This chapter is dedicated to emilytheaquarius for her encouragement.
A month went by and Mitobe was genuinely relieved that he received no messages for Imayoshi Shoichi. Then, one Friday evening, way past a normal high school student's bedtime, his phone vibrated silently on the living room table.
[Next Friday, Yami no Kaffee, 20:00, Don't forget the sweets]
Yami no Kaffee was on the second floor, above a pharmacy, and Mitobe walked past it three times before he recognized Takao waiting on a bench, playing with his cell phone.
"I was wondering if you were debating coming up or if you were lost."
Lost, Mitobe's shoulders slumped.
"I couldn't believe it when Imayoshi said you were coming," he laughed. "But, well, I'm glad you did. Come on, I'll show you the way up."
Takao led Mitobe into the pharmacy, waved to the clerk behind the counter, and took the back hallway to a well-hidden stair case. The room was long and narrow, and so dark that the walls might as well have been stained the color of black coffee.
Why didn't I tell anyone where I was going? What if this is some sort of Yakuza establishment? I'll miss you Koganei. Avenge my death...
Imayoshi and Kasamatsu sat at a four-top at the far end of the room. Four bowls of ramen, a plate of sushi, and demitasse of black coffee waited at each place. Kasamatsu had his head stuck in a book called Hoyle's Modern Encyclopedia of Card Games. Imayoshi sat with his back to the far wall and tried to get a look at what Mitobe was carrying without looking like he was looking.
"See, I told y'all he'd show. I might not know much about our soon-to-be friend Mitobe-kun, but I know decent folk when I spot 'em."
"All the better to deceive them, Saint?" Takao asked, offering Mitobe the choice of the two remaining seats.
Across from Imayosh? Or across from Kasamatsu, putting Imayoshi to my left? Mitobe debated. What was it we learned in biology? If you keep eye contact with a predator, it says you're not prey, right? He took the seat across from Imayoshi.
The mochi, all twelve of them, were gone less than a minute after Mitobe had opened the box.
"You can stay, I don't even care if you never play cards," Kasamatsu said. "Just keep bringing stuff like this, and I'll declare you the winner every time."
I win? Wait, we didn't even start yet. Mitobe chuckled.
"It's as fair a way to judge the winner as any, I guess," Imayoshi chuckled.
"You see, Mitobe-kun, we're not very good at cards," Takao confessed. "In fact, we suck at poker. I've never won a single game, and it's not because I'm less skilled then any of the others, it's just that we ..."
"What he means to say, is that if Kasamatsu picks the game, as he will tonight, most of our time will be spent tryin' to figure out the rules," Imayoshi finished.
"It's no better when you pick," Kasamatsu glared at Imayoshi. "You always pick games that take too long to play."
They're just like big kids, ok, I think I can handle this. The silent man exhaled some of the nervousness he'd been holding inside.
"And Takao needlessly chatters through games, making us forget whose turn it is," Imayoshi said, ignoring the hostility in Kasamatsu's gaze. "We're all hopeless, but we have fun and, as a side benefit, we're free to complain about our Generation of Miracles teammates as much as we want. Now Mitobe-kun, we need to go over a couple of house rules."
"One: We don't talk about Poker Club. What's said at Poker Club, stays at Poker Club," Takao barked in English.
"You have to pick one bad quote, Takao. Either this is Las Vegas or it's Fight Club. It can't be both," Kasamatsu groaned. "In other words, don't talk... um... tell... um, whatever it is you do, about what goes on here to anyone, not even friends or family."
"You'll have to excuse them. Takao switches into English whenever possible and Kasamatsu has a very short fuse," Imayoshi explained.
"I do not!" Kasamatsu said, and threw the rule book at the former Tōō captain.
"Oh good, then I'll pick the game tonight, shall I?"
"Two," Takao continued, as if this spectacle was normal. "You have to share at least one embarrassing or funny story about your member-of-the-Generation-of-Miracles teammate."
"How's he going to even do that?" Kasamatsu wondered. "Can you even talk?"
"He communicates just fine, Pacifist," Imayoshi taunted, "You just gotta listen carefully."
"Three: we all have ironic nicknames, and you will be given one before the night is over," Takao continued his enumeration. "And last, but not least, we rotate who picks the games each time. That's it. That's us: The Point Guard Poker Players!"
"Do you have a three?" Imayoshi asked as he peered over the top of his cards at Kasamatsu.
"Of course I have threes," the former Kaijō captain snapped. He grabbed the cards and threw them down on the table. "I can't believe you picked this stupid kids game, Saint."
"Why thank you, Pacifist," the Imayoshi said, his smile spreading as he collected his bounty and discarded onto the pile at the center of the table.
"How about you Chatterbox, you got any Queens?" Kasamatsu asked Mitobe.
"Chatterbox! I love it!" Takao squealed.
"Chatterbox it is," Imayoshi agreed. He took a long sip of his coffee as he watched Chatterbox examine his cards.
Nope, Mitobe shook his head with a timid smile. No Queens. Go fish!
"Ugh," Kasamatsu complained, drawing yet another card from the pile. "Anyway, it's your turn. I want to hear an embarrassing story about Kuroko."
He'd been dreading that topic all night. He really couldn't think of a single thing that Kuroko had done. He took out his phone and began typing out the only thing he could think of that might fit the build:
[Since Kuroko is invisible, it's hard to catch him doing something embarrassing. But he does like to pretend he's been in the room the whole time when he's just barely made it on time to hear someone wonder where he is. But when he's all out of breath and panting it is pretty obvious that he's lying.] He hit send, and all three phones he'd sent the text to alerted their owners simultaneously in very different ways. Imayoshi's phone vibrated quietly; Kasamatsu's phone played a guitar riff, and the last played a clip of Midorima's voice sternly saying Takao's name.
Each man took a moment to read the text.
"It's not fair that you have the quiet, well-behaved Generation of Miracles," Kasamatsu whined.
[He's got scary bed-head too.] Mitobe texted quickly.
"If you want an embarrassing story, I've got -" Takao began.
"No one wants to hear your 'how cute' awkward Shin-chan is stories, Bat, so just stop before we ban you again," Kasamatsu said.
"Aww, you never let me share!"
"Once you ask him out, you may share non-sexual embarrassing stories. Until that time, you are denied," Imayoshi declared.
Takao and Midorima? The thought was clearly written across Mitobe's face.
"We take all kinds here, Chatterbox, is that alright with you?" Imayoshi asked, his eyes opening just a fraction more than usual.
Whom am I to judge? Mitobe smiled gently. I'm a freak who doesn't speak. Oh no, now I sound as bad as Izuki!
"I think you'll get along with us just fine," Imayoshi grinned.
Kasamatsu gathered up all the dishes from the table while Takao balanced the empty cups on a tray and took them to the bar. Imayoshi wiped down the, table and Mitobe swept the area around them.
"So what do you think, Chatterbox, will you join us again? We meet about every two weeks, except for holidays and during exams," Kasamatsu asked as they finished gathering up all they'd brought with them in preparation to leave.
I'd like that, Mitobe nodded.
"Cool," Kaijō's former Point Guard said. "We've been kinda lackluster ever since, Firecracker, er, um, Kasuga Ryūhei of Seiho graduated and went away to college. Our foursome ended up a threesome, and that makes it hard to play the cooler games."
Mitobe reached out and patted Kasamatsu on the shoulder.
It's hard when our friends move on, isn't it? I won't try to replace him, but I hope I can fill the gap.