Teiko's basketball III: Three's a charm

Satsuki's request

"Oro? Akira-san was one of the first to submit the preliminary report. This is quite surprising." said Sora in a pleased tone.

Akashi glanced at the paper in her hand. "Interesting.... Tamotsu had the presence of mind to use the last year's data too.... So that gives this document an error margin of 2%. But it's perfectly acceptable since it's the first report."

Sora dropped the paper. "Seijuro, how did you know the error margin was two percent?" Sora saw Akashi stiffen slightly. "It was an intelligent guess, Sora." Sora narrowed her eyes. "I don't think you're the type to be sharing your 'intelligent guesses'."

"I did some research on all the data. Just the key points. And then I cross checked it with the reports I received. That way, I thought it would be easier for me to assess the accuracy of future reports." said Akashi evasively.

"Did you do mine?"

"What?"

"Did you do mine?"

"I did."

"And?"

"You have an error margin of 0.5%, Sora."

Sora blinked. "Error? I cross checked that so many times! What did you find out?"

"The data as such is quite accurate." said Akashi clearing his throat. "But I must tell you, you spelt 'committee' as 'comittee' once. And also 'records' was missing a 'd'."

"They're typos! There's a difference."

"They're errors alright."

"It's not fair anyway." muttered Sora. "But anyway, how did you even get the time to do this? I barely finished mine...."

"Sora?"

"Hmm?"

"I am trying to finish checking a dozen reports here. Could you maintain silence for a bit?"

Sora made a face and shuffled her papers. Both of them worked in silence for a while. "Sora?" said Akashi. Sora looked up from her pile. "Your silence is disconcerting." said Akashi. Sora picked up the stapler on her table and pretended to weigh it in her hand and made a slight throwing action. "Really.... You'll never do it anyway." said Akashi rolling his eyes. Akira entered the room. "Good timing, Tamotsu." said Akashi. "There are some entries in your report that you need to check. And here. Take these papers to Yukiteru. He needs to make a few alterations. He'll know." he said handing Akira a bundle of papers.

"Hold it! I'm not on mail duty. I just came to see Sora-chan." said Akira.

"Thank you, Tamotsu. I'll get going, Sora."

"Wait!" protested Akira.

"Weirdo...." called out Sora.

"Unfortunately I don't have the time to settle our dispute. Later." promised Akashi and left.

"What do I look like?" demanded Akira.

"Scapegoat?" said Sora with a grin.

"Ha ha. Funny." said Akira sarcastically. "More importantly, did you just call him a weirdo?"

"Long story." said Sora.

"Nae, won't you pay for it later?"

"Who cares?" said Sora. "Nae, you wanted to ask me something?"

"Oh. Forgot.... I think it was about the matches. Who will we be facing first?"

"Dunno. Coach and Miyu-san narrowed it down to four teams." said Sora.

"Who?"

"Yomiyama, Yorukei and two others." said Sora ticking them off.

"Pushovers." said Akira nonchalantly.

"Aomine 2.0....." muttered Sora.

"Excuse me! I am not like aho." exclaimed Akira.

"Didn't sound like it." teased Sora.

"Do you think I'm coming down with the syndrome?" said Akira nervously. Sora had taken to nicknaming over confidence followed by a temporary disinterest to play as 'Aomine syndrome' in their previous year.

"Don't worry, Akira-san. You won't get something like that." assured Sora.

"How do you know?" said Akira somewhat tearfully.

"Because I have a cure for it." said Sora with a wink.

"A cure?"

Sora suddenly stepped forward and tweaked Akira's ear. "Ouch, ouch, ouch. That hurt!" said Akira. "You nuts?"

"Don't tell anyone the cure." said Sora grinning.

"You know what, I have a cure for midget syndrome." said Akira, cracking her knuckles. Sora rolled her eyes. "As if you'll actually do it, Ms. Female titan*"

(A/N: *Reference from 'Attack on titan.')

"Midget." repeated Akira. "Anyway, I don't want to offend your precious red head."

"I assume you have better things to do than to rile me." said Sora shaking her head.

Akira groaned. "Which reminds me... I'm on courier duty, right? Nae, am I allowed to curse the redhead?"

"No..."

"Fine then. For your sake. Bye, bye, Sora-chan."

Just then a blur of pink appeared at the door. "Sora-chan." said Satsuki panting. "I wanted to speak to you."

"My, my Satsuki-chan. You seem to be running a lot lately. Sit down!" chided Sora.

"I wanted to meet you on the roof. I was waiting and you didn't turn up." said Satsuki reproachfully.

"Eh?" said Sora.

"Oh.... I came to tell you that." said Akira. "The red head put me off."

"I need to talk to you, Sora-chan." said Satsuki.

"I'll be off then." said Akira, edging towards the door.

"Really, is Akira-san that allergetic to girl-talk?" mused Sora.

"Sora-chan, something turned up." said Satsuki mournfully.

"What is it, Satsuki-san?" said Sora.

"I need your help."