Fair warning, this fic will get very 'pro-teamwork' and 'hooray friendship' cheesy at points. Those of you who liked that part about the show will probably be fine with it.

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Prologue

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Kiddi

"Have you thought about what high school you're going to attend next year?"

Kiddi blinked as she chewed on a piece of shrimp tempura. She looked over to the older girl who was watching her intently with large brown eyes. She was facing Kiddi, her legs crossed like she wanted her to tell her a story. Kiddi swallowed her shrimp and licked her lips.

"You know, Riko…" Riko leaned in slightly in anticipation as Kiddi spoke, "your eyes are almost exactly the shade of maple syrup." Riko's eyes widened in disbelief. "Not the lighter kind, but the really dark maple syrup…"

Kiddi winced as she was abruptly- arguably justifiably- smacked over the head. "I expect a serious answer!" Riko scolded her.

"I was giving you a compliment," Kiddi defended, rubbing at the injured area.

"I don't want a compliment, I want an answer!"

Kiddi sighed, straightening and rubbing the back of my head for a different reason. "...No. I mean, it's only the first semester…" She grinned sheepishly at Riko. "I don't want you to think I'm lazy, or anything."

"Don't worry, that ship has already sailed." Riko waved that off with a deadpan look.

"You're so mean, Ri-chan!" Kiddi whined as she pulled out another shrimp.

"You're getting crumbs everywhere."

"I'll vacuum before I leave."

There was a short moment of silence, before-

"Join Seirin."

Kiddi choked on her shrimp, hacking even harder as a small piece of fried batter lodged itself in her throat. After a moment of alternating smacking her chest and coughing violently, she was able to breath again.

"Did my dad put you up to this?" Kiddi wheezed.

Her dad was far too overprotective, whether that was because he felt he had to make up for the absence of her mom after they split five years ago, or because she used to be rather frail, Kiddi didn't know. Maybe it was neither, but he was still almost unbearably overbearing- ha ha, get it? Since he trained under Riko's father, Kagetora-oji, Riko and her had basically grown up together. Of course, as Kiddi's elder, he relied on Riko to look over her. Ridiculous, because she was already 13 centimeters taller than the older girl and now more than capable of taking care of herself.

"No...well, yes." Riko admitted. "But that's not the only reason." Kiddi raised a brow, mildly interested. "I want you to become the manager of the basketball team."

Kiddi managed to keep a straight face...for two whole seconds before she burst out laughing. "Me?!" She gasped out between laughs. "Y-you want m-me to-" Kiddi laughed even harder and Riko began to look annoyed. Kiddi was able to regain a small percentage of her composure as Riko raised her fist threateningly. "Ok, sorry!" Kiddi yelped. "Just...you want me to manage something?"

"Yes." Riko affirmed, seeming completely sure of her ridiculous choice. How could she be so sure while Kiddi was laughing her butt off at the mere suggestion? Sometimes Riko's faith in her was astounding- even more so, since she actually knew her.

"Look Riko…" Kiddi started solemnly, putting a hand on Riko's shoulder dramatically. "I'm lazy-"

"We've established that."

"-I'm not very smart-"

"I tutored you through elementary school."

"-I rely on a mini magic 8 ball to make the tough decisions for me-"

"You really should stop doing that."

"-(I know) And I will likely skip out on at least half of your practices." Kiddi finished.

"I knew all of this before I asked." Riko stated blandly. At first, Kiddi expected her to say something like, 'but despite all of that…'

At the lack of said cliche encouragement, Kiddi looked at her incredulously as she dropped her hand from Riko's shoulder. "At the risk of sounding cliche-"

"Then just what was that whole scene about?"

"-why pick me?"

Riko stared back at Kiddi for a minute before smiling secretively. "Come to Seirin next year and find out."