Just a bit of fun

[der meister 3,250]

               Ryuji Sakamoto is all smiles, and has been for over a week. Frankly, he has every right to be. The Istanbul Red Wolves are riding high on a nine-game winning streak, and while Sakamoto himself hasn't been putting up very many points, he displays a true sense of pride at what he and his teammates are accomplishing as a unit. The Red Wolves have climbed the standings table and now sit third, after toiling in the bottom half of the league for a large part of the season. While I can't pinpoint the exact reason for the sudden success, I can say that, for Sakamoto, the change came as soon as Ren Amamiya arrived at Istanbul International Airport.

 

               Ren, a friend of Sakamoto's from back in Tokyo, is a tall, thin boy, much like Sakamoto himself, but there's something different about him, besides the glasses he wears that I suspect are purely a fashion decision. For one thing, I have never heard the boy talk. Sakamoto speaks to him frequently, and it often sounds like a response to a comment or question, yet Amamiya's voice remains a mystery. An example conversation would be:

 

Ryuji Sakamoto: Hey man, you remember when we went to the beach with Ann and Makoto and everybody? Wasn't that a blast?

 

Ren Amamiya: ---------------

 

Ryuji Sakamoto: [laughing uproariously] Right?! I had forgotten all about that!

 

               I'm still perplexed.

 

               And yet the fact remains that seeing a friend from the past has brought out all the best in young Sakamoto. He continues to put his body on the line to help his teammates, and this recent hot streak all but guarantees a playoff berth. And it's not as if Istanbul had a particularly favorable schedule. The most recent two games of the winning streak came against teams above them in the standings: the Cologne Express and the Bratislava Watchmen. With the win over the Watchmen, Istanbul leaped over them in the standings table. Before those games was a game against the Geneva Rush, who sport the most productive offensive players in the league, and yet Istanbul doubled them up 4-2.

 

               Still, I find my thoughts returning to young Ren Amamiya, with his jet black hair and wide eyes. There's clearly a lot going on behind the silent surface, but what is it about him that is so compelling. To hear Sakamoto tell it, Amamiya has a way of bringing out the best in people.

 

               "Before I met this guy," Sakamoto said, gesturing at Amamiya, "I was skipping school, almost getting expelled. I was angry all the time and only knew how to attack. But then Amamiya came to Shuyen. He took the time to run with me after school, to back me up with Kamoshida, and to help me spy on the loser the school was gonna hire to replace Kamoshida after we stol – I mean, after he confessed to all the stuff he had done. Like breaking my leg." Sakamoto rubbed at his leg, deep in memory.

 

               Ultimately, while I haven't had a conversation with Amamiya, I am grateful that he's brought about a change in Sakamoto. Selfishly, the blond-haired defender is much more enjoyable company when he's in a mood like this, as opposed to the deflated one he had been stuck in a few weeks ago.