Kise isn't her type. Really he isn't. He's too tall, too young, too blond, too pretty (and is far, far too aware of it).
He also plays basketball, but she likes to think that is beside the point. That's the only reason she knows who he is – she doesn't buy the idol magazines or the posters. She's not above borrowing them on the bus, though. Hyuuga gets them from his sister and brings them along, slipping them into her bag when he empties his locker.
When tournament season finishes, suddenly Kise is around Seirin every night, waiting for Kagami and Kuroko to be free to play street ball. He slips in through the side door, the gallery filling with giggling girls, and leans nonchalantly against the wall of the gym, watching. Apparently he's happy just to watch, so she leaves him to it, looking over occasionally to check he's still there. They aren't working on any surprise strategies, and they have been in Kaijou's pockets long enough that it does no harm for him to be there.
One evening, she tails along after them and watches them play three-on-three at the street courts, Kagami on one side and Kise on the other, Kuroko switching between the two. There is something splendid about the fluidity of his movements, the smooth flow of his body as he turns and leaps. (Kagami and Kuroko are doing very well, too, but they are hers and she sees them play every day).
The next evening, he doesn't lurk near the door but comes and sits on the bench with her.
"You need a haircut," she says, gaze intent on the practice match in front of her. He'd spent every pause in play the previous night brushing it casually out of his eyes. It couldn't be helping his game.
He laughs, reaches up to touch it. It would be a self-conscious movement in Hyuuga but Kise spends his life in front of the camera.
This time he pauses when they leave. "Are you coming?"
Kagami pulls faces at him behind her back (he is slow on the uptake: she always knows), and Kuroko looks mildly surprised. She takes that as expressions of horror and beams at them. She's done well. "Hyuuga and I are planning next week's training sessions tonight."
Kise is hastily tugged out of the door and Riko shrugs innocently at Hyuuga. Kiyoshi is laughing as he slings an arm around her shoulders.