Well, I hope this makes up for the lack of updates! I'll try to get more chapters out, but the next chapter still need a few fixing here and there, the few chapters after will be easier though. And here's Kise, although it was short. I promise there'll be more in the next chapter or the next, or maybe the one after that.

To fantasy.92: Eh? I don't know about that. Yume and the Generation of Miracles are still first years, romantic attraction will probably begin budding late in their second year. Do you think Yume and Kuroko will be a good match?

To Silver Hydrangea: Yeah, interesting. Maybe things will change when something happens between them and they have to re-evaluate their opinions of the other? Perhaps then Yume will start seeing Akashi for who he truly was, and the latter viewing the girl as something more than an entertainment? As for Yume and Kuroko, I have a general idea where their friendship will headed.

To The Flightless Girl: Yeah, it's different, eh? It's mellow and fluffy? There's no doubt about it, Yume and Kuroko will only interact more when he joins the first stringers. Eh, the latter can be avoided or played out differently. One addition to a story can changes the plots in a way only he or she knows, don't you think?

Pairings : Undecided

Warnings : Teikō Middle School Days.

Disclaimer : I own only the OCs.

Chapter 35 - Life is nothing without a little chaos to make it interesting

The absence of basketball club activities meant a certain brunette and a group of five rainbow-coloured individuals would walk home together after the conclusion of the Cleaning Day discussion, it was an unspoken agreement, seeing as she had no part-time today. As it was the day before the D-day, there were nothing much left to discuss and thus the meeting ended quickly.

Her friends wouldn't mind the wait, for the meeting to end that is. At the moment, Yume was hurrying to the library to return one book she forgot to the day before. The book was left on her bedside, the reason why she forgot only that one book since the rest were stacked neatly on the counter by the kitchen.

She had told her pink-haired friend during lunch and assuming Akashi let her left the room without him to the opposite direction, he was also aware of what she intended to do. At least she hoped so.

There was truly nothing she could be sure about her redhead President other then the general consensus. And she was quite sure she didn't need to know more than what she already did. One could only shudder, imagine what he would do if anything sensitive about the boy was known.

It was best if she could stay away from him. Unfortunately, that was not a viable choice.

"—skip tomorrow? I'm one-hundred percent serious, Hiroko-cchi!"

The frantic whine had the brunette turned head and stopping her momentarily to look for the source. It was someone kind of familiar to her, the golden-blonde haired one —popular and supposedly friendly— speaking to a fancy looking cellphone as he stood by the yard parted by the outdoor corridor.

"Isn't there any works for me? Anything at all? Hiroko-cchi! Eh? No! There's no way I'm spending my time cleaning the school with the whole student female body on my tail! They'll distract me from whatever cleaning I'm supposed to do!"

Ah, it appeared his popularity did come with something less desirable in the package. This must be what's Miyazawa was talking about few days ago. Hearing it from the first person concerned, it sounded very serious and somewhat pitiful.

Nevertheless, he chose his path as did she, although she was more coerced to it. And she had to hurry. With that in mind, she picked up her feet and returned to her paces, taking three steps forward before the boy turned around and to face her directly, straight at her eyes.

"..."

"..."

The stunned boy did nothing to his his surprise, his eyes wide blinking in silence as his intent staring halted her in her steps. When she deemed he wouldn't say a thing to break the silence even when his lips parted open and the person on the other side of his phone yelled at him to focus, with a blink, she inclined her head as to acknowledge his presence before resuming her walk.

As she was already late, she decided to quicken her paces and it was certainly not to get away from the awkward situation she managed to land herself in earlier with the golden-haired boy.

Yeah. It was because her friends were waiting for her and she had to be considerate to them. And if she didn't take the same path for her return trip, it was because she suddenly had the urge to see the cherry blossom tree just on the opposite side. Coincidentally, she could get to her friends from there.

"...Ugh," Kise slumped forward in dejection, grey clouds hanging above his head. The one girl who didn't go crazy over him just had to be the girl who heard him complaining and wanting to skip out on his responsibilities.

"Wahhh! Now she will think I'm an irresponsible person! What should I do, Hiroko-cchi? She misunderstands my intention!" he continued whining with his high-pitched tone, his arms wailing about as fat tears streamed out of his eyes.

"...and why are you telling me this? BE SERIOUS, KISE! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH LISTENING TO YOUR NONSENSES! YOU'LL ATTEND WHATEVER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES YOU HAVE TOMORROW! NO SKIPPING! I WILL HEAR NO MORE OF THIS! Now if you are done, I AM BUSY!" —clicked.

The beeping dead tones had him pouting at his phone because he couldn't to his manager, not without consequences. He sulked unhappily. Now he had to clean the school tomorrow and the girl he actually found agreeable had negative opinion on him. Great.

And his fangirls would have a field day. Just great.

Meanwhile, said brunette actually didn't think much of the blonde. Only noting that he was trying to escape his responsibility as a student for fear of his fan girls, as Miyazawa told her before.

'I wonder what bewitches the girls...' she thought, her mind wandering.

Sure, she could see and agree that the boy was attractive, with his golden-amber hair and matching gentle eyes. But they certainly weren't enough to drool over. Right...?

Well, no use thinking of something she didn't understand, she better returned the book quickly and joined her awaiting friends before some of them began to complain. She could already pictured few grumbling.

Yume first recognised the bright colours on top of heads by the school gates and within five metres, she could already hear the lively chatters. It put an involuntary smile on her face.

Just as she expected, few grumbled at they considered her to be late; Aomine, Murasakibara and (subtly) Midorima. The three were more impatient than the rest in the group for different reasons. For example, Midorima disliked wasting time for anything unimportant while Aomine just couldn't be told to wait without anything to exert his energy. Murasakibara simply disliked waiting, though with certain measures, he wouldn't mind waiting for years.

It was a blessing that her President was a patient and reasonable man, which meant she wouldn't get in trouble so long as she had a valid excuse for making him wait. Just the thought of it was enough to rack her body with shudders.

Sweet Momoi was an understanding friend, and so was not a problem. She was a true blessing.

"Geez, do we really have to clean the whole school? I thought we're supposed to study, not being a janitor! Kaa-san even stocks me more than Inchou told us to bring!" Aomine trudged with a frown marring his expression, affronted.

His childhood friend giggled at this, amused. "Obaa-san always wants you learn to clean, Dai-chan. Despite how the school enforces it though, you never clean at home. And don't even get me started on your studies!" she finished with an angry pout because she didn't find the last part funny.

"...Who cares if my room is messy as long as I can still find what I need?" he grumbled in response, smirking as an idea to avoid the upset pinkette crossed his mind and he nudged his friend walking between him and his childhood friend.

"Right, Yume?" he gave her a conspiratorial grin.

It was obvious he wanted her to agree so he wouldn't receive the full brunt of Momoi's anger. Too bad for him, she had a different idea.

"Unfortunately, I don't know such thing because my room is always clean. But I'm not surprised yours is the opposite, Daiki-kun," she responded with a slight tilt of her head and a small teasing smile.

"Why you..." the tanned teen appeared vandalised as he reached for her head, messing it in retaliation. "Cute little sister has to defend her older brother!" he had his arm around her neck to prevent her from escaping and the other ruffling her brown hair.

All teasings slipped her mind as she found herself in a choke hold and she wasn't happy. "...Maybe I will consider doing that if the older brother stops messing his little sister's hair," she struggled, to no avail for he was stronger than her.

Her reply only made him grin, widening by the seconds as he saw her pouting almost childishly. It wasn't long before her pout broke into a small, amiable smile flashed his way. Because even in her situation, she still found it to be fun. And smiling even wider was Momoi by her side.

Needless to say, the three boys walking slightly ahead felt excluded despite belonging to the same group. They couldn't help but make backward glances in their peripheral vision every once in a while.

"...The three of you appear to be closer than ever," the startling statement came from the number-one prick of the group, who would claim that he was just walking with the rest because it was on his way home.

Midorima didn't voice his thoughts because he felt excluded of course, nor was he lonely. He only saw it necessary to state the three's improving friendship and he was only curious when did it all happen. He had seen the brunette and his clubmate's changing interactions few days ago, but he didn't know the full story.

Being the brash guy he was, the first one to respond was Aomine, who had a smug grin on. "What? Is Midorima jealous?" he raised his eyebrow to further enhance his teasing.

"No." the answer was instantaneous, his firm denial followed by a death glare directed at yours truly.

"I don't envy such relationship with a baka like you. I was simply curious," he continued with his explanation, his glasses going up his nose to conceal what he felt was shown on his eyes.

Aomine didn't drop his grin, it merely morphed into a smirk. "The 'baka' matters have been settled last exam, Midorima. You're the baka," he retorts.

Coloured eyes shifted sideway and forward to see the greenhead's reaction, which had been him gritting his teeth in annoyance. But it wasn't long before it turned into a surprising smirk.

"Aho."

.

.

.

"...Oh no, you don't. You're not playing fair, Midorima!" Aomine snarled at the greenhead, almost like a growl. His feet stopping.

This time, he was the one to don the smug look as he smirked, "I didn't do anything against our bet agreement. I simply agreed to bet the use of the term 'baka', not 'aho'."

If the tanned teen was angered and annoyed as he was feeling cheated and lunged at the bespectacled male seconds later, it wasn't without a reason. It was a good thing that the two girls were ready to hold the boy back as they locked down his arms.

"LET ME AT HIM!"

The scream was deafening, more so for the two girls so close to the boy. His rage was not so easily quelled and the greenhead's triumphant smirk certainly wasn't helping. The difference in strength were obvious when the girls heavily struggled to stop the tanned teen from advancing.

Yet the bespectacled male stood proudly with his victorious expression, the redhead's blank stare and the purplehead's focused gaze on his back remained unseen.

It wasn't until the brunette gave him an impassive look that he changed his stance.

"...Midorima-kun, are you really doing this...?" her tone was flat, her gaze levelled, and one who have known her could hear the disappointment in her words. Her opinions of the boy was plummeting at his childish display.

The result was nearly immediate, the greenhead tapped his glasses to the bridge of his nose to cover his expressive eyes with the help of his lens, and his hand for the light blush colouring his cheeks due to his embarrassment as he belatedly realised how immature he had been.

A sigh from his (one-sided) rival confirmed his suspicion, causing him to flinch minutely. Midorima averted his gaze anywhere but the still-shouting boy, the unimpressed brunette, the amused-and-exasperated redhead, as well as the rest of the group.

"Hmph," he harrumphed to avoid further embarrassment.

Murasakibara seemed to be under the impression that it was his turn to interfere, so with the uncaring expression he always had, he turned to face the brunette who could rest easier as the tanned teen stopped struggling just moments before.

"It's okay. Mine-chin and Mido-chin are both baka anyway," he stated factually, his head tilted the slightest. "Right, Mana-chin?"

Thus the purplehead giant became a target of death glares from the two addressed males who snapped their attentions at light-speed.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

"—NANODAYO?!"

Another sigh, this time from the brunette who had given up trying to restrain her friend, so did her bestfriend. She could feel what exactly made the redhead slipped out his exasperation earlier. Although the realisation that she agreed with the redhead somehow disturbed her.

Her redhead President was a logical and reasonable man, she didn't doubt that. But he was one scary man that she couldn't help her shudders whenever a strange yet familiar glint flickered in his charismatic and eerily beautiful red eyes. Because she was sure he had thought of another troublesome thing for her to do. It was never in her wish to be likened to him, or even remotely similar.

Yume would later admit to her bestfriend that she smiled discreetly when she gazed at the colourful individuals. She was happy to call them her friends, even as unique as they were.

So yeah, how is it?

Reviews are very much appreciated!

Next time, it's finally Cleaning Day! Maybe there will be unexpected interactions?