Can I Help You?
Chapter 2: Strangers.
"Yooosh! Practice over! Gather all your things and clean up immediate-!"
"Tetsu!"
Kagami turned his full attention away from the captain's words as he heard the familiar worry-wart tone Shige only used when it came to Tetsuya. The redhead shifted, immediately trying to find the easily most-concealed person in the entire court. And true to his thoughts, Tetsuya was bound to be spotted whenever Shige was with him, hugging him as if he was some sort of a humanoid teddy bear. But unlike the usual clingy hugs his friend always seemed to like giving to both Tetsuya and Kagami, he was actually looking extremely worried.
Shige's hands found their way to Tetsuya's shoulders, lightly gripping him as the Moon of Meikou shed tears that seemed to be leaking from his eyes without his consent.
"Tetsuya!" Kagami, of course, ran to him worriedly. It was rare to see Tetsuya display any kinds of emotions outside of their small circle of friends, after all. He usually only showed his abundant expressions to him or to Shige only, and he certainly never cried in front of the whole team. "Tetsu? Tetsu? Please, what's going on? Are you hurting? Are you tired?" Shige tattled, panicking all by himself. But Kagami took a deep breath and approached Tetsuya with a pat on his head.
"What's wrong, Tetsuya?" He asked calmly.
Tetsuya looked up to him, azure orbs full of confusion and curiosity as he rubbed the tears that kept on leaking from his eyes. "I don't understand myself, Taiga-kun." The blue-haired teen said, still rubbing his tears away. "It's just that, I don't know, it suddenly..."
"Captaiiin! Tetsu, Taiga, and I are going to Tokyo so we won't be back to the dorm until late at night! Good day!" Shige then grabbed both his and Tetsu's arms and dragged them to the locker room.
Kagami should have expected it from Shige, though. The kid was always the most energetic among the three of them. Taiga first met him during his transfer to Meikou Middle in the second term of the first year. He had been lured in by the strange rumor about the Sun-Moon Combo of the basketball team which was also rumored to be boyfriends with one another. He met Shige first, and then met Tetsuya right after a startling entrance the quiet boy had made.
The three of them turned out to be the best of friends, with Kagami somehow worming in between the two childhood friends. He and Shige would bicker, Tetsuya will listen and chuckle quietly to add to their conversation.
The redhead peered worriedly towards his friend, who was still wiping his face off with towels. "Hey, you-"
"I am fine, Taiga-kun. It's just that I am really confused as to why I'm crying, that's all." Tetsuya always disliked it whenever he tattled on him, and it brought a smile to Kagami's face. Being a tittle-tattle was Shige's job, after all.
They settled into a comfortable silence as they changed their clothes. And just when they were finished, Shige barged into the room with his usual loud entrance. "Okay! We're going to Tokyo today!" Both redhead and tealhead was about to sound a protest before the airheaded guy shushed them. "No buts! Tetsu is feeling down and as per our agreement, we will go to Majiba, where we first hang out. Deal?"
Tetsuya sighed to himself before nodding slightly towards Kagami, who nodded in return. It was hard to argue with Shige when he absolutely wanted something, after all. "Okay, fine! But I need to take my wallet first, I left it at the dorm today." Shige beamed. "Sweet! I'll go with the earliest train and go there first so I can save a good spot, okay? You guys go with the next train!" And with that, Shige waved them a cheery goodbye and left the room like a flurry of wind.
Tetsuya sighed as he mumbled loud enough for the both of them to hear.
"Remind me why I choose to rarely get upset again?"
Kagami laughed merrily. After all, it's just like Shige to drag them two towns away from home just to cheer them up when they feel down.
The wind seemed to sound really loud in Aomine's ears as Tetsu asked him who he was.
His heart wrenched, twisted, and bent in a really weird way within his chest. He could hear Tetsu's usual quiet call of 'Aomine-kun' whenever they were together, but... It was followed with a really loud echo of 'May I ask who you are?' he just uttered a few moments earlier. But, but it was weird! If this was really two-weeks before the Inter-Middle, then his name as the Generation of Miracles should already spread out throughout the entire Japan. But, how come Tetsu didn't know who he was? Could it be that he stopped playing basketball?
"Oi, Tetsu, are you-"
Ring ring ring~
A perfectly ordinary-sounding ringtone sounded from Tetsu's pocket and it made Aomine clench his fists in sheer dislike of the unfamiliar. Tetsu never carried his cell phone around on his pocket, he always placed it within his bag on the rare days he even brought them. And he seemed really good at handling his phone, unlike the usually slow and klutzy way of typing Aomine had held dear.
"I apologize, but I have to take this." Tetsu turned away from both redhead and navy-haired teen as he flipped his phone open.
Aomine stood silently, still washed from the entire unfamiliar display of mundane everyday life. Talking to Tetsu had always been something he took for granted, as the blue-haired phantom seemed to always follow him wherever he went like some sort of shadow. Aomine had liked it, Satsuki had loved it, and the others had expected it. After all, as a shadow, Tetsu was bound to gravitate towards people who emitted strong lights.
And that led him into casting a curious glance every now and then to the boy who was standing beside Tetsu.
He must've been close to Tetsu. After all, his shadow hated to be addressed over-familiarly by people who were not close to him personally. Well, hate wasn't the right word, he guessed; because Tetsu didn't hate anyone, just mildly dislike them...
The redhead, he noticed, also casted him a few curious glance. They emitted the same aura, if Aomine were to be honest and not being an prideful jerk. They were of the same build, their height was balanced (but he was still an inch taller), and most of all, he reeked of talent.
Aomine could sense it from miles away. This guy had potential to go into a state of concentration so powerful it literally boosted your entire performance, the Zone.
The ace of Teikou shook his head slightly before turning his head back to his phantom, who was holding his phone a few meters away from his ear. "Yes, yes, sorry, Shigehiro-kun." Tetsu smiled to the phone as he sighed softly. "Taiga-kun and I will be coming soon, okay? And..." Navy blue met with azure in a silent yet solemn stare before Tetsu averted his eyes away.
"Do you mind getting us a four-person booth? I think we will have another person joining us."
If Aomine thought that his heart had twisted and twinge in such an odd way when Tetsu asked him who he was, he was positively sure that his heart had been thrown with a ton of melted lava when they sat on their favorite spot in Maji Burgers.
The four-person booth at the right corner of Maji Burgers was his, Satsuki, Kise, and Tetsu's favorite place to hang out and trade out silly stories or even study for exams. They even scribbled their names on the wall without being caught by the store employee, but Aomine couldn't see the scribble at all. He- they never went here...
The sitting arrangement was quite awkward, per se. After all, he and the redhead (they still hadn't introduce themselves) were as big as one another, and Ogiwara; Aomine still remembered him from the time he let this guy passed him so they could have the perfect 111-11 score, refused to sit next to people other than Tetsu.
And this was the main reason why Aomine felt like a melted lava was being poured all over his gut.
Ogiwara sat really close to Tetsu, as in really close because the kid was practically shoving Tetsu's head onto his chest and put his cheek on top of Tetsu's teal hair. He smiled contently for a few minutes, as if enjoying the faint aroma of Tetsu's vanilla-scented shampoo and then fixed his baby blue eyes on Aomine's face.
"Aaaand since when did you guys become friends with Teikou Middle's Aomine-kun?" He started, breaking the silence that had settled down on the table. This kid knew him.
"Teikou's Aomine?" The redhead echoed back, still not recognizing the name. "Yeah, Teikou's Generation of Miracles' ace, Aomine Daiki-kun." The raven-haired boy said as he finally let go of his shadow as he could finally enjoy the white tumbler Ogiwara had prepared for him before their arrival.
As baby blue orbs clashed with navy ones, Aomine swore that he could see a glint of disdain before it eased back to cheerfulness and curiosity. "We haven't been introduced, have we? Stupid!" Ogiwara laughed all by himself as he offered his pale hand. "Ogiwara Shigehiro, Meikou's lucky number 7! Nice to meet you!"
Aomine peered at the boy he had broken last year (according to his memory). His confident grin and the way his other hand settled on Tetsu's free hand made him feel angry and irritated. But when he glanced at Tetsu, his phantom seemed to not mind it at all and the redhead next to him didn't even seem to acknowledge the fact that these guys were holding hands like nothing was wrong.
"Aomine Daiki, Teikou's number 6." He didn't take the offered hand or smile in return. His gaze burned on the hand that held his shadow's own. "And seemed like you know Tetsu-" Tetsu?! "-already, right? So the only person you still don't know is this guy with weird eyebrows." He pointed at the redhead with a faked frown. "Hey! Who're you calling weird you airheaded pig?!" The redhead jabbed, but it didn't sound malicious at all. It sounded like a playful banter he'd exchange with Kise or Satsuki.
"But, yeah, anyways, I'm Kagami Taiga. I just become Meikou's number 10 along with Tetsuya over there, who just got promoted to Meikou's number 11." A faint pink blush crept on Tetsu's face even though he was still silent. Ogiwara, who noticed the change at the same time as him, beamed happily and kissed Tetsu on the cheek that blushed.
Aomine's fists trembled on top of his lap.
"Yeah," The redhead- Kagami whispered quietly, as if finding the scene cute and boring at the same time. "They're always like that."
Aomine Daiki didn't know a shred of thing about love. Not about the jealousy, not about the pain, and certainly not about jealousy. But when Tetsu mildly scold Ogiwara for nearly knocking over his milkshake with a warm lingering smile that was once reserved for him and him alone, he found himself shaken up to his very core. He was wrong. He had taken Tetsu for granted. And it never cross his mind that seeing Tetsu not-recognizing him and being so friendly with others, or even hearing somebody else call him with the name that only he and Satsuki had used... had hurt.
Suddenly, Aomine's vision was blurred by something. He clenched his fists even tighter than before. Whenever his heart pounded, it felt like it was drowning in scalding hot water. His eyes felt hot, and heavy, and-
"Excuse me," Tetsu said as he tilted his head to the right, a habit that Aomine had noticed whenever Tetsu was asking a question. "Why are you crying, um, Aomine-kun?"
Silent tears leaked from his eyes as he reveled in the blank-sounding call of 'Aomine-kun' uttered from his shadow's mouth. Ah, no, not his shadow... this Tetsu was not his shadow...
This Tetsu and him were strangers, and there was no reason for a stranger to feel genuinely concerned for another stranger, right?
THE ANGST IS KILLING ME DDDXXXX