GENERATION OF MUSIC.
Song 9: I hate people like you.
"Ne, I won! I won!" Cheered the blonde teenage boy while he held the stick on his hand.
"I won too." The shorter figure beside him said, chuckling. "Good for you, then. Let's give it to the others."
At first, he was about to whine but-
"Sure!" After all, it was a precious moment with his dearest person.
And that person can only think how bright the taller's smile was.
Ever since that day – when Aomine finally regained his love for music –Kuroko and Aomine were always together. Aomine grew fond of the boy's presence; the same thing happened for Kuroko.
Of course that had the Generation of Miracles' attention, especially Kise's. He was the first one to get along with Kuroko the most, unlike Aomine who had fought with the boy. But why was Aomine now the one closest to him? Kise frowned.
"Oi, Tetsu. Here's a lunchbox from Satsuki." Aomine flung his right arm over his shoulder. "She couldn't come to our recording today, so she asked me to give this to you."
Kuroko sweat dropped at the lunchbox. It looked utterly terrible, especially the taste. Hiding his apprehension, Kuroko nodded, reluctantly accepting the item. "Please... give my thanks to Momoi-san."
The tanned man laughed, patting his back. "Hope you'll survive that."
Kise raised his eyebrow. "...Tetsu?"
"Oh. Aomine-kun insisted on calling me 'Tetsu,'" Kuroko explained, which made Kise go 'eeehh'.
"T-Then I'll call you... Tetsu-cchi!"
"Please refrain from doing so."
He said that without hesitation.
"So fast!" Kise said. "Why can't I call you that, but Aomine-cchi can?!"
"Because you're annoying, Kise-kun. Adding a –cchi to my name is annoying."
Later, Aomine joined the talk and made it worse, with him throwing jokes at Kise who took them seriously, resulting in the two arguing while Kuroko went out to buy some vanilla milkshakes. Akashi looked on the situation with an amused expression, however it would irritate him if they started a ruckus here.
His eyes glanced at the green-haired pianist who was recording his part of the song, playing the notes as a string quintet. They were currently recording the instruments for 'Ray of Shine', Aomine and Kuroko's duet. A bass and a drum weren't needed in the song; Kuroko and Akashi tried to do the acoustic and decided they would make it afterwards.
"Daiki, Ryota." He called over to them, gaining their attention immediately. "Have you seen Atsushi?"
They both glanced around the room, not finding the two-meter tall youth. "Maybe he went out to buy some snacks?" Aomine suggested.
Kise agreed. "Yeah, maybe." His eyes traveled around the room, hoping to see the teal-haired boy. His eyes widened when he couldn't find any sign of him. Sure, Kuroko had a low presence, almost like a ghost, but Kise knew that he wasn't really in the room. "Where is Kuroko-cchi?" he asked frantically.
Aomine soon snapped out of it, joining Kise's panic when he couldn't find Kuroko in the room. "Tetsu!"
The redhead chuckled at them. "Don't panic. Tetsuya is merely buying a vanilla milkshake, most likely because he's tired seeing you two fight, hm?"
Ah…
"Kuroko-cchi!"
"Tetsu!"
"I know I can't do much but, let me be your shadow who supports you." The mysterious short figure who held a ball beside his said, hope flashed in his eyes as they reflected the shocked expression of the other male which soon changed into a large grin.
"Interesting! A shadow, huh? Sure!" A fist was raised, then they exchanged fistbumps.
On the racks there were snacks and drinks, most of them popular brands. Murasakibara Atsushi put his finger on his mouth. In his mind, he was debating which he should buy since all of them were his favorites. Whether it was chocolate bars, marshmallows or cheese sticks, he loved them all.
But Akashi had ordered him not to buy too much or he would get a toothache. He said that he wouldn't get to eat cakes as enjoyably as before if he did get one. Murasakibara, of course, didn't want that to happen and besides, he couldn't disobey Akashi's orders.
"Murasakibara-kun, what are you doing...?" A voice snapped him from his thoughts, he looked down to his right and found Kuroko there.
"Ah~ Kuro-chin," he greeted, ruffling the boy's hair with his large hand. "I'm buying some snacks of course." He stopped. "But I can't choose just one, even though Aka-chin ordered me not to buy too much."
Kuroko seemed to have an idea afterwards, since he had invited Murasakibara to come with him; "Murasakibara-kun, I have a good place in mind. Instead of snacks, you would prefer cakes, right?"
Murasakibara thought for a bit. "Yep~"
"Come with me, then."
"Taiga, did you hear the news?" A raven haired male with a mole under his right eye asked the person beside him, who was consuming a slice of cake in one bite.
His mouth, still full of pieces of cake, tried to open but Himuro stopped him from doing so. "Taiga, munch and gulp it down before replying. It's disgusting and you'll choke on your food."
As if on cue, Kagami choked.
"I told you so." He sighed in defeat.
After coughing a few times, Kagami spoke up. "S-Shut up. Anyways, what news?"
"That Kuroko-kun and Aomine Daiki from the Generation of Miracles are going to do a duet."
"What?" His eyebrows rose in disbelief. Kuroko doing a duet with one of the Generation of Miracles that he despised for their way of singing? Moreover, Kuroko had always done solos. He and Kuroko had only done a duet, "SHOUT!" once.
They were told to do a duet, for once. Himuro had gone to visit Alexandria Garcia who was sick that day; Kagami didn't go since he had work and Alex insisted he shouldn't skip. Alex Garcia had been their mentor in American, two years ago. Kuroko was still with Seirin back then, considering that Seirin broke up a year and a half ago.
Kagami was with Seirin that time. He was with them six months before theybroke up.
Since Kuroko and Kagami became good friends in that short period of time, they were told to do a duet. They made the lyrics and the instrumentals by themselves, a song about their resolve to achieve their dreams. Seirin loved that song, everyone did, and they said that they made a great duo.
When Seirin broke up, Kuroko was devastated, along with Kagami. While they continued their singing careers, the others never touched a microphone again.
Even though it was rare they sang at reunions, Kuroko and Kagami sang that song again to help them regain their spirits; they really did cry over their decision but it was too late. They'd quit already.
"Until we achieve our dreams, we will not give up."
Himuro shrugged his shoulders, drinking the tea ‒ Earl Grey. "It seems so. You didn't hear the news, did you? Kuroko-kun and his new band mates are going to be friendly with each other soon, like Seirin was back then." Kagami flinched a bit hearing that. "Many fans are waiting for the release, saying that the new member's voice is soothing and calmed their hearts. It would make a great match for Aomine Daiki's voice… as they say.
"Either way, it would be interesting to see it," Himuro said with a smile. "I think Kuroko-kun achieved his dream."
"His dream, huh." He raised his palm to support his chin. "Oi, Tatsuya—"
"Ah, Kuro-chin. Isn't that your friend?" Both of them looked at the source of the sound, knowing well who just said that; Murasakibara Atsushi was there, with Kuroko Tetsuya beside him. "Oh, there are two of them," Murasakibara realized.
Kuroko blinked at them, then bowed his head. "Good afternoon, Kagami-kun, Himuro-kun."
'Murasakibara Atsushi...' Himuro glanced at the male. "Ah, good afternoon too." Kagami nodded, saying the same thing. "Why don't you two sit with us?" He invited them over, which made Kagami choke on his food again but agreed anyways.
Murasakibara and Kuroko nodded. As soon as they sat down, Murasakibara looked at the menu and grinned. He immediately ordered, as the waiter sweat dropped at the amount of it. Kuroko ordered a vanilla milkshake, as usual.
Silence greeted them until Himuro broke it by talking to the tall male. "Murasakibara Atsushi, that's your name, correct?"
"Yeah. What's yours again?"
"Himuro Tatsuya. And this person beside me is Kagami Taiga," Himuro answered with a smile. "We're friends of Kuroko-kun here."
Murasakibara nodded. "Muro-chin and Kaga-chin."
"Eh?"
Kuroko sighed. "Murasakibara-kun tends to give people nicknames because he can't remember names very well." His sea blue eyes rolled a bit. "Kagami-kun and Himuro-kun, what are you doing here?"
Kagami answered, "There's no work today, so we decided to hang out. I could ask you the same thing, what are you doing with one of the Generation of Miracles?"
"Kagami-kun, you are aware that I'm now one of them?" Kuroko asked, "It's not unexpected that I'm with Murasakibara-kun right now. Moreover, there's your order, Murasakibara-kun."
After receiving his order, Murasakibara happily ate the cake; it was delicious of course, judging how Murasakibara smiled at the sweets.
Kagami blinked at how he ate. Himuro nudged his shoulder, saying that he was similar to him ‒ how he ate. Kagami denied that fact, but it was true anyway. "You eat like a pig, don't deny it Taiga."
The redhead merely scowled at him.
"Kuro-chin, you sure have some lively friends~"
"I don't want to hear that from you, Murasakibara-kun," Kuroko replied with a sigh, while he sipped on his drink. "But, well, thank you. We've been friends since a year and a halfago, while Kagami-kun and Himuro-kun have been friends since they lived in the States."
His head tilted to his right. "Eh, you two are from the States?"
Kagami nodded. "Yeah, so what?"
"Cool~ I've never been there before," Murasakibara confessed. "So... your English must be good then."
Himuro chuckled. "Taiga's way of saying 'this is japanese lunch time rush!'—" he tried to imitate it, "—was pretty amusing, the first time we got lunch."
Kuroko stifled a laugh and managed a smile.
One hour was spent talking in the cafe. Murasakibara and Kagamikept eating the cakes while Himuro and Kuroko only drank their drinks.
"I'll pay," Himuro informed them.
"—Let me pay for my part," Kuroko said, not wanting Himuro to pay for all of it. Himuro shook his head. Kagami accepted it with ease while Murasakibara just looked with droopy eyes, not minding it.
"Thank you, Muro-chin~" he sang happily, to which Himuro replied with a smile.
They left the cafe afterwards, as Himuro said he would take his leave with Kagami that very moment, saying that Kuroko and Murasakibara must be busy and they wouldn't like to disturb their work.
Murasakibara dismissed the fact that they were indeed busy and decided to tag along with Himuro. It seemed that Murasakibara grew fond of Himuro in the short period of time. Probably because Himuro had been so nice to the taller boy.
It was evening already when he received a text message from Akashi, asking about their location. Kuroko replied with an apology as he explained the whole situation. Akashi didn't seem to mind that very much, although Kise kept complaining about Kuroko.
'As long as you come tomorrow and don't run away with Atsushi or the others it's fine. There wasn't that much work today anyway. And I have a meeting with my father tomorrow as well. So I'll count on you to look after them tomorrow. Don't make a ruckus. I'll send Momoi the details about tomorrow. Take care of them and yourself.'
Why did Akashi gave him the task, as opposed to Midorima? Kuroko thought with a sigh, knowing well to not object. He didn't want any scissors flying towards him either.
"Kuroko-kun, would you mind if I borrow Murasakibara-kun for a while?" Himuro asked.
Kuroko raised an eyebrow, but didn't question him. He shrugged his shoulders and let him, curious as to why Himuro wanted to borrow Murasakibara. What did he want to talk about?
Kuroko had thought with Muraskibara's personality he was childish and like a baby but ruthless as well. He claimed that he hated music but had to do it because of work, which irritated him. It was also written in the magazine, how he didn't like music very much yet was so popular.
He remembered that people like Murasakibara were the kind of people Himuro Tatsuya hated the most.
He first met Kagami when he was six years old. There was a new student at his school, and a redhead came in and introduced himself with a loud yet stuttering voice. It couldn't be helped if he was nervous. After all, he was a new student. "Kagami Taiga," Kagami said. "Please do take care of me!"
Kagami was from Japan, like Himuro, but at a young age, they moved to America. His English wasn't as fluent as Himuro's, and he didn't have many friends.
Yet, that changed when Kagami suddenly found Himuro playing an acoustic guitar on the rooftop. His expression brightened and he complimented Himuro with all of his heart to which Himuro replied with a nervous laugh, "Why don't you try to play it?"
With uncertainty, Kagami plucked at the strings but failed to produce the notes. Himuro then smiled and offered to study music together with him.
Kagami was a prodigy. It was as if he was born for music.
Kagami received more attention afterwards; his talent was amazing, superb.
Himuro couldn't help but be jealous. He, the boy who'd always trained and trained, aiming to be a musician, found someone really talented. It was good that Kagami also worked hard and dreamt of being a musician and said that he'd be with Himuro forever, his brother.
So Himuro couldn't be mad at Kagami.
But one day, he couldn't help but punch a man who didn't love his talent, who didn't appreciate his talent at all.
Since that day, Kagami knew that Himuro could be like that. He was very cool and calm, but one couldn't contain his anger for long.
"I heard you dislike music." The male started the conversation as soon as they were alone.
Murasakibara raised an eyebrow, disliking where this was going. "Are you going to scold me like Kuro-chin did?" Yes, Kuroko once interrogated him about that matter, but Murasakibara ignored him and continued to eat.
"No." His eyebrows furrowed. "I understand, if you're that kind of person. A person's self cannot be changed that easily." He sighed deeply. "I just wish that you wouldn't underestimate your rivals, ignore them without even seeingtheir faces."
"Muro-chin, did you play in the Battle of the Bands a year ago?"
Himuro smiled bitterly. "So you do remember. I am from Yosen, but I quit that band and am now singing solo. But I did play and your band crushed us completely, didn't even acknowledge us." The latter didn't reply. "I believe in Kuroko-kun."
That caught Murasakibara's attention.
"His goal is to make people love the beauty of music and to be acknowledged. He wanted to be number one with his band, you know? Sadly, that didn't happen. " As they fell silent, Himuro continued. "Murasakibara Atsushi, I will give you my honest opinion:I hate people like you. But I know that Kuroko-kun will somehow change you and the others so I will help him too, as his friend."
"Aka-chin told me about you when we first met Kuro-chin," he lazily slurred, "I hate people who try their best when they know they won't achieve anything and that fits you a bit Muro-chin~" he said. "But then again, Muro-chin is nice." Himuro's eyes narrowed. "Being enemies with you wouldn't be good, since Muro-chin is nice and I like nice people~"
"I would like to... sing with you I guess, for fun~"
Himuro chuckled meekly. I take my words back. You love singing from the bottom of your heart but you never show it in front of others. How childish.
A slight headache went to Himuro's head, he clutched it. Why do I feel that this had happened before?
He was smacked, and then scolded by the figure of his friend crying because of his behavior.
He didn't like playing seriously. He didn't appreciate his talent.
He stood up and tied his shoulder length purple hair into a ponytail. "... I don't like losing."
That four words made the other smiled.
Alas, they went home – Kuroko didn't suspect that that was all Himuro had to say on the matter, without a fight or any hateful words. But the last part had gone well; no one could hate the melodic tune of music, as he'd said.
When he received another text from Akashi, his eyes widened abruptly after another message from his old friend popped up. Firstly, he read the message from their leader;
'My father wants the band to meet with him tomorrow. Send that to Momoi and the rest.'
-From: Akashi Seijuro.
And then the last message.
He'd almost forgotten.
Tomorrow was already the start of summer.
'I will be coming tomorrow!'
-From: Ogiwara Shigehiro.
A/N; Any mistakes left will be on me, thank you my beloved beta reader, Sui-san! I seriously had writer's block to write this chapter so I'm very sorry for the lame quality of it. Once again, I do not own anything. And I hope you all enjoy this chapter :D
I can't wait to write Ogiwara! Oh, and review please? I love you all *hugs*
SERIOUSLY I WANTED TO WRITE SOMETHING FOR CONGRATULATING THIS STORY FOR REACHING 300 FOLLOWERS MORE BUT I DON"T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE
I LOVE YOU ALL
