Last one of Yume-Generation of Miracles interactions! Next chapter is finally Gakuensai, and besides meeting Kuroko, there's also a reappearance of certain characters! Look forward to it! Yes, the story is finally moving onwards~!

To RoaringDragon99: Hi there! Well, actually 'shy' isn't a word I would use to describe Yume. She is kind of shy, yes. But it's more like she keeps to herself rather than interacting with her peers more than necessary. If you notice, she talked to Momoi just fine in their first meeting. So instead of being less shy, I'd say she'd be more bold in socialising? I can't say for Highschool arc now, when the story is still in the 1st year arc, it's about to enter the 2nd year arc, but honestly.. Aomine or Akashi, eh? Sure, why not see what I can do about it? XD Anyway, thanks a lot for reading and reviewing!

Pairings : Undecided

Warnings : Teikō Middle School Days.

Disclaimer : I own only the OCs.


Chapter 21 - A word spoken can never be taken back

After about an hour of prepping and cooking, the dinner table is filled with appetising dishes with enticing smells, all courtesy of the cook.

Despite living alone, the dinner table is unusually wide, but it suits the spacious room. It's rectangle-shaped with six seats; three on each sides, with no centre seat.

The table comes with two other seats to be placed in the centre, but Yume thinks they're only a waste of space since she usually only uses one, three if her grandparents ever come for a visit.

A bowl of rice is placed in front of each seat, along with a plate filled with karaage, sauteed spinach and shrimp balls. There's an additional plate of Teriyaki burger in front of Aomine, and Squid ink pasta in front of Murasakibara.

For seconds, there're also bigger plates with each dishes on the middle of the table with the exception of Aomine's and Murasakibara's specially requested dishes, and lastly a pot of tofu soup on the stove.

"Yume, you're the best! This is the best Teriyaki burger after Kaa-chan's!" Aomine gushed, spitting rice with every words spoken.

Some landed on Midorima's cheek, and that irritates him. "Eat and don't talk, Aomine. You're spitting rice everywhere!" he snarled.

The seating arrangement is , Aomine, Midorima, Murasakibara then on the other side, facing Murasakibara is Akashi, then Momoi, finally Yume. Aomine has to turn diagonally to speak to the brunette, thus Midorima's misfortune.

"Cashier-chin is the best. This is delicious. Will you cook me this everyday?" Murasakibara slurped his pasta happily, his eyes sparkling.

Yume sweat dropped. "Err.. Thank you for the compliments, Daiki-kun, Murasakibara-kun.. But everyday is a bit..." she trailed off unsurely.

Of course not. How can Yume cook for the purple giant every single day? Not to mention he's still calling her with that nickname. After this, she has to make sure Murasakibara calls her name properly.

"I agree with Aomine and Murasakibara, Manai-san. These are delicious. I especially like the tofu soup." Akashi smiled after he took a sip of the soup, he appears satisfied.

The decision not to add seaweed is the right one. He wouldn't like it with seaweed, and the taste would be quite different. Akashi is satisfied, and Yume could only twitched a smile at him.

"Aww! You're so good, Yuu-chan! Can you teach me sometimes? Dai-chan always says I suck at cooking!" Momoi whined as she pouted, all the while glaring at her childhood friend who flinched.

The table goes quiet as they all think of a reply to that remark. Everyone knows that the pinkette is hopeless when it comes to making edible food. Her cooking is so awful that it's hardly edible.

Honestly, the boys just can't help but to compare the differences in skill between the two girls. It's almost as if one is the unreachable sky, and the other is the land they walk on.

"L-Let's cook together sometime, Sat-chan.." Yume tried to be pleasant about the suggestion, smiling while dreading inwardly.

That's enough to appease the girl, and everyone went back to their plates, making occasional conversations as they eat.

When dinner is done, with all plates finished up, Yume put the dishes into the dishwashing machines, seeing as she has lots of them today. She doesn't normally use them, but tonight's an exception.

"Na, Yume? Can I explore around?" that was Aomine, who's already half-way the stairs to 2nd floor.

"Mm, I don't mind, Daiki-kun!" she answered from the kitchen. "Everyone can walk around too, there's no off-limit, so please feel free." Yume smiled encouragingly at the group.

As soon as she said that, Midorima and Akashi said something about wanting to check the study room. They learned of its existence during dinner.

"Cashier-chin, can I use your kitchen to bake a cake? I want dessert." Murasakibara loomed over her, but he's pleading, not threatening.

This is her chance. "You can, Murasakibara-kun. But please call me by my name." Yume placed her condition smoothly.

"Okay. Mana-chin." Murasakibara agreed immediately. His sweets are on the line, so he accepts nearly everything.

Finally. Yume pats herself on the back for her accomplishment. No longer will she hear that weird nickname in use, and there'll be no head turning at her after hearing that. She experienced that back in the grocery shopping, and it embarrassed her.

"Can I watch, Mu-kkun?" Momoi spoke hopefully, her eyes gleaming with interests.

The brunette can see that the male hesitates, but nods anyway. "..Okay.. but Momo-chin just watch, okay?" he reasoned cautiously.

Another one with issue regarding names is Momoi. The giant has been calling her 'Momo-chin' when in fact her name is Momoi. Then again, Yume is called 'Mana-chin' despite being Manai. Both lacking one syllable.

"I'll be checking on Daiki-kun and the rest." Yume smiled as she excused herself up the stairs.

Murasakibara starts on his cake as Momoi keeps a watchful eye on his movements, the ingredients he uses, and all to burn it into her memory so she can recreate said product.

The first person she sees after stepping into the 2nd floor is Aomine, who is sprawled on the carpeted lounge area with an excited expression plastered on his face.

"Daiki-kun? What are you doing?" Yume questioned in slight confusion. She can see that the boy enjoys the place, but she doesn't know why.

"Oh, Yume!" Aomine exclaimed when he noticed her. "This is great! Your TV is huge, too! Do you have any games? It'll be awesome to play in such large screen!" he continued to gush with excitement.

Yume feels almost sorry to break the news. "..I'm sorry. I don't normally play games, so I don't have one." she looks apologetic.

His expression fell at that, his shoulders slumped. Then within the minute, he bounced back. "Oh, well. I guess that's you. I'll just bring the games next time." Aomine grinned.

The brunette blinks. "Next time..?" she echoed in disbelief, but not disapproving. "You're coming again, Daiki-kun?"

"'course! We're friends, aren't we?" Aomine answered like it's an obvious matter. He's not offended at her question, since he can tell that she doesn't dislike the idea.

While surprising and unexpected, Yume is happy. A smile makes its way to her lips, and she nods at the male. "Mm. Thank you, Daiki-kun."

Although the start of their friendship is rather rough and half-forced, it doesn't seem as bad now. Both Momoi and Aomine are her friends now, not a friend-of-friend, but friends.

After she's done checking Aomine, Yume walks to her study room where the other two teens are. And as expected, Akashi and Midorima are currently browsing around, each with an open-book in hand.

"Manai-san." Akashi greeted her with a smile as he looked up from his reading, which is half-way done.

"Akashi-kun, Midorima-kun." Yume returned the greeting as Midorima inclined his head as his acknowledgement.

"You have quite the collections, Manai-san. Even I don't have some of these." Akashi spoke as he ran his eyes through the books on the shelves.

Most of the books on her study room are History-related, and most of them are in complete sets, some are even the rarest of the rare, and few are the some of the most ancients. It just so happens that History is Yume's favourite genre of readings.

"Mm. I love to read about History, so I collect some. The rest are hand-me-downs from my parents and grandparents." Yume confessed, a slight sadness crossed her limegreen orbs.

Akashi notices that, he's always one for details. "Parents and grandparents, huh..?" he parroted. "If I may, Manai-san. You're not living with either of them, are you?"

Yume stiffen at this, which of course doesn't escape the redhead's watch. "A-Ah.. yes. My grandma and grandpa are living in Kyoto, I transferred here this year." she smiled awkwardly.

"My parents..." she trailed of unsurely this time. For a moment, she looks almost lifeless. Then she smiles like nothing happened. "They are working abroad." she finished.

Midorima can feel the air turned awkward after Akashi's question, so he decided to help out the girl a bit. "Manai. Is your best subject History?" he diverted the topic.

He might not say it, but Midorima actually respects and admires the girl when he learned how she reviews lessons after school. She is a hard worker, he'll give her that. Yume even manages to beat him, once, but never again.

"Well, no, actually.." Yume smiled sheepishly, fiddling her fingers nervously. She is grateful for Midorima changing the topic, but she feels like... who knows?

"My best subject is Language." Yume replied after a slight pause. "Ancient and Modern Japanese Literature, Chinese Classical Literature, English Conversation and English Grammar. As long as they involve language." she listed each one.

"Oh, but my favourite subject is History. Both Japanese and World History." Yume smiled at the greenhead who twitched slightly.

It seems Akashi is impressed with her rather long list. He nods in approval. "It's amazing how you have lots of best subjects, Manai-san."

Coming from Akashi, that's indeed a compliment worth bragging about. But the opposite is also true. Because...

"What about Akashi-kun? What subjects are you best at?" Yume asked since it's natural to do so in the situation.

The redhead smiles amiably and confidently that it's almost irritating. "All of them." he spoke with no hesitation.

That's why. Yume doesn't say anything else, and Midorima opts to go back to his reading. The conversation ended at that.

Yume treads down the stairs and sees that the two teens are still at it in the kitchen. It's been a while, so she thought they might be about done.

"Finished." Murasakibara announced.

Momoi's peach orbs are glittering with joy and interest as she stares at the tasty-looking treat on the counter after Murasakibara's finishing touch.

One look is all it takes for Yume to understand Momoi's excitement. The cake Murasakibara baked looks perfect, nicely decorated, with fluffy whipped cream, glistening strawberry, and chocolate swirls sprinkled on the top.

"This... This is amazing, Murasakibara-kun!" Yume gasped at the masterpiece.

While Yume doesn't really bake, she knows that such cake doesn't come out of the kitchen everyday. This kind of cake is one straight-out from high-class patisserie!

"Do you want a taste, Mana-chin?" Murasakibara offered, which is surprising since he usually turns all mother-bear with her cubs when it involves sweets.

The offer is too sweet for Yume to refuse, so she nods and opens her mouth when Murasakibara lifts a spoonful of cake to her. Her eyes immediately lit up. The cake practically melts in her mouth!

The whipped cream is sweet and soft, the strawberry is a bit sour, but it matches the taste so as not to be overly sweet. The chocolate is a bit bitter, with a hint of sweetness. The sponge cake is fluffy and springy. It's the best cake she ever tasted.

"Murasakibara-kun..." Yume has her eyes closed from savouring the bite just now. Then she opens her eyes. "This is the best! Honest! I'm sure you'll make an amazing patissier!" she stared at him admiringly.

Murasakibara stares down at the girl since she is smaller, then he smiles as he starts patting her head wordlessly, confusing the latter.

Meanwhile, Momoi takes a bite for herself when the two are in their own world. She has the same reaction as Yume. "Mu-kkun, AMAZING!" she cheered.

Momoi looks at the boy with admiration and sparkling eyes. "Please teach me!" she pleaded enthusiastically.

That makes Murasakibara paused in his patting, and he stopped. "..It's too troublesome. No." he walked away to the dinner table with his cake.

"Eh?! Mu-kkun!" Momoi whined after the boy, who ignored her completely. She pouts.

On the other hand, Yume is still feeling a bit lost from the giant's unexpected behaviour. Are they even close enough to be patting one another? She honestly wonders about that.

Time passed, and it's now time for her guests to go home to their respective homes as it's already late. They are all now standing by the door, they insisted that Yume doesn't need to escort them down.

"I'll come again, Yuu-chan!" Momoi chirped happily, sharing a hug with her friend.

Aomine is all-grins as he ruffles the brunette hair slightly, which is a first. "I'll bring games next time!"

The experience is new to Yume, so she is kind of flustered inside. But it isn't a bad feeling, so she blushes instead, earning her a squeal and more hugs from Momoi.

"This book, are you sure I can borrow it, Manai?" Midorima asked as he holds a book in hand. It's from her study room.

Yume smiles at him. "It's okay, Midorima-kun. I don't mind. You can return it any time, I have finished reading it." she assured him.

Midorima nods at that. Maybe that means he can come for a visit sometime? It's not that he come to see her, it's the book that he wants to read. The books!

"Mana-chin, next time I'll bring a cake." Murasakibara smiled a bit too happy.

At the mention of cake, Yume has another thought instead. "Next time, let's bake a cake together, Murasakibara-kun." she looked up at him, smiling.

The purple giant appears to be surprised, but quickly nods. "Okay, if it's Mana-chin." he agreed.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Manai-san." Akashi smiled like the gentleman he is. "I'll be sure to come again." he said smoothly.

Amongst all promises to come again, Yume is most scared of Akashi's. So when he said that with a tone of certainty, she can't help but panicked internally.

"..alone." Akashi added with a smirk after noticing her inner conflict.

Yume's limegreen orbs almost popped out of its socket, while Aomine's jaw almost dropped to the floor at the redhead's bold remark. Momoi almost screamed. Almost.

"I'm just joking." Akashi chuckled with amusement, mischiefs dancing in his ruby eyes.

It's too late for Yume to regard it as a joke. Somehow, she is not under the impression that the redhead is just joking. Akashi and joke does not go together.

The shudders. Yume can't stop trembling with fear when she thought Akashi might not be joking after all. Dear Heaven above, please, as impossible as it sounds, make it that he's just joking.


So yeah, how is it?

Reviews are very much appreciated!

Next time, it's finally the Cultural Festival! What will be of Yume's responsibility as a Student Council member?