"Kuroko!" As soon as he pinpointed the location, Kuroko, with inhumane speed passed the ball to his light, Kagami.
It's been two weeks since their last practice match Keijo High and their loss had motivated them to practice more and more for their next match.
Not long after, practice ended and everyone headed their separate ways, except for Kuroko and Taiga who planned to eat at the burger joint, like they always did. Other than tough basketball opponents, life wasn't all that peculiar- every day for Kuroko consisted of school, basketball, burgers, and home.
Meanwhile, in class 3-E of kunugiaoka Middle, Nagisa, along with his classmates were training, drilling skills as if their life depended on it. Well technically, Koro-Sensei wasn't allowed to hurt them so their lives were in the green. Everyone including Nagisa knew that Nagisa had a knack for assassination, and he was considering making it into a career. He had even caught the eyes of Lovro, a retired assassin, who took it upon himself to teach Nagisa special tips and techniques for a successful assasination.
Physical education was the last class of the day, and while everyone looked forward to going home, Nagisa didn't. He never knew what to expect at home. He didn't know if his mother would be home, and if she was, what type of mood she would be in. Most days, he listened to everything she said and did everything she wanted him to, not wanting to upset his mother. After all, she was just looking out for him, right?
Either way, once class ended, Nagisa quickly started to head home because missing dinner equaled Dark Mom, and there would be a beating that followed. She always made dinner as soon as she was home, regardless of whether or not Nagisa had come home.
When he got home, to his relief, his mother was not home yet so he pulled out his schoolwork and began the specialized homework created by Koro Sensei.
Only a few minutes passed before his seemingly cheerful mother walked in. "Nagisa, I'm ho- Nagisa! I'm so happy you're studying! I actually have a present for you!"
Internally, Nagisa knew. No way this present would be something he wanted. It would be something extremely girly for sure, but no matter what, he would accept it and say thank you. He looked up at his mother through his bangs and of course: he was right.
It was a bright pink, fluffy dress complete with white stockings and a bow headband. In fact, the dress was fine. He had many dresses in his closet. What followed, however was not.
"I was thinking we could go out to eat tonight! It would be perfect and you would look so cute with this new dress!"
Nagisa, who always honed a neutral face around his mother, unintentionally dropped it.
"Mother... I don't think.. I don't want... It's too embarrassing!" There. He got it out.
His mother's face darkened, her just friendly smile turning more into a sinister one. Most days, Nagisa would've noticed this and would not have pursued it further. However, the teasing from Karma about his androgens was still fresh in his mind, and he refused again when she offered it a second time.
Immediately, his mothers face turned dark red and she began to scream while grasping his ponytail tightly.
How dare he defy her.
*BANG*
Worthless Nagisa.
* BANG*
Stupid Nagisa.
* BANG*
With every cutting comment followed a painful slam of his small face into the wooden desk with his homework.
Before long, there was blood running down the side of his face, dripping bright dots onto his homework.
She stopped, her hand still tightly grasping his ponytail, and began to calm her heavy breathing before she looked friendly once again.
"See what happens when you don't listen to me? You've ruined our plans for the night! I can't take you out all bloody like that."
Dizzy and slightly confused, Nagisa just nodded, wanting to go to his room.
"I want you to clean yourself up and go to your room. You'll be wearing the dress all day tomorrow." She let go of his now aching hair, and he immediately left for the bathroom.
In the bathroom, Nagisa thoroughly cleaned himself up and then went straight to his room to not further anger his mother.
As always, he had an overwhelming urge to cry, but suppressed it. He hadn't cried ever since he began to train as an assassin. He wouldn't be able to pull off jobs with such strong emotions.
Instead, he pulled out a photo that always made him feel better. It was a picture of his mother looking genuinely happy, a man with dark hair, who Nagisa believed was his father, and a very young blue haired boy, around the age of 2 or 3, happily grasping his parents hands.
He didn't remember his father being around when he was young, and if not for this picture, he would have no idea what he looked like. All he wanted was for his mom to be truly happy, all the time, just like she looked in the photo.
He wondered what she was doing now. Nagisa popped his head out of his room to see his mother at the kitchen table, a glass of red wine and a half-filled bottle next to it. He wondered if she had drank that much today but something else caught his attention.
His very important, yet unfortunately bloody homework.
It was Friday, but because of upcoming exams, class 3-E had remedial class the next day which was when this would be due.
Nagisa watched as his mother poured another glass and focused on the sound waves in the room. Then without a second glance, matching his steps with the sound frequency, grabbed his homework and retreated to his room.