Edited 10.31.2021
Friendship with a Ghost
Her mission to avoid contact with Kuroko was turning out to be surprisingly difficult.
It seemed the sixth player wasn't quite on the same page as Hana since the silent boy kept appearing at every given opportunity. Bump into him in the hallway? Check. See him during dismissal? Check. She hadn't even known they shared mathematics together until Kuroko plopped himself down in the seat next to hers!
For the first few days he hadn't said a word and Hana went from nervous to downright agitated. If he was going to insist on being in her life, she needed to know if it was intentional. Hana finally reached her peak of frustration on a Wednesday morning.
She'd been held behind in history when she arrived to math class an alarming five minutes late, and seeing Kuroko sitting calmly beside her desk broke the camel's back. The door slammed shut behind her, the smack reverberating through the concrete classroom. At the noise, all her classmates turned to stare at her including a blank-faced Kuroko.
Hand fisting the doorknob, Hana mentally snarled. Why couldn't this kid show more emotion?! She began to stomp toward her desk before Kuramoto Sensei interrupted her.
"You're late, Imamura-san," she jolted her focus to the disappointed teacher, "Care to explain your reasoning for disrupting my class?" The portly man drawled as he looked over at her.
"I'm sorry, sensei," Hana bowed her head in faux guilt. It wasn't ideal, but she could work with this, "Oda-sensei had me stay after class to discuss my last exam grade." She lifted her head up and looked him in the eyes, forcing her bottom lip to wobble threateningly, "That was the first test I've failed. I promise to never let it happen again, sensei."
Kuramoto sensei stared at her for a long moment before sighing, "Ahh… It's fine Imamura-san, just take your seat."
"Thank you, sir!" She scurried into her chair and retrieved her notebook, steadfastly ignoring Kuroko's gaze on the side of her face. It was annoying the way he could say nothing at all, yet still hold your focus. Quite the opposite of what his little ghosty powers implied.
The lesson preceded sluggishly and Hana slowly became bored out of her mind. Her hand began to doodle tiny flowers on the corner of her paper until she ran out of open space, flipping the page to the back to do it all again. Mindlessly, she debated on getting out another sheet of paper to continue her doodles when one was pushed in front of her. It was blank except for a tiny sentence written at the bottom of the sheet:
I apologize if I offended you last weekend.
"What?" She whispered to the empty air, cutting her eyes toward the boy beside her. Kuroko only offered her a slight frown before looking back to his own notes. Rolling her eyes, Hana snorted in return and scrambled out her own reply.
You didn't offend me. She shoved it his direction with a huff. He blinked at it for a moment, before jotting out another note and gently handing it back to her.
If you're sure. You just left very suddenly, and I thought it would be best to apologize.
She read it twice before realization sank in. Hana let out a groan, unknowingly startling Kuroko and the people behind them. There was no easy way to reply to that, especially in written form. The situation wasn't his fault, well not completely, she just didn't know how to act around the boy or what he wanted from her.
"Kuroko," she whispered harshly, eyeing her sensei's back, "Look, I'm sorry if I rushed off the other day— I just don't understand. Why are you even talking to me?"
Kuroko peered at her, those blue eyes tracing over her face like they were searching for her soul before he hummed noncommittedly. Looking back at his paper, he let a tiny smile grace his face, "Not many people stand against Akashi-kun, I was intrigued."
"What the hell, intrigued? What does that even mean?" She responded in a derisive whisper. She knew he'd ulterior motives for inviting her out to eat!
Pulling the paper from her grasp, Kuroko decided to enlighten her, "That is what I mean, Imamura-san. Your personality is very contradictory, it's interesting," he spoke, "From all that I've heard, one would think you to be rude or maybe even socially inept, yet I saw you with Seiho's captain and it was quite the opposite."
"… So what?" she snorted, choosing to ignore the way he'd essentially called her an idiot, "I was nice for a moment, no big deal. That doesn't explain why you're here," she motioned to his seat choice, "Or why you asked me to go eat with you."
He waited a moment before nonchalantly offering, "I was under the impression that friends spent time together, this seemed like a good opportunity."
"Friends?!" She spun to face Kuroko, catching Kuramoto-sensei's attention in the process.
"Do you have something to share Imamura-san?" the teacher's voice boomed out and Hana flinched, guilty stare flickering between the pain in the ass at her side and the teacher at the head of the room. Shooting a quick glare at Kuroko for not being caught with her, she turned her body to face Kuramoto-sensei.
"No sir, I was just surprised by something. I didn't mean to disturb your wonderful lesson on," she paused and squinted at the numbers on the board, "the algebraic theory behind negative numbers?"
Hand rubbing his balding head, Kuramoto sighed dejectedly, "Imamura-san, we're studying polynomial equations…"
"That's what I meant, sir!" She smiled brightly, cheeks twitching at the effort, "See, it's just a different way of referring to it. It's still an algebraic theory even if it involves polynomials, and you're using negative numbers on the board in example two so it's basically the same thing!"
"…Sure it is," he grumbled, "Thank you for your input, please don't do it again." A chorus of laughs echoed across the classroom, causing Hana to blush. She shot another glare at Kuroko before looking back to her notes. I will not be distracted again!
Her vow didn't last long.
Kuroko distracted her a total of three more times that lesson. It was sometime around the second distraction that she realized she wasn't as annoyed with him as she had been. The quiet, blunt sixth player had grown on her. Belatedly, she realized that accepting Kuroko's friendship declaration was a dancing along the edge of a dangerous slope, but it was a bit too late to do anything about it.
As the final bell rang, Hana began to pack her belongings up and handed Kuroko his paper back. It had become filled with little notes between the two, most of them focused on basketball and a few on the new restaurant that opened up downtown. He invited her to join him when he went, but she steadfastly turned him down.
Their last public outing had not gone well and she'd rather die before having a repeat of that.
"Well," Hana began as they walked to the door, "I'm glad we sorted everything out, Kuroko-kun," her hands quickly covered her mouth, tongue tied in horror at the faux pas she'd just committed," I'm sorry that was probably way too forward…"
Blue eyes smiled at her, but his face remained blank, "It's fine Imamura-chan. Does your team have practice this afternoon?"
Feeling a smidge of gratitude nestle in her chest at his acceptance of her slip up, Hana replied, "Yeah, we do. I'm assuming you guys do too?"
It was a redundant question. She knew they practiced every morning from 6:00 am to 7:00 with just enough time for showers before the classes started. It was a grueling schedule, but she'd never admit just how impressed she was at their dedication.
"No, we have morning practice. Akashi-kun had an activity to do after school," Kuroko said.
"Ah, well that's a downer?" Kuroko raised his eyebrows and Hana amended, "Okay so maybe it's not such a bad thing. I wish second string could take a break," she sighed out wistfully.
"You create the schedule, correct? Why not make one?" He questioned.
"No, can do," she snorted, "If we wanted a chance in hell to catch up to you guys, we've gotta practice as much as we can."
Kuroko glanced at her as the duo headed out the door. She had just given his team another compliment, no matter how backhandedly. As they two walked together in silence, he took the chance to really study her. She was obviously tired; her green eyes surround by dark circles and yet she wore no makeup to combat her appearance. Even the tightly done ponytail she wore was not in its usual perfect condition.
"Have you been sleeping alright, Imamura-chan?" he ventured.
Hana squinted at her companion before laughing self-condescendingly, "Not really, no. We've got a big game coming up this weekend and I've been working my ass off on research and game plans."
"That must be very unhealthy," Kuroko chided.
"That's what coffee's for, Kuroko-kun. See this?" she gestured to a neon green canister hanging off her bag, "This is my life. Deep, dark black coffee."
"… That's not much better," he blinked, "Although the design is very cute."
Hana looked over her shoulder at her drink before cracking a smile. Yes, the little huskies printed on it were adorable. She snuck a glance back at her companion and coughed awkwardly, "Say Kuroko-kun, would you like to come watch our practice today?"
He appeared stunned for a second, but his face quickly smoothed back over, "I'm thankful for the invitation, but I wouldn't want to intrude—"
"Tetsu-kun!" a voice shouted from down the hallway. Startled, Hana cursed before covering her mouth in embarrassment. There were levels to her friendship and Kuroko was not ready to experience it in all its glory.
Despite the slip up, he smiled softly at her reaction before addressing the new voice, "Momoi-san."
A pink flash was all Hana noticed before Kuroko was embraced in a tight hug, two sets of arms flailing out at the impact. She blinked at the unexpected reunion before attempting to subtly make her exit. Keeping watch of the pair, she snuck one foot behind the other as she attempted to silently retreat down the hallway. Her shoe decided that would be the perfect moment to squeak and Hana froze, wide eyed as Kuroko glanced over to Hana.
Before she could consider the social implications of her escape, she spun on her heel to dash toward to door.
Everything that followed happened in slow motion. Kuroko's blue eyes shot wide and he opened his mouth to speak, but Hana was quicker. Her feet skid over the clean floor and Hana let out a preemptive sigh of relief— only to come face to chest with a very tall person. By the time she figured out just who she could have bumped into, gravity took over and sent her to the floor.
"Ow—" her voice puttered to a stop, fear curdling up her spine.
Green eyes surrounded by a rapidly paling face blinked up at the glaring goliath. It was like looking into the face of the devil as Aomine stared down at her, dark navy eyes narrowed in condescension. The tall teen merely looked at her for a moment before recognition slowly spread across his tan face. Deciding that living was more important than pride, she scrambled up to her knees and attempted to offer an apology when he beat her too it.
"Oh. It's you again," he drawled. Despite his attention, Aomine didn't appear overly interested in her, instead looking over to Kuroko and Momoi to speak again, "Yo, Tetsu. Satsuki wants to eat, come on so I don't have to listen to her nagging anymore."
Momoi's chest puffed, cheeks heavy with a blush as she let go of Kuroko, "I do not nag, Aomine!"
"Alright, just a moment, I need to—" Kuroko cut himself off. That was odd. Imamura-chan was nowhere to be seen. He blinked for a few seconds before looking around. As he looked behind him, he spotted a black and white blur racing back down the hallway, "Ah, never mind. It seems she's already left."
"You were actually talking to her?" Aomine snorted.
"Who were you talking too, Testu-kun?" the first-string manager probed. Momoi's stare flickered between the hallway doors, a perplexed furrow building in her brow.
"Ah, Imamura-chan was inviting me to watch her team's practice today," He responded simply before continuing his walk to the exit. He didn't hear the two simultaneous replies behind him.
"Imamura-chan?" Momoi wailed, hand clutching at her chest as she skuttled after Kuroko's back.
Left behind, Aomine could only gawk. He questioned the air incredulously, "That witch?"
Nearly in the gym, Hana was sweating by the time she made it to practice. Her hands connected to the heavy doors with a thump, the metal crashing closed behind her and startling the few teammates that were already warming up. There was a brief moment of silence as she held one shaky hand up, her other hand propped against her knee.
She couldn't breathe much less talk. Even the floor was looking awfully comfortable. "Why do you people do this for fun?" she eventually whimpered out.
As Hana gaped for air, Uoya looked over to his captain, confused on what to do. Futabatei shrugged noncommittally, before gesturing Uoya forward in the universal signal to take care of it. Uoya gawked and he began to furiously shake his head until Futabatei shut him up with a pointed glare.
When none of his other teammates stepped forward, Uoya let out a huff before inching closer to his manager. He laid a hand on her shoulder and in a gentle tone asked, "What happened, Hana-chan?"
"I had to run away," she said somberly between her gasps, "Too many sharks."
"Too many sharks?" the team echoed in confusion. Uoya mentally rolled his eyes, helping the wobbly manager to her feet.
She nodded, "Blood thirsty sharks."
The team looked at one another, mildly worried, but Futabatei corrected them with a sigh. He wore an expression of long-standing suffering as he deadpanned, "That's what she calls first string."
It took a minute to garner a reaction, but it came when Kitano's laugh echoed off the bleachers, "Sharks! That's a good one, Imamura!"
As Hana's shoulder's stiffened, Uoya took an awkward step back. He shot the surrounding players a subtle look just in time for the manager to growl, her green eyes flashing as she sought out Kitano's place among the crowd. When she spotted him sitting on the bleachers, it was too late for him to run.
Hana shot up, momentarily forgetting about her earlier traumatizing experience, "You!"
Oblivious, Kitano blinked, "Me?"
"You, the bumbling fool sitting on his ass!" the tiny manager stomped forward, "What have I told you about playing street ball!"
"Oh shit," Kitano moaned, slumping into his seat in defeat, "I knew this was gonna happen…"
"Then why," Hana snarled down at him," Did. You. Do. It! You know we're facing off against Komagi this weekend! Do you remember last year? They crushed us!"
"It's not like—"
"It doesn't matter if you meant too or not! Because of your stupid decision, and yes it was stupid—shut up, Kitano! I don't care how much money you won! Now you can't play this weekend because of your freaking ankle!" Hana continued to stomp forward as her rant continued, making Kitano tremor, "Not to mention Saiki-san's surgery; that means we've got two players out!"
"Ahaha, Hana-chan, it's okay!" Uoya intercepted the managers death march, tugging her back before he ducked her well timed punch, "Okay, so it's not super okay! But don't worry! We can just borrow some third-string players!"
Hana turned to glare at the sixth year, sharp eyes zeroing in on his sheepish expression before letting out a defeated sigh. There wasn't much she could do about it at this point anyway, "Your right, Uoya-kun. Sorry for overreacting everyone…"
The team let out a collective sigh of relief, but Futabatei interrupted the peace again, "The third-string is unavailable this weekend," he paused before executing the final blow, "The only option is first-string."
Hana turned to look at her captain in open mouthed horror, several other members sharing the sentiment.
"No! Not them!" One yelled.
"Ugh, man…" Another moaned.
"As long as it's not Midorima," Uoya muttered.
"… But, that's two first string players?" Hana managed to whimper, "One would be fine to clear with their coach, but two? Who's going to ask Akashi-san for permission?"
All conversation around her stopped. Everyone looked to one another, before all eyes suddenly landed on herself. Hana gasped and turned to Uoya for support but her best friend just smiled guiltily before stepping back a few feet. Futabatei's brow hiked expectantly.
"No, I'm not doing it!" She declared determinedly, fists resting on her hips.
Futabatei stared her down, but Hana stubbornly returned it. There was no way they could make her do it. The two were locked into an intense contest of will-power, the team nervously watching on behind them. Sparks flashed from her captain's eyes and Hana flinched before straightening her back and throwing out a snarl.
The tall male stepped forward until he towered directly over her, eyes shooting out tiny bolts of lightning. One, two, three, four…
"Fine! I'll do it! But," she stabbed at finger at Uoya, "The little traitor is coming with me!"
"What—no! Captain?!" Uoya squealed. Futabatei stared at him for a few seconds before nodding to Hana's demands.
As the younger teen slumped over in defeat, Hana let out a victory laugh before her voice turned serious, "Fine then, guess the drama's over everyone," Kitano scoffed in the background, but Hana plowed down, "Time to get to work! We'll go over the game plan after practice so don't run off too quickly."
"Gotcha!" the team responded and Futabatei offered her another nod before directing the players to start a scrimmage game.
Hana crossed her arms over her chest and smiled softly. These were her boys, despite their occasional idiocy and brain malfunctioning. This was the team she was a part of. Yet, as she made her way to the bleachers, reality sank in, and her smile started to slip off her face.
By the time she made her way to coach she was close to panicked tears. Tomorrow, she had to go ask Akashi Seijuro for help. Not only that, but she'd also have to ask the whole Generation of Miracles for help.
Time to plan her funeral.
