EIGHT TARGETS
11. My Luck is to Make You My Friend

My name is Andika Setiabudi.  And he is my best friend Kaiser Dewantara.  I've known him since Junior High.  You guys wonder how we got acquainted?  If you could say, it was a kind of fate that just happened.

By the time of Junior High, I was in 1H grade while she was in 1A.  Our classes are far apart.  At the beginning of school, we never even said hello.  We passed by, but we hardly spoke.  We started getting to know each other since we entered the same basketball club.  At that time, I entered a basketball club to relieve my stress.  Well, for me, the most powerful way to relieve stress is to play basketball and win.

You wonder where my stress comes from?  It was none other than my father, Suwirno Setiabudi the Chairman of the Board of Directors of PT Setiabudi, our family company.  He always controls my actions, tells me to do things that I do not like, and often forbids me from doing things that are pleasing to me.  He always told me to act as a worthy heir to the family company.  Really typical shitty dad.

Going back to the story, my initial impression of Kaiser was that he was a polite, friendly kid, well, typical of exemplary students.  Very inversely proportional to me who belongs to student thugs.  Many students should not like such types of students, but somehow Kaiser managed to blend well with his classmates and seniors.  Apparently, he's a typical person who is easily liked.  She was a jolly person with a charming bright smile.  He is loved by men and idolized by women.  The perfect prince.

Often when we met at the club, he approached me and invited me to hang out, but well because of the soul of this lone wolf, I often refused his invitation, even I did things that might not be appropriate to do.  Now when I remember that again, it feels like I want to dig a hole and hide my head.

The two of us, oh yes, exactly three with one more boy named Dios was recognized as very talented by the coach in basketball and immediately joined the 3rd class brothers as the first team in our first year.  If you do not know, the core team in basketball is a maximum of only 12 people, 5 core players and 7 reserves.  Not intending to be arrogant, Kaiser and I were chosen as the core players among that core team.  Although there were 18 3rd class seniors and 20 2nd class seniors in the team, we managed to beat them through a sporty selection process and stand at the top of the team.

Our team finally managed to win the 1st national level champion in the basketball game between Indonesian Junior High students in that odd semester.  Well, although it is said to be all-Indonesian, but the only schools that participate are actually from the island of Java, Sumatra, Bali, and parts of Sulawesi, but of course it can not revoke the national label.  If friends from other provinces do not want to protest, blame your local government for not responding to the invitation.

The astonishing reality that happened a year ago from that time we finally found out.  Apparently at that time, the third-grader basketball team which was in the 2nd grade and the 3rd grader who had graduated was involved in problems with the new children's basketball team at that time which was now in the 2nd grade.  The conflict began with the election of Dirga who was still in the 1st class as a backup player in the first team.  He does not seem to accept being placed as a backup and demands to occupy the position of a core player.  Thanks to the support of his powerful friend at the school named Araka, he managed to obtain the position with the approval of the coach.

The senior children who did not accept the kongkalikong protested where 16 members of the 3rd class team and 18 members of the 2nd class team at the time threatened if the coach did not revoke the decision, then they will resign.  The case of this kongkalikong grew quite large because there were several senior children on the basketball team whose families had influence, utilizing that power to help them express it.

This rumor was finally smelled by some media crew so that Araka also chose to retreat in providing his help before the case exploded in the media.  As a result, Dirga who realized his position was squeezed also chose to retreat.  However, no one would have expected him to make a move in the even semester of the year when the current 3rd graders could no longer take the match and focus on the national exam.

Suddenly the petition was filed by the 2nd grade children.  Me, Kaiser, and Dios who had passed the selection to become core players in the core team, were suddenly asked to quit the core team to be replaced by 2nd class children.  By threat, if the petition is not implemented, the, all members of the 2nd grade basketball team consisting of 20 people will resign leaving the 1st grade children's basketball team which at that time only numbered 8 people.  Not even enough with the maximum number of core teams.

They did exactly what their seniors used to do to them.  However, clearly they broke the rules with the kongkalikong, while me, Kaiser, and Dios passed purely by the selection process, the, moreover, we are a core team that has been selected from previous matches where we were able to show our achievements by bringing home the 1st national level champion.

He said, "Coach are you sure that a collection of garbage in a landfill is worth more than a box of diamonds?”

“Hey, damn what do you mean?”

“You lotus us trash?”

Two 2nd graders who were always close to Dirga cursed to Kaiser.

“If you believe it is not garbage, then let us determine who is entitled to represent the school in this basketball game, you are 2nd class, or we are new children with full round matches honestly and fairly.”

I could see Kaiser's blue eyes shining brightly.  It turned out that the person I valued was usually this calm, could also have an angry expression with such frightening.

“You.”  One of the 2nd graders who was close to Dirga once again tried to curse Kaiser, but was frightened first by the sharp look in Kaiser's eyes.

Come to think of it, it was the first time I saw Kaiser get angry.  All this time, I only saw her angel-like figure.  It turned out that behind the gentleness of his face, he was also a figure who was firm and dared to fight against the slack.  When I was scared helplessly, venting all the disappointment I felt over the coach's decision with tears, he still kept a clear mind and tried to fight back.  Maybe that's where I started to admire and sympathize with him.

I immediately felt a cynical look directed at us, precisely at Kaiser.  He's Dirga.  Come to think of it, maybe this is the beginning of the clash between him and his groups with Kaiser.  However, it seemed that Kaiser was completely unaware of the hateful look Dirga had aimed at him.

Long story short, the 2nd class accepted the challenge and we competed full 4 quarters.  As a result, we managed to humiliate the 2nd grade child with our landslide victory even with minimal members with a score of 33 vs 102.

We got to the basketball game until we got to the national level again.  And once again we defended our national 1st title in that basketball game.  But I feel the emptiness.  There were only 8 1st grade kids on our team bench.  The coach looked at us reluctantly.  Our supporters are also few because they are divided into Kaiser supporters and Dirga supporters.  Kaiser received the award trophy representing our team.  And that's how the game closed so brightly.  But his joy was unable to reach my heart.