The birthday party had been a success.
Which, unfortunately for Axiom, led directly to disaster.
Saturday morning.
10:12 AM.
Axiom was enjoying a peaceful breakfast.
Coffee.
Toast.
Silence.
His phone vibrated.
Callie:
Mall.
Cammy:
đ
Beth:
Don't ignore us.
Axiom immediately knew he was doomed.
Two hours later.
He stood in the middle of the mall.
Holding three shopping bags.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"This is slavery."
Callie laughed.
"It's friendship."
Beth pointed.
"There's a difference."
Cammy nodded.
"She's right."
Callie immediately pointed at Cammy.
"Traitor."
The girls ignored him completely.
The next thing Axiom knewâ
He was standing outside a clothing store.
Callie pointed inside.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
Beth folded her arms.
"Yes."
Cammy smiled.
"Yes."
Three versus one.
Axiom lost.
Immediately.
Twenty minutes laterâ
He emerged from the changing room.
Black hoodie.
Dark jeans.
White sneakers.
Callie stared.
"..."
Beth stared.
"..."
Cammy stared.
"..."
Axiom looked uncomfortable.
"What?"
Beth nodded.
"Good."
Cammy nodded.
"Very good."
Callie pointed.
"Buy it."
Axiom blinked.
"You all agreed?"
"Yes."
"That's terrifying."
The girls laughed.
The process continued.
Shirt.
"No."
Jacket.
"No."
Shoes.
"Absolutely not."
One particularly awful floral shirt.
Callie laughed so hard she nearly fell over.
Beth physically turned away.
Cammy covered her face.
Axiom looked in the mirror.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Burn it."
The girls exploded into laughter.
By the end of the dayâ
Axiom had somehow acquired an entirely new wardrobe.
And no memory of agreeing to any of it.
That eveningâ
Axiom trained.
As usual.
Behind the school.
Trees.
Grass.
Silence.
Veil.
Hide.
Force.
Focus.
His Dama flowed.
Controlled.
Precise.
He moved through forms.
Redirecting energy.
Shifting it through his body.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Thenâ
A voice.
"...Captain?"
Axiom froze.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
He turned.
Callie.
Cammy.
Standing there.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Axiom's soul briefly left his body.
"What are you doing here?"
Callie folded her arms.
"We could ask you the same thing."
Cammy pointed.
"Why were you punching the air?"
Axiom blinked.
"...Exercise?"
Neither girl looked convinced.
Callie gestured wildly.
"You looked like an anime character."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Unfortunately.
She wasn't wrong.
Cammy tilted her head.
"You do this every night?"
"...Maybe."
"Why?"
Axiom's brain entered emergency mode.
Think.
Think.
Think.
"...Martial arts."
Callie immediately narrowed her eyes.
"That's a lie."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Axiom was offended.
"That was a good lie."
"It was terrible."
Cammy nodded.
"It was really bad."
Axiom sighed.
The girls moved closer.
Callie looked around.
"You always disappear after practice."
Cammy nodded.
"Then you suddenly got really strong."
Callie pointed dramatically.
"Captain."
"Yes?"
"We're investigating you."
Axiom groaned.
"This is exactly how cults start."
The girls laughed.
But neither looked convinced.
And for the first timeâ
Axiom realized he might not be able to keep his secret from them forever.
Beth had never watched basketball.
Not really.
Sure.
She'd seen games.
Highlights.
Clips.
But actually sitting down and watching?
Never.
Which was why she found herself standing awkwardly inside the Jaguars gym.
Watching practice.
Because Callie had dragged her there.
"Axiom's practicing."
"And?"
"You should watch."
Beth didn't understand why.
Until she did.
The moment practice started.
Axiom transformed.
Not physically.
Mentally.
The quiet guy from animation class disappeared.
The awkward guy she teased.
The guy who spent hours discussing Blender animations.
Gone.
Captain Axiom appeared.
"Again."
The team moved.
"Too slow."
They adjusted.
"Wrong angle."
They corrected.
"Good."
The entire team listened to him.
Not because they had to.
Because they respected him.
Beth blinked.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Oh."
Callie smirked.
"You get it now."
Beth watched him.
Really watched him.
The confidence.
The leadership.
The way everyone naturally followed him.
The way he improved people.
The way he moved.
The way he saw things others missed.
And suddenlyâ
She realized something.
Axiom wasn't pretending when he talked about dreams.
Or goals.
Or creating something.
Because he was already doing it.
He was already changing people around him.
Making them better.
Without even realizing it.
Beth smiled softly.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"He's actually cool."
Callie burst out laughing.
Cammy nodded proudly.
"Took you long enough."
Beth immediately turned red.
"I didn't mean it like that!"
The girls laughed harder.
Across the gymâ
Axiom looked over.
And immediately knew they were talking about him.
The problem?
He had absolutely no idea what they were saying.
Which somehow felt even more dangerous. đđâ¨
Over the next few weeks, something unexpected happened.
The Jaguars stopped feeling like a basketball team.
And started feeling like friends.
At first it was simple.
Eating together after practice.
Then somebody suggested burgers.
Then somebody suggested wings.
Then somebody suggested pizza.
And before longâ
The entire team was hanging out regularly.
Axiom found himself sitting in restaurants with the team more often than he sat alone.
Something that would have been impossible only a few months ago.
One evening after practiceâ
The team was sitting around a large table at a sports bar.
Food everywhere.
Basketball playing on the TVs.
Conversation jumping between ten different topics.
Then Devon pointed at Axiom.
"Captain."
Axiom sighed.
"What?"
"What do you do when you're not playing basketball?"
A dangerous question.
Axiom hesitated.
"..."
"..."
"...Anime."
Silence.
The table froze.
Reggie blinked.
"Anime?"
Axiom nodded.
"...Anime."
Jason pointed dramatically.
"I KNEW IT."
"You knew nothing."
"I knew you were a secret nerd."
The team exploded into laughter.
Axiom accepted his fate.
Unfortunately.
That wasn't the end.
Devon leaned forward.
"What anime?"
And that was the mistake.
Because once somebody asks an anime fan that question...
There is no escape.
Thirty minutes laterâ
Axiom was standing in front of a television.
A basketball anime playing.
The entire team watching.
"Kuroko's Basketball."
The first episode started.
The team watched.
Then another.
Then another.
Then another.
And suddenlyâ
The Jaguars were hooked.
Completely.
Absolutely.
Hopelessly.
By the fourth episodeâ
Jason stood up.
"WAIT."
He pointed at the screen.
"THAT'S CALLIE."
The room exploded.
Reggie laughed.
"NO WAY."
"It is!"
The team immediately began comparing characters.
"Callie moves like Aomine."
"Actually she kinda does."
"The way she changes direction."
"The way she attacks gaps."
"THAT'S LITERALLY HER."
Then somebody pointed at Cammy.
"Kuroko."
"No."
"Wait."
"...Actually."
The entire table froze.
Because the comparison worked.
Cammy wasn't flashy.
But somehowâ
She always ended up exactly where she needed to be.
Always saw openings.
Always knew where the ball would be.
The room erupted again.
Axiom laughed.
"You guys finally see it."
Devon pointed.
"Captain."
"What?"
"Your friends are anime characters."
The entire table agreed.
Half the Jaguars immediately became anime fans.
The other half mocked them relentlessly.
Which somehow made them watch even more anime.
And thusâ
The Great Jaguars Anime War began.
Saturday.
No practice.
No classes.
No tournaments.
No Dama training.
Just hanging out.
For once.
Axiom.
Beth.
Callie.
Cammy.
All together.
The four met at the mall around noon.
Immediatelyâ
Callie took charge.
"Food first."
Beth nodded.
"Finally something intelligent."
Cammy raised her hand.
"I agree."
Axiom smiled.
"Did I even get a vote?"
"No."
All three answered simultaneously.
Axiom sighed.
The food court became their first stop.
Chinese food.
Then fries.
Then bubble tea.
Then somehow dessert.
Callie ordered enough food to feed a small army.
Beth stared.
"Where does it go?"
"I don't know."
Cammy nodded.
"Neither do I."
Callie pointed her fork.
"My metabolism is undefeated."
Axiom laughed.
For almost an hourâ
They just talked.
Dreams.
School.
Animation.
Basketball.
Childhood stories.
Future plans.
The conversation never felt forced.
It simply flowed.
Like they'd known each other for years.
Eventuallyâ
They wandered toward the arcade.
That was a mistake.
Because Beth turned out to be terrifying.
None of them expected it.
At first she seemed average.
Then she started winning.
Every game.
Every machine.
Every challenge.
Cammy stared.
"She's scary."
Callie nodded.
"She's scary."
Axiom nodded.
"She's scary."
Beth smiled.
"I like hearing that."
Which somehow made it worse.
Laterâ
They found a public outdoor basketball court.
Naturally.
Callie immediately grabbed a ball.
"One game."
Cammy sighed.
"You always say that."
The next thing they knewâ
All four were playing.
Not seriously.
Just having fun.
Axiom.
Callie.
Cammy.
Beth.
Two versus two.
Callie and Axiom.
Beth and Cammy.
The game was chaos.
Callie trash-talked constantly.
Beth discovered she enjoyed trash-talking back.
Cammy laughed the entire time.
Axiom spent half the game trying not to laugh.
At one pointâ
Callie passed him the ball.
Beth immediately stepped in front of him.
Crossing her arms.
"...You're not scoring."
Axiom blinked.
"That's confidence."
Beth adjusted her glasses.
"I learned from Callie."
Callie looked proud.
"That's my student."
Beth immediately regretted saying anything.
The game continued.
The sun slowly lowering.
Laughter filling the court.
No villains.
No Dama.
No hidden organizations.
Just four young people.
Enjoying life.
And as Axiom watched them laughing togetherâ
Callie arguing.
Cammy smiling.
Beth pretending not to smile.
He realized something.
The throne from his dream.
The battlefield.
The people standing beside him.
For the first timeâ
The faces in that dream didn't feel quite as blurry anymore.
And strangely enoughâ
That thought didn't scare him.
It made him smile. đ đâ¨