"I am not going with you." I tell Ren.
"Why?" Ren asks.
"I have school."
"You hate school."
"Who cares? I'm not going."
"But Chikara!" Ren whines.
"No. I don't want to go to Osaka, Ren." I whine back.
"Please."
"No. Stop asking."
"I'll tell Adolph-Sensei." Ren threatens, hopefully.
"Tell him. He can't control me. Anyway he'll just say that I have to go to school." I finish eating my vegemite toast.
"Good morning, Adolph-Sensei. Can Chikara-chan come with me to Osaka?" Ren asks after calling.
I scoff and smirk knowing that it won't work.
"Sure as long as she's at school tomorrow."
My smile fades. "Nicholas!" I yell.
"Got to go. Have fun, sis." He shouts and before I grab the phone he hangs up.
"That good for nothing, dog." I growl, angrily.
"Let's go. I've already packed your bag." Ren says and throws a backpack at me.
"How long are we staying there?" I ask when he grabs a bigger bag.
"Until the match finishes." Ren answers.
"Look. we are only going there for a few hours." I say. I start taking things out of his bag which no one needs. "We only need a duffel bag." I pack the necessities into my back duffel bag near the door.
"Why do you need food?" Ren asks.
"Emergencies." I answer. I go to my room and change out of my school uniform since I was planning to go to school today. I dress in all black and even put a few silver studs in my ears. To complete my outfit, I put on black studded boots and put my hair into a loose ponytail. "Let's go." I say and walk out of the apartment.
I walk to the train station and get on without waiting for Ren. I grab a seat and communicate with Asra who's inside my ring along with Lion.
"Why didn't you wait?" Ren asks as soon as he spots me.
"If I did we wouldn't of gotten a seat." I reply. I take out my phone and plug my earplugs in.
Ren takes out the Renata History book which he has yet to complete. I lean back and take a light nap.
****
2 hours and 30 minutes later.
I snack on a bag of chips while following Ren to the school where the practice game will be held. I found out barely 5 minutes ago that Teacher Hayashi gave him permission to go to this match and has even warned Osaka High volleyball coach that Ren will visit.
"Huh?" I say when looking at the school. Definitely Osaka High. "Let's go." I walk into the school like I own the place.
"Do you know where you're going?" Ren asks hurrying to catch up which only takes him a few steps.
"I'm following the smell of sweat." I tell him and follow where the horrible stench is coming from. "Okay not." I awkwardly smile when the horrible stench led me to the field where people are playing baseball.
"There was a map back there." Ren says.
"Show me the way." I follow him back to the map. I frown when seeing that the hall is on the other side of the school.
***
We finally make it to the hall by asking a student half way. There are too many buildings and I haven't been here before so can't blame me that I got lost.
Ren and I walk into the hall and take a seat on the stage at one end. I sit behind Ren to eat since I don't know if I'm allowed to.
Soon the Osaka volleyball coach walks in followed by two volleyball teams who are already dressed. The home team Osaka are wearing a red jersey while the visitors which is Nara are wearing white jerseys.
They start to warm up which I roll my eyes at. Sure they're warming up but they're also doing a power play. Testing each other. Finally after a few minutes both team get into positions and start playing.
"Chikara-Chan." Ren pulls one of my ear phones out of my ear.
"What?" I ask.
"Why aren't you watching the match?" He asks.
"I didn't want to come here in the first place." I smile coldly at him. "They're just a bunch of kids anyway."
"Really? But they're the national champions."
I shrug my shoulders. "Compared to the games I've seen this is nothing but Childs play."
"Were the players super naturals?"
"Yes."
"These guys are human." Ren goes back to watch the game.
I roll my eyes when hearing his tone. I turn to watch the game.
'He could've been faster and avoided that. He should've flexed his wrist back more for more momentum.' I start pointing out mistakes in my head.
Volleyball is boring if you're not the one playing.
*****
This practice game was originally going to be only 2 matches but,
Nara lost the first match. 19/25.
Osaka lost the second match. 22/25.
They are tied so they have to play again and because the coaches of both teams really want to see who'll win so that they can shove it in the others face afterwards. They're old friends.
I look at the Osaka Coach who puts a boy who hasn't played once on the court. I realize the boy is actually the guy from the supermarket the other week.
"Oh, oh, oh. Yuu Yachi. That's Yuu Yachi." Ren says excitedly at the guy.
"That's your idol?" I ask.
"Yup. He's the setter of the team but he also is a spiker." Ren answers. He looks at the court with great anticipation for this match. Ren looks back at me. "Aren't you excited?" He asks.
"I couldn't care less." I say shrugging my shoulders.
Ren nods and goes back to watching the game. I want to see why Ren is so obsessed with this guy so I watch.
Immediately after only a few minutes Osaka has gotten 5 points. Yuu Yachi spiked 3 of them and did a setter dump on one. The other one was a float serve and it dropped just after the net (Libero served it).
'Yuu Yachi'. I say in my head. I've heard that name before and find him familiar but I can't place my finger on it. I know a lot of people so there's a chance that I have come across him once but where?
I glance over at Yuu and see something around his neck. My eyes widen in realization of what it is.
"A change stone." I mutter.
"What?" Ren asks, turning to me. "Did you say something?"
Why would he have a changing stone? I can tell that he's human but why the changing stone? Or did he just find it at a shop and picked it up without knowing? No, changing stones are precious.
"Chikara. Chikara-Chan." Ren shakes my shoulders and snaps me out of my thoughts.
"What?" I ask him.
"Is something wrong?" He asks.
"Yes. Your favorite player has a change stone." I reply. I groan when seeing him confused. "It can change anything appearance." I explain.
"Oh." Ren nods understanding. "He might use it for his hair."
"What? Do you know something?" I ask wanting to know.
"Yeah. After you ran after Asra, he was there and his um... his hair changed color. He was also the one who you bumped into." Ren answers.
Change color of hair. "What hair color did he change into?"
"A white but he had a brown streak."
"Brown streak. Are you sure, Ren?" I ask hurriedly.
"Yeah. Why what's wrong?"
I grab out my phone and call Lu Li-Qiang.
"What happened?" Li-Qiang asks, sleepily.
"Yuu Yachi." I say two words.
"Yuu Yachi." Li-Qiang mumbles. He repeats it before something clicks in his head. Tapping sounds come from the other side of my phone before Li-Qiang speaks again. "Yuu Yachi is the orphan you saved from the black market when you were 8."
"I knew he was familiar." I mutter.
"Yeah. You saved him because he looked like Braxton and the one who wanted him was an *sshole which has offended Madam Cora." Li-Qiang says.
"Thank you." I say and hang up but before I hung up light snores come from the other side. Li-Qiang fell asleep. I shake my head and put my phone away. I look up at the game at just the right time.
Pak!