A/N:

Hi everyone!

How are you all? Hope you all are healthy!

To all the new faves and follows, thank you and welcome to this fic :)

To nadia4245, lol i really enjoyed writing that scene with Niji's dad because of that line, so I'm thankful for your comment! I just love the rainbow fam and the rainbow Teikou kids!

To the guest who reviewed, thanks and I'm glad you like dorky Haizaki (lol). I always thought that Haizaki is similar with Kise in a lot of ways, and this includes Kise's blabbering mouth. It's just that I imagine Haizaki becoming this noisy only with people he somehow feels comfortable with (if that makes sense). Also, the difference between Haizaki and Kise is that Haizaki is just more vulgar with his words and that he has no filter for what he's saying (lol). Thus, in a way, he is more honest than Kise, who could be two-faced sometimes and has a different inner voice. But! I still love them both, so yeah~

Anyway, here 'ya go! :)


Tsumiko couldn't believe what she just saw.

Or in this case, what she didn't see.

How in the world did the ball pass through the second-string's defenses and fly to hands of the third-string shooter?

The answer was ironically obvious.

Kuroko Tetsuya.

The very reason why she was back in the third-string gym, watching the match between the third-string and the second-string with Coach Sanada, the captain, and the vice-captain.

It's been three months since Akashi had discussed about Kuroko's potential to be the sixth man, and few months more than that since she, as a coach-in-training, had witnessed Kuroko play. But to say that she was surprised, was an understatement.

She has always thought that he was better at assisting than scoring – heck, she couldn't remember a time he had actually made a basket, not even a simple lay-up. Moreover, she was aware of Kuroko's low presence, but even if she had spent some time with him, it never crossed her mind that this trait of his could be used in basketball.

Turning to the guy at her far left, she listened to his explanation about this so-called 'Misdirection'; and was left amazed at how someone her age managed to discover such talent in just a single meeting, and was confident enough to believe in the teal-haired boy. Even the third-string coach, Coach Matsuoka didn't realize such potential.

Before she could ask Akashi more, the adult next to her, Coach Sanada, instructed her to return to the first-string gym and continue supervising the practice. This is because Coach Shirogane was not present; and the rest of the coaches, Coach Matsuoka and Coach Matsuyuki of the third and second string, respectively, were occupied with the game. With this, she was left hanging. Nevertheless, she excused herself and went back to the first-string gym.

Upon her arrival, Aomine instantly stopped in his drills and jogged towards her, "How was it? Did Tetsu already win?"

She shook her head, "The match is not over yet."

"What? You're a coach, so why 're you back now? Thought you guys went to test Tetsu or somethin'?"

"Uh, well, I had to oversee the training...as a coach", she fumbled, suddenly feeling uncertain of herself. Oddly defensive, she further tried to make her point, "E-especially since majority of the managers, including Momoi-chan, are now in the second-string gym to handle the members, who weren't playing in the ongoing match."

"Ah, whatever. Tetsu's gonna win, for sure"

Contrary to her, the effortless curve of his lips upwards indicated his confidence. Again, another one who believed in Kuroko.

"Why do you say so?"

Unlike the first-year point guard's detailed elucidation, the first-year power forward simply shrugged, "My gut says so."

That statement reminded her of his childhood friend's 'woman intuition', and she couldn't help but relax and smile at the retreating back of the carefree boy her age.


Momoi liked someone.

It was that boy, who gave her a winning popsicle stick.

Since he remained a mystery, she eventually lost interest. So imagine her shock when said mysterious person popped from nowhere and introduced himself as the Kuroko Tetsuya she was tasked to look for.

The very reason why she was in the third-string gym.

The very person Dai-chan told her about.

But what caught her even more surprised was the fact that she didn't feel the same giddy feeling she had when she first encountered him. Weird.

Maybe it was because she thought that she was being shallow with the whole popsicle thing and that he just seemed to be...plain. Just how good was he exactly to be promoted immediately to the first-string?

At the first-string gym, he was properly welcomed. While the guys formally made themselves known – as if anyone in Teikou didn't know the infamous front-liners of the basketball team – she pulled the shorter girl to a corner and shared the revelation.

"Oh my God. Seriously?", her white-haired friend reacted in hushed whispers.

Pink head nodded.

Trying their best to be subtle, the young coach absentmindedly flipped the papers on her clipboard, which contained the profiles of the members, as she asked, "Then, what do you think of him now?"

"I don't know", Momoi answered, while she randomly pointed at a part of a profile.

'Birthdate: December 20'

At the written information near her fingertip, the manager got distracted a bit. Curious as to who was going to celebrate his birthday weeks from now, pink eyes moved to the upper portion of the paper.

'Akashi Seijuurou'

It seemed like the girl next to her did the same, because silver head tilted a little to the side, while eyeing the date, as if she was thinking about something.

Seeing her friend wonder about something related to their vice-captain, Momoi couldn't help but remember that she still has the candid photo of the two, she had taken at the beginning of summer. After recalling that Tsumiko had already confirmed that she doesn't like Akashi in that manner, Momoi filed the memory of the photo away.

Before she could even ask the other what she was thinking about, dark orbs soon met hers.

This prompted the pinkette to go back to the actual subject of their chat, "Uh, though he seems like a good person, I don't think I like him that way."

Yup, she would like to be friends with Kuroko for now.

It's not like she's in a rush to have a crush and a potential boyfriend. Replaying in her mind the moments her friend got flustered and confused over their captain, she realized again that being in love causes one to overthink. Besides, as a manager of the basketball club, she still has the district's top ten informal competition to think about.


Kuroko couldn't believe he was now a member of the first-string.

It was the middle of spring when he stood in this gym – only to be placed in the third-string. Now at the end of fall, he was standing in the same gym – being welcomed by the Nationals champions, including the first-years, who became instant members of the first-string. The third-string's former coach-in-training also congratulated him, and told him how excited and glad she was to work with him again. Following this, the rest of the first-stringers greeted him, after they had recovered from the shock brought by his low presence.

"Yo~"

That short greeting caused heads to turn towards the entrance. Kuroko recognized the teen as Haizaki Shougo, another first-year, who got accepted in the first-string straight away.

"You're late, Haizaki", Akashi called the latecomer out.

The gray-haired boy just closed his eyes and shrugged, "Yeah, yeah, I'll be more prompt next time."

Opening his eyes, he walked past the redhead –

"Ouch"

– ultimately bumping against no one, but Kuroko.

"Excuse me", he softly said, then waited until the other had noticed his presence.

"What the–?! Who the fuck are you?!"

Used to such reactions, he politely replied, "I'm Kuroko Tetsuya. I joined the first-string today. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Haizaki scanned him and the shorter boy saw how the former's expression screamed, 'Are you fucking kidding me?! A kid like you?!'

Impressed at how expressive the other's face was, he didn't even get offended at the other's thoughts, he had somehow read.

A large hand then clutched the taller boy's left shoulder, "Yo Haizaki~ You show up late and you greet our new member like that, ha?", causing the owner of the poor shoulder to recover from his daze.

The freshman tried to get himself off from the clutches of the captain, "Ah! Damn you Niji – ah!", only to feel his shoulder get slowly crushed by the the latter.

"Senpai!"

The young coach, who was initially with their manager at one corner, rushed towards the duo then placed a hand over the larger hand, "That's enough."

Two pairs of dark lenses met for a moment, before the second-year retracted his hand. While the meaningful look they had shared had been very brief and subtle, baby blue eyes had caught that.

"See? That's right. Fucking listen to miss tiny-san over here, Nijimura~"

"Haizaki-san!"

Observing the still-bickering trio, Kuroko voiced out, "Those three seem to be really close."

The ruby-haired boy at his right glanced at him, "You think so?"

"Am I wrong?"

Skylike irises turned to meet scarlet ones, but the latter remained fixed at the topic of their conversation.

"Not really. They did become a little closer for the past weeks. Something interesting might have happened."

"What could that be, Akashi-kun?"

Akashi's usual knowing eyes were replaced by seemingly curious ones, as he looked at him for a moment then went back to the group, "Who knows? Only the three of them knows."

There was an unreadable expression on the vice-captain's face, but it only lasted for some time, since he turned towards him, with an amused smile, "Anyway, you truly are observant, Kuroko."

Before he could even respond, though, Coach Sanada finally arrived and announced, "Alright, we're starting practice."

With that, Kuroko felt thrilled – not exactly knowing that he was going to puke rainbows in the middle of his first ever first-string training.


Nijimura dislikes holding back.

With that he means, he does not go easy on anything.

Going straight for the drive, he quickly broke through Nambara Junior High's defense. He then passed the ball to their green-haired shooter, who made a three right away.

While he celebrated, he heard Coach Sanada shout, "Idiot! Have you forgotten the restriction? You can't go all out today!"

Ah, right.

Whoops.

In this top ten informal competition, Teikou imposed a rule that only first-years were allowed to play. For his case, he simply subbed in for Kuroko – that poor kid, who was supposedly the sub for Haizaki – that damn kid.

Once the newbie's nosebleed stopped, the captain was back to the bench. He sat beside the first-year coach, whose brows were slightly furrowed, as she focused in writing down notes. Cute.

Catching himself, he shook his thoughts off, then shifted his attention back to the game, and sweat-dropped at the image of an aqua-head being crushed by the purple giant, because of a mistake.

In the end, Teikou still won, though, Coach Sanada didn't appear to be that satisfied. During lunch break, while the young coach and the others were still eating lunch, the older coach talked to him about their newest member.

"He will be demoted."

Although Nijimura, himself, found the decision to be harsh, he couldn't help in thinking that this might be better for the kid, who had trouble keeping up with their rigorous training and with the match earlier. His agreement and reasoning, however, got stuck in his throat when a panicked, "Hey! Wait a second!", interrupted behind the coach.

"How 'bout Irosuzuka? She's with Tetsu and the others right now. Shouldn't you discuss this with her too? I'm hella sure she won't throw Tetsu away", Aomine pointed out.

The adult man sighed, "There's no need. She already jotted down observations of the game, as per instructed."

The tan kid pleaded the coach for one more chance to observe Kuroko, during the afternoon match. The captain expected the discussion to end when the coach said so. He didn't expect the best among the first-years to ask to be demoted, as well, if things don't work out in the next game. The hell.

"Aomine – you...Are you stupid?"

After flicking his kouhai's forehead, he proceeded to give a lecture about negotiation, "...if you want to strike a bargain, you should threaten to leave instead."

Despite Aomine not having basis for his confidence in his friend, the adult eventually listened to Aomine's appeal.

Nijimura couldn't fully understand what the brat said. It was something about that baby blue magician saving them.

The dark-haired teen opted to think about that next time. For now, another brat needed some ass-whooping.

The travel to the nearby arcade did not take too long. It was just that he had to drag a beaten-up teen on the way back, – which made them arrive at the arena a little later than intended, but still early enough for the beaten-up teen to be a starting player for the afternoon match. While it is true that he doesn't pull his punches, it didn't mean that the brat couldn't play because of some minor bruises.

Okay. Maybe, he did hold back a little.

Because if he didn't, the small forward would've been knocked out and therefore, unable to play. If that happened, he might get his own ass whooped by the coach; and he might receive not just a sigh and a look, but also a scolding glare from the young coach.

Somehow after their visit to the Haizaki residence almost a month ago, the two of them had a mutual understanding that they wouldn't tell anyone about what they had learned. Oddly, though, the three of them developed some kind of dynamics – wherein the ash-head would do something stupid, then he would discipline him (the hard way), then the girl would scold him for being too much, and such.

Mentally chuckling at their own moronic actions, he watched as the gray idiot grumbled, while she tended to his injuries.

This scene reminded him of Haizaki asking him what's holding him back.

Similarly, despite the difference in context, his father told him not to hold back.

And well, he did.

He finally agreed to meet his mom, and yet, a week before her supposed arrival during the last week of November, she had canceled her flight, and postponed it 'til the December holidays.

His father told him not to hold back.

Again, he did.

He still waited eagerly for the holidays, while doing his duties as a captain of the basketball team – leading them to victory in their district's top ten informal competition; and while being a responsible student by doing his best during the second semester's final exams.

He still looked forward to face his mom, even if at the end of the exams in December, his father collapsed once again, and was brought to the hospital.