“W-What are you saying?” I ask and Daisuke repeats himself.

Holy ! How did he find out?! It’s not like he saw the bandages around my chest, nor did I drop the male voice, so how did he find out? It is now quite obvious to me that Daisuke is a dangerous human being indeed.

The coach smacks Daisuke in the back of the head. “Of course Toujiro-kun is a boy,” The coach puts her hands on her hips and Daisuke rubs the back of his head where the coach hit it. “I wouldn’t have let him on the team if I thought he was a girl. What makes you think Toujiro-kun is a girl?”

Daisuke looks at me in an awkward silence. His face is still as composed as ever. “It’s nothing,” He sighs and scratches the back of his head. “It doesn’t matter right now. What should we do about the upcoming practice game with Sakuraki, Etsuko?” I breathe a sigh of relief that the subject had been changed.           

“I told you to call me coach!” The coach yelled at Daisuke. She tightened her ponytail. “Geez. Anyway, we intend to include our new recruits as much as possible so they can get a taste for a real game.”

One of the second-years raised his hand. His body was rather large and his hair hung in his eyes. To me, he kind of looks like a giant teddy-bear. He actually looks kind of cute. “What are we going to do about the Kings?”

Coach Etsuko put her finger to her chin and thought about it. “About that…” She looked up to see all first-years, including me, with a look on their face. “Oh, right, I should explain. The Kings are a group of players with extraordinary talents. Their abilities are so amazing in fact that they’ve been called the Kings.

When they step onto the court, the whole audience goes quiet as they play. They act almost as if it’s their born-right to be on that court.” Coach Etsuko laughs fondly. “Almost like kings, don’t you think?”

I smile to myself. Thinking about going one-on-one against them. They must be strong. Probably even stronger than Daisuke was. My heart is starting to pound in my chest again as I think about chasing after them, dribbling a ball, trying to get past them but then failing. They leave me in the dust completely.

As I’m thinking this, my heart begins to sink. If the Kings are so strong that the court goes silent, then no one would be good enough to fight them equally. They must be extremely bored.

My mind flashes back to a memory from when I was little. All I see is his face, his back, his hands, his feet as they run. My palm go cold and start to sweat. My breathing is also becoming a little ragged.

Crap, no, no, no! Calm down, Akira, it’s okay. I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.

He’s not here anymore.