Tangent | Soukoku; AU [✔]

62 ➳ team and trust // h.x

again, fate is playing funny tricks on me, but then it's most likely just coach mori's fault.

hawthorne already warned me yesterday that there will be a high chance that the coach will do everything in his power to build the bond between my teammates; building them to an extent that perhaps coach mori does not want the same mistakes to happen ever again.

oh well, i just have to bear with it until tomorrow and get it over with.

one of my concerns as well is about the swimming activity that was planned. it is currently autumn here in japan and the winds were cold when it blows - not much here in cities, both in yokohama and here in tokyo, but it was still a cold breeze nonetheless. the thought of having to soak in the pool for lengthy periods from late afternoon until evening sends shivers down my spine. although it's much worse if we go swimming in the evening onwards; i'd rather be in a sauna.

we got into our rooms to check it out for a bit, leave our things and rest for while, before we headed up to the hotel's pool at the very top floor with our change of clothes. the entire pool area was ours to use until around six in the evening, so we didn't have to worry about other people coming in.

all of the guys had changed to their swimming trunks, while i wore an overall one-piece rashguard with long sleeves and shorts which i borrowed from one of the boarders in the apartment. i wasn't really particularly into swimming so i didn't have my own, and i don't really want to buy for a one-time occasion.

for a short moment i caught all of their eyes swipe a glance towards my general direction, but went back to their own business afterwards. i had a wild guess of their trains of thought right now, but i'd rather not think about it. in fact, i'm glad i don't have to see nor hear it out loud.

"alrighty! now that's everyone is here now," coach mori clapped his hands together and tilting them to an angle, with his best attempt to show an angelic smile. "you're free to do whatever you like later, but for now, you'll be playing some pool volleyball."

huh, that's bad news already. my physical self isn't really my best asset, and the force in water is usually stronger than it is on land. hopefully i'll be able to keep up today especially when i'm with a bunch of strong-looking guys.

"i'll be joining you all in the activities, of course," the coach added, now proudly showing a smirk. "for the pool volleyball, it will be a 3-against-3 battle. you can go ahead and pick who you'd like to be teammates with~"

"oh! oh!" kajii enthusiastically raised his hand while frantically jumping up and down. "i would like hayakawa and akutagawa with me! my favorite jungler and my most valuable support!"

kajii then turned around to look at me, to which i responded with a thumbs up of approval. i didn't mind, really. after all, the goal i have in mind for this team building is... well, to build 'bonds' with my team. i want to have a grasp of what they are as people, inside and outside of the game. that way, i can probably understand them a lot better.

while i think that a team composing of me, kajii, and akutagawa are underpowered compared to a team of strong people such as tachihara, coach mori, and chuuya, this isn't really a competitive game for us to take too seriously. i think i'll survive.

or so i thought. less than 10 minutes into playing pool volleyball, i could already feel my heart racing for its life, struggling to pump oxygen to my body. i tried not showing it too much though, for the last thing i ever wanted is to bring anyone down with my actions.

kajii carried both me and akutagawa throughout that volleyball. the opposing team of the coach, tachihara, and chuuya won the game by a storm. akutagawa, much like me, had a stamina of a house person; however, unlike me, at least he had some energy to spare longer than i did.

we took a break off the pool for a bit to get some refreshments. at this point in time, we're now allowed to do what we want, so i approached kajii immediately after and apologized about the game that we just had. surprisingly, he just laughed at me and gave a pat on my right shoulder.

"don't sweat it, madam! it's all just for fun!" kajii exclaimed in his loud yet obnoxious voice. he takes a gulp of his beverage in his left hand before proceeding to speak again. "we now at least know that you're just a superhuman in league, but not in real life, you know?"

i gave a chuckle to that last sentence, because it's true. the team got more glimpse of what i am, and i got to learn what they are as well. perhaps this idea of the coach wasn't so bad after all -- i get to hang out with my team outside of tournaments, listen to them talk about other things other than league, so on and so forth. 

however, even with that, i still deliberately avoided chuuya during the entire day, even on poker night. people were right when they said that gambling or any form of gacha can bring out the worst in people. these men were even rowdier than usual, were bantering each other harder than how they usually do in league, and raging even worse than normal. this is, in fact, how you better know the personality and attitude of your team. 

for the life of me, i don't even know how to play poker, but i didn't really mind. i was... more amused in watching these grown men throw insults at one another, or taunt the living shit out of each other. for the entirety of the game, however, my attention leaned heavily on the short, vermillion-haired man. it was like i had to learn more about him by instinct, to put my mind at ease, to finally put the intrusive thoughts to rest.

i believe in dazai's testimonies about this man, but my hunger to know more for myself was just stronger; even if it means wearing down my iron defenses.

i continued on observing everyone until we were done playing for tonight, got dinner at the hotel, and finally separated ways in our respective rooms. now, this is the point wherein i'm now forced to actually interact with chuuya if he engages. yes, i'll wait for him to talk to me rather than the other way around, just to check one of my theories.

so far, upon getting to the room, the man went straight to get some clothes and a towel and headed towards the shower room. oh well, that's fine. i'll go ahead and draw on the table for the meantime then, no problem.