The sound of pencils scratching at my table pulled me from the haze of sleep clouding my brain. Due to constant practice and even harsher training, I found it harder to stay awake in class but I never get caught asleep. We all knew it was because of my lack of presence. Kise-kun was not as lucky; he usually gets yelled at in my stead.
Blinking groggily, I turned to the new source of my irritation, surprised to find no one but Kise-kun in the classroom. It took me a minute to finally register that class had ended, and another minute to realize that I had slept through the whole class.
The loud blond in front of me lets out a chuckle, obviously not caught up with my inner dilemma. "Don't worry, Tetsucchi, I wrote down the notes you missed. You can copy off mine, you need all the rest you can get anyway." He then turned away from me, muttering something I didn't catch.
Stretching the knots in my shoulder, I said, "thank you, Kise-kun. I'll copy it later. Do you want to go get lunch together?"
His eyes sparkled, his whole being suddenly full of energy and burning brighter than he had before. "Tetsuyacchi?! You never offer!" Not giving me any time to reply, he pulled me to my feet, barely giving me enough time to grab the bento from my bag.
Oh well, Shin-kun and Sei-kun both have shogi today anyway. Eating with him for a day won't hurt.
I didn't have time to collect my belongings, let alone my bento when he pulled me out. We navigated our way through the long corridors that were soon to be filled with hungry students and loud chatters as the lunch bells rang into our ears. There were stares and whispers, mostly directed towards the obnoxious blond player but he was fairly used to it and it didn't bother me as long as I was not in the receiving end.
Kise-kun asked me if I wanted to eat in the cafeteria, in which we both made a face after a "pass!" was yelled in unison. Laughing as we made our way to the rooftop, I didn't notice how the blond beside me suddenly got quiet, halting in his steps until I bumped onto him. I peeked around his shoulders to see the peculiar scene before me; Kise-kun's most recent girlfriend in the secluded stairway, seemingly having a serious conversation with- Shougo-kun?
"...better than... like you... Ki doesn't understand..." It was a series of hushed words, broken phrases but it didn't matter, both of us heard it anyway. I turned to Kise-kun but I didn't have time to speak when he stormed past them, unminding of how both of them froze at his appearance.
I bowed to them as I passed after him, having the decency to excuse myself from the sudden interruption, leaving the two of them stunned.
When I got to the rooftop, the yellow haired teen who was usually loud and obnoxious was suddenly quiet, looking all serene while he leaned on the railing on the rooftop. I strode towards the corner beside him. I made sure not to get too much in his space while I scanned the area.
There didn't seem to be anyone else here except for another blond haired kid- but he was angrily pushing at the buttons of his game to notice us. His hair was a weird shade too.
Maybe he was aiming to look like a pudding?
I shook my head when Kise-kun's voice rung through my ears. "You know, Tetsuyacchi, I've never felt more peaceful these past few months than right now."
I blinked up at him, confused and he seemed to realize what he just said when he began sputtering. "Calm down, Kise-kun. You look like a fish."
"A fish ssu?!"
"Are you alright?"
He paused, a finger on his chin while he contemplated his answer. This is fine, I thought while I started munching on the dumplings, waiting for his thought process to finish.
"I'm fine." He told me a beat later, and his expression didn't betray him. I smiled up at him, content with his answer. The door opened abruptly just as I opened my mouth to get out some form of witty retort, and that startled even the blond who was playing games on the opposite side. Shougo-kun ran towards us, huffing for breath.
"Ryouta!" he began, but kept panting, enough to hold his tongue for another minute. "It- it's not what it looks like. She clung onto me when I rejected her and I swear I have nothing to do with her and then you came I ignored all her advances because I knew you're with her and you honestly deserve better than her-"
"Shougocchi!" Kise-kun exclaimed in the midst of his rambling, effectively stopping the grey haired teen from his jumbled up speech. "It's alright ssu, slow down."
"Yeah... okay. Yeah."
"So she confessed to you." Shougo-kun nodded in reply. "And you rejected her... because of me?"
"I wouldn't betray you like that." The grey haired teen looked away, a hint of melancholia swimming through his dark eyes. I vaguely recalled the time when we met, grimacing at the memory. "We're... friends, aren't we?" I don't think Kise-kun noticed the hopeful lilt in his voice as if he was banking on being rejected, but the copycat smiled brightly anyway, looking touched.
I sipped on my water, momentarily wishing I had milkshake in my hand instead. "Yay. Kise-kun's first friend." I told him in bland fashion.
When the blond idiot whined at the unfairness of the world around him, Shougo-kun laughed wholeheartedly, the bitter expression from earlier forgotten, and I counted that as a victory.
The championship game came and went; and Teiko won by a huge margin.
At that time, I had a feeling things had already changed.
[A/N] To everyone who read and supported my story up until now, I'm sorry to say this but I'm going to discontinue writing this story. I know I said I'll try to finish it, but I just don't have it in me anymore to write this one. I have been working on this when I was 11 years old and now it just feels too childish for me to continue. I have often found myself sympathizing less with Tetsuya here and finding it difficult to see what he would do and where he would go, thus finding it hard to find a good flow for the story. I know the plot by heart, but I have no idea what to do with the stage direction-- is the problem.
There were too many factors I didn't didn't really like moving forward.
Don't get me wrong though, Kuroko no Basket will always be my number one and I will continue contributing to this community any way I could.
That being said, I have decided to rewrite it into a much better story, and the plot will mostly be the same except for a few tweaks in the key elements that will make much more sense in the better version, one where I feel I can understand the twins even more, one that I can be much prouder to write. Again, I'm sorry everyone, and thank you for putting up with this story and continuing to support it!!!
P.s. I won't take this story down since I still need it for reference. I hope you all have a good day!