Her tactical mind sometimes fell behind her feminine heart. She was an expert analyst and it was rare that boys (other than Tetsu-kun) made her heart flutter. Momoi knew this could only mean trouble.
It had made sense (always made sense) for her to fall in love with Kuroko. Her Tetsu-kun was the only boy she could not see through. He was the one who always emphasized the strength of others. The ability and humility he had, she was sure, would make him the ideal match. Arrogant boys took women for granted. When he had given her that winning Popsicle stick the numbers clicked in her brain right away.
Everything made sense…until it didn't.
After growing up with Dai-chan and managing two basketball teams boys were no longer a mystery to Momoi, at least not in the same way they were to her giggling classmates. It was mystifying how stupid they could be, how arrogant, how long they could hold onto a grudge. (These were most evident in Dai-chan, of course.)
Love for Satsuki was Tetsu-kun's blue eyes and deadpan expressions, the way he patted her head and smiled warmly, comforting her, after her fight with Aomine-kun. Tetsu-kun was her perfect match. The numbers did not lie.
So why were the butterflies she felt around him diminishing? Why wasn't she waiting excitedly for the next time she would see him? And why, this was the thought that worried her most, were the smirks and irritating smiles Dai-chan threw her way quickening her heart rate?
The lamp she had set on her desk gave a dim glow to her room. The house was quiet, her family asleep, but she had spent hours turning these thoughts over in her mind and finally brought out her clipboard and pencils and data to try and make sense of something she just could not wrap her mind around. The pages of Tetsu-kun's and Dai-chan's data were spread in front of her, every detail of them laid before her eyes. She knew these two better than she knew anyone else. Love prompted her to learn everything she could about Kuroko, but time did the same for Aomine.
Momoi did not believe in unnecessary risk, her game plans were air tight and so were the ones she made for her personal life. Through all her data on Kuroko she knew that he was perfect for her, he would be an ideal husband, he was more mature than all of the other men she hung around with and most of all he was kind. Kuroko's love never dissipated, he always took care of the people important to him. She had seen that in the way that he had proven to Dai-Chan that he wasn't the champion of basketball, that there would always be someone stronger. He had proved it in the way he brought back that smile.
Of course, the one thing all of her books couldn't predict was love. She smiled bitterly to herself, thinking of all the times she had been around Kuroko, all the times he had smiled at her or been kind to her. Those moments blossomed out of friendship, not romance, but through her data she believed that he would fall in love her. They were a perfect match after all. Data hadn't been doing well for her in the emotional area of life lately.
Now though, he had Seirin. He had Kagamin and he had everything he had ever wanted during their darker days at Teiko. Tetsu-kun's dreams had come true; he even helped her get Dai-chan back along the way. It was funny, but she wasn't jealous of it anymore. She used to be. She used to be jealous of the way he and Kagamin were, of the cute coach who got to be around him all day, and of his team. Because how could such ordinary players appreciate someone as extraordinary as Tetsu-kun?
All of that jealousy started slipping away when he made that promise to her, to beat Aomine. It showed that no matter how things changed their past together would never be forgotten. That Dai-chan would always be important.
Satsuki chewed at her pen thoughtfully, and tried to figure out when one emotional attachment ended and when the other began. It was going on three in the morning and all the events that had led up to this unusual confusion were starting to blur in her mind. She knew any calculations she tried to run through tonight would wind up half baked, at best, so she decided to put the data into her school bag, promising herself she would figure it out in the morning.
"You look like shit." Were Dai-chan's eloquent first words the following morning as she met him on his doorstep. She glared daggers at him, getting even more irritated by the way he teasingly flicked her nose.
"Thank you for pointing that out." Honestly, what could she possibly see in him? His smirk and the butterflies it sent to her stomach were quick to remind her. She could practically feel the equations from last night weighing down her school bag. It weighed just as heavily on her mind.
"What's with you today? You're usually queen of the morning people. Did you underestimate NBA data again?" He said; referencing the time she had chosen two NBA teams to use as an experiment for how well she could read players and their progress. It hadn't worked well. She bit her tongue, knowing Dai-chan was always this annoying. However, dealing with him on almost no sleep was especially trying.
"Be nice Dai-chan. I can easily use my data against you too." Her tone was teasing but her eyes were icy as she looked up at him.
"Whatever." He rolled his eyes, knowing that she would deliver on that threat in a heartbeat given the opportunity. "So what's with grumpy Satsuki?"
"I just didn't sleep well last night." She said with a sigh. She tried to ignore the way her shoulders tensed as she waited for his response. Momoi did not want him asking why she hadn't been sleeping or worse yet, why she had been so distracted the last couple of weeks.
"Yeah, me neither." Was all he said. It made here feel silly, getting so worked up around him of all people.
Momoi sat on the sidelines, watching her boys practice. Ever since their Seirin loss Aomine had deigned to attend practice with his teammates every great once in a while. It was by no means close to perfect attendance but it was a start. Momoi went over the notes she had fixed to her clipboard, most of it was data she had gathered about her current team but underneath that were the few sheets she had been using to solve her dilemma.
Sure enough some of the things she had written last night made no sense to her now but she did her best to sort through them and turn them into something legible. Her figures had been inconsistent but it wasn't a hard thing to fix.
Her eyes wandered from her work as the squeaking sound of basketball shoes sped up. Dai-chan was teasing Sakurai, he faked him out before he made his shot. He was working up a sweat now, making his dark skin glisten as he played. It was first years versus second and he had started to enjoy being an upperclassman. Wakamatsu shouted obscenities at him as he completely ignored the game plan their captain had laid out and went into a fade away. Some things never changed.
The smile on his lips gave her a matching one as she watched him play. Her mind wandered as she he ran across the court, passing to Sakurai who followed his three pointer with a loud apology. The control Dai-chan had over the ball was almost mesmerizing now that he was enjoying playing again. His lips were turned up in a smile much more often, though he still pretended to be annoyed by everything. She wondered what it would feel like to kiss that smile, to feel his lips on hers. He brushed a hand through his hair as he waited to make the next play. She knew every inch of him so well yet there was still something alluring about the way he moved, something in his style that made watching him interesting even when she knew what he would do next.
Satsuki continued her day dreaming before her eyes widened and a blush prettily dusted her cheeks. This was Dai-chan! Not the men she read about in her romance novels and certainly not Tetsu-kun. She had to be out of her mind.
Momoi couldn't help the nervous flinch as he approached her. She smiled pleasantly at him before standing and handing him a towel. He muttered a thanks as he rubbed it over his hair and face, wiping away the sweat he had worked up. She looked over at the clipboard she had left sitting on the bench and her face flushed upon realizing that it was all him and the personal statistics she had been going over the last few days. She snatched it quickly and put it away in her school bag, hoping she didn't look too suspicious.
Her attempt at nonchalance hadn't worked at all. He gave her a questioning look as she smiled sheepishly up at him.
"Is everything okay?"
"I'm fine. Just starving. We should drop by Maji burger on the way home." His deadpan gaze let her know that he wasn't buying it. She sighed with relief as he shrugged his shoulders and picked up his bag anyway.
"Alright, I'll meet you outside in ten." He went back to the locker room, leaving Satsuki to gather her things (and her thoughts).
There was a feast laid out before them, granted this feast consisted of about a dozen cheese burgers, a few orders of fries and two milkshakes. They had split the bill (even though he would eat most the food) like they usually did. He eyed her carefully as he wolfed down some fries, they were too salty, like always, but he wasn't complaining today. She was too busy looking out the window while she took long drinks of her shake to notice.
"You're being weirdly quiet." He said. She started at his voice, making him wonder at her even more, and turned to him.
"Sorry! I'm just so out of it and I've got a lot on my mind."
"So I've noticed." He was starting to look annoyed. "What's on your mind?" It wasn't like him to ask and Satsuki tried to keep the surprise from her voice as she answered.
"There's just some data that doesn't make sense to me, I've been trying to sort it out."
"That's even weirder, since when has the data crap gotten away from you?" The way he looked at her made her feel guilty, guilty for keeping this from him, but at the same time she knew he wouldn't understand.
"It's just a really challenging set of circumstances. I'm sure I'll figure it out." Her voice was even but there was something crackling between them. He could see how badly she wanted to keep this from him and that just made him twice as curious. He would get this out of her, one way or another.
"Maybe I should take a look at it then, see what you're missing." He grabbed her school bag before she had a chance to stop him and pulled her clipboard out. He ignored the panicked expression and the reprimands: "You just can't go through somebodies stuff like this!"
His eyes roved over the page and she could feel the heat scorching her cheeks. She knew he would find out eventually, it had been inevitable, but this was not the way she imagined it happening. Satsuki bit her lip as a quizzical, mouth agape and eyes wide realization dawned on him. A faint blush colored his dark skin. Satsuki snatched the papers away from him, feeling silly and stupid and young. He just sat there, staring up at her with an unreadable expression and a question in his sapphire eyes.
"I told you not to go through my things. I was going to tell you…eventually. As long as the data came out in our favor when I finished running the numbers. I wasn't ready to talk about it yet. This could have some really negative effects, especially if things don't go well for the two of us or if it causes something awkward and then puts a rift in the team, which I will not give up managing, even if things are weird between us." She put the papers in her bag without bothering to look up. Dai-chan was staring at her, mouth still hanging open as she put her bag over her shoulder, grabbed her strawberry shake and left. The bell over the door chiming as she left finally woke him out of his stupor. Daiki rolled his eyes at her melodramatic exit, knowing she would walk home alone and probably hide at home all weekend if he did not do something to stop her.
He left the remainder of his food on the table, mourning the loss already and followed Satsuki outside. She was already a ways down the sidewalk. He jogged to catch up with her. He nonchalantly stuffed his hands into his pockets as he matched her pace. She was pouting as she drank down the last of her shake.
"You left me, while making a scene, but you brought the shake. Nice to see where I rank in importance here." He tried to make light of the situation but she wasn't having it. Satsuki was mad (pissed) and he knew that he would have to acknowledge what she said in some fashion. He just wasn't sure how yet. He took a long look at her, glad she was refusing to look at him. He had thought about Satsuki that way before. Especially when she was being especially silly or in any sort of undressed state but he hadn't thought it was possible for them to be mutually interested. They were best friends, almost like siblings sometimes, so what changed?
Momoi stopped suddenly, startling him, and turned to meet his gaze. Her magenta eyes were watery and the expression she wore was so vulnerable and open that it scared him.
"I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid that if I did…" The words died in her throat.
Ever since their (his) loss to Seirin that rift that had opened between them, that drove him to isolation and kept her from his side had slowly been closing. He was no longer surly and mean Aomine-kun. He was teasing and sarcastic Dai-chan.
While the transition had been relatively smooth and painless it had brought about a new sort of pain.
The ache she felt in her chest when he played one on one with Kagamin. The way she felt when his smile (meant just for her) dazzled her and made her so happy that she felt she could fly and so scared that something would come and rip him, Dai-chan, away from her again.
"I was worried that bringing it up would just push us further apart again or ruin our friendship, just when I was getting you back. So I've been trying to put together the surest statistics before making any hasty decisions." Her logic was sound and she was so scared and wrapped up in her thoughts of all the ways this wouldn't work that she barely noticed when he started to laugh.
"You are so stupid sometimes." He said after the laughter had subsided. What she expected to see in his eyes was harsh and cold Aomine-kun. But what she saw was tender, smiling Dai-chan. His sapphire eyes were bright and the smile on his face was the sweetest most genuine she had ever seen.
He closed the gap between them and she felt right and steady again in his arms. She buried her face in her shirt, trying to stop the embarrassing flow of happy tears that were starting in her eyes. She had been so scared of losing him, had spent weeks on edge, filled to the brim with anxiety and awful potential scenarios that she hadn't anticipated a positive answer.
Dai-chan (her Dai-chan) tilted her head up with gentle fingers and places a chaste (nervous) kiss to her lips. It wasn't anything extraordinary but that one kiss sealed up the rift between them and made her realize that it had never been anything more than a crack in the sidewalk. It was easy enough to step over.
Momoi had always had all the right answers, but slowly, she was learning that the data didn't always apply.