Glacier in Japan: Chapter 4 ~ [The Pig Pen]

Glacier in Japan

(Chapter 4)

Glacier had been allowed to attend classes with Rukawa during her stay and sat beside him during class. Everyone who saw them together marveled at how much they looked alike.

During lunch, they sat together on a table when suddenly, a group of boys set their trays down on their table and joined them. They were members of the Shohoku basketball team.

“Oi, Rukawa, introduce us to your companion. That’s really rude you know, walking around with a pretty girl without introducing her to you teammates.” Mitsui said smoothly.

When Rukawa ignored him, he turned to Glacier and introduced himself. “Hi. I’m Mitsui Hisashi. I’m Rukawa’s teammate in the basketball team.” He held out his hand.

“Rukawa Glacier. But most people call me G-chan. It would be confusing if there were two Rukawa’s running around, ne?” Smiling, Glacier took Mitsui’s hand and shook it firmly.

Everyone at the table, except for Rukawa and Glacier, drew back in shock and shouted, “Rukawa?!”

“But...”

“How…”

The boys stammered before Glacier explained, “We’re cousins. Our dads were brothers. Can’t you tell? People always say we look alike. We both inherited our looks from our father side.”

“Now that you mention it, you do look an awful lot like Rukawa here. Ha! Wait until Hanamichi sees her. He’ll be furious at having two kitsune’s in Shohoku.” Miyagi then turned towards the table where a redhead was seated and shouted, “Oi, Hanamichi! Look what we have here!” while pointing at Rukawa and Glacier. Glacier’s face was, by now, a very bright shade of red. She leaned closer to Rukawa and whispered nervously, “Are they always like this?” Rukawa merely shrugged.

“By the way, I’m Miyagi Ryota,” said the boy, turning towards her again. She noticed that he was the shortest one among them. An earring flashed on one of his earlobes.

“Akagi Takenori,” said the tallest boy among them. He reminded her of a gorilla.

“Kogure Kiminobu. Nice to meet you, G-chan,” said the boy wearing glasses. He smiled at her.

Glacier smiled at each one as they introduced themselves. She was starting to feel nervous, being surrounded by such tall boys. Rukawa must have noticed because he suddenly stood up and muttered, “Let’s go G-chan. You wanted to see the rest of the school right?”

“That’s right!” she looked gratefully at Rukawa. “Well, nice meeting you all. Ja ne!” The cousins left the table and headed out of the cafeteria.

Sakuragi was looking at the table where members of the basketball team were fawning over a black-haired girl. Grumbling to himself, he couldn’t help but notice that the girl somehow looked familiar though he was sure that he’d never met her before. Then it hit him: the girl looked like Rukawa. In fact, she was a female version of the kitsune himself. As the thought of Rukawa crossed his mind, he couldn’t help but feel a stab of pain in his chest. He closed his eyes.

*Kaede, nande?*

“Oi, Hanamichi, what’s wrong with you?” asked his best friend Youhei. Following the direction of Hanamichi’s gaze, he caught sight of a pair of dark heads leaving the cafeteria. He looked sympathetically at his friend and tried to cheer him up. He knew what had happened between Hanamichi and the brunette. “You don’t have to worry about her, Hanamichi. She’s his cousin. Can’t you see the similarities between them?”

Knowing he didn’t have to pretend with his best friend, Hanamichi smiled weakly at Youhei and replied, “Really? So that’s why they look alike.” His voice trailed off as he watched the door swing shut.

Patting him gently on the shoulder, Youhei said, “You should talk with him. You can’t keep on waiting for him to make the first move. You know how he is.”

Nodding miserably, Hanamichi looked toward the doors again.

Chapter 3

Chapter 5