Another day, another chapter.
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I have to keep this short this time, I'm a little busy here and there. Thank you for very much for all the favorites, follows and reviews! It's amazing.
This chapter here lacks fluff nearly completely. I'm so sorry for that, Karen just really loves Murasakibara and I wanted to include that guy no matter what. Soo, Mia and Nanami time + a little tiny, winy interaction between Mia and Aomine - I hope you'll enjoy it either way!
DAY SIXTY
"Sheesh...basketball really is popular, huh?"
Mia held onto the arm of her friend as both of them stepped into the Green Heaven Park. The amount of people who were here was impressive, the most of them around their age if only a little bit older. The orange-head had learned that there was much more to the sport than she at first believed, but to see so many other teenagers and young adults gather here in order to play was amazing.
"And it's getting so hot..." Nanami grumbled quietly. "...do they sell drinks somewhere?"
"Sorry, I only brought snacks." Mia laughed. "But they're mostly from Germany, my grandma sent them a few days ago and they arrived just yesterday."
The girl at her side nodded, eyeing the plastic bag with curiosity. "You vouched for the chocolate so I'm pretty curious."
The two of them stopped in front of the big court which was closed off with fences. The place around it was still rather empty, the visitors scattered across the green grass as they enjoyed their brought meals and snacks. They had arrived right on a break between two matches so there was still enough time before the next one started.
Nanami leaned on to the railing and glanced at the big court before her eyes wandered towards the girl beside her.
"If it's still break - how about we go and buy drinks? If we hurry we shouldn't miss too much."
"Sure." The orange-head agreed. "There was a vending machine back there...wasn't it?"
Nanami's calm expression lit up and eagerly she tugged at her friend's hand to drag her along. Obviously, she really was dying in the summer heat but both of them had been silly enough to remember snacks but not drinks anyway. The two girls made their way through the crowd, passing other teenagers who sat on the sidelines next to the path to wait for next match to start.
It didn't take them long to arrive at the vending machine, Mia had mentioned. But her friend frowned as she scanned the rows of cans of many flavors and different kinds which were offered. Except the cool ice tea the black haired girl loved.
"Damn it...maybe there is another one nearby?"
"There should be." Mia reminded her. "At the other entrance of the park, right?"
Nanami licked her bottom lip in thought before she nodded. "Right. I'll go and buy there one, you want lemonade, right? I'll buy it, too. Go and find a good place for us."
Before she could do more than nod the black haired girl took off and jogged away. The break would be over soon and they had already arrived in the middle of the event, because both of them were sure they wouldn't have enough passion to watch guys play basketball for a whole day. Although now, they didn't want to miss the rest as well, of course.
Slowly but surely, the girl walked back towards the court and masses of people, digging through the plastic bag she had brought to see what her grandma had exactly sent her from overseas. The lovely old lady always sent her so many different things - gummi bears, chocolate and cookies. All sweets clad in colorful bags and packages, but over the years and visits to Germany, she had already gotten to know so many of them.
If she loved anything of the country her father came from then it was certainly the candy. She had been so young as they had moved to Japan, only the simple structure of the different language was left in her mind. Japanese had been hard to learn back then. All those symbols and strange letters had been her death in primary school.
It was funny how now it had become her second nature.
"Oh, sweet..." Mia breathed as she pulled out a chocolate bar. "Grandma remembered that I loved those."
"Ooh~...I haven't seen those ever before."
The orange-head froze as she felt a breath against her neck that hadn't been there before. With a startled gasp she turned around, coming face to face with a stranger who was still staring at the candy in her hand. His gaze scanned the violet package with a silent intensity while her heart had jumped into her throat out of surprise. She hadn't even heard him coming.
As the teenager noticed her though, for the first time it seemed, he blinked at her. He leaned back to straighten his body, he had bent down before to examine the package in her hand. Only then Mia realized, how much she had to crane her neck to keep up with his height and her eyes widened as he came to a halt.
He was even taller than her dad.
No one was taller than Mia's father up until now. No one, not even Aomine although he was close to it. But this guy...this teenager was it. The girl paled at that thought, the blood was drained from her face as she stared up at the expressionless face of a real titan. Was it even possible for Japanese people to be this tall? It should be illegal!
The eyes of the stranger were still glued to the chocolate bar after he had seen her face. His lips pursing in thought as he didn't budge in the slightest. Oh my god, what should she do? He could break her, couldn't he? Her dark gaze flickered to his hands; one was clinging as well to a white plastic bag while the other was empty. But these weren't hands, these were the paws of a bear.
Only the claws were missing!
Oh, how Mia wished that the blue haired basketball player was here. He always stood in between her and danger up until now. Whenever she was overchallenged or uncomfortable with a stranger he had been right there.
Nervously the orange-head threw her arm out, holding onto the chocolate bar with shaky fingers as she chose to offer it to the titan. The blood rushed into her face with the movement, glowing so brightly, she was sure her hair color paled in comparison.
"Aaah~ you're giving it to me?"
It was the strangest thing to hear him speak. The gigantic stranger spoke with such a lazy drawl in his voice, his eyes widening like the ones of a child as he studied the treat in her hand. He sounded anything but threatening, as if he was still sleeping to be honest. But his stature was terrifying her; she had never met someone who was as big as he was.
"Y-yeah...?"
Mia tried uncertainly. Even though he hadn't done anything to really scare her, she flinched as he grabbed the chocolate bar anyway, his lips pulling into a lazy, lopsided smile.
"Thanks, Orange-chin."
Orange? Oh. Oh, okay. Yeah, she got why. But all she could do was smile carefully in return, her feet taking a step back on their own accord.
"G...good afternoon, then?"
The titan had already opened the wrapping, biting into the sweet chocolate as he waved lazily at her. If anything he treated her like an acquaintance and not a stranger which was confusing to some degree. Although Mia would never question someone like him and his habits, really, as long as she escaped with all her limps, she didn't mind in the slightest.
Awkwardly she waved back, taking a few more steps to broaden the distance between the two of them before she more or less tried to run without running. It was a weird mix between walking and half jogging. But she was too eager to escape before the titan changed his mind. Just where was Nanami? She should've gone with her instead of saving her a place...
"There you are, Mia."
The orange haired girl looked up, only to see the very girl she had thought off. She stood already in front of the closed off court, the drinks in her hands. Her friend furrowed her brow glancing at her blushing face with a judging eye.
"What happened? What took you so long?"
Mia breathed a sigh in return, her hands pressing against her cheeks to get rid of the warmth.
"I, I'm not sure...I'm really not..." She stopped for a second. "Never leave me alone again, Nanami."
"Hah?"
After she had calmed down from her meeting with a 'gentle', 'lazy', 'strange' titan, Mia actually found herself watching the upcoming matches with interest. It was amazing how good these people were, pulling stunts she had seen Aomine doing while still doing another trick here and there.
Nanami and she pointed out sometimes that they had seen their upperclassmen do that in practice. Both of them feeling something close to pride that they had obtained some knowledge of basketball in the past weeks - it wasn't much that was obvious, but it made them feel a bit better. A lot less like some teenage girls who randomly chose to watch a street basketball competition on a summer day, because they had nothing better do to.
Mia couldn't help but grin at the black haired girl; they had shared the snacks from her grandmother, her friend instantly falling in love with the different flavors which didn't exist in Japan. The competition continued, one team was winning against. Every group was obviously enjoying the competition. And all those people were really tall actually, the orange haired girl noted. She had never seen so many tall people in one place before in Japan.
"The final two remaining teams in this tournament are high school teams!" The announcer called out. "Who will win!?"
Nanami leaned onto the railing, her calm expression turning towards the girl beside her.
"I got to say, basketball is pretty cool after all...who do you think will win?"
Mia joined her, holding onto the metal fence in front of them as she studied the different players. They all were strong, sure. But none of them moved like Aomine did, she had never realized how different the blue haired basketball player dribbled the ball or moved around in general before. It was strange.
"I wonder...but that red haired guy can really jump high." She mused quietly before she glanced at Nanami. "Don't you think that this is really useful to reach the hoop?"
"Mhm." The black haired girl hummed in agreement and their attention returned towards the match as the ref blew into his whistle to signal the start of the game.
The whole audience followed the orange orb as it was thrown into the air, every single visitor curious who would reach it first of the teenagers - but then it was stopped. Ever so simply by a stranger who had appeared on the court as everyone was too engulfed by the match which was about to start. Mia gaped at the titan, she had met over an hour ago, his figure was towering easily over the other players as he grabbed the ball.
"No way." She breathed, crouching down in fear he would see her in the crowd.
"Wha-? Mia?" Puzzled Nanami turned towards her but the orange-head refused to get up again.
Who knew if he would recognize her? She had no sweets anymore! Who knew how the titan would take these news? As if the heaven heard her prayer, her mobile phone started ringing. The orange-head couldn't have asked for a better excuse than that so she merely lifted the mobile phone to her still confused friend. Showing her that she had to answer the call, before she made her way through the audience to escape the noise.
Oh...Aomine? Surprised, she read the name of the blue haired teen on the display, flicking the device open to answer the call after she had created a little bit distance between her and the court.
"Yeah?"
"...I kinda fucked up." He grumbled over the line without a greeting, although she already got used to that, she guessed.
"What?" Mia asked perplexed, her gaze glancing up at the sky which slowly darkened with the arrival of clouds. At least the heat would slowly cool off...
"Satsuki threw her clipboard at my head."
"H-hah?" That definitely caught her attention as she blinked at her feet. "Why would she...what did you do?"
"...it was her stupid fault."
"Aomine..."
The basketball player hesitated before he heaved a sigh in annoyance. "Satsuki was the one who pulled me off the team. Today was the final, we made the second place and- who gave her the damn right to decide whether I can play or not?"
"She was only worried."
"Still." He argued; his mood still too foul to forgive and forget. "She ran out and won't answer my damn calls now."
A raindrop hit her nose right then. Mia looked up in surprise as shower of rain greeted them. It quickly became worse, the last bit of the raining season haunting them as it seemed. Mia frowned at the sight, lifting a hand to weakly shield her eyes from the cool drops. Although that attempt was obviously futile, the weather had changed so quickly. Slowly, her eyes searched for Nanami who easily made her way towards her with an umbrella in her hand.
"I'll call her." Mia told her classmate on the other side of the phone. "But you should definitely apologize, Aomine..."
"I know that." He grumbled in return, annoyed and sulky at the same time. Something which actually made Mia smile a little bit.
In times like these he always sounded like a kid.
"They called the match off because of the rain..." Nanami explained as she reached her, holding the umbrella above their heads. The orange-head looked up as her gaze wandered towards the court and people who slowly scattered and left.
Well, at least the strange titan had left, too...
Mia shrugged with her shoulders. They had seen a handful of matches and had a great time that was what counted. And for a moment she had actually forgotten Aomine who was still on the other side of the line. He was still angry at the coach and his team while his stubborn mind slowly accepted the fact that Satsuki only wanted the best for him. It was a relief that he at least was mature enough to reach that conclusion.
"When do we continue the game?"
His question was so out of place that Mia blinked a few times at nothing in particular. She had left that day as it had gotten too late and since then they hadn't met again. But that he still thought about it was strangely nice, her mind decided. Because she had thought about it as well. Nanami quirked a brow at the change in her expression, watching her while the orange-head tried to turn away to hide her embarrassment. It wasn't like she was desperately looking forward to see him again, but she was surprised herself how much she had started to enjoy spending her time with the blue haired teenager.
"Soon." Mia answered. "I'll...I'll message you later."
"Fine."
And then their call ended. She still had to call Satsuki to see if she was able to mend their fight - the bubbly club manager maybe ignored her classmate's calls but she'd never ever ignore hers. Mia's face heated up as she glanced at the smug smile Nanami wore beside her.
"Don't say a word."
"I'm not saying anything." The black haired girl exclaimed way too innocently.
"Shut up."
Just maybe, really only maybe she had wanted that one day to be a date as well, Mia grudgingly accepted...quietly, very quietly somewhere deep in her thick, stubborn mind.