Being on bed-rest was something Imogen thought she would have at least enjoyed due to the not practicing and getting in a few extra hours of sleep, but that wasn't the case. She constantly had to shift around because of the discomfort any position she laid in brought her leg, and then she got hungry, or she'd need to shower, or take her medication. Then she would have to struggled to use her crutches and move around. Getting undressed was a ball too, especially on the first morning where her leg hurt the worst. She had to call Momoi to help her, but that took too long so she tried to do it herself and ended up on the floor in tears as she clutched her brutally aching leg.
Imogen was tempted to just amputate her leg and call it quits by the second day, but the medicine was indeed helping reduce the inflammation of her knee and the pain it brought with it. Keeping track of when she would take her medication was just as fun because she'd occasionally doze off and forget until she woke up in pain again.
"God damn it! Get the hell back here! What in the living hell did I do to deserve this shitty piece of a-" The string of profanities reached two pairs of ears as they walked through her door.
"You know what, screw it, I don't need the damn bottle anyways."
The two visitors waited outside her door, patiently waiting for her bad spell to pass before the shorter of the two knocked on the door, the curse words ceasing.
"Who the fu-" Her voice cut out as she stopped mid-sentence, a slightly shuffling noise sounding before something was thrown at the door, causing one of the two on the other side to jump slightly.
"The door is unlocked," Imogen called out, half-hanging off her bed as she attempted to reach the bottle of pills that had rolled underneath. The door opened and in walked two familiars.
"Oh, hey, Kuroko-kun, Kagami-kun," she greeted lazily, dipping her head back down and beginning her search again before giving up altogether, pushing herself back up onto the bed and flopping down.
"Imo-chan, what are you doing?" Tetsuya asked, walking into her room, dropping his bag to the floor beside her bed.
"I dropped my medication bottle under the bed and I can't get it. You know, I've never hated being in bed as much as I do after these past two days," she sneered irritably.
Kuroko nodded his head in understanding, leaning down to retrieve the stray bottle. He pulled it out and handed it to her, brushing off his jacket before sitting on the end of her bed.
"Thank you," she mumbled, popping it open and taking one out, checking the time on her phone before taking it, tightening the cap back on it.
"Aren't you two supposed to be at practice?" She asked, pulling herself up into a sitting position.
"Aida sent us to check up on you, and Kagami-kun was getting a bit too anxious, he couldn't focus, even with his former mentor so Aida sent him with me," Tetsuya explained.
Imogen snorted, flicking the pill bottle at Kagami's head, watching it hit its target.
"Bakagami, I already told you not to worry about me. Sheesh, if you guys lose the game because of me, I'll have Mura-kun crush all of you," she jested, snickering as Kagami rubbed his forehead where the bottle had made contact.
"Tch. Then don't be so stupid and get yourself hurt all the time," he retorted, causing Imogen to raise an eyebrow.
"Oops, my bad," she surrendered jokingly, raising her hands up. "But seriously, I don't want you to lose...so focus on practicing. I mean, the match is tomorrow. I'll be there to cheer you all on, and I'll be ready for the final match so you two dorks need to practice," Imogen said sternly, launching a pillow at Kuroko, who stopped it before it could hit him.
"We had two other games, Aida forgot to tell you, but I do believe that she wanted you to stay here and rest anyways. We beat both teams so we will be facing Yosen," Kuroko spoke up, causing Imogen to jolt in her spot.
"But I was told that we had two days..." She trailed off.
"God damn it, Riko. Well, I'm glad you won then. I'm assuming that the few days of training start tonight then?" She questioned, watching the two of them nod.
Kuroko and Kagami filled her in on the matches, as well as on the information of Kagami's previous mentor, Alex Garcias, who she actually happened to know.
"I know her. We met up with her when I was back in America for the tournament, she's pretty cool," Imogen admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "Now that I think about it, she mentioned you a lot, but I never cared to remember your name. Too many names I had to remember while I was there anyways, but she said you excelled at basketball even as a child, though it took some training. She also said you were a cute kid!" Imogen gushed.
Kagami flushed red, turning his head away in embarrassment.
"Shut up," he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.
Imogen snickered and rolled her eyes. She was about to retort, however a knock on her apartment door caught her attention. She blinked, pushing herself up onto her feet, leaning down on one foot and retrieving her crutches.
"Who the hell is it now?" She muttered, making her way out to the door.
She pulled it open, blinked and then slammed it shut, turning away.
"...Imocchi!" A sudden cry rang out.
Imogen watched as Kagami and Kuroko left her room to join her, Kuroko opening the door back up when he heard Kise whine.
"Kurokocchi! Kagamicchi too? Imocchi, are you busy? I could come back another time," Kise offered with a teasing grin.
"Shut it, Ryouta. What do you want?" Imogen asked, moving back so she could use the wall as support.
Kise hummed, looking rather sheepish. "Well, Akacchi had texted everyone to meet up the other day, and you didn't show up so he's kind of mad and he wishes to talk to you, but that's not why I'm here!"
"I received the text. I refuse to do anything he says until he's back to normal, now what are you here for?" She demanded, sending him a look of distaste.
She didn't necessarily hate him, but he was like an annoying little brother that refused to leave you alone, especially back at Teiko.
"Well, I heard from Atsucchi that you were hurt and I wanted to say hello!" He exclaimed, a grin settling over his face.
Imogen's expression faltered and she gave a slight- very slight- smile. As much as she hated to admit it, it was good to see him. He was a ball of energy that seemed to spread happiness wherever he went.
"Atsushi-kun told you? What'd you do; bribe him for my whereabouts?" Imogen questioned jokingly, however with the way Kise chuckled nervously made her glare.
"Creep," she grumbled, shaking her head in disappointment.
"Anyway, why does 'Heterochromia'-san need me?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.
Kise hummed in thought before shrugging his shoulders. "I'm not too sure, Imocchi. He never really said why," he explained.
"He's still around if you want to go see him, I'm sure he misses you," Kise teased.
"Yeah, I'm sure he does," she spat out bitterly.
Kise sighed, Kuroko glancing between the two, while Kagami stood by completely clueless.
"Imocchi, don't be so difficult! You two used to get along so well, it was almost scary and now you two don't talk anymore. Poor Akacchi!"
Imogen glared at him in bewilderment.
"Why are you sympathizing a psychopath? I'm not talking to him until he's back to his other self. End of story." She left no room for an argument, focusing on the floor beneath her feet.
"Imogen-san, you two did used to get along so well. The whole incident with the scissors was probably just the result of Akacchi having a bad day," Kise tried to reason, however Imogen shook her head and glared at him.
"I'll talk to him when he's himself," she huffed, looking away.
"Kise-kun, I think you should give up," Kuroko cut in, causing the blonde to sigh exasperatedly.
"Kurokocchi! You too?!" Kise whined.
"Anyways! You all have practice tonight right? If we beat Yosen and you beat...who was it again? Fu...Fufu... Oh! Fukuda Sogo Academy, we'll be up against you, and of course we'll win! Then we'll get to take on Rakuzan," Imogen said with a sly grin.
"Tch, you have to worry about Murasakibaracchi first! And we'll definitely go all the way!" Kise argued, pointing at her.
Imogen quirked a brow in amusement. "Psh, I heard that Seirin beat you in a practice match, and that was when I was in America, now that I'm here...You don't stand a chance."
Kise frowned, whining about how mean she was to him.
"Well, Kaijo won't go down so easy! I'm their ace and I'll lead them to victory!" Imogen snorted at him, waving it off. She gestured to Kagami.
"Yeah, and he's ours. He'll do exactly the same, but we'll also contribute to the victory, y'know," Imogen retorted smugly, enjoying getting under Kise's skin.
Kaijo's ace pouted, draping over Kuroko. "Kurokocchi, she's being mean again!"
"Get off of me, please, Kise-kun," Kuroko said politely, nudging him off.
Imogen thought Kise would collapse from his melodramatic acts.
"Now, as I was saying, you all have practice tonight, so why don't I tag along with you, Kise. It'll give me a chance to see Kasamatsu and Moriyama once more before we become true rivals," she said, trying to get out of the apartment.
She'd been stuck there for two days, she was going insane.
"Ne? Sure! But Kasamatsucchi is still scared of girls, y'know..."
"No." Kuroko's voice intervened, surprisingly stern.
"You're not supposed to be doing anything aside from recovering, which means no playing in the games either," he pointed out, causing Imogen to pout, her face falling to a look of disappointment.
"But that's not fair! Hitome-san said I could be in the finals! And it sucks sitting home alone," she mumbled.
"In the finals. That's if we make it," Kuroko said, trying to reason with her.
He knew that it was probably hurting Imogen, however he didn't want to make the already known outcome worse than it already was.
"I still don't like sitting home alone," she murmured, looking away with an expression he hadn't seen since they were in junior high.
Kuroko realized he had hit a sensitive topic, even if it was unintentional.