"What's happening?" Leon asked. 

"It's the basketball team again." Harper's scowl was severe. "They've been at it all day."

She rose to her feet, cutting across the cafeteria to the little crowd gathered there. Surya could only see one of the taller players shove the head of a smaller student, but Harper batted his arm away, lifting a finger as she warned him to stop.

"They're apparently not fond of how seniors are being benched in favour of some first year or something," Leon said. "I don't know. The other professors were talking about it in the break room."

"All this college does is rave about the Little Bears," Surya groaned. "What about our swimmers? Or our volleyball team?"

“Not as sexy or as troublesome.” Leon held up a thoughtful finger. “They’re just never in the news anymore, since they’re at the bottom of the barrel.”

"Were they ever at the top? You’re even talking like you’re a diehard fan, but I’m pretty sure you've only watched one of their games, and it was the girl's team. And they're still at the top of their league." 

Leon wasn’t even offended, and he chirped, “Yeah, but that’s because watching the Little Bears causes me too much anxiety. Their plays are literally held together with ducktape and a dream. I love that for them, but now I just want to watch them get finessed by some first-year.” 

Surya tilted his head. "Oh, so does that mean you also don’t remember a Mallow?"

"Malay? You mean Akira Malay?"

Surya was surprised. "What, you remember him?"

“I think you should be more impressed by how I got Malay out of ‘Mallow’,” Leon muttered. "And of course. He was our junior. There was that huge scandal about him a year or two after we left that got the coach and half the team fired. I told you about it, didn't I?" 

"I knew they had some trouble, but I never knew he was the cause." Surya twirled his fork in the air. "So, now he's here, playing on the Little Bears' team? I can see why everyone's wanting to watch their match tomorrow."

Leon brightened. "Cass and I are going, too! It's so exciting. Malay’s play style is just hilarious. Every action he takes is one of a boy fully committed to the bit. Will it succeed? Who knows. But will it be seriously funny if it does? Hell yes." 

He continued to provide all his reasons, while Surya absently nodded, not particularly interested in any basketball prodigy. But Leon just kept going and going. 

Finally, he suggested, "And hey, let's join the mentor program. We're pretty much free outside of classes, and our weekends will still mostly be ours. It might be fun! And they have so many camps."

"You're just doing it for the money," Surya laughed. "There’s no way I’m doing it."

"Even if I convince Daichi to do it?"

"What does Daichi have to do with anything?"

"You guys are as thick as thieves.” 

“You’d have better luck convincing him to teach a class.” Because there was no way that was ever happening. 

“He told me the other day that he was put on this earth to do one thing and one thing only, but he forgot, so now he lives as a devilish rogue,” Leon said. “All I have to do to convince him is tell him about all the opportunities he’d have to pull pranks on the first-years. And all the camps we’ll be going on. His competitive streak will do the rest.” Lean stood to clear his tray, but glanced down at Harper. "You recruited the right PE assistant teacher, Harper-tov. I won't disappoint you."

She gave him a thumbs-up without looking away from her plate. Leon shot her a concerned glance, but had to leave for his class, so he pointed at Surya, mouthing ‘cheer her up’.

Surya sympathetically slid her his strawberry milk. "Here," he said, "cheer up."

She accepted his offering, but still looked despondent and fuming all at once. 

“Has it been that bad today?” 

"They're such assholes,” she hissed. “I watched Keisuke Bashira's piece on that one first-year, Malay. If I did, then I know for sure that at least some of our players did, too, but they're acting just the same as his old team. When we were touring the art department, Marx and I had to stop one of them from pouring yellow paint down Malay's throat. What kind of messed up scene was that?"

That stunned him. "Seriously? What did they say when you reported it?"

"That they'd deal with it. I know they won't. They'll turn a blind eye to anything that might mar the image of their star team." Harper squeezed the empty carton of milk. "Marx lost his temper, yelling and everything, but you should've seen that kid."

"Malay?"

"Yeah, he just went to one of the basins, stuck two fingers down his throat, and coughed all that stuff up like it was normal. I had no idea what to say to him." Harper looked up at Surya. "I mean, was there anything I could’ve said?"

"I…I don't know."

"I'm going to make sure he's assigned to my mentor group, and hopefully he'll make some good friends. I told him he could come find me any time, but I think he thinks I was just asking him to return Erik’s shirt that we lent him." Harper abruptly cracked an amused grin. "You should talk to him, Surya. He's so sweet."

"Yeah?" Not interested.

“He was also pulling a push door when I met him.” 

“It happens to the best of us.”

“Yeah, but,” Harper said, “there was a sign.”

“You’re not exactly selling him as a good friend to me.” 

"As if you’d ever adopt him as a friend. You know, he mentioned he attended your high-school. I brought up your name, though I said it's unlikely he'd know you since you're his senior, but you should've seen his face. It just lit up. It was the cutest thing," Harper laughed. "You've definitely got a little junior who looks up to you! The first chance I get, I'm going to bring him over to talk to you."

"Sure, but he should be making friends his own age," Surya said. "If he gets too close to us, it'll cause its own problems.”  

"You just don’t want it to be your problem. And it won't matter if I pack him into my suitcase and bring him with me wherever I go."

"I'm not sure Marx is going to like that."

"Marx will have to learn to accept it."

Surya laughed. “Malay’s really won you over, huh?” 

“I liked him even before I met him, courtesy of Keisuke’s video. Literally everybody knows how cute and funny he is,” she insisted. 

“People who don’t watch basketball don’t know.” 

“Exactly, everyone knows.” 

“Not me. Who’s one of the 1.5 million people who don’t watch basketball.” 

“Who?” 

He gave up.

It was a little absurd that, in the span of a day, all everyone was talking about was Malay and the basketball team. Both Leon and Harper had mentioned a high school scandal, but Surya didn’t care about it. It wasn’t like he was attached to that place. There were always rumours about the old coach there, and how all the players turned up to class with dark-circles under their eyes and various injuries and bruises. It was a rough sport, though, so it never gave Surya much pause.

He just hoped the gossip and hype around Malay died out in the next few days, or tomorrow at the match, when everyone could see he was just another student. One whose play could be dismantled into merely 'ducktape and a dream'. Then hopefully everyone would stop mentioning him to Surya, fishing for a reaction. 

Honestly, Surya was praying Malay stayed out of his life, so that he didn’t become Surya’s problem.