He couldn't expect more from Aida—Um, Hyuuga Riko then(he was not surprised. Not really)—When she said that the whole bunch of Seirin and the others would be there waiting for them at the designated place. And when she said 'others', Kagami and ,maybe Aomine too, didn't even think that besides Hyuuga, Izuki, Kogane, Kiyoshi, and Furihata, that Midorima, Takao, Murasakibara, Kasamatsu with a few familiar faces of the former Kaijo's players, Momoi and the three crowdless kings from Rakuzan back then would be chatting away together in the same place when they opened the door to the gym.

To say that they were amazed was an understatement. It was not everyday to see the old rivals on the court to be so friendly towards one another like this.

But then, Kagami was away for a total decade. Everything changed. He knew that more than enough.

"Oh look, who're coming" Takao whose eyes were as sharp as ever noticed them first. His cheerful greeting drew every one's attention toward them. Aomine couldn't care less as he lazily waved at them.

Kagami though, blinked once before awkwardly raising a hand. "Um, yo" he stuttered a greeting back.

The crowd was stilled for a moment and then, someone sputtered a laugh, and all hell broke down.

"*Yo*? That's so lame!" Kotaro barked, his eyes teary.

"Once Bakagami, always Bakagami" Riko shook her head. She walked towards them in a steady pace. When she was standing in front of them, her eyes narrowed scrutinizingly. "Your body's stats were pretty extraordinary, but what should I be expecting." She smiled then. "And a beard? Really?"

Kagami's hand was quicker than his brain processing as he was seen touching his own stubble. "What was it anyway with my beard?"

"Oh nothing!" Riko glowed "It's a good idea to grow beard. It's one of the great strategies to be intimidating as much as you can while you have to go against those giants on the court."

Aomine snorted a laugh. "Intimidating? Man, wait til you see the look on those guys when this idiot suddenly jerked out of the gym just because coach brought his dog along to the practice." He lightly patted another man's shoulder. "Pretty much a show no one can ever forget."

Kagami swirled his head to where Aomine was sneering at him. He shouted "That dog was a Doberman, for God's sake. That mutt was huge!"

"But you a thousand times bigger, Baka."

"Oh boy," Midorima rolled his eyes. Kagami noticed his fingers were stilled wrapped in those bandages just the same. He hasn't changed much physically from back then when they were merely high school students. "Remind me again why I am even here."

"Admit it Shin-chan. You miss them as much as we do." Takao teased. The guy was a little taller, and had piercings on his ears and at the left side of his brown. His hair was pulled back by the thin headband and when the hawk-eyed smiled wide at them, Kagami spotted a shining glint on the other man's tongue. "Well, welcome back, I guess?"

"Thanks." Kagami grumbled back, "Um, I didn't expect to see all of you here." His eyes wandered around. Everyone was *almost* there. Kagami thought better than saying it out loud. Instead, he bowed a little. "It's really nice seeing the old faces here."

"Stop with such formality, Bakagami!" Riko slapped him on the back. Ignoring Kagami's yelp, she put her hand firmly on both men's shoulders and pushed them forward to where the others were waiting. "Everyone's here for you. So get your ass moving!"

"That hurt, senpai" Kagami complained but his steps were light. He didn't have any intention to hide his smile.

*This is it* Kagami thought as he was met with Izuki's pat on the back Furihata's hug, Hyuuga's nonsense sputter—though he could hear a sniff mixed in there—and Kiyoshi's big hand on his head that he could finally breathe. '*I'm home*'

While Kagami was pulled towards the Seirin, Aomine ambled to where Momoi was standing with a pout. Her face turned the other way so Aomine couldn't figure his childhood friend's expression.

"What's that Satsuki?"

"Sachin is angry." Murasakibara answered in her stead. The giant purple was as big as he last saw him, if not taller an inch or two. "You came unannounced. Not that I mind though, but Sachin feels she was being left out."

"Mukkun!" Momoi snapped at the pastry chef. "That's not true!"

Aomine scratched his head. He put a hand on Momoi's head, ruffling the pink locks as gently as he could manage. "Well, no excuses on that. The booking was done in the last minute. The coach said we were not playing for this season so we figured we could take some time off and when we realized we were on the plane heading to Japan." Aomine grumbled then. "And you think that was the end of the surprise. Wait til you heard that Kise was the one who was flying it first."

Momoi looked like she had nothing to say to that, but then the warm hand tangling with her long hair prompted her to speak.

"Uh—Kichan said something like he wouldn't be back for a month when we had lunch together."

Aomine's eyes narrowed dangerously. "With Kise? Alone?"

"No!" Momoi's abrupt shout started the tanned man. He looked down at her, waiting. "We—as in me, Kichan, Midorin, and—" her eyes went sideway. "Tetsu-kun."

Aomine didn't say anything to that. He looked from Murasakibara who merely shrugged his shoulders to Midorima.

The bespectacled man pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, sighed as he could perfectly read what Aomine was trying to ask without uttering a single word. "Yes. They'll here in any minute. Kuroko texted me if I had any rubber toy with me."

Aomine raised a brow. "Rubber toy? What for?"

"Nigo, apparently." He fidgeted with his glasses. "It's my lucky Item. He said Nigo destroyed one at home, so he wonders if he could borrow that from me."

"Wait—hold on." Aomine was confused. He wasn't sure where Midorima was headed to with this conversation. "Since when did you lend your precious lucky items to anyone? And. What with that casual texting with Tetsu? He hasn't cared to even send me a single message during this ten years!"

"He knows priority." Midorima huffed out an air of superiority Aomine started to hate it. "And don't think we are best friends or something like that. We still cannot get along. But he helped me find lucky items from time to time when neither Takao nor I could put our hand on them. So I am doing what a decent man do."

"...By giving him a dog toy?"

"Returning a favor." Midorima calmly rephrased. He ignored Takao whose hands were on his mouth, trying to stifle his laugh. To no avail, it would seem. "And by the look at you. You've met with Kise already, I assume?"

"Well, yeah." Aomine sighed retiredly. "He offered us to stay at his place while we're here, actually."

"Have you met Kuroko?"

"No." Aomine said. "Though I was readied myself to jump off the apartment when Kise opened his door, thinking Tetsu would pop up from somewhere inside the room." He paused for a bit. "He said he had to go somewhere else and would come here later. I knew he went to Tetsu, though I thought they moved in to live together already."

Momoi and Midorima exchanged a worried glance. Murasakibara, on the other hand, said simply. "Kisechin was trying. But Kurochin was unreadable as usual."

"What do you mean?"

"Kichan did ask Tetsu-kun, Dai-chan." Momoi informed, she smiled a reluctant smile at him. "But you know Tetsu-kun. He wouldn't say anything."

"Oh," Aomine blinked. He stole a glance at the redhead who was talking away with the guys from Kaijo at the other side of the room. "I think Tetsu—"

"It's only our own presumption. We don't know exactly what's running through Kuroko's head." Midorima cut the former ace short. "Yet, I think we'll know that in a matter of any minutes now."

Just right then, the door was opened for the second time that evening. Kagami couldn't tell if it's not for the chill breeze sneaked its way inside the gym when the door was pushed ajar. He turned his head, leaving Kasamatsu's words hang in the air.

Standing there were two men in the coats. Kise was smiling sunshine, waving his hand in a small motion to which everyone in the room acknowledged. Beside him was the smaller man. His complexion was as pale as a snow. His teal hair was unruly due to the strong wind. His gloved hand went to pat a grown-up Siberian who wagged his tail in enthusiastic response. And when their eyes met, Kagami thought of brightest sky reflecting on the deep blue ocean.

Kuroko bowed his head. Nigo barked happily beside him.

"Hello," He greeted no one in particular, he blinked at Kagami. "It's been a long time, Kagami-kun."