Hope everyone is staying safe! Here's an update to help pass the time!
Warnings: Bad language, violence, poor editing (ya'll I rushed edited this, I'm so sorry but I am a lazy woman)
Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke or any associated characters.
The Name Game
Hana regretted ever opening her mouth.
This hell wasn't worth it.
After her impromptu date with Kise last night, Hana had spent the night talking it out with Uoya. She'd thought that was the end of it, but when the rest of her former teammates showed up for their weekly get together at the basketball court, she was proven wrong. Somehow both Iseri and Kitano knew everything as well and none of them were letting her off the hook about it.
"So, you're telling me," Kitano palmed the well-worn basketball between his palms, "That Kise kissed you."
She hissed, slashing her hands in a hell no gesture, "Not like that—"
"Hana-chan, come on," pausing from tying his sneakers, Uoya rolled his eyes, "If he could have gotten away with a real kiss he would have."
"He would not—"
"He would," Iseri interrupted, "Men are pigs."
Pausing from his dribbling, Kitano coughed, "Hey! Not all men!"
"Men are pigs," Iseri simply repeated, throwing a knowing glance toward Kitano's figure, "All men."
Straightening up, Uoya stretched his arms over his head to ease his suddenly sore muscles. His interrogation was briefly forgotten as grey eyebrows furrowed in concern, "Are… are you guys fighting again?"
"No."
"Yes."
Their resident hothead gaped, "Since when were we fighting?!"
Meanwhile, Hana took advantage of the conveniently timed subject change and snaked away from her former teammates. The less questions she was confronted with about Kise, the better. It'd barely been twenty-four hours and already Hana was regretting every decision she'd made. Why hadn't she called Momoi instead?
Should have known they'd be completely useless.
Choosing a nice comfy-looking patch of concrete to rest her delicate behind on, Hana dug her phone out from her gym shorts' pocket. They were formerly Uoya's, but the dark purple nylon matched well with her current black tank top— which meant in laymen's terms that they were now Hana's. Who needs to go shopping when you have friends, right?
Speaking of friends…
A quick glance to her phone screen revealed that it was still unfortunately blank and a forlorn peek at the time showed it'd be another fifteen minutes until their final companion showed up. Surprising even herself, Hana realized she couldn't wait to see Kagami.
After their moment at training camp, Hana had been sorely awaiting the opportunity to train Seirin's little ace-in-the-hole. The type of opportunity he presented was invaluable. He wants to know how to personally defeat the miracles, huh? Well, Hana was about to turn Kagami into a well-oiled miracle crusher.
Not to mention, it'd offer a timely escape from this god-awful conversation.
"So," Uoya hedged, his shadow coming to block out Hana's sun. Her other friends remained notably absent and Hana figured she wasn't about to like what was said. She was right. "About Kise…"
If Kagami doesn't hurry the hell up, someone's gonna die.
Giving her phone one last glare, Hana squinted up at her friend, "What about Kise?"
"Well," Uoya made a vague hand motion, "He kissed you."
She waved the accusation away, "On the forehead. Very grandma like—"
Uoya tried again, "He asked you on a second date."
"There was never even a first date—"
"Hana," Uoya deadpanned, "Kise likes you."
She jabbed a finger in his direction, "No!"
Don't say it out loud, you idiot. You'll jinx me.
To be fair, Hana wasn't an idiot. She'd kind of come to that conclusion by herself. She was just a bit busier trying to refute the hypothesis than embracing it. Because if Kise liked her – and god forbid – the feelings she'd had recently meant that Hana liked Kise back, where did that leave her? If those demon-spawned emotions of hers somehow hinted toward romantic attachment—
What the absolute hell am I going to do about the other people who cause the damn same emotional bullshit?
The answer to that question came surprisingly quickly.
Time to ignore all inconvenient emotional breakthroughs!
Falling back to her tried and true method of avoidance, Hana tried to fend her friend off, "Kise can't like me. We're bros. Pals. Amigos—"
"He told me he did," face slowly morphing into exasperation, Uoya crossed his arms over his chest and Hana raised a brow as one of his hips jutted out rather sassily. He continued, "At the Too game. Kise did, and then Midorima pretty much admitted to it too."
She decided to leave that revelation behind for a moment. Instead, she focused on the more pressing issue— the introduction of Midorima.
This is not helping the ignoring plan.
"Don't even start," Hana shot him a venomous glare. "Stick to one, don't go bringing anybody else into this."
He blinked, quite condescendingly in Hana's opinion, before rolling his eyes, "You should have followed your own advice."
She gawked, "I didn't do anything! They're just clingy and weird— I can't control that shit!"
Head tilting to the side, Uoya winced, "I'm pretty sure you started it first, Hana-chan"
"How?!" Hana threw her hands into the air, "I'm only trying to exist! I didn't ask for a romantic sub-plot!"
This was main-character level stuff. They're the ones who need multiple romantic interests to keep the storyline interesting. Frankly, Hana's storyline was interesting enough in its mediocrity. She didn't want more drama. I sure as shit don't need more either!
Helping a basketball team was more than enough, thank you very much.
Uoya didn't seem to agree.
"You challenged them, you know? Back at Teiko people didn't stand up to them and then you just— told them off," making another vague hand gesture, Uoya shrugged, "Guess they liked it."
"Wow. What a plot-twist. What is this, Pride and Prejudice?" Hana gave him an unimpressed look, "Besides that was Teiko. Literally two years ago. There's no way—"
Wait.
Oh no, no, no, no.
Uoya had better hope he wasn't implying what Hana was inferring. Unfortunately, judging from the sheepish tint covering his face, Hana didn't think she was getting the message wrong. But really? Freaking Teiko? Placing her hands behind her back, she tilted her head up to the sky and squinted. Nah, we were just friends back then.
Except—
Were we? Or was that – no it couldn't have been flirting? Right?
When she peeked back at Uoya for support, the now sympathetic expression on his face didn't offer much to refute her inner turmoil. He opened his mouth to speak, but Hana simply held up a hand. She honestly didn't have the energy for any more unwanted romantic clarity this morning. Who in their right mind would deal with this shit willingly?
Which meant it was perfect timing when the court's metal gate swung open and Kitano yelled, "Hey, Kagami! You made it, huh?"
Thank the gods for small mercies.
"Taiga!" Skittering up to her feet, Hana left the frustrated Uoya behind. When she caught the redhead's attention, she waved toward the half-court line, "You're late!"
Shrugging his backpack off at the entrance, Kagami narrowed his eyes and pulled out his phone. He brought the time up and shoved it in her face, "Idiot. I'm five minutes early."
"Huh, would ya' look at that," blinking at the time, Hana took a step backward and out of his range of fire, "Guess your clock's slow?"
Unfortunately, she hadn't gotten far enough away to prevent Kagami from shoving her head down as he walked past her. Hana heard a vague command to shut the hell up, but she ignored it in favor of following after her newest friend and soon to be torture experiment.
She also overlooked Kitano's resulting guffaw, but she'd address that later.
As Kagami came to stand on the middle line, he crossed his arms over his chest and peered at the assembled group, "I've met them," he motioned toward Uoya and Kitano, "But I don't know who he is."
At the attention, Iseri shot Kagami an assessing glance.
Hana waited for him to introduce himself, but when Iseri remained frustratingly silent, she rolled her eyes and waved a hand in his direction. He never was the best with new people. Hana could personally attest to that fact. And people call me a grumpy asshole.
"That's our resident tsundere—are you a tsundere? Or a kuudere?" Hana debated, ignoring Iseri's slowly rising ire, "Probably kuudere. They're dicks too. Anyway, that's Iseri. He goes to Kaijo." She shot the boy in question a droll look, "Now Iseri, meet Kagami."
When neither boy responded, Hana had a fleeting feeling of doom. Do we have to have a dick measuring contest today? It's Sunday— this is god's day.
"Hello," Iseri eventually offered. His tone didn't offer much in the realm of friendliness. He strode toward their location, giving Kagami a measuring once over, "He reminds me of Aomine-san."
Hand still outstretched from her introductions, Hana deflated in a suspended moment of horror, "Oh shit."
"Uhm, guys—" Uoya tried to interject, but it was no use.
It took less than a second before Kagami practically snarled, "Don't compare me to that bastard—"
"My mistake," Iseri merely blinked, "I wouldn't want to insult Aomine-san."
"Why you—" Kagami took a threatening step forward, "Who do you think you are?!"
With their wonderful introduction rapidly turning into a shitshow, Hana retrieved a wayward basketball and slapped it into Kagami's diaphragm. Not having this today, Satan. As Kagami coughed, she gave Iseri a scathing glare. He didn't flinch, instead choosing to straighten the collar of his shirt in nonchalance.
Eventually, Iseri met her stare, "Yes, Hana-chan?"
"Oh, now you're innocent," Hana deadpanned, "What do you have against everyone I introduce you to— is this going to be a thing?"
Iseri shrugged, tugging at a string on his sleeve, "Someone has to thin out the harem."
"— a harem? Him?!"
"Me?!"
In a marvelous display of joint disgust, Hana and Kagami gagged at the same time, "Hell no!"
"… I don't think Kagami-san meets the qualifications for that," Uoya hummed, an errant drop of sweat trailing down his brow. When Kagami swung his glare onto him, Uoya floundered, "Not that that's a bad thing! It's probably a good idea—"
Despite her previous protest, Hana narrowed her eyes, "And why is that, Uoya?"
"You're just— Kagami-san is," flicking his eyes between the two, both aura's growing steadily more threatening, Uoya eventually threw his hands up, "You know what, I'm just going to shut up. You guys can handle this one."
Kitano sucked a breath in between his teeth, "Bad choice, man."
Kagami swung a hefty hand in Hana's direction, "I would never date her!"
"Dumbass," ego stinging, Hana sneered back at him, "Who said I'd date you in the first place? You're not even my type—"
"You're crazy—"
"At least I'm not ugly!"
Meanwhile, the former members of Teiko's second-string team had banded together to watch the sideshow. Uoya anxiously combed a hand through his hair, looking on as Hana and Kagami's argument spiked in intensity. Unaffected by the atmosphere, Iseri simply crossed his arms over his chest and observed.
"Honestly," Kitano hedged as he went to retrieve their basketball, "The similarities are kind of freakish."
Iseri nodded, "Sickeningly so."
"Don't even start," Uoya sighed. Sometimes he hated being the voice of reason between his friends. This was one of those times. "You're the one who started this whole mess."
"I had to clear the air regarding Hana's affections," Iseri shrugged, "I don't have the patience to deal with any more of them. Can you imagine the dramatics that would occur with Kagami-san's introduction?"
Kitano gave him a judgmental side-eye, "You don't even like them."
"No," Iseri admitted. Hana delivered a well-timed jab to Kagami's kidney and Iseri hummed, "But I would like them even less if they thought there was competition beyond their own annoying affections."
"Amen," Kitano agreed. He didn't even want to imagine the outcome of that scenario.
Watching the two in question, Uoya took a worrying breath, "So, uhm, think they know she's calling him by his first name?"
"I would doubt it," Iseri answered, "Considering the fact Kagami-san is still breathing."
Tucking his hands behind his head, Kitano winced, "Good luck keeping it that way."
In the meantime, Hana had taken the upper hand in her battle against Kagami. Fingers securely latched in his hair; her free hand was waving through a serious of jabbing motions as she dodged Kagami's swipes. Each boy on the sidelines shot him a sympathetic look.
He really should have thought twice about asking Hana for help.
xXx
Their little spat lasted ten minutes.
Kagami's cheek was red and Hana had a headache from the darkest pits of hell.
"I hate you," crossing his arms over his chest, Kagami glowered at the tiny menace in front of him, "I have never met someone so damn irritating—"
"Back at you, Taiga," Hana gave him an equally dark glare as she fumbled to fix the now erratic strands of her ponytail, "Just to be clear, if I even had a harem, you're not allowed."
He huffed a heavy breath through his nose, "That's disgusting."
"You're disgusting."
"Imamura, I swear to god—"
"Okay!" Practically dashing between the two, Uoya threw his hands up in a pacifying motion. He put a grin on his face in an attempt to ease the strain, "Now that that's out of our systems, how about we start practicing!"
Tossing his hands into the air, Kitano groaned, "Finally."
"We have wasted several minutes," Iseri peered at the black watch on his left wrist, "It's already four—"
Hana cut him off, "Nah-uh, you don't get to complain. You started this whole freaking mess, asshole." While Iseri gifted her with a judgmental stare, she let out a heavy sigh, "You're right though. You good, Kagami?"
The boy in question gave her a deadpanned look and Hana couldn't quite withhold her wince as she took in his appearance.
Not only was his cheek red, but the white tee-shirt he wore was covered in a layer of grit and featured one solid black scuff mark on the chest that had an uncanny resemblance to Hana's foot.
Now, his hair, on the other hand, was a sight to behold. The dual brown and red strands were normally a bit untidy, but their appearance right now could only be described as chaotic. Tufts of hair stuck out in every direction, with the largest clump on top of his head twisted into something resembling a bird's nest.
"So, uh," Hana grimaced as Kagami glared, "My bad?"
It took a solid minute, but eventually the redhead grumbled. He attempted to smooth down the worst of his hair and grudgingly admitted, "…yeah, I'm good."
Kitano snorted before Uoya shut him up with a timely shoulder slap.
"Cool, cool, cool," wisely choosing to remain out of Kagami's area of reach, Hana tugged at the end of her ponytail and shot the nearby road a quick look, "Uh so, Nūdoru's not here yet— which kind of gives me time to explain what I'm hoping to accomplish here—"
She should have just kept her mouth shut.
Deciding to add to his earlier provocations, Iseri crossed his arms and said, "Why would we be training with Nūdoru, Hana-chan?"
"Yeah," Kitano rubbed at some stubble growing on his cheek, "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but how are we supposed to practice with a dog here?"
No, you idiot! Hana waved her hands in a frantic motion to abort the current topic, but it was too late. Narrowed red eyes zeroed in on her figure before Kagami practically stomped out of the court, forcing Hana to jump in front of him and intercept.
"Okay, hear me out," plopping her hands on Kagami's chest, Hana tried to ignore the fury radiating from his shoulders, "Yes, Nūdoru's a dog—"
If it was even possible, Kagami's glare narrowed further, "You never said Nūdoru was a dog!"
"It's fine! I promise!" Kagami hadn't smacked her hands away yet, so Hana hedged her luck, "I'm doing this specifically because you're scared of dogs."
In the background, Uoya deadpanned, "Are you kidding me, Hana."
Kagami turned his attention toward the wayward voice, but Hana slapped his chest to make him focus, "Ignore him, he's an idiot. But look at it this way—" Kagami's brows furrowed as Hana stepped back to explain, "You're scared of dogs, but if you're able to adapt your reaction to not run or freeze up even while you're afraid— think about how that'll work on the court."
Hana could almost see the metaphorical light bulb go off within his brain, "You're wanting me to face my fear of dogs…"
"So we can turn that flight or fight response into straight-up fight," tucking her hands on her hips, Hana lips tilted down, "Gotta be honest, it might not work, but even if it doesn't, training with Nūdoru is sure as hell going to make you faster and probably more agile."
Kagami only stared, "How?"
"Well," Hana shrugged, "Dogs are biologically proven to be faster than humans. Think of it like this, Aomine's too fast for you right now, but Nūdoru is faster than Aomine. If you can keep up with Nūdoru—"
"I'll be faster than Aomine," Kagami finished for her. It took a minute for the implication to set in, but when it did, Kagami's shoulders slumped, "I never should have agreed to come."
"Look, you're the one that wanted me to turn you into a miracle killer," she lifted her palms up in a what-can-you-do gesture, "These kinds of things take sacrifice."
There was still an edge of tension in Kagami's posture, but he didn't look like he was planning on running again, "What about Kise and Midorima? How's… Nūdoru going to help?"
We're getting somewhere!
Hana knew mentioning defeating the miracles would seal the deal. If there was one thing in the world they could both agree on, it was the desire to beat the group of rainbow-haired teens. While Kagami's longing likely spawned out of his weird infatuation with strength, Hana wanted Kagami to defeat them out of pure pettiness.
Friendship or no friendship, it would be nice to give them a taste of their own medicine through a monster of her making.
Besides, she never has the chance to focus her training on the miracles as a whole and man, she's got a whole section of her little red notebook just waiting for this moment. I can torture Kagami and kick the miracles' asses at the same time!
Oh, she just couldn't stop fantasizing on all the wonderful opportunities that lay ahead.
"This will be great— Kise is another one who can be defeated by speed, so we'll focus on that first. It'll help with Akashi too," Hana ignored Kagami's confusion at the new name and continued on with her growing scheming, "For Midorima and Murasakibara we're gonna have to work on agility. Nūdoru can jump pretty high, so you can work on your jumping with him too— might need to make an obstacle course—"
A drop of sweat rolled down his temple and suddenly, Kagami looked a hell of a lot more wary, "You really thought this out, huh?"
Interjecting himself into the conversation, Kitano rolled his eyes, "You have no idea. Back at Teiko, she drilled this type of shit into our heads before every practice game."
"Yeah, but we've played against them before," Kagami trailed off as Hana's mumbling got more intense, "Why's she so hyped up now?"
Kitano shrugged, "Hell if I know."
"Hana-chan had to research the miracles playing style for over three years," Uoya interposed. His lips tilted up into a half-grin as he listened to her plotting, "She knows all of their strengths and weaknesses, but that type of information isn't really useful unless you can keep up with them enough to challenge them. I'm sure you guys realized that at the Tōō game."
When Kagami eyes narrowed in offense, Iseri interrupted, "It isn't meant to be derogatory. We never matched the skill level required for that kind of training either."
"Which means if she's pulling out all the stops for you, you're in for one hell of a time," Kitano's lips jerked up into a sardonic smirk, "Good luck."
Kagami could only grimace, "Great."
A few more minutes passed with Hana detailing out the finer parts of Kagami's new training regimen. To be honest, the redhead was only listening with half an ear. He'd long since stopped paying attention to the list and had begun trading shots with Kitano and Uoya. He was about to go for a lay-up and a dunk when something dark caught his eye outside of the gate.
He paused and palmed the ball. A cold sensation crawled up his spine, "What the hell is that?"
"Huh?" Kitano followed his gaze and promptly winced, "Oh. That's probably Nūdoru."
Kagami paled, "That's a dog?!"
That sure as hell wasn't any type of dog he's ever seen before.
It had to be at least four feet tall on all paws. Speaking of paws, they were massive. Kagami swore that they had to be the size of Kuroko's face and that wasn't including the jagged claws hidden beneath the layers of black fur. He could practically hear its steps as it approached. When its huge head began to push the court's gate open, Kagami's breath caught in his throat.
The face that stared back at him couldn't be mortal made. Two glass blue eyes peered unseeingly into the court and a long red tongue lulled out of the left side of the beast's mouth, narrowly missing cutting itself on a jagged canine tooth flashing in the afternoon sun. It wore a pink collar, but it did very little to diminish Kagami's fear.
He briefly considered crying.
"Nūdoru!" Hana called in the meantime, kneeling on the ground and patting at her knees to get the beast's attention, "Took you long enough."
Instead, Kagami squeaked as the beast turned toward her and barked.
The monster didn't just bark though. Kagami'd heard Nigou bark before and it was a little thing compared to unearthly roar the mammoth animal in front of him released. Unconsciously, he began to step backward, ready to climb the fence and escape.
"That's not a freaking dog," Kagami muttered, stepping behind Kitano as he tried to evade the beast's attention, "There's no way that's a dog."
When the beast's massive head swung in his direction, Kagami squealed.
"Nūdoru, no!" The beast lunged, but Hana was quick enough to grab the collar and yank the drooling hellhound back to her side, "Dude, chill. That's not how you meet new people, you crazy mutt."
"Imamura," Kagami spat, his attention focused securely on the dog, "What in the hell is that?"
Giving Kagami a brief look, she ran a hand over the beast's back with a grin, "This is Nūdoru. I know he looks scary, but I promise he's not—"
Woof!
Again, Kagami squealed, making the dog let out a suspiciously amused sounding chuff.
"Okay, he's an asshole," Hana amended, tightening her grip on the collar, "But really, he'll chase you, but he doesn't bite."
"He'll chase me?!"
"Not like a real chase, a play— Don't run!" The dog pulled and Hana hissed, "You're making him excited! Just let him get used to you—"
"Hell no!"
"Taiga, stop being so damn loud! Nūdoru— no!"
"Oh my god! Hana!"
"Nūdoru, sit! Taiga! Don't run away! He thinks you're playing!"
"I'm not— oh my god, get it off me! Hana!"
"I'm trying! Stop running already, Jesus Christ!"
Ignoring the ruckus from the left side of the court, Iseri gently opened up a bag of chips from his bag and meandered toward his former teammates. Coming to stand next to an amused Kitano and a horrified Uoya, Iseri held out a chip. Uoya gave him a bland look, but Kitano was quick to snatch the snack away with a rushed thank you.
"How long do you think this will last?" Iseri mused, "I believe training is done for the day."
Kitano munched on the chip thoughtfully, "I'd give it at least fifteen minutes and that's only if Kagami stops running."
Iseri nodded, "Nūdoru does love to chase."
"Ow, that's got to hurt," Uoya eventually offered, wincing as Kagami was finally tackled to the ground. As the large redhead began to hyperventilate, Nūdoru perched his furry little butt on top of Kagami's chest. Tongue lulling out happily, Nūdoru released a victory bark as Kagami froze in fear. Uoya had to look away, "Think he's going to be okay?"
With a shrug, Kitano replied, "Probably. Hopefully," he paused, "Maybe."
"Things should be fine once Nūdoru calms down—" Iseri broke off with a mildly concerned blink, "Oh no, he's licking him."
Kitano opened his mouth the respond, but an ear-splitting screech promptly silenced him.
"Hana! Get this dog the hell off me!"
xXxXxXx
An hour and a half later, Hana walked with Kagami down Tokyo's streets with Nūdoru leading the way. The dog was fifteen feet away mind you, but that was the only way Kagami would acquiesce to coming along.
It was safe to say today's training hadn't progressed very well.
After Nūdoru finally settled down, Kagami had been so traumatized he couldn't move for a solid fifteen minutes. He just kept muttering things about hell hounds and death. Dramatic much? Hana eventually got so fed up, she sent Nūdoru to go get him out of his funk.
It hadn't worked.
All in all, it took nearly an hour for Kagami to handle Nūdoru's presence without fainting and in apology, Hana offered to buy him food.
Which led to their current position and Hana's soon to be sad wallet.
"What's with you guys and Maji burger?" Hana tilted her head back to peer at Kagami, "You and Tetsuya are like obsessed."
"It's good," with that lackluster explanation, Kagami didn't take his stare off the dog in front of them, "Why'd you bring Nūdoru again?"
Stretching her arms above her head, Hana scrunched her nose at the sight of the darkening sky, "I've got to walk back home later. There's not a bus back to my neighborhood— so Nūdoru is like a murder deterrent."
Kagami finally risked a peek at her, "You good with that? I can walk you back."
"I'm good. I'm pretty used to it by now," Hana shrugged, "Thanks though, you're living up to your bodyguard role quiet well. I knew it was only a matter of time— ow! Don't hit me, asshole!"
He didn't apologize, "Don't be such a smartass."
A few feet ahead, Nūdoru let out a little chuff of agreement. Betrayal! Hana's lips pursed, "Great. You've managed to sabotage my dog now."
"Good," Kagami tried to repress his shiver, but it wasn't quite successful. He was still rightfully terrified of the gigantic dog, "At least the dog has some brains."
"Oh, come on. Don't be a dick. We're bonding here."
He didn't respond right away. Instead, the duo fell into a silence that was only occasionally broken by Nūdoru's curious sniffs. Stuffing her hands into her gym short pockets, Hana trailed her gaze up to examine the buildings around them. It was a nice mixture of modern and classical, but she was biased. She'd always loved downtown Tokyo.
They were about fifty feet away from Maji when Kagami finally spoke, "Weren't you supposed to have dinner with Kuroko this weekend?"
"Yeah, but my dad had to go out of town," Hana shrugged, "We rescheduled it to like the twenty-eighth or something."
Another awkward silence passed before Kagami hedged, "Uh— so uh— Kise…?"
Can we not? What in the hell happened to small talk? Hana let out a loud groan and threw her head back in exasperation, "Oh my god, who told you?"
"Kitano," Kagami didn't wince, but the awkward layer to his tone suggested unease. Hana didn't want to put a label on it, but it was almost virginal discomfort, "I was wondering what the hell Iseri meant by a harem—"
Hana promptly slapped him in the arm, "There is no harem!"
"I don't— I don't care about that," cheeks flushing an alarming shade of red, Kagami stuttered before eventually growling, "I'm just trying to figure out what the hell is going on with you all."
Wouldn't we all like to know?
"Man, then you're asking the wrong freaking person," Hana let out a sardonic laugh, "I have no idea, honestly. I just know it's bullshit."
Again, he took a minute to respond. In that time, they'd made it to the glass doors of Maji's building and Nūdoru curled up next to an ill-potted evergreen tree before laying down. Kagami shot the dog one last disgruntled look before shoving a hand through his hair in obvious unease.
"Whatever, I don't care about that," Kagami shook in apparent disgust and Hana rolled her eyes before he continued, "Just— I don't know, if they do something—"
Hand on the golden door handle, Hana shot him an amused look over her shoulder, "Are you being protective? I'm honored, Taiga."
All those warm and fuzzy feelings went right out the window when his large palm landed on her head and pushed her through the door, "Shut the hell up, Imamura."
"Awh, come on. What happened to Hana?" Ignoring their new surroundings, Hana jokingly leered in Kagami's direction and mocked him, "Oh my god, Hana! Hana!"
His face flushed purple, "Shut up! That's not what I sounded like."
"I mean, I think it was pretty spot on. Breathy gasp and all—"
"We're in public, you idiot!"
Hana mouth was open and ready to deliver a killing blow to Kagami's dignity when a choking cough distracted both teens. Not far away from the entrance of the door, a blond in a neatly ironed white shirt was coughing up a lung, the skin on the back of neck flushed pink. In front of the struggling teen, Hana caught the startling blue of Kuroko's stare as he innocuously sucked on his milkshake.
"Uh—" Hana trailed off as she watched what could only be Kise struggle to gain control of his breathing.
This was not what she wanted to deal with today.
Fate hath betrayed me.
Kagami was much less subtle in his irritation. He jabbed a finger in Kuroko's direction, "What the hell are you doing here? With Kise?"
Unaffected by his rage, Kuroko merely sucked on his milkshake and blinked as he peered at them. It took a moment for him to respond only to say, "Hello, Kagami-kun, Hana."
With that, Kise was sent into another coughing fit, his hand slapping painfully into his chest as he fought to catch his breath.
"Yeah, hi there," Hana drawled, stare flicking between the three teens around her before she shook her head. Nope. I already said we ain't doing this today, Satan. "I'm gonna go get the food. What do you want, Taiga?"
There was a suspicious bang, but Hana didn't look in Kise's direction to discern what he might have just done. Instead, she raised a brow at Kagami and waved a hand in the general hurry the hell up motion.
Kagami didn't take his glare off Kuroko when he barked out, "Three number sixes and four number fives. A large soda too."
"Wow, such manners. Such kindness," Hana narrowed her eyes before tossing out a lackadaisical insult over her shoulder, "I hope you choke on your burger."
Behind her back, Kagami rolled his red eyes and stomped toward Kuroko, "Oh shut up, Imamura."
"Shut up," Hana pitched her voice up a bit to mock him before giving the teen a rude hand gesture as a final parting, "Figure out a new catchphrase, Taiga. It's losing its effect."
Pulling out a chair and plopping down next to Kuroko, Kagami gave her a dark look, "Rather I'd call you a bitch?"
"I mean, yeah," Hana shrugged, "At least you're trying."
As he snatched a fry off Kuroko's plate, the redhead huffed a tired, "Idiot."
With a cheery smile, Hana repeated her previous hand gesture before heading toward the cashier stand. She chose to ignore the incredulous way Kise's gaze ping-ponged between Kagami and her, his golden eyes blown wide by some sort of miserable fanaticism she couldn't put a finger on. Speaking of Kise—no.
Hana cut herself off.
Nope, nope, nope. We don't think about Kise.
We sure as shit don't think about lips—
No, Hana, no!
During the midst of Hana's silent mental breakdown, Kagami continued to stuff his face with the leftover remnants of Kuroko's fries. He too chose to ignore Kise's dramatic gawking, instead focusing on Kuroko beside him.
"Why are you here, anyway?" Shoving a fry in his mouth, Kagami narrowed his eyes, "I thought you had something to do today."
Soul sucking blue eyes peered at him as Kuroko nodded, "I did, I made plans with Kise-kun this morning."
"Weird," Kagami huffed, "I didn't know you hung out outside of basketball."
"Of course, we do!" Finally deciding to enter the conversation and moving past whatever was bothering him, Kise pasted a pout over his face. The false dramatics made Kagami grimace. "Kuroko-cchi and I are best friends, you know."
"… you are?" Kagami deadpanned. When he shot a look at Kuroko, the smaller teen just blinked and took an obnoxiously loud sip of his milkshake.
Kagami's eyes narrowed; something was off.
Seemingly oblivious to Kagami's observation, Kise chirped, "Don't be jealous, Kagami-cchi! We used to hang out all the time back in middle school."
"Kise-kun is over-exaggerating," one side of Kuroko's lips pulled up in the faintest hint of a smile, "Though we are friends, if you're still concerned, Kagami-kun."
"Whatever," Kagami didn't really care enough to pry into their odd friendship dynamics. He'd had more than enough dealings with idiots for the day, "You guys are all weird."
Kise threw a hand over his heart in counterfeit pain, "So mean!"
Fry sticking halfway out his mouth, Kagami merely gave him a nauseated look.
As Kise began to ramble about something pointless, Kagami tilted his head over his shoulder and eyed Hana as she waited for their order to complete. When his attention turned back to the table, Kagami blinked at the two looks trained his way. Kuroko's was more on the side of inquisitive, but there was a gleam in Kise's eyes that Kagami had only experienced on the court.
"Speaking of friends, you and Imamura-cchi are awfully close, Kagami-cchi," propping his chin on his hand, Kise allowed another pout to take over his expression, "I didn't know you guys hung out."
Deciding that was an awfully convenient time to join in, Kuroko paused from his drink to add, "They usually don't. I'm a little curious as well, Kagami-kun."
Kagami waved their suspicions off with a frown, "She's just helping me with some training stuff."
"Training?" One of Kise's eyebrows arched in interest and a mild layer of distrust, "Why do you need Imamura-cchi for that?
A plastic tray slammed into the table and Hana bopped Kagami in the head with his straw. She swiftly ignored his growl by giving Kise a challenging glare, "Don't worry about it— that training stuff is secret. Don't go blabbing all our secrets to the enemy, Kagami."
Kise gawked up at her, but there was a special sparkle to his eyes that hinted toward mischief, "Come on, Imamura-cchi, we're not enemies anymore. Remember?"
"Kise," Hana deadpanned. Her hands found their way to her hips as Kagami dug into the burgers she'd gifted him. If this shithead had the audacity to pull this kind of stuff in front of witnesses, Hana would kill him. "I will use this straw to pluck out your eyeballs and feed them to Nūdoru—"
Despite the death risk, Kise merely laughed her threat away. He pulled out the chair beside him and eagerly motioned for Hana to sit, "You're so feisty, Imamura-cchi. Maybe you shouldn't be training so much with Kagami-cchi."
"Yeah, I'm sure that's the issue. Totally not because you're being a jerk or anything," giving him a suspect look, Hana gently lowered herself into the chair, "Why are you guys out so late anyway? Tomorrow's a school day."
Pausing from his milkshake, Kuroko examined her for something. Apparently, he found it because he replied, "I needed to talk to Kise-kun about a few things. He decided we should stop to get some food afterward."
"It was so good," leaning back in his chair, Kise laid a hand on his full stomach with a pleased sigh, "Kuroko-cchi recommended this place and I was so hungry~"
"Pfft," Hana snorted, grabbing a wayward burger and peeling the wrapper off, "Tetsuya only likes Maji because of their milkshakes. The burgers are alright, but you got scammed."
There was a moment of awkward silence and Hana raised a brow, peering around the expressions at the table. Kagami was too busy shoving handfuls of food in his face to notice, but Kuroko was subtlety glancing between Hana and Kise with an odd analytical look on his face. When her attention rested on the blond himself, Hana was startled to find an envious expression dotting his cheeks.
It was gone a moment later, replaced with a rueful smile as Kise said, "You guys at Seirin sure are close to one another. None of my teammates call me by my first name."
Convenient topic change there, Kise. Hana gave him one last suspicious look before attempting to change the tone of the conversation with humor, "You can always start a new trend. I'm sure Kasamatsu would love it."
"Ha," Kise chuckled a bit, before flicking Hana's shoulder in mock reprimand, "I think you're trying to get me killed, Imamura-cchi."
With a single nod, Kuroko decided to further throw Hana under the bus, "I believe she is, Kise-kun."
"Rude," she tried to send a sharp elbow into Kise's side, but the blond easily avoided her attempts. Instead, she rolled her eyes, "Don't gang up on me. I won't put up with that shit—"
Her sentence was abruptly cut off by Kise throwing a long arm over her shoulder and pulling her halfway out of her chair and into a hug, "Don't be so mean, Imamura-cchi! This is just like old times! Remember when we'd all hang out together?"
"Kise—" Hana tried to wedge a hand between his chest and hers to push him off. This position was oddly familiar to their last embrace and she couldn't help but remember how that had ended, "Get the hell off me—"
Following in the trend of his previous uncooperativeness, Kuroko chose that moment to cut in with a deceptively monotone observation, "Hana, you're blushing."
"—Not helping, Tetsuya!"
"See, this isn't fair," finally releasing Hana from his hug and ignoring her subsequent hiss, Kise pouted at Kuroko across the table. It was meant to look playful, but there was an underlying layer of bitterness to his expression, "Why are you guys on first-name basis, but not me?"
Wiping a piece of lint off her shoulder, Hana gave Kise a scathing glare. The heat in her cheeks still hadn't faded, "Because he doesn't manhandle me like a freaking puppet!"
Kise offered a dramatically affronted gasp and even Kagami paused his eating at Hana's tone, red eyes scanning over the assembled group and deeming it harmless before he turned back to his meal. Beside him, Kuroko remained bland faced, but the amusement he felt was in no way hidden.
That theory was further proven as he added, "You should apologize, Kise-kun."
"You're right," gold eyes wide with the slightest hint of hidden tears, Kise turned his stare onto her and grabbed her hands between his own before proclaiming, "I'm so sorry, Hana-cchi."
"No," Hana snarled back at him, yanking her hands out of his grip, "You can't just— you need to ask first!"
What happened to manners?!
When she turned to Kuroko for help, the other teen simply blinked at her, "I don't recall you asking for Kagami-kun's permission."
"But that was Kagami— and this is Kise—" Hana opened and shut her mouth a few times in incredulous denial. Kuroko remained unswayed. "Dude, who's side are you on here?"
"I'm not on anyone's side," and with that parting statement, Kuroko returned to his milkshake, his amusement still palpable.
She could only stare at his duplicity.
What an obnoxious little shit-stirrer.
Leaning against the wall on his left, Kise watched Hana with an insufferable grin. When she turned her disbelieving gaze upon him, he merely chuckled, "Don't look so worried, Hana-cchi! You can call me Ryouta too!"
What kind of fresh hell is this? Her mouth gawped like a fish, "… how about no?"
"Come on," Kise continued to needle, his eyes alight at the blush slowly staining the curves of Hana's cheeks, "It'll be cute~"
Formerly forgotten in the midst of whatever bullshit Hana had somehow stumbled into, Kagami broke the conversation by scooting his chair out from under the table with an irritating screech. The red plastic tray was piled high with the scraps of his burgers.
"I'm done," with the grace of a thousand gods, Kagami stood and turned his stare onto her, "Do you still need me to walk you back?"
The amount of relief that flooded Hana's veins was indescribable.
Oh my god, Taiga, I think I love you.
"Yes!" Shooting up from her chair, Hana smoothed down her tank top and sent the two remaining boys an awkward smile. Instead of dawdling and risk getting sucked back into whatever that was, Hana took her chance, "Bye!"
Then she scurried her tiny ass out of the restaurant.
Kagami wasn't far behind. While he didn't run, he wasted as little time as possible in removing himself from Kise's presence—even if that meant he had to deal with Nūdoru again. Pushing the door open with a wide palm, he shot the dog in question a wary look. In the five seconds since she'd gone outside, Hana was already feeding it the scraps of a leftover hamburger.
Taking a few steps to the left to avoid the dog, Kagami frowned at the manager, "Hurry up, will you? I wouldn't put it past Kise to follow us."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," straightening up, Hana smiled despite the tone of her words, "Thanks for real, though. That was about to get real freaking awkward."
He only gave her an annoyed glare, "If you don't hurry up, you won't have anything to thank me for."
"Oh— that's how we're gonna be?" Hana put one hand on her hip and shooed Kagami forward with the other, "Fine, ungrateful ass, I take my thank you back."
Rolling his eyes before beginning their walk back to the bus station, he didn't bother her further. Instead, the duo fell into a companionable silence that was only broken by the obnoxious panting of the beast behind them. Kagami honestly preferred it this way. Hana sure as hell didn't want to talk about her issues and Kagami would rather die than listen to any of the insufferable drama related to the Generation of Miracles.
Despite it all, while for the life of him he couldn't figure out Hana's appeal, he admitted Iseri might be onto something regarding the former Teiko schoolmates. He also had the sinking suspicion that due to the manager's and his new partnership, he was about to start seeing more of the infamous miracles.
Inadvertently, he groaned.
Hana shot him a dry look, "What?"
"Nothing," Kagami gave her an irritated glance, already tried of the incoming drama, "You know I'm not walking you back, right?"
"Thank god. I was worried I'd have to deal with your shit attitude the whole way."
"Shut—"
"Yeah, yeah. Shut the hell up, Imamura. I got it the first hundred times you've said it."
His only response was a whack to the back of her head.
X
X
Almost a full week later, Hana spun on her heels, a huge smile carving dimples into her cheeks.
"Now that is what I'm talking about! We're the shit," she threw her hands up in victory, "Take that, bitches! Next up— the Winter Cup!"
They'd just finished playing against their final preliminary match against Komada, winning the game at a secure 72 to 65 points. In Hana's honest opinion, it was quite well deserved. She'd worked her little ass off gathering notes during the week before the game and the rest of the team had upped their everyday training regimen after their last few losses.
In reward of all this wonderful hard work, they were going to dinner at a modestly priced restaurant a few blocks down the road.
If they made it there, that is.
"Imamura-chan!" Furihata called out almost a second too late, "The road!"
A moment away from stepping off the curb and into the late-afternoon traffic, Hyuuga snatched the back of her shirt and barked, "Pay attention, idiot!"
Hana let out a manic laugh until it was cut short as Hyuuga yanked her back on the sidewalk, choking her with her own shirt collar. Okay, ow. Since when did he have a strangulation kink?
Lowering her phone from her face, Riko gifted the manager a droll look, "Try not to die."
"You're pretty worked up, Imamura," Kiyoshi smiled despite his concern, "I haven't heard you cheer that loud in a while."
Eyes flashing behind his glasses, Hyuuga scoffed as he dropped her shirt, "That's not a good thing— she got a foul."
"Oh, that foul was bullshit," Hana countered. She rubbed at the chaffed area on her throat and grumbled, "Unsportsmanlike conduct my ass."
Okay, to be fair, she may be a bit salty about the whole situation. Never in her years of basketball managing had Hana received a foul for her albeit… foul mouth. This referee just happened to be a tad too sensitive with good enough hearing to actually single her out and do something about it. It wasn't like she did anything bad, anyway—
"Well," Koganei rubbed at his chin before he trailed off, "you did kind of call him some pretty mean names."
Okay, I will admit to that. She waved the accusation away, "He earned what he got. He's like the second cousin of Komada's captain, he was totally biased."
Peering around Furihata, Kawahara gaped at her, "How'd you even know that?"
"The captain's ex-girlfriend told me," tucking her hands behind her head, Hana frowned at the skyline, "Apparently they had a bit of a thing after the two broke it off."
With a shake of his head, Hyuuga's lip pulled up into a sneer as he walked ahead, "You're something else."
"I'll take that as a compliment, captain."
"Don't."
Rude! Regrettably, Hana didn't have time to retort before they'd arrived at their destination.
The restaurant was about the size of Maji and a glance in the large floor to ceiling windows showed a mostly empty seating area inside. Above them, the sun was just now dropping beneath the skyline and the clouds had grown orange as the sunset twisted into the night, painting the exterior in hues of red. Already at the entrance, Izuki held the glass door open for everyone to file in.
It didn't take too long for the whole group to sit and order, everyone's stomach running on empty after the effort exerted during the game. Screaming takes a lot out of you, 'ya know. Plopping down next to Kuroko, Hana grabbed a menu and decided on what she was in the mood for.
Apparently, she was a little too engrossed with her thoughts. By the time Hana looked up, the whole table was staring at her with some form of exasperation. Well, except for Kiyoshi— Hana didn't think he knew how to do anything other than smile anyway.
"Uhm," plunking her menu down, Hana raised a brow, "Why are we staring at me?"
Chin propped in her palm, Riko smiled. It sent a bit of a chill down Hana's spine, "We're deciding on your punishment."
"… punishment," Hana parroted incredulously, "For what?"
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Hyuuga jammed a finger in her direction, "You got a foul! You're a manager! You aren't supposed to do that!"
Well, shit. Swallowing, Hana offered a sheepish smile, "My bad?"
"It is your bad! You—"
Whatever else the irate captain planned to say was cut off when a demure waitress came up to take everyone's order. As she walked away, Hana sighed in relief. Thank you, beautiful lady. She figured that was the end of that little conversation and the threat of punishment had ceased.
She was proven wrong as soon as she finished eating her meal.
"Dammit!" Kagami growled, stabbing at the last few pieces of broccoli on his plate, "This is so hard!"
Propping his elbows on the table, Hyuuga glowered down at their side of the table, "Kagami, shut up already. This is what I'm talking about— this team has a serious issue with language."
"Like you're one to talk," Hana muttered mutinously as she poked at a wayward piece of rice. When the captain's glare fell on her, she quickly threw her hands up in surrender, "Didn't mean that. You're a very honorable senpai, senpai."
"And you're a brat," Hyuuga scoffed, but some of the edges of his anger vanished with his eye roll. He continued his train of thought after a brief pause, "Still you do have an issue with cursing, both of you, but Imamura especially. That's why we're doing this—"
Out of seemingly nowhere, Riko slammed a jar on the table, "This is a swear jar. Each time you curse, you have to put in 1,000 yen."
"Its use is two-fold," Hyuuga leaned back and smugly crossed his arms over his chest, "You idiots will stop cursing and we'll have extra funds for travel."
I'm feeling strangely targeted right now. Hana stared at the jar and scowled. It resembled one of her mom's mason jars with a cute pink bow tied in a knot around the top. She hated it on sight, "Why do I feel like this is specifically aimed at me?"
Hyuuga only raised a brow, "Because it is."
"Rude… but, okay. I appreciate the effort," Hana trailed off, giving the jar one last evil look before finishing, "Still, this isn't going to work. My dad tried to do this during middle school— I don't need to curse to say what I want to say."
Neither captain nor coach looked impressed. Riko merely shrugged, "Then it won't be a problem."
Raising a brow, Hana looked over the rest of her teammates. Nobody seemed averse to the idea and a few of them even looked strangely relieved. I'll remember this. She flicked her gaze back to the jar before shrugging. Guess she'd have to start being a bit more creative in her insults.
Whatever, it's their funeral.
"Imamura-chan without Imamura-chan's mouth," Koganei sighed, staring at the ceiling, "We might actually have a cute manager for once."
Oh, now that was just rude. Hana gawked, "Oi, you spork! I'm always cute!"
"Spork," Izuki repeated the word in disbelief, "That's a new use of that term."
"Wow," Fukuda whispered to his fellow freshman friends, "I can already tell a difference."
You're all dicks and I hate you. Hana huffed in their direction before pulling out her phone in rebellion, "Just remember you brought this on yourselves."
With that, she zoned out of the rest of the conversation. Instead, she flicked open her messages and, ignoring the first three from Kise, scrolled down to Momoi's name. It'd been a few days since she'd spoken to her busty friend and in order to remedy that, Hana snuck a quick photo of Kagami glaring at Nigou and sent it to her.
"By the way," the tone of Kawahara's question sparked Hana's attention and she listened as he finished, "what do you want to do tomorrow?"
Fukuda shrugged, "It's an off day, I'll probably sleep mostly."
"Hey!" Furihata interrupted, snatching a flyer out of his bag, "Why don't we do this?"
"Streetball?" Hana perked up, looking at the flyer. She reached her hand out in a gimme motion and read through the details when Furihata handed it over, "They've got prize money. We should definitely do it."
Kagami gave her a dry look, "We? You can't even play."
"How would you know?" Hana countered, flipping over the flyer to look at the back, "Besides, I beat you once."
"You cheated!"
"Sure, I did. That's what they all say."
"Hey, first years," Riko called down the table. When their attention moved to her, she frowned, "Don't you know what a holiday is? You have to rest."
"We know, but…" Furihata trailed off with a look to Kawahara, his face falling into an award-winning pout, "Kagami and Kuroko always play in games, but well, we'd like to play too sometimes."
Oh my god, I can't. Hana honestly felt a little bit of her heart break as she listened to his reasoning. It reminded her so much of her second-string team that she just had to hop back into the conversation and interject. I will always be weak for the underdog.
"If you're worried about them overworking themselves," Hana waved a hand in her general direction, "I'll go with them— not to play, shut the f— truck up, Taiga. No, but you know, I could coach or something."
Riko blinked, "You… want to coach them?"
Hana deadpanned at her tone. Loving the trust in my abilities, coach.
"Good!" Hana didn't have a chance to retort before Kiyoshi cut in, "Good for you! That's the spirit first years!" Suddenly animated, Kiyoshi turned to the coach, "Hey, Riko, out of respect for their spirit, let's send them off right!"
Startled, Riko began, "Hey, wait. I…" she looked down the table at all the eager faces before sighing, "Just the first years, then. Imamura-chan keeps an eye on you, though."
With a blossoming grin, Kiyoshi turned toward their table, "Well, you guys heard that. You've got your approval! Have fun!"
While the rest of the first years all wore varying levels of smiles, Hana narrowed her eyes on Kiyoshi. That level of excitement felt completely and totally unnatural. Frankly, it made her a bit wary. In her past years of experience, genuine excitement never came without some sort of downside.
She suddenly regretted signing up for this responsibility.
Oh well, too late now.
xXxXxXx
By the time the streetball tournament arrived the next day, Hana had already forgotten about her ill-ease.
Honestly though, who could blame her? The sun was shining beautifully behind a fluffy layer of clouds and the early spring air wasn't too tepid. Across the street, a few street vendors had set up shop, playing some trendy music while offering an assortment of snacks. Groups of boys milled about and a degree of enthusiasm peppered the atmosphere.
With a smiling cat motif on the center of her shirt, Hana felt ready for anything. Nothing bad can happen when you utilize the powers of cuteness. Not to mention, none of the first years had access to the newly implemented swear jar.
She chuckled under her breath. I have free reign to curse as I please!
"You seem excited," Kuroko glanced at her. His shoulder grazed against her own, "Do you enjoy streetball?"
Coming out of her evil musings, Hana squinted, "It's okay. I will admit it's a hell of a lot more exciting than regular basketball— Kitano used to take me to some of his games back in middle school."
"Kitano plays streetball?" Kagami's nose scrunched in thought, "Wouldn't have guessed it."
She shrugged, "He just likes the money, I think."
Neither Kuroko nor Kagami offered anything more to her statement. She couldn't blame them really; they were all tired of waiting for the rest of their group to arrive. Leaning against the iron fence, Hana peered down the road and squinted, hoping to see a sign of their wayward players.
It felt weird to wait. Due to her love of procrastination, normally this situation was reversed.
Beside her, Kuroko kneeled on the ground and Hana transferred her attention back to him. Her brows quirked as he unzipped his bag before briefly ruffling through the contents and Hana snorted as Nigou poked his head out. When Kuroko stood back up, he held two drinks in his hand, one a blue sports drink and the other a bottled iced coffee.
Her mouth inadvertently watered.
Hana tried not to eye the coffee with too much lust. Didn't wanna be rude or anything. But man, it's just so beautiful. She'd only had two cups before she left the house that morning and she was quickly realizing how much of a mistake that had been.
"Here," when he caught her eye, Kuroko's eyes crinkled in the barest hints of a smile and he held out the drink, "I brought it for you."
You're a god, Tetsuya. Hana tried not to snatch it out of his hands too fast, but it was no use. Her little goblin fingers curled around the drink and she let out a pleased sigh, "Have I ever told you I love you? 'Cause I do."
"… Ah," at his pause, Hana shot him a look. He blinked back at her, but a slight pink hue had grown on the apples of his cheeks, "You're welcome."
This suddenly feels like a lot more than a drink. Feeling mildly flustered herself, Hana coughed a bit, "Yeah, yeah. Uh— cool. This is cool."
In the background, Kagami scoffed.
Count to five… we're having a good day. No murdering. Sipping the blessed coffee, Hana shot him a dirty look. Unphased, Kagami merely rolled his eyes, mumbling something about her being 'a stupid idiot'.
By the blessings of the gods and Hana's temper, they didn't have to wait too much longer for the rest of their group to arrive. About five minutes later, the last three members waltzed up to meet them at the gate. Wait, hold up. When Hana caught sight of the last member, she deadpanned.
Kagami was also unimpressed, "What are you doing here?!"
The man of honor frowned. Looking vaguely affronted, Kiyoshi said, "What? I can't be here?"
"No…" grudgingly, Kagami trailed off before looking at the rest of the group, "But where's Kawahara?"
Fukuda offered a sheepish grin, "He got a cold."
You've got to be shitting me. Hana stared, "… in a day?"
This felt a tad too coincidental for her tastes. Dear god— did Kiyoshi do something to him? It would make a bit too much sense. Hana had always thought something ominous lurked in Kiyoshi's gentle giant persona.
"Let's not worry too much, guys," Kiyoshi interjected, "We'll have fun. Let's go play!"
With that encouragement, Kiyoshi headed through the gates and to the signup area. Exchanging a wary stare with Kagami, Hana eventually shrugged and followed their leading upperclassman. Fine, let's just go with the possible serial killer. As long as he doesn't have the swear jar I'm fine.
She spoke too soon.
"Hey, Imamura—" Kiyoshi turned around and waved an object in the air, "Riko made me promise to bring this, so sorry ahead of time."
It slipped out before she could catch it, "Shit."
"You know the rules, Imamura," the jar was tossed in her direction, "1,000 yen!"
Double shit.
As she caught the stupid thing, Kuroko gifted her with a sympathetic look. It didn't do much good in the current situation, but Hana would take it for what it was. Glaring at the jar, she shoved a hand into her shorts' pocket and dug around for some loose change. Welp, guess that clears that up. I've got nada.
"Hey, Kiyoshi!" Hana called, causing him to turn away from the signup table, "I'm broke! You'll have to write me an 'I owe you' or something."
He didn't respond and as their little grouping got closer to the sign-in area, Hana suddenly understood why. Instead of just Kiyoshi and Fukuda looking back at her, an extra four sets of eyes turned as well. They were vaguely familiar and once Hana caught sight of the shaved head of one of the players, awareness sparked.
Hana blinked, "Oh hey, it's Seiho—"
The rest of her team's reaction decided to scream instead, "Seiho?!"
And, with all the dramatics that apparently every boys' basketball team possesses, they yelled back, "Seirin?!"
x
A lot can change in about twenty minutes.
Nibbling on an apple secured from Kasuga, Seiho's former point guard, Hana gave the boys around her a dead-eyed stare. Basketball bros are weird. Judging from their earlier greeting, she was expecting some lingering hostility, maybe some avoidance, but no.
Somehow that loud greeting turned into 'hey, let's have a picnic!' and now both teams sat on the grass together, food sprawled out in front of them. As the boys around her continued to converse, Hana satisfied herself by nibbling on her apple.
Maybe she'd squeeze in a little infiltration time, maybe not.
More coffee would be needed.
"So, what are you guys doing here anyway?" Kasuga leaned back on his palms, long blond hair tucked behind an ear, "What about practice?"
Kuroko answered from his left, "We have the day off."
"Thank god," Hana added around a bite of apple, "All those back to back games were freaking exhausting."
With a hot dog shoved halfway into his mouth, Kagami butted in, "What about you? Why aren't you at practice?" Hana stretched her arms above her head as she stood and Kagami turned his attention to her, "Huh? Where the hell are you going, Imamura?"
"I'm gonna go see if this place has any more coffee," she yawned, "I'm running on fumes here."
Pausing from his snack, Kuroko peered up at her, "Would you like me to come with you?"
"I'm good," she waved him off and began walking, ready to journey into the unknown, "Shouldn't take too long."
Kagami wasn't willing to leave it at that though. Because of course not. With a scowl he shouted after her back, "Don't be late for the first game!"
"Yeah, yeah," Hana threw a lazy hand over her shoulder before tuning out the rest of Kagami's rant, "You got it, dad."
The sounds of the park covered the majority of his resulting growl. My ears will live to hear another day. After walking a few meters away from her group, Hana perched her hands on her hips and squinted across the park. Well, damn. She may have underestimated how many people she'd have to navigate through to find her long lost coffee, but it wasn't any skin off her back.
Hopefully.
Fifteen minutes later Hana had the belated thought that maybe she should have taken a bit more time in retrieving her coffee.
She'd managed to beat the rest of her team to the first game, but that also meant she had to watch the game all by herself. Which you know— would have been fine, except this sucked. She may not know Seiho's team members very well, but damn, this game was not pretty.
Elbows perched on the metal divider separating the audience from the court, Hana watched as Seiho continued to get decimated by this unknown team. Is it really the whole team though? No, most of the damage came from a single player. Taking a sip of her coffee, Hana narrowed her eyes on the guy.
The boy in question wasn't anything to scoff at. He was tall, pale, and had a lanky type of body mass that often hid layers of muscle. Yet, for whatever reason, Hana didn't like him. It wasn't anything he'd done per se, other than be ridiculously strong, but it was something in his attitude. Maybe overconfidence? Or maybe she was just being judgmental.
At least he was pretty to look at.
Her team finally arrived ten minutes later just as the game ended. Wonderful timing, guys. Furihata's yell gained Hana attention and she slowly moved down the line of the dividing rail in order to intercept them when they came up. Kuroko and Kiyoshi shot her a brief look of acknowledgment before their attention fell back to the game's outcome.
"Imamura-chan—" Furihata stumbled as he came up to the back of the group, looking at the remnants of the players on the court, "No way… they beat Seiho so easily?"
"51 to 32," Hana chimed in, voice tired from the tension of the match. When she gained most of their attention she nodded back out to the court, "Gonna need to watch out for tall and grumpy over there."
Following her gaze, Kagami froze. His mouth dropped open the smallest fraction, "No way," Kagami took a step forward, crossing over the white boundary line, "What are you doing here? Himuro Tatsuya?"
At the name, the aforementioned boy turned. Grey, analytical eyes zeroed in on Kagami before a thin smile overtook his face. Hana noted that it didn't extend to his eyes.
"Taiga?" The newly proclaimed Himuro questioned, walking across the court and toward their general area. Unexpectedly, he began to speak in English, "What a surprise to find you here."
"You don't look surprised at all," Kagami refuted the taunt, "Keeping the usual poker face?"
Growing mildly amused, Himuro countered, "I'm not keeping a poker face. It's my nature."
When Kagami didn't respond to the jab, Kiyoshi stepped forward and attempted to speak in English as well, "Is it, uh, Himuro? Kagami's friend?"
"Oh, I can speak Japanese," Himuro turned to Kiyoshi, "I've just lived in America for so long, I'm not used to it." His head tilted downward the smallest fraction, "We're not friends though," another bland smile took over his face, "I guess you could call me his brother."
Unintentionally, Hana snorted. Dramatic much?
The story that followed the announcement only added to Hana's initial impression. It was a bittersweet tale of young friendship between Himuro and Kagami as they grew up in America, playing basketball together and helping each other grow stronger. She raised a brow when Kagami got stuck in his memories and paused in his tale.
My angst meter is tingling.
When Kagami began again, Hana mentally patted herself on the back— she freaking called it. Their brotherhood didn't last. When Kagami decided to go easy on his friend in the middle of a game, it prompted the end of their adolescent bond and Himuro confronted Kagami, betting their necklace on the result of their next game.
Or that's what would have happened, if Kagami hadn't left to go back to Japan.
Though, the story did soften her initial impression of Himuro. I can totally sympathize with having to put up with Kagami's bullshit. Also, another selfish part of her was insanely pleased that other people had a dramatic backstory related to a necklace. She wasn't the only one!
And to think Kagami used to give me shit about it too.
"I was disappointed then," Himuro added once Kagami finished regaling the group with the story of their relationship, "but I came back to Japan this year and now I go to Yosen High. I thought we'd meet eventually… so let's fulfill that promise today."
That idea was all well and good, but Hana's mind was currently stuck on one little tidbit of his statement. Did he just say Yosen? Oh, hell nah— There was no way a guy like this wasn't on the basketball team.
Which meant— please dear god, no.
She'd had enough miracle interaction in the last two weeks to last a lifetime. Hana didn't want any more any time soon, thank you very much.
Currently busy mentally freaking out, she missed the remainder of Himuro's and Kagami's conversation. Her attention was only brought back to earth when Kuroko used Nigou's paw to slap Kagami in the face.
She looked up just in time to see Kuroko give Kagami his patented soul-searching stare. He frowned, "I don't like it when you're indecisive."
Kagami spluttered, "What?!"
"I think I understand the situation," Kuroko bent to let Nigou down, "In any case… I think it's your fault for going easy on him."
Her escaped plans unwelcomely halted, Hana grimaced. Oh no. Time for the Tetsuya sponsored emotional intervention.
"But… I…" Kagami stuttered.
"You wouldn't have been able to call Himuro-san your brother," Kuroko interrupted, "And winning when he was off his game probably isn't what you wanted, but no one wants their opponent to go easy on them in the game they love." His expression tightened minutely, "Besides, even if you're not brothers, it's not as though you would change."
Kagami deflated, "You're right, I like basketball because I enjoy facing strong players—" Kagami's hand tightened on his necklace and determination coated his face, "I've made up my mind! I'll play as hard as I can, no matter what, Tatsuya!"
Shiiiiit. Hana's shoulders slumped as she stared at her friends.
It wasn't as if she wasn't affected by this emotional reckoning. She totally was— she felt for Kuroko and Kagami, she really really did. But these emotional dalliances were turning into an alarmingly, statistically correct method for determining when things were about to not go her way.
Case in point— now.
"Then I look forward to playing you today," finally seeming to acknowledge the other participant in the conversation, Himuro turned to Kuroko, "Sorry, who are you?"
Hana made an aborted slashing motion, but either Kuroko didn't notice or seem to care as he answered, "I'm Kuroko Tetsuya. It's nice to meet you."
"So, you're…" Himuro trailed off with an almost genuine smile, "You've found an interesting partner, Taiga."
Kagami gawked, "You know about Kuroko?!"
"Yeah, a little," the corner of Himuro's lip twitched, "There's actually an interesting guy on my team, too."
Okay, now he was just playing stupid. Unwilling to let her friends fall into a possible trap, Hana hissed, "Tetsuya, Taiga— He goes to Yosen—"
Kuroko turned only to blink at her and Hana deadpanned at his guileless expression. Do you not keep up with your own damn teammates? Unfortunately, her call out had the added benefit of bringing Himuro's attention to her as well and, unlike his initial reaction to Kuroko, his eyes widened in recognition without her introduction.
"Ah, I recognize you from earlier. You were watching our match," Himuro's expression turned analytical, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."
Hana stared at him, an eyebrow arching high. Oh, bullshit. Don't even dude. He totally knew who she was, there was no denying that split second of recognition.
Instead of calling him out though, Hana took the mature route and answered, "Imamura Hana. Tell Murasakibara I said hi."
When Kagami and Kuroko's head twisted in her direction, Hana winced. Okay, maybe not the mature route after all.
"So, you figured it out," he didn't seem shocked, if anything he only appeared amused, "I'm not surprised. Atsushi's mentioned you as well."
Because of course he has. If Hana could roll her eyes any harder, they'd fall out.
"Yeah, I'm starting to figure out that's a thing for some reason,"she couldn't stop her snort, "That whole group is a bunch of gossips— no offense Tetsuya."
The look Kuroko sent her could only be classified as bland. Beside him, Kagami continued to gawk, his head roving between his friend and herself. Briefly, Hana thought she heard Kiyoshi chuckle, but she could have been wrong.
Himuro didn't react. His so-called poker face stayed irritating intact as he smiled, "I see it isn't just your partner. It looks like you have an interesting team as well, Taiga."
With that parting, Himuro preceded to walk off the court. Questions quickly irrupted between the rest of her teammates with most of them directed toward Kagami himself. Meanwhile, Hana watched Himuro's shoulders as he meshed back into the crowd and a quick glance at Kuroko showed him in identical analyzation. When he felt her stare, he turned to meet her gaze.
The same stiff anticipation was painted over his face.
Hana sighed.
Can I just have one day without drama?
X
Apparently, that was too much to ask for.
Their game against Himuro's team was set to start in seconds. Both Himuro and Kagami had already lined up for tip-off, with the remaining players spread out behind them on their respective sides of the court. Though, Hana knew the peace wasn't meant to last when she caught sight of a hulking figure in her peripheral.
At least for now she was safe behind the divider line.
Turning her attention away from the game, Hana analyzed her former friend. Somehow, he was taller than she remembered. It had to be a growth spurt too because the way his shoulders slouched as he walked did little to add to the impression of his stature. His hair was longer as well, gracing just beneath the conjunction of his chest and his neck.
Two large steps were all it took for him to reach the middle of the court.
As the ball was launched into the air, Murasakibara stepped onto the court and held one giant hand out to halt the balls ascent. His lazy drawl rang out over the audience, "Sorry, could you wait a minute?"
The court and the surrounding bystanders fell into a shocked silence.
Yeah, I'm with you guys.
Murasakibara was scary. Hana had eventually gotten used to his overpowering height and general apathy back at Teiko, but it'd been so long since she'd seen him in person that that conditioning was all but null now. Add in the new layers of muscles lining his physique and he was a sight to behold.
"Atushi," Himuro frowned at him across the court, "You're late."
Murasakibara shrugged, if it could even be called that, "Sorry, I got lost."
While that answer was enough for Himuro, it didn't seem to satisfy Kuroko. Stepping out of his point guard position, Kuroko moved closer to Murasakibara. There wasn't much emotionally on his face, but Hana could sense an undercurrent of tension she hadn't anticipated.
"It's been a while, Murasakibara-kun," Kuroko offered.
A strained air filled the court at the greeting. Kagami's head volleyed back and forth while Hana's hands clenched on the railing as she watched. Great, another miracle standoff.
There needed to be a law that put a limit on how many of these you could have in a row.
Really, Hana would prefer one every six months, maybe even once a year.
"Kuro-chin? What are you doing here?" With a minute head tilt, Murasakibara's lethargic gaze scored over Kuroko's expression, "You look as serious as ever," he took one huge step toward the smaller player, "You're so serious… I want to crush you…"
And this is why I can't handle you idiots.
One of Murasakibara's gigantic hands reached out and moved toward Kuroko's head. Feeling a drop of fear plunge into her gut, Hana couldn't hold her tongue, "Oi! Don't even think about it, Murasakibara!"
The hand paused as Murasakibara tilted his head in her direction. His slow gaze roamed over the crowd before it finally landed on her. When violet eyes met green, his face changed into slight surprise, "Mura-chin?"
Ohhh. Bad move, Hana.
Crossing her arms over her chest and trying to ignore how the full intensity of Murasakibara's attention made her falter, Hana glowered, "You're scaring my team, chill the hell out."
She regretted speaking immediately. That remorse spiked tenfold when he took a single, massive step toward the divider. Oh my god, you freaking dumbass!
"Mura-chin's team…" Murasakibara parroted. A small frown drew his eyebrows together, "Why are you so far away?"
"What?" Hana stared at him incredulously. Of all the things he could have led with, she hadn't expected that, "Because I'm not playing—"
His frown grew, "But you always sat with us."
Okay, what's not clicking here? She could only gape at him. The crowd around them began to grow reckless and Hana heard a few whispers directly behind her. Flushing, she jabbed her finger back to the court, "That doesn't matter— you're interrupting the game!"
"The game?" He looked around the court languidly before offering a bored, "Oh."
"Atushi," Himuro interrupted their unwelcomed reunion, "I thought you weren't coming."
Finally taking his attention off Hana, Murasakibara turned around to address his friend, "That's your fault for changing our meeting place at the last second," using his free hand, Murasakibara dug into the bag of snacks hanging off his arm, "I only came because you said you wanted to go sightseeing around Tokyo, but you're playing streetball."
Another short conversation occurred between the teammates and no matter how hard Hana tried to hear what they had to say, she couldn't. Eyeing the referee at the end of the court, she threw a leg over the divider and climbed to the other side. After her little adventure in parkour, there was about a foot left between her and the court.
Perfect. Now she'd be able to hear the game.
Ah, eavesdropping, my old friend. How I've missed you.
"Hey!" By the time she'd situated herself, Murasakibara had stated they were leaving and Kagami was already well on the verge of getting his ass kicked. The hot-headed teen stepped forward and grabbed Murasakibara's shoulder, "You can't just barge in here and leave like that. Stay awhile and play."
"Wow," Hana deadpanned, "You're an idiot."
Sending her a dark look, Kagami scowled when he noticed her new position, "Stay out of this, Imamura—"
Despite Hana's attempt at a warning, Murasakibara turned toward Kagami. A shiver crawled up her neck as she spotted the lack of emotion in Murasakibara's expression. In less than half a step, he was in Kagami's face, "What's going on with your eyebrows?"
That was the only warning anyone had before he reached out and snagged some of Kagami's eyebrow between his fingers to promptly rip it off his face. As Kagami yowled, Murasakibara examined the little hairs indifferently.
"Oh hell," Hana blanched. She suddenly regretted her decision to get closer to the action.
They're going to kill each other.
"I don't really like you talking to Mura-chin like that," like he hadn't just dropped on bombshell on everyone's mental capacities, Murasakibara held up the strands of hair and frowned, "Why are they so long?"
"What the hell was that?!" Kagami exploded, taking a threatening step into Murasakibara's personal space, "What're you doing?! I told you to play!"
Murasakibara barely glanced at him before looking away, "No, it's too tiring."
A few more insults were tossed back and forth between the duo. As the conversation continued, Kagami's face slowly grew more flushed as his anger tainted his skin. Meanwhile, Murasakibara remained unmoved in the face of Kagami's rage, nonchalantly tossing aside all the redhead's remarks before turning to Himuro and telling him they were leaving.
That was the final straw. Kagami growled and clenched his fists at the abrupt dismissal. When Murasakibara never turned around to respond to him, something fevered crawled over Kagami's face before he looked to her.
Personally, Hana didn't like the gradual look of revelation that took over his features.
Do not— I swear to god you better not involve me in this.
"Hey, Hana," Kagami called and Murasakibara's steps suddenly ceased. Catching the reaction, a smug grin took over Kagami's face, "I didn't know your friend was such a coward. It's pretty lame that he's running away."
This bastard. Hana glared, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Kagami," Furihata gaped, "Are you trying to provoke him?!"
Frozen in the middle of the court, Murasakibara slowly tilted his head over his shoulder, purple eyes glinting in anger, "I'm not running away."
"Don't push yourself too hard," Kagami held his hands out innocently, "You were scared—"
Murasakibara took a lumbering step forward, "I'm not scared."
Meanwhile, in the background, the rest of the Seirin team had taken a few steps away from the center of the dramatics. Watching the spectacle unfold, they could only stare in shock. It was one thing seeing the various miracles and their skill sets on the court, but the introduction to their personalities always left them startled and confused.
"It's like they're kids," Fukuda muttered in appalled bewilderment, "Kagami's egging him on and it's working."
Incomprehensively shaking his head, Furihata added, "He's not what I expected."
"Murasakibara-kun has a few screws loose when it comes to anything other than basketball," Kuroko admitted. His attention stayed planted on Kagami's taunting, "He cares about very few things in life, but it appears as if Kagami-kun is figuring out how to get through to him."
Crossing his arms over his chest, Kiyoshi peered down at Kuroko, "Is that why he brought Imamura into their argument?"
"I believe so," Kuroko acknowledged, "Although this might not be the best method. You're right that Murasakibara-kun can be like a child. He often displays some of their mannerisms and can be very jealous in regard to his friendships."
"Are you trying to say," Furihata balked, "that he doesn't like to share?"
As Kuroko nodded in approval, Kiyoshi brought a hand to his chin, "Well, this will be interesting."
Their attention soon returned to the duo as the rest of the situation played out exactly how Kagami wanted. Murasakibara had been successfully prodded into playing in the match and eventually put on the blue uniform, matching Himuro's own. In a replica of earlier, the two teams stood in a line and awaited the start of the match.
Lowering herself to the ground and leaning against the divider, Hana fished her phone out of her pocket. She flicked on the device and tapped the camera button. Might as well film them if we're gonna go through with this.
Maybe this was a blessing in disguise after all.
In the meantime, Kiyoshi moved toward Murasakibara to reintroduce himself, "Looks like we'll be playing against each other again."
"Huh?" Murasakibara turned away, derision clear in his expression, "Who are you?"
Kiyoshi's lips tilted in the faintest hint of smile, "Good grief, you don't remember me?"
"Did we play against each other in middle school?" Murasakibara looked away to focus on the goal, "I forgot, I don't remember playing weak players."
Way to be a dick, Murasakibara. Hana flicked her attention back to court and frowned, barely catching Kuroko stop his own movements as he replicated her expression. Yet, unlike either of them, Kiyoshi only continued to grin. His attention briefly swung to Hana before a flash of mischief dotted his face.
"Don't worry about it, you really helped me out. Without playing against you, I might not have met Imamura," taking a step back, Kiyoshi gave Murasakibara an eye crinkling grin, "I'm looking forward to playing against you. Good luck."
Oh, come on! You too?!
Hana gaped at Kiyoshi as he moved to his center position. What kind of bullshit is this? The upperclassman simply sent her a smile, ignoring the way Murasakibara's gaze now tracked him. A second later, Murasakibara turned his attention back to her, a sluggish glower overtaking his face.
Their gazes met again and this time Murasakibara shuttered his face. Hana wasn't sure what hid in the recesses of his apathy. It was an expression she'd never seen before and a quick, investigative glance at Kuroko showed the same confusion.
Neither teen had a chance to analyze it further before the referee began the game.
X
Phone camera perched in front of her face, Hana squinted.
The game started out in Seirin's favor with Kagami slapping the ball to their side of the court. Then, Fukuda and Furihata passed the ball between themselves before lobbing it into Kuroko's possession. Moving into an open area, Kuroko palmed the ball before using an ignite pass to send it directly to Kiyoshi at the end of the court.
The first point was scored when Kiyoshi went for a dunk against the goal guarded by an indifferent Murasakibara.
"Well, I can't help it if you forgot about me," Kiyoshi offered as he landed. He wiped a stray hair from his forehead, "But I'll make you remember who I am through basketball."
Shoulders slouched, Murasakibara briefly glanced at him, "No need, I remember you, Kiyoshi Teppei." He shoved his hands deeper in his pockets as he continued, "I feel motivated now. It may have been better if I hadn't remembered."
Without another word, Kiyoshi moved back to his position across the half-point line. As he passed Hana, she jerked her head to grab his attention. Time for some old-school motivation. The movement cause Kiyoshi to pause and brown eyes peered down at her.
"Don't let him work you up," she waved her free hand in Murasakibara's direction, "He's always been good at shit-talking."
A half-smile tilted up his lips, "I remember. Don't worry about us, Imamura," he nodded at her phone, "Smart idea to record them."
"I'm full of those," Hana sent him off with a smirk, "Now go get into position, Himuro is just as much of a pain in the ass as Murasakibara."
He began to run back, but at the last second, he spun on his heel and reminded her, "That's 3,000 yen by the way!"
Mouth gaping, Hana glared after him.
Damn it!
Meanwhile, Himuro laid out the plan forward and relegated Murasakibara to defense. Himuro easily dribbled down the court uninterrupted before he stopped right in front of the third point line and effortlessly lobbed the ball into the net. Furihata was sent to recover the ball and reset the game, putting their team back into offense by passing to Fukuda.
Keeping the speed going, Fukuda jogged down the middle line accompanied by sudden drops of water falling out of the sky. Hana peered up at the sky in annoyance. The pavement began to get wetter and she held her free hand over her phone to protect its screen. Pausing to pass the ball to Kuroko, Fukuda fell back as Kuroko hurled the ball down the court to Kagami.
Ball smacking into his hand, Kagami rushed toward Murasakibara, his steps unhindered by the changing weather. Coming to a stop directly in front of the giant, Kagami snarled, "Let's go, Murasakibara!"
"You're smothering me," Murasakibara moved, his hand raising to block Kagami's incoming shot, "Don't be so zealous. It makes me want to crush you—"
Neither boy got to finish.
Mother nature apparently had enough of their battle of wills. As Kagami stepped back to shoot, the sky dropped out and the previous rain droplets turned into a downpour. Shit! Still recording, Hana grumbled as she climbed to her feet. I'm gonna have so much water damage.
"We have an announcement," a monotone voice echoed over the speaker system, "The game will be suspended. Players and referees please return to the tents."
Palming the ball, Kagami stared up at the darkening sky, "What? I wanted to keep playing—"
"Sorry," from his position behind Kagami, Himuro said, "I wanted to play too, but the game would have been called eventually due to the rain," he shot a short look to Kiyoshi, "Besides, you wouldn't want your senior to reinjure himself."
Don't even. Bending forward, Hana grabbed Kagami's bag to use as an umbrella. She took a few steps to the right to stand beside Kuroko and the rest of the freshmen. Kuroko sent her a look of acknowledgment before turning his attention back to the two Yosen players.
"Okay, wow," holding the bag a good foot over her head, she glowered at the teen, "That was uncalled for."
Furihata frowned, "Was he talking about Kiyoshi-senpai?"
"Yeah," Hana huffed, "Kind of a dick move though."
Ignoring the background conversation, Himuro addressed Kagami again, "I'll leave you a gift. It's a technique you haven't seen before."
That wonderful offering immediately grabbed her attention.
Yes, show me your secrets.
Switching her grip to one hand, Hana repositioned her phone camera to focus on Himuro's and Kagami's standoff. So engrossed in her filming, Hana didn't notice the oppressive shadow moving behind her back until a mammoth hand fell on top of her hand. The palm squeezed once in a mimic of a threat before retreating.
Are you kidding me?! Heart beating a mile a minute, Hana spun around, "What the fu—"
"Don't be sneaky, Mura-chin," Murasakibara stared down at her, humor alight in the blankness of his gaze, "You're being bad."
Yes, please keep talking to me like a dog. Hana glowered, but she didn't lower her phone and continued to record Kagami's match, "What're you talking about, Murasakibara?"
"Aka-chin isn't very happy with you," he drawled before turning away, "Mura-chin wasn't supposed to get involved."
"Well, Aka-chin can suck a—" the rest of the insult was blocked by Kuroko laying a placating hand on her shoulder. When Hana turned toward him, he subtly shook his head. Her mouth twitched up into a grimace, but Hana held her tongue for the time being.
Knowing her luck, there would be plenty more opportunities to curse out the former captain.
Meanwhile, Kuroko's action gathered Murasakibara's attention and he turned toward him, placing his palm on his head and ruffling his damp hair, "See you later, Kuro-chin, Mura-chin."
"Don't do that," Kuroko slapped the hand away before shooting Murasakibara a challenging look.
"Oh, sorry," Murasakibara blinked lazily, "Are you mad too?"
No shit, man. Hana gave him a look. Just cause we're small doesn't mean you can pet us.
Kuroko didn't answer his question. Still watching him out of the corner of his eye, Kuroko ventured to ask instead, "Murasakibara-kun, do you still find basketball boring?"
It was apparently the wrong thing to say, in Murasakibara's opinion at least. The question forced his shoulders to stiffen and a heavy frown cut through his forehead.
"If you keep asking me stuff like that I'll crush even you, Kuro-chin," hair hanging in his face and lavender eyes dark, Murasakibara suddenly turned ten times more intimidating, "I don't know what it's like to have fun," without a glance back, he began walking away, "Isn't it enough that I like winning and I'm good at it?"
Hana quirked an eyebrow, checking to see if Kagami was done before shutting off her phone. I see someone still had their head firmly rooted up their ass.
Turning back to Murasakibara, she countered, "Personally, I think that's a pretty shitty way to live. I mean, I like lying and I'm good at it, was that enough for me to stick around at Teiko?" She proper a finger on her chin and hummed sarcastically, "Nah."
Okay, that might have been a low blow. Hana honestly wasn't expecting much from his reaction, but when Kuroko tensed at her statement, she took a moment to reflect. It was too late, the damage was done. Hana realized her error a moment later when a sudden heavy aura overtook the court.
Future note to self, don't bring up Teiko around Murasakibara.
Murasakibara's feet stalled and he tilted his head over his shoulder, gifting her a dark look, "Be quiet Mura-chin, you're being annoying."
"Good," unbidden, a smirk tugged at her lips as she wiped her dripping bangs out of her face. Probably not the best response, but who was she kidding. Hana loved to stir the pot, "That's about the only way I can ever get you to pay attention to me."
Something passed over his expression, but Murasakibara didn't wait long to turn around, "If you have anything else to say, I'll hear it at the Winter Cup."
When he walked out of sight, Hana turned back to her teammates. When their faces register, she did a minor doubletake. Furihata and Fukuda were staring at her in a horrified sort of awe. In complete opposite to their reactions, Kuroko gave her a dry look. The shine in his blue eyes was exceptionally disapproving.
In return, Hana gave him her best pout.
It did very little in dissuading his judgment.
Swallowing, Fukuda ventured, "Are all the Generation of Miracles so weird?"
"There's only one left, so I'm sure you'll find out soon," Hana trailed off as Kuroko continue to stare at her. She frowned back at him, "Uhm, yes?"
He blinked at her before minutely shaking his head and walking away, "I'm often torn between calling you brave or foolish, Hana."
"Dude, what?" Hana slung Kagami's bag over her shoulder as she scurried after him, "He totally deserved being called out!"
"That's not what I'm referring too."
"Tetsuya— don't just walk away!"
"You should hurry, it's raining."
"Oi— wait!"
X
Ten minutes later the group huddled together underneath the train station's awning.
Tilting her head to the side, Hana tried to wring the water out of her hair. In their dash to the train station, they'd become absolutely soaked and she was of no exception. Deeming her hair a lost cause, she undid it from its ponytail and twirled it into a wet bun.
"Well, that was a fun team bonding exercise," Hana deadpanned, "Let's never do it again."
Kiyoshi chuckled, "Don't be so grumpy, Imamura. It could have been worse."
In apparent disagreement with his statement, mother nature sent out a loud rumble of thunder to add to the atmosphere. Hana quirked a thumb out and raised a brow. See, bitch?
A loud ping broke the following silence and Kagami pulled out a red flip-phone from his bag. His brows furrowed for a second as he read the message before he announced, "Coach says to come to the gym right away."
"She say why?" Hana countered. She peered down at her shirt and tugged at the wet material, wincing as it was sucked back to her skin.
"No," Kagami peered over his shoulder to look at the schedule, "The train should be here soon."
Thankfully, it was. Hana hadn't been sure how much longer she could stay on her feet, so when the large metal train rolled to a stop in front of them, she could have cried in relief. Collapsing into a seat next to Kuroko, she threw her head back against the seat rest and let out a prolonged sigh.
"I'm so freaking tired," she threw a hand over her arm, "I could sleep right here."
Fukuda and Furihata made equal noises of agreement as they settled into their seats, but that was the last hint of conversation for a few minutes. In that time, Hana's eyes had fallen shut and she was on the verge of sleep until the train hit a sharp turn, jolting her head against the window.
She griped, "Oh, come on. I just want a freaking nap, man."
"Hana," Kuroko glanced at her, lowering his phone from his face, "You can lay on my shoulder if you'd like."
In public though? Hana eyed his shoulder for less than a second before saying to hell with it and plopping her head against his shirt. It was already ten times more comfortable than her previous position, "You're the best, Tetsuya."
He made a soft hum of acknowledgment before the group fell back into a comfortable silence. Lulled to relaxation by the sound of the train's rumbling and the soft music playing throughout the cabin, Hana had no power to stop sleep from overtaking her as she snuggled deeper into her pillow.
The last thing she heard was Kagami's belated, "… so that was a pretty threatening greeting. What's up with that?"
Hana tuned it out.
She wasn't planning on ruining her comfort by thinking about the past.
xXxXxXxXx
Reviews: (ya'll give me such great reviews, I read them every time I sit down to write because they're just the best motivation)
Guest: I'm not sure if you're all the guest reviews, so I'll just respond as if you are? I'm sorry if you're multiple people! Here's an update and thanks for checking in on me! Covid has me unnaturally busy, but I'm hanging in there. I'm glad to hear you support the endings! I've been worried about that, but I think it will work out well! And yes, the timing of all this, boy that's gonna be doozy on my word counts lol.
As far as an update schedule, I don't really have one. I want to try and update once a month, but I've unfortunately taken as long as a year to update. From now on though, I think the longest waiting period would be two months like this one was. I've really gotten back into the character and I'm hoping to keep going strong. But yes, the chapters are going to stay long… mostly because I have no self control lol. Anyway, thank you so much for your review! I loved hearing from you!
Polaryz: Thank you so much! That really makes me so happy to hear! I always worry about my characterizations, so hearing that you like them is awesome! Ahhh, I'm just so happy reading this review, thank you! 😊
BooRN03: THANK YOU! I love you too! You read it in one night— squealing! Thank you for leaving a review!
DhDssl-Inactive: Thank you so much! I also stray far away from outspoken characters, but Hana just had to be the way she is haha. More fluffy moments with Kuroko will be on the way! We're getting into the thick of it now! And yes, the dreaaaaam! Gonna be fun playing with that! AHH, oh my gosh, just thank you for this great review!
DelyPanda: Thank you! I'm so glad to hear that. Honestly hearing compliments on Hana's characters and the dialouges make my day because I always worry about how they come across. So thank you for taking the time to leave a review and put a smile on my face!
Naliyu: I LOVE HANA PANICKING OVER EMOTIONS TOO! IT"S SO FUN TO WRITE! Thank you for your review!
Ruri: I loved the AMV's! As for your longing for Akashi interaction, it will be on the way. He's gonna pop up before we get to the Winter Cup, at least that's the plan! And girls do always go for the assholes, it's a curse I tell you haha. Also, I loved your character analysis of Hana. It was totally spot on and just awesome! Hope you're doing well and I loved your reviews! I read them multiple times because they just put a huge smile on my face.
Emie the Bookworm: THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU! That cute kise (opps, kiss lol) was a lot of fun to write and I'm so happy you enjoyed it haha! Thanks for leaving a review!
Amgs: Dude, I missed you too! I'm glad you still find my writing enjoyable! And I'm super glad you've stuck around with me throughout all these chapters and thank you so much for leaving reviews! I love seeing your thoughts! As for the Kise route, go for it! He won't be the only one getting affection, since I'm kind of styling this like an otome game (lord help me lol), but I'm all for any ships! Thank you again and hope you're staying healthy as well!
MusicLovingPunkAnimeGirl: Ahh no— she doesn't like the shoyu ): But I love the awkwardness too. And thank you! I'm glad that the chapter could bring up so many emotions haha, I know they can be a lot sometimes. And ohh, hit me with your unknown number suspicions. I know who it is, but I love conspiracy theories that might give me new ideas haha. Thank you so much for the review!
SugarFeather: The fact that you reread chapters just for fun makes me so happy, that's like the highest compliment! And thank you! I worry about how to mesh her in the story without completely ripping off canon and sometimes it's a delicate line to walk down, so hearing your praise is awesome! Ahhh, thank you so much for your review. I loved all of it! I hope you're staying safe and well!
ADDBaby: FFN betrayed you! QAQ)99 Thank you for checking in on us! We're doing well and I hope you are as well! Stay safe!
Addicted-to-GazettE: THAT KISS WAS SO FUN YUUUS. No, thank you for reviewing! I love hearing from everyone and getting your reactions! Also, unknown caller will be fun. They will return. I do not know when yet, but they are waiting lol. Again, thank you!
OneWhoReadsTooMuch: Honestly, she's not dealing with this new revelation too well. And to think, it's only three of the six on the table right now! Imagine how she's gonna deal with the rest of them haha! Thank you for your review! I hope you're doing well!
Tora3: Eiiii! Yay! Ships are fun! Fangirl away! Thank you for your review too!
Xielle Sky: I FREAKING LOVE YOU TOO! The wrench has connected and she now has a concussion haha! She'll figure it out eventually! Might take a few more wrenches being thrown first though. Thank you so much for this review! I loved it! Can't stop smiling as I read it! Hope you're doing well and taking care of yourself as well!
Adhara Snow: I'm sorry! I promise I'll try to be back more and keep you nice and healthy! But same, if I was Hana I'd date them all too! (Don't worry though— that's an ending) And thank you for reviewing! I love hearing from you guys!
Jeya. mendoza: HAFGHUSGHSFISOFJIOSFH I UPDATED! Glad you stuck around for me! I won't be giving this up on you guys, I'm in this for the long haul haha! So many things did happen and oh my god, they're going to keep happening! The plot is finally speeding up and my little typing fingers cant handle it! (Case in note—this chapter! SO MANY WORDS) We got Kise knowing about the first name basis finally though! He shed a few crocodile tears, but he mostly decided to be sneaky haha. And yes, the ultimate goal is kill everyone with fluff and the inability to ship Hana with just one person haha. Ahhh thank you so much! I love your reviews and man, you making me swoon too!
Yui Kuran: Thank you so much! I love hearing such wonderful things especially about the characterization. Kise's character is particular is one I'm always worried about because he can be pretty dynamic. But thank you so much for reviewing! I love hearing from you! Stay safe!
SilkHidingRose: I'll always notice you guys! I love ya'll so much! And Kise is a wonderful trash baby, he's so fun. And thank you for your kind words! I don't deserve them, but I will take them and hoard them and look at them when I'm feeling down. Thank you sooo much, I can't even express it in words haha. Thank you so much for reviewing and I hope you're staying safe as well!
TheParadoxicalOxymoron: SHIP AWAY! That was a great pun, Izuki-senpai would be so proud of you. And yes, I'm back! Thank you for the review and the wonderful kind words! Love you too! Stay safe!
Wolf Girl123098: Thank you so much for the kind words and review! I'm glad you can see some romantic development! Again, thank you so much and I hope your exam went well! Stay safe and healthy!
Xxjaelee: I AM SCREAMING AS WELLLLL! Thank you for your review! I'm back and healthy! I hope you all are healthy as well! I'm glad to hear you think the story is worth the wait and you hanging on for the ride makes me so happy and thankful! AHhHh! Thank you again!
