Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke is written and illustrated by Tadatoshi Fujimaki, published by Shueisha. Nothing belongs to me, but my fanfics and OCs are mine.

Possible Genres: Romance, Drama, Action, Shoujo, Crime, Girls with Guns…

Note to self: Chapter 55 was uploaded on June 21, 2014

Author's note: Thank you to those who wished the best for my sister! :3 You know who you are. XD And in case, many thanks to those who may have silently wished the best for my cute sister as well~


"Talking"

'Thinking'

Texting


Chapter 55: Why Else Would I Be Playing?

Five minutes later…

"Whoa, whoa, Maki-chan, relax!" Takao was shouting.

Over with Akashi, Seki turned away to look what was taking place. Apparently, Maki was throwing punches and kicks around while Takao was barely dodging each one. Maki looked very angry too while he had a sweat drop.

"Then stop adding '-chan' to my name!" she snarled. After that, her body was already turning from punching out with her left hand, so she kicked up her right foot as she twirled around. Takao immediately backed away yet again, wearing an uneasy smile. "It's annoying as hell!" Maki shouted furiously.

"What's wrong with that?!" Takao wondered out loud. At this rate, he would not get the chance to give a few pointers about basketball.

The same with Sakurai. Moto kept hugging him back and forth and he could barely even utter a single word on basketball. "M-Moto-san, we should probably—"

"Aw, but you're so huggable!" Moto giggled, her arms under his arms, tightly holding onto him. They both were nearly the same height. "And Momoi-chan's the number one most huggable while you're number four!"

Sakurai blinked with confusion, but he still insisted, "B-but basketball…"

There were some difficulties between Moriyama and Kurosei as well. He was able to say a thing or two, but with her refusing to respond, he did not know if she really understood him or not.

"Kurosei-chan?" Moriyama gently smiled, staying positive. "Do you have any questions?" She still remained silent and her bangs continued to cover her eyes, making him even unsure if she was paying any attention at all.

Luckily for Himuro, Yua was a good student. She held the ball in her hands, looking up at him inquisitively. "So, you're good at faking, Himuro?" she was asking.

He nodded, "It is an ability to fool the opponents. For example, if I had the ball and am confronted by the opposite team, I would fake a move on the left. But then I will take the right."

"Fooling your opponents," Yua memorized, taking in her lesson seriously. "Do you think I can pull it off?"

Himuro did not pause to say, "Of course. It just takes practice."

She smiled and slightly tilted her head. "I do not think I can learn something like that in just twenty-five minutes."

"True," he noted with a smile of his own. He did train for several years polishing his skills. He blinked once when she was quietly staring at him without a word. "What is the matter?"

Her smile disappeared and she gently hugged the basketball. "It makes no sense," Yua was thinking really hard. "You're quite handsome and very kind. I wonder why Onee-sama did not try to chase after you."

Unsure to take it as a compliment, he said nothing and kept a normal look on his face.

Now, Yua's lips curled up. "Well, this is for her own good too," Yua shrugged. "If Onee-sama fell for you, then I wouldn't have it. You look the type to have a lot of fangirls chasing after you. Just like Kise Ryouta." She was saying his name with great disapproval.

Himuro chuckled, "You're very protective of your sister." Which reminded him, he had kissed Sakai when they were playing Truth or Dare back in April. He better not tell it to Yua then. "Well then, Sakai…"

"You can call me Yua," she allowed him almost wholeheartedly. As he looked straight into her steady eyes, she added, "I let Onee-sama's friends call me by my first name. But no one really does and often refers me as 'Sakai's little sister.'"

He sensed a tiny hint of annoyance in her mature voice. Not certain if he thought she wanted to be recognized as 'Yua' and not someone's little sister, he had to think for a moment.

"So, go ahead and call me by my first name, Himuro," a soft smile spread on her face.

Nodding with consideration, he said, "If that is fine with you… Yua-san."

The blonde smiled wider and looked appreciated. "Shall we return to the topic of basketball?" she lifted up the ball to continue their lesson together.

Tomimura had been wondering how her friends were learning from the so-called Generation of Miracles. What were they learning from each of the men? What was there to learn about? As long as they remembered the basics of playing basketball, there was no point in this. It was silly how everyone went along with it anyway.

"Hey, Aomine," Tomimura spoke with her eyes on the ground.

They both actually had not even begun. He figured she refused to even learn since she was quiet and wore an emptied expression. With the basketball under his left arm, he asked, "What?"

Gradually, she lifted up her chin. He saw curiosity in her eyes when she inquired, "Do you like basketball?"

A smirk appeared on his bored face. And he answered without holding back, "Of course. Why else would I be playing?"

His reply made her smile a bit. 'It's the same answer as Nakano…' she thought to herself, sighing. But Nakano sounded more cheerful when Tomimura questioned her before. Afterwards, she gazed to the basketball he had and waited for something.

"Well, we should probably get started," the bluehead snorted. As slowly as possible, he handed the basketball to her and she took it with both hands. "You ready, girl?"

She stared at the basketball she held in front of her. Quietly, she softened her eyes and tried to adjust her feelings. 'Nakano… loved basketball,' she did not blink. 'I wonder how it felt when she played?'

That moment made her recalled the argument she had with Kise last month, something only between the two of them. It was a conversation she had forgotten about, but she could still remember he was trying to get his words into her head.

"Instead of joining the game to feel closer to Nakano-senpai, why didn't you just play basketball? She loved basketball a lot, I know she did!" Kise words were engraved into her heart ever since.

Tomimura pressed the basketball on her lips and felt heartbroken as she hugged the basketball. She hated to listen to Kise's words because he was right. Aomine was staring blankly, noticing her eyes getting teary. 'The feeling of pulling the trigger versus playing basketball with friends…' she slowly compared, breathing silently.

There was no reason to think. Both deal with Nakano. She was more than happy to try the basketball that Nakano loved.

Aomine was slightly hesitating on how to cooperate with Tomimura, who seemed emotional right now. Hoping to lightened up the mood, he closed his eyes and asked, "Do you want to play or not?" Words like this, he did not mean to say them that way. It simply came out harsh.

"…I'll play," she replied quietly with willpower. The Ace of Generation of Miracles glanced down to her and she was more serious than before. "I still don't get why we have to learn from you guys, but whatever. Go ahead and give me some helpful tips. I don't want to lose and go on a date with your friend."

He cracked a smile, "Yeah, you wouldn't want that. Murasakibara will only bored you to death." Tomimura nodded with agreement and lowered the basketball to her belly. "So, watch carefully. I'm not much of a teacher."

Another basketball had just came in between them and bounced up to Aomine. He caught with one hand and looked in the direction where the ball came from.

"Sorry 'bout dat!" Kotone jogged to them with a goofy smile. She was rushing, however Aomine threw the ball to her and she nearly tripped while trying to grab hold of it. Smirking, she bowed, "Thank you!"

Tomimura observed her friend returning to Midorima, who was scolding something to Kotone. '…Does Fukui not think about Nakano when she touches a basketball?' Tomimura asked herself.

Then she remembered that Kotone had said she was able to move on without thinking too much about Nakano. That might be why Kotone was able to smile.

Midorima seemed angry and Kotone was grinning while standing in front of him. "Do it right," he was telling her as he pushed up his glasses in frustration.

"Ehhhhh, but I don't get why I have ta shoot it de same way as ya do," Kotone argued with a childish smile.

"Everyone throws the ball almost the same way," he countered, growing a vein on his head.

"I wanna dunk, Midorima-tan~"

"That's impossible for a little girl like you."

Kotone laughed, "Haha! Geez, give me some credit! Why ya so mean?"

The greenhead frowned at her and had a long pause while she beamed at him. "…Just do what I tell you," he earnestly said, secretly wishing for her team to win. Because if she and her friends won, it would be like he won. Right? So, she better win!

"Mou, Koizumi, why aren't you listening to me?" Kise pouted. She was keeping her distant while dribbling around aimlessly. He was following her and tried to get her to look at him more seriously. "I can see you know to dribble, but I'm sure I can teach you something new and different!"

She sighed and stopped in her tracks. She bounced the ball in the different direction and it landed right into Kise's quick hands. He was smiling when she glanced to him and she still kept her mouth shut. Because if she uttered something, she felt he would talk even nonstop.

'I don't get why Michi used to be his girlfriend,' Koizumi frowned to the side, making Kise confused at her expression. What was so great about this blonde? And what was up with his fangirls that crawled every inch of Kanagawa? It was so irritating Koizumi wanted to punch the lights out of someone.

A little later, Kagami had just thrown Yamauchi the ball across the three-yard distance between them. He was sighing at himself and she was giggling. "Teaching basketball… is more descriptive than I thought," he said uneasily, rubbing the back of his head. It would have been a lot easier if he was teaching her how to cook. …Or was she already experienced in that already?

"No, no, I understand you… here and there," she wanted to assure him. She walked up to him with the basketball in her hands and beamed. "Kagami-kun, you jump so high, I wonder if I can do the same?"

It did take practice. Kagami grinned and offered thumbs up. "Don't worry, you will win!" he encouraged. "As long as you remember the rules—though that woman said fouls were allowed… I wonder how the game is going to turn out…?"

Yamauchi had an uneasy feeling about it, chuckling nervously at the thought. "I hope it doesn't turn messy," she prayed quietly.

He nodded with agreement, glancing around. That was when he saw Imayoshi and Hanamiya talking to each other. "What? Where in the world did Imayoshi come from?" Kagami peered annoyingly.

Directing her eyes in the same direction, she blinked and Imayoshi waved as a greeting to her. She smiled and giggled, "I wonder too." Her eyes scanned the surroundings and she saw the others seemed to have already realized about Imayoshi being present. 'But really, why is he doing here?' Yamauchi was truly curious.

Over with Murasakibara, he was eating his chips nonstop. Sakai's phone was vibrating and she took it to check out a message that was sent to her. At the same time, Ginmori was closely observing the progresses of the others.

Sakai quickly closed her phone and put it away as she looked up to the silver haired young woman. "Gin-chan, mom just texted me, so I have to hurry home for a moment," Sakai told her, blinking a few times. "Can you make sure the game match doesn't go out of hand?"

Murasakibara flinched and Ginmori nodded to the blonde. "I'll try," she smiled, assuring her. "But I won't guarantee it."

Returning a smile to her, Sakai gave no regards to Murasakibara and rushed off from the scene without telling the other girls.

Ginmori chuckled when she sensed Murasakibara was uncomfortable. She did not look at him as his eyes were calling out for Himuro, who was in the middle of teaching Yua. "What's the matter, big guy?" she slightly gazed at him.

He said nothing, only eating his chips. His eyes were still sending signals to Himuro and he was thinking, 'Muro-chin, save meeeee! I don't know how to interact with her without anyone here!' Even his other friends did not look over to him.

"So," Ginmori pressed on to put some pressure on him for the fun of it. He stopped eating his snacks as her eyes averted from him. "Is there a reason you play basketball, Atsushi?"

'Yuck, don't call me by my first name so soon,' he frowned, feeling his face warming up. As much as he wanted to say it out loud, his mouth was shut tight.

She smirked and let out a light laugh. "Anyone who plays basketball should know the answer," she talked to herself, smiling wider. "It's enjoyable, isn't it?"

The purplehead managed to take a glimpse of her. She kept her eyes away, which made him feel a little better. "…So?" he quietly asked.

Ginmori chuckled, "I'm just saying because someone mentioned the Generation of Miracles used to be complete jerks. Some time later, she said she was glad to witness all of them changing and that they were remembering basketball is a sport to play and enjoy with friends and foes."

He was completely confused, yet Murasakibara felt he figured what she was saying. "Uh… your point?" he squinted his eyes on her.

When she grinned, meeting his eyes, his eyelids wavered. "I want everyone here to enjoy basketball," she told him straight out. "That is why, I hope those girls will enjoy it together, no matter how much of a difference they have."

Murasakibara was taking his time to register her words in his head, forgetting how uncomfortable he was earlier. 'It's fun… when we play together,' he slowly looked away, too lazy to actually think properly. 'Then why didn't we just share the basketball from the start?' It would have saved time and breath.

At the back of Yua and Muyoku's minds, they knew what Ginmori's intention was. Those two were closer to Ginmori after all and heard what she said.

Yua was thinking as she gazed to the basketball she was dribbling under Himuro's care. 'Nakano's wishes,' Yua blinked once, feeling perplexed. 'Gin-chan, you're so weird. Why can't you just be more honest with yourself?'

With Kuroko, Muyoku was smiling and liked how he was gentle toward her. 'Gin-sama… if only you could join us too,' Muyoku secretly wished, softening her face as her eyes stared at the basketball in her hands.

~o~o~

Rin, I overheard Nobuyuki is continuing the investigation of Nakano-chan's case with Minami-san. They are planning to depart to Akita, where Nakano's mom is currently living. I tried to stop Nobuyuki, but he simply slip right by me. And I was worried what you will think, so… now you know. Currently, they should be at the Kawa Gas Station.

Please be careful if you want to stop them.

That was the text message Sakai received from her mother minutes ago.

The blonde was running as fast as she could, thinking about her idiotic father with utter frustration. Yes, she wanted to stop him from learning anything about Nakano, it was too dangerous and risky. However, she would not be able to tell him the truth why she opposed to him investigating, so she always had to make an excuse to somehow prevent him from finding out more.

Because if there were people who got close to the truth of the game's existence, it was Ginmori's job to take them out. Before, Sakai was also assigned to kill anyone who found out. Which was why, recently, her boss allowed people like Kise live.

This was an issue her mother, Yua, and Sakai had been hiding from Nobuyuki. The three women knew about the game, but not him. Thus, it was challenging to make him forget about the mysterious killings in Kanagawa.

About Sakai's mother though, well, that was another story in the past.

And Yua did not know their mother was already aware of the game, which was something Sakai wanted to keep a secret from her younger sister. The less information they shared, the better. Sakai wanted to be cautious.

Crossing the street while the light was switched, Sakai made a turn at the corner to take the short cut. In the area of local stores, among the people who were present, she caught sight of someone that caused her to slow down a bit.

By a bus sign, Oma leaned against the back of the bench with his hands in his pockets. He did not look up and stared at the ground as if he was thinking really hard.

Sakai gulped. 'Moto's brother,' her eyes grew dark in a split second before becoming normal. It was hard for her to breathe; yet she kept moving forward. Processing her numb thoughts, she told herself, 'It's never going to be okay to be close to someone like him.'

Not only for his own safety, Sakai did not like him in general.

When she picked up her pace again, she kept jogging toward him. Her mind felt it blanked out when she finally passed in front of him, her eyes staring ahead. But at the corner of her eyes, she saw Oma had quietly looked at her, which sent cold chills to her very bone.

He did not watch her go as she pressed on to head to her destination. Touching the black eye patch, Oma gritted his teeth and glared to the ground. There was no need for words. There was nothing he could do. There was no point for stopping her.

However, he shut his eye and angrily murmured to himself, "Just how long are you heartless girls going to play that stupid game…?" His scarred right eye ached under the eye patch as if reacting to Sakai's presence from seconds ago.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and lifted up his chin to the sky, praying for some kind of miracle to occur. If only.

~o~o~

"Akashi, you look confident. Do you believe we'll win?"

The redhead looked to Seki, watching her dribbling the ball in the middle of them. He took a moment to ask himself the same question she directed to him. And then he told her, "Believe? Kiriko, I know we will win. Do not ask such an absurd question."

She hid her smile pretty well and said, "Too bad. I actually want to see Tomimura dating that friend of yours." Akashi's eyes flinched and she sensed annoyance. "Kidding, kidding. I support you and Tomimura with all of my heart," she sarcastically clarified, pushing up her pink glasses with a small smirk.

Akashi turned around and gazed to the cloudy sky for a few seconds. The summer heat around him caused his mind to wonder while Kiriko kept on dribbling the ball. And he blinked, '…Nakano, was it?'

Why did that name crossed his mind?

When Moto had stopped hugging Sakurai, she quickly turned her head to the right and slightly turned her body. Her eyes were on Akashi and Seki, but then she looked more to the far right as if she was trying to catch sight of a flying insect or whatever.

Sakurai blinked and stepped around to see her confused face. "Um, Moto-san?" he called.

She gazed to him rather slowly and then her lips curled up. "Sorry, I thought something passed by me," she winked. "Let's get to our little student-teacher session, Sakurai-sensei!" Then she embraced him again and he panicked.

"I-It's Sakurai!" he corrected her, choking a bit. "Please, do not call me sensei!"

"Sakurai-sensei!" she chirped, pressing her cheek against his.

Because they were rather noisy, Aomine shot a glare over to them. Tomimura sighed since the way Aomine was teaching her was not concreted enough. "Shut up over there!" Aomine shouted.

Sakurai wanted to bow to apologize, but Moto was rather strong. Maybe because she was tall enough? She giggled in his ear and he blushed, pleading her to let go while she ignored Aomine's angry voice.

Seconds ago, the moment when Moto was turning around to look for something before Sakurai had called her, she actually saw a White Orb that flew by in the corner of her eyes. However, she was not certain of it since she was unable to trace it. And simply shrugged the thought off to enjoy the day.


Info: White Orbs are signs of invisible spirits, angels, ghosts, etc…

"Some investigators believe orbs that are either white or silver in appearance are an indication that a spirit is trapped on this plane. It may also be a sign that the spirit is there to offer protection to the people in the area. White energy is typically perceived as highly positive in nature."

Article: The Different Colors of Ghost Orbs and Their Meanings by Beth Asaff
Reviewed by Paranormal Investigator Karen Frazier


Author's note: The next chapter is over 7,000 words. I hope you'll be satisfied when I update it. :D

Thanks for reading!