Next morning, Seirin was having their practice on the beach. Practice was much harsher since their coach was in a bad mood, for some "unknown" reason. They were both teamed up with two, one doing sit-ups while the other held the other's feet down.

Kagami held Kuroko's feet, his gaze roaming the beach until it landed on Amami. She was making her way over the beach holding on to a bag, towel and umbrella while being followed by Hashiba who seemed to be talking very animatedly as usual. He noticed her smile towards the boy when he set up the umbrella for her. A pang of jealousy ran through Kagami, making him scowl. The boy in front of him noticed his partner's scowl and followed his gaze. A small smile crept on his lips.

"Kagami-kun... shouldn't be... jealous." He said while doing his sit-ups, huffing due to the exercise and heat from the sun.

"Who the hell is that brat anyway, he's so loud and always hovering around her. Doesn't he have to join his team for practice or something?!" His scowl deepens, ignoring Kuroko's earlier statement.

"Hashiba! Get your damn stupid ass in here!" Shutoku's captain yelled angrily towards the younger boy. The captain was Miyaji's younger brother and now in charge of the team, being scary runs in the family, it seems.

The boy sprinted towards the gym as if the devil himself was chasing him, leaving an amused Amami to herself on her towel in the sun. She pulled up her blouse, leaving her in her bikini. The moment she started to rub herself with sunscreen Kagami finally looked away with a crimson blush.

"Maybe she... doesn't dislike... loud people,... Kagami-kun." A meaningful gaze met his crimson eyes.

This made Kagami scowl deeper, knitting his dual-brows. Kuroko had a hunch who Amami liked but felt like he shouldn't meddle, but since the progress has been so slow for a year now he thought he could at least help steer him in the right direction. Shutoku's first year seemed like a great way to spur on the red-head. Kuroko didn't lie when he told Kagami that she probably liked loud people, Kagami simply didn't realize that he fell in that same category when Kuroko told him.


Inside the gym Shutoku were doing their usual exercises, their coach keeping an eye on his players. The boys stood in line to make a fluid succession of lay-ups when Hashiba poked Takao, requesting his attention. "Takao-senpai, does our manager have a boyfriend?"

"Eh? Where did that come from?" Takao looked behind him quizzically at the first year.

"Well yesterday you guys seemed to be talking about Amami-senpai and Kagami.. So I just wondered if they were.. you know, together?" He tried his best to keep his voice low enough so his coach and captain wouldn't hear them.

"Ah, the kitchen incident.. no they're not a couple.. but-" Takao began before running to make a lay-up when he retrieved the ball.

"Oh! That's great, I really thought he stole our manager from us!" He exclaimed, happy to have heard that, before following Takao after his lay-up.

"W-Well.. it's not that simple Hashiba-chan, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did." Takao said, knowing of his best friends feelings towards Kagami.

"Only if she would like him back, right?" This time some worry glanced through his voice as he stuck to his senior like white on rice.

"Dude, everyone knows she likes him, I think some of our second stringers have actually placed bets on when they would finally hook up.." Kimura, the other first year and also brother of Shutoku's ex-center drawled lazily having caught up with the conversation happening in front of him.

"What? No way.." Hashiba's posterior slumped, making him miss his lay-up.

"Come on man, everyone knows.." Kimura placed his hand on his teammates shoulder, not sure to comfort the boy or mock him for being dense.

This caused their ace to freeze up and with that, block the line of lay-ups. "She likes him? When did that happen?" Midorima turned around to Takao, hoping he would clear up the ridiculous rumors about her.

"Aaah.. Shin-chan, somewhere last year? Do you hate the guy that much that you didn't see your own friend gushing over him?" Takao let out an awkward laugh, not sure what to expect from his ace when he apparently burst his bubble.

"If you guys don't shut up and continue practicing, I'm gonna make sure you won't live to see those two happen." A menacing aura enveloped the gym when Miyaji threatened his team.


After this morning and its revelations, it was no surprise that two boys were sending each other death-glares during lunch. Hashiba not fully accepting the idea of those two together while Kagami thought the other was trying to steal her away from him.

It was during their practice game that tensions truly flared up between the two. Hashiba wore a smug smirk when he entered the gym together with Amami, fully aware of the crimson gaze on them.

'This guy..' Takao mentally rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what his kouhai was trying to achieve. He intervened by karate-chopping him on the head before dragging him on the court. Not even giving him a word when the younger boy started to object.

Amami sat down on the bleachers with a sleeping Nigou at her feet. She noticed something off about the red-head when she was observing the game, he seemed more tense than usual. "Sweet pass, Kazu-chan!" She cheered when Takao used his hawk-eye vision to make an amazing pass underneath one leg towards Hashiba, bringing Kagami off-guard.

"Nice!" The young forward complimented his senpai as he stormed off to make a dunk for his team. The boy immediately turned to Amami to check if she saw him score, grinning brightly. His smile faltering when he noticed she was staring at Kagami instead, slight concern edged on her face.

"Don't get cocky, bastard, that was thanks to Takao's pass." The red-head glared at the slightly smaller boy in front of him.

"Says the one being backed up by the phantom sixth member of Teiko." Hashiba jeered, sticking his tongue out when he noticed Kagami's anger brewing.

Kagami wasn't known for his incredible anger management so it was no surprise he started to play brashly and ended up making three fouls during the entire game. Not a surprise either that Hashiba was the one being the victim each time.

"You bastard!" Kagami yelled out after one of the many taunts the other made, making sure it could only be heard by the two of them.

'Yes, keep that up, show Amami what an idiot you really are..' He smirked as he walked away, shrugging to his teammates.

After many rib-jabs from Kuroko and slaps from Riko, Kagami seemed to have calmed down..mostly. But the damage had already been done, Shutoku's lead was too much, leading them to victory in the end.

Almost immediately after the game Takao ran towards Amami, wrapping his arm around her neck and dragging her out of the gym.

'Great, now this guy too?!' Kagami gritted his teeth when he saw her being dragged away. He kicked an empty water bottle lying on the floor away from him.

"Aaah, my bottle...!" Furihata yelled out as he ran after it.

Kagami stormed out the gym, not even bothering to look back at some of his teammates who were clearly pissed off with his behavior.


After dinner and her job she sat on the beach by herself, 'spacing out' as Takao would always say. She looked up at the night sky while hugging her knees closer to herself. "Boys.." She muttered lowly while rolling her eyes at these weird creatures.

Further down the beach Kagami was running on the beach, trying to clear his mind somewhat of today's aggravations. From a distance he noticed her sitting on the beach, his brain and heart going in hyper drive. 'Should I talk to her.. perhaps apologize.. aaah she probably thinks I'm an idiot anyway.' He slowed his running down, still enough distance between them to give him some time to consider things. 'What do I even say to her without sounding like a moron..' The more Kagami was thinking, the less convinced he became of his initial idea until thoughts of this afternoon came surging through his mind. 'Maybe Kuroko was right, she could like that guy.. but..' His heart clenched at the thought of her and the annoying brat together. 'No, I have to..' His face showed a sudden burst of determination as he approached her. Before she could greet him he leaned in and placed a kiss on her lips...

'NO! No, I can't do that either, that'd be creepy, even I know that..' Kagami was still standing a small distance away from her, having made a small scenario in his mind. He breathed in deeply and approached the girl for real this time. "H-Hey, Amami-kun, taking a break?" He mentally cursed himself for asking her such a dumb question.

Amami's eyes widened with surprise and a small yelp came out of her when she heard the warm gruff voice of the boy close to her. Looking up she saw him standing only a few meters away from her, the light from the moon, the only source of light revealing a serious face on the male teen. "G-Gah, Kagami-kun you scared me!"

"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you... again." Kagami stammered a nervous apology, bowing deeper than any human should.

"No no, it's alright Kagami-kun, I was just spacing out for a moment that I didn't notice you. Yes, I'm done with my job for today, to answer your question." She smiled, trying to hide the fact her mouth just became as dry as the desert and her heart attempting to break free from her rib cage.

"Mind if I join you for a bit?" He nervously looked around while his hand ruffled his fiery locks. 'She's gonna think I'm a creep now..'

"Oh, of c-course not.." She pats the sand next to her, motioning for the boy to take a seat.

Kagami's face lit up like fireworks, due to relief and plopped himself on the designated spot next to her. His bright grin faltering as he realized that he didn't think further than this.

It became quiet for a small minute, both teens too caught up with their own nerves until Amami decided to break the silence.

"Sooo, it seems you have calmed down... I mean, this afternoon you seemed pretty upset.." She blurted out, her gaze stiff towards the sea.

Kagami's mouth opened, his instincts wanting to deny his earlier moment of weakness, but immediately squeezed his lips tight. He didn't want to lie to her and it was also the reason why he decided to talk to her in the first place. He took a deep breath, calming himself down somewhat and looked at the girl to his left. "Yeah.. sorry for acting like that to your friend.. I shouldn't have.."

Surprise slipped over her face, not having expected for the boy next to her to apologize. "Kagami-kun, he was acting like a douche-bag, I'm glad you've put my teammate in his place." She put a small emphasis on the 'teammate'. Hashiba was their first year teammate, nothing more or less.

"Tell that to my team, coach just doubled my practice for the rest of the week.. wait, you knew he was acting like that during the game?" Kagami interrupted himself and felt his heart hurt a little bit less when she called the boy her teammate.

"Kazu-chan told me what happened when the game finished, but it's not like I didn't realize something was off between the two of you. You seemed different and only around him." She had watched the red-head plenty during his games this past year, perhaps a bit more than just watching. A surge of blood rushed to her cheeks, making the blush even visible in the dark. "..He's a nice guy, underneath a vast layer of idiocy and arrogance."

At that Kagami let out a breathy chuckle. "Sounds like someone I know..if it's not the Generation of Miracles, it's some other kid trying to piss me off.."

"Hmm, more fun for you to show them your strength and kick them off their high horse, no?" She looked at him, admiration shining through her eyes.

He looked back at her, noticing the sincerity of her words. His chest swelled up with pride at the kind words. "Keep making compliments and I might end up as arrogant and conceited as those bastards too." He warmly chuckled, his heart making somersaults in his chest.

"They've all changed now, Mido-kun wouldn't admit it though. As for you, you are too nice to become like that.." She smiled thoughtfully.

Kagami froze at that last part, his entire body felt like it got caught on fire. He swallowed the imaginary dry lump in his throat. Before he knew it, he inched closer to her and placed his thumb and fingers on her chin making her look up at him. His tongue darted over his lips quickly, moisturizing them, before he placed them softly on hers. His eyes closed at the sensation of her soft, warm lips on his.

Amami froze up at first, not expecting him to make such a move, but when the sudden realization of her crush kissing her crashed over her she leaned in and returned the kiss.

It was the first kiss for both (Alex doesn't count!), being very inexperienced they took it slowly. Gingerly and innocently pecking each other on the lips before becoming a bit more 'daring' and placed their hands on the others cheek or shoulder.

"I like you..a lot.." Kagami murmured while his lips were ghosting over hers. He pushed a few strands of ginger locks behind her ear, taking in the beautiful expression from Amami.

"I like you a lot as well, Kagami-kun." She smiled contently, leaning into his hand as he was now cupping her cheek. Enjoying the warmth seeping through the simple touch. His warmth.

Kagami let out a warm chuckle, making her heart skip a beat like it usually would. Memories of the first time that had happened flitted through her mind. She chuckled, overjoyed that the feelings she had for so long now, were mutual. Not long after, a cold breeze made her shiver slightly, goosebumps rippling over her exposed skin.

"We should go back inside, it's getting quite late." He bumped her forehead with his, gently, reluctant to call it a night, but they were still in the middle of training camp. They both couldn't afford to make it late.

"Mmm.." She nodded wordlessly before standing up and brushing the sand off of her clothes. "Let's go." She smiled to him as he joined her.

They both slowly walked towards the building together. Amami bit her lip as she moved closer to him, letting her hand brush over his before intertwining their fingers. She was pretty sure that her face would've looked comical due to the furious blush, but she couldn't care less.

Kagami's hand flinched for a split second when he felt her fingers gliding through his own before firmly holding her hand. Looking to his right at the girl with a shy smile and cheeks rivaling the color of his hair.

They now stood in front of her room she had been sharing with his coach. Very reluctant to let go of their joined hands.

"Guess I'll see you in the morning.." Kagami whispered softly, his fiery eyes gazing into twinkling emerald ones.

Amami smiled, his gaze successfully knocking the air from her lungs. She balanced on her tippy-toes while bracing her hand on his shoulder to kiss him softly on his lips. "Goodnight Kagami-kun."

Before she could turn around to head inside her room, he quickly grabbed her wrist gently, holding her in place. He leaned in and kissed her again but more firmly, he placed his hand on the back of her head and tilted his to deepen the kiss. Once they broke the kiss, due to lack of air, he nodded with a smile. "Goodnight Amami-kun."

She entered her room, feeling light-headed when she closed the door behind her. Placing her head against the door behind her for support. She couldn't help the smile turning into a wide grin, happiness swelling through her chest. It wasn't until a few moments later that she realized she had two sets of eyes staring at her.

"Looks like someone had a very nice evening." Riko sat on her bed with Hyuga next to her. A sly smirk becoming more smug when she noticed the girl's expression.

"Was that Kagami you were talking to in front of the door?" Hyuga asked, looking between the two girls and becoming more confused by the second.

"Looks like our ace finally managed to make his move." Riko looked like the cat that swallowed the canary.

Amami was at a loss of words for the second time tonight. She couldn't help but giggle like your average schoolgirl when she made her way towards her bed.

"That idiot, he'd better not get distracted during games, especially if it's against Shutoku." Hyuga sighed, but smiled as he saw the girl being over the moon. He stood up and made his way outside to give the girls some privacy.

Riko quickly joined him at the door to kiss him goodnight. When Hyuga left their room, Riko turned her full attention towards her roommate, intent on hearing every detail about her evening with Kagami.

"- And then we said goodnight and I entered the room." Amami had more or less given in to the coach and told her in big lines what had happened earlier. She felt giddy throughout the entire explanation but felt she didn't have to tell the girl everything.

"Well, I'm happy for the two of you and if he gets too distracted because of you, I'll simply triple his practice. We all know he can be a big idiot at times.." Riko already started to plan evil punishments for possible scenarios.

"So.. you and Hyuga-san..huh?" Amami quickly interrupted the girl's evil plans in her mind by focusing on Seirin's captain.

Both girls continued their girly talk until they realized it was getting way beyond bedtime and decided to call it a night.


Next morning both teams were having breakfast like they would every morning.. in complete chaos. The only big difference was that two of the group were grinning like idiots, sneaking glances at each other.

Amami heard a sharp intake of breath on her left side, realizing it was Takao that was sitting next to her and his keen sense of observation. Before he could even open his mouth Amami's reflexes jumped in and slapped the raven-haired teen's mouth shut with her hand. This had caused several of their teammates to look towards their direction.

"I'll explain when we're alone." She whispered to her friend.

Takao kept shifting his eyes between their table and Seirin's, not only were the two sneaking peeks, it seemed the majority of the cafeteria felt like something was going on. Takao already had a hunch on what was going on but felt like his friend would tell him everything when she'll have a chance to.

When breakfast slowly ended Amami made her way to the kitchen, ready to tackle the mountain of dishes waiting to be cleaned. It was then that the doors of the kitchen opened and bursts of catcalls and whistles could be heard from the other side.

"Those guys.." Kagami muttered halfheartedly while shutting the door behind him. His gaze now landing on a giggling Amami. "Good morning, Amami-kun." He nervously walked towards her and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. His cheeks so red it seemed they would catch a fire any moment.

She returned the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck to steady her wobbling while standing on her toes. "Good morning Kagami-kun."

He gingerly placed his hands on her waist and helped her with her balance. It's then that they heard some guys yelling just outside.

"Shiiin-chaaan, don't go into the kitchen!"

"What are you talking about, I need to put my dishes in the kitchen, nanodayo!"

"But you can't right now! W-Wait, I'll do it, don't-..!"

"TAKAO, let me go! I can do this myself."

The door opened and Midorima entered the kitchen. Annoyance and confusion worn as his expression while Takao clung onto the larger male's neck, having lost in strength. Shutoku's ace stopped looking at Takao, giving up on his weird ways of thinking and landed his gaze on the two still holding each other. His eyes only widened for a fraction of a second before he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Congratulations." He muttered almost incomprehensibly and quickly placed his dishes in the sink with a loud clatter. "Come on, Takao, we'll be late." Midorima power-walked his way out of the kitchen, feeling enough embarrassment for today.

"Seo-chan, I tried my best to keep him from runnin' into ya guys." He apologized but let out a chuckle when he saw his best friend shuffling awkwardly next to Kagami, their hug having ended with Midorima's dramatic exit. "I'm happy for you two, I'll see you guys later!" He skipped his way out of the kitchen from sheer joy.

"That was.. interesting.." Amami let out a shaky laugh.

"Your friends are weirdo's."

That statement earned him a soft slap on his shoulder from her. "Go before your coach triples your practice for being late."

He quickly placed a kiss on her lips before running out of the kitchen, joining his team for practice on the beach.


The rest of the week had gone by in a similar way, the two teams quickly learned of the new couple and simply continued. Whenever the two had time they would spent it together, quickly overcoming the shy and nervous feelings. Takao had quietly walked up to Kagami when they were alone, told him that he was very happy for his friend but he'd better not do anything bad to her. Takao saw Amami as his sister, even though they both had their own siblings to begin with. They were childhood friends however and with that, naturally, comes deep affection and care. Midorima simply warned the red-head that his relationship better not interfere with their basketball. As for Seirin, well they were happy for the two, still surprised that their ace actually cared for something else than basketball and food.

When the camp had ended they all shuffled on the bus, taking their seats. Amami sat next to Kagami, which made Takao sit next to Midorima, to the latter's frustration. The ride had been pretty quiet, most of the teens falling asleep on the ride home after their harsh week of training. Amami had fallen asleep on Kagami's shoulder when he had wrapped his arm around hers. Not long after, Kagami had joined her in dreamland.

The rest of their school year had gone by with Kaijo winning the Inter High with the overwhelming and still unstoppable Kise's Perfect Copy at that point. Touou won the Winter Cup, their ace finally accepting team play, making them an overwhelming force. The rest of the 'miracle teams' naturally filled in the next five places. As brutal as it may seem, it was sadly the truth that other schools simply didn't stand a chance to get closer than seventh place in the tournaments because of said prodigies.