A quick note from the author: While it's fine to read a specific story on it's own, I highly recommend reading all the stories in order for the full experience.
Having feelings for someone just brings sorrow to someone else. Someone always gets sacrificed and suffers. Just how long must someone suffer before they find happiness?
"Thank you for waiting! Here's your order of large fries and a medium chocolate shake."
The young woman nodded her head to the cashier as she took her tray, carrying it firmly with both hands as she casually walked over to her usual table.
Once she placed her tray on the table's surface and seated herself into the chair, she let out a small sigh while straightening out the wrinkles in her skirt before slipping her bag off of her shoulder and placing it in her lap. After zipping her bag open, she pulled out slightly thick binder filled about halfway with papers and dug through her bag a bit more before pulling out the red pen she was looking for. With a flick of the wrist, she opened the binder and stared at the first page for a few moments, scanning its contents while she brought the straw of her shake up to her mouth to take a big sip. Once her dark, ruby red eyes finished scanning the page, she placed her shake back down on the table, clicked her pen once, and got to work.
Quickly, her pen seemed to dance across the surface of the paper, drawing multiple circles and cross in the designated places with efficiency while writing down small but helpful comments on the bottom of each page. This routine continued for the rest of the papers in the binder and before she realized it, she had gotten through the thick stack.
"Hmm… They did well, but I know they can do better… It'd probably be good to have a review before exam week, so I should make a study guide for them and send it to them by email over the weekend." Clicking her tongue, she brought the blunt end of her pen to her mouth as her eyes narrowed slightly in thought. "Oh, maybe I should include an answer key too so they can check their work- Or should I send it later so I can make sure they actually do it instead of using it to cheat…?"
Contemplating the thought as she packed up the binder and her pen back into her bag, she brought her drink back up to her mouth and took a sip as her eyes wandered around aimlessly before settling on the sights outside of the glass walls of the restaurant. She stared blankly in the distance before something, or someone, within the crowds of people outside caught her interest.
"Isn't that… Kurosawa-senpai?" She questioned with narrowed eyes as she tried to get a clear look of his face. "It is…!"
Takumi Kurosawa, her senpai from high school and university, and the guy she confessed to recently. The confession was a few weeks ago, around the time when Inter-High was happening. She had seen him there and decided it would be a good time to tell him about her feelings. After her confession, he said he would think about it before giving her his final answer…
But at that moment, she realized she would never get an answer from him. Despite not hearing it from him, she understood loud and clearly. Tears were pooling in the corner of her wide eyes as she watched him wrap his arm around one of her friends from her math lecture class.
"So Kurosawa-senpai was the guy you liked, Kotomi-san…? And senpai… Don't you think it's cruel to lead a girl on…?" Those questions came out in a quiet whisper as she closed her eyes, the tears falling and hitting the table beneath her. For a good minute, she continued to let her tears fall as a familiar cold feeling slowly engulfed her heart. With a trembling hand, she placed it over her chest in an attempt to ease herself from the pain.
It's fine… You knew this would happen anyway.
"I'm fine…" She whispered out while bringing her other hand up to her eyes, using the sleeve of her dark blue cardigan to wipe away her tears. "Everything is fine…" Taking a handful of fries from her tray, she stuffed her mouth with them and chewed hastily.
Considering her history with guys, she shouldn't have even tried in the first place… She never received a confession and every guy she confessed to would always reject her. If they didn't reject her initially, they would later. To make matters worse, out of all her friends, she's the only one who has never been in a relationship making her loneliness all the more obvious. She wondered to herself if she should just give up on this relationship nonsense as she stuffed another handful of fries in her mouth, more tears falling as she watched someone she considered a friend, and someone she even told her feeling about, kiss the very guy she's had feelings for since high school.
"If you eat that fast, you'll choke."
Blinking the remaining tears away, her eyes shifted towards the direction of the voice and noticed a boy sitting across from her. Dark red meeting a strangely familiar shade of cool blue.
Wait… Why does he seem familiar…? His eyes…
While she was lost in her thoughts, a fry that was sticking out of her mouth fell to the ground while the boy just continued to sip on his drink nonchalantly with a blank gaze in his eyes. It took a few more seconds before she realized she forgot to chew before swallowing, resulting in a painful cough as a fry got caught in her throat.
The boy sitting in front of her had a concerned look on his face as he put his drink down, quickly taking one of the napkins on the table and handing it to her. "Here, use this."
Hesitantly, she took the napkin and held it to her mouth as she spit out the fry that got lodged into her throat. She made a face after examining the contents of the napkin, wrapping it tightly in another napkin and setting it to the side on her tray. "U-Um… Thank you."
He just nodded, his face remaining as stoic as ever. "You're welcome."
She continued to stare at him. After taking note of his school uniform, she felt a strange sense of relief at the fact that he was younger than her. Her eyes then shifted towards his light blue hair, the color reminding her of a clear sky. Finally, she looked into his eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that had some strange calming effect on her.
But why?
"Um…"
His voice snapped her out of her trance, making her face began to heat up as she avoided his eyes while she nervously played with her fingers. "O-Oh! I'm sorry, it's rude to stare…" Once she managed to calm down a bit, she looked into his eyes again. "Uh… I apologize if this comes off as rude, but when did you sit there?"
"I was sitting here first…" He replied before sipping on his drink again.
Her eyes narrowed in disbelief as she propped one of her arms up, leaning her head into her hand as she sipped her chocolate shake. Just how on earth could she miss seeing this boy with light blue hair sitting here? There was no way she would have sit here without noticing him. There was just no way.
"Anyway," In sync, the two of them put their drinks back down on the table before he resumed. "Why were you crying?"
Her eyes widened by a small fraction. If he had been sitting here before she did like had said…
That means he saw me crying…
In an attempt to avoid answering, she casually ran her hand through her fringe, brushing it to the right and out of her eyes. "It's nothing a kid should have to worry about. Since I'm the adult here, shouldn't I be asking you what your problems are?"
At her statement, his brows furrowed a bit. "I'm not the child here."
A small smile curved on her lips at seeing the look on his face. "You look pretty cute when you're pouting like that, you know? And look, I know it's hard to believe, but I can assure you that I'm older than you."
"…"
Her eye twitched a bit, as his stare alone was a dead giveaway that he didn't believe a single word. "I'm not lying…" With a frown, she took out her wallet and tossed her ID in his direction.
After catching it and examining the information written, he hummed. "I see… So your name is Mizuki Kuramochi?" He questioned as he looked up at her from her ID.
Lifting her head up from the table, Mizuki nodded as she took her milkshake in her hand. "That's right. And I promise the ID's not fake, I know I don't look it, but I really am 19. And you would be?"
Setting her ID card aside, he introduced himself with a small bow of his head. "Tetsuya Kuroko."
After finishing the rest of her drink, she put the empty cup down and eyed him up and down. "Well it's nice to meet you, Kuroko-kun." She said with a smile. "So if you don't mind me asking, are you a first year in high school?"
He nodded, putting his cup aside as he also finished his drink. "Yes, at Seirin High."
"I see. Are you apart of any clubs?" It's not really that she was interested in knowing. Honestly, she was just asking all these things in hopes of getting her mind off of the sight of Kurosawa and Kotomi together.
Again, he nodded. "I'm a member of the basketball team."
Unexpectedly, that answer caught Mizuki's interest. She wasn't into basketball as much as her friends were, but she did gain a liking for watching the sport after her friends forced her to attend games. Nowadays, she only goes to games if she has the time to spare or if someone invites her to go watch them.
However, she raised her eyebrow at the fact that Kuroko said he played for Seirin. "Really? Then at the recent Inter-High… Did you play?"
"Yes, I'm a regular."
Her eyes narrowed a bit in suspicion at his statement. "No way, I don't remember seeing you playing…" No matter how much she thought back on the matches she watched, she couldn't remember seeing him on the court during Seirin's games. "Maybe it's because you're so short?"
That statement made him pout a bit. "You're one to talk, Kuramochi-san. I really thought you were 16."
That pout brought a small smile to her face and already made her forget that she was crying just a few minutes ago. "Hey! I resent that! It's not my fault I didn't get my growth spurt yet!"
"I recall reading somewhere that woman stop growing in height after 18."
"…Please don't remind me…"
Never in her life did she think she would enjoy the company of a random high school student she met by accident. Then again, Kuroko wasn't like most high school students. Unlike the boys from her years in high school, Kuroko was very mature for a guy in general. For one, he actually treated her respectfully unlike the immature boys who would tease her over her small stature and childish facial features.
As the two of them conversed, they learned various things about each other and got into lengthy conversations over them. Mizuki learned about Kuroko's past as a basketball player and his dreams of defeating his old teammates, the Generation of Miracles, with his own style. Kuroko learned that Mizuki was a talented dancer during her years in high school and she dreamed to be able to perform on a stage in front of an audience one day, but she gave up on her dream and chose to focus on her studies.
"So Kuramochi-san, are you ever going to tell me why you were crying earlier?"
The question caught her off guard. She honestly didn't think he would still care about that, plus she was sort of hoping he would have forgotten by now after all the talking they did previously. Deciding to concede, she shrugged her shoulders and closed her eyes. "Alright then, Kuroko-kun… I guess there's no harm in telling you."
It's probably better to vent my problems out to stranger anyway. I doubt I'll ever see him again after this.
With a serious look, she stared right into his eyes. "I know this is stupid, but… To put it simply, I never had a boyfriend…"
Kuroko shook his head. "That's not stupid, Kuramochi-san."
She didn't know why, but hearing him say that gave her a sense of relief. "Thanks for saying so… Some people think I'm just sad about being single all the time, but it's not just that… Unlike a lot of girls, I never experienced a boy confessing to me too. Since that was the case, I ended up trying to be the one to do the confessing, but I always ended up been rejected… The guys I confessed to always said that they just couldn't see me that way because of my height, my face, a lot of reasons relating to physical features I don't really have control over…" She paused, turning to look out the glass walls of the restaurant. "Guys always tell me that they wouldn't want to date me because I look a lot younger than my actual age. It kind of… Disgusts them, I guess you could say."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Kuramochi-san… Hearing those kinds of things from people you have feelings for must've hurt you…" Kuroko commented with a small frown curved on his lips.
Slowly, Mizuki nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah… It did hurt me quite a bit… But as for why I was crying earlier, there was a couple passing by outside earlier…" Here, she had a slightly bitter smile on her face as the image of Kotomi and Takumi together flashed in her mind. "The guy in that couple, Takumi Kurosawa, was my senpai back in high school. He was always so nice to me and treated me differently compared to how other guys would, so I always admired him for that."
Kuroko nodded in understanding. "It's only natural to have feelings for someone who treats you nicely."
Pressing her lips together for a moment, she resumed. "I've had feelings for him since the start of my second year, but I never got the chance to confess to him before he graduated and went to Todai. I ended up regretting the fact I never let him know how I felt, so I decided to work my butt off to get into Todai." Mizuki smiled slightly as she recalled the memories of pulling all-nighters to study and do schoolwork. "I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could get the chance to tell him how I felt if I went to the same school as him. I thought that maybe he'd be the guy to accept my feelings and I'd finally get to experience those sweet first loves you read about in novels."
The smile on her face turned bitter and tears began to pool in the corners of her eyes again as she shook her head slowly from side to side. "But this is reality… It's not a romance novel… If I'm the heroine of some love story, then when will things finally go good for me? …You see, I confessed to him when Inter-High ended, and he told me he would give me an answer after giving it some thought. But I finally got my answer today… In probably the most hurtful way possible…"
Don't cry, not now…
Her actions betrayed her thoughts and the pool of tears in her eyes began to overflow, streaming down her slightly red cheeks. Mizuki looked down and shut her eyes tightly, her hands tightening in her lap as she struggled to swallow her cries before speaking again. "I-I'm used to rejection. Every guy I've ever confessed to has rejected me… If he didn't want to date me, he could have just said no instead of giving me a sense of false hope… I would have been just fine with being rejected!" Bringing her hands up to her eyes, she continued to cry, letting the tears hit the surface of her palms. "I don't even care that he's dating one of my friends… I just care that he decided to reject me like this. I know it's pathetic of me to be crying over this when I should've learned from the past experiences. I really should have just given up on this already."
Ah, how pathetic. I ended up crying again…
Under most circumstances, she'd never let herself cry so openly in front of another person. Maybe she allowed herself to cry in front of Kuroko because of the way he made her feel oddly at ease. Or perhaps it was just for the fact that he was a stranger, and that she wouldn't have to subject one of her friends to have the job of putting up with her sobbing mess. Perhaps she just felt like it was finally time to let out the tears of frustration that built up from all her years of being rejected for reasons outside of her control.
As she continued to let the tears flow, she flinched when something soft made contact with her cheek. "You don't deserve to be treated that way, Kuramochi-san."
Mizuki's eyes shot wide open and she looked up at him. Kuroko was holding a plain white handkerchief, using it to wipe away the tears that rolled down her slightly flushed cheeks. Unaccustomed to the kind gesture, she stared at him with her mouth slightly agape accompanied by a dumbfounded look on her face. "…Huh?"
Once the part of the handkerchief he used became too soaked with tears, he turned it over continued to pat her cheeks dry. "He's wrong for treating you that way. If that's how he treats a woman when she confesses her feelings, especially feelings that transcended two years, then he isn't someone who can make you happy."
… Bump… Ba-bump…
His lips curved slightly, the small but sweet smile on his face causing a familiar sensation of butterflies in her stomach. "You just haven't met the right person yet, Kuramochi-san. Don't let one guy who wasn't worth your time ruin who you are now."
Ba-bump… Ba-bump…
Despite how quiet he was earlier, he continued to speak to her in a warm, comforting tone. "After talking with you and getting to know you, I can tell already tell that you're a very nice person. You're mature, but you aren't too serious and have a good sense of humor. You're also very dedicated to your job and it's amazing to see how much you care for your students, since you're willing to do so much to accommodate for them." He shot her a rather charming smile and said something that rendered her completely speechless. "You're also very pretty, in my opinion. Honestly, I believe any guy who gets to date you should consider himself very lucky. So you shouldn't give up, Kuramochi-san. Or rather, don't give up."
Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.
Mizuki felt blood rushing to her cheeks and her chest tighten uncomfortably.
Oh, no way. Nope. This isn't going to happen. Not in a million years. Don't even think about it!
She had to repeatedly tell her heart to stop beating so fast for a guy she just met a few hours ago.
Pressing her lips together in a thin line, she swallowed the lump forming in her throat before letting out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. "T-Thank you… Oh, I-I can do it myself…" With that, she took the handkerchief out of his hand and used it to wipe away the remaining tears.
In an attempt to hide her pink cheeks, she avoided looking into his eyes by lifting her arm up and pulling back the sleeve of her dark blue cardigan, taking a peek at her wristwatch. Her eyes widening when she saw it was already 9 PM. "I-It's already this late?! Oh no, I have a review session with my students at 8 in the morning tomorrow! I need to send a reminder to them before they all forget!"
"Oh, wait Kuramochi-san-"
She didn't wait for him to finish as she hurriedly slung her bag over her shoulder and got out of her seat, turning towards the exit of the restaurant. Standing there for what felt like forever, she smiled softly and spoke. "'One chance in a lifetime.'"
Kuroko cocked his head to the side. "Huh?"
Turning towards him fully, she giggled at his slightly confused expression. "That's what my meeting with you today felt like, Kuroko-kun. Something that can only happen once in a lifetime… I'm really happy that I met you today, but I'm afraid that this is also the day we part ways." She held her hands behind her back and bowed her head at him. "Thank you so much, for hearing me out and for the kindness you showed me today. I think I can finally make a step in the right direction because of you." She then raised a hand, smiling widely as she waved at him. "Goodbye, Kuroko-kun. Good luck with your own dreams! I wish you the best!"
She left the restaurant with a skip in her step and a large smile on her face. From this day forward, Mizuki Kuramochi can now move on from her unrequited high school love and focus on finding her own happiness with her newfound self-confidence.
"Where on earth is it…?" Mizuki panted as she sat on the floor of her room and rested her back against her bed. "I swear I had my ID with me this morning!"
She practically turned everything in her bedroom upside down looking for her ID card. She felt ready to give up after going back to the university to check if she had dropped it there. Did she have to trace her steps back even further than that? "You've got to be kidding me! How could something like this just disappear?!" Closing her eyes, she tapped her middle finger against her left temple while thinking back to yesterday. "Ugh, let's see… The last time I saw my ID card… When…?"
"So your name is Mizuki Kuramochi?"
"…Kuroko-kun!" She exclaimed loudly, recalling that she didn't get her ID back when she gave it to him.
Pulling her knees to her chest, her gaze shifted to her desk where the handkerchief he let her use yesterday was sitting. Despite saying they would never see each other again after their initial meeting, she still washed the small cloth in hopes of returning it to him one day. Yes, she knows it was stupid. Besides, in reality, what are the chances of them meeting again? They were something more than strangers, but something less than acquaintances. Their relationship would be nothing more and nothing less than that.
"You shouldn't give up, Kuramochi-san. Or rather, don't give up."
Running her hands through her bangs, she sighed in frustration. "Ugh… I just met him! I shouldn't be feeling this way towards someone I barely even know!"
Well, the fact that she was always the type who believed "love at first sight" wasn't helping her case…
Mizuki stood up and walked towards her desk, taking the handkerchief in one hand while her fingers ran over the soft cotton. "Okay, Mizuki. You're just going to return this to him in exchange for your ID cards. That's all it is. Oh, but the time…"
Looking down at her wristwatch, she frowned when the time read 6 PM. Should she even bother risking it?
But what if he went home already…?
Shaking her head in an attempt to brush away any hesitation that threatened to stop her, she put the handkerchief back on the desk and used the hair tie on her wrist to tie her long white hair into a messy bun. Turning to look into her mirror, she adjusted her bangs so they would frame her face without getting in the way of her eyes and smiled when she got the look she was going for. Hurrying back to her bed, she quickly slipped on her oversized dark blue cardigan and black stockings before rushing back to her desk to neatly fold the handkerchief and store it in her pocket. "It should be safe there…"
After making sure she had her wallet, key, and phone on her, she headed to the door, fumbling a bit when slipping her shoes on. With her hand on the doorknob, she took a deep breath and gave a determined nod before opening the door, prepared to venture out into to find Seirin High School.
…No, she wasn't doing this as an excuse to see him again. She was just returning what wasn't hers in exchange for her ID card, if he even had it with him…
Yeah, that's all it is. It's nothing more than that.
That was the first time she managed to convince herself.
After some asking around (and ignoring the constant comments of "ohmygosh you're so tiny and adorable, how old are you?" or "awww, it's cute to see a little sister going to pick up her older brother." from people she talked to) she managed to find her way to Seirin High School. However, seeing that the gym's lights were off, it was already too late. Kuroko probably already left a long time ago.
Letting out a disappointed sigh, she wiped away the sweat that gathered at her forehead with the back of her hand as she walked back the way she came. "Maybe I shouldn't have tried…"
"Tried what, Kuramochi-san?"
Mizuki's heart leapt to her throat when she heard the familiar voice of the very guy who was on her mind all day. Slowly, she turned to see Tetsuya Kuroko standing a few feet behind her, wearing a dark teal and white-stripped shirt and tan pants. There was a basketball tucked under one arm and a small black and white puppy with familiar looking eyes sitting near his feet. Slowly turning to face him completely, she stared right at him with wide dark ruby red eyes. "…Kuroko-kun."
"Arf!" The little puppy barked, panting happily while his tail wagged excitedly.
Kuroko looked a tad confused, probably from the fact that she didn't yelp in surprise like most people did whenever he appeared unexpectedly like that. He just smiled and bowed his head slightly. "It's good to see you again, Kuramochi-san. What are you doing out this late?"
Calm down, calm down… Don't be so nervous.
Mizuki swallowed the lump in her throat while her hand nervously scratching the back of her neck as she spoke. "I-I was actually looking for you…"
He gave her a look similar to that of a confused puppy. She had to resist the urge to cup his face in her hands and squeal about how adorable he looked at that moment. "Why's that?"
She chuckled nervously as her hand rose to the back of her head while her other hand dug through her pocket, feeling around for the soft cotton before pulling it out. "Well, um… I was actually looking for you to return this to you."
Taking a few steps towards him to close their distance, she took his free hand in hers, placing the folded handkerchief in his palm. His eyes widened a bit as she released his hand. "Thank you. That reminds me… I also have your ID card. You ran off before you took them back and I couldn't stop you in time."
Mizuki smiled, placing a hand on her chest as she sighed in relief. "Oh thank god, I was freaking out that I'd lost it for good and have to pay for a replacement… Replacements can get pretty expensive!"
"I'm aware. I was planning on stopping by Todai to return them to you, but I don't know your schedule and something happened today, so I ended up not being able to go." He dug through his bag, pulling out the plastic card and held it out to her. "Here you are."
As she reached out to take her cards, a thought itched at the back of her mind.
If I take these now, there would be nothing between the two of us anymore.
She'd no longer have a reason to see him anymore and they would go back to being strangers. They would continue to live their lives and whatever happened between them would be long forgotten down the road. Her lips pressed together tightly as her hands gripped her ID card, taking it from his hands and stuffing it into her pocket.
"Well, it was good seeing you again, Kuramochi-san. I'll be heading home now." He smiled at her, bidding her farewell with a wave goodbye before turning around and walking off in the other direction.
It's now or never, Mizuki. Say something now or regret it for the rest of your life.
Closing her eyes and tightening her fists at her sides, she ran after him and called out his name. "…Kuroko-kun!"
Kuroko stopped, flinching a bit when she took a hold of the back of his shirt. When she released her grip on his shirt, he turned to face her. "…Yes, Kuramochi-san?"
Her face was burning from embarrassment, but there was no turning back now. Looking at him with a cheerful smile, her hands entwined behind her back. Her palms sweating like crazy as she struggled to get her words out. "I-I wanted to know… Did you eat dinner yet? If not, I can treat you as thanks."
His eyes widened a bit at her offer, but he shook his head. "No, I haven't, but it's alright. I'll be o-"
Grrrrrrrrr~
Mizuki wished she was fast enough to pull out her phone and take a picture of Tetsuya Kuroko with a slightly red face, looking absolutely flustered. But to respect him, she opted to bring a hand up to hide her own slightly red face and smile. "I'll take that as a yes."
She'll save that image in her own memory instead.
"Thank you for having me over. Are you sure it's okay for me to eat dinner with you at your home?" Kuroko questioned as he took off his shoes.
Mizuki nodded as she removed her cardigan, placing it on the back of one of the chairs at her dining table as she walked into her kitchen. "Of course! Honestly, I feel like you'd find a way to pay for the meal if I took you out to a restaurant or something, so I figured a home cooked meal would be best if I wanted to pay you back properly." While looking through her fridge she hummed a bit. "Hmm… Do you have any allergies I should be aware of?"
He shook his head. "No, I'll be fine."
"Alright, then just sit tight and I'll let you know when I'm done!" She replied back with a smile.
Kuroko walked towards her combined kitchen/living room. While she was busy preparing, he took this time to look around. He quickly took notice of the small things around her apartment, like the cute home decorations to the array of framed photos that were scattered around her apartment. All photos included her with other people, but most had her with what he assumed was her family and close friends. While scanning her various photos, he caught the sight of a photo with a very young Mizuki with shoulder length hair standing next to a familiar looking girl with long black hair and dark pink eyes. "…Kuramochi-san, who's the girl in this photo with you?"
After putting on her white apron adorned with red polka dots, she took a close look at the photo Kuroko was pointing at on her fridge. "Oh, that's Umi Takahashi. You could say that she's my best friend, considering I've known her since I was really young. Do you know her? I believe she's your age and used to attend Teiko, so the two of you might have been in the same class at one point."
He nodded as he stared back at the photo, recalling his own memories of the girl. "She was in my class during our first year and was close with one of my old teammates. I'm sorry to ask, but… Do you know what happened to her? From what I remember, she disappeared before graduation without a trace."
Mizuki remained silent as she got out a cutting board and a large kitchen knife. "…Kuroko-kun, it's really not the right time for me to talk about her. I promise I'll tell you about her one day, but for now…"
From her tone of voice and how she trailed off, he could tell that she didn't want to talk about this. He figured it would be better to drop the subject until the time was right. "…I understand, I'm sorry if it sounded like I was prying."
To put his slight distress at ease, Mizuki shook her head and gave him a comforting smiling. "No, it's alright. It's just, what happened with Umi, I don't feel right talking about it since it's something she probably doesn't want a lot of people to know about…"
"It's nice that you're so considerate for her." Kuroko commented as he took a seat at her small dining table.
A small smile curved on Mizuki's lips as she proceeded cutting up some vegetables. "Yeah… I try to be."
As Kuroko watched her, he couldn't help but think she looked like a little kid trying to cook, seeing that she needed a small stool to help her reach the higher shelves. However, her skill with a knife was enough to prove that she was experienced like a housewife. "You look like you can cook well, Kuramochi-san."
She smiled while she stirred around the vegetables in the frying pan. "Well, I am an older sister to an absolutely adorable little brother, and I've been living on my own for almost a year. With my budget, it's just easier to cook meals. I also had a friend who used to teach me. I'm not sure if you know her, but she's just a year older than you and also went to Teiko. Her name is Setsuna Miyamoto."
He hummed as he tried to remember the name. "…I can't say that her name sounds too familiar. Did she have close friends on the basketball team?"
Mizuki also hummed as she shut off her stove and lifted the pan up, tossing a potholder on the table before setting the steaming hot pan down on table. "Let's see… I believe your old captain, Shuzo Nijimura-kun… Setsuna-chan was close with him, from what I remember correctly."
When Kuroko remembered a girl that his old captain was close with, his eyes widened a bit. With a frown, he stared down at the table. "…I see."
"Arf!"
Looking down at her feet, she saw Nigou wagging his tail at the scent of food. Mizuki smiled while she used a spoon to scoop up some shredded chicken into a bowl. "Don't even think for a second that I forgot about you, Nigou! I made food for you too."
"Arf arf!"
Once she set down the bowl on the floor, Nigou excitedly began to dig in when he saw his owner give the okay.
After scooping rice into two small bowls, she removed her apron and placed it back on the hook on the wall. Bringing the two bowls back to the table, she handed one of the bowls to Kuroko as she took her seat. "Here you are, Kuroko-kun. Feel free to dig in."
He bowed his head slightly as he took his bowl, placing it on the table as he scooped some of the stir-fry and placed it on his plate. Taking his chopsticks in his hand, he placed them together and bowed his head. "Thank you. I'll be eating now."
Mizuki smiled a bit nervously as she watched him take his first bite. "How is it?"
Please don't tell me I screwed it up.
His eyes widened as he pulled his chopsticks away from his mouth. "It's very good."
She nodded with a satisfied smile. "Oh, thank goodness. Well, hopefully this'll be enough to help you recover after your practice."
His head tilted to the side as he brought rice into his mouth. "Hmm?"
Embarrassed, she waved her hands in front of her. "Oh, sorry… Well, you see, I was pretty unhealthy in the diet aspect in contrast to my active lifestyle during my high school days, so I had to be careful with my diet or else I'd end up sick and I didn't want you to end up like that. See, since it's dinnertime and I'm assuming you played today since you had a a basketball with you, you need to promote healing and recovery in your muscles at nighttime so you won't be sore the next day…"
Kuroko just stared in awe. "That's amazing, Kuramochi-san… I didn't know you were thinking about that while you were cooking…"
Blushing slightly, she avoided his gaze by looking down at her own plate and bowl. "Well of course, I'm just looking out for you! I mean…" Her lips pressed together as she struggled to let the next words come out of her mouth. "W-We're friends, aren't we?"
The silence that followed her rhetorical question was heavy. She was ready to take back everything she said in an effort to hide her embarrassment then change her name and never return to Tokyo.
Okay, maybe I wouldn't go that far, but I would probably never talk to him again after this.
When she looked up, she stopped herself from potentially embarrassing herself even further.
After swallowing the last bit of rice in his bowl, he gave a small smile. "Thank you so much, Kuramochi-san. I'm glad we're friends."
The blush on her face intensified and her heart pounded even louder than last time they talked. She didn't bother to hide her smile from him this time. "I'm glad, Kuroko-kun."
"Um, would it be okay if I had seconds?" He asked a tad nervously, holding his empty bowl out towards her.
She giggled, getting out of her chair and taking his bowl. "Coming right up."
Nigou licked his nose as he finished the contents of his bowl, chasing after Mizuki and excitedly running circles around her feet before barking at her to get her attention.
Looking down at the small puppy, she laughed as he got on his hind legs and rested his front paws against her leg. "Okay Nigou, you can get seconds if Kuroko-kun says it's okay, alright?"
She was honestly amazed when Nigou turned to his owner, sitting down obediently at his feet with his tail wagging. "Arf arf!"
Smiling at his dog, he looked towards Mizuki. "As long as you don't mind, Kuramochi-san. Just don't give him too much."
After giving him his bowl of rice, she nodded with a happy smile on her face while Nigou whined a bit. "Alright, got it."
After the meal, the black and white puppy rested on a pillow that Mizuki set down for him while the her and Kuroko continued to talk the night away on the couch in her living room.
Mizuki hummed as she crossed her legs in her seat. "So preliminaries for Winter Cup are tomorrow… Are you nervous about it?"
He shook his head. Despite his usually blank expression, Mizuki could see the small hints of passion flickering in his eyes. "Not at all… I'm excited, actually."
She smiled, bringing a hand up to his shoulder to give an encouraging pat. "Good luck tomorrow. I'm free, so I'll come cheer you on."
Kuroko returned the smile while placing his hand on top of hers. "Thank you, Mizuki-san. Also, thank you for the meal, it was very delicious."
Taking her hand back, she brought her it up to her messy bun. Once she removed the small band holding her hair together, she ran her fingers though her bangs as her long white hair cascaded down to her waist. "Of course, I don't mind. It gets lonely eating by myself all the time… Thank you for giving me your company."
He couldn't help but stare at her at that moment. Since her hair was up every time he saw her, he never noticed how long her hair was. He thought it was interesting for someone to have such pure, snow-white hair. Just the fact that it was so long made her seem ethereal, so much so that the words almost got caught in his throat. "…You're welcome. Um… If you don't mind, I can come over when you feel like having company."
Her dark red eyes widened in disbelief. She almost couldn't believe he really said that. His offer brought a content smile on her face while she pulled her stocking covered legs to her chest. "I'd like that a lot, actually. I can give you a call or send a message." Taking her phone out of her pocket, she held it out towards him. "So may we exchange addresses to keep in contact?"
After exchanging phones, they began entering each other's numbers into their contacts. Once they finished, Kuroko couldn't help but smile at the screen showing Mizuki's contact information.
Mizuki Kiramochi (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ (lol lame I know, feel free to fix it ^^')
Likewise, Mizuki couldn't hide the smile as she saw Kuroko's contact information on her phone. Now that she thought about it, this was the first time she ever exchanged numbers with a guy friend. That thought made her heart feel warm.
When she realized the warm feeling in her heart, she shook her head from side to side. No, she is not feeling anything towards him. It was just nice that they've established their friendship.
Yeah, that's all it was. It was nothing more than that.
That was the second time she was able to convince herself.
Like she had told him, Mizuki went to the preliminary game and cheered on Kuroko's team and was happy to see them make it to the championship league. After Seirin's game against Josei, she sent him a message to congratulate him and his team on their victory as she walked into a coffee shop called Kiss-At-Ten.
After looking around a bit, she spotted a hand waving at her from one of the tables in the corner. Making her way towards the person waving at her, she sat in the booth seat across from a girl with long platinum blonde hair tied into a ponytail. This girl had a white and black snapback and used the brim of the hat to hide her eyes.
Mizuki just smiled towards the girl as she set her purse beside her. "It's been a while… So, mind telling me what made you come back to Japan?"
The blonde smiled, bringing up one of her hands to rest her head against her palm. "Just felt a tad homesick, that's all… Plus, my aunt thinks it's best for me to recover here rather than thousands of miles away. There's also this feeling I have that he'll come back… I know it's stupid to come back here just based on a hunch, but I just couldn't shake the feeling."
Shaking her head, Mizuki stared at the girl in front of her. "That sixth sense of yours is never far off the mark though. But I hope you understand how worried your mother has been about you. She keeps calling and asking me about you, like where you went and all that." Mizuki frowned a bit as she recalled the amount of times she's gotten calls from the girl's mother. "I've respected your wishes and just told her that you're doing fine, but please… Since you're here, you really should go see her. She really misses you and wants to talk to you."
The blonde just sighed as she folded a napkin with one hand. "Mizuki-san, I can't… It's not that easy for me to just see her again… Going back to see her would mean returning to my old life, but I can't return to that until I finally settle on my situation with him once and for all… Whether that situation ends on a good note or a bad one, I promise I'll go back and fix my relationship with my mother. Besides, this time I'm planning on staying in Japan, I promise you."
The older white haired girl hummed as she tapped her fingernail on the table. "Well, in case you wanted an update on him, he's the same from what I've heard. No changes since that time."
The platinum blonde sighed as she lifted the brim of her snapback to reveal her light blue left eye and dark pink right eye. "Oh well… Not like I expected him to… Thanks for letting me know."
"Sorry to keep you two lovely ladies waiting." Standing near their table was a fairly tall and very handsome young man with chocolate brown hair and light pink highlights in his bangs. He gave the two of them a charming smile before he began placing various plates and cups on their table. "Here are your orders. For the blonde beauty, a cup of Darjeeling tea and a small chocolate cake. For the lovely snow white, a cup of thai mixed with sweetened milk and a side of honey toast. Please enjoy."
Mizuki was confused as she stared at the desserts that he set onto the table in front of her. "Um, Kou-kun, we didn't order any desserts… Was there a mistake in our order?"
The young man, Kou, shook his head as he took one of Mizuki's hands and kissed the back of it lightly while throwing in a flirty wink. "No, it wasn't a mistake, my dear princess. It's on me, okay?"
She gave a kind smile as she pulled her hand away from him. "Thank you, Kou-kun."
The blonde just nodded towards him as she gently stirred her cup of tea. "Yeah, thanks, Kou…"
Kou shot them a handsome smile that would make any other girl's heart flutter. "No problem. Enjoy your meal. And Mizuki-san, call me when you're eating, I'll be glad to feed you your honey toa-ACK!"
"Kou! Quit flirting and get back to work, you idiot!"
The young man grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head where he had been hit, walking back behind the counter as he whined. "Yes ma'am… You know, you should really pull your punches, I'll get brain damage one day because of you."
The elder woman with silvery blonde hair rolled her dark purple eyes in annoyance as she returned to her position behind the register. "Oh please, you already have brain damage."
Looking down at her tea cup, Mizuki couldn't help but smile at seeing the cute heart-shaped whipped cream. "Kou-kun is always so nice to me… But he really should stop being such a flirt or he'll have trouble finding someone when he wants to settle down."
The platinum blonde shrugged as she continued to stir her tea, watching the steam evaporate. "Meh, Kou will be fine. If he does have trouble down the line, I promised that I'd help him."
"That's nice of you. If I can't be there for him, please do help him when he needs it." Mizuki commented as she closed her eyes and brought the tea cup up to her lips, taking a sip of her tea and enjoying the sweet taste while the warmth spread through her body.
After finishing her cake and taking a sip of her own tea, the blonde spoke hesitantly. "…Hey, Mizuki-san… Am I stupid for still loving him after all this time?"
Peeking one of her eyes open, Mizuki set her cup down on the table before looking right into the other girl's heterochromatic eyes. "You of all people know my experience when it comes to the romance department, so I'll speak from life experiences… I'm going to say that in my eyes, you're not. I know how much you loved him and you're not stupid for hanging on after all these years. Besides, everything you did in the past wasn't for yourself, it was all for his sake. You just truly love him, and it's not something you should think is stupid. But even if you are, people do stupid and crazy things for the ones they love, so you're not alone on that. After all, you can never forget your first true love."
The blonde set down the empty cup on the small plate and got up from her seat before wiping her mouth with a napkin and walking off. "…Thanks, Mizuki-san. I gotta go home now and finish unpacking. My contact info is still the same, so call me up anytime. Oh, but give me a while to recover from the jet lag. I'll see you later."
Mizuki kept her expression neutral as she watched the girl walk away. Returning her gaze to her half empty cup, she tightly gripping the handle with a sad smile on her face. "…I hope you'll finally have your happy ending, Umi-chan…"
Author's Note
EDIT (November 5 2015): In response to rukiruki86's question in reviews, this story is NOT haremxOC.
EDIT (December 27 2016): Slight edits here and there to polish up the chapter a bit more from the previous version. Also made some changes to the character dialogue to make them feel more in-character (Ex. Kuroko referring to Mizuki as "Kuramochi-san")
I apologize if the pacing isn't ideal, the future chapters will (hopefully) get better. I'm so happy to finally finish and release this!
Anyway, hello! Welcome to my new series, Wasurenagusa! This is my first time writing for Kuroko no Basket, so I'm pretty nervous. I apologize for any OOC-ness, I tried my best to keep people in character but I might fail miserably in those aspects. Just bear with me, hopefully things will get better as the series goes on.
As you may have read from the summary, this is a series of four different love stories. At the moment, I can't say for sure how many chapters each story will be, but each chapter will be titled to make it easy for anyone who just wants to read a specific story. However, I highly recommend reading all the stories for the full experience.
Okay, so I'm saying this right now, this first chapter is somewhat of a test to see how many people would be interested in reading this series. This was a small project that was originally supposed to be a one shot series, but I decided to expand it and make it a series of stories instead. So please, any feedback would be appreciated! Thank you for reading!
-Ari