Hello everyone. My name is phoenixalia. Thanks for stopping by. Welcome to my GoMxOC story 'The Miracle Girl'. Bear with me for a bit and read this excessively long intro. I promise it won't take too long. We'll get to the story soon, I swear!
This story is about a young girl named Kirimi and about how she overcomes struggles in general in her life through basketball and with Kuroko and the GoM when at the same time she helps Kuroko and the GoM as well to overcome their own struggles mainly related to basketball. She teaches the GoM to love basketball again and inadvertently stirs up feelings of love for her in Kuroko and the GoM's hearts while helping them.
NOTE: SKIP TO CHAPTER 2 if you don't want to read Kirimi's LONG backstory.
Some additional info if you want:
Kirimi at the time when the main story starts will be a first year in middle school. Most people always have their OCs the same age as the GoM while I wanted to try something different for a change. Even though Kirimi is in middle school, she is quite mature for her age although she shows occasional bouts of childishness.
For the first chapter, it's mainly a prologue showing Kirimi's childhood and her first encounter with basketball. How it changed her, how she yearns to play it but it's not so easy. Her meeting with another OC of mine(a temporary OC who won't have much of a role in the story at all but is vital to Kirimi's development as a character...and the character is also somewhat related to Kuroko Tetsuya.) The first three chapters or so will be a bit long. And the first chapter will seem like a random story but it is essential so that I can flesh out Kirimi and show her back story so that she'll seem more relatable. Ok, enough with that, on with the story!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke or any of it's characters.
Do you believe in miracles? If you do, do you believe in two miracles clashing with each other? What if a few more clashed with a particular miracle? What if that particular miracle didn't even realize that it was a miracle? This is the story of a little miracle encountering a then fading miracle. She later collides with some more miracles… strong but corrupted miracles. Let us watch the events unfold and watch what happens with a number of miracles.
It was around 7pm in the evening. A large hall of great grandeur filled to the brim with guests, both male and female, were in high spirits. The meeting was over and now food and refreshments had been brought out and every soul in the hall was eating, drinking, talking to friends, etc. No one noticed a little girl, no more than three feet tall passing through all of them. She was desperate to get out from the hall.
Well, it was only natural. This was a meeting for adults and unfortunately there were no other children there. Everyone just kept asking how old she was and telling her how big she was getting. Then they ignored her. The little girl, who still looked like a bit like a toddler, (though she wasn't technically one anymore, she was six years old now!) slipped through the doors of the hall and found herself in the even bigger hotel lobby. The hotel staff didn't notice the little ball of purple leaving their hotel.
Once she was outside, she felt a bit better. It was so stuffy inside not to mention mummy had made her wear a really, really prickly dress. She felt the breeze making the strands of her hair wave about as she walked down the road. She didn't want to wait for mummy and daddy. She was sick of always going to their meetings and then being bored all the time. This time, she wouldn't wait for them. She would go home herself! That would teach them.
Huff…huff….
But there was a limit to what her tiny legs could do, especially as she was not used to walking a lot. Soon she was out of breath and needed to sit down. She found an abandoned park (at least, she thought it was a park) and she sat down near its fence.
What the girl didn't know was that she was not alone. Suddenly, she heard the sound of something hard and rubbery hitting the ground and she flinched. She got up and looked to see what had made that noise. What she saw was something she had never seen before.
A young boy, probably four to five years older than her, dribbled an orange ball, his fingers moving delicately but firmly. She was little, but she could see the concentration the boy put into what he was doing. He dribbled the ball one last time and then raised his arms, holding the ball, positioned it and in a flash, with pin point precision, he had aimed the ball at the basket which was above him. The ball fell into the basket in a smooth, slow but steady way, fell through it and landed on the ground again. The boy smiled a great big grin and went to get his ball again.
Kirimi clapped as hard as her little hands could clap. The young boy blinked and looked at Kirimi. Her hair was all fluffy and a light shade of purple and she was wearing a matching purple frock with frills everywhere.
"Hey, purple furball, you like basketball?" he asked, grinning.
Kirimi was too young to realize that the boy was teasing her so she simply nodded in earnest.
"Huh, didn't expect some little girl in a prissy dress to like basketball," he said.
Kirimi blinked. Blink, blink.
"Bake….bol?" said Kirimi unsurely.
The tiny, purple headed little six year old girl stared in awe with her protuberant eyes as he used his nimble fingers to throw the orange ball accurately into the basket again. She had never seen something like this before.
"It's bas-ket-ball," said the boy laughing.
The boy thought the little girl was adorable. Bake bol! That was too funny!
"I have a ball at home. It's a light blue ball. Her name's Aoi. I love Aoi!" said Kirimi cutely.
"Come here, let big bro show you how to play!" said the boy fondly, stretching out his hand.
She immediately wanted to try it too. She was just going to ask the boy if she could do it too when she heard a shrill voice call her name.
"That's her! Kirimi! Kirimi!" cried out a woman in a frantic voice as she approached the child.
Before Kirimi could even touch the ball, she felt herself being whisked away by the woman who was her mother.
She had never even learned the boy's name. But she would meet that boy many, many years later and he would be one of the few who would fall in love with her. But neither of them knew that at that time.
Kirimi had gotten a severe lecture after going home. There was talk about shame, disgrace, failing to keep up the Ayasaki name and the like. Ayasaki Kirimi was a member of the prestigious Ayasaki family. Her parents, Mayu and Hiro Ayasaki were famous heart specialists; doctors with a brilliant reputation. Kirimi was expected by her parents to surpass them by becoming a doctor as well.
For as long as she could remember, if her parents told her she couldn't do something; she would obey them and not think of the matter afterwards. But this time was different. She wanted to play with the orange ball again, no matter what. She didn't know why, but she felt such a pull towards the ball.
The next three years for Kirimi passed without anything exciting. But when she was nine years old, there were some changes in her lifestyle. All these years, Kirimi had been homeschooled by a very good private tutor. But now, in the summer of Kirimi's ninth year of life, the tutor suddenly announced that he was moving to another country for awhile. Her parents were quite distraught.
They tried to find another tutor for her but all of them were deemed unsuitable and not good enough. So, with much unwillingness, it was decided that Kirimi would go to an elementary school nearby where she would join the fourth grade class there. It was a good school but not good enough for Kirimi's parents. But the school they wanted her to join did not take students in the middle of the year so Kirimi had to join that school.
So Kirimi joined a local elementary school. She had been very afraid since she was a sheltered child but she soon adjusted to life there especially thanks to a certain boy called Ogiwara Shizuo who would make a big impact in her life.
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Kirimi tried to settle in. She did not have her own circle of friends. She only had Shizuo. But she was accepted and was friendly with all of her classmates. Fourth grade was proceeding smoothly. The subjects were extremely easy as Kirimi had studied things which even middle-schoolers had learned while she had been at home. Her parents knew this and still gave her books to read and study which were many years beyond her but even with extra study, Kirimi managed quite well.
Shizuo and Kirimi quickly became friends. He helped her in everything related to school as Kirimi didn't even know the most basic things while she helped him tremendously with his studies. Shizuo didn't even understand basic math. Soon, they started calling each other by their first names.
It was now two weeks later.
"Shizuo! You made a mistake on the same problem again. Were you even listening to the teacher?" asked Kirimi sternly. But she wasn't really mad though.
"E-Eheheheh…" said Shizuo sheepishly.
"Jeez, what are you going to do? You can't afford to fail this test tomorrow, you know!"
Shizuo was fidgeting.
"I-I'll take a day off and say I'm sick!" said Shizuo eyes flitting nervously.
Kirimi shook her head.
"The teacher won't fall for that trick again, Shizuo," said Kirimi grimacing.
"Eh? Again? How did you know I had already done that for the last test?" asked Shizuo in shock.
"Hiradaira-san told me the other day," said Kirimi, referring to another classmate.
"Ah, darn it! What am I going to do!" said Shizuo dramatically rubbing his hair.
Kirimi sighed.
"I guess I'll have to coach you as hard as I can for the rest of the day," she said.
Shizuo was nearly in the bottom of the class when it came to studying so Kirimi could help him a lot since she was every clever. She had also become more outgoing thanks to his influence. She was still a mouse when it came to her parents though. She had told Shizuo all about her parents. He was a bit immature but he was very understanding when she told him.
It so happened that one day, Kirimi had lied to her mother (well, half-lied) and Shizuo had persuaded her to visit his house. There, Kirimi learned more than Shizuo had learned from Kirimi. He happened to be a basketball fan himself and soon taught an ecstatic Kirimi all about basketball after they studied. They used to do this every two days or so.
Shizuo showed her how to pass, how to block and get past people with the ball. Of course, Kirimi didn't understand all of it, but she was having fun. She also didn't know how to dribble the ball well. But touching the ball brought so much happiness to her that she just wanted to keep playing.
She did not have the stamina Shizuo had so she had to take a break after half an hour.
Shizuo hadn't really expected that Kirimi would love basketball so much. From what he understood, she just saw someone throwing the ball into a hoop and she was star struck. He had thought of the idea to play because he wanted her to experience what it was like. He hadn't expected her to be so interested in it.
He was quite surprised when Kirimi said she wanted to play again after ten minutes.
"Y-You want to keep playing?" asked Shizuo, not able to believe what she had just said.
"Yeah, I do, why shouldn't I?" asked Kirimi defiantly.
"N-No. I didn't mean anything like that. It's just; you're saying this is your first time playing basketball right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Well, most people who watch basketball on TV or something think it's cool but when they see what it's really like and how much energy you have to put into it, they give up," said Shizuo.
Really? People gave up on basketball just like that?
"Well, I'm not one of those people," said Kirimi. "Let's go, Shizuo, I want to have five more rounds before I go home!"
"O-Oh, ok, right!"
A year passed since Kirimi started school. Shizuo and she were now in fifth grade. The usual routine was still going on. Shizuo and Kirimi were still best friends, she helped him immensely with his studies and he played basketball with her. By now, Kirimi had learned all the rules of basketball and could go head to head with Shizuo.
In the one year in which she had been playing, she had discovered that she had special ways of basketball only she could do. One thing which Shizuo had commented on three months after they had started playing was Kirimi's passes. Even though Shizuo was the only person playing with her, sometimes he would unexpectedly see the ball in front of his hands, waiting to be caught. Of course, Kirimi had passed it to him, but he didn't know whether it was the way she did it or if it was natural talent but it felt as if the ball was floating in mid-air for a few moments and a ghost pushed it towards him.
Also, now, occurring more and more often was when Kirimi dribbled the ball trying to get past Shizuo and score, she would somehow disappear from front of his eyes and if he blinked, the next thing he knew it, Kirimi had scored. Kirimi still didn't properly shoot in to the basketball hoop though. Scoring was her weakness. But passing was her strength.
But fate had other plans. Fate had other cruel plans for Kirimi and Shizuo.
It happened a month before it was time for Kirimi and Shizuo to graduate from middle school. In the last year, Kirimi and Shizuo had gotten even better at basketball and they continued to play every two days or so. Final exams were over and in a month, they would no longer be elementary school students. It started on one day when Kirimi went to Shizuo's house one Saturday.
As she opened the gate to the house, she felt a pricking pain in the wrist of her right hand.
"Tch," said Kirimi clicking her tongue. "It's happening again,"
In the last three weeks or so, Kirimi had noticed that once in a while she would get a sharp pricking pain in her wrist. At first it only happened rarely but lately, the frequency of the pain had increased. But Kirimi didn't pay attention to it much.
The sky also looked cloudy today. Would it rain?
As usual, she went inside with her 'Ojomashimasu!' and was greeted by Shizuo's mother. But today, for the first time since she had met her, Shizuo's mother had a worried expression on her face.
"Obaa-san, what's wrong?" asked Kirimi, a bit alarmed.
Shizuo's mother glanced up the stairs, where Shizuo's room was.
"Actually, Kirimi-chan, ever since this morning, Shizuo hasn't come out of his room. He hasn't eaten anything and no matter how many times we call him and ask him what's wrong, he doesn't answer us," said Shizuo's mother, her eyes filled with sadness.
"What? What happened to him?" asked Kirimi now quite alarmed.
"We don't know. He doesn't tell us," said Shizuo's older sister who had come to say hello to Kirimi.
Kirimi looked up at Shizuo's room which she could see from downstairs.
"I'll talk to him, obaa-san. Don't worry about it. I'll make him come out," said Kirimi, patting his mother's shoulders.
Kirimi pondered on this. This wasn't like Shizuo at all. Even when he was sad, angry or frustrated, he would still have a happy expression, trying to make others happy. What was it that had made him so upset?
Kirimi went up the stairs and stopped in front of Shizuo's room. She knocked once. No answer. She knocked three times, each knock harder than the previous knock.
"Shizuo! Open up, it's me, Kirimi!" called Kirimi.
No answer.
Kirimi tried to open the door; it was locked.
"Shizuo, your mom is really worried about you, open up!" said Kirimi.
Still nothing. Kirimi felt hurt. He had never ignored her like this before.
"Please, Shizuo, don't ignore me like this. I'm also worried about you. What happened? If you can't tell your mom or your sister, at least tell me. If it's something wrong you did, I promise I won't tell them," said Kirimi, now really feeling hurt.
She heard a small scuffle inside. Kirimi put her hands on the door.
"Shizuo," she said in an almost whisper. "These three years I've known you, you've helped me a lot. You helped me become a braver person, a person who communicates more and you play basketball with me. I want to help you like you've helped me Shizuo, please,"
Still no answer. Kirimi squeezed her hands in frustration. Ack, there was that stupid pricking pain again!
"Come ON Shizuo! Open the darned already! I'm seriously worried about yo-"
The door opened and there stood a very forlorn looking Shizuo.
Kirimi gasped.
"Shizuo, you look terrible,"
"Well, thanks," he replied.
"No! Sorry I didn't mean that! I mean…what happened, Shizuo? Why…what's wrong?" asked Kirimi, a bit flustered.
"Shige-nii….lost in the nationals again," said Shizuo, not looking at Kirimi's eyes.
Kirimi's breath caught in her throat.
Last year, when they were in fifth grade, Shizuo's brother Shigehiro had unfortunately lost in the semi finals in the Nationals. Shizuo had been quite disappointed but Kirimi had cheered him up saying that Shige-nii still had one year left and he would make it this year. But he hadn't…
"Shi-Shizuo…" said Kirimi, at a loss for words.
"But that's not why I'm upset," said Shizuo, his eyes having a dead look in them.
Huh?
"W-What?"
"Their score was pathetic. It was 11-111, but that's no why I'm upset either,"
"Then why are you upset?" asked Kirimi, curiously.
Shizuo gave a hard sigh and looked at Kirimi's eyes.
"Shige-nii…said he's quitting basketball,"
Kirimi's eyes widened.
"E-Eh?" she said, since that was all she could utter.
What? Shige-nii was quitting basketball? No…no. He wasn't the type of person to give up basketball just because he lost right? From the way Shizuo had talked to her about his brother, Kirimi thought of him as a person who never gave up, a person who would always pull through situations.
"This morning, just before breakfast, he called me and told me, he wouldn't play basketball anymore," said Shizuo.
Kirimi just looked at Shizuo trying to think of comforting him in some way.
Shige-nii was the reason Shizuo had started playing basketball and it was because of him that he wanted to join a basketball ball team in middle school. His brother influenced him greatly. To have the person who inspired you to quit like this…
Kirimi clenched her fists again, not caring about the pricking pain this time. She put her hands on Shizuo's shoulders.
"Shizuo," she said steadily. "Shige-nii won't quit basketball,"
Shizuo looked at her hopelessly.
"He said it himself, Kirimi. He wasn't joking about it either, I could tell. He quitting for sure,"
"No," said Kirimi. "Have some more faith in your brother,"
"What are you talking about, Kirimi?" asked Shizuo.
Kirimi paused.
"Do you really think that your great brother would quit basketball just because he lost a match?"
"No, of course not! But it's not just a match, it was in the finals," said Shizuo heatedly. "Ah…but, yeah, even then, Shige-nii wouldn't quit…"
Kirimi nodded.
"Exactly. He's not the kind of person to do that. Which is why, I think, he just said it in the heat of the moment. Think about it, this was a big match for him, and I'm sure he put his all into it. It's natural to feel really bad and like quitting when he was so close to winning the championship but it was taken away from him like that. It's very cruel. But, in times like this, we say things we don't mean. We say it because our emotions are in disarray. I've done it, you've done, all of us do it," said Kirimi, slowly but clearly.
Shizuo pondered on Kirimi's words.
"Shizuo," said Kirimi gently. "I'm sure your brother tried his best till the very last second. You should be proud of him. I'm sure, after a few weeks, he'll be ok. Don't worry about. So cheer up ok?"
Shizuo had tears in his eyes by this time. He sniffed, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and gave her a teary grin and hugged her.
"Shizuo?" asked Kirimi, shocked.
Shizuo held on to her.
"Right! Best friends and basketball buddies forever!" announced Kirimi. "Come on, Shizuo, let's go play basketball!"
Shizuo and Kirimi ran to the backyard.
Once or twice, they had been teased as a couple but Kirimi and Shizuo both didn't feel that way toward each other. They were just best friends and basketball idiots. It may seem weird for a boy and a girl to be just best friends to some people, but Kirimi and Shizuo were just that.
They went to the backyard and started playing as usual when something happened which would change their lives forever. This was where things went wrong.
"Ok, Kirimi, you're a great passer but today we're going to work on your shooting! You should know how to shoot properly!" said Shizuo, back to his old self.
Kirimi smiled at him, getting into position.
The sky was turning black now. It was going to start raining soon.
Shizuo dribbled the ball and passed it to Kirimi for her to shoot. Kirimi braced herself for the ball. But at that moment, the stupid pricking pain came back again and Kirimi's hand movement was slowed down and the ball, coming in force, hit her smack on her already painful wrist and bounced off.
Kirimi felt as if all the air in her body was taken out of her. She let out a very painful 'ouch' and then she just closed her eyes. The pain was unbearable, she couldn't even make sounds of pain, she just clutched her wrist and as the pain got worse, she just slinked into the ground into a fetal position as she clutched her wrist.
Shizuo also felt as his there was no air in his body when he saw her like that.
"Kirimi!" he shouted in great worry. "What's wrong? KIRIMI!"
Kirimi just writhed in pain, unable to answer him, though she wanted to.
He bent down besides her trying to think of what to do., his heart pounding in terror. He looked at her wrist and looked increasingly alarmed when he saw that it was red and the redness was spreading to her hands. He immediately slung Kirimi's good hand around his shoulder and rushed back to the house and told his mother and sister. His mother immediately phoned Kirimi's parents who were there in five minutes despite being far away.
It was now raining heavily.
They immediately took Kirimi to hospital. By this time, the redness was spreading into Kirimi'sfinger tips. Kirimi was immediately admitted to hospital where she was given a pain killer sleep injection so that she would fall asleep and wouldn't feel pain while the doctors examined her wrist. She slept for the rest of the evening until late next morning.
The rain had now turned into a storm.
Even though she was given a sleep injection, she had disturbed sleep. Shizuo kept coming in and out of her dreams. She also dreamt of her parents shouting at Shizuo, of him saying he didn't want to be her friend anymore. She cried in her sleep and kept asking the retreating figure of Shizuo to come back to her. Wasn't he supposed to teach her how to shoot?
She opened her eyes around 10.30 am the next morning.
"Shi-Shizuo?" she said weakly, looking for him. But her blurry eyes met the blurred reflections of her parents.
"She's awake! Kirimi!" said her father immediately.
"O-Otou-san," said Kirimi dazed. "W-What happened?"
Her father's expression turned grim. Mayu closed the book she had been reading.
"That's what we want to know, Kirimi," said her mother. Kirimi looked at her. She had a stony expression on her face.
What? What had happened?
Kirimi tried to move around and sit up but she couldn't. She looked at her wrist and noticed that she didn't feel any pain anymore. It was wrapped up tightly in bandages. Kirimi gulped. Even in her weak state, she felt a sense of foreboding.
"Kirimi," said her mother.
Kirimi turned around and looked at her fearfully. She had a bad feeling that her parents knew about things she didn't want them to know….
"What is this, Kirimi?" asked her father. "Why have you done this?"
Kirimi could only gulp again.
"Say something Kirimi, anything. Say something and tell us that you had a good excuse for disobeying us like this," said Mayu(her mother) piercing Kirimi with her cold eyes.
Kirimi fiddled with the blankets.
"O-okaa-san-" started Kirimi.
"How could you humiliate us like this Kirimi? I expected better of you," said her father shaking his head.
"Your father and I, getting ready to go for an extremely important meeting, when suddenly we get this phone call from someone saying that our daughter has suffered an injury in her wrist and that we should come quickly,"
Kirimi could say nothing.
"So of course we were worried, and abandoned our meeting for you, hurrying to come and see you and what do we see? We learn that for the past three years, you've just being going to that boy's house just to play basketball," continued Mayu, her voice rising.
Kirimi protested weakly.
"No, okaa-san, I swear we studied as well and it was PE and-"
But Mayu cut Kirimi off again.
"-when we had told you in the beginning itself that basketball was out of bounds. I only let you go to that boy's house for your studies, Kirimi and we find out you were wasting your precious time with some stupid sport we had forbidden you to you!" said Mayu, loudly.
"Please, okaa-san-" pleaded Kirimi.
Kirimi knew exactly what she was going to say. But she didn't want to hear it. Things were going all wrong.
"And that friend of yours, that boy, wouldn't tell us the truth that you had been doing this but we understood enough by ourselves," said her father, showing a disgusted face at Kirimi.
"Shizuo was-"
"Quiet, Kirimi. Quiet. Enough of disobeying us. This is all the fault of your father and I. You started becoming rebellious and lying to us ever since you started going to school. We should have gotten a tutor from abroad for you. That was the first mistake," said her mother, shaking her head.
"No, okaa-san, I love school so much, please-" said Kirimi, her heart feeling as if it was going to burst.
"That's enough of you, Kirimi!" said her father sharply.
Her mother quickly answered a call from her cellphone. After that, she turned to look at her daughter again.
"You will withdraw from that school immediately. We have already told the school principal that you are leaving. Leaving certificates should be ready in two days. You will be homeschooled for your middle school education following the curriculum from Sakura Middle School but your tutor from before will be coming back to teach you," said Mayu sternly.
"NO! No, okaa-san, please, please, I need to go to Sakura Middle. I told Shizuo I would go with him and-"
No, this can't be happening…how could things have become like this in just one day?
"Silence! That boy is the one who spoiled you. And I let you go to his house…that was another grave mistake," said Mayu her ears red with anger.
"BUT-"
"That is all I wanted to tell you Kirimi. Now hurry up and get better. Ah yes, the last thing I wanted to tell you is, you are never joining a basketball team in your life, so get that delusion out of your head quickly,"
"A-Ah…..y-yes, I understand," said Kirimi struggling very hard not to burst into tears.
Once they left, Kirimi collapsed into her pillow and howled. She cried and cried until she could not cry. She coughed, still sniffing, trying to digest everything that had happened.
Why? Why had this happened? Her life was going so well, she had a school, she had Shizuo, and she had basketball. Why did her life have to be snatched away from her like this? All those years without friends, all those years without talking to anybody, without a best friend, without basketball, would she have to go through all of that again?
She looked at her right wrist and had an urge to bang it on the wall but she knew that would be stupid to do. It was all because of that stupid right wrist of hers. If it hadn't pricked, if it hadn't become weak, she wouldn't be in this situation.
According to reports from her doctors, her right wrist had always been weak since she was a baby and when she had started playing basketball regularly, it had been put under more strain. And when the ball hit her wrist that day, it had made her two ligaments break and since her hand had already been weak, it would take a long time to fully recover. The doctors, not knowing about Kirimi's parents tried to cheer Kirimi up by saying that she could still play basketball for fifteen minutes a day or so after a month. But what use was that?
Even if she wanted to, even if she could, though her parents definitely wouldn't let her, she couldn't play basketball regularly and properly, especially in matches in the like for another year at the very least.
Kirimi felt so angry and frustrated and disappointed. So she was stuck to being her parent's puppet for the rest of her life.
But she heard a tiny voice at the back of her brain. Was all this really her fault? The fault of her hand? If she hadn't gotten an interest in basketball at age six, would she be in this situation today? Kirimi closed her eyes.
How would her life have been if she hadn't discovered basketball? She would have still gone to a normal elementary school; she would have still met Shizuo, and still been friends with him. She would not have injured her already weakened hand, her parents would have probably let her go to Sakura Middle School with Shizuo….wait, what was she thinking?
Three weeks passed. Kirimi had been discharged from hospital two weeks earlier. Her wrist was no longer in bandages. But ever since the day at the hospital, she had felt diminished.
She had become quiet and subdued and now, since she was at home again, all the time, she didn't have anyone to talk to. Even though it was technically summer vacation now, she was still made to study by her parents every day. Her old tutor had come back and would coach her and Kirimi studied. She lost her spirit and slowly started becoming her parents' puppet. She attended their meetings, acted like a good little daughter and kept up the honor of her family. Her eyes had lost the sparkle in them, the sparkle she had when she had basketball.
She looked at her light blue ball. She still had it after all these years. It had been through everything with her. But, was it, perhaps the cause of her interest in basketball? No, no matter what, she could never abandon her light blue ball.
In the last three weeks, Kirimi's doubts about basketball had kept on surfacing and now she felt resentment towards it. She was so angry with basketball and what it had put her through that she resolved not to play it ever again, even if her hand healed. If she hadn't gotten interested in it, she wouldn't have had to go through all this hurt and suffering. She would have gone to a normal school and would still have been Shizuo's friend and would have probably gone to middle school with him too.
She clenched her fists.
This wasn't Shizuo's fault or her hand's fault. This was all because she started playing basketball. This was basketball's fault.
Kirimi felt her heart thumping.
"It's all because of a ball like you," she whispered to her light blue ball. "A ball which is like you but is orange and rough is what brought all this pain on me,"
She would have led a normal ordinary life if not for basketball. It was not like she was saying she enjoyed being her parent's puppet by being their plaything to show off and having her future decided for her without her go ahead but she would have rather had that rather than had gone through the feeling of having half your life(basketball) plucked away from you. But because she let basketball carry her away, she had not only betrayed her parents trust but also Shizuo's. Because of that, even after all the things her parents had said, there was one thing she wanted to do, no matter what.
And that was apologizing to Shizuo. Apologize for disappearing from school all of a sudden, for not being able to attend their graduation ceremony. To apologize and tell him that she wouldn't be able to attend Middle School with him. Her heart ached so much. She wanted to see him at least one last time. Which was why, one day, when her tutor had left early because he said he had something to attend to, and both her parents had an emergency meeting and left right after he did, Kirimi did something daring once again.
So on that day, she left the house and went by bus to Shizuo's house. She was afraid if he would be angry at her and wouldn't talk to her. But she had to talk to him. Which is why when Kirimi reached Shizuo's house, she found it looking deserted. The yard hadn't looked like it hadn't been cleaned for a while. Disregarding it, she went to the door which was locked and knocked on it. She waited for two minutes. There was no answer.
Kirimi's heart was thumping. She went to the side and looked through the windows. There was no one inside. There were no tables or chairs inside, the TV was missing. No…it couldn't be…
Kirimi ran to the neighbor's house and immediately inquired on what had happened to the Ogiwara family who had lived next door. The answer she got made her feel like she had gotten her ligament broken again. A ligament in her heart...did hearts even have ligaments? The neighbor said that two weeks back, they had suddenly moved house without saying anything to anyone. No one knew where they had gone. Kirimi asked the whole neighborhood about Shizuo's family and she got the same answer every time.
So, with a heavy heart, Kirimi left the neighborhood.
What had happened? Shizuo would never leave without telling her. She was sure he would have told her. Or was it that he was so angry with her that he had left without telling her? But why would he suddenly move house without telling the neighbors…it was so puzzling and it hurt her very much. Did this mean no more playing in the back yard? No more studying with him…no more laughing, no more having petty fights…
No Shizuo, no basketball, no friends, no school…it was almost like the heavens were telling her that this was her fate. That trying to escape from her fate was foolish of her and that what had happened to her wrist was a punishment for that. So this was it, then. Shizuo was gone and she would never, ever play basketball again in her life.
She found herself trailing down the road, past her old school and when she had come to, she found herself in the busy, crowded Usagi Road…the place where she had touched a basketball for the first time all those years ago.
"Shizuo," said Kirimi out loud, touching her heart.
She found an old woman staring at her as if she was mad. While Kirimi was looking at the old woman, someone bumped into her. Kirimi was nearly thrown off-balance.
She looked around her. Now that she came to think of it, it was exceptionally crowded today in Usagi Road, even though Usagi Road was usually a crowded place. Most of the people seemed to be going up north. Kirimi wondered what the hubbub was about.
From what she could gather from people talking to each other, most of them were going to see a basketball match involving Teiko Middle School. Kirimi tried to think if she had heard it
before…Teiko…Teiko middle school…hadn't Shizuo mentioned that school once or twice before? From what she could remember, the school was known for its extremely strong basketball team.
Shizuo…
Kirimi shook her head, trying to stop thinking of sad thoughts. She had to stop thinking about basketball. She would only hurt herself more if she thought about it more. She had to concentrate on her studies now. She needed to forget the past and move on, if she didn't, she wouldn't be able to live up to her parents expectations. She had to stop thinking about basketball…basketball…
To her dismay she found a tiny part of herself wanting to see the basketball match, which was really stupid. What was the use of going to the match, watching it happily, and then coming back to reality and realize that she would never be able to play it and then get all depressed again? Hadn't she resolved to never play it again?
And yet, her heart had a mind of its own. She found her legs carrying her to the basketball stadium where all the people were going. She got a ticket to view the match and found herself inside before the match started.
"What the heck am I doing here?" thought Kirimi, disappointed in herself for letting her emotions control her like this.
She wondered what Shizuo would say if he saw her like this. She could still get out of here if she wanted to but her feet refused to move from her seat. She sighed and gave up. Well, she might as well watch this match since it was probably the only one she was ever going to watch in her life. She should consider it a farewell to basketball.
She looked up at the score board.
But Kirimi didn't know that this very game would change her life. This was the day that she would meet Kuroko Tetsuya.
And it's done! Whew! That was a long chapter! Took me nearly a month to to both this andchapter 2. I re wrote this and chapter 2 of the story(which will be coming shortly) a LOT. I wanted it to be well done because I wanted to give you readers the best return gift I could possibly give in a way to apologize for my huuuge absence.
What did you think? Was it an improvement? Yeah, a lot of you are scratching your heads saying, 'Where's Kuroko?', 'Where's Kagami?'. I promise you, they will be appearing soon. I just wanted to give Kirimi a proper backstory, that's all.
Chapter 2 will hopefully be coming out soon.
PS. REVIEW PLEASE! I'll give you cookies!