pika318: Continuing from the cliffhanger I left last time XD Thanks for all the constructive and kind reviews! I'm glad that there are people who like this story enough to follow it as well.
Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.
Chapter 4: Promotion
"Make us into regulars."
Kogawa dropped his basketball in shock when he heard this. The coach, he observed, was stunned speechless as well. He had his mouth wide open and then proceeded to open and close his mouth just like a goldfish, even as the freshman who said this was still standing in front of him, smiling like he had said nothing out of the ordinary.
What the heck did he just say?
'Make us into regulars,' his mind supplied helpfully. But no, it still didn't explain why the freshman even said it in the first place, or the way he said it. Sure, there were always a few members in the first string who would always ask when they could be made into regulars. But to be this direct… it wasn't a question, or a request even! It sounded more like an order.
Just then, the coach finally managed to compose himself and asked in a rather intimidating tone, "What did you just say?"
Kogawa fought down the urge to add into the conversation with some sort of verbal support to the coach's question. After all, this was a matter between the coach and the freshman.
"Make us into regulars." The red haired freshman repeated, the smile on his face never fading. By now, Kogawa faintly remembered that his name was Akashi Seijuro. It was that freshman who smirked at him when he was proven wrong at the tryouts.
"Did you realise what you just said?" The coach asked, sounding very impatient. "It's still too early for any of you to even be thinking about this yet. Improve your basic skills first!" The coach added as he walked up to the freshman known as Akashi, his large build towering over red haired boy. But Akashi didn't even flinch. Instead he replied,
"Oh really? I think we're good enough. I believe that we're on par with the current regulars even."
"You think that your group can match up with the current regulars? Who do you think you are huh?" The coach challenged, aiming to intimidate Akashi into backing off. However, instead of backing off, the red haired freshman only rose up to the challenge.
"Then why don't we have a match to find out?" he said easily, like he was simply proposing a friendly match.
By then, most of the people in the first string gym has stopped their practice, sensing that something abnormal was going on near the coach's bench. Nothing else could be heard in the gym except for the occasional whisper, with members asking one another what was going on. Kogawa decided to take the chance to move closer to the coach, in case he needed to intervene.
"A match? With just the four of you? You don't even have a full team." The coach stated, in a mocking tone.
"There are five of us here."
As soon as he heard that, Kogawa finally noticed that there was a fifth person in the group after all. He was standing behind Aomine, and had a rather small build compared to the rest of the group However, Kogawa did not recognize him at all, which was strange, because after almost seven months, he could already identify most of the members in the first string.
He's not from the first string?
Apparently, the coach was also thinking the same thing, because he barked, "You there, what's your name?"
That fifth unidentified person seemed to flinch a little at the coach's tone, but he answered,
"Kuroko Tetsuya."
"I don't remember seeing you around this gym before." The coach stated.
"I'm in third string."
The coach raised an eyebrow at the reply, and turned to Akashi, asking,
"You must be out of your mind. You plan to challenge our current regulars with a group of first years, and with one of them in third string as well?"
"That's what I plan to do. In fact, if we win this match, make all of us into regulars."
"Talking terms now, aren't we? Don't be so cocky. What if you lose then? Haven't you thought about that?"
Akashi seemed to think about it for a short while, then he replied,
"If we lose, then we'll quit the club."
Kogawa gaped as he heard the answer and immediately turned towards the coach if a 'Don't agree to that!' look on his face. And judging by the expression on the coach's face, even he had trouble agreeing to those conditions. Akashi and the third string member Kuroko aside, the remaining three freshmen were very skilled basketball players, especially after half a year of training. Even without pulling a stunt like this, they would have been made regulars by the time they entered their second year. Losing them would hurt, a lot.
Kogawa saw the coach's frown deepen as he also thought about the possible implications of the proposed conditions. Then after a long silence, the coach said,
"Fine. If your team loses, all of you will be kicked out."
"Coach…" Kogawa started to say, determined to talk his coach out of it. But the coach ignored his voice entirely and instead, turned towards their club manager, who had been standing next to the freshmen group the entire time.
" Momoi."
Kogawa directed his attention to the pink haired girl when her name was mentioned. From the shocked look on her face, he could tell that she had trouble processing what had just happened, which was a rare occurrence, seeing that she was their information gathering specialist.
"…Yes, coach?" She finally replied after a pause.
"Go get the practice vests."
"O…okay." She replied uncertainly. Then, after glancing worriedly at the freshmen group, she half jogged to the equipment room to collect the vests.
The coach watched her go for a while, then he turned to both the regulars and the freshmen challengers.
"We'll be playing a 10 minute match, I'm giving all of you 20 minutes to warm up properly if you have not. That also means that you have 20 minutes to change your mind." The coach said, staring at the group who dared to challenge the club regulars as he said the last sentence.
"As for the rest of you," the coach said, turning to the other first string members in the gym, who had now gathered nearby, "you can stay and watch if you want, but go to the spectator stands."
The coach wants the rest of them to watch so as to serve as a warning to the others once we won…
He found himself thinking. It sounded like something the coach would do after all, a pre-emptive strike to rid the others of any ideas that they could become regulars easily. As some of the other first string members started to move to the stands, his team of regulars moved towards one side of the gym. As he glanced behind him, he saw the group of freshmen move to the other side of the gym.
The moment they were left alone in their own corner of the gym, Aomine turned on his club mate.
"Are you mental?" He shouted, almost hysterical. In total contrast, the person he was talking to had a very calm expression on his face. He continued his angry rant, "Don't drag us into situations like this!"
"I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't confident of your victory." Akashi replied.
"Well, I'm not! We're going up against the regulars! They've been playing in nationally ranked matches for at least the past year!" Aomine shouted in return, but his club mate remained unmoved. So, he decided to garner more support instead. He turned towards the rest of the group. "Don't the rest of you have anything to say about this?"
"…" Murasakibara said nothing, seemingly content in observing the situation. After a short silence,
"…Perhaps we should reconsider." Midorima finally said.
"Right? This is crazy, no matter how you think about it." Aomine agreed readily.
"But after a declaration like that in front of everyone, it'll be embarrassing if we backed out now." Midorima added.
"Who cares about embarrassment! Do you realise that we have to leave the club if we lose?"
"Don't you want to become a regular, Aomine?" Akashi asked, interrupting their conversation.
"Of course I do. But that doesn't mean I want to wager my membership on something like this!" Aomine replied, his frustration showing.
"Then win." Akashi said, like it was the most natural thing to do.
Then win, he says. He makes it sound so easy.
It looks like there was no way to make Akashi change his mind at all. Drooping his shoulders in near defeat, he turned to the last member of the group, practically his last ray of hope.
"Tetsu, what do you want to do?"
Kuroko shifted uncomfortably. Aomine could tell he was thinking of something but what it was about was unknown. Was the blue haired boy also thinking that they might lose or was he thinking about having to leave the club?
"I think we should play." Kuroko finally said.
Aomine raised both hands and started massaging his temples in frustration as he let out an "Argh…"
"I think Aomine-kun can win."
Even Tetsu? I didn't know he could be so reckless…
"Well, I guess that's decided. We'll play." Akashi concluded with a confident smirk on his face. "As for our strategy…"
For the next ten minutes or so, they gathered around Akashi, listening to his plans. Time passed quickly, and soon, the coach walked up to them.
"So what's your decision?" The coach asked.
"We'll play." Akashi answered.
"Hmph, I see. Go get your vests from Momoi. I'll expect to see your resignation forms after this." The coach said almost mockingly before walking away, not even giving them a second look.
Aomine gave a small sigh as he walked towards the courts. It looks like they were really going to play after all. After listening to Akashi's plans, which he thought were actually really good, he had felt more confident, but only a bit more. After all, none of them had actually played an actual match against the regulars after all, and it is still the first time they played together as a team. But worrying about all this was useless, it was now an unchangeable fact that they were going to play. He shook his head a little to clear it and a determined expression rose to his face.
If we're going to do this, then I'll play without any regrets.
Walking up to Momoi, he took a vest from her and put it on.
"Good luck, Dai-chan. Don't lose." She said, a worried look on her face.
He waved a hand in reply as he turned and moved to join the others as they lined up on one side of the court, facing the regulars of their club.
The coach spoke, "As I said before, this is a 10 minute match. I expect all of you to play your best." He seemed to stare at the regulars especially when he said it. So he didn't wish to give them any mercy at all.
"Begin."
"Let's have a good match!" The two teams chorused.
Aomine moved to the position he was told to go to by Akashi as Murasakibara moved towards the centre, having been appointed to do the tip off.
Once everyone had moved to their positions, the whistle blew, and the match began.
Ten minutes later
Silence fell over the gym as everyone stared at the final scores.
It read 12-15.
In the freshmen's favour.
They had won, the point gap wasn't large, but they had won nevertheless. Considering that they were playing against nationally ranked basketball players in the middle school level, it was almost a miracle. No one knew what to say, the other first string members simply stared between the regulars and the coach, who had seemed to freeze where they stood. Eventually, someone spoke up.
"We won, so you should keep your end of the agreement, coach."
The one who spoke was the one who dared to challenge the coach and the regulars, Akashi.
Hearing that sentence, the coach appeared to have finally snapped out of his daze, and he snapped back almost defensively,
"You know I can't do that! Seeing your performance today, your group would have become regulars eventually, what's your point in doing this?"
In response to that, Akashi only said calmly,
"So you don't plan to keep your agreement?"
To everyone in the gym, the way he just said that sentence seemed like something a villain would say before he brought harm to his victims. They gulped in nervousness. However, the coach remained firm.
"No, I don't, all of you can wait till next year to become regulars. That is, if all of you are still deserving of that position at that time."
The coach glared at Akashi as he said this, and Akashi only stared back, like he refused to back down. A tense silence followed, then…
"Fine. I didn't expect you to agree anyway." Akashi finally said, a smirk on his face.
Everyone's mouth hung open when they heard that. What was the point in challenging the regulars then, if he backed down on his original agreement so easily? What exactly was he thinking?
Even the coach looked rather stunned. Like the rest of them, he didn't expect Akashi to give up that easily.
"However, we did win after all, it's not really fair if we get nothing out of this."
The coach's eyebrow twitched.
"After all, everyone in this gym is a witness. We won, but you didn't keep your promise. Not very good for your reputation, isn't it?" Akashi added, in an almost casual tone, but everyone could sense the thinly veiled threat behind it.
"What do you want?" The coach finally said through gritted teeth.
"It's simple, really. Let Kuroko Tetsuya become a first string player."
"That's it?" The coach asked, skeptical.
"That's it."
Kogawa could see the gears turning in the coach's head. The decision the coach was going to make was already quite clear to him. After all, compared to making all of them regulars, something like making a third string player into a first string player would be a lot easier to do. And as expected,
"Fine, I agree to that." The coach walked over to the bench, picked up a clipboard with the list of names of the first string players, and turned in the direction of the person known as Kuroko Tetsuya.
"Write your name here." The coach said as he held out the clipboard and a pen.
The light blue haired boy seemed to freeze for a while, like he was unsure of what to do, until he was pushed gently from behind by Aomine. The action seemed to say "You deserved it, go on."
Encouraged by that action, Kuroko finally walked up to the coach and taking the pen, wrote his name down neatly.
"I expect you to keep up with the rest of them from now on." The coach said gruffly.
"Yes." Kuroko said softly before an arm went around his neck, followed by an enthusiastic "Congrats Tetsu!"
The light blue haired boy gave a small smile in return. Finally, he could play on the same court as his friend.
pika318: And I'm done with this chapter! I think my writing style changed a tiny bit. I'm not very good at writing action like scenes and I don't understand basketball all that much, which was why I skipped the match altogether. The quality of the chapter would have gone down if I wrote it, so I hope you don't mind ^_^