I'm back with a new chapter, readers~
I really thank you all for your supports, you're all really motivating me to write new updates! Fyi, I like reading all of your reviews from time to time, hehe xD
My new story also got good responses too, more than I expected! I really love you, guys~ *bear huuuuuugggss*
So, this chapter is a bit longer than usual, I hope you like it too :3
BTW, I just received an information that Kuroko no Basuke season 3 was officially announced will be aired on October 2014! Omgomgomgomgomg, I CAN'T WAIT!
For the detailed information, you can find it on: www . kurokonobasketmanga (.com) / p / kuroko – no – basket – third – season – finally . html ? m=1 (remove the spaces and brackets)
This chapter is beta-ed by my unni~ Thank you unni!
Reply for Guest-001: Haha, I love Kasamatsu's reaction too~ Well, Akashi had done something that displease Kuroko, so Kuroko tried to avoid him.. Although she can't do it again now xD and it's not Midorima if he's not weird, yeah? ;)
On with the story~
Chapter 6
Kuroko was visiting Kiyoshi a day before her practice match with Kaijou. She finally could get out from Riko's hellish training for that day, and Kuroko was really really tired. After all, she didn't have that much stamina to begin with, so the training menu Riko gave them was really wearing her out. It was a miracle that Kuroko didn't collapse in the middle of their practice.
Just when she was about to open the door to Kiyoshi's room, someone had opened it from the inside and bumped into her, making her collided with a huge body. Feeling annoyed, she frowned and tried to push the huge body on top of her. The body finally lifted itself from her, and a big hand was offered to get her up.
"Huwa! Gomen gomen, I didn't know that there was someone outside!" A familiar voice apologized to her.
Kuroko looked up and found the very person she was about to visit standing in front of her. Out . of . his . bed.
"Kiyoshi-senpai…"
Kiyoshi straightened himself and scanned the person that he bumped into. He grinned sheepishly when he saw Kuroko looked at him with a frown on her face.
"Oh, Tsuya~ Hehehehe… I'm sorry…?"
Kuroko didn't give him any respond, instead she grabbed his wrist and dragged him back to his room. She slammed the door shut loud enough, and then settled him on his bed. After he was settled, she stood beside his bed with both hands on her waist, furry could be seen In her eyes. Kiyoshi could only smile meekly while facing the petite blue haired girl, waiting for her usual scolding.
"Kiyoshi-senpai, what were you doing out of your bed…" She asked with an icy tone. She never shouted or used any violence for scolding Kiyoshi, no. It was just wasting times and energy for her. Besides, it was in Kiyoshi's nature to just do whatever he want, not minding how weird it was. As long as he didn't get hurt, she didn't mind what he was doing. But sometimes, Kiyoshi needed to do what he was said.
"I'm bored, Tsuya~!" He whined, looking like a big puppy. "I just wanted to meet you, and besides, I have a good news~! I can't wait to tell you!"
"You could just stay still here waiting for me to come, Senpai. And what's this good news that makes you so eager to tell me?"
"Come here closer, Tsuya-chan~ I bet you'd be surprised!" He motioned for her to come closer to him.
Kuroko got closer to Kiyoshi and leaned her head forward until her face was just about an inch apart from Kiyoshi's. Kiyoshi whispered something to Kuroko's ear that made the blue haired teen's eyes widened in surprise. She drew her head from her position to found Kiyoshi's bright smile.
"Is it true?" Kuroko asked, inspecting Kiyoshi's smile.
The brunette nodded quickly. It seemed that he was so excited by the news that he just told to Kuroko.
"I can't wait until it happened!"
A small smile formed on Kuroko's lips. Her smile was not that noticeable, but the older teen could see it.
"Me too. I'm so glad…" Kuroko muttered softly.
"It's not a dream, right, Tsuya?" Kiyoshi asked. He grabbed Kuroko's hand, just to make sure that it was not his imagination.
"No, it's not, Senpai. I'm here with you now, right?" She tightened her hold on his hand, assuring him that she was there with him.
… - … - … - … - …
The day for their practice match with Kaijou was finally came. All of Seirin's basketball club members were waiting in front of Kaijou's gate for Kaijou's representative to bring them to the gym. Some of them looked nervous, their opponent was Kaijou after all, which was a national level team.
"Kagami-kun, why are your eyes so red?" Kuroko asked, looking at the red haired teen beside her, who looked both a bit tired and excited.
"I was so excited that I couldn't sleep last night." Kagami responded.
"You're like a kid who's feeling excited for their first recreation day, Kagami-kun."
"Why are you-…"
"KUROKOCCHI~!" Kagami's protest was cutted off by a shrill voice that was coming to their direction.
A blur of blonde hair could be seen running towards Seirin's members and in a blink of eyes, Kise Ryota stood in front of Kuroko. He grabbed both of her hands and grinning like a kitten.
"Finally you're here, Kurokocchi~! I couldn't sleep for a week because I was so excited to meeting you! Seeing that I didn't manage to see your face when I visited your school…."
"Ah, hello, Kise-kun. It's nice meeting you too." Kuroko responded monotonously.
"It seems like he ignores all of us, yeah?" Hyuuga mumbled, feeling irritated by the blonde since the first time they met.
"Yes, he does, Hyuuga. He does." Izuki answered, feeling the same irritation as his captain.
A big veins popped on Riko's face. 'How dare this blonde idiot ignores us like this?!'
"Kise-kun, please show us the way to the gym already." Riko said with a sickly sweet voice, but the copycat prodigy kept ignoring them.
"Ne ne, Kurokocchi, let's make a deal, shall we? If Kaijou wins, you should come with us~ I'm sure that I can be used to your greatest potential, Kurokocchi!" Kise smiled brightly at Kuroko.
Kuroko stared at the taller teen, then bowed politely. "I'm sorry, Kise-kun. But I'd never transferred to your school." She straightened her posture, and looked straight into Kise's eyes. "Because, Seirin will definitely win today".
Kagami grinned at Kuroko's exclamation and ruffled his shadow's hair.
"The girl is right, Pretty-Boy. We'll crush you today!"
Kise frowned at their determination. He was sure that Seirin would never win against them, besides, he had tested them the week before.
"But, Kuroko-…"
"KIIIIIISSSSSEEEEEEEEEEE!" A shout could be heard and suddenly the blonde was thrown to the ground.
"Don't run off like that or I will kick you!" Kasamatsu Yukio glared down at the blonde.
"But you have kicked me already, Senpai!" Kise wailed, rubbing his sore head.
"Kasamatsu-san." Kuroko greeted the raven haired teen.
Kasamatsu averted his gaze from Kise to found Kuroko beside him. A blush immediately formed on his cheeks. He remembered the day when Yoshitaka and his sister pointed out that Kuroko is a girl, and felt ashamed about it. 'But, I think I'm okay with Kuroko, despite the fact that she's a girl. Yes, I'm okay with it…'
"Yo, Kuroko! Finally coming here, eh?"
"I won't lost to you, Kasamatsu-san." Kuroko exclaimed with a small smile.
"We'll see about that"
Everyone, sans Kagami because he really didn't care, stared at both Kuroko and Kasamatsu in surprise. They didn't know that their phantom girl had known Kaijou's captain before. Especially Kise, he stared with his mouth wide opened.
"Eeeeehhh?! Kasamatsu-senpai knows Kurokocchi?! Since when?! And why both of you talk so casually? It's not faiiiirrrr!" Kise got up from the ground and clinging to Kuroko's arm.
"Kise-kun, please get off of me." Kuroko said with her usual monotone voice.
"Kora, Kise! She said to let her go, or I'll smack you!" Kasamatsu smacked the blonde's head, effectively detaching the blonde's grip from the blue haired girl.
"You have smacked me, Senpai!"
Kasamatsu ignored him and strolled off to facing Hyuuga.
"I'm sorry for the commotion. I'm Kasamatsu Yukio, captain of Kaijou's team. Shall we go to the gym now?"
"Ah, yes. Thank you, Kasamatsu-san." Hyuuga answered, silently thanking God that someone didn't ignore them like Kise did.
All of them were walking with Kasamatsu in the lead, while Kuroko walked beside him and chatted animatedly with him and Kise trying to cling into her, although he got smacked by Kasamatsu everytime he tried to do so. At the end, Kagami had to drag the whining blonde on their way to the gym.
… - … - … - … - …
By the time they arrived at the gym, Kuroko was tackled by a long haired girl. The girl had a bit resemblance with the Kaijou's captain, except that she had petite figure, silky long hair, and thin eyebrows.
"Tetsu-chaaaaaannn! I missed you so so soooooo much!" The girl putted Kuroko in a tight hug.
"I miss you too, Yuki-chan." Kuroko responded by putting her arms around the raven haired girl.
"Yaaaayyy~! Group hug~!" Kise shouted and attempted to join the hug, but once again was kicked on the head by Kasamatsu.
"Stay away from my sister!"
"You're so mean, Kasamatsu-senpai!"
Kasamatsu Yukina released the phantom girl and smiled brightly.
"I'm so glad to meet you, Tetsu-chan! Although you didn't tell me that you've met Onii-chan when he was in Tokyo a week ago! I had to know it from someone else!"
"Ah, I'm sorry, Yuki-chan. I was just too busy, I think? And I thought that Kasamatsu-san would have told you".
"Eeeehhh?! Kurokocchi met Kasamatsu-senpai when we were visiting Tokyo?! That's unfair!" Kise wailed again but everyone just ignored him.
"Nani nani? Is this the girl that Yukio was texting to?" Yoshitaka came out of nowhere while wounding his arm around Yukina's shoulder.
"Yoshitaka! Stay away from my sister, you bastard!" Kasamatsu shouted. He was about to smack his best friend, but Yoshitaka was fast enough to avoid it and ran away.
Seirin's members, once again, watched what had happened in front of their eyes with shocked faces. They thought that Kaijou would be a serious team, seeing that they were in national level. Turned out that Kaijou was so… Lively…
Yukina turned to face Seirin and bowed politely to them.
"Hello, I'm Kasamatsu Yukina. Yukio Onii-chan's sister, Tetsu-chan's best friend since Teiko, and Kaijou's basketball team manager. Let me show you where's your changing room." Yukina smiled at them and motioned for them to follow her. All of Seirin's members were following her, leaving the still wailing Kise, and the rest of Kaijou's behind.
Kuroko walked beside her best friend, while Yukina was holding her hand. The other Seirin's members were chatting quietly behind them.
Kuroko stared questioningly at the raven haired girl. Yukina tried to shake it off, but her best friend kept boring holes into her head. She knew what the phantom girl wanted to know.
"Taka-nii is not my boyfriend, Tetsu-chan, so rest assured." Yukina mumbled quietly.
Kuroko kept her gaze on her best friend for a while and then shrugged.
"If you say so."
… - … - … - … - …
Seirin was really not a team to be underestimated. It was really fortunate that Coach Takeuchi had listened to Kise and Yukina's warnings about Seirin having the phantom sixth players, or else he was sure that he would be ashamed. So far Seirin managed to lead with a close scores towards Kaijou. Moreover, Kaijou was still distracted with abnormal passes from a certain phantom player.
"Your girlfriend is good, eh, Yukio?" Yoshitaka teased the strict captain.
"She's not my girlfriend! Do you want me to give you laps after this?" The raven haired teen threatened.
"Only if you allow me a date with Yukina-chan~"
"Die, Yoshitaka!"
Kagami once again dunked the ball into the ring after he received Kuroko's pass. The two of them were really unstoppable, and it made Kise gritted his teeth in annoyance. Eventhough that Kise had copied all of Kagami's movement with much greater strength, he still couldn't break Kagami and Kuroko's combination.
Kuroko was scanning around the court when her eyes caught a glimpse of green hair around the spectators. She looked closely and saw Midorima was watching her, a red tennis racquet on his grasp.
'Does he want to play tennis or something?' She thought and then chuckling softly.
Midorima seemed to notice her chuckles and then stared at her with confussion clear on his face. Kuroko waved to him slightly and focused back to the match she was in.
Kise watched their interaction and his irritation grew some more. 'Why everyone was getting Kurokocchi's attention? Why not me?'
"I won't lose to anyone! Not even Kurokocchi!" Kise shouted.
He chased after Kagami, who was dribbling the ball, and tried to steal the ball from the red haired teen. He was too absorbed with his rage that he didn't notice Kuroko, who was standing behind him.
DUAAAAKKKKK!
A loud smack could be heard. Kise felt like his elbow just smacked into something. He turned around and, to his horror, he found Kuroko was laying on the ground. Blood trickled from her forehead.
"Ku-… Kurokocchi…" He tried to reach her, but was stopped by Kagami who gripped his arm roughly.
"Don't you dare to get any closer to her!" Kagami threatened him. After he gave Kise one last glare, Kagami walked away to Kuroko's laying form.
The other Seirin's members rushed off to Kuroko while Kagami lifted her slowly from the ground. It was a good thing Kuroko still gained her consciousness. She looked around her and found everyone was staring at her with worry on their faces, even Kagami looked down at her with a frown on his face. But Kise had the worse face than any of them. Kuroko could see that his body was shaking and his eyes glinted with tears. He gritted both of his hands so hard that his knuckles turned white. A mutter of "I hurt Kurokocchi, it's my fault…" could be heard from him.
'I'm glad that he still worries about me…' Kuroko thought, happy with the revelation.
"Kise-kun…" Kise looked up from the ground to find his ex-instructor gave him a soft smile. "I'm fine, don't worry. It's not your fault."
Hearing her soft voice broke Kise down and he sobbed his self out, unable to restrain himself any longer.
Kagami brought Kuroko to one of the benches beside the court and leaned her down so that she sat on the bench with Riko immediately launch herself to inspect Kuroko's injury. Just when Riko was about to touch the blue haired teen's face, a deep voice held her down.
"Let me take care of her instead"
Seirin's members looked beside Kuroko to found a bespectacled green haired male standing there. The greenette bended down on his knee and touched Kuroko's face, inspecting the red wound on her forehead.
"Shin-kun…"
"You let your guard down, Tetsuya. It's good that it's not a major wound and you don't have a concussion." Midorima sighed in relief and then he turned to Riko. "Please give me the first aid kit".
"Ah, hai!" Riko responded immediately, surprised that the bespectacled boy talking to her, and then gave him the first aid kit.
"Hey, isn't that… Midorima Shintarou, the Generation of Miracle's shooting guard?" Koganei whispered to Izuki.
"Yes, he is…" The eagle-eyed teen whispered back.
After Midorima was done bandaging Kuroko's wound, he told Kuroko to lay down and take a rest for a bit, which the phantom girl complied without much protest and muttered a soft "Thank you, Shin-kun…" to him. The green haired teen then averted his gaze to Riko.
"Her injuries are not that bad, but she needs to take a break for a while. You need to substitute her until later." Midorima told her.
"You're right. Thank you for your assistant. Koganei-kun, you're up substituting Kuroko-chan!" Riko ordered.
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Midorimacchi…" Kise called out, a despair look still on his face.
Midorima glared at the blonde, making the copycat cowered even more.
"You were careless, Kise. Don't be surprised if Akashi gives you a call." Midorima told Kise, still glaring at the blonde.
Kise gulped, he knew that he'd receive hell from Akashi after the emperor found out about Kuroko's injury. "I understand, Midorimacchi…"
The referee whistled, indicating that the players should be inside the court so that they could resume the match. All of the players entered the court, although Kise was a bit hesitant to do so, and then the match was continued.
Midorima huffed, then sat himself down beside Kuroko's head. He looked at the sleeping girl who had a peaceful look on her face. A relieved smile tugged on the bespectacled boy's lips. He putted down his red tennis racquet beside him. Then he stroked Kuroko's hair with his bandaged fingers.
'Such a troublesome princess…'
… - … - … - … - …
5 minutes left until the last quarter ended, and Seirin's scores was left behind by 3 points with Kajou's. Riko was trying to find a way so that they could beat Kaijou but found none.
"If only we have Kuroko-chan in the court…" She muttered loud enough.
"Then, I'll get into the court." A soft voice responded to her.
Riko turned around and found Kuroko got up from the bench with Midorima supporting her shoulders. She was limping around, trying to reach the court by herself, while the greenette stood by her side so that he could steady her if she fell.
"No, Kuroko-chan! I said 'if only', you're not good enough to get into the court yet!" Riko tried to stop the phantom girl but with no avail.
Kuroko looked up to Midorima, begging him with her silent stare, which Midorima responded with a deep sigh.
"Kuroko would be alright to get into the court, Seirin's coach." MIdorima said to the bewildered brunette.
"But…"
"Coach." Kuroko turned around and gave Riko a small smile that unknowingly made the young coach blushed. "If just with my presence in the court could make a miracle, then let me be that miracle".
Moved by the bluenette words, Riko approached Kuroko and gave her a tight hug. "I'll leave the rest to you then." She said with a smile and then quickly released the blue haired girl from her embrace.
Kuroko nodded and continued her way into the court.
"She's always that stubborn, ne?" Riko asked Midorima, who had sat himself back on the bench.
"Hn."
"Thought so… Ah, btw, that bench is for members only!"
"…."
Uwaaaaa… The longest chapter so far xD Please tell me your opinion~
Ah, I'll post a special chapter tomorrow, I hope you like that chapter too :3