Nico: Explanation about Kashima Yuu of GSNK and Kashima Senri's similarity: Well, it was a complete coincidence.

Actually, I already had this story up before I even heard about GSNK so I was like, "Whoa, whoa, this character's almost like Senri! Hahaha! Niiiice."

Kashima was a last name I found when I was searching for last names. And yeah, I thought it would be cool to create an androgynous character who is struggling to get recognized as her actual gender and a bit of a tomboy.

I also thought it would be nice to turn them into siblings so I did, and when I did further research, I found out Kashima Yuu had a younger sister who's in middle school! HAHAHA!

So yeah, sorry about this long ass note. I really need to explain things so... Uh, enjoy this chap!

.

The Stars of Tomorrow

.

26. Flicks

(In which manly tears were shed)

"Remind me why am I going to watch this crap again?"

It was an unlucky day for Kashima to go out and see a movie with Kise, and they had to do 'rock-paper-scissors' to decide which one of them would be the commanding officer for the day. Back when they were kids, they couldn't agree with one movie, so they came up with the concept of having a commanding officer who they would forcibly follow his or her command for the day. It was always decided by 'rock-paper-scissors', and the results always varied. Kashima won the last time, and they watched 'The Ring', which scared the shit out of Kise, but this time-

"Because I won, and you're going to obey me."

Kise won, and the two of them were going to watch a movie called 'Endless Love'. You could tell from the title it was a chick flick, and Kashima wasn't that fond of that kind. It was either too cheesy or too corny for her taste, and she always claimed, "The romance genre is so overrated now. The plots are either cliched or too impossible. Characters are the same in every movie, ugh. In the end, they're going to end up together anyway and then blah, blah, they all lived happily ever after."

But, no matter how much she complained or blabbered or anything, it didn't bother Kise because he always said, "I won, love won."

'Fuck love', Kashima would think. 'And fuck you.'

While most couples entered the theater with cheerful smiles and lovey-dovey stares and giggles, Kise and Kashima (although they were technically not a couple) entered inside with the guy all excited and hyped up while the girl looking like she was carrying hell on her back. They sat in the middle part of the row of seats, and, Kashima didn't exactly know why but she wanted to murder the sound of happy couples gathered around her especially the one giggling like mindless fools two seats away from her.

As much as she wanted to ditch the idiot beside her, she knew it would hurt him, and, well, a mad and saddened Kise would be difficult to deal with. He would express his anger by giving her the silent treatment and snobbery and crossed arms and constant 'hmphs', and even though he wanted to talk to her so bad, he would pretend he was still mad, and that was-

'A major pain in the ass.'

Annoyed, frustrated and defeated, Kashima just decided to watch the movie. She made sure she had a huge supply of popcorn (the extra one was Kise's) because, well, this was going to be a long and hellish one.

.

To be honest, Kise felt a bit guilty for choosing a romance movie. The girl beside him looked as if she was ready to bring out a shot gun and take down any kind of monsters she'd see.

You see, the movie was about two friends and how they grew up together. Little by little, they both realized they actually loved each other and that the thought of them leaving one another would be like death. A cruel twist of fate happened, and the girl had to be separated from the boy who was then left alone in their hometown. Years passed away, and the boy lost contact with the the love of his life.

Soon, he moved on, and he had grown up into a fine man with a beautiful lady for a fiancee. It was only a matter of time before they would get married, but then, the girl - the first person he fell in love with - suddenly appeared, and he was then reminded of their days as partners.

As the two of them were catching up with each other, he could still feel his heart yearning for her. He was confused - he didn't know what to do. He still loved the girl, but what about his fiancee?

When he was ready to give up everything for her, the girl went away again. The man was devastated about him losing her again. He then got married to his fiancee, and he still didn't know what happened to his old best friend.

Later, a mysterious man appeared on his doorstep with a message to give. It turned out that the girl was diagnosed with a disease that had no cure, and she didn't want him to know. For years, she was on strict medication, but she never forgot about him. Everyday, she would write letters for him. Even though she didn't get to send any of them, she still wrote hundreds of letters.

When her time was coming to an end soon, she decided to meet him for one last time. She already knew the two of them could never go back to how things were, and she just wanted to see how he became. She was happy that he turned out to be as wonderful as she imagined, and his bride-to-be would be so lucky with him. It was saddening, of course, for she was supposed to be the one he'd take to the altar, but that would be impossible for the two of them.

Her time was up, and she went on before him.

The mysterious man was her doctor, and he also came to deliver the letters the girl wrote for her love. The man accepted them, and when he read the letters, he broke down in tears, for all of them had the same message.

'I love you forever.'

And that was the story of the movie. For a quite cliched plot, it was surprisingly beautiful especially with the actors' and actresses' remarkable skills of displaying every emotion required for a specific scene. Kise was moved; he loved the movie, and he wouldn't mind to see it again. As for Kashima, he turned towards her and-

"J-Jesus Christ... T-That film was too much..."

She was crying. Literally crying. Tears were streaming down to her face, and she kept on biting her handkerchief to try to suppress her overflowing emotions. She was visibly shaking, and her sniffles were the loudest ones in the place.

Kise couldn't help but to laugh. 'Who's the tough cookie now?'

"Hey, I thought you hated chick flicks?" He teased.

Kashima wiped her tears away and said, "I do! I really hate it! And this is one of the reasons why! It was too... too... too c-cheesy it made me cry!"

The blonde male grinned slyly. "Yes, yes. But hey, I heard they're making another movie about it. Like an alternate universe."

His statement made Kashima's face light up. "R-Really...?"

"Yeah, and you know what it will all be about?"

"What?"

"'Kashima Senri is a sucker.'"

"I'll fucking tear your limbs off!"

27. Sleeping Beast

(In which beauty takes interest on the sleeping beast)

After finishing all of their homework, the two decided to take a nap. Hours passed, and it was two in the afternoon when Kise was the first one to wake up. Usually, Kashima covered her face when sleeping, and it might be due to exhaustion that she forgot to cover it earlier. Out of curiosity, Kise took a peek.

Surprisingly enough, she looked good. Her face was peaceful, and it was relaxing to stare at. She was open and unguarded - to him, Kashima was just a sleeping girl in his room-

'Oh!'

That gave him a good idea.

.

An hour later, Kashima finally woke up. Kise wasn't in the room, but he left a note beside her. It said, "Went out to buy food. Be right back!"

'Oh, good.'

As she was fixing her hair, nature suddenly called out to her, and she had to go to the bathroom. When she got inside, she passed by a mirror and noticed something was different. She moved back in front of the mirror and-

Her face was full of random drawings. She had cat whiskers, thick eyebrows, a mustache, a goatee, and a message on her forehead that said, "Hello, I'm Mayor Cat!"

"..."

Well, it seemed like the news for today would be about murder, huh?

28. The Picture

(In which the wind is an asshole, and Kashima falls for a guy)

"J-just a bit... more!"

The wind had to be an asshole, huh?

The picture was so close to her reach, but the tree had to be a few inches away from the school's building. Kashima was now on the second floor in a room wherein she was trying to get her hands on a picture of her which was secretly taken when she was changing her clothes. Her back was completely bare, and she was only wearing a pair of shorts in that picture.

Who the hell would even do that?

Well, whoever it was, she'd deal with them later. Right now, she needed to get rid of that picture before anyone would see it. Actually, she already had the picture, and she did mention the wind was kind of an asshole, right? Yes, it flew away from her hand and got stuck on a tree. Now, Kashima was putting her life on line just to get the photo from one of the branches.

Ah, if only Kise was here. That guy was taller, and he could get that picture without any problem. She wouldn't mind if he saw it - hell, they took a bath together as kids before, and he wasn't a pervert like the one who took that picture in the first place. Unfortunately for her, the guy was absent due to a cold - the spring fever, she presumed - and she was stuck alone for the rest of the day.

God, why did she has to be so unlucky today?

Kashima was already on the closest she could get to the tree - she was already on the window sill near the goddamned thing, and it was only a few inches away. She tried to get a little closer, careful not to slip or move further or she'd die, but-

Then again, the wind was an asshole.

When she was so, so close to the picture, a strong gust of wind suddenly went through the room. And before she knew it, the wind blew her off the window, and she was falling. As she watched her hand got farther and farther away from the picture above, her mind was then occupied with the thought of dying as the girl who fell from the second floor of the building just because she was trying to get her half-naked picture. She withdrew her arm, closed her eyes, and muttered-

"Ah, this just sucks."

("Watch out, Ao-!")

And when she expected a painful impact on the hard ground, it didn't happen. In fact, she felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. Did that mean she was finally dead?

Kashima opened her eyes, and much to her excitement, not a single angel wasn't looking down on her. Instead, a pair of blue eyes were staring right into her own. Shock and astonishment could be seen so clearly all over them and that they made Kashima wonder-

'What the fuck...? Is this really heaven...?'

"O-Oi, you okay...?"

That was how she snapped out from her delusions.

Kashima realized she was still alive, and she was caught by a student. More importantly, it was a male student that she didn't even know. He was carrying her in his arms, and she could feel a lot of people were staring at them.

The whole situation - her falling down and him catching her and people watching them - came down to her. Kashima's face then went extremely red from too much embarrassment; she started stuttering random words, her vision getting blurrier and blurrier and-

Kashima passed out.

29. The Picture - Pt. 2 -

(In which he saw)

Kashima woke up, and she was immediately reminded of what happened to her earlier. After taking a look at her surroundings, she could tell she was in the infirmary, and whoever caught her brought her here.

Why, oh why, did she has to pass out in the first place?

In any case, it looked like the guy had already left her. That was perfectly fine by her; she didn't need to face him again, and she didn't think she could ever after all that happened to them. In fact, he was better off dead, or maybe she should think about switching schools now just to escape from the reality she had to face in school, and-

The door suddenly opened, and a guy with tanned skin came in. He noticed Kashima putting her shoes on, and a sweat ran down on the side of his face.

"Oh, y-you're awake."

"Y-YOU!"

Shocked, Kashima pointed at him; her eyes wide in horror, her hands visibly and uncontrollably shaking and her cheeks getting redder and redder as each awkward second passed between them.

'W-What is he doing here?!'

"Here, I, uh, brought you a drink," the blue-haired guy offered her a can of orange juice.

Still blushing, Kashima took the drink from him. They turned away from each other, and another round of awkward silence followed.

Kashima wasn't exactly the one to get embarrassed easily, but the situation - her falling from the second floor and him catching her - was just something that happened in shoujo mangas, and she couldn't believe it actually happened in real life, specifically to her. She didn't know how to react properly - she didn't ready herself for this to happen. Hell, this was just middle school, and some kind of romantic turn of events was suddenly thrown into her hand. She had been through a lot of shit, but this kind of shit was something she wasn't made for.

Well, she should at least thank him for saving her ass. If it wasn't for this guy, she would've died a stupid and embarrassing kind of death that she could never even face in the after life.

And, ah, she should also hope this wasn't the start of a shoujo manga-like romance between her and her savior. That would be too cliched and corny and cheesy. She could never live with that, especially if she had a guy like Kise to always remind her about it.

"S-So, uh," Kashima started, "thanks for, um, saving me, man."

The guy scratched the back of his neck and replied, "Nah. Just... don't it again."

Again, she blushed in embarrassment and laughed awkwardly. "A-ahaha...! No, I-I won't!"

Alright, her job was done now and she should get going. Classes were already done, her bag was still in their classroom, and oh yeah, she still had to give Kise the notes for today- ah, she was busy and she needed to-

"Hey, wait, I got somethin' for ya."

Kashima paused at the doorway, and slowly, she turned around. In her horror, she saw the tanned guy handing out something oddly familiar, and-

"Uh, this picture is yours, right?"

Without any second thoughts, the girl grabbed the photo and made a run for it. As she ran as fast and as far away as she could, she made a promise that she would never associate herself with him ever.

30. Forget-Me-Not

(In which Kise is put on a test, and Kashima just wants to forget)

Saturday afternoon, and Kise's fever was no more. He was okay now, but his mother insisted him to stay at home for the day.

As for the moment, he was playing a few video games while waiting for Kashima's arrival. He'd been expecting her since yesterday, but weirdly enough, the girl didn't come over. She had always been a regular in their house in an almost daily that his parents considered her now as part of the family. She would just be absent if there was a storm or if she was really needed elsewhere. Well, he already sent her a text message, but the girl hadn't replied yet.

"Hmm..."

Kise wondered what she had been up to. Did something happen to their family? If that were the actual problem, she would've told him immediately about it. A part time job, then? Nah, that girl wouldn't even think about getting one. As far as he knew, she came from a well-off family. Despite her looks, their family was rich, and she didn't need to get a job.

So, what the hell had she been doing? Ah, maybe he should call her and-

BAM!

All of a sudden, his door flew open. Kise dropped his PSP on his face in surprise, and when he took it off, he found Kashima standing at the entrance. He turned over, and just as he got a clearer view of the girl, he noticed she looked extra stressed and messier than ever. She was wearing her shirt inside out, and only half of her hair was tied up in a pony tail.

Something happened, he could clearly confirm that, but what the hell was it?

"RYOU!"

After she screamed his name, it was only a matter of seconds when Kashima ran towards him, climbed over his bed, and now, she was on him. One of her legs were between his, her hands on either side of his head, and her chest rising up and down as she was out of breath. From below, Kise could see a clear view of her face up close- her eyes were wide, her lips were quivering and her cheeks extremely red.

Kise gulped. Well, this was certainly... something.

'No, no, no, stop it, stop it, stop it, it's not what you think, Ryouta, calm down, just calm down,' he repeated to himself inwardly. 'Something's probably going on in her head right now, dude, she's just confused and she doesn't know what to do. Besides, you two are only thirteen years old, and Senri would never think about that yet... Right? Y-Yeah... She's just-'

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Kashima leaned closer to him until their foreheads were almost touching, and nervously, she whispered-

"Ryouta, kiss me."

That was how he lost it.

Kise screamed and pushed her off of him. He took the chance to get run for it and moved as far away as he could from her. He grabbed the nearest thing he could use, which was a hot dog pillow, to defend himself from the girl.

"W-w-who are you?!" He pointed accusingly at her. "Y-You're not the Kashima Senri I know! B-Bring her back to me this instant!"

Pissed, Kashima snatched a pillow and threw it at him. "I am Kashima Senri, you fucking idiot!"

Rubbing his face in pain, Kise grabbed the pillow and threw it back at her. "No! My Kashima Senri wouldn't say that ever! T-That's like a mortal sin to her!"

"I know!" Kashima made a pitching stance and threw the pillow at his face again. "I wouldn't even think of it but I am fucking desperate here!"

Kise narrowed his eyes at her. He put the pillow down - he was getting tired and hurt - and crossed his arms. "Prove it to me!"

The girl gave him an apathetic stare before she cleared her throat and started.

"You had a secret crush on this kid from our class back in fifth grade that you thought I didn't notice. You were ready to confess your love to her, but you found out she was actually a he. You cried to me afterwards."

By the time she was finished, Kise's eyes were larger than the moon and his face was even redder than a tomato.

Kashima grinned evilly. "Want me to recite more? Back in fourth grade, you pissed your pants because you couldn't hold it in anymore and I had to pour water on you to-"

"Enough!" This time, Kise was completely and utterly embarrassed. "You are Senri, alright! And forget about those! They're all in the past now anyway!"

And that was Kashima's turn to lost it.

She started crying comically and pounding her fist on his bed as she yelled, "But the thing is I can't! I fucking can't!"

To that, Kise became confused. That was the reason behind her being out-of-character?

"Uh, you don't exactly need to forget anyway... If it makes you feel better..."

Kashima slammed her foot on the floor, ran towards him and grabbed his collar. "NO! That's not it! It's a different thing, you ass! And I need you to kiss me to forget about it!"

Kise felt nervous and awkward about all of this. She seemed so serious about it. What was the thing that she wanted to forget? Was it something that happened in school? 'Wow,' he was only absent for a day and a lot of things took place already.

"What happened to you anyway?" He asked.

Her grip on his shirt loosened, and she let out a sigh. She sat in front of him and looked down. "I guess you should know about it first..."

.

"That's it...?

"Yeah."

"..."

Seconds after, Kise burst out in laughter.

That was it? She just wanted to forget about something like that? Seriously, what was wrong with her? It wasn't even as embarrassing as he thought! She simply fell down from the second floor and fell into the arms of an unknown guy.

Ah, if only he was there to see it. He would've taken a picture, too.

"Stop laughing!" Kashima pinched his cheeks. "And it's not about me literally falling for a guy! It's the goddamn picture!"

Oh, right. The unknown guy also saw that picture of her being half-naked. He paused for a second, and his laughter only doubled.

"Goddamn it, Ryouta! Stop laughing already!" The girl started shaking him. "Just kiss me now!"

Kise calmed down a bit and asked, "Why do you even need me to kiss you?"

"B-Because... getting kissed is worse than this..." she buried her face in her hands. "I-I was thinking about hanging myself but I don't wanna die yet..."

The blonde male pouted in annoyance. "Hey, that was kind of rude just now."

"I know!" Kashima cried. "And I'm really sorry! I... I just want to forget about it so bad, man. I'm fucking desperate here!"

Sighing, Kise looked up to think of a solution to her problem. Forgetting something bad by doing something even worse, huh...? Well, maybe-

'Oh!'

"Ah, I have an idea!"

31. Forget-Me-Not - Pt. 2 -

(In which they jump)

"A-Are you sure about this...?"

"Yep."

"R-Really...?"

"Absolutely."

The two of them stood on the bridge with a river ten to twelve feet below. This was Kise's idea - to jump off the bridge and dive into the river. This was their greatest fear as children back then, and the simple thought of jumping into a river that deep terrified them.

But now, Kise had taken Kashima to that same old bridge, and they were going to jump. What has gotten into his mind to even thing about this, she wouldn't know. No, she wouldn't even ask about it.

(Ah, maybe hanging herself was much better than this.)

"R-Ryouta..." Kashima started tugging on his sleeve. "I-I've forgotten about it now s-so let's just go home..."

Kise only grinned at her and said, "I can tell when you lie to me, Sen. Now let's just jump!"

"N-No, no, no! I-I, I'm okay! Y-You-"

Unfortunately for her, Kise had already decided they were going to do it together and that he lift her up into his arms.

This time, Kashima knew she was going to die for real.

"P-Put me down, put me down, you idiot!" She pounded her fists on his chest. "I-I can't swim!"

"Don't worry!" Kise smiled. "You have me, you know!"

And that was when he jumped off of the bridge along with her.

.

Monday morning, and the class representative of a certain class received two text messages from his classmates. He immediately told their teachers about it.

"Yo, class rep. I won't be coming to school again. - Kise"

"Dear Nishikawa-san, Can you tell our teachers I won't be coming to school today, please? I caught a cold so yeah. Sorry for the bother and thanks. - Kashima Senri."

.

Nico: FAAAAST UPDATE WOOT. And that's right, it's Aomine's first appearance! Yeeey!

Oh yeah, if any of you are reading my other story, Paradoxical, I have news for you, guys. It's up in my profile, so yeah, just click on my pen name up there to read it. THANK YOU!

And yeah, THANK YOU FOR READING! Please let me know what you think about everything! ILY XO

.

BY THE WAY, THANK YOU FOR THE FAVORITES AND ALERTS! ILY, GUYS!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Oh, and I just made that movie and its characters up there. If ever it matches an actual one, it is simply coincidence. Don't sue me, I'm a broke college kid, guys. Have mercy on my soul.