The first time he saw her, he was really scared of her. The next thing he knew was that he was slowly falling in love with her. Badly.

He watched her eat up the takoyaki that Hyuuga gave her. He felt something pierce through his tender heart but he didn't show any emotion in his face. She looked up at him and grinned like the dense person she was. "What's wrong, Sakurai? Eat up! I spent my allowance just to treat you so you better eat it all up! Basketball players need their strength." She told him while pointing at his plate. "I'm sorry!" He bowed down his head and hesitatingly ate the food she treated him. It should have been him who treated her…

Lilith was eating up her food with pure bliss. Her bliss over Hyuuga's unexpected actions was equal to the bitterness Sakurai had. With each bite, he tasted nothing but a bittersweet piece of chunk. "Why did you buy two orders?" His voice suddenly changed and Lilith's eyes widened. "Wow, you can be real manly at times, too! Umm… a friend bought this for me, you see." Sakurai didn't even want to look at her face anymore when she suddenly blushed. A friend? Since when did Lilith refer to Hyuuga as 'a friend'? Why didn't she just tell Sakurai straight out that it was Hyuuga who bought that for her?

"You're blushing, senpai." He said. Lilith's blush deepened and she tried to hide her face by looking down. "Don't be silly, Sakurai! Are you trying to defy me?" She threatened and smirked at him. Sakurai suddenly grimaced and backed away on his chair. "N-no! I just… I'm sorry!" He apologized again. Lilith narrowed her eyes and she crossed her arms against her large chest. "You're improving, Sakurai. Right before my very eyes, I can see that you're trying to be manlier." She nodded to herself. Sakurai blushed at her compliment and smiled shyly. "I do it f-for you, s-senpai." He nervously told her. Upon hearing his words, Lilith's smirk got rubbed off her face.

"I do it for you, Lilith."

A voice echoed in her mind and she started shaking. Sakurai noticed her change in expression and got worried. "I'm sorry!" He apologized again, thinking that it was his fault. He must have said something terrible, he thought. Lilith shook her head and smiled at him. "Look… if you want to be manlier, don't do it for me. Do it for yourself. It'll help you more than it will to me." She advised him. Sakurai's heart almost broke into pieces when she said that. She made it seem like all his efforts to treat her like how women should be treated were all futile. He wanted to see her smile and be proud of him as her 'boyfriend', not as some junior she decided to teach.

Sakurai nodded. He didn't want to defy her, but he didn't want to get hurt either. "I-if that's what makes you happy… I'll do it." He told her. Lilith let out a sigh in relief. "I'm so glad I met you, Sakurai. I don't really interact with men much after…" Her voice trailed off and she suddenly remembered her past. She bit her lip. Sakurai watched intently as she tried her best to hide the truth from him. "You can tell me, senpai." He wanted so badly for her to trust him as her equal. He wanted her to see him in a different light somehow, but that was close to impossible. She shook her head and laughed. "I'm just glad you're not like other guys." Her answer did not even satisfy Sakurai.

Why can't she show him her soft side? Why does she keep on dragging him everywhere if she was just teaching him things? Why does she always act so tough and strong? Sakurai wanted to see her soft side as how she showed it to Hyuuga. A young, innocent girl who says 'thank you' and 'sorry' like the others. All she showed him was her bossy side and her wildness. That didn't stop him from falling for her, though. "Sakurai. Umm… I'm sorry… but, can I go somewhere? I just need to do something…" Lilith stood up and left him all alone on the table.

She always keeps leaving him.

This time, he wasn't with Takao. He was all alone shooting balls into hoops. He was already a prodigy, but he still works hard. He heard someone step into the gym, but he didn't bother to look. "You're finally here, Takao." He greeted, not knowing that it wasn't Takao who entered the gym. "I'm not Kazunari Takao." Midorima stopped shooting when he heard a voice of a girl. He fixed his glasses and turned around, coming face-to-face with none other than the girl who tried to make a huge mess in the Shutoku gym just a few days ago. "What do you want, Pisces?" Midorima asked, not knowing what her real name was.

The girl frowned. "My name is Lilith and I am older than you so treat me well." She explained. Midorima blinked his eyes, unable to believe what he had just heard. "A Pisces woman and a Cancer man are the most compatible, but I can't see how." He didn't really see Lilith in a good way, especially when he first met her. "Technically, horoscopes don't really determine your fate. You mold your own future." She countered back, trying to win him over with knowledge. Midorima felt as if she was challenging him. "They determine luck. And luck determines fate. Basically, horoscopes do determine fate." He argued back. "Then can you explain why we are arguing with each other over a silly topic when the horoscope says that we are compatible, Cancer?" Lilith had a perfectly smug look on her face. "That is because compatibility is not just in the horoscope… it's in the way you live, Pisces." Midorima answered.

Suddenly, Lilith started laughing. Midorima was starting to wonder why she came here again. Did she come here just to argue with him? It was true that Midorima's type of girl is one who is older than him and one with a sign compatibility with a Cancer. Why does it seem like Midorima's starting to dislike the girl he was supposed to like? He wanted to doubt the horoscope, but he decided that it's Lilith whom he should really doubt. "I have a purpose for coming here. Is Pisces compatible with Virgo?" She asked. Midorima only knew one Virgo and that was Aomine. Is he her type of man? If so, then she's also Aomine's type of girl – one with a large asset.

He remained emotionless as they stared at each other. "Yes, only lower in rank than a Pisces and Cancer and the Pisces and Capricorn pairings." He answered her, studying her every reaction. Midorima felt at ease when he saw her smile, but he was still annoyed. Did she come here just to ask him for some matchmaking help? He knew that he would have to say 'no', if it comes to those terms. "How about a Pisces and Taurus?" She asked again. "They're not compatible, but they're not incompatible either." Midorima simply explained.

Suddenly, Lilith sighed. She went toward the nearest bench and sat on it. Her face looked troubled and Midorima still had no idea why she was here. "I don't get horoscopes. I tried searching for scientific answers about the chemical our body produces when we fall in love, but I failed in getting a result. The next thing I knew, I'm already here right in front of you and asking you about the horoscope. How desperate can I be?" She rested her elbows on her knees and her face on her palms. Midorima just stared at her.

He was sure she was trying to tell him something, but he wasn't sure about the reason. This was the first time they even talked properly. Is she some crazy woman who just goes around telling random strangers about her problems? Midorima thought that she was one interesting Pisces. "If I and Sakurai are compatible… and Hyuuga and I are 'in the middle'… how come I developed a teensy crush on that bastardized captain of Seirin instead of crushing on Sakurai, instead?" She asked. Midorima hated looking like he didn't know what he was saying or even hearing so he just stood still, not wanting to look clueless by tilting his head or asking anything. "I thought you could help me find answers, Midorima. Combining my research and your horoscope knowledge… geez, it's too troublesome. That stupid captain… whenever we see each other, we just fight, and who knew that those stupid fights can also be a step towards this? Sakurai, on the other hand, grants my every wish willingly. I feel so terrible…" She kept on babbling. Midorima fixed his eyeglasses and walked toward her. "I get it." He told her. Lilith's face brightened up.

"You feel me?" She asked. Midorima sat down beside her on the bench, wiping of his sweat with a towel. "People's relationships grow and evolve in each encounter. Even though you fight, it is still a fragment in your life of being with that person. Don't fret over silly reasoning." He told her, acting like he really knows what he's saying although he, himself, didn't know a thing about love and crushes. "It's not love, Midorima. I am… not capable of loving anyone." She admitted. Her hands balled into fists and she looked down in shame. "You are human. What you're saying is impossible." Midorima replied.

Lilith felt her tears streaming down her face. She took something out of her bag – it was the bottle with paper stars inside and a wooden carving. "My heart vanished a long time ago. It was taken and broken by someone. He didn't return it. How cruel. All he left me was this stupid bottle I couldn't throw away." She told him. Midorima grabbed the bottle from her hands and stared at it with wide eyes. "This is… today's lucky item! Paper stars! I didn't know how to make one, so I only brought a Christmas star." Midorima picked up something on the floor and showed Lilith the Christmas star he had.

Midorima was stunned when he saw Lilith laugh while she was still crying. "You still believe in horoscopes." She said. He wondered if she was trying to make him not believe anymore, and if so, then he knew that her mission would be impossible to complete. He didn't want to involve himself further, but if he was the only one she chose to talk to even though he was a complete stranger, there has got to be a reason for that. He recalled about today's horoscope and he knew that this was it.

"Cancer: Your luck will be brought to you by someone unexpected who will tell you something that he or she has not told anyone yet. Listen to that person well and if you manage to get in good terms with that person, consider yourself lucky for the rest of the day."

He decided to ask, anyway. "What's his name?" Lilith dreaded that question. To think that it was Midorima who asked her, even though this was only the second time they met. She bit her lip and prevented herself from sobbing.

"His name is Ryo. He has the same first name as Sakurai."

Hyuuga was in a daze. He couldn't make at least one of his shots today and it made him think that practicing now would be pointless. He was sitting beside Yelena on the bench, not knowing that his dark presence was making her scared. "… She smiled." Hyuuga said for the fourteenth time and Yelena had no idea who he was talking about. Suddenly, Hyuuga looked at her. She started shaking, wondering if he knew that she was silently wishing that he would disappear.

"If a girl you always fight with smiles at you… what does that mean?" Hyuuga asked. Yelena felt all her fear go down the drain when she heard his random question. As far as Yelena knows, it was only Lilith whom he always fought with. "Umm… some girls choose to pretend to fight with their crush just so they could hide their real feelings, so, umm… maybe that's that, but I'm not sure." She answered. Hyuuga didn't know whether she was serious about her answer, but she was a girl, so he should just trust her. Then again, why would Lilith like Hyuuga in the first place? He thought that it would be darn impossible.

What does he care about that Xelestine girl, anyway? She's just someone he saved from a speeding car. She even tried to kill him even though she knew that he saved her. Hyuuga didn't know how such a woman existed. Then again, why was he thinking about her, anyway?

He started slapping his own face and Yelena was now getting really creeped out by his scary facial expressions and actions. She scooted away, careful not to let him see that she was clearly disturbed by his presence. "THERE'S NOTHING WORTH THINKING ABOUT THAT PSYCHOTIC WOMAN!" He suddenly yelled, making Yelena scream in panic. Hyuuga finally noticed her and he knew that either Kuroko or Kagami would kill him if he made her cry. Specifically, Kuroko. Somehow, there was something between those two that Hyuuga could tell but at the same time, couldn't tell. "Sorry." He massaged his temples, trying to keep his cool.

Now what? Is he going to spend the entire day thinking about her smile? He tried hard not to think about her asset, though. Although this time, the power of her first smile towards him was even more powerful than the thought of her asset. He just can't—

"DAMN IT! I'M GOING TO SHOOT 50 THREE-POINTERS TODAY!" He yelled again and got hit by Riko on the head. "If you're going to do it, THEN DO IT! Don't just sit there and scare Yelena!" She scolded him.

[From: Sakurai]

Ah. I'm at the Touou gym now, senpai. I'm practicing my three-point shots.

Lilith stared blankly at her phone. After a long conversation with Midorima, she was now watching him shoot balls into the hoop again with his super-long three-point shots. There was one thing she noticed about the three main guys she could interact with. "They're all three-point shooting guards…"