"This… what kind of joke is this….?"
A shocked and confused Kei asked this question to Chihaya beside him who was now just standing there looking at him while smiling. The traditional timing for the Inter-High Basketball Championships was only held after the girls' category was finished, which would be in a month's time. However, the new arrangements would mean that he would be playing in the qualifiers during the time when the girls would be playing the play-offs.
He thought that he would be able to relax for a slightly longer period of time without anyone finding out. But all he thought about now was how he wanted to turn around and head on straight home. When they passed through the front gate and entered the school compound, Kei thought of an idea.
"Wait… there's still time… maybe if I can get coach to maybe swap the captain spot with Maki-senpai—"
"Are you crazy? You know about the scandal, right? You're going to get expelled."
"But maybe if I could just—"
As he was considering his options and finding ways to get out of this predicament that he found himself in, Kei found thin arm around his neck coupled with a momentum that suggested that the person was running towards him before they put their arm around his neck.
'Wait… Chihaya is here beside me… That means this is…'
"Keiiiii-kunnn! ~"
'That voice… God help me its, Azusa…'
The person in question was Fujinomiya Azusa. She was also a first-year student and was enrolled through the athletic qualifications sector. However, her talents lay not in her athletic abilities, but more to her intellectual side. As her academic results were not enough to secure her a spot at Tachibana Private High School, she was granted special enrolment through the athletics department as she had potential for managing players.
Back when they were in middle school, Azusa was also the manager of Kei's basketball team in their final year and only got to know him then. Due to her special circumstances pertaining to her enrolment, she had to miss the first term of the year meaning she had to study on her own and was only admitted to the school only recently.
"A-Azusa? What are you doing here?"
"I'm a new student at Tachibana High School as of yesterday!"
"God help me…"
"Also, as of today, I will be assisting Akane-senpai as the assistant manager of the basketball team!"
"God… what did I do…? Wait, what do you mean by assistant?"
"I will be managing the first-year players! Akane-senpai said it will be easy considering my past record!"
The basketball team's manager, Tendou Akane, was the manager of the basketball team. With that said, even she would have trouble handling all three years at once, not to mention that letting a first-year manage the second and third-year players would be troublesome. Hence, she made the decision to let Azusa handle the first-year players of the school team.
"…No."
"Don't worry! I will take care of you first-year players as I did during my third year of middle school!"
"…No."
"Accept your fate! All you first-years players will be amazed by my management skills!"
"…Nein…" Kei said in a trance.
Kei was completely taken by surprise by Akane's decision to allow Azusa to manage the players straight away instead of the club members who had to qualify for a place in the team. In their basketball club, players had to go through extensive training and qualifications if they want to be selected for the school team. Even Kei, who had such an excellent record, was required to go through the tough assessment. And because the assessment was considered extremely tough…
"Why not?!"
"Fujinomiya-san… there's only one first-year male player representing the school team…" Chihaya interjected to clear the confusion as it clearly seems that Kei was in a trance.
"Ehh? ~. How can that be? Wait… does that mean that Kei-kun is…"
"The only first-year boy in the team…" A depressed Kei finally spoke up.
"So that's why she said it would be easier~"
The reason why Kei was so depressed about Akane-senpai's decision was partly because he thought that Azusa needed more experience before managing the first team players. The bigger reason however, was because he thought that the extremely cheerful and clingy Azusa personally managing him would be too much for him to handle.
"Maybe…there's still time to withdraw from the team before the roster gets posted…"
"Mmm? What are you talking about? The roster already got posted… I only found out you were part of this school because of that roster… Captain-k-u-n ~"
'God, let me ask you again… haven't you done enough?'