Through the Hoop
Chapter 11：准备－Preparations
"Hot springs?"
The basketball had a meeting on the roof at lunch. There, Riko proposed a visit to the hot springs.
"Yup! There's a girl in my class who has a relative that runs a small hotel. She said she'll let a in for a very cheap prince since it's off-season right now," Riko grinned.
I was all for the hot springs trip as well. I haven't ever been to one before and I was pretty excited. After the hot springs trip, Riko and her father planned a secret brutal training camp for the boys.
I went to Riko's house the other day and we talked over the training camp schedule and organized some training regimens. It turns out that Riko's father used to be a professional basketball player. Talking with him made me learn a lot of new things about basketball and how to improve the players. Maybe I could even be a sports coach someday under his teaching...! Just kidding.
When I was back in Teiko, I had helped the coach with some of the training regimes and helping the players cover up their habits. Even so, I wanted to learn some more things from Riko's father. Thus, I requested for him to teach me some ways of coaching. Because of that, I was very looking forward to seeing him again.
"We need to release our fatigue accumulated from the Winter Cup Preliminaries. Thus, we should take a break and get refreshed for once. Right, Ri-chan?" I grinned happily, carefully playing with my heart pendant necklace as I ate.
Riko smiled, "Yup! It's just like Miho-chan said!"
"A hot spring, huh...It might be good for Kiyoshi's knee, too," Izuki turned and smiled at Kiyoshi.
"Miho-chan, is your finger okay?" Kuroko turned towards me and asked.
I smiled at him for reassurance, "The doctor took the cast off last week! I just have a splint on it now. It should be fully healed soon!"
"That's good," Kuroko gave me a small smile.
Kagami fisted Kuroko's head, "Ah! It still pisses me off that that guy got off without even apologizing to Miho...!"
"Ouch, Kagami-kun, that hurts. Don't take your anger out on me," Kuroko grumbled.
I smiled at Kagami, "Tai-chan! You finally called me by my name! And it's fine. Dai-chan already beat him for me. Shin-chan also gave him a talk, I think."
"I'm still not satisfied that those bastards are the ones that did the beating," Kagami bemoaned.
Riko gave Kagami a punch on his head, "Enough, you Bakagami! Alright! Once we get a good rest, we'll practice to our death for the Winter Cup!"
"Yea-yeah...!" everyone on our team nervously cheered.
"R-Ri-chan...isn't that the boy's hot springs?" I asked nervously as the coach of the Seirin team advanced towards the boys' hot springs.
She turned to me and gave a devil smile, "Miho-chan can go to the female section after you hear the signal."
With that, she stormed off.
I let out a nervous laughter and hesitantly turned away from the direction Riko left.
Turning around, I saw Kagami dragging along a half dead Kuroko. Worried for the smaller boy, I hurriedly ran towards them.
"Tai-chan! Te-chan! What happened?!" I exclaimed as I placed a hand on Kuroko's head.
"It's probably a case of dehydration, fatigue, lack of oxygen and nausea at the same time," Kagami grumbled.
"Oh geez. Tai-chan, you make it sound so serious. I'll take care of him. You can head back to the hot springs if you like!" I smiled as Kagami carried him onto a bench.
Kagami stared at me, "Hey, you sure? You haven't even gone in yet, right?"
I waved my hand, "Hey, it's fine! I can always go in later!"
Putting on a small smile, I grabbed a wet towel and put it on Kuroko's head. Kagami shook his head and disbelief and went to the vending machine, "Hey, you two want anything to drink?"
I smiled, "Red bean soup, please."
Kagami gaped at me with a wild expression, "Miho. You're turning into that annoying guy!"
I laughed a bit, "I thought it was a strange drink at first as well, but I think I really like it now!"
Kagami sighed, "And you, Kuroko?"
"...A Pocari, please," Kuroko lightly responded.
"Huh? Oh man, it's out. Miho, take care of him. I'll go buy one from somewhere else," Kagami sighed.
"Sorry," Kuroko responded.
I played with his wet hair as I sipped the red bean soup. I guess Kagami wasn't going to go back in. Oh well.
"Miho-chan, you should go to the hot springs. Don't worry about me," Kuroko muttered.
I placed both of my hands on the drink, "It's alright."
Just then, I heard footsteps and looked up to see someone unexpected.
"Che, you're here? Satsuki was hoping you were in the hot springs. She wanted to talk to you," Aomine placed a drink down beside Kuroko, "here."
Kuroko looked up, surprised, "Aomine-kun..."
"It's been a while, Tetsu..." Aomine nonchalantly muttered.
Seeing the tension between the two, I slowly crept away, "I-I'll leave for now. Sa-chan wanted to see me, right? Dai-chan! Be nicer to Te-chan and stop making that scary face!"
He shot me a glare before sighing, "Miho, I want to talk to you alone later. I'll text you."
I paused, "Oh, alright."
With that, I turned and headed towards the hot springs. Once I stepped inside, Momoi was there with Riko glaring at her.
To break up the tension, I hopped in beside both of them, "Ri-chan, Sa-chan! I saw Dai-chan on the way here."
Once Momoi saw me, she immediate death hugged me, "Ah! Mi-chan! Last time I saw you, Midorin kept you all to himself! I missed you so much!"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Riko sweat drop, "I see how these two were best of friends in middle school," she muttered with annoyance.
"S-Sa-chan...I can't breathe..." I gasped out.
She happily released me, "Mi-chan! I managed to obtain the Winter Cup match up! When we heard that you guys were here, we felt like saying hi!"
I bit my lip, "Don't tell me..."
Riko's face darkened with shock.
Momoi put on her battle mode smile, "Yes. Seirin's first opponent is us, Touou."
"Why...aren't representatives from the same region not supposed to meet on their first round?" Riko asked.
Momoi put on another smile, "That's usually the case, but apparently that doesn't count for schools participating as wild cards. Therefore..."
"Let's have a good match, right? Sa-chan?" I grinned at the girl.
She smiled back at me, "Since I like Tetsu-kun, I definitely won't hold back this time either. It's a bit disappointing that it will end on the first day, but..."
At this point, I splashed the girl with some water as we both stood up, "Hey, what are you saying, Sa-chan? I'll be directing those words right back at you!"
Riko also fired up, "Don't you dare look down on us! We aren't that easy."
Riko turned to me and we both shouted together, "Write your wills and wait...!"
There was a bit of silence before Momoi smiled, "Mi-chan! Geez, you may have joined Seirin and I acknowledge you as an amazing manager. But, our practice opponent today was Josei. The result was 170 to 39, while yours was 108 to 61. It's a simple story that even a little kid could understand. There's a six month gap between Winter Cup and Interhigh. During that time, every team gets stronger through practice. Even though they're both national competitions, all the teams are a couple levels higher at the Winter Cup. There's no way we'll be the only ones who are...just as hard as before."
Riko laughed, "Ha, what are you saying? Of course everyone thought the same thing. No one believed we would win easily from the very beginning. Furthermore, sooner or later, we're meant to fight them at one point. There's nothing bad about repaying our debt quickly!"
"Dai-chan," I walked outside of the hot spring house and walked up to Aomine in my casual clothes.
Both of his hands were tucked into his pocket and he didn't turn around, "Miho. Is your hand okay?"
I smiled and held up my hand in front of him for him to see, "I got the cast off. It's on a splint now. It'll be healed in no time, so no worries, okay?"
He let out a sigh, "You're always so damn optimistic."
"Really now? I was pretty pessimistic when I saw your punch mark on Hanamiya-san's face," I shook my head.
He rolled his eyes, "I just saved that guy's effort. He would've done it if I hadn't. Maybe even Kise, Murasakibara. Hell, maybe even Akashi."
I laughed, "Ryo-chan, maybe. Atsu-chan and Sei-chan? Not possible."
Aomine turned to me at that moment, "Miho..."
"Dai-chan! Anyways, I still want you thank you for doing that. It was really sweet of you. Hanamiya-san also said he wasn't going to tell anyone," I smiled and clasped my hands behind my back.
"Che, your happiness is truly annoying me, Miho," Aomine turned away from me.
I let out a small smile, "It's okay. Anyways, what did you want to talk about?"
He remained silent before reaching up a hand to scratch his head, "I needed to get this out before the match. Miho, you're still going out with him, right?"
"Shin-chan? Yes..." I replied, unsure of what was going on.
He turned to face me, "Have you ever thought of me that way?"
I paused at his sudden question. Thought of him...the same way I thought of Shin-chan...? Perhaps I did, once upon a time. However, I wasn't even sure if that was just a childish crush. Aomine's passion for basketball was the thing I fell in love with.
"I'm not too sure...but Dai-chan, I fell in love with your passion for basketball. I want to see that fire and smile in your eyes again when you play the sport. Thus, I will do my absolute best to make sure that Seirin wins," I grinned at the tanned man.
He played my answer in his head for a while before smirking at me, "Acceptable. Bring it on, Miho."
"Wow, the hot spring was pretty good."
"My body feels so light."
"How's your knee, Kiyoshi?"
"Oh, it's feeling pretty good."
Izuki turned to Hyuga as we gathered outside, "Hyuga, you're still holding on to that?"
"Of course," Hyuga muttered.
During the hot springs, unexpected news washed over our team. The Winter Cup matchup was surprisingly delivered to our hands. Our opponent for the first round is...none other than Touou Academy. Everyone thought they had improved a lot. However, there was more training to be done...!
"Alright, are we all here? We'll go straight to practice once we get back!" Hyuga let out a determined cheer.
"Um...Kagami-kun's been missing since this morning," Kuroko with a bad bedhead popped out of nowhere and announced.
That was right. Kagami told Riko and I that he was headed off to America to train with his master...
"Wait, what? Kagami's not here?" Hyuga asked as I played with Kuroko's soft hair.
"No worries, guys," I reassured them as Riko continued my sentence.
"We'll be practicing without Kagami for a while, starting today. We'll tell you the reason later."
"Eh? Alright! Let's go home!" everyone cheered.
I grinned, "Wait! We aren't heading back, yet!"
"Huh?"
"Thankfully, there's no school today and tomorrow due to the national holiday and the school's anniversary! Thus, Ri-chan rented the public gym there! We'll be diving right into a training camp!" I pointed towards the gym.
"What?!"
Riko and I took off our jackets and hung them up inside the gym as we waited for her father to come. Finally, we heard his footsteps and voice.
"Ah, you guys, hold it right there. You don't have to change into basketball shoes just yet," the man walked in with his hand on his neck.
"Dad!"
"Ah, Kagetora-sensei!" I exclaimed.
"Coach's daddy?!"
"You have no rights to call me 'daddy'," the tall man gruffly regarded, "Call me, Kagetora-san!"
"Why are you here...?"
"Don't give me that! I came here to make you guys stronger due to my beloved daughter's request," Kagetora explained, "Therefore...here's a small question. The bastard that tried to peep on Riko yesterday...come on out...!"
With that, a quarrel started between the team, Riko, and her father. I watched in silence, sweat dropping slightly. I knew that Kagetora had a huge daughter complex. It's was kind of funny to watch, whenever I went over to Riko's house.
After everything finally settled down, Kagetora sighed, "Okay, okay. First of all, you guys...take off your shirts."
I laughed a bit at the expressions on the team's faces. Riko had told me that she and her father could see a player's potential in their bodies. This must've been what she meant.
"Well, guess you lot are pretty good. Looks like you've been able to keep up with Riko's training since summer. Not only your stamina, but your muscles have grown in a balanced fashion too. I'll praise you for now," Kagetora finished.
After the boys finished dressing, the coach's father spoke again, "Then let's split you guys into two groups," he pointed towards one side of the team, "You guys are the cops," then the other side, "You guys are the robbers."
"So go over to that mountain and play cops and robbers for three hours. After that, I'll let the losers pay only twice for the practice jogging," Kagetora ordered.
"What?! So random!" noise buzzed everywhere before everyone started leaving.
"Dad, was that...a fartlek?" Riko inquired after I was taking a break from one of Kagetora's lessons about the movements in basketball. It seems he was quite fond of me.
After a short pause, Kagetora pounced on her daughter, "As expected of Riko-tan, you know so much!"
Riko hit the poor father on the head.
To avoid further fighting, I cut in, "Um...sir, what's a fartlek?"
He turned to me, "Ah! Miho-chan! A fartlek is a system of training in which the athlete runs in nature. By running on irregular terrains using their entire body, they athlete can achieve a balanced increase in fitness. As I said before, everyone's doing pretty well physically. But, they're still stiff. Muscle's not all about adding more and more on. You need to have a body that can use those muscles. You need to mix those muscles into your body. The quickest way to do that is to make them run around in the mountain."
I quickly jotted everything he said down and made more notes on some of the basketball techniques he had just taught me. This training camp was pretty useful to me, as well.
Just then, the door to the gym opened, "We're done, sir..."
We all turned, "Oh. Then before we go on with the practice, I'll tell you what you guys have to master by your match next month."
There was some complaints about the running they just did, however Kagetora continued, "Dumbass, that was just a warm-up. Riko and Miho showed me the DVD's of your next opponent—an offensive team with a high level of individual skill that focuses sole on individual strength. They may seem like the complete opposite of you guys who focus on teamwork, but to me, they're the ones who've got better teamwork."
After this revelation, everyone was shocked. Even I stopped taking notes and just stared.
"...What?!"
"Of course it's not like they're paying any special attention to it. They just have it. It's not about having any solo stunts. The important thing is for every single player to aim for the basket. Teamwork comes only after that's established. You don't call acts of friendship, 'teamwork'."
At this, we were all silent until Kagetora sighed and spoke again, "For example, let's see...you, four eyes!" he turned to Hyuga, "You tried to pass through with a dribble during your last Touou match, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"That was a dumb move."
"What?"
"What were you thinking? Going against a national-level opponent with your weakest weapon? Aren't you all about using long-distance shots? That cuticle pretty-boy and meow-boy seem to be able to shoot three-pointers too, but only being able to shoot isn't a weapon. Moreover, during the recent match against Kirisaki Daiichi, too. If you had made those long shots from the very beginning, you guys would've won much more easily. Be more self conscious that you're Seirin's lifeline. Be able to shoot by yourself without relying on screens."
"Wait, but...how?! I was dribbling because I can't..." Hyuga complained.
Kagetora turned around and ordered Izuki, also known as 'pretty boy' to give him a pass.
"Eh? Kagetora-san can play basketball?" the juniors exclaimed.
Kiyoshi smiled, "It's not simply that he can play. He is a player, who was a member of Japan's national team."
I ignored their chit chat and focused on what was happening before me. Kagetora had the ball and Hyuga was blocking. Somehow, he moved back and made a three-pointer...! It wasn't like Shin-chan's shot either. It was just a simple shot...yet...
"Well, it's something like that. Just so you know, that wasn't about speed. It a skill that even you can do," Kagetora clapped his hands once and walked back over, "Teamwork starts to shine only when well established individuals strengths are gathered. I'll make sure that each one of you will develop your own weapons by the Winter Cup. In other words, they'll be your special moves. The foundations are already set and it seems like some of you already have some understanding from the summer training camp. For the next month till the Winter Cup, I'll train you guys as much as possible for a bloody bargain price of nothing."
The whole gym was silent after Kagetora's speech.
I was the first on to bow—the others followed, "Tha—Thank you so much!"
After the thanks, Kuroko spoke up, "That's good and all, but..."
"Eh? That's right! What about Kagami?!
A/N: Disclaimer - I do not own Kuroko no Basuke or any of the characters.
Ah, well, Yuvi here! I thought it would be a good idea just to end it there for now. Haha. Miho finally formally broke off any chance of a relationship with Aomine in this chapter. Their past will be explored deeper in my prequel which is still in it's planning/researching stage.
Anyways, I think I might focus a bit more on the training camp than the manga did. This is just because Miho has a lot to learn from Kagetora. Miho's not really that much of a manager in the 'Momoi' sense. However, she more like an extra eye. Her main use is to obviously spot weaknesses and habits that the players have. However, she still does not have the experience nor the knowledge to fully put her skills to use. Right now, she's basically just taking notes on the other team's habits and weaknesses so that Seirin knows them. However, she doesn't not know how to improve the team from her knowledge and make them shine even more. Thus, she will be having a lot of training sessions with Kagetora. I promise she'll be of more help during the match against Touou (though it will eventually turn out with a Zone Kagami doing all the work).
Anyways, some replies for my reviewers! I was going to do this last chapter. However, I was pretty dazed, sick and completely out of it...so...
Bakashi - Thank you for your review! I'm glad you like it so far. As for the point issue there, I'm pretty sure it was totally my mistake as I was writing these things at two in the morning and never really bothered to check them over before posting them. Haha. Anyways, thank you so much for pointing that out! I'll go check it over with the manga and change it as soon as possible! Thank you!
jdawgjpn - Thank you. Like, actually. Thank you, so, so much for those awesome reviews you leave on basically every chapter. They always put a smile to my face and I always think, 'Well I guess I just have to keep writing now!' I hope you keep supporting this story! Thank you so much! ^_^
Guest - You are my favorite Guest ever! I'm not sure if you are the same one every time, but I absolutely love reading your reviews! They really cheer me up and just, thank you so much! Once again, I hope the chapters continue to be with your liking! Thank you, so, so much! I hope you keep supporting me!
CarrotCrisps - This is probably biased a bit, however your review just completely brightened up my day that day. I was feeling pretty bad with a dumb cough and fever however just seeing the review made me smile! MidorimaxOCxAomine! Hahaha, I totally agree with you! It's like I have animeblock after watching KuroBasu! I can't even do anything else but daydream about those pixel men all day! I'll definitely write more OC stories if I have any inspiration! Once again, I hope you continue reading Through the Hoop and enjoying it! Thank you so much!
hlflores - Your reviews are always so simple and sweet at the same time! They really make me smile! I'm always so happy whenever you review. So, thank you so much! I hope you continue supporting me and the story!
Devilish-S - Your reviews are so awesome and appreciated! Omg, I always get really excited whenever I see a new review! Anyways, I really love the comments you leave me! Thank you so much and I hope you keep supporting my story!
Crossroader32 - Thank you so much for your help with the OC and all your reviews! I'm really glad you really liked my story! Your reviews are always really sweet! Thank you so much and I hope you keep reading my story!
Anyone else I might have missed - I'm really sorry! However, the message is basically the same! I love you all so much for reviewing and reading my story! I hope you can all continue supporting me! Thank you so, so, so much! ^_^
Anyways, thank you all again for reading my story, reviewing, and following! I'd like to give you all a bow of gratitude! *bows down. Hehe, thank you all so much! Please keep up the support! I love you all!
~Yuvi