her to try out to prove herself as the team needed the numbers and the coach thought a big girl like her would make an excellent asset.

"This is how you do it." He went and grabbed the ball from her hands. Youta stood besides her as he went through the proper form of shooting a basketball. It was a perfect arc heading in the right direction. Only problem was he completely missed the hoop as it sailed past as an air ball, stopping when it hit the wall behind the backboard.

"I thought how you do it was getting it through the hoop?" She asked, confused from his teaching.

"I had the right idea!" He spoke in a much higher volume just due to the embarrassment of his poor shot. "It's the form that matters, then the aim comes with it later." Said Youta as he threw the ball back to her. "Whatever, let me see you do layup. Those are supposed to be easy."

"Okay…" She ran up towards the hoop without dribbling as she wasn't confident in being able to do that maneuver yet. However Takame went directly below the hoop as it was the closest to it, throwing the ball from underneath was a terrible idea as it couldn't get above the hoop. Instead it hit the rim, ricocheting straight back down to land hard onto her face.

"This really is not going to be easy." He shook his head as Youta watch her laid out on the ground, disoriented from the hit.