A/N: Figured with this lockdown/quarantine I could make something good out of it, so I sat down and actually finished this chapter. Hope it brings you all some joy during this difficult time!

You were Conceived Next to a Tortoise Enclosure

Tatami Take Two

It was easy to play a part in middle school. The basketball team's ace, the captain of the dance club, the delinquent voted most likely to topple a government with only paint balloons and a paper clip. Even being invisible had its own special place in the teenage food chain. Hierarchies had to have a rock bottom in the same way that the sun needed to rise for it to set. There was comfort in knowing your place, of performing your role and receiving your standing ovation, even if the underside of your mask was filled with the fear that the straps hooked around your ears were about to slip off.

Yes, it was easy to play your part, and God knows it took the pressure off actually having to 'figure things out'. After all, who the hell wanted to witness the collision of hairy armpits, violent mood swings, butt-acne, and an existential crisis all at the tender age of fourteen?

Well… you, apparently.

The sound of tearing paper made the small ring of muscles in between Tsukino's buttcheeks pucker until it had swallowed itself whole.

"I've changed my mind," Tsukino said suddenly, leaping to her feet.

"That was always an option," said Kise, crossing his leg over his knee while he perused the 'Top 10 Ways to Make your Skin Glow'.

"But you said-"

"I said that some people like to get it done," said Kise, turning the page. "That doesn't mean to say you have to do it."

Another rip sliced through the air. There was a whimper.

"But Haizaki said-"

Tsukino felt Kise's stare then. A bowl of molten lava soup was more digestible than that stare. Tossing the magazine to the side, he let out a put-upon sigh.

"Really, Tsukinocchi. Why are you still talking to that giant waste of space? He's not even on the basketball team anymore."

The news of Haizaki quitting basketball hadn't shocked her. After all, he was a notorious layabout who got into fights more often than Tsukino took a shower, which was now up to four times a week (Sakata had made a certificate and a tiny trophy to commemorate the milestone). But it was when she'd been on her way to burn Okada's swim trunks that she'd stumbled upon an unsettling conversation.

"The world isn't only made up of good guys. Truly bad guys, and truly frightening guys exist too."

Later, when she'd asked Kuroko about the meaning behind Haizaki's words, he had simply reminded Tsukino that Haizaki was human too.

The next time she'd bumped into the grey-haired delinquent, he had a gash above his eyebrow, and she'd found herself wordlessly tossing him the first aid kit she kept in her backpack. After that they started to exchange nods of heads, and after that occasional comments about their day. Until one day, Tsukino found herself leaning away from him as he peered down at her upper lip with a look of scrutiny. Perhaps she wanted to understand the meaning behind those words, thought Tsukino as she tried to stop herself from reaching inside his throat and yanking his intestines up through his mouth. Or perhaps she was just waiting for the opportune moment to steal his wallet.

"So what did he say to you?" asked Kise. "Let me guess; that hairy girls are unhygenic."

"His exact words were 'natural girls are nasty in the sack,'" said Tsukino. "And then he leaned in really close and started counting the hairs in my moustache."

"What a pig," said Kise, rolling his eyes. "Tsukinocchi, it's the twenty-first century, get waxed, don't get waxed. But don't let some asshole with mysterious yellow stains on his underwear tell you how to live your life."

"Yeah," said Tsukino, stroking her moustache fondly. "Just, all the women in his magazines-"

"Whose magazines?" asked Kise, quirking an eyebrow.

"I'm just worried I'm not getting it right," Tsukino muttered, not hearing him.

Kise smiled knowingly. Ever since they'd come back from Summer Camp she'd been eager to go on more and more shopping trips with him, purchasing makeup, new clothes, shoes and even pretty underwear. And he'd seen this enough in the business to know it for what it was.

A rebrand.

Years spent being seen as the boyish, midget tyrant of Teiko Middle School, Tsukino finally wanted to be seen as a girl. Why else would she be up at six o' clock every morning practicing how to apply fake eyelashes?

And then there was Aomine.

"Let's go," said Tsukino, leaping from her seat and shooting her walking talking money bags a constipated grin. "We still have time to get to Craft Craft Craft before it closes."

"You owe me so much money."

"And I will never pay you back."

"…and then the guy, like his arms were so hairy, Aomine, but then we saw him at the bus stop, and his skin was all red and blotchy and I was really curious what would happen, so I got out my bottle of perfume and I…"

"Heads up, senpai!"

Aomine caught the basketball with his free hand, lobbed it straight through the hoop and resumed his sit-ups.

"…I almost felt bad for the guy when he started to bleed…"

Grunting, Aomine wondered if the lipstick she was wearing was the same lipstick he'd bought her all those months ago.

"…screaming like mad..."

She was using the makeup bag he'd bought her so it wasn't that much of a stretch. Today it was a pale pink shade he didn't particularly like. Not that he liked any of the makeup she wore, but he kept his mouth shut.

"…had to throw my perfume in the bushes when the police came over…"

The new clothes, the nail polish, the showering. He could tell it made her happy. Even if it did make his stomach twist that same way it had during last practice when he'd overheard Nakadan calling him a monster on the court.

"So what do you think?"

Aomine was broken out of his thoughts by the little curly haired demon kneeling down beside his head with an expression of solemnity.

"What do I think about what?" asked Aomine.

"Do you think Midorima waxes his legs?"

As one they turned to stare at the green haired boy on the other side of the court as he towelled off the back of his neck.

"They're really shiny," muttered Aomine, captivated by the light bouncing off Midorima's kneecaps.

"Probably does it for the thermodynamics," said Tsukino, biting her thumb.

Aomine knew that wasn't right but he also didn't know enough to correct her so he remained silent and resolved to ask Momoi about it later.

"Aomine-kun."

Speak of the devil.

The pink haired girl strode up to them purposefully. "You've been warming up for twenty minutes now and Akashi-kun wants you to join Team B to run offence drills."

"Ah- yeah- let me- just finish this set," mumbled Aomine, shifting into burpees. "Five minutes."

"You said that ten minutes ago and ten minutes before that."

"Yeah, yeah, woman, quit nagging me. I got it."

"And before I forget, Kame-chan," said Momoi, "don't worry about mopping up today. Oshiro-san is just going to have her managers do before their practice anyway."

Aomine felt Tsukino freeze. He watched the Demon of the First-String twist her fists around the mop handle.

"Why?"

"N-not sure. Oshiro-san just seems very particular about those sorts of things. She's even had their own mop brought here."

"What?" said Tsukino, eyes thinning. "Is my mop not good enough? Do they have some kind of special mop? Is it a magic mop? Does their mop have superpowers?"

"Um," said Momoi, eyes growing wide as she glanced desperately around the courts for Kuroko.

"Because my mop has easy-removable microfiber pads with a telescopic handle," Tsukino barked to anyone that was listening.

"Don't forget the solid polyethene core," said Kuroko, appearing beside Tsukino like the Godsend that he was.

"Solid. Poly. Ethene!"

Tensions had been running high over the last couple of weeks with the girls' basketball team taking over their practice space. There had been a lot of comments about the state of things after the boys finished up. Last Tuesday it had been the equipment shed, coincidentally on the day that Tsukino had been packing away. And the week before the unusual smell emanating from one of the lockers in the changing room that just so happened to contain the Demon mascot suit. It wasn't personal, Kuroko had said, reminding Tsukino that there was no way Oshiro could know which locker was hers.

"Aomine-kun, Akashi-kun really needs you to get started," said Kuroko.

Sparing one last glance at the curly haired mop wielding menace who looked just about ready to unscrew the handle and go beat someone with it, Aomine left.

"Maybe you should head off early today, Kame-san," said Kuroko. "I'm sure Akashi-kun would understand if you weren't feeling well."

Tsukino wanted to snap at him. She wanted to tell him that she was absolutely fine and that if anyone should be driven out of the gymnasium it was that glacier queen, Oshiro Noriko, who was rumoured to poop only once a year during the Winter Solstice when her bowls aligned and she re-pledged her allegiance to Satan. But then Tsukino remembered the last time she had gotten riled up and confronted the illustrious basketball captain and how an hour later she was sitting in front of her mother's vanity shaving her hair off.

Clawing together every grain of self-restraint she had, she decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

"Fine," said Tsukino, shoving the mop into Kuroko's hands. "But not because you told me to. I just got plans is all."

Kuroko did not ask what plans these were as he did not want to be an unwitting accessory to murder.

A leak had sprung in the basement access of the school and fried some of the electricals for the science block. With only the waning sunlight a young girl found herself steeped in dusty red slats of light cast intermittently along the darkening corridor. There was a heart-shaped envelope clutched against her chest, her teeth worrying at her soft, pink lips and her eyes crinkled nervously. It could have been the cover of a shoujo manga. It probably was the cover of a shoujo manga.

A shutter sounded and broke the spell. The girl froze mid-step so that one heel was tilted upwards as if she had just been kissed passionately by her Prince Charming. She glanced side to side. Bravely, the shutter sounded again.

"Tayama-kun," trembled her gentle voice as she turned slowly to face the vent above the row of lockers opposite her.

There was another shutter and she tucked a strand of curly black hair behind her studded ear.

"Tayama-kun," she said again stepping forwards hesitantly. "Could you please come down? Just for a second. I want to talk."

When all she got in response was another shutter sound, she raised the heart shaped envelope up to the vent.

"Ever since," she began, pressing her palm to her face and looking coyly away, "ever since that day you pushed me into the pool…. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you, Tayama-kun."

It had been a while since the sound of the shutter, and she took that as a sign to continue.

"I know I acted… impulsively," she said as if she were trying hard to cling to the word because she had only just learned it a few hours ago under the severe tutelage of an oversized tsundere. "But I didn't know how to deal with my own feelings. So I… lashed out and took a dump in your shed. But it was just a way to hide how I truly felt. Could you come down just for a second, so we can talk?"

There was a long, deliberate pause while Tsukino held her breath, and then the vent lid propped open and a small figure slid out and landed soundlessly on his feet, a large DSLR camera hung round its neck.

The smile that touched Tsukino's lips was almost angelic, the kind you'd imagine a young woman to give just as the first snow fell in Time's Square and she leaned up to kiss her childhood friend turned fashion mogul who had single-handedly destroyed her bakery whilst also saving her father from cancer but only after she'd helped him reunite with his long-lost amnesiac twin brother.

"About pushing you in the pool," said Tayama, adjusting his glasses, "I just couldn't risk exposure. And I knew Sakata-san would save you. I'm truly sorry for that."

"I know," said Tsukino. "And I'm sorry about the pictures I posted through your locker."

Tayama laughed fondly at the memory. "I had nightmares for weeks."

"They were some of my best work," nodded Tsukino.

"My therapist wanted to call the police."

"It wouldn't be the first time."

A comfortable silence fell between them as they shared bashful glances.

"So is all this… for me?" asked Tayama, gesturing towards her. "The hair, the makeup, the… semi-regular bathing?"

Walking forwards slowly, Tsukino fluttered her carefully made-up eyelashes and bit her painted lip coyly.

"I wanted to look -and smell- good for you, Tayama-kun. I found those magazines on your desk, the ones with the pretty girls in makeup and I thought…maybe I could…" she held out the envelope out to him. "The thing is, I think I love y-"

"I'm gay."

There was a beat.

And then she attacked.

Before Tayama could register what was going on, Tsukino had launched herself on top of him and wrapped her thighs around his neck, pulling him onto the ground in a squirming heap.

"ARE YOU KIDDING?" she bellowed.

"Ts-Ts-Tsukino-san," choked Tayama, slapping her calf in a desperate attempt to get her to release him. "P-please let's just talk-akh-about this."

"Do you know how long I spent this morning doing these freaking wing-tips?" Tsukino growled, grabbing a fistful of his hair and pulling. "I learned how to contour for you."

"Gkh urgkh I can't- I can't- nggggggggg."

"And to think I was going to wax my-"

Tsukino hissed in pain as Tayama dug his nails into the meat of her inner thigh, her legs unclasping. But before he could crawl away, her hand shot out, clasping on his ankle and dragging him back. Turning him over she threw her entire weight on him and saddled him like a stubborn horse that needed to be broken in.

"I'm not done with you yet," Tsukino said darkly, grabbing him by the collar and pulling it up to meet her gaze. "I want answers. What about the magazines!?"

"I buy the magazines for the photographers' work not the models," panted Tayama, gaze unnervingly steady in the face of her wrath. "But that doesn't mean to say I don't appreciate the lengths you've gone to impress me. I really am flattered."

"So if you don't like me, why the hell are you always following me around?" demanded Tsukino, her fists tightening and restricting his airflow.

"It's-" Tayama searched for the word. "-complicated."

Tsukino flung him hard against the ground and rested her head in her knees.

Pushing himself into a sitting position, Tayama watched her, guilt eating at his features. Tentatively, he approached, placing a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Comforting you," said Tayama gently. "Look, I know it's hard being rejected but we're still young and there's plenty of other fish in the-"

The face that rose to meet him was frighteningly cool.

"You never wanted to confess to me, did you?" said Tayama, retracting his hand.

If possible, her face hardened.

"This was all an act to seduce me," said Tayama, his own expression falling.

She nodded.

"What's in the heart-shaped envelope?"

Tsukino passed it to him. He opened it and pulled out the sheets of paper inside.

"Prank #142," he read out in horrified awe, "pee in Ichirio-nii's bed and convince him he's started bedwetting again. Prank #193, dress up like a giant black cat and hide in Midorima's locker. Oh look this one's about me. Prank #263 seduce Tatami, get him to hand over all of the pictures and then shit on his bed." He scanned the page. "There's a lot of pranks involving excrement in here, aren't there?"

Tsukino snatched the envelope from him and shoved it in her bag.

"It's timeless," he heard her mutter under her breath.

"Well, look, if I didn't like men, I'm sure your plan would have worked," Tayama assured her with a soft smile. "You look really pretty."

Tsukino blinked. "You really think so?"

Tayama nodded. "Those wing-tips are immaculate."

"I practised every day for a month," Tsukino said with a satisfied huff. "And you won't believe how much money I had to spend on make-up brushes because I kept breaking them. Well Kise had to spend. But I'm really good at it now."

"It shows," said Tayama, smiling at her and extending a hand. "And it looks like it makes you happy."

Shrugging, she allowed him to help her up.

"You know you're the first person," she said, chewing on the words, "to call me pretty."

Tayama's mouth parted, a heavy feeling settling on his shoulders.

"You're a worthy archnemesis, Tayama," she said walking backwards. "Mark my words though; I'll get you next time."

The heavy feeling deepened.

"Wait! Tsukino-san!"

She stared at him expectantly.

"Come with me."

"Do you see now? Do you see why I couldn't tell you? These are dangerous forces we're dealing with. Occult forces."

Tsukino nodded her head, scratching her chin thoughtfully. "Yes, yes."

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" Tayama pushed his glasses up and rubbed the bridge of his nose, muttering. "I should never have showed you. This was a bad idea."

"No, no, no," said Tsukino, seizing him by the shoulders and shaking him vigorously. "I believe. I really, really believe. In fact… I think we should do something about this."

"I've tried everything," said Tayama, turning away and gazing into the distance. Behind him Tsukino rolled her eyes. "You don't understand… This thing, it's elusive. I've spent the better part of the last two years hunting for it. The vents have become my home, the dark corners of this school my church, and the only thing I've learned, the only thing I know for certain is that it has some sort of connection to you."

"Yes, exactly," said Tsukino, moving round so they were faced to face again. She grinned at him with all her teeth. "And now that you have me, you can use that- that connection for the forces… those old-butt forces you were talking about."

"Occult."

"That's what I said."

"You really… don't think I'm crazy?"

Tsukino gazed around the panoramic horror show that could only be described as the physical manifestation of Tayama Hitoshi's mind. Hundreds and hundreds of photos spanned the walls of the supply closet in wreathes like a disturbing flip up book tracking Tsukino since the beginning of her career at Teiko. From miniature shaven monk whose first act upon stepping onto the premises was to smash open the basketball trophy case and draw genitals on her brothers' photos, to present day slightly less miniature young woman who only drew genitals on photocopies that had been pre-approved by the captain.

If Tsukino had simply stumbled upon Tayama's project without context, loathe though she was to collaborate with any form of law enforcement, she wouldn't have hesitated to call the police. Not to report Tayama. No, Tsukino was no rat. But to anonymously tip them off about where his body might be found. His parents deserved to have closure after all.

"Crazy is just a word people use for things they're not ready to accept," said Tsukino, patting his shoulder as she echoed the words of the school counsellor she was forced to visit once a week. "Now, there is the question of my fee."

Inside, Aomine felt like the air in his lungs was being siphoned away and each breath seemed like a battle. Outside was easier.

Earlier Kuroko had tried to convince him to stay for extra practice, but with a dismissive mumble about a pulled calf muscle, Aomine had slipped into the showers where it was also a little easier to breathe. There he thought about how lying to his partner had become routine. It had gotten to the point that the excuses rolled so easily off his tongue that the invented aches and pains seemed to twinge convincingly under the phantom man's blank scrutiny.

And Nakadan's words from the previous day still echoed in his head. A monster on the court. It had been meant as a compliment. Even here, in the fresh evening air, he remembered how he had scrambled into a toilet stall the first chance he got, head swimming, eyes hot, nails digging into his knees. For a moment, he had contemplated calling his dad, telling him to come get him because this wasn't right, and he didn't want to be here, not right now, not when everyone's eyes seemed to be stuck on him.

"Hey, you need some extra toilet paper?" a voice had come from the other side of the stall. "I mean there's probably enough in there, but I always like a nice clean roll beside me when I get the shits. Mama says it's a mental thing."

"Tsukino?"

"Just for the record, I did not slip laxatives into your water bottle. Whatever's happening to you in there is god's work… Aomine?"

There had been a click and the stall opened to reveal Aomine sat fully clothed on the toilet seat.

"I can't breathe," he had muttered.

He hadn't really been expecting anything from her, he remembered now as he stood under the fluorescent tube lighting outside the gymnasium. He imagined from the wide eyes that had met him, she hadn't been expecting anything from her either.

Aomine took a deep gulp of air and rested his head against the comforting solidness of the concrete wall. What was taking Momoi so long? He didn't want to go back inside and hurry her up. Not when the air was so much lighter out here. A rustle came from the bushes and Aomine watched as a crouched figure emerged. It walked backwards, a measuring wheel that had clearly been stolen from the maths department in its hands.

Tsukino backed up until she was at the entrance of the gymnasium, pulled out a notepad and recorded something in pencil.

"What are you doing?" said Aomine.

Jumping out of her skin, Tsukino swung round, her arm brandishing the measuring wheel like a sword. She relaxed when she saw Aomine leaning against the wall.

"Oh, it's you," said Tsukino, resting her weapon against the wall. "Why are you out here? Practice finished ages ago."

"Nah, answer my question first."

"I'm measuring the shortest distance between the main building and the gymnasium."

He stared at her. When he realised that she wasn't going to elaborate, he asked, "Why?"

"Nope. Your turn."

"Waiting for Satsuki so we can walk home. Why are you measuring the shortest distance between the main building and the gymnasium?"

"I need to see how much rope I should buy. There's no point waiting for Momoi-chan. She's walking home with Tetsuya today. I remember because she asked me if I was walking home with Tetsuya and when I said I might be she asked me if I could please, please walk home by myself today, which I said I would be happy to do, so long as-"

"She paid you," finished Aomine.

"Hahahaha, what a great sense of humour you have there, Aomine," laughed Tsukino, punching his arm half playfully, half with intent to bruise. "What do you take me for, extorting my closest and dearest friends? Haha, good one."

"How much?"

"Enough to buy a new set of pliers."

"What do you need pliers for?"

"It's unrelated to the rope."

A scowl deepened in his brow as Aomine tried desperately to remember something. "Hey, hey, hey, captain said you weren't allowed to pull Murasakibara's teeth. You signed-"

"A contract, yep," said Tsukino looking extremely put out. "But it's not to do with that anyway."

Aomine gave up. If Tsukino didn't want you to know something, you would just have to wait until the dead of night when she climbed in through your bedroom window dressed like a giant bumblebee to find out what was really going on. He shuddered at the memory and then kicked off the wall.

"You're not going to ask me anymore questions," said Tsukino, sidling up beside him as she matched his wide strides with her quick steps.

"You gonna tell me anything?" asked Aomine, shooting her a wry smirk.

"No," admitted Tsukino.

He shrugged and they carried on in silence. He was aware of how the tension in his shoulders had unwound when she had quietly decided to accompany him. No longer bound to the first-string by a contract of servitude, Tsukino kept her own hours, which meant they rarely walked home together anymore. On a good day, they'd eat lunch prepared by Saburo. On a bad day she was sneaking off at every free interval not dominated by Sakata's dreaded binder for something even Kuroko struggled to define.

"It's better if she tells you when she's ready," Kuroko would say. Or, "Honestly, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Then there was Aomine's personal favourite: "Kame-san is not having a secret affair with Akashi-kun, Midorima-kun. Please stop asking me."

It definitely had something to do with Mareo but mentioning his name around Kuroko was a cardinal sin and Aomine wasn't far off that sentiment. So far, Nijimura had won Tsukino's fealty through fear, whilst Akashi had won it through her immeasurable, often inappropriately timed gratitude. Did he really want to know how Mareo, a so far intangible blob of obscurity was commanding such power over Teiko's -as of last Monday's cafeteria soup explosion- principal arsonist? It's worth noting that no one could actually prove she had anything to do with the fire. In fact, no one could prove Tsukino was doing anything lately. She was shaping up to be quite the model student. According to an eyewitness, who may or may not have recently 'lost' his beloved goldfish only for it to miraculously turn up following his signed statement, at the time of the incident Tsukino had been spotted helping an elderly gentleman cross the street. There was some speculation as to whether or not she was simply robbing him, mainly by Kise, who had started keeping his wallet in his underwear, but no one appeared to be following up with the investigation. The disciplinary committee had found their hands inexplicably tied by the thousand-yard stare of the top ten test scorer, winner of the prestigious charitable citizen award, and vice captain of the girl's swim team, Sakata Riyeko.

"So," said Tsukino. "Are you feeling any better…? You know since…?"

She was staring at the ground and he took the opportunity to really look at her.

Once upon a time he would have said something stupid like, under all that makeup hid the real Tsukino. But that was the wrong way to put it, he decided, remembering Mama Tsukino's words at the Kaijou match. Aomine didn't have to dig for her. Tsukino Kame had not been buried underneath her longer hair and taller legs. She was not lost beneath sheets of foundation or streaks of concealer. An avalanche of new clothes and jewellery had not entombed her in a new unrecognisable body. After all it had been the Tsukino Kame with a dusting of blue eye shadow that had stepped inside the stall. It had been the Tsukino Kame whose hair was now long enough to tie up that had locked the door behind her. And it had been the Tsukino Kame who wore under her shirt the silver ring gifted to her by the dance club that had stayed with him, talked with him until he could breathe again.

She met his eyes finally and Aomine found himself grinning. "Yeah," he said. "I do."

"Course you do. I'm here. Boyfriends feel better when their girlfriends are around. It's like a law… of physics."

She grinned back and bumped him with her shoulder.

Once upon a time, if he had felt uncomfortable with her new look, her new interests, the way her smile seemed to make his heart beat just that tiny fraction faster, he would have blamed it on her trying to be someone she wasn't. He would have laughed at her, loudly as if it could cover up the sound fluttering away in his chest. Now, he didn't do that. Doing that would invariably lead to that strange expression on her face, which he understood better now.

Taking in another gulp of fresh air, he looked ahead again. "Seriously, the hell do you need pliers for?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

And he realised with that increasingly familiar but not unpleasant fluttering in his chest that if it had to do with Tsukino Kame, he did.

Author's Note:

Some things I'd like to update you on first.

I love BTS. Was meant to say it in the last Author's Note but hey. I got into them coming up to about three years ago when I started my teacher training and best believe they saved my mental health. So if anyone's here a BTS fan props to you all! Yoongi is my "bias" but lets be real I love them all.

I'm also mad in love with My Hero Academia so if anyone has any sweet comedy fanfics with OC pairings that they know about shoot them my way as well. My faves are (I'm a cliche) Bakugou and Midoriya, but tbh other than Mineta I have maaaaaaaaad love for that show.

I'm really sorry I'm not replying to reviews properly anymore. I think my anxiety just makes it really hard to engage for fear of disappointing you guys or not meeting your expectations, but I promise I read them again and again when I'm tired or struggling and they really do bring me so much joy and motivate me so I just wanted to say thank you so much. I love you all loads! I used to think that I wrote in order to make a career out of it, then because I loved writing, but the more I've read your reviews over the years, it really has become a form of connection for me that I truly cherish.

In terms of the chapter it was originally longer but reading it back it felt crammed in. I've decided to spread Tatami- I mean Tayama's hahaha arc over a few more chapters and weave them in with some other important arcs. I hope Aomine's gradual changes are realistic. If anyone disagrees though let me know. Second year is coming to an end soon and I'm only going to spend a few chapters on third before we hit High School and the main storyline. I'm so excited to write grouchy, Aomine.

Take care of your mental health, your loved ones and remember whatever you're feeling right now or struggling with is valid.

Hope you enjoyed it and with the fact that I am at home writing and reading for the forseeable future I hope to see you soon!