This time Midorima was the one waiting for her, having prudently ditched Takao in order to minimize the pointing and laughing (though he had been assured that there was much, much more to come), and he stared leadenly into the distance while Seirin students fluttered past him, audibly wondering why a student from an elite school was standing there and who he could possibly be waiting for, and why he carried a clear bag with a whole gingerbread house in it. Conversation died away as that one really really tall freshman girl who had joined the boys basketball team who had made such a fuss at morning assembly and had won national champions this year walked up to him- and he was tall, too, just taller than her, and did he play basketball too? Was this the quality of boys in the sport from other schools? And standing next to him, she really did look way more like a girl, looking that little way up into his face, against the breadth of his shoulders and-

"Let's...walk," said Taiga, and quickly ushered Midorima off to before it could flash all over the entire school and to Captain's ears that their ace was meeting a boy at the train station in full view of way too many students from her school.

Midorima quickly complied. All day long, he had been watched like a hawk by women, even though he had accepted only the chocolates with no love confession attached. It was exhausting.

"It was conveyed to me that a small token of returned- respect- would be appropriate," said Midorima, staring into the middle distance.

"Y-yeah!" said Taiga, watching the wind ruffle leaves. "The other- gu- I mean the others, they got me stuff too."

"Oh," said Midorima. "-what others?"

"Oh," said Taiga. "The jerks. Er, Kuroko. Tatsuya. All the jerks." Except one. She peeked at him. She didn't know why Midorima, out of all them, had forgone giving his basically obligatory return present to Momoi and instead insisted on giving to her in person. She shouldn't even have given him his in person. Why had she even done that? All she'd walked away with from that encounter was a scarf she couldn't wear anyway because she'd taken it to school during that week and Kuroko had recognised it on sight and so had Momoi, and that had been weird. They hadn't even talked. All they'd done was walk in awkward, freezing silence, just like they were doing now.

"I-" he said, "I have- Ootsubo-san sent this along for you. In thanks for the chocolate, he said."

Taiga opened the bag and drew out long, knitted woolen socks in both black (three pairs) and the Seirin colours, unfolding in her grip. She held one against her leg and it was long, way longer than any socks Taiga had ever managed to find in Japan or anywhere, well above her knees.

"Woah," she said. "Seriously?" She sat down on the first bench they came to to put them on.

Midorima, mouth dry, watched her draw the material up her thigh. He couldn't help noticing that long as the socks were, they still did not quite reach the hem of her skirt, leaving a strip of golden skin.

"Wow these are really nice," said Taiga, holding out her one socked leg and flexing it. "Where'd he get them?" She looked up. "Midorima?"

Midorima snapped back to reality. "He made them," he said. "Ootsubo-san knits for relaxation and to keep his fingers limber. He says he noticed you were cold."

Taiga waited for the inevitable jerkass lecture full of Midorima's patented blend of concern and condescension. She was not disappointed.

"If having your legs bare makes you feel cold, you should cover them up," said Midorima stiffly.

"Stockings are a pain to wear, that's all," said Taiga. She snapped the top of the sock against her skin- wow that was a strong elastic- and Midorima twitched all over.

"You could wear a longer skirt," said Midorima, manfully striding on as Taiga put on a second sock, wiggling her bare toes in the cold air for a second. "Or pants. You could wear a jersey under your skirt."

"Mine gets sweaty after practice," she informed him. "I wear running shorts all the time anyway, so that's none of your business."

"You could wear a longer skirt," said Midorima, obstinately. "If you did you wouldn't be cold."

"These are just as good," said Taiga mulishly right back at him. "They're nice and warm."

She stood up and brushed down her skirt. "Anyway, shows what you know," said Taiga. "The wind gets in even if the skirt's long. You've never worn one, so don't talk about things you don't understand. I really like these. I should thank him for them."

Midorima muttered under his breath. Oha-Asa had predicted great trials for him today, but at no point had she mentioned anything about a miniskirted Kagami Taiga dressing her bare legs in she had, Midorima might have just stayed home sick today.

"What did you say?" said Taiga.

"I said I have worn a skirt," said Midorima. "We all have. It was part of our- I mean, Teikou's hazing to become a regular." He paused. "It was very cold and strange."

Taiga stopped and stared, and then creased up and started laughing. "All of you?" she said, as the full hilarity of the conversation dawned on her.

"Yes," said Midorima. "- it's not funny!"

"Oh, it's very funny," said Taiga. "I bet Momoi has those pictures."

"She swore she destroyed them," said Midorima, squaring his shoulders and trying to huff away.

"I bet she didn't," said Taiga, following him. "I bet she'll show them to me."

"She wouldn't dare," said Midorima. "Don't ask!"

"I should ask right now," said Taiga, pulling out her phone and skipping out of reach, still laughing.

"We only had to shout from the roof to join the team, Teikou must have been weird."

"It's not any weirder than having to do something like that," said Midorima, stung.

"Yes it is," said Taiga. "Who are you to talk about weird, anyway. You're carrying a gingerbread house."

"It's not mine," said Midorima, before he remembered that he'd had a completely different script for this and damn Kagami Taiga.

"What," said Taiga. "It's not today's lucky item?"

Wordlessly, Midorima displayed a multicoloured friendship bracelet tied around his wrist.

"Huh," said Taiga. "So what is that thing, then?"

"It's yours," he said. "I mean- it's your white day gift. And your lucky item."

"...my lucky item is a gingerbread house?" said Taiga.

"Yes," said Midorima.

"Huh," she said, and took it from him, adding to the weight of all the gifts she already carried. "Er, thanks."

"It's my return gift," said Midorima, not looking at her again. "For White Day. That's it," he said. "That was all I- you'd better remind to thank Ootsubo appropriately for his thoughtfulness. Goodbye."

"Hey," she called after him. "I forgot your scarf!"

Midorima coloured right up to his ears. "It- it doesn't matter!" he said.

"It does!" she yelled at him. "I- look, next week! I'll meet you on Sunday! You- you'd better be there, alright?"

He would never know what precisely posessed him, but Midorima turned his head back and shouted, "Fine!"

("One day when I'm lying on my deathbed," said Aomine, "My life is going to flash before my eyes, and it's going to be an endless parade of 'who are these idiots and what am I doing here', and I'm going to die full of regrets."

"Nobody forced you to come," said Momoi. Kuroko faded in and out of visibility behind a neighbouring hedge.)