Esashi leaned back, notebook pressed against her chest and chin settled atop it. Her raspberry eyes were following the players back and forth across the length of the court, and though she found herself a touch restless, she focused to the best of her ability. It had nothing to do with the game not being entertaining, in fact, given the circumstances, there were some parts of this game that really caught her attention. The problem was more so that she had yet to really understand basketball.

Sure, she would dabble into it a touch, sometimes just for the sake of studying the various injuries that came from playing it, so that she could be well-informed and better prepared. All of the plays, the rules, the player roles, and all of that, however, not so much.

In brevity, basketball to Esashi was as follows: 'run the ball to the hoop, get it in the hoop, now run back'.

"Mmm..." she hummed thoughtfully, seeing the game come to a momentary pause. It looked like the opposing team, Shutoku, they were substituting a player. She leaned back against the edge of the bleachers and relaxed her footing. She hadn't seen much of this player before, he had green hair, and oddly enough for what she was expecting, he was wearing glasses. She may not have been an expert, but wasn't wearing glasses on the court a potential hazard? That went for both this guy and Hyuuga.

As the green haired male stood up, Esashi found herself leaning forward for every bit he rose.

"He's a monster..." she quietly murmured, "he makes Seirin look like middle school kids..." Honestly, not just him, but nearly everyone on Shutoku seemed to topple Seirin in the height category. What did they feed them..?

A crease deepened under her eye as she peered up momentarily at the ceiling. Maybe Riko's cooking was just stunting Seirin's growth.

"And I thought Kagami-san was tall before..." she trailed quietly. He and Kiyoshi were their tallest players, she recalled, though at that moment it occurred to her. She looked down towards Seirin's bench, then tossed her gaze around the room and across the court. Kagami wasn't playing? After all the fuss he put up about being able to participate in this training camp, he wasn't even playing?

She decided not to go butting in, especially not during a game. If Riko didn't seem worried, then she assumed it was nothing to be worried about at all. Still, it raised a couple of questions.

She pushed the invasive species momentarily out of her thoughts, and instead she looked back down at the court. She perched herself high on the bleachers, simply because after being attacked by a wayward basketball once, typically people take precautions to make sure it wouldn't so-readily happen again. With Kagami nowhere around however, her chances seemed better.

Pushing that invasive species from her mind once more-

She attempted to locate the ball on the court. For being a bright orange sphere, it was surprisingly difficult to keep track of when it was in motion. These guys moved the ball around at a ridiculous pace, and with that dark haired boy on Shutoku stealing and passing almost constantly, the movement only served to be more of a pain to watch.

"I can't see it anywhere," she murmured to herself, though sifting from place to place, she caught sight of it being held stationary in the green-haired boy's hands. He took an awful long time to get into position, though in terms of playtime it wasn't long at all. It was just the jarring effect of a quick-paced game suddenly reaching a halt in his hands. She watched the way he readied his form, and while she couldn't say she knew much about stances in terms of basketball, it seemed like he took great care in making it just right, even scooting over his foot the slightest bit to level his body. He was incredibly meticulous, and just by looking at him and the way he handled himself, the strong semblance of structure and order made itself apparent.

And when the ball released...

"H u h?" Esashi leaned forward, practically hunkering over her own lap and loosening her grip on the clipboard. "That shot is ridiculous," she dryly stated, "how is someone realistically supposed to stop that?"

On top of that, the green haired boy had the audacity to turn and walk away in the middle of the shot's arc to the basket, as if not even the slightest bit concerned about whether or not it'd go in.

Before she was even aware of it, she felt her lips flatten into a thin line, pressed and stern. Dare she say, that display of arrogance gave her a feeling of secondhand disdain. She wasn't sure if such glaring overconfidence was a basketball player trait, or if it was simply all-encompassing sports, but at this moment, she could possibly think... Maybe Kagami wasn't so bad by comparison.

After the game, and after putting away her notebooks and other materials, Esashi had half a mind to study. She had been doing practically nothing but studying since she got there, any moment she had free time. She didn't want to fall behind, and likewise, should she have been home around now, that probably would have been how she spent majority of her time.

Though maybe it was her festering bitterness over Seirin's scrimmage with Shutoku ending in a loss for the former, or maybe it was that now the unresolved thoughts were breeding the feeling of undistributed energy, but she felt the need to actually go outside for once. Not taking her work outside, or sitting while thinking about that work she wasn't doing, but actually deciding to take some time out to give herself a break.

She saw herself out of her room, and likewise out of the inn, easing out from the building and basking in the evening air.

How did she never realize before what a nice view they had?

"Eh?" Catching a glimpse of a little brown object moving at the corner of her eye, Esashi turned her head swiftly. At first she thought maybe it was some sort of animal, like a stray cat or something, and, well... she wasn't entirely wrong. Her raspberry eyes lowered, and as if he truly believed freezing in place would cause her to avert her eyes like some kind of T-rex, Koganei froze in her line of sight.

They stood in silence for a time, just... watching one another awkwardly. "Koganei-san... Why are you on the ground?"

The cat-mouthed boy caught a shock through his body, eyes growing wide and white as he immediately stood to his full height. "Hah? Me? Oh! I..." He rubbed at the back of his neck, avoiding all semblance of eye contact and treading lightly with his words. It gave some sort of indication that he may have been nervous or guilty. Finally settling on a plan of action, he raised his index finger matter-of-factly, boldly proclaiming, "I dropped some change I had for the vending machine!"

"Mm..." her eyes traveled to the bare ground underfoot, spotting the literal nothing scattered around, save for maybe a pebble between his shoes.

"Koganei-san, are you-" her eyes practically bugged out- WHERE DID HE GO? How could he have moved that fast? She peered all around her, checking above and below and looking back to the spot where he once stood. She could have sworn she was just looking at that pebble between his shoes, so how did he, "He left his shoes..!?"

"Tsss," she hissed quietly through her clenched teeth. It was mainly a pang of exasperation that took her, her fingers coursing through her brown hair as she turned her attention away, completely unaware in that moment that his hand had reached from the bushes to retrieve his shoes, "how strange..."

She immediately tried to push it from her thoughts and focus on her intent at hand. However weird that was, it wasn't important right now; she would ask tell Riko later if necessary.

From where she was standing, it cornered off to the path to the beach. She could see the street that ran past the inn, and it was such a quiet little area, that one hardly saw too many people walking around once the sun started to set, and even more rarely did one see many cars come through.

She brushed her hair neatly behind her ear, attempting to avoid the feeling of being bare with her notebook and pen not in her arms. It almost felt like she didn't know what to do with her hands.

Her raspberry hues stared out across the street lights flickering on down the road, and progressing on, she started down the sidewalk. She didn't exactly know where she was going, but somehow that felt soothing to not know.

Listening only to the hum of cicadas and the occasional songs of crickets, Esashi eased down the way, coming to a bench next to a light post. She took a seat and a deep breath and all she could think was...

"Wow. I feel pretty good," so relaxed and soothed. Even to the tune of nothing, she found peace, even at the percussion of a basketball bouncing rhythmically against the supposed surface of a blacktop close by. Wait- the sound of a basketball bouncing rhythmically against the supposed surface of a blacktop close by?

Very reluctantly, the brown haired student let one of her eyes so slowly creak open.

Through the cover of the trees obstructing her view, Esashi caught sight of one Kagami, paddling the ball down and then attempting to shift hands and repeat the same.

A twinge of anxiety crept in, but what was more unusual was just as it made itself known, it began to recede. She sighed so lightly, raising from her perch upon the bench and taking a quick gaze down the length of the street on both sides of her. At the end of the right stretch she could see a few lights, and after leaning to get a better look, she caught the corner of a prism shape: likely a vending machine.

She eased her hands into her pockets, feeling out a the little pocket purse she brought with her, then started towards it.

"Kagami-san," she spoke up, successfully catching the redhead's attention, and forcing him to whir around to look at her.

Almost immediately he started to twist out his ankles, motioning and halting to try to show they were in good working condition, no overworking here, "I didn't do anything. Seriously." With the way he so quickly jumped to trying to plead his case, Esashi's eyes grew weary. Had she really been on his back so intensely that every time she so much as looked his way, he figured he was in trouble?

Wordless, she fished the canned drink from her hand, and held it between her fingers to dangle it in place.

A good deed? No, she was being nice to him?

It all seemed right suspicious. He narrowed his eyes and cast his distrusting gaze onto her, lifting his head up to peer down his nose at her as if inaudibly claiming that he knew she was up to something. "I'll get it later," he put simply, hooking the ball under his arm and holding it idly against his side, "Just set it wherever."

'Thank you. The appropriate word to use in that situation was thank you.'

Though rather than letting that spoil her mood and her good intentions, she merely shook her head. "Sit down, Kagami-san," she maybe sounded a touch more exasperated than she initially meant for it to come off, but she sat down on the nearest bench regardless, patting the edge invitingly, "I'd like to talk to you."

The suspicion practically leaked from his face, his risen brow and his narrowed eyes fixated on her as if trying to uncover some sinister intentions. "Why?"

Her expression fell bland, her hand setting down the can as she merely replied so quickly, "Because I'm the bigger person." Before he had the opportunity to loose the height joke he had set on the tip of his tongue, she tilted her head and continued, "Besides. Weren't you asking why I didn't treat you nicely like the others? Now I treat you nicely and this isn't correct either?"

"Makes me think you did something to that drink," he admitted, though considering it had been a few hours and he hadn't taken a break, he decided to allow himself to 'drop his guard'. He took a seat on the bench, setting the ball down to wedge lightly between his feet and keep it in place.

Esashi merely flicked the top, letting the metal clank down against the flat of the top, then handed it over, "It's closed. There's very little you can do to a can."

He stared at her even still for a moment, and even with her statement that, if nothing else, was at least logically sound, he still took the time to thoroughly investigate it. He winced away, holding the can at arm's distance from him when hesitantly sliding his finger under the top. Slowly and steady, in the event that she may have shaken it up or something, but after a satisfying pop and no incident to speak of, he reeled it in. The color seemed normal... Didn't smell funny.

"See?" Esashi crossed one of her legs over the other, her arms folded across her chest. Her pink hues were narrowed, her lips upturned in a mildly irritable, tight frown, and her brow was raising by every moment he dove into another antic to disprove her kind gesture. She understood that they found themselves at odds quite a bit, but that didn't mean he had the right to look down upon her peace-offering that way, "it's in a can."

Contrarily, Kagami wasn't even sure if it could be called a peace offering. Coming to talk to him out of the blue and offering him a drink just seemed way too suspicious. Regardless, he checked it out pretty thoroughly... and it wasn't shaken, so he took a chance. He tipped the drink up, and after it touched his tongue, he realized just how thirsty he really was. Playing ball as long as he did, he often got lost in the process, and neglecting his needs became far too easy when his mind was elsewhere and his body loyally followed suit. Not to mention this probably wouldn't be a drink he normally picked out for himself, it tasted a little fruit-like and light-

"Though that's not to say it's impossible to tamper with."

PFFFFTHHH!

He practically spewed all of what was in his mouth across the way, effectively spraying the court. He wiped vigorously at his mouth with his forearm, his eyes now fixated on her with ticks of anger cropping up all over his face, "What the Hell!?"

Her fingers loosely lied against her lips, masking the look of mild mischief, though the moment he bellowed out that sentiment, she found her head tilting to the side. "Wooow. English."

"Ack," he seemed about ready to toss the can, but she spoke up before then.

"Oh, relax. It was only light revenge," she clarified, dismissing his concerns though somehow only sparking his comical outrage further.

"THEN WHAT WAS ALL THAT CRAP ABOUT BEING THE BIGGER PERSON!?"

"Unfortunately, I'm biologically incapable."

He uttered a quiet growl. It was somewhat unfortunate that she chose now to suddenly develop a sense of humor, and at his expense no less. Taking a moment in brevity to peer at her more covertly, however, he took note of the still somewhat noticeable swelling still apparent on her nose. He got a little of this fruity drink up his own nose, so maybe it was even...sorta.

He leaned back against the flat of the bench, raising his elbows up over the back and beginning to actually relax somewhat. "What do you wanna talk about?"

Even if it came off that way by his blunt tongue, Esashi assumed he hadn't meant to seem like he was trying to move this along, so contained her bland expression. "When I came to-," she quickly rephrased her statement, "when I was invited to this training camp, I made a promise to Kiyoshi-san to understand." She sank her gaze to her hands that rested in her lap, "or at least...try to understand. Not just you, but every player on this team displays an admittedly problematic desire to put your all into this."

Though his brow quirked as if touching on the prospect of offense, his response remained casual, "what's wrong with that?"

Her hands rose in emphasis. She could tell by the way he'd injected that bit so quickly that it appeared to be something that could have rubbed him the wrong way, "NOTHING is inherently wrong with that." She huffed out a breath, "the problem becomes when you get so haphazard with your injuries." She looked at him and in that moment it seemed like the sentiment was speaking to him personally as an individual, "there isn't anything wrong with trying to do your best, or trying to put your best foot forward, and give it your all, and things, but too much of anything is a hazard."

"Aaah," he dragged, his tone out in a shift, so strongly evoking the implications of saying 'i see' while never uttering a word, "you still don't get it then."

Esashi shut her eyes, her brows knitting tight and a slight tensing giving away her mild twinge of frustration. He hadn't done anything wrong -except maybe sounded a little patronizing in the process-, but what she admittedly came to dislike about that little assertion was that it made her feel somewhat critical of her previous statement: saying she came to learn, then saying the same things. In truth, when she made peace, it was without a doubt with the intention of learning, not with talking him down.

Huffing out her pent up breath, she folded her arms and watched him, "No, I don't get it, and that's why I want to ask." She watched him momentarily, searching his expression, "when I put so much insistence on you not playing after your injury, the second time you came to the infirmary. Why didn't you listen..?"

It was something she thought about time and time again and found herself wondering. If the season continued on through the winter, and encompassed more than just the summer's Interhigh, why would he put his participation in jeopardy? What sense did it make?

He turned to face front. The moment she had mentioned it, he already knew well what she meant. It still radiated as somewhat of a sore spot for him, and thinking back on it momentarily relieved his thirst. He lowered the can from his lips and propped his elbow back up in place on the back of the bench, his foot then setting atop the basketball to roll it out and back in the attempts at quelling his sudden restlessness. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to answer.

Back then, he omitted everything about Aomine challenging him, as far as he was concerned, that was his struggle, not something to pin on Aomine's insistence. Though in truth, Kagami would have been doing nothing but telling lies if he said that the game with Tōō didn't have anything to do with it.

"I couldn't." It was a simple answer, but more than that, it was a very vague one. He wasn't trying to insert drama, or create a new air in the conversation, but really he hadn't any clue how to process these thoughts into words. What he felt towards the situation with Tōō was a personal disdain, like a boiling competitive hatred, and a will to seek a personal revenge on the behalf of his team. For somebody like Esashi, though, who didn't get all this sports stuff, how would he made her get that?

"Everybody put it all on the line to play, and I want to pay them back," he tried to simplify as easily as possible.

"Yes, I understand that," Esashi offered, "but that isn't to say you couldn't have waited until next season if need be."

"There's no time to wait," at the time that all of this took place, Kiyoshi wasn't a factor. Regardless, he probably still would have said the same thing. "Every time I sit around and wait they keep getting stronger," speaking of the Generation of Miracles, but even then there was something lacking in response. Something wasn't conveying what it was he really wanted to say - what was pulsing under his chest to surface.

"Even if they get stronger," Esashi rebutted softly, still trying to be conscious of his feelings while getting her point across in strength, "there's not much you'll be able to do if you're too injured to make any substantial growth for yourself..."

"I know."

His response was calm. It left his lips with a deep and contemplative sense of thought that almost seemed uncharacteristic to the nurse's assistant. She peered over towards him, looking to see what kind of face would yield such a response, and much to her surprise, she could feel and unspoken aura radiating from his person; it felt like a determined heat, driven by pulsing instinct beyond what was imagined to be possible.

He never turned his stare to her, only straight ahead, seemingly at nothing at all, likely just a plain backdrop of the scenery projecting his thoughts, "I want to play them." He didn't want to think about being stuck in an injured state where he couldn't play anymore, but the truth was... "I love basketball. The stronger the better. I want to feel a real challenge, and now I have one. With the Generation of Miracles running around, I finally have what I wanted, and I want to win."

The pink-eyed girl contained a sigh. It was almost a touch exasperating. She understood he had such a strong desire, but was it not just being overcompetitive?

"Not just for me."

Her face registered, now, the light signs of surprise, her eyes lighting up with a spark of confusion, "what?"

"Everybody's working so hard. They were working hard before I even got here." his fist appeared to unintentionally grip the can, crumpling the material in towards the tight pressure of his fist, "I'm not gonna be the one to mess it all up." He didn't stop, he said what he thought, forgetting to be 'eloquent' and 'careful' with his speech for fear of worming himself into trouble, "Basketball is what I want to do, and if I could do it bigger and better, I want to, but I don't care about all that stuff in the future right now. I made a promise."

"Mm..." the words she had settling on her tongue burned out, emitting in the form of the quietest release of pent up air, as if her anticipated statement had decided to see themselves out. "I see..."

"Even if I can play with a team again one day, I can't play with this team again one day. As the one that made the team, and the ace, it's my job to let them have the taste of victory, even if I never get to have it again."

Kiyoshi's choice of words came to light in her mind, overlaying itself as a similar meaning to Kagami's less articulate explanation. It was so similar that it was painful, as if these guys had some kind of unwavering debt to pay to each other. There was still a barrier; there was still things on a deeper emotional scale that she couldn't quite resonate with. There were still things that came from the team's bonds with each other that she just simply wasn't a part of, though she couldn't quite explain her current tumultuous feelings. As if feeling the combined passion of their respective goals running in tandem with each other, she could swear she felt herself becoming somewhat moved.

"Tell me, Kagami-san, if you don't mind," she quietly began again. Her eyes diverted their attention away, and her lips pulled together in the middle thoughtfully, "what promise is it that you're trying to fulfill?"

Was she... genuinely asking? He peered over, his brows knitting as he studied her expression, despite her face turned away. He half expected that she would use this as some sort of leverage to chastise him, "I promised that we would be the best in Japan."

Oh, she hated this. She really hated this. Why did she now suddenly feel so emotionally involved? It felt like a conflict of interest. She kept it cool, though, brushing her hair behind her reddening ear and uttering a simplistic, "I see." She stood from her place on the bench, so swiftly being sure to turn her head away from him, "I'll get out of your hair then, carry on. Just... be sure you exercise restraint."

He wasn't expecting her to get up so suddenly, but at the same time, when she left him with a touch of lecture, things fell back into the realm of expectation pretty quickly. A subtle crease fell under his eye as he melted back into the back of the bench once more, readying to huff in response.

"You can't help anyone be the best if you have to sit out in games," she added, though it was somewhat strange. Her voice was soft, not so cold and strict, and the way she spoke her words offered less of feeling of being lectured, and more as if there was a twinge of underlying warmth or endearment lurking beneath the surface of her sternness.

Kagami watched her for a time, though he noticed she didn't stick around for him to say anything. She didn't address or rescind her kindness, and she didn't add anything. It was unnerving, maybe just because he was used to her behaving like a disappointed mother, so the feeling of softness seemed almost uncharacteristic. He sat the can down on the bench, seizing the ball from underfoot and rolling it to sit under his arm and leaned against his side.

"Hey," he called after her, not so loud, but enough that she would have likely heard him, which she did.

She turned, not fully, but just enough to peer over her shoulder, hesitant as if nervous for what he had to add.

His fingers tapped against the material of the basketball, and he took a second of delay, but he spoke up anyway, "Sorry about your nose."

"Khk," she shut her eyes tight, her brow twitching and her cheeks flushing in the process, "thank you." her response was dry. She knew he probably meant it, but the fact that it was brought up so abruptly, without any warning or attention being drawn to it; it now left her wondering if the swelling was still really that noticeable.

She turned back to face front and kept walking, this time in somewhat of a hurry, leaving a very lightly confused, but otherwise unbothered Kagami behind to continue his practice.

A/N: Weee! Progress! Also. Ignore the weird Koganei - or don't - he's like a weird Easter Egg. I was working on backlogging other stories so that I can fall into a semi-decent upload schedule at some point and when I start introducing new stories, and Koganei's ship story is one I was working on. It's really funny, so I added that little bit to tie from continuity into them both.

I noticed too that Kuroko no Basket OC x Canon ship stories are really short by comparison with many other fandoms. Some of them have crazy stories for how they got together, but most of them were just very simple high school romance stories, or just a casual dating invitation. Compared to this, where Kagami and Esashi actually started off on ground zero in terms of them not really liking each other even as friends LOL.

There is some progress made in their relationship though! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!