I'm back from my trip!

(I actually typed this chapter during my trip, but I'm only posting it now.)

I'm on winter break until January 2nd(or somewhere around then), so I'll try to be quick about updating. But being on break also makes me lazy, so we'll see how that turns out.

Thanks for your patience and understanding, and here's chapter 10!

While the rest of his teammates were distracted, Shintaro extracted himself from the clamor of the large gymnasium, heading outside for a breath of fresh air. It had started raining a while ago but he paid no mind to that as he walked through the downpour, coming to a stop at the main gates, where two stone pillars stood several meters apart from each other. He leaned against one of the pillars, tilting his head back and letting the rain pelt down onto his face.

He had lost.

For the first time in a very long time, he had lost a match. When was the last time that had happened? The beginning of his second year in middle school, perhaps, back before the five of them were dubbed the Generation of Miracles. But after that, victory had been an assured thing, a simple truth. And until now, he had forgotten what it felt like to lose, to realize that his opponents were better than him. Such a thing should have frustrated him, but it didn't. Probably because it was Tetsuna, and while Shintaro did have trouble agreeing to her views on certain issues, he could never be upset about losing to her. Though she lacked the physical strength and powerful abilities of the other five, she was exceedingly strong in her own right, devising brilliant plans and making incredible passes.

Speaking of passes…He thought about the pass that she had used in the final minutes of the match, the dangerous one that Akashi had told her not to use again for fear of injury. That had happened in their first year, and Tetsuna had obviously gotten stronger since then as her wrist was uninjured this time. Shintaro had made sure of that before coming out into the rain, leaving his friend with her new team.

No, he wasn't upset that he had lost to Tetsuna. He respected her, after all. But he wasn't quite sure how to feel about her new friend, Kagami Taiga. Though there were several things that he wanted to kill the redhead for (the way that he'd grabbed Tetsuna by the shirt earlier being one of them), he couldn't help but admit that Kagami was talented, and might even be able to reach the level of the Miracles one day if he could keep his idiocy in check. Shintaro had never seen anyone jump like that before, and those jumps would be a pain to deal with in the future, especially as Kagami grows stronger.

And there was also the fact that he had managed to catch Tetsuna's Lightning Pass, the one she and Aomine had made together that only Teiko's former ace could catch. It would be bad, he decided, if the short-tempered idiot were to find out that Kagami had caught that pass.

Shintaro still believed that Tetsuna had made a mistake choosing a weak school like Seirin, but they had won today, so maybe it would be okay for now. He still couldn't quite agree with her other thoughts towards basketball, and maybe he never would, but then again the two of them had always gotten along fine despite their disagreements in matters pertaining basketball.

He sighed deeply, lowering his head to stare down at his shoes. His glasses were streaked with rainwater, and he removed them as they weren't helping his vision much. There was a strange burning sensation in the backs of his eyes that he refused to acknowledge. He looked up again when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps, loud and uneven.

"Aomine?" Shintaro questioned upon seeing his former teammate. The blue-haired ace was soaked and had an odd, disoriented look to his eyes, which was highly uncharacteristic of him. Added to the fact that he was coming from the gymnasium, his behavior could only mean one thing: he had seen Kagami. Or rather, he had seen Kagami and Tetsuna on the court together, had seen Kagami catch that pass. "What are you doing here?"

Shintaro wondered if Satsuki knew that Aomine was here. He would've thought that the former manager would've tried to keep her childhood friend from Seirin's matches, but maybe Aomine had come here without her knowledge. Or maybe she had some kind of plan in mind. It was hard to tell with her, almost as hard as it was with Tetsuna.

Aomine stumbled to a halt, staring hard at Shintaro. There was a bit of anger in his dark-blue eyes, as well as some hurt. Then, he let out a low chuckle, though it did not sound amused in the least. "So you knew as well, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Shintaro asked, putting his glasses back on after he wiped the lenses with the fabric of his jersey.

"Oh, don't play dumb." There was something about Aomine's voice that made Shintaro feel like he should brace himself. For what, he wasn't sure, but the tone his former teammate was using sounded dangerous. "That redhead. Seirin's number 10."

Shintaro was never one for handling situations like this. He had comforted Tetsuna back in third year after Aomine left her in the rain, but that was Tetsuna. And he wasn't exactly feeling sympathetic towards Aomine right at the moment, especially since a part of him still blamed the ace for hurting Tetsuna back then.

"Tsuna-chan's new partner, you mean?" Shintaro said, well aware and not caring that he was basically poking a bear with a stick. "Yes, I did know about him. So did Kise, for that matter, and I'm sure that Tsuna-chan has informed Akashi as well."

"And Satsuki," Aomine added, levelling a glare at him.

"Of course. I was the one who told her, after all." If he hadn't just lost for the first time in two years and wasn't in such a foul mood as a result, he probably wouldn't have said that to Aomine. There was a fine line between skirting around the edges danger and running head-first into it.

Aomine's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he moved, faster than Shintaro could track, and thrust him against the stone pillar, grabbing a fistful of his jersey. "You fucking bastard," Aomine growled. "Were the three of you trying to conspire against me or something?"

"Of course not," Shintaro replied, attempting to pry Aomine's fingers from his jersey. "Why would we do such a thing?" He could think of several reasons why they'd want to keep Tetsuna's new partnership from Aomine, but he didn't tell him that.

"Then how come I didn't know?" Aomine shouted. "How come you all knew but I didn't?" Though he was yelling and glaring, there something broken and defeated to his tone, something that suggested that he was more devastated than angry.

Shintaro didn't care.

He stopped prying at Aomine's fingers and instead pushed off from the pillar, shoving harshly against his former teammate. "Because you made Tsuna-chan cry! Because you hurt her with your callous words and actions!" he shouted, feeling almost as if a weight was being lifted as he finally spoke the words that he'd wanted to speak for so long. "You left her. You claim to care about her so much, but you left her!"

"Shut the fuckup!" Aomine yelled. He cocked his arm, and punched Shintaro on the cheek before he could even react.

Shintaro responded in kind, punching Aomine in the jaw. Then they were going all out on each other, hitting and kicking while the rain poured down on them. He was vaguely aware of someone calling him by one of his nicknames—Shin-chan—in the distance. Not Tetsuna, as the voice was definitely not hers. Takao, then.

Suddenly, he was roughly being pulled away from Aomine, and Aomine was being hauled away from him. Shintaro struggled against whoever it was that had a hold on him, wanting to deliver another punch to his former teammate, even as his cheek throbbed in pain.

"Enough," a sharp voice said, and both Shintaro and Aomine froze immediately. There was only one person (two, arguably) who could have that effect on both of them.

They both looked over to see their former captain glaring at them with those mismatched eyes. Takao was standing a few paces behind, a rare look of horror in his eyes. Shintaro wondered if the redhead had heard what they were talking about.

There was a shaky and relieved sigh from behind him, and he turned to find that Kise had been the one to pull him away from Aomine. But what was there to be relieved about? Akashi's presence rarely boded well, especially after he changed. But Kise seemed relieved anyways, probably at the fact that Shintaro and Aomine were no longer seconds away from ripping out each other's throats. Kise's senior, Kasamatsu, was holding Aomine back, with less luck than Kise was having with Shintaro.

"Akashi," Shintaro said, recovering from his shock before Aomine could. "Why are you here?"

His captain turned a glare at him. "I came to see Tetsuna's matches. I did not, however, come to deal with two of my idiotic former teammates. Just what do the two of you think you're doing?"

Had it been anyone else asking, Shintaro would've made a sharp remark and Aomine would've said something that amounted to "mind your own fucking business."

But it was not someone else; it was Akashi, and making either of those remarks would not have gone over well.

"We had a disagreement," Aomine muttered, shrugging out of Kasamatsu's grip. "It wasn't anything important." He made no move to hit Shintaro again, though he looked like he wanted nothing more than to do just that. Seeming to have deemed him harmless for the moment, Kise let go of Shintaro as well.

"A disagreement? Not anything important?" Akashi repeated, raising an eyebrow, unimpressed. The way he was talking to and looking at them made Shintaro feel as if he was a child in need of a scolding. "It seemed to me that you were talking about Tetsuna, and she's the opposite of not important. Am I wrong? Daiki? Shintaro?"

"No," Shintaro murmured. "You're right."

So Akashi had heard their conversation. It didn't change much, for Akashi already knew everything that Shintaro had yelled at Aomine. It did mean that he had watched them pummel each other for a while before stepping in. Or maybe he wouldn't even have done anything at all if Kise and Kasamatsu hadn't shown up when they did. Somehow, Shintaro wasn't surprised at that fact.

Akashi then turned to his former ace, expectant. "Yeah, you're right," came the reply.

"Good," Akashi continued in a smooth tone. "It would appear that we're in agreement." He then turned his neck to look back at the gymnasium. "I would advise that you all get going now, less you want Tetsuna to see you here like this when she comes out. Until we meet again, then."

He left, with that, walking by them briskly, nodding once at Kise but not acknowledging Takao or Kasamatsu. Having known Akashi since their middle school days, Shintaro, Kise, and Aomine were all used to the mannerisms of their former captain. However, both Takao and Kasamatsu looked dumbstruck. Aomine left a minute later, staggering to his feet and sending Shintaro one last glare. Then Kasamatsu finally broke out of his stupor and turned to his junior.

"What in the world was that?"

Shintaro watched as Kise opened his mouth to explain, but failed at finding the necessary words to do so, as people often did when it came to Akashi. "That was Akashicchi," he said instead, trying for an awkward smile.

"Yeah, I got that," Kasamatsu said, rolling his eyes. "Now that your little reunion is over, we should get going. I'm hungry."

Kise sent a worried look in Shintaro's direction and he gave him faint nod, the pain finally numbing. Then Kasamatsu was leading Kise away, and Shintaro had to respect the guy for being able to handle Kise so well.

"So that was your former captain," Takao said in a forced lighthearted tone as he walked over to him. "Interesting guy."

"You could say that," Shintaro replied, massaging the spot where Aomine had first hit him. He tried to stand up, wincing in pain as he did; Aomine had landed a punch near his ribs as well, it would appear. "Though there are many other things to be said about him."

Takao looked him over from head to toe and sighed, holding out a hand to him. "Let's do something about your face first, then we can go get something to eat."

Shintaro stared at the outstretched hand for a moment, then took it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You want to tell me what that fight was about?" Kasamatsu asked after they had sat down and ordered at a nearby okonomiyaki restaurant.

Ryouta sighed at that. "Not particularly. It's kind of a private matter." His senior gave him a long look, but seemed to accept the answer. Kasamatsu didn't press him any further on the matter of what happened earlier, and Kise was grateful to his senior for that.

He hated to admit it, but he had been scared when he had walked out of the gymnasium to see Aomine and Midorima throwing punches at each other and Midorima's teammate appearing out of nowhere, looking fearful for his friend and Akashi just standing there, doing nothing as two of his former teammates beat each other half to death. He hadn't actually heard what the two were fighting about, but he could wager a pretty good guess based on what Akashi had said. He could also figure that Aomine had found out about Kagami. In a horrible way, too, as the redhead had caught a pass that Tetsuna had designed for and with Aomine. Not that he blamed Tetsuna for that.

He had also been scared—and this was a fright that he would admit—when Tetsuna had begun rotating her wrist in preparation for that pass. He had seen that movement before, watched as it developed and became stronger, and as it led to both a victory and an injury for Tetsuna. He remembered the moments after that with stunning clarity: their victorious cheers skidding to a halt as they realized that Tetsuna was on her knees, cradling her wrist. They had then rushed her to the hospital where they waited anxiously for the doctor to tell them about Tetsuna's condition. They had all been scared out of their minds that day. And he thought that his heart would stop when Tetsuna decided to use the pass again, hitting the ball and sending it zipping down the court in a wild arc. But the pass had been a wise call, even if it had been risky. And Tetsuna had been fine this time, showing that she'd grown much stronger since then. More surprisingly, was the fact that Kagami had actually caught it and dunked the ball. Aomine was the only one who could do so before.

Their food arrived, a savory aroma wafting upwards as the pancake hit the grill, brining Ryouta out of his thoughts and a smile to his face. They were just finishing up their meal when the door slid open and all of Seirin's team walked in, wet from the downpour.

"Tetsunacchi! Kagamicchi!" Ryouta called out, standing up and waving to his two friends. Much to his surprise, Kasamatsu did not reprimand him for doing so.

"Kise and Kasamatsu!" Kagami exclaimed, staring at the two in shock.

Because of the lack of seats, Kagami and Tetsuna sat with Ryouta and Kasamatsu. Kagami looked pissed about it, but there was not much else that could be done.

"Hey, Tetsunacchi," Ryouta began, breaking the tension that had settled amongst them, "is your wrist okay?"

She rotated it a few times before replying. "It's fine. A bit sore, but at least I didn't sprain it like I did last time."

"Last time?" Kagami questioned.

Ah, so the redhead didn't know. Ryouta half-listened as Tetsuna gave Kagami a brief synopsis of what happened the last time she had attempted the pass, and Kagami grinned at her, making some comment about how that was then and this was now, and how he would be willing to help her develop it further, if she wanted. He started listening full-on at this point, watching as Tetsuna's face suddenly closed off and her eyes became frigid. Kagami went on talking about other topics, oblivious to the sudden change in his teammate's expression. Even though her emotions and thoughts were normally impossible to discern, Ryouta could wager a pretty solid guess on what Tetsuna was thinking about. Or rather, who she was thinking about. He wondered if his friend was having second thoughts about completing that pass with Kagami.

The door slid open again, and they all looked up as Midorima and Takao walked in and Tetsuna reacted immediately.

"Shin-chan, what happened?" she stood up, staring at him wide-eyed in concern. His right cheek was bandaged, as was the area above his left jaw. He looked far better-off than Ryouta had expected, though this gave him cause to wonder how Aomine had fared.

The two boys shared the briefest of looks, debating whether or not to tell their friend about Aomine's appearance. Ryouta figured they should, as it was not telling things that had gotten them to this point in the first place, but the glare that Midorima sent him had him pressing his lips together to keep silent.

The green-haired sharpshooter walked over to them. "There was a disagreement," he said, borrowing Aomine's words from earlier. "It was nothing important."

Tetsuna looked about as unimpressed and unconvinced as her childhood friend had been earlier, but didn't get a chance to question him further as Takao approached, looking curiously at Kasamatsu.

"Are you Kaijo's Kasamatsu?" he asked. There was something in his tone that made Ryouta feel like he was plotting something.

"How did you know?" Kasamatsu said, surprised.

"I saw you in Basketball Monthly!" Takao replied. "You're a nationally famous point guard. As someone who plays the same position, I'd love to hear your stories. Let's go talk over there." Then he was leading Kasamatsu away, giving Midorima no choice but to take the seat next to Kagami.

"You look horrible," Kagami commented and Midorima glared, looking as if he'd like to strangle to redhead.

"Kagami-kun," Tetsuna warned, narrowing her eyes at the redhead. He shrugged at her, and she huffed out a short breath before turning to Midorima.

"I'm fine," he said in reply to the worried looks that Tetsuna was giving him. "It's nothing to be concerned about."

Tetsuna sighed, looking like she'd very much like to debate that but remained silent on it. Instead, she reached for the menu and flipped through it. "Why don't we order something?" she asked, completely unfazed by the tension that was brewing between the three boys. "I'm hungry."

"I'm already pretty full, so I'm fine with what we already have," Ryouta said as Kagami called a waiter over. He rattled off an order that contained more food than a single person could possibly consume and Ryouta and Midorima sent him perplexed looks.

"Don't worry," Tetsuna told them. "Kagami-kun will eat it all himself."

"Is he really human?" Ryouta asked.

"He's sort of like Hi-chan, isn't he?" Tetsuna remarked and he grinned in agreement.

"Who?" the redhead asked.

"Murasakibara Atsuhi." Midorima answered, adjusting his glasses. "He's also one of the Generation of Miracles."

Kagami was instantly intrigued by this fact and looked like he wanted to ask more. He never got the chance to for the door slid open again, and Tetsuna stood up, once more wide-eyed and concerned.

She ran from the table and towards the door where a certain pink-haired manager was standing, looking at the ground with her arms wrapped around herself, completely soaked from the rain. She was wearing just a short skirt and a thin green jacket and was trembling from the cold, so Tetsuna took off her own jacket and wrapped it around her friend. Under different circumstances, it would've been worth cracking a joke over: Touou's manager wearing Seirin's jacket. But as it was, his former manager looked to be crying for some reason and so Ryouta left the table as well, walking towards where Tetsuna and Satsuki were standing. Midorima went over as well, and Satsuki looked to him, concerned.

"Midorin, you're face…"

"I'm fine," Midorima replied wearily. "More importantly, are you fine?"

She hesitated for a minute and that was enough to let Ryouta know that she wasn't. When she finally answered them, her eyes were wide and sad.

"He found out."

After they ousted a confused Kagami from the table, the four former schoolmates sat together, ignoring the looks that they were getting from their own respective teammates. Satsuki had calmed down somewhat, though her eyes were still red and puffy at the edges. Meanwhile, Tetsuna had gone very, very still, looking conflicted and hesitant.

Satsuki had told them about going to watch the final few minutes of the match, only to find that Aomine had gone as well, and had seen Tetsuna and Kagami play together. At that point, she had sent Midorima an assessing look, and their green-haired friend had sighed and explained that he had run into Aomine and the two had fought. Ryouta then mentioned that he and Akashi had been there as well. Tetsuna had touched her wrist subconsciously at that, most likely thinking about Akashi forbidding her from using the pass.

"I wasn't trying to keep it from him," Tetsuna said at last, voice soft and defeated. "I wasn't exactly keen on him finding out and making assumptions, but I wasn't trying to hide it."

"I may have been," Satsuki admitted. "I mean, I had always planned on telling him, but I didn't want him to find out until I could find a good way to tell him."

Midorima frowned. "Given the circumstances, there is no good way to tell him about Kagami, who has taken his place."

Tetsuna tensed up at that. "I'm not replacing Daiki with Kagami-kun. I told you that already."

"I didn't say that you were replacing him; I said that Kagami has taken his place. There a difference." All three of them sent him a questioning glance, to which he sighed. "Kagami has taken Aomine's place, but Tsuna-chan wasn't the one who caused that to happen. That's what I was trying to say."

He meant that Kagami taking Aomine's place wasn't Tetsuna's fault, a sentiment with which Ryouta agreed. But the girl herself did not look comforted at this. Instead, she looked like she might start crying as well.

"Somehow," she began, voice a little unsteady. "Somehow, I thought that he wouldn't even care what I do and with whom I play. With the way we left things in middle school, it just seemed like he doesn't even care anymore."

Satsuki nodded her agreement. "It did seem that way, but the reality is different, isn't it?" she asked, and Tetsuna responded with a miniscule nod. "I don't think either of you will ever just stop caring about the other, even if your relationship changes, no matter how things may seem."

"Things got bad in third year," Tetsuna said softly. "But I think you're right. Though I still don't know where everything will go from here."

"Why did it all have to turn out like this?" Satsuki murmured sadly.

Ryouta didn't know the details of Tetsuna and Aomine's falling out during third year. Neither did Satsuki, it would seem, though she probably knew more than him. Aside from the two involved, only Midorima and Akashi knew all that had happened, and neither were inclined to share. The rest of them only knew that an argument had taken place and that Teiko's strongest duo were no longer speaking to each other. Then Tetsuna had disappeared a while later, and after that Akashi and Satsuki were the only ones who knew where she was and what she was doing.

"In a way, that idiot got what he deserved for everything he said and did," Midorima said rather harshly. He had never been one to mince words, after all.

"Midorin!" Satsuki protested as Tetsuna sunk further down in her seat. There was an accusing tone in her voice, and Ryouta wondered if Aomine was the only one who had said and done horrible things back in their third year. It was a thought that he'd been entertaining ever since that conversation he had with Tetsuna after Kaijo lost to Seirin. He thought about what she'd said about them lacking something back then, and he thought that maybe he was starting to figure out what. He thought about Kasamatsu, who was constantly annoyed with and disciplining him, but still respecting his privacy as he had earlier. He thought about his new team, and how when they worked together, it reminded him of what it was like when he and his former teammates still played as a team.

And that was a problem, wasn't it? They had stopped being a team.

He thought that maybe it was not just Aomine, but all five of them, who had caused Tetsuna to leave and hate basketball. It was hard to come to terms with, as he did not even want to imagine hurting his friend. But the explanation made sense. It fit with everything that had happened and Tetsuna's recent words and actions. And if he really thought about it, some of their actions in their third year hadn't exactly been…respectable.

Midorima was looking at him odd now, and Ryouta realized that he had been lost in his thoughts while his three friends had continued to converse. "Kise, you've changed a little," he remarked.

"Really?" Ryouta asked, surprised.

"Your eyes. They're strange."

"Strange?" he said, not sure if it was meant as an insult. "Maybe it's because I've started practicing more since we played against Tetsunacchi. Also, lately I've been thinking…" he went on, his earlier thoughts coming back to him. "It's pretty fun playing basketball with the guys from Kaijo."

Now it was Tetsuna and Satsuki who were giving him odd looks, and he had a sneaking suspicion that his belief that the Miracles causing Tetsuna to leave was indeed correct. He also wondered if the two girls were plotting something together.

"It seems I was mistaken," Midorima said, taking a bite out of his okonomiyaki. "You have not changed at all. You have simply reverted to a state before our three consecutive championships."

Satsuki drew in a sharp breath and Tetsuna's unreadable expression betrayed the slightest traces of hurt and longing. Their reactions got Ryouta wondering about just how much the actions of third year had affected both of them. They had always been the most sensible, keeping the five boys in check. And when practice had gotten pointless, and games boring, Tetsuna and Satsuki had tried to talk to them about their behavior. Until the day that Tetsuna had disappeared, that is. And even then, after Tetsuna had made her thoughts about their new play style clear, they'd never bothered to ask Satsuki how she felt about it.

Midorima noticed the girls' reactions as well, though he did not seem to be thinking in the same way that Ryouta was. He finished off the rest of his food and stood to leave, setting down some money on the table to pay for his portion. "Takao, we're leaving," he called out to his teammate.

"Shin-chan, you should go get your injuries checked out," Tetsuna said as Midorima picked up his bag.

"I'll be fine," he reassured her. He gave her and Satsuki a small smile and Ryouta a hard, assessing look before walking over to the tables where the others sat. He said something to the Kagami that had the redhead looking at him in confusion. Then, he and Takao left the restaurant without another word.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Satsuki stepped outside the restaurant and stretched, feeling exhausted. The day had gotten to be so long, with Daiki finding out about Kagami and the awful confrontation that had followed. Everything after that had been a blur. She vaguely recalled running down the streets, not realizing until she was too far away to go back that she'd left her umbrella in the gymnasium. It had been by pure coincidence that she had stumbled into the shop where Tetsuna, Kise, and Midorima were eating, but she was grateful for that coincidence. She felt better now having spoken to her friends. Kise looked like he was doing better as well, and Midorima had even commented on the change in the blonde.

And of course this meeting had given her a chance to see Kagami from up close. When it came to the redhead, she'd always felt conflicted, unable to make a judgement on him as she'd never met him. After meeting him, she realized that she couldn't exactly hate Kagami, though a small part of her wanted to. He was not a bad person, and was an interesting player to watch. And the way he played reminded her so much of the way that Daiki used to. He also fit in so seamlessly to the spot Daiki used to occupy by Tetsuna's side. That bothered her the most, and she knew that her best friend was equally bothered as well, if not more.

But this was their situation now, no matter how much she wished it weren't. With Daiki at a separate school and not speaking to her, Tetsuna finding a new partner was bound to happen sooner or later, and that partner had just happened to be Kagami. Even so, Satsuki hated that things had turned out this way for her two friends.

As she only knew parts of their situation, she couldn't quite say whose fault it was, if anyone's. All she knew was that Daiki being Daiki had said something harsh and inconsiderate without realizing that he had done so until it was too late. And he and Tetsuna had both suffered from it.

While her childhood friend was constantly fighting with his new teammates, Tetsuna seemed to be adapting quite well. Satsuki turned and watched as Seirin's team filed out of the restaurant, talking amongst themselves. They were an interesting group of people with an entire spectrum of personalities. Their basketball team was brand new, and had no championship victories as of yet. But what Satsuki found the most important was that they valued collaboration and respected each other's strengths and weaknesses. It was what their team at Teiko had been like at first, unproved but together.

"Tsuki-chan." Satsuki jumped when Tetsuna suddenly appeared besides her. Even after knowing her for three years, there were times when she was still surprised by Tetsuna's sudden appearances. Tetsuna was carrying a cardboard box, and had a slight upwards tilt to the corners of her mouth. "Look what I found."

Satsuki peered into the box and saw a small black and white puppy with blue eyes. It was wagging its tail happily and seemed to be smiling up at them. "It's so cute!" she squealed, picking it up. Riko, Seirin's coach, seemed to share the same sentiment and rushed over to where the other two girls were standing. She and Riko took turns holding the little puppy while Tetsuna and the rest of Seirin's team watched them with raised eyebrows.

"Doesn't he look like someone?" Riko asked upon closer inspection of the puppy. Everyone looked to the puppy, then to Tetsuna.

"The eyes! The eyes are the same!" Hyuuga exclaimed.

"Okay! Your name will be Tetsuna Number 2!" Koganei declared.

"What's up with that name?" Satsuki pouted. She turned to her friend. "Hey, Tetsu-chan, what do you think?"

Tetsuna blinked at her. "I guess it's alright. What do you want to call him?"

Satsuki tapped a finger to her chin, deep in thought. She looked from the puppy's eyes to Tetsuna's. They really were exactly the same, both blue like the sky. "That's it!" she said smiling. "His name will be Sora!"

Tetsuna had no complaints to that, and neither did her team. They crowded around Sora, petting his head and taking pictures.

"Hey, I've been wondering," Riko began, gesturing to get their attention. She looked over to where Kagami was hiding, huddled behind a store sign. "What are you doing, Kagami-kun?"

The redhead looked over to them with a scared and embarrassed look. "Uh, well…I really can't handle dogs."

Satsuki found this hilarious, and slapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing out loud. Her laughs came out muffled and her body trembled with them. Tetsuna elbowed her admonishingly, though she was smiling as well.

"What are we going to do with him?" Riko wondered.

"I guess I can take him home with me," Tetsuna said, picking Sora up. He licked her cheek merrily, as if agreeing with her.

"Okay!" Riko said, clapping her hands together. "Well, let's get going before it starts to rain again."

They all parted ways until Satsuki, Tetsuna, and Kagami were the only ones left.

The redhead had finally come out of hiding, though he was maintaining a large distance between himself and Sora. However, the puppy seemed to take this as an invitation to run over to Kagami, and started running in circles around him. The redhead panicked, letting out a short yelp, and hopped around, trying to avoid Sora. Tetsuna sighed, looking a little amused, and went to pick Sora up, taking him away from Kagami.

"Sora won't hurt you, you know?" she said.

Kagami frowned. "You never know what dogs will do. And why 'Sora'?"

"It's a pretty name," Tetsuna said shrugging while Satsuki merrily declared, "Because his eyes are the same color as the sky!"

The redhead looked at them oddly, then eyed Sora warily, taking a step back as the dog barked at him.

Tetsuna's phone buzzed right then, and Satsuki watched as she read the text message and raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?" Satsuki asked.

Tetsuna sighed and held up the message for her to see. "Sei-chan," she replied. The message was brief and to the point, telling her that he wanted to meet up in front of her house in ten minutes. It was so very characteristic of their red-haired captain to send a message like that, and Satsuki smiled wryly. Tetsuna snapped her phone shut and turned to her teammate. "Kagami-kun. Walk Tsuki-chan home. You're dead if something happens to her." A dark look entered her eyes as she glared the redhead down. The look was gone within seconds, and her normal neutral expression returned. "I'll see you at school on Monday." She left with that, taking Sora with her.

Kagami was gaping after her, perhaps a bit surprised at the death threat. He probably had never heard Tetsuna use that tone before, or give him that kind of a dark look.

"You don't have to walk me home, you know," she told Kagami after Tetsuna was out of sight.

The redhead shrugged, having recovered from his shock. "It's ungentlemanly to let a lady walk home alone at night. Besides, I'm sure that Kuroko really would kill me if I left you on your own and something happened. The others as well, I'm sure."

"Yeah," she said in confirmation, chuckling as she started walking in the direction of her home. "With the way they behave, those five are kind of like big brothers, and Tetsu-chan and I are like little sisters. One big happy family!"

Or at least they were, at one point. Now, their 'family' members had grown estranged from one another. Even though she was going to the same school as Daiki, their relationship was not what it had once been, and she had been hearing less and less from the other boys as well. And Tetsuna, like Satsuki, had grown distant from her childhood friend as well, especially with Akashi heading off to Kyoto and her remaining in Tokyo. It seemed like she and Tetsuna were the only ones to have kept in constant contact since graduation.

"That's interesting," Kagami said, and sounded like he really meant it. He fell into step right beside her. "Kuroko hasn't told me much, but something happened between all of you, right? Like you all grew apart, or something."

Satsuki sighed and nodded. "Those five, they used to get along better than they do now. But even though things have changed, they'll all still kill you if you do something to Tetsu-chan."

"So they're all that protective when it comes to her?" Kagami asked.

"Yeah, they're all like that." She wondered if she should warn Kagami about Daiki, who had more reason than the others to want to kill the redhead. But she ended up not saying anything, believing that a warning would do him no good. Or maybe she just wanted to see him shocked when Daiki confronted him, which at this point was an inevitability. Maybe a part of her did despise the redhead, though she tried her best not to feel that way. He was unrelated to the mess of their past, after all.

And she would have to explain that to her friend later, even if he refused to listen. It was vital that Daiki understood that none of this was Kagami's fault so that he wouldn't do something idiotic as a result. But he would likely do that anyways, regardless of what Satsuki would say to him. It was the way he'd always been, unthinking and impulsive, qualities that he seemed to share with Kagami. That only made matters worse, and Satsuki didn't even want to think about what happened if both hotheaded idiots got riled up and started fighting. It would be much worse than the fight between Daiki and Midorima had been, that much was for sure. If that was the case, perhaps she should give him a fair warning then.

"What did Midorin say to you earlier?" Satsuki asked, remembering Midorima telling Kagami something as he left, and the confused look of the redhead's face that followed.

Kagami frowned. "He told me that there are two members of the Generation of Miracles in Tokyo: himself and someone named Aomine Daiki." He looked to Satsuki for confirmation and she nodded slowly. "He said that we'd face each other in the championship league and that he and I are the same type of player."

So Midorima had warned Kagami about Daiki, or at least alerted the redhead to his existence. That made things easier for her as she no longer needed to think about whether or not to tell him. "I don't really get what he meant by that," Kagami went on, "but I'm guessing that he's pretty strong, too." Again, he looked to her for confirmation, and this time her nod was shallower as her thoughts began to spin, thinking of what would happen when the two finally met. "I guess I can ask Kuroko to tell me more about him."

Satsuki opened her mouth to tell him—tell him what, exactly? Not to ask Tetsuna about Daiki? And how would she explain that request anyways? Say that asking Tetsuna about Daiki wouldn't be a good idea because of something that happened in the past? It wasn't that simple, and she could not possibly simplify the situation for fear of a misunderstanding were she to tell Kagami anything.

It seemed to Satsuki that the situation had stopped being simple the moment that Daiki had started to see Tetsuna as something more than a friend all the way back in first year.

So she said nothing more to Kagami as they walked towards her apartment, and they remained silent until they arrived. She then turned to the redhead, finally voicing a certain question that had been nagging at her mind.

"How do you feel about Tetsu-chan?" she asked, trying to keep her voice neutral.

"She's a strong player," Kagami replied without missing a beat. "Though not in the typical sense. I mean, she can't shoot or anything like that, but she has a great mind for coming up with plans, and those passes are one of a kind. It's hard to keep up with those passes at times, but they're incredibly useful in matches. I can see how she played with the Generation of Miracles."

Satsuki smiled a little. "While it's nice to hear that you think that way of her skills, I wasn't asking about what you think of her as a player. I was asking how you feel about her. You know, as a person."

Kagami froze at that, several emotions flitting over his face at a speed that was too fast for even Satsuki to analyze. He gaped at her and opened and closed his hand, as if grasping for the right words. "I…" he began, but seemed to be unable to finish the thought. This seemed to confuse him, as if he wasn't quite sure where this hesitance was coming from. "She's interesting," he finally managed. "She cares about you guys a lot, and is very determined when she makes up her mind to do something. She's…I don't know. She's interesting. Why are you asking?"

"Oh, no reason," Satsuki said lightly. "Just curious."

So Midorima had been right after all. She had doubted that he was wrong, but seeing Kagami like this was an undeniable confirmation of the redhead's budding feelings. She had seen the way he looked at her at the end of the game, and so had Daiki. And unlike her, Daiki hadn't needed this confirmation to know. After all, he'd been in the same place as Kagami before, admiring Tetsuna at a distance while trying to sort out his feelings. He would recognize the way Kagami looked at Tetsuna faster than anyone.

Things were going to get even more complicated from here on out, as if they weren't already. Dealing with all of this would be stressful, even more so when Kagami came to terms with his feelings. Especially if he decided to voice these feelings to Tetsuna, which would no doubt put her in an uncomfortable spot.

But there was still time yet before Kagami worked out just what, exactly, he felt for Tetsuna. The redhead seemed as oblivious as Daiki, if not more. It had taken him three whole months—from the start of school all the way to the beginning of summer vacation—to figure out his feelings, and Satsuki had been watching him every step of the way. She figured it out long before him but didn't tell him as she believed it was something that he needed to work out for himself.

Maybe Tetsuna and Daiki could work things out in the time that it took Kagami to realize his feelings. It was wishful thinking on her part, just like hoping that her and Tetsuna's plan for defeating the Miracles was. But there was no way of knowing how things would turn out just yet, so she would stick to that thinking for now.

"Thanks for walking me back," she said to Kagami.

He nodded at her, still a little lost in his thoughts. Once he had wandered away, still thinking deeply, Satsuki walked the remaining few blocks to Daiki's apartment.

Her heart hammered in her chest as she walked up the stairs to the second floor where he lived. Even as she knocked on his door, she was still uncertain of what she wanted—needed to say to him.

The door opened, and the moment he saw her standing there, his eyes narrowed and he looked like he'd very much like to slam the door in her face.

"Well, you look better than Midorin does," she said, taking note of his injuries. He had applied a small bandage to the left side of his face, and there were a few nicks here and there, but that was it.

Daiki glowered at her. "What do you want?"

"Aomine-kun," she said, stepping forward to place herself firmly in the doorway. "We need to talk about Tetsu-chan."

He looked away from her. "There's nothing to say."

"Yes, there is," she argued. "I'm sorry that you had to find out about her and Kagami-kun that way, but I wasn't trying to keep it from you. I was going to tell you."

"Oh yeah?" he questioned, turning to face her. "When?"

She thought about what Midorima had said earlier about there never being a good time to reveal the truth. "When the time was right," she said stubbornly, knowing that it was extremely unconvincing.

Daiki scoffed.

"Tetsu-chan isn't trying to replace you," she pressed on. "And this situation isn't Kagami-kun's fault either."

"So it's mine, then?"

"That's not what I was saying!" she protested. He scoffed once more, and she pursed her lips. "Despite the regrettable things that have happened, no one is at fault here. But if you don't do something soon, it will be your fault if Tetsu-chan decided that she want to be with someone else." Daiki looked to her then, looking like he'd like to protest but not quite able to find the words to do so. Maybe because he saw that she was right. "I may not know the details of what happened, and I'm not asking you for them, but you did hurt her back in third year. And you haven't apologized for that yet. And you saw how Kagami-kun was looking at her earlier. He likes her, even if he isn't aware of that. If you don't do anything then Kagami-kun will—"

"Satsuki," Daiki interjected, looking away once more. She couldn't quite read the expression on his face right then. "I don't want to talk about this right now. I need to…think about all this. Just leave me alone for a while, okay?"

"Aomine-kun—"

"Please."

That got to her.

While she wouldn't exactly call him rude, but saying 'please' was rare for him. Then again, their third year had left a mark on all of them. She nodded slowly, and prepared to leave, stopping when Daiki's hesitant voice called out to her.

"Her wrist. Is it okay?"

She smiled at that. "It's perfectly fine. Tetsu-chan has gotten a lot stronger since then."

He didn't smile, though his stance relaxed considerably, and that was good enough for her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"That was a really risky move, pulling out that pass like that," Akashi said by way of greeting as she approached her house. He was standing by the front gate, leaning against the metal gate.

She raised a brow at him. "It's good to see you too, Sei-chan. How are you doing?"

"I'm serious, Tetsuna," he said, clearly not in the mood to exchange greetings.

"I know it was risky," she said with a sigh. "But it was the only way to get around Takao-kun. And besides, it turned out fine."

He held out a hand. "Let me see." She considered arguing with him on that but decided against it. She was running out of energy and dealing with her childhood friend often required lots of it so she just held out her wrist to him without a word. "It seems fine," he said at last, though he was still frowning.

"It is fine," she insisted. "My wrist is uninjured and now I know I can use the pass again in the future."

Not that I particularly want to, she added.

She had been holding onto that pass for three years now, and it made her happy to have finally gotten a chance to use it. And she had been ecstatic when it had finally worked without resulting in injury, and she had stepped forward, a wild grin of her face, prepared to hold out her fist and bump it against his like they always did after they completed one of their passes that resulted in a scored basket.

But it wasn't with Daiki that she had completed the pass.

It was with Kagami, and while she didn't exactly dislike the redhead, and it had been her who told him about that pass, she still felt disappointed when she saw Kagami there, looking a bit surprised, but also pleased.

"I suppose," Akashi said with a frown. "Risk of injury aside, it worked out rather well with Kagami."

"Yes," Tetsuna agreed, though she wasn't happy to do so. But it wasn't with him.

That continued to bother her, especially now that she knew that Daiki had seen her perform that pass with Kagami. Had seen her use a pass that was meant for him and no one else, partly because he was the only one strong enough to catch that crazy pass, and partly because she had wanted it to be him who caught it.

Perhaps she already felt something for him then, all the way back in first year, even though she didn't realize the extent of those feelings until third.

"Just don't overexert yourself with that pass," Akashi told her, breaking through her thoughts. "And…" he looked a bit hesitant now, and that caught Tetsuna off guard as she hadn't seen him like that since before the Emperor appeared. "You'll be playing against Daiki soon."

Tetsuna pinched her lips together. She knew that it would happen, had been mentally preparing for it, but now that the match was so close, she still wasn't quite ready, even if her and Satsuki's plan included playing against Daiki. Her thoughts were interrupted by a bark.

"What," Akashi began, eyes narrowing as he stared at something by her feet, "is that."

Tetsuna looked to her side and saw Sora there, looking up at her happily and wagging his tail. "This is Sora," she said, picking the puppy up. "I found him outside the restaurant we were eating at. Satsuki named him. But that aside," she went on, voice growing hesitant. "I heard that Shin-chan and Daiki got into a fight."

He arched a brow at her. "And where did you hear that from?"

"I ran into Shin-chan and Ryou-chan at the restaurant."

Akashi sighed, suddenly looking very tired. "They had a disagreement." There was an oddly amused look on his face as he said those words, as if laughing at an inside joke that she was not a part of. Tetsuna nodded, knowing that that was all she'd be getting out of him. And Midorima had said something similar to that, hadn't he?

He was staring at her wrist again, and she let out a long breath. "It really is fine, Sei-chan. You worry too much."

He gave her a grim smile. "Perhaps. And remember what I said about not overexerting yourself. Goodbye, Tetsuna."

He reached down and patted Sora on the head, looking somewhat amused, then straightened up and inclined his head at her in farewell. She waved to him as he walked away, and once he was out of eyesight, she let out another long breath.

"That was Sei-chan," she said to Sora, smiling at the puppy. "He and I have known each other since we were babies. But we've grown distant recently. I miss the old Sei-chan, the one that wasn't always playing with people the way he does now. I miss the rest of them used to be as well—Shin-chan and Ryou-chan and Hi-chan and Daiki. And that's why," she went on, no longer talking to Sora, but to herself as she looked up at the night sky. "That's why Tsuki-chan and I made a plan to defeat all of them, and bring things back to the way they used to be."

There was a stretch of silence, then Sora barked merrily, blue eyes bright.

Thanks for reading!