Chapter 1: I'm Kuroko
If we had met differently, would I still be the still be the gimps of embodiment everyone looked up to wish for?
Black, the shade of a shadow that surrounded my vision as my eyes unconsciously fluttered open and closed from a dream. In front was view of the night sky showing the White Tiger, Azure Dragon, Black Tortoise, Vermilion Bird, Cardinal Yellow Dragon, and the big dipper as the tail for the Ursa Major whom misdirect most people's view away from the night sky itself and the memory of the rainbow and five petals of the peach blossoms blooming after the storm when I sat under that particular tree standing while the sun shone in the blue sky. Below was the ocean, whose tide is affected by the moon and reflects the starry sky while my feet felt the algae on the earth.
'Tomorrow,' I thought, 'is the first day at Seirin High… and the day we meet.'
"At least that's what I said back on the last day of summer vacation…" my eyebrow twitched in response to the number of people at the entrance, then sighed as I look back down at the New Student Book.
All freshmen must join one extracurricular activity within one month. Any student that does not do so will be expelled.
Now, if only I can find the basketball club within the mob of seniors and freshmen.
"Are you interested in rugby?"
"Have you ever played Shogi?"
"You gotta play baseball if you're Japanese!"
"Swimming! It feels great!"
As lively as it is, what about those whom want to keep a low profile?
"Basketball! Basketball club! How'd you like to join the basketball club?" yelled a guy with normal, spiky, dark brown hair and a mouth that resembles the shape of a… teddy bear?
"Koganei, you can't be serious," the guy with straight black hair said as he turned around.
"How else am I supposed to say it?" the said Koganei responded back.
"New kids, join the basketball club! The basketball club needs some serious help!"
"I've had had enough of your jokes, Izuki… Mitobe, make sure they can hear you!" The said Mitobe just nodded back and went back to his work silently. "You're not gonna do it, are you?"
'I see, so this is why he chose this school,' I thought with a found smile on my face. However, just when that thought occurred, I saw a boy with a blank gaze, fairly pale skin, and blue eyes accompanied by hair that not only matched the sky- it matched my hair color as well. With no regrets about my confirmation, I dashed after him as if my life depended on it while dodging a halting student at one point. Finally, he stopped right in front of the map and begun to stare at a single word: Basketball.
"Kuroko!"
"Kimi/Anata wa…" we started at the same time, but I continued, "I can see you."
! "Is that you?" my lips curled up into a small smile out of relief, with the fact that he knew of my existence an extraordinary feeling shrouded me - a sensation like no other… I instantly knew that he was different from everyone else.
"So, we finally meet for real… I wonder if you'll laugh at me if I say I feel a strange connection to you." He didn't, on the contrary, he can't laugh because…
"Is that so?" he questioned, "I feel like this isn't the first time I've met you."
"That's right," I confirmed, "We are-"
… Some places elsewhere…
"Basketball! Basketball club!"
"Join the club and you'll be cute, too!"
"Are you the basketball club?" Koganei looked up to the identity of the male's shadow that shrouded him.
"Just a few more would be nice," the female voiced out.
"We couldn't even get ten."
"We're just getting started," the girl turned to face the male next to her, "We're a new school. If we win the Inter-High and Winter-Cup, we'll be a big deal starting next year."
"Are you casually putting pressure on your captain?"
"Hyuuga-kun, have you Always been so delicate?" The said Hyuuga put his head down as he sighed and put his elbow on the table, hands in the position that screamed 'I give up' then returned with, "I'll do my best, I will do my best."
"I wonder how the recruitment is going? If they could just bring in some promising ones, that would be…"
'SHUFFLE' The sound caused the light brown haired girl to turn her head and respond in surprise to…
"The new students are here," Koganei weakly stated while waterfalls fell down his cheeks from his tired-looking eyes with dread covering his forehead.
"What?"
"Is this the basketball club?" the low male voice said and she tilted her head up to meet eye to eye with the tall buy carrying one of the basketball players. Astounded, she replied with a, "Yeah," while wondering who this guy is. He's got the intensity of a wild tiger!
"I want to join."
"What?" the senior asked as the vermillion haired guy pulled the chair out from under the table, sat down with out going around it, and gently placed Koganei gently on the table with his knees on the ground. "The basketball club."
"Eh? Um, welcome, welcome!" she started nervously, "Wait a minute," she put a paper cup of water in front of him and he drank from it. "I'm sure you know, but our school just formed last year. We only, have second years to compete with, so I'm someone like your build would be…"
"I don't care. I'm going after I leave my name." Hyuuga looked at him serious as the yet to be introduced girl said, "Huh, you don't have a reason for doing?"
CLUB SIGN-UP FORM
BOYS' BASKETBALL CLUB
KAGAMI, TAIGA
He lowered his head along with the cup in hand that just finished drinking from with closed eyes and sighed.
"Not really," he said crunching the cup stood up and continued, "Basketball's the same no matter where you go in Japan." He turned around and threw the trash over his shoulder, which made it to the trashcan. The she took her eyes off the trashcan and back at Kagami, who turned his head away with a, "humph!"
"The new students are here," Koganei weakly stated while waterfalls fell down his cheeks from his tired-looking eyes with dread covering his forehead as he was being carried be the vermilion haired guy.
"Ne, Kuroko," a male version of my voice said to him, "can we just sign these forms and leave before something happens?"
"I agree."
We finished the paperwork as soon as we could and placed our papers on to of each other's. "Come on," I said right when the vermilion haired guy pulled the chair out from under the table, sat down, and gently placed Koganei gently on the table with his terrified head on our forms, "let's go."
"Right," Kuroko replied then turned around and threw the empty cup over his shoulder, which bounced off and missed.
"Oh-" I said before turning away from the sight when it was thrown at the same time as Mr. Vermilion, who turned his head away with a, "humph!" when his cup made it into the trashcan. I couldn't help but think it was quiet funny and snorted when I looked at his back, casing him to turn his head back and me doing my best to keep a straight face.
"Huh?"
"Try not to litter too much, hehe," I let out.
"Pft, look at him," a male voice said beside me.
"Hey, you shouldn't laugh at him!"
"Well, it can't be helped if he can't shoot in the first place," his says, yet is still laughing.
"He's terrifying! Is he really a first year student?" Koganei asked with a scared look on his face that was on some papers.
"He's a one in a million." Koganei started to get up in response to Izuki's voice. "You! Where have you been hiding?" He asked as Hyuuga picked up the rude freshman's form.
"Kagami, Taiga. He went to school in America. Must have learned from the source."
"Either way," the girl said, "I'm sure he'll be extraordinary."
"Yo," Koganei called out, "You forgot these club requests."
"Oh, sorry," the female apologized, and read, "Let's see, Kuroko, Tetsuya… Huh? I was here the whole time, but I don't remember him at all."
CLUB SIGN-UP FORM
BOYS' BASKETBALL CLUB
KUROKO, TETSUYA
TEIKO MIDDLE SCHOOL BASKETBALL CLUB
The last thing written brought disbelief to her eyes and bring the paper forward while squinting them. "What's wrong?" Hyuuga asked.
"H-He's from the Teiko basketball club!"
"Teiko?" he grabbed the paper to confirm what he heard with his eyes, "You mean the Teiko?"
"Yeah!. And if he's a first year, he must be from the Generation of Miracles!"
"Generation of Miracles… " he turned to her, "That famous group?" She nodded and put her hand in her hair.
"Ah! Why can't I remember that golden egg's face? And that guy just came back from America. This year's first years could be ridiculous!"
"What about the form under it?"
CLUB SIGN-UP FORM
BOYS' BASKETBALL CLUB
NANATENJO KIYOMIZU SHIMIZU
KYOTO, HOME-SCHOOLED
TO HELP MY FRIEND BECOME NO. 1
"Two last names?" the captain voiced out.
"And the last one?" Koganei asked out of anxiety.
CLUB SIGN-UP FORM
BOYS' BASKETBALL CLUB
NANAMI SHIMIZU
KYOTO, HOME-SCHOOLED
TO BECOME A MANAGER THAT SUPPORTS MY TWIN, AND THE TEAM
"Wait, one of them is related to the one before!"
… After School: Gym…
"All right, looks like all the first years are here!"
One of the freshmen nudged the guy on his left.
"Hey, isn't the manager cute?"
"She's a second year right? If only she were sexier…"
If only you two kept your mouth shut. The two ended up getting punched in the back of the head by Captain. "Morons, you're wrong," he said as the freshmen held the spot in pain then looked up when they noticed the girl approach them. "I'm the boys' basketball club, Aida, Riko. Nice to meet you."
"What?!"
"It's not him?" the freshman who started it all asked while pointing to a very elderly man.
"That' our advisor, Takeda-sensei."
"Seriously?" the big mouth asked.
"You've got to be kidding." She turned around ignoring them. "The real manager is me."
They turned around to see a slender girl around 159 cm (5' 2") tall wearing the school uniform, consisting of a untucked, slightly loosely buttoned white shirt with a black sweater over it accompanied by a white, short skort with black leggings and white sneaker boots. Her tie was hanging outside the sweater along with a leather belt. She had blue eyes and azure colored hair which is parted to the right, causing her bangs to nearly cover her eye. In short, if one were to describe her, she was all bells and whistles*.
"Call me Shimizu, Nice to meet you."
"Now that you're acquainted with her and Takeda-sensei, you guys…" and faces them, "Take off your shirts!"
"Huh..? What?! Why?" She only gave a sly smile and a confident look. At that moment, I started to think, 'This is NOT your typical basketball, is it?'
The now proclaimed coach walked, with her hands and clip board behind her back, down the line off half-naked men, then came to a halt. "You, your instantaneous strength is weak. I'm guessing you must be around 50 side jumps in 20 seconds don't you? You'll need to do a little better for the basketball team," she said and continued on after, "H-Hai."
"You're too stiff. Do some stretches to train your flexibility after getting out of the bath! As for you…" One by one the boys gaped about their weaknesses. "Seriously? She's right."
"What do you mean?"
"How'd she know just by looking at us?
"Her dad's a sport trainer," the captain said looking at her with a nostalgic smile, "Collecting data and creating a training regimen. It's a skill she picked from observing bodies and data everyday at his workplace. When she looks at your body, she sees your physical abilities in numbers. Well, I wouldn't expect any less from a coach."
"You mean from the girl you have a crush on, right?" I asked him.
O.O! "HUH?!" I smirked, "It's written all over face."
"Stop joking!" (ಠ益ಠ)
"My condolence."
"…"
"In any case, I think now would be a good idea to bring her back home."
O.O (Blush) "Huh?!"
"Don't get the wrong idea," I said to him and pointed to Riko as gaped at the person she was at currently: Kagami, Taiga. "What?" he asked, looking down on her. 'What… What is this? All his numbers are through the roof. These are the values of a first year high school boy! I can't even see his potential. I've never seen anything like this. Such raw talent!'
"Coach!" Hyuuga yelled at her back to reality, "What are you staring at?"
"Ah," she looks at her clipboard, "gomen! Um…"
"You looked at all of them, but Shimizu. Kagami was the last one… Hey," the captain turned to meet blue eyes, "Is there anything else you want to be called by? I mean, you do have same last name as your twin sister."
"Kiyomizu will do just fine."
'He's just as tall and slender as his sister,' Riko thought during her scan, 'In fact he looks exactly like a male version of her except for the fact that his hair is parted in the opposite direction. I have to admit, he had a lot of flexibility, but his lungs don't look like they can handle two games a day, yet something tells me he has.'
"Aida-san?'
"Ah!" -_-' she spaced out again? "That's everyone," Hyuuga said.
"Really? Huh?" Riko looked around the room. "Is Kuroko here?"
"Oh, that kid from Teiko…"
'I thought I'd be able to pick out someone that strong when I saw him.' Riko thought with her hand behind her head. "Shimizu, Kiyomizu, have you seen your cousin?"
'Yes,' I thought, 'he's right in front of you.'
"Huh?/Yeah. We first met him during the open ceremony," the two us answered not being 100% truthful.
"Looks like he's not here today," she raises her hand above her head, "All right, let's get started with practice!"
"Um, excuse me," an azure haired, blank faced boy stepped in front of Riko with his hand half-raised, "I'm Kuroko."
Note: Shimzu and Kiyomizu are spelled the same in Japanese. The reason why the now proclaimed Kiyomizu is called that way is because he is older and "Kiyo" is the formal way of saying it.
* Bells and whistles: impressive accessories, which may be more decorative than necessary