April: Teiko Year One (Day One)

Kuroko Tetsuya's first day at Teiko passed without much of an incident.

In the morning, he had received a letter from Ogiwara. It was right outside his room when he went out. No doubt his mother had left it there before she left for work. He didn't quite have time to read it at home, so he brought it with him to school and read it while the other students were outside surveying the clubs.

Hey Kuroko! How are you doing? Have you already joined a club? Of course, I joined the basketball club! Let's both work hard so we can play in matches and fulfill our promise!

On the bottom right corner of the letter, a small basketball was quickly drawn. Though its design was quite simple, Kuroko couldn't help but smile as he imagined Ogiwara scribbling it on last minute as he ran to the post office.

Kuroko reread the letter one more time before slipping it back into the envelope and placing it back into his bag. "Of course," he said quietly, though there was no one around to hear him. "I, too, will join the basketball club."

With that in mind, Kuroko headed to class.

The teacher, as he had expected, didn't notice him at first. He had almost been marked absent, and when he went up to the front of the room to inform the teacher that he, in fact, was there, she nearly had a heart attack.

He felt bad for scaring her. She turned out to be a very nice lady, trying to help the students get situated into their new lives as junior high students. Her name was Yoshida, and after being told of Kuroko's lack of presence, she made an extra effort to include him.

Even though Kuroko knew that she did so partly because of it was her job, it still felt nice to be noticed once in awhile. Perhaps that was why he liked Ogiwara so much; he had been the first one to notice Kuroko in a long time.

The other students tried to include him as well, but for a much different reason than Yoshida's. They thought that the boy who seemed to be able to disappear at will was very amusing. They got him to disappear several times, squealing in delight every time it worked.

Kuroko didn't mind, at least, not at first. However, there was a certain amount of standing up and walking away that a person could take. Afterwards, when they started to see him better and lost interest in him, Kuroko found himself grateful for the lack of attention once again.

For lunch, the classroom became crowded as friends from other classes poured into his own to eat. It seemed that his class, Class 1-E, was the designated cafeteria of the year. After one of the students from the other class almost sat on him, Kuroko quickly grabbed his lunch and fled to a more secluded area.

The library would be quiet enough, Kuroko decided. Clutching the homemade lunch his mother had made for him in one hand, he took a shortcut through the courtyard. He had visited the school with his mother just the week before, so he more or less knew the layout of the entire school.

A movement caught his eye. There was a boy walking the opposite direction, and as he drew closer, Kuroko could see how tall he really was. Kuroko barely reached up to his chest, and the word 'titan' immediately came to mind.

The boy had purple hair and didn't seem to notice Kuroko, instead focusing all his energy on the pile of snacks in his arms. Kuroko step sided to allow him to pass, because there was no doubt that the boy would've just barreled through and crushed him.

Suddenly, Kuroko felt bad for all the ants and spiders he had accidently stepped on in his lifetime.

As the two passed each other, Kuroko could hear the boy mumbling to himself. "Should I buy more? But I already have so much." There was a silence. "I still have some money, but Mom will get angry if I come home with no money again. What should I do?" The boy pondered for awhile. "Maybe if I run up the stairs, Mom won't notice me."

Kuroko glanced over. Was the boy talking about buying more candy? But that couldn't be it, right? He already had a pile of sweets in his arms. Kuroko wouldn't have been able to finish everything, even if he had been given a month.

However, as the boy ripped off the candy wrapper and stuffed an entire chocolate bar into his mouth, Kuroko realized the two of them differed in every way possible.

Pushing the tall boy out of his mind, Kuroko hurried off to the library. It was mostly quiet, as none of the students had any homework to do on the first day of the year. Kuroko technically wasn't supposed to be there himself, as the library had a rather strict policy of 'no eating in the library,' but none of the librarians even looked up when he walked in.

Kuroko sat down on one of the tables in the back. Aside from him and the librarians, there was only one other person in the room. Kuroko glanced over. He had red hair and looked about Kuroko's height. He was bent over a piece of paper, scribbling down notes. Next to him, a large book lay open. From his viewpoint, Kuroko couldn't read what the book was about.

Catching himself staring, Kuroko quickly went back to his own activities. He ate quietly, spooning tiny portions of his food into his mouth, as he pulled out a sheet of paper. He would finish writing a letter to Ogiwara and would place it in the post office mailbox on his way home.

Grabbing his pencil, Kuroko quickly focused in on his letter as he let everything on his mind out. In contrast in Ogiwara's life, Kuroko's was rather quiet and boring, but he used his observational skills to spice up his letters. He wrote about everything he noticed. How Yoshida had a habit of wringing her hands as she talked. How the boy who sat behing Kuroko snored quietly during class.

Kuroko was so engrossed in writing that he didn't notice the crimson red eyes that flickered over and watched him.


April: Teiko Year One (Day Two)

The second day, like its predecessor, was quite ordinary, but Kuroko couldn't help but tremble in excitement, keeping his eyes glued on the clock as he counted the hours—and later, the minutes, down.

Today was the first day of clubs, which meant he could play basketball in a real club on a real time for the first time. He had Ogiwara's letters, of course, to tell him how it felt like, but there was nothing more amazing than being on a team yourself.

Kuroko ran to the gym as soon as the bell rang. Though he was not fast, by any means, he had the advantage of being able to slip easily through the crowds of people as they came out of their classrooms.

However, by the time he got to the gym, he found it completely packed. There was at least a couple hundred people crowded, whispering among each other. They were all dressed in basketball shorts and t-shirts, and most of them were at least half a head taller than Kuroko.

Kuroko stared around the room for awhile, before turning to the guy that was standing next to him. "Excuse me. Are the people here all trying to become members in the basketball club?"

The guy jumped, as Kuroko had expected. "Whoa! You surprised me!"

He was quiet, as if waiting for Kuroko to say something. An apology? Kuroko didn't know. When Kuroko didn't, the guy continued. "Yeah, they are. You didn't know? If you were in a basketball club, you should've heard of this school."

"I've never been in a club," Kuroko said quietly, but the boy either didn't hear him, or he didn't care, because Kuroko was ignored.

"This school's basketball club is incredible and has won the championship many times," the boy said, a prideful glint in his eyes. "The school's slogan is '100 matches, 100 victories.' Cool, huh? Imagine waving that motto around."

Kuroko nodded. He may have underestimated how good the school was. However, before he could say anything, the room fell silent. Shuffling around, Kuroko maneuvered himself to a position where he could see the front of the room. A stern looking man with glasses stood at the front, his eyes sweeping over the room.

"Welcome to the Teiko Middle School Basketball Club," the man said, his loud voice easily carrying through the otherwise silent gym. "If you want to play basketball here, you must engrain one thing into your mind: victory. Achieving victory is the premise of this club. Anyone who is not serious about this should go find another club."

The man paused, as if waiting for people to leave. No one did.

"To those of you remaining, you must be prepared for extremely difficult training! Before we begin, we'll begin by grouping you by class and testing you. We'll use the results of the test to put you into the first through third strings."

Kuroko had been expecting some sort of tryout, and this came as no surprise to him. What was surprising, though, was the fact that they took the effort to make sure everyone was able to play, even creating the lower strings. Ogiwara had told him that in his school, there was only a first string and a second string, and everyone who didn't make it into those two categories would be forced to give up basketball.

Though, then again, Kuroko hadn't been expecting so many people, so his image of the Teiko basketball club was obviously quite faulty.

"You'll only be able to play in matches as a regular if you're in the first string. Therefore, I'll be asking any newbies who are late and therefore not here at the moment to be joining the third string.

"You will be tested periodically. Therefore, those of you in the second and third strings should not give up and continue working hard with the goal of being promoted. That is all!"

The man nodded to a couple of people standing near the doorway, and they immediately began spreading themselves out around the gym. Each one of them was holding a sign that said one of the five classes.

Kuroko was about to head over to the sign that said 'class 1-E', but paused a little when he overheard some people talking in front of him.

"You know, apparently there's never been a freshman who's made the first string on the first try. And I heard that the upperclassmen this year are especially strong."

"Are you serious? Then, at best, it's the second string?" The boy looked slightly disappointed. "Well, let's aim for second string, then, and try to get promoted."

"Let's do our best."

Kuroko stared at their backs as they left to go to their respective classes. If the best the freshmen could get was the second string, then he wouldn't be able to play in matches. He would have to work hard, then, harder than anyone else, if he wanted to keep his promise with Ogiwara.

Mentally pepping himself up, Kuroko headed over to the 'Class 1-E' group.


Outside of the gym, unbeknownst to everyone inside, a blonde boy was walking along the path home. His eyes drooped lazily as he looked around for something, anything, interesting for him to do. Upon finding none, he gave a tired sigh and started trudging along when he heard loud noises coming from his right.

He turned around to look. It was a gym, and they seemed to be doing some sort of activity. The doors were closed, so he couldn't see what kind of sport it was, and he didn't want to be caught pressing his nose against the windows, trying to see what they were doing.

Besides, he, quite frankly, didn't care.

"Wow, they sure sound like they're having fun," he mumbled to himself. The people walking around him gave him funny looks, but he paid them no mind. "I wonder what club that is? Maybe it's basketball? But it could also be volleyball. Or maybe soccer. But they don't play soccer indoors, do they?" A pause. "Maybe I should join a sports club too."

The boy stared at the gym, as if debating whether or not to closer to the building. In the end, he chose not to, sighing once again as he turned his back to the gym. "But no matter what I try, it'll end up being easy for me anyway. And besides, Sis said that the modeling agency she sent my pictures to called back yesterday..."

And with that, the boy walked away, the gym and the sport being played inside long gone from his mind.


Kuroko stood in the back of the gym, panting. A #31 name tag was taped to his t-shirt, though even that was almost falling off from the amount of sweat he was producing. The man in the beginning hadn't been kidding when he said that practices were hard.

He wasn't performing his best, and he could see from the Coach's face that his opinion of Kuroko was quite low. When he played with Ogiwara, both of them were aware that Kuroko's stamina was not very high, so they made sure to take breaks often and keep themselves hydrated. Here, at Teiko, the tryouts went on without him. Time that he took trying to catch his breath was time lost to try and prove himself to the coach.

Kuroko could see that he was giving off a rather bad impression. He was not the fastest. He was not the best passer or the best shooter. He did not give off a strong, intimidating aura. He was, to put it simply, quite average in this group of players. It was easy to simply pass over him.

Not to mention, all of the players who wanted to join the club were better than Ogiwara. Kuroko already had his lack of presence, but playing with these excellent people, his skills were only further diminished.

When the coach informed them that the test was now over and told them to go back and rejoin the main group, Kuroko wasn't feeling too well. Not only had he pushed himself too hard that he almost wanted to just curl up and sleep on the floor, but he didn't think that the coach liked him too much.

Kuroko trudged slowly to the big group of people waiting in the middle of the gym, feeling that his legs might give out underneath him at any moment. He turned around every so often, as if expecting his sweat to leave a huge puddle behind him. It didn't help that the large number of people in the gym contributed to the heat.

As he was waiting, Kuroko could hear two people conversing next to him. "There was a guy in my group," one of the guys whispered. "He was so good. I don't know how he does it. One minute you think you have him trapped, but then he just dribbles and manages to get past you. He's so fast, too. I heard he almost broke the school mile record yesterday during gym."

"Yeah? Well, I had this guy in my group who just wouldn't miss his shots. I counted about fifteen three-pointers that all went in. It's hard for me to even shoot three consecutive ones without missing, and he hardly batted an eye at fifteen! Fifteen! That's forty-five points!"

The two of them continued to gossip about the supposedly two amazing individuals that had been in their group until a coach, different from the one that had spoken in the beginning, went up to the front of the gym. Everyone immediately quieted down.

"I'll announce the result of the test now. I'm going to start from the third string, so if you hear your name called, please go over to the third string coach over there."

The third string coach had dark hair, and unlike the coach who had spoke at before the tryouts began, he didn't look as strict. Well, Kuroko supposed that was only natural; the school only valued winning, and only the first string contributed to that. The third string members were basically just practice members playing for fun, and maybe trying to get promoted.

The man started to rattle off a list of names. "Number two, Saitou Nobuo. Number four..."

This went on for awhile, and Kuroko kept his fingers crossed. All people who took the test made it into one of the three strings, the coach had informed them. That meant that Kuroko wanted to hear his name called as late as possible.

"...Futoshi. Number twenty-eight, Shimada Shunsuke. Number thirty-nine, Tanaka Jun. And..."

Kuroko squeezed his eyes shut, praying to whoever was listening that he would make it through to at least the second string.

"Number thirty-one, Kuroko Tetsuya. That is all."

There was a hollow ringing in his ears and his name seemed to echo again and again. He could faintly here the sound of the coach moving onto the second string, and the people around him celebrating that they had managed to avoid the third string.

Kuroko gave a sigh and a small smile. 'Oh well,' he thought to himself. 'What is done is done.'

Ogiwara's letter flashed into his mind, and he frowned slightly.

Kuroko dragged himself over to the third string group. There was a guy spewing words out endlessly, looking far too happy for someone who had just been put in the lowest group. The other players didn't seem to be in the mood to talk to him, but he persisted, smiling at everyone and trying to get them to grin back at him.

He was all over the place and he ended up tripping over Kuroko's foot and falling face flat to the floor. Kuroko's eyes widened and he quickly bent down to help the boy up. However, to his amazement, the boy was still grinning even though there was a big red mark on his forehead.

"Hey! I didn't see you at all!" He accepted Kuroko's hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. "I'm number thirty-nine! Tanaka Jun! Nice to meet you! What's your name?"

In a way, Tanaka reminded Kuroko quite a bit of Ogiwara. Both of them were an endless bundle of energy, jumping all over the place with silly grins plastered on their faces. Kuroko found himself smiling slightly, despite his previous disappoint at not qualifying for a higher string.

"Kuroko Tetsuya," he introduced himself. "It's very nice to meet you, Tanaka-kun."

Tanaka frowned, looking deep in thought. He remained still for so long that Kuroko almost thought he had frozen into a statue. But, as Kuroko was debating whether or not to poke him to see whether or not he was still alive, Tanaka sprung back to life.

"Did you know," Tanaka said slowly and dramatically. "That if you spell your name backwards, you get Ayustet Okoruk?"

Kuroko blinked. That certainly hadn't been what he was expecting.

"My name backwards is Nuj Akanat, by the way," Tanaka continued cheerfully. "It's kind of cool, isn't it? And that guy, over there, his name is Shimada Shunsuke. His name backwards is—"

"Tanaka, shut up."

Tanaka pretended that he hadn't heard him. "What class are you in, Kuro-chan?"

Kuroko frowned slightly at the rather weird suffix, but chose not to comment on it. "I'm in Class 1-E."

"Whoa! Same! Yoshi-chan's class, right? I didn't see you at all, though! You're like, a ghost or something. Or maybe a ninja. Those are cooler, right?" A pause. "No way! You're that ghost boy, aren't you?!"

"Please call her Yoshida-sensei. It's rude to call her otherwise," Kuroko said bluntly. He didn't quite care what others called him, but he still felt that proper respect had to be given to those older.

"Ehhh, it's okay. Yoshi-chan doesn't mind."

It wasn't really a matter of whether or not she minded, and Kuroko was going to tell him so, when the guy named Shimada Shunsuke shushed them, nudging his head towards the coach. It seemed that he had finished announcing the second string members.

Surprisingly, four players still stood in the middle of the gym. Did that mean that they were not able to qualify even for the third string?

Kuroko recognized one of the guys standing there. It was the purple haired candy-loving titan that he had passed by in the courtyard. So that guy played basketball, too. Kuroko couldn't help but feel slightly envious at how tall the guy was. Basketball was a sport where height correlated to success.

"Next," the coach said. Everyone was staring at the four players, as if wondering if they were going to be punished or be forced to run laps. "I'll announce the first string members."

"EH?!" Tanaka yelled, earning him a punch in the side from Shimada. However, luckily for Tanaka, the other players were too busy gaping at the coach to even notice his rather loud yell.

"Did he just say 'first string'?"

"No way! I thought there'd never been a freshmen who had made first string on the first try before."

The coach rattled off four names. "Number thirty-eight, Aomine Daiki. Number eleven, Midorima Shintarou. Number twenty-three, Murasakibara Atsushi. Number twenty-nine, Akashi Seijuro. The four of you will be joining the first string from today onwards."

And that was the day the Generation of Miracles was born.


April: Teiko Year One (Day Three)

"No, I don't want your food, Satsuki. Do you want me to die?"

"You're so mean, Aomine-kun!" Momoi Satsuki huffed, trying to thrust her homemade food into his arms. Aomine Daiki quickly jumped out of the way and headed towards the roof with his childhood friend tailing him. "I spent all night making this for you!"

"My condolences to your mom for having to put up with that."

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Aomine glanced over his shoulder at her. "Why are you calling me Aomine-kun? It's weird. Stop it."

"Eh? But if I call you Dai-chan, people are going to talk!"

"So let them talk. Who cares?"

Momoi huffed, but had no sufficient counterargument for that. Aomine plopped himself onto the ground and Momoi sat next to him, a routine they had had ever since they were little kids. The two of them always ended up eating lunch together. Momoi, though she would never admit it out loud, was kind of glad that she and Aomine had gone to the same middle school. It was nice to see a familiar face.

"Anyway, congratulations on getting into the first string!" Momoi smiled. She had looked it up, and the fact that Teiko's basketball club was extremely strong was not exactly a secret. However, she had never had any doubt that her friend wouldn't make the team. She had watched him play since they were younger, and it was obvious, even to her untrained eye, that he was exceptional.

"Thanks." Aomine sat up, significantly more interested in this topic than he had about her food. Momoi had long figured out that the easiest way to make him do something was to bring basketball into the topic. Aomine was such a basketball fan that Momoi didn't think there was anything else in his head.

"What do you think of the other players that made it into the first string?" Momoi said, discretely pushing her lunchbox out of sight. She had thought to make it for him as a congratulation gift for making it into the first string, but no matter how hard she tried, her food was still black and disgusting. And now that Aomine's mood seemed much better, she decided that offering it again would only sully it.

"They're all great. We didn't really have a chance to talk that much, but I did get their names. Akashi, Murasakibara and Midorima."

Momoi smiled to herself as Aomine talked rapidly. It was unusual for Aomine to memorize a name after the first meeting. Usually, it took two or three meetings for him to match names to faces. The fact that Aomine was talking about them so easily symbolized how much he respected the other three players.

"Akashi is the point guard, Murasakibara is the center, and Midorima is the shooting guard. And I'm the power forward, of course." Aomine grinned proudly. "I heard that the power forward on the team is really good. Apparently, he got made a captain already, and he's only in his second year! I didn't have a chance to meet him yesterday, but I'll see him later."

Aomine glanced over at her. "You're in Class 1-D, right? That's the same class as Murasakibara?" Momoi nodded. "What's he like? I heard he face planted the door frame on his way in on the first day."

"Not exactly face planting, but he did bump his head slightly." Momoi thought of the purple giant in her class, trying to remember anything special she could tell Aomine. "He really likes candy and sweets. And, despite his looks, he acts pretty childishly." Momoi paused, and then added, "I don't think you two will get along very well."

Aomine blinked at her. "Why not? If you still think that I—"

"It has nothing to do with that," Momoi interrupted him before he no doubt spouted some nonsense and embarrassed himself again. "It's just that...he really doesn't like basketball."

Aomine froze, as if he heard the most life changing statement. And perhaps he had. After all, to him, not liking basketball was a crime. Not liking it and playing it was a crime. And not liking it and playing it and being so good at it was the biggest crime in his books.

"What do you mean, he doesn't like basketball? Did he specifically tell you that?"

"Well, no," Momoi fidgeted slightly under Aomine's intense stare. "But he's always complaining about being tired and not wanting to go to practice. And he didn't seem to be happy that he made it to the first string."

"You can't tell from that! Maybe he's just tired or something. The tryouts yesterday were hard. Give the guy a break."

Aomine looked so convinced that Momoi couldn't help but let the subject drop. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Besides, there's Midorima. He's got the ultimate poker face. If you want someone who didn't seem to be happy, you should've seen him. In fact, he almost looked unhappy, believe it or not. I talked to him for a couple of minutes, and he already lost me with all his horoscope stuff." He glanced over at Momoi. "How long have I been a Virgo?"

"You've always been a Virgo."

"You sure? I could've sworn I was a Leo."

"Just because you're unable to count doesn't mean your horoscope changes."

"Hey! I got into this school, didn't I?"

"For your basketball skills. Please don't think you're here because of your academic record."

This looked like it was going to escalate into another argument, so Momoi quickly changed the topic. Arguments with Aomine were never good. Not only was he persistent about winning, he often resorted to illogical arguments that made no sense.

She remembered one time, when they were little, Aomine was accused of breaking a vase. While it was not Aomine's fault, and nearly everyone there knew it, Aomine started spouting utter nonsense that ended up incriminating him for a crime that was not his fault.

She had told him to maybe try controlling his mouth once in a while. He hadn't listened.

"What about Akashi? You haven't mentioned him."

Aomine shrugged. "I don't know much about him. He barely talked. We just said hi and stuff, and then he moved on." Aomine's face suddenly lit up. "But I saw something as I was walking home yesterday. There was a limo parked in front of the school gate. A limo. And guess who got in? Akashi. Is his family rich or something?"

Momoi supposed they were. She didn't know for sure, but there weren't that many people who shared that exact same surname. "You've never heard of the Akashi group?"

"No? Do they sell basketball equipment or something?"

Momoi sighed. If the two of them hadn't been introduced to each other at such a young age, they probably would've never spoken to each other. He was the exact type of person she disliked; a bit stupid and entirely focused on basketball and nothing else.

She often wondered why she put up with him.

The two of them sat in silence for awhile. This was the first year that they weren't in the same class, so the only time the two of them got to saw each other was during lunch and when they walked home together afterschool. While Momoi didn't want to seem clingy, to suddenly have him not by her side for such long periods of time every day left a rather gaping hole.

"Oi, Satsuki," Aomine said, jolting her out of her thoughts. Momoi looked at him. "Where's that bomb of yours? Give it to me before I change my mind."

Momoi blinked. "Bomb?"

"Yeah." Aomine reached over and plucked the lunchbox from her side. "Listen, it's just this one time, okay? Stop making these and guilt-tripping me into eating them. It can't be healthy for me."

"I didn't guilt-trip you—" Momoi stopped as she watched Aomine open the box, wrinkle his nose in disgust at the charred object that was once supposed to be a potato. Taking a deep breath, he bravely put the object into his mouth.

Ah. So this was why she put up with him.

"What the hell is this?!" Aomine yelled. Although he didn't spit it out, he looked a bit green in the face. "There's liquid in here!"

"That may or may not be hot sauce."

Aomine's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "Who the hell puts hot sauce on anything?!"

"My mom suggested it—"

"Your mom is the devil!"

He glanced at her, his face turning an interesting shade of purple. It was as if someone had taken a paintbrush and painted over his skin. "If I die, I'm going to come back to haunt you. I'll steal your underwear and all that cool stuff ghosts do. You know those books where a ghost steals a girl's underwear and watches as she cries?"

No, she didn't know. "You wouldn't steal my underwear."

"You're right. That's like stealing from my mom." Aomine wrinkled his nose. "Yuck."

"See, compared to that, eating my lunch isn't that bad, right?" Momoi was doing a very bad job at concealing her smile that showed how much she appreciated the effort that Aomine was putting in to finish something he obviously hated.

"That's debatable. Actually, the underwear sounds more appealing right now. Is this peanut butter?!"

Nevertheless, despite his endless whining, he finished the lunchbox of doom before the lunch bell rang, symbolizing that classes were beginning. With a hand over his mouth, he sprinted full speed towards the bathroom.

Momoi watched as he ran down the hallway and made a sharp right turn, nearly crashing into three people. Sighing, she turned around and headed towards her class with an empty lunchbox in her arms, unable to keep the grin off of her face.

This was going to be a good year.


Still in the introduction stage, so might be a little boring. Just a heads up: this whole thing won't always be in Kuroko's point of view (like the last scene) because if you want to read everything from Kuroko's point of view, I'd recommend you just to go read the Teiko arc against (and cry with me).