It was their last night at the retreat, after being kept onsite for an extra four days, and it was their last chance to catch the fish. The evening was cool, and with the police finally giving the green light, having received a confession from Sato Kenta for all his crimes, there was no need to keep people from the trails anymore. And while the other teams were packing, Hanagawa's team was risking a sleepless night to implement Taiga's newest scheme to catch the fish. He stationed everyone facing the various stone arches, with nets, so they could see the fish, catch it, throw it back, and it would swim straight into their teammate's waiting net.
"I call it The Genie Strategy!" Taiga declared, puffing out his chest, "Because why, if you rubbed a lamp and had a genie for three wishes, wouldn't you give it to your friends and family too."
"Cough, too selfless for your own good, cough," Ryota said under his breath.
Kaho nodded, "He makes a good point, in the legend of Aladdin, he could have just given the lamp to the princess, too, instead of making wishes for their perceived benefit."
The rest of the team hummed in agreement.
Omura raised his hand, "Coach, there are dozens more pools than there are people on this team, how are we supposed to guarantee we even see it."
Taiga laughed, grinning from ear to ear, "Remember our shopping list? I requested four different brands of fish food. It's bound to like something."
"This guy has too much faith," Fumiko whispered to Captain Hirano. He nodded but didn't speak up to argue.
Captain Hirano, like the rest of the team, was seemingly at the mercy of Taiga, call it charisma, but there was something that rendered any criticism completely irrelevant to Taiga. He grinned from ear to ear and rolled up the sleeves of his tracksuit, unscrewed the lid of the first carton of fish food and tossed it in the water, and stirred it with his net.
They waited, peering over the edge of the water, fingers crossed. They waited for a few minutes until Taiga huffed and opened the next carton of dish food tossing the contents into the water, too. Kaho bit her lip, peering in the gaps in the algae, but she couldn't see it.
After another five minutes, Taiga moved to the third carton of fish food and upturned it over the water.
"I don't know if this is going to work, Coach," Captain Hirano said, tentatively, "Do you have a Plan B?"
"Azumi, the second carton of fish food was Plan B," Taiga said with a bark of laughter, "Who would have thought that a fish could be so pretentious? Might need to rename it Ni-Gill-a-"
Matsushita let out a squawk of laughter, "Instead of Nigella, hilarious, Coach!"
"Wouldn't it have made more sense for him to make a pun about a food critic instead of a chef?" Ren asked.
Kaho shook her head from her spot between Ren and Naseru, who had once again, found himself roped into the team's shenanigans.
"Don't question it. It's always been chefs," Kaho laughed.
They turned their attention to the water, where Taiga was finally considering and tipping the contents of his last carton of fish food into the water. He waited and held his breath. That was when Kaho saw it. She let out an excited squeak, pointing to a glimmer of iridescence under the algae. Taiga let out a triumphant whoop.
"Brace yourselves, team, it might try and escape."
"Oh my god," Captain Hirano whispered.
"I can't believe this," Eiji said, elbowing Yuta. Both boys had tried so hard to catch a glimpse of it. Despite holding their positions, it seemed like an apt reward that they would get to see it, and maybe even make a wish.
Taiga was whispering under his breath. Kaho wasn't sure what he was saying, but he was definitely repeating himself. But his eyes were trained on the water, and how the algae moved on its surface.
He waited for a moment and thrust his net into the water, and with a grunt, staggered back half a step, and produced the fish, flopping and squirming, unable to breathe.
"BEHOLD!" Taiga shouted. There were tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. Taiga let out another whoop, craned his neck back and howled like some kind of battle cry.
As a Kenjoku Kaiju, he'd never managed to catch the fish, only see it. This was big. And Kaho's Other Self hadn't expressed any indication that he'd done that before, maybe her version of Taiga hadn't? Maybe something had changed? Kaho bit her lip, unable to contain her joy, and she finally let her gaze travel up to the fish.
The team stood dumbfounded, basking in the fish's glow. It thrashed in the net, but even as it struggled, against Taiga's iron grip, it was majestic and enchanting. It really was big as a dinner plate, with whiskers like a catfish, and a long wispy tail. The moon illuminated the fish's iridescent scales, making it look almost like it was emitting a blue-white glow like the moonlight itself. But as Kaho peered at the fish's body, she felt warm; her body was completely entranced by the spectrum of colours in its body. Each scale was opalescent, looking like a million different colours as she tilted her head, and the moonlight refracted it in a different way.
As Kaho watched Taiga battle the fish, ensuring everyone caught a glimpse of it, she hoped he was making a wish, a selfish wish for once. Maybe he could wish for a second chance with Kasumi? Or a second chance to interview with Tokyo Metropolitan University? She hoped it was a selfish wish. But Ryota had made a good point; Taiga was selfless to a fault. But she could hope.
He let the fish go and it bolted, straight into the waiting net in Ryota's fist. He let out a yelp and struggled to stay upright at the force of the fish's movement. He held the fish out of the water for a second, screwed his eyes closed and released it. It swam into Matsushita's net next. Then Kaho's.
She barely lifted it out of the water, not wanting to show it off again, or make the fish even more distressed. She screwed her eyes closed and considered what to wish for.
"I wish… I wish for…" Kaho whispered.
She knew what she wanted to wish for; that she would save Naseru and do her part, but she didn't want to waste her wish on that. Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
"Tatsuya," she whispered, eyes flickering to where she'd stashed it. It would be a text from Tatsuya. She'd been messaging him all day.
And the fish broke free of her grasp, and pulled the net into the water too. Kaho bit her lip. She wished for Tatsuya. Tatsuya.
What did that even mean?
Another member of the team let out a whoop, holding the fish up, Omura. He was going to wish for the win, surely? If not him, then maybe one of the third years.
It seemed that the poor fish had swam into almost everyone's net using Taiga's method. She felt bad for the poor animal. She'd contributed to its panic, and yet, there she was, spectating, with her fingers crossed, like she was wishing that the fish would just swim down, instead of into the path of another net.
But if the legend was true, maybe it wasn't even a fish? Did that make it better? Kaho groaned, biting her lip and waited. She had to wait until everyone had had a chance, or the fish had finally escaped the team's clutches. But she didn't have long to wait; after Ren made a wish on the fish, the pools went silent. First for a minute. Then two. Then three.
After ten minutes, Taiga called it. The fish was gone. It had slipped past, and it was time to retire to bed, pack their bags and get ready for their return to school. They had to go back to the real world again. Kaho was almost glad. She missed her routine and was a bit sick of basketball for the moment. She wanted a break. Maybe a break for a few nights wasn't a bad idea?
A few people hadn't caught the fish, but most had. There was no way that someone hadn't wished for the team's success in the upcoming season. All Kaho could hope was that more people than Taiga hadn't wasted their wish on something random. She knew she wasted hers on Tatsuya. But, was it really all bad to wish for Tatsuya. She didn't want to hurt him, and she wanted things to be better for them.
As Kaho headed to leave her eyes flickered to Naseru. He was at the edge of the pool, holding his net upwards. Inside was the fish, flipping about and thrashing, still somewhat submerged in the water. Naseru smirked to himself, closed his eyes and let it go. Kaho smiled after him, leaving him to process his wish. He deserved a selfish wish, too.
Their morning had been hectic, Kaho, like most of her team, had slept in. But, she packed her bag with the same furious haste she had at home, unceremoniously ramming all her belongings into the duffle, before making her bed, and heading to breakfast. All she would have to do is grab her bag after her final smoothie. Or two.
It seemed Fumiko had the same plan, as she hadn't even put makeup on before running out to the breakfast hall. She'd skipped out on yoga. And this was the last morning to hang out with the competition before they were just that. Fumiko had befriended Captain Fujisaki, but he was hard to dislike, and Kaho would be damned if she didn't get Jena-Luc Barbier's phone number, even if she had to translate every message he sent her. She would ensure he didn't feel as lonely as he seemed to.
Jean-Luc was already at breakfast, sitting with Naseru, chatting quietly over fried eggs, and bacon rashers. Kaho crossed the dining hall, making a beeline for the boys.
"Jean-Luc," Kaho said, "You should text me."
She handed him her phone and waited for him to input his information. But he was busy looking at Naseru. The two boys were having a silent conversation in a series of facial expressions. Jean-Luc's face went from a smirk, to a frown, to wriggling his eyebrows, to a shit-eating grin. He then picked up Kaho's phone, put his number in, and handed it back.
At the end of breakfast, Ryota also went to Jean-Luc's table and took his number. Eiji, too. And as the busses were loading, Yuta went, as well. Kaho smiled as she watched Jean-Luc's face light up. He seemed so excited. It made Kaho's heart soar.
The team had been on the road, happily listening to music and chattering for hours. It felt like the reserve was further away this time around.
They'd just left a rest stop for a bathroom break, when they drove through a nasty pothole that shook the entire minivan, making it tilt to the left. They heard a scraping, clunking sound and Taiga swore, turning on his hazard lights, and pulling over the car.
They'd managed to get two flat tires.
Taiga groaned, "Okay, team, we're not making it to school before lunch – we'll be lucky to make it before last period. Out you all go. It's not safe to wait in the van. I'll call the principal. You go sit on that grass verge over there, well away from the road, okay? No running off. Fumiko, Azumi, Iwao, you three are in charge."
Matsushita laughed, "Of course, Coach has given you three the responsibility to take care of us like we're babies."
Omura grinned, "Iwao, can you help me up the verge? I can't risk turning my ankle again."
Sunada nodded, running a hand through his hair and had Omura sling his arm over his shoulder. Together they headed up the slope.
Naseru had already found a perfect spot, if he could close his ears and look straight ahead, he could maybe visualise the riverbank. He'd said after they'd played basketball together all those weeks ago, that he could always find a spot like that. She was seeing them too, but she didn't feel the urge to chase Naseru and sit with him that she usually did. She smiled at him and gave him his space, muscling in between Ryota and Ren on the grass, flopping back and letting the grass take her weight like she was laying on a quilt. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and saw a flashing text from Tatsuya.
'Shoot got cancelled because the director and half the crew got food poisoning from a food truck. Sucks to be them! I'll meet you at Hanagawa later xox'
Her heart soared. She clutched her phone close to her chest, 'Can't wait xox' she replied.
She snapped a picture of Taiga pacing by their rental bus, on the phone, and texted again, updating him on her ETA. Tatsuya sent a thumbs up emoji. She didn't reply. So he started a video call.
Kaho, despite the dodgy signal, answered the call, leaning on Ryota to get enough bars.
"Hey Kaho!" Tatsuya exclaimed, "Taiga keeping you all safe?"
"You've got that right," Ryota hollered down the phone, "The man fought a boar on this trip."
"He fought a bear?" Tatsuya laughed, "Like a plush one from an arcade or-?"
"Boar!" Ryota and his friends said in unison.
"Oh! Boar!" Tatsuya laughed, "Wait, Ryota, who is that? Show me. Let me say hi."
Kaho rolled her eyes and let Ryota take her phone and pass it down the line of second years, all of whom took turns introducing themselves to Tatsuya. All except Naseru, who was on the other side of the ledge, doing whatever he was doing in his contended silence.
"They're sending a tow truck!" Taiga hollered up the bank, "Sit tight! I'll order us some fast food."
"Somehow," Tatsuya said from the phone, "I doubt that any self-respecting delivery driver would deliver fast food to a broken-down minivan on the motorway."
Kaho giggled, "Shh. You'll crush his dreams."