Summary [chapter 12]: "Emilie was not a hugger, that was a thing. She put her hand on the shoulder and locked her arm around people's arm and of course, she did many things teammates did on a match after scoring or winning like fist bumps, high fives or handshakes but a hug from her was rare. They were thirteen when he asked her why."
Following the canon chronology with some additions for the purpose of the story. Main pairing of the story: Midorima x OC.
Written in the third person. The words in italic are characters' thoughts and the words written like this are said in another language (French or English). No harem x OC.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OCs
[SUMMER TRAINING CAMP ARC]
FRAGMENTS
~.~
Chapter 12: never trust a hug
Dinner ended well and to Shintaro's surprise, Seirin and Shutoku did not get into one of these stupid bickerings that gave him an endless headache. In fact, they 'got along' like Masuko would say. Talking about her, he waited until she ended talking to that brown haired player from Seirin to finally have a discussion with her.
"Masuko."
"Midorima! Do you want to talk about something?"
A useless rhetorical question with that half-smile. Handling such politeness at night was both unnerving and irritating (and she probably knew it).
"Enough, Masuko."
That time, he got smirk from her. Strangely more satisfying.
"To what do I owe you the pleasure?"
Was she teasing him?!
"I need to ask you something."
"Obviously."
He did not know if he should be angry at her or at himself for saying such stupid thing.
"Masuko!"
"Okay, I'll stop but teasing you is extremely amusing."
So she really was teasing him. He rolled his eyes but did not reply as she giggled.
"I might be teasing you now but know that I'm here whenever you need to talk to someone. I mean it."
They walked towards the exit of the hotel to sit on a bench since he was not going to let Masuko stand up with her crutches.
"I..." he started, his voice trailing, not saying how to put words on how he was... feeling. Talking about feelings was not his forte. "What is 'higher' for you?"
There was an odd light that flickered Masuko's eyes.
"Does it mean you're looking for your own goal as well?"
"Maybe."
'Maybe' was not part of his vocabulary.
He knew it. Masuko knew it as well.
It was stupid but he needed to know to do his best.
"What is 'higher' for you?"
Maybe he should have not come to ask her.
"Masuko, I didn't come here so you could ask me what I just asked you," he declared.
"Midorima... You need to know how to answer to my question if you want to find your own goal."
"This question doesn't even make sense."
"Because you don't know how to answer it."
"What about you?" he asked, not even bothering to be angry anymore.
She was as confusing as she was irritating.
She looked up at the sky. Thousands of stars lighted up the sky...
When he eight, Shintaro loved watching the stars. It was not something many people knew. In fact, only his parents and his sister knew. There was something intriguing about stars. They were bright and ephemeral. At least it appeared so. Stars were always there but the sun was covering them.
Now, there he was, watching the stars reflecting in her eyes, making them shinier.
He wished he could be as calm as her.
He needed calmness.
Calmness was something he could not afford himself to enjoy at Teiko because winning was everything like Akashi always said while playing shogi. It was the school's motto. All that pressure left him bitter and angry but unlike Aomine, he kept it inside him. Unlike Aomine and Murasakibara, he kept practicing and doing his best.
Not doing his best was simply disgusting.
"To me, higher means reaching the top..."
The top?
She already did that after winning the Nationals.
"I want to reach the top of the world with my friends, I mean my former teammates from middle school. I want to make new memories with them as foolish as it sounds." His eyes widened and he found both the stars and her eyes were shining brighter. "I'm not going to lie: being part of the National team, participating in the youth World Cup is a dream in itself as an athlete but... I want to win and play with them again."
He still kept watching her eyes, shocked by what she just said. And if he had not been so surprised, he would have noticed how her eyes were now blurry.
"I swear I was going to tell you at some point but I guess now is the perfect moment to tell you."
He had not realized until now how calm he felt. But she was also confusing him at that moment.
"Why would you tell me this?"
Her eyes were on him again and she shrugged.
"Because we're friends. Why wouldn't I tell you?"
"Ah."
What the fuck is that unintelligible answer?
She casually put her hand on his shoulder like he saw her doing it so many times to Kagami.
"You're the only one that can find your own goal but know that you have friends and teammates you can count on too."
Friends?
He now considered her as a friend and he was sure Masuko thought these two idiots (Kagami and Kise) counted as his friends (as if). And probably Kuroko too. Maybe Takao as well.
All these cryptics words about her middle school teammates reminded him of the words she had said to Kuroko at the hospital.
Her words about wanting to beat 'The Generation of Miracles'. Was she doing it just for Kuroko? Or was it for herself too?
Shintaro wanted to beat the rest of the Generation of Miracles, to prove he was the best but could he consider that as his goal?
"When will the youth World Cup happen?"
It was late August and she was still walking with crutches.
"Around a year from now. You know, the thought of having to play again with female teammates instead of males is bizarre... I didn't do that since middle school."
He nodded. The way a male and a female played had to be different on many points, at least it was this way in basketball.
"How long will you have to wait before you can play again?"
"Four months, at least. I'll try to be fully recovered in six or eight months."
They stayed Kami knew how long watching stars before Masuko raised her voice again.
"Hey Midorima, will you come to our room? I'm sure Taiga and Tetsuya would be delighted to see you."
"No."
"Come on, Midorima. I'll give you double portion of food for tomorrow's breakfast."
Again with bribing people with food...
But what she just said reminded him Coach told them how Masuko invited the team for breakfast. Needless to say, the team was ecstatic and even he could not refuse well-cooked food. He couldn't afford to lessen his training rhythm because of the lack of food.
"Fine."
He could handle Kagami to survive tomorrow at practice.
"Follow me!"
He did not even protest because it was hopeless.
Only Kuroko could be more stubborn than her.
Someone moved the door. Must be Emilie.
What was she doing every time? Her phone was being so annoying and kept doing noises.
"I'm back!"
"Emilie, what took you so – WHAT'S THAT PUNK DOING HERE?"
"Who are you calling 'a punk'?"
You, duh.
"Enough, both of you."
"..."
"..."
It was better for them to shut it up (thank god, he did not say his thoughts out loud). An angry Emilie was a bad Emilie, meaning no food tomorrow and even more laps.
"Midorima is allowed to come here, I invited him."
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You have like fifty messages on your phone, it's getting annoying."
"Really?"
She was not even surprised.
Fuckin' Emilie.
"No, that's thirty-nine texts."
Midorima sat between Emilie and Kuroko and he wanted to laugh because both Emilie and Kuroko looked pretty tiny but they would kill him so yeah... Better not laugh out loud again.
"And you didn't even look the content for once?"
"I saw that dumbass' name and knew it would be annoying."
She gave him a deadly glare.
"Give me that."
He helped her sitting on the tatami and handed her the phone.
"Half of them are from Jean... Captainship matters again and..."
"What?"
'dbezjkzebfdjkerbb'
'hahahaha, devines cObien de verres j'ai buuuuuu'
'tu savaIS que la vodka et le codzkca von TRO bien ensemabl'
'chat peau de paaaille hahaha lol!'
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
'Oh mon dieu, désolé et encore désolé... J'étais pas dans un état frais hier.'
"Jean was never the one to hold liquor."
She took her eyes away from the phone as he continued to read the other texts she received. Of course that guy was not the type to hold alcohol, but he never thought he was the funny type of drunk.
"Masuko-chan, is that drunk texts?"
Wait... Furi kinda can read that too?!
"Indeed. I received drunk texts from other people too..."
"They all partied hard while you're not here," he said, laughing at the pictures Zahi sent.
"They just won a pre-season tournament and they didn't get to celebrate after le baccalauréat so they deserve it."
"Your bunch of friends looks fun!"
"Man, you should've seen them during parties!"
It was a disaster. But a kind of good and really funny one. A bit like Seirin but with less innocence and more booze.
"Too bad I never got to see you drunk, Emilie."
"In your dreams, Taiga."
"Bet you're the kind of happy drunk though."
"Instead of imagining myself getting drunk, can you give me the book in my bag?"
Wait, she already got drunk or what? Holy shit, how could he have missed that?
"Of course. Which one?"
There were like four or five or them and half of them were French.
"All of them."
"Are you really gonna do one of your talks about books thing with Kuroko and Furi?"
"Of course! But I have to read them anyway, so I can be ready for le baccalauréat."
"Right. You still have to choose between bac S, L or ES right?"
She took kinda light reading for once... must be her vision of vacation, reading five books of less than 200-300 pages.
"Yep, I put all of them on the paper and I got accepted for all of them but I'll have until December for the official inscriptions."
It was weird because she hated math though she was not bad at it and she would never choose S (six hours of math per week was too much for the girl). She loved literary subjects which meant...
"You're going to choose L, aren't you?"
"Yes. Maybe... I don't know."
"But you know you won't have math, right?"
"Yes, but if I end up choosing that, then I'll take it as an option and study useful things in math, that is statistics! I'll be even able to use all of this for training."
A shiver went through his skin.
"Don't."
"Anyways, give me my books."
"Here."
Two french books, two Japanese books and an English book.
"'Les Fleurs du Mal'?"
"Papa told me it'll feature on the list for next year. You know how I usually don't enjoy reading poetry but Baudelaire masterpiece... inspired me."
So ironic she hated that when she was the most poetic person he knew.
"Say, did they find a solution for your classes at second-year level?"
"Not yet. Seirin will tell me my new schedule in September."
Because it would be kinda stupid for her to go to take classes for le baccalauréat that second years were supposed to take when she still had first-year classes in most of these subjects in Japanese.
"By the way Taiga, papa told me to ask you if you wanted to take French classes or not."
"I'll think about it."
Must be a damn surprise for anyone but he was being honest.
He really considered it (if he did not, he would have yelled 'HELL NO!') but Uncle was the only one that makes books interesting (Emilie could do that too sometimes but she was Emilie, she could be damn annoying sometimes).
She nodded. "I'll tell him."
"Kagami taking aditional classes by his own will... No freaking way and... Why is your dad asking that, Masuko-chan?"
"Papa will be teaching English language and French language and literature in Seirin."
"You father's a teacher?"
"I thought it was obvious."
Silence.
He slapped her head.
"Well no, Emilie. It's like the fact you were in a dude team, it wasn't obvious."
Her eyes blinked. "I get it."
She did not but: Emilie 0 – 1 Taiga.
"I already know Tetsuya and Furihata-kun's favorite literature genre but what about you, Midorima?"
"Classic and Historical fictions."
Of course it would be. That was so Midorima. Kinda boring.
Emilie's eyes brightened up and he knew Midorima was screwed up.
"That's so amazing! What's your favorite book? Is it Japanese? Or English? I should totally lend you some of my books so you can discover french classics and tell your opinions about them –"
He finally took pity on the guy and stopped Emilie's speech.
"Emilie... You're shaking him to much."
"Oh. Sorry."
She finally let go of Midorima's shoulders (that she had shaken for like thirty seconds straight while talking without taking a single breath).
"She's getting worked up when someone loves books as well and starts rambling non-sense."
Kuroko and Furi nodded in silence.
"Well, that's because I don't have my book partner anymore."
Her voice trailed off at the word 'partner'.
Crap.
He knew she missed Theo, probably even more than she missed Jean although she never talked about it.
"But that's okay! We still text each other..."
'... but it's not the same' was left unsaid and everyone winced at her fake smile, too bright and sad to be true.
Still trying to hide her sadness to try to protect herself. Still trying to pretend it was okay for her friends. There was some progress with her opening up about her insecurities but she had pretended to be able to always stay strong too long.
"Um, you could... You know put a book shelf at my apartment as well and stuff. It's not like you don't come every day already."
Emilie managed to be surprised.
Why would she since she already put half of her clothes in his house?
However, a closer look to her face gave him the answer.
Over the years, he learned every expression Emilie could make.
Last year, he saw some he would rather never discover and this face...
He knew she felt sad sometimes. She might be Japanese too but she felt more French. She was born there and lived almost ten years there and she left it sooner than planned because of her injury.
Uncle told him how these months could be difficult for her, especially with the remembrance of the accident. The fact she did not feel like it was home only made it harder. Tokyo was not her home. Not yet, at least, especially without them here.
He would be lying if he said he did not understand.
His apartment was empty and kept at its simple until she came with her clothes and her paintings and it felt a little more like home somehow.
The grip around his neck was tighter than usual. Sure, she was all touchy with casual slaps on the shoulder (he was too, blame in on L.A) and affectionate kisses on the cheek but she did not hug often.
Emilie was not a hugger, that was a thing. She put her hand on the shoulder and locked her arm around people's arm and of course, she did many things teammates did on a match after scoring or winning like fist bumps, high fives or handshakes but a hug from her was rare.
They were twelve when he asked her why.
"You're really going to live in Japan!"
They were at the airport, Emilie and her family were leaving for France. They were returning to where they came from.
"Yeah..." he answered sheepishly.
"Why this face Taiga, that's amazing!"
He frowned. "You think so?"
"Come on, Taiga! I know it's because Uncle has to live there for work since he was transfered there but please try to look at it was fate."
"Fate?"
Was it fate that he lose on purpose against Tatsuya? Was it fate that he fucked up?
"I believe we'll be together again, Tatsuya, you and I in the same country."
That sentence felt like a stab in his heart.
Right, she still doesn't know.
Neither Tatsuya nor he had the guts to tell her. She looked so happy they did not want to tell her how he broke his bond with him.
"Is that so."
"What's with the dull and unfinished sentences! I'm sure we'll be on the same court soon."
"But you're playing football now."
"So? I can become a manager or something so I can be with you!"
He looked away, unable to took at the sunny smile.
There was a time was she was as naïve as him. She used to be a kid with her own insecurities but stayed all calm yet happy at the same time but learned to only showed it to certain people.
He nearly jumped when he felt two arms around his neck. He was of the same height so she could bury her head in the crook of his neck and he could smell vanilla and cinnamon he got used to.
"I swear we'll be together."
"Why are you hugging me?" he asked, unable to give an answer to her promise.
"Because I feel like you needed one."
A slight sob went out and he did not know if he was crying because Emilie leaving again or if his lies hurt too much.
"But... You only did that like once or twice."
She held him tighter. "Kagami Taiga, know that a hug has three meanings."
One; you feel like you just conquered the world and everything around you look so dazzling. You want to share the blazing happiness you're feeling.
Two; you're looking for a way to hide your face. You feel like you want to cry but you don't. You long for someone else's warmth and hopefully, you'll find it enough to hold back your tears.
Three; you love them and you just want to feel closer to them. You try to keep a memory of every detail: their scent, their warmth, everything.
The hug she was giving was like a mix of the three things, just like that time:
One; Emilie felt so fuckin' happy at the idea of having the three of them reunited in Japan and ironically they would be in the same court again but not on the same.
Two; When he cried in the middle of the airport while she hugged him because he was lying and he was unworthy of both Tatsuya and Emilie.
Three; he loved her because she was his best friend, the one that always believed in him.
He patted her head and finally noticed she fell asleep on his shoulder.
"So much for books..."
"Did she... fall asleep?!"
Right.
He almost forgot Kuroko, Furi and Midorima's presence while he got all worried and nostalgic about her.
"Geez, she should slow down on training for her first week since April..."
"Kagami... Why does she think she's 'still fucked up' according to her own words?"
He finally turned his face to see Furi's eyes and holy crap, Furi had never looked so determined. Kuroko and Midorima looked determined on their own too and he knew he owed them an actual explanation because she was their friend too.
Damn, even fuckin' Midorima was getting worried over Emilie.
He did not get how she got him wrapped around her little finger, but he shut up about it because even Midorima was trying really hard.
"I'll put her on the couch, first."
"Let me help."
"Uh?"
Nah, it couldn't be Midorima who just said that.
"You look exhausted."
That was clearly some hallucination, ha ha ha!
But no, Midorima still looked at him with determination.
"Fine."
They must have looked weird like this, two giants carrying a girl who was still asleep.
"Furi... I know Emilie and you got a discussion on the beach. You're the one who told her to open up to me, right?"
"... I just talked to her."
"Then, I owe you one."
"N – no need to, Kagami! I don't think I did anything."
But you did.
His guts were telling him he did though he did not know in what way he did.
"She probably wouldn't have told me anything if she hadn't been convinced by whatever you said. Emilie... She told me she still feels dirty and selfish."
"But... why is Miyuki-san..."
"Why would she say that?"
Midorima made a face he could not understand but... He looked pretty upset.
Emilie was the opposite of 'dirty' and 'selfish'. Sure, she far from perfect and she was 'dirty' in a way since street fights weren't consider as what a proper girl did but Emilie was in no way 'dirty' like she was.
"She suffers from PTSD, huh."
"Yeah."
There was a heavy silence in the room.
Who would have thought Midorima and he could stay like that? He would have preferred the two of them arguing like bitches over what was happening.
"Before going to high school, she was close to depression. Lots of shit happened and she took the accident really hard."
He had been there when Noémie woke up at the hospital.
He still remembered Emilie's face when she asked who the hell she was.
"It's been a year since one of her closest teammates forgot her... she completely forgot her existence."
Nausea he felt at that time came back.
He wanted to stop but they deserved to know and maybe they could help her too.
"After the finals of her last middle school year, that asshole that happened to be their coach yelled at them and slapped Noémie. Noémie ran away."
He was sure everybody had a 'what if' scenarios on their mind.
What if Noémie did not run away? What if Emilie would've shouted sooner? What if all these insults had not been told to Noémie?
"He shouted on Emilie too... And that jerk even spat on her but she said nothing until he... slapped one of her teammates. I only saw her so angry once and after that, she left the locker room."
He got scared like shit when he saw her face while she was screaming at him though the jerk deserved it.
"She tried to catch up Noémie. It was raining so maybe... Maybe that's why the car hit Noémie. I guess we'll... never know whether she wanted to be hit or not."
Something in Kuroko's eyes almost made him stop.
He understood now. What Emile saw in him.
The agony.
Kuroko had been through agony too.
"She did her best to try to stop the bleeding before the emergencies arrived. Uncle told me she didn't want to change herself until Noémie would wake up though she had blood all over her. Even now, there are moments where she still feels like she has blood on her hands."
Furi was now crying and Midorima looked like he took a punch in the stomach. Kuroko's face reminded him of Emilie's own at the trial to a lesser extent.
"I didn't want to tell you because it's her story and if you want details, you should wait for her to open up more but... I know you all care for her."
Even Midorima.
He said nothing about them but he knew it was important for Midorima to do well with her, as a friend.
"Jean is an annoying guy but I'm thankful because he made her love football again... Same goes for these guys. And she might be stupidly idealistic but playing with her friends from middle school is more important than winning the youth World Cup."
Just like she wants to make Tatsuya and I brothers again...
"Masuko is getting so unselfish it's getting selfish."
"Yeah..."
It had a magical effect on the room since the heavy atmosphere lessened. Furi dried his tears and Midorima did not look so pale anymore.
"Kagami-kun... A detail is bothering me."
"What?"
"Kagami said... 'never saw her this angry'? Wasn't Kagami-kun still in America at that time?"
Kuroko was too observant, why?
That was the piece of information he'd rather forget. Of all the ugly things, this was the ugliest.
"Emilie... She knew it would end very badly with that jerk so she recorded or filmed every move she made so when I came to be with her at the trial, I saw it... The video she told me about."
He almost threw up when he saw it and he thought: 'that sickening piece of shit did that to them'.
That was the moment where he truly understood why Emilie looks so lifeless for weeks and why she got scared every time there was blood somewhere for months.
"That day where her friend was hit by a car. It was all recorded."
Emilie put it in her sports bag and when she had tried to catch up Noémie, she had that with her so everything had been filmed: that asshole saying non-stop bullshit, Emilie going berserk and the whole 'blood in the rain' moment as she called it.
"Watching that was a disturbing shit and I don't even understand how she could still forgive that bitch."
If there was someone that he hated more than Emilie's former Coach, it was Lisa. Because she still had an effect on Emilie and on her career and he hoped she wouldn't call again.
Of course, he was being delusional. They would play on the same team again and he did not even wanna think about the whole captainship stuff.
"Anyway, I shouldn't tell you more. The rest is up to you. If she trusts you enough, she'll tell you the rest. And... It will be the only time where I'll ask a favor or something like that but be gentle on her, please... You know, as her friends."
"Kagami... You're really a good best friend."
Wait?
"Furi, why do you say it like it's unbelievable?"
"Um..."
"Because it is, Kagami-kun."
"Hm."
"Oi!"
"Kagami, did you ever consider Masuko-chan as more than you best friend?"
"Huh?"
Furi's question did not make sense. Wait, did he mean...
"I mean, Masuko-chan told us how you suck at understanding girls but you're doing pretty good with her."
"SHE TOLD YOU WHAT?"
(She isn't really wrong tho)
Shut up, brain.
"To be honest, there's like a quarter of the things she does I don't understand until I see its purpose but I trust her."
"I never saw that kind of male/female friendship around and I find it amazing because Masuko-chan is really cute but you don't seem to care... and I'm pretty sure you don't have a crush on her. Does it mean you consider her as a sister?"
So Furi was a smart ass too. Not like the school smart ass but he was a really good observer.
He knew there was one when that person made him thought of Emilie's rambling about details she noticed.
"I don't think of her as my sister."
He could only think of Tatsuya as his brother. Emilie had never been something like that.
"I don't know, she's just always been there. I know she's getting prettier and prettier every day, it even gives me a few problems with trying to tell her how Japanese and French way of being friendly is different."
Because yeah, kissing on everyone's cheeks and all that kind of stuff... He was not even sure he could call Japanese people 'friendly' when it came to gestures of affection since public display were forbidden and all was about manners.
"Anyway, she's beautiful but she's just Emilie. Nothing more, nothing less."
(Plus she was not his type and she knew it).
"You discuss about that kind of things?"
He snorted. "Emilie's been used to guys talks since primary school. She's even the one who begins this type of talking sometimes..." which was really embarrassing he wanted to add but did not.
They would discover it for themselves anyway.
"Masuko-chan must really love you to choose to become our team manager."
He could see what Furi meant.
Football was her sport, not basketball. She only loved basketball because Tatsuya and him loved it.
"Emilie likes basketball too. She even used to play basketball before being part of a football club and..." his voice trailed off. No, he was not the one who should say about that. "And she still plays sometimes but this idiot went here because of that stupid thing she said two years ago."
"What thing?"
Crap, did he just say that out loud?
"Is it about Himuro Tatsuya-san?"
He stared at Kuroko dumbly.
"How do you know?"
"Kagami-kun makes this face every time Miyuki-san texts him."
He sighed. Of course the Sherlock fan would notice, it was useless to lie... Plus Kuroko and Midorima knew more or less about Tatsuya.
"She promised to me that Tastuya, her and I will stand together on the same court again. I guess it'll happen pretty soon."
He forced a laugh because hahaha, how funny was that.
Of course, it was not.
He did not need to see these three wincing at the sight of his fake smile to know that. It sounded as fake as Emilie's smile while saying she did not miss Theo.
"She still believes it'll be possible for us to be... brothers again."
Stupid.
"And it's not?"
"He'll be on another team."
"So? Aren't you friend with Midorima and Kise?"
He remained speechless.
He would've screamed 'AS IF!' if Furi did not say that with such flippancy.
"That's not the same. Tatsuya is my brother and we put Emilie in the middle of this shit."
Crap, he called him 'brother' again. It was so fucked up in his mind, they were brothers but not anymore at the same time.
It was not as if she already had enough trouble already.
"Miyuki-san will never choose a side because she's rooting for both of her best friends. Kagami-kun should stop worrying about Miyuki-san every time too and should think about himself sometimes."
"But..."
"Kuroko is right."
"Yeah, you're doing enough."
Maybe they were right. He needed to also focus on becoming a better player, a better ace.
"Thank you," he said in return, a slight smile on his face but all he got was silence.
"That was so weird..."
What?
"Indeed."
"So even Kagami-kun knows these words as well."
"Kuroko, you bastard!"
"Don't ever do that again."
"Furi, not you too. Let's just... watch something, okay."
"What do you have in mind?"
"Don't know, a NBA game or something like that."
"Cool! Let's watch it."
"'Kay." He grabbed Emilie's bag again, looking for her laptop.
"Kagami..."
He could hear the 'I'm judging you'.
"What? She always does that with my stuff too!"
They shrugged. He opened the laptop and typed the password.
"Kagami... Even her password."
"She would've changed it if she wanted to hide things. Pretty sure half of her team knows her password too."
"Okay, let's go... Nah, not 'school', not that neither... Ah, 'sports videos'! Let's choose 'NBA Lakers'. No, they're losing this one... This one was pretty bad..."
Okay, it was the Lakers' worst season (he had almost sobbed) but it was the city's team and rule number one was to always support the local team (Emilie did the same with football and man, they had been lame until this March).
"Go to 'NBA Warriors'."
"No."
He did not want to have Midorima giving that look he had given after Curry's team victory.
"How about we watch both?"
Of course, Furi would be in the middle to avoid any conflict (just like Kuroko was here to either do the same or do the total contrary with one of his snarky remarks).
"... Fine."
"I'm not opposed to this."
Miyuki woke up at 6 A.M (like she did yesterday) and felt she was in better shape. It was after she rubbed her eyes and stood up to take her crutches that she saw what happened around her. In the corner of the room, the boys were sleeping, her laptop on Taiga's lap.
The most curious thing was that Midorima and even Takao-kun were also here...
"They must had held a boys' night," she chuckled softly.
She contemplated with fondness Tetsuya sleeping on Furihata-kun's shoulder (she was sure Furihata-kun was slightly drooling) while Midorima and Taiga looked like they were bickering even during their sleep.
Remembering she still had to cook breakfast for Seirin and Shutoku (she invited Shutoku herself last night), she took a pen and wrote a word on a notepad.
'Good morning everyone! I'll be in the kitchen preparing breakfast so if some of you could come in the kitchen once you wake up to help Riko-san and I with bringing food to the dining room, I'll be extremely delighted, especially knowing how I kept a few croissants and chocolatines just in case.
P.S: I've done my daily math exercises yesterday Taiga, but you didn't do your English... Know that papa will give you some English classes if you don't do all of them (and don't whine because it's the same with me for math)'
"Crap, I wrote in English..."
English came to her naturally and when she wrote it in Japanese it took the double amount of time. She was doing better with written Japanese since she decided to practice more translating French or English sentences but she was not fast enough.
Finally going to the kitchen, she heard quiet voices chatting.
It was Riko-san and Masaaki-san.
"Domo Riko-san, Masaaki-san."
"Drop with the '-san' already, Miyuki."
"Domo Masuko-chan! Nakatani-san will be helping us with breakfast."
"You don't have to, Masaaki-san..."
"I insist, Miyuki, you've already been kind enough to accept to feed them all last night and this morning as well and... I want to spend time with my godchild."
He muttered the last part and she smiled, knowing how Masaaki-san was not vocal about sharing his feelings although he deeply cared about the people around him.
"What are you going to cook?"
"Right..."
She handed them the paper where she wrote the different breakfasts she thought about.
"You have the choice depending on how much training will be hard today."
They gave her a look that said the answer.
"Okay, so we'll do breakfast number three for them."
She hoped everyone would survive to today's harsh training.
"You really thought about everything, Masuko-chan, you should show that to papa sometimes..."
She began to prepare the ingredients for the muffins (she avoided chocolate since it wouldn't be the best choice for training camp but put jam and apple, something she appreciated as well and knew would be appreciated by the other as well).
"Tora, uh..."
"Maman will be happy to see him again."
"Your best friend told me she was expecting."
That was a surprise.
"He told you? Amazing, isn't it? Maman was quite happy about it and papa was just ecstatic when he heard the news."
"Do you know the baby's gender?"
"No, but since it's now the third month, they'll know with the scan."
She had mixed feelings about it since she couldn't be with them but she knew maman was happy to have an ordinary pregnancy for once.
"I see. It's quite amusing to see your two best friends will become opponents for my own team."
It was more ironic for her since the three of them were going to be on the same court but as opponents instead of being teammates.
"Winning wouldn't be enjoyable if it was easy."
"You're right."
"I hope you know I take basketball seriously as well."
"Of course. You wouldn't have become Seirin's Manager if they were unworthy."
"You're right," she confirmed, feeling Riko-san's gaze on her.
"Miyuki... Did you really become friends with Midorima?"
"Yes, why?"
Why was it a surprise for him?
"Midorima is an incredible player but he isn't the type to have friends."
"Well he has me. And Takao-kun, Taiga, Kise-kun and Tetsuya. They even had a boys' night together."
Kise-kun was also one of his friends if she thought about it but she was not sure he would admit it.
Both of them.
Kise-kun also had a few issues with Midorima since Midorima was too proud to let someone like Kise-kun (loud, happy Kise-kun) be friendly with him.
"So that was where they went last night... Takao only told me something really confusing about seeing Midorima getting friends."
Did it mean Takao-kun was still in denial about his friendship with Midorima?
Males and their pride...
"I think Midorima is a good person though he can come as brutally honest and harsh sometimes... Okay, all the time. Oh, Riko-san, could you prepare an Earl Grey tea for Masaaki-san?"
"Of course! What about you, Masuko-chan?"
"Red fruits tea with one sugar would be nice, please."
Masaaki-san shook his head. "You still have your mother's taste."
"What can I say?"
The three of them chatted quietly with a cup a tea in their hands while waiting for the pastries to be ready. They started with training then drifted to subjects that were not directly related to basketball.
"Why are you two asking me about Midorima?"
"Because..."
"Emilie!"
A voice she immediately recognize interrupted them. She turned around to see her best friend looking more alert than usual (alert as much as he could be at 7 A.M, Taiga still looked a bit tired).
"Bonjour, Taiga."
"Kagami, not so loud. I'm not ready to listen to your shouting this soon."
And he was not alone. Midorima was there...
"You..."
"Shin-chan, no need to be grumpy."
"I can smell food..."
"Kagami-kun can't help but be loud everytime."
"You bastard!"
... And Tetsuya, Furihata-kun and Takao-kun were also there.
"Could one of you go to the oven because the pastries are ready."
"I'll do it."
"Thanks, dude. Is everyone in the dining room now?"
"Nope."
"We can still put on the table things for people who are already here."
"Did you..."
"Double amount of bacon, I know."
"You're awesome."
She giggled, taking a sip of tea before answering, "I know. I apologize in advance for not being able to make you eat biscottes since you ate them all yesterday but I made muffins for you!"
"That's great too, Masuko-chan!"
"And Tetsuya, your smoothie is in the fridge."
"Arigatō, Miyuki-san."
"Coach?"
She watched with amusement Masaaki-san rolling his eyes before greeting with a nod two of his starters.
"Takao, Midorima."
They took time to notice Masaaki-san, probably too engrossed with their bickerings.
"Masaaki-san also helped us for cooking."
"I didn't do much, I just followed what you said."
"Dibs on these croissants," Taiga said once the pastries out of the oven.
"Don't begin to eat them now! Wait until we're in the dining room."
"Whatever."
A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! The OVA is finally released, and it's just full of cuteness, it's good to see the rainbow children being friends and playing together again and Seirin is just adorable.
More of boy friendships in this chapter, yeah! And also pieces of information about Masuko's past. It's interesting to see that Kagami tends to see positive sides of her best friend but we don't really have Masuko's thoughts and point of view about these events...
I would like to thank the people who have favorited is following this story after I published the previous chapter : DarkEmpress192
Once again, thank you for the fav/following! Don't hesitate to post comments, I'll make sure to answer them on next chapter's A/N or on PM :)