Author's Note: Hi everyone! So this chapter is the start of the journey to the Winter Cup. I'm not sure if I like this chapter, but we have to start somewhere and I wanted to show Kagami and Tetsumi's friendship. So who thinks that Aomine and Tetsumi are due for a date chapter? A super-fluffy one? Cause I'm thinking it's about time that happened. Thank you all for the continued support on this story and I apologize for typos/grammar errors. I don't have the time to properly edit these, unfortunately. Anyways, please enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think!

STUDYING

The final two matches that Seirin had in the Inter High were not good matches. They, unfortunately, lost both matches thankfully they were horrible losses. At the end of the day though, a loss was a loss. Riko didn't allow Kagami to play in either game due to a strain of his hamstring. She didn't want him to tear it and Kagami fumed and fussed, but Riko didn't change her mind. Tetsumi was unable to even attend the games. She was unhappy about it because she wanted to be there to support her team.

Tetsumi was sitting on the couch in the living room, working on her final project before the summer. She twirled her pen around in her fingers and sighed. Her mother had insisted she miss a week of school due to her concussion. Kagami had come by every day to bring her the assignments she had missed. Just as she thought about that Kagami waltzed into the apartment.

"I can't wait until school is over," Kagami said as he put Tetsumi's homework on the table in the kitchen. "Summer can't get here fast enough."

Tetsumi chuckled and agreed with him. "Are you ready for the tests next week? Math, history, and all of that?"

"Sure," Kagami said as he walked over to the couch and sat down on the other end. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"Believe it or not I convinced him to go to practice before he came here," Tetsumi explained as she closed her notebook and placed it on the coffee table. "How is practice going?"

"There's a new guy, Kiyoshi Teppei," Kagami informed her. "He's…different." The redhead laughed a bit, which caused Tetsumi to raise a brow. "I'm sure you'll agree with me."

"Well, I'm ready to go back. Sitting here all day is so boring," Tetsumi replied with a chuckle. "Even if I can't play for another week." She brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled at Kagami.

"I'd enjoy this," Kagami told her. "Riko has a plan."

"A plan?" Tetsumi repeated with a raised brow.

"Yes," he confirmed with a single nod. Today, instead of an actual practice, Riko had only talked to them. She told them she had a plan for their training over the summer. Not only did she tell them it was a good plan, but it was going to be the worst summer of their lives. "She didn't say anything about it other than it would be the worst summer of our lives and that we'd better pass our exams." Kagami stood up and walked over to the kitchen. He suddenly wanted to start stuffing his face.

"I'll ask again," Tetsumi said as she got off the couch and walked into the kitchen. Kagami looked at her as he pushed the fridge door closed with his hip. She hopped up onto the kitchen counter and smiled at him. "Are you ready for the exams next week?"

"I guess," Kagami mumbled as put the stuff he gathered on the counter beside Tetsumi.

"Kagami-kun," Tetsumi paused, waiting for him to look at her and when he finally did she said, "You do know if you don't pass your exams you aren't allowed to participate in the Winter Cup."

"What!" Kagami barked completely shocked by that information. She furrowed her brows and stifled a laugh. "That's total bullshit!" the redhead fumed as he shook his head in annoyance.

"Rules are rules, Kagami-kun," Tetsumi sang with a giggle. "I can help you study, Dai-kun isn't coming today and Satsuki is making him study all weekend anyways." She smiled at him and hopped down from the counter.

"Yuck, studying," Kagami grumbled as he started making himself a sandwich. He heard Tetsumi shuffling around and looked over at her. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Whoa! Your scores are awful!" Tetsumi laughed as she looked at some of the quizzes that were in his bag. When she looked up, Kagami snatched the papers away from her and glared. "I don't know if a weekend will be enough," she teased, causing Kagami to scowl.

"Your lack of confidence is a little insulting," Kagami huffed as he finished making his sandwich. He took a bite out of it and sat down at the table. Tetsumi titled her head slightly and sat down across from him.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you pass your exams," Tetsumi assured him as she grabbed his history quiz. She sighed inwardly, knowing that they had their work cut out for them. There were ten questions, eight of which were multiple choice and two were short answer. Kagami only got three answers right, none of which were the short answer questions. "Did you study…like at all?" Tetsumi asked, peering over the paper.

"Not really," Kagami replied with a shake of his head as he munched on his sandwich. Tetsumi pursed her lips and nodded. She remembered in her second year of middle school helping Satsuki make flash cards for Aomine. She also remembered countless hours at her mother's restaurant studying math and science with him. Tetsumi wasn't some academic wizard if anything she was an average student. She studied and did her homework, but when it came to students like Kagami and Aomine, they were more of a play basketball until I drop type rather than study until I drop type.

"Well, no time like the present," Tetsumi laughed as she got up and went to get her school stuff. "I already finished the mock history, science, and math tests." She placed her folders and notebooks down on the table before her.

"You finished all of them?" Kagami asked, completely bewildered.

"Yes, but I also didn't go to school or practice, so I had plenty of free time," Tetsumi pointed out, but in her head she was thinking that Kagami had more than enough time to take them. He was the one who brought them to her three days ago and each test only took her about an hour to do. Even if he only did one a day, he should have all three finished. "I still need to work on English though, but you should be okay with that."

"Uh…yeah," Kagami muttered, which made Tetsumi a little worried.

"You speak English, don't you?" she asked him with a stifled laugh.

"Yes, but it's not the same as in class. It's all formal in class," Kagami explained with a wave of his hand. "No one really speaks like that." He got up and grabbed a drink out of the fridge.

"But you understand it?" Tetsumi inquired.

Kagami raised a brow and shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, I guess."

"Now, whose confidence is lacking," Tetsumi giggled as she pulled out the mock history test that was approximately forty questions long. She flipped through it and stopped at one of the random questions. "Alright let's see if you can get this question right." Tetsumi grabbed an assortment of highlighters out of Kagami's bag.

"What's with all the highlighters?" Kagami asked as sat back down.

"We're going to color code," she explained. "Red for you are clueless, orange for you're working on it, and green for you know it."

"You're only going to need red," Kagami replied, causing Tetsumi to frown.

"You can't tell me you don't know the answer to at least a couple of these," Tetsumi said as she waved the paper in front of his face. Kagami shrugged his shoulders, causing Tetsumi to scowl. "When did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?"

"Do I get multiple choice?" Kagami asked and Tetsumi threw a highlighter at him.

"How about when the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?" she tried, but Kagami pursed his lips. "When did Japan officially surrender in World War II?"

"Why don't we study, then test me?" Kagami asked.

"Yeah, we should probably order food too, cause this might take all night." Tetsumi got up and went to get her cell phone. "I'll tell my mother to bring you like twenty cheeseburgers and I'll just have her spaghetti and meatballs." She dialed her mother's number and put the phone to her ear. As she walked back to the kitchen, she dropped her history book in front of Kagami. "It's not going to read itself," she smiled, and Kagami snorted as he opened it up.

-###-

Tetsumi was about ready to bang her head into the wall. Kagami just wasn't the studious type in any way, shape, or form. She understood that he wasn't one for the books, but on some level it was ridiculous. Her fingers had probably raked through her hair fifty times in the past three hours they'd been studying. Kagami had probably only learned three things in that amount of time too.

"We need a new method to our madness," Tetsumi said with a sigh as she realized how much red highlighter ink was on the notes in her and Kagami's notebook. Somehow they needed a new way for Kagami to learn, because sitting and reading wasn't going well at all. "Let's see if flash cards help."

"I can't study anymore, Munchkin," Kagami huffed as he laid his head on the books before him. "My brain is mush now."

"Yeah, well it was probably mush before," Tetsumi joked, causing Kagami to scowl. "Just kidding. Look if the flash cards don't help then we'll pick up tomorrow with something different."

"Different, how?" Kagami asked, lifting his head from the books.

"Dai-kun wasn't very good at studying either, but Satsuki and I got him to pass. I'm pretty sure I can get you to pass using the same methods," Tetsumi explained as she started writing some stuff down on a flashcard. "Basketball seemed to help a lot with him retaining information. You know, it wasn't in one ear and out the other."

"How about we go play basketball and skip the studying part?" Kagami tried.

"If we skip the studying part you will be skipping the Winter Cup part, and you don't want that do you?" Tetsumi inquired with a smirk as she made another flash card. Kagami snorted, and Tetsumi took that as his tacit compliance.

There was a knock on the door and both of them looked to the door. Kagami got up and went to answer it. As he pulled the door open, Tetsumi turned around in her seat. Her eyes widened when she saw a fuming Aomine Daiki in her doorway holding up a bag of food from her mother's restaurant. Kagami quickly glared at him and leaned against the door. Tetsumi could already tell things weren't going to go very well. She quickly stood up from the chair and walked over to the door. Tetsumi stood in between the two teens, but they were still significantly taller than her.

"What are you doing here, Dai-kun?" she asked politely, although she could assume that he went to her mother's restaurant and her mother asked him to bring the food by. "Did my mother ask you to come?"

"Yeah, Satsuki and I went there and she asked," Aomine answer, holding the food out to her. Tetsumi smiled and thanked him, apologizing if it was any trouble. The tanned teen snorted and turned his attention back to Kagami, who looked away in annoyance. "What's he doing here?"

"We're studying, stop being jealous," Tetsumi deadpanned as she glanced at Kagami, who looked back at her. "Shouldn't you be studying too, Dai-kun? Midterms are next week."

"I've studied the past five hours with Satsuki and she gave me her notes, I wanted to see my girlfriend," he explained as he put an arm around her shoulder. "Unfortunately he seems to be around every time." Aomine pointed at Kagami, who rolled his eyes and walked back to the kitchen table.

"Listen, you two," Tetsumi grumbled as she pulled away from Aomine. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the apartment. With her foot, she gently kicked the door closed and walked to the kitchen. She placed the food on the counter and took in a deep breath. "You two are just going to have to learn to get along. Let's face it, Dai-kun, Kagami-kun is my friend and teammate. And Kagami-kun, is my boyfriend. And the funny part you two are so alike when it comes to basketball and studying, apparently, so just please try. For me." Tetsumi looked at both of them, hoping she was finally making some progress.

"We are not alike!" Kagami and Aomine shouted at the same time.

Tetsumi looked between the two of them and chuckle when they started glaring at one another. "It's like one mind with you two," she smiled as she started opening up the bag to get the food out. "You know, if you both played basketball together you'd probably get along really well."

"No we wouldn't," the two said in unison once again.

"You two are incorrigible," Tetsumi sighed with a shake of her head. She placed Kagami's food in front of him as she sat down across from him. "Dai-kun can you stay for a bit and help Kagami-kun study."

"Like I want his help," Kagami grumbled as he ate his burger.

"Like I'd want to help him," Aomine snorted with an eye roll.

Tetsumi scowled. "Stop it! Both of you," she seethed, waving a finger at both of them like she was their mother. "It'll benefit you both, because you both suck at traditional studying and excel at basketball. Just try before you say no, please." She looked at both of them with big puppy dog eyes, causing both males to sigh in defeat.

"Fine," the agreed at the same time, causing Tetsumi to smile brightly.

-###-

Surprisingly enough, Kagami and Aomine actually were trying to get along for Tetsumi's sake. Of course, she wasn't opposed to throwing basketballs at their heads if they started bickering. They were outside at the nearby park and were playing some basketball while studying. Tetsumi and Satsuki had created the game back in middle school to help Aomine and occasionally Kise study.

The whole idea was to beat your opponent, but you were only allowed to shoot if you answered the question correctly. If the person asked for a hint, they were required to take the shot from half court as opposed to the free throw line. If they got the question wrong, Tetsumi would tell them the answer and put the question back into the pile, and if came up again they would have to shoot from the three point line if they got it right.

At the current moment, Kagami and Aomine were both tied up with ten points. Tetsumi had been right, Kagami seemed to retain information a lot better when he was physically moving. Plus there was the added bonus that he and Aomine were engaged in a friendly competition as opposed to a hostile one. It was Aomine's turn to make a shot and Tetsumi smiled as she stood under the hoop about to read the question.

"In 660 B.C., Japan's first emperor came into power. What's his name?" Tetsumi asked, looking at Aomine.

"I know it!" Kagami shouted from the sidelines.

Aomine told him to be quiet and wracked his brain for the correct answer. He knew that the person's name started with a J, but that was about it.

"Five more seconds," Tetsumi said as she looked at the stop watch in her hands. The pressure made it more nerve-wrecking, but Tetsumi and Satsuki both believed being under pressure made it more effective.

"It starts with a J! Does that count for anything?" Aomine asked.

"Nope," Tetsumi replied with a chuckle. "Time's up, Dai-kun."

"Damnit," Aomine cursed as he passed the ball to Kagami.

"Alright, Kagami-kun, who was the first emperor in Japan?" Tetsumi asked.

"Tenno Jimmu," Kagami answered, and Tetsumi smiled.

"Good job," Tetsumi said, gesturing for Kagami to take a shot. When the ball sank through the net, Tetsumi gave Kagami another point. Aomine caught the ball and sighed in annoyance. "Oh come on, don't be a sore loser, there are still fifteen more questions."

"It's not that," Aomine replied, which surprised Tetsumi. "I'm actually enjoying this."

"You are? Really?" Tetsumi asked with a bright smile. "I'm glad."

"Can we just play normal basketball now?" Kagami interrupted as he walked over to them. "I can't study anymore, I think we should just have some fun now," Kagami suggested with a small shrug.

"Well what do you know," Aomine laughed as he started dribbling the ball. "We actually agree on something."

Before Tetsumi could even protest both boys were playing a one on one match. She shouted at them, saying they still have ten more questions to go through. Neither one seemed to care though. The blue haired girl sighed in annoyance, but started chuckling as Aomine and Kagami played. For once it actually looked like they were just two friends having a good time. As Tetsumi put her flash cards in her bag, she ran down the court and stole the ball from Kagami.

"Hey!" the redhead exclaimed, but Tetsumi only stuck her tongue out at him and did a lay-up into the basket. "Oh is that how it is?" Kagami snorted, and Tetsumi laughed as she grabbed the ball. She held it up to him, but Kagami didn't go for it.

In the blink of an eye, Aomine took the ball and raced down the court. Tetsumi and Kagami watched him before darting after him. It was in that moment that Tetsumi remembered what it as like to really have fun playing basketball. No one really cared what was going on, they just wanted to play basketball and have fun. It was like her first year at Teiko and it was all so nostalgic.

-###-

"Kagami-kun," Tetsumi called out as she entered the classroom. She walked around some students in her class and sat down at her desk behind Kagami. "I know we studied all weekend, but just in case I brought you something." She opened up her bag and pulled out a pencil.

Kagami blinked a few times, wondering if he was supposed to be happy about receiving a pencil. It didn't really seem like anything special. The eraser hadn't been used yet and it was sharpened perfectly. Other than that, Kagami was sure it was just a plain old pencil.

"It's a pencil," Kagami stated with a smile.

"Not just any pencil though," Tetsumi replied as she took Kagami's wrist and placed the pencil in his hand. Even as he held it, Kagami was convinced it was just an ordinary pencil. Nevertheless, Kagami prompted her to explain was was so great about the pencil. "It's Rima-kun's special rolly pencil."

"Special rolly pencil," Kagami repeated as he examined the pencil a little more closely. At the top near the eraser band, Kagami noticed letters had been etched into it. He tilted his head and realized it was the multiple choice selections.

"When in doubt, roll the pencil," Tetsumi said with a smile.

"And you think that's a good idea to put my faith of passing on a pencil?" Kagami inquired with a raised brow.

"Well, if you don't want it, give it back," Tetsumi said, reaching for the pencil. Kagami held it out of her reach though, and shook his head. "Than yes, I think it's a good idea." She smiled at him and the teacher announced his arrival, telling everyone he hoped they studied for the test.

Kagami took in a deep breath and prayed all the studying and the basketball and the rolly pencil would be enough for him to pass the history midterm. Then he would only need to worry about Science, English, Math, and Japanese Literature. None of which he was looking forward too.