Chapter Three

"Ah—careful! If you don't eat it quickly then it will start melting, okay?" Jun knelt down in front of the little girl as she struggled to finish the popsicle. Sighing to herself, Jun dug into her sack and produced a napkin, which she wrapped around the popsicle stick before returning the sweet frozen treat back to the little girl. "There you go. Now your hands shouldn't get sticky."

"Th-thank you, Onii-san," she answered back shyly with a smile. The ice cream seemed to have taken her mind off of the fact that she was lost.

"So you said your house is just down this street?"

The little girl – Kumiko, as she had identified herself – nodded vigorously in response to Jun's question.

Although still a little skeptical of how accurate this seven year-old's mental map was, Jun had little other choice than to try to rely upon it. The street was fairly dark, with nothing more than a flickering street lamp to guide their way. It felt almost eerie.

"Hachioji."

That voice gave her the chills, and she almost jumped when she heard it. That... sounds like...

"Shin-nii-chan!" the little girl exclaimed, having finished the remainder of the popsicle. She brandished the stick in the air, waving it around like a flag before she flung herself at her brother.

When Jun turned to greet the familiar figure, she was mildly surprised to see his face covered in perspiration – Midorima was slightly hunched over and out of breath, as though he had been running. "I guess that solves the mystery of who 'Shin-nii-chan' is," she mumbled to herself, loud enough for him to hear.

"This nice Onii-chan was bringing me back home."

"You would never have gotten lost if you had waited outside the store like I told you," he scolded harshly with a glare that would have petrified anyone else. Yet contrary to Jun's fear that the little girl would burst into tears, she only laughed his words off.

"It's okay, because I was found!"

Clearly annoyed, Midorima crossed his arms over his chest. "You—"

"Well, now that you siblings have been reunited, I'll be going home." Anxious to excuse herself from what would inevitably turn into an awkward encounter, Jun started to walk past the two, only to find her wrist caught by the firm grip of the Kumiko, who had been quick to chase after her.

"Onii-chan, wait! Will you come visit me sometime?" There was a hopeful gleam in the little girl's eyes.

Despite the urge to say no and promptly sprint away – if only to escape Midorima – Jun could not resist that hopeful gaze. Children were her ultimate weakness, and so she squatted down in front of the little girl to match her height. "If you want me to come visit you, then I would be more than happy to," she said with a smile, ruffling Kumiko's hair. "How could I resist the invitation of a cute girl?"

"You think I'm cute?" she gasped, her cheeks flushing as she tried to suppress the grin that eventually dominated her lips.

Jun couldn't help but laugh in response. "Of course I do."

"Then tomorrow night!"

Although Jun could feel herself digging a deeper and deeper hole, it was impossible for her to say no and back out at this point. Feeling a little uneasy, she gave a jerky nod. "Okay, then... tomorrow night."

"It's a promise, right?"

She hated making promises, because she always feared whether or not she would be able to keep them. Nevertheless, she could tell just how important this was to Kumiko. So with great reluctance, she bobbed her head. "Yeah... it's a promise."

"Enough chatter, you need to get inside, Kumiko," Midorima interrupted, having maintained the look of annoyance on his face.

"Okay, okay!" she fussed back at him, her bottom lip protruding in a pout as she stomped past him and started down the street. It was just one more house down before she made a sharp turn and disappeared through a gate – apparently they had been really close to the Midorima household after all.

"Hachioji."

"You don't have to thank me. Not that you probably intended to." Jun sighed to herself as she shoved her hands into her pockets and started back down the street.

Rather than respond to that comment, he started to walk beside her, matching her pace. "I'll walk you back," he said. It was not posed as an offer but rather a statement.

Jun clicked her tongue. "Don't tell me you're conscious of me as a girl."

"A 'girl'?" he remarked in an even tone. "I do not see you as a 'girl,' just a needlessly stubborn person that does not know when to give up."

Not once up until this point had he questioned the reason why she had purposefully passed herself off as a man to join the team. Jun figured he intuitively understood that it was purely for revenge – not that she had ever considered herself a "woman" up until this point anyways. Her appearance had always been androgynous. She had never been one to attract the male gaze.

"You don't need to walk home this 'needlessly stubborn person' then, especially if you don't see me as a 'girl.' What other reason would you—"

"If you are determined to surpass Miyaji... I will help you."

That shut her up immediately, and she almost stumbled as they walked along. Dumbfounded, Jun stared at the side of Midorima's face as she slowed her pace. "What is this about? Because you feel indebted to me for finding your sister? That's kind of silly."

"You have no sense of gratitude," he chastised. "I would not help you for such a simple reason."

Jun frowned. "It's not that I'm not grateful, I just don't understand your sudden change of heart." And I don't like you at all. It was probably for the best that she left off that last part, though. A part of her figured that he would not receive it too well. On top of which, he was probably already keenly aware of the contempt she held for him.

"I have a reason for offering."

That was almost more surprising. Did he think there was something to get out of it? Surely there was nothing Jun could offer him in return. Besides the fact that she had little skill at basketball, her family was incredibly poor. "Please tell me it's not something absurdly simple."

Midorima seemed to be getting skilled at ignoring her snarky commentary. "Your footwork is terrible, you have no defense, and independently, you could not accomplish anything on the court." It was all harsh criticism, although perhaps accurate. "Miyaji surpasses you in all of these areas."

"Yeah, I already know that," she snapped back at him, gritting her teeth in annoyance. "I can improve that stuff through practice, though."

"Improve as much as you want, it will not be enough to get off the bench."

"Then what do you suggest?!" she demanded, finally raising her voice, and simultaneously stopping in the middle of the street to turn and face Midorima. Both of her hands were balled into fists at her side, her forehead creased with lines of anger.

"A skill that cannot be taught."

She stared at him for a long moment, at first thinking he was making fun of her. But then Jun realized he was entirely serious. "You're not making any sense."

Adjusting his glasses, he responded, "It's simple. You were in track and field all this time. Take advantage of the skills you honed while you were there, and the natural talent you had when you qualified for nationals. Utilize that and you will have something that Miyaji does not."

"Something Miyaji does not," she echoed, trying to wrap her brain around exactly what Midorima meant by that. "Speak clearly. What do you mean?"

"Walk and talk." As though tired of loitering, he started walking again in the direction that they had originally been headed.

Jun sighed and caught up quickly. "Okay, so explain what you mean."

"Tomorrow you will put it into practice."

"And what pay off is this going to have for you?"

There was silence for a moment. Jun wondered if she had stepped on a landmine – if maybe he did not want to reveal the reason. But he finally said, "Because if you can surpass Miyaji, then Shuutoku stands a better chance of beating Akashi's team." It was as though by saying that he was readily admitting that he stood no chance on his own of being able to beat Akashi.

Jun thought about commenting as much, but she held her tongue. Regardless of his motivations, it was in her favor. Still, she was not going to hold her breath – lest he change his mind again and decide that he didn't want to help her after all.

All of a sudden she realized they were in front of her house. "Ah, here it is." Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she saw Midorima spin around to leave. Almost instinctively, she thought to thank him, but her pride stubbornly refused to allow the words to come out of her mouth. After all, he had not thanked her for bringing Kumiko back home either. "Ah, wait! You said I'd put it into practice tomorrow, but it's the weekend tomorrow...?"

"Indeed. Did you plan to slack off because it is the weekend?"

Flustered that he would suggest as much, she stuttered out, "N-no! Of course not!"

"Then I will come by in the morning and we will begin your training." Having said as much as he wanted to, Midorima started off.

And while her pride would not allow her to say something like, "thank you," Jun felt uneasy just letting him go like that. "Uh... hey, wait! Midorima-san!" It still felt odd calling him so formally, though she was mindful enough to be respectful since he was supposedly going to help her out. And when he peered over his shoulder back at her, she resolved herself and said, "H... have a good night."

There was a long moment of silence in which he just stared at her, blinking several times before he finally grunted out, "Un..." Although he did not offer the same words, his shoulders seemed to stiffen alongside his gait – which while he may not have noticed, Jun found rather comical as she watched him awkwardly waddle off.

Had she managed to catch him off-guard with that? No doubt he did not expect to see any appreciation from her. Granted it was too soon for her to be too grateful. Tomorrow was just the beginning. It would be a long way before she would have anything substantial to be able to compete with Miyaji for his position as small forward.

Taking a deep breath, Jun quickly smacked her cheeks a couple of times. "Okay! It's time to pull yourself together, Jun." Having resolved herself, she gripped the sack in her hand tightly before starting toward the front door of the house.

"'ey girl, you're late! What were ya doin'?!"

"A little girl was lost, and I was just helping her find her way home."

"I ain't stupid, don't feed me such nonsense! What change ya got left?"

Sighing to herself, Jun fished a couple hundred yen out of her pocket and passed it over. She grimaced when her grandmother glared at her – as though affronted that this was all that remained of the money she had given Jun.

"Did ya get yerself something good?"

That was a rather surprising question, given how pissed off she looked. Was she being sarcastic? Jun didn't let down her guard as she uneasily answered, "Yeah... I got a few things."

The expression on the older woman's face softened a bit. "Good," she said before turning away. "Time for bed. Good night, brat."

"Good night..."