Early morning the next day, Kagami could be seen practicing basketball on his own at a court near his place. Sweaty from playing for over an hour, dribbling the ball, 'How strong is the "Generation of Miracles"?', he thought, remember what Kuroko said the other day.
"The five geniuses have all joined different veteran schools this year, there is no mistaking that one of them would be standing at the top.", the girl said
Kagami looked at the ring, doing a scoop shot but his thought were still focuses on the words that came out of the girl's mouth. 'I've decided!', running to the ring. 'I'll take all these guys down! And become the number one in Japan.' Suddenly recalling what Kuroko promised him.
"It's impossible alone.", the girl looked up to meet Kagami's eyes. "I will make you the number one in Japan."
Jumping, he grinned at the thought. 'Haha! Damn...I just can't wait anymore...' Watching the ball fall through the hoop, 'It doesn't matter if it's not a regular game, I want to play already!' He thought, wiping his sweat and headed home to prepared himself for school.
A while later, Kagami would be seen talking with one Junpei Hyuuga, their current basketball captain. "Match?", Hyuuga asked. "You can't play in one yet." He finished. Kagami looked at him jaw dropped. "...Haa!? Why the he...W...Tell me why Captain?!" Kagami exclaimed, looking for an answer, "What's wrong with me?!" Hyuuga raised his eye brow at Kagami's last question, "Ah...that's not it.", crossing his arms, he continued, "You're not used to polite language huh?" He walked away, towards his class, Kagami following him, still looking for an answer. Nearing the room, Hyuuga stopped and faced Kagami, "You freshmen are still temporary members of the club you know! You're not proper members yet." He finished, going inside his class just before the bell rang. Kagami processed what Hyuuga said, for a while. Finally realizing that he's already late, he ran to his own classroom, thinking on what he should do.
Hours later, it was already noon, 12:05 PM, as what the clock on their school campus pointed. In class 2 - C, one Aida Riko can be seen playing with her PSP. "...Alright, this one improved just like I thought~", she said to herself, watching the screen flash a photo of one of the avatars in the game. "Bringing up guys are so nice~", she dreamily sighed, folding her arms to rest at her desk as her hand cupped her face while the other was holding the juice box she is currently sipping. 'So nice~'.
"COACH!", the sudden slam on her desk startled her, making her spit her juice. "Make me a real new club member!", the source of her shock exclaimed. Uttering curses beneath her breath, she glared at Kagami, who was looking pleadingly at Riko. 'Ahh..dirty..', the girl thought, wiping of the juice drops from her mouth. "Geez, what's happening today? You too?", she glared. "Too?", Kagami asked. "Tetsuna-chan came here to say the same thing earlier.", she said, remembering the incident.
It was a peaceful morning for one Aida Riko, she was just starting to eat her morning snacks when her cousin popped out from who knows where. '...I would like to become a real club member please.', the blue haired girl asked. Spitting her juice from the shock, Riko glared at Kuroko. "Since when were you there?!", she yelled. "I tried to get your attention but in seems my presence is very...lacking.", Kuroko deadpanned. Riko's eyes twitched from the girls reason but nonetheless gave her the form.
"That girl...", mumbled Kagami. "You two sure are hasty one." Riko uttered. "You naughty kids!" "...What the hell are you saying..", the boy sweat-dropped. Shrugging off her previous comment, Riko turned around and rummaged through her back, finding what she was looking for, she handed it to Kagami. "Well, you've got firepower, and there's free space on the bench so...Here you go.' Kagami took the paper from Riko's hand and started heading to the door, "I'll be able to play in matched like this!", the boy grinned. "Ah! Wait a sec." Riko's voice stopped Kagami. The boy looked at Riko, wondering what else he missed. "Just, the test to be accepted is on Monday morning 10 minutes before the morning ceremony on the rooftop!" Riko explained. Afterward, Kagami went out.
In the hallway, he read the the paper, looking at it confusingly he passed the library door and noticed something on a bulletin board next to it.
Basketball Club: Qualified for Kantou Tournament on first Participation
The school papers said.
"Heh, maybe this basketball club is actually quite amazing...", he wondered, not noticing the presence beside him. "It is amazing." A voice said, shocking the hell out of Kagami. "BASTARD! Appear normally! Stop jumping out of nowhere!", the boy screamed, glaring at the stoic girl. "Shhhh...", she pointed to a sign beside the door. Library. It said. The action just fueled Kagami's irritation of the girl. Grabbing her head, looking down at her he gritted out, "Your picking a fight? You're picking a fight, right? Answer me!" "...I am not", Kuroko gently answered. After a while Kagami finally let go of her but still could be seen glaring at the girl who was rubbing her head. "It hurts...", she mumbled. 'I seriously can't believe it! This girl who's normally invisible ...To think he was called the phantom sixth player in basketball...', Kagami thought, 'But wait, why?', he wondered, 'The other players of the "Generation of Miracles" all went to bigger veteran schools, right? Why didn't she go too?' Kagami turned around to ask the girl, "Hey, Kuroko...", but only saw an empty space. He chuckled, closing his eyes, "Ah..well, that doesn't matter...the most important thing is..", he said. Suddenly he punched through a wall, scaring the other bypassing students. 'The next time we meet...I'll hold her down.'
On Monday, everyone from the basketball club, or at least the new ones, headed straight to the rooftop, where they were asked to meet. The moment they got there, the first thing the saw was their coach, smiling devilishly at them. "Heheheheh...I was waiting." Riko said, scaring the other students. "Are you crazy?" Kagami asked. "Is this a duel?" Kuroko added.
"It's true that I forgot but..", Kagami scratched his back. "Speaking of Monday...Isn't it 5 minutes before the beginning of the morning ceremony?!" Pointing to the assembly at the bottom. "Hurry up with the test!"
"Before that there is one thing I have to say." Riko said, looking at the ground, not minding Kagami's complaints, "Last year I made a promise when the captain asked me to become the coach." Suddenly looking up to the freshmen, she continued, "We're playing basketball, aiming for the nationals!", she grinned, "If you're not ready for this, feel free to go to another club!"
Kagami looked at her as if she lost her mind, "..Haaa? What do you-", cutting Kagami off, she continued, "I know that you guys are strong." This time, Kuroko looked at her strangely, still, crossing her arms, she proceeded. "But I want to check something more important than that."
"No matter how seriously you practice, You'll always stay weak if you're thinking 'Maybe one day, I'll do it' or 'As long as I can'. I want you to have a big concrete objective and the will to achieve it no matter what."
At this point most of the freshmen, well, only three -seeing as the others chickened out- looked at her with great adoration. Kagami, on the other hand was still looking at her like she was crazy. And Kuroko, indifferent, as always.
"That's why now! From here!" Riko yelled, then pointed down to the assembly, "You will shout your class number! Your name! And your goal for this year!" She grinned. "By the way, all the second years, including me~" The three freshmen looked at her in awe. "On top of that, if you can't do that here, next time, I'll have you confess to the girl you like completely naked!" She added cheekily with a spark.
"Eeeeh?!" The freshmen jaw-dropped.
"Ha..?" Kagami sweat dropped at the last comment. Whilst Kuroko had a faint blush on her cheeks at the thought. 'Whaaa..?'
"Haaaa!? I didn't hear about this!", Kawahara yelled.
"Well, they said it when we were invited to the club..", Furihata commented.
"But to think you'd have to go that far!?", Fukuda complained.
"I said it earlier. But you really need a big, concrete hurdle!" Riko answered, "If you're thinking of 'Let's pass the first round' or 'I'll do my best', I want you ti fix that!"
"What should we do...wait, she's really serious?!", Furihata gritted.
'The teachers will be angry after this...' Kawahara sweat dropped. Meanwhile, Kagami just sighed, "Isn't that too easy? It won't even be a test." Kagami walked to the front first, jumping on to the railing, shocking the rest on his daring actions. He took a deep breath then,
"CLASS 1-B, SEAT 8, KAGAMI TAIGA! I WILL DEFEAT THE "GENERATION OF MIRACLES" AND BECOME THE NUMBER ONE IN JAPAN!"
Everyone in the assembly looked up and was surprised to see a student as daring as Kagami.
"I was surprised..."
"What's that about?"
"Well done."
Meanwhile, their captain was sweating buckets on what, he thought, Riko made them do. 'Waaah...they're doing it this year too after all.'
Back at the rooftop, after Kagami's display, Riko turned to look at the others, "Next one?" She asked, "If you don't hurry up. The teachers might get us...again." Suddenly a thought caught her, 'Wait? Is it impossible for Tetsuna-chan?', remembering Kuroko's...side job, she though again, 'Naaah..She's got to be used to this...I hope.'
Popping out of nowhere and cutting Riko's thoughts off, was said girl herself. She looked at Riko, "You know, I'm not really good at yelling." She deadpanned, eliciting sweat-drops from everyone. "But I'll try." She took a deep breath and opened her mouth, but before dhe could even utter anything a teacher caught up to them.
"KORAAAAA! The basketball club again!"
"Ahh! They're quick this year!" Riko yelled.
The encounter ended up in all of the getting punished by the teacher by letting them sit by their knees, giving them a good 30 minute sermon about not doing 'these things' again.
Later in evening, Kagami could be, once again, seen ordering a mountain of burgers at Maji's. Sipping his drink, he sat down. "Do they have to be that angry because I spoke a bit loudly?" Kagami pouted. "I hadn't done anything yet and I still got scolded...", a voice said, making Kagami splutter out his drink. Looking for where the voice came from, his eyes finally spotted something, or rather, someone across his seat. 'Again', he thought as he took in Kuroko's weak presence. He face-palmed himself, clutching his fast beating heart. '...Should I change stores?' He wondered, 'We meet just too damn often...' "And it has become quite a problem.", he heard Kuroko speak. "It doesn't seem that I will be able to fulfill my part of the promise anytime soon."
"Ha?"
"It seems that, since then, the rooftop has been heavily guarded.", she looked up to meet Kagami's eyes, "What will I do if I can't join the club?" Kagami looked away, trying to hide his blush from Kuroko and sweat dropped, "There's no way that'll happen you know. Cause, 1) you're her cousin.", he pointed out, the girl protested against the blatant accusation of favoritism. "Still..", she tried to argue, but was cut off my Kagami, "More importantly, there has been something that's bothering me.", he continued with a serious tone, catching Kuroko's attention. "To start off, you were considered good enough to be called the phantom sixth player right? Then why didn't you join a veteran school like the other five players?", looking straight to the girl's eyes, he continued. "Do you have a reason to play basketball?"
"..."
For a moment, the girl was silent, then, "...The middle school I was at was really strong in basketball.", she started. "I know that already!", the boy ticked. "But there was one simple rule there, it was the concept of 'Winning Is Everything'.", looking out the window she continued, "What was necessary for that sake wasn't teamwork. The 'Generation of Miracles' was just basketball based on individual skills. That was the strongest. But you couldn't call that a 'Team' anymore." Kagami looked at her strangely for her reason. Kuroko turned away from the window to look at her milkshake. "I was playing well with these five people, but...I felt like I was missing something important."
"So, what is it? It can't be that you want to take the 'Generation of Miracles' with your basketball skills?" Kagami remarked.
"I use to think like that...but,"
"Seriously?!"
Remember her new team's goals and promises. Kuroko smiled a barely there smile. Catching Kagami's attention, making him blush, "Rather than that, in this school, I was moved by yours and the Seniors words." Looking at Kagami's still blushing face, she continued, "Right now, the most important reason why I'm playing this game..is because I want to make you and this team the best player in Japan."
After a moment, Kagami suddenly stood, "Still saying that embarrassing stuff as usual." Pushing his tray towards the girl, "Here, you can have 'em." The girl looked at the mountain-ful of burgers on the tray, wide-eyed. 'I can't finish this!', she frantically thought, sweating from the thought. Before she could refuse, Kagami started to talking again, "As long as I get to crush these 'Generation of Miracles'." He gathered his things and turned to leave, but before that, he turned to look at the girl, who was still looking bewildered at his "Left-overs", "And it's not 'I want'. You will make us number one, right!" Then he left, leaving behind his tray full of burgers and one troubled girl.
"...is he serious?!", Kuroko whispered to herself, looking at Kagami's silhouette that was slowly getting merged in the crowd. "Oh gods. He is." Sighing, she took one look at the stock in front of her then suddenly felt like throwing up. "...I guess I have to call him...," grabbing her phone from her bag, she scrolled through her contacts till she found the number she was looking for. She dialed the number, a few rings later, the other side picked it up.
'Yo! Tsuna-chan~ How are you!'
Kuroko chuckled, "I'm fine."
'Hmmm..so? What made you call good 'ol me?', the caller cheekily said.
"Could you, like, go to Maji's right now, I really need your help"
'Huh? What happened?'
"Ummm...something. But it's not serious!"
'Okay, just wait for a bit.'
"I will."
About 20 or so minutes later, the caller got in the building, waving to get the girl's attention. "Tsuna-chan~!" Kuroko perked up to find the voice. Seeing a waving man at the entrance area, she gestured to tell him to go to her table. "Kazu-kun! When did you get here?", she asked once the boy got to her table. "Just now! So, what do you need me for?", the boy asked. The girl gestured to the mountain of burgers in front her. The guy saw it and whistled, "Dayum girl. Did you order all this?!" "No! 'course not. I only buy the vanilla milkshakes here." She defended.
"So then, who?"
"I was with here with an acquaintance a while ago. He ordered it. Aaaand I can't really finish this sooo...could you?"
"What? I can't finish this!"
"Could you just give it to your team..?"
Kuroko gave him the puppy eyes which she knew he can't say no to. The boy tried to look away, but found out, he couldn't. He sighed and gathered all the burgers, "Fine. I'll just give them to my team." Kuroko smiled and jumped to hug the boy. "Thank you!" She then kissed his cheek and quickly walked out. The boy was stunned as he slowly touched the cheek that the girl kissed, smiling goofily. After a while, he finally left.
As Kuroko was walking home, she was planning on her revenge to Kagami for ditching her his leftovers. 'Just you wait..'
The next day, Kagami saw everyone huddling to the windows, well, until he walked in, that is. The moment he stepped inside, all his classmates turned to look at him, wide eyed. "What's with all the fuss?" He asked, walking to the window. He looked down, and grinned at the message.
I WILL MAKE YOU THE NUMBER ONE IN JAPAN
That is, till he saw the signature.
-KAGAMI TAIGA
"Ahem." He heard someone cough. Turning around, he looked to see his teacher tapping his foot, looking at him with a raised brow. "To the principal's office." "But..I didn't even do it! I just got here!" "Now." Kagami sighed and looked down. A blue flick caught his attention, he turned to find one Kuroko Tetsuna in her seat, reading her book, then he noticed some white dust covering her sleeves, he glared at her.
Kuroko felt like someone what burning a hole through head and looked up to meet Kagami's eyes. She just smile and mouthed out, 'That's for yesterday.' And looked down back at her book.
In the seniors room, Riko saw her cousin writing the message earlier. Chuckling, she rested her cheek on her palm, smiling, she thought, 'The fun starts from now on. Right!'
Later after school, the new Seirin basketball club members were in the school gym doing their daily practice routine. "Hey, where's coach? I know she was supposed to look for an opponent for a practice match, but...", Hyuuga wondered. "She came back already, it was weird though.", Furihata answered. Hyuuga looked at him weirdly, "What do you mean weird?"
"Well, she was skipping on the way here. Seems like she found a new team."
"She's skipping?!", Hyuuga dreaded. "You better be ready guys, if that girl is skipping, that means our next opponent's gonna be hard."
Meanwhile, in the hallway, Riko could be seen skipping to the court and humming a tune. As she passed the door, Kuroko noticed her first, mid game, "Ah. Riko-chan, welcome back."
"I'm back! Sorry it too long~ I'll go get your towels." Before could leave, she suddenly remembered something. "Ah. Just a thing.", she started, catching the attention of everyone. "I got a match ready with a school that has one of the 'Generation of Miracles'~" and then left.
Everyone looked at her wide eyed, well, except Kuroko and Kagami. "Huh...That was fast.", Kuroko said, breaking the silence.
"What?!"
"Seriously?!"
A/N: Heheh...sorry for the..Incredibly late update, anywho, I'm still alive, and will not stop till I finish this, I maybe lazy but
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that's all~