Aoshira Part 1 (Taiki)

Manami-san points at our newest member. “How?”
Takara puts her arm around the blonde boy. “That´s Kat-kun, Aka-kun managed to….” She stops and thinks.
“Nura persuaded Suzuki to join.” Chiko continues for Takara. She nods excitedly and begins with introductions.
Kei smiles. “Now our chances are even higher.”
I nod and look outside for just a second. A red haired head vanishes as soon as I look into his green eyes. “Akito?” I mumble.
Katsu-kun is given his own track suit and gets a quick explanation to how practice works.
Akaya-kun chimes in. “10 km are a lot, right Katsu?”
“Don´t call me by my first name! And honestly 10 km aren´t even that much, we did the same amount in middle school.” Katsu-kun says annoyed.
“But Takara-senpai even gave you a nickname!”
“She´s a third year and our captain.” With that Katsu-kun ends the conversation.

While running I see Akaya-kun trying to start a conversation with Katsu-kun. But it seems Katsu-kun doesn´t want to talk and just runs away, Akaya-kun trying to catch up gives up shortly after, he ran out of breath.
“He´s so annoying!” Katsu-kun yells, now next to me. As soon as he sees that I´m there he jolts. “I´m sorry.”
I laugh. “Don´t worry. I know the feeling.”
Katsu-kun looks around. “Where´s Takara-senpai?”
“I left her behind.” I say dryly.
Katsu-kun stares at me surprised.
“Kidding, she needed a brake and told me to continue.”
Katsu-kun nods. “Is she older or you?”
I point at myself. “Yours truly.”
“I have an older sister. She´s a year older but acts like my twin.”
I smile. “Siblings are pretty nice, aren´t they?”
He nods shyly.
I hear a “Taiki!” in the distance.

During lunch I see Akaya-kun again trying to start a conversation with an unwilling Katsu-kun, who after seeing me runs towards me, Takara and Kei.
“Senpai, do you mind if I have lunch with you?”
I look at the other two. They smile.
“Sure, is Akaya-kun still annoying you?” I ask after sitting down.
He nods aggressively. “He´s a pest!”
“That hurt!” Akaya-kun stands behind Katsu-kun, holding his chest.
“Aka-kun wanna joins us too?” Takara asks.
Akaya-kun nods and sits down next to Katsu-kun.
“Why are you always running after me?” Katsu-kun asks.
“I wanted to ask if we could be friends?”  Akaya-kun answers shyly.
“Don´t you have other friends?”
Akaya-kun shakes his head. “I do not.”
“What about Kyousuke-kun?” Kei asks.
Akaya-kun smiles. “Kenta is more occupied with his friends than me.”
Takara pulls my slip over. “Look.”
I look to where she pointed. The others look too.
“Is that your stalker?” Katsu-kun asks. The look on his face changes. “Wait I think I know him.”
Akito jolts and runs. I stand up. “I´ll talk to him.”
“But Chi-kuns plan.” Takara warns me.
“I won´t ask him to come back. I´ll just talk to him.”

He runs very fast, but I´m faster. “Akito, how´ve you been doing?”
He looks frightened. “I´m good. I heard that practice is going good. Good luck for the interhigh.” He tries to run again, I grab his sleeve. “If you want to you can always watch our practice, with no pressure to re-join of course. Just watching.”
He looks reluctant. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Suzuki Katsu is in the team and he… doesn´t really like me.”
“Katsu-kun? Why?”
Akito looks at the floor; he plays with one of his piercings. “You remember the incident why I left? That was his sister.”
“Oh.” I let go of him and he leaves.
On my way back to the others I see Nami on the phone.

After school practice starts with Manami-san and Nami standing smiling next to each other.
“We have a very tight schedule for the final month of practice before the interhigh.” Manami-san says. “We managed to get a friendly team to come to Kyoto for a weekend of practice matches.” He points at Nami. “Mizuki will explain the rest.”
“My friend from kindergarten moved to Miyazaki a few years back. She´s now the captain of the Aoshira Special fighting club. So I thought if I asked her she could manage something.”
“Aoshira has been a more or less friendly team to Kyoto-Nami for years.” Manami-san chimes in. “I´m acquainted with their coaches.”
“So Ki-Ki… I mean Yagari-san agreed, they´ll arrive this Friday evening. They´ll stay for all of Saturday and will leave on Sunday around midday.”

And so Friday arrives, everyone is nervous. We wait at the school gates. Takara and I offered that the Aoshira team could stay over at our place; the house is big enough anyway. The others wanted to stay over too.
A gray and blue bus arrives. A gray haired girl with blue eyes in a gray and blue sailor uniform exits first. She runs towards Nami and hugs her. “Nana, it’s been too long!”
Nami smiles and introduces the girl while the rest of the team leaves the bus. “This is Yagari Kita, the friend I told you about.”
Kita bows. “It´s very nice to meet you.”
A boy with orange hair and eyes stands next to Kita. “I´m Yamamoto Raidon, vice-captain. Thank you for having us.”
Manami-san is talking to two adults, presumably the coaches.

After a while we start walking to our house.
“We´ll be staying here?” Raidon asks. “You really have to much money, don´t you?”
To Takara and me our house isn´t anything special but Kei did mention multiple times that it´s more like a villa than an ordinary house.
We lead them into the garden. Our teammates, notably Haru-tan, had the idea to have a barbecue. She brought some side dishes with her. “I hope you like them; I made them myself with vegetables from our garden.”
I take a look at what she brought: all sorts of different salads and some skewers for the grill. It looks delicious.
She gets flustered. “I hope I made enough.”