"Did you think he would score such a high score in the exams if he was an athlete? Even if he was smart, I don't think that he would be able to grab first place."
A smirking Chihaya was explaining to the two girls who had approached Kei on the way to school. Her smirk had the 'I know all about him', charismatic vibe around it that convinced the girls that it was probably not who they saw exiting the basketball court.
"I… guess you've got a point there. Since it's you, Saki-san, I don't think it would be wrong if you said it."
The two girls walked away in slight disappointment. As it was Chihaya who made that explanation, there was no way that they wouldn't believe her since she was always seen around Kei and was basically the only person he allowed to be close to him. Or rather, she bashed him into letting her.
"Haah… It's one problem after another…" Kei said as he looked slightly down.
"Tsk. You say that as if you're the only one having the problem. Think of the people who have to cover for you."
"Ah… my bad… Thanks for covering for me, Chihaya…"
"Hmm~… It's fine, but I think even you know that this is bound to get out soon, right?" Chihaya asked this as they started walking to school together.
Chihaya was only one of few students who knew of Kei's position. But she knew that at some point, the secret was going to be out whether they wanted it to be or not. The only question was how it would get out. But Kei would never willingly let everyone know that he was in the basketball team, let alone the captain of the team.
"You… are you and Yanagi-sensei twins or something?"
"Hmm? What makes you say that?"
"He said the exact same thing yesterday…"
"I think that anyone who knows is thinking the same thing. There's absolutely no way this is staying a secret since every sports team member and position will be posted in public."
In their high school, the members of the teams representing the school will be posted in public for all students to see to encourage students to work harder as well as making sure no sudden changes are made unless an injury happens. Chihaya knew this best because the female basketball team's roster, which she was a part of, was just posted a few days into the new semester.
This new rule was implemented after an incident in the first few years of the school opening where some parents had bribed team coaches to replace players with their children. When news about the scandal broke out, the school had to go through a massive damage control period where they fired the teachers and also expelled the students involved. It eventually recovered from the scandal but not without a large scar and stain on their reputation.
"Well… until that time comes, I just want a quiet and peaceful life. Besides, the Inter-High qualifications are still about a month away. Well, good luck to you I guess."
"Hmm? What are you talking about? Didn't you receive the group chat message?" Chihaya looked at Kei as if he was living under a rock the past few days.
Feeling confused at Chihaya's statement, Kei took out his phone. In his basketball team, there existed two different chat groups where one involved only the members of the boys' team and the others involved both members of the boys' and girls' teams. When he opened his phone, he saw that there were 15 new message notifications. They were probably sent in the middle of the night as he made it a habit to switch off his phone's internet to remain unbothered.
When he opened the Line messaging app, his eyes widened and started twitching when he saw the new messages.
'Update on the Latest News for Inter-High Championships.
The date for the championship qualifiers has been moved to 25th September to complement the timing of the newly made Winter Championships.'
"Hey… Chihaya…" Kei said as he slowly turned to Chihaya.
"Hmm?"
"Can you give me another slap?"
Chihaya proceeded to give Kei a huge slap that even the other students heard it. Kei thought he was having another nightmare like he did last night. But what he felt was more painful than the slap that Chihaya had given him yesterday. He knew instantly that it wasn't a dream. As that was only the first message, he proceeded to slowly scroll down his messaging app.
'Full Roster Will Be Posted On The School Board Tomorrow!'
"Chihaya…"
"Mmm?"
"This is a joke right…?"