Prologue

"Momoi! Eh!? She's not around," exclaimed a tall individual with blonde hair as he looked around the gymnasium, he carried a basketball under one arm and a near constant frown in his brow.

"Ah, she's not around," replied another. He was a third year and the captain of the team. "Apparently she had something important on today and asked the coach to leave early. Did you need something?"

"It's okay, Aomine's not around so I just wanted to know if she knew where that son of a bitch was. Sakurai, do you know-"

"I'm sorry," a timid first year club member replied. "I'm sorry for being so useless. I'm so sorry, I'm sorry for being alive."

"No it's okay, wait what!?"

XXX

A red haired female stood alone waiting by the gates of Too Academy, she checked the time on her phone and sighed. She'd been waiting for almost half an hour now. No matter, she thought to herself as she slipped her phone back into the back pocket of her jeans. She hadn't seen the other individual in months now, waiting a little longer wasn't going to hurt but standing for prolong periods of time still wasn't easy for her.

It'd been months since she last stepped foot on Japanese soil, she had missed home but now that she was back she missed the States. She missed the greasy food and not having to deal with her problems. She sighed and subconsciously rubbed the scar that ran deep across the palm of her left hand, its appearance had faded greatly in recent weeks but she still wore a white fingerless glove to keep it hidden.

"Rei?" a startled voice exclaimed.

The red head tensed at the sound of a familiar nickname and the voice which spoke it. Why was she surprised to run into him? He attended this school after all, she should have been better prepared.

"Hey," Reira looked up and smiled at the tall and dark skinned male student who stood flabbergasted with a magazine sticking out of his school bag.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, still startled.

"I'm waiting for Satsuki," she replied.

"Of course," he said, his eyes looking anywhere but at her.

"How have you been Daiki?" Reira asked.

"I'm good I guess," was the response.

He was uncomfortable, Reira thought to herself. She couldn't help but notice that he still stood where he was when he first spotted her and hadn't moved any closer. Could she blame him though? Slowly, as if approach a scared kitten, she walked towards him.

"We, I mean, I, I just," Reira started and stopped her sentence. "I'm sorry," she finally said out loud.

"Huh?" Whatever Aomine Daiki thought she was going to say, that was not it.

"We ended things on a bad note, and I know that I was at fault," she told him. "I'm sorry for the way things turned out."

"Oh, I um," Aomine blinked as he too struggled to form words. "Yeah, I'm sorry too I guess."

"We should put it behind us," Reira said with a small smile. "And move forward." Aomine relaxed at her words.

"Yeah," he returned her smile. "We should."

"For Satsuki's sake if not anything else, we should be friends at least," Reira added.

"Huh? Oh yeah, friends, for Satsuki's sake." Reira didn't know whether she imagined it or not, but at her last words, he almost looked… disappointed?

"I'd rather not have to make her choose between her best friend and childhood friend," it wasn't an easy thing for her to say. After all, who wanted to be friends with their ex from junior high? No matter, Momoi Satsuki was her best friend and Reira knew that in certain situation she needed to swallow her pride and put others before herself. "So, how's high school?"

"Eh? It's okay," Aomine replied, scratching the back of his head. "Are you going to school here? Or you flying back to America?"

"I'm staying in Japan," Reira replied. "My doctor gave me the all clear, so I'm staying."

"Will you still, I mean, are you gonna-?"

"My uncle enrolled me in Kaijo High, it's close to the rehabilitation centre and where I live now."

"That's not what I meant," Aomine said with a sigh. "Are you gonna-"

"Compete again?" Reira guessed.

"Yeah…"

She let out a small chuckle. "No, I shattered the bones in my left leg and damaged the nerves in my hand. My doctor said that being able to walk some days without a cane will be hard enough. Oh well," Reira shrugged her shoulders. "Considering I stupidly decided to participate in a contest of man vs vehicle I'm lucky I walked, no pun intended, away alive."

"I see," said Aomine. Poor thing, Reira thought to herself. He was at a lost of what to say or do. That was something she always found adorable, his surprisingly tender heart.

"I don't mind, I'm okay, really," she assured him.

"How can you be okay?" Aomine questioned. "You were the best, and now you're not. How can you be okay with that?"