A/N: I do not own the characters. Unbetaed. For once, I have free time (not really), so I should probably write this before I'm bedridden with deadlines. Thank you for reading and following this story everybody.


Today there is a family gathering at the beach. Since Satsuki is a close family friend, Aomine's parents invited her to come along. At this point, Aomine is barely a budding teenager, and for Satsuki, she is relishing this wonderful period of his growth because it's an opportunity for her to make fun of his puberty voice.

Aomine, flustered, shouted, "Stop laughing!" Unfortunately his voice betrayed him at the end of his words, and instead of the fierce growl of a thirteen-year-old, his voice went a pitch higher, resembling the sound of a dying whale.

Satsuki couldn't take it in anymore. She exploded into a fit of giggles, mocking and pointing at her ridiculous friend.

"Y-your," she wiped away a tear from her eye, "v-voice cracked." One look at Aomine's blushing face made her laugh harder.

"Y-you-!" Aomine, quickly getting over his short-lived humiliation, gave chase.

Trying to satisfy his manliness, she did a fake shriek and ran away, grinning widely as he tried to reach for the pink strands of her hair. He would have caught them, too, if it wasn't for the fact that he overheard his aunt cooing over them.

"Satsuki is such a charming girl."

Aomine's mother simply nodded her head, agreeing with her sister. "She has been a great companion for my son."

"It's such a shame she's not connected to Daiki. They would have been lovely together."

Aomine stopped running altogether and stared at the adults. They were eating and chatting away as usual. His father is retelling a funny joke to his older brothers, and some of his older cousins are grouped together like a pack. It shouldn't bother him, but hearing his aunt's words did bother him. He stared back at Satsuki, who was tilting her head with a curious expression. He pursed his lips. His soul mate is not Satsuki, but surely his soul mate would be someone who would make his aunt and mother proud.

Therefore, he strode through the sand and faced the girl who would one day be one of the greatest basketball managers in history.

He declared boldly and pompously, "One day I'm going to meet my soul mate, and I'm going to love her more than you!"

Satsuki was taken aback. Thankfully she has practice with his indirect, roundabout way of speaking.

She gave him a cheeky smile and smacked her friend at the back of his head. He yelped a cry. "Stupid," she scoffed, "we both know that's almost impossible."

Aomine's smile could light up the whole of Japan. "That means it's possible, though." His voice cracked just a tad bit, but Satsuki decides to show some mercy. He has enough embarrassment for the day.

"Then you better start looking, lover boy."


Even if he was tortured with shock therapy or bribed with a million burgers, Kagami Taiga will never confess to anyone that Tatsuya was his first love.

"Take out your hand," Tatsuya ordered, "Here."

He dropped a silver ring into Kagami's hands. The boy with the weirdly shaped eyebrows queried, "What's this?"

"This is to symbolize our relationship as brothers," Tatsuya explained. "You can wear it as a necklace if it's too troublesome to play while wearing it."

Kagami fondled with the piece of jewelry affectionately. His heart fluttered, as if a small white butterfly was dancing within his chest.

"… Thank you Tatsuya." There was a lump in his throat, and if this was called happiness, he hopes that he will always remain by Tatsuya's side.


"Don't touch my hand," Aomine griped.

"I want to see if we're soul mates."

"We're not," he says. He knows they're not because his soul mate must require one or two of the requirements: His soul mate is good at basketball or has fantastic boobs.

The redhead he is currently dating does not fulfill neither, which prompts Aomine to think that she is a pain in the ass. The only reason he is holding her hand and treating her to dinner is because of Satsuki.

"I promise you'll like her Dai-chan."

"Let me guess," he flipped a page, "She has a great personality and totally understands my love for basketball."

"…"

"Nailed it."

The porn magazine he was reading was snatched right out of his hands. "Oi!" he exclaimed.

The data analyst rolled it up and threatened to smack it right into the crown of his head. Aomine shivered as he recalled her death glare.

"… Are you cold?"

Snapped out of his daydream, he dazedly looks down at his date. She is cute but definitely not his type.

"I'm not," he mutters back.

Suddenly, she asks, "You really don't want this, do you?"

Shit, Aomine panics, where's Satsuki when you need her?

"Then let's end this date, okay?"

"Huh?"

"I figured you would be the type to only focus on your soul mate." There was a pained, bitter smile on her face, but the girl continued on, "I really appreciated that you took the time to dress up and miss practice for me, though."

Practice doesn't matter to me anymore. Don't make the wrong assumptions.

She clasps his hands. "I'll forgive this terrible date, but in return, never lose sight of that special person, okay? If I had the right mind, I would have socked you by now."

Aomine was too surprised by the girl's maturity and could only stare at her retreating form with an open mouth.


Kagami was shooting some hoops until he heard someone clapping with fervor.

"That was amazing! Do it again!" A schoolgirl about the same age as him was excitedly jumping up and down while gripping the metal fence.

Kagami cocked one eyebrow. "Thanks?"

"Your form is so beautiful," she complimented. "You look like you have wings on your back whenever you jump." Kagami swore there were twinkling stars in her eyes, even if he was far away from her.

A fanatic? he wondered.

The random stranger kept on talking. "You would have been a good opponent for Aomine," she sighs wistfully. "The only good thing he has besides his looks is his basketball."

Kagami walk towards the pole and looked at the time on his phone. His eyes were wide like dinner plates. In a split second, he packed up and dashed out of the basketball court, bidding the mysterious girl a farewell. "Sorry, but I have somewhere to go!" The grocery store could close any minute now, and he needs some ingredients to cook tonight's food.

The girl simply sighed. "Basketball jocks are a handful."

"Hiroko-chan!"

Said girl looks at a panting Momoi moving towards her. "I heard," she recollected herself, "I heard you dissed Dai-chan."

Hiroko sheepishly scratched her cheek. "Did it dent his pride?"

Momoi laugh sounded like chime bells. "No, but he seems baffled by you."

"Good," Hiroko replies. She does a high-five with Momoi.

As they were walking home since they lived in the same direction, Hiroko mentioned about the awesome jumper she met moments ago.

She tried to reenact Kagami's leap towards the hoop. "Then he went pwah! And- oh my god- he must have been an airbender or something."

"He sounds quite interesting."

"Yeah! If only he could play against Aomine…" Hiroko clamped her mouth. She forgot about how sensitive this is to Momoi. Momoi, weary and burdened with a fractured team, gave Hiroko, who would move to another city in about two months, a friendly hug and looks forward to tomorrow.


Kagami stares at the red string. When he dreams about it, they turn into gruesome, psychological nightmares. In one, he was cocooned, trapped within its walls. In another, he would be a puppet, following destiny as if it was a part of the game.

Sometimes he wishes he was born without a string, but on the other hand, being the receiving end of pity irks him to no end because in society, having no string makes you seem unlovable.

"Like an abomination," he tells himself. He hears the Mario theme song playing in another room, which means that someone is calling him. He stands up, stretches, and searches for his phone. He turns on the phone before it stops playing the tune to indicate it was a missed call and presses the phone against his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Yes, I would like to order Pepperoni- what? Kuroko, you DON'T want Pepperoni?"

"Uh…"

"Hold on one second."

"But-"

"Hello? Are you still there?"

"Yes, but-"

"Good! Sorry for the inconvenience, but I would like to change my order to a Combination-"

Kagami could slightly hear the background. Based on what he heard, this "Kuroko" guy and "Aomine" caller, he just learned, are arguing over their pizza preferences. He should stop this ridiculousness. Before he could reveal his identity; however, this "Aomine" guy hung up on him.