Thirty Minutes Later The Horizon team had gathered in the hall, just as instructed. Everyone was present—freshly showered, rehydrated, and now clustered together in loose groups, chatting quietly. Sayaka stood near Coach Tsugawa, clipboard in hand, ready for the next phase.
Suddenly, a loud, overly familiar voice echoed from the far end of the corridor.
"Hey everyone!"
It was Takeshi, their advisor—and Dirga’s uncle—waving one arm frantically while holding an iced coffee in the other.
"I ca right as the second quarter was ending! What a ga—what a ga! Seriously, you all were incredible, just...! Ugh! And Rakuzan? Terrible! Playing like that? No sha at all. Like, do they even know what sportsmanship ans? Just disgraceful, honestly—"
"Ojisan..." Dirga sighed, trying not to wince as Takeshi continued his rapid-fire comntary. "You can tone it down a bit."
Takeshi blinked, grinned, and held up his hands in surrender.
"Okay, okay, my bad. Just proud of you guys. Great work, everyone."
Then he turned toward Dirga again, this ti with a more curious expression.
"Hey—did you see your cousin? Aoi?"
Dirga blinked.
"No, but she’s probably with Toyonaka. She’s their manager now, rember?"
"Ah, right. That makes sense."
Then Takeshi clapped his hands once.
"So—why don’t we watch the next match together? Bonding mont! Big scouting day!"
Dirga gave a small, patient smile.
"We’re here to scout our potential next opponent. I’m sure Toyonaka is doing the sa. But... it’s not the sa match."
As if on cue, a familiar, high-pitched voice rang out from behind.
"Diiirggaaaa! Otou-saaannn!"
Dirga turned, and there she was—Aoi, full of energy, racing toward them. Behind her followed the Toyonaka team, their own coach Reina walking calmly at the rear.
"How are you guys doing?" Coach Reina smiled politely, addressing Coach Tsugawa and the Horizon team.
Tsugawa nodded in return. "Holding strong. One step at a ti."
As everyone began mingling—at least, as much as rival teams could—Dirga’s eyes were drawn to sothing odd.
Masaki, Toyonaka’s Their ace , stood slightly apart from his teammates. His expression was distant, tense. Sothing felt...off.
That wasn’t how Dirga rembered him during training camp. Back then, Masaki had been at the center of the team, relaxed and connected.
Now?
He seed like an outsider.
Dirga moved closer to Yuto, Toyonaka’s Point guard, and asked quietly:
"Hey, did sothing happen?"
Yuto didn’t look at him, just muttered in a sharp, cutting tone:
"Nothing. Just dealing with a certain stubborn guy."
The comnt was clearly aid at Masaki.
Masaki, who had been listening, rolled his eyes and answered without even turning:
"We won. That’s all that matters."
There was a brief, tense silence. You could feel it crackling in the air between them.
Dirga frowned slightly. There was tension here—real tension.
Maybe it wasn’t about basketball.
Maybe it was sothing deeper.
Coach Reina caught the shift imdiately.
"Let’s keep it down, boys."
Just like that, the silence dropped over them again like a blanket.
A mont later, Takeshi chid in again, completely oblivious to the charged atmosphere.
"Oh! Dirga—I almost forgot. Ayaka’s looking for you. She’s at the booth over there—selling Horizon basketball rchandise, believe it or not!"
He pointed across the hall, toward the far side of the building where a small crowd had gathered near a rchandise table decked out in Horizon’s colors.
Dirga’s heart skipped.
Ayaka.
In the chaos of the post-ga celebration, he’d forgotten she was even here. But now his thoughts slamd back into focus. His brain spun. His heart thumped harder than it had all ga.
"Ah—uh, right. Thanks."
He casually ran a hand through his hair, subtly sniffed his shirt to check for any leftover sweat, and straightened his jacket. He tried to play it cool. Calm. Unbothered.
But the mont his eyes found her—
Standing at the booth across the hall, organizing neatly folded shirts under the soft arena lights—
He was gone.
"Ayaka-senpai!"
He called out, keeping his voice respectful—half because they were surrounded by people, half because she really was a year above him.
She looked up, eyes lighting up as if she’d been waiting for this exact mont.
"Dirga? Senpai?" she teased, walking around the table toward him. "You never call that."
Dirga scratched his head, slightly embarrassed.
"Well... there’s a lot of people around."
"Ah, so you’re being formal now, huh?"
She laughed. The sound hit him like a perfectly swished three-pointer.
"Wait, I thought you said you’d co tomorrow. How are you already here?" he asked, genuinely surprised—but clearly thrilled.
"Change of plans!" Ayaka said proudly. "I’m crashing at Sayaka’s tonight. And this—" she reached under the table and handed him a navy-blue shirt with the Horizon logo stitched across the chest in gold, "—is the secret project that’s been keeping busy."
Dirga’s eyes widened.
"Wait, you made this?"
"Designed and organized the whole thing," Ayaka said, puffing her chest a little with pride.
"It’s really good," Dirga said, admiring the stitching. "Professional-level, actually."
She smiled. "You think so?"
They stood there, just the two of them, their little corner of the world sohow quiet in the middle of the busy hall. Their voices softened. Their gazes lingered longer than necessary. To everyone else, they looked like two students at a rchandise booth.
But to anyone who paid attention—
It was sothing else.
Sothing warr.
Sothing real.
So would call it love, or sothing dangerously close to it.
Before anything more could be said, chaos returned like an earthquake.
"We need food!" Taiga shouted from the distance, clearly approaching fast.
"Yeah, we’re gonna die if we don’t eat soon!" Aizawa added, clutching his stomach for dramatic effect.
"Otou-san, pleeeease buy us sothing," Aoi joined in, pulling out her best puppy eyes and aiming them directly at Takeshi.
Takeshi sighed in defeat.
"Alright, alright! You kids win. Co on, let’s find a konbini or sothing."
The crowd began moving toward the exit, leaving behind only Dirga and Ayaka at the booth. Dirga looked back for a second, but no one questioned why he stayed behind.
Of course they didn’t.
Taiga winked. Aizawa elbowed Hiroki and whispered sothing that made them both grin.
They weren’t subtle at all.
Dirga just shook his head.
"Traitors."
anwhile, he turned back to Ayaka and started helping her arrange the rchandise table—folding shirts, restocking keychains, and arranging pins in neat little rows.
It was oddly peaceful.
They moved in sync, quietly, with occasional glances and shy smiles. It felt almost like a date, even though it wasn’t one.
Toyonaka’s team had already moved on to scout their next opponent.
And now, it was Horizon’s turn.
"Dirga!" Kaito called from across the hall. "Ten more minutes! We’re heading to the ga."
Dirga turned, caught the group’s eyes. Aizawa raised his eyebrows like he was definitely going to say sothing later. Taiga held up two thumbs and mouthed "Do your thing, lover boy!"
"You coming?" Kaito asked, giving him the out.
Before Dirga could answer, Ayaka stepped in.
"This is my responsibility. But I’ll co join you all once I’m done."
Dirga nodded.
"Alright."
He turned back to his team.
"Sorry, guys. I’ll catch up soon."
Taiga and Aizawa were already snickering.
"No rush, Roo," Aizawa muttered.
"Just don’t miss the whole ga," Rei added, smirking.
Dirga ignored them, though his ears burned a little red.
As the rest of the Horizon squad walked off toward the scouting area, Dirga stayed behind—still folding shirts, still pretending this was just part of the job.
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