Teiko's basketball III: Three's a charm

Pep talk

"Yukiji-san... Akira-san..."

Sora had pulled Yukiji and Akira out of the locker room an hour before their match began.

"What is it?" said Akira a bit apprehensively. Sora had a very determined expression on her face. "Describe the qualifiers last year," said Sora. Akira and Yukiji exchanged glances.

"Dunno..." said Akira. "They just seemed to whiz by. We didn't come across any match that was too hard. Piece of cake really."

"Your opinion?" said Sora addressing Yukiji next.

"Pretty much the same. The tough ones come only after the qualifiers," said Yukiji with a shrug.

"Good.... Now if anyone from the team asks, they were like hell. You wouldn't have won if you hadn't given it your all. Got it?" said Sora.

"But the qualifiers are boring..." protested Akira.

"I don't care! It's enough if you know that. You don't have to share your knowledge with the rest of the team and make them put up a sloppy performance," said Sora.

"They'll find out anyway," pointed out Yukiji.

"It'll be a few matches before they do," assured Sora.

"Meh... Is this really worth it?" said Akira.

"Akira-san...."

"Yeah?"

"Do as you're told."

Akira gulped "Okay." And then she added under her breath, "As expected from the empress. Once a midget, always a midget."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," said Akira hastily.

"I think it was something related to small stature and huge egos," said Yukiji with a giggle.

"Shut up!" protested Akira.

"Eh... There are actually many of us in the club you know," said Sora glancing at Akira.

"Sorry!" said Akira. "I don't want my head hacked off by a midget army."

Sora coughed. "Then quit being so derogatory."

"I do try..." muttered Akira.

"Ant – 1, Lighthouse – 0" whispered Yukiji.

"Seriously? Are we keeping score now?" said Akira.

"Akira-san, Yukiji-san, shouldn't we be getting back to the locker room?" said Sora.

"Yeah!" said Akira.

"You guys go on. I'll catch up. I gotta buy a soda," said Yukiji.

"Eh... I didn't know you were such a huge fan of soda," said Sora. "Didn't you just buy a tin in the morning."

"True. But it's got a dent in it," said Yukiji with a grimace.

"So? Who cares?" said Akira.

"My lucky item is a can today. I can't have an imperfect lucky item," said Yukiji patiently.

"It's going to be on the bench," pointed out Akira. "I bet you can't even see the dent."

"But I can feel it," said Yukiji with a shudder. "Gotta go." Saying this, she headed over to the vending machines.

"Is it just me, or do we seem to be getting weirder every day?" said Akira.

"I get that feeling too," said Sora with a shrug. "Let's go. I want to be in there the whole of the last hour."