Masashi hummed as she eagerly changed into her practice gear. She's tying the last knot on her sneakers when she heard the trill of her ringtone. "When will he learn about personal space?" Masashi pondered.

She tidied her stuff then walked out to find everyone already lined up and Riko tapping her foot.

"Ah, sorry Riko-Senpai!" Masashi called out, "I didn't think you'd miss me so much otherwise I would've changed faster."

A tick mark placed itself on Riko's forehead and the captain hurried to calm her down. All heads whipped Masashi's way as she skipped down to find a place in the line, keeping an ear out for the not-so-subtle whispers that were sure to come.

"Man she's hot!"

"You think she's gonna go for manager?"

"Nah, the other chick looks like the manager. She must be trying out for assistant manager."

Hyuuga, finished with calming Riko, called, "Respect your Senpai Kise-San."

"Sure thing Boss." Masashi lazily replied.

If possible, the whispers increased.

"Wait, did he say Kise-San? As in that hot-ass model?"

"Yeah man, but she's also a member of the Generation of Miracles!"

"Shit! Really? How'd a school like this scout her?"

Masashi grinned and stepped into the space between them, "Simple boys, it's the other way around. I scouted them." They blushed and suddenly found the floor very interesting.

"Well," clapped Riko, "I'm your coach Riko Aida-"

"Wah?! You mean that old dude ain't the coach?"

"No, that's our adviser Takashi-Sensei. Now, take off your shirts."

Despite the confused complaints from the males, they shrug off their shirts. Masashi goes to join them but Hyuuga spots her and hurriedly clamps a hand on her shoulder. "Ahh… not you Kise-San."

Masashi peeled off his hand and stated innocently, "But Hyuuga-Senpai. I've changed in front of guys before, why can't I now?"

He freezes and seems to take a while to process her words.

"Don't worry Hyuuga-Senpai, I have a sports bra on underneath and besides, I've modelled swimsuits before, I'm sure half the male population have seen me in a bikini." Masashi peeled of her shirt and dropped it by her feet just as Riko stepped in front of her.

What Riko saw astounded her. Even at a glance Riko could tell that Masashi's levels were through the roof. Masashi stood tall and looked at the far wall unflinchingly as she was examined. Riko took a close look at each finely toned limb and jotted down what she could. She could see that Masashi was built for speed and flexibility but by her firm stomach, the core, Riko could also conclude that Masashi had a great defence and attack power too. Riko shuddered at the thought that there were six more of these powerhouses roaming around and thanked whoever was out there that two decided to join her team. Riko was about to move on when she caught sight of Masashi's elbows, their stats were strangely low compared to her other joints. Masashi noticed how intently Riko was looking at her elbows. 'I hoped I could have kept my injury secret for longer, oh well. It was an idealism anyway.'

Just when Riko looked as though she was going to say something, Masashi shook her head, "I'll tell you after."

Unlike her colleagues, Riko understood instantly and moved on.

Masashi shrugged her shirt back on and dismissed her peers confused glances.

"Weirdo," she heard someone up the line, "These GoM bastards think they can get special treatment. She showed up late and other one didn't even bother. Though it looks like we got the weakest of the bunch. I've never heard of the guy and she left halfway through third year. The bastard must'a been kicked out."

Masashi's fists clenched. 'No! You have it all wrong! I left! I'm on your side!' She felt like screaming at him. 'What we did was sick. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I thought it was fun, but now… now I know it wasn't.'

Masashi's spiralling thoughts were cut off by a tap on her arm. Her downhearted eyes turned to the teal ones that displayed similar emotions, "don't listen Ki-San, we know now. We can fix it." Masashi smiled sadly but her response was cut off by the sound of a clipboard hitting the ground. Kuroko disappeared from Masashi's mind as she walked towards a stiff Riko. She whistled as she caught sight of her peer's chiseled abs. Not quite to Aomicchi's standards but close. She turned her gaze to the corresponding head and saw maroon hair, and split eyebrows. 'Definitely looks weird enough to be a Miracle. His aura is wild and untamed though. This tiger needs to be trained'. She looked at the dropped clipboard. 'Kagami Taiga. Trained in America? He's a late bloomer but he has the potential to be Kuroko's new partner."

Masashi looked up to find Kagami inches away from her face. Was he sniffing her? Kagami spoke, "why do you smell strong? Who are you?"

I blinked and grinned. "I'm Kise Masashi and I'm from the Generation of Miracles. That's why I'm strong."

Instead of the awed look she expected, she received a confused one instead. "The Generation of what?" Suffice to say, the room stilled. Masashi glanced around the shocked gym. Seeing that everyone was too dumbstruck to explain, she took the liberty of explaining it herself.

"The Generation of Miracles, or GoM for short, are seven exceptionally talented students, excluding their manager, that dominates this generation of basketball. We formed at Teiko middle school and played as regulars there. We've never lost a single game." I paused and decided how much to say, "however, we split up and joined different high schools at the order of our captain. The phantom sixth player Kuroko Tetsuya and the seventh winged player, me, teamed up and joined Serin while the others split off."

"Speaking of Kuroko," Riko changed subjects, "where is he?" Masashi sniggered as she cued his key phrase,

"I was here the whole time." Kuroko stated lamely in front of Riko. Riko squeaked before she screamed for the umpteenth time that day. Riko struggled to recover. "R-right. Take off your shirt.

Riko looked out the bus window as the dimly lit streets trotted by. 'For someone who is supposed to be in the Generation of Miracles his stats are astoundingly low. They're barely above average and he's almost reached his limit.' Riko felt a lump collapse beside her. Masashi looked straight ahead. "Don't write Kurocchi off so easily Riko-Senpai." Riko's eyes widened as Masashi easily guessed what played on her mind. "He was personally picked to be one of us you know and besides," Masashi's eyes slid towards Riko, "you haven't seen him play yet."

Rikos heart skipped a beat. The words themselves were harmless, but the person who spoke them was not. 'There's five more.' Riko pondered, 'if one alone radiates this amount of pressure what the hell are they like combined?'

Riko remembered something. "Your elbows. What happened to them."

Masashi took note on how Riko phrased the question as a statement. Showing she took her job as Coach seriously. "We took basketball seriously, some would say too seriously. I had a one-on-one with my brother late in the season. I got so frustrated at him because despite a deal we made, he had scored more goals than me in the previous match, stupid I know, but Akacchi made it into a competition. Whoever with the least points has to double their training regime. I had had a late shooting the night before and Ryouta had said that we'd score the same amount of points to half the training load. Except he didn't. I was so upset that I went into the zone during our one-on-one." Riko smothered a gasp.

"As you know, the zone amplifies your abilities tenfold." Masashi took a breath. "But what people don't know is that we only stay in it for a few minutes as what it also does is strip away our pain gauges which leaves you extremely viable to injury. In my anger, I stayed in it for far too long then took a nasty dunk; and that was that. I couldn't use my arms for the rest of the season. Ryouta still feels guilty too." The bus stopped and Masashi stood up. "Kurocchi and I came here together to take them down. Not with a solidarity style but with a team. Your team. Good night Rikocchi-Senpai."

Riko only nods dumbly as Masashi walks off the bus. Leaving her to her thoughts once again.