Reintroduction; Fujinomiya Neko

She still remembers it quite well. It was cloudy that day.

A young, chubby girl was surrounded by a group of girls and boys her age, continuously hurling verbal insults at the girl. They constantly called her put for being "fat", "ugly", among other insults that a children their age could think of.

Even though the girl is already on the verge of bursting into tears, the kids surrounding her never stopped. She attended a party that day so her parents weren't around, leaving her with other children so that she could supposedlu 'find some new friends'.

Unfortunately for the girl, what she found wasn't friends but kids her age poking fun at her for being chubby.

You see, this girl is the type of kid who have quite the huge appetite. Even though kids her age have a fast metabolism, thus somewhat preventing them from getting fat, her appetite far surpassed that, resulting in her getting rounder and rounder as time goes by.

'Maybe… I should've stayed at home…?' Thought the young girl as she cowered in one corner of the hall.

This party that they attended was supposedly the birthday party of one of the most influential clans in Japan, the Arisugawas. She caught a glimpse of the boy in question once when she was with her family and she couldn't help but wonder whether or not the boy was really just a few months younger than her.

"Hey, what are you doing there in the corner?"

Whilst she was cowering in the corner, covering her ears, she heard a cold voice coming from in front of her. When she looked up, she saw a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Although, why does she feel like something was amiss with this boy's looks?

While she was thinking of such things, the boy in front of her — still maintaining the cold and indifferent look on his face — addressed her once again.

"Again. What are you doing there, not enjoying yourself in my party?"

Hearing what the boy said, the girl put two and two together, eventually coming into a realization that stunned her.

"Eh?"

"What "Eh"? Follow me."

With only those words, the boy took the girl by the hand and practically dragged her with him. Before they left though, the boy stopped and looked at the kids surrounding them with his cold and emotionless face.

"Don't make trouble here or I'll kick you out. I don't know why you're picking on her when some of you are even uglier than her…" After saying his piece, the boy once again dragged the girl with him to the dining table.

He then made the girl sit on the chair while he sat on the seat beside her. Once they were seated, a waiter looking guy approached the two while respectfully addressing the boy.

"Young master, what would you like to eat? I'll bring it to your table ASAP."

"Ask her. She looks like she's hungry."

As if on cue, the rumbling of an angry stomach was heard, making the girl blush in shame.

"U-Umm… Can I get many, many spaghettis? Also, fried chicken would be okay. Right, please bring lots of lasagna too!"

She looks so timid while saying her words but, by the end of it, her eyes were literally shining. The boy and the waiter could even see stars glittering in them.

'Just how much does she love eating?' They thought.

It didn't take long before the waiter brought a bunch of food with him. Meanwhile, the girl began devouring the food as if she's a starving refugee.

As if she just realized something, she looked up at the boy, with spaghetti sauce all over her face.

"U-Umm… You can try the lasagna if you want. It's delicious, you know?"

That seems to be what she wanted to say but what came out were just 'mugu mugu' sounds. Surprisingly though, the boy seems to have understood what she's trying to say.

"Lasagna? Hmm… Can you please give one serving of lasagna?" The boy said, addressing the waiter looking guy.

"Yes! Right away!"

The waiter looking guy gave up on thinking as to how the boy understood what the girl was saying. It's better that way, for the sake of his mental health.

※・※・※・※

Inside the room of the hotel where the members of Kyōsen Middle School's Basketball Club is staying, a beautiful teenage girl with light brown hair opened her eyes.

"That was a wonderful dream… Seiji-sama. Fufu. Seiji-sama was so cute when he was young." This girl is Fujinomiya Neko, the assistant manager of Kyōsen's Basketball Club.

Way back then, she was still a chubby kid, that's why she doesn't blame Seiji for not recognizing her.

"But that aside… Seiji-sama really changed a lot…" Neko said while cupping her cheeks with both of her hands.

After daydreaming for a long time, Neko got up and started to do some minor touch ups. And by minor, it means major things like fixing her hair a lot, putting on some foundations, and etc.

It's basically a lot of work that took up most of her time. What? You think it's that easy to look good and stay looking good?

It's not some kind of sorcery in which you just have to drink some suspicious pill, expel suspicious looking black gunks, then look like an absolute head turner the next day. We're not in a xianxia universe, wake up. This is reality.

After some not so minor touch ups, Neko went out of her room. She needs to meet up with the Basketball Club members today for a meeting.

When she got out, she came across a still sleepy Riko. Looks like she didn't have much sleep last night due to her insisting on researching their team's next opponents on her own.

Neko joined her during the first few hours but soon felt sleepy. Thus, she left and slept on her own room.

"Good morning Riko-senpai!" Neko said while waving at her senpai, both in school and in being a manager.

Meanwhile, the one who she greeted is still feeling quite languid.

"Hmm? Oh, it's Neko huh. Good morning…" Riko raised her hand in a poor attempt to energetically greet her kohai in kind.

Neko didn't seem to mind this though. She just smiled radiantly while matching her steps with her senpai.

"How's your research Riko-senpai?"

"Good. I just need to pass my findings to the players and leave the rest to them."

"Hee… Our team will surely deliver!"

"Uh-huh. I expect a lot from them, specially when they have Seiji on the team."

Hearing Seiji's name come up in the conversation, the gossip loving side of Neko suddenly felt curious.

"By the way, Riko-senpai."

"Hmm…?"

"What do you plan to do with your relationship with Seiji-san?"

Riko almost stumbled when she heard that question that came out of nowhere.

"W-What do you mean by that Neko? I definitely don't know what you might be talking about…"

"But you seem to be burning in jealousy when you saw Seiji-san hug Kosaki-san and Mashiro-san though…"

Riko felt like she is seeing Neko smirk at her or something under that innocent look of hers. Giving up, Riko's shoulders sagged as she directed a wry smile at Neko.

"We're all basically in a wait and see situation. No one seems to want to make that first move…"

"In short, you're all scared that you might get rejected. Like me…"

"Hmm? What did you just say?"

"No, nothing Riko-senpai! Let's go?"

※・※・※・※

To be continued…

[A/N¹: I'm thinking of doing one or two more of a chapter like this. What do you guys think?]