"Sorry, Kuroko-san. Are you going to the summer festival tonight?" Emiko turned her head to the shy, apologetic boy who sat in front of her.
"Oh, I hadn't thought about it. That sounds nice, though. Are you going with a group, Sakurai-kun?"
"Well, yes. Sort of. The basketball team is going, but neither you nor Aomine-san have gone to the last two practices, so I'd figure I'd ask you. Sorry."
"I'll ask Dai-chan at lunch. It sounds fun!" Emiko gave the scared-looking boy a sweet smile, causing him to smile nervously back. The bell rang only a few seconds after, signalling the start of class. There was no sign of Aomine, however. Emiko whipped out her cellphone and began texting the navy-haired teen furiously.
Sakurai wants to go to the summer festival tonight.
She wondered what Aomine would think of the festival. He'd never been a very celebratory person, but he did enjoy eating food. Emiko's phone buzzed a moment later. Her face grew red at the message.
I'll go if you wear a cute yukata.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sakurai turn partially around.
"Kuroko-san? What did he say? Sorry."
Emiko jumped at the boy's voice. "Oh, um, he said okay."
"That's great. Now the team won't beat me up!" Sakurai said with a shy smile. Emiko gave him a confused look before deciding to not bother asking for an explanation. She stood up and walked to her teacher, asking if she could be excused to go to the bathroom. He gave her a quick nod before she briskly walked through the halls up to the school's roof.
"What do you mean by that?" Emiko yelled as soon as she reached the top.
"What do you think I mean by that?" She heard the deep voice mumble as she climbed the school's ladder.
"I'm not gonna wear a yukata just because you want me to."
"Then I'm not going." Emiko sighed as she walked over to the stubborn teen. "Red today? That's hot."
The girl's face turned pink at his reference to her underwear, causing her hands to shoot down to pull down her skirt. "You're such a pervert."
"Why's that? You clearly switched colours for me."
"I did not!" She argued, sitting down beside him, preventing any other comments about her undergarments to spew out. "…You can't not go. I already told Sakurai-kun that you were going. And if you don't, the team's going to beat him up…"
"Why should I care about that? You shouldn't have told him that I was gonna go if we haven't even fully talked about it yet."
"Dai-chan…please. You never go to practice. This is the perfect opportunity to get to know your teammates!"
"Why would I wanna do that?" He grumbled, shielding his eyes from the sun with his forearm. The giant wasn't budging. Emiko pursed her lips, attempting to think of a way to get him to accept the invitation.
"I'll wear a yukata if you pay for it."
Aomine's eyebrow twitched. He removed his forearm from his eyes, turning to look at the blue-eyed girl. "Isn't that something a boyfriend does for his girlfriend?"
Emiko looked away and shrugged her shoulders, attempting to hide a blush. "If you don't want to, it's fine. You'll just never see me in one at all." She stood up, walking toward the ladder. "Have a nice nap, Dai-chan."
"Hey, wait…" He said, sitting up. "I'll do it. But you have to wear it no matter what – even if you don't like it."
Emiko crossed her arms, quickly nodding after. "Fine. Come to class, then."
The navy-haired teen sighed. "Why?"
"Exams are in two weeks, that's why! I'm not letting you fail, Dai-chan."
Aomine rubbed his face with his hands before standing up and walking toward the blue-haired girl. "Whatever," He mumbled, ruffling her hair before climbing down the ladder.
In the end, Aomine chose a pink and yellow yukata for the festival. Emiko felt out of place without her usual black and blue-coloured outfits. Aomine kept insisting that she looked cute, which only resulted in her turning the shade of her outfit as well as attempting to hit him. The two of them strolled through the festival grounds, searching for Aomine's teammates. A stand of sweets caught Emiko's eye on the way, causing her to turn right from Aomine and sprint to the stand.
"Oi, Emi! Where are you…" She heard in the background as she raced to the stand, her eyes set on the dumplings on display. She bought two sticks of them, happily chewing on one while she made her way back to a slightly annoyed Aomine.
"I bought you one, too." She smiled. His eyebrow twitched before he grabbed the dumpling stick from her, bringing his other hand down to grab Emiko's. Her face turned red in confusion as she looked at him with wide eyes.
"Thanks. The crowd's kinda big. I don't want you to get lost." He said, nodding to their hands.
They walked along the path until they reached an opening overlooking a small river. Aomine turned his head to Emiko and opened his mouth to say something, but was beaten by a voice coming from behind them.
"See, I told you they'd be here, Momoicchi!" The tall blond walked over with their pink-haired friend, wiggling his eyebrows at Emiko and Aomine's intertwined hands. "Although, it looks like we might be interrupting something…" Emiko immediately whipped her hand to her side with a red face.
"Dai-chan! Emi-chan! I've been looking for you everywhere! The team's over by the field behind the shops!"
"O-okay…" Emiko mumbled, walking toward the duo.
"Emikocchi, what a pretty outfit you're wearing! Did you buy that yourself?" Kise asked, playing with a few tendrils of Emiko's hair. Emiko gave him a slight glare, as if she knew what he was trying to hint at.
"Dai-chan, c'mon!" Satsuki ran over to the tanned giant and began pushing him in the direction of the team.
"So, Emikocchi. Why, exactly, were you and Aominecchi holding hands?" Kise asked quietly.
"He was just worried about losing me in the crowd, Ryo-chan. It would be no different if you and I were holding hands." Emiko was trying to play it cool, but Kise had more up his sleeve.
"Is that an invitation?" The blond grinned, brushing his hand against hers. Emiko made no reaction, causing Kise to push her more by grabbing her hand. She refused to look at him and stared forward with a blank face.
Emiko heard Aomine mumble something incomprehensible to Momoi from behind.
"Oh, shut up, you drama queen!" Emiko heard Momoi say, "They're just friends, you jealous ball of rage."
"Dai-chan's getting angry over this…" Emiko mumbled.
"So it seems…" Kise replied with a slight smile.
"See, I told you Aomine-kun and Kuroko-san weren't together! She's holding hands with some other guy!" Emiko looked ahead to the owner of the voice, Wakamatsu.
"B-but look at how angry Aomine-kun is about it…How scary." Sakurai replied to his teammate. Emiko turned her head to catch a glimpse of a furious Aomine. He immediately stopped glaring and looked away when he noticed her gaze, however.
"Alright! Now that we're all here, I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone for an awesome year so far!" Momoi shouted over the noisy crowd. The team began clapping. "And I know that the rest of the year is going to go smoothly as well! Have a good time, everyone!"
"What are you doing here anyway, Ryo-chan?" Emiko asked the blond beside her.
"I heard Emikocchi was going to be dressed up, so I came to see. You're just as cute as I pictured you!" He grinned, pulling her to his side.
"Wait, where'd you hear that from?"
"Hey, Emi. Satsuki and I are going to see the fireworks. Are you coming?" Aomine asked, with a slight frown on his face.
She looked at Kise, who gave her a knowing nod. "Y-yeah, sure!" She said, running to catch up with them. She waved to Kise before turning around and walking beside Aomine.
Emiko flinched when the first firework went off, clutching onto Aomine's hand almost immediately. It was then that he remembered her fear of loud noises. He remembered a few instances back in Teiko where Tetsuya had to calm her down during thunderstorms that went on during some of their basketball practices. He looked at her widened eyes. She only noticed moments later that she was gripping onto his hand, immediately letting go with a dark blush on her face.
The second light went off, causing her to jump and let out a squeak. Aomine wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward him. Her arm shot up to clutch onto the back of his shirt. She gave him an apologetic glance before staring at the fireworks with curiosity.
"Wow, that one was really pretty!" Momoi exclaimed, clapping her hands with delight. Emiko smiled at her pink-haired friend. She was always happy, no matter what. Emiko always wanted to be like that. Through the explosions of pinks, yellows, blues, and reds, Momoi's smile never wavered. Emiko had managed to flinch every time the fireworks made a noise, but Aomine was always there to calm her down.
"You look cute tonight." The blue-eyed girl heard the giant mumble into her hair.
"Th-thanks…" She replied shakily, still flinching at each 'pop' from the fireworks.
"Why're you so nervous? You're with your friends, Emi. Stop being so shy."
"Y-you said you wanted to kiss me…I just…it feels weird now." Emiko said, scratching the side of her face in thought. "Plus, you haven't looked me straight in the eyes the whole night. Why're you so nervous?"
Aomine frowned, turning his head away from the girl. "I'm not." The last firework went off, squealing in the air as Momoi cheered and clapped along with the crowd.
"Whatever…" Emiko mumbled, letting go of his shirt.
Special thanks to Trickster707, B.B.K, ConfusionRunsRampant, Meister-Amy, KnightingaleProduction, xxthornxx011, livelovehatedie, and the three anons who commented! I appreciate it a lot!
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