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YURI

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At quarter to eight, Yuri’s team set off for their first game.

As soon as they arrived, they could hear their school’s cheers. The excitement and anxiousness resonated through them as the feeling of their schoolmates permeated through the walls and into their changing rooms.

Yuri felt oddly relaxed and separated from everyone around her as she watched her teammates change into their uniform and do their pre-game routines. Jae was giving her small pep talk as team captain, while Charlee was concentrating on making things light for them.

Yuri donned her neatly pressed uniform for the first time this year— a new fitted violet jersey with white linings, their school crest in the upper right chest and her jersey number (07) at the left. At the back of her shirt, her surname ‘Kim’ was embroidered in bold lettering and her jersey number displayed underneath.

She was facing the mirror checking herself out, when she suddenly smiled, remembering Hana’s text from earlier and whether she’s already in the crowd, watching.

“Bro! Are you checking yourself out? I’m pretty sure that your fangirls would go insane once they get to see you later.” Charlee shouted from across the room, resulting in Yuri throwing her one of her shoes. But thanks to Charlee, the whole room that was full of deafening nervousness dissipated and they all laughed in earnest for the first time today.

As they walked out inside the court, the thundering applause began again.

And as much as her teammates denied, she’s not the only one with a lot of supporters. It’s probably just that all of her fans were louder but all of them had an equal amount of supporters.

But the first thing that she looked for is, of course, Hana.

She looked like she was really having a good time cheering loudly beside Mona and Maia. And then she noticed their arrival and Yuri saw how Hana’s face lit up as she waved at her.

“Yuri!”

Her friend stood up and ran towards her like a happy little kid, and she couldn’t help but feel something inside her chest. But it was all erased by her sudden concern as she shouted, “Careful! You might tr—”

It was a good thing that she’s near the girl, or she will fall face down, and that would definitely hurt.

This is not the first time that Hana displayed her ultimate clumsiness. Don’t get her wrong, she’s amused when she sees Hana do something clumsy but Yuri's natural impulse to protect Hana really wanted to eliminate her clumsiness too because she doesn’t want her to get hurt.

Over the course of her life, Yuri had endured plenty. She experienced things that other kids would have nightmares about. She almost lost her family. She almost died. She endured the unspeakable.

And it was puzzling to her as to why the intensity of her desire to protect Hana was something to the same degree as she felt back when they almost lost their life.

Yuri cursed internally as she caught Hana from completely faceplanting.

“I told you not to run. What if you get hurt?” Yuri’s heart couldn’t stop pounding because she really thought that she would not be able to catch Hana on time. But the girl in front of her had the audacity to even giggle as if she’s enjoying what happened.

By Yuri’s estimation, Hana’s constant jolliness had gotten her out of (and into) quite a few interesting conundrums, like this situation.

Yuri sighed and said, “Look, your shirt is all ruined.”

Hana snapped into attention, then she saw how her face transformed into shock as she realized that the front of her clothes were soaked.

These are the moments that she just wants Hana to be by her side so that she would not worry if she would get hurt or not.

She immediately looked for someone to help clean the mess and once it’s being taken care of, she pulled Hana to the restroom for a change of clothes.

As an athlete, it is a must to have spare clothes, so she gave it to Hana.

Hana tried to refuse at first but given that it was really cold inside the gym, she insisted on having Hana wear her jacket too.

Ethereal.

How could someone look so ethereal with just a plain shirt and a jacket?

That’s what Yuri asked herself as soon as Hana opened the cubicle door.

She snapped out of it and asked if Hana needed more time for herself, but Hana took her hand instead.

Warmth enveloped her as she felt Hana’s hand, and as they walked, she tightened her hold. This boosted her confidence more, and promised herself that she’ll win just so she could see Hana’s face light up again. Nowadays, she’s catching herself doing things that she doesn't normally do just for the sake of making sure that Hana’s happy.

Hana asked her if she was nervous for the first game. And since vulnerability had never sat well with Yuri, she always made sure that she would never sit back and take a hit. No. She would fight for everything she had. And this game is no different.

Their basketball team is one of the school’s pride and joy, and she’s also happy to see their school gathering together to cheer for them. She knows this because she’s part of the championship team last year as well and wanted the same thing for her new school. Not to mention that she simply loves the game, so she makes sure that she will bring happiness to everyone who likes it too.

Most especially the girl beside her, Hana.

When they arrived, Jia instinctively checked if Hana was hurt anywhere and scolded her, but Hana being Hana just stuck her tongue out to her friend.

As much as she would want to spend more time with them, she needs to warm up, so she excused herself and promised that she would be back before the game starts.

She checked on her teammates and she’s confident to say that they are really in top shape today.

After a couple of layups and passes, she looked around and noticed that Ji Eun was also seated near their bench, so she approached her and gave her high-five.

The crowd at her back was cheering and shouting because of the gesture, but she just shrugged because almost everyone knows that Ji Eun is one of their friends now. She’s also happy that Ji Eun seems to be spending time around people and not just keeping to herself, so she makes sure that she’s always greeting the girl.

Their coach told them that the game will start in a bit so she was about to go back to Hana but Ruby Jane suddenly hugged her from behind. She tried to shake it off, but Ruby Jane clung harder.

“RJ! If you are here to annoy me, please just stop.” Yuri warned, “I also don’t want Luna’s play to be affected.” She added while looking at her forlorn friend.

“Does she really like me?”

Yuri rolled her eyes. “She’s your best friend, you should be the one who can tell what she feels. Not me.”

Finally, she was able to release herself from Ruby Jane and she quickly approached Hana.

The first thing that she noticed was how Hana was looking at someone behind her, and that she looked angry, and the second was that everyone was wearing their jersey jacket, but she decided to just address the first issue, since she kinda knows how the second thing that she noticed happened.

“Hey,” she called, tapping Hana’s hand.

“H-hi!”

It was clear that Hana was flustered for some reason, but since she doesn’t have enough time, she ignored it and said, “The game will start in a bit.”

But Hana was frowning at her, “I see that I’m your last stop.”

Yuri internally facepalmed because she didn’t realize that Hana would be seeing her interaction with Ruby Jane. But she remained poker faced since she doesn’t want to focus on other people.

In her defense, she’d rather have Hana as her last stop because the girl does wonders in terms of calming her nerves. And she must admit that just holding Hana’s hand right now makes her think that she can do anything.

“I promised that I’ll be back before the game starts, right?” Yuri said.

She heard Hana scoff, “Yeah, but not before checking out your other friends.”

Yuri asked Hana what’s wrong and she swears she heard Mona say something, but she was interrupted by Maia. And since Hana looked like she didn't want to talk about it, she forced herself to ignore her curiosity and asked for her lucky charm.

Hana looked like she’s not following and since time is running out and she wanted to make sure that she’ll get her lucky charm, so she opened her arms wide and said, “Hug?”

The immediate change in Hana’s face made Yuri’s heart leap.

Hana stood up and walked into Yuri’s embrace.

“I’ll win for you.” Yuri whispered, just right before she let Hana go.

Gaiety.

It was the feeling that Hana gave her. She feels lighthearted and can be compared to a kid who was given the best gift ever.

When they let each other go, she saw Hana’s face flushed bright red, and at the same time she also felt a slight jolt in her stomach that she’s sure had nothing to do with the nerves.

“I must go back.”

“Fighting!” Hana said and even pumped her fist up and down to cheer her up.

This girl, really.

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Somewhere, a whistle was blown, signaling the start of the match.

The team started with Yuri, Luna, Jiyeon, Jae and Charlee.

Each one of them is ready as Jae was able to successfully pass the ball to Jiyeon during the jump ball. Every one of them was quick to reach their side of the court as Jiyeon sent the ball past their opponents and into Yuri’s hands.

Yuri smirked at the player who decided to guard her and did a quick behind-the-back dribble as she moved past her opponent and made a fast fade away shot.

Yuri succeeded in scoring their first points of the match and the crowd went wild.

She turned to the bleachers and caught sight of Hana who’s dancing and clapping wholeheartedly. Because of this, Yuri felt bolder and sent her a winning wink—

“I swear to god, Kim Yuri! This is no time to be a casanova!” Jae hollered, as they ran quickly to their defensive position.

Another ball was passed over to Yuri as Jae successfully blocked an attempt from the other team. But even though the pass was quick, this time around the rival team were more prepared to guard Yuri. She was momentarily shocked when she saw that two of the players of the opposing team had already caught up to her, but she smirked again once she saw who’s behind the other two.

It was Jiyeon.

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