I'm Here to Help
Jin wasn't hiding from Kiyota. He was not hiding from Kiyota. He was just hanging out in a dark janitor's closet with his left foot in a bucket of soapy water for his own amusement.
"Jin-san! Jin-san! If you have a minute I have one quick question--goddammit, where could he have gone?"
"Um, maybe he's in the broom closet, Kiyota-sempai?"
"Don't be stupid, there's no way any captain of Kainan's gonna hide in a broom closet."
Jin didn't even wince.
"Let's try Class 10," Kiyota's voice rang clear, "he usually likes to go there around 12:30 to study English with some friends of his. It's a little early, but he has an exam tomorrow so maybe he's there already."
"Gosh, sempai, you sure know captain's schedule well!"
"Yeah, yeah..."
He heard two sets of footsteps receding. He silently counted to twenty, waited for Kiyota to suddenly burst into the closet yelling "Gotcha!" and when this didn't happen slowly inched the door open a crack to peer out into the hallway.
No Kiyota in sight. Jin lifted his foot out of the bucket and tried his best to wring some of the water out of his pant leg, then took off his shoe and sock and squeezed them until they were only sopping wet rather than completely soaked. Satisfied (or satisfied enough), he put his sock and shoe back on, opened the door full wide, and stepped out into the hall right onto someone's foot.
"Oi, Jin!"
It was some guy he vaguely recognized from another class. Jin flashed a quick smile and said, "Sorry!" knowing he would be instantly forgiven. Most people in the school were in awe of him and would be honoured to have their foot stepped on by Kainan's captain.
The other boy was smiling too. "So you've finally come out of the closet, huh? I've heard about your little stalker--Kiyota Nobunaga, is it?"
Jin's smile cracked a little.
"Ah ha ha," he managed to ground out without sounding annoyed at all. Not at all. "You mustn't listen to every rumour, you know? Kiyota's just a little over-zealous."
"Yeah, like a leech is overly blood-sucking."
"He just wants to know who's going to be captain next year."
"It's only June."
"Well, it was nice talking to you but I've got to run now, goodbye. Jerk." The last part was muttered under his breath as he retreated from Mr. I've-never-met-you-but-I'll-act-like-I-know-you. Everyone considered him school property now, which was an unexpected side effect of being captain of the basketball team. Maki had never warned him about this sort of thing, although Jin suspected that his old captain had never had to deal with it in quite the same way since he just scared the crap out of most of the school. Jin would have settled for being able to scare the crap out of Kiyota, but as it was he'd just have to keep hiding from him.
Where could that stupid Jin be? If Kiyota didn't know any better he'd think that his captain was actually hiding from him. But there's no way Jin would do something that cowardly! He was Kainan's captain, Maki's successor, and Maki didn't know the meaning of cowardly. Well, of course he know what it meant, the literal meaning, and Kiyota knew the difference between literal and figurative nowadays since he had passed his Literature course by a whole five percent last year--
"Um, um, Kiyota-sempai? We, um, just passed Class 10..."
Kiyota stopped mid-stomp and spun around to start stomping in the other direction.
"I know that, Kentaro, I was just checking to see if Jin had gone to another classroom instead."
"But you weren't looking at the classrooms--"
"I have very good peripheral vision," he said loftily. "That's one of the reasons I'm going to be point guard next year."
"Whooooaahh, really? That's so cool! But then why is Tatsu-sempai playing point guard this year?"
Kiyota gave the freshman a Look.
"Tatsu needs the experience, that's why."
"Oh, I see."
Kentaro still looked doubtful, and Kiyota was mentally scratching the boy off his list of possible candidates for next-next-year's team captain. Too bad. Kiyota was going to have a very hard time choosing his successor when the time came, judging by the sorry lot of freshmen who'd joined this year.
Of course, Kiyota wasn't going to be able to properly start thinking about such things until he could be assured of his future captaincy...so WHERE THE HELL WAS JIN?
"...Kiyota-sempai, you didn't have to yell."
Ah. Had he said that out loud?
Judging by the angry third year student poking his head out of Class 10, yes.
"Kiyota-kun," one of them said coolly, "if you're looking for Jin again, he's not here today. Which is unfortunate, seeing as how he has an English exam tomorrow."
"Yeah, I know about that," Kiyota said with a flippant eye-roll. "That's why I'm here."
"Maybe he wouldn't have to retake exams if he didn't spend so much time dealing with his unruly basketball team," the third year pointed out.
"What are you trying to say--hey, did you say it's a retake? Since when does Jin-san ever have to retake exams?"
"Since he got a sixty-two on his last exam."
The senior pointed at a list of test scores posted on the wall. The third name under the red pass-fail line was Jin Soichiro.
"Whooooaahh, captain fucked up," said Kentaro.
Kiyota couldn't believe it. Jin's grades were supposed to be as consistent as his three-pointers; there was no way he'd ever get below seventy-five percent on an English exam, even if it was his worst subject.
The haughty third year was still blabbing on, something about Jin not having enough time to attend to his studies and all his friends were concerned blah yadda blah blah and certain teammtes of his should consider helping him rather than hindering him blah yadda blah blah....
...and maybe he had a point there.
"Oi," Kiyota interrupted, "does Jin-san have any English assignments to do today?"
After a moment of annoyed glaring, the senior fished a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and said, "He was supposed to pick up this set of questions here, but for some reason he never showed up--"
"Thanks," said Kiyota, grabbing the sheet from his hand and bolting out the door, Kentaro's "wait for me!" falling on deaf ears. He was pretty sure he knew where Jin was now: in his super-secret studying spot behind the big oak grove.
Jin was in his super-secret studying spot behind the big oak grove, where no one could find him.
He breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he could study for his English retake in peace, without the fear of Kiyota's legendary pestering skills hanging over his head. Too bad Jin didn't have that set of practice questions he was supposed to pick up from his study group, but he could always get it after school. As long as he had a solid half hour to look at his text book, he'd be in good shape to--
"Jin-san!"
"Gyah!"
Kiyota grinned toothily and brushed some oak leaves from his uniform.
"Sorry, did I surprise you? I'm getting pretty good at this whole creeping through the trees thing."
"Eheh, hello" was all that Jin could manage.
"So," Kiyota said, plopping down next to him, "according to my psychic powers, you are studying for your English exam."
Jin gave a noncommittal "Mm-hm" and opened up the textbook in his lap to stare at it resolutely. He was absolutely determined to ignore whatever next came out of Kiyota's mouth. If he asked him (again) who next year's captain was going to be, Jin would have to do something drastic, like...like TELLING THE TRUTH! Or maybe not. He'd think of something. Telling the truth would have meant letting Kiyota know that he really was slated to become next year's captain, but there was no way Jin could let him know that. For one thing, the boy's ego was big enough as it was. For another thing, Takato-sensei would kill him if he said anything.
Besides, wasn't it kind of morbid to be talking about this sort of thing in June? Did Kiyota want to get rid of him already? Didn't Kiyota respect Jin as his current captain? Sure, he was no Maki, but most people weren't. Did he think that by asking the same question again and Again and AGAIN--
"So, Jin-san, I had a question for you..."
AGHAHGH!
"Yes, Kiyota, what is it?" Jin looked up from his textbook and smiled pleasantly.
"I was wondering if you wanted this question sheet from your English study group."
Kiyota was pulling a folded and much-maligned piece of paper out of his pocket.
Jin just blinked. And blinked again. "Wow, Kiyota," he said, taking the offered paper. "This is exactly what I needed! Thanks for...for..."
And saw that someone with very messy writing had filled in all the answers already. In pen.
"...thanks for helping me out."
"Pretty good, huh?" Kiyota was chewing on a piece of gum noisily and looking very satisfied with himself. "I managed to answer the questions in like five minutes. And I thought third year courses were supposed to be hard!"
"Yeah," said Jin, already thinking up ways to get another, un-tampered-with copy of the practice questions. He'd probably have to get someone from his study group to make a photocopy for him before the end of the day, much as he hated to impose. He didn't want to look at the sheet Kiyota had already filled in because that would just give the answers away, although they were probably all wrong anyway...
Kiyota was still talking, Jin realized.
"...and the conditional past participle stuff was kind of tricky, because there's so many irregular verbs in English, you know? But it was mostly review anyway and I've got a good dictionary for the new stuff, and there weren't too many weird colloquial phrases. I mean, what the hell does 'kill two avians with one rock' mean anyway?"
Jin was blinking again.
"Um, what did you say?"
"I'm sorry," said Kiyota, patting his captain on the back consolingly, "I sometimes forget that English is not everyone's best subject."
"It's your best subject?"
"Right-o! I'm the top of my class!"
How interesting, thought Jin.
Interesting, thought Kiyota. Jin was getting that look on his face that he got when he was practicing his three-pointers--calm and accepting but for the slightly furrowed eyebrows, as if that brain of his was calculating its way through a big challenge by chopping it up into small, manageable chunks. Or that's what Kiyota figured.
"Hey, when did you start calling me Jin-san anyway?"
"Eh?"
Jin was talking very quickly now.
"Just because I'm the captain doesn't mean you have to call me Jin-san. And why didn't you tell me before that you're so good at English?"
"Well, you didn't ask, Jin!"
"You still have to call me sempai."
"Yes, Jin-sempai."
Jin was starting to look a little too crafty for comfort, Kiyota decided.
"Anyway, Takato-sensei tells me you failed your last Physics exam."
"Huh? Well, I almost passed..."
"He said you got twenty-six percent."
"Physics is a stupid subject anyway."
"Okay, here's the deal," said Jin, pausing to rummage around in his backpack. He pulled out a coil notebook and pen and starting drawing up a table with neat, precise lines. "You have to go to the physics club every Tuesday--"
Kiyota spluttered in horror.
"--just hear me out--you go there once a week and ask for some practice questions based on whatever chapter you're on in the textbook. Then you do the questions and give it to me on Friday to mark, and on Monday morning I'll go over them with you."
"But the physics geeks will contaminate me!"
"In return, I want you to help me study for my English tests and maybe look over some of my assignments."
"But the physics geeks will contaminate me!"
"If we do this you should be able to pass Physics and I'll be able to pull up my English grade before entrance exams."
"But the physics geeks will contaminate me!"
Jin smiled pleasantly.
"Kiyota, you think it's a good idea, don't you?"
Kiyota sulked unpleasantly.
"Yes, Jin-sempai."
"Gooood. And I also want you to look over these play charts I made."
Jin flipped to the last page of his notebook and handed it to Kiyota, who took it wordlessly.
"Huh. You've never asked me for advice on plays before."
"Well, I'm asking you now."
He was asking him for help. He trusted him! Kiyota was very, very tempted to ask THE question, because--what was that English phrase--wasn't it good to smack when the metal was hot? But for once Kiyota's mouth didn't immediately spout out the words that had formed in his brain. There was something fundamentally different about the way Jin was treating him now compared to five minutes ago and perhaps Kiyota should respond in kind.
He flipped through the plays in the notebook, carefully observing the neat, precise lines of the Xs and Os and arrows that danced across the pages. He hardly understood any of it. But he would figure it out, eventually.
Jin wondered if Kiyota would figure it out eventually. That notebook contained every scrap of information he had about the basketball team; he had inherited it from Maki. "I'm letting you see this because you're going to be captain," Jin wanted to say but hoped that he didn't have to.
"I think," said Kiyota, and Jin held his breath, "that I need time to look this over. Can I borrow it? I promise not to lose it."
Good enough.
"Sure."
Kiyota was still flipping pages, and obviously not reading everything he saw, but he stopped when he came to a page that was not covered with Xs and Os and arros but was instead filled with stats. His face lit up when he recognized what they were about.
"Cool! These are from the Winter Tournament, right? Whoa, Maki had fourteen assists against Ryonan? That's Maki for you. Too bad we lost...hey, and here's me! Er, nine points...and here you are, Jin-sempai, thirty-one points, best fucking shooter in the country as usual."
"Ha ha, you're exaggerating."
"Am not," Kiyota replied, sounding almost offended.
Jin shook his head with a rueful smile.
"No, I'm very ordinary, Kiyota."
"Ordinary people don't shoot three hundred baskets a day."
"Ordinary people have to shoot three hundred baskets a day if they want to compete with talented people."
People like you, Jin wanted to add. But hoped he didn't have to.
Kiyota didn't seem to hear the unsaid words at all. "So what if you don't have natural talent? You're still killing everyone else when it comes to shooting."
Jin wordlessly flipped the page over and pointed at a particular set of stats. Then another, and another.
"Okay, so Mitsui and Sendoh and Rukawa had pretty high shooting percentages too...shit, were they that good before?"
"No, they've improved a lot since last summer."
"Well, so what? You'll always still be better. Right, Jin-sempai?"
Jin didn't answer.
Jin wasn't answering.
There were some ineffable truths in Kiyota's world. Truths like The sun rises in the morning and Kainan is the best team ever and Jin is the best shooter ever. If Jin didn't answer soon, Kiyota's world was going to explode.
Okay, so maybe that was an exaggeration. His world hadn't exactly exploded when Kainan lost at the Winter Tournament, but then half the team had had the flu and Takasago had been playing with a minor sprain and Sendoh had been just plain scary, so it was totally understandable that they'd lost.
But Jin still wasn't answering.
"Hey," said Kiyota.
Jin was looking resolutely at the ground.
"Ne, Kiyota," he said finally, "you know that being captain, there's a lot of responsibilities to it, right? Not just all the stuff you see me do during pratice and games, but there's all this paperwork too. And...it's just a lot of pressure. The team depends on you so much. I just want you to know about that before...before next year."
Kiyota's hands twiddled anxiously. Was Jin saying what he thought he was saying?
"And the next captain--whoever that's going to be--he might think that he's not up to it, that he's no Maki and he can't handle all the pressure, but you'll have to tell him that he is up to it, and it's just stupid to compare yourself to Maki, because no one is like Maki."
Huh, thought Kiyota. So Jin wasn't saying what he thought he was saying. He was saying something else.
Jin wondered if Kiyota understood what he was saying.
"Jin-sempai."
Jin really wondered if Kiyota understood what he was saying.
"Oi."
Jin really doubted Kiyota understood what he was saying.
"Jiiinnn-seeemmppaaii."
The look on Kiyota's face meant that Jin had been spacing out for a few seconds.
"Sorry, what did you say?"
"Jin-sempai, you don't have to worry. You're totally right--it is stupid to compare yourself to Maki, so stop doing it to yourself."
"Huh? That's not what I--"
"But it is what you said," Kiyota jumped in earnestly. "Though it's not what you meant to say. If you know what I mean. Look, all I want to say is, I'm here to help, okay? We all are. You've got to do those three hundred practice shots a day and study for your entrance exams and all that paperwork shit too, so let me help whenever I can. Got it?"
"Um..."
"Okay!" said Kiyota, jumping to his feet. "Since that's settled, I'll tutor you for the...fifteen minutes we have left of lunch period, so you'll be ready for your English exam tomorrow!"
Jin couldn't speak. Because he realized he was smiling, not the pleasant smile he inflicted on Kiyota to pacify him, but a full-out grin that stretched from ear to ear.
"Okay," he said, "but you have to remember I'm here to help too. Especially with Physics homework."
"Aw, shit."
Kiyota was grinning too.
And maybe, Jin thought to himself as Kiyota started rambling about verb conjugations and how much he hated thermodynamics, maybe Kainan would be alright after all.
Jin was going to be alright after all.
That was Kiyota's thought as he walked beside his captain back to the school. He knew things were just going to get harder for Jin, and he was sure that the senior would be leaving the team come winter, maybe even leaving competitive basketball forever. Jin wanted to be a veterinarian when he grew up, and veterinarians needed to pass their college entrance exams.
But right now, Kiyota was going to make sure that Jin could keep doing those three hundred practice shots a day. That way the sun would keep rising every morning and Kainan would still be the best team ever and Jin would still be the best shooter ever.
"I'll see you at practice," Jin said as they came to the school entrance. He would be heading to the third floor and Kiyota to the second floor.
"Yeah, see you."
"Oh, and Kiyota?"
"Hm?"
"Thanks for all your help."
Kiyota was still smiling.
"That's what I'm here for."
And they parted ways.
End
Author's Notes:
Sorry that Maki couldn't make an appearance--I know some people wanted to see him in this story--but he was busy conquering the nation. Via university basketball.
The last story in the Captains story is coming up next! What team could it possibly feature? I'll give you a hint--it starts with "Sho" and it ain't Shoyo.