So here's the third chapter. Almost at the end now - only one more chapter to go after this one.


With all his commitments, Ryouta didn't see Momoi or Aomine in person again until the Interhigh. He'd invited Kagawa along to watch his games, but apparently he was too busy with his own competitions and work to come.

"I really wanted to show him how awesome Kaijou is," he complained to Momoi one afternoon in which neither Kaijou nor Touou was playing. "I know we're not together together, and I know he's busy, but I'm busy too, and I went to go see him at one of his tournaments."

Momoi giggled. "You're being a bit silly, Ki-chan," she told him. "Basketball games are long. Did you stay for the whole day at his tournament?"

"No," Ryouta admitted. "He said that it was a given that he'd be in the finals so I should just come for that. I had training in the morning anyway..."

Ryouta jumped as a tanned arm slung itself around his shoulders.

"Are you talking about that guy again?" Aomine asked.

"Ki-chan was complaining because he's too busy to come and watch Ki-chan play," Momoi said. Ryouta flushed. Every time his friend was brought up around Aomine, he felt guilty.

We're not dating, he kept telling himself. I love him, but he doesn't love me and we're not dating.

"Well, if you ask me..."

"No one asked you, Dai-chan," Momoi butted in. He shot her a dirty look before continuing.

"If you ask me, you're better off with someone who'll come and watch you and shit, even if they don't get it. Basketball's pretty important to you, yeah?"

"We're not really dating," Ryouta mumbled. This was a terrifically awkward conversation to have with Aomine, somehow. "We're not exclusive or anything. He's under no obligation to come as... as a boyfriend or something, because that's not what we are."

Aomine raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with him?"

Momoi laughed, and he looked at her. "There's nothing wrong with Kagawa-san. Ki-chan has... extenuating circumstances. Isn't that right, Ki-chan?"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Ryouta answered, squirming uncomfortably beneath Aomine's heavy arm. "Can we not talk about this?"

Aomine looked like he wanted to make Ryouta squirm some more. He still recognised that look from junior high, when Aomine had picked on him. He swiftly disengaged and stepped away.

"What does Satsuki mean by extenuating circumstances?" Aomine asked. "Kise?"

Ryouta forced a laugh out, but it sounded ugly, so he stopped. "It's really not important," he said.

It's just that I'm completely and hopelessly in love with you, so much so that my life is divided into the time before I saw you and everything that came after.

"I don't believe you," Aomine answered. Momoi looked worried.

"You don't have to," Ryouta told him, false cheer dripping from his words as he stepped away. "I'll see you in our next game, Aominecchi!"

He all but ran from the two of them. He sent Momoi a mail when he was a safe distance away.

'Sorry we didn't get coffee, Momocchi,' He sent. 'It feels really weird talking about Kagawacchi with Aominecchi.'

'It's okay, Ki-chan', she answered. 'Good luck with your game tomorrow – we'll face you on the court soon!'


Kaijou and Touou met in the semi-finals of the Interhigh that year.

They went into overtime before the winner finally came out.

Ryouta later heard that Midorima had gloated to Aomine in his own special way about how Ryouta had beaten him using his threes.

Ryouta supposed Aomine had kind of had it coming after last year's phone call with Midorima after losing to Kuroko and Kagami.


"Kagawacchi, my team's going to the Interhigh finals!" Ryouta cheered over the phone. He was lingering at the back of his team's procession out of the building. "Will you come watch the final? Please say you'll come and watch!"

The voice over the phone sighed. Ryouta tried not to let his smile waver – he knew what was coming, but why was it so disappointing?

"You know I can't come, it'll simply take far too long. I have practice and studies to do on my days off, you know."

Ryouta forced a laugh – Kagawa didn't know him nearly well enough to know the difference between them.
"Ah, you're so dedicated," he said. "That's probably why you manage to have good grades while working and swimming. It's okay! Maybe you'll come see the Winter Cup; they say it'll be bigger than the Interhigh this year. Anyway, I should get off the phone! I'll talk to you later."

Ryouta ended the call quickly, and he was sure Kagawa would know he was upset just by the way he hung up, but he didn't care. He'd taken the time to go and see Kagawa compete – why couldn't he watch Ryouta play? It wasn't that Ryouta loved him, but he did like him, at least a little bit. He wouldn't fool around with him if he didn't. He'd thought Kagawa would care at least a little... enough to come watch him play in a national level competition. God, Ryouta probably wouldn't be able to count the number of girls who would do anything for him to invite them to watch him play.

"Oi, Kise."

Ryouta flinched. How long has he been following me?

"Aominecchi! Ah, that was a good game. I didn't think you'd want to see me, since you lost."

"Don't be stupid, pretty boy." The two of them paused – Ryouta waved his team ahead. "Don't you of all people know it's better if you have to work for it?"

Ryouta grinned, but it quickly faded as he noticed Aomine's expression. He seemed to be trying too hard to be casual. "What's on your mind, Aominecchi?"

"Was that... that guy? He's not going to watch you play the final?"

Ah. He'd been there long enough to hear that. Ryouta turned away, though he looked over his shoulder and smiled.

"Kagawacchi is really busy," he said, forcing as much cheer into his voice as possible. "It's to be expected that he can't come. Besides, like I told you, we're not like that."

"Don't make that face," Aomine grumbled. "I know you're lying to me when you make that face. It's fake, like in your pictures."

Ryouta froze. Shit. Shit.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ryouta said. He looked away as he said it.

Aomine was silent for a moment. Ryouta bit the inside of his cheek and glanced back.

"I'll be watching, tomorrow," Aomine promised.

Ryouta couldn't remember a time in his life when he wanted to run away from Aomine more than at this moment. He was staring over his shoulder at Aomine, and Aomine's strange, soft expression. Was that really Aomine, standing there? Had he hit his head and started hallucinating? Had he fallen asleep, exhausted, in the locker room and was now dreaming?

"You're staring, Kise," Aomine pointed out. Ryouta felt as if his whole face was on fire.

"I didn't think you could say such embarrassing things, Aominecchi," Ryouta said, feeling flustered. "I should really go catch up with my team..."

And with that, Ryouta ran. Maybe he'd be able to catch up with the team before the bus left.

"I don't have the time to think about this," he mumbled to himself. "I'll ask Momocchi after the final."


Akashi sticks to Ryouta like a frustrating, annoying little burr all through the final match. It makes him grind his teeth a little – Ryouta could probably blow right through him using his copy, but the time limitation of it means that he has to be careful when he uses it. He knows from personal experience that Aomine's style is the hardest for Akashi to foresee, and he knows that if he tries for one of Midorima's threes, Akashi will knock him back on his ass in a flash because it takes too bloody long to fire.

All in all, it's incredibly frustrating to play against Akashi, and Kaijou is good, but Rakuzan has three Uncrowned Kings who are thirsty for their last year's title wins, and there's only one Ryouta on his team. The rest of Kaijou tries, and they work so hard, but they're not geniuses like on Rakuzan's line up.

Still, the loss stings bitterly – Ryouta can't help but wonder if maybe Aomine would have beaten Akashi. He's tempted to go and ask, but he's tired and he still doesn't know what to think about that look that Aomine gave him last time they met.

His phone has no messages, and Ryouta doesn't have the heart to text Kagawa to tell him that he lost. Not yet. That information will have to come with an additional comment about how it was just as well that he didn't come, and everything just feels so raw.

When he leaves the locker room with the rest of a very quiet Kaijou, he texts Momoi.

'We should meet up for coffee soon', is all he has the courage to send.


Thankfully, both he and Momoi find the time to meet up within the week. Summer break and training camps will be starting soon, and then they'll not have the time for anything.

"You want to talk about something, Ki-chan?" Momoi asks as they settle into their usual table towards the back of the cafe.

Ryouta nods, but the words are somehow difficult to come out, and so they order and sit in silence while he wrestles with himself.

"Has Aominecchi been... weird, lately?" he asks, finally.

She looks thoughtful. "Dai-chan... no, he's pretty much just been the usual Dai-chan," she says, smiling. "He's been going to practice, though."

Maybe it was all in his head? Ryouta fiddled with his earring and frowned. "He... maybe I'm reading too much into it," he muttered. She looked over at him, curious.

"What might you be reading too much into?" she asked. "You know the more information I have, the more accurate I can be. Dai-chan is no exception."

He sighed and looked at the ceiling. This was somehow embarrassing. "Well, you know, after the semi-final, he came over while I was on the phone with Kagawacchi. Apparently he overheard the part of the conversation where he said he couldn't come to the final. And then when I said that was expected, he was like, 'don't make that face I know you're lying' or something and then... there was a weird look on his face, Momocchi, I've never seen it before. And then he said he'd be watching the final, and it just... it was weird, Momocchi."

Momoi had looked more and more pensive as Ryouta had continued to speak. "Dai-chan's usually pretty easy to figure out," she mused. "He's fairly straightforward. I mean, we were playing that day, so of course he was going to be watching, but... with the context. Hmm."

There was a comfortable silence between them as Momoi puzzled over the information. Finally, she seemed to settle on something, although she didn't seem to have everything resolved.

"I don't have enough information to be able to come to a solid conclusion," she told Ryouta. She was frowning. "But I'll help you figure it out, Ki-chan. How are things with Kagawa-san, anyway?"

Ryouta sighed. "A little strained," he admitted. "I'm more bitter than I thought I would be that he wouldn't come watch the Interhigh games. Aominecchi was kind of right when he said basketball is really important to me."

Momoi smiled sympathetically. "Are you gonna stop what you've got going? I know your agent is pretty keen to have you seen with one of those cute model girls over the summer."

The blonde smiled at that, and laughed. "I don't know how you know that, but yeah, she is. Ah, maybe things will be simpler, with a cute girlfriend." He leaned his head against his palm and sighed. "But I don't want to hurt anyone, and I don't think I'm going to stop being in love with Aominecchi any time soon. It's not right to lead a girl on."

"You're a good person, Ki-chan," Momoi said, smiling. "You and I have been dealt a very cruel hand, being stuck with Dai-chan."

She stood up, finished with her drink. "Be careful at camp, Ki-chan. I've got your likelihood of incurring injury at fairly high at the moment. I'm hoping that you won't do something stupid if I tell you it'll happen. I don't trust whoever's supposed to be looking out for you at your school after last year's overtraining debacle."

Momoi sniffed, as if she held whoever had missed his overtraining and resulting injury in complete contempt. She likely did, Ryouta imagined. She had probably seen it happening ages away.

"Take care, Momocchi," he replied, smiling. "Say hi to Aominecchi for me."


I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I want to complete this before I leave for Europe for a month next week, so, I'll likely post the last chapter by no later than next Friday.