Notes: Coherency? What coherency?
Summary: "He's in love with me."
It started on a crisp afternoon at the end of November.
Tired and slightly dull, the pre-winter sun hung low above the roof of Seirin High School. Most of the school grounds were already deserted at this hour, only very few groups and clubs had stayed behind. Among them was the basketball team, huddled together in the small locker room beside the gym, preparing for practice. The room buzzed with the hushed hum of rustling fabric and idle chatter as the boys changed.
No one was especially surprised when Koganei suddenly spoke up, "Kagami, I heard one of the freshmen confessed to you earlier."
Kagami stopped midway during the act of pulling his shirt over his head, and, to his horror, realized that almost everyone in the room was looking at him with varying degrees of curiosity and envy.
"So?" He said in what he hoped was a gruff and generally menacing fashion. Fortunately, he always kind of sounded like that.
"So you have a girlfriend now, huh?" Koganei leered, his eyes flashed. "Is she cute?"
Whoever had not been interested in the conversation before certainly was now.
Kagami tried his best to keep his stony expression as it was, and failed miserably. "I'm not dating her," he said to the wall of jealous and expectant teenage boys in front of him, and wondered if throwing one of the benches at them would enough to shut them up.
"She can't have been that ugly," Tsuchida chimed in.
"Maybe he likes someone else," Kyoshi supplied earnestly.
"He's in love with me," it came from behind Kagami.
The entire room went silent.
Quietly fighting a heart attack, Kagami turned around to see Kuroko sitting in the shade, stroking the underside of Number Two's chin. The dog mewled contentedly.
"What," he croaked, and paused to gulp. "What did you say?"
Kuroko stared at him, face as blank as ever. "I said, 'He's in love with me.' Obviously I was referring to you," he added as though it needed any more clarification.
"You're joking, right?" Kagami asked hopefully.
Kuroko's brows furrowed. "Why would I be joking?"
However, before anyone could explain to him why it was a perfectly common and logical reaction to assume that he was, in fact, just joking, the door burst open. It was Riko. Her hair and uniform were singed; her left knee was nursing a rather nasty-looking bruise.
"Someone blew up one of the home ec rooms," she said to no one in particular.
Hyuga snorted. "You mean, you were the one who—"
"SHUT UP", she snapped at him, flushing furiously. "NONE OF YOU WILL GO HOME UNTIL YOU CLEANED IT UP. UNDERSTOOD?"
"Your skirt is on fire," Koganei helpfully pointed out.
"UNDERSTOOD?" she roared, stomping outside toward the gym, where she had stored away some clothes for emergencies.
Kagami used the opportunity and made a beeline for the exit.