Chapter 3:

The next morning…

"Ohayou!", I greeted Taiga as he approached his chair around two seats behind me.

"Ohayou.", he said. He handed me a familiar plastic bag and placed them on my desk. "Here's your ice cream bars." Taiga handed me the items I bought yesterday.

"Eeeeh? Why did you bring it? It will melt here!", I complained.

"Haaa? That's not my problem", he told me and went to his seat.

"Ooh, you meanie." I rushed out the door and went to the nurse's room. Based on my eidetic memory, which is 99.9% reliable, I saw a refrigerator at the clinic. I think some injectable medicines and ice packs were being stored there. I begged the nurse at the station to allow me to put my ice cream bars in the fridge and promised her two of them. Oh well, at least they won't be wasted.

I barely made it back to my class before my homeroom teacher arrived.

"It seems to me that you and Taiga are friends now", Kuroko suddenly said behind me.

"Ah, right. Reeeeeal friends. Hihi" and I gave him a peace sign.

"You really know how to befriend guys like him," Kuroko suddenly muttered.

"Eh?"

"Nothing..."

The class ended, and Kuroko and Taiga were about to go to the gym for their basketball practice.

"Oi, Kuroko," Taiga said. "Let's go."

Kuroko replied with his "Hai".

"Nee, nee, I'll go visit you later, okay?", I said.

"Hai", Kuroko affirmed while Taiga said, "Do whatever you want."

"Yeey!", I exclaimed. "But I'll be there after an hour maybe. I'll just visit some club. See yah!"

"Okay", Kuroko said.

I visited the Music Club and registered as one of its member. Music had been my second love, next to basketball. I love to sing and I play guitar. When asked to demonstrate, I played them the electric guitar. Fortunately, I received positive feedbacks from them. I also told them I can sing, thus, they gave me more than their thumbs up.

After my first visit at the club, I went straight to the gymnasium. With my surprise, there were a lot of girls swarming around it and more of them were still coming.

Wow… I didn't know Seirin's team is this popular.

I walked around the gym to find a place to enter and I was very fortunate. It was at the back door which appeared to be a backstage. As I went near the court, I could hear the squeaking of sneakers and bounces from the dribbling of the ball. I was pretty sure that they were playing basketball. At the same time, I can hear the girls' shrieking. I couldn't understand what they were shouting because each girl in the crowd was screaming randomly. As I reached the stage itself, with its curtains down, the screeching or shoes and ball had died down. Maybe the game has ended and I could hear an angry Taiga and another voice of a male whom I think was very familiar with me. Taiga was challenging the guy he was conversing with.

But anyway, I saw a staircase on the left side of the stage and immediately went down through it.

The first person who saw me was Riku.

Riku beamed at me and called me, "Ah, Chieto-san! Good thing you're here. You also know that guy, right?" She pointed out to someone in the court. "Kise Ryouta."

By reflex, I immediately turned my back towards the guy in the court. He was a tall and blonde guy with a piercing on his left ear. Ah, shoot, I know that earring. He really was Kise Ryouta, one of the Generation of Miracles of Teiko Junior High and a popular model.

Kise Ryouta's eyes began to freeze and reacted with an, "Ah! Chi-"

But I suddenly jumped off from my feet and said, "Ah! I forgot my bag!". "I'll catch up with you later, Riku-san. I'll just get my bag." Then, I ran outside the gym.

"Ah, okay…", Riku answered, dumbfoundingly. "Er, she has her bag with her right?"

"Maybe she forgot she had it with her", Hyuuga replied.

Kise Ryouta approached Kuroko. "Nee, Kurokocchi…", he said with his sad eyes.

"Kise-kun," Kuroko replied and shook his head as if telling him, "don't".

"But why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's not as easy as that, Kise-kun."

I ran towards my classroom. It was the first place my mind thought of, maybe, because of the lie I just made. I just need to escape from that place.

I approached the window and looked out at the direction where the basketball gym was located.

My new life in this country and in this school has just started. Why did he appear so fast?

I pulled out my earphones from my bag and plugged it to my smartphone. This is one of my methods in order to escape reality, by turning on my music and listen to J-Rock songs. When I'm stressed, I do not listen to English songs but rather to Japanese songs with fast beats. English words could pierce my heart because I could understand each of its word without any effort. Understanding it is as easy as breathing. Unlike with Japanese words, I need to digest it first before I understand the meaning.

I also remembered the ice cream bars I stored in the clinic. So I went to the clinic and picked up my bag of ice cream bars. There were only three left. Obviously, the nurse really claimed his prize. After that, I decided to loiter outside the school.

With my loud music still covering my ears, I wander around places, as if I have nowhere to go.

It was already sunset when I realized I've been walking for hours.

Aaah… this is bad. I got so affected. It's been years already. Stupid.

As I was heading home, I saw a small, empty basketball court in some abandoned looking lot. However, I found something that really made my feet drag me towards it. I saw a basketball ball being hidden under some rubbles.

I held the ball and it still had enough air on it. I tested the ball by making it bounce.

Plok! Plok! The ball was still in good condition. It was sure that the person who had lost it here felt so bad and it would also make me feel bad for the ball to be wasted here.

As I dribbled the ball, I felt something so nostalgic. It had been years since the last I dribbled a basketball ball. Wow, it felt awesome. I dropped my bag under the basketball ring. The ring was already rusty making it very hard for someone to dunk on it, unless he wanted to have some tetanus. It didn't even have a net.

I kicked some rubbles near the basketball ring. My shoes are getting dusty but I didn't care. I wanted some area where I can dribble the ball. I also pulled up my hair and tightly tied it with my handkerchief.

"Yosh!"

I began dribbling the ball, faster, and faster. Then I ran around the small area of the court but I didn't care if I was just run in circles. Then I did a few exhibitions: crisscrossed the ball from the front and behind, circled the ball on my finger, and rolled the ball on my shoulder. I even took shots on the ring. I made lay-ups and normal shots.

Maybe it had been only 5 minutes since I started playing with the ball that I just found but I was already tired. I haven't had this physical strain for years so no wonder I no longer have the stamina to play this sport.

As I lost my grip on the ball, it rolled out somewhere. Because of my tiredness, I didn't realize that someone had already been watching me all throughout.

"I didn't know you can play basketball"

"Taiga?", I said.

Right. It was Taiga. He was the only possible person I know who can speak English like that.

" So why not join the Girls' Basketball Team?"

Still catching my breath, I told him, " Naah…I'd rather not to. I have nothing to do with Basketball anymore."

"Was it because of Kise Ryouta?"

I froze.

"Kuruko already told me that you, guys, have some bitter past. Well, he didn't give me the details. In fact, even though I tried to force Kuroko, he told me to get the answer from you."

I sighed. "Would you really like to know the answer?"

" I actually don't care what happened between the two of you. But whatever wrong he did to you, I can make him pay for it my kicking his ass in the court because that's the only thing I really care about: to beat all the members of the Generation of Miracles and be the Number One in Japan."

I laughed. "Nice one, Taiga. Right, please kick that bastard's ass for me. That's a deal, okay?"

"Of course." Taiga smiled back at me.

"You know what," I said, "let's get some ice cream."

Taiga and I went to the nearest convenience store and bought ourselves some ice cream bars again, and they were watermelon-flavored again. Taiga actually asked me why I kept on buying the watermelon-flavored so I told him he should just try it to know why.

We ate our ice cream bars right in front of the same store where we bought it. Well, it was actually my choice since I want to take my rest for a while before I start walking again to get home.

"Nee, how did you find me there?", I asked Taiga.

"I saw you went to that alley", he replied.

"Now, who's the stalker here?"

With that, Taiga suddenly coughed and I just laughed at him.

Silence began to envelope us and it made me really irritated. So I decided to talk about THE details.

"Anyway, Taiga, since we're friends now, I'll tell you some secret."

"Dozo…"

"(E) Kise Ryouta was my ex."

Taiga again coughed. "Seriously...?!"

"Just kidding."

Taiga just stared at me, dumbfounded. But I followed up my "joke" with another negative statement, "I lied. He really was."

" You know, if you weren't a girl, I might have already hit you", Taiga coldly replied.

I just giggled softly at him.

"Well," I said looking down at the floor, "That bitter past which Kuroko describes includes the fact that I don't even know what he and I had back then so let's skip that drama, okay? I hate drama, you know?"

" Good. 'Coz I also won't listen to girly dramas", Taiga replied.

"So meeeeanie, Taiga!"

"Haaa? 'Coz I don't know how to comfort girls when they cry, you know?!"

"Haaaa? Who said I'm going to cry?!"

"You're a girl so you will cry!"

I was about to comment on his mockery about girls, but he suddenly muttered in Japanese, "And I hate to see a girl crying."

Okay. My heart suddenly calmed a bit for some reason. Taiga is kind of weird for me. He is too stubborn yet he say some things you never expected from his looks. Oh well, maybe I have judged Taiga based on his looks.

"Argh. I don't really care what happened between the two of you. But seeing someone devastated with something trivial as that is something which I don't think I can ignore because it pains my eyes."

I laughed. "Devastated? Wait, Taiga, do you know what the term "devastated" means?"

Taiga glared at me.

"So I really look pathetic to you right now, huh…"

The two of us went into silence for a moment.

"Well, it appears to me that your memories of him are not that good. But why do you have to be affected by that? It was all in the past now and both of you have different lives already." Taiga threw the stick of the ice cream bar in the trash can from his location, turned his back against me, and walked towards the street which heads to our homes. "I'll just avenge you in court."

Upon realizing his last statement, I jumped towards Taiga and wrapped around my arms on his super broad back. "Aishiteru, Tiger-sama!"

Taiga forcefully removed my arms and exclaimed, "Oi! Don't embarrass me in public!"

"But you are soooo kawaii there!"

"Gaaah! Shut up! Or I'll bring you to that guy! Ah, no, I hate to see that guy outside the court. Gaaah! Stay away from me!"

Notes from the author:

So there you have it. Feel free to comment on this one so that I can improve the story and my writing. ^_^ I'm still thinking whether I should stick with the flow of the story of the anime/manga or create my own "flow". Oh well, i'm still contemplating on it. Just watch out for the next chapters, okay? Thanks for reading! :)