1538/Nothing But Net

Nothing But Net
Date of Scene:	31 May 2016
Location:	Plot Room #1
Synopsis:	It's Basketball Tryouts for Seiyou Public. One of the newer students, Nagihiko, tries out! Unfortunately, he kind of forgot Kukai was on the team. And then he faces the biggest challenge of his young life: public showers.
Cast of Characters:	Nadeshiko Fujisaki, Kukai Souma

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Nadeshiko Fujisaki has posed:
"Come on, Twinkle Toes, get your head in the game!"

Nagihiko's head is in the game. It's just he's never exactly signed up for organzied sports before. He's shielding the ball from someone with several inches on him, trying to find--

There!

A pivot, a feint, and the basketball goes sailing into the air. He'd like to say nothing but net, but he at least made a basket, right?

The whistle blows, signifying a change in rotation. After this next round, they'll find out who advanced to tomorrow's tryouts.

On the sidelines, he leans against his knees for a moment to catch his breath. And then, sweet, sweet water!

Instead of a fan, Temari is wielding improvised pompoms. She's not waving them about like Ran would, but he has to admit, its an interesting prop choice for traditional Japanese dance.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Kukai had, of course, volunteered to help out with the basketball tryouts some weeks ago. The last thing he'd expected, however, was to see Nagihiko here. Especially after the other day. But that was outside of school. This is sports.

He's watching Nagihiko move - he's not as physical as some of the other players, but he's certainly aggressive, and has good aim with the ball. Daichi is besides Temari, cheering for Nagihiko as he tries out. The little Guardian Chara seems like he's in a better mood, at least.

Kukai catches Nagihiko's eye as the whistle blows and Nagi comes off the court, nodding to him, his grin on Kukai's face genuine, or at least as genuine as it can be right now. Kukai looks up as the coach calls for him. He moves out, rotating out as well with the other defenders, and steps in front of the next tryout. Focusing on the game at least keeps his mind off everything else.

Nadeshiko Fujisaki has posed:
It's the rush of adrenaline that keeps everything but the rush of excitement from his returning grin. After he's done cooling off a bit, he sits with tired but happy muscles on the bench. Temari floats over with Daichi and gone are the pompoms as she begins waving her fan over his face.

He's careful with the water, not guzzling it down like he wants, but takes slow sips as he watches the court. He'd actually signed up for try-outs a bit ago, and at the time Kukai being on the team actually hadn't been a factor in his decision.

Now, though. When he'd first seen Kukai on the sidelines, he'd nearly stumbled. But soon he was caught up in a rush.

The boy next to him, a fellow candidate, groaned and slumped over. "Man, if this is tryouts, I'm pretty sure practice is gonna be killer."

Nagihiko laughs. "I'm pretty sure that's part of the appeal, isn't it?"

The boy gives him a good natured stink eye. "Ug, don't tell me, you're one of those."

Nagihiko just laughs again as he turns back to watch the tryout.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Kukai's opponent is woefully undertrained for somebody like Kukai who plays basketball whenever he's not playing soccer or skateboarding or fighting youma or getting shot or blown up. Kukai, at least, knows this, and goes real easy, moving slow, feinting in both directions and generally giving him plenty of room to dodge past. And he still doesn't take it.

After a couple minutes the whistle blows again and Kukai goes to sit down along with the tryout, who goes to sit down on the bleachers, looking downcast. Kukai pats him on the back and grins. "You just need to keep practicing, really."

Nadeshiko Fujisaki has posed:
As he and the boy next to him keep talking about nothing, Nagihiko keeps stealing glances at Kukai. He watches with a sort of fondness as the young athlete comforts the boy next to him.

After a moment, the whistle is blown again. "Alright, listen up. If I call out your name, stay seated. If I don't, hit the showers when I'm done and better luck next season."

Nagihiko is pleased when the kid next to him gets his name called and is pleasantly surprised when his is, as well. The coach had been yelling at him pretty much the entire run.

By the end of it, the competitive part of him almost preens at being one of the ones still seated. The other part of him feels for the ones trudging out of the court looking downcast. The boy Kukai was comforting is among the throng to leave.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Kukai spends a moment talking with the boy not selected about how to get better and to practice, working with him for a minute about theory. He can sort of feel Nagihiko's eyes on him, but is able to keep from blushing as he talks.

Kukai listens to the names called. It's pretty much exactly as he expected, down the line. When the last name is called, the coach looks at the group that's left. "OK. As for you lot, we'll have our next tryout next week. That'll be our final cut - we've got room for 6 players for the main squad and 2 on the backup squad, so you'll know where you stand after the next tryout. Good work today, but be ready to play hard next time."

He doublechecks his list, counting over the names and each boy, before nodding. "Good work. All right, go hit the showers and I'll see you next week." Kukai stands as do most of the others, and heads for the showers. He tries not to look at Nagihiko.

Nadeshiko Fujisaki has posed:
Nagihiko's grin falls a little when he's basically ignored, but he guesses he shouldn't expect otherwise, right?

"What's wrong?"

Nagihiko blinks and looks at the boy he'd been sitting next to. "Nothing! Just tired. Emotional and physical duress and the sort."

The guy rolls his eyes and slaps Nagihiko on the shoulder. "You're weird."

Nagihiko snorts and jogs after.

There's a whole new trouble set when he enters the locker room. He realizes that, as Nadeshiko's been excused from gym class due to her family's profession, this will be...the first time he's showered publicly.

So he sits on the bench, methodically tying and untying his shoes.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Kukai had realized that point as he headed for the showers, which is why he hadn't looked at Nagihiko. This might be a thing. So for now, he heads into the showers, intent on just... getting through it as quickly as he can. He's been doing it for years, he'd never been embarrassed before, just.. don't look at anybody. Especially not Nagihiko. And bring plenty of towels.

He still moves well over to one side of the shower room and focuses on speed and extra-hot water and thinking about basketball. Thankfully, he wasn't in bad shape, and just needs enough time to knock the sweat off.

Off to one side, Daichi is keeping one hand over Temari's eyes, even though she's got one sleeve hiding her face. "Heeeey."

Nadeshiko Fujisaki has posed:
Some people start to clear out, but he's suddenly feeling exposed by not...being exposed.

Awkward, awkward, awkward.

Okay, seriously? He's a dancer. He's used to various stages of undress!

Well, not his own...

Not helping.

Sorry.

Deep breath. And towels. It would look weird if he showered with those on, right? Right!

He's undressed quickly due to the aforementioned dancer thing and almost slips as his original trajectory is forced to change due to obstacles.

Yeah, like this wasn't already awkward.

A quick wash of the hair, conditioner, he'll give it the proper treatment at home. Fortunately his hair is long and thick and even wet it feels like a protective shroud.

That doesn't mean he's still not nervous, and as many nervous people do, he starts to hum.

Temari gasps, scandelized! "I'm not peeking, Daichi!"

Kukai Souma has posed:
Daichi grumbles and puts his hands down, watching Temari. "Yeaaaaah." He's not as grumpy as he was the other night, at least. And he's used to all this.

Kukai heads out of the shower room, facing the walls the whole time, and makes for the towels and the exit. Thankfully, he didn't look at Nagihiko, or see him, or hear him the whole~

And then Nagi starts humming, and Kukai's pace redoubles. He's out a few seconds later, towel wrapped around him, another one rapidly drying his hair, making for his locker in a hurry.

Nadeshiko Fujisaki has posed:
Temari sighs and gives Daichi a hug. "If I was, it was only to make sure he had no questionable moles. I do it to Na-chan all the time."

There's an indignant squawk from Nagihiko, and then he hurries the best he can. Unfortunately, right now his hair feels like its twelve miles long and taking forever to rinse.

It's definitely not the steam that has his cheeks red when he marches with determined steps to his temporary locker. Opens, takes things out, slams, puts things on, opens again, takes what he forgot the last time out, slams, finishes dressing and packing his duffel bag.

His heart is still racing about a billion miles an hour. There's fewer people now, and he leans several lockers and turned away from Kukai. "I've danced in front of public officiates, served tea to foreign dignitaries, but showering in public is its own form of nerve wracking."

Kukai Souma has posed:
Kukai lets out a small breath as he feels more than sees Nagihiko on the other side of the room, drying and dressing. He's dressed by now as well, and is standing, looking into his locker for... something. His soccer ball is in here, his favorite, signed by several famous players, from Japan and other nations as well. It's in perfect shape - mostly because it's probably the one Sky Jack uses, or a version of it.

He finally looks over to see a damp length of purple hair facing him. "Yeah. You never know who's looking at you, judging you, but then you get to know the team and they're all usually good guys and reasonable, and it gets less worrisome. Eventually you don't think about it." He grins for a moment. "Until someone snaps you in the rear with a towel or something."

He sighs, then closes the locker and drums his fingers on the door. "Daichi act all right? I'll fuss at him if he wasn't the model of a polite but grumpy houseguest." Most of the rest of the others have left by this point, leaving the two of them to talk. More than likely most of them see it as Guardian stuff, the Jack and the Queen's brother chatting.

Nadeshiko Fujisaki has posed:
"I think I'd like to avoid towel snapping for awhile. Unless I'm the snapper."

When asked about Daichi, he nods, and though he rolls until his back is against the locker, doesn't quite look at Kukai. "He was in good company. There was one incident, but that was on Temari. Haruna-chan seems...nice."

Finally, he does look at Kukai, turning so his body's facing him even though his arms are crossed. His look is a little mischevious. "Is it bad that I completely forgot you were on the team when I signed up for tryouts?"

Kukai Souma has posed:
Kukai laughs. "Snap not, lest ye be snapped yourself. Or something like that." He ohs, then looks up at Daichi and Temari. "Really? And Haruna is nice. Little psycho about fussing at Blue and Tadase, but nice otherwise."

He looks over at Nagihiko for a second as he turns to face him, one eyebrow arching at that mischevious look. The question, however, makes him blink for a moment, hard. ".... But... But Nagi, I'm Sportsball-kun. How the hell did you forget?" He grins and shakes his head. "Geez."

Nadeshiko Fujisaki has posed:
"Well, if one starts to snap in self defence, how would one recognize where allies lie?"

He bits back a laugh. "Yeah, I caught a scent of the psycho bit, but then again, who among us is sane?"

He's relaxing the more he realizes he can do this, even if there's occasions where his heart skips a beat. It's evident, at least in part, by the way he laughs. "What can I say, Kukai-kun?" He tilts his head a bit. "Maybe you're just not as infamous on the court as you are on the field."

And then he brings up something that's been tickling around in his mind. "Speaking of, why did the coach call my name if he kept yelling at me while I was on the court?"

Kukai Souma has posed:
There's a real, heartfelt laugh that comes out of Kukai as he shakes his head, then sighs, looking at Nagihiko. And then he blushes and looks down. Despite his efforts, being around the purple-haired dancer still embarrassed him greatly. Not because of Nagihiko, but because of himself. What he'd done.

That infamous comment brought his eyes back up, though and he grins. "I'm going to change that, just you watch. I'm tall enough to be a great basketball player, and fast and coordinated enough to be a great soccer player, too. I'm going to prove to everybody I'm good at everything." He coughs, then rubs the back of his head. "Holy shit. All of a sudden I'm listening to myself and realizing where Daichi gets it from. I am crazy."

He shrugs a little, thinking about the coach's comments. "He probably sees some kinda talent in you, but he feels like he's got to ride you here, where it's relatively safe, to see if he can get you to show it off. That's all. He's not a bad guy." He looks back over at Nagihiko, then nods at the door. "I... y'know."

Nadeshiko Fujisaki has posed:
And then he realizes just how unbearably awkward things will get from time to time if he does make the team.

He rolls his eyes. "Kukai, we talk to tiny people that not many people can see. I'm pretty sure that's someone's definition of crazy. Anything else is just a bonus."

He takes Kukai's words about the coach, and what he thinks. He's going to analyze them and what happened on the court today, what he did and didn't do.

Heck, obsessing over this will be a welcome.

And then Kukai's gesturing to the door. "Right. Well, Temari, say your goodbyes to Daichi. I'll be waiting outside." He gives Kukai that same two-fingered salute he did over the weekend, when masks were more firmly in place. "I'll save you a seat in the padded cell."

Kukai Souma has posed:
Kukai can't help but laugh more. "Oh man. Well. You know, if it wasn't such a widely shared and varied delusion I'd be more worried about myself than I already am." He sighs and then grins up at Daichi, nodding. "OK buddy, come on. Feeling better." Daichi hugs Temari bye for now, then hovers down and lands on Kukai's shoulder, then hugs his neck. "Yeah."

Kukai waves bye to Nagihiko in much the same fashion. "Thanks. I'll probably need it. I'll talk to you soon, ok?" He watches Nagi head out, then sighs, letting the stress of the conversation ease out of him. It's not much - less than he expected - but there's something tickling at the back of his mind as he finally leaves as well.