Tryouts

Sadly, none of you got the answer correct. It's no big deal. I'll probably do something like this again in the future.

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Former-Damsel: "It really is you! You're a Teiko student too?"

Akira just stood there contemplating how he should reply. Although he did have find her attractive, even more so think about how she would mature, he'd never been in a relationship before.

He knew that since he was in a world like this, he would eventually get a girlfriend, I mean, it was a no-brainer. However, he was always focused on his studies in his past life and in this life, he was more occupied with sports that he didn't have much of a social life and therefore didn't know how to interact with the opposite sex. Sure, he was able to speak free with his Rinko, Aiko, and Nanako, but they were family so he didn't think much of it.

After contemplating his options like a dating sim game, Akira chose the last option and ignored her, walking through the gates. Of course, this choice irked her and she started following him.

Past the school gates, there were many booths lined up on the sides of the road, one for every club the school has. The first day of school is also a period where clubs go out and recruit potential members.

There were many people handing out flyers and some were wearing football gear, people wearing kendo gear, and even people wearing oversized robes from some of the weirder looking clubs. All these people were promoting their clubs.

Akira had never seen such a sight before and was a bit pleased by the energetic atmosphere, especially with the sakura petals softly moving along the wind, complementing the scene.

The only thing that was holding Akira back from fully enjoying it was the girl behind him.

Former-Damsel: "Wait! Why are you ignoring me! Please just stop for a second!"

The other students seeing this were all confused by what was happening and were whispering to each other. Even some of the club promoters paused what they were doing just to stare.

Seeing that this wasn't going to end anytime soon, Akira relented and turned around.

Akira: "Can you please keep it down you're causing a scene."

Former-Damsel: "Then stop ignoring me!"

He sighed.

Akira: "Find then. What do you want?"

Former-Damsel: "Why have you been ignoring me all this time?!"

Akira: "Cause, it seemed like a pain."

Former-Damsel: "Just because of that?"

Akira: "Just because of that."

She fell silent. He had to admit, he had a strange gift in making people dumbfounded. Maybe he received an extra ability from God?

Former-Damsel: "Haaa~... You know, you really aren't the kind of person I expected you to be, but you did help me last night so you aren't that bad."

Akira: "Thanks... I guess? Anyways I got to go."

Former-Damsel: "Wait! Where are you going now?"

Akira: "To sign up for a club."

Former-Damsel: "Perfect! I know where all the clubs are at, I'll take you right where you want to go. What club are you joining?"

Akira: "You don't have to guide me, I'll-"

Former-Damsel: "You said last night that if we ever meet again, then we could talk about me somehow paying you back. So now that we've met again, I'm paying you back and you have no right to refuse. ...Now what club are you thinking about joining."

Akira: "Basketball."

She seemed a bit disappointed when she heard that, but that was obvious because of how much she like baseball. She didn't have much room for any other kind of sport.

Former-Damsel: "Oh! I just remembered that I haven't got your name yet."

Akira: "...It's Akira, Akira Hayaba."

Rei: "Nice to meet you! I'm Rei Takashima."

Akira: 'I know.'

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So went to the club stand for the basketball club and Akira signed up. Although that didn't stop Rei from nagging him along the way for his decision.

She wasn't making it too obvious, but Akira noticed that she was trying to edge him towards the baseball team, which she said she wanted to become a manager for. Although he wouldn't consider her an over zealous baseball junkie when he watched the anime, but it looks like all characters in the animes sports junkies, even the ones that don't look the part.

When it was time for homeroom, it turns out that they were in the same class. She introduced herself and Akira could hear people whispering. Rei was the only daughter of the youngest ever school district chairman which Teiko was a part of. Essentially, people were already considering her the 'princess' of the school.

When it was Akira's turn to introduce himself people's ears perked up when he said he was from America, but they all looked a bit confused when he said that all he wanted to do was live his life to the fullest. They didn't really understand what he meant by that, including Rei.

When it was time for lunch, people started approaching them asking Akira questions about what it was like in America and asking Rei questions to get to know her. They ended up attracting a lot of attention on their first day of school.

And then school was over.

Here was the time that Akira was looking forward to the most. Rei went to the baseball club to start to become a manager and they both split after she wished him luck on his basketball entrance test.

Once he approached the gym for the basketball tryouts, one of the members directed him and the other students to a nearby locker room. It was hard, but he managed to hide his weights from being seen as he removed them. It felt weird to move about without them, but he knew that he could adjust himself during the test.

After changing, Akira was standing in the gym along with 40-50 other students. The sports clubs at Teiko were very popular, but the basketball club stood out among the rest as they had won multiple junior high tournaments.

Currently only freshman and a few junior students were in the gym along with the team captain and one of the coaches. They instructed the rest that they were going to do a series of activities to test their fitness, before letting them play 10 minute games with each other. After all the games were done, then they would let them what string they would be in.

When they were taking the tests Akira easily found out that he was one of the, if not the best rookie players. Although his body's growth is less than the average guy his age due to it being distributed evenly throughout his body, he's been working himself from a very young age to make up for it. Plus the extra weight off of him was a major boost.

However, he was standing out a bit too much so he toned it down during the short game by playing point guard and matching his pace to that of the other 4 players on his team. Of course, he scored when he needed to since he still hated losing more than standing out.

When the games were done, they were told to huddle and the captain and the coach came to announce the results. The coach first listed out who were chosen to be in third string and about a fifth, including Akira were not called out when he finished.

While the others cheered for making it into the second string, Akira was different as he was a bit nervous. Although he would accept the results if he were to be placed into the second string, he still preferred to be in the first string instead and jump right into the action.

Coach: "...That's all for the second string. Lastly, Akira Hayaba will join the first string. That's all."

While the other players were whispering, Akira could only sigh in relief.

Akira: 'I guess even a 30+ mentally old person like myself can still feel pressured. At least that means that I can still grow and have much more to learn.'

The players were told to meet at the designated gyms afterschool tomorrow and then the coach let them leave. Akira quickly got dressed and started heading for the school gates when he was called out.

???: "Excuse me. Can I have a moment of your time?"

He turned around to see a man with dark hair and wearing a brown suit.

Akira: "How can I help you?"

???: "I just want to talk to you about your performance during the tryouts."

Akira: "Hmm? Are you a coach?"

Shirogane: "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kozo Shirogane, the coach of thefirst string's basketball team."

Akira: "! Really! It's an honor to meet you."

Shirogane: "Honor is it? I didn't think I was that well known."

Akira wasn't sucking up. Although he knew that he would come to this school, he still did his research and checked the school's history. It turns out that after Shirogane became the coach for the first string, Teiko has repeatedly won the national tournament. They would still lose on occasion, but the win ratio was still over 50%. This meant that during his 10 years as a coach, he directed the team to win at least 5 first place trophies.

Shirogane: "Anyways, there something I want to talk to you about. Follow me."

Akira just nodded and did what he said. They eventually reached his office and Akira sat on the sofa, while Shirogane poured him some tea. After handing it to Akira and waiting for him to have a sip did Shirogane finally explain why he called him.

Shirogane: "Why weren't you giving it your all during the tryouts?"

Akira was a surprised.

Akira: "You were watching the entire time?"

Shirogane: "From the second floor balcony. I like to watch players in their natural state. I noticed that your physical fitness test did not match your game performance."

Akira: "Haaa~ I was hoping no one would catch that. Guess I still got a lot to learn."

He paused for a bit.

Akira: "...I didn't do my best because I was afraid of hurting the team."

Shirogane: "Hurting the team?"

Akira: "When a player is noticeably better than his teammates and shines brighter than the rest, their feelings begin to take many forms: doubt, envy, hate, fear, hopelessness. Sure, it might not be like that in the beginning, but in most cases, that's the outcome. The team begins to break apart and that's when the sport is no longer a fun game."

Shirogane: "..."

Akira: "I don't want my team to ever feel like that. I want everyone I play with and against to enjoy the sport to the fullest. Players all over Japan train and break their limits and when the tournament comes, they compete with each other to show that we worked harder than anyone else, that they were the best. That is why I play and what I want when I play on a team. I want everyone to have fun and do their best, and of course trying not to lose in the process."

Shirogane: "...I understand what you are trying to say. However, I can clearly see that you are a truly gifted young man. But, I have seen many talented players like you waste away."

Akira chuckled hearing that.

Shirogane: "What is it?"

Akira: "First of all, I won't 'waste away' coach. I live my life to the fullest everyday, I don't plan on stopping till I'm dead. Plus, I don't think that you would believe it, but my true talent really isn't that much. It's something that everyone has, but not everyone has the will to utilize."

Shirogane curiosity was provoked. As he was about to ask for more details, he was interrupted.

Akira: "Coach, I think that it'll be best if we ended things here. You'll naturally learn more about me as time goes on. Then you'll understand what I've just said."

Akira finished the cup of tea in his hands and stood up, heading for the door.

Akira: "Thank you for the tea."

Saying that, he left. Leaving a silent Shirogane to contemplate over the discussion they just had.

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[A/N]: Just putting it out there, if I write out any basketball games, the opponents will either be canon or from the FictionOnlyReader's/FanFiction's "Rebirth in KurokoNoBasket". I may even take some of his material (of course modified). The reason I am doing this is to save me from the future annoyance of coming up with names and scenes. If FanFiction has a problem with me using them, he should let me know in the comments (God I hope he comes back).