Part One


Riko frowned. Kagami was impressive, true, but he was the only really outstanding one so far. What about the two Teikou sign ups? Surely she would have noticed someone of that calibre by now? And there were 16 names on the sheet but she only counted 14 first years here...

The gym door swung open with a loud thud.

"I'm really sorry!" the girl in the door said. "We didn't mean to be late, it took us longer to find the gym than I expected - Aomine! Apologise to everyone too!"

Everyone in the gym turned - and stared.

The girl in the door was pink-haired and curvy and very, very pretty. She would have been more than enough to draw the eye of every boy in the room, but she hadn't come alone. Standing next to her, scowling, was a tall, dark boy who, Riko could tell even with the most cursory glance, was more than impressive. His stats could be even better than Kagami's - which meant he had to be the real deal. He had to be from the Generation of Miracles.

"What kind of school is so small it doesn't even have its own gym?" the new boy grumbled. "Let go of me, Satsuki!"

"Not until you say you're sorry!" the girl insisted.

"Stop being such a pai-"

"Ah," a voice beside Riko suddenly said. She yelped and leapt back.

"Aomine? Momoi? Why are you here?" asked the not-especially-tall, perfectly nondescript boy standing right where Riko was 100% certain she hadn't noticed anyone standing five seconds ago.

"Since when were you there?" Riko demanded.

"I was here all along," he told her.

The other boy looked blank. "Tetsu? What are you doing here?"

"Aomine, I asked the question fir-"

"Hi Tetsu!" the girl interrupted and waved.

The two boys snapped around in perfect unison to look at her.

"You knew he was here?" the taller boy said at the same time that the boy-who'd-been-there-all-along (or so he claimed) asked, "Momoi, did you plan this?"

"I'm so sorry, Tetsu!" the girl said, her eyes big and teary, ignoring the spluttering of the boy next to her. "Are you angry? I didn't want to but stupid Aomine got himself rejected by all the other schools, and then he overslept for his last interview! I didn't know what to do with him!"

"Hey!" the idiot in question said. "Who are you call-"

Riko clapped her hands together with a loud, hard smack. "RIGHT," she announced over the impending argument. "Practice now, reunions later! Now that all our first years are here, why don't you introduce yourselves? Take off your shirts!"

"What?!"

"Again? I just put it back on..."

"I didn't see you, it doesn't count! You! Shirt off! Names!"

"I'm Kuroko," said the shorter boy. Shirt off, he was... exactly as average as he'd looked with his shirt on. Riko blinked.

"You're from Teikou?" she said, dubious, and he nodded.

Someone behind her said, tactlessly, "Oh, but you can't have been a regular, right?"

"Hm? I did play in matches," the boy said, expression mild.

"What?!" "No way!" "Eh?! But you look-"

"He's telling the truth. Morons," the taller boy said, shirt off, expression annoyed. The girl prodded him in the side and he added, "Aomine."

"We're from Teikou too, we were on the team with Kuroko," the girl said.

No one bothered to question him.

Riko took in Aomine in an awed trance. She'd been right, he was even higher level than Kagami, she wasn't even sure how that was possible. They weren't joking when they said the Generation of Miracles were monsters; what couldn't Seirin do with two players like this?

Dragging herself out of sudden, glorious visions of Seirin's impending, unstoppable sprint to the top and back to reality, she looked at the girl. "Ah, and you are?" she asked.

The girl bowed. "I'm Momoi Satsuki, pleased to meet you! I was a manager with the Teikou basketball club and I'll like to apply to be the manager for the Seirin basketball club too."

Koganei crowed from the other end of the gym. "Yes! Cute and cuddly manager!" Someone else cheered in support.

Riko twitched. Then she turned to beam at the seniors. Clearly they hadn't been worked hard enough - yet. "Second years! 20 laps around the gym!"

"Ha? But we-"

"Yes? Did someone say 30?"

"RUNNING. RUNNING NOW. Shut up, Koganei!"

The seniors fled the gym under the blinding force of Riko's smile and she looked at Momoi. But it wasn't her fault the boys were all suckers, and Riko wasn't going to complain about having another girl around to help with things.

"Sorry about that," she said. "If you wait till practice is over, I'll give you the form to fill in. Is that okay?"

Momoi bobbed her head. "Sure, Coach."

Riko looked at the crowd of first years and rubbed the back of her neck to think. What had she been planning to do with them again, before the sudden flood of Teikou excitement distracted all of them?

This looked like an interesting year already - and it hadn't even started yet.


Kagami dumped his tray on the table and slid into the seat. Basketball practice today hadn't been much - mostly just introductions and warm ups and easy drills while the coach assessed them and took notes. Boring stuff. But the team looked like it might be more interesting than he thought.

The Generation of Miracles... and two of them too. Maybe they would be players worth-

He caught a movement from the corner of his eye and nearly choked on his burger. "Argh!"

"Hello. Wow, you really eat a lot," Kuroko said from the opposite seat.

"Where did you come from?! What do you want?!"

"Ah, actually I sat here first. I was just watching people."

Watching people...? Kagami stared at him and finished his first burger. Could someone like this really have come from Japan's best middle school basketball team? But he and the other Teikou guy had both said that he played in matches, so it wasn't like he could have made it up.

Whatever, only one way to find out.

"Hey-" Kagami was starting to say when Kuroko's eyes flicked to a point somewhere past his shoulder.

"Ah," he said, just as a girl's voice behind Kagami said, "Tetsu! Grabbing dinner too?"

"No, I just stopped for a drink," he said. "Hello."

Kagami turned to find himself looking up at the other Teikou guy and the girl who'd come with him. Girlfriend, he assumed, not that Kagami gave a shit either way.

"Yo," the other boy said with total unenthusiasm.

Their table could only seat two so the girl dragged the boy over to the empty table right behind Kuroko, twisting around in her seat so she could chatter at him about her new classmates and ask what Kuroko's were like.

Kagami washed down his last burger and said, "Hey, you guys up for a game?" The other three looked at him. "You guys, you're from that team they call the Generation of Miracles, right? I want to see what you've got."

Aomine gave him a once over and didn't look impressed, but after a moment, he shrugged. "Fine."

Kuroko studied him, expression unreadable, then nodded.

"Let's get it over with," Aomine said and stood.

The basketball court they found in the nearby park was empty. Momoi settled herself on the bench beside it and Kagami looked between Aomine and Kuroko. This was a little awkward with odd numbers.

"One-on-one? Who wants to go first?" he said.

"Che. Don't bother with Tetsu, it's not his style," Aomine said, and Kuroko didn't argue, only settled himself next to Momoi.

Kagami was at least a little curious about Kuroko - he couldn't smell anything off him at all, good or bad, and that was weird - but Aomine, oh yeah, there was no question about Aomine. He had to be good, probably the best he'd seen so far in Japan. Man, how long had it been?

The ball spun up into the sodium orange light and the game was on.

Aomine was good. He was better than good, he was phenomenal. It took all of five seconds for Kagami to realise that if Aomine was what the Generation of Miracles had to offer, they'd earned that name. Aomine was faster, stronger, better, and more than that, his technique was so fucking wild, it had become something else entirely; raw talent transmuted into undeniable, unstoppable grace.

Momoi called out that ten minutes were up just as Aomine's last shot bounced off the headerboard and sank into the hoop.

"That's the best you can do?" he said, expression as bored as when he'd started. He had barely broken a sweat, Kagami must be rustier than he'd thought. If he'd known, he would've picked a middle school with an actual basketball team for his third year.

Damn, he'd missed this.

"Heh," he said, and then before he could stop himself he was laughing, a long, loud whoop into the night air. "Ha! Guess they weren't making it up after all! Miracles, huh?" He looked around to find the other three staring at him, expressions ranging between politely blank to weirded out.

"Haha, sorry, got carried away there," he said. "I was in America until my second year of middle school, and when I came back, the basketball standards here were just way too low. I'm not playing basketball for fun, where's the fun if there's no challenge? I want matches that make your blood boil. If it's you guys, looks like I'll have to get serious."

Aomine snorted. "You think you can take on the Generation of Miracles the way you are now? Forget it, you'll be dead meat."

Man, he'd even missed the trash talking. Kagami just grinned at him. "So what? I'm used to it. You think you're the strongest guy I've seen? Maybe here you are, but it's different in America. What's the point if there's no one stronger than you?"

Aomine looked at him with narrowed eyes, interested despite himself. In the end, he turned away. "Che. Come back when you have something worth showing."

He left without a backward glance, leaving Momoi to wave her goodbyes to Kuroko before hopping up and following.

Kagami looked at Kuroko then, still sitting on the sidelines watching. "What about you?"

Kuroko caught the ball when Kagami tossed it over. "Thank you, but I think I will pass," he told Kagami. He stood and crossed the basketball court to toss the ball at the hoop - only to miss by a mile. Kagami stared at the ball as it bounced sadly across the concrete, then back at Kuroko.

"... Are you serious," he said. Was this guy messing with him?

"No, I could see it from your match with Aomine. Kagami is clearly stronger than I am," Kuroko said, matter-of-fact.

"You're hiding something," Kagami said, suspicious. "I can't smell anything off you - you don't smell strong, but you don't smell weak either. What's up with that?"

Kuroko looked at him. "Is that so? I am a different kind of player from Aomine and Kagami. I am a shadow."

"Ha?"

"But what you said to Aomine - that was interesting," Kuroko said, trailing after the wayward ball to retrieve it. He tossed it back to him. "I look forward to playing on the team with you, Kagami."

On that note, he picked up his schoolbag and left.

Kagami bounced the ball, staring after his retreating back. Man, what was with these guys? Then he thought of Aomine and the way he'd played. It was true, Kagami was used to playing out of his range, out of his league, against the best on Los Angeles's streets. But even there, Aomine might be something different. Kagami had been beaten more times than he could count, but he'd never faced a player and felt like he couldn't beat them before. Until today.

"Ha," he said to himself, and slowly grinned again. Maybe coming back to Japan hadn't been such a bad thing after all.


Riko looked around the gym. Practice had started ten minutes ago and the team was starting their warm ups but one person was still conspicuously missing from the crowd of first years. And it wasn't because she'd missed out Kuroko this time.

"Has anyone seen Aomine?" she asked, and the boys looked at each other.

"I saw him in class this morning?" Furihata said. "But he left after the bell rang, I thought he was coming here."

"Eh? Then where is he?" Riko said. He couldn't have gotten lost or forgotten there was practice today - could he? She glanced at Momoi and blinked - the other girl was staring at the ground, expression unhappy. "Momoi? Do you know anything about this?"

Momoi ducked her head. "I'm sorry, Coach-"

"Momoi, you should not apologise. It is not your fault," a voice said from behind Riko.

She bit back a squeak and whipped around. "Argh! Don't do that! And what do you mean?"

"Aomine often skips practice," Kuroko said.

"What?" Riko said. Then she narrowed her eyes. "Is he looking down on us? If he has a problem with-"

"No, it has nothing to do with the team. He was like this during his third year in Teikou too."

"And your coach just let him?" Riko said, disbelieving.

Kuroko shrugged. "In Teikou, victory is all that matters. So long as Aomine appeared for matches and won, there was nothing to complain about."

"That's why he was rejected by the other schools," Momoi said, eyes still downcast. "Because he told them he would play in matches but he wouldn't come for practice."

Riko opened her mouth, then clamped it shut for lack of anything reasonable to say.

"So... he thinks he can get away with it at some no-name school like Seirin, huh?" Hyuuga said from where he stood listening, expression thunderous.

Momoi wrung her hands. "No! Seirin's basketball team is strong, we know that! It's just that Aomine..." She faltered.

Explanation given, Kuroko was silent, eyes fixed on Riko's face. She looked at him, then Momoi. This from the team that had won Nationals three years in a row? What kind of school was Teikou? But they were here, and Aomine or not, there was still practice.

"Well, Kuroko's right," she said to Momoi, patting her on the shoulder with some sympathy. "We don't blame you, don't look so depressed. I'll figure out what to do about Aomine later. Back to work, guys!"


"... Why are you here again?"

"You're the one who sat at my table. And I like the vanilla milkshakes here."

"Go sit somewhere else!"

"No."

"Don't think we're friends or something-"

"As I said, I was here first."

For someone who never seemed to change expressions or raise his voice, Kagami thought, twitching, Kuroko was pretty good at making you want to punch him. In the end, he settled for tossing one of his burgers over to him.

"Here. For you."

He had to be fair - Kagami and the rest of the first years would have lost this afternoon if it hadn't been for Kuroko.

"I'm not interested in weak guys, but I'll admit you're worth one of that," he said.

Kuroko stared at him. "Thank you," he finally said.

"So the Generation of Miracles. There are four more of you, right? How strong are the others?" Kagami asked.

Kuroko considered him and seemed to give the question some thought. "You would be instantly killed by the others too," he decided.

"Man, can't you put that another way?" Kagami said, but it was hard to get angry when the assessment was so matter-of-fact and impersonal.

"All of the Generation of Miracles went to different high schools," Kuroko said. "The tournaments this year will not be easy. The team that reaches the top... will probably be one of them."

Kagami looked at him. "Yeah, but Seirin has both you and that other guy, Aomine, right? So that makes two of you against the others."

"Does it?" Kuroko said. Something in his voice made even Kagami pause and glance at him.

"Huh?"

"I do not think it makes a difference to him." The words were calm but the tone was distant, as if they were discussing total strangers. There was something weird about the way Kuroko and Aomine talked about and yet never seemed to talk to each other, Kagami thought. Were they really teammates? They sure didn't act like it.

"What's that guy's deal anyway? He really thinks he can get away with never practicing?"

Kuroko shrugged. "Sometimes he does his own training. But he does not see a need to become stronger when no one can beat him."

Kagami couldn't imagine reaching a point where he thought he couldn't be beaten. He wasn't sure he wanted to - he'd thought it was bad enough when he came back to Japan and realised that basketball here was nothing like basketball in LA.

"That must suck," he said. "And it's stupid."

"Oh?"

"Thinking no one can beat him. This is just the beginning, I'm barely warmed up." Kagami said. "We'll see what he says when I beat him and become number 1 in Japan."

"I think that's impossible," Kuroko said.

"Hey!"

"And isn't it more important for Seirin to defeat the others rather than fight among ourselves?"

"So we'll defeat the rest first," Kagami said, teeth bared in a grin. "Who says I'm not going to beat them too?"

Kuroko studied him for a long moment, expression carefully neutral, before turning away.

"It might be interesting to watch you try," he conceded. "Do what you want. I too will do my best."


"Momoi, could I speak to you for a moment?"

Yuki, who'd been bent over Momoi's desk comparing their notes from History, squeaked and started so hard she nearly fell off her chair. "W-where did you come from?!"

Momoi looked up and blinked to see Tetsu standing by her desk. They'd spoken so little since school started that sometimes even she nearly forgot that they were in the same school. Nearly.

"Tetsu!" she said, jumping up from her chair. "Yuki, do you mind? Go ahead and borrow my notes if you like."

Yuki looked between the two of them, clearly curious, but all she said was, "No problem, don't worry about me."

Tetsu nodded, and Momoi followed him out of the classroom, suddenly happier than she'd been all week. Possibly since even before school had started, and the March break she'd spent wondering if she'd made the right choice, if she'd done something very stupid, if she was going to end up in trouble with - with everyone.

She could still be in trouble with everyone, but if Tetsu was willing to talk to her, at least that was something.

Tetsu came to a stop when they reached the school gardens, in the corner nearest the science labs. There were fifteen minutes left to the lunch break but it was quiet enough here that they could talk easily, without being completely deserted.

Momoi scanned his face, expectant. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I spoke to Coach earlier about playing in matches," Kuroko said, "and she told me that there is something first years need to do to be officially accepted in the team. I am not sure what it is, but she told me to meet her on the roof on Monday morning at 8.40."

She blinked. Official acceptance? Monday morning on the roof - ah. She looked at Tetsu and nodded. "I'll make sure he's there."

He looked at her, expression unreadable - but Tetsu had always been good at that. Even at the best of times, it had never been easy to tell what he was thinking unless he wanted you to know. And now... all she could sense from him was the tension under his stillness, held firmly in check.

"Thank you," he said.

"No, I should be thanking you! Coach might not have thought to tell me."

And Aomine took it so much for granted that he would play, no matter what, it would never have occurred to him to ask. She bit her lip at the thought, remembering the ominously outraged look on Riko's face yesterday. Momoi was on her best behaviour, but she could tell that however much Coach might like her, it wouldn't be enough to buy Aomine reprieve from the her wrath. Nothing would be enough if Coach thought he wasn't being serious.

She slid a sidelong look at Tetsu, who was watching an argument between a couple at the other end of the garden, and looked down at her clasped hands. He'd come to her because of Aomine, of course, but he didn't have to tell her about the rooftop meeting. He could have left her to find out for herself. Surely there was some comfort to be taken from that.

"I really am sorry, you know," she said. For what it was worth, when she'd known what she knew and done it anyway.

For a long moment, Tetsu was silent. Then he sighed. "I am not angry with you, Momoi. I do not blame you. But things are... a little difficult."

She curled her fingers in her sweater. "I understand."

"I understand too," he said. "But I don't know if it will change anything."

In the end, they stood side by side in the garden, silent, until the bell signalling the end of break rang.

"We should return to class. I'm sorry for keeping you," Tetsu said.

"No, don't, I'm always happy to talk to you, Tetsu," she said. "Thank you again."

He gave her a brief nod, and they began walking back to towards their respective classes. As Tetsu continued down the corridor to his classroom, Momoi paused in the door of her own class to watch him leave and felt - nothing so easy as relief.

She didn't know if they would be enough. But maybe this felt a little like hope.


Monday morning, 8.30am.

Up on the empty school roof, Riko checked her watch, checked the cloudless morning sky, and then stretched. A little peace and quiet on Monday morning was always nice to have, and she shouldn't have to wait long.

Leaning over the railing that ran around the roof, she looked down at the rest of the school. The latecomers were making their way through the main gate, some running, some slouching and yawning their way in. A few classes were already starting to trickle into the main assembly area, and over by the club rooms, she could see the football club scrambling to pack their practice equipment away.

She checked her watch. 8.35. They'd better get here soon or there wouldn't be enough time-

Voices from the stairs told her that company was arriving. Kagami threw the door open, Kuroko behind him, followed by a handful of first years speculating about what was happening. Aomine wasn't one of them - but she hadn't expected him to be.

"Should we be up here?"

"We can't get in trouble if the second years told us to do this, right - ack, Coach!"

Riko grinned. Not bad, more than she'd expected. It was nice to know the first years were getting along among themselves.

"Fufufu. I've been waiting," she told them.

"... Are you an idiot?"

"A duel?"

"Isn't it just 5 minutes to morning assembly?!" Kagami demanded. "Hurry up with the registration!"

"Before we do that-"

The door swung open again and two familiar figures appeared. "Let go of me!" Aomine protested as Momoi dragged him on the roof with a harried expression, registration form in hand. They stopped at the sight of Riko and the other first years. Riko blinked. She hadn't mentioned this to Momoi, but clearly she'd found out somehow. Just as well, maybe this would make things easier.

"Eh? What's going on?" Aomine asked, taking in the other first years with their registration forms too.

Riko huffed. At least they'd managed to show up before she started her speech.

"Looks like everyone's finally here," she said. "So let's get started! Last year, the basketball club made a promise to me when I became the coach. We're here to aim seriously for the Nationals. If you're not ready for that, then feel free to join another club!"

"Eh, what-"

"I know you guys are strong," she said, fixing her stare on Aomine. He narrowed his eyes and she continued. "But I'm looking for something even more important than that. No matter how seriously you practice, if you're only thinking of a vague 'one day' or 'maybe', you'll always stay weak. I want you to have a concrete goal and the will to fight for it."

She swept an arm at the assembly area. "So here! Now! In front of the whole school! You'll state your name and class and your goal for the year!"

"Eh?!"

"What's more, if you fail your goal, you'll have to confess to the girl you like naked!"

"Seriously?!" "That's extreme!" "We can't just-"

Kagami looked unimpressed. "That's it? It's not like it's a test." Then he hopped up on the railing before Riko could stop him, balanced on the edge and yelled, "Class 1B, 5! Kagami Taiga! I'll defeat the Generation of Miracles to become number 1 in Japan!"

Riko blinked - that had been easy. But maybe she shouldn't be surprised. It'd been clear even in practice that Kagami had no fear of dreaming big. He hopped back down as easily as he'd gone up and she looked at the other first years. "Who wants to go next? The teachers will be here soon so we'd better be fast-"

"Che, this is what you were so worried about?" Aomine said to Momoi. Passing Riko with fluid speed, he vaulted over the rail onto the narrow ledge between safety and empty air.

"Aomine Daiki! Class 1 D, 17! Number 1 in Japan? Don't make me laugh! The only one who can defeat me is me!"

Everyone on the roof gaped at Aomine as he leaped back over the rail. Did that count as a goal? Riko supposed not getting beaten by anyone except yourself was something concrete to aim for - but wasn't that a really weird way of phrasing it? And he didn't look like he was taking this seriously at all-

For the third time that morning, the door to the roof opened with a dramatic thump and the discipline teacher appeared, expression irate.

"Oi! You basketball brats again!"

"Eh?! So fast this year?!" She'd been counting on them to take another ten minutes to get up here at least!

"What do you idiots think you're doing?!"

After a long, angry lecture and a few not-very-serious threats to suspend the basketball club, they were reluctantly released and allowed to head back to class to explain to their teachers why they were all late. Riko followed the first years down the stairs, but on the third floor, where she would be splitting off to head to her own classroom, she stopped.

"Aomine. One more thing."

He turned and she held up his registration form. "I'll accept your oath and you're on the team. But I'm not letting you play in matches until you stop skipping practice. I won't send out a player who isn't serious about the game or the team."

Aomine looked annoyed. "Serious? I could score twice as much as any player on any team. Who's serious then?

Riko folded her arms. "We're not Teikou. That's not the only thing that's important in Seirin."

He stared at her and then looked around at the other first years, watching the exchange with wide eyes. Momoi, standing by Aomine, looked like she was torn between reaching for his arm or hiding her face. Standing behind him, nearly hidden, Kuroko wore the faintest signs of what might have been a frown.

"Che. You guys think you can aim for number 1 in Japan like that?" He jerked his chin at Kagami. "With him? Against them? Without me, you won't stand a chance."

Then he turned on his heel and stalked away, ignoring Momoi as she said, "Aomine! Don't-" and tried to pull him back.

Riko clenched her fist so hard the registration form she'd forgotten she was holding crumpled. "Let him go," she told Momoi and smiled. The other first years inched away from her, looking vaguely terrified. "Don't stand a chance, huh? We'll see about that."

So Aomine wasn't going to make this easy. Fine. Aida Riko had plans and no cocky first year brat was going to stand in their way.


The sky was dark, the school grounds silent and deserted when Kuroko arrived, so early that the gates were still locked and he had to climb over them. Fortunately, there was no one around to see him and he did not linger. He wasn't sure how long this was going to take and it wouldn't be good if a teacher caught him before he was done.

It took him some time to find what he needed in the storage shed at the back of the school, and maneuvering the field marker out of the tangle of old mops and netting knocked over a basket full of tennis balls instead. He finally cleared the mess and pulled the field marker out to the school field, where he stood for a moment and thought.

Is there a reason you're playing basketball?

Kuroko had spent the long month between middle school and high school asking himself the same question. He'd thought of quitting. What was basketball to him, in the aftermath of Teikou? But come the club fair, he'd filled in the basketball club form anyway.

He had to be honest with himself. He'd dreamed of beating and proving himself to the others, and maybe Aomine most of all. Victory was the only language they understood, and Teikou had made Kuroko as surely as it had made the others. If he wanted to face them again, make them think twice, it had to be on the court.

But Kuroko hadn't counted on Aomine being here too. He hadn't counted on standing on the same side, with - not against - him.

In one move, Momoi had changed the rules of the game for all of them.

He still didn't know if he could do this, but yesterday, on the roof, listening to Coach and Kagami and Aomine, he'd realised this much: he had never been ready to quit. Aomine had been the first person to teach him to not give up, and it'd taken him this far.

He hoped Coach would count this as an oath, even if he hadn't had the chance to shout it from the roof, and set out across the field.

Number 1 in Japan.

One way or another, Kuroko was going to see this through.