Should have posted this chapter earlier, but well… I'm more into reading than writing these days, it's kinda hard to gather my thoughts enough to actually type. I have the general plots ready, so I really only need to turn those into paragraphs. I'll try to write the next chapter and post it soon~!

To OneWhoReadsTooMuch: Hiya! Well, yeah. For Yume, 'love' is something she doesn't even consider, at least not now. And she is a bit socially awkward, so she still has to fix that first. Making friends, surrounding herself with people and perhaps joining some kind of club! Who knows?

To Silver Hydrangea: Thanks! Yume and Akashi, eh? Interesting? Absolutely. Possible? Not a chance. I don't think as of right now, Yume will see Akashi in romantic light. The boy scares her. She avoids any possible interactions with Akashi because she fears him and he never misses the chance to unnerve her. I think Yume will run at the first chance if Akashi was to say anything remotely close to confession. Really.

To fantasy.92: I wonder. I think Akashi sees Yume as a form of entertainment, a mystery to solve and someone to rattle. He is kind of sadistic like that. Akashi likes making her flustered and embarrassed most of the time, her naïvety and earnest reaction is probably what he likes most of her. At the moment though, I think Akashi sees Yume more as a possession than she is a person. Again, who knows?

To Queen. Ezra: The reason to that is because Kise is not yet affiliated to the basketball club. He is more of a school celebrity right now. Which is why Yume will only see him from time to time and will refrain from more than required interactions, so does Kise. As to answer your question, you can be sure if that was to happen, Yume will stay far far away from him because Kise attracts attention like sugar do ants.

Pairings : Undecided

Warnings : Teikō Middle School Days.

Disclaimer : I own only the OCs.


Chapter 34 - No one has ever become poor by giving

The fourth day of the meeting safely came to pass and a brunette could be found heading towards the school library after offering short farewells to her few acquaintances who were a redhead and a ravenette. It was merely courtesy of course, for she did the same to her fellow representatives attending the meeting.

A certain same-aged ravenette she had the pleasure to know wasn't excluded, and Miyazawa actually stole glances at her, appearing to have something to say. At the last moment when the brunette caught her gaze however, she blushed and turned away from the vicinity. Thus effectively cancelling whatever she had to say.

At this moment, she had deemed the occurrence to be common and simply derived slight amusement from the ravenette's blatant dismissal of her. It would take time for the girl to warm up to her because the Choir girl was simply too prideful. Although pride was a fragile thing, at least it would be one reason why said girl would carry herself with enough grace whenever the two had to work together. Failing was humiliating, that's why.

In a hurried pace, Yume returned the books she previously checked out from the library, opting not to borrow for the time being as she was pressed for the week but promising to do so later next week. To add to her list, she had her convenience store part-time work today. And she really couldn't afford to be late. Punctuality was regarded highly when you're an employee.

'Kuroko-kun wasn't in...' she noted as an after-thought. Whenever she stopped by the library, the babyblue-haired boy never failed to cross her mind.

'Ah. Kuroko-kun is in the basketball club too. He has practice,' she belatedly realised. Her image of the quiet boy was more of him in the peaceful place like the library than in the crowded gym.

Arriving at her workplace, she quickly changed to her work outfit and shifted in for the previous part-time worker, a university student in her 4th year, Suzuki Satomi. Who was lounging around the counter when she entered the convenience store.

"You're here on time as usual! Aren't you a good girl, Yume-chan?" the older girl stood up from beyond the counter to ruffle the brunette's hair adoringly. A usual scene in the store when the two were in.

Also as per usual, the younger girl huffs as she begins to push the older female out of the counter and towards the store's entrance. "Yes, I am. And Satomi-san should quicken her paces or she will be late to her class," she intoned tiredly.

In normal circumstances, Yume would have addressed the older girl by her family name, 'Suzuki-san' and she did the first few times until said woman thought it was too distant and stuffy, loudly declaring that she wouldn't respond if it wasn't her given name she was called. And since the older one was overly stubborn, she went along with it, albeit reluctantly.

"Hai, hai..." the university student let herself be pushed to the front door, nonchalantly waving back. "Young children these days... too strict with themselves...! There's nothing wrong with relaxing now and then," she mumbled, sulking as she walked further away.

With her colleague still within her hearing range, she heard what was said and while she agreed with relaxing once in a while, the problem here was, that Suzuki was too relaxed that she might have to go for another year at university because of her overly lax attitude.

There were three part-time workers here including Yume —excluding the manager —and out of them all, Suzuki was the one with the highest tardiness record despite being the oldest out of the three part-timers, something the manager never failed to point out during their monthly meeting.

A sigh escaped her lips as she shook her head lightly. At the rate the woman was going, she would land herself in various troubles in the near future. She needed to fix that overly lax nature of hers.

"...Can't I just skip tomorrow? It's a bother..." a certain purplehead voiced his annoyance.

Ah, yes. There was someone similar to Suzuki, a student of her own school. The part where they were unmotivated was especially alike and now she couldn't help but worry for his future. At least her friend Aomine still had something he was passionate about, even with a blockhead. Also, his personality was still easier in the eyes of society.

From the depth of her heart, she truly wished the purplehead would find something to love and strive for other then sweets, something he could make a living from. Well, perhaps with what glimpses she had of his talents in baking, he could still pass as a magnificent baker, so she supposed it was fine. She could only hope the cakes survived long enough to reach the customers.

Even then, she couldn't be sure of his working attitude. Murasakibara seemed like he'd rather be late than early, lazing around than working hard and he had... few screws loose that his socialising skills might be just a tad bit affected towards the negative side.

Cutting her thoughts short was the ringing of the bell, signalling the arrival of a customer. She raised her attention to greet said person, only for the words to stop in her throat and eyes blinking in bewilderment as she recognised the individual by the entrance.

"Kuroko-kun," she called his name, showing her surprise at his presence.

The boy's expression was blank —as it usually was— until his mystifying babyblue eyes landed on the brunette and widened. "Manai-san," he inclined his head.

Kuroko walked towards her, stopping by the counter she was at, "I didn't know you work here." He was a frequent customer to this convenience store and the male university student was usually the one to welcome him and rarely, the older female, also a university student. Yet never the brunette.

"Oh... I began soon after I was accepted into Teikō though," she replied sheepishly, light red covering her cheeks. She was curious why she had never seen him in before when due to distance reason, this convenience store received lots of Teikō's students.

"Right, why are here, Kuroko-kun? Don't you have... basketball practice?" she questioned with slight head tilt, confusion flashing in her eyes. He wasn't supposed to be here at this time and they both knew it.

A certain nervous tick he seemed to have and she noticed —rubbing his cheek with his index finger— appeared, earning him an imperceptible raise of her eyebrow. "I need to pick up some kinesio tapes, Manai-san. The club runs out of them and I offer to go since I need to replenish my own stock as well," he confessed.

'A manager's job', was her first thought. 'Weird,' being second.

She blinked once, but didn't question him further and instead, noted his knowledge. "It's a good thing you know we stock kinesio tapes, Kuroko-kun. Most convenience store don't," she smiled.

The girl made a turn towards the storage, leaving her customer by the counter as she searched for the specific box.

"I asked Ichikawa-san if he could order them. I have been a regular ever since," he answered. His gaze lingering on her back as she put aside another box which wasn't it.

'Ah, no wonder...' she hummed to herself. It's getting easier to talk to people these days, especially those she found agreeable and not-so-much-a-stranger.

Her senpai, Ichikawa Toshio, had talked about her schoolmate before; the basketball boy who asked for kinesio tapes in a convenience store. Perhaps she should have realised earlier, her senpai did mention how the boy was so pale that he almost blended with the background. She was actually the one to order the kinesio tapes, just enough to fulfil this customer's request since she doubted others thought of getting one in a convenience store.

There was the right box lying by the corner of the room and she picked it up, confirming what's inside and brought it to the counter before the boy. She pushed her fingers against the keyboard, and the screen flashed with the price, "That's ¥6250, Kuroko-kun."

Six paper bills of one thousands and few yen coins were handed to her and she placed them in the cashier. The small box the length of a textbook was given in return, properly in a bag.

Just for the sake of conversation, and curiosity as he wasn't about to leave straightaway, she asked, "Uh, do you always substitute the manager of your club to pick the tapes?" Because that just wasn't right, it was in manager's job description as far as she knew. His answer was something she didn't expect.

"The third string doesn't have a manager."

He spoke it so bluntly with a blank stare he was known for, taking the girl by surprise. And he knew so from her wide-eyed expression she gave him. "The third stringers have always been... an oddball, even if we are the same basketball club," he began so quietly. The next was smudged by an ounce of sadness.

"Perhaps it is due to the fact we are the outliers; ones who would never represent the school."

The way he described it, she didn't like it. The boys were sorted according to the differences in talent but certainly not effort. She knew, how Kuroko never missed a single day of practice if he could help it and he was passionate in pursuing his love for the sport.

And by having to go out of his way to pick up supplies like he's doing, he's missing out on the important practice time.

It didn't take long for her to decide.

"This is just a suggestion, Kuroko-kun... But, I can deliver whatever you need from our store to Third Gym?" she was a bit hesitant, unsure if this was fine. It was just a favour for a regular customer, nothing more, right...?

"W-We're both students of Teikō, see? I can take the supplies home the day before and gives it to you at school the next day," she stammered, heat creeping up her cheeks as she was getting more nervous as the seconds ticked by with no visible response from the boy.

He blinked. Again. "...I appreciate the offer," he began, about to refuse as he didn't want to trouble her. She recognised what he was going to say from his expression and cut into it.

"It's nothing much!" she squeaked, surprising even herself, the latter more as the red on her face darkened. "Y-You're a valued regular, Kuroko-kun and goods delivery is a compliment from us..." that was true, to a certain extent.

"Besides... I know how serious you are about basketball practice. I... don't want you to lose time for this," her voice softer and a quiet whisper, unable to held his gaze as her eyes wandered.

Silence filled the room. It was unnerving for the girl to say the least. But the boy finally graced her with the slightest smile, soft and gentle, the kind of smile that suited him most as it brightened up his whole demeanour and somehow he didn't appear like he would vanish any moment now.

"I really appreciate it," he thanked her with a grateful nod.

As her eyes met his, she returned his smile with her own, wider but softer with a tinge of feminine charm. Before blushing. She could never seem to free herself from that certain habit of hers. "Friends are supposed to help each other," she managed to say before her gaze once again swept the floor.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say he was surprised that the reserved brunette considered him a friend, they didn't spend time with each other much and certainly not actively seeking for the other's presence. The sincerity in her words was real and he could see it, and he was happy.

So he nodded, his minuscule smile lingered a just moment longer.

"Yes," he replied simply, but with a tone containing his feelings.

The delighted smile she flashed him after, with light blush brushing her cheeks was more than enough for him.


***From the eyes of a shadow

He had always been in the background.

Watching. Observing. Forgotten. Unseen.

It changed when he met a certain bumbling boy with the widest grin and love for a sport played with an orange ball.

That had been one of the happiest time for him. But things had to change, time had to move forward. And so he did.

He kept in contact with his friend, a friend who was better in the sport they both loved. It was suffocating sometimes.

He had thought that nothing would be different in his new school, no one would notice him until he spoke loud enough to jerk people's attention before forgetting his existence altogether.

"..You've got such a beautiful babyblue hair..."

It was... weird when he heard someone said that. Even weirder when the girl ran away after blushing few shades of red it almost looked unhealthy.

But it was something new and refreshing. Pleasant even.

He began noticing the brunette more after that. She wasn't extraordinarily beautiful, but she had a pair of the softest limegreen eyes which were alluring.

She was desperately avoiding him for a while. He didn't mind much of it. Their interactions were supposed to be a one-time thing after all.

The Student Council's member announcement was when he heard her name publicised. He didn't think she would run for a position in the Student Council.

The next time they met was when she bumped into him with a stack of papers in her armful. He helped her of course, he was raised to be a gentleman and he owed it to his grandmother.

Things get better after that encounter. He made it clear that he didn't mind her compliment on their first meeting. She blushed again, but she smiled this time.

He secretly looked forward to the next time they met.

It turned out that someone was specifically targeting the brunette, he wasn't sure why. But she seemed to be in need of assistance, so he offered his. And she was thankful.

They met a few times in the library and exchanged brief greetings. It was during the preparation for the Cultural Festival did they talk again.

He wasn't sure why she was visiting the basketball club when Akashi-kun and Midorima-kun were club members, they should have known. But he welcomed her presence.

She made an effort to befriend him, a first time. He thought it was nice. She was nice.

Teikō's Festival was crowded and he was especially noticed in his class' event, although it was as the rumoured ghost. He didn't mind.

She actually came to the Third Gym, for him. So he made sure to be the best guide for her as a gratitude. It worked well.

He didn't see her during the Last Event. Nor since.

The afternoon where someone was to pick up the kinesio tapes for the third stringers, he volunteered. Ichikawa-san was a nice university student who agreed to stock the tapes for him, although it was only a convenience store.

It wasn't the male university student this time, waiting by the counter to greet him. It was her. A surprise.

She asked about a manager of the third string, he answered it was nonexistent. She seemed to not have expected that.

One thing led to another, he eventually accepted her offer for the goods delivery to school, after making sure it wasn't an inconvenience to her.

"Friends are supposed to help each other."

That was another surprise. It was the first time she referred to him as a friend and it affected him more than it should have. He liked it.

And her radiant smile with her lightly tinted cheeks was more than a reward for him.

'Soft peach suits her,' he decided. Especially for her cheeks.


So yeah, how is it?

Reviews are very much appreciated!

Next time, the last day before the event! Will Kise make his appearance?