It had always been tough for Koganei. Maybe it was his own fault- he didn't study enough, so he was always failing and struggling in schoolwork. He never practiced his basketball outside club hours, so maybe that's why he didn't improve as quickly as others. He was a klutz, slow at times, unpopular with girls and sometimes even laughed at by his classmates. His best friend Mitobe always shone through for him though. They supported each other and when they were together they were invincible. They were the best of bros. But nobody took notice of their friendship. Nobody cared after Kagami and Kuroko enrolled as first years. Obviously they were the real invincible duo. The famous "light and shadow". Kagami's basketball already surpassed Koganei and Mitobe, and when Kuroko was counted in; the two were the best players on the team. And Koganei was jealous. He sat grumpily on the sidelines, watching a practice match go on with two halves of the Seirin team. The first years (other than Kuroko and Kagami) had sat out, but the numbers were still uneven so Koganei was sat out as well. He'd been there so much longer, why did he have to sit out? He let out a "hmph" and watched the match, frowning. A few gasps came from the court. Koganei scoffed and looked away. Kuroko had done another amazing move, and now Kagami was on the receiving end- there we go, another slam dunk.
Koganei couldn't help watching the slam dunk, though. As annoyed as he was to be outdone by his junior, he liked the way Kagami looked when he played. He was strong and determined. Even his mistakes were better than Koganei's because Kagami always made up for them. Koganei just helped widen the gap. He let out a smile, though, at the younger man's roar of victory. But then he began to frown again when Kuroko came out of nowhere and the two fist-bumped.
God, why can't I have respect like that? He thought. When the heck is Kagami going to fist bump me..?
His thought cut off when he saw the grin of victory beaming right at him from the other side of the court. There was a childish air about Kagami, as if he were saying did you see that!? Did you see what I just did? Koganei chuckled and stood up, clapping with the other first years who had already done so. Riko's whistle blew, and the practice match was over. Finally, Koganei thought. Now I can get home. He turned quickly, snatched up his bag (not bothering to change from his Seirin shirt), gave Mitobe a quick high five responded to with a smile and dashed out of the gym before the devil coach could impose any new training regimes. But he left so fast that he didn't see Kagami headed his way.
It was just beginning to get dark when Koganei started on his way home. The summer air kept the temperature warm, so his walk home was rather pleasant. He found himself thinking about Kagami's grin of victory maybe a little too often, and shook his head to try and think about the paper he was supposed to be handing in for English class. He cringed and frowned (but still wore his foolish smile) as he thought about it. He was just beginning to recite a few sentences of English in his head when he heard a stuttered-"No, p-please. I asked you t-to leave me alone" and "Come on, baby? We're not trying to hurt you or anything."
Up ahead was a typical thug on girl scene. Two guys stood around a short timid light haired girl who had her back to the wall and clung onto her schoolbag with tears brimming in her eyes. Koganei recognised the uniform. She was from Seirin- probably a first year. Like hell he was going to stand for this! Koganei was a fairly fast runner, so maybe his basketball skills would serve well here.
"Hey!" he choked and made an awkward sound. Great.
"What do you want, kid?" one of the larger and more menacing thugs asked. He wore a stupid beanie and low hanging pants. He may have had a few piercings too. One thing was sure- he smelled like alcohol.
"I, er. You have to leave her alone, because, uh. She wants you to!" he squeaked again. Koganei was not impressive.
"We're not tryin' to hurt her. This aint your business."
They were right; this wasn't Koganei's business, but he was a responsible upperclassman! No good person could just walk past a scene like this.
"I think it's for the best that you go." Said the second one, smaller than the first but still burly in comparison to the thin Koganei. He dressed almost identical to the first thug, but his hair was a greasy mop. The first now turned to Koganei, cracking his knuckles. (They were really typical thugs.)
Koganei could barely muster a no before a huge arm came swinging over his head. He ducked quickly and dashed around behind the first thug, now in between the two with the girl.
"Running?!"
Yes, obviously. Koganei grabbed the girls hand and pulled her down under the second huge arm that came crashing down near them. She let out a scream, but Koganei made sure to shield her. Neither had been hit yet- he thought he was doing pretty well. It wasn't till he was kicked hard in the gut that he realised he'd messed up. He gave the girl a quick shove and she stumbled out of the way of the two men, now kicking hard into Koganei as he fell to the hard concrete.
"GO ALREADY!" He spat out at the girl- and she did as he commanded. She sprinted as fast as she could. Koganei did well. He got her out of harm's way. But now he was the one who was stuck. They beat him senseless for a solid 5 minutes, swearing at him, bruising him and giving him a strong black eye. Thug #1 told Koganei to cry, but he didn't. Thug #2 spat on him as they shoved him against a wall. And then he was on the ground and they were gone. Now he cried. The last thing he heard before he blacked out was a strong and familiar yell.
