In Shadows

Chapter Five

A New Opportunity

When she returned home that night, Gina spoke to her parents about joining the track team. After a brief discussion, they said that it was fine. Gina's grades were stable, and they knew she could work hard enough to keep up with her homework.

With new resolve filling her, Gina packed her sports outfit into her bag, along with her running shoes. She hummed her herself as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

Maybe today, she'd find herself a new place to belong here in Japan.

It didn't take her too long to reach the school. She talked to those at the office about handing in her club form - they looked it over and told her they'd get the track team's captain to talk to her at lunch that day.

Gina headed back to her classroom, a skip in her step. She wasn't paying too much attention to those around her.

So, she guessed she shouldn't have been surprised when she found herself colliding with someone as a result of her inattentiveness, just as she had entered her classroom.

"Ah!" Gina exclaimed, rubbing her forehead. She looked up at the figure she had bumped into, and her eyes widened as she recognised him. "Kagami-kun!"

The tall redhead boy looked down at the tiny girl he'd just bumped into. "Sorry," he apologised instantaneously. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"No worries. I wasn't exactly being the most attentive, either." It was really inconvenient being tiny, especially when you had people Kagami and Kiyoshi's height around. She wondered if Kagami often bumped into people due to his height.

Probably not. He's observant enough. We only collided just then because we were both distracted.

Gina's eyes flicked around the classroom, paying close attention to every face there, making sure that she didn't look over one head. "Kuroko-kun's not here yet," she observed, upon affirming the phantom sixth man wasn't there.

Kagami quickly looked around the room as well to confirm what she'd just said. "He's not. Unusual for him; he's normally here by now."

A small pause.

"Do you think it was weird?" Gina asked presently, breaking the small silence between them.

Kagami frowned, confused by the question. "What?"

"That Kuroko... invited me to watch you guys practice yesterday? I hardly even know a thing about basketball, and he knows it's not my favourite sport in the world. I've only ever really paid attention to netball."

Gina shifted her weight. It was a thought that had been bugging her since Kuroko made the suggestion that she stayed to watch. She hadn't had the opportunity yet to ask him herself, but she knew that Kagami and Kuroko were good friends. Kagami must know Kuroko enough to be able to give her a plausible answer.

Kagami sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "That's just how he is," he informed her.

"Huh?" Gina tipped her head to the side.

"Always doing what you don't expect," the redhead elaborated. "He's kind, though, and as you've probably noticed, very observant. He often does things like that."

"Ah. I see." Gina nodded thoughtfully.

"Mind if I ask a question?" he asked.

She tipped her head. "What is it?"

"What is netball?"

Gina stared at Kagami blankly for a while and then snorted. It had been a while since anyone had asked her that, mainly because she didn't talk about netball often since arriving in Japan. Only Momoi and Saki knew. She avoided telling people about that part of her life since she knew of the questions that came with it.

Gina chuckled, seeing no way out of this. "Well, it's a sport most people haven't heard of unless they come from countries like Australia, the country I lived in for a few years," she explained. "Over there, it's pretty big. It's a bit complicated to explain quickly... but it is a sport that came to be after they tweaked the rules of basketball a fair bit."

He nodded. "Well, if it's based off basketball, it can't be too bad."

Gina snorted, trying to imagine Kagami playing netball. Somehow, the image didn't really fit. She couldn't imagine Kagami adhering to the footwork rules of netball, enjoying the limits as to where he could run, or taking up the shooting form used in netball that was so different to basketball.

"I don't know. I don't think you'd like it so much," she chuckled.

And that was taking it lightly. She was pretty sure Kagami would hate netball.

He frowned. "How come?"

"It's just..." She searched for the right words to say. "It's just not your style of sport."

"Huh? But you said it was based off basketball..."

She chuckled, and rolled her eyes a little. "It all comes back to basketball for you, huh?"

"Generally, all Kagami-kun thinks of is basketball."

The voice came out of nowhere, and caused Gina to jump a mile. "Ah!" she cried out, wheeling around in the direction of the voice. Her hand clutched her heart when she spotted Kuroko standing beside them. "When did you get here, Kuroko?" she exclaimed, still recovering from the shock.

Kuroko looked at her, as calm and unfazed as always. "I've been standing here for a while."

"Jeez." Gina shook her head. "I don't know - can you make some announcement before you scare the living daylights out of us?"

They all laughed, and had to sit down soon after as their teacher entered. Saki dashed in just after and plonked herself down, breathing heavily. Gina rolled her eyes at her friend and turned to focus on the lesson.

Lessons dragged, and Gina was relieved when it was finally lunch. She and Saki opted to stay in the classroom for lunch and just talk. It was a bit too chilly to go outside. 

They were deep in conversation when a voice called, "Is Tsukino Gina here?"

Gina looked up, and spotted a blonde girl standing in the doorway to their classroom. She bit her lip, knowing instantly that the girl was the captain of the track team. There was no other reason why a second-year would ask for her name.

Saki squeezed her arm as she stood up. "Good luck."

Gina looked back at her friend and nodded her thanks, before she walked outside to meet the other girl.

The blonde girl flicked her eyes up as Gina neared. The blonde looked over Gina, and the smaller girl had the distinct feeling she was being x-rayed. She didn't blame the girl. She was so tiny, that it was hard to imagine her dog anything really athletic at all.

After thorough scrutinisation, the girl sighed and checked the paper she held in her hands, no doubt Gina's club application form. "So, you're Tsukino Gina?"

Gina nodded. "Yes."

"I'm Hamasaki Aoi, captain of the girl's track team." She spoke in a very matter-of-fact tone. "You wanted to join us?"

"Yeah." Gina had the sudden urge to take off and clean her glasses, but didn't dare to do it in front of Aoi. She didn't want to come across as nervous. "I know it's a little late, but I didn't consider it before now."

Aoi hummed thoughtfully under her breath. "Have you had past experiences in track events?"

Gina shook her head. "Not really," she said honestly. "I did play a sport that relied heavily on sprinting a few years back. That sport isn't offered as a club here, so I thought I'd try track instead."

"So you're a sprinter?"

"Yeah."

"Did you do much of it at a high level?"

"We focused a lot on explosive starts and short sprints. But yes, it was high level; we were working at regional level. Oh, this was in Australia by the way, and about two years ago."

"Australia, huh?" Aoi hummed, tapping her fingers against the sheet of paper in her hands. She looked to be deep in thought as she considered Gina. "I see." She looked at the smaller girl directly in the eye. "Well, I can't tell you not to join. However, I can tell if you can or won't be able to succeed. Taking two years off can really affect your performance, especially if you didn't really do many long sprints. If I find that you are struggling, I won't force you to leave, but I will recommend another club to you."

Gina's heart skipped a beat at these words, but she still nodded. "Understood."

"Good. I'll see you this afternoon then, Gina-san." Aoi sent one last curt nod Gina's way before she walked off, most likely headed back to her class.

*          *          *

"So you've signed up for the track team?" Saki mused, as class ended for the day. Gina nodded as she pushed her chair back, swinging her bag over one shoulder.

"Yeah. My first meeting is right now," she confirmed. Butterflies filled her stomach.

There was no denying that she was nervous. Aoi appeared to be very serious about the track team, and was sure she held the entire team to high standards. Aoi was right, taking two years off from anything related to sprinting would definitely have negative consequences. She was going to have to work hard to catch up.

Apparently, Saki thought the same thing. "I wish you luck," the dark-haired girl chuckled. "I heard our track team's rather skilled. You said you haven't played netball in a while."

"I haven't been able to play it since I came back to Japan, if it hasn't slipped your mind," Gina said, with a role of her eyes.

Saki flushed. "But still... a netball court isn't two hundred or one hundred metres," she pointed out.

Gina fought the urge to purse her lips in concern at this comment, and instead just lightly shrugged her shoulders. "I should be fine. I've got the explosive power needed. I'm fit, I'm sure I haven't lost too much of of it."

Saki nodded faintly, and then quickly checked the time. Her eyes widened. "Well, I've got to head down to practice again, and quickly." She hurriedly proceeded to grab her stuff and shove it into a bag.

Gina's eyes lit up. "I forgot to ask - how was yesterday?" she teased.

"I was lectured like hell yesterday," Saki gasped, pushing her chair in and swinging her bag over her shoulder. "I'm not missing another practice in the near future."

"Or at all," Gina corrected.

"Or at all," Saki agreed. She waved at her friend and made a dash for the exit. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Gina!"

Gina chuckled, and raised her hand in farewell. "Bye!"

She watched her friend go, and then checked the time herself. Her eyes widened, and she quickly hurried out of the classroom, headed for the change rooms. Practice was about to begin, and she didn't want to be late and make a bad first impression for her first time at the track team. She was already going to have to face more than enough attention being the person who joined halfway through the year.

With a deep breath, Gina hurried forward and made her way to her new club.

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so gina's bonded with kagami a little! what do you think of their interaction? sounds like they could become pretty good friends in the future

and she's joined the track team! how do you think that'll go for her?

next chapter's coming next saturday as always, my wonderful readers!