Fifteen

Officer Ueno was interviewed for the 6 o'clock news. Just inches away from where Kaho had been hiding, full forensic teams flooding n and out the building, their investigation had only just begun. Kaho watched ambulance techs on the TV usher the victims out of the building, their faces covered by blankets as they were taken away to be assessed for shock. Makoto was on the TV too, for a moment, declaring he had been with the last victim when she was abducted, and followed her kidnapper, Kurosaki Katsuo to this location, and called the police. 

No mention of Matsuoka Naseru. Kaho wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not. It was way too convenient that on his first day of school a girl went missing, and she saw him flee that very same building. It could be a coincidence. It could, after all, he had no motive as far as she could tell. Katsuo didn't either, but his name was never stricken on her papers. Maybe that was the greatest beacon of innocence Kaho could dream of. 

Her mother kept the TV on when she called everyone for dinner. Taiga sat at the head of the table, where her father used to sit all those months ago. Individual bowls full of diced vegetables and cured meat, each of them had an individual bowl of noodles. They bowed their heads and thanked Mrs Aigawa for the meal, but their attention kept darting back to the TV. 

"I hope those poor girls are okay," Mrs Aigawa said quietly, "It was all anyone at work was talking about." 

Kaho nodded, "At school too. All our classmates have been so worried about the girls. Sayuri was in my class." 

Taiga nodded while Himiko slurped on the rice noodles from her bowl. 

"Maybe we should turn the news off, you know?" Taiga asked, his gaze flickered to Himiko. 

His mother switched off the TV and silence settled over the table. 

"That kid on the TV, the boy they were talking to, he's in your class, right?" 

Kaho nodded, "That's Makoto. He's in the art club." 

"Are you joining the art club this year, Kaho?" Himiko asked, "I think you make really pretty art." 

Kaho shrugged, "It's complicated, but I am going to keep drawing, promise." 

Himiko nodded, and returned to her noodles. 

"About the club roster," Taiga said, "Any luck getting Aya's brother to join the basketball team?" 

Kaho shook her head, "We don't really talk in class…"

Her brother scowled and crossed his arms. Silence filled the room again, the only sound coming from chopsticks clanking against the rims of bowls and the slurp of noodles. Kaho sighed, and when she finished eating, she caught her brother staring at her. Kaho sighed. 

Taiga excused himself first and tugged his sister's arm. He took her bowl to the sink and gestured to the door with his head, "C'mon Kaho. Let's talk basketball." 

There was a basketball in Taiga's trunk. He retrieved it, put it under his arm and walked toward the park, dribbling the ball rhythmically as he went. He continued to bounce the ball as they approached the basketball court. It was empty. 

Taiga jogged into centre court and passed the ball to his sister. It hit her gut. She let out a little oof with the impact and held the ball to her stomach, not daring to bounce it. Taiga raised his eyebrows at her, "Kaho, why do you think I give this much of a crap about a kid who could be related to Matsuoka Kathen?" 

She shrugged. 

"Remember when I was at college, and I played for the Kenjoku Kaijus?" 

Kaho nodded, throwing the ball over to Taiga. He bounced the ball and sighed, throwing it underarm toward the basket. It bounced off the underside of the basket and bounced to Kaho's feet. She sighed and bounced the ball. 

"I played with a guy called Aya, remember Aya. Mizutani? Yeah. He was the power forward on the Kaijus when I was the small? He's Kathen's stepson. Sports prodigy. Said he had two younger brothers."

"I didn't know that he was related to Matsuoka Kathen…" Kaho said quietly, dribbling the ball toward the basket. Taiga tackled the ball from her hands, and proceeded to dribble closer to the basket. 

"Well, not by blood, but certainly in mindset, he had a basketball brain like Kathen. But Aya, he has two brothers? Naoru and Naseru." 

Kaho's eyes widened. She tried to reclaim the ball, slapping her palms on the ball's surface, breaking her pointer finger nail clean off her finger. Kaho hissed and blew on the angry skin of her finger. 

"Do you remember my last game as a Kaiju?" Taiga dribbled the ball from centre court onto the three-point line. Kaho followed him. 

It was a rhetorical question. She knew that. Taiga shot the basket and it landed cleanly, a textbook three. Kaho waited for him to continue talking. 

"Aya was a great basketball player. Probably still is, if you could get him on the court. It's in his DNA, you know? But right before the championship game, he quit so he could chase his dream. We were warmed up, we'd gone onto the court, Hell, we won the ball toss. He caught it in both hands, turned to me, turned to the whole team and dropped the ball on the floor. No bouncing. Then he left the court and clapped Ichinose on the back, wishing him luck because he wasn't playing. He was going to leave the sport to write fiction. After the toss! Ichinose hadn't warmed up! He pulled four muscles in the first quarter and powered through. But Aya. God, I wanted to throttle him."

Kaho sighed and left Taiga to his practice. He was going to get his anger out of his system on the court. Like he always did. She slunk to the nearest bench and sat down, watching him as the skies overhead darkened. 

Kaho watched him shoot basket after basket, the backboard taking the brunt of his throws. Like it was a seven-foot punching bag. Kaho rubbed her arms, gooseflesh rising on the surface. Taiga tossed his red tracksuit jumper at her. She put it on immediately. He returned his attention the court. 

The thing with basketball Kaho is that your starting lineup should be precise, deliberate and subtle. There were so many tells in Aya's basketball that we knew and could read across the court. His left heel was always facing the direction he intended to pass. Did you know that? It should knock a guy off balance, but never Aya. Ichinose didn't flow with our rhythm. He wasn't on the same frequency, and we'd spent all season in Aya's orbit, learning every last tell he had. We hadn't every paid Ichinose any heed. Poor bastard. We thought he was just a bench warmer. His plays were just as much a mystery to us as they were to the other team. It was a terrible game."

Kaho had attended the match. She wasn't going to remind Taiga of that though. It had been the Winter Championships, and she'd been in middle school. She'd missed karaoke with some of her classmates to watch her big brother's big game with her mum, a restless Himiko, Mariah and Ryota. Even her dad had flown in from overseas to watch the Kenjoku Kaijus take the championship. 

"Aya didn't want to play. He wanted to be a writer â€" and none of us took that seriously while he was on our team. I didn't realise that then, and I still don't agree with how he went about what he did, it was a dick move, but he got his point across. Hell, in the locker room, he said that if we'd played our best basketball we would have been injured like he was some sort of prophet. Even though Ichinose was aching with every step. I couldn't believe him. The gall of this guy."

Taiga threw the ball and it ricocheted off the basket, rolling toward his feet. He craned his neck back and let out a breathy laugh, "You know what's worse? He promised us a greater victory. Said his brother would make things amazing for me specifically. Again with this prophetic crap, but I wanted something to hold onto. I thought maybe Naoru would be this weird prodigical basketball boy that his brother foretold but Naoru was a volleyball boy through and through. Only thing I managed to get him to do at tryouts â€" don't look at me like that!" 

Kaho crossed her arms across her chest and scowled at her brother. He rolled his eyes at her and turned away. 

"You managed to get Naoru, the captain of the volleyball team to rock up at your basketball try-outs?" Kaho said dryly. 

"I paid Ryota to dare him, what can I say?" Taiga shrugged, tucking the ball under his armpit, "Ended up teaching Ryota about a volleyball position called libero. Did you know their purpose is to ensure the ball doesn't hit the floor? Ryota watched Naoru drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes, leg outstretched, and let a basketball hit it so it didn't leave the court." 

"Ouch, bet that welled up in a massive bruise," Kaho said, eyebrows raised, "Don't tell me Ryota is going to learn how to use volleyball logic on the basketball court."

"He can do whatever he wants with his time, but anything that gives us an edge is worth entertaining. After all, I haven't picked my starters yet." 

Kaho sighed, "You're saying this because you expect me to get Matsuoka to join your team." 

Taiga nodded, beckoning Kaho off the bench. He passed her the ball and she proceeded to dribble the ball down centre court. Taiga faced her, walking backwards, waving his arms. Kaho laughed and threw the ball overarm at the basket. It spun along the ring of the basket before toppling into the net. 

"Good shot."

"You know," Kaho said, "There's only so much I can do to actually make him join up."

Taiga shook his head and slung an arm around his sister's shoulders, "I don't care how you do it, really. I just know if anyone is going to twist his arm, it'll be you."