Sleepover

Madoka's POV

Kenji jumped up and it felt like time slowed down, I could feel the tension in the crowd, on the benches of the boys team, in me. Kenji shoots the ball and I watch as it soars through the air towards the hoop.

'Kenji...'

Time restarts and the ball hits the backboard and goes in. My eyes widened and the crowd jumped up and cheered, all the girls next to me gasped in utter shock. Coach Yamoto screamed in victory and the boys team looked surprised from the unexpected shot, even Kenji had his eyes wide open.

The opposing team quickly took offensive positions and began to push harder but they continued to toy with the boys but then Kenji stole the ball and dribbled down the court. Two boys from the other team jumped up, blocking Kenji from doing a layup but Kenji jumped and went under the hoop and did a reverse layup, going in.

For the first time I felt a flood of joy and happiness fill my heart in a long time that a smile broke out on my face. Even the girls were shrugging around but they cheered on Kenji.

"Go Kenji!" yelled Emiko

"Come on do another one!" yelled Yuziki

The small forward on our team passed the ball to Kenji who was wide open at the base to shoot the ball, making another three.

"Kenji!" I called out

I didn't think Kenji would hear me but he looked at me.

"If you miss one I'll personally kill you!" I yelled

The girls looked at me in surprise but Kenji just slightly smiled and nodded.

The score was 23 to 39 and Kenji was dropping threes like it was nothing now. He even crossed someone up and did a step back and made another three. I was on my feet, praying that he could be the symbol of hope in this game.

Half time hits and the score is now 41 to 43 with the opposing team still in the lead. The boys go into the locker room and I sit back down on my seat still in utter shock that Kenji actually started making things in.

"Since when was Kenji that good?" asked Emiko

"He was always that good, but I guess he lost his feelings in shooting." replied Yuziki, "I watched him play last year, he's getting it back."

Half time was over and Kenji kept dropping threes and now we were in the lead 44 to 43. The opposing team kept pushing hard but now that our team was determined their defense got stronger, now it was the opposing team who was losing the ball.

Kenji ran down the court and spun around a defender and did a fade away three and it went in and I was back on my feet cheering him on. Normally I don't cheer since it's not my thing but my heart was flooding with some kind of happiness for Kenji.

The game ended with a score of 55 to 78 and I felt so happy that I wanted to celebrate with him but I knew that it'll be weird for Homura so I thought that maybe I can congratulate him later.

We left the stadium and we waited for the boys to come out and when they did they were all happy, some of them were even patting Kenji and he seemed awkward, not knowing what to do. Homura though had a pretty heavy facial expression, he seemed to be mad at Kenji for taking the spotlight.

"Kenji what the fuck you saved our ass!" excitedly yelled Emiko

"That was so cool!" added Haruka

"Ohhh yea." was all Kenji said back

Everyone began hugging and he seemed a bit new to it, he didn't know what to do and he didn't seem to hug anyone back.

We all began heading back towards the school bus to go back to the campus and I sat next to Homura who was still pissed.

"Are you okay?" I asked

"Yea yea I'm fine." replied Homura

"Something's clearly bothering you." I said

Homura groaned and rubbed his face.

"Kenji you bastard..." growled Homura

I raised an eyebrow but I just decided to drop the conversation. I pulled out my phone and sent Kenji a text saying good job.

I saw Kenji take out his phone and he turned back and looked at me so I smiled a bit and he smiled back and gave me a thumbs up.

The ride on the bus was silent and Homura left to go to his dorm and he wanted to be alone so I decided to go to Kenji's dorm instead.

"Oh, need help again?" asked Kenji

He had a towel over his hair and it looked like he just came out of the shower.

"No, just wanted to personally say congrats on the game." I said

"Oh thanks." replied Kenji

But then I heard Homura's door unlock, scaring me a bit not in fear but in surprise so I quickly pushed Kenji inside his room and entered his room and closed the door just in time before Homura noticed.

I fell on top of Kenji and we stayed like that for a few seconds before I heard a knock on the door.

"Oi Kenji are you in there?" asked Homura

I covered Kenji's mouth with my hand and he just nodded.

"I guess he fell asleep." I heard Homura whisper

We stayed on the floor for about a minute and I sighed in relief and removed my hand from his mouth. But then I noticed that I was on top of Kenji and he was looking away, being a gentleman. I quickly got off and helped him up as well.

"Sorry, instincts." I said

"It's fine." he said, "Anyways thanks for the, you know, training."

"Oh, well it's nothing." I replied

But then the door started knocking again.

"Kenji you son of a bitch open up, I know you're awake." called out Homura's voice

Kenji sighed and I hid inside his closet while Kenji approached the door.

"What do you want?" asked Kenji

"For you to open the door." replied Homura

"Look I'm about to go to sleep so I just finished showering so let's talk tomorrow." replied Kenji

"You know what, I don't want to." replied Homura, "I'm going to stand here for the entire night until you open the door."

I heard Kenji sigh and he left and opened the closet door.

"He's not going to leave, so I guess you might be stuck in here for a while." whispered Kenji

"It's fine I like it here." I replied

"Wait no I didn't mean in the closet, I have an extra mattress you can sleep on." he said

"Uhhh well I'm not going to sleep in dirty clothes." I said

"Right, I uhh have these." he replied

He helped me out of the closet door and pulled out a plain shirt and black shorts.

"Here." I said

I nodded and quickly got changed and he also gave me a new toothbrush to brush my teeth so I did that as quietly as possible. Once I was done he already had my bed ready and it was on the opposite side of his bed.

"Thanks." I whispered

He nodded and turned off the lights to go to sleep but Homura kept knocking for 15 minutes straight until I heard him curse and leave, slamming his dorm room door.

"Sorry about that, you can leave if you want." said Kenji

I got up and dragged the mattress next to his and he was surprised as I laid down on the mattress.

"You don't have to make me sleep alone on the other side of the room." I said

I looked over to Kenji and he was looking at the ceiling, his hands were interlocked on top of his chest and he seemed to be thinking about something.

"I think that, I might perform for the school festival." said Kenji

"Really?"

"Yea, just, might want to give it a shot." replied Kenji

"That's good, I'm sure you'll do great." I said

"But I'm not doing this for fame or anything, I'm doing this cause it's something I want to do." said Kenji, "And maybe just a bit cause you want me to."

I smiled a bit as I looked at him.

"How do you feel?" I asked

"About what?" asked Kenji

"About the win today." I asked

Kenji rubbed his hands together.

"I feel, like I can shoot again." he said

'Such a simple answer.'

"Is shooting all you can do?" I asked

"Well, no not really." replied Kenji

"What else can you do?" I asked

"Well, I uhh I was able to dunk." replied Kenji

"You can dunk?" I questioned, "Show me."

"Show you? Well I'm going to have to find a video then." replied Kenji

He sat up and grabbed his phone and started scrolling through it.

"Here." said Kenji

He handed me his phone and on the screen was a video. I played it and it played a video of a basketball with Kenji running down the court with the basketball. He then jumped and dunked on the hoop and it actually amazed me.

"How can you not do this anymore?" I asked

"Well I lost my leg strength, I'm trying to regain it." he replied

"Wait show me more of your basketball videos." I said

"Oh okay." he replied

He got off his bed and grabbed his computer.

"I transferred most of my videos and pictures from last here." said Kenji

He began unlocking his laptop before scrolling through his albums.

"Here."

Kenji handed me his laptop and I began watching some of the games, getting frustrated at some of them, others I liked. But then I realized something, who recorded this?

"Who took this?" I asked

Kenji looked away and thought about it.

"I don't know, someone in my team had a friend who took the video." replied Kenji

"Why do you look depressed from that?" I asked

"Nothing, I'm not depressed." he replied

"Are you sure?" I asked

"Yea I'm fine."

We went back to watching some more videos while talking about things until Kenji just passed out on his bed. I was watching one last video but then I accidentally clicked a button and it went to the next picture which was him with what looked like his family. He had a dad, mom who was really beautiful all on a basketball court in a stadium with him holding a trophy.

I decided not to dig deep into his photos so I closed the laptop and put it away before going to sleep. But then I began to hear Kenji mumble something in his sleep.

I leaned in and tried listening to him but I couldn't get it out so I just went to sleep.

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

6 hours later

My phone began to go off so I turned off the alarm set on my phone and sat up. I looked up and I gasped in shock when I saw Kenji just sleeping against a wall, no he wasn't sleeping he was awake.

His eyes were open but they looked droopy, he had huge eye bags underneath his eyes but he was sweating.

"Oh morning." said Kenji

"Were you awake this entire time?" I asked

"No I just woke up." he replied

"But your eyes..." I replied

"How can you sleep so well?" asked Kenji

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow

That's when I heard knocking on the door.

"Kenji, we better talk now." called out Homura's voice.

"..." was all that came out of my mouth

"He's been going at it for the last three hours." said Kenji

"Go talk to him, you don't have an escape route." I said

"Just get changed, I'm more worried about us getting caught together." replied Kenji

I quickly got ready and when I came out Kenji was out on his balcony.

"Jump down." he said

"Huh?" I questioned

"We're only two stories up, you won't die." he said

I sighed and nodded and jumped down from his balcony, with Kenji after me.

"I'm going to go back to my dorm." I said

"Okay, I'll see you in the afternoon." replied Kenji