Soga rocked back on her heal. Teppei didn't look so thrilled. He seemed pretty upset to say the least. He leaned over onto his knees and wiped sweat from his chin. It seemed like the light had gone from his eyes.

Gone too far again. She thought walking over to him.

"Hey." She stuck her foot out in front of him to acknowledge her presence. Teppei looked up warily, his eyes meeting hers.

"Soga-kun." He stood up straight and began to slowly walk toward her.

"Whoa now, Teppei. T-Teppei!" She grunted as he gripped her shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

"Teppei." She grumbled, but allowed him to continue.

"Stole a hug from Soga-kun." He chuckled into her shoulder making her blush a bit. A BIT.

"Don't make me punch you." She turned to the side so that he wouldn't see her face.

"Hug back." He grumbled, looking down at her.

"Leave me alone." She began to push away but he caught her by the waist and hugged her tightly.

"Dammit Teppei." She kicked but he held tightly so she couldn't leave. She could practically feel him smile against her back.

After a while of hanging in mid-air she gave in.

"Alright. Stop acting cute and put me down." Soga said, pushing him back, making him drop her to the ground again.

"Hug. Back." Teppei demanded. His eyes watched her and Soga sighed in defeat. She wrapped her arms around his waist and bumped her forehead to his chin making him step back in surprise.

"Ouch." He smiled, placing a hand on her head. "You're cute." He laughed when she clutched the back on his shirt.

"S-Shut up." She stuttered. Teppei's eyes shot open and he pulled her away from him and examined her face. She was looking down.

"Look at me." He grumbled, lifting her chin. He practically stared at the slight blush on her cheeks.

"You're blushing." He stated obviously.

"Shut up!" Soga yelled nearly biting his hand.

She stomped away again, only hearing him laugh. She missed that laugh. It sounds like I'm leaving again. She thought, giving a slightg lance back to Kagami and Kuroko.

They've all grown so much. She thought again. Walking back over to them and giving a smile.

"Is something...wrong?" Kagami asked, giving her a questioning, worried look.

"Because I would totally be smiling if something was wrong." She gave smirk and teasing him playfully. Kagami gave a slight blush and turned away. "I was just asking."

Soga smiled back and rubbed her hands together.

"Let's go win this okay?" Soga smiled.


The score was soon fifteen-seven all to soon, and although they had put up a good fight, Teppei, Hyuuga, and Izuki had lost. But none of the others really knew the depth of their loss. Teppei could feel himself beginning to shutdown. He had officially lost and he would have to spend the rest of his year staying away from Soga. His eyes watered.

Soga on the other hand was cheering the two boys on and high-fiving others. She'd become the team manager without a second thought and that was exactly the way Teppei expected it to be.

"She's good." Hyuuga said, running up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder, unaware that he was about to breakdown in absolute pain.

Teppei nodded at first, but knew that if he didn't answer, Hyuuga wouldn't let him leave the court without an explanation.

"Y-yeah, I'm really glad s'she'll be our manager." Teppei stumbled over his words as he looked back over to Soga. who didn't even seem phased by the fact that their deal was in full affect and Teppei was breaking.

Teppei could've tried to go and talk to her, but he knew for sure, she would make them inforce the deal and he would be even more sad than he already was.

"Don't be such a weirdo. We lost but we'll get better." Hyuuga said giving a smile. "I'm sure of it." He gave Teppei's shoulder a squeeze before running over to drown his thirst.

Teppei looked up at Soga once more before he decided he'd leave. Couch had already called practice to be over so there was no point in staying and being tortured anymore than he had to.

He wiped his face with his towel and stood, wiping behind his neck and over his shoulders. His whole body ached now and his knee was feeling any better either. He wasn't about to say it out loud though and he continued to the locker room with some of the other team members.


Soga hugged Riko who stumbled back a bit.

"You're pretty excited, huh?" Riko smiled and Soga laughed. Riko was kind of surprised. She knew Soga from a few honors classes she had, but she never really talked to her long enough to see her real personality.

Riko hugged back a bit and Soga finally pulled away, a bright smile on her face.

"So does that mean you actually wanted to be the manager?" She asked.

Soga shrugged. "Yeah, of course. I love basketball."

"Wow, you'd be a real catch for any of these guys." She gestured to the boys leaving for the locker rooms. Soga made a face. "A catch? For one of them?" She stuck out her tongue and laughed. "Gross." She joked and Riko laughed as well.

After a long silence, Riko looked back over to Soga, who was resting from the game.

"Teppei seems to like you." Riko finally said.

"Ugh. Don't even bring up that doofus." Soga rolled her eyes. "He's so clingy." She groaned, remembering the little bet they'd had. She gave a slight smile at it too. Teppei had to stay away from her for the rest of the year. But she knew he'd have a problem staying away. Even before, he had a problem. Like he didn't even know what personal space was.

"He's just very affectionate." Riko said, giggling at Soga's reaction.

"Too affectionate." Soga put it.

"There's nothing wrong with that." Riko pointed out, which silenced Soga for a while.

It was true, she din't really have a problem with Teppei being around or anything. She didn't even really have problem with him being affectionate towards her. She din't really mind his hugs or his kind words or even when he whined because she was ignoring him. Honestly, it was just that she was embarrassed as to how such a large bulky person could act so soft and gentle towards her.

Even the thought of it made her blush and she pushed her emotion down.

There was another reason why she rejected people constantly. She moved around so much it was just hard to make friends. Especially around these new people. They were so nice and lovable, and it was hard not to get attached, but the thought of being hurt or hurting anyone when she finally left was mor than she could bare.

She'd only bared it a few times before and it was something she wanted to keep at a minimum.

"He seems to cling to you, and I think I know why." Riko finally said.

"And why is that?"

"Because you're so sweet."

"I doubt that he thinks that. I've been so mean to him, he probably thinks I'm the devil." She shrugged, tilting her head.

"But you don't really have the heart to honestly be mean to him." Riko stressed the words as she leaned in towards Soga.

Soga was silent.

"Hmm?"

"no."

"And he can feel it. And that's why he likes you." She finished. "There's not a single hateful bone in your body."

"You assumed wrong." Soga grumbled, turning away. Riko only smiled and nudged her, only receiving a grumble as a reply.