Play Chapter 001

The boy god

XXX International School Singapore

Two weeks after the start of lessons 6.45 am

The young lady was already in school, where no one was, sitting in the classroom, under the yellowy light, reading a comic on basketball players. As she flipped through the pages, vivid scenes of action on the court was shown, and she was a little envious of the characters, even though they were not real -- at least they were working on their dreams, unlike her, who cannot even find hers.

A sharp noise, coming from three storeys down, disrupted the peaceful dawn. Creeping out of her classroom, she peered down from the ornate railings and peeked at who, or what made that noise. Startlingly, he found a boy, donning their school uniform, climbing up the building. He took the last storey’s railings as leg support to jump up and grab the railings of the next storey, and used the tiny edge of the floor protruding out from the railings to jump up from there, climbing to a balance on the railings before continuing on with the next. The feat was not impossible, but very remarkable. It required the right balance of jump, arm power, and balance to perform such a astonishing feat. In the dim morning light, his facial features were not made out clearly; yet all she knew at that point was that he was not an ordinary boy.

The ten seconds in which she took to ponder on who this guy could be, the guy made it up to her floor, and was studying the girl extensively, up till the point where she was almost breathing down her neck, when she noticed him scrunching his face in front of hers. A slap was landed on his face 0.1 seconds later.

“Man, is this the way you greet a classmate?” he rubs the cheek he was slapped on, scowling. “Well, you deserved it for being so close to my face.” she said, trying to get another glimpse of his face. Interestingly, she replied to him; she usually has no interest whatsoever in guys that acted like perverts, but something about him - maybe it was the bizarre method of climbing up the building (you should know that normally, we use stairs, right?), or maybe it was something else, something that she still could not figure out.

“For a scrawny-looking girl like you, you sure have a lot of strength to land such a hard blow on my face - my face!” he emphasised the fact that she hit her face, something which few people ever thought of after seeing him.

Before she could reply him to that provocative comment, he waved his hand, as if to dismiss her would-be comment, and sauntered into the same classroom as the girl, placing his bulky bag which he was carrying on the seat next to the opened comic book.

“Hey, what do you think you are doing? That’s next to my seat.” she grumbled as he was seemingly intending to sit next to her. “Oh really? I see that this must be an empty seat, as there all the other seats have books under their table.” he said with a smirk. Unfortunately for the girl, he was correct, and she would have to bear with him for the rest of the day, at least. The two teenagers sat next to each other, the girl, especially uncomfortable. After a minute of twitching, she finally shouted ,”For god’s sake! This room can hold fifty people, and you just have to sit right next to me, is it?” the boy looked at her with his pitch-black eyes, and after a moment, he said,”Fine. If that’s what you want, then so be it.” he pulled out a basketball from his bag and walked out of the classroom, leaving a very puzzled and curious girl behind.

After hesitating in the room, pacing about like the husband waiting outside the delivery room, she finally decided on going down to the basketball court to see what the boy with crazy skills, and a equally erratic mind, was doing in the court. What she saw was amazing. There were actions in the comic book which look as though they seem to be hard to perform with and score, yet the boy did the same thing; only with more grace and accuracy. It was like a comic character come alive. She was held in awe as the boy leaped into the air, and while spinning, he carried the ball from top to his right, before raising it again with his right palm and forcefully dunked the ball into the hoop. He then landed after that, where the whole basket was still vibrating, and the crash of the dunk still rang in her ears.

“Had a good show, miss?” she said teasingly to the girl who was still staring at the hoop. Awe quickly turned into embarrassment, where her red face looked to be painted with awkwardness at the situation she was caught in. she hastily turned around and ran away from the court, looking like a shy girl who has just confessed to her lover. For the boy however, he just scratched his head, confused at what she did, but still continued with the crazy moves, attracting a large crowd of students to watch him play.

Three minutes before lessons, the boy walked back into the class, and sat next to the girl. The noisy clatter of the class made the two silent people, sitting side by side, stand out. The girl was trying very hard not to look at him, his handsome face, his charming features… when he abruptly turned around and asked ,”What’s your name?”

“Huh?” she said, paying attention to him at last, but she was too focused on keeping her thoughts away that she did not catch the question.

“Name? Hello?” he waved a hand in front of her face, trying to get her attention. She answered ,”Catherine. No surname.”

“Catherine… nice name you have there. Mine’s Arche Vixen.” he said casually, while Catherine was all tensed up. When she heard his name, asked ,”Vixen?”, incredulous that someone actually had such a name. And she thought that having no surnames was weird enough.

“Long story. It was not by my choice, but it kind of stuck.” he looked sheepish at the question. “Nice to meet you, Catherine.” he said warmly, extending a long hand to her. “Nice… to meet you too.” she stammered, and gingerly shook his hand, where he grinned and said ,“Don’t worry. I won’t bite.” she blushed at the teasing, and he laughed at her burning face.

After a long school day, where Catherine was made fun of privately by Arche several times, she was able to head back to the dormitory. Along the way, she passed the school’s basketball court, and she saw the delinquents in the school playing street basketball. Although not as graceful as the way Vixen played, it was still an interesting method of play to watch.

All of a sudden, many men crowded around Catherine. Even in the school grounds, the delinquents are not scared, and have done immoral acts before. Now, Catherine was surrounded by them, all having no good intents. “Hey beauty, would you like to play ball with us?” one grinned maliciously. Another cooed ,“Come, I’ll show you places that is worthy of your beauty…” She was trembling with fear, in the midst of all of them, and before she could scream out for help, two basketballs hit the gangsters with shocking force and brutality, but none of the balls so much as went close to Catherine. The unharmed delinquents turned to where the balls came from, and saw a tall boy, wearing the same school uniform, and holding a ball in a hand. “Well now, you people really shouldn’t be making the young lady have such a hard time. Why not play with me?” Arche smiled down at the raging delinquents, fuming at having the chance of getting the girl easily escaped.

Catherine pushed through the delinquents, who were slow due to anger, shock and for some, pain, to reach Arche, and hid behind his tall and lanky frame. A guy wearing a bandana, leather jacket and faded jeans stepped out from the crowd, looking to be the leader of the group, and challengingly spoke ,”	If playing is what you want, then we’ll play with you.”

“We’ll take you all at once, using streetball rules and whoever wins gets the lady. Savvy?” “Savvy.” Arche smiled at the deal. “You first then, kind sir.” Arche said with mock politeness, and ushered them to the court with a bright, fake smile. Worry was all over her face when he agreed to the deal: was he on their side, just putting up a show to get her? Was he good enough to take down all six of them, all by himself? Or has he just given up all hope already? With Arche in possession of the ball, he quickly manoeuvred the ball between the first two defenders, crossing the ball over in between their legs, spun around the third, left the fourth behind, ran towards the fifth player and threw the ball, where it hit the board. The board reflected the ball and he caught it in front of the sixth player, in which he did a perfect crossover and dunked after he passed him. He just trashed six streetball players, and he did it perfectly.

The guy in the bandana confidently smiled ,“Nice one, but don’t walk away just yet. Who said the competition was just on one ball?” Arche grinned at the drawback; obviously he did not think of it, but still seemed positively ecstatic to continue the game. So, he took up the ball, and continued the game.

Twenty minutes later, he was still playing with them, with a score of 67 to 4. He seemed not to tire, but has taken quite a few hits; it was streetball, after all. However much the six people used underhanded methods, he refused to stoop to their level and intentionally harming them. Yet, his pride cost him multiple injuries in vital places, all of which were increasing in pain, and the six streetball players never did stop the assault. He managed to avoid most of it, but an elbow or a knee landed on him almost every time he shot a ball. Catherine almost wept looking at him play; he knew her for less than a day, yet he was willing to do take such suffering for her.

After another three-pointer by Arche, he grinned painfully ,”How long is this going to go on? It seems obvious that who has won.” “Obvious indeed, my friend. We’re playing to see which team gets knocked out first. By the looks of it, it seems… we have fewer targets.” the gangster mocked, which made Catherine feel the match was simply a setup by them to trick Arche. Finally, after a volley of blows, none of which Arche returned. After he slumped to his knees on the court, the match was finally over. Or was it?

The delinquents returned their attention to a trembling Catherine at the side of the court, who tried to run away, but was held back by one on the leering gangsters, closing in on her. He took one more glance at the fallen Arche, before seeing him spring to life once again, knocking away the delinquent grabbing Catherine’s hand by a single punch, causing him to fly back ant hit a brick wall, before slumping into a heap, unconscious. It seems that other than being an amazing basketball player, he was also adept in fighting as well. “I’d not intended for you to see this, but, well, I guess this is needed.”Arche whispered to Catherine, before raising his voice to address the twenty or so delinquents that have surrounded Catherine and Arche. “Know who the Shinigami (Japanese for death god) is?” the leader hesitantly answered ,”He was a known fighter in the underworld, capable of taking out a whole gang on its own, leaving a trail of destruction after its wake, hence the name.”

“Not bad. Since you know him so well, why not arrange for a session with him? Oh wait, he seems to be right here.” he pointed at himself. All the people, including Catherine, was shocked at the surprising fact. A boy, having not even graduated from university, able to take down thirty armed people without injury, or as told from rumours. The gangsters were more sceptical of a young boy being a powerful fighter. They targeted the girl first, when Arche struck out. He used his fists and elbows, coupled with fluid, powerful movements to knock out several of the people in a swing, and made quick work of the gangsters.

“Really, people who know this aspect of my life, it becomes troublesome..” Arche grumbled as he walked away from the array of collapsed people, and headed for the dormitory, tugging at his long hair. “W...Wait!” Catherine shouted, and she blushed when he looked at her amusingly. “Erm… is the whole thing true? I mean… you really know how to fight? And you have killed before?” Arche laughed at her words, and replied ,“The part of me able to take down many people is true, but Shinigami… the name’s a bit exaggerating… truth be told, I had only knocked out or wounded people… but due to ability that I usually never got injured, that was why the title of ‘Death God’ was given, as it seems as though I was associated with something evil and powerful… hahaha, these people…” Catherine smiled once again, glad that she did not sit beside a serial killer today. “Do you… erm… hate me? I mean, after knowing that I’m this creepy dude who fights like a gangster?”

An abrupt silence fell between the two of them, each not knowing what to do.

“Yes.” Catherine shyly said.

“Oh.” Arche looked crestfallen at the answer. So she actually did not like him fighter after all. “I mean, I don’t usually fight a lot these days, but if you so insist…”

“Huh?! No, I’d just… want to see… you play basketball.” Catherine confessed, her mind seemingly somewhere else.

“So… it means that you won’t mind?”

“I think… its quite cool… that you fight like this… I’d not mind actually… and you‘d better come with me… for me to bandage those wounds.”

“Oh, this happens all the time to me. It doesn’t really matter…” Arche laughs his injuries off.

“But… you saved me. This is the least I can do for you.” Catherine insisted, tugging at Arche’s shirt.

“You said so…” the two youngsters walked away, in the evening light.

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