Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Kuroko no Basuke, but I do own my OC(s) and this fanfic's plot.
A/N: This is another one-shot from my upcoming story (yes, I love Kise too much not to make an OC for him! He deserves a girl!) The translation from Replace is found in the internet (and from my best friend who reads Japanese fluently). I alter it largely to fit the interactions between the Kaijou's regulars and my OC.
Oh, and some people may wonder why Kise is not calling Shirogane "Shirocchi" or "Mutsucchi". It's because the girl hates being called with "-cchi". The event will be revealed in the main story :)
This is UPDATED version
Summary: Their summer continues and this time, Kaijou's regulars are more determined than ever. With Kise and Shirogane as their coaches, they surely won't fail…will they? Very loosely based on a story in Replace. KisexOC [Updated]
When Life Gives You Lemons
One-Shot 02: End of Summer
A loud irritated groan escaped her mouth as she pinched the bridge of her nose hard, exhausted. "You're all hopeless."
There was a chorus of irritated 'Hey!' coming from her seniors, which she promptly ignored.
Next to her, Mutsuki heard Kise mumbled something incoherent as he covered his face with his hands. When he lowered his hands, their eyes met. There was an unspoken agreement on their current predicament. Both shook their heads simultaneously. They had been trying to help the seniors, but it was too difficult with their seniors' low skill.
"The group date is tomorrow," she stated dryly as she pointed to the calendar on the wall, where a red circle and a word "Goukon" were written on the panel of the last day of the summer vacation. "And all of you are barely able to form a proper conversation with a girl."
Ignoring the angered cries from the seniors, she glanced towards the window and noticed it was getting late at night. The regulars, plus her, were gathered in the sports hall and had just finished their basketball training. Being the "students", the seniors were sitting down on the bench while the two juniors – the "teachers" – were standing in front of them. The bespectacled girl paced back and forth in front of them, thinking hard of how she could improve the seniors' abilities within such a short time. Even with all the analysis she had done on them and all the research she had conducted, she still could not figure out how to effectively teach them how to talk to a girl normally. The silver-haired girl glanced at her golden-haired friend that looked just as desperate. The only first-year regular frowned and scratched the back of his head, sighing softly.
Mutsuki knew Kise was the one who helped them to find the girls for the date. Moriyama had asked him to set up a group date few days before for them to end their summer. The group date consisted of a female model – Kise knew her in a photo-shoot session – and her friends. Unlike before, they could actually prepare themselves before the date, but being too engrossed in basketball – and sleeping – they completely forgot about the date. If she did not remind them, they would only remember it the next morning and by then, it was far too late to guide them.
"Okay," Kise started, taking a deep breath, "Let's start over again."
Mutsuki stopped pacing and crossed her arms as she watched her partner began his teaching. The seniors had demanded the two juniors to teach them since they were the ones who could casually talk to a girl in a pleasant way. Initially, she was totally against the idea of her teaching them, but Kise gave her his teary puppy eyes while clinging to her arm. She hated the fact that she could not resist those eyes and he was using the technique freely against her. That was all it took to get her to agree to assist him.
Initially, she had told herself that she would just stand next to him without much talking, merely observing. Nonetheless, at the clueless – and rather idiotic, on her term – response of the seniors, her whole being was twitching in frustration. She could not just stay still and watched. The two of them had been asking about possible questions the girls would ask and teaching them all the possible appropriate answers, after hearing their somehow inappropriate replies.
"Moriyama-senpai, what if a girl says she wants to go to an amusement park?" Kise asked as Mutsuki walked towards them.
"It's too pointless. Let's just go to your house," the senior replied simply.
Kise's voice rose upon hearing the answer. "So sudden?! And why do you want to reject it completely?"
Mutsuki face palmed. "Senpai, you shouldn't say you want to go to her house immediately. She'll get the wrong impression."
The model sighed. "When the other party already said that she wants to go to the amusement park, just go along with it!"
Moriyama frowned. "But I read it online, it's best to try and choose a location that is close by for the first date. The first place in mind about somewhere close by is your own house."
Simultaneously, Kise shouted and she stated tiredly. "Stop going online!" "Don't go online anymore."
"But without internet connection, I don't know how to speak to a girl," Moriyama replied dejectedly.
Kise shot back. "If you don't even know this, you cannot go and pick up girls!"
"I-It's too difficult…"Moriyama muttered and trailed off as he looked into the distance.
The other seniors followed his movement and they all stared into the distance.
The two juniors sweat dropped.
"Kise, we're getting nowhere," Mutsuki muttered in a soft voice.
"I know," he whispered back, "But they aren't giving up, so we shouldn't either."
She sighed, adjusting her glasses. Of course they would not give up; the word did not exist in their dictionary. They had managed to survive the difficult training in the basketball club and were selected as regular members. Their patience and perseverance were undeniably amazing. Of course, she was not going to give up on them, but the way they were practicing was ineffective. She glanced at the clock and realized it was over ten. There was not much time until the following day, especially considering their skills related to girls. They also needed their rest after the long training day.
As Kise tried to cheer up the seniors, she closed her eyes and crossed her arms to think of a better solution.
Just then, an idea popped into her head. She wanted to dismiss the crazy idea – why would her brain think of that? Stupid brain – but somehow, she was sure that the idea could actually work better for her seniors. The question was: would she do it for them?
Slowly, she opened her eyes and stared at the depressed seniors who were being cheered by Kise. Looking at their hopeless look, she sighed and decided to do it. It was for their good, after all, she told herself – and it would not cause her any harm; it would only cause massive embarrassment if they discover her plan, but it was highly unlikely, seeing how oblivious the seniors could be. The blonde definitely would know, but she planned to make him a part of her plan anyway. He had to know.
Sighing, she walked over and grabbed Kise by his shoulder and pulled him down so that his ear was next to her lips, whispering. "Fifteen minutes after I left, call my cell phone."
"What?" The blonde asked and turned to face her, completely unaware of how close their faces were, puzzled. "Why are you leaving?"
"Just do it," she replied in a soft voice, moving back slightly. "Don't you think they need more hands-on experience?"
Kise nodded slowly, frowning. "True, but-"
She cut him off, "I'm going to give the experience then."
Before Kise could voice out his confusion further, she had let go of his shoulder and walked away, grabbing her bag along the way and preparing herself for what was about to come.
Kise stared blankly into the empty space after their manager instructed him something totally bizarre.
"Oi, Kise," his captain called as he too looked at the disappearing figure of their manager. "Where's the manager going?"
The blonde had no idea what their manager was planning, but whatever it was, it had to be of some helps to the seniors. Thus, he decided to play along with her plan, whatever the plan might be. "I think she has a phone call. Oh, speaking of calling, I have to call someone for a while!"
Kise took out his cell phone and walked away from the seniors. He had told them to keep practicing: Hayakawa to speak more calmly, Kobori to give out more presence, and Kasamatsu to just able to look at the girls on his class photo directly. Moriyama was currently reciting what should not be said, according to the two juniors and not the Internet. The Copy-cat smiled in approval and dialed their manager's cell phone number.
There were two rings before she picked up the phone.
"I said fifteen minutes, not five minutes," was the first thing she said on the call.
He laughed nervously, "Sorry, my bad, I heard wrongly. Care to share what's happening?"
He heard rustling sounds. "Wait a minute," she stated in a rather hurried voice.
"Where are you anyway?" he asked curiously, as quietly as he could as not to let the seniors know. "What are you doing?"
There was a sound of zip being opened or closed. "I'm in our classroom. Can you speak loud enough for the seniors to hear?"
"Huh? Sure, I can, but why?" He asked, thinking she would have wanted to let their seniors to be unaware of their conversation, and he winced as he heard the sound of a table scratching the floor.
"Great, now repeat whatever I said," Shirogane said from the other side of the line, not answering his previous question. He heard some shuffling sounds in the background, causing him to frown. Several seconds later, he heard to the sound of something hard falling to the ground and her loud groan. He was seriously curious about whatever she was doing there.
"Are you listening, Kise?" she said again, a bit impatiently.
"Oh? Oh, yeah," he replied, pushing aside whatever questions popped into his mind, "What is it?"
"Just repeat the next few sentences, okay?" He heard her taking a deep breath. "Do you want to come over?"
Frowning in confusion, but followed it anyway since he trusted her, Kise repeated a bit hesitantly. "Do you want to come over?"
He ensured his voice loud enough for the seniors to listen, as per her request.
"Great, I'm waiting at the sports hall," She continued as he heard some clicking sounds. Was that the sound of heels hitting the floor?
He faked an excited voice to cover his puzzlement. "Great! I'll be waiting in the sports hall!"
With that, she hung up the call, leaving him completely confused as he stared at the screen of his phone.
"Who's that, Kise?" Moriyama asked as Kise walked towards them. "Who's coming?"
"Err…" He was thinking of a good lie to tell them, but someone saved him before he needed to formulate some stories; a sweet voice rang through the hall, calling his name. "Kise-kun!"
They all turned their head towards the entrance of the sports hall.
And their jaws dropped at the same time.
There stood a girl with fair, smooth skin and straight shoulder-length light-brown hair. Her emerald eyes twinkled in merriment. She wore a tube, princess-line white satin dress which flared around her hips, reaching just slightly above her knees. Over it, she wore a light-blue organza jacket with short sleeves. On her feet was a pair of low-heel white gladiator shoes with a small white fake rose on the outer side of each shoe.
The regulars gaped in shock at the sight of the unknown, new cute girl…
Whom no one but Kise realized was their manager
She was smiling brightly as she approached him. "How are you doing? I haven't seen you for so long!"
"Err," the still-baffled Kise could not respond, "Shi-"
The manager shot him a silent glare and mouthed to him, "You blow my cover, you're dead". He gulped and coughed to clear his dry throat.
"I've been doing well…" He trailed off, thinking of an alias for her. "Shira-chan."
He noticed her raising an eyebrow for a second, as if saying "Really, that's the most creative fake name you can come up with?"
Ignoring his lack of originality, she put on a smile again and turned to the seniors who were standing and staring in shock at the pair, her hands clasped behind her back. "Hey, hey, who are these people? Are they your friends, Kise-kun?"
The way she spoke in such a girlish and overly excited way – so out of her real characters – almost caused Kise to laugh, but somehow, he managed to suppress it down to a grin. "These are my seniors in the basketball club. Guys, this is Shira-chan!"
"Hi everyone!" she said cheerfully, waving at them with a happy grin.
The seniors greeted her absentmindedly with a nod.
"Why are you all here until so late?" 'Shira' questioned with an innocent tone, looking around. The blonde had to keep quiet and pursed his lips to stop himself from laughing as not to blow her cover.
"W-we're practicing," Moriyama spoke up after mustering up all his courage, "for our group date tomorrow."
She squealed in a high voice – Kise's shoulders were shaking as he silently laughed by then. "Really? That's so interesting! Hey, hey, why don't you practice with me?"
The blonde ceased his laughter and smiled when he heard her. So that was her intention in the first place. No wonder she was acting weird. He was surprised, though; to think that she would go as far as to act as a bubbly girl and suppress her own real characters.
The girl plopped down on a bench and looked up at the guys with bright, waiting eyes, clapping her hands cutely. "Okay, let's do this!"
Kise came to the stunned seniors and encouraged them. "It's okay. She's a really nice girl. You can try talking to her and even if you messed up, she won't be offended or anything."
"O-okay." Kobori, surprisingly, was the first to approach her. He sat down next to her and extended his hand rigidly for her to shake.
She shook it as she smiled. "Don't be so nervous! You're doing fine!"
The senior nodded and the rest of the regulars lined up nervously, waiting for their turn to talk to the girl whom they assumed was the blonde's friend and definitely, not their manager. One by one, they talked to her a bit and she gave them some advice. Occasionally, Kise joined in and told the senior what to do. When it was about his captain turn, Kasamatsu noted to Kise that for some reasons, he was able to look at 'Shira' without shaking in nervouness. The junior only smiled and told him that he was getting better, keeping a secret that he could since the girl was actually their manager – whom he never thought of as a girl – whom he met almost every day.
"You two are doing fine," she said gesturing to Moriyama and Hayakawa, swinging her legs lightly, "Just remember, think before you speak and talk slower!"
The two smiled with a blush tinting their cheeks, glad that a girl was praising them. It was finally the captain's turn. He sat down next to her, sweating bullets, and kept quiet. He had been able to look at her face, but he was as rigid as a stone. He was still too nervous to talk to a girl.
"Hey, just imagine I'm your cousin or something," 'Shira' said soothingly.
Kasamatsu rubbed the back of his head, looking away while blushing. "I-I don't really talk to my cousins."
There was a pregnant silence.
And then, the whole regular gasped dramatically. "Captain is speaking a full sentence to a girl!"
Apparently, even Kasamatsu, who did not realize it at first, paused and shouted in victory. "I did!"
The regulars were celebrating their captain's achievement, giving each other a high-five. They were not perfect, but they were definitely improving. The only girl in the hall smiled. "See? You can do it!"
The captain nodded, looking at her while shaking her hand. "T-Thank you!"
Kise shook his head as the girl smiled her rare honest, happy smile. She had always wanted to maintain her reputations as a composed and distant girl with the infamous glares; she disliked it when people think she was friendly because then people would crowd around her. She hated crowds. Regardless, for those who hung out with her long enough, they could notice her kindness behind the harsh words; Momoi told him once about that. Her smiles were reserved for those who cared enough to break her walls.
"Just keep doing like how you all did just now, you all will be fine," she stated with a small smile. Suddenly, she stood up. "Oh my, look at the clock! I've got to go home before my parents get worried!"
The new girl bowed lightly at the boys and bid them farewell brightly. "See you all around All the best for the dates! Kise-kun, see you later!"
Before they could say anything else, she ran out of the hall and into the dark of the night. The regulars were all pumped up seeing how they had just successfully conversed with a girl. They were confident that their group date would be a success. Feeling happy and proud, all of them concluded the session and packed up, preparing to go home to get ready for their upcoming date; All, but Kise. The blonde let the seniors go ahead, saying he had forgotten his book in the classroom although he was actually going to see a certain girl.
Mutsuki ran her hand through her short real platinum blonde hair after she took off her wig. Wearing a wig was itchy and hot and she disliked it, but not that she had a choice as to how disguise herself. The rest of her costume was bearable though, except for the part that her dress did not go well with glasses thus she had to take her spectacles off. Luckily, the drama club had some spares contact lenses for their actors and actresses. Another problematic thing was that she chose a character which was completely opposite to her true self. She only decided to adopt a happy-go-lucky girl act because it would be easier for the seniors to talk to a friendly person as a start. Still, putting up an act was tiring; she mentally noted to praise all the actors and actresses from the drama club and appreciated them more. Grabbing the bag full of costumes and make-up tools, she put it on the table and carefully put back the wig inside.
"That was some performance you did." A quiet voice came from behind her.
Reflexively, she screamed and jumped out of the range, stumbling across some tables and chairs and fell onto the floor, face first. The first thing that came to her mind was the state of the dress – the president of the drama club was so going to kill her if she ruined it. She got up and hastily checked the dress. Thankfully, the dress was unscathed. She turned and looked up to find out who had surprised her. Mentally, she wished there was someone. If no one was there, she would scream as if there was no tomorrow. To some extent, she was glad to see the shocked face of none other than Kise Ryouta; at least, someone was there, but still, she was annoyed.
"Kise!" She growled as she pointed an accusing finger at him. "You idiot!"
Kise grinned sheepishly, offering her a hand. "Sorry, sorry. I don't know you're so jumpy!"
She took his hand as he pulled her up to her feet. Mutsuki growled even more, crossing her arms. "Still, that doesn't give you a reason to just come out of nowhere from behind me! You surprised me!"
There was a mischievous grin forming on his lips. "Aw, is Shiro-chan afraid of ghosts?"
"Do you want me to punch you? I'm just surprised," she retorted, looking away.
"Shiro-chan is afraid of ghosts! And the dark!" He teased.
She glared at him, denying the truth. "I'm not!"
"You are!" He said, crouching down so that their eyes were at the same level.
"Am not!" She replied irritably.
"You so are!" He repeated.
"So am not!" She shot back.
"Admit it! You are!" he insisted. "And why do we always end up arguing like this?"
The two went silent at his remark.
Then they started to chuckle and laugh simultaneously.
It was rare for her to laugh, considering her slightly messed-up family background. The most she did was grinning. In Kise's words, her default expression was that of glaring and scowling. Her classmates had even marked her as the wood-faced, barely expressing any emotion. It took a lot of effort only to make her smile and even more to make her laugh. Yet, there she was laughing so openly. She did not understand why. It was not that what he said was exceptionally funny.
For some reasons, she could laugh when Kise was around…
and only when he was around
After a good few minutes, they managed to calm themselves down.
"Gee, Shiro-chan," he spoke out of the blue, chuckling, "You should be acting like before, all sweet and energetic, seeing how you're still in that dress."
She raised an eyebrow. "And let you get all the laughs?"
Kise grinned. "I've my share back then."
"Really, Kise," she said as she shook her head, "You're unbelievable."
"In a good way," he replied casually, shrugging.
She narrowed her eyes in disbelief. "Yeah, right."
The blonde smiled, eyeing her slightly from top to bottom. "You know, you look pretty good in a dress."
His unexpected compliment made her cheeks turn pink, even if it was only to tease her. "Stop teasing me. I don't need another round of our arguments."
"I'm not kidding," he said softly, taking a step closer. "You caught my breath for a second when I saw you in that wig and dress. Why don't you grow your hair, and maybe wear a dress more often? The guys will be stunned."
"W-what are you talking about?" She stuttered, looking away. Shirogane Mutsuki was not one to stutter, but his honest flattering remark caught her by surprise. No one had ever said something like that to her before. She had always prided herself in looking cool. To top it all, his sincere tone only caused her to feel even more bashful.
It was only then she realized how close their bodies were to each other. Her forehead almost touched his broad shoulder. The heat radiating from his body warmed her, causing her blush to deepen. She could almost hear the thumping of her speeding heartbeats. He was so close and it made her nervous. To make things worse, she felt herself leaning closer to him. She did not understand; her brain told her to move away, but her body wanted to close the small gap between them.
"Well?" He asked casually, breaking her chain of thoughts, "What do you think?"
Mutsuki took a small step back, forcing herself to maintain a distance between the two of them, and gulped. When did her throat become dry? "I will think about it."
Kise smiled happily, patting her head. "I can't wait!"
"I said I would think about it. Nothing is confirmed there." The girl quickly gathered her composure, taking his hand off her head. "Anyway, why are you here? It's late."
The blonde shook his head and smiled. "Isn't it exactly why I'm here? Go and get change! I'll be waiting outside!"
She stared at him as he walked out of the classroom and closed the door, allowing her some privacy to change from her dress back to her uniform. Ever since an incident which involved some random delinquents, Kise had never allowed her to go home alone. It was either he or one of the regulars who would walk her home at night, but mostly Kise. It made sense since their houses were in the same direction from school. Mutsuki sighed and let a small smile forming on her lips as she changed back to her casual clothes.
"So, how do you get the costume and wig in the first place?" Kise asked as they walked home together, side-by-side. He could feel that she was holding onto a small part of the hem of his shirt and smiled at that. He knew that she was actually scared of ghosts and darkness. Being the nice guy he was, he actually offered her his hand. But she was too stubborn to admit it and refused to hold his hand. Thus, she ended up tugging at the hem of his shirt, as discreetly as possible. It was not a secret to him though, but he decided to let her keep a small part of her pride and pretended not to notice.
Shirogane shrugged. "These are from the drama club. I am going to add some beads into the dress. The members of the drama club were busy and the play was getting near. Since there is not enough manpower, I offer my help since the president is my neighbor and a friend whom I have known since we were young."
He nodded in understanding. "I see. Utilizing them was a great strategy."
Snorting, she rolled her eyes. "Hey, have you forgotten who works with the coach to plan all the strategies after weeks of analyzing our opponents?"
The blonde chuckled. "Sorry."
Again, she shrugged. "Let's just hope for the best for the senpai tomorrow."
Kise hummed in agreement. His thought wandered slightly to the group date as they walked silently. Shirogane had strongly objected in coming for the second round. They had been bugging her, but she was so against it. They relented in the end.
It would only be him and the seniors. To be honest, he was a bit sadden that she was not coming. He was not particularly interested to find a girl to date at the moment. For him, teasing her was one of the best ways to kill time during the group date.
Looking at his side, he realized that she was back in her usual style: a pair of black-rimmed eyeglasses, a plain grey shirt, a dark blue hooded jacket, a pair of black track pants, and a pair of sneakers. He wondered why she never bothered to dress up. For certain, if she dressed up a little, many guys would notice her as a cute girl. A small voice in his heart, however, was secretly thankful that she dressed in such a way. Most guys seemed to see her as a fellow guy instead of a girl. The same voice also told him that someone might come and snatch her away. Kise did not pay attention to that small voice, merely pushing the silly thoughts aside. After all, he thought of Shirogane as an important member of the club, nothing more.
"Kise!" He stopped abruptly as she grabbed his arm with one hand, "Are you okay?"
"Huh?" The blonde blinked. "Yeah, why?"
She frowned. "You haven't answered to any of my questions. You looked lost." He saw her frown lessened and changed into a worried look instead. "It's your leg, isn't it?"
"Huh?" Kise questioned back, before he finally got back to his sense. "No! No! It's fine, really! I was only thinking, Shiro-chan."
The manager stared at him, looking for any lie. He grinned while she glared. She huffed and let go of his arms. "Fine, I'll trust you, but if something happens I won't help you."
He chuckled while pointing at his recovering leg. "And to think you are the one who stepped on my foot."
"I stepped on your UNHARMED foot," she told him, emphasizing the word unharmed. "I won't purposely step on your injured leg."
"I know, I know. You care too much to do that," the blonde said, giving her a gentle smile, causing her to look away.
"It's getting really late. Let's go," she said, trying to change the course of the conversation, as she tugged on his shirt.
"Sure," he replied casually, pretending not to notice her reddened cheeks.
Ignoring her occasional glances at him, Kise smiled at the memory of the event after the last match in the Summer Cup. After the match against Touou, she was the first to observe that he had hurt himself. She had treated his leg while giving him a long lecture about pushing himself too hard, being an idiot, and worrying her, which ended with her getting all teary. He was flabbergasted then, but at the moment, Kise smiled a bit at the recollection. It was the first time she showed so much emotion. She had never looked so gentle and so…vulnerable. Secretly, he was thrilled with her genuine care and expressions which she had never shown anyone.
He was the only one who knew, and he wanted to keep it that way.
"Okay, let's get started!" Mutsuki said to herself as she rolled up her sleeves and took out her weapons: a mop and a bucket. It was an off day for the basketball club's members. None of them came to school – well, no one but her. She could not stand how the hall was dirty and the changing room messy. It was hard to clean them thoroughly since the members were always around. Taking the opportunities while the guys were away by escaping the group date, she decided to clean the places thoroughly. They had not really cared about the hygiene of the places. Whenever she brought up cleaning, the basketball club members would instead ask her to start analyzing and collecting data about other schools. It seemed only she cared about the hygiene.
She had come early to school that day. She had tidied up the changing room and washed the dirty clothes which were currently being dried under the summer sun. It was a particularly hot day, making the clothes dry up faster. Also, she had checked the first aid kit and noticed they were low in supply for bandages and alcohol pads. Mentally, she noted to buy them from the stores.
Mutsuki hummed quietly as she mopped the big hall. It took her some time, but she eventually thoroughly cleaned the whole place, including the changing room, the meeting room, and the showering room. She was satisfied when she looked at the shiny hall. Putting away the cleaning tools and washing her hands, she sat down on the bench and took a sip from her water bottle. The silver head sighed and noticed that her wrist watch showing the time eleven. It was about time the guys went for their group date. She wished everything would go smoothly, or at least, better than last time.
The school and the hall were awfully quiet, except for the sound of the clock. No one came to school on the last day of the summer holiday, except for people like her. She had always enjoyed quietude, but the silence was a bit uncomfortable for her then. She was used to have the regulars around, making noise, silly comments, and fights. Mentally she scoffed, to think that she once proclaimed herself as a loner. After a long contemplation about what to do afterwards, she decided to watch and analyze other schools' teams, particularly, those with the Generation of Miracles. They were much harder to research and analyze on. Their skills were out of the norm.
She entered the meeting room and put on a random DVD to start. Sitting down with her notebooks and pen ready, she pressed the play button. It was a recording of a match between two middle-tier schools. They should not really be a trouble for Kaijou, but one should not be too confident. She took notes of the players' abilities, scores, and passes, making a mental simulation of their strategies and skills. The first DVD had just ended when she heard some noises of people talking and even more, the voices sounded familiar. She walked out of the room and was greeted with familiar faces who looked impressed at the state of their training hall.
"Senpai? Kise?" She blinked in surprise. "What are you all doing here? How about the date?"
Kise laughed nervously while the seniors looked down gloomily.
Mutsuki sighed, shaking her head. "Why am I not surprised?"
"We t(r)ied but the gi(r)(l)s didn't unde(r)stand!" Hayakawa shouted in irritation. "Why can't they be nice like Shi(r)a-chan!"
The green-eyed girl flinched at the sound of her alias.
The blonde grinned wearily as the seniors began to talk about 'Shira' and approached her, whispering, "You see, it seems that they all have a crush on 'Shira-chan'."
"Are you kidding me?" Mutsuki whispered through gritted teeth. "I know it was a mistake." Kise could only smile at her frustration, patting her head twice.
Shaking her head, she tried to ignore whatever had happened; she crossed her arms and asked about the date. "What happened this time?"
"We were too caught up talking about basketball – the girls brought the topic up by the way," their captain spoke up, taking a ball, "So we think, since the date failed, we might as well play basketball!"
He shot the ball straight into the hoop, turning to look at his team. The whole regulars smiled and joined in excitedly, completely forgetting they were just rejected by girls. They were immediately playing a half-court game, scoring at a fast pace. Their laughter and shouts echoed in the empty hall. Their shoes were soiled with dirt and sand, successfully staining the once-shiny floor.
"Hey, I just cleaned up the hall!" The silver head shouted upon noticing it, but was ignored.
She wanted to get angry, she really did, but seeing their excited faces, she could not help but to smile a little. "Ah, seriously…"
"Hey, Shirogane!" Moriyama called her, passing a ball to her. "Come and join us!"
Surprised, she ducked with her hands covering her head, causing the ball to hit the wall. An unusual girly high-pitch scream escaped her lips. "No way! You do know I cannot play any sports!"
She was annoyed that the shooting guard was fully aware of her zero ability about sports and yet asked her to play!
The senior gave her a mischievous grin which further irritated her.
"Let's play 3-on-3!" Kise chimed in out of the blue, the ball she avoided in his hand. "Shiro-chan will be in my group! Kasamatsu-senpai, want to join?"
"What?" She could not believe that even Kise agreed with the senior. "Kise, I am NOT playing!"
The blonde grinned and grabbed her hand, dragging her into the court. "It's okay! Kasamatsu-senpai and I will cover up for your lack of skills!"
She stared at him and allowed herself to be dragged. It was impossible to escape his grip anyway, not that she wanted to. "I cannot tell whether you're being nice or simply insulting me."
"Make a guess?" He replied with twinkling eyes, letting go of her hand.
Mutsuki shrugged and sighed. "I can't believe I allowed myself to be humiliated. An early note, I am not to be held responsible if we lose."
Kasamatsu, who had agreed to join their team, crossed his arms. "We will win even though we only have two people in the group."
The bespectacled girl sighed again, running a hand through her hair. A thousand thoughts crossed her mind as she thought about running around the court and how she was going to avoid the ball reflexively no matter what. She was not just bad – she was MISERABLY TERRIBLE at sports.
Kise, seemingly noticed her worries, smiled and put the ball on her opened palms. "Don't worry, I'm here for you."
The platinum-blonde pretended to inspect the ball to hide her slight blush. "Whatever you say, Kise, just don't pass the ball to me."
He grinned and nodded. "Let's go! Oh, I will still pass the ball to you if senpai is guarded, be prepared, Shiro-chan!"
"Kise!" She shouted in anger, but an unnoticed smile appeared on her face as she threw the ball at him. The others watched in amusement as the blonde stood near the circle, rubbing the back of his head where Mutsuki had hit him using the ball. For someone who couldn't aim, she sure could throw accurately when needed. As she looked at them gathering in one place, waiting for her to join them, she felt a warm feeling spreading on her chest. She felt that she was not a mere manager; she was an important part of the team too. She jogged towards them when they waved her over while hiding the happiness she felt when she was with them.
Thus, on that day, their summer holidays ended.