Okay, it's been two weeks and oh man I'm so sorry. I never meant to take such a long break, but school was calling my name and this story started to feel like an essay instead of a hobby. So, I took a break. Anyway, I'm back! Yay! I'm sorry I don't have a more entertaining chapter for you guys, but I needed to set some plot points up and well, ta-da! I hope it's not terrible... I felt a little rusty. Enjoy my friends! (ALSO THANK YOU! 200! AND THE REVIEWSSSS AHHH)
Warnings: Bad language, violence, bad (seriously bad) editing
Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke
An Unofficial Guide to Being a Manager
There was no way in hell Hana was getting a sandwich. Nope, not happening. Nothing in the world would ever make her step foot into that crowd. Not even a dying nun. The boys could fend for themselves. As she leaned against the wall, she watched Kagami throw Fukuda into the crowded lunch line. Poor guy, he's going to be traumatized.
"That's not going to work," Hana droned before flinching as Kagami slammed himself into the wall of bodies, "… you're all idiots."
"Imamura-san," Kuroko scolded as he magically teleported beside her, "Don't be mean."
Letting out a startled grunt, Hana turned to Kuroko with a comeback ready on her tongue, "I'm not— what's that?"
"The sandwich," Kuroko blinked at her, "I got it a moment ago."
Hana stared at him. She stared for a damn long time, but no matter how long she looked at him, Kuroko didn't twitch. She finally commanded her body to do something else and Hana slammed a hand against her forehead, "You're the shittest little shit that has ever been a shit."
"Thank you."
"Not a compliment—" Hana dragged her hand down her face, "You know what? Never mind. You're welcome."
Turns out the rest of the freshmen were equally impressed with Kuroko's antics. By impressed, Hana meant somewhat annoyed and highly murderous. Oh well, they got the sandwich. Woo-hoo, her thoughts deadpanned. Now that the task was done, they were all gathered at the roof with the sacred sandwiches in tow.
The second-years were oddly proud. Kind of like a mother watching their child walk for the first time or maybe like a father hearing their child say their first curse. While everyone basked in the glow of fresh bread, Hana leaned against the rail. She belatedly wondered why they were up there, considering they were banned, but she shrugged it off.
"Did you not get one, Imamura-chan?" Koganei's voice came from the left. When Hana turned to him, his head was tilted like a puppy. More like a kitten, actually.
"Nah," she shrugged a shoulder, "I'll take the training over the crowd any day. Besides, have you seen those things? Bleegkh."
Ironically, Kuroko choose that moment to bite into his sandwich. Hana would have never thought Kuroko was the pink sparkly type, but hey, you learn something new every day. The ghostly boy's cheeks had flushed and a tiny smile graced his lips. While everyone gawked, Hana stared. Something tinged in the back of her head, but she was distracted from analyzing it by Furihata biting into his own sandwich.
"It's so amazing," the boy's cheeks flushed and his eyes glazed over, "The flavors of the steak are great!"
"I wonder if they make that expression when they—" Hana was interrupted by a hard thump to the back of her head, "Shit! Hyuuga!"
"Don't say things like that," The captain gave her an eye crinkling smile, "or I'll force your mouth shut."
"I'd like to see you— I'm joking! Where the hell did you even get tape?!"
xXxXxXx
Practice that day was somber for some reason. Hana stood behind Kagami, eyeing Hyuuga warily. She had narrowly avoided the tape earlier, but she didn't think she'd be so lucky this time around. At least the captain was distracted. His voice traveled across the team and Hana peered down at the schedule she'd been gifted with. The word's Inter-High Tournament were typed along the top.
"If we lose we're out," Hyuuga continued to explain the rules of the tournament and the freshmen listened intently while Hana analyzed the list of schools. Finally, his explanation came to an end, "And that's the Inter-High."
"I sort of get the picture, but you're wrong about one thing," Hana was mildly surprised when Kagami was the first to speak, "They aren't chosen. They win it."
"Deep," She contributed from the background, subsequently breaking the team out of their admiration, "I never knew you were a poet, Kagami. Anyway, when does this thing start?"
Hyuuga turned toward her stiffly and Hana ducked back behind Kagami's back. The glare continued for a minute before we answered her question, "We've got three weeks."
Hana filed that information away for later. That was plenty of time to plan. When she zoned back into reality she realized everyone was still staring at her, "Oh, my bad. Continue with the game plan."
"We almost made it to the top last year, but we fell behind. We'll face a lot of strong schools, but we need to watch for Shutoku High," Hyuuga moved his glare away from her to finish his monologue, "Like Kaijo, they've managed to get a member of the Generation of Miracles on their team."
When Hyuuga paused, Kagami turned to Kuroko, "Do you know who he is?"
"I doubt you'd believe me if I told you," Kuroko's answer was bland, "However, Kise-kun was correct when he said the other four are on a different level. If they've improved, I can't imagine how good they are now."
"…" poking her head out from behind Kagami, Hana frowned at Kuroko's statement, "Well, that was cheerful. We beat Kise, didn't we?"
"There we go," the stupid tiger had his hand on her head again, "Listen to the brat."
"I swear to every deity on this planet that I'm going to rip your fingers off—"
The closing of the door broke up the incoming argument and everyone watched as Riko made her way into the gym. The coach dropped her bag down before delivering the news, "We shouldn't worry about Shutoko. Our first game is going to give us some trouble, especially a certain player."
Riko pulled out her phone before handing it to Hyuuga, "Look at the picture."
"It's cute," Hyuuga deadpanned and Hana tried to peek over the everyone's shoulders to see what he was looking at, but no such luck. Riko blushed before ordering Hyuuga to go to the next photo. When he did, the captain gaped, "He's huge!"
Hana finally made her way through the overly muscles bodies to look at the phone. Darting under Izuki's arms she stared at the photo of the man on the screen. He definitely looked intimidating… that was for sure. Riko began to list of his name, height, and mentioned that he was an exchange student for Senegal. Papa Mbaye Siki.
The Seirin team digested that information with varying degrees of shock. Meanwhile, Hana subtly slid the phone out of Hyuuga's hand before forwarding the picture to herself. When she came back to reality, everyone was engaged in the newly nicknamed 'Dad'.
Until Riko interrupted them all with a shout, commanding their attention.
"Not only is he tall physically, his arms and legs are long too. Last year, Shinkyo Academy was only a middle tier school, but now they've improved dramatically," Riko's tone was solemn, "With the addition of one foreign player they've completely changed."
"We can't just do nothing —" Kagami was interrupted by the coach.
"Who said that?" Riko smiled at the grumpy redhead, "Kagami-kun, Kuroko-kun, starting tomorrow you two will have your own training regimen. The preliminaries start May 16th! Let's get ready for them!"
While everyone cheered at the pep talk, Hana trailed her eyes over the grouping. They lingered on Kagami and Kuroko, both looking at each other, before her eyes landed on the coach. The older girl was smiling and Hana tilted her head in consideration. A ping had her pulling out her phone and revealing a file sent from Momoi. Well, that was convenient timing.
When Riko blew the whistle to start practice, Hana took a few steps backwards. No one noticed until later that she'd vanished without a word.
Laying on the floor in front of her television, Hana's eyes blinked as she stared at the recently delivered notes. Momoi's information was impeccable, but that didn't stop the exhaustion creeping up Hana's spine. Beside her, Nūdoru let out a snore and she patted him on the head. Her eyes trailed back up to the television and Hana quirked a brow at the over the top special effects.
"That wouldn't work," she snorted as the main character jumped off the bridge to land on a passing truck, "That car was going way too fast. Right, Nūdoru?"
Her dog didn't reply, he just continued to doze away on the floor. Hana scoffed at the action before turning her attention back to the notes. So far, she'd been able to transfer the majority of the information into her phone, but man, it was tedious. A loud echo of gunfire came from the movie and Hana blinked back up at the screen.
Resting her head on her palm, she watched as the main character dodged a spray of bullets. Which you know, totally not possible. Unless you were a ninja. As the truck exploded and the main character jumped onto another car, Hana let out a long yawn. She'd spent all afternoon working on her studies and her manager stuff, and now her self-imposed tiredness was making its presence known.
Green eyes opened and closed once, then twice before Hana relaxed further onto her palm. The last thing she remembered from reality was the main character's spiel. Something about saving the world… and his girlfriend. Can't forget the obligatory love interest.
Hours later, Hana woke up on the dusty flooring. Her father was standing over her with a smirk and apparently, he was also the cause of her now conscious state. Blinking the crust from her eyes, Hana rolled over only to jolt in surprise. When had Nūdoru climbed on top of her? Whatever. I'm too tired for this shit.
"Have a nice nap?" Her father chuckled, but Hana couldn't respond with anything other than a loud moan, "You looked comfortable."
Bringing her hand up to cover the oppressive light, Hana grumbled, "I was. How long was I asleep?"
"Well, it's noon," snorting, her father began to walk away, "Lunch is on the table if you're hungry."
"Food," Hana's voice sounded robotic as she struggled to her knees. At the movement, Nūdoru jolted up and shook his head around. It took a few seconds, but when the smell registered, Nūdoru stumbled toward the kitchen. He promptly ignored Hana's yell, "Hey! That's mine!"
With a groan, Hana followed after her over eager pup. The smell of lunch had her stomach growling in long forgotten hunger and she collapsed into the nearest chair. Green eyes squinted in the light before a hand greedily snatched the offered bag of food. Bringing it to her chest, Hana turned toward her father, "Why aren't you at work? Not that I'm not happy or anything."
Leaning against the counter, her dad let out a huff, "Kitchen mishap. That new guy, what was his name? Anyway, he messed up the oven last night."
"That sucks," Hana shoved her hand into the bag and retrieved two burgers. Unwrapping one, she tossed it to Nūdoru. Flinching at her dad's glare, she motioned toward the burgers to divert his attention, "Three days in a row? That's a record."
"Don't complain," her father walked toward her and snatched the bag out of her hands. Ignoring Hana's hiss, he continued, "How late were you up? I've never heard you snore so loud."
"I don't snore," she defended automatically. Ripping into the greasy delicacy, she finished her answer with a full mouth, "And I think I passed out at like four? Maybe five. I don't know, the sun was up though."
"That's terrible."
"I'm noticing," Hana deadpanned, "Did you turn off the coffee?"
"I'll make a new pot," her dad's smirk was lost to Hana, but his reply was clear over the sound of rustling in the kitchen, "What were you dreaming about? You kept repeating something about explosions."
Finishing the last of her burger, Hana shrugged out her reply, "I fell asleep watching that new movie, about a mob that steals body parts—"
Her father tsked, "Don't watch stuff like that."
"Yes sir," she rolled her eyes before resting her head against the table, "I think I dreamed that all my friends were spies or something. Kuroko had a gun."
"Interesting," she heard the water running before her dad came back to the table, "Kuroko's the blue haired one, right? Short and polite?"
"Yeah," Hana peeked her head up and raised an eyebrow, "You remember him?"
Leaning against the front of the table, her father gave her an innocent smile, "I remember everyone."
"Because that's not creepy," she snarked back before stretching her arms above her head, "What are you doing today?"
"I need to clean; the house is a mess. Want to help—"
"No."
"That was a rhetorical question, Hana."
Cleaning is supposed to be a mindless activity. For most of the population, it probably is. But for Hana, cleaning made her think about everything. Well, not everything. Her thoughts were mainly focused on her dream from the night before. As she scrubbed down the bathroom floor, bits and pieces were coming back to her.
Said bits and pieces included Kagami with a sniper rifle. That was a fun mental image, especially when Hana remembered his temper and how often it was aimed at her. He can never have a gun.
Anyway, as she worked, plans were forming in her head. They weren't the best, but by god, they were making Hana excited. So many possibilities! So many options! At one point her dad poked his head into the bathroom only to retrace his steps at Hana's dark chuckles echoing from behind the shower curtain.
The cleaning continued for another couple hours and Hana had successfully finished the upper level of the house. She'd also developed some pretty in depth blueprints for her new master plan. I'm a certifiable genius.
With a skip to her step, Hana called Nūdoru and the two made their way up to her room. Her lovely little pup jumped straight on her bed to nuzzle underneath the covers, but Hana went right to her desk.
She pulled her hair into a lose pony tail and retrieved a pen before eying the blank table top. Her plans abruptly petered out, how do I do this?
Ever since last practice, Hana had been struck with an unnatural desire to help her new team. It wasn't as strong as her devotion to her Teiko teammates, but it could easily match the level if given the time. Not to mention, unlike Futabatei, Riko didn't seem to have a huge problem with Hana's sneakier side. She'd just have to grovel a bit or a lot.
Pulling out her notebooks and her computer, Hana brought her fingers in front of her before cracking them one by one.
Time to get this party started.
The next day, Sunday to be precise, Hana had texted Riko and asked her to meet up at the hospital. She'd also specifically told Riko to come thirty minutes early. That sounds like a bad idea, but when you combine an angry Riko with a happy Kiyoshi you get a much less grumpy coach. At least, that was the plan. Unfortunately, when Hana opened the door to Kiyoshi's room, it proved to be an incorrect equation.
Riko was on her in a second. Hana didn't know how she did it, Riko could have been hiding on the ceiling for all she knew. But one minute, Hana was breathing and the next she was not. In the blink of an eye, the coach tackled her to the floor and stuffed her into another tight headlock. Hana's arms flailed around desperately as she gasped for air, but her only savior didn't move off his bed.
"Stop running off!" Riko's arm tightened when Hana tried to cough up a response, "You can't keep doing that! Do you know how worried we were?!"
Clawing at the arm around her neck, Hana tried to buck Riko off her. She couldn't. Instead she let out a cacophony of strangled sounds. She meant to say, "I'm sorry!"
Instead, Hana's words sounded more like, "Meruh gurrah!"
Riko continued to suck the life out of her, but luckily her saving grace, Kiyoshi, interrupted, "Riko? She's turning purple."
The choking stopped and Riko looked at Hana closely. The coach didn't remove her arm for a long time, but when she finally deemed Hana's punishment sufficient, Riko backed off and stood up. For her part, Hana collapsed completely onto the ground. Her voice broke into pained whimpers, but no sympathy was given by the older teens. I hate you both.
"Imamura-chan," Riko came closer and offered a hand out. Hana eyed it warily, but eventually reached for it and allowed herself to be pulled up, "That'll teach you to ask first, but are you alright?"
Yes, I love being murdered. Instead of relaying those thoughts, Hana just nodded before turning to Kiyoshi, "Thanks for saving my life."
"No problem, Imamura," Kiyoshi gave her a grin, but his eyebrows quirked in confusion, "Not that I'm complaining, but why'd you want to meet up today?"
"Yeah," Riko echoed Kiyoshi's sentiment before heading toward the chair beside his bed, "That was really last minute! I had plans with Hyuuga-kun today!"
Filing that hint of information away for later, Hana turned her back on the two teens and retrieved her backpack. It had been thrown to the side in the assault and she didn't want her master plan too far away from her. When she turned back around, Hana addressed them both, "I wanted to talk about something… I had an idea."
While Riko absorbed the new development, Kiyoshi blinked, "In my hospital room?"
"Yes," This time, Hana pointed an accusing finger at the boy, "That was the whole reason! You didn't do your job!"
"My job?" Kiyoshi's brows furrowed and he tilted his head a bit, "What are you talking about?"
"Do your make everyone happy shit!"
"… what?"
"You're always calm! You were supposed to cancel out Riko's demonic rage!"
Scooting back, Kiyoshi sweat dropped at Hana's glare, "I don't think it works that way…"
"What's the idea?" The coach interrupted their side conversation. Riko's auburn eyebrows were furrowed and she had her chin resting in her palm. Hana referred to that as her I'm-a-badass-coach position, "I'm not saying I'll approve, but I'll listen to what you have to say."
"Okay…" Hana paused for dramatic effect. When the two older teens began to look annoyed, she relayed her life changing idea, "I want to start an espionage ring."
Their expressions flatlined as the words left her mouth. With a pout, Hana watched as Riko slammed her head into her knees before trailing her eyes over to the only boy in the room. Even though he was trying to look supportive, Hana could still see the grimace Kiyoshi was narrowly hiding. It's not that bad! Just use your imagination, people!
"Hey," Hana folded her arms over her chest in defense, "It's a good idea!"
Rubbing the back of his head, Kiyoshi let out a soft chuckle, "We aren't saying it's a bad idea… it just seems kind of theatrical? I don't think we need all that as a basketball team."
"It's insane," Riko muttered into her thighs, "What made you think of something so— ridiculous?"
"Like you're one to talk," Hana grumbled pensively, but she shut up when Riko peeked at her. Instead, she brought her hands in front of her chest and began to explain, "I had a dream. Okay, so it was a stupid dream… Kuroko was an assassin and Kagami was a really shitty hitman. Anyway! We were all part of a vigilante group and we had to get information on rival groups! So I infiltrated all their camps—"
"Imamura-chan," Riko's groan cut her off, "That doesn't explain anything!"
"I don't know," That was Kiyoshi, "It sounds like a really interesting dream… What did I do?"
Twitching, Riko turned toward Kiyoshi, "That wasn't the point!"
"I'm just curious," Kiyoshi held his hands up defensively, "I kind of want to know what Mitobe was too… I bet he'd be a good spy…"
"… Teppei!"
Watching the spectacle she'd accidently created, Hana coughed to bring the attention back onto herself. She wrung her hands as she started the final part of her explanation, "Okay, the dream wasn't really the point, but I'm serious. It's just… I've been thinking. I want to help somehow and I figured getting more information on everyone would be a good way to do it, but I need your permission to skip practice and do it."
Riko rubbed a tired hand over her eyes, "I like the sentiment… but how would you even do this? You can't possibly get people to work with you."
"I've got it all planned out," Hana jumped up, startling the other two teens. Her face stretched into a grin as she marched toward her bookbag and retrieved a worn composition book, "First, I'll need to make connections in every school. I've got a couple already."
"That sounded kind of ominous," Kiyoshi muttered under his breath and Riko nodded her head in agreement.
Flipping the cover of the composition book open, Hana sat on the floor and pointed to a colorful chart, "You see this? This is a list of all the high schools in Tokyo and a few surrounding areas, just in case. The ones that are green mean I have access to contacts. The ones that are yellow mean I sort of know someone there and the ones that are red mean I don't know anyone."
"That's a lot of green…" Riko blinked at the piece of paper shoved into her face, "How do you know all these people?"
"Teiko," Hana smirked as she took her notebook back and flipped to the next page, "I was manager of the second-string team for three years. Most of my old teammates will help me out, but I've got enough blackmail incase they're difficult."
"I don't think blackmail is a good idea," Kiyoshi cut in, "You should just ask them politely."
Pausing, Hana stopped reading her next chart and pouted up at the hospital bed, "Blackmail is always a good idea."
"No, it's not," Riko responded as she got off her chair and came to sit on the floor by Hana. Her coach examined the new page with a frown. Her finger trailed over a section when she questioned, "What is this?"
"A list of all the yellow and red colored schools," Hana pointed over at the numbers next to the names, "This is a ranking of how hard it'll be to get informants from there."
Folding her legs underneath herself, Riko leaned over to read, "There's only five that are labeled above five. Is ten the hardest?"
"Yeah," Hana's upper lip tugged into a snarl at the page, "Four of the schools have miracles on their teams now… and the other one is Kirisaki Daiichi. Obviously, that'd be hard to do since Hanamiya knows who I am."
"That's true. You shouldn't even bother with his school," Riko took her next question into her own hands and flipped the page. She stopped at a page full of bullet points and highlighted sections, "What's this?"
"A list of all the ways I could get connections for each school. Err… the ones with rankings under five. I haven't figured out the big leaguers yet."
Her coach took the notebook away from her and Hana leaned back on her palms as Riko read through the notes. A couple minutes passed and she heard Kiyoshi move around anxiously, but Riko remained silent. It was another second before Riko finally spoke, "These are good ideas… but I don't understand the point of them. Like an ex-girlfriend? Why would you need to talk to someone like that?"
"Well," Hana pushed herself back up and twisted toward Riko, "It's mostly just ways to get unbiased information regarding the basketball team's personality. I'd rather befriend a couple of basketball players, but if that doesn't work, close associates would."
Riko frowned in thought, putting her chin in her hands, "But what good would that do for the basketball team? I'm not going to let you wander off all the time without a purpose."
"It'll help," Hana snorted at the thought before preceding to explain, "Everyone always focuses on how a person plays; their defense and offense, their jumping, their speed, all that shit. They never look into the actual person. Understanding someone's personality puts all the crap together."
"I think I get what you're saying," Kiyoshi finally inserted himself into the conversation, "But that sounds like a lot of work… would you be able to handle it?"
"Wait, I don't understand yet," Riko interrupted Hana's response, "Please explain, Imamura-chan."
"Uhm," Hana brought her hand up to her neck before looking at the ceiling, "You remember when I told you Kise was going to start feeling cornered during the practice game? He doesn't like when people crowd around him, which is ironic considering he crowds around everyone, but yeah. It's his personality transferring over into his playing style."
"I remember that," Riko's frown turned contemplative, "You were right then, but you've known Kise-san for a really long time. How would you be able to get that type of information on so many people you don't know?"
"I wouldn't," Hana shrugged, before flipping to the next page, "It's like I did with the Kaijo team. It's easy to get information on a whole team from just one person; if you do it right."
"… But you got caught." And there goes my dignity.
"Yes, thank you," Hana grumbled under her breath, "That's partially why I don't have any upfront spying planned. It was too obvious that way, but if I met them on the street and we just happen to start up a conversation. Well, no one to blame there and, bonus point, no disqualification!"
"You've really thought this out," Riko blinked at her before she struggled to her feet and looked to Kiyoshi, "What do you think?"
Hana followed Riko's example and stood off the floor, which was pretty gross now that she thought about it. She turned to Kiyoshi just in time to catch his reply, "It's kind of underhanded. I don't approve of it… but I can see the advantages."
"I'm not going to lie and say it isn't," Hana shrugged before bending down and picking up her backpack, "But I think it's a good idea, especially if we want to get through Inter-High."
"What about your friends?" Kiyoshi frowned at his blanket wrapped feet, "I'm sure they wouldn't like you spying on their school or being tricked into participating in this."
"…" Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, Hana smirked at the injured boy, "I think most of my friends are used to that by now— it'll piss the miracle babies off though, but that's the fun part." Until they murder me.
Meanwhile, Riko was tapping her fingers against her skirt as she thought about her answer. Hana teetered on her feet awkwardly while she waited for the other girl's decision. When the coach finally spoke, her voice was challenging, "Can you really do this?"
Hana didn't pause, "Definitely."
"Alright," Riko's gaze was sharp on Hana's form, "You can skip a practice before our game against Shinkyo Academy and try your plan out. If it works, we'll talk about the rest of the schools when the time comes. If it doesn't work, you have to run laps for the next three weeks."
"Alright!" Hana threw her fist up, only to freeze and hastily bring it back down to her side, "What was that last part?"
Folding her hands under her chin, Riko smirked at her, "If it doesn't work, you'll be running laps with the basketball team for three weeks. You have to do it Monday too, since you wandered off after practice Friday."
"Man,"Hana's shoulders deflated and Kiyoshi's chuckle didn't help her mood whatsoever. Why'd I join this team? With a scowl, she turned to the floor and grumbled, "I shouldn't have even asked—"
"What was that, Imamura-chan?"
"Nothing!" Hana snapped to attention with a nervous smile. Riko's aura was threatening and Hana shivered when the coach glared at her. Time to vacate the hospital. Turning to Kiyoshi, she bowed her head, "Well! I should head on out now! Bye, Kiyoshi! Bye, Riko!"
"See you soon, Imamura," Kiyoshi smile grew as he watched the girl dart to the door. It slammed against the wall and he heard a few nurses shout out in surprise; no doubt she had nearly run them over. Now that Imamura was gone, he turned to Riko, "You're going to let her do it?"
"Why not," Riko shrugged, but Kiyoshi knew her well enough to see the gleam of calculation in her eyes, "It'll be great if she can do it, but if not, I'll use this to test her abilities."
"That works I guess," Kiyoshi leaned back against his pillows with a rueful smile, "Imamura's kind of scary, isn't she?"
"She could be," Riko agreed, but she let out a little chuckle at the thought of the prickly manager, "But she's kind of clueless at the same time."
"I don't know about that," Kiyoshi leaned deeper into the uncomfortable hospital pillow. A few moments of silence passed before he broke it, "Could you go get me another desert cup? I think Imamura took mine."
Riko slapped a hand to her face and groaned.
Shinkyo Academy
She'd snuck off Seirin's campus as soon as the final bell rang. Since she had a lot riding on the success of her plan, stupid sadistic coach, Hana decided to go with the easiest method first. It basically involved going to the rival campus, squinting, and bumping into people like a fool. Her target's face was plastered in her mind, thanks to Momoi's wonderfully detailed notes, and Hana stood off the bench she'd been waiting at. Let's do this bitches!
The campus of Shinkyo Academy was pretty nice, Hana would give them that. Staggering down the walkway, she squinted around and plastered on a frustrated expression. Most of the people around her moved out of the way, but a few more curious ones watched her awkward dance. With her eye twitching, Hana forced herself to remain in character. It wouldn't earn her any points to attack students head on.
It was another couple of minutes spent stumbling before Hana found her target. Brown hair, hazel eyes, and reading a book as he walked. Which was absolutely perfect. Bringing a hand up to cover her eyes, Hana pretended to scan the ground as she slammed straight into the captain. Like planned, her shoulder connected in his chest with a heavy thud.
The one thing she hadn't planned for was how damn hard the hit would be.
Letting out a curse, Hana tried to straighten herself, but it was no use and she fell onto her ass. Her lips twisted into a tiny scowl. She could already feel the bruise forming on her poor, delicate posture. The captain was there an instant later, squatting down in front of her with an offered hand. Hana blinked up at him and forced the annoyance off her face.
"Are you okay?" the captains voice probed and he scanned her over for any injuries, "I'm so sorry! I can't believe I didn't see you!"
Grabbing the offered hand, Hana blushed as he helped her to her feet, "It wasn't your fault… I can't see more than a foot in front of me. You haven't seen a pair of glasses lying around, have you?"
"Can't say that I have," the boy glanced around the area, "Do you remember when you lost them?"
Letting out a dejected sigh, she began, "I came to surprise my friend after she got out of class… I know I had them then! But then she wandered off and—I just don't know!"
The captain let out a little chuckle before patting her shoulder good naturedly, "Hey, don't worry too much about it. If you need help—"
"Oh! Thank you, but it's alright. I've got another pair at home," Hana waited a moment before altering her interruption, "Actually… I'm supposed to meet my friend at the park soon and well, since I can't see, would you mind helping me?"
"Yeah, I'd love to," he rubbed a hand through his brown hair before cracking a grin, "I kind of owe you anyway, since I knocked you over and everything."
"I told you it's not your fault," Hana let out a soft giggle before squinting up at his face, "I never got your name?"
"Tanimura Yūsuke," a charming smile spread across his face, "How about you?"
"Imamura Hana," if her grin was a tad too sharp, the boy didn't notice, "I'm so glad I ran into you, Tanimura-kun!"
xXxXxXx
The next day, the whole team was waiting for the first game of Inter-High to begin. Almost everyone was present, including the invisible boy; they were just missing the presence of one very peculiar manager. That tidbit seemed to drive the captain insane and Hyuuga was hovering over Riko, waiting as the coach called the now familiar number.
"Imamura-chan," Riko's voice was deceptively sweet when she put the phone on speaker, "Where are you?"
"I'm here!" The manger chirped back before answering a voice in the background, "No, it's okay Tanimura-kun! It's just my coach—"
"…" The team blinked at Hana's words, "Tanimura-kun?"
The giggle Hana released had several of the boys jerking back in shock, "You'll meet him in a second! We're almost there, Riko-chan!"
The call ended moments later. Everyone was staring at the phone in disbelief and, in a few cases, horror. Kagami in particular looked disgusted and his eye twitched as he stared at the phone. Surprisingly, Fukuda was the one to break the silence, "What was that?"
"I believe Imamura-san is planning something," Kuroko butted into the conversation, "Although I have no idea what it may be."
"That brat is always planning something," Kagami scowled before crossing his arms over his chest, "If she gets us in trouble, I'm going to kill her."
"Poor manager," Izuki hummed in the background, "poured plans?"
Ignoring the terrible pun, several of the teammates echoed Kagami's sentiment, but Hyuuga's eyes were focused on the coach. Riko was fiddling with her whistle and avoiding eye contact. That always spelled trouble. Hyuuga quirked his brows, "What's with that look, coach?"
"Oh, nothing!" Riko chuckled awkwardly, her hand going to the back of her neck, "It's just I know what Imamura-chan's doing! No need to worry."
"…" Hyuuga didn't cease, "What's she doing?"
"I gave her permission—"
The group fell silent when the gym door opened, broadcasting their manager and the subject of their past worries, Papa or otherwise known as Dad. There was also another boy walking in between the two. The height differences were disconcerting. Meanwhile, Hana let out an overly hysterical giggle, which was a terrifying image in itself. She was talking with the boy in the middle and the tallest player, Dad, wore a look of resignation.
"What —" the freshman trio gaped, "What?!"
"Huh," Riko tilted her head as she watched, "I didn't think she'd actually be able to talk to one of them."
The second years exchanged weary looks and Hyuuga voiced his concerns, "What's she doing?"
"Starting a so-called espionage ring."
"What?!"
Riko couldn't answer, because at that moment, Hana lead her two new friends over to her teammates. The shit eating grin on her face only grew at their looks of astonishment. Well, except for Kagami and Kuroko. The look Kagami was giving her could best be described as done with her shit. Beside him, Kuroko looked exasperated. It was strange on his normally neutral mask.
"Hello," Tanimura greeted her team with an easy smile, "I'm the captain. Nice to meet you guys."
Hyuuga repeated the greeting wearily, his eyes flickering between the rival player and their manager. Tanimura broke the awkwardness a second later, "By the way, did you guys really beat Kaijo? Imamura-chan told me about it, but I just couldn't believe it."
Slamming a hand to her eyes, Hana groaned. Stupid testosterone, stupid egos, stupid men. Even though he twitched, Hyuuga answered the others question easily, "It was just a practice game."
"I see," Tanimura smiled and Hana smacked her hand against her face repeatedly. I hate basketball players, "I guess the Generation of Miracles aren't as strong as we thought."
"Tanimura-kun," Hana grumbled under her breath, "Don't trash talk."
Ignoring the rising tension from Seirin, Tanimura patted her on the shoulder in apology, "Sorry, Imamura-chan. I don't mean anything bad about it."
Hana didn't have anything to say that wouldn't blow her recently developed friendship, so she plastered on another smile and held her tongue. A wary glance at the rest of her team showed their anger and she let out a silent wail. They were going to kill her for this. She just knew it.
The present tension could kill an elephant and it only got worse when her new giant friend lifted Kuroko into the air. Great, just god damn great.
"Children shouldn't be on the court," Dad muttered as he stared Kuroko down. Hana didn't feel that much sympathy; she'd received the same treatment. At least she was nice enough to keep her laughter to herself, unlike the rest of the team.
"Honestly, I'm starting to get annoyed," Kuroko deadpanned, instantly shutting everyone up. Dad put Kuroko down shortly afterwards and her ghostly friend stared her down. I'm sorry! Hana tried to mentally project her apology, but it seemed her superpowers didn't want to work.
"Well," Hana drawled out. Her eyes darted over her agitated teammates before glancing to her two new friends, "I think we should get ready now. I'll see you later okay, Tanimura-kun?"
"Gotcha," the rival captain ruffled her hair before leading 'Dad' off to their side, "Good luck!"
She turned after them and raised a desperate hand. The atmosphere behind her was not happy. When Hana turned around, she was greeted by several frustrated looks. Awh shit. She took a step back before raising her hands up sheepishly, "Look, I just ran into them—"
Riko interrupted, "They know about your plan, Imamura-chan."
"Then why are they glaring at me?" Hana eeped when Kagami stomped up and grabbed her by the back of her shirt before dragging her flailing body to the bleacher, "I just needed to get information on them! I didn't know they'd say that!"
No one responded and Hana was left to pout on the bleacher. She turned her puppy eyes onto Kuroko as a last resort, but the blue haired boy just turned away. Hana could swear she saw a smile though. When Fukuda sat down beside her, she turned her dramatics onto him, "This is completely unfair."
The other freshman just let out a nervous chuckle, glancing at the black cloud above her head warily, "Sorry, Imamura-san."
While she was sulking, the game started and Riko came to the sidelines. Eyeing her coach, Hana patted her on the shoulder before handing over the napkin. Of course, her coach couldn't just accept the damn napkin. No, Riko had to stare at it and Hana was forced to let her arm dangle awkwardly in the air. Like an idiot.
"…" Riko blinked slowly, "What is that, Imamura-chan?"
"The notes," Hana waved her arm, "I didn't have any paper— but Tanimura had a surplus of napkins."
"… why?"
"He likes being a clean eater? Hell, I don't know! I wasn't about to ask!"
"Alright," Riko hesitantly took the napkin from Hana's hand before scanning over the information, "I want to question you about this new friendship, but I feel like I'll just be more confused."
"Probably," Hana didn't deny the claim, she was pretty confused too, "He's a nice guy, when he's not on the court apparently— helped me find my glasses yesterday."
The two teams were lining up and Hana watched while Riko digested the information. Her green eyes landed on Kuroko, who looked strangely determined, before trailing over to the drug addict, better known as Kagami. The guy's eyes were bloodshot again and Hana mentally decided to buy him some eyedrops.
"You don't wear glasses," Riko muttered, her eyes scanning over the last line of writing, "How'd you pull that off?"
"…" Scooting away a bit, Hana shrugged, "I found some. He kept stressing out about it, and well it was starting to piss me off, so they happened to appear."
The hand that slammed on top of her head was completely unwelcomed. Riko seemed to think otherwise and the coach returned to her position sporting a smug smirk, "Good work on the information. We'll see if it helps during the game— if not, you remember your punishment."
"It'll help," crossing her arms over her chest, Hana huffed, "Stop doubting me; I'm going to prove all you ass-hats wrong."
Ignoring the insult, Riko hummed in time with the whistle that signaled the start of the game, "I hope you can."
The game started. Shinkyo got the ball off the bat and scored the first point. All with the help of their massive player. Hana's face twisted into a weird grimace as she watched, I know we can beat them… but do the players know? Meanwhile, Tanimura decided to talk to Hyuuga again.
"You're not one of those hard-working teams, are you?" Tanimura smirked and Hana let out a whine. She was going to get so much shit about this. Why did he have to keep being a dick? "Just get a foreign player, it makes everything easier when you just pass them the ball."
"What?" Hyuuga frowned when he turned to the Shinkyo captain. His eyes trailed onto the bench and Hana ducked, trying to avoid any possible projectiles. Tanimura continued to talk shit before Hyuuga shut him down, "If that's your policy you better be prepared. We've got our own strong players."
And, as if they planned it, Kuroko and Kagami made eye contact across the court. Hana deadpanned, such dramatics...
Despite the overconfidence of their opponent, Seirin was handling this game with finesse. Well, whatever finesse the boys could muster. Since most of Shinkyo's skill came from their foreign exchange player, Riko put Kagami on the goliath boy. Smart move, Hana hummed before smirking when her eyes landed on Tanimura, he's obnoxiously overconfident.
"Hey coach," Riko tilted her head over her shoulder at Hana's call, "Their captain underestimates us. You know what that means?"
Riko turned back to the game with a contemplative expression, "He's not prepared. It'll be easy to get through their defense as long as Kagami stays on Dad—"
"I was going to say we could rub it in his face," Hana scratched the back of her head with a shaky smile, "But that works too; much more official-ish."
Riko's sigh was ignored when Hana turned her attention back to the game. The rest of the time passed quickly; Shinkyo's offense was overwhelmed by Kagami's defense and the rivals defense was being thwarted by a sneaky Kuroko. As the seconds ticked down, Dad began to get frustrated. His eyes darted around the court and his long arms began to shake.
"Haha!" Hana jeered, catching the attention of the others on the bench, "I called that!"
"…" Koganei leaned around Fukuda to raise an eyebrow at her exclamation, "What are you talking about, Imamura-chan?"
"Look!" She waved a hand to the court when Dad missed another goal, "The pressure's throwing his aim off! That means I don't have to run laps!"
"Huh…" Furihata blinked before looking back to the court, "Run laps?"
Folding her arms across her chest, Hana smirked, "My notes were right; I knew he'd get flustered with all the attention. He did the same shit this morning when I kept annoying him— I thought he might not like me, but this makes much more sense."
"… if you say so."
The buzzer for the end of first quarter rang and the players merged around the bleacher, Riko addressing the assembled group. Going to fetch the water bottles, Hana distributed them while Riko spelled out the new game plan. Kuroko was going to be subbed out and Kagami was ordered to remain on Dad. Hopefully Kagami's monkey powers can keep up with him.
As the team ran back to the court, Hana plopped down next to Kuroko, "You seem pissed. What's up?"
Kuroko didn't look away from the game, "I don't enjoy being underestimated. The fact that they implied our win against Kaijo was pure chance also annoyed me."
"True, I guess," Hana unconsciously laid her hand on top of Kuroko's before kicking her feet out, "That's going to happen a lot though, at least until we prove ourselves."
"They'll understand soon," Kuroko finally looked away from the court to address her, "Although, I'm curious about your relationship with Shinkyo's captain."
Squeezing his hand once, Hana let out a derisive snort when Kagami dunked the ball again, "Not a relationship. I'm getting info. The best way to do that is to befriend people, enemies or not."
"You plan to do this with every team?"
"Yup," Hana clucked her tongue, "Soon I'll have an army of basketball players. Think of all the information I can get then!"
Crushing Hana's soul, Kuroko blinked in that condescending manner he'd perfected, "I'd rather not."
Instead of replying, Hana just stuck her tongue out and removed her hand. Her attention turned back to the game and the show down between Papa and Kagami. For some reason, it reminded her of those dog competitions. You know, when they jump over really tall fences? Yeah, those. Not to mention Kagami's psychotic laughter was freaking her out.
The score was at 51 to 50, Shinkyo leading, when Hana turned back into reality.
"Does he have springs in his shoes?" she blinked when Kagami jumped again, "Because holy shit, that's high."
Apparently, her question was deemed stupid because no one answered her and the buzzer signifying the end of third quarter rang. Kuroko was subbed back into the game, bringing the advantage back to Seirin with his magical ghostly passes. The score kept shooting up when the incredible happened. When the final buzzer rang, Kagami blocked Papa's shot like the monkey he was.
One second the redhead was on the ground, the next he was hanging a good two feet in the air.
"…" When everyone cheered, Hana sweat-dropped, "That… is actually terrifying."
Her thoughts were invaded by images of a leaping Kagami. Do you understand how scary that is? Those bloodshot eyes, the crazy laugh, the demonic smile? All of that shit jumping toward you? Yeah, well it's a petrifying thought. Worse than imagining him with a sniper, that's for sure.
The thank you's commenced moments later before all the players began to pack up. Trailing behind Mitobe, Hana headed toward her little grouping of teammates. She really wasn't looking forward to explaining her espionage ring plan. Especially to Hyuuga. She was about to open her mouth when a savior interrupted her. Thank you mister goliath.
"I lost. Please play good for me next game," Papa walked up to Kagami, mouth pressed in a firm line. His tone changed pretty quickly, "I mean, you idiot! You're an idiot!"
"Huh?!" Kagami took a step forward. All the while, Hana covered her face with a hand in an attempt to muffle her giggles. Papa's trash talk continued for a few more seconds before Tanimura came up and dragged his player away.
As he walked, the captain threw back a quick, "Bye, Imamura-chan!"
"Bye, Tanimura-kun!" The rest of Seirin turned toward her at the sound and Hana took a hasty step back, "Okay, I know this looks bad. But I'm just getting—"
Face still twitching from his encounter with Papa, Kagami spun toward her, "What was that?! Don't talk to our opponents so familiarly!"
"Oh, we are not doing this," her explanation dried on her tongue only to be replaced by indignation. He better not be telling me what to do, "Did you just tell me I can't be friends with people?"
The tick growing on his head, Kagami growled, "Not our opponents!"
"We're just friends! Not even real ones!"
"Did you hear him?!"
"Okay! So?! He's a dick, but friends don't care about that!"
"You're not friends!"
"Yes, we are!"
"Imamura!"
"Kagami!"
Meanwhile, the rest of the team watched the argument with wide eyes. It was like a tennis match of insults. A very loud tennis match. With each response, the two hot heads stepped closer to one another and no one knew how to quell the growing storm. Finally, Hyuuga decided to step forward, but Kuroko beat him to the punch.
The ghostly player smoothly stepped into the middle of their argument, "Imamura-san, Kagami-kun. Please calm down."
"I'll calm down as soon that stupid—" Kuroko placed his hand over her mouth, shutting Hana up. Her green eyes narrowed on his impassive blue, but Kuroko didn't remove his appendage. She heard Kagami laugh in the background, but a quick jab from Hyuuga silenced him. Good.
"Thank you, Imamura-san," Kuroko still didn't release his hand even as he started walking toward the door. Hana flailed, but his calm façade never left, "You and Kagami-kun are both very volatile. You two should be nice to another."
If Hana could respond, it'd sound something like this, "I'm going to bite your hand off, Kuroko!"
But alas, she could not. Instead, she allowed herself to be led away from Kagami. It was better to get your revenge when the subject least expected it. Which is something Kagami and Kuroko are going to be learning very soon…
The rest of Seirin stayed on the court, watching in shocked silence as Kuroko calmed the beast. Well, except for Kagami. The poor tiger was curled up on the floor as he held his recently punched stomach. Hyuuga stood above him, wiping his hands off with a closed-eye smile. When Riko finally forced her mouth shut, she brought a palm up to her eyes and groaned.
"I'm going to die early…" The coaches groan turned into a whine, "And I can't even punish her!"
Izuki pulled a quizzical expression, "Why not?"
"Because! Her notes actually helped!"
"Really?" Izuki blinked and stepped closer to Riko. In response, she handed him the crumbled napkin and he skimmed over it, "… This is a lot of information."
"I know," Riko whined again before turning her eyes to the ceiling, "I didn't think she could actually do it!"
"Huh?" Koganei interjected himself into the conversation, "Why do you sound like that? Isn't that a good thing?"
Throwing her hands up, Riko explained, "No! Because I said she could do it with the rest of the teams!"
"Oh…" Koganei trailed off before his eyes widened and his face paled, "So, you mean she's going to do this with all our opponents? Like with Kaijo?"
"Yes," Riko whimpered as she buried her face in her hands. The rest of the team exchanged bewildered looks, this was going to be interesting. The freshman trio looked at each other before breaking out into simultaneous shrugs. They sure joined a weird team.
It only got stranger when Kagami crawled back up to his feet and stomped after Kuroko. His muttered insults were quite vivid and surprisingly detailed. An action which prompted the rest of the team to run after him, hoping to prevent their manager from an early death.
It was a shame no one noticed the person situated above them in the stands.
If they had, his green hair would have surely drawn some attention.
Reviews
Sapphire: Thank you!
VerumUmbria: I thought about that, honestly. But I've got an idea for her goal and I wanted it to actually mean something. Anyway, thank you for your review!
NinjaPenguinLover: Thank you for another review! I can't wait for all the GOM meetings, but Murasakibara is going to fun! Thank youuuu for sticking with me!
Saltqueen: Ahhh! Thank you! I'm glad you like it!
Crystalviolet24: Awh, I'm glad you liked it. :) I like Kuroko too! He's so much fun to write. I think Kagam is warming up to her too, it'll be fun to write their relationship. I'm planning for it to be a very… vocal type of friendship. Finally thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it too!
Anmeluvr21: Awhhh! Thank you for that! It means a lot! Ahh!
030artistic: I'm glad you think so! Thank you!
ArchangelKoriel: Ugh, I know. I wanted her to pick up on the flirting… but then I have to keep her character in mind and remember she's a fourteen/fifteen year old girl who's been constantly surrounded by boys. Like… that doesn't give you the best understanding of relationships. Anyway, thank you for your review!
AngelicHallows: Awwwwh! Thank you, your so sweet. I'm glad you liked the date too! I was worried a bit with the jokes, but I'm glad they were well received! And feel free to ship away! Ship to your hearts content! I don't mind one bit, in fact, it's a huge compliment! Ahh, again thank you for your great reviews.
FrizzleChicken: Thank you, friend! Sorry for the lack of GOM this chapter, but I have plans for them that I hope you'll enjoy! And thank you, I took your advice to heart and oh my gosh, I've never had so many ideas! It's great! Thank you! Thank you!
RedRaspberries: She did steal! Oh no, hahaha. I'm glad you liked this chapter, thank you so much!
JeyaMendoza: Thank you for another wonderfully long review! On Kagami's part, I have no intention of putting them together… I was thinking more long the lines or an Aomine and Momoi relationship. But if you want to ship, then by all means ship! I'm glad Kise is your otp, but I'm going to do my best to make you into a so called shipping mess! Haha! Anyway, thank you again!
Jazmeme: Awwwwh, that was sweet! Sorry for the late update, but thank you for your kind review!
Nailyu: Thank youuuu!
ADDBaby: Maybe you should write an AU story about GOM birdies, I'd read the hell out of it. But yes, flufffffffery! Fluff! Enjoy it. It'll fly away soon… Maybe ;) anyway, thank you!
ArchimedesAckerman: So glad you liked it! Awh, I love hearing stuff like that! Thank you! I appreciate your reviews and thank you for doing them!
Volley-14-nerd: Epp! Thank you!
OneWhoReadsTooMuch: I'm glad you enjoy the friendship! Also, glad to hear the fluff was adorable! Yay! And I do think they like her… but that might just be because I want them too… Anyway! Thank you!
Animegal1998: Thank you!
Yogarsu108: No worries about the reviewing! I'm just glad to receive one, so thank you! Honestly, I'm so happy you don't know who to ship her with! Like that is my goal, man! Anyway, awesome review! Thank you!
