"You gotta be kidding me! What the hell do you mean benched for the next game?!"
"I think the instruction was pretty simple. If you have trouble understanding that simple sentence then I think I found the root cause to you not listening to my instructions during the game."
In the dressing room of Tachibana High School's boys' basketball team, an argument was going on between the captain of the basketball team and 3 of his players. During the earlier game they were playing in, the 3 boys had completely ignored Kei's instructions and directions, causing them to fall behind by a huge margin. After benching the trio, they were able to easily come from behind to win the game.
"Don't pull this crap on me! I earned that starting pl—"
"Because I picked you. Now that I have unpicked you, stay silent until I decide that you are fit to play in the games."
"Screw this!"
The three boys stormed out of the dressing room, leaving their team behind. Before this, the boys' team had gone home together on the school bus provided by the school, but it seemed that the three of them had decided to go home by themselves.
"Captain… Don't you think you were being too harsh with them?" Maki spoke.
"If they got angry over something like this, then it was my fault for letting them get picked in the first place."
"But wouldn't this hurt our chances? They're starters after all."
"Maki-senpai, do you know what wins games?"
"?"
"Teams, not players. The team that performs best can outplay any team that relies on individuals themselves."
Even though Maki completely understood what Kei was trying to say, he couldn't help but still show a concerned look at the team's situation. Before he could say anything further, Kei stood up.
"Sensei." Kei said looking at Yanagi-sensei.
"Hmm?"
"Can you go get those 3 back? Get them on the team bus."
"What about you?"
"The train station is just next to the stadium, and my home is relatively close anyway."
"Alright then."
"The rest of you, rest up when you get home, we will be playing against Seirai tomorrow. I don't want to see anything like what I saw today, okay?"
The rest of the team nodded in agreement as Kei walked out of the dressing room. When Maki was about to stand up to stop Kei from leaving alone, Yanagi-sensei put his hand on his shoulder to stop him from doing so.
"Sensei?"
"Let him."
"Why? It's not like it's his fault. Why should he be isolated?"
"To Amane, team unity is more important than how the others see him. Even if he has to play the villain to get it. Don't worry, I wouldn't have made him captain if he fell apart from something like this. It's why I trust his judgement after all."
Maki reluctantly agreed and decided not to pursue the matter any further. Outside the dressing room, Kei let out a heavy sigh as he walked away after hearing the conversation between Yanagi-sensei and Maki.
When Kei reached the entrance, the sky had already started turning dark. It had seemed that with some delays and the amount of time it took for them to finish their game, their game time was pushed back quite a bit. It would have also explained why there were more spectators than they had expected watching their game.
"Hmm… maybe I should have asked her to come after all…"
'… What am I thinking?!"
Kei proceeded to slap his cheeks to snap himself out of it before walking towards the nearby train station. As he was nearing the train station, he started thinking about what had happened earlier. He started wondering if it was the right choice to have benched the three players for the next game. Even if they were going to be fine with the other players stepping in, what about the repercussions moving forward? All these thoughts flooded his mind at the same time. As he was spacing out, he hadn't noticed himself halfway crossing the street. A loud honk finally snapped him out of it as he was crossing the street as a hand was grabbing his shoulder, pulling him back to safety.
"Oh dear, are you okay?" A mature lady's voice entered Kei's ears.
When Kei finally came to, he could see that a tall and beautiful lady with purple hair crouched down in front of him asking if he was okay.
"…T-thank you…"
"You really should be careful. It would be horrible if something happened to you."
"I… I'll keep that in mind."
"Are you headed anywhere?"
"The train station…"
"Ara. I am headed there as well. Shall we go together? At least I can wake you up if you space out again."
"…Okay…"
Kei couldn't help but accept the lady's offer since she had just practically saved his life. However, he couldn't help but feel like she looks like someone he knows. He decided not to pursue the matter any further as they walked to the train station.