A.N.: If you're curious about the mention of a moonwalking bear in this chapter, google awareness test: moonwalking bear.


Chapter Two


A team is a balance of individual parts, each with its own characteristics and patterns. The parts move and interact with each other to form a greater design, a moving ensemble specific to every team. No two basketball teams were ever the same.

The design may revolve around an ace player, like planets orbiting the sun; if it revolves around two or three key players, the orbit becomes more complex, weaving and changing centre. It may be that every player possesses the same gravitational pull, and the team moves in a delicate balance, each individual forming an intricate trajectory around the others. One thing is clear: whatever the form of the team, the patterns of the parts are intertwined with each other in such a way that when one moves, the others must adjust.

Teiko hadn't been a team. Each player was its own unmovable Sun, powerful and completely independent and isolated from the others. The space between them had been cold and empty; as if they had drifted so far apart they didn't feel each other's pull anymore. I, the lone comet flitting between them, trying to use my meager gravity to bring them back together, had been doomed to failure from the very start.

Seirin was the complete opposite. Despite being a young team, they were strongly intertwined, almost moving in tandem. I also noticed a peculiarity, a missing piece as Seirin reordered its pattern to include the new arrivals. There was a black hole in this team: a force that exerted a pull over the other players, even though there was nothing there to cause it. Kagami filled that gap to an extent, but I couldn't shake off the feeling that the team wasn't complete.

Ah. The old Seirin had made it to the final Interhigh with six players, but of those six, only five were present this year - that explained the hole: one of them had left. It would take some time for the team to adjust to that person's absence, just like adjusting to Kagami's enormous gravitational pull or my subtle, almost non-existing presence.

Then there was Riko – there was no denying that she was gifted. In any sport, the coach played a special role: at the same time inside and outside the pattern, they could build the team to its zenith or destroy it completely. Riko paid attention to each part and how they fitted together, tried to visualize the form of the final design and push us towards it. I could catch glimpses of our potential reflected in her eyes; her sight reached further than any of us into what we could become, and with every practice she brought us one step closer towards that vision.

Seirin was a good team. Whether they were good enough to shoot for the best in Japan was questionable, but they got points for spirit. And truly, their goal didn't seem any more impossible than me defeating the Miracles, in fact the two things were sort of interchangeable, but the way they phrased it was more romantic.

I lay in my bed in my empty apartment, staring at the ceiling as I rolled the idea in my mind.

Thinking of the Miracles always left a tangy, unpleasant aftertaste in the back of my tongue. Even the good memories were tainted with regret and bitterness. I had decided to defeat them because it was the only way I could think of to make them understand, to make them see; at the same time some part of me had already given up, convinced that those years were lost and even if I won they wouldn't ever really come back.

I would defeat them because it was my duty; because I couldn't forgive myself if I didn't at least try. Succeeding wouldn't make me happy. I didn't want to make them experience the despair and disappointment that came with loss but I had to, out of respect for myself and for Momoi and for the old Teiko that had been my sanctuary.

I'd been so centered on the past I hadn't realized that Seirin had another goal entirely - a goal in the future.

Best in Japan.

It had a nice ring to it.

Teiko wasn't my team anymore. I tried speaking it out loud to the basketball merchandise on my shelves. "Best in Japan."

It would take some time for me to stop looking backwards but perhaps I could make an effort. Perhaps I could make this about Kagami and Seirin instead of a team that no longer existed and would probably never exist again.

I got up from the bed and slid my feet into my sneakers. It was already dark outside, a bit late to go out, but I slipped a coat on and made my way back to school.

I spent the majority of that night writing in huge letters on the school courtyard with a broken piece of branch. It was only polite to follow my new team's traditions, after all. The next morning, the entire school was in an uproar about my message. Speculations flew around as to who had written it and what it was referring to – there was even a story about the ghost of the principal's long-dead lover seeking revenge or something equally absurd. It became known as the Seventh Mystery of Seirin High.

I watched Kagami as he went to stand by the window to check out the commotion, his grin widening when he saw it. He came back to his desk and splayed on his chair. "Good job, Kuroko," he commented smugly. "But you didn't sign it."

"I forgot."

"One more thing." He leaned forward intently. "It's not want. It's will. You will make us the best in Japan."

I bit on the end of my pen, hiding a smile.

"What's so funny?" he growled.

"I'm glad I chose you, Kagami-kun."

His eyebrow twitched, and he leaned away from me. "Weirdo," he muttered, shaking his head.


The Maji Burger conversations, part two

Team trainings happened three times per week: on Monday, Wednesday and Friday after school, from four to six p.m. They left me feeling like a corpse afterwards. All the boys looked exhausted usually, but I was the only one who collapsed as soon as the final whistle blew and had to lie there on the ground for nearly ten minutes before I was able to even think about moving again. Kagami made fun of me for it, calling me "Weak-o Kurok-o" which even Izuki, the resident pun enthusiast, found lame. Unfortunately I was too busy trying to get air back into my lungs to articulate a proper comeback.

He had a point, though. My stamina was an embarrassment. As was nearly everything else except my passes.

Thus was my new life as a high school student. Get up, get dressed, go to school. Go to training, die in training, revive with Maji's vanilla shakes. So far, no one in the team had commented on my being too feminine or anything of the sort, so that was going well.

I often met Kagami at Maji's and we sat together. We didn't talk much, but when we did, it was invariably about the Miracles and strategies to defeat them. He was especially interested in Aomine – though that was the topic I was more reluctant to breach, and I usually directed his attention elsewhere.

"How do you do it?" he asked me once.

"Do what?"

"The ghost thing."

The ghost thing. Really. I slurped my shake, trying not to feel insulted. "It's not so hard. I have a weak presence."

He frowned. "But during a game it's different. There are only ten players, everyone is focused on the court, how can you disappear just like that?"

I picked up one of my fries, dipped it in ketchup, and threw it at his jacket. "Hey!" he protested, looking down at his chest. I ducked under the table. His legs shifted as he looked up. "What do- Kuroko?"

I waited crouching for a few seconds while he looked around in confusion, then slammed my fist on his knee. He startled and started to bend down, his hands blindly groping under the table; I came back up to my seat. When Kagami finally lifted his head, I picked up a new fry and popped it in my mouth.

He stared at me incredulously while I continued eating. "Idiot!" he exclaimed, reaching across the table to hit me on the head, almost making me choke. "Did you have to ruin my uniform?"

"You're the one who asked."

"And it still doesn't make sense," he continued, steamrolling over my protest. "In a game you can't distract others by throwing shit at them."

I sighed, not quite in the mood to explain the intricacies of misdirection. How the human brain was flawed and would discard sensory information on the basis that it wasn't relevant. How I was good at telling where someone's attention was and all the little tricks to make them focus on what I wanted them to. How misdirection was easy when Kagami himself was on the court, simply because he drew the opposing players' focus to him. How I was shorter than everyone else, so I could effectively hide behind others. How I cared for my shoes so they didn't squeak or make much noise, how I never touched the ball in the first few minutes of a game, how I never shouted or yelled or expressed strong emotions or did anything to call attention to myself.

"It's a trade secret," I decided.

He slammed his hands down on the table. "You're just too lazy to explain, aren't you?"

Geez. No need to be so violent. "Fine. I'm a moonwalking bear."

"What kind of explanation is that!"

So I got out my phone and showed him the video.

I watched his expression morph into a concentrated frown while I sucked on my straw. "These guys suck," he muttered under his breath, his eyes roving all over the screen. He grinned smugly, then frowned in confusion, then his eyes widened in understanding, and finally he looked pensive.

He had a very expressive face. It was probably the eyebrows.

"It's easy to miss something you're not looking for," he read in English. "Huh." He handed the phone back, and we didn't speak for some time.

Finally my curiosity got the better of me. "Can you see me on the court, Kagami-kun?"

I'd wondered, because while he didn't look directly at me or gave any indication that he knew I was there, so far he had never fumbled my passes. Which was strange because the whole point of misdirection was to move the ball in unexpected ways, redirecting and changing targets. The other Seirin players and even the Miracles (barring Aomine) caught my passes on pure one-synapse reflex; but Kagami was always ready, like he expected them.

He scratched his head. "Sometimes. Most of the time though, I just sort of… guess where you are. It gets easier the more we play," he confessed. His red eyes slanted towards me, unsure.

He quickly looked away when I met his gaze. So I wasn't the only one that found it ridiculously easy to read his movements and predict them. He could predict mine too. It was reassuring in a way, but also kind of unnatural to have found a rhythm so soon. With Aomine, it had taken much longer.

We finished the rest of our meal in silence, each to our own thoughts.


Another day, another gruesome practice, another time I found myself lying on the ground half-dead. I focused on the sensation of the cool parquet against my cheek, ignoring everything else.

I seriously needed to do something about my stamina. Riko kept pointing it out to me but the practices left me so drained and sore I had to make a huge effort to drag myself to school the following day, let alone find the strength to go jogging.

I was vaguely aware of Hyuga talking about a team dinner. I could barely hear him over the complaints of sore muscles and pleads for water from the rest of the team. Hyuga's voice grew more and more frustrated, until he finally snapped. "I said listen, you worthless pieces of shit!"

Everyone shut up. I kept my eyes closed, thankful for the momentary peace.

"You will drag your ugly mugs to this restaurant where we are going to bond as a team and I swear if I hear you complaining one more time I'm going to snap you in half, you pathetic little worms."

Hyuga sometimes got like this. I had yet to see it happen while he played, but I had a feeling it would be legendary.

"Well?"

"Hai, Captain!"

Hyuga stalked off to talk to Riko while the rest of us continued to be terrified.

"But I'm still thirsty," Kagami grumbled, barely audible. "We should get a manager."

Izuki whispered something back. In fact, there suddenly seemed to be a lot of whispering around me. I frowned, still unwilling to open my eyes.

Someone cleared their throat. "Is there anything we can help you with?" Hyuga called, back to a pleasant tone.

Light, familiar footsteps echoed in the vastness of the gym. "Well, I'm just here to see my boyfriend," a sweet voice replied. My muscles tensed up before resignation washed over me. I decided I didn't have the strength to care about whatever she was trying to pull today.

I had a fairly good idea anyway. I should have guessed this would happen when I baited her about Kagami.

"Your boyfriend?" It came in a higher pitch than normal, and Hyuga cleared his throat again. I pictured his eyes sweeping over the players lying around on the floor, wondering which of us miserable worms it was.

"Yes." She giggled, and the light steps approached me. A shadow passed over my eyelids as someone crouched over me. "Wakey-wakey, Tetsu-kun."

I cracked open one eye. Momoi's face was angelic. It didn't fool me for a moment. "Hi, Momoi-chan."

She giggled and placed a water bottle on my forehead. "I thought you might be thirsty."

I was, actually, so I took the bottle and sat up, grunting. As I chugged water down I could practically hear the sounds of jaws hitting the floor around us.

"What the hell, Kuroko?" Kagami roared. "Since when do you have a girlfriend?"

There were similar exclamations from other team members as well as heartbroken sobbing. "Hey, hey," Koganei approached Momoi, "what do you like about that shorty? Go out with me instead." He seemed physically unable to raise his eyes further than her chest, as if they had gotten trapped there.

She smiled cutely, bringing a delicate hand to her lips, seemingly unaware of the spike of testosterone in the room. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid Tetsu-kun is the only man for me."

Koganei turned and started wailing. "Why? Why does the pathetic invisible guy get the hot girlfriend with the rack? Why God, why?"

"Hey!" she protested. "My Tetsu-kun isn't pathetic. He's very handsome."

"She's not my girlfriend," I added as I painfully got to my feet.

"Aww, you're so mean," she pouted, grabbing my bicep and pressing her breasts against it. "After all the times I spent the night at your place."

Silence.

It wasn't technically a lie, but... Momoi, even I can read the subtext.

She was trying to give my team a collective aneurysm. It was the only possible explanation. It was sort of working, too, since Koganei had already passed out on the ground.

"Erm," Hyuga said intelligently. "Well, we were going out for dinner now but if you two have things to... discuss... Then I'm willing to let Kuroko go this time."

"Actually I was hoping to meet my boyfriend's new teammates!" she chirped, letting go of my arm to walk up to Kagami. "Your name is Kagami-kun, right? Tetsu-kun's told me all about you."

I hadn't told her anything, actually. Kagami looked sideways at me, then down at her. "Yeah. I'm Kagami."

"Nice to meet you! I'm Momoi Satsuki, but you can call me Satsuki-chan. I was the manager at Tetsu-kun's old school."

"Hm," was all he said.

She smiled at him for a second before whirling around and clapping her hands together in delight. "Well, it was good to meet you all. I look forward to seeing you play against our school someday! I'll wait for you outside, Tetsu-kun." And she skipped merrily down the gym. Everyone's eyes except Riko's were glued to the part of her anatomy covered by her skirt.

"Bye, Satsu-chan!" Koganei called out from the floor.

She giggled and turned to blow him a kiss before closing the door.

"What the hell," Kagami stated in the ensuing silence. "How did you... Never mind. Tell me when you break up with her."

I elbowed him in the side. "Get a hold of your hormones please, Kagami-kun."

His hand fell on top of my head and started squeezing. "Hm? Did you say anything, mister after-all-the-times-I-spent-the-night-at-your-place?"

Koganei had started crying again. "How? How can Kuroko have a girlfriend and not me?"

"Alright! Enough!" Riko's shrill cry cut through the gym. She was blushing, and her hand clutched her clipboard so hard her knuckles were white. "She wasn't even that pretty! Right, Hyuga?"

"Right," he agreed, except the effect was somewhat dampened by his longing gaze towards the door.

"Boys," Riko cried in frustration before stomping off. I made a mental note to apologize to her later and explain Momoi's role in the Miracles and our plan.

When I met Momoi outside the gym, she was typing into her phone. Probably updating her information about Kagami. "Thank you for the water, Momoi-chan. But what was that about?" I asked. She didn't usually try to actively attract men's attention unless she was after something.

She tucked her phone away and started circling me, looking me up and down and smiling slyly. "Now, that won't do, Tetsu-kun. You're too stiff. Cross your arms."

I obeyed, sighing.

"Try leaning against the wall, too."

I complied, causing her to squeal delightedly. "Perfect! Much more manly."

"You could have told me you were going to come," I observed, shifting my weight. I wasn't used to standing like this - I'd been taught to have good posture.

"I just wanted to meet your freshman. I promise I didn't spy on your practice."

"Was the girlfriend thing necessary?"

She giggled at that. "Well, Tetsu-kun, you can't deny it was fun." Turning serious, she added, "It will also boost up your man-points." At my flat stare, she nudged me playfully. "Oh, come on. They're less likely to suspect anything if you have a girlfriend."

She had a point, I supposed. And it had been somewhat amusing.

"You know, he's kind of handsome, in a roguish sort of way. Those dark, intense eyes..." she sighed in appreciation. "And the eyebrows add character."

She was talking about "my freshman" again. Kagami's face flashed through my mind, along with a few more images of his shirt riding up when he dunked. "I suppose," I admitted, feeling my cheeks getting warmer.

I'd been sort of desensitized to good looks after hanging around so many basketball hunks in middle school, and I was perfectly capable of ignoring it during a game. But outside practice there was no use denying it, I was a girl after all and our love of basketball and our taste in men were the few things Momoi and I had in common. "He's also straight." If the way he'd stared at her assets when she was leaving was any indication.

She hugged me in sympathy. "Awww, poor Tetsuko. I'm sorry. I wish I'd found a way that didn't sacrifice your love life."

I wiggled out of her hold. "It's okay." It wasn't like I'd have any chance at a love life anyway.

Momoi asked about me and how I was doing. We talked about basketball. I took a moment to assess my only female friend. She seemed happy enough. Clearly Touou Academy was treating her well. Now, face to face, I found the courage to ask the question I hadn't dared to over the phone. "How's Aomine-kun?"

Her eyes became guarded and she was careful in her reply, weighting her words. "Um, same as always. He's asked about you. Are you sure you don't want me to tell him?"

"I'm sure."

A silence settled between us, tenser and more awkward than usual. She fidgeted uncomfortably. There was something she wasn't telling me. Had she and Aomine finally started going out now that I wasn't around to get in the way? I trusted Momoi valued our friendship enough to tell me if something like that happened.

The rest of my team exited the gym. "Well, I don't actually want to keep you from your team dinner," Momoi said. "I'll see you later, Tetsu-kun!" Her eyes softened as she looked back at me. "Call me."

"Bye, Momoi-chan. Be careful on the way home."

I sighed quietly and joined my team as they made their way to the bus stop.