I do not own Kuroko no Basuke, but I do own the OC in the story. Y'all, I forgot about putting this in the last chapter, but I'm letting it slide since I've always done that sort of thing in the past. You guys know the drill :P. Considering that I've completed my homework, I figured that writing fanfiction during this time would be great as a stress reliever for you guys as well as progressing this damn plot that's been going on for years.
Thanks for all the support over the last four years (?! we aren't even finished with Teiko)! I love all of you guys for following and liking the story!
Anyways, onto the newest chapter of From Letters to Skype!
Dear Mayuzumi-sama,
Today, I'm heading out on a hike today with the Rainbow Crew and my cousin. Apparently, there's an inn in the higher part of the mountains where they need to train for the next championship game. I don't know why they'd need to do that, but I'm not the one planning this shit! My cousin and I used our coupons for not only a free ride on the tour bus, but rooms for the both of us! Granted, Akashi already set up a few rooms there beforehand. But hey, better to use these coupons than not to!
If I don't end up sending any letters for a while, then that's the reason why.
I've got all my survival stuff all packed up with some special goodies in tow! Huhu, I'm totally ready for this trip!
Got to go, cousin is yelling at me to hurry up because of the bus. I'll talk to you later about my adventure!
From,
Sake
Dear Sake,
Why did I see a TV report about a gunfight in the mountains and immediately think of you?
Explain before I wield my unholy wrath on you.
From,
Mayuzumi
Dear Mayuzumi-sama,
Okay, that was not entirely my fault. It really isn't my fault! Granted, I didn't know that there was something happening in the mountains! I just had horrible timing!
...I feel like you're still judging me on this, but hear me out!
So, the last time I last talked to you, I was on the bus to the mountain with the rest of the Rainbow Crew and my cousin who was happy as ever, talking about how the moon and the stars were like beacons in the night sky. I pretty much fell asleep immediately because of how early it was when we left and was dragged off the bus by my cousin and Momoi. Lush forests with the sounds of the birds in the distance, the river rushing below us. All that wonderful outdoor jazz!
It was beautiful, but I was more or less exhausted at that point because all the stuff that I brought was the equivalent of me preparing for the apocalypse. Canned goods, reusable food utensils, extra clothes, water purifiers, bedrolls, a lighter with fire starters, and more! Of course, we stopped for a break and ate some snacks with some pictures taken around the place. I got more pictures for some character designs and landscape ideas, which I'm happy about. Eventually, we found a bridge crossing over onto the river. It was pretty old and weathered, but it looked sturdy enough. As we crossed over, the rope snapped and I fell into the river, later waking up on a small shore. Thankfully, my survival pack was waterproof, so none of my belongings got damaged in the process. But I wasn't alone.
In his attempt to try and catch me, Aomine fell into the river and we were stuck together until we could find the others. We were lucky enough that we didn't get hurt.
After debating what we should do, we decided to head up the mountain since we were closer to the inn than we were to the town. Using the map and the compass, we made decent headway before the sun started to dip into the horizon and we even got our dinner from the stuff around us. My survival backpack once again came in clutch because I was carrying a bunch of stuff that we could use to live off the land for a while like a local plant book. Granted, we only ate things that we knew for sure were edible. I'm not going to eat wild mushrooms before you ask me anything about that. Surprisingly, Aomine managed to catch crayfish from the river and actually climbed a tree to snatch some bird eggs. Using the plant book, I managed to whip up something from the land like in that manga that I read a while back.
It was delicious.
I think the thing that stood out the most to me was our conversation after the dinner. Like before, it was minimalistic until he asked me something.
...I didn't really know how to answer it, so I just asked him how he felt about it. I don't know how to really explain it and if I'm being honest, sharing this with you is breaking confidentiality, so I'm not going to detail everything. All you need to know is that it's sad and he was only asking me because we were alone and I was the farthest thing away from what he loved to do, which was weird to him. There's other things involved, but that's beside the point.
I thought real hard about it because it was hard to give any advice on this sort of thing.
He may be a good player, but it didn't mean he was the absolute best out of all of them. He could try and find a long term goal for the things that he loved like going to the NBA since that guaranteed him finding someone strong in the league. "There's billions of people out in the world, so what makes you the ultimate above them? You've got the others, so that proves you aren't the absolute best," is what I told him. I said that thinking inside a box isn't good for him, emotionally and mentally, and that he should try to find other things that made him happy like crayfishing. He said that there weren't many places in Tokyo where you could fish, but again, it was an option to think about.
Eventually, we went to sleep in the bedrolls that I brought with me. Morning came. We ate some quick breakfast and headed off. That's when everything went down.
Like the TV report said, there were poachers in the mountains. We accidently came across them doing some very illegal shit and we both decided to not die at that moment. I tried to run as fast as possible, but Aomine just lifted me and ran with me slung across his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. After running an impressive distance away from the poachers, we finally made it to the inn where we basically spilled everything about what happened and promptly got a large feast because we were starving for some good food. Akashi actually got the police to come in record time and praised the two of us for what we did, although it'd been nice if we didn't risk our lives in the process. Akashi even bought me some strawberry shortcake while getting Aomine some limited edition basketball shoes.
It's nice being acknowledged about something other than my grades being passable.
Of course, there's a bunch of other things, but I'm pretty sure that's all you asked of me.
From,
Sake
P.S. Aw, you do care about me!
Dear Sake,
I'm impressed that you just didn't bring stationary with you on the trip. I'm not that surprised with all the crap happening to you.
From,
Mayuzumi
P.S. I don't dislike you. That's all.
"Saka-chan, truth or dare?"
It was the bane of Akira's existence, the dreaded game between girls in any shape or form. Truth or Dare. Obviously, Momoi, her cousin, and her all shared a room together while the others used the other rooms, but it was now a cage for whatever craziness would transpire tonight. In her cute strawberry pajamas, Akira clutched the penguin plush she'd received a while back, squeezing its soft body.
"Dare." If she went for the truth, then she'd have to tell them secrets, and who knows what they might ask her. With her choosing dare, they couldn't make her do anything too labor intensive because of what just happened a few hours prior. She had to write all this craziness down and explain it to him before Mayuzumi sent down a bolt of divine justice to smite her.
"I dare you to steal some sweets and bring it back here for us to have a nice midnight snack! You have to go in what you're wearing though!"
"Alright, that's fine with me!" That was way less tame than what she was thinking off. Momoi is such a good friend. "I need the money to pay for it though."
"It's fine! It's on me!" Her cousin piped up, handing her the Yen bills. "Just try not to get caught!"
Exiting the room, she quietly made her way through the hall. Pausing, she waited until there was absolutely no sounds or voices and continued her way to the kitchen. Granted, the quiet in the old inn made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, but she was fine! She had her squishy penguin plush with her! Sure, it was cold, dark, and a little spooky, but everything was fine!
"Sakamuracchi, what-"
"AGHH! Stay back, demon of hell! Face the power of Christ!"
"WHAF- Wait! Hey, calm down!" The familiar voice choked out. "It's me!"
"...That threat still applies."
"HEY-"
"...Kise, let me just say this. Never speak of this and you never saw me." The rising embarrassment made her want to toss herself into the river again. "Get it? Otherwise, I'm going to hit you again."
"I never expected you to be afraid of anything-"
"SHHH! Be quiet, or I'll hit you!"
"You're already hitting me with a plushie!"
"Shush!" Akira began to walk away. "Whatever, I need to get something. This meeting never happened!"
"W-"
"Never happened!" She ran off, leaving him behind.
After looking around for any wandering employees, she finally found her destination. Entering the kitchen that was thankfully empty, Akira tiptoed inside and opened the fridge. The glowing magnificence of the sweets made her gulp. They were topped with fresh fruits, sparkling like jewels with flavors, such as chocolate, matcha, and of course, strawberry desserts among them. After leaving behind the money, she began to make her way back. It was a little difficult to carry them, which made her extra careful in handling the delicious food items in the plastic bag. She could almost taste the airy whipped cream of the cake as well as the sweet feeling of victory in winning the dare.
"Akira, what are you doing?"
"AGH, WHEN DID YOU GET THERE?!" She was so happy that she didn't realize Akashi was right behind her.
"I was brushing my teeth when I noticed you were walking back with your sweets." The answer was short and simple. "You were so dazed that you never noticed me."
"Oh, uh, sorry." She did the only thing that she could do. "...Do you want some of this cake? I left the money for it in the kitchen, so..."
This is so dumb. He just said that he was done brushing his teeth. "Ah, never mind-"
"I can just brush my teeth again."
"O-Okay, um, which one do you want? I think you'd like this matcha ice cream mochi. It's not too sweet like the cake, it's small, and the ice cream isn't too hard, but isn't completely melted yet." She handed him the item, still looking for more options. "I do have normal mochi with me. There's also a few chocolate options like the dark chocolate strawberries-"
"Hmm." Akashi raised an eyebrow at her. "Why those items when you have many more than that?"
"Because I remember at the restaurant, you mentioned that you disliked super sweet things. I'm not entirely sure how sweet the fruit-based desserts are, but I figured that dark chocolate would be fine as well as matcha. You ate matcha mochi the last time." She paused in her thinking. "Oh wait, you ate them because I couldn't eat them since I was stuffed up from the breadsticks. Sorry-"
"Ha!" The laugh startled Akira. "It's fine. I'm alright with the other options too. How thoughtful of you to remember. As a reward, I'll help you carry them back to your room."
"Really? I don't wanna bother you, and I'm sure that we were supposed to have lights out soon."
"It's fine." He took one of the bags from her, smiling at her. "I don't mind since I'm getting something in return."
The walk back to her shared room was peaceful, up until the end when Akashi spoke up.
"Akira," the sound of her name made her jump. She wasn't expecting him to say her first name, "I believe that we may need to talk about your current circumstances with the basketball team. With all that's happened, the role of a manager quite well. Granted, I acknowledge that you have tutoring with Shintarou and Ryouta, but if you're willing to work with me, the manager that assists the captain would give you the excuse of being at the club."
Whoa, this is completely left field. "Aren't I supposed to audition for this sort of thing, or have an interview?"
"I'm sure that you've heard the rumors of me becoming the team captain as well as the student president in our third year." She nodded in response. "It means that I need people that can help not only in the club, but outside of it with the others. Granted, I'll be handling the more complicated aspects of it, but there's still other things that I need your assistance on, such as management of funds and practices."
"So, I'm going to be your manager?" Manager. That word was weird to say aloud. It was only something that she associated with Momoi and the other ones. People that were definitely more capable at the job than she was.
"Yes."
"...I guess if it's alright with you." It was definitely going to be a challenge. She heard of how tough and unforgiving the redhead was. Hell, she's seen how hard the others trained under the practice regimen that he made. But, at the same time, she's caused them a lot of grief over these last two months. If doing this job can help them even the tiniest bit, then she'd take it. She handed him the matcha ice cream mochi. "I'm guessing that we need to fill out some paperwork for this sort of thing?"
"We'll talk about it more when we get back. Sleep well, Akira."
"Night-night!" With her fingers, she waved the little arm of her penguin. She swore that she saw him smile.
I'll recommend him places with good matcha sweets when I have the time.
As she approached her room, the voices of her cousin and Momoi boomed behind the door. Although, she had no idea what the hell they were talking about.
"...oblivious as hell! ...it's physically painful to watch it happen!"
"I know right?! ...of them is oblivious too, so it's even more painful!"
"...smooth as hell though! ...candy, fireworks, a toy?! Goddamn!"
"STOP SINKING MY SHIPS!"
"What the hell are you guys talking about?" With the plushie squished under her armpit, she pushed the door open. "I heard something about sinking ships? Are you guys watching the Titanic or something?"
"It's nothing, Aki-chan!" Her cousin jumped up to help her. "Whoa, you got a lot of stuff. A lot of good stuff!"
"Yeah, but I got caught on the way back. He was nice enough to help, even though I had to give him one of the desserts in the end. Beats accidently spilling them on the floor though." Akira organized the sweets, not noticing how quiet Momoi and her cousin suddenly became. "Then again, someone caught me when I was going there. I managed to convince him not to tell anyone."
"Aki-chan-"
"Saka-chan-"
"Tell us everything that happened!"
Sakamura Akira barely got any sleep that night with the squeals of her friend and her cousin waking her up every time she dozed off.
I thought I posted this chapter a while back.
Turns out that I never did, so here it be! This year has been the most I've posted for this story (from what I can remember with my spotty memory)!
Anyways, I hope you guys are still enjoying this story. It's been so long since I started this story, and we're still not past Teiko (Ugh, I don't even wanna think about this upcoming school term, both in the story and in real life), which I both love and hate because we need friendships outside of the GOM and Momoi, or the basketball world in general. Granted, that's a moot point since Sake is gonna be a manager, but we all know she's there to be more moral support and emotional support than an actual manager lol. Momoi is more than capable enough to handle that part.
We all know that if the GOM and Momoi weren't there, Sake would probably uncover a hidden realm to another dimension or something. Isekaied? Ah, so many options for side stories and I don't know if I'd be able to fulfill any of them.