Teiko's basketball II: Second miracle

70: First time

Chapter 70:

First time

 "Satsuki-san, for the hundredth time, why are you so interested?" demanded Sora.

"I don't know!" wailed Satsuki. "It's my feminine intuition."

"You've got to learn to control it...."

"It's highly useful.... Plus it's a gift only a few receive."

Sora gave up her task. "Okay. But the point is, I saw.....Mayu, wasn't it, play only once. I can't really comment as of yet."

"She'll probably practice again today..." began Satsuki hopefully.

"No. Sorry, but that's the end of that. Stalking her while she practiced that day was quite enough." said Sora with a shudder.

"That was not stalking." said Satsuki skeptically. "You just walked in while she was practicing and stayed there for what, ten minutes? In fact, you technically just 'happened to be there.'"

"Satsuki-san, your sense of ethics may be just slightly misplaced....." said Sora.

"Mou! You'll never make a good info agent at this rate."

"That's not exactly on my to do list. Besides, I don't need any of that when I have you on my side." Satsuki looked slightly palacated by that comment. "Oh and there's something I think I should mention." said Satsuki.

"Yes..." said Sora warily.

"It's just Mayu's twin, Miyu, is the manager for the soccer club as of now. But rumours say that she's going to transfer to our club."

"Okay..." said Sora.

"I want to find out how good she is."

"Why don't you just ask the soccer club members?" said Sora.

"I already did! Mou... What to you think I am...."

"I am extremely sorry. Please continue."

"Okay so, apparantly she's been collecting data about our club and also about the other schools. The ones we've faced, the ones we haven't...."

"Okay..." said Sora who was catching on slightly. Satsuki took a deep breath. "I've asked her to do the recon on Koen and present it at the strategy meeting today."

"What..." said Sora weakly.

Satsuki placed her hand on Sora's shoulder. "Believe me, Sora-chan. My instinct is never wrong." Sora prayed that she was right. She really sympathized with Miyu.

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Miyu swallowed. It had been quite some time since she had presented to such a large, unfamiliar audience and that too without her twin. Unfortunately, Satsuki had made it very clear that only she could be present at the meeting and no one else. Miyu was quite confident with the data she had collected and her conclusions. But what she was really scared of was her ability to present it. The members of the girls team were watching her expectantly. Satsuki gave her a small thumbs up from the back of the room. Miyu saw the black haired girl called Himeji sitting in the group. The girl gave her a small smile. Miyu reluctantly returned it. On impulse, she decided to start her presentation addressing her.

"Okay. I'm Kouchizuki Miyumi. Pleased to meet you all. I'll give you a small idea about the data I gathered about your next opponent, Koen high. As you have already played with them in the prelims, I guess you'll have a rough idea about their general style of play. But I've been watching their recon games from the both the matches before and after they played with us and......"

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Mayu was waiting anxiously near the waiting room hoping that Miyu would be alright on her own. After a while, Miyu came out. "How did it go?" demanded Mayu. Miyu wiped away the sweat that had formed on her brow. "Not too bad I should say..."

"So you rocked." concluded Mayu happily.

"Well, I dunno...."

The regulars began to file out of the room. Quite a few acknowledged Miyu with a nod or a smile and that reassured Mayu to a great extent. The black haired girl walked up to Miyu.

"You were great." she said with a smile.

"Thank you." said Miyu slightly embarrassed on being praised.

"So will we be seeing more you?" inquired the girl curiously.

Miyu shrugged. "If you're asking whether we're going to join the club, I'm not sure as of yet. My twin is yet to decide you see." The girl turned to Mayu.

"How's it going?"

"Okay, I suppose." said Mayu. "Thanks for asking though..... your name again?"

"Himeji Sora."

"Right. Sorry, it just sorta slipped my mind."

"No biggie. See you both." said the girl and walked away.

Another girl with short brown hair walked up. "Nice recon." she said to Miyu.

"Thank you."

She surveyed Mayu. "Hey, aren't you the one who's going to join the club?" she said bluntly.

"We haven't decided anything yet." said Mayu a bit defensively.

"Well, let me know. Fancy a one on one?"

Mayu was unsure of how to react at first. "Are all your greetings like this?" she said.

"I may have had better days." said the girl casually. "Is it on or not?"

"I need time to consider."

"Suit yourself." she said and went her way.

"Who the hell was that?" said Mayu.

Miyu laughed. "That's the team's power forward. I've heard she's really good. But she seems a bit too tom-boyish for the likes of me."

"Talk about it...." said Mayu.

But Mayu was in part really relieved. The team seemed quite friendly and they were weird enough to ensure that the twin's oddities wouldn't stand out. In short, there was a lot of room for hope.