Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.
As Sweet As Vanilla Milkshakes
...
4. It's Sweeter If You Taste Something Bitter First
Kagami arrived at the restaurant with one minute to spare. He slid the wooden door open not-very-delicately, earning looks from everyone inside.
Barely registering the elderly owner's greeting, the redhead searched for his teammates.
Skimming over numerous faces, fiery eyes settled on a tall brunet. And...there! Koganei and Mitobe sat with the first years in the table next to Kiyoshi, and then if Kagami peeked over some others, he could just see the tips of Izuki, Hyuuga, and Riko's heads.
"I'm with them, over there," Kagami pointed at the Seirin basketball team, who had just gotten their bowls of batter for grilling their okonomiyaki. Not bothering to wait for someone to lead him to the table or a response from the owner, the tall boy was already headed in their direction.
Kagami loomed over the table that most of the second-years sat in.
As a shadow fell over the group, Riko looked up at a pissed off Kagami, that sickeningly sweet smile already in place.
"Good evening, Kagami-kun," the girl purred. She checked her phone. "Right on time, I see."
'You were wanting me to be late, weren't you, you sadist!'
Kagami gave a groan and sat himself down on the edge of the tatami mat beside Izuki as he began to take off his shoes. After swinging his legs up in to a crossed position on the raised seats, he eyed the two across from the table, then glanced at Kiyoshi sitting against the wall,who was scooping gooey batter onto the grill attached to the table.
"Ah! So, Kagami, we decided to order for you! Everyone agreed that you would spew lava like Mt. Fuji if we interrupted your feeding time like that! Now you can continue!"
'Huh? Feeding time?'
"Wait, wait! How did you know I was eating out with-" Kagami cut himself off, inwardly screaming at his mouth for moving on its own.
'Damn! Did I just admit that I'm a human volcano?!'
"Everyone knows. We all pass by that place on the way home," Hyuuga grumbled as he ladled his own okonomiyaki onto the hot metal surface.
"We've seen you there eating more than once! It's strange, Kagami, you should really stop talking to yourself! It's sort of creepy!" Koganei helpfully piped in from over Hyuuga's shoulders, earning him a slap in the face from the captain from grtting so close.
Kagami protested, all the whilst flushing. "I don't-"
"Really? If you don't talk to yourself, then could you be talking to your invisible friend?" Furihata joined in, teasing Kagami, whose face couldn't possibly get redder. He and Koganei began to giggle like little girls, while the rest of the team stopped whatever it was that they were doing and looked at the two.
"Invisible..." Izuki started, but stopped midsentence. He let that word sit there, as everyone else came to the same conclusion.
"Ah! You do walk home with Kuroko-kun a lot!" Riko exclaimed.
Kiyoshi seemed to have a lightbulb go on over his head. "Then, were you eating at Maji Burger with Kuroko just now?"
Kagami felt a frown form on his face, which was now beginning to go pale at the mention of his basketball partner. He thought of the way Kuroko had looked right before he had taken off for the meeting.
He had never felt so guilty before.
Aomine didn't know how to approach Momoi.
They weren't even in the same class, and Momoi spent her lunch that certain day helping the student council with something. She had to choose the day that Aomine had decided to swallow his pride on.
It wasn't that he was afraid of apologizing (but it's part of the reason), it was because he didn't know how to go up to the manager without having his butt dragged to basketball practice. (Well, that and the fact that he really didn't want to ask to have the object that physically represented Momoi's affection for Kuroko. And anyways, their relationship is pretty hopeless, because Kuroko didn't even like her in that way in the first place.)
Sure, Seirin, that Bakagami and his former "shadow" had beaten him during the Winter Cup. Sure, he promised himself that he would work harder from there on out, but still, can't he have some days off?
Despite his outward indifference (which were, in reality, complaints) towards the scavenger hunt for Kuroko's shoes, Aomine was actually very diligent. He stayed up late into the night, rummaging through old boxes filled with dusty items and distant memories.
He unlocked his front door, and the biting wind that had steadily strengthened disappeared as he stepped into the shelter of his home. Aomine shivered. Central heating would really be a nice thing, and he had no time to go relax under the kotatsu.
The blue haired ace would have really appreciated it to be warmer. He really liked sleeping on the school's rooftop.
At least it didn't snow yet.
One thing that irked Aomine was snow. It looked nice when it was falling and everything, but to walk through it? No. Though throwing snowballs at people was pretty fun.
He set his bag down on the floor beside the entrance, and proceeded to the small, windowless room where his family put all of their old stuff.
Switching on the lights, Aomine plopped himself down next to an already opened cardboard box with its contents practically spilling out.
Near his feet was the list of the items to find that had been left there the night before. It was really tiring business.
Aomine hadn't talked with any of his Teikou teammates about the scavenger hunt yet, other than Kise, and he wondered what things they might have had just lying around the house. He wondered if those things could be any of the items he was killing his sleep to find.
Trading cards.
The power forward scrunched up his eyebrows. He definitely didn't have one of those. Maybe Midorima?
He scanned the jumble of words further. That tsunderereally was a valuable ally to have. Knowing that guy, he would probably nanodayo his way out of it, and then "accidentally" drop the said item for someone to pick up.
"Nanodayo! I dropped my nanodayo and it nanodayo-ed! It's nanodayo-ed now, you should nanodayo the nanodayo and nanodayo but nanodayo nanodayo nanodayo..."
Aomine smacked himself on the head to get the endless chant of "nanodayo" out of his brain. It was slowly poisoning his brain cells, and what if he started talking like the shooting guard as well? The thought horrified him, and he began to sort through things faster.
'Ah, here. A net and toy car.'
He remembered using the net to catch crayfish with when he was little. Whenever he visited his grandparents in the country, Aomine had always spent his time running around, exploring.
The toy car had been the first birthday gift from Momoi, who took care of a neighbour's goldfish for a period of time long enough that Aomine couldn't even recall just to save up money for his present. Of course, fish really didn't need taking care of, so Momoi didn't get paid a lot, but back then, Momoi and him had thought that feeding fish was an extremely exciting thing, and with the addition of a salary, it was almost too perfect.
The tanned boy held the two objects in his hands, turning them over to inspect them. The little dent on the bumper of the car from the time he had dropped it, the hole in the net that had ended its crayfish catching life.
However, these things are merely objects with a little bit of meaning behind them. Aomine would easily give all of those up, if it was for Kuroko.
"Shin-chan, how many lucky items do you need for tomorrow?" Takao asked, eyeing the three bags Midorima carried, brimming with slightly useless knick-knacks. Not that he would ever make that comment out loud to the horoscope obsessed shooting guard.
The black haired boy sometimes wondered how the inside of Midorima's house must look like. And what does his parents think of it? Maybe they think that it's just a normal stage of puberty or something?
"One, of course," the other replied, giving Takao a weird look as he put the bags into the rickshaw cart. Takao watched as a sheet of paper slid out of one of the bags. Midorima had turned to disappear into the convenience store that the rickshaw was parked by, so Takao grabbed the paper.
It was filled with columns of random words, like "poster", "pineapple",and "eyeliner". Takao made a face as he tried to make some sort of a connection between the words. "Candle", "fabric", "band-aid"...
The point guard scratched his ear, his gaze focused intently on the ink. He heard someone walk out of the store.
"Uh, Shin-chan? Don't tell me this is a shopping list..."
It'd be crazy if it was. Just from looking at it, Takao estimated there to be more than a hundred things on there. And he did not want to bike everywhere to collect all that stuff! (he's never had much hope for winning the rock-paper-scissors matches between him and the green haired boy, anyways. Maybe those lucky items do indeed work)
So it was natural for Takao to sigh in relief when he heard a raspy yell from Midorima. "Don't be an idiot! And why are you looking at my stuff?!"
Maybe he shouldn't be feeling as relieved as he is, but after being around Midorima long enough, Takao really wasn't scared of whatever Midorima might do to get back at him. Not for doing something so trivial like reading a piece of paper, anyways.
But the Shuutoku ace hadn't finished. "It's a scavenger hunt list."
"Huh?" Takao raised an eyebrow. A scavenger hunt? That actually sounded sort of fun. "What for? Are you trying to get an awesome super rare, limited version of a teddy bear for you lucky item, but it can only be obtained through this scavenger hunt?"
Immediately, the raven haired boy jerked sideways to avoid an incoming hand. It landed its target on his face instead. A loud "ow, Shin-chan!" was heard, as Takao rubbed his stinging cheek.
"None of your business!" Midorima grumbled as he opened a newly bought can of warm red bean soup. Takao watched as he began to gulp down its contents.
"Do you need help with it? It's a lot of things for a scavenger hunt," the shorter boy offered, and Midorima tilted the can into an extreme angle before he let it leave his lips.
"I don't need any help! I only need to get thirty or so of those, and the rest is up to that moron Kise and..." he trailed off, realizing that he had revealed that more people were involved in the scavenger hunt.
Takao's eyes brightened. "Then, I'm going to help too! If it's Shin-chan's business, then it's my business too! Don't worry, Shin-chan, I'll make sure that you definitely get that awesome super rare, limited version of the teddy bear!"
Midorima looked as if he was going to explode at any moment. "It's not for me!"
"It's ok, don't be embarrassed, Shin-chan! I accept you for who you are, so-"
"Shut up, Takao. I said that it's not for me! It's for Kurok-"
"Eh? So your teammate wants an awesome super rare, limited teddy bear?"
Midorima looked like he wanted to smash his head against a wall.
Takao grinned. The other boy amused him to no end, and plus, Midorima hadn't actually rejected his help yet.
Sweet contentment bubbled up in his chest.
'This feeling...how cheesy.'
...
kotatsu: (in case you didn't know, but i sorta doubt it) a low table with a heater that has blankets underneath it (wow my explanation really suck too)
...uh. haha. I didn't plan anything at all, so..it's horrible, so I'm sorry. If you have any suggestions, please tell me x'D
(in other words, I'm sorta stuck)
Once again, I'm really thankful for your support and for you to actually read this ^^ I hope you liked it haha :D