Chapter 12

"What did you talk about?"

As soon as the lovers had placed some distance between Kasamatsu's mother and themselves, the brunette had finally asked the question that Kise was expecting.

"Hm... She told me that I am very talented in basketball!"

The blonde said proud of himself, subconsciously anticipating a kick to be landed anywhere on his body.

"Don't be so conceited!"

A punch came instead on his shoulder and despite the pain Kise couldn't help but be amused by it.

"But this is what we talked about senpai!"

The ace said innocently but the brunette couldn't be fooled that easily.

"Tsk, do you know how red your face was just a minute ago?"

"Eh? It was?"

He couldn't deny that he had felt his face feverish but he had no idea that it was so obvious to the others.

"Did she... Did she tell you anything weird? Did you talk about anything weird? Did you tell her - "

"No, no senpai!"

Although Kasamatsu was doing his best to not show his panicked emotions, the way he was asking one question after another easily gave him away.

"Your mother just told me that she's happy we're friends... And actually... senpai, have you talked to your mother about me?"

The captain stalled momently -as if to try and remember if he had done any careless mistakes- but quickly continued his walking.

"No...? Except for only the very first time I had met you... and maybe after our first official match. But still, I didn't talk to her about you as a person but as a basketball player. Why?"

Kasamatsu tried not to make a million assumptions and to just wait for Kise's answer to either relieve or panic him.

"Well, how can I say this... It was like... she sort of knew me? She commented about me being more outgoing and carefree from you, so I thought you had probably said something about me beforehand."

Kasamatsu sighed troubled at his lover's answer.

"God, why does she have to be so smart?"

His question was more like an outloud thought but the blonde wasn't going to leave it unremarked.

"Oh! Kasamatsu-senpai, maybe your mother is a medium!"

It took a monstrous amount of sef-restraint for Kasamatsu to not start banging Kise's head on the wall of their school's building that now stood in front of them; and as Kise was looking at him in order to hear his response, he suddenly started laughing.

"Haha, your face senpai!"

Kaijo's captain had worn a really «unique» kind of expression that only Kise made him do, and the latter couldn't help but be overly entertained by his lover's facial changes to his stupidity (because he already knew that his suggestion wasn't the cleverest thing his superior had heard).

"Shut up, or the teachers might come to 'greet' us."

An unconscious soft smile had been drawn on Kasamatsu's face as Kise's laughter (despite his stupidity) was enough to alleviate him from all of his worries.

The two students quietly entered the school grounds and (even more silently) they started walking in the hallway where the classrooms were located. One closed door after another, the two boys read the doors' numbers to find their own while listening to the many teachers inside them talking about the variety of subjects they were supposed to be educated with. Suddenly Kasamatsu pointed his finger to his classroom as soon as he had found it and Kise quickly approached him before the other knocked on the door.

"What are you doing? Go find your own classroom...!"

Kasamatsu whispered when the blonde reached his side but the latter moved his index finger in front of his lips, telling him to hush in case anyone heard him.

"Senpai, I... can I... Because no one is here right now, can we just kiss once?"

The captain widened his eyes at his absurd suggestion (although, even mentally, it was hard for him to say that he didn't want that) and then glanced quickly around him at the empty corridor.

"Can't you be... patient? It won't be long before lessons end."

It was as if Kasamatsu's question was directed at himself, and not his lover.

"I can't."

Kise responded simply and honestly and was staring into the brunette's eyes while waiting for his answer.

"Onc... Just once."

The captain uttered doubtful, hoping from the bottom of his heart that he wasn't going to regret it.

Kise had to glance around him one last time before moving his hands in order to cup his superior's face and quietly land his lips on the other's. He did say that they were going to kiss once, but who said anything about this kiss being quick and skin deep? The two lovers had easily deepened their lustful need for each other's taste and before they knew it, they were sinfully rubbing their bodies on one another. Their pants that had somehow filled in the corridor's dead silence would maybe lead them even deeper to this pathway, if it wasn't for the school's bell suddenly ringing and signing for the students to take a break.

As if breaking a spell, the two boys instantly distanced themselves and Kasamatsu quickly and panicked signed for Kise to run to his classroom so that they wouldn't be seen together like that. The blonde knew better than to disobey his captain at that moment, but seeing how finding any proper excuses for his teacher seemed impossible, he quickly started running towards the exit of the hallway, leaving Kasamatsu there, standing in front of his own classroom and staring at him dumbfounded, wondering where in the world that stupid ace was heading to at such a time.

Before the brunette was able to make any reflections about Kise's destination, the door of his classroom was abruptly opened -along with many other doors in the hallway- and some of his female classmates (who were the first to exit from the classroom) looked at him surprised and then giggled to one another silently. The brunette suddenly realized how messed up his face must have looked after Kise's 'care' and rashly wiped his mouth and rubbed his eyes nonchalantly, acting like he was just out of bed, or too preoccupied with other things to care about his physical appearance. After all, it was because of his head injury that he was late, wasn't it? Yes, that would be the perfect excuse to use.

"Hey, Kasamatsu!"

"Did you decide to show up?"

Kobori and Moriyama showed up as well and jokingly commented as they were exiting their classroom, making Kasamatsu smile in response.

"Are you okay? You're all red."

Moriyama continued, forcing the brunette to slightly flinch but desperately try to hide it.

"Yeah, I don't know... I wasn't feeling so well in the morning which is why I'm so late now."

The captain responded, hoping that his lies would easily be believed.

"Ah... Aren't you a bit late?"

The teacher suddenly made his appearance with a smile (Kasamatsu was incredibly lucky to have been confronted by this specific teacher before anyone else) and the brunette had to slightly bow and utter his excuses once more.

"Ah, excuses excuses..."

The teacher commented but patted Kasamatsu's head before taking his leave.

"I will be informing the rest of the teachers then, don't worry. I'll make it sound a bit more believable."

He winked to the captain and the latter along with his other two teammates chuckled entertained by their teacher's friendliness towards them.

"Aren't you lucky?"

Moriyama said to Kasamatsu as soon as the teacher was gone and Kobori quietly nodded in agreement. The three boys then re-entered the classroom so that Kasamatsu would leave his school bag on his desk.

"By the way, have you seen Kise?"

Moriyama asked concerned and the brunette -being aware of how bad he was at lying- had turned his back against him (with the excuse of preparing his books for the next lesson) and responded frustrated.

"Didn't that idiot come today? If he uses another stupid excuse like last time I will seriously beat him up..."

His own words sounded fake to his own ears but fortunately (maybe thanks to the girls who were still in the classroom and were drawing Moriyama's attention) his teammate hadn't seen through his lie; one of his teammates that is...

"Hm yeah, I don't know what he's thinking... Some girls came from his classroom to ask us if he was with you -because you know, you always hang around with each other- but I told them you didn't come to school either. Then they giggled and left."

Moriyama finally looked at Kasamatsu as their female classmates left from the classroom.

"I still don't get why they giggled though. Shouldn't they be sad that their idol Kise Ryouta isn't here?"

"Who's talking about me?"

All of a sudden the always spontaneous blonde made his appearance behind the older boys and everyone widened their eyes at the sight.

"What... How did you pop up out of nowhere?"

Moriyama asked with a smile at Kise's unexpected visit.

"I'm always here when my name is spoken!"

The ace seemed incredible cheerful at that moment (Moriyama actually wondered if the word 'idol' had raised his spirit) but before the boys could continue talking, a teacher entered into the classroom and asked them (not so kindly) to go to the school yard and not remain into the classroom during their break.

"Where were you?"

Kasamatsu asked while trying to act annoyed.

"Where were you senpai? I saw you entering the school and was shouting after you but you didn't seem to hear me..."

Kise whined like a child and the brunette gave a smack on the first's head.

"I wasn't feeling well this morning! I had a good reason to be absent."

Kasamatsu gazed sideways as if avoiding to confront his own lie.

"Well, either way it doesn't matter. I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Ah!"

Moriyama who was kind of neglecting their actual conversation, suddenly exclaimed and turned around to face the two boys gravely.

"You!"

He looked at Kasamatsu distressed.

"I totally forgot about it...! How is your head?"

"Aah yes..."

Kobori added, cupping with one hand his forehead for their absentmindedness. The brunette on the other hand couldn't help but chuckle at their forgetfulness.

"Well, I did say that I'd call you if there was any permanent damage, didn't I?"

Kise said decisively, making the brunette realize that their teammates knew about Kise's stay in the infirmary with result feeling a bit uncomfortable.

'Don't say too much...'

He thought silently but Kise could easily understand his worries.

"His parents came after a while and I left. Senpai were you really not feeling well this morning? Did you have a headache or something?"

"A-ah, yeah..."

Kasamatsu nodded uncomfortably, seeing just how easy it was for his lover to lie right in his friends' faces.

"Well, at least you didn't pass out... right?"

Kobori asked as well, being rather worried about his friend's health state.

"Yeah, I did not. Don't worry, I'm feeling much better now. If I - "

The brunette paused his steps abruptly and clumsily held the first thing that he found next to him. Moriyama looked surprised at the brunette who was sloppily holding his arm for support.

"Kasamatsu senpai are you okay?!"

Kise was the first to react as the captain seemed to be losing his balance, yet doing his best to remain standing.

"Don't shout you idiot..."

Kasamatsu said tiredly and a realization suddenly emerged in his mind.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to eat..."

The brunette murmured his thoughts out loud and the other three boys widened their eyes surprised.

"You- How could you forget to eat?!"

It was kind of rare for Moriyama to raise his voice but his teammate's carelessness seemed to exceed any limits.

"I'll go buy something!"

Kise said in a hurry -while also trying to hide the guilt he was feeling- and as he started rushing towards their school's canteen, Kobori shouted for him to also buy orange juice for their weak captain.

Ultimately the three boys started slowly returning to their classroom so that Kasamatsu would at least sit and rest and not be dragged around by his friends. Despite the captain's resistance and constant reassuring that it was just a momently vertigo and that he could walk just fine on his own, the other two boys were cautious and rather apprehensive due to the events of the previous day, so they weren't willing to let their friend go; however, the rude teacher that had driven them off just a few minutes ago, was still standing in the corridor, and was ready once more to shoo the students away.

"Didn't I tell you to leave?"

The way the woman was glaring at them was as if she was waiting for anyone to deliberately start a fight with.

"He's dizzy!"

Moriyama couldn't keep his mouth shut under the circumstances.

"So what? Does he need an entire army to hold him? You, leave from the corridor! You, take him to the classroom."

She first pointed towards Moriyama and then towards Kobori, forcing the two boys to unwillingly part ways.

"Tell Kise that we'll be in the classroom."

Kobori said while looking at Moriyama with an expression that warned him to not lose his cool. It'd be okay as long as someone was with Kasamatsu and that's all that mattered at that moment.

Moriyama finally clicked his tongue truly irritated by the whole situation and then started heading towards the school's yard, hoping that Kasamatsu would start feeling better as soon as the blonde brought him whatever he had bought from the canteen. In the meantime, Kobori was trying to make the captain forget about his hunger and health state (it wouldn't make any difference if Kasamatsu merely focused on the constant numbness he was feeling) by asking him questions in order to keep his mind and lips preoccupied until Kise returned.

"Yesterday, after you passed out, Kise had said that you had already injured your head beforehand... How did you actually hurt your head?"

Kobori asked and was unconsciously counting the seconds Kasamatsu needed before answering.

"I fell...?"

The brunette literally asked the other and Kobori had started wondering whether Kasamatsu was so disoriented that he couldn't concentrate, or if he could not really remember what kind of lie he had prepared to spout.

"I can't understand why we had to return to the classroom... I did say I'm feeling okay now. I could go to the canteen myself, you know?"

The captain deliberately changed the subject while looking at his teammate who was sitting on the chair opposite to him, to the front desk.

"We can't take any risks with our captain."

Kobori responded with a smile and Kasamatsu couldn't help but smile back.

"To tell you the truth... I did talk with the nurse of the infirmary this morning."

Kobori continued and his sudden confession raised Kasamatsu's curiosity.

"You did...?"

He asked kind of confused, seeing how just a moment ago he had acted like he had forgotten about his injury.

"Hm... I didn't tell Moriyama about it though. I think I wanted to first hear the facts from you before jumping to any conclusions."

'Jumping to conclusions...?'

The brunette had started becoming rather anxious by Kobori's mystified responses.

"So... Do you want to tell me what actually happened yesterday?"

The question echoed in the empty classroom and Kasamatsu could feel a faint pain by the intensified beating of his heart against his chest. What was Kobori expecting to hear? How much did the nurse know? How much had she seen...?

'No, that's not right...'

The captain reckoned silently. The nurse hadn't seen anything at all, since she wasn't there for almost the entire time he was conscious. The only time he had personally made contact with the nurse was when -

"You shouldn't need that long in order to remember."

Kobori interrupted his thinking but thankfully, Kasamatsu had already gotten his answer. The only thing that the nurse had seen was him and Kise leaving from the school together; which didn't add up with what the blonde had said about Kasamatsu leaving with his parents...

"What difference does it make?"

The captain asked simply -trying his hardest to sound dispassionate- but the way his question was formed was almost like referring to exactly the one thing that didn't add up to the story.

"It makes an enormous difference to me."

"Why?"

The brunette had started getting annoyed by his friend's persistence about a lie of no importance since, even if Kasamatsu left with Kise, the only reasonable thing to assume was that he would still end up in his own house with his parents who would take care of him after his injury.

"Because if you lie to me about something that 'makes no difference' as you want me to believe, then I must have lost your trust along the way and maybe our friendship is not as strong as I think it is."

Kasamatsu had to sigh distressed at that statement.

'Not everything is as deep as you think it is.'

The brunette deemed that Kobori's thinking was truly irrational. In the end the reason Kasamatsu couldn't honestly spell all the facts to his friends was exactly because he valued their friendship to the extent he did. If his two teammates knew about him and Kise then -

"Are you afraid because I saw you and Kise?"

Another unexpected confession that made Kasamatsu's both body and mind become petrified.

"What do you mean? What did you s- "

"Kasamatsu-senpai!"

A sudden exclamation momently comforted his restless thoughts as Kise barged in the room and looked at his lover agitated.

"That was fast...!"

Kobori reacted surprised at his early return.

"Well, my... fans let me pass... in front of them."

Kise said in between panting and as he reached over the desks, he placed the bag in front of the brunette.

"But I was molested! Senpai, those girls were groping my a-"

Before he managed to complete his statement, a punch came out of nowhere -landing on his stomach- which made the blonde bent in half.

"This is what you get for taking advantage of people, you idiot!"

Kasamatsu was referring to how Kise took advantage of his fans' admiration and support, in order to get to the front of the line.

"Wha- Did you buy the entire canteen?!"

Kasamatsu's loud voice made Kaijo's ace think that maybe his superior had already been cured without the need of food.

"B-but Kasamatsu senpai wasn't feeling well!"

"This is actually a bit too much Kise..."

Kobori agreed with the captain (in a much more composed tone) and Kise's surprised expression was followed by a troubled sigh that escaped from Kasamatsu's lips.

"I don't even have that much money with me."

The brunette voiced about returning the food's expenses to Kise.

"What? No way senpai! I'm treating you today!"

"Why would you be treating me?"

The blonde's cheery enthusiasm was soon eliminated by his lover's grave expression. Kise immediately understood Kasamatsu's worries but it truly hurt him to be faced in such an inhuman way, just for the sake of keeping their secret. In the end, not only boyfriends and girlfriends treated their loved ones.

"Either way, you should start eating before break's over."

Kobori butted in before Kise justified his action and with another heavy sigh, Kasamatsu chose one of the variety of sandwiches the blonde had bought for him.

"Thank you... I will give you the money tomorrow."

The brunette mumbled before taking the first bite and Kise just smiled in response; indicating that there was no way he'd ever accept that money.

Time passed rather quickly with -mostly- Kise and Kobori discussing some remarks they had noted about one another in their basketball playing. A couple of times Kasamatsu would complete their observations, but he was mostly listening to them while eating and drinking (he really looked like a sultan at that moment) as he was rather curious to see for himself what his teammates observed about one another during their games. Eventually the brunette noticed that Kise had a much better observant skill than Kobori (of course it was no wonder, for a copycat) and then he automatically started thinking of how they could use this information to their advantage in their essential matches against other powerful teams.

"Kasamatsu? Kasamatsu?"

His name had to be repeated a couple of times before he realized he was being called. Kaijo's captain was almost surprised to see Moriyama before him waving his hands in front of him as if Kasamatsu couldn't see him.

"Is he still unwell?"

Moriyama addressed his question to the other two boys but the brunette responded instead.

"I am fine! But hey, how did you... Didn't the teacher try to- "

Before he completed his question, more students started entering the classroom and Kasamatsu finally realized the reason behind it.

"Kasamatsu senpai, didn't you hear the bell ringing?"

"Hey, are you sure you're okay?"

Kasamatsu needed a great amount of restraint in order not to bump his friends' heads on the desk.

"Yes, I-am-okay..."

He finally sighed frustrated.

"I was just thinking of how to use Kise's observant skills on court."

"Hm? My observant skills?"

Kasamatsu nodded in response and Kobori could understand the captain's logic.

"His observant skills?"

Moriyama repeated both confused and aghast and a soft smile by the two older boys was the only response he received before the teacher's voice echoed in the classroom.

"Sit down."

The teacher said with patience to the students and as Moriyama and Kobori moved to their seats, Kasamatsu quietly placed the bag with the pile of food under his desk and then looked next to him surprised.

"What are you still doing here...?"

The captain whispered but he was actually kind of panicky that his lover was still in his classroom.

"Well, maybe he won't notice me senpai."

The brunette had to once again stifle his desire of being violent towards stupidity and eventually, the teacher started schooling the students without realizing Kise's presence... for the first few minutes.

Thankfully no school detention (or even worse suspension) awaited the reckless blonde but a good amount of scolding was in store since, not only had he missed the first many hours of the lessons, but he had also entered the classroom with a wide smile spread on his face and absolutely no rational justification for his delay.

The bell rang again, and then once more, and as the lessons for the day had come to an end, certain students headed towards the school's gym, almost feeling like their true education began only at that time, in that place. Kasamatsu, Kise and Kobori headed together towards the gym (Moriyama had secretly told them that a girl from the classroom next to theirs wanted to privately talk to him, and after he had winked at them a thousand times, Kasamatsu warned him to not be late) but they were soon to be greeted by an unexpected misfortune.

It was only after they reached the school's gym that the students came across their coach, who was standing frustrated out of the gym's locked doors and looked at the boys despairingly.

"There will be no practice today boys..."

The coach said with a sigh and then glanced towards the ground, making the students follow his gaze.

"It seems like someone decided to destroy the locker rooms and the extensive amount of water escaping from the broken pipes has filled in the gym's ground. So, unless we want another accident... today there'll be no practice."

The coach's words and the small pond in front of the empty doors were accompanied by the boys' widened eyes and half-open mouths... Who in the world would want to damage their school's property? And for how long would they be unable to do their essential practising games? Before any of the boys started voicing their questions, the coach had already replied.

"Hopefully, by the day after tomorrow the damage will have been fixed... but whoever decided to ruin the school's property must have done it in the early hours, judging by the amount of water that's been pooled all over the place."

He stopped only to sigh deeply.

"We will find whoever's responsible for this."

The way the coach was so serious about it made the situation look almost like a personal vendetta, but it was entirely understood from the boys' point of view. Not only was the gymnasium essential for their physical revitalization, but it was also some sort of sanctuary for the students whose club activities had the gymnasium as their home...

It was only natural for them to take it personally.

After some more chattering with their coach, the teammates finally departed from the building and idly occupied an empty park that was located in a close distance to their school. Moriyama hadn't showed up as they had headed towards the school's exit and now that the boys were sitting at the park, Kasamatsu was mumbling about how their perverted friend was willing to ditch them for the sake of a girl.

"But it's not like he 'ditched' us senpai. I'm sure he's now heading towards the gym and the coach is going to shout at him for being late... although we didn't practice at all."

That image brought a smile to the brunette's face but he was still kind of annoyed that Moriyama would put a girl before basketball (although that was merely his own assumption).

"Ah, but that's troublesome..."

Kobori suddenly sighed and the other boys looked at him curiously, waiting for him to continue.

"Well, if Moriyama starts a relationship as well, I'll be the only one left alone."

Kasamatsu had to raise an eyebrow confused at that statement but as he turned around to glance at his lover (the brunette's composed face not showing his panicky emotions), he saw Kise looking anywhere but at his captain, as if avoiding to admit something that Kasamatsu didn't seem to be aware of.

"Why - "

"But did anyone actually see the girl who wanted to talk to Moriyama-senpai? Is she pretty?"

Kise tried to change the subject right away, before Kasamatsu completed his question.

"I don't think there are many girls who aren't pretty in Moriyama's eyes."

Kobori responded playfully but the captain was still baffled (and even more suspicious) by Kobori's previous statement.

"Kobori, why did you say tha- "

"Ah! I wonder if she's one of my fans! That would be really troublesome for Moriyama-senpai, wouldn't it?"

After a short moment of silence Kasamatsu tried to repeat his question but Kise cut him off again abruptly.

"A-ah, I guess..."

This time, even Kobori felt the pressure between the other two boys, resulting in his response being rather shaken. Why was Kise the only one avoiding the subject anyway? The blonde, as well as the captain, should remember quite well that Kobori had seen more than enough to understand what was going on between them.

'Why would Kise be more jumpy about it than Kasamatsu?'

Kobori was pondering confused as Kise hadn't really informed him about the brunette's short memory loss of their interaction.

"Will you stop interrupting me?"

Kasamatsu finally asked irritated.

"But I'm curious about that girl senpai!"

Kise tried to act naively, which only fuelled the captain's annoyance.

"Then you can go back and ask Moriyama personally!"

A short moment of silence occurred between them, only to be interrupted by Kasamatsu's phone ringing.

The brunette looked at his phone surprised for the unexpected call (his parents wouldn't be calling him during school hours) and his expression lightened a bit when he saw the caller's name.

"Yes?"

He answered his phone and an extensive amount of cheerful mumbling could be heard -dimly to the other two boys as well- and the captain couldn't help but smile at that person's enthusiasm.

"Yeah, okay okay okay... You can tell us from up-close; we are at the park near the school, don't be late."

He uttered (by interrupting the caller, otherwise he wouldn't shut up) and as he hanged up he looked at his two teammates, mostly emphasizing his stare towards Kise.

"The loverboy is coming."

His statement made the other two smile as well, knowing how excited Moriyama would be about this new experience of his.

"You can ask him about that girl all you want."

Kasamatsu continued while staring at Kise and the latter had to admit that he was feeling rather relieved that Moriyama's situation would prevent their current conversation to continue any longer...

'I promise I'll explain why I acted that way senpai...'

The blonde vowed silently as the other two started talking about Moriyama's foreseen enthusiasm.


A/N: In case you're wondering why happened whatever happened with Kise, Kasamatsu and Kobori... Well, Kasamatsu doesn't remember that Kobori had sort of caught them making out (sort of) and Kise hadn't mentioned it to Kasamatsu... for obvious reasons. Kise would probably never mention it to Kasamatsu, but Kobori doesn't seem willing to let his knowledge about their relationship remain a «secret» from them. Why? Well, you'll see, I guess. xP (unless you can understand it already)

Psh, you will not damage your fingers if you review. :p

For the next chapter I have one thing to tell you... Kasamatsu's Father versus Kise! :D

Let your imagination run wild. xD