The Book of Misfortune: Bleeding (Part One)

[amsthedamned]

Title: Bleeding (Part One)

Author: amsthedamned

Pairing/Subject: Yamada Ryosuke x OC

Rating: PG (to be safe)

Genre: Tragedy, Romance, slight comedy, Slice of Life, Friendship

Part Two :  Bleeding Part Two



“Ryosuke-kun…” a girl clad in a black dress approached a good looking man. His hair was a little messy, but there was no doubt that he looked good. He too was clad in black wearing a black polo shirt and dark pants. The first two buttons of his polo were left undone. He looked at the girl who talked to him.

“I am so sorry for your loss.” She told him.

“Niarra,” Ryosuke tried to smile. “It’s not my loss. I’m sorry about your sister.” And when he said that, Niarra’s eyes widened and he eyes narrowed like she was going to have a fit. Tears started to gather in her eyes.

“How can you say that!?” she broke out. There weren’t much people in the cemetery that time so it wasn’t going to be a big scene. Ryosuke looked shocked when she broke out. “You loved her! Of course it’s also going to be your loss!” she broke into tears. She sniffed and started to wipe the tears that were rolling down her cheeks.

“Niarra, I-“ he tried to say.

“Don’t you ‘Niarra’ me!” she mocked him. “Don’t act like you didn’t love her. She loved you as much and it pained her not to tell you that.” She turned around, roughly wiping away the tears and left him. Ryosuke wanted to chase after her and apologize. He had been a douche to her and brought her sister into this. He had to understand, she was just a kid after all.

He sighed and turned his attention to the grave stone of a person. Her name was engraved on the marble and a few words of dedicative memories. He closed his eyes, trying to remember the greatest moments he had with her.

--X--

“Gambatte, onee-chan!” a little girl said, looking up to one of the people she idolized the most. The taller girl leaned down a bit to be around the same level as the smaller one. She smiled at the little girl.

“I’ll do my best, Niarra.” She said, holding her hand up for a high five. The girl took the signal and also high fived her older sister smiling. The older girl looked at her younger sister. She was a few years younger and she was very cute.  She had jet black hair and eyes with bangs framing her face delicately.

“Ne,” an older woman spoke, holding onto the shoulders of Niarra. “Amanda, you do your best. I believe you can get in.” she smiled. The older girl smiled and looked up to her mother. She stood up properly. They had an obvious height difference, Amanda being taller by a few inches even though her mother was already wearing heels. She had light brown hair, since she was a mix blood and very light skin. She had a pointy nose and chocolate coloured eyes. Her hair was let loose an rested gently below her shoulders.

“Mama,” Amanda smiled, taking her mother’s hand in hers. “I will get in. I promise.” She smiled sweetly.

“Nee-san will get in!” Niarra said, loudly and cutely at the same time, doing a super hero stance which inloved her standing straight, legs apart and her right fist in the air. Amanda and her mother laughed.

“Amanda.” A deep voice spoke. Amanda tensed up when she heard this voice. She slowly looked to the stern man behind her mother. It was obvious he wasn’t Japanese because of his olive skin and structure.

“Papa…” Amanda gulped. She had the most utmost respect for him and she feared him at the same time. She couldn’t remember a time where she wasn’t afraid of her father. She was even surprised that he had driven them here to take her university entrance examinations.

“Do you best.” He said.

And for once, she saw him smile making her smile as well. Amanda nodded.

“I will, papa.”

--X--

Yamada Ryosuke walked casually into the campus as if he were already studying there. His cool aura caught the attention of some students as he walked through the cobblestone pathway towards a white building. He adjusted the bag on his shoulder when he felt it slipping off his shoulder. Today was the day he was taking an entrance exam to a university.

He smiled as he was getting closer to the doors. The sun shone brightly, but he was under the shade of the trees. It was the perfect day for him. He knew that this was going to be the university he was going to in the future. He entered the building and walked towards the elevator. Along with him were a few students; others he recognized from the same high school. He waited for an elevator to come down to the ground floor. He dug his hand into his pocket and took out a piece of paper.

It was his exam permit.

He looked at it with a smile. He looked at his name printed along with the designated time and date of his exam and the room. He double checked that he was on time and it was going to be today. He smiled when he saw everything was going in order. He heard a giggle from a group of female students. He turned his head a little to see girls all giggling at a single corner. He noticed that a few of them were looking at him and squealed in delight when they noticed he was also looking at them. He just laughed it off.

It wasn’t a gift that he was handsome. For him, it was a curse at the same time, gathering the attention of most people and their affections as well. He really didn’t want them, but it was still offered to him. He folded the piece of paper again and put it back in his pocket; he was going to need it again later.

“Ryosuke!” a hoarse voice called out to him. He turned around to see a tall lanky boy walk up to him. Unlike Ryosuke, he was a very tall boy. This was none other than his best friend, Nakajima Yuto. Yuto like Ryosuke was also deemed good looking and not to mention was rumoured to be a model. But they both knew that those were all just jokes and usually just let those words aside.

“Yuto, I was starting to think you overslept.” Ryosuke greeted him, both of them doing their handshake as a sign of their long friendship. Yuto laughed.

“Oversleep and miss this test? You are underestimating me.” Yuto smiled. Ryosuke just chuckled.

PING!

Ryosuke and Yuto looked over to the available elevator. There weren’t much people and they noticed that the elevator was large enough to accommodate almost everyone on the ground floor. Ryosuke and Yuto got on. Ryosuke pressed the number nine on the panel while Yuto pressed the number fourteen.

“We’re not on the same floor.” Yuto frowned, knowing he was going to be separated from his best friend. Ryosuke patted his back in a dramatic way, pretending to feel sorry for his friend. Yuto pretended to sniff and tried to fake tears.

“You can do it…” Ryosuke said and got out of the elevator when it stopped on the ninth floor.

“See you later then!” Yuto bid farewell before the elevator completely closed. Ryosuke looked around and noticed there were some students still loitering in the hallways while some entered into a few rooms. Ryosuke took out his permit and started to look for the room.

He walked down the hallways, looking at the room number searching for his, but at the same time, catching the attention and smiles of females in the area. He never really minded them but he was starting to get tired.

Ryosuke snapped out of his thoughts when he bumped into someone, causing the person to fall butt-first onto the floor. He knew he was a bit strong since he was captain of the soccer team in his school.

“Are you alright?” Ryosuke said, his hand stretching out to help the girl up. He noticed that she looked foreign, light brown hair and chocolate brown eyes with a white complexion and other non-oriental features.

“Ow…” she complained a bit, taking his hand and standing up. She was just shorter than him by an inch or two. “Yeah… I’m fine.” She responded patting her butt off and grabbing her messenger bag on the floor.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.” Ryosuke smiled. He was expecting the girl to go all oogle-eye on him. However, the girl looked at him straight on and smiled, like she was immune to his looks. Ryosuke was amazed, this was the first girl outside his family that he had come across that never giggled whenever he spoke to them.

“That’s fine.” She smiled. “Kind of my fault as well.”

“I see.” Ryousuke said. He studied her face a little more. He felt like he knew her from somewhere but he couldn’t pinpoint where. He knew he had seen her face before. Before anymore thoughts ran through his mind, he was interrupted.

“RYO-SU-KEEE!” he heard a loud wailing voice call his name as well as fast running footsteps approaching. He turned around to see Yuto running towards him dragging along behind him was another one of their friends, Chinen Yuri.

“Yuto-san?” the girl said in a questioning tone. Ryosuke turned his attention to her immediately. She knew Yuto?

“Yuto! Stop dragging me!” Yuri said as he released himself from Yuto’s grip, gently holding the wrist that was almost detached from his body. Yuto turned his attention first to Ryosuke then to the girl and smiled when he saw her. Ryosuke started to wonder if his best friend was keeping secrets from him.

“Ama-chan!” Yuto said, giving the girl a high five. “No way, you’re taking the exam here too?” he asked excitingly, smiling and already making conversation with her.

‘Ama-chan?’ Ryosuke thought. He was sure he had seen this girl before somewhere. But the name didn’t sound familiar. He noticed Yuri also approach the girl and started to converse with her. Was he the only one who didn’t know this girl?

“Ne,” Yuto’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Ryosuke looked at them to find the three awkwardly looking at him. And he was supposed to be the cool one here. “You don’t remember Ama-chan?”

“How many times did I have to tell you not to call me that?” the girl said, lightly hitting him on the head. Yuto winced slightly but was still laughing as if he were expecting the antics from this girl.

“Uhm…” he was starting to feel embarrassed that he didn’t know her. But on second thought, was he supposed to know her?  He wanted to get to know her, knowing now that she didn’t go gaga on him.

“Ba-ka~” Yuto said, hitting the back of Ryosuke’s head lightly. Ryosuke shot him a glare. “This is Sato Amanda, captain of the female basketball team.” Yuto added, patting her strongly on the back. Ryosuke seemed to remember her now. No wonder Yuto knew her. Unlike him, Yuto was captain of the basketball team. There was no doubt he would know her.

‘Sato Amanda… I better remember that.’ Ryosuke thought.

“Hi.” Ryosuke said holding his hand out. “I’m Yamada Ryosuke.” He introduced himself. He’s never met her formally before but he’s sure he’s seen her around campus. Amanda took his hand and shook it as well.

“Sato Amanda.” She smiled. “It’s nice to finally meet the captain of the football team.” She shook his hand. He noticed her hand wasn’t as rough as the hands of the other players. They seemed delicate and untouched as if she never worked in her entire life.

“Nice to meet you too.” Ryosuke smiled towards her. Yuto and Yuri noticed that this was one of those rare times Ryosuke smiled at a girl. Yuto suddenly had a devilish smile on his face which Yuri did not miss out on.

“Everyone,” a man in formal attire called out on a megaphone. The group turned their attention to him as he was walking through the halls. Yuto and Yuri groaned. They had to leave and it was a few flights of stairs up. And Yuto hated running up the stairs as for some reason it quickly made him tired.

“Please go back to your assigned rooms immediately. We are starting the exam.” He spoke. Yuto looked at the two.

“Well then, Yuri and I have to go now.” Yuto said, already starting to walk away along with Yuri. “Ryosuke, take care of her. Our basketball team needs her” he said jokingly. Ryosuke just laughed at the antics of his friend and turned to the room where he was assigned. At the same time, he noticed Amanda also going towards the same room.

“Hey,” she said happily. “We’re in the same room.”

“I guess we are.” Ryosuke smiled back at her opening the door for her. Amanda smiled at him and went inside the classroom and to her assigned seat which Ryosuke noticed wasn’t far from his. He didn’t know why, but a feeling was starting to grow inside him.

He felt comfortable around her.

--X--

Ryosuke listened to music casually as he entered the school grounds. A few girls around him were swooned by his aura and presence, giggling aside and just looking at him in awe. He was used to that kind of treatment. It had been a day already since he poured out his entire brain on the test and he felt already brain drained. He casually ran a hand through his hair and entered the building. He approached his locker to change his shoes when he saw a familiar figure walk by.

“Sato-san?” he questioned the girl carrying a large blue duffle bag that had the school name on it as well as her name and varsity number. The girl removed her earphones and took out her iPhone, and turned the music off and turned her attention to him, putting down the large bag.

“Ohayou, Yamada-san.” She greeted sweetly as she opened her locker and started to change her shoes. She rolled up the wire of the earphones around her phone and hid it inside her pocket. “I don’t see you around this early…” she smiled as she put her shoes inside her locker.

Ryosuke looked at his watch and noticed he was an hour early for his first class. He sighed. No wonder why he couldn’t see Yuto or Yuri around. He didn’t even know why he was even this early at school. He noticed Amanda smile at him as she picked up her bag; compared to the bag he brings during his games, this looked heavier.

“Uhm…” he nervously scratched the back of his neck, not knowing what to answer. “I just decided to come to school early.” He replied after a short pause, noticing that she was about to leave. “You always come this early, Sato-san?”

“Please don’t call me Sato-san,” she faced him with a sweet smile, lifting her shoulder carrying the bag a little. “You can call me Amanda.”

“Ok. So, Amanda-san, do-“ he tried to say when the girl interjected him yet again.

“Drop the ‘-san’ please.” She said and slowly started to walk away. Ryosuke noticed she wasn’t like the other girls who didn’t know what they would want. She knew exactly how she wanted to be called and she seemed comfortable around him. He wondered why he never met her formally before that day. He snapped out of his thoughts and noticed she was already walking slowly, tapping away on her phone. Ryousuke smiled and walked up to her, grabbing the bag on her shoulder and slinging it on his.

“Huh?” she turned and faced him, surprised by his actions.

“This looks heavy.” Ryosuke said, walking right beside her to wherever she was headed. Amanda smiled at him and chuckled. “And it is heavy…” Amanda smiled at him and laughed, trying to get her bag back.

“I can carry it.” She said, trying to grab the bag back but Ryosuke leaned away, the bag out of her grasp even more.  Amanda raised an eyebrow at him and just kept walking beside him. “I’m on my way to the gym to drop that off.” She told him.

“I might as well come with you.” He replied, casually putting his hands in his pockets, looking at her. He felt his lips form a frown when he saw her smiling at her phone was she tapping away a reply to whoever she was messaging with. Ryosuke never noticed her before. She was pretty when you actually looked at her. She wasn’t stick thin like most of the girls in the school and she barely wore any make up.

“So,” she closed her phone and looked at him with a smile. “Why carry my bag?” she said, taking a look at the heavy duffle bag. It didn’t look like he was having a hard time carrying it. Unlike her, she had trouble just bringing it to school.

“Well, it wouldn’t be proper for a gentleman like me to just let a lady like you carry something this heavy.” He stepped away a little when he noticed her trying to grab the bag yet again. He chuckled about on how she was so determined on getting the bag from him. “You better be faster than that, Sato-san.” He complimented her, grabbing the outstretched wrist. Amanda looked at him and smiled, retracting her wrist.

“Why not let me carry my own bag?” Amanda told him, taking a look back at a small group of girls following them closely behind. “People might be starting to think that something is going on between us…” Amanda said pulling out her phone when it rang. Ryosuke noticed her smiling then laughing a bit. What was she laughing about?

“Nande?” he asked, really curious and hoping he would get the answer he needed. Amanda quickly tapped a reply and pressed the ‘Send’ button before keeping it in her pocket. She looked at him with an amused look on her face.

“It’s Yuto-kun.” She replied, chuckling as she remembered the last text. Ryosuke felt a pain shoot right through him. She was laughing from a message sent by Yuto? Was she dating Yuto? Why hasn’t Yuto told him anything? “He messed up again. Asking who was taking the gym today.” She laughed as they entered the gym, Ryosuke holding the door open for her like the gentleman he is. Ryosuke tried to pass off a laugh. He thought he sounded convincing. He knew Yuto could sometimes be an airhead like that.

The large space was lit up, the basketball floor newly polished, the bleachers swept and clean and all the equipment put away in their proper location. They walked across the basketball court and into the locker rooms.

When they passed through the doors, the first locker rooms were the Football teams, followed by the volleyball team, and then right across one another were the basketball teams; the female locker room to their left and the male locker room to the right. Amanda walked in to her locker room. Ryosuke on the other hand remained outside, thinking if he should enter even though there wasn’t anybody in the room. The door swung open, Amanda holding it open for him.

“Aren’t you going to come in?” she smiled. Ryosuke smiled gently at her, loving the quirky antics she had as if he was just a regular person that no one admired.

All he knew, she was entirely different.

--X--

“And Nakayama scores with a three pointer!” Ryosuke heard one of the boys beside him as he sat down beside Yuto. Currently, they were in a basketball gym of the rival school for a basketball game. Yuto wasn’t playing of course since it was a girl’s game. He had tried to come early but he got caught up with sticking to his sister’s complaints.

“Hey, sorry I’m late.” He said, looking at the game. Ten girls were running in the court to his left, inside a large arc were five girls; they were from his school from the color of the uniform. Two girls in the front line while the three were in the back. Around them, they were surrounded by girls in a red basketball uniform. Ryosuke saw Amanda in the center at the back line, shouting commands to the girls with her. He smiled seeing how serious her face was in this game.

“We’re down by fourteen points.” Yuto commented, looking at the score board. The score currently was 40-54. Ryosuke noticed how tense Yuto was. Though he didn’t know exactly why. He turned his attention back to the game. He didn’t know what was going on with the rumble of girls running around in what seemed to be a tactical movement in basketball.

The opposing team tried to shoot but it was to no avail, bouncing off the ring. The rebounder of the ball was Amanda. She kept her grip on the ball after some players tried to snag a chance to get it from her. Ryosuke was confused a bit as to why her teammates started running to the opposing court, being chased by the opponents. Amanda threw the ball high and hard and they watched it fly into the hands of her teammate, who just in time, easily made a lay-up and scored two points.

“Yatta!” Yuto stood up and cheered along with other people from his school out to support the women’s team. Ryosuke, in the spur of the moment cheered along as well even though he didn’t know what was completely going on.

“If we can catch up in the last quarter, we’re moving onto the finals!” Yuto said happily. A buzzer sounded and Ryosuke looked onto the game floor and saw the players going off the court and taking cups of water from their side while their coach was talking to them. Ryosuke also noticed that Amanda was taking a lot of the pressure from the game.

“Let’s go down.” Yuto stood up and started to walk away.

“O-Oi!” Ryosuke also stood up and ran along with Yuto. The two went down to the game floor where they were greeted by various members of the basketball team. Ryosuke recognized some of them, being his classmates and such.

“Hey!” he heard a chirpy voice. Ryosuke looked to see Amanda approaching him and Yuto. He put a smile on his face as she approached them. He noticed how big her uniform was compared to her but she was wearing an under shirt underneath. On her arms were a few muscle tapes.

“Amanda-chan!” Yuto greeted her first as Ryosuke was about to say something. He didn’t mind for now. Of course, the two seemed close to one another both being the captains and such. But for Ryosuke, it looked like they were too close.

“You guys are playing great! Keep it up so you guys can move on to the finals!” Yuto complimented her excitingly. Probably because the men’s basketball team was eliminated the other day and the women’s team had more home than them. Amanda’s face lit up which in some way, pained Ryosuke because it wasn’t him that made her smile.

“Thanks.” She replied, wiping the back of her neck with a towel. She eyed Ryosuke for a while and smiled at him. Ryosuke didn’t know why but when she did that, it felt like his heart skipped a beat. Normally, he wasn’t like this but this girl was an exception.

“This is a surprise.” She put the towel over her shoulder. “Seeing you in my game. Yuto-san would always watch but, this is the first time I see you watching.”

“Ah.” Ryosuke smiled. Of course, normally Yuto would invite him to watch along but basketball never caught his interest. When it was sports, he was mostly focused on his football and concentrated on that alone. But in this case, it looked like another thing caught his interest.

“Yuto invited me to watch. So I came.” When Ryosuke said that, he noticed a smile grow on her face. And it wasn’t a simple smile like she would usually do towards Yuto, but to him, it looked like she was glad that he came. It made Ryosuke smile at her as well. He didn’t know why, but slowly, he was starting to like her.

The buzzer sounded and all the girls started to shuffle, removing the towels and and drowning themselves with water to refresh themselves. Amanda frowned for a minute then turned her head to her teammates then back at him.

“I have to go. I’ll catch up with you later?” she asked.

“Sure.” Ryosuke replied, walking away with Yuto going back to their seats. They sat as it was already a few seconds into the game, the opposing team having the ball in their possession. The two boys watched the team earnestly, supporting them for the chance at the finals.

“Ano, Ryo-chan…” Yuto’s words trailed off as the opposing team missed a shot once again and a teammate of Amanda started to dribble the ball to the other side of the court.

“Yeah?” Ryosuke sounded curious, still not taking his eyes off Amanda as she charged through the middle and successfully made a layup, scoring another two points for the team narrowing down the lead to ten. Ryosuke didn’t notice that Yuto was looking at him. And at that same point, Ryosuke was smiling.

“Do you like her?” Yuto asked openly. Ryosuke didn’t seem to pay attention at him at first, but then turned his attention suddenly to him, shocked by the question. Yuto was amused with the look on his face.

“W-What are you saying?” he stuttered at first, praying in his head that Yuto had not noticed that. “We’re friends, that’s all.”

“Friends? Just friends?” Yuto questioned his answer. At that point, he noticed a slight hint of red on his cheeks. Yuto smirked, hoping he could push the envelope a bit further. He noticed how concentrated Ryosuke was on the game that he barely could take his eyes off the court.

“You do know I’m courting her right?” Yuto lied, obviously. He wasn’t interested in Amanda the same way Ryosuke looked like he was. When Yuto said this, he just wanted to burst out into laughter then and there when the pretty boy turned to him with a shocked a worried expression. Yuto could think of all the things that were running in his head that the moment. But instead of bursting out to laughter, Yuto kept a straight face and looked like he was serious about what he was doing.

“N-Nani?” Ryosuke’s attention wasn’t at the game anymore, not seeing Amanda score a three-pointer and two other teammates scoring a three-pointer and two-pointer respectively. Yuto nodded, pretending that he was dead serious.

“I am.” He nodded. “I’ve been drop dead in love with her since the day I met her.” He wanted to laugh when he saw the smile on his face drop and a sign of hopelessness surface.

“I see.” Ryosuke replied in a dead tone. “B-Be happy with her then.” He stood up and started to leave. In the court side at the same time, Amanda notice Ryosuke starting to leave and she herself lost concentration on the game, causing her to lose the ball and giving her opponents an easy two points.

“SATO! What the hell!?” her couch yelled. “You let them get away!” he yelled at her, making the other girls frightened of him. Amanda snapped back into her thoughts after she was yelled at and concentrated on the game. But the reaction of Ryosuke lingered at the back of her mind.

“E-Eh?” Yuto asked, a bit puzzled by the reaction of his friend. Ryosuke was already walking away, hurt by the fact that in his mind, he knew he couldn’t compete for the affection of Amanda. Afterall, how long had the two known each other anyway? It wasn’t going to work out between them.

“Ryosuke-kun! Where are you going?” Yuto asked catching up to him. Ryosuke looked at him, a slight sense of depression around him. Maybe he pushed the envelope a little too far. He thought it was time to tell him about the prank after he found out the truth.

Before Ryosuke was about to say anything a whistle blew and the two looked down at the court to see what had happened. Amanda was lying on the floor, holding her head and what looked like she was breathing heavily. Unlike Yuto, Ryosuke was alerted and had a panicked look on his face. Yuto knew that his friend had feelings for her.

“Sato-san!” a girl screamed and the whole team gathered onto the court. The coach even walked over bringing along with him a medical kit. Yuto and Ryosuke rushed down to the court to check up on her.

“Sumimasen!” Yuto said and pushed through, closely behind him was Ryosuke. When they were able to part the team already, Amanda was already sitting up talking to the referee about what had happened.

“But I’m fine…” Amanda smiled. The referee nodded and made a signal for the game to go on.

“What happened?” Yuto asked a player.

“Amanda-san was on a fast break then another player caught up on her and she tripped. We thought she tripped on purpose.” A girl explained. “She fell hard though. The impact seemed great.” She added. Ryosuke was listening but deep inside he was relieved that she was alright. He didn’t know that basketball could also be dangerous at times.

“Don’t tell me you got scared?” her voice snapped him out of his thoughts. At that point he had nothing to say and just smiled at her.

“No. Yuto was.” Ryosuke said innocently, not knowing the truth yet. Amanda looked puzzled. What on earth? Why was Yuto worried for her? Yuto overheard this of course and looked at the two, Amanda with a puzzled look on her face and Ryosuke just smiling at her like he didn’t have a care in the world. And at that exact moment, Amanda’s attention went to him and gave him a “what-the-hell” look.

“Ryosuke~ we should let them continue the game.” Yuto said and pulled him out of the court and into the sidelines, leaving Amanda in the middle, still puzzled and confused about what was going on. Once everything was done and cleared, the game resumed, Amanda refusing to sit out on the last minutes of the game.

“Ryosuke!” Yuto complained to him in a silent whining voice. Ryosuke looked puzzled at him, not knowing what was really going on. “It was all a joke!” Yuto admitted.

“What was?” Ryosuke asked, innocently curious but at the same time he kind of got the vibe Yuto was pulling on him.

“Me courting her!” Yuto admitted. “I’m not courting her. I’m courting her friend.” He explained further. At that moment, Ryosuke held back a laugh and looked away, not wanting to offend Yuto but he felt like he did offend him anyways. This was the first time he had heard that Yuto was courting someone and he felt stupid for believing that he was courting Amanda. It wasn’t long before until he started to chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Yuto asked, a little annoyed about what was going on. But he knew it was his fault for tricking his friend.

“Baka.” Ryosuke snapped towards him, the sense of him laughing was entirely gone like he wasn’t even laughing in the first place. “Why’d you have to trick me like that?”

Before Yuto could place an answer, a whistle blew again. The two snapped their heads towards the court to see what was going on. There were only a few seconds left and the score, the opponent only leading by one point. And the great news about what was happening, the ball was in their possession.

Everyone immediately rushed towards their coach, as he was trying to coach them on what to do in those last seconds.

“This is a crucial moment.” Yuto looked panicked. It looked like it was going to be a very tight game between the two teams. It was going to be a do or die moment. Ryosuke noticed how serious the entire team looked around the coach, Amanda feeling the pressure being put on her shoulders. Everything depended on what was going to happen in the…

Ryosuke looked at the clock. There was only ten seconds left. He felt Yuto tense up before. It was within these ten seconds that their hard work would either go down the drain or work out for them. Ryosuke had been in the same position last year. They had a chance to score the goal and he missed it; the game ending in a loss instead of a draw that they had hoped for.

“Do you understand?” the coach asked them in the huddle. Amanda looked unsure of herself. A bit worried about the plan that was presented to her. But at the same time she had a feeling that they would be able to pull it off.

Everyone looked at each other. Ryosuke could tell they were doubtful. Only being a few points away from the championship, this was going to be so painful if this suddenly slipped away from their grasp.

“Ano, Captain, what do you think?” one of the girls asked Amanda. Amanda looked at the entire team. All of them looked at her, her decision being the deciding fate. She bit her lower lip; this was going to be a crucial decision.

“We can do it.” Amanda said, smiling slightly. “I have faith in all of you.”

Those were the last words Amanda said before the referee blew the whistle again, signalling the end of the timeout. Amanda and four other players went onto the court and continued the game.

“What are they planning to do?” Ryosuke asked. The game started again, and the clock started to tick. For some reason time seemed to go slower. Or probably everyone moved too quickly. Someone charged towards the middle, dribbling the ball. She was about to shoot, but instead, passed it to Amanda who was at the three point line. The opponents immediately rushed to Amanda.

This was tensing Ryosuke badly. There were only less than five seconds left. At the last minute, Amanda passed the ball to another teammate who was open, far from any position of the opponent. She then took the chance and decided to shoot the ball.

Yuto and Ryosuke watched nervously, and at the last second, the ball went in, ending the game In a win for them. And once that referee blew that whistle, everyone erupted in a cheer of laughter and joy. Their school had just moved onto the finals.

Ryosuke looked through the crowd of the girls jumping and squealing on the court. Despite the manly appearance they put up on the court, it reminded him that they were still girls and that when something happy or glad happens to them, they get all jumpy and excited.

“We won!”

“Championships here we come!”

“Defend the title!”

Those were some of the cheers they heard.

“Yatta!!” Yuto was so glad that he lifted Ryosuke up in the air twirled him in the air. “We won! We won!” even he joined in the celebration.

“Yuto! Put me down!” Ryosuke said, lightly hitting him at the same time. Yuto put him down and also joined in the celebration. Well, the girls from the basketball team would normally feel comfortable around Yuto.

He just watched the celebration go on.

And within the crowd, he saw Amanda smile at him.

--X--

“Admit it!”

“No.”

“Come on, I won’t tell anyone!” Yuto pleaded. It had been a few days since Yuto pulled the courting stint, and a total of over a month since Ryosuke first met Amanda officially. Yuto had a theory in his head that within that time frame, Ryosuke had taken a liking to the basketball player.

“I told you, we’re just friends.” Ryosuke said, looking through his notes and studying. Yuto had pulled up a chair and sat in front of Ryosuke. Yuto gave him a straight face. It wasn’t like Ryosuke to be like this.

“A-Ano! Amanda-chan!” they heard a squeaky voice right outside their classroom. Ryosuke and Yuto turned their attention to the door way to see Amanda a girl talking. Amanda looked like she was trying to talk the girl into something. But she looked too shy to even do it. It was then that Ryosuke remembered something.

“Is that… the girl you’re courting?” Ryosuke whisper-yelled towards Yuto. He noticed how Yuto tensed up slightly and he was slightly turning red. He took a good look at the girl. She was shorter than Ryosuke, making her way shorter than Yuto. It would look like a giant was walking beside her. He had to admit Yuto had some good taste in him. She was cute, a bit shy for his liking but there was no doubt that she seemed to like him back.

Amanda talked to the girl some more and when the girl finally nodded; Amanda poked her head into their classroom. Ryosuke, trying to impress her went back to immediately studying. Yuto started to slightly fix himself up. Like he had been waiting for this day.

“Don’t get too nervous Yuto.” Ryosuke reminded him, a little happy for his friend. Yuto gulped and looked at him with a nod.

“I’ll do my best.” Yuto smiled and stood up, walking towards Amanda who was waiting at the door. Ryosuke watched as Amanda seemed to introduce the both of them when he saw the girl bow and Yuto bow down as well. He held back a laugh, looking at how geeky and dorky Yuto looked when he was in front of the girl he liked. After a while, Yuto and the girl, walked off slowly, Amanda, smiling at them.

Ryosuke didn’t realize he was looking at her too long until she waved at him and entered his classroom and approached him. And unlike Yuto, he was unprepared for this moment.

“Hey.” She smiled at him and sat down on the seat Yuto was previously sitting in. Ryosuke smiled back at her. According to Yuto’s “theory” about him and Amanda, he had already fallen for her. But Ryosuke himself couldn’t even answer that question. “Sorry if I stole your friend away for a while.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Ryosuke smiled. He had been trying to get Yuto off his back for quite some time and she was just the perfect time for her to arrive. Amanda looked at what he was doing. Math. She wanted to groan and complain to him why on earth he was doing math. But she had other things in mind that boggled her head.

“I have a question to ask you.” Amanda’s tone in her voice suddenly turned a bit more serious. Ryosuke’s heart skipped a beat to be completely honest and he didn’t know why. He kept a calm face on an looked at her.

“Sure, what is it?”

“It would be best to talk in private.” She sweetly smiled and stood up. Ryosuke didn’t know whether he should be happy or nervous.

“Sure.” He replied. He stood up and followed her to wherever she was going to talk to him. As far as he knew, there had been a rumour spreading around that Amanda was seeing a boy from another school. Of course, Ryosuke couldn’t find any way to confirm those suspicions.

It was then it hit him, why was he getting jealous over such a petty thing? He walked beside her, taking a few glances from time to time. He never did know why he was so intrigued by her. She wasn’t like most girls. They walked down the halls, side by side; the feeling in him was insatiable. He noticed how some girls were looking at her coldly, probably because they were part of that small fan club he heard about. Sometimes, he would get a shiver down his spine and notice that the boys were looking coldly towards him. But he shrugged them off. The feeling that other guys were jealous of him was making him victorious in the inside.

Ryosuke noticed that she had brought him to a quiet area at the back of the school, the football field. Ryosuke normally felt relax and calm in this area. This was his area of specialty, the only place where he could be himself. He noticed Amanda sit on the grass, making sure her skirt wouldn’t fly up.

“So, what is it you wanted to talk about?” Ryosuke asked, acting cool and sat beside Amanda. He was getting nervous if he could keep his cool-guy image up. Being around her sometimes made him feel all nervous at times and he didn’t want to admit that Yuto was right; about him liking her and all.

“Yuto-san told me to talk to you,” Amanda started off, looking at him, a little more serious than usual. “About the little stint in my last game, he told me were worried about me when I fell…?” She smiled slightly, looking a bit shy about what had happened.

“Ah,” Ryosuke was now mentally planning his murder on Yuto. The scumbag. “… well, you’re a friend. And the captain of the basketball team.” He was trying to make it sound convincing. “And that looked like a hard fall.”

“I fell on purpose.”

Ryosuke was about to say something but then it got to him. She fell on purpose.

“E-Eh…?!” was all he could muster up at the moment. He turned his head to face her, only to see the girl, her legs curled up to her chest, resting her chin on them as her arms were wrapped around her legs. Ryosuke noticed that there was a hint of redness to the girl’s cheeks.

“I fell on purpose. I saw you leaving and I didn’t know how to make you stay…” he trailed off, the blush on her cheeks becoming more dominant. Ryosuke couldn’t help but blush at the sight of her. At that moment, she looked to cute and feminine, unlike their previous encounters.

“W-what are you…-“ Ryosuke tried to say but was cut off.

“…Yuto-san knows…” she buried her face in her arms and trailed off, the redness in her face growing deeper. The spoke to him in a muffled voice, shyly hiding her face away.

“N-Nani…?” he questioned, though to him, he thought he heard that she liked him.

“Baka!” she threw her head up and looked at him. “Yuto-san knows that I like you!” she admitted, the obviously blush now spreading across her cheeks. She started to tear up a bit from the embarrassment she was feeling. “… I’ve liked you for a long time now…”

Ryosuke could not believe that this was happening. Did she really just confess to him? And she admitted to liking him for a long time now. And to top it all off, Yuto had known all along. A soft smile grew on his face, knowing her true feelings towards him; he was glad that she cared for him. His feelings for her, have now been confirmed.

“Hey,” Ryosuke told her. Amanda slightly wiped the little tears that had rolled down her cheeks a bit and looked at him, still beet red. She was surprised to suddenly see Ryosuke so close to her, her being speechless when his lips crashed onto hers. She felt a rush of blood come to her face.

He was kissing her.

She slowly closed her eyes, a warm feeling stirred inside her. Ryosuke slowly pulled back, parting their lips, but keeping their faces in close proximity. Ryosuke looked deep into her deep brown eyes and she looked back into his; his eyes filled with all sorts of emotions. Amanda tried to speak from what had happened, but the shock was still with her.

“I like you too.” He smiled.

--X--

“Uwah!” Niarra exclaimed, as she was walking home with her older sister from school. Amanda sighed. Along with the Sato sisters was none other than Ryosuke; being the good boyfriend he was and walking his girlfriend home from school. And not just that, this was the official meeting of Niarra and Ryosuke.

“Nia-“ Amanda tried to say but was cut off by her younger sister.

“I heard nee-san had a boyfriend but she never told me you were that cute!” she looked at Ryosuke eye wide, really amazed by how her older sister had a boyfriend. It was official between them. Well, as far as Ryosuke’s parents knew and their friends. He had introduced her to them a few days after the ‘incident’ in the field. Though at first, Ryosuke had a hard time admitting that Yuto was right about him. While Amanda was still trying to find a right time to introduce him to her parents; she didn’t want her father to suddenly strangle him.

“R-Really?” Ryosuke was flattered by all the things the younger one was saying. To be honest, he wasn’t even sure if Amanda was even the type to talk about him to her sister. He saw her sigh deeply, slightly embarrassed by her younger sister.

Sato Niarra was a freshman in their high school but didn’t look like one. She looked as if she was a middle schooler. Though at first, Ryosuke couldn’t even tell they were siblings. Niarra having the oriental esque look to her appearance with the jet black hair, narrowed eyes and the not-so-tall height as compared to her sister. Ryosuke eyed Amanda a little, giving her an “are-you-ok” look. With that she responded with a nod.

“I heard from Mika-san that you two were dating.” Niarra started to tell the unwanted story of how she found out. Masamune Mika was the cute adorable girlfriend of Yuto, and a close friend to Amanda. “I asked my parents if nee-san had a boyfriend. Then nee-san came out that she did.”

“I see.” Ryosuke replied, trying to sound polite.

“But what I didn’t know was that you were this good looking!” Niarra exclaimed.

“Niarra, stop it.” Amanda said, flushing badly. “This is embarrassing.”

“No, it’s fine.” Ryosuke smiled. Well, he didn’t want to tell her, in fear of a glare of a punch in the arm, but he always found it cute when she flushed. He liked to see it often.

“Don’t worry. Nee-san is just embarrassed cause you’re her first boyfriend.” Niarra commented, making Amanda stop in her tracks for a few seconds. Ryosuke, well, he was sort of shocked. He didn’t know that. He had thought she had a boyfriend before.

“Niarra!” Amanda yelled a little.

“Hai, hai~” Niarra said, taking a turn and started walking to the door of their house. Amanda didn’t follow her yet, but rather stayed with Ryosuke to see him off properly. Niarra opened the door and went inside the house.

“I-I’m sorry she’s just…-“ Amanda tried to say, but was cut off by a smile from Ryosuke.

“Don’t worry about it.” He comforted her. “She’s a really adorable girl.” He complimented.

“Too Adorable…” Amanda mumbled under her breathe sarcastically. She was waiting for the right time for him to meet her family. But it seemed like fate had other plans for that.

“Ne! Smile!” they heard Niarra’s voice call out to them. Ryosuke and Amanda looked towards Niarra’s direction and suddenly a sound was heard. Niarra was holding out her phone and took a picture of them.

“Mou~ Kawaii~!” Niarra said before running back into the house. Amanda sighed.

“At least we know that one family member likes me already.” He smiled and told her jokingly, kissing her cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school ok?”

Amanda’s annoyed face had turned into a smile in an instant. Ryosuke liked it when he did that. He didn’t like to see her face in a foul mood. She nodded.

“Sure. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Ryosuke smiled and pecked her lips quickly. There was never a day he did that.

“See you.” He bid farewell and started walking home.

--X--

Ryosuke was slightly nervous. This was the first time it was happening. He looked at the bleachers in the stadium to see Yuto, making his usual appearance and along with him sitting beside him was his new girlfriend, Mika. But what made Ryosuke even more nervous was that beside Mika, Amanda was sitting and smiling down at him.

And what made him happy to see here there was that she was wearing none other than his other jersey. He was happy to see that she was proud of him being her boyfriend. At the moment, Ryosuke had to return his attention back to the football match that was on going.

Currently, the score was tied with both teams having scored one goal. They needed to win this game to be the champions for this season. It was already 30 minutes into the second half and there were only 15 minutes remaining plus the added time which he computed to be only around 2 minutes and nothing more.

Ryosuke was having a hard time trying to break through the opponent’s defence after they changed it up. They had tried so hard and looking for a flaw wasn’t easy while you were in the game. He ran around to the right wing where he tried to look for an open position to score a goal, yet to no avail, defenders and other players from the opposing team were blocking his way. What was he going to do now?

Time was ticking fast in football and he needed a quick way to score the winning goal. Minutes passed and a few goal attempts from both teams, but still no goal produced to a disappointing avail. A time out was called by Ryosuke’s coach since there was only two minutes left.

“Coach,” Ryosuke complained as he drank some water. “This is hard. We can’t find any openings!”

Other members of the football team started to complain the same thing at the same time. The coach started to move some of the clips around the game board.

“Look, here’s what we gotta do…” their coach started to explain. Everyone gathered around him and listened.

“Maa~ This is a close game.” Yuto complained, looking at the field and at the scoreboard. But he knew he wasn’t as anxious as Amanda. He noticed how she was tapping her foot nervously.

“Don’t worry. She’s just holding it back in.” Mika said reassuringly to Yuto. Yuto smiled at his princess. They both knew how big a football fan Amanda was even before she started dating Ryosuke. And that she was holding back all the profanities that she wanted to yell onto the field. It looked like she couldn’t hold it back in anymore.

“Here.” Mika said, handing over a small pillow she packed just for the occasion. Amanda grabbed the pillow and screamed her heart out in a muffled scream.

“Do you always pack a small pillow?” Yuto asked, curious with Mika’s antics.

“Sometimes. I don’t like it when she screams just because of football.” She smiled at him. Yuto, loving this girl so much wrapped an arm around her shoulder and continued to watch the game.

“I can’t watch.” Amanda said, covering her eyes slightly but both of them knew that her fingers were spread out a little to see the football game.

The game continued on, Ryosuke’s team having possession of the ball. Amanda suddenly sat up straight when she noticed a sudden change in their strategy. His team started to pass the ball in a very unpredictable way, passing it to players they weren’t expecting and closely they were bringing it near the goal.

“Yes!” Amanda shot up from her seat and was leaning over the railing, getting excited about the football game.

It wasn’t long before there were only a few players nearing the goal, the one carrying the ball at the moment was Ryosuke. Amanda knew he wasn’t the one who had the opportunity to score the goal, but this game mattered to her (in the football fan way) as much as is meant to him.

Ryosuke smirked, still dribbling the ball in a fast break when he got past the defender. Though, his internal victory with himself didn’t last long when he noticed that he was short by one player to actually do what their coach told them to.

He didn’t need to look back, the time was fast approaching. They needed to score a goal and win.

--X--

“Itai!” Ryosuke yelled in the locker room as his coach rotated his foot a bit.

“That was some risky trick you pulled off there Yamada.” His coach said, slapping on a cold compress onto his ankle making Ryosuke wince in pain. “Scoring the goal is one thing, but injuring yourself to do it is another.”

“Hai.” Ryosuke complained, holding the cold compress onto his ankle. He didn’t really care. The season was over for them and they had emerged champions in the last minute, even if it did end with him having a slight ankle sprain from the shot he took. It made him feel accomplished, being the captain and all and leading this school to another victory.

But at the moment, what really made him feel comfortable even with the injury was the fact Amanda was right beside him, holding a towel to his face and wiping away the sweat off his face. Ryosuke was glad. He couldn’t have asked for a better girlfriend.

“Mou, Yama-chan should be more careful.” Yuto side commented. Ryosuke didn’t even know why he was there at the moment but he felt glad that his best friend was there with him. And along with Yuto yet again was the girl he seemed like he couldn’t let go off, Mika.

“I will be next time.” Ryosuke smiled.

“You better.” Amanda commented, smiling at him. Ryosuke smiled back, not just because he had her as a girlfriend but because right behind her was the new trophy they had won.

--X--

Amanda wanted to cry at the moment. She had never felt this much pressure put on her shoulders before. She had never experienced so many profanities yelled at her and so much disappointment in the coach’s words and eyes. It was something she wasn’t used to and didn’t like to happen. But it was happening anyways. She was captain and she had to suck it up.

“Don’t you know what this is?!” he yelled at the five girls who were currently playing on the court. Currently, the third quarter had just ended and they were trailing behind with more than sixteen points. To Amanda, that itself was already a big disappointment.

“This is the finals! I don’t know what your plans are but I want to win this game!” he yelled at them. The other girls were already starting to tear up. And everyone one knew that it was a bad idea to cry in front of the coach.

“Maa,” Niarra complained, looking at her sister getting yelled at. Ryosuke sat beside her and was also looking sorry for her. “Nee-chan is getting a lot of scolding today.”

“Don’t worry.” Ryosuke tried to look optimistic. “They’ll make it through and win this game.”

“No wonder Nee-chan likes you.” Niarra looked at him. Ryosuke looked down at the young Sato, a puzzled look on his face. “… nee-chan always liked how you were so optimistic even at times of doubt.” Those words simply made Ryosuke smile, knowing that she had so much faith in him.

“They’ll find a way to try and win this.” He said reassuringly. She was there when he needed it the most and now it was his turn to return the favour. Though at the moment, he couldn’t move that much after his minor sprain for him football match.

“… Now, let’s show them bitches and win this game.” Their coach said in the team huddle just before the buzzer sounded. Ten girls walked back onto the court. The game was resuming. In the fourth quarter, everything seemed like it was going great for them. They played better and the scoring rate was high.

A girl from Amanda’s team dribbled the ball, behind her back and in between her legs quickly. She wasn’t a tall girl but her small height made it easy for her to dribble past opponents. Though the only problem their team had was passing. They had to be fast and think quick, taking every opportunity like their own. Amanda and her other teammates were running around, making the other players go after them just enough so that an opportunity would present itself.

It had worked most of the time, after narrowing down the lead to only 2 points.

“Yuto-kun! Stop panicking!” Ryosuke heard Mika squeal. Though, it was mostly covered up by the number of students who had decided to watch the game as well. Ryosuke knew how tense Yuto was. This was going to be the third consecutive victory of the school. Even he was nervous as well.

“I-I can’t!” Yuto said, then standing up and yelling profanities to the opposing school, like students from his school did and the opposing school did to theirs.

Ryosuke watched the game, time ticking slowly.

Amanda herself had scored 11 points in the quarter alone. Though, he didn’t keep track of how many she scored throughout the entire game. A whistle blew, the opposing team demanding a time out. They were leading by one point. And there were only a few seconds left. And the bad part about it was the opponent had possession of the ball.

“Ryosuke-kun!” Niarra squealed in excitement. Ryosuke just chuckled. He knew that she was excited. After all, they were only seconds away from securing first place. A few seconds and the buzzer sounded yet again, everyone quickly getting into place. Last time Ryosuke had seen a similar situation was during her previous game. And what entertained him about the last seconds was how fast they suddenly played with a all new tactic to win.

The clock started running, and the ball was being passed around too quickly. Yuto and Ryosuke leaned in respectively; Amanda’s team was having a hard time with trying to catch the ball. Not until one of the tallest and biggest players from the opposing team had the ball in her possession and ran up towards the ring, hoping to score two points, just enough to win the game.

But what lowered her hopes was that Amanda was there, to block her. However, with just enough forcefulness and strength, she bumped into Amanda, making the girl fall back onto the floor, sliding her a bit and making her hit her head hard onto the base of the ring.

“Nee-san!” Niarra stood up, worried and panicked when she saw that happen to her sister. Ryosuke even stood up, a slight pain shooting from his ankle when he did. Even Yuto and Mika were surprised by what happened. Even from afar, they knew it was a painful and hard hit to the head, even though they knew Amanda was still moving.

But that was all Amanda needed to try and save the game; ending with a score of 64-63.  Amanda’s team prevailing as the winner.

The student erupted in joy and celebration. A third consecutive victory yet. It was a long a hard fought game, and Amanda didn’t care one bit whether she hit her head or not. The four quickly made their way down onto the court, Amanda already up and about celebrating the victory with her team, in their arms was the new trophy.

“Congratulations captain!”

“You did well!”

Amanda’s cheeks were slightly red from all the compliments she was receiving. Some other players from the opposing team came over to congratulate them; even the girl apologizing for what she did. Amanda brushed it off and made peace with her. It was all part of the game.

“Nee-chan, are you alright?” Niarra ran up to her sister, slicing through the crowd just to check up on her sister. Ryosuke followed behind, a smile surfaced on his face when he saw her smiling at her sister and telling her that she was ok. A sigh of relief left his lips.

At that moment, everything seemed to be perfect.

Well, seemed to be.