The next day after the girls had won their playoff match and made it to the quarter finals, Kei was sitting in the teacher's office taking 3 exam papers that was required for him to take. After the exam, basketball members would have to proceed to the basketball court for their scheduled training. As Kei had finished more than 3 hours earlier than the 6 hours that the students were given in total to complete 3 papers, he handed them in with his team members staring in bloodlust.
Since he didn't need to attend the classes for the day, he proceeded to the basketball court to get preparations for the training in order. There were two school basketball courts and they were large indoor courts with spectator stands and other facilities. Since the school invested a lot of resources, it was not surprising that the basketball courts would be fully equipped as well. When he arrived at the basketball court however, he heard the squeaking sounds of basketball shoes. There were already people inside the court practicing.
"Kei-Chiiiin!"
As Chihaya waved at him from the other side of the basketball court, the girl's team were training behind her. Kei started to wonder whether he had stumbled into the girl's court by accident and proceeded to turn around to leave. When he closed the door, a hand grabbed the door before it shut and proceeded to pry it open. From it, emerged Chihaya with a monstrous aura surrounding her.
"Kei-chin~"
"!"
"Don't leave a girl hanging like that when she waves and calls you out cheerfully~"
Kei recognized that tone instantly. It was the tone Chihaya often used to insult rude people and to boys who were too stubborn to accept that she turned down their confessions. Whenever she started using that tone, people around her would stay away from her as they knew that they got on her wrong side. Even Kei was deathly afraid of it.
"A-ah… Chihaya, hi! Umm… I'm sorry to have disturbed your training, I shall take my leave—"
As Kei turned around and was about to bolt out of there, Chihaya grabbed him by the back of his collar.
"Umm… Chihaya? Are you finally deciding to kill me?"
"Mouu… can you just listen for a minute? Come with me."
As Kei gave in to Chihaya's request, he followed her back into the basketball court from earlier. When he cleared his mind, he realized that it was the right basketball court he had entered earlier. The girls were, for some reason, practicing in the boys' basketball court. When he entered, he saw the girls training and Yanagi-sensei was present talking with an older man.
"Unbelievable! You're firing me? After my training helped the girls reach the quarter finals?!"
"Yamada-san, I don't think it is right for a coach to go missing on the day of such an important game, much less one that involves the championship."
"Yeah! But it was because of my guidance that they were able to make it in the first place!"
"Unfortunately for you, I cannot accept that reason. Another person from the boy's team had to step up to help them during the game. The fact that this had to happen in the first place shows your incompetence as a coach. If that boy wasn't there, I don't think the school would be nice enough to even fire you face-to-face."
In truth, if Kei had not coincidentally been there to record the boy's team fixtures, the girls would most likely have been eliminated from the competition. The team they were facing the day before was actually a seeded school meaning that they were one of the teams that had a high chance of winning the entire championship. Yamada-sensei, seeing that the other team was seeded, thought it was pointless to even show up.
"Tch. Don't come begging for me to come back when the girls get eliminated!"
After Yamada-sensei had left, Kei was standing at the side of the court wondering if it was all right for him to even be there at all. He was now regretting handing in his exam papers early. At this moment, all that was in Kei's mind was that he wanted to sneak out there.
"Chitose-senpai! I caught him!" Chihaya yelled out to his senpai who was training midway.
'…Caught?'
"Did you have to use the harpoon?" Chitose said as she stopped her training.
'Harpoon?'
"Nope! I told you I could catch him!"
'Again…Catch?'
When Kei entered the basketball court and then quickly left when he thought that he had entered the wrong basketball court, the determined captain in Chitose rallied her soldier in Chihaya.
"CATCH HIM!"
"Yes Madam!"
Such was the conversation between the superior and her officer. Yanagi-sensei who was still talking to Yamada-san saw all this unfold and could only give a wry smile.
"Ummm… I'm sorry but what's going on?"
"Ah… Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Arisugawa Chitose of 3-A and I'm the captain of the girls' basketball team."
"Ah, likewise, I am Amane Kei from class 1-E."
"First of all, I would like to thank you for your guidance during yesterday's game. Without your strategy, we would definitely have lost the game yesterday."
"Please, you flatter me. All I did was just give basic instructions. It was your efforts that made the victory possible."
"I will not argue over whether you accept it or not. But do know that we are grateful for your help. Now then…"
When she said that, Chitose stood up straight before suddenly bowing to Kei, which gave him quite a shock.
"Please allow us to train with you boys for the duration of this competition at least!"
"Ah…ummm…I…what?"
Kei suddenly turned over to look at Yanagi-sensei, seeming to be looking for help and assistance of some sort. However, all Yanagi-sensei did was look away whilst giving a wry smile.
'You…you were in on this?!'
He had been abandoned by the only person that he could turn to for help. In his mind, it was not wise for him to be training both the boys and girls at the same time. The first reason being his methods were so intense that he feared that they couldn't cope with them, and the second reason was because his basketball team consisted of thirsty single boys who would definitely be distracted whenever they train together.
"Please… a senior shouldn't be bowing to an underclassman so easily…"
"Please! You're the only one we can turn to now!"
Even if he wanted to reject the request, he couldn't really turn his back on them since their team's coach just got fired in front of his own eyes. Not to mention his own friend, Chihaya, was part of the team.
"Haah… on one condition… then…"