CHAPTER 5: KAGAMI RETURNS

The next day, the Generation of Miracles resumed school as usual. But something was different. Kuroko fell asleep in class, Akashi couldn't concentrate, Midorima wasn't in a mood to study, Kise and Aomine couldn't wake up and Murasakibara is well... Eating... More than he usually does...

After yesterday's game against Tohaku, they were all tired out, even if they have faced even stronger opponents, having Tohaku as their first challenge was exhausting.

Summer was quickly approaching, even if it has been a few weeks since they enrolled at Seiki Ritsu, the students could feel the warm sun rays radiating through the class room windows. As the bell rang, the three sleepy Generation of Miracle members shot up from their chairs and went out the classroom. Today is their first day of special training with Kiren and sadly they couldn't rest even for a few minutes at this point of time.

Akashi, Kuroko and Midorima met up with the others at the cafeteria.. Kise covered his eyes with sunglasses... Aomine had a hoodie covering his face, Murasakibara fell asleep while using the bag of snack as his pillow.

"Kise-kun..."
Kuroko shook Kise just to make sure he was awake
"Ah? Ohh... Kurokocchi *yawn* what's up?"
"Kise-kun why are you wearing sun glasses?"

Kise hesitated to answer, he looked down avoiding Kuroko's glance. Kise's avoidance was getting on Akashi's nerves.

"Ryota, it is not nice to wear sun glasses and slouch..."
"But Akashicchi"
"Take it off Ryota don't make me do this for you"
"B-but"
"You leave me no choice"

Akashi took off Kise's sunglasses just to reveal heavy eye bags under Kise's eyes, everyone in the cafeteria looked at Kise in shock

"Akashicchi!"
Kise grabbed his sun glasses on and blushed a deep shade of red like the strawberry; this is going to be the headline of the basketball magazine Kise thought. Akashi also looked at Aomine and opened his hoodie.. Aomine was fast asleep!

"Tetsuya... Please get Daiki up and tell him to meet us at the basketball building, I'm tired waking him up for the past weeks and tell him if he doesn't, he'll suffer"
Akashi left along with the others, but he didn't realize he was going the wrong way

"A-akashi-kun, you're going the wrong way"
Everyone was trying not to laugh, Akashi glared and everyone stopped... Then he went the right way.

"Aomine-kun... Wake up..."
Kuroko shook Aomine, but all Aomine did was flop his head down to the table. Kuroko punched Aomine since he had no other choice and in an instant, Aomine shot up

"TETSU! WHAT THE?! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"
"I tried to shake you... But you didn't wake up"
Aomine grumbled and squinted his eyes
"Akashi-kun wants us at the gym now... He said you will suffer something if you don't get there"
Aomine grumbled again and stretched
"Let's go Tetsu"
Aomine and Kuroko left the cafeteria and went to the basketball building, ignoring the laughter and gossips along the hall way about Kise's eye bags and Aomine's nap in the canteen. Once they reached the basketball building, the chosen ones were already practicing.

Not long after, a whistle blew and everyone turned their attention to Kiren, who was wearing a black-tank top and green track pants, she was also carrying today's lucky item... Scissors.
"Alright everyone gather round!"
Kiren called the people towards the stage. Kuroko raised his hands.
"Yes kuroko-kun?"
"Where is coach yamada-sensei?"
"Ah... Coach left the training orders to me since he went observing a basketball match, I'm replacing him for today"
everyone looked at each other, could this girl be capable of training us? They thought.. But Kuroko on the other hand was neutral, since he had a female coach during high school and she got Seirin quite far.

Kuroko then started remembering those times where the coaches from other teams underestimated her. As a result, he trusts Kiren. "Right then, go practice and I'll go around giving advice that the coach gave me"
Kiren blew the whistle and everyone started to practice, from the stage she saw the numbers of everyone's abilities.. She agreed they were strong but its true that there are more room for improvement, especially the Generation of Miracles, the strongest group in the building could sharpen their abilities but she wasn't that concerned about them either but she knows how much the coach relies on them.

Flashback:
"Kiren, what do you think about the generation of miracles?"
Coach Yamada turned his attention away from the players and towards Kiren. She thought for a while still evaluating the numbers, such high strength and potential... She was even surprised by their abilities.. All those years observing different basketball matches, even observing NBA or WNBA matches, they have never seen such rare talent. The generation of miracles caught Kiren in a daze by their talent, her eyes set on Midorima and watched as he threw a shot from the other end of the court. Amazing... She thought...
"Kiren?"

The coach stopped Kiren's daydream while looking at her with curiousity, instead of answering his question, she was looking at Midorima... "I think they are quite interesting and I also think that Kuroko is interesting, sometimes we could forget he's actually here, kise's perfect copy is strong and precise, Aomine has such a great level of agility, Murasakibara's powerful especially his defense and Akashi has such a way of predicting the opponents movements... That I have never seen in my whole life.. And..."
Kiren paused for a while, she just didn't know the right words to say about Midorima...
"I see... What about Midorima Shintaro? His shooting range?"
"I have never seen that either... It is rare seeing a shot from one end of the court and perfectly go in without hearing a clank of the rim... And the ball... It flew really high... Could someone throw at such a range?"
"I've had a friend once and he was part of a basketball team... It was back at high school and he tried but it never went in.."
Kiren was frozen, if that's so.. How is Midorima capable of doing this? How are the generation of miracles capable of doing things normal players couldn't?"

(Out of flashback)

"Kirencchi!"
Kiren looked up to see a waving Kise at the front of her
"Ah uh Kise-kun you scared me"
"Ahahaaa... Sumimasen Kirencchi but... When are you going around to tell us the improvements? Time is almost up"
Now that Kiren thought of it, she totally forgot! She spent too much time flashbacking she forgot her duties.. She fixed her clipboard and let out a sigh
"You didn't have to rush me kise-kun... I was just about to..."
"The-then could you tell me first?" Kise stood with a wide grin on his face. Kiren hesitated, sure she's the manager, sure she's in charge today... But the horoscope warned her about getting too close to a gemini... Kise was confused on Kiren's long pause but then remembered about the Oha-Asa horoscope
"Ah sorry to push you like that Kirencchi, you probably don't want to talk close to me at this point of time, I'll just wait patiently"
Kise went off the stage and went back to copying different movements. Midorima was watching from the corner of the building, he was surprised to see the reaction of Kiren to Kise, she avoided him.. This proved that she is an oho-asa fan and he started to wonder of what's her sign...
"Midorima-kun" Kuroko stared up at Midorima, who suddenly jumped up in shock.
"K-kuroko! D-dont appear out of nowhere like that"
"S-sumimasen"
Kuroko bowed in respect
"What is it?"
Midorima fixed up his glasses and crossed his arms.
"What do you think about Kiren-san?"
Midorima gulped and tried to hide a shade of pink forming on his cheeks... He didn't want to show anything towards Kuroko...
"She's okay, but she has to stop zoning out"
Midorima left the corner and started practicing again. Kuroko was staring at Midorima wondering what he was really thinking. He knows that Midorima is a tsundere and it may be hard to say nice things.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Kurokocchi?"
Kise asked Kuroko in a tricky tone, Kuroko shook his head..
"What do you mean kise-kun?"
"Haaa... Its just me then... Anyways since Kurokocchi doesn't know I might as well tell you"
Kuroko looked at the blond copy cat, willing to find out what he meant.
"Midorimacchi... Has a crush on Kirencchi"
Kuroko stared in blank space for a while, he couldn't believe it himself, Midorima, the three pointer shooter tsundere... In love?

a week later...
"The plane for tokyo airport has arrived" the announcement announced around the hall a tall boy stepped out, his hair was red with some black at the tips, he wore sunglasses and a black jacket. People stared at him as he passes, gossiping among themselves if such a person exists. He ignored the whispers and waited for a taxi.
"Hey did you hear this famous basketball team... What's the name... The generation of miracles are reforming?"
The boy looked up at the direction, he stepped a little closer as he was interested to hear more.
"Yeah! I also heard they're going to go to their first game in summer! Its going to be interesting!"
The boy's splitted eyebrows narrowed together, he was serious now. He went to the two girls
"Generation of Miracles?"
He spoke in a slight scary and stern tone, the girls turned their attention to him and looked with wide opened eyes.
"Is that the basketball magazine you were looking at?"
The boy pointed to the magazine the girls were reading. Scared, the girls gave the magazine and ran off. The boy sighed, well he didn't mean to scare them.. He hopped on in the cab and told the driver to drop him off at Maji Burger and on the way he read the magazine.

Evening at Seiki Ritsu, the Generation of Miracles have finished their trainning. From the previous weeks the six of them has practiced hard and at the same time they tried to cope with their studies since the summer exams are coming soon too. So far they had no problem with resting and work thanks to Akashi who made timetables for everyone. Anyways, the Generation of Miracles were just heading to Maji Burger because they don't have a lot of work to do. Arriving at Maji, they saw a really long queue
"Hnn~? Why so long~? I'm hungry~" Murasakibara complained while looking at Akashi with sleepy eyes.
Akashi moved out from the line and ordered his comrades to follow, everyone in the line were complaining that Akashi was cutting but where Akashi was going was out of the line. He ordered the food to a waitress who was cleaning up a table.
"I went through this before, the waitresses don't mind as long as it's me."
Kuroko drank his milkshake while looking at the line, it has been around five minutes and the line hasn't shrunk. He decided to peek at who's at front and there he saw a familiar tall boy with red hair and black tints, on the boys tray was a tall pile of hamburgers probably made of 10 more or less. He went out of the line with people staring at how many burgers he has on his tray and he sat at a table near the window.

Kuroko started to think he knows the person or maybe he was just imagining stuff but he decided to approach him anyways. Kuroko gave a poke on his back, the red and black haired boy turned around and almost choked his burger
"Konbawa" Kuroko bowed politely
"Eh?" The boy answered with a still shocked expression
"Sumimasen... But may I sit here?"
The boy nodded slowly allowing Kuroko to sit at the front.
"How was America... Kagami-kun?"
The boy dropped his burger and looked up at Kuroko, looking at his blank gaze. He chuckled a little and took off his sun glasses.
"You haven't changed Kuroko"
Kuroko was still having his blank expression and sipping his milkshake
"Kagami-kun is still eating a lot"
Kagami became shocked at Kuroko's remark. He even felt like punching him
"Shut up.."
"What is Kagami-kun doing here?"
Kagami took a bite of his burger and swallowed it
"My university has links with this university called Seiki Ritsu, they told me its best to study here for a while.."
Kuroko nodded "I see"
Kagami looked out the window with a strict expression on his face.
"Shouldn't you be with them?"
Kuroko stopped sipping his milkshake and placed it on the table
"Who?"
Kagami crossed his arms
"You know who I mean... Akashi and the others"
Kuroko looked down for a while feeling slightly ashamed joining the generations and not telling Kagami but he knew he couldn't lie
"Yes..."
Kagami looked at Kuroko with slight confusion, didn't they split and become enemies? He thought, he had enough with them, even after being claimed the number one in Japan, why make the Generation of Miracles use him again? Kagami was about to ask but was interrupted by a hyper Kise
"KUROKOCCHIIIIII! There you are! Akashicchi, Aominecchi, Murasakibaracchi and Midorimacchi were wondering where you are!"

Kise paused for a while and turned his head towards Kagami. Kise's face became pale, his pupils dilated and his jaw dropped.
"Ka-" kise tried to get the words out of his mouth
"KAGAMICCHIIIIIIIIIII?!"
Kise was panting hardly from shock, his heart was still beating and he almost wanted to faint. Kise grabbed Kagami by the collar and started to choke him
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO KUROKOCCHI?! ARE YOU HURTING HIM?! HAH?! ARE YOU?!"
Akashi and the others heard Kise and rushed over.

"Kise-chin was too loud... Aka-chin was furious... Hnnn~?"
Murasakibara complained still eating his ice cream but he suddenly dropped the cone and also turned his head to Kagami
"A-aka-AKA-CHIN!"
Murasakibara called Akashi to hurry up. Aomine, Midorima was following.
"Atsushi... What is it? And what's with you Ryota?"
Midorima and Aomine's hair were sticking up and there pupils were dilated in addition their mouths were wide open. Akashi looked back at them and sighed
"And now both of you?"
Midorima pointed Akashi to the direction where Kagami was. Akashi turned and unlike the others, he was neutral
"Taiga... What a surprise..."
Akashi approached Kagami and as usual the aura Akashi makes was dark and creepy, his fellow comrades (except Kuroko) stepped back instead Akashi attempts to do anything harmful to Kagami (example: the time where he almost stabbed him with scissors)

Akashi looked at Kagami who had a slight frozen mad face and then turned to Kuroko.
"Tetsuya... Did this guy hurt you? Or Ryota... Did Taiga hurt Tetsuya?"
Akashi scanned around for an answer
"No... I'm fine Akashi-kun"
Akashi nodded but still kept his gaze on Kagami, it has been a while since Seirin won against Rakuzan but Akashi still hasn't pick his revenge for messing with his abilities

"Drag him to the campus..."
Akashi left the restaurant and since the others got no choice, they picked up Kagami and dragged him (literally)
"HEY! LET ME GO YOU DEVIL HEYYY!"
Arriving at the campus, they dropped Kagami on the floor and stepped aside. Akashi threw a basketball towards Kagami and he caught it before it could reach his face.
"I was not satisfied with losing Taiga" Akashi stepped closer towards Kagami
"Let's play a one-on-one..."

Kagami's expression became serious, he stood up and stared at Akashi "fine..." The game commenced and the two of them were very serious, Akashi's emperor eyes were much superior than before also on the other hand Kagami has improved his dunking skills and speed. Kuroko and the other stared at them in anticipation and amazement watching the person who defeated them all and the captain that claims himself to never lose. At the end Akashi won, Kagami was panting, his sweat was dripping and he felt dizzy
"DAMN IT!" Kagami shouted, Akashi went to Kagami's direction
"Don't mess with the captain of the Generation of Miracles may that be a lesson to you Taiga ohh and one more thing as long as you are here at Seiki Ritsu... You're not allowed to rebel against me... If you do... The consequences are fatal... Let's go comrades.."
Akashi, Kise, Aomine, Midorima and Murasakibara went out of the building and straight to their dorm room. The lights of the building turned off, the only light there was the bright moon in the cold dark sky.
"Kagami-kun..."
Kuroko appeared out of the darkness, Kagami was still mad but deep inside, he was chuckling they have gotten stronger... He thought but he didn't want to be playing in their first game along with them.
"Kagami-kun" Kuroko was still calling to get Kagami's attnetion, Kagami finally looked up
"What Kuroko?"
"Sumimasen..."

Kuroko looked down to the basketball he picked up Kagami looked in confusion
"Huh?"
"I hope you weren't dissapointed when you heard I reformed with the others... I wanted all of us to have a second chance... Akashi-kun, Aomine-kun, Midorima-kun, Kise-kun and Murasakibara-kun... Seemed like they finally understood me.. But I would have to say thanks to Kagami-kun because he also proved how much he loves basketball, no matter what Kagami-kun is still one of my light."

Kagami stood there trying to collect everything that Kuroko said. He harshly placed his big hands on Kuroko's head
"Idiot... Wasn't that what I was supposed to do? Make your style noticable?"
Kuroko smiled and nodded

A bright light shined through the window of Kuroko's room, the light gave a warm sign of 'good morning' he looked around the dorm which he shared with Midorima but he wasn't there, he went to Kise's and Aomine's dorm but they were gone, he also looked in Akashi's and Murasakibara's dorm but the only thing he found was empty packs of sweets... Kagami wasn't in the guest dorm either! Kuroko looked around the large campus under the morning heat, even is its just the morning it was already pretty hot. Kuroko finally saw everyone gathered near the school billboard, he greeted everyone good morning and as usual shocked them.
"Ohayo Gozaimsu... Sumimasen... But what is everyone looking at?"
"Why don't you read it yourself tetsu?" Aomine pointed to a paper stuck on the billboard with a bright red push pin and it read

'Its summer! The sun is at its peak, people are going to the beach and spending their relaxing vacation but not for the basketball team, that's right! They are handling the heat in a different way, their first game in their university years!'

Kuroko just looked at the last sentence wide eyed... His first game with another school... With the Generation of Miracles?!

The next chapters might take a longer time to update because of school stuff...