Chapter 16 ~ I was never there

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"Ahhh what a wonderful nap, I slept like a baby" Remi said , stretching and yawning as he sat up in bed . "Wait", he looked around slightly confused.

"Why am I in bed at home?" He got up and looked around the room frantically to be sure.

"I swear I was at school , I remember arguing with Chara" he gasped paused for a bit ,and started to look for his phone he looked at the screen seeing a couple missed calls from Chara. "Oh dear...........It's today, the game is today I better get ready!!" He exclaimed after staring at the date on the phone, chucked the phone on the bed and jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom.

After taking a quick shower he got dressed and headed to the kitchen to see what he could make as quickly as possible.

"Hmmm" he pondered, looking around the kitchen area as something felt different,he knew he kept his place clean but it was a different kind of clean today, he opened the fridge and it confirmed something was off .

"I didn't make all that food..." He looked at the fully packed fridge with all sorts of food and vegetables and cooked meals in signature purple bowls only one person could have .

"..mom was here?!" he said to himself as he took out one of the bowls and a large spoon to get some to reheat.

"...but I don't remember mom visiting..." He paused for a bit.

"..there seems to be a pattern here, why do I keep forgetting things? I can't even recall a trace of anything" he opened the microwave,took out the food and started to eat.

"Hmmm that's delicious " . His brainstorming was interrupted and pushed to the back by the taste of a good meal, he was never going to be able to make anything even as close as good as his mom's cooking, probably because he could barely cook for one , he never wanted to learn as a kid and Jana who had developed an excessively positive form of parenting decided she wouldn't force the kid to learn an essential life skill .

After having breakfast Remi put on some trainers grabbed a small bag and a pair of sunglasses and headed out , he thought about how he'd prefer he passed away before his mom did, afterall if she did ,where would he ever get to eat good food again?

"Mom must be protected at all costs" he muttered and nodded enthusiastically as he left the flat.

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After a short taxi ride , Remi arrived at an arena packed with people waiting outside, some of them holding up signs and some dressed in bright colored T-shirts and carrying glowsticks.

Maybe people didn't recognize Remi in his class but, here he was king. The people outside that arena all knew who he was and if he dared step out now he was going to get mobbed, he paid the taxi driver and sneakily got out and made his way around the building to use the back entrance.

"Coach is going to be angry with me for coming seperately from the team, but it can't be helped" he said to an audience of no one but himself as he arrived at the back entrance to the arena, he opened the door slowly and looked to see if anyone was there. The coast was clear so he quietly snuck in and headed to his teams waiting room.

"Well well well" a voice rang out from behind Remi ,making him freeze in his tracks.

"Look coach , I was going to meet up with the team as planned but my dog was sick and...." Remi started to cook up an excuse ,laughing nervously as he turned around but immediately stopped when he saw who it was.

"Kuon?!!" He exclaimed in dissapointment and relief.

"Ha! I got you bro!!" kuon laughed and walked up to Remi and smacked him playfully on his back which made him start coughing.

Kuon was a big guy, he was taller than Remi but also quite strong too but he didn't know his own strength most of the time.

"Your dog? Really? You don't have a dog!!" Kuon pointed out and started laughing loudly again.

"Alright alright, let's just go so coach can yell at me already" Remi said in annoyance, not appreciating kuon's humor.

"Don't worry bro, coach is not here yet ,he had to to go somewhere and told us to come by ourselves, I covered for you, I told him you came to meet us and we all arrived together, the others will cooperate as well" Kuon said casually as the two walked to the team room.

"Really?" Remi asked ,looking upwards to Kuon like a puppy. "Thanks man" , Remi said , his annoyance about the prank faded immediately as he remembered how nice Kuon could be when he wasnt being a menace. Kuon was about two years older than Remi so they had a younger and older brother relationship from kuon's point of view, they have also been together in the team for the longest ,so Kuon felt they were the best friend pair of the team.

Remi on the other hand didn't quite see Kuon as a friend , just an acquaintance who could sometimes be annoying, but also quite kind.

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"Don't worry bro I know you had a reason for not wanting to come with us or stay in the dorms too, your secret is safe with me" Kuon said and gave a cheesy wink and finger point combo.

"I keep telling you , I don't have a secret!" Remi sighed as they finally made it to the room.

"You don't have a secret that I know of yet " Kuon retorted and opened the door for Remi,

"After you ,princess" he said teasingly.

Now usually that won't bother Remi at all ,but with recent events it felt like an attack.

"You moron!" Remi snarked and kicked Kuon in the shin.

"Ouch !! Why did you do that?" Kuon asked clutching his leg , Remi simply scoffed and went to his assigned locker .

"Hi Remi" a girl about Remi's age popped out doing a little wave from behind the door of his locker as he took out some playbooks to quickly study before the game.

"Oh hi uhhhh,... Blue hat" Remi said as he struggled to remember her name.

"It's Honey.." the girl corrected "... we've been teammates for six months now and you never remember my name, I just happened to wear a blue hat that day and..." She trailed off as she felt shy again and just sighed ,went to sit in her spot and started twisting a couple strands of her short bob hair.

"Look..Lonnie ... it's actually a good thing I remember something about you at all, unlike those guys" Remi said and pointed at the other two members of their team who were also in the room, he had no idea what their names were.

Honey chuckled a bit as she watched the two guys look up and one of them roll their eyes at Remi.

"It's not Lonnie, it's Honey" she corrected sheepishly.

Remi was bad with names, not because he forgot but because if he felt someone wasn't worth remembering he never made room for their name in his head.

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Suddenly the door to the room flew open and the coach Walked in.

"Alright kids , this is it.." he started talking as soon as he set foot in the room , "...the season starts today and we're winning the whole thing" he said ,talking in his usual fast cadence.

"Now we couldn't get a sixth flex member as a substitute so we are actually the smallest roster in this tournament, we have exactly five members so I need all of you on top condition until the tournament is over, no injuries, no deaths, no missing persons , and no shenanigans, do you all understand?" Coach Randy asked sternly.

"Yes coach " everyone answered .

"So this season ,Kuon you're the captain and Remi is the vice captain, you two are the longest staying members of this team so you have to guide the newbies , the same way your seniors did when you joined newly" Randy announced as he adjusted the belt of his huge pants .

"Coach how can Remi be a vice captain when he doesn't even know his team mates names" one of the two boys asked ,staring right at Remi.

Randy paused for a bit and raised a stern brow at Remi ,then back at the boy who asked.

"You serious?" He asked as he stared back and forth at both of them with a raised brow.

Before they could answer Randy burst into speech again , "well we are here to win this whole thing,not learn each others names.." he said and took out his playbook from his bag. "....now stop making a fuss over nothing, Remi can call you extra A and extra B for all I care ,he is the best player of this generation, just do what he tells you and we win the whole thing and your futures are made, we understand?" Randy said, choosing an unorthodox route to kill off any issues of not getting along in his team. And it worked, everyone echoed that they understood and went on to prepare for the game as normal.

After a few minutes of preparation they made their way out onto the stage, as so did the opposing team,

"ladies and gentlemen, making their way on the stage , in the blue corner, give it up for ... Team Novaknights!!!" The announcer called out Remi's team ,which led the crowd of fans into thundering cheers and applause, which got even louder as soon as Remi appeared in his full glory. Of course he took time to bask in the glory and adoration ,waving at the fans and posing obnoxiously for pictures.

"Alright move it showman" coach randy whispered from behind Remi, making him rush over to his seat .

After some more theatrics and announcements, the match commenced. Remi might have not ever been sound academically, but here he was the most intelligent person in the arena, this was what he was born to do, his sharp reflexes and sharp thinking and strategising for games was above anyone else in the league, he was so good in his breakout season that every team wanted to sign him , but Remi surprisingly stayed loyal to the 'novaknights' as they were the first team who gave him a chance and reached out to him after he had spent over two years , streaming video games and joining tryout tournaments independently and performing really well, but if you asked him why he chose to stay he would instead say that he was staying until they were ever going to be able to repay him for making them a good team again. And maybe he was right ,as at about an hour after the game had started, Remi led his team to yet another win. The cheers kept ringing, and got louder as Remi graced the stage to celebrate the win, the cameras flickered and shuttered and adoring fans screamed out his name, but to Remi this was just routine , here he was the most important person.

But watching from somewhere else not in the arena,was of course Remi's closeted superfan.

Arloh had his phone hidden under his desk and was sneakily watching the entire game during class, as he silently cheered for Remi's team winning ,the teacher noticed him smiling with his head down and wasted no time to ask ,"and what has you so happy over there Mr Arloh?" He asked sternly, and a minute later Arloh was out standing in the halls as punishment .

"Ugh... Maybe I should have just recorded the game and watched it after school" Arloh thought and ran a hand through his hair ,but he wasn't going to be idle alone for long as the classroom door opened and out came Chara,dragging her feet.

She sighed heavily and walked over next to Arloh and leaned droopily against the wall.

"And What did you get sent out for?" Arloh asked casually staring at the opposite wall with his arms crossed .

"I was zoning out in class"she said, also staring at the opposite wall, neither of the two looking at eachother's faces.

"Bored because your friends not here?" Arloh asked, adjusting his necktie.

"Which friend?" Chara sighed.

"Rei, Remi,both the cousins you know, you're quite close with them" he said , finally looking at Chara's face.

"I'm not bored because of them, I don't care" Chara said pouting .

"Sure you don't, did you argue with Rei again maybe?" He said .

Chara scratched her head and turned to face Arloh, "no we didn't argue, she just hasn't picked up my calls , I'm worried and ups....wait ,why am I talking to you anyways , stop asking me about Rei you guys are not friends" Chara said and turned around and buried her face in the wall in frustration.

"Well....maybe we are not friends, but we seem to get along" Arloh said with a shrug.

"Ugghhggggh" Chara groaned unintelligably.

"So.....how are you doing these days? by the way"

"Stop talking to me Arloh.... we're not friends"

"Look..." Arloh stood up straight taking a more serious calm tone, "..it's been such a long time already,you can't still be ....." He was quickly interrupted by the class door opening yet again, and out came Bel .

"Well hello , dumbface one and two!" She said to them with the widest smile on her face.

Arloh and Chara sighed heavily in unison as soon as they recognised who it was.

"I was sent out of the class because one of the boys kept trying to talk to me, and he somehow got away with it" Bel narrated as she dusted off her skirt.

"We didn't ask ,Bel" Arloh groaned and rested his head on the wall.

"Well ,rude!" Bel said as her left hand instinctively shot up into a limp wrist posture.

The trio stood in awkward silence in the halls for a couple minutes before the class door flew open again, and this time out came , Hote ,Mac and Flora.

"Hello future student council member..", Hote blurted out as soon as she saw Chara."...we have come to keep you company" she added and laughed in the cadence of an elderly man , agressively chewing on what could only be hoped was gum and leading her group with hands in her pockets.

"Really? Student council getting sent out of class?" Arloh said judgingly.

"Hey hey, you can't judge us mister ace student, you are out here as well" Flora snapped back immediately.

"Can you guys shut up ,I was thinking about something important" Bel said from her own spot in the 'hall of shame'.

"Well we know that's a lie , cause you just had yourself and thinking in the same sentence" Chara commented and rolled her eyes as Arloh struggled to hold back his laughter.

"You ....!!" Bel was too upset to complete her sentence and jumped at Chara,

"Hey!!! Break it up, break it up" Hote and Mac jumped in the middle as everyone else joined in scrambling ,trying to peel Chara and Bel off of each other before it escalated.

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