Harvard vs Illinois - Emergency

There's something different about the Illinois team that traveled to Harvard's out of campus home arena in Boston, Massachusetts.

Taichi Kawashima was wearing his beloved Illinois hoodie and cap among the sea of fellow Harvard students in the crowd. A lot of them know him as one of the many new prodigies in the astrophysics department, and the biology department, but most know him as the heartthrob, and the guy voted as the person you wanted to marry the most in the future by Harvard students.

"Taichi, you should've joined our basketball team instead!" A girl sitting beside him said while evidently blushing.

"Yeah! Your talents are wasted if you don't play for the Crimson!" Another one vied for his attention on the other side.

"No, ladies, I promised my old coach that I'll focus on my studies here!" Taichi stuck out with his dangerous looks, and his choice of clothes. "Besides, I'm a loyal Illinois basketball fan!"

Taichi didn't give the people around him any more thought, as he scanned the Illinois players entering the benches…

"Huh?"

Upon seeing a wild change in the roster, he beamed like the brightest ray of the sun, catching the ladies around him with a glimmer of renewed hope.

"There's no way, coach!" He was all of a sudden expecting a lot more from this match. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

Despite his words, his excitement was palpable and made everyone around him peer into the away bench… but they were unable to find what made him yell that way.

***

Yesterday morning.

Illinois had a two hour practice session, and a pregame strategy meeting in the morning.

It was not the most intense set of practices, partly due to the travel, and game tomorrow, but it was mostly because head coach Roughan wanted more mental reset from his players rather than serious practice.

Plus, he had an emergency announcement to make.

"Oy, Samuel, where's Miguel?" Quandre was looking for Miguel so he could practice his boxing skills as per usual.

"Yeah… about that…" Samuel didn't know where his roommate had gone to, he didn't even leave a single message. How hard is it to send a fucking message these days?

"Spill it, pal!" Quandre was like a crime boss about to slit a henchman's throat if his answer did not satisfy him.

"I don't have any idea where he is…"

"Fuck?" Quandre's face was animated. Who would willingly absorb all his punches now? "Wait, when did you last see him?"

"Last night. He's still awake when I slept though. You know I sleep early." Sam was out of options.

"Hmmm… do you want me to tap my underground contacts to find our friend?"

Samuel disregarded Quandre's crime connections. He'd rather call his family's contacts in the police than Quandre's sketchy goons.

But before any of the two could do something stupid, their head coach had returned from his office with worry on his face.

"To start off today, I have to tell you that Miguel asked me for a short leave, due to some personal reasons." Coach Michael Roughan had his hands behind his back, which is another rare sight. "I granted it, upon hearing why."

?

A wave of question marks entered each member of the team's mind, especially Samuel, his roommate.

Personal reasons?

"He went home to New Mexico, and will be back with us after the Chicago State game. He even finished the paperwork for a short leave of absence."

"Sir, what happened to him? He didn't tell me anything and just left." Samuel was worried to death, because Miguel was not the type of person that would hide his pain.

"A family emergency. That's all I'm going to say on the matter." Roughan was not about to tell them what he promised not to. "You should wait for him to tell you."

Coach Mike held her tablet computer and tapped on it for a few minutes, before he spoke another word to appease the crowd.

"Due to the circumstances, a roster spot had opened up."

Oh?

Tremaine was not happy with the development at all, nor did Kristian.

Tremaine wanted to earn his spot through his sweat, and recognition, not because of an injury, or other circumstances.

Kristian doesn't want to take advantage of such an emergency to enter the 13-man roster as well.

But regardless of what the two wanted, one of them will have an earlier chance to join the roster tomorrow, and probably for the Chicago State game as well.

"I hope that whoever I select, will be able to contribute to the team in Miguel's absence."

Despite their pleas, both Tre and Kristian would do their best if called up.

They would never falter in their path to greatness.

***

"Let's go man!" Khalil was already taking off for the pregame warmups. He's been quite hyped for this game, not because it had the same dominant opponents as they had last time, but it had three things going for it.

First, it was their bounce back game. After getting blasted and torn apart by the UConn Huskies four days ago, they were itching to quiet the naysayers by performing above their lowered expectations again. They might not win against Harvard in academics, but they'll send them home with their tails between their legs.

Second, Taichi might be here somewhere! That's enough reason for them to do their best.

Khalil personally wanted to obliterate Harvard just for the sake of spiting him for leaving the team on his own terms.

If only they could see Taichi proudly wearing his Illinois jacket on the stands…

Third, it's someone's debut game tonight.

After a heavy, considerate meeting by the team's coaching staff, the entire team received a message on who would be the person to replace Miguel for the Harvard game.

The long awaited message read:

"Tremaine Mills, be ready for tomorrow's game."

Inside the dorm room, Deshaun was in an intense make out session with her girlfriend, and Tremaine, with his back against them, didn't react excessively.

He just breathed in deeply and called his mother's number.

After a few beeps, Tremaine heard the small click signifying the call had connected.

He quickly ran away from the bedroom to avoid the moaning.

"Tre? Is everything alright, my son?"

In this second life of his, Tremaine called his mom at least twice per week. But this call had a different significance, and his always perceptive mom knew it right away.

"Don't worry mom." Tremaine's voice was faltering due to his complex emotions. "I just wanna tell you something."

"If it's a bad thing don't bother!" His mother laughed. "Especially if you're asking for more money!"

"I might play my first ever NCAA game tomorrow!"

On the other end of the line, Tremaine heard nothing but silence. But that was something his mom always did when she's rather excited or emotional.

She always puts down her phone, and rejoices on her own.

Tremaine will play his heart out tomorrow.

***

Extras:

"Go now. I've heard the news. Don't waste any more time." Miguel's call had not said anything but the coach already knew what he wanted to say. "You should be with your family."

"Thanks, boss!" Miguel's voice was hoarse, Roughan thought probably because he cried a lot. "Thank you…"

Roughan was a fan of everything martial arts, and as a fan, he watched the games today, knowing that one of his players' brothers was fighting.

Miguel's brother was knocked out cold.

It even went as far as being declared in comatose, according to the boxing sites, and his agency.

Miguel needed to be there.

"Spend as much time as you want, I'll take care of the procedures here."