THIRTEEN
The next day. Takumi was packing his bag when Riko called him out of his classroom.
"Riko-chan, what can I help you with?" he asked.
"Do you have any duties today?" Riko peeked inside the classroom. Takumi shook his head.
"Great! Then let's go now," She dragged him by his arm into the hallway and down the stairs.
Takumi let the girl do as she pleased but asked, "Where are we going exactly?"
"You know the Inter-high preliminaries are just around the corner. I was planning to scout the competition today so as a manager, you need to accompany me."
The two came to the lockers and they changed out of their indoor shoes to their outdoor ones. Riko was actually planning to send Takumi alone but decided she wanted to see the opponents with her own eyes to get an easier grasp of their stats and abilities. If Takumi wasn't manager then she would've gone on her own.
"Shinkyo High was it?" asked Takumi holding the door open for Riko. She thanked him and nodded.
"Correct. Their team isn't particularly outstanding but I heard they recruited a foreigner this year."
The two walked to the bus stop and waited.
"A foreigner huh." muttered Takumi. His recalled a certain memory from the anime. What was the guy's name again? Papa something rather.
The bus arrived and Takumi let Riko go in first before he followed after. The two found a seat in the middle and sat together with Riko taking the seat closer to the window. The bus started going and Riko got out the match brackets from her bag and scanned it.
If they managed to win their matches, the team will end up facing Shutoku who got their hands on another miracle. The impressive shooter, Midorima Shintaro.
Takumi glanced at the paper and leaned back into the seat. For now, there was no need for him to interfere in the matches since Seirin manages to win them but if Riko allows him, he might join the Shutoku match so that Kagami won't strain his legs.
'And eventually we will go against Touou.' thought Takumi. He was still unsure whether or not he should change the storyline there or let things go as usual. Although Seirin's match against Touou in the anime ended in their tragic loss, it was a powerful motivation for the team to improve and it helped Kagami in maturing to see the bigger picture.
That was why Takumi didn't know what to do.
'I did say I was just gonna watch from the sidelines but....' winning the Inter-high was something very tempting.
Lost in thought, Takumi did not know that Riko was staring at him with a curious gaze until the bus came to a stop.
"Ne Takumi-kun, did you know that sometimes you give off this feeling that you're not apart of this world?" she suddenly asked. The question ultimately startled Takumi who forgot how observant the girl was but his face remained normal.
"I did not." he replied. Riko hummed not wanting to pursue the matter further.
The rest of the bus ride was spent in comfortable silence and soon they arrived at the bus stop near Shinkyo.
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Shinkyo High was a regular academy not specialising in any particular field. The design of the school was similar to that of Seirin but not as new and refined. Since it was the end of the school day, the students were out and about with their club activities so there were numerous students near the entrance of the school who couldn't help but stare at the two outsiders who walked in.
To be clear, their eyes were glued to the tall and handsome boy and not exactly the small average girl.
"Perhaps it was a bad idea to bring you," Riko pursed her lips glancing around. "I forgot how much attention you attract."
"Yes well I can't really help it. I mean...look at me," joked Takumi. Riko was not amused.
After a good few minutes of wondering around, the duo eventually found the gym where the Shinkyo basketball team were having a match with a neighbouring school. The two took a seat up on the pavilion, blending in with other spectators.
Riko took out her phone to snap a shot at a specific player on court that everyone had their eyes on. It was the player who was a dark foreigner recruited by the school and tasked with 'defeating the generation of miracles'. Thinking about it, Takumi couldn't help but chuckle at how they naively assumed a foreigner would be able to beat those beasts.
The game wasn't anything inspiring to watch and before it fully ended, the duo had left after Riko had gathered the information she wanted.
"What do you think about them?" asked Riko looking at her phone.
"Honestly? They're not much. Relying solely on one teammate to do most of the work won't get them very far. And the teammate they're relying on is no where near the level of top school players let alone the generation of miracles."
"I was thinking the same thing but that player will definitely give us a bit of trouble. None of Seirin's players are relatively tall and our inside is undoubtedly weak so they will definitely be able to score well using Papa." said Riko. "Good thing I already have a plan in place."
"For the light and shadow duo?"
"Yep. I'm not surprised you guessed that."
The two caught a bus back to Seirin and entered the gym to see the team in a circle. They were talking about upcoming matches and Takumi heard them mention Shutoku.
"Before Shutoku, our first match might give us a little trouble," Riko said seriously. She handed her phone over to Hyuga telling him to look at the photo.
The boys gathered around wanting to see the troublesome player their coach had identified but blinked when they saw what photo was on the screen instead.
"Uh this...." Hyuga's eye twitched.
On the screen was a selfie taken by Takumi and Riko when the were watching the match and they looked quite close.
Riko blushed and almost screeched, "Next one! The next photo!"
Alas, it was too late to undo the damage but not wanting to face their coach's wrath, the boys never brought up the matter again and Takumi, who had disappeared earlier, had no clue of what just happened.
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A/N: Short chapter today. Still trying to decide what will happen during the inter-high. Thanks for reading this crappy work!