Summary [chapter 26]: Despair wasn't the right word to describe her situation but it was close. She felt hopeless and questioned her decision to continue being manager. All Satsuki needed was a sign. A sign to show her that there was still hope to have her old friends back together. And maybe thatt sign had dark blue eyes and wore a pale rose suit.
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
[PRELUDE OF THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT ARC]
FRAGMENTS
~.~
Chapter 26: dîner à trois
Miyuki's fingers steadily tapped on the table as looked at her watch. 3:57P.M. Her dad was supposed to start the following course at 4:05P.M... French literature and culture class.
"Are you sure you don't mind, Emilie?" her father asked as he entered the class.
There were only four students left in their classroom: she, Tetsuya, Taiga and Megu-chan, one of their classmates Miyuki came to befriend after papa paired them together for an English oral presention.
"Of course not, I wouldn't have volunteered if it wasn't the case."
They had no idea how many first years would show up since today would be their first class but her father managed to get that classroom twice a week for it. The headmaster even sounded enthusiastic over that project for some reason that Miyuki couldn't pinpoint.
"Great to hear, dear assistant. Can you write that on the board while I get the books in the staff room," he said as he handed Miyuki a sheet of paper.
She took it and read its content, happy that her dad took into account her advice on the content of the course.
Taiga tried to eye what was written on it but Miyuki hid it, a smirk on her face. "You'll discover what we'll study at the same time as everyone else."
"Oh, come on!" he whined.
She stood up and went to the board, taking a piece a chalk. The last time she had used one was in her previous highschool's chemistry room since it was the only classroom without a board that needed felt tips.
Miyuki started writing in capital letters 'COURS DE LITERATURE ET DE CULTURE FRANCAISE' before translating it in Japanese just below as more students entered the classroom, with Furihata-kun among them.
"Masuko-chan!" Miyuki noticed how happier Furihata-kun was during the Library Committee meetings so she wasn't surprised he was now looking that way too. She hoped she could make him enjoy basketball as much as literature one day.
She greeted him back with a smile. "Hello Furihata-kun. Sit with us!"
She pointed to where she, Taiga, Tetsuya and Megu-chan were sitting.
Megu-chan knew Furihata-kun as well since she convinced her to join the Library Committee: Furihata-kun and she quickly bonded over their love for romance books and their passion for Jane Austen.
Both were quite talktive when you got to know them.
"Yo Furi!" her best friend yelled as he waved at him.
Miyuki turned her head back to the door to see five other students looking at the classroom confusedly before looking back at her. She had never talked to any of them although she had already seen some of them in the corridors.
"Good afternoon, you can sit wherever you want. Masuko-sensei went to the staff room to take books, the class is starting in five minutes."
"Thank you... Um, what's your name?" a meek brunette asked.
Miyuki almost arched a brow at this. She thought everyone knew she was the daughter of the new English teacher (or at least that she was that hafu who was Kagami Taiga's best friend).
"I'm Masuko Miyuki, nice to meet you. I'm Masuko-sensei's assistant." She made a slight bow as the other students' eyes widened.
They had the decency not to make any comment over her being the teacher's favorite or other comments she got when her dad arrived. None of those people dared to say it directly to her but still.
It was annoying since they saw she had gotten good marks by herself even before her dad arrived.
And even with that, all her classmates saw how he was slightly harsher with her and asked her more difficult questions. It was better that way since her dad knew it would stop any favorism comments and since she had a higher level in English than anyone.
Her dad arrived just before she finished writing the bibliography for the three first chapters.
"Bonjour! Good afternoon everyone. As you know, I'm usually your English teacher but today–"
"We're sorry sensei, we were finishing a test!" Riko-san, Teppei and another guy that Miyuki recognized as Seirin's baseball captain bowed before quickly taking a seat.
"Senpai?!" Taiga nearly yelled before remembering his uncle, who was now his teacher, was there.
Papa ignored Taiga's confusion and told them to sit down somewhere. "As I was saying, welcome. As you know, I'm usually your English teacher but startin today, I'll also be your French teacher twice a week. We'll see each other on Tuesdays for French literature class and on Thursdays for French culture class," he wrote on the left corner of the board. "As I've already explained, you don't need to have any basis of French to join this class. I'm letting anyone from first to third years try this class for the two next weeks so if you want to drop it in that period for any reason, I won't take it badly. And if you know friends who aren't here but want to try out during this period, tell them they're welcome." Riko-san raised her hand. "Yes?"
"Will we learn French language later?"
"You will and by the end of the year, you'll know basic French but we'll do it gradually. I want you to consider this class as a bonus and not as a burden since you willingly chose to be here. I'll do my best to make it pleasant! My assistant here will help me to do so." Papa made a slight head movement to indicate it was the moment to present herself.
Miyuki cleared her throat before doing so. "Hello, for those who don't know me, I'm Masuko Emilie Miyuki. I'm half French and since I've chosen to try to get the French high school diploma, le baccalauréat, as well as the Japanese one, I'll have to take the French exams next June since I'm now technically a second year in France. I'm not exactly here as a student but rather as Masuko-sensei's assistant. I'll be using part of these hours to study my French syllabus in order to pass my exams but I'm also here to help you and Masuko-sensei for activities. Please take care of me." She bowed as everyone warmly welcomed her with loud claps. "And before I forget, you can call me by my first name so my father doesn't get confused whenever someone says 'Masuko'." Everyone laughed, even Tetsuya.
Her dad already got confused at someone saying their first name to talk to her instead of him during English classes.
"Thank you Emilie. Before getting to the introduction, you can ask us questions."
Almost everyone immediately raised their hand, visibly eager to have that ocassion. Miyuki held back her a snort.
"Was Masuko-san an English teacher in France too?"
"No, I was in fact a French teacher in highschool, which is why I'm qualified to help Emilie with her syllabus."
"Do French people really get two months of vacation in summer?"
Her dad nodded. "Only for the students. Adults generally take two or three weeks of vacation somewhere between June and September and a week around Christmas. But teachers get summer vacation from mid-July to mid-August. Before that, we have baccaulauréat exams to correct, third years' files to review and oral retakes then the following year to prepare... To be frank, getting such lengthy vacation was one of the main perks of being a teacher in France. But you earn more in Japan and this job is more positively viewed in the society if I'm right."
Some appeared to be surprised by her dad's honesty. Japanese people tended not to be sincere and avoided saying anything that could mark them as a black sheep, even if it was something as simple as sharing their own opinion.
Despite the fact her dad respected Japanese's main codes, he refused not to speak up. He remained polite yet honest, even if he risked offending someone.
"What is Masuko-sensei's and Miyuki-san's favorite French book?"
She gave a sideways glance to her dad and smiled before answering. Even if they were just thirteen students, she could already tell everyone seemed enthusiastic at the idea of having French literature and culture class.
Today was a great day.
Today sucked.
Satsuki got catcalled twice and had another disastrous cooking experience in home economics. Not to mention that Dai-chan had once again skipped training. She really started doubting whether or not they could ever love basketball ever again.
She had only managed to find solace in the book Milie-chan gave her. She didn't feel ensnared for once, as she sat there, on the bench of the park.
Satsuki knew she really was an idiot for sitting there almost every night in the hope to meet that kind stranger (friend?) again but she felt drawn to her.
They had met again after the first time but it didn't happen as often as Satsuki would wish.
Satsuki sighed before getting back to her book. She had no desire to come back home and cry herself to sleep again.
It happened whenever she started to overthink, which was more often than not.
She eyed the bookmark depicting purple flowers in her hand. Milie-chan gave it to her the last time they saw each other.
"Show me a sign," Satsuki whispered to herself.
"Hello again stranger," a voice greeted her.
Satsuki raised her head and smiled. It was Milie-chan.
She was on a bike that time, her hair arranged in a low chignon. And she was wearing a white shirt with a sentence written in French and cute pastel pink shorts.
Satsuki's eyes went on the knee brace she was wearing.
"Did you get hurt?" Satsuki worriedly asked.
Milie-chan frowned slightly before realizing she was eyeing her brace. "Don't worry, I got a knee intervention a few months ago but I'm now riding this bike as part of my reeducation. It's a bit odd since I haven't done that in months but... it feels great."
"Was it bad?" she asked, not needing to indicate she was talking about the nature of her injury.
She shrugged. "ACL, partial tear." Satsuki silently gasped. It was pretty bad. "I'm lucky it wasn't completely torn. I took way too long to start to walk again but now I'm catching up with the schedule, I'm halfway done with my reeducation."
"And how... did it happen?" Satsuki mentally scolded herself for asking that instead of congratulating her efforts. "If you don't mind telling me, of course!" she quickly added.
Milie-chan chuckled before tweaking a strand of hair into place. It almost made Satsuki's heart flutter.
Almost.
"Don't worry, I don't mind. It happened during a match. I play football," she started explaining. "It shouldn't have been that bad if I wouldn't have continued to play through the injury but it was worth it," she replied, glee written all over her face. "I know how stupid it was, especially now that I'm a manager and that I scold my players for even considering doing something that I've done myself. But it was worth it."
In that instant, the girl distantly reminded her of Tetsu-kun trying to get out of his bed to play that match despite his bandaged head after that hit from one of the twins. Except that there was a light in Milie-chan's eyes, a genuine fondness at the memory of that match. Satsuki hadn't seen that kind of sparkle for years.
"The funny thing is, my best friend keeps pestering me with that and says I'm a hypocrite for telling him he's reckless after what I did. He's not exactly wrong but he's always being a worrywart with me."
"He?"
"Yeah, one of my two best friends. They're both guys. What about you?"
Satsuki sobered up at the thought of her best friend.
Dai-chan... Aomine-kun.
The both of them had distanced themselves from everything, including from each other.
Could she still call him her best friend? Satsuki honestly didn't know, but he was still her closest friend nevertheless... And he remained her sole constant through the years.
"My... best friend is a guy too," she silently answered.
Milie-chan quickly picked up her discomfort. Her gaze became intense, in an unnerving way.
The cold fury in her eyes made Satsuki shudder. "He's the one making you feel that way, isn't he?"
Satsuki winced at her brutal honesty. Milie-chan's voice remained calm but there was a slight edge to it. "Yeah..." she let out, before automatically trying to defend him for some unfathomable reasons. "But it's not just him, it's my new school and... things that happened in middle school with some old friends."
It was true.
Sometimes, Satsuki admitted to herself she longed for a true team, like the one she had seen in her third year wtih Tetsu-kun by accident.
The team Tetsu-kun himself joined, Seirin.
Instead, she had chosen to join Touou Academy, a team even more individualistic then her old middle school, if it was possible.
Sure, she liked her senpais, including the loud and boisterous Wakamatsu-senpai and the creepy yet clever Imayoshi-senpai. She even really enjoyed Sakurai's presence but they were everything but a true team.
And she didn't even want to think about Teiko too much again. The tears threatening to spill out agreed with her.
"Then it's a good thing you made a new friend!" Milie-chan added in a light tone as she pointed herself with her finger, the coldness in her voice gone. "You can hang out with my best friend and I tomorrow. Tell your best friend it's a date to piss him off, I sometimes do that. It works every single time."
Satsuki giggled. Milie-chan could be surprisingly petty despite her wisdom.
But would Dai-chan even care? Satsuki didn't really do dates, except with Tetsu-kun, of course.
"Uh..."
"Technically, it'll be a date... with friends," Milie-chan added. "So you won't be lying to him, you'll just be ambiguous."
"Sure..." Satsuki hesitantly said. But she found herself genuinely smiling thanks to her new friend again.
After all, what could go wrong?
It was what she repeated to herself on her way to afternoon practice the following day.
She had already gotten coach's permission to leave early. He accepted without asking any questions, given how she rarely asked any favors.
And she knew she had looked like crap for the past few weeks, which was why she had gone to the bathroom to apply some concealer and light makeup. She made the effort to change from her uniform to a baby blue top and a white knee-length ruffle skirt. She wanted to look good even if it wasn't a romantic date.
Sakurai was the first one to notice her presence and immediately praised her cute outfit. She was only half surprised when he asked her if she wanted him to paint her nails before everyone arrived. She didn't inquire why he had neutral nail polish in his locker but the offer was tempting.
To her surprise, Dai-chan came to practice as well.
He was thirty minutes late but it was still better than him completely skipping practice nonetheless. Satsuki pretended not to notice his presence and kept writing stats on the sheet of paper on her clipboard.
Usually, she would have immediately berated him for not taking basketball seriously but she considered giving up.
Of course it was only a mere thought. She wouldn't give up on him, he was still Dai-chan after all. However, the thought came back more and more often as the weeks passed.
Satsuki truly needed a sign.
"Yo," Dai-chan greeted her as he came closer. The rest of the team knew it was better not to go closer whenever they were about to fight.
"You're late," she simply spat, her eyes still on the sheet of paper.
"So what? I'm better than anyone here, there's no point..." He stopped mid-sentence and moved closer in a swift motion. He leaned down, his face now just inches away from her. "You're wearing makeup," he noticed.
His voice would seem neutral to anyone but Satsuki picked up the clumsy gentleness there.
She finally locked eyes with him, surprised by his tone. She almost relented before remembering how he had just spoken to people that were supposed to be his teammates and senpai.
"So what?" she parroted, unfazed by their closeness. She was too angry for that.
"And you aren't wearing the uniform..."
Why did Dai-chan choose that moment to notice things... She huffed. "I have a date," she announced him.
"But I thought you liked Tetsu."
"And I still do but..." She started doubting the fact she truly liked him that way. Dai-chan didn't need to know that. They never talk about that kind of thing anyway. "That... guy is really nice," she simply said at the thought of Milie-chan's kindness. She also thought about Milie-chan's best friend, whom had been described as 'a heart of gold despite his bluntness'.
There was a moment of silence before Dai-chan talked again. "I see. Have fun, Satsuki."
She blinked. It wasn't the reaction she had been expecting but she found herself soften. "Thank you, Dai-chan."
The unreadable look he had quickly vanished, replaced with nonchalance. "Whatever."
Perhaps deep down, Dai-chan did care after all... Perhaps she would get that sign she longed for...
Taiga wasn't sure why he was there, walking towards a French restaurant in Kagurazaka. But he couldn't refuse anything from Emilie. And he was curious after hearing his best friend's enthusiastic words about her new... friend.
"So tell me again, are we meetin' your new girl friend or your new your girlfriend?"
Emilie rolled her eyes but her eyes betrayed her amusement. "I told you, she's a just a friend and she needs something to cheer her up."
It was Taiga's turn to roll his eyes. "I'm just askin' since you've flirted with her."
That wasn't a question.
She smirked as she touched the flower that adorned the side of her chignon. Those pale rose suitpants, jacket and white fitted blouse with the neck frill detail that Fadel designed made her look fancy. Taiga recalled it was what she wore for the pre-match press conference before the final at Nationals.
It had made quite the buzz and had promoted her friend's design clothes.
"Maybe... To be fair, she's really cute. But I sometimes flirt with pretty face too and it's strictly platonic between us."
Taiga snorted. Kise and Emilie's weird flirting game seemed more like a battle to know who would get flustered first. Kise hadn't won once.
Taiga almost felt sorry for him, if it wasn't for the fact he was so loud. "What 'bout Midorima?" he casually asked.
She stopped on her tracks and cocked her head. "What about him?"
"What 'bout you flirtin' with Midorima?"
Emilie scoffed and scratched her nose. "He would't like that and I don't want to fluster him."
Uh?
Midorima would defintely be flustered but he wouldn't hate it. In fact, he might like it too much.
Not to mention Emilie usually enjoyed flustering her friends with some flirt: Kise, Furi, Carter... Surprisingly, Jean wasn't part of that category.
"She's there!" Emilie said, pointing out the girl looking at the restaurant's set menu written on the board. He could only see her from the back but that long, pink hair...
Oh no. Oh shit.
"Emilie, you–"
She didn't let him finish and grabbed his arm to drag him there. The woman was stronger than she let on. "Sa-chan!"
The girl turned around. It really was Touou's manager, Momoi.
"Milie-chan, you're here and..." Her eyes grew in a way that Taiga would have found comical if he didn't feel the same. She kept looking back and forth between them.
"YOU'RE–" Taiga stopped at the pleading look Momoi gave him.
"Taiga, this is my new friend, Sa-chan. Sa-chan, this is my best friend Taiga."
"N–nice to meet you."
He knew Emilie really liked her and that she was an important person to Kuroko, Kise and Midorima so he decided to play along. "Likewise."
"I know Taiga looks very tall and intimidating but he's a softie once you get to know him better. And he can be quite the gentleman whenever he remembers to have manners."
"Shut up," he automatically replied, too surprised to correct her wrong interpretation of the situation.
"You two stay here, I'll get a waiter for us," she continued before leaving him alone with Momoi.
There were a moment of awkward silence before Taiga decided to ask, "You're Emilie's new friend?"
"You're Milie-chan's best friend?" she asked at the same time.
"Wait, you didn't know?"
"No..."
"So you didn't know she's Seirin's manager either?"
Momoi's eyes widened. "NO! Please, don't tell her who I am. Pretend you don't know me, I'll tell her myself," Momoi pleaded him vocally that time. As much as he didn't like the idea of lying to his best friend, the despair in her eyes reminded him of Emilie last summer. And knowing Emilie, she would find the whole situation amusing more than anything.
She did have a tendency to befriend with the enemy ('opponent' Emilie would correct him).
"Fine..."
Emilie was back outside and made them a sign to follow her and the waiter to lead them to their table.
They ended up in a four-place table with a bouquet of white flowers at its center. Taiga sat in front of Emilie while Momoi sat on Emilie's left.
"Here's your menu," the waiter politely said as he handed the set menus to each of them.
"Merci monsieur, apportez-nous une bouteille sil vous plaît," Emilie replied before eyeing the menu.
"So how did you meet?" Taiga asked, curious to discover how Seirin's and Touou's managers befriended each other without knowing who the other really was.
"At the park where I go for a stroll sometimes. You weren't there because Coach punished you and Tetsuya for losing your time bickering about who sleeps the most during classes."
Taiga had to give her some credit for remembering what they had been bickering about.
"It wasn't as if he doesn't sleep every single time in science..." he grumbled with pettiness before choosing three dishes he wanted to try out.
Momoi went into a daze at the mention of Kuroko.
Taiga hated that look. He had already seen it in Kuroko's eyes, as well as in Midorima's and Kise's eyes.
"Do you want help with the menu?" Taiga proposed, partly to distract her from thinking about Kuroko and their fucked up middle school.
"Yes please..." she sheepishly said.
The menu had a fair amount of French dishes and despite the presence of the list of ingredients, he knew it could get confusing if she didn't know a thing about French food.
In many ways, Japanese food and French food were the polar opposite of each other.
"Do you prefer meat, chicken or cooked fish?"
"I would say meat..." she answered.
"Then try the grilled piece of beef or duck brest fillet, nothing too risky. They're both classics," he told her.
"Thanks..."
After ordering their dishes, they started talking around a small bottle of wine and a plate of cold cuts.
How the hell did she manage to get wine despite being underage? Taiga would never know.
"This is so good!" Momoi exclaimed as she ate the cured ham with a slice of bread. She looked all bubbly and giddy with wine and French food had that effect on people. Taiga knew he couldn't call her 'Momoi' but he couldn't find himself calling her 'Sa-chan' either, it was so... girly.
"These pre-dinner nibbles à la française are great from time to time," Taiga agreed.
The atmosphere was very French as well, from the music in the background to the lightings.
"You can talk French?" Momoi asked.
Taiga huffed, remembering how shocked Jean and Midorima had been to discover that. "Yeah, Emilie and her dad taught me when I was a kid."
"He can be clever when he wants to."
"Oi!"
"He's also fluent in English but his written English sucks," Emilie completed.
"Grammar sucks," he tried to justify himself.
"You're American!"
"So? I'm still writing better than most of them."
That shut Emilie up for once. "… Point taken," she reluctantly admitted.
"Wait. K–um... Taiga-kun is American?"
Taiga noted her hesitation on using his first name. And the slight blush on her cheeks.
Damn Japanese traditions. He had learnt that using someone else's first name in that country meant that they were either a very close friend or a lover.
"Yeah, dual citizenship and stuff, my old man works there and–"
"Excuse me."
A man in front of their table interrupted them in a Japanese with a thick French accent. He wasn't a waiter, he couldn't be with that watch on his wrist (the same as his old man).
And he wasn't Japanese either.
"Could I talk to Miss Dubois for a moment, it's very important."
"Who are..." the rest of the sentence died in Taiga's throat.
Oh crap.
He knew who that man was. Or at least who he represented. The emblematic rooster with one star sewn on his suit jacket made it clear.
They had an official from the French National Team crashing to their dinner...
What the fuck?
"Hubert Fournier, national Technical Manager of the French Federation of Football. Pleasure to meet Miss Dubois and her friends." The man presented his hand to him then to Momoi. He hesitantly took it and Momoi did the same despite not having any idea what the hell was going on.
Emilie's jaw clenched as she grudgingly shook his hand. "Are you here because of my reeducation or because I'm a free agent?" she asked calmly, her expression controled. But Taiga could see the storm in her eyes.
"A little bit of both. But not mainly that. Let's discuss that on another table, shall we?"
Emilie looked at him and he slowly nodded."Fine. But you're paying dinner for my two friends here as well."
The man nodded. "Naturally," he replied before walking towards another table.
Emilie released a long suffering sigh before standing up. "I thought they would come to get me later, not now..." His best friend made a grimace. "I'm sorry Sa-chan, let's do that another time," she apologized.
She now looked at him. "You can tell her. You two just got a free meal so enjoy."
Taiga nodded. Emilie followed the man and went away at the table in the right corner of the restaurant, leaving him alone with Momoi.
Taiga hawked, bringing Momoi's attention back to their own table.
"I hope you don't mind eating with me, I know you really wanted to hang out with Emilie."
"Of course not, Kagami-kun was kind enough not to tell Milie-chan about me. Not to mention it's free food." Taiga snorted at her remark. True, free food was free food. It was hard to resist. Momoi started shifting in her chair again. "But what was that about? That man..."
"Oh, that... How much did Emilie tell you about her football career?"
"Not much... But she told me she got an ACL injury while playing an important match and that she was late in her reeducation. And that she got scolded by you for being reckless."
She told Momoi more than he thought she would. He took it as a good sign. But she left out the most important part...
"Typical Emilie... So she didn't tell you she got that injury in Nationals final?"
"No..."
"In men's Nationals final."
"What?" she asked, not quite grasping what he meant.
So Taiga proceeded to tell her a summary of Emilie's crazy year before their dishes arrived, while avoiding any mention of her last middle school year.
"Wow."
"Yeah."
Their dishes arrived. Grilled piece of beef for her, hachis parmentier, duck brest fillet with French fries and chicken for him.
"So why don't you know Emilie's Seirin's manager and vice versa?" he asked, munching the piece of meat.
Fuck, it really tasted great.
Momoi took a sip of water before replying. "I... don't like talking about high school and I think Milie-chan saw it so she doesn't talk about it. I'm grateful for that."
Emilie always knew better when it came to that kind of stuff. She had been through it too. "I see... Don't worry, she doesn't mind talkin' about high school stuff. She won't mind me telling you about this. But you should also know that she's close friends with Kuroko."
She knit her brow at that piece of information. "With Tetsu-kun?"
"Yeah, she treats him like her little brother. She's close with Kise too. And... Midorima." He hesitated on the last part.
Was 'friends' the right word to define those two?
They were close, yeah, but Taiga knew where these two were going even if they didn't know themselves... Yet.
Taiga had no idea how to feel about that. Midorima wasn't a bad guy but he was... him.
"Are they... friends again?" Momoi temptingly asked.
They.
The Generation of Miracles.
Taiga didn't know whether she felt happy or upset after hearing these news. She seemed troubled.
"Yeah. And I'm friends with them too. They're better players and people now. Happier too, though they can be assholes sometimes. Most of the time. At least they know what's team work so that's some progress."
Momoi let a tear slip at that, making Taiga panic.
He sucked with girls crying, not to mention Emilie would kill him for making her cry (again)!
She wept her tears quickly. "I'm fine, Kagami-kun! Really! I'm just really happy to hear that." Taiga couldn't help but release a deep breath in relief. "Maybe there's still hope after all..." He knew the last part was a whisper to herself but Taiga underestimated the girl's selflessness.
He knew it was about that bastard Aomine and the Generation of Miracles. But she was now looking at him in a weird way.
"Kagami-kun..."
"Yeah?"
"Did you just say that Midorin befriended Milie-chan?"
Taiga didn't like where that was going. "Uh, yeah."
"Midorin can be sweet when you get to know him but he's not really friendly," she stated.
Taiga snorted. "Yeah, no shit. The guy has zero social skill."
Momoi energically nodded, giggling. "Milie-chan must be a very sociable person."
Taiga laughed so hard he wheezed after almost choking with the chicken he was eating.
"Nope, that would be Kise and he annoys Midorima most of the time even if they're becoming kinda weirdly close. Emilie is just... attracted by kindred souls." Quoting Théo's words felt oddly poetic. "She's not very talktive but she makes Midorima... soft."
Taiga internally winced. It must have shown on his face because Momoi's eyes started sparkling like Kise's eyes whenever he wanted to start girls talk.
"MIDORIN LIKES HER?" Momoi shrieked. Taiga put his hand over her mouth by reflex and made head movements towards' Emilie's table to remind her of his best friend presence. "Sorry," she apologized in a muffle. Taiga threw a look at the other table. Emilie was in a deep conversation with the French Football Federation guy so they were okay.
"Looks like she didn't hear it." Taiga threw another look there, just in case. He finally released Momoi from his grip, her eyes danced in mischief. She really looked pretty, Taiga understood why Emilie took a liking in her. "Yeah, Midorima likes her. I thought it was just a crush because Emilie has that effect but I think... I think he's falling in love with her."
Momoi silently gasped. "Are you sure?"
"I suck at romance stuff but I'm sure. You should see the way he acts around her."
Taiga wondered how long would it take for Kise to approach Taiga to play Emilie's wingman with him.
"And what about Milie-chan? Does she like him?"
"I don't know... I'm not even sure she knows herself." Taiga wasn't an idiot. He was Emilie's best friend so he could read her most of the time but she could be oblivious when it came to romance (but only when it was concerning herself, must be a girl thing).
So yeah, he knew about Emilie's first crush even before herself. And he knew it had been mutual but he shut up because the whole thing was too awkward... His brother and his best friend.
Satsuki looked amused. "You look like you've eaten a lemon."
"I just thought about Emilie's other best friend..." It wasn't a lie.
"Oh?"
Did Tatsuya know about Midorima? He had to.
His best friend radar was eerily good. Taiga pinched his nose at the thought. He just knew Tatsuya would be an even more chaotic wingman than Kise.
A/N: the prelude of this arc is over and the action will start next chapter! I'm excited about this arc. No Midorima for this chapter, only mentions but we're heading towards the potential romance slowly but surely. The chapter title is a direct reference to chapter 19 title and it won't be the last time it'll be used.
This time it didn't end in a disaster but a lot is happening...
sparkly fairy: thank you for the comment! The Generation of Miracles play an important part in the story, just like in canon but things are obviously different with Masuko's presence. Albeit she doesn't become a member herself, she has a certain influence. I wanted to included Momoi in the arc since she's also a GoM member (though people overlook that sometimes). The Midorima/Kise's friendship is one of my favorite things to write so I'm glad to hear that.
I would like to thank the people who has favorited or/and is following this story after I published the previous chapter: GlaresThatKill, patatagamer2.0, AnaJuarez
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 through PM :)