That same night, all of the Generation of Miracles plus Kuroko, Kagami, and Momoi were all gathered in the dining hall of the inn that they were all currently staying in. The rest of the Seirin team had already eaten so they were all free to eat with themselves but right now, they were just staring blankly at their food as the prodigies had just came home from an uneventful reunion with Hikigaya, who stormed his way out of the clubroom after a brief but tense war of words between the latter's former captain and his current president in their club.
"This must be a joke, Akashi-kun!" Finally, Momoi decided to say something as she cannot anymore bear the deafening silence in their place. "Tell me, this is just a joke! I can't understand why Hachi-kun suddenly got so mad when he was just fine when I spoke to him…"
No one bothered to reply. Not even Akashi.
"Hnnn…" Kuroko sighed as he then sips his cup of hot tea.
"Woah, Kurokocchi!" Kise suddenly opened his babbling mouth. "I didn't expect that you would react like that!"
"I can if I'm really annoyed, Kise-kun." Kuroko replied, earning several raised eyebrows from his Teiko teammates as Kagami, who didn't really have anything to do with their meeting, simply watched the whole scene play out.
"Blame it to Hikigaya, then." Midorima clicked his tongue. "It's not our fault why he suddenly stormed out of the room like that…"
"Perhaps you really don't get it at all?" Kuroko felt the need to raise his voice a little.
"Get what, Tetsu?" Aomine asked as he was casually flipping his not-so-decent magazine while looking so uninterested. "This is just the first time we saw him since our second year in Teiko. If he had any problems with us, then that's…"
"That's the point, Aomine-kun." Now, Kuroko was on the offensive and this quite surprised the rest of the people in the dining hall. "I felt that there are still things left that are unresolved back in middle school and that are what's keeping Hikigaya-kun from communicating properly with us. In fact, it's not only his fault. It's our fault. Don't tell me you have forgotten what happened back in our second year and our last year in middle school." There was a hint of pain in the latter part of his sentence."
Now, everyone was silent again as they all thought Kuroko's words. Aomine, for once, stopped reading his magazine. Murasakibara halted nibbling his potato chips. The rest also froze in their spots.
Until Akashi speaks up at last.
"Maybe Hikigaya was just stressed out a while back." He assured his Teiko teammates as he waves his hands in the air. "When someone is stressed or having a lot of things to do in their class, it's very normal to encounter people who are not in the mood to even talk. I had to apologize with the way I conducted myself when I spoke to him. Nevertheless, we'll all go back tomorrow in Sobu High. I'm sure we'll be able to convince him."
"That easily?" Midorima, now getting tired of all of these things, decided to speak up right now. "Do you really think Hikigaya will listen to us? To you for that matter?" His sharp words rang sharply into Akashi's ear and he quickly gave the Shutoku shooter a stink eye which the latter was startled at. Midorima didn't regret opening his mouth but he wished that he did it when they're not in a tense situation like this.
"As I said." Akashi retorted tersely. "Hikigaya must have been too tired and exhausted that time to speak to us properly. It's final. Tomorrow in the morning, we will go back to Sobu High School to bring him back into our fold. He'll join us and that's an order. Now, all of you are dismissed." The Rakuzan ace then stood up and went to his room in the second floor.
For a full minute, no one dared to speak up as they didn't know how to respond to Akashi's seemingly confident remark that he would be able to bring back their former Teiko teammate to play with them this coming Olympics. Kagami, who was an outsider to their middle school affairs, tried to cook up some kind of speech to break the ice but seeing that everyone isn't even in the mood for some jokes right now, he then zipped his mouth. The fact that even Kise, who would have started opening his mouth right now with some corny jokes, hasn't spoken a single word is a testament on how heavy this problem seemed to their shoulders.
After sixty seconds, an unlikely person decided to be the first to initiate the conversation since Akashi left.
"Neh, Kuro-chin…" Murasakibara called out their Phantom Sixth Man, who merely looks at him. "You said that you have reunited with Hiki-chin the past few days. Was he like that?"
"Actually, he wasn't like that at all." Kuroko replied, earning another round of raised eyebrows. "When we first talk with each other, he was even smiling as he drank that favourite coffee of his. Then out of the blue, Kagami-kun challenged Hikigaya-kun…"
"And then Bakagami lost so badly." Aomine snickered as he looks at Kagami, who was twitching at what he heard.
"Oi, I heard that you Ahomine!" Kagami yelled.
"Kagami-kun, I hate to say this but despite winning our game, you lost your battle with him." Kuroko gently reminded his partner. "Which kind of surprised me since I didn't expect that he can still play like that despite the fact that he had stopped basketball for a long time."
"Depends in a person." Aomine replied. "Hikigaya's really cut out for basketball and we've played together as sparring partners in our first year in Teiko. Even if he does stop, as long as his muscle memory is constantly being in motion, he won't lose his movement. He'll dull in years but he can recover as well."
"That's a given, Aomine." Midorima added. "And speaking of him, didn't you all notice that Akashi's eyes are blazing back in Sobu?"
"Eh? I didn't notice it." This was the only time Kise has now spoken. "But if that's the case, I thought Bokushi has disappeared already when Akashicchi's Emperor Eye has been completed."
"Just because his alter ego has vanished doesn't mean Akashi's personality was affected that much." Midorima clarified. "The original Akashi might have returned but considering his surname as well as his thirst for victory in everything, his pride won't let him give up that easily."
"Well, I can at least understand that." Aomine yawned as he then smirked. "I mean, it must have been a big blow to Akashi that Hikigaya not only defied him but also called him shit. I would have been proud if I was his daddy…"
"Aomine, keep your mouth shut. I don't want to suffer from Akashi's punishment if ever he hears what you are saying." Midorima chided their ace as he massages his forehead. "But since its Akashi's order, it's not like we can do something, Well, all of you finish your food and go back to your rooms. I wanted to rest already." His plate was already empty so he got up and went back to his room.
When they all got to finish their dinner, every one of them wordlessly got up and went back to their own rooms to either wind down or do something before sleeping (playing himself in Aomine's case). As Kuroko was about to stand up and join Kagami in their sleeping quarters, he spotted Momoi still quietly sitting in the dining table while quickly looking at a random old photo, which the tealnette deduced is photograph of their complete Teiko team with Hikigaya and, God forbid, Haizaki at the time when Kise had just became a regular.
"Momoi-san." He called out, causing the pinkette to suddenly startle in surprise before she recomposed herself and tucked the photo back into her pocket. "Let's all go back to our rooms now. We still have practice tomorrow."
"I—I see…" Momoi said and as Kuroko was about to walk away, she called out. "Tetsu-kun, we'll play together again, right? I just wanted our team to be complete again…"
"I know. I would love to see that happen, Momoi-san. But if Hikigaya-kun doesn't really want to play with us again, then we have no choice." Kuroko replied as he looks at the empty space. "But that doesn't mean I would stop convincing him myself if Aomine-kun and the rest doesn't succeed."
"I see…" Momoi gave a small, sad smile as she then stands up and said. "Good night, Tetsu-kun!"
The next day was also the last day of the school year of Sobu High School before it enters into a two break period for those who would advance and get promoted in their year levels. Yet, it sounded much like the path to the boulevard of broken dreams had just started for Hikigaya, who is now pedalling his bike towards his school. After Yukinoshita and Yuigahama finally knew of the video, he hesitantly let them keep the DVD in the club room as he felt that keeping it in their house would only have a negative vibe in their environment especially that it involves him. And I wouldn't want that in our house and most specially near my cute imouto.
After parking his bicycle in the usual place, he then activated his Hikki Stealth ability and weaved through the large crowd of students in the hallway. After almost five minutes in surveying his way into their school corridor, he finally reaches their Class 2 – F room and from there, he enters. Just like yesterday, it was just the same. Hayato and Miura's clique is on another corner of the room laughing endlessly, Saki is near them looking aimlessly at the window, and…
"Hachiman!"
"Yahallo, Hikki!"
"Yo…" Hikigaya blandly greeted as he waves at Totsuka and Yuigahama, who had just both entered the classroom.
"Are you fine, Hikki? By the way, we'll have another meeting with Hiratsuka-sensei later in the club room. Let's go together there." The ditzy girl said as she then joins Miura's group and began to laugh as well. Sometimes, I wonder how she was able to laugh immediately when she just got there.
After Totsuka has gotten into her—I mean his—seat, Hikigaya then calmed himself down as he opens his phone in search for some music to play while Hiratsuka hasn't arrived yet. He then selects a punk song and was about to doze off when suddenly, a familiar voice called him out.
"Neh, Hikitani-kun, I see that you have gone to school today…"
Hikigaya turned up his head to see Hayama walking towards his desk. "Hayama…what do you want?"
"Nothing, it's just that we've heard some interesting things that happened in your club room." Hayama smiled so much that it sickened the guy with fish eyes so much. "Just out of curiosity, what is your relationship with those guys?"
"Huh? Who are you referring to?" However, Hikigaya had an inkling on who the blonde was pertaining to.
"Ah…I mean those guys that casually entered the service club room. I don't know any of them personally but I was surprised to see this Kise Ryouta-kun being one of them…"
Oh, yeah right. Kise's a model so it's not surprising he would be recognized immediately. His fangirls aren't just a pain. They're all fake and toxic. Hikigaya thought as he said. "Yeah, I kinda know them. Why are you curious all of the sudden? It's not like you would gain something by knowing my relationship with them."
"Mah…mah…don't be so mean right now, Hikitani-kun." Hayama chuckled. "But to hear someone like you play for Teiko…"
"Hayama." Hikigaya's voice dripped with venom. "I don't want to talk about it again. Just drop it."
"I…I see…" The blonde somewhat apologetically nodded as Hiratsuka has finally entered the classroom.
After their first subject, they were all given a free pass to do what they had to do for the rest of the day and this meant that they'll have to go to the service club room. By "they" it means that he, Yuigahama, and Hiratsuka would be going together to the service club room for that meeting. As they were all walking to the hallway, Hiratsuka was speaking to Hikigaya.
"Hikigaya, about what that red head psychopath said, so it's true you played basketball at Teiko?" The teacher asked in curiosity. "That you became an all-star and was one of the very best players back then…"
Hikigaya flinched as it seems that the Teiko topic that he had kept secret for so long was beginning to get leaked out. It wasn't that he's fond of keeping secrets, but circumstances in life just made him had to keep it until the time was right to reveal it. His history in Teiko was one of few that he chose to keep to himself, other than his confession to Orimoto Kaori in their middle school in Chiba in third year. He and the other six might be scattered to seven schools but they were once an ultimate team that carved their history as the best of the best. If any outsider knew, they may have called the Generation of Miracles as sentimental fools. But deep down, they just couldn't help it. They were in the new team in high school, but there would be always a line they draw that separates them as alumni of Teiko. That might be the last selfish shred of comradeship they had left that tied them together as a team. Even if the memories within it continue to haunt Hikigaya to this day.
"Yeah, it's true that I played with Teiko before coming home here in Chiba." The boy with rotten eyes finally replied as they finally reached the peaceful room of the Service Club.
Or that was the case until now…
The moment they has opened the sliding door, Hikigaya was very much surprised to see the Generation of Miracles plus Kuroko and Momoi talking with Yukinoshita and Isshiki, though the latter looked like she wanted to bolt out of this right now as she was currently facing Aomine who was growling at her.
It looks like that the five prodigies were arguing non-stop with Yukinoshita while Kuroko and Momoi were trying to defuse the now-heated situation. Kagami isn't with them right now.
"I already told you that Hikigaya-kun's will not be available since we have more important things to do this day." Yukinoshita said with her steely voice now icier than ever as she faces against Akashi, who seemed unfazed.
"The hell with that!" Aomine shouted as he almost pushed out Isshiki in his path. "Hikigaya's our teammate and we had the right to speak to him!"
"B-b-b-but senpai isn't around…" Isshiki stuttered and seeing the sight of his kouhai getting frightened, Hikigaya knew that at the very least, he can't simply watch all of this happening while doing nothing so he didn't need to wait for his sensei to say something and immediately, he then entered the scene. His sudden appearance silenced both parties and once all the attention has been centered to him, he then began to speak loudly.
"Will everyone one of you Teiko freaks just shut up?" He said in a cold and steely voice that again surprised everyone who knew him but didn't know much about his past with the Generation of Miracles. "I'll say it once again. I won't join you. I'm now a student here in Sobu. I'm no longer Teiko's substitute guard. I'm no longer Akashi's stupid dog. I'm no longer your teammate. That's the past. That's why you better stop telling me right now to join you all. Only Kuroko and Kagami deserve such extravagant wish from me and so is Momoi."
Midorima then pushed up his glasses as he spoke. "Hikigaya, what did we even do to endure this travesty that we're experiencing right now? If you still haven't move on from that game in our second year…"
"Shut up…" Hikigaya muttered loudly, now beginning to shake as his body temperature becomes cold.
"Midorima's not even done speaking yet, Hikigaya so don't…" Akashi tried to warn him right now but on that moment, they didn't expect to step on a landmine as the man with rotten eyes exploded.
"I said shut up!" To Yukinoshita's surprise, this was her first time to see their club mate shout in anger. Yesterday seemed to be just some form of warm up. "Damn you! Damn you all! I said I'm not joining you all!"
"Hi-Hikigaya…" Akashi stammered as he then tried to take control of the situation. "I'm sorry if this is how you feel…"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry! After you treated me as something lower than trash, the only thing you can say is 'I'm sorry' Akashi?" Hikigaya retorted back as he was already losing it. "Don't act as if I don't know what you were all saying behind my back when I was gone! Dammit! I hate you all!" As he began to cry again, he then storms out of the club room and began running towards the rooftop of the school, leaving behind his former Teiko team, Hiratsuka, Isshiki, and the Service Club crew.
All of them did not know what to do at that time. The five rainbow prodigies just stood there gaping like fishes that got pulled out of the water. Kuroko was very frozen at his spot while Momoi covered his mouth in an attempt to stop crying. They just stand there and watch the door open wide. They were all in the state of shock. Surprisingly, Yuigahama was the first one who recovered first and quickly glared at Akashi, who was taken aback by her actions.
"Do you all have any idea what you did to Hikki?!" Yuigahama wasn't even afraid of the red head as she ranted. "After what you did to him! You all don't know how much he cried last night to us because of that very malicious conversation you all had that was recorded on a video recording in a disc!"
"Wha-what conversation? What video recording?" Kise asked in bewilderedness as he had no idea (or rather, he forgot) about that certain meeting they had three years ago.
"What are you saying, you airhead? What conversation? What tape?" Midorima said. He wasn't aware that their conversation back in their third national championship game was recorded in a camera just inside the locker room.
"Huh? You don't know?" Yuigahama said with a confused look in her tone and facial features. "And stop calling me an airhead!"
"We wouldn't be here if we have any idea." Akashi said but he was suddenly showing sign of instability.
"Just tell us. Why is Hiki-chin mad at us?" Murasakibara inquired, hoping to get some answer.
"This is a private matter for us now. It's within my rights not to tell you." Now, Yukinoshita stepped forward and denied them the knowledge that they want to know about Hikigaya's sudden outburst.
"I'll go to Hikki!" Yuigahama said all of the sudden as she ran to the open door and disappeared.
The Generation of Miracles then just stood there for few more minutes, all thinking what should they do now. But they were all having the same conclusion in their minds.
Yukinoshita and that airhead knows something about this.
"I see…I'm sorry Hikigaya. I'm truly am." Akashi broke the silence as out of the blue, he suddenly knelt down on the floor and began to weep as he covers his face. The rest of the cagers and Momoi all watched him with stunned expressions as they can't believe what they were witnessing. This is the first time that they had seen Akashi—the Red Emperor, the all-knowing, the merciless captain of Teiko and Rakuzan—kneel down and cry unashamedly.
"Akashi. Please stand up." Midorima calmly said. He just can't stand seeing that their former captain is in that kind of situation despite all the shit that they had gone through in their past.
"Aka-chin. It's okay. We'll eventually be able to talk with him again naturally." Murasakibara said while kneeling down to help him stand up properly.
"Akashicchi…" Kise whispered with a low and soft voice.
"Akashi…" Aomine called out while helping him stand up too.
"I'm sorry that this has to happen, Yukinoshita-san." Kuroko apologized and bowed deeply in front of the Ice Queen. The latter simply nodded in return. She knows the tealnette in front of her is one of the very few people that they can actually trust. "We should leave now." He then motions to Midorima. "Midorima-kun, me and Momoi we'll go ahead in the market to buy some supplies. You can all go ahead in the inn."
After that, the seven of them went outside and left the room.
Now, it was only Yukinoshita, Isshiki, and Hiratsuka, who sighs and said. "I didn't even know Hikigaya is very capable to project his emotions. Well, with those hooligans gone, I do hope we don't encounter trouble anymore. The meeting would proceed later on. Well, Yukinoshita, won't you go and follow Yuigahama there in the rooftop?"
"I'll do that." The black haired beauty nodded and was about to go outside when suddenly, Isshiki then spoke. "Uhm…senpai, what was that video they were talking about? I'm suddenly curious."
"Just get the CD there and watch it on your own. I have to attend to those two for the moment." Yukinoshita didn't have time to think and decided to give in to the sly fox's request. She then went outside to join her club mates while Hiratsuka went outside as well to go and attend to something else. Doing as what the Service Club president said, she found the CD in the table and decided to use the laptop of the club as she was very much curious to the death. What made senpai go off suddenly like that? And what is this video that they were talking about?
After the battery came to life, she then injected the CD and began watching the video.
After five minutes…
The video ended with a sound of a door banging shut loudly. Isshiki's foxy eyes just widened like saucers as she didn't expect what she had just watched. I knew that senpai had been shunned here in school but to be treated like that is totally unacceptable! She can't forget the face of a certain tanned man and a red head one as she slowly folds the laptop back and slowly put back the DVD in its right place.
"I know what to do! I'll make senpai go out with me in a date today and it'll be my treat!" But as she was about to go outside and go to the rooftop by herself, she suddenly felt a vibration on her phone. Grunting, she then fished out her mobile device and was frowning when she read the message.
"Ah…I have to do this as well…"
Isshiki received a text message from one of her officers stating that they need to have some supplies to replenish their stock of materials that was depleted because of the past Chrismas event, Cultural event, and other events that sorely used up majority of the student council's manpower and their resources. The foxy freshman and soon-to-be second year sighed as the responsibility dumped onto hers.
Oh well. I'm the president. Isshiki sighed as she realized that in order to do this, she had to go outside of the school to go to a nearby store that is selling school supplies. She sighed as she wanted to go to his dear Hikigaya-senpai to try and cheer him up. But the other senpais are already doing that and I have to focus on this task.
After securing a permission to go outside of the school, Isshiki didn't think twice and went immediately to the nearest store. Once she reached her destination, she began to fill her cart with gold and silver foils, crayons, brushes, glues, glitters, pins, scotch tape, scissors, and other essentials needed to eventually fill in their inventory at school. I just hope the school pays me back when I return. The cute kouhai said mentally as she was already in the cashier lane to pay for the things she bought.
By the time she was already walking out of the store, she was carrying two large bags of all the items purchased.
Walking while carrying such heavy load is no such hard task for someone like Hikigaya, who was used to such strenuous activity, and the Generation of Miracles, whose abnormal heights (save for Akashi lol) and their borderline superhuman strength is absolutely no joke, it's still a burden and a challenge for someone like Isshiki whose short height, slightly shorter than Yuigahama, is somewhat a curse to her. Nevertheless, she carried the two bags with pride in her job as the student council president as she remembers it was Hikigaya who set her up to become the president. She then smiled at that not-so-distant memory.
Reaching the gates of Sobu, that smile of hers didn't last long, however.
"Yo!" A familiar and somewhat rude and deep voice was heard calling out to her as Isshiki closed in her distance between her and the gates. It was at that moment when the first year president saw them.
All the five members of the Generation of Miracles are waiting just outside the gates of Sobu and it seemed that Kuroko and Momoi doesn't know about it as they went to the supermarket ahead of the group. Isshiki froze in her standing spot as one by one, Aomine, who called her out, Akashi, Kise, Midorima, and Murasakibara began to walk towards her, effectively sealing every escape routes she can take.
"Do you have a moment?" Aomine then added as he blocking her way.
"Sorry senpais but I don't have." Isshiki replied back without hesitation. The moment she personally met this five basketball prodigies, she knew there is no way she could engage them in a verbal tussle or violence but it was her Hikigaya that was at stake here. She can't bear to watch them in video badmouthing her senpai.
"We're just here to talk." Midorima pushes up his glasses as he held a rubber ducky as a lucky item prescribed by Oha-Asa.
"Well, I'm not here to talk." Isshiki replied back as she almost rolled her eyes because of them. Her tone, however, caught the attention of Akashi, who was beginning to doubt the sincerity of her words.
"Please! Just please!" Kise began to plead. "Just a minute! It won't take that long." The blonde was basically begging right now.
"I already told you senpais. I don't have time to talk with you as I still had some other things to attend to." Isshiki kept up a tough façade as she drags her groceries.
"Neh, Aka-chin, what should we do?" Murasakibara whispered as he watches the tiny Isshiki try to get away from their sight. "She doesn't want to talk."
"She will and she shall speak to us." Akashi said darkly as his Emeperor Eyes blazed towards the now moving Isshiki. "Maybe she knows something perhaps?" He said as he thought to himself. Based on her actions, it's obvious. As I thought, she know something. She should and shall spit it all out or else...
All of the sudden, Akashi walked towards her and forced her to stop moving by forcibly spinning her around as he grabbed her shoulder. Isshiki's honey eyes suddenly met with Akashi's blazing red eyes.
"For someone who has nothing to do with our past, you seemed to be pretty tight-lipped." Akashi snarled as Isshiki began to shake in nervousness though she remained calm. "You know something right? It's about Hikigaya, isn't it?" Akashi said or more like, demanded to her.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about…" Isshiki replied back, now trying not to be scared with the former captain of Generation of Miracles.
"When I said you know something…you know something…" Akashi said as his patience is already tipping lower. His dark aura starting to leak out of him as Isshiki then began to shiver more and eventually, she was finally forced to speak.
"Fine! Yes, I know something!" Isshiki decided to speak out.
"Then spit it out." Midorima said as he began to get irritated with the clumsy student council president.
"The DVD…" The younger girl stuttered as she found herself being shadowed by the miracles, four of them standing more than six feet.
"DVD…?" Aomine asked as he rages mentally. What in hell is that video tape all about anyway?
"Come to think of it, that girl…what was her name…Yuigahama-kun? She also said something about a video tape or a DVD." Kise now joins in.
"What's so special about it?" Murasakibara drawled though for the rare moments time in his life, he thought about something else besides his maiubo and potato chips.
"Eh? You all don't know?" Isshiki eyed them, quite confused. They should know it, right? They were the ones speaking in the video, after all.
"We wouldn't be here if we know, right?" Akashi said but as he tried to squeeze an answer out of Isshiki, something else is gripping in his mind. He was somehow beginning to feel cold sweat as something else is disturbing his heart.
Damn it! Just when every one of us is already back to their normal selves, I never thought this will happen.
"I expected that you will all return here but not in this way that is so unpleasant and barbaric."
Everyone suddenly stopped doing what they are doing right now and turned to the source of the voice. Much to their surprise, it was someone they had met yesterday.
It was none other than Yukinoshita Yukino.
"Hiratsuka-sensei was actually the one who ordered her to buy this stuff that would be used to refill out school inventory." Yukinoshita began to speak as she held out a package in her right hand. "However, she didn't return early so I was requested to check on her and this is what I found." She frowned as her blue eyes steeled. "Akashi, I never expected myself to use this kind of language but…" She inhaled and exhaled deeply as she knew what she was about to say is probably the most unexpected thing to come out of her. "All of you are bastards."
"Who do you think you are?!" Aomine roared at her, not like the Ice Queen is afraid of a beast without much of a common sense. "You're the bastard here! Not us! You're the one trying to separate us from our former teammate!" Aomine shouted at pale-skinned beauty.
Yukinoshita casually walked in front of their team to help and defend Isshiki, who looked like she was ready to cry.
"First and foremost, I don't want to hear such outrageous comments coming from you." Yukinoshita narrows her eyes towards the tanned ace. "Secondly, I'm not the one who's being recorded on the tape while saying unforgivable things towards his former teammate, right?"
"Could somebody just tell us what in the world is so special about the video that you were all talking about?!" Midorima shouted, much to their surprise. The Shutoku ace is a calm and composed person. But he couldn't help it anymore. In fact, they all couldn't. They hit their limit about this tape.
"Fine…you want it?" Yukinoshita glared at them as she throws the package containing the DVD in the ground. "Here, take it. I do hope you all reflect on your actions while watching it."
"Are going to give it to them? What about senpai? Will he gets mad if we give it to them?" Isshiki asked.
"No. Hikigaya-kun said it himself to give this tape to this brainless idiots here." Yukinoshita replied, not even thinking about the language she used this time. The two of them now left the scene, with the older teen carrying one bag to lessen the pressure on Isshiki.
Akashi watched them walk away as Aomine picks up the package. The truth is…he already know what is the tape all about. He had a suspicion that there's a video camera there in the room that was probably set up to spy on them but he ignored it on purpose. Why? Because he thought to himself that this is nothing more than some kind of a paparazzi trying to get a closer look on them.
But it seemed that for this time, he was wrong.
He didn't expect this tape to resurface while they were all trying to genuinely fix their broken relationship with Hikigaya…and to some extent, Kuroko.
After the incident at the gates in Sobu, Akashi and his four other teammates were on their way back into the inn to view the tape that was given to them unceremoniously by Yukinoshita. Upone reaching the gates of the inn, they discover that the Seirin team was still busy doing their drills as Kagami was nowhere to be found. It seemed that he was in the showers as they all heard from Furihata afar that he accidentally fell into a pit full of rotting food stuff while he was jogging so he had to wash himself thoroughly again. While normally, this would make Aomine laugh, he didn't even found the strength to chuckle as they were all busy trying to figure out what was this tape all about.
They went in a larger living room of the inn with a big flat screen television set, a larger couch that could fit them all, and rows of chairs. Akashi was silently glad that Kuroko and Momoi aren't still around as they might still be in the supermarket.
"Well should we proceed?" Akashi said as he was setting up the DVD player and the television.
The Generation of Miracles just nodded as they all began to sit in the sofa. Murasakibara, thought, decided to seat in a separate chair despite the size of the couch as he fel uncomfortable just to sitting between Kise and Aomine. Feeling comfortable on the couch as he sits beside Midorima, Akashi put the DVD in one of video tape player just under the big flat screen television and once it started to play, they all kept quiet.
It was already night time when the Nationals championship for the middle schools has ended. As usual, Teiko has steamrolled past Meiko Chugakko but this time, it was more awful than last year's match against Shoei as the Generation of Miracles, by this time already unparalleled in terms of strength, simply toyed around their opponents. They even fixed the score at 111 – 11 with Aomine being the last one to score the defining shot—the shot that would shatter the hearts of Meiko's valiant boys as it was a shot in Teiko's own goal. After that, Ogiwara Shigehiro disappeared from the gymnasium while Kuroko, in tears, also disappeared in search for his best friend. Once they were in the locker room, the rest of the GoM began to change their clothes in a quiet way as if this championship is barely anything of value.
"Tch, what another boring game," Aomine said with a boring tone as he drinks his Gatorade, "I hope Akashi's happy with his decision to fix the goddamn score. That was very hard to do, you know! I could have just scored more than what was required so we can just steal the game from the beginning."
"I can't believe that I'm saying this but I actually agree on Aomine on this one," Midorima said with a bitter taste in his tongue, "It's not even worth of my time. Why did I even play anyway when I can't even get into my usual number of shots?" He complained while holding a make-up kit as a lucky item.
"Ara…Because Aka-chin said so and it's not like we can do anything," Murasakibara said in a lazy voice while munching his Maiubo snacks.
"Hahahaha! Midorimacchi, what's up with the make-up kit?" Kise suddenly burst into laughter as he was holding into his chest, "Don't tell me you are becoming gay?"
"Shut up Kise!" Midorima angrily shouted at the blonde copycat, "Today's Oha-Asa recommended a makeup kit as lucky item for Cancers on this day!" He pushes up his glasses in annoyance.
"By the way, has anyone of you had seen Kuro-chin?" Murasakibara said in-between his munching as he scans the area, "I haven't seen him anyway."
"Tch…Who cares about Tetsu anyway," Aomine muttered in irritation as he crushed the plastic bottle in his hands, "He's as worthless as that feeble Hikigaya…"
"Aominecchi, your mean," Kise tries to reprimand him, "And why are you talking about Hikigayacchi when he's not even—"
"Not that I care about for those two fools but I saw Kuroko running outside of the gymnasium," Midorima harrumphed as he seats in the chair, "I saw him trying to chase after one of Meiko's players. It must be the Ogiwara person he was talking about."
"Aren't we a little mean to his friend?" Now, Kise tried to stop his fellow Miracles from saying anything that is bad, "I mean, I know it's normal for us to win but I think Kurokocchi seems to be a little down right now and do we really have to even bring up Hikagayacchi?"
"Of course, Ryouta," A familiar fifth voice said while opening the locker room door. "Because winning is important, Ryouta. Keep that in mind." Akashi smirked as his heterochromatic eyes blazed.
"Aka-chin, is the interview over all ready?" The purple-headed center asked impatiently as he chews another pack of snacks, "I still need to go home to buy more snacks."
"Yes, Atsushi," Akashi smiled smugly as he seats down on the chair and faces his fellow prodigies, "Now that we're nearing High School, why don't we talk about someone or rather, two of them, that is not present here."
"Two? Is it Tetsu and Hikigaya? What about them?" Aomine angrily mutters, "If you're going to talk about the two of them, I better leave. I don't have time to listen about a shit player who can't even play decently and Hikigaya who's too naïve. No, I'll count him as trash or even shittier in person than Tetsu."
"Aominecchi…" Kise was very much shocked to hear their ace saying such rude things to their teammate, including Hachiman, "That's not true..."
"Shut up Kise. Aomine is spot on for once." Midorima cut off the small forward, "Why does Kuroko need to stay in basketball club anyway? He could have just went with Hikigaya off to who knows where to. Kuroko can't even shoot and Hachiman's only as strong as the Uncrowned Generals. Those fools really are a match made from heaven." He said this with a sarcastic tone.
"How harsh, Mido-chin," Murasakibara commented, "But does Kuro-chin knows that we are only using him as a substitute player when where tired? I mean, if he isn't aware of that, then he is already too much of a fool than what he is now."
"Yes, Atsushi. He knows." Akashi replied to their center, "He is aware of his own limitations and usefulness as a player. We all know that we don't need Tetsuya now. We don't need a player who can't even score at his own. He can disappear as good as Hachiman, whom I don't even know what happened to that imbecile. Perhaps, he is there outside lamenting his own misfortune on not even leveling up to our standards."
"But still, Kurokocchi is our passing specialist and Hikigayacchi was our former teammate." Kise, despite the intimidation coming from their captain, decided to stand up once for the two, "We can't let my mentor quit the basketball club. We already lost Hikigayacchi—"
"Can you just shut up, Kise?!" Aomine roared, causing the blonde to clam up and bow his head, "For me, you can now deem those two idiots as garbage. I don't even need Tetsu anymore. I'm stronger than anyone else. He plays for shit."
"Aomine, your language please." Midorima reprimanded their tanned ace, "Keep it in place while were still here."
"What's wrong with what I said? I'm just stating a fact, right?" Aomine shrugged as he slings his duffel bag in his shoulders, "Admit it Midorima. You and I are not the only ones who think it's not even worth mentioning those two. Maybe everyone in this room thinks the same thing."
After his statement and a moment of silence, everyone nodded, sans Kise who just decided to keep quiet and bowed his head. Akashi also agreed to Aomine's statement as he lets out a smirk.
"I'm honestly surprised about how Mine-chin finally said something smart for once in our group meetings." Murasakibara took a low jab at the power forward's intellectual capacity.
"Hey!" Aomine shouted angrily, "What did you just said, Murasakibara?! You bastard!"
"Daiki, stay in your place." Akashi warned their ace, "Don't start violence here or you will wake up one morning with your tongue detached from your vulgar mouth." He made his threat clearly by displaying his scissors.
Aomine grumbled as he kept quiet.
"Such a fool." Midorima huffed as he faces their captain, "So Akashi what are you going to do with Kuroko? You're the one who discovered his powers in the first place. And why do we have to bring up Hikigaya when it was already established that he isn't even worth remembering for in the first place."
"Nice question, Shintaro." Akashi smiled smugly as he fold his hands in the desk, "I just thought that since we have become too strong, we would all go to separate high schools and in the process, we would be competing against each other to see who is the strongest of us five. It just came to my mind that Hachiman won't probably compete in the Interhigh. Kuroko would join this battle but his style won't win help him win at all."
"How about we let Kuro-chin suffer?" Murasakibara offered as he kept eating his potato chips, "Kuro-chin is weak after all, just like how weak Hiki-chin is."
"Not to mention how stupid their love for basketball is."Aomine added, "The moment he told us how he felt over our game last year against Shoei, Hikigaya can just roll over and die. Does he thinks we would chase him when he leaves off for somewhere in the middle of nowhere? Only ignorant people would do that."
"Well that's true but you're too harsh, Aominecchi…" Kise said as he wanted to add something else but seeing the face of their captain, who gave him the stink eye, he decided to just keep quiet and just go with the flow.
"Think what you will, Ryouta." Akashi said as he drinks his own sports bottle, "Tetsuya and Hachiman can now be compared to a trash—no, worse than trash."
"Can we all go home now?" Murasakibara complained like a child, "I don't have snacks right now and I'm already hungry, Aka-chin."
"Murasakibara is right. Let's just go home and leave Tetsu behind. I want no part in anything that involves him right now." Aomine said while standing up and opening the door.
After that, finally they leave the locker room and head out of the gymnasium.
As the video finally stopped playing, no one dared to move or even say a word as their eyes are as big as plates. They were all too stunned to even do something as they finally realized what made Hikigaya Hachiman so mad at them. And to make it worse, it was only through this video that four of them finally remembered this one moment in their darkest history in Teiko Middle High School.
And shit, we even said such things to Kuroko…
"The…heck…did I said…" Aomine can only stutter as he was wishing right now that this was only a dream, thought apparently, it wasn't.
"I can't believe I said that…" Murasakibara whispered but since no one was talking, everyone heard him.
We didn't mean what we said!
"Judging by your facial expression, it seemed that you were the least surprised, Akashi." Midorima tried to stay calm but deep inside him, he felt angry at himself for saying such things to Hikigaya. "By some chance, you must have at least known the existence of this video."
"Yes…" Akashi replied loudly, his tone feeling with regret. "I knew all along that our conversation was being recorded all along…" He wasn't able to finish his words as all of the sudden, Aomine suddenly got filled with wrath and he quickly grabbed Akashi in his shirt while pushing him towards the wall.
"Akashi, you bastard!" The Touou ace shouted as fury can be seen in his dark blue eyes.
"Aomine/Aominecchi, calm down!" Midorima and Kise tried to pacify the raging power forward by grabbing his arms but they ended up failing.
"Dammit! Damn you, Akashi! Damn you, you freaking bastard!" Aomine didn't let up. "You! It all your fault! If you said our conversation is being recorded, I should have just shut my mouth back then!" He said in pure anger both to Akashi and to himself.
"And what, Aomine?! Do you think that if I said our conversation is being record, you would stop thinking about Kuroko and Hikigaya being like a trash back then?!" Akashi finally roared back. "Or a weak person?! It's not my only fault, to begin with! It's your fault as well! I'm not the only one talking there! No! We all did! We all said something not good!" Akashi shouted back at Aomine, who dramatically drop him on the ground when he realized the validity of his Teiko captain's point.
"What's going on here, Aomine-kun, Akashi-kun?" The voice of Kuroko suddenly made them jump as it he and Momoi had just returned from the supermarket buying some essentials. The two entered and were quite confused at what is now happening. "Anou…did something happen?"
Instead of answering his question directly, Kise, who was close to crying, then wailed. "You know guys…I might be the only one who haven't said anything bad but this does not exonerate me from the fact that I didn't do anything to stop this conversation from happening. I'm going back to Sobu! I'll apologize to Hikigayacchi! I don't care about what you'll all say but I wanted to make it all right!" After that, he ran out of the inn.
"I'm going with you as well!" Aomine declared as he followed Kise.
"I need to clear things up with Hikigaya, and Kuroko too…" Midorima said as he followed the two. Kuroko raised his eyebrows at what the left-handed shooter said.
"Aka-chin, let's meet Hiki-chin, neh? Let's go and talk to him." Murasakibara said as he help his former Teiko captain stand up.
"Neh, Yukinon, Hikki. Now that we're all fine, why don't we all hang out today. It's still early and we're lucky to be dismissed early!" Yuigahama said rather cheerily as Yukinoshita was busy serving Hikigaya, who is now back to his own rotten normal self, a hot tea. They had just finished a meeting with Hiratsuka and that involves another school activity tomorrow despite the fact that this is the last day of their life as a second year. And to top it off, tomorrow happened to be Saturday, a day where Hikigaya would choose to laze off.
As this nonsensical conversation was being held at the Service Club today, I, Hikigaya Hachiman, was sipping some tea from my Pan-san tea cup and trying to calm relax right now. I didn't know what it was, but I couldn't just calm myself down due to Yuigahama's mouth. It seemed for some reason, this girl wanted to go to some new store near our school. It opened about three months ago, she said, and she hadn't had the opportunity to go. Now, she hoped for Yukinoshita and me to accompany he there. None of my body cells but like even moving there and honestly, I was beginning to think that her patting me in the head while I was crying with all my heart's content was just a pretext for this nonsense.
"Yukinonnnn, Hikkiiii, let's hang out!"
''Yuigahama-san…''
I must say, friendships like these one in front of me are surely beautiful. My heart is already warming up. For a loner like me, such a life was already out of question though but it didn't matter. As long as I have my cute little sister Komachi and perhaps, a leather basketball, I can overcome any hardship.
Wait…speaking of that, what happened to Kuroko and company…
"Hikki! I know you needed new basketball sneakers!" Yuigahama suddenly surprised Hikigaya with her sudden new tactic to lure him in. "I saw that the one you used Wednesday night is already old and dusty so why don't we buy you now?"
"Oi! What kind of non-sense are you saying this time?!" Hikigaya was taken aback. "My Fly Wades are still working fine and I'm not even sure if lowercut Jordans are available there…" Crap, now I sounded like some kind of a rich kid…
"H-Hikki that's precisely why we should go out!" Yuigahama was adamant. "We don't know until we look for it. Don't worry, we will have plenty of fun together!"
Someone please tell Yuigahama to stop phrasing things that can lead to a misunderstanding…
"Yuigahama, a loner like me has no use in going to some store. I don't want to spoil the mood." Hikigaya was stubborn.
"There you go again, saying things like that, Hikki! Can you please go with me? I want you two to go with me!"
Given those sudden words, Hikigaya was at a loss of what to say. He could always reject her invitation but he really didn't want to turn down that childish behavior. It seemed she managed to activate one of his 108 skills.
"Whatever, I don't have anything to do this afternoon, I guess I'll go with you for this time." Hikigaya finally gave in as he sighed.
"Really?! Thank you Hikki!" Yuigahama said as she was ecstatic.
"I guess I'll too, Yuigahama-san. We don't know what Hikicreepy-kun can do when you two are alone." Yukinoshita said with reddening cheeks in her face.
"I'd rather not say anything for now. Let's all go then." Hikigaya said as they all stand up to get their things. But as they were now about to get out of the room, the sliding door suddenly opened faster and it startled them to no end. But more than that…
"Hikigayacchi! We need to talk!"