THE END OF THE FIRST...

     term was near, which meant that basketball tryouts were here.

     chiyo, maki, mai, kugisaki, and orimoto all gathered together on the bleachers to support their boys.

     others came for either megumi or his dad: fushiguro tōji.

     "KYAA!! FUSHIGURO-SENSEI, LOOK OVER HERE!!", one of the third-years shouted.

     "FUSHIGURO-KUN, I HAVE A TOWEL FOR YOU IF YOU NEED IT!!", her friend chimed in.

     "geez! I get fushiguro, but his dad? really?!", mai groaned.

     "that's because you're related to him, so you don't see the appeal. even a lesbian like me can recognize how attractive he is", kugisaki snorted.

     "gross", maki commented, as she could never imagine herself simping for an old man.

though to be fair, men weren't her type anyways.

     "chiyo-chan, look how handsome yūta looks!! aw, I'm going to attend every single game of his!", the dark-haired second-year proclaimed.

     chiyo smiled, as she couldn't help but hear the whispers behind her. though the girls around them weren't openly shouting for sukuna's attention, they didn't deny that him and yūji looked quite hot as well.

     "chiyo, is something wrong?", maki asked.

     "hm? ah, nothing!! I'm just anxious for them", chiyo smoothly lied, as maki just shrugged.

     "they make it or they don't. nothing to be concerned about".

     "yes but..."

     "EVERYONE QUIET DOWN!", tōji commanded, to which everybody had immediately directed their attention onto the older fushiguro.

     "I will be announcing the twelve players that I've chosen for the elite team shortly. so please, everyone stay quiet until I'm finished with all the names", tōji lazily stated.

"h-huh? I thought fushiguro-sensei was going to announce the results tomorrow?? that's what fushiguro-kun told me", chiyo whispered.

"he likes to do whatever he wants", mai casually replied, not seeming fazed at all.

"wouldn't surprise me if he just decided to do this on the spot without even telling megumi".

     kugisaki sweat-dropped at that, as she watched the basketball players all line up based on the number that they had sighed up in.

     "from the third-years, we have: kamo noritoshi, tōdō aoi, imawashī mahito, and imawashī kenjaku", tōji announced.

chiyo noticed that the last two players said by tōji shared the same last name, yet looked nothing alike. mahito had lakeshore blue hair, and kenjaku had short dark hair with a lazy yet seemingly devious smile plastered across his face.

'perhaps they're stepbrothers...??'

"as for the second-years, we have: okkotsu yūta..."

"he made it", orimoto softly mumbled, feeling a burst of happiness for her boyfriend, who just proudly smiled at her from the lineup.

"...inumaki toge, muta kōkichi, and...panda??"

everyone witnessed the confusion spread across tōji's face, as a pale boy with ebony hair had stepped to join his new comrades.

no one knew why panda was his name, but perhaps it was because of his dark eye bags that had made him look like one.

"and now for the final four, the first-years..."

chiyo grabbed onto maki and orimoto's hands, tightly squeezing them, as her body unconsciously leaned forwards.

"fushiguro megumi..."

'please say sukuna. please say sukuna', chiyo prayed.

"yoshino junpei..."

'sukuna...sukuna...sukuna...'

"itadori yūji..."

'just say sukuna already!!! why're you talking so slow, fushiguro-sensei?!'

"and..."

"and...", chiyo softly repeated, as maki asked if she could loosen her grip a little.

"ah, s-sorry", chiyo apologized.

"itadori sukuna".

chiyo covered the lower half of her face to stop others from seeing her large smile. however, sukuna's charming smirk that was flashed directly at her had her weak to her knees.

"would you look at that", maki grinned, "your boyfriend's trying to make you proud".

"m-maki!! h-he's not my boyfriend", chiyo harshly whispered.

"yet", mai corrected, as orimoto was already down the bleachers praising her boyfriend and congratulating him.

"perhaps now would be a good time to confess, chiyo", maki quietly suggested.

"no way!! it's too soon...", chiyo tried to use as an excuse.

"soon my ass! don't you notice how he ONLY smiles at you? or how he puts in the extra effort to make you lunch and walk you home? or how he holds your hand??", mai intervened.

"how—"

"yeah I saw that shit. don't even try to deny it!"

chiyo had nothing else to say, as she just fiddled with her thumbs.

     "I...I don't know if I'm brave enough..."

     before maki and mai could encourage their friend any more, a tap on chiyo's shoulder had saved her.

     "a-ah, yūji-kun! congratulations for making the team by the way", chiyo smiled.

     "thanks, aoki-senpai! so, have you thought about applying as manager yet? I talked to coach fushiguro, and he said that he wouldn't mind as long as you're not obsessed with him or fushiguro like the other girls", yūji informed.

     "I..."

     "and plus, my friend ozawa yūko already agreed to tryout as manager, so you should too. like I said, I think you both will get along. actually, how about you meet her first!", the pink-haired boy excitedly suggested, as he ushered the second-year away from the zen'in twins.

     "OI, YŪKO-CHAN! COME MEET MY FRIEND AOKI-SENPAI!!", yūji loudly proclaimed, causing a few to look over and chiyo to wish to crawl into a hole from the excessive amount of attention.

     a blonde first-year appeared before the two, to which chiyo had watched her bow in respect.

     "h-hello! my name's ozawa yūko. i-it's nice to meet you, aoki-senpai..."

     "the pleasure's mine!", chiyo chirped, as she flashed the first-year girl a warm smile.

     "see! told ya you two would get along. so, how about it??", yūji asked.

     chiyo still hesitated, apparently taking too long for yūji's liking.

     "okay, if I make this three-pointer, will you at least apply to be our team manager?"

chiyo knew that this probably wasn't a fair bet considering the boy had just made the elite team. however, before she could even answer, yūji had snatched a basketball and gotten a perfect shot through the hoop.

ozawa was amazed as usual, though she couldn't help but wonder why yūji wanted chiyo to be the second team manager so badly.

'perhaps...he likes her?! I mean...she is really cute and seems like a soft-spoken person. and they do say that opposites attract...', the first-year dejectedly thought.

"YAY!! now you HAVE TO reconsider!", yūji exclaimed.

"I'll think abou—"

"aoki and ozawa! over here for a minute", tōji suddenly called out, causing the people that were still there to stare at the two girls.

stiffly making their way towards tōji, mai and kugisaki suddenly started snickering.

"what's so funny?", yoshino asked.

"I didn't know that the itadori brothers had a type", kugisaki noticed.

     "ehhh? you're right!!", orimoto suddenly chimed in, as she tried to see what was going on with ozawa, chiyo, and tōji.

"you two are officially hired as the two elite team managers. practices are everyday after school until 5:30 p.m. we will have games almost every saturday. always bring a notebook and a writing utensil. any questions?"

     "b-but what about our résumés?? or an interview??", chiyo asked, worried that others would think of this as unfair.

     "you two are the quietest out of the bunch. that's good enough for me", tōji shrugged.

     "so, you both in or not?"

     "h-hai! I'm in!", ozawa answered, as chiyo begrudgingly nodded her head.

     "I-I'm in too...", she muttered.

     "great! see you both after summer break then. now shoo".

     the two girls scurried back towards the large group: yoshino, megumi, sukuna, yūji, the zen'in twins, kugisaki, and the second-year couple.

     "so, what'd fushiguro-sensei say??", orimoto asked.

     "w-we're...the team managers starting today...", chiyo softly responded.

     "HOORAY!! THAT'S GREAT NEWS!! LET'S ALL GO CELEBRATE!", yūji shouted, as everyone else easily agreed.

     though before chiyo had gone with the flow of the group, she was held back by ozawa.

     "u-umm...I'm sorry to bother, but may I borrow a minute of your time please?", the first-year requested.

     sukuna casted chiyo a look, to which she had given him a small smile, urging him to join the others first.

     "s-sure! what can I do for you, ozawa-san?"

     by now, nobody except the two blonde students were in the gym, giving ozawa the perfect chance to boldly confront chiyo.

"a-ano...I know this is probably really disrespectful and yūji-kun probably likes you back — since you're so pretty and nice — but I like him too, so I'm going to try and confess to him before the end of this school year. I hope you can respect my feelings as I do with yours!", the girl blurted out.

chiyo just stood there, stunned.

processing the first-year's quick ramble, the second-year finally snapped back into reality and managed to defend herself.

     "I-I think you've mistaken something here. I don't like yūji-kun!! at least not like that..."

     "huh?"

"I actually...like his brother...", chiyo coughed out, to which ozawa just gawked with utter surprise.

"oh".

the two girls stayed silent for a moment, before bursting out into soft laughter.

"I-I'm sorry!! I just thought..."

"it's okay ozawa-san!", chiyo laughed, "I'm just glad that we got this misunderstanding out of the way".

"so...can I assume that you tried out as manager because of sukuna then?", the first-year curiously asked.

chiyo twirled a strand of her hair, as she shyly nodded.

"yeah...something like that...and I'm assuming it's the same for you?"

"yes, well, yūji-kun asked me to, so I thought it'd be a good opportunity for me..."

"if that's the case, then let's both work hard! I'm trying to muster up courage to confess to my crush as well", chiyo smiled.

"h-hai! let's both strive towards our goal then!", ozawa exclaimed.

the two girls then started heading out of the gym to catch up with the others, meanwhile sukuna pushed his back off the wall that he was leaning against.

perhaps waiting for chiyo was a good idea after all, as he had accidentally overheard her admit her crush on him.

thinking back to the first time that they've met, he suddenly realized that she was trying to hand him a confession letter and that gojō was trying to set them up.

'I see...', sukuna grinned.

"well, this makes things a lot easier", he lowly chuckled.

"hey, are they still in the gym? and what're you talking about? what makes things a lot easier?", yūji asked, for the younger itadori had come back to check up on the two blondes.

"they're almost done talking", sukuna stated.

"and I was talking about chiyo's crush. it'll be way easier to help her confess to him now that I know who it is".

     "ohhhh!! who is it?! can you tell me?!", yūji pried, resulting in him to receive a flick to the forehead.

     "no. that's for me to know and for you to find out. plus, you've got your own secret admirer to sort out", sukuna cockily smirked, as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and started walking away.

     "a secret admirer?? for me?!"

     AUTHOR'S NOTE: *imawashī: abominable

     in case y'all forgot who ozawa yūko was:

     yūji is literally SO SWEET!! the fact that he still recognized her even after she lost weight & dyed her hair🥺🥺

     also, basketball boys??😮‍💨😮‍💨✋

     (sorry I don't know who the artist is)