Scrimmage

Madoka's POV

For the entire day I was trying to find out who Kenji's girlfriend was but I got nowhere, probably cause I never asked anyone.

'Maybe I'll ask Homura while having sex.'

The game starts after practice at 7 pm, right now it's 5 pm and we're setting up the bleachers, benches, scoreboards and other things.

"Did you hear? Kenji's starting." I heard Yuziki whispering to the others.

"I bet we'll lose just cause of him." said Emiko

I agreed as I watched Kenji warming, dribbling the ball down the court and doing layups. He missed one layup and most of us chuckled and laughed.

"He's a small forward, he's a bit short for that position." said Haruka

"No I heard that he's a point guard this year." said Emiko

I just sat on the bleachers and began texting Kikotei, he seemed excited that I was having my first scrimmage in three days. He wanted to watch but can't since it's too far from home and he has a test the day after so he needs to study.

"Well I hope we still win, Homura's going to carry the team." said Emiko

I kept texting him for about 10 minutes until Homura snatched my phone out of my hand.

"Your childhood friend?" asked Homura

"Yes." I replied

He handed me back my phone and smiled.

"You're going to cheer for me right?" asked Homura while grinning

"Sure I will." I replied

He patted my head which I didn't like then left back onto the court. We had 30 minutes left until the game and people from both our school and Komazawa university began to enter the gym and fill the bleachers.

"The game's about to start." excitedly said Yuziki

The announcer began to call out names and the benchwarmers all stood in two lines, the first name called by was Homura and he jogged in between the two lines while giving everyone on the two lines a high five. After that he gave all the referees a fist bump and left to take his position on the court. Other names were being called until Kenji who was last, when he was called the fans clapped and cheered but the girls team including me didn't. Kenji was the only one one the team wearing a shirt on the inside of his jersey, he didn't give anyone a high five, in fact no one even stuck out their hand so he just left and greeted the referees.

The game starts and the centers from each team stands in the middle with the referee holding the ball. He blows the whistle and throws it up and both centers hit the ball at the same time but Homura was able to get it and he passed it to Kenji.

'So he is a point guard.'

He walked towards their hoop while dribbling in between his legs.

"He's taking it so lightly." said Emiko

"It's only a scrimmage." said Haruka

"Still." said Emiko

Kenji passed the ball to his teammate and they began moving around the court until the power forward tossed the ball towards the rim and Homura dunked it.

The crowd roared with excitement and cheers as our team got the first point. Most of us stayed seated but I clapped a bit and smiled since what they did was pretty cool.

The opposing team began to advance down the court and make their move, they were fast and most of them were taller than Kenji but surprisingly Kenji managed to steal the ball and he dribbled through the defensive line, crossing them all up. He threw the ball to the center and he dunked it and now we were 4 points ahead.

The other team began pushing harder, scoring on our team with a deep three. The crowd was on their feet since it was a close game and any bad move can cost the lead. Kenji caught the ball and he tried passing it to his teammates but none of them were open.

"Shoot the ball!" yelled Coach

'That idiot.'

But Kenji shot the ball and as usual he missed but it was a complete airball.

'How can he miss such an open shot.'

Kenji shook his head and ran back as they took defensive positions.

"What a terrible shot." I mumbled to myself

The game continued and now we were losing by 8 points, all thanks to Kenji taking reckless shots.

"Kenji get in here!" yelled Coach Yamoto

Kenji came to the bench as another player took his spot.

"What the hell are you doing out there? You haven't made a single shot!" yelled Coach Yamoto

Kenji didn't look disappointed at all which kind of pissed me off since he's taking it so lightly. The crowd cheered as Homura scored a three shortening the lead by 5. It was kind of an intense game until halftime hit and there was a small performance from the cheerleaders.

I looked at the scoreboard and the score was 47 to 52, the opponent team with the lead on us. Coach Yamoto was kind of furious about us losing by 5 as they were in a team circle but Kenji was just sitting on the bench getting comfortable.

'If I was the coach I would have kicked him out.'

Coach Yamoto began telling the boys the plan and they did their motto before resting a bit to watch the performance.

"Thanks to Kenji we're losing." complained Ayaka

For the first time I agreed with her.

"We should kick Kenji out of the team." said Ayaka

"That's not in our power." said Yuziki

"I wish we did." said Ayaka

We were now down by 10 points and victory was already in our opponents hand. But then the opponent team ran as fast as they could, a fast break and their center dunked on our point guard but the point guard fell backwards and hit his head pretty hard on the wall.

The crowd gasped as our point guard clutched his head in pain. The school medics arrived and sat him up and began checking him but they shook his head and took him away.

Coach Yamoto looked pissed off and looked out at the bench warmers and couldn't decide. But out of every person on the bench, he picked Kenji to play.

'Is he dumb?'

I couldn't see his face but Kenji tilted his head but just got up and entered the court.

"We're fucked." said Ayaka

And we were, Kenji kept missing, losing the ball, worst of all he couldn't catch the ball. Turnover after turnover, the lead kept increasing and whenever Kenji even gets the ball the crowd jeers him, including me and the girls next to me.

The game ended, 64 to 98 with Komozawa university taking the victory. Everyone who came from Komazawa university started partying and cheering and it bothered me so I left.

"Thanks a lot Kenji." Ayaka insulted Kenji as she walked past him

Kenji didn't react as he left with the team into the locker room. I decided to wait for Homura so I waited and waited while listening to Coach Yamoto lecturing everyone in there.

After about five minutes of waiting the boys began to file out and they looked so pissed while leaving the locker room. Kenji came out last and he yawned once he came out.

'This guy.'

He left and headed towards his door like nothing happened today. Homura came out and he looked devastated but when he saw me his face brightened and he smiled.

"Didn't think you'd wait for me." he said

I shrugged and began walking to his dorm room with him.

"I could have done better today." he said

"No it's not your fault that cost the game it was damn Kenji." I replied

"I agree." he said

We got to his dorm but then Kenji came out but his back was facing us. He began walking the way we were going but it looked like he was going somewhere.

I didn't care since I was ready to have some time with Homura as we entered his room and got ready for some intense action.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day

I was shooting around the hoop waiting for Kenji since I had to be paired up with him. I still wanted Homura but Coach kept declining my wishes.

"Kenji you're late!" I heard Coach Yamoto yell

Kenji entered the gym from the locker room but handed him a note and Coach's facial expression slightly soothed.

"Don't be late, your partner is Madoka over there." said Coach

Kenji looked confused when he said that.

"Why am I being paired?" he asked

"We did this last year." replied Coach

Kenji sighed and just approached me and grabbed a ball from the court and started shooting around, missing every shot again. We didn't talk at all until I couldn't stand him being anywhere near me.

"Why am I paired up with you?" I asked annoyed

Kenji shrugged without looking at me.

"Thanks to you, we lost yesterday's game." I said

Kenji dribbled the ball between his legs.

"And?" he asked

"And? Is that it?" I snapped

"First of all, it's not we, you didn't lose, the boys did, I did. Second of all I hate being paired up so we're on the same boat so let's stop bickering at each other and get this over with." he said

I wanted to hurt him so badly but I just shot the ball to calm down my anger.

"You have no teamwork at all." I said

Kenji nodded in agreement.

"Neither do you." he said

"Shut the fuck up, at least I'm fucking useful." I snapped

He shot the ball and missed.

"You know why I said we? Cause the boys team represents the school, so if you lose then the school loses as well." I said

"You're taking a scrimmage game too seriously." he said

'This guy is pissing me off to the brink.'

So in order to release my anger without really having any of the others involved I waited until Kenji went in for a layup. Once Kenji drove in I jumped up and threw the ball straight at his head, hitting his ear and he fell while clutching the side of his ear in pain. Luckily I got no one's attention which was good.

"Oops." I said as I grabbed my ball, "Sorry, the shot was off."

"It's fine."

I was taken aback from his cool relaxed response, increasing my anger on him.

Kenji got up and rubbed his ear and just went back to shooting like nothing ever happened. I just stared at him for a good minute in disbelief before going back to shooting again.

'He's fucking ruining my life.'

That's when Kenji suddenly fell onto one knee while clutching his back. He looked like he was in pain but I didn't care.

"Kenji! What are you doing?" asked Coach Yamoto

Coach Yamoto approached us and when he saw Kenji in pain he immediately rushed to help but Kenji just waved him away and tried standing up but he fell onto his knee again.

"Kenji! Kenji what the hell is happening?" asked Coach Yamoto

Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched Kenji clutch his back in pain. Coach Yamoto tried to help him but Kenji waved him off and tried to get up.

He got up slowly and began walking out of the gym like an old grandpa. I could hear whispers and quiet chuckles from everyone.

"He's just putting up a show." said Homura

I didn't care whether or not he was putting up a show, as long as he's gone I was able to practice and forget about that trash for a while.

"No one talks about this, if I hear this from another student on this campus I will find out who it was and kick you off the team." said Coach Yamoto

"He'll kick us out for saying something but won't kick out Kenji who's trash?" questioned Homura

"Can't you kick him out?" I asked

"I tried yesterday but Coach Yamoto seems to have hope for him. But in my opinion he's a lost cause." said Homura

I nodded in agreement and went back to shooting.