Chapter 6: It was an Accident, I Swear
"Hm? Nope, I haven't seen her at all. Not since late yesterday." Yamada scratches the back of his head, a little stupefied, "Which is strange. If she wasn't gonna be here, I know she would've called." He then shakes his head, shrugging, "Maybe she's coming in late, but if I do see Saiki, I'll tell her you were looking for her again, Kagami-san." They're quiet for another moment and Yamada feels pity for Kagami. Kagami looks away from the boy's brown eyes; he doesn't need pity from anyone.
"Ah, thanks, senpai." Kagami didn't bother bowing and instead left, closing the door behind him. Yamada waits a few minutes, but his intuition tells him that it's not necessary, he already knows where Kagami is. Yamada sighed, turning around to face his desk. The first thing he saw was a large pink-colored island flower sticking out and moving around. He shook his head, that girl was always so impatient.
"Kylie, he's gone." Yamada then said, walking further into the office. The girl popped up completely, sitting in the swivel chair. Yamada always hated that thing. It made him feel kind of old—like he was running a company instead of the student council. "Why are you avoiding him?" Yamada pulled up a chair, sitting on it with the back facing the desk, "You two seemed fine before last weekend and now it's Thursday. Did something happen? Something between you two?" He hit it right on the mark. Kylie looked away from him, hesitating as she tried to find something that would be clever and take the attention off of whatever happened that weekend.
"Nothing. I just don't want him to get so attached…" Kylie quickly says and Yamada thinks it's a little too quick but doesn't push the topic. The obvious lie makes him cringe; he knows she could come up with something better, which means that this thing really bothered her. It would explain why Kagami felt the need to come to school so early—half of the school's staff members hadn't even arrived yet. He only shakes his head and looks from Kylie to the window.
His stomach rumbles lightly and Yamada looks down at it. He'd only come in so early because he had papers to sign, but he could've just taken time from one of his classes to do it, had Kylie not called him and begged him to come in early. She bribed him with those damn American-styled pastries he loved so much. "I'm gonna go out for some food, I'll bring you something back. Where should I go?" Yamada asked, standing up from the chair. Her eyes follow him briefly before they trail back to the desk, staring at nothing in particular.
"Maiji Burger. I hear they have breakfast sandwiches now." Kylie then looks up at him, "Bring me one with extra bacon. And a large juice, make sure the sandwich stays hot and the juice cold."
"Y'know, all you've been wanting lately is Maiji Burger. Eating so much is gonna make you fat." He gulps, rubbing the back of his head when she glares harshly in his direction, "Y-Yes, sir, Madame Vice President, sir!" Yamada salutes her with a teasing smile and she tosses a paperweight at him, which he easily dodges as it clatters to the floor. Yamada smiles a little as he leaves the student council office, the smile faltering as he sees Kagami standing outside, leaning against the wall. "She doesn't want to talk to you." He says quietly, "Maybe you should try later."
Kagami only grunts, walking away as Yamada turns down another corridor. He hopes whatever happened will be resolved soon. It had only been going on for almost a week and it was already getting annoying for him.
It's during lunch when Kagami manages to finally sneak away, the excuse of going to the bathroom on his lips as he slinks away from the group that consisted of the freshman Seirin basketball team and those outcast weirdoes from the baseball team, also being freshman. Kuroko watched the red-head go, wondering if some of his misdirection rubbed off on him. The other boy was surprisingly quiet in his departure and it seemed as if only he noticed Kagami leaving, with that thought, the blue-haired boy turns back to his lunch just as he's asked to participate in the conversation.
Kagami heads up the stairs, he was sure that she'd be on the roof, mostly because that strange student council chick who goes around beating people from different clubs up for money even though she wasn't the treasurer had tipped him off to it. There weren't many people in the halls now and that made it easy for Kagami to get where he needed to be without anyone questioning him. He ascends the stairs and opens the door as quietly as he can.
And then he sees her. She's standing there, hair blowing in the breeze and he can see the hair bow she has on—it's a flower of some sort. She's still as pretty—no not pretty, radiant as she was before and—wait, where did that thought even come from? Then Kagami lets go of the breath he didn't even know he was holding and walks forward, stumbling over a large crack in the ground. He manages to catch himself but the loud noise makes her turn around and her eyes widen, she knows she's trapped. Kagami's eyes travel from her own eyes to her lips and he looks away, catching himself staring.
They're quiet for a moment, only the wind blowing but it's still kind of awkward and Kagami swears that her cheeks are tingeing red despite her darker skin tone and he's sure his face is almost (or completely) red with embarrassment because he feels hot even though it's kind of cool today.
"…what are you doing here?" She feigns innocence and it annoys Kagami who steps forward, eyes narrowed.
"You know exactly why I'm here." Kagami then said, "What was that? Why did you…?" He can't even say it and her lack of emotion on her face is making him frustrated and confused and…hurt.
"An accident." Kylie responds, looking away from him and clearing her throat, "That kiss… it was merely an accident."
He rolls his eyes, "I'd understand the first one—but when I kissed you? You kissed me back—that's not an accident. You and I both knew what we were doing."
"Just forget about it," She looks up at him, "It didn't mean anything." And she does that stereotypical hair flip over her shoulder that they do in those stupid animes Kagami's stayed up late watching because of her and he scowls, is she really brushing him off like this?
This was almost laughable—this whole...situation. It was just as funny as it was painful for Kagami to hear her say those words—but a part of him knew she would say them—he knew that when he was walking up the stairs that these words would come about and he didn't want to face the reason why he thought so. He gets a little angry, his hurt being overtaken by the negative emotion and he's getting sarcastic, laughing bitterly, "Yeah, of course it didn't.…then why did you avoid me? For almost a whole week I could barely catch you, why? I mean, if it didn't mean anything to you."
She stays silent, unable to actually answer the question. Because she'll be digging herself into a deeper hole. A hole that she knows there won't be any escape from. She knows that if she answers she'll say something stupid like 'because I don't want these feelings to develop' or admit that she couldn't stop thinking about that damn kiss all freakin' week and it made her guilty when she left—and about the whole thing, actually, because… wasn't she supposed to like Kiyoshi? That's why they became involved with each other in the first place, right? Now there were all of these confusing, conflicting feelings that made her life complicated. She wanted to scream and had he not interrupted her up here on this roof, she would have.
"I should've known you wouldn't have an answer." Kagami scoffs. He then crosses his arms, signifying that he's done with the conversation and turns to leave just as Kiyoshi trounces up the steps. Kagami's eyes widened but the other boy only smiles, giving no indication that he heard any of their conversation. Kiyoshi pats Kagami on the shoulder as he passes, arms outstretched towards Kylie.
"Here you are!" Kiyoshi loudly proclaims walking past Kagami to stand in front of Kylie. "I've been looking for you." She doesn't say anything only acknowledging him with a much smaller smile of her own as he speaks, "First off, I'm sorry about Saturday... And most of this week, too… I've been in and out of the hospital, so there's that, but I'm here to try and make that up to you."
"By doing?" Kylie was already smiling a little wider and Kagami couldn't help but cross his arms and roll his eyes. A strange emotion filled his being as he watched them interact, a scowl firmly set on his face. He wanted to leave, truly, he did, but his body just wasn't responding and the longer he stood there, the more anger he felt, but he wasn't sure who exactly it was directed at.
Could it be Kylie? For making him feel this way or maybe it was Kiyoshi, for stepping in and making this whole situation even more complicated, just with his presence. Or maybe it was himself, for feeling this way even after he told himself he shouldn't—that there was no real reason for him to feel like this. Who was she really? A strange girl that suddenly became a constant in his life because of a stupid letter? This sucked, Kagami hated himself for getting like this.
He turned his attention back to their conversation, not wanting to think about these confusing things anymore. Kagami hated girls and would rather be playing basketball.
"There's an end of summer beach festival starting tomorrow and it'll last until Sunday." He explained, "So I was thinking we could go on Saturday and Sunday." He looks down at her, "What do you say?"
"I say, um, sure." She agrees, hoping that she doesn't sound too eager. Kiyoshi doesn't seem to notice as he claps his hands.
"Great!" He turns, looking at Kagami, and Kagami sees that knowing look on his face, that quiet smile that makes Kagami afraid to know what Kiyoshi knows about them, "Did you want to come, Kagami?" The red-head looks at him for a moment before his eyes travel to Kylie. She's shaking her head, glaring and any other form of silent protest she can think of. And it annoys him—how easily she's willing to forget about that stuff for Kiyoshi and he's feeling a little spiteful as of now, so he does the only thing he can think of—a way to get back at her. Though he's not sure why he would want to other than the nasty black bout of spite growing in his mind.
"Sure, why not? And we could invite the whole team too." Kagami smirks at Kylie's look now.
Kiyoshi actually seemed to like the idea and nods enthusiastically while Kylie inwardly groans, displeasure clear on her face. However it's wiped away when the brown-haired male looks back to her, asking if it's alright. Kylie's emotionless mask has returned as she only nods and Kiyoshi smiles, patting her on the shoulder and leaving the roof.
"Why did you do that?" Kylie hissed as soon as she heard the door downstairs close.
"Mm, no reason in particular. The beach seems fun." Kagami shrugged. "We all need some fun, don't we?"
"Fine, but don't get in my way." She threatens, walking past him towards the door and slamming it closed afterwards.
Kagami is left alone on the rooftop wondering why he had so readily agreed. Was this some sort of revenge? He wasn't sure—he didn't even know his own feelings on the matter but hopefully he would find out.
Friday comes quickly and they're practicing in the hot gym. It's sweltering really, and everyone but Kagami is complaining. Even Kuroko, who rarely voices his complaints, has said something more than once. But Riko is relentless and Kylie is there too, trying to give them as much water as she can carry. Everyone's drenched in sweat—even Kylie and Riko despite them not doing as much as the guys. "Alright, we're doing a practice match and then you can cool down. First to eight wins!"
It's freshmen against their seniors again and everyone's lazily lining up to play, except for Kagami. He's glaring, though it's not aimed at one particular person, mostly everyone who he happens to look at. As soon as the whistle is blown, Kagami's already grabbing at the ball and shooting a three-pointer, surprising the others with the suddenness and before they know it, he's charging down the court, grabbing the ball again and doing a lay-up. By this time, everyone's just kind of watching him grab the ball after the swish of it going in the net, before it can even touch the ground and then slam it back into the hoop numerous times until he slips up and the ball bangs against the rim and goes flying away. All eyes are on the ball until it's almost nearing its destination.
Eyes wide, Riko calls out, taking a step, "Sai—!" The girl manages to turn around, lifting up her leg and slamming it down just as the ball nears her. A loud pop is heard and they see the deflating ball underneath the heel of her indoor shoe. Kagami's breathing hard and everyone sighs a long breath of relief, the looks on their faces morphing into shock with some fear mixed it.
They just watched a small, petite girl axe kick a basketball hard enough to make it pop. "Was that aimed at me?" She asks. It's quiet but loud enough for it to carry over to Kagami's ears, the boy instantly recognizing it as English. The others look at Kagami, confusion masking the fear and relief on their faces.
"It was an accident." He then snorts at his words, "Sound familiar?" Kylie then picks up the deflated ball and looks to Riko, ignoring Kagami as she does so, which prompts a response from him. "Oh, you're gonna ignore me again? How mature."
"Mature? You should've let it go. You didn't have to do that." She responds, glaring over at him, "End of conversation. I can buy a new one, Riko-san."
"R-Right... well, I guess we're done for the day..." Riko coughs quietly. She and everyone in the gym can practically taste the tension between Kagami and Kylie and they're all quiet, waiting for the two to interact again but Kagami's already stomping away to the locker room in anger and Kylie is picking up the towels and water bottles, trying her hardest not to even look in his direction.
It's clear to everyone something happened for the two of them to be so angry with each other. At this moment, Kylie leaves the gym and before anyone else can go change, Kiyoshi has called their attention back, "I guess now would be a bad time to remind everyone that we're going to the beach tomorrow... right?" Kiyoshi chimes in, a weak chuckle following and all eyes turn to him, "A-And that, we, uh, reserved a place, so..." He scratches his head and Riko gives him a glare so heated, Kiyoshi begins sweating even more.
"Great! Just great!" The brunette shakes her head, running a hand through her sweaty hair, "So how are we going to get them to stop acting like that? How am I supposed to relax knowing that at any moment, Kylie could kick his face in—literally?!"
They were all quiet for a moment, most of them too tired to think of a proper plan and waiting for someone else to think of one. A few of them, namely Kiyoshi and Koganei, were trying to get Hyūga to think of a plan because, after all, he is the captain and therefore should think of a plan. And Hyūga's tired, but not tired enough to not have the energy to kick them both, resulting in weak, girly screams from them both. Now all three of them are collapsed at Riko's feet, breathing heavily from their little romp around the gym. Riko looks down at them in disgust and shakes her head. Boys are stupid.
"Well, I've got a plan." Kuroko spoke up from Riko's left, effectively scaring the coach. Her eyes widened but her body was too hot and sweaty to produce the standard reaction. "Do you want to hear it?"
"It better be good." Riko crossed her arms, "Because I want this to end—do you know how many times Yamada kept complaining about them—how many times I've got complaints about them from tons of people I don't even know? Too many times when it should be no times! Tell us your plan."
Kuroko nods, motioning the group closer as he explains his plan.
It's been a long while since I've last posted anything, right?! Well there's a reason for that! I was in my senior year and there was so much to do! Getting good grades to be exempt from finals, prom, trips, it was all a hassle! And then in the summer, I've been hanging out with friends I won't see often anymore and trying to get my muse back.
I hope this chapter was good enough, albeit kind of short, but there will be more soon, I'm trying to update before I go to back to school. The next chapter will be longer, as we draw nearer to the end. Its really more of a set-up chapter...
Anyway, I'm sorry it's been so long. I'm starting college soon to, if I'm not already there by the time I post this chapter. Anyway, I hope to be done with this story soon. I might be working on another one. Here's an excerpt of it, tell me what you think!
"Kuroko, she's been following us for a long time now." Kagami comments as quietly as he can, but it's not really that quiet and the two know she can hear them. Kagami's antsy but Kuroko only nods and continues reading his book, trying his hardest to ignore Kagami and the nuisance behind them. "Do something...!" Their conversations are like this most days now, ever since she started stalking them about a week or two ago.
'Has it really been a week?' is Kuroko's first thought. But then Kagami's complaining again and Kuroko rolls his eyes in annoyance at the taller boy and because he realizes, as he looks up from his book, he's read the same sentence at least six times since this conversation started. Sighing, he closes his book after marking the page and says, "What exactly do you propose I do, Kagami?" He looks at Kagami, his annoyance clear on his face and shown by the fact that he dropped the honorifics he was so fond of. "Tell her to stop? She's just looking and wouldn't that be embarrassing? "