They noticed that the bleacher she was sitting on was designated only for the silver team, while the other bleacher was for the gold team, so Ninezen was forced to leave his seat. Second and the others sat on the left-side bleachers painted silver, while the rest took the opposite side painted gold. Everyone had figured out that this was a match between private and public schools, so they separated accordingly. The colors of the bleachers corresponded to the colors of the pompoms.
Before leaving, Ninezen stood up and spoke, "I'm going to win this, just watch," he smirked. He ran over to the other side of the bleacher where his gold team was.
'"I"? Not "we"? This will be a team game; he should say "we,"' she thought.
"This is bad," she heard Third whisper to himself. He was sitting near her side.
"Why?" she asked, noticing he sounded troubled.
"I-I don't play... basketball?"
Second chuckled softly.
"Okay, I know it's funny, but I'm not capable of doing any kind of sports. Not because I have poor health but because I'm used to using more of my mind than my whole body." He rolled his eyes at her.
"That's not what I'm laughing at. 'I don't play basketball?' Why ask? Aren't you sure?"
"Shut up," she spoke, ceasing to poke fun at him just to lighten the mood because he was tense.
Second noticed Ninth sitting alone in the corner, just looking around the court. She went close to him to try to motivate him to win the game.
"Hey," she poked him.
He frowned, then turned to his left and saw her face. "Why?"
"Are you good?" she asked, checking if he was feeling okay since he isolated himself from the rest of them.
"What do you want?" she sighed.
Ninth is good-looking, she admitted, but arrogant. No wonder even the boys couldn't really approach him.
"Do you know how to play basketball?"
"Yeah," he responded shortly.
"Okay then," she brought her face close to his, close enough to whisper in his ear. He was a little surprised and jerked away, but she insisted. "Because Third doesn't know how. Fifth and Seventh know too, so that's good news for our team." She raised her thumb as an okay sign.
Second had found out from Fourth that she remembered Ninth's twin brother was playing basketball. They were from different schools because Ninth was a varsity player there, so he couldn't leave his career. Fourth, on the other hand, couldn't commute very far to catch up with her brother's school.
She went back to her original seat and talked to Third. She passed along the information she had gotten from Ninth, and he felt relieved that at least there was one basketball expert and two who played occasionally.
"Do you want us to win this game that badly?" he asked.
"Badly? As in desperate? I'm not sure. But of course, everyone wants to win, right?"
"By the way," he barely turned to her again, looking at his side view and not directly at her.
"Hm?" she leaned her head a little closer. It was getting noisy here, so she couldn't hear their conversation clearly.
"What about First? Does he know how to play?"
She paused for a moment. She turned to her left and saw First on the far side of the bleacher, alone. He hadn't even come up to talk to her.
"I don't know," she answered shortly.
***
Maybe they had been waiting for about ten minutes, sitting on the bleachers. Soon after the boys warmed up, Author appeared again in the middle of the court. The ten players gathered on the court.
"Ten players, two teams, five players for each team. Jerseys, check. Basketball rings, check. Cheer dancers, check…"
Were they the cheer dancers Author was referring to? Geez.
"Everything, check!"
She noticed First was serious. Why hadn't he approached them earlier? He never talked to any of them.
"Before the game starts, I'll explain first the special mechanics of this extraordinary basketball game."
Mechanics? Author had already explained it earlier. Did it forget to say something? Why 'special' and 'extraordinary'?
"As you can see, this court looks like an ordinary basketball court that you often see on your ex-planet. But this game is not an ordinary basketball game. The ball that you are going to use is a special one. Neither made of rubber nor any other ordinary material…"
The ball caught her gaze, sitting near the side of a basketball ring. Quite a distance, but she could see no difference from what they were used to. It was orange in color with black lines, and the texture seemed rough and rubbery. "But it is made of human flesh."
Her eyes widened, but she couldn't grasp the whole meaning of it. What?! Did she hear it right?
"When touched, dribbled, or shot, it feels like an ordinary ball. Inside the ball, there is a living human organ, and that organ is interconnected to each random player."
Did it mean that the ball contained human insides? But why?
"When the ball is shot by your opponent into your team's ring, the ball that contains a certain organ will affect one of your team members' organs."
"What do you mean our teammates will be affected?" Thirtwen questioned. He held a grudge against Author not only because his three friends had passed away but also because of Author's insult.
"Unlike in an ordinary game, you will have five rounds to play and five minutes for each round, a total of twenty-five minutes. Only one minute will be given as a time interval per round."
Author had not yet answered Thirtwen's question, which bothered them all.
"The scoring will be based on which team lasts and endures the agony of this amicable match... Good luck."
"D*mn it!" Thirtwen stomped his right foot.
Author's hologram disappeared from their sight. Sometimes Author answered their questions, and other times they left them with none.
"What does he mean? He wants the boys to be hurt?" Fourth questioned in disbelief as she stared at the pompoms she was holding.
She felt flustered. What kind of game was this?
"The h*ck is wrong with that hologram, huh?!" Fifzen yelled.
"Wants us dead," Sevenzen replied with a firm look while grooming his dreadlocks.
"Enough," Firstwen interrupted. "Make sure that everybody has stretched their limbs and drank plenty of water." He sighed. "Let us manage our mentality. Stay focused on the goal."
Second gazed at Third. He wasn't saying anything. He must be frightened. Good thing Firstwen was present to back up the other leader and calm everyone.