Kagami watched closely as she cut the apple, hands hovering part way between his sides and the chopping board. To say he didn't trust her was an understatement.
"Kagamin," she chirped, unable to see his position behind her, "go sit with the others, I'll bring the platter out in a minute!"
He paused, torn over joining the discussion about the latest Nike shoes coming out or continuing to supervise her before she chuckled and said, "Go on, I'll be fine, it's just a bit of cutting!" and presumed to go on singing off tune broken English songs. Backing away slowly, Seirin's Ace felt a hint of nervousness flare within his chest – they were in his apartment – what would happen if she were to set something alight?
But it was only cutting up fruit, after all, and Aomine didn't even make a comment as Kagami sat beside him on the floor. Momoi's singing served as a spectacular signal that everything was going alright, anyway.
"Well," said Midorima, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, "Oha Asa says my current shoes give the best luck. I won't be purchasing the new ones."
How the Generation of Miracles (sans the unreachable Akashi) had ended up in his house to study the week before their final exams, Kagami had no idea.
"Not everyone here relies on luck, Midorima," scoffed Aomine, sprawled out on the floor as if he owned the place, "I obviously don't need luck."
"Hmph," huffed the kelp haired teen, "that's big talk for someone who's supposed to have the worst luck today. You don't even have a lucky item to counter it."
The navy haired Ace rolled his eyes and snorted.
"Aomine-kun, focus on your maths homework. Murasakibara-kun, put down the chips and do your English homework."
"Tetsuuuuuu, I don't want to-"
"Kuro-chiiiiiiiiin, I'm hungry-"
Kise interrupted their whines by throwing his phone across the room, emitting a rather unmanly squeak as he did so.
"What's up your ass now?" Aomine drawled, lazily throwing a hand out over Kagami's notes. The red headed host grunted and shoved the dark skinned hand from his Japanese History attempts.
"Kasamatsu-senpai just said that slam-dunks were voted the most attractive way of scoring a basket based off the poll on my fan base website!"
"Bullshit."
Every head in the room swivelled to the kelp haired Ace of Shutoku, everyone stoped their activities (aside from Murasakibara, he kept eating), and the only sound heard was Momoi's muffled off key singing.
"Mido-chin… did you just swear?"
The purple haired giant was ignored as the bespectacled teen huffed agitatedly, "Bull. Shit. Three pointers are obviously the most graceful."
"Shut up, Midorima. My formless shots are practically porn-"
Kagami barked a laugh, "Are you two serious? Dunks were clearly stated as the best-"
"Unstoppable shots are the most attractive. Momoi-san said so." Five sets of glares trained on Kuroko – they couldn't argue with the only female opinion they had at hand, after all.
It was at that moment when Aomine gave a start, realising the sudden complete silence they were plunged in to.
"Satsuki?" he called, his voice carrying through to the kitchen.
The others went back to pretending to do their work in case their pink haired caretaker decided to poke her head in on them. She didn't, however, reply to her childhood friend. Kagami tensed – something didn't feel right.
"Satsuki!" called Aomine again, exasperated, "You alright?"
A barely discernable sound from the kitchen – something between a mewl and a whimper – and Kagami had never seen the Touou Ace move faster than he did at that moment. First he was on the floor – then half a second later he was flying over the study table and darting to the kitchen.
Trusting the navy haired boy's instincts, Kagami was quick to follow, hoping his kitchen was intact. In the corner of the kitchen the manager was crouched, doubled over , clutching her hands against her chest. The chopping board was stained a vibrant red.
"Fuck, Satsuki," groaned Aomine, "what've you done now?"
"N-Nothing," wheezed the manager, face contorted in what looked to Kagami as though she were trying not to cry,, "just a little cut, s'all."
The Touou Ace sighed and slinked forward, crouching beside the girl, frowning more out of exasperation than worry, "Show me. We'll put a Band-Aid on it."
She shook her head furiously, breathing hard, "Nope. Already did that. S'not working."
"What do you mean 'not working'?" sighed Aomine, rubbing his temples tiredly.
"D-Dai-chan… did you know that it takes the same amount of force to bite through a finger than it does a carrot?"
Kagami's bad feeling increased when he caught a metallic whiff of what he knew to be blood. Aomine's mind seemed to follow a different frequency than his, because he merely rolled his eyes and said, "Just show us already. Stop trying to change the subject."
"I wasn't trying to change the subject…" her voice was frighteningly small, "I was just gonna tell you that… I think the same applies for cutting force," and she eased out of her crouch.
"Holy fuck!"
Kagami couldn't even revel in the high pitched (girly hah) yelp of his long-time rival, horrified as he was at the sight. The light yellow shirt and white skirt of the girl was soaked red – the source of the blood stemming from her quite neatly sliced pinkie finger. The little limb was severed from the third knuckle, the tip of her finger dangling from the measly Band-Aid attempt.
"Satsuki, for fuck's sake you fucking idiot, what the fucking fuck!?"
His yelling was making her panic, and only moments after her reveal she burst into tears – silent tears. Kagami almost wished for her usual wailing tones – at least it'd drown out the buzzing in his ears, at least.
"What's going on here?" Midorima entered the kitchen and promptly blanched at the sight of the gaping Aomine, the frozen Kagami and the silently shaking Momoi. "Kuroko," he called evenly, "it's serious. Call an ambulance."
The navy haired teen seemed to snap out of his shock, shaking his head erratically, "They won't come fast enough. Kise!" he yelled, reaching for his childhood friend, "Grab your keys!"
Murasakibara appeared behind Midorima, poking his head above the bespectacled teens, "What's wrong Sa-ch-" he paled dramatically at the sight of the blood – and then, quite promptly, his eyes rolled back in to his head and his body fell ungracefully backwards. A thump was heard.
"Aominecchi, what's the rus- shit!"
"What happened to Momoi-sa- oh."
"Kagami, get me a towel and some spirits," Midorima demanded, "Kise, get your car ready to go outside. Kuroko, call the hospital and inform them of our attendance in approximately ten minutes. Aomine, try not to make her cry again, aho."
A chaotic car ride (which consisted mainly of Kise cutting people off, Aomine and Kagami screaming, Kuroko yelling on the phone to the nurse at a hospital, a very pale and strangely silent Momoi, and Midorima barking for everyone to stay calm), seven hours, six sets of bloodstained clothes (Murasakibara remained passed out at Kagami's rather than part of the mad group), a rather rushed operation and a large dosage of morphine later, Momoi had the tip of her pinkie finger back.
It went without saying that Momoi was banned from the kitchen by Aomine (he'd rather brashly carried her to the hospital even though she could walk). Study group was catered primarily by Kagami, and Midorima ditched them all together, claiming that they distracted him too much to study for finals anyway.
Surprisingly enough they all passed their final exams – and they didn't even need to put the bonus 'trauma' points in to play (except maybe Aomine).