Part 1

The roaring cheers of the crowd steal everything from me

Leaving behind nothing but cold-hearted apathy

It wasn't often that Aomine dreamed, but when he did, his dreams fell into three categories: Horikita Mai-chan, basketball and pure randomness.

Not that he bothered classifying them. He didn't even bother remembering most of them.

But he definitely remembered that he had found himself back in the middle-school basketball championship hall, the squeak of basketball shoes echoing together with the bouncing of the basketball he was currently dribbling.

Fourth quarter. Teikou, 150. Kamizaki, 81. The Generation of Miracles was doing well as usual.

The basket was the only thing Aomine saw as he drove past one player after another. But as he passed a familiar player, his vision widened to include the person's slumped figure.

Tetsu had said something about a player who would arise one day to challenge Aomine. Aomine had hoped to find that in Inoue. After all, the two power forwards had had a good game in their first year. Inoue had actually managed to keep him under control. They had congratulated each other after the match was over and wished each other well.

Aomine had grown since then, his skills and power increasing dramatically. The admiring roars of the crowd grew louder as he crushed one opponent after another, but he felt he was losing the motivation to play. He hoped Inoue would once again prove a worthy opponent, but now his old friend was standing with his head bowed, not even bothering to try and block his drive.

What's up with that? The split second in which Aomine passed Inoue seemed to drag on. You're saying you've already given up?

The movement was almost mechanical as Aomine jumped and tipped the ball into the basket. He could feel Inoue's resignation and disappointment radiating from him, as chilling as it had been the time they had played, dimming the cheers that rang out at his goal.

Why? I've been looking forward to this. I thought I could have a good game against you…

He moved forward, bending a little to try and peer at his face. Inoue, he thought.

"You don't get it… just how much of a monster you are." Inoue's expression changed from unreadable to a pained smile.

Aomine was running back for the defense, but slowed as he heard Inoue's next words.

"Of course no one can go against you."

"Are you being sarcastic?" Aomine unconsciously quickened his pace, a mix of disappointment, regret and shock washing over him like the high tide, swirling through his thoughts, bringing up what he had tried to push into in the depths of his mind.

The emotion calmed. He had been right after all. He was undefeatable; even the spectators knew that. His power was off the charts. He could take the entire Kamizaki team alone and win.

Whatever he did- no, whatever anyone did couldn't change that.

The light had become too powerful for its shadow.

"Tetsu," he called to his teammate, and the light-skinned boy turned towards him, the light-blue strands of his hair swaying as he ran. His small smile was reflected in his blue eyes as he held out a fist to bump against Aomine's. The familiar expression almost melted something in him that had frozen over.

Almost.

He didn't need a shadow. He didn't need Tetsu.

"It's no good after all." He passed his partner, leaving him behind as his legs carried him ever onward to the other end of the court, his gaze fixed on the goal.

"The only one who can win against me… is myself."

Aomine knew how the match would end. After all, he'd already played through the entire thing.

Teikou, 169. Kamizaki, 81.

The last time he spoke to Inoue (albeit indirectly) was when the teams were thanking each other for the game. The crowd cheered again, but he felt strangely emotionless.

How long has it been like this? / That even my teammates

How long have I felt this way? / Drifted far out of reach

The dream ended the way all Aomine's dreams did- an abrupt return to unfeeling unconsciousness, then the slow realisation that he was seeing the dull red of the sunlight through his closed eyelids. The rooftop wasn't always the best place to sleep, but it was rarely disturbed, so Aomine could skip classes and basketball practice without worrying about anyone finding him. Only Satsuki knew he slept there, but she never revealed it to the others.

Today, he'd only managed to nap for half an hour or so, having come up after he returned to school from the one-on-one with Tetsu's new light (his name was Kagami, right?) He was spirited and had some skill, he'd give him that, but he was still too weak for Aomine.

"So hot," he murmured as his stomach gave a hungry growl. He covered his eyes from the afternoon sun with a tanned hand as they blinked open. Sitting up, Aomine instinctively reached for his photo book but was startled to find nothing. Come to think of it, the book hadn't been with him that morning.

Must've left it in the gym again. If Kantoku sees it, he's gonna confiscate it. But going down to the gym means I'll run into the rest of the team. Wakamatsu's gonna nag at me again.

Aomine sighed. Wakamatsu would probably be exceptionally annoyed with him since they had a match in a few days' time. The Summer Interhigh qualifiers would be against Seirin- the high school Tetsu attended. Even though they had only been a team for two years, many schools had heard about their run-and-gun style and offensive power. Of course Tetsu would be useful to them. His passes and misdirection always helped to direct our play. Now that he's with Seirin, their offense will improve further. But it doesn't matter. I've crushed every opponent I've faced. Seirin will be no different.

As Aomine sneaked in by the backstage, he could hear Imayoshi, Susa and some other player chatting as they ate. Ryou was scrambling onstage.

"Itadakimasu!" His cheerful voice was instantly recognisable. Aomine was about to burst out of the wings when Wakamatsu leaned forward and asked Ryou whether the bento was his little sister's.

"Ah… sumimasen! But I made it myself, so I don't think I'd…"

"You made it yourself?!"

Aomine couldn't help but be impressed at Ryou as he stepped forward to see the bento, neatly arranged with a kawaii bear on top.

"Hey, that looks good." Bending down, Aomine reached for one of the idakos and ate it. Ryou made a small surprised noise, and Wakamatsu's reaction was the most predictable. "Aomine!"

"Sup?"

"Where have you been? You can't skip practice for no reason!"

Aomine took another idako.

"You're coming to practice this afternoon, right?"

"You can't be serious." Aomine gave a short laugh. Wakamatsu always got so worked up. He swallowed the idako and turned to Ryou, plunging his hand into the bento to take the rest of the food. "This is really good. Give me the rest of it."

"But this is…"

"Huh?" He paused.

"Sumimasen, go ahead!" No sooner had the words left his mouth than the bear disappeared, followed by a handful of rice and wakame.

Wakamatsu growled. "Don't give him that, Sakurai!"

The familiar annoyance set in. Even Akashi recognised my power and let me do whatever I wanted. "Shut up. I can skip practice as long as I have a reason, right?" There was about a third of the bento left. Ryou's eyes were flicking from his food, to Aomine and then to Wakamatsu, not knowing what to do.

A pause. Imayoshi looked on with a tiny frown. Wakamatsu narrowed his eyes. Aomine reached under a curtain (he never forgot where he left that photo book) and drew out his precious collection.

"They said they'd confiscate my Horikita Mai-chan photo book if I left it here. I just came to get this."

He rose, clutching the book tightly, and jumped off the stage. He straightened. "So I'm leaving. G'luck. Practise hard."

A small part of him wanted to laugh at the irony- Touou's ace, Aomine Daiki, who never came to practice, telling his team to practice hard even as he was about to head out of the gym.

"Wait, Aomine!" Heavy footsteps sounded from behind Aomine, and just as he turned around, Wakamatsu grasped his collar, glaring at him as if he wished his anger was enough to burn the lazy yet arrogant expression off his face. "Enough already! I'm telling you to come to practice!"

"I'll forgive you once. Let me go."

"Wha-"

Aomine brought his leg up to knee Wakamatsu in the stomach. His senpai stumbled back, doubling over in pain.

"Aomine!" This from Imayoshi, taking a step forward as if to help Wakamatsu or chastise Aomine.

"I told him I'd do it." He'll never have the right to force me to practise as long as he's weaker than I am. In any case, he'll always be weaker than me.

"Practice, practice." Aomine tossed the word to the air with a mirthless laugh. "Don't make me laugh. Ryou, how many points did I score last game?"

"Huh? Uh, 82 points." Aomine kicked at the basketball on the floor, bouncing it into his hands.

Isn't that proof enough for you? He dribbled the ball across the court and leaped up to dunk. The seamless transition seemed almost impossible at the speed Aomine was going, but it was no challenge for him. This time, however, he jumped a little higher, dunked the ball a little harder and caught at the basket as he came down from the jump. A creaking sound, and then the basket broke, tearing from the board in a shower of splinters.

"Huh?" He pretended to be surprised at the broken basket as he held it up, the loose screws clinking. "Oops, I did it again."

Hey, this means they can't practice today. The basket's gone. The last time I broke it, it was five days before they got another one. Aomine chuckled, an amused smile on his face. "I don't think you can practise with this thing," he called as he held it up. "Let's see, what was I trying to say?"

The broken basket was discarded on the gym floor, the net twisted and the screws scattered. "You can talk after you're better than me. Not that you ever will be."

As Aomine was walking out of the gym, Imayoshi's voice carried over to him. "Are you okay, Wakamatsu? Sorry about that."

"Captain, why are you apologising?"

"You're not wrong, but don't say anything like that to Aomine again. Meritocracies are hardly unusual."

Aomine paused at Imayoshi's words, then continued his way down the corridor. Imayoshi apologised? And he actually sounded sincere?

Perhaps Touou wasn't as cold a team as he had thought. The focus had always been on individual skill, on being an individual player. There wasn't much teamwork on the court, not that they needed it.

But Imayoshi apologising to Wakamatsu was one of the rare displays of concern the team sometimes showed. Wakamatsu, too. Hadn't he tried to stop Aomine from taking Ryou's food? (But Ryou had agreed to Aomine eating his bentos, anyway, so all was well.)

"But don't say anything like that to Aomine again. Meritocracies are hardly unusual."

The way Imayoshi had said it was as if Aomine was, and was not, a part of Touou's basketball team. He was part of their team because he wore the same jersey and played with them in games, but any camaraderie he shared with them was negligible.

Aomine was used to it. Of the team members, he felt the closest to Ryou, but that was because of his bentos. Since he rarely went to practice, he hardly spoke to his other teammates. In games, he played alone, countless one-on-ones that racked up fifty, seventy, even ninety points. He knew his teammates were considerably strong, but he stood out amongst all of them.

But it felt good to see his opponents visibly cringing at his sheer presence on the court, to hear the admiring crowd cheering as he made countless shots, to see his skill confirmed again and again as the points soared above the hundred mark. He didn't mind being where he was now.

(he actually did, but acknowledging it was out of the question.)

So hot, thought Aomine as he breezed out of the school gate, flipping through his magazine. Good thing Maji Burger has air-con. How many teriyaki burgers should I get… ten as usual?

"Aomine-kun!" Light pink hair blew elegantly behind the petite figure running up to him. "Oh, Satsuki. Where did you rush off to this morning? Let's go have lunch."

"I went to check up on Seirin. Why are you going out now?! Don't we have practice?"

"I had a one-on-one two hours ago. I'm tired. And I haven't had a good lunch yet. Don't feel like practicing."

"One-on-one?"

"I met Kagami."

"I told you not to! He hasn't healed yet!"

"I know… anyway, I'm disappointed with him. I thought he'd at least be challenging, but he bored the hell out of me. Even without the injury, he'll never be like us. I have no idea what Tetsu sees in him. Kagami isn't the best player to bring out Tetsu's ability."

Satsuki's lips curved slightly before she frowned at him. "That's still no excuse for you to skip practice! We're up against Tetsu-kun's school!"

"They're up against us. I've already beaten their ace. What's the point of practicing?"

"You're impossible, Aomine-kun." She sighed, then jumped as her phone buzzed in her pocket. She flipped it open. "Imayoshi-san is asking whether I'm back from scouting. Please come for practice, Aomine-kun. I need to report Seirin's statistics so the team knows what to do during the match."

Aomine laughed, shaking his head. "I don't need their stats to defeat them. I'm off to Maji. See you."

As he strolled off, he heard Satsuki take a few steps towards his retreating figure, pause, and then run back towards the gym. He flipped his magazine open again. Some of the pictures are getting a bit boring. Hope the next one comes out soon.

I never realized how much I would have to lose

All the smiles we shared / All those times we bumped fists

Aomine ignored the surprised glances the other customers were giving him as he carried his pyramid of burgers over to an empty eight-seat table by the window, pulling out one of the centre seats as though it was labeled with his name. If the other Miracles were with him, Murasakibara would have the rightmost seat and the seat opposite for his piles of maiubo, Midorima glaring at the mess beside him disapprovingly. Kise would be talking to Tetsu excitedly across the table. Satsuki would lean across Aomine to join in the conversation, making him have to reach awkwardly for his food. Akashi, opposite Aomine, would simply watch the scene with the smallest of smiles. Even though they hung out at the convenience store more often in middle school, the fast-food restaurant was where they could talk most. Must have been the atmosphere. He unwrapped the first burger.

The Generation of Miracles had separated because of the vow they made to play against each other and see who was the strongest amongst them (the answer was obvious, Aomine thought, but having never played against Akashi before, he wasn't sure what would come of that match). Aomine was sure Tetsu had joined their vow even after he left the team. Wasn't he challenging them with his new light, Kagami?

Aomine had in fact been Tetsu's light in Teikou. He would be the one darting around the court like he belonged there, receiving passes that seemed to come out of nowhere, taking the ball to the basket easily. Tetsu would run up from the back, ready to make another pass once the Teikou players got the ball again. Of course, he also worked with the other Miracles, but when it came to Tetsu's and Aomine's play, it was so synchronised it was almost unbelievable. The light and shadow analogy was something Midorima had mentioned during a game, but it became something the duo identified themselves with.

"Kuroko is a shadow, nanodayo. The stronger the light, the darker the shadow. In other words, working with a stronger player makes Kuroko's abilities even stronger. It's not that we are not in tune with Kuroko. But Aomine is the strongest. If he works best with Kuroko, then that means he shines brighter than the rest of us."

The light had always been strong, but it later became overwhelming. Aomine couldn't tell exactly when it had happened. He just passed other players more easily. His streetball style and fakes became more unpredictable. He could still recall the look of shock on the referee's face, flipping the third tag to the left from a 0 to a 1, indicating that Teikou's score had risen above 100.

Aomine would focus intensely on his movements, dribbling the ball out of his opponents' reach, pivoting, turning, then driving forward, and then the ball would be through the basket, and the cheers would resound, and the gap between the two schools would widen. He would look behind him at the defenders he knew would be running for the ball or getting into position for the next play, with an exhilarated grin spreading across his face.

What met Aomine's gaze in the game against Harada Middle School was not the players' determined expressions, but their lowered heads- a sight that was becoming more frequent than he would have liked. The spectators could see that the Harada players were losing motivation, but they couldn't see that Aomine was as well. To him, a match was nothing without a challenge.

"Good game, Aominecchi!" Kise had said when it was over, but Aomine didn't hear the excited speech that followed, forcing a smile and faking a laugh whenever his blond-haired friend paused for breath. He was relieved when he got back to Teikou to find that practice had just ended. Tetsu walked home with him as usual.

For once, Aomine was quieter than his shadow.

"Aomine-kun."

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong? You seem aloof."

I don't know why I can't seem to enjoy basketball as much as I did before. I can't find anyone as strong as I am. Practice is supposed to make me stronger, but I… "No, it's nothing."

Silence. Two girls walked past, in deep conversation. Tetsu looked at them for a few seconds, then turned back to Aomine.

"You seem to be doing well lately."

"Yeah, I guess." Thanks, Tetsu. But I think I may be doing too well. "You know…" I don't think you would understand, though. Aomine looked away. "No, it's nothing."

"I see."

Two boys walked past, chatting happily. Tetsu stared after them.

"By the way, you stare at people now since changing your play style."

"Yes, I'm observing people. I can apply it to my misdirection-"

"Tetsu-kun!"

Aomine flinched back instinctively as a human missile (also known as Momoi Satsuki) ran into Tetsu, knocking him over as she hugged him. Dust clouds flew. Aomine sighed. "You sure come on to Tetsu hard lately."

"Well, I can't hold it back!" The dust cleared to show Satsuki with her arms wrapped around Tetsu's neck. The boy was trapped below her. Satsuki, thought Aomine, I'm not sure if suffocating Tetsu is the best way to show how much you like him.

"Sorry, could you get off now?" The blue-haired boy's voice was slightly choked. Satsuki released him immediately.

"More like don't interrupt-"

"Huh? What?"

"Oh, right." Tetsu straightened.

"What were you talking about?" Satsuki's voice seemed sweeter than usual- she was still trying to attract Tetsu. Aomine doubted Tetsu thought much about that kind of thing, though.

"Then, Momoi-san-" Light blue eyes met pink.

"Hmm?"

"You're the type that stares back when stared at."

What… even… "What's that about?" asked Aomine.

"People have all sorts of quirks and different reactions. I observe those and categorise them. I need that to guide lines of sight."

Well, this is quite interesting, Aomine thought. "Then you know my quirks and stuff?"

"You always avert your eyes when you lie to me." Oh. Aomine knew turning his head to the side wasn't the best way to hide his sheepish expression, but he did anyway. "Man… I'm done for."

"That doesn't mean you need to tell me right now. Someday, when you feel like telling me, please do."

Thank you, Tetsu. Perhaps, when the time was right, Tetsu's help would be invaluable. "Yeah. Got it."

Aomine crumpled the ninth burger wrapper and threw it over his shoulder (it landed in the bin together with the other eight). He had never really told Tetsu what he had been thinking at that moment, but he had the feeling that Tetsu, in that inexplicable way of his, would have guessed anyway. He wondered how Seirin would face him in the match, how they would counter his individual style. He knew Tetsu wouldn't try a one-on-one, so… team play was the only answer. It had always been his style of basketball, anyway.

We'll see who's right at the Interhigh, Tetsu. Don't disappoint me.

The tenth wrapper joined its nine counterparts as Aomine pushed the door open. He held it for an extra second, then remembered there was no one following him. He had almost expected, or even anticipated Tetsu to announce his presence with an "Anou…" that would make Aomine jump and nearly drop his bag, but there was only silence.