This chapter is dedicated to Shan.

POV Takao

I returned to the Midorima house – it felt less like home without Shin-chan – but as I came through the front door, and announced I was back, three male voices called out "Welcome Home!"

Kuroko, Kagami, Kiyoshi, and Mitobe were in the kitchen.

"Um, hello," I stuttered. Otousan fluttered around the kitchen serving tea and cakes to them.

"We figured you might be lonely, so we've come to keep you company and play some basketball," Kiyoshi said.

I allowed them to drag me out to the closest court, even though playing basketball without Shin-chan was the last thing I wanted to do. We played two on two for hours with Kiyoshi coaching from the side lines. I enjoyed playing with my poker buddy, Mitobe, as my partner. His silence was reminiscent of Shin-chan. We lost badly, but I was so exhausted that even my heart couldn't find the strength to ache as much.

At Maji Burger, Kagami ate fourteen burgers; it was nauseating just to watch. Kuroko sipped on a vanilla shake all night, Kiyoshi had the fish fingers meal, and Mitobe ate a kids' meal. I hadn't eaten at Maji Burger since my mother left, but it still tasted just as bad as I remembered. I picked at the burger, but couldn't enjoy it. The fries weren't so bad.

"How's training going," I asked Kagami. Between inhaling burgers, he managed to speak.

"Good, Aomine's still an ass, but it's different playing with him instead of against him."

"Which one of you is the power forward?" I asked.

"I let him have it. I tried playing center recently, and found that I like it," there was a flash in his eyes and Kiyoshi looked proud.

Thanks to Hyūga, Aida Riko spoke on my behalf to her father, Aida Kagetora. I started working at his training complex the day after Shin-chan left for New York. I had a uniform that I didn't mind wearing, black shorts and a white polo, and I was able to wear sneakers all day. My main responsibilities included making sure there were always towels available for the athletes, cleaning the exercise equipment between each client, and generally doing whatever was shouted at me.

"Twink," Aida-sama hollered at me from across the room. "Get me some more report forms, double time."

"Yes, sir," I said, and sprinted across the gym, taking the stairs up to the office two at a time. He'd started calling me Twink the moment I'd started work here, having apparently forgotten my name, or he'd decided that my name wasn't important enough to remember. Whatever, it wasn't a slur, not really, just a different nickname and one I'd become accustomed to right away.

The forms were right inside the door, and Aida-chan had them in hand waiting for me. I hopped back down the stairs and rushed them over.

"Quicker next time," he said and turned his attention back to the client.

An hour before the end of the day, Aida-sama's last client left and the gym was strangely quiet for the first time. I had a laundry basket full of towels to fold, so I hummed K-Pop tunes while focusing as hard as I could to make the little squares of terry cloth into perfectly folded towels. It was stupid, but as long as I was busy, I could almost tell myself that I wasn't lonely.

"Twink, take off your shirt, and get on the treadmill," Aida-sama mumbled, not looking at me.

"Sir?" I said, a towel, half-folded, fell out of my hand.

"I'm bored and the gyms empty," he yawned. "Get on the treadmill, and I'll work up a training menu for you."

"Sir, that's not necessary," I protested. No one had seen my tattoo yet and I wasn't thrilled with the idea of him being the first.

"You're in college now and people will know you work here. If I send you out in that sorry condition, my reputation will suffer," he said. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me sideways.

"Um, I…"

"What training have you been doing since you left high school?" he demanded.

"The Wasada team practices four times a week, plus I play street ball with Kagami on Sundays. I run every morning, that's new, and then I run some more when I can't sleep at night… it makes me less lonely."

"So yeah, that running, it could be better, Twink. Take off your shirt and get on the treadmill."

"You might as well," Aida-chan called from the stairs. "It's not like Midorima-kun's taking it easy. He'll be in incredible shape when he gets back; you don't want him to get too far ahead of you."

I took off my shirt; Aida-sama hooked me up to the monitors and put the treadmill on a programmed setting he used when he did a first consultation with a new athlete. Aida-chan joined him by the monitors and the two observed my form."

"Sloppy," Aida-chan said.

"Inefficient," Aida-sama agreed. I almost stopped running, but the program changed, and suddenly I was struggling to run uphill.

"But he did say that running was something new in his training. You can fix that," Aida-chan reasoned.

"Shorten your stride length, you're running like a much taller man," Aida-sama barked at me. I awkwardly followed his instruction and hoped I wouldn't end up face-first on the treadmill's belt.

"His partner, Midorima-kun, is 195 cm."

"Yeah, well that's one of his problems. You'll have to increase your stride frequency to keep pace with him, not your stride length. You've been going about this the wrong way. Alright, let's get started," he said. He clapped his hands three times and then rubbed them together. Aida-chan gave me a halfhearted smile, shrugged, and walked away.

By the time I was let off of the treadmill I was soaked and the clock said that my hour left of work had come and gone long ago. My legs ached, my back hurt, my lungs burned, and I felt better than I had since Shin-chan had disappeared onto that train.

Thanks to Andarkness 23, my beta reader!