Chapter 2: Welcome Tukiko Kuroko

XXXX(Next day in class 6-C of Keishin academy)

Tomoka's POV

"This is delicious, the chicken skin's all crunchy." Maho complimented today's Lunch menu on our trays as she settles into hers

"Hina, find anything you can't eat?" Saki asked Hinata

"Uuuuh, it's these green peppers" Hinata replies

"Alright, over here, give them to me, I'll eat them for you" Maho offered

"Okay", as Hinata handed over her peppers to Maho.

"Oh, that's right, I have something for everyone!" Airi has something to say as she reached out for her brown paper bag, offering something out from her bag.

As she reached down into her bag, she took five things out and placed them onto our table. 2 jars of jam, one for strawberry and one for Marmalade, a blue and black mug, a cell phone fish strap and a piece of hair clip with a little blue bow attached to it.

"Uuuuuh, Airi, what's all this? I asked her

"Oh, everyone's lucky items for the week. I thought if you held onto them, maybe everyone will have something good happening to them." Airi explained

"Wow, thank you Airi, you got me Jam!" Maho thanked her while she picked her strawberry jam as her lucky item.

"I got Marmalade" Saki happily clarified what she got for her lucky item

"Oooh, it's a fish cell-phone strap!" Hinata happily said for what she has

"I'm sure if we all work hard at practice, then he'll-" before Airi could finish her line, Maho interrupted

"If we win more points with Subarun…"

"Then he'll stay with us" as Hinata followed the finishing half of her line

Really Maho, she really needs to stop interrupting other people before they could finish what they have to say. Oh well

"Yes, I think that will work" As I agreed to the idea

But just then, when we were about to continue in our conversation, our teacher just suddenly entered into our classroom, then interrupted us to get our attention.

"Okay everyone" She yelled

"May I please have your attention, we're having a new student who will be transferring into our class, so please make sure to make her feel welcome, okay?" The sensei asked us

"Oooooh, a new student? I wonder what she's like? Hina wants to be friends with him, or if it's a girl." Hina said as she is eager to meet her

"Okay, you can come in now!" Sensei called the new student to come in as she turned her head towards the door.

"Eh? I said you can come in now" Sensei said as she tried to get the new student to hear her

"Uuuum, excuse me, but I'm right here!"

Whooa, I jumped a little as I saw the new student who was right behind her all along, I didn't even see her in front of the classroom, even the rest of the students were startled by her sudden appearance out of nowhere, and we didn't even notice her at all

And as Sensei turned her head behind her then looked down, she screamed almost like a little kindergarten girl

Why do I get the feeling that this is sort of like "déjà vu?"

"Huuuh? You were there all along, then say so."

The girl had light blue eyes, with light blue teal hair, who wears an expressionless face, who looks around the same height as Hinata, and has white skin as well. She also seems frail for her age not to mention

Many students commented on her strange miraculous appearance

"Who is she?"

"Is she a ghost?"

"That was scary?"

"Did she just show herself out of nowhere?"

"She looks really small as well"

"She's really got no presence at all, I could tell."

"Kind of looks weak"

She seems kind of familiar, as if I've seen her from somewhere before. But where? Her presence, is sooo…..Lacking, she's really got no presence at all, and doesn't seem the type to stand out a lot. Who is she?

"Sorry if I scared you like that, I didn't mean to." Apologized the light blue teal haired little girl as she bowed

"It's okay; it's my fault for not noticing you there. Okay, now introduce yourself please." As sensei requested her

"Yes. Hello, my name is Tukiko Kuroko, nice to meet you all; I hope to get along with all of you, so please take care of me." She introduced herself before she bowed in front of us.

Sensei then walked over to her then walked her to my table with my group, then asked Saki

"Saki, as class president, could you please take care of her for the rest of today, show her where she needs to go for her next classes and periods, if you don't mind? I think she's a little shy, so please be nice to her."Sensei requested

"Oh, don't worry, I'd be glad to." Saki agreed to it

"Okay Kuroko, I'll leave you with these five, if there's anything bothering you, just tell me okay?"

"uuuh, yes." Kuroko responded

"Oh I forgot, do you want something to eat?"

"Uuuh no, it's okay, I already ate before I came here."

"Well, that's good, well then, I'll be going now, see you in next class." Sensei said before she left the scene

And Kuroko then sat on our table, on the side of the table right next to Airi and Saki, sitting on the table without expressing anymore expressions or emotions at all. Weird, she's kind of weird, but I don't think that she could be that bad.

"Hello, I haven't seen you somewhere before, are you new to the town?" Maho asked energetically

"Yes."

"Where did you move from?"

"Tokyo."

"Oh wow! Amazing! Tell me tell me, what was it like there? Did you ever go to the Tokyo Skytree? What's Shibuya like in person? Have you eve-

"MAHO! Please don't get too excited again." Saki lectured Maho again as she interrupted her before she gets out of control once again!

"Sorry Kuroko-chan, but whenever Maho gets excited, she's always like this."

"Oh, it's okay!"

I decided to talk to her

"So kuroko-chan, why did you come here to Fukui?"

"My parents have work in this prefecture, so I moved away from Tokyo."

"I see. My name is Tomoka Minato. Let's get along okay?"

"Ooooh, I'm Hinata Hakamada. Nice to meet you! Hinata wants to be friends with you, let's get along." Hinata introduced herself to Kuroko

"I'm pretty sure that you already know my name, it's nice to meet you as well." Saki said as she knew that kuroko already knows her name.

"Ooh, and I'm Airi Kashii by the way." Airi introduced herself.

"And that's Maho Misawa, the one who was being annoying earlier." Saki introduced Maho as she gestured towards her

"Hey, who's the one being annoying here?! Maho complained

"Sorry, don't mind her, she sometimes says something without thinking first whenever she gets excited." Saki explained

Much to Maho's disdain chagrin, due to her pouted expression

To my amusement, she looks so cute like a doll, as she is almost the same exact height as Hinata. I'm pretty jealous for how she looks overall.

"Do you guys like to play basketball?" Kuroko asked

"Excuse me? What did you say again?" I asked again

"I said, do you guys play basketball?" She answered as a question

"We don't just play…WE LOVE IT!" Maho energetically complied in eagerness

"Yeah..wait, you love basketball?" I asked her eagerly, since I didn't know for someone who looks much tinier than hinata, she is someone who loves the same sport as we do, I hope.

"It's not that I really love it, I just find it interesting. Still, I still don't exactly know how to play it properly yet. Are you guys the basketball club?"

Huh? She knew that we're the basketball club? Strange, I'm also getting the feeling that from her as a vibe, as if this isn't the first time I've seen her today.

"uuuuh..yes we are, but how did you know?" I asked

"I saw you guys playing basketball yesterday at the gym when I was passing by around the school." Kuroko complied

"Oh, so it was you who was watching us, if you wanted to watch, then just come on in and say so, there's no need to be shy about it." I told her

I knew it, well, I thought there was a ghost outside near the door, and that would have been very scary if there was a ghost when I had that uneasy feeling during yesterday, but now it's all good and resolved.

"Sorry, but I was just taking a look around the School, and had to get back to the School office before my mom and dad were worried about." Kuroko apologized then explained

"Is it okay, can I join your team, I want to play, even though I don't know anything about it." Kuroko requested

"Of course you can, we'd love to have another person to our team." I happily accepted

"But I don't know anything about the game, I want to learn about it." Kuroko commented

"It's alright, our new coach will make us stronger in no time, you can be sure, so no need to worry. There's no one else like him who can be our coach." Maho assured kuroko with confidence

"Welcome aboard, Kuroko" Saki welcomed her

"Ooooh, Hina is looking forward to playing with you from now on." Hinata is eager for what she said

"Glad to have you on the team." Airi welcomed her as well.

"Thank you very much, please take care of me from now on." Kuroko thanked us then bowed while sitting on her chair.

I think she'll make a great addition to our team, and I look forward to having her as our sixth player. I hope she can do well in our future games, the more people we have, the more stronger we'll surely get.

XXXXX (After School in the Gym)

Minato's POV

"Subaru Subaru, I want to introduce you to someone, she's a new student to this school and wants to play basketball in our team. But, I was wondering if you could teach her the basics, because I'm not good at coaching as you are Subaru, please teach her." I requested him

"Oh, sure, and uuuuum…where is she?" he asked

"I turned around to find her, but she is nowhere to be seen in my sights.

"uuuh, Kuroko, where are you? Have any of you seen kuroko"

Maho, Saki, Airi and Hinata shook their heads in response, telling me that they don't see kuroko

"I'm sure that she was in the changing room with us. She should be out here right now." Saki commented and told me where she was.

"uuuum..I'm right over here." Of all the sudden, I heard a voice behind me.I

I turned around to see who was there, and I saw Kuroko appearing behind Subaru.

Subaru turned around and jumped with a scare and literally screamed very loudly "Waaahgh!"

Much to our amusement as we laughed at our coach's literal unmanly scream.

"Oh sorry, I didn't see you there" Subaru apologized

What is up with her? She really lacks presence, is that even a normal thing at all? It's almost as if she doesn't even stand out at all.

"It's okay, I apologize, I don't really know how to play basketball, please teach me how to play. I will be in your care from now on." Kuroko apologized then bowed

She seems sincere, that's good of her.

"I see, well then, I will be right with you in a moment, so for now, one of the things you should learn right now is about how you shoot, so watch how your team does it, okay?"

"Yes sir, understood." Kuroko replied.

So, Kuroko just stands there on the side of the court with a blank expression. Can't she even smile at all, it would be nice if she could just smile at least once, and that would be great for us to easily get along. And there, she's still observing us to know how to play the sport.

Hasegawa Subaru's POV

I gathered all the girls to form a circle, and then got them to form a line while I instructed them the basics of how to shoot the ball properly into the basket's hoop. I had saki be in first of the line while she held a basketball in her hand.

I grabbed another ball from nearby to show them how to shoot as I got into a fundamental position suitable for elementary students

"When you shoot, keep your hands held out straight, diagonally in front of you. Not straight up or just straight in front of you. And when you're about to make a shot, just bend your knees and move them like a spring as you're coiling them." I explained to instruct them

"Right!" Saki complied

"Kuroko, did you get that? Understand?"

"Understood!" Kuroko complied straightly

"Now watch how Saki shoots, this is a good opportunity to learn how to play, I will be right with you at a moment." I told kuroko

"I understand coach!" Kuroko complied

She could just stop calling me that and just call me by my first name, but oh well, what the heck.

"So, hold your hand out, and bend your knees" Saki murmured to repeat what I instructed them to do

She got into her shooting motion posture, she held out the ball diagonally in front of her with both hands, and started to bend her knees a few times before she jumped and release the ball. The ball then went up at a fine arc, but just bounced on the bank board before landing on the rim, rolling around on the rim a few times before falling right through the hoop.

"It went in!" Saki cried with joy, happy with the results of me coaching them about shooting.

"Did you see that? Kuroko?" As I looked over to kuroko who was still standing there to watch how shooting works.

She then nodded her head in response. She could just at least say something in response instead, but, are people with a lack of presence are like that.

"Kuroko, would you like to give it a try?" I asked her

"Yes!" She responded, sounding quite joyed.

She walked to where Saki was standing, as Saki went to pick the ball she threw with and handed over to her.

She then went into her shooting posture, and had the ball over her head up high, instead of doing exactly what I told the rest of the girls. Was she listening to me?

"Kuroko, no, not like that" I told Kuroko as I started walking towards her.

I walked over to her and helped her get into a much better fundamental position of shooting. I fixed it for her, took a few steps back with Saki to let her demonstrate if she can do it for the first time.

She kept still in her shooting posture, then bended her knees a few times the same way Saki did, then she jumped and released the ball, but it was too low and it just bounced away from the rim and bounced back onto the floor. I guess she really has a long path to go before she can improve herself a lot.

"Good try kuroko" I congratulated her, not wanting to make her feel bad

"Cheer up kuroko, you'll get better." Minato comforted her

"Lots of people are like that when they shoot for the first time" Saki helped as well

"Oooh, HIna think's you be good, don't worry" Hinata followed up to help

XXXX( A couple of minutes later after shooting practice)

Next, it's we eventually started our passing practices. Even though it's boring to do basics for practice all the time, they're the key to what makes every basketball player good, since their best skills all come from the most basic fundamental practices.

"Okay, for passing, when you pass, make sure to not stick your elbows out too much. So think of it as trying to form a triangle, with the ball, your arms and hands altogether."

Maho looked eager as she started passing to Saki first

"TriangleTriange!" As she repeated the word twice, then passed it smoothly to Saki

"So it's true, it's so easy!" As Maho was overjoyed from the results

"Subarun really knows his stuff really well."

After that, everyone was then doing their best to pass the ball around. I stand and observed to see how many times everyone can pass very well after 5 minutes.

From my observations. Maho seem to be doing fine with Saki as their rhythm appeared to be very steady.

Hina and Airi's look a bit off, since airi couldn't catch the ball very firmly and fumbled a little bit sometimes.

While Minato and Kuroko's rhythm is a little much better than Hinata and Airi's. But still, the pace isn't that steady as Maho and Saki's

We eventually moved onto dribbling for the next five minutes.

Everyone seems to be doing normally well in terms of dribbling, even though there are a bit of inaccuracies and little mistakes. However, Kuroko's look differently worse, as she didn't seem to put enough force after the ball in her palm under her left hand each time it bounced off the ground, and looks way worse, and has her right hand a little bit up above her waist.

So I told her what to do after I walked over to her to lecture about what was wrong with her dribbling, and she eventually managed to fix her problem in that skill. But still, she really needs a lot of work, since she's a lot worse than Hinata's.

Since she doesn't seem to have the decent skills to at least practice with the rest, I just let her sit on a bench and watch how the game works.

I split the rest into 2 groups, even though both aren't even with numbers at all. One with just Maho and Tomoka, and another group with Airi, Saki and Hinata.

I stood on the sideline, taking notes, analyzing their movements and skills and overall abilities while they practice on the court.

According to my observations, from what I can see on the court right now. I can see that Tomoka seems to be the only one with lots of experience of basketball from before, since her passes and shooting are both good, as I observed her moving and dribbling the ball to the other side of the court to attack with Maho.

I watched and observed at Tomoka passed the ball through Saki to Maho, who jumps and grabs the ball and started to dibble immediately with movements that don't appear in a textbook. She performs many unnecessary movements, but her jump is quite high, is fast and has stamina, which probably comes from her energetic trait of her personality.

Saki appeared in front of Maho to stop her from advancing towards her goal basket. From what I can tell, Saki's movements aren't bad either, and her ability to read the situation and make good decisions, is great. And with that ability, she was then able to steal the ball from maho right in front of her, and headed towards her basket, who then decided to pass it to Airi. However, she was scared as she dodged the ball as it was coming in her way.

Well, I can understand the feeling that it can be scary, if a ball is being hurled at oneself, and it takes time to simply get used to it. However, I think it is very important for her to get used to already, with little time, since I will be here for just 3 days, as she is definitely very suitable to play as center for the team.

"Airi, don't just dodge the ball" Saki yelled as she told her

"Sorry" Airi apologized

And finally, there's Hinata, as she seems to be the least skilled on the team before kuroko joined and did not know anything about basketball. Not to mention that she seems to appear asthmatic sometimes. I guess those 3 will definitely take some time to polish their skills and fundamentals.

(XXXXX 5 minute break in the gym)

"Man it's so hot today" As Maho commented as she wiped the sweat off her face.

"I'm sorry for what I did back there, so I'll work hard on it next time." Airi apologized as she vowed to become better at the same time. She seems to be determined to get better, but is still not yet entirely ready to play her position as center, which will be a problem. But, I don't see any of that as my problem, since I won't be here any longer after my final and third day being here as their temporary coach.

While Hinata, Maho, Saki, Airi and Kuroko are resting from the drills, I was right next to Tomoka on the other hand, curious as I try to read what she was reading on her little notepad.

"I see, so you must have been practicing by using this checklist you made."

"uuuh, yes"

"Looks nice" as I complimented her note list

It seems she must have made herself a training menu for herself and the rest of the team, and I didn't expect for her to try out some moves that aren't techniques of an elementary schoolgirl, it's possible, but it's just doable for Tomoka's case.

"But I think a one-two step layup would be a little bit difficult for you, so I think it would be better if you just took 3 steps at the maximum, for each time you go for a layup"

"Uuuh, yes"

I suggested to her, but it's true that just literally doing basics almost every single day would be boring for her and the whole team, even for me.

"But just doing the basics would be a little too boring. Seems I've got to come up with something for that."

Just then, as she looked directly into my eyes, she suddenly blushed as both her cheeks started to appear very bright red, as if she was being flustered, and just took a step back away from me and turned her face away from me in an instant. I don't know what is up with her today at this moment?

"Ohhh, it's a training menu!" As maho leaped onto my back with excitement

"Hey hey Subaru, how about this, why don't you just use your skills and make us a lot stronger, how about it? Somewherea along the lines of levelling up, how about 3 levels in one hour?"

Huh? Is she crazy, as in getting better in a few hours? That's not something you can just do from a video game, I guess she is getting the misapprehended that getting better in basketball is like getting better in a video game. That's not something you can actually do in real life

"If we gain 3 levels in one hour, then after two one hour training sessions for three days…then 18 levels?" As Maho finished her question with joy before she got off my back

"Hey Subaru, what standard is level 18? It'd be a smooth breeze to win the prefectural competition, right?" Maho asked, as I really wanna tell her very badly that it's just impossible to just get good in basketball with only 3 days with my coaching abilities, not that I wanted to be a coach in the first place, but I don't want to say anything that will hurt her feelings, and that would just be wrong of me,

"Uuuuh, that would be quite hard.", there I go, I hope she doesn't give me a sad response

"Even if you can't do it in three days, if you work hard and continue practicing-"

"But we can't wait three days, we'll be troubled" AS Maho interrupted my line before I could even finish it

"If it can't be done, then we'll be troubled." Maho yelled at me with a despairing look, as if she doesn't want me to say that

"People normally gain 10 levels in one game"

Honestly, with her way of putting how people get better in something, I don't really think that's possible in a basketball game.

"That's impossible, you would need at least a month to-" As I decided to argue with her

"But we can't wait a month" as she interrupted my line as she grabbed my shirt with both her hands and pulled me a little towards her before she wrapped both her hands around my right hand, begging for me to make her and the rest of the girls much stronger in basketball.

"Hey, Subaru, Please!" As she begged for me once again

"You can ask all you want…." As I knew, she doesn't get it huh. It's not possible to get stronger with just 3 days, I don't get why she can't understand exactly.

"THEN I DON'T CARE ANYMORE! As maho yelled at me, as if she was treating me like the bad guy around here before she ran out of the gym.

I do feel sorry for her, but it's understandable that a lot of people who play basketball or in any other sport wants to truly get stronger very quickly, but doing it in just a few days is not just possible at all, I wish I could do more to help them, but I agreed to my aunt that it's going to be only 3 days and that's it. Since she blackmailed me to become their coach for only 3 days, or else she will post my old homework when I was in elementary School, about how I wrote about my mom, and it was completely embarrassing for what I wrote in that homework, not that you need to know about it.

(XXXX Meanwhile at boys changing locker room)

Subaru's pov

"*Sigh*, getting good in just three days is impossible, really." As I said to myself

Why can't Maho understand that it'll take a lot of time for her and the rest of her gang to get a whole lot stronger with more than just three days, she should just stop treating basketball as if it's a game for her when she used the analogy of levelling up to get stronger in real life.

Then suddenly as I grabbed my blazer and uniform, a piece of note fell out of it and slowly fell onto the ground. I picked it up in curiosity, and started reading it.

"QUITE BEING THE GIRL'S BASKETBALL CLUB COACH IMMEDIATELY!"

I don't know what to call it, as if it's a threat of someone is just telling me to do whatever this guy wants, because I don't seem to be getting any chills through my spine at all. I wonder why.

(XXXX Meanwhile at Nashibaa High School)

Subaru's POV

Today, School just ended. What a drag, what am I supposed to do, since my basketball club's been disbanded, and it's all the former captain of the club's fault for getting it disbanded, for being suspected as a lolicon. Not only that, but he made the rest of us look bad in front of the whole School, and a lot of people in the whole School thinks that I'm a lolicon.

Tch, what do I care, since it wasn't my fault to begin with, and I'm willing to shut out any unwelcoming comments about me from others, those who think I'm disgusting.

"Hey, SUBARUUUUU!" Suddenly, I heard a girl's voice, calling out my name from behind me as I headed my way out as I walked down the hallway.

I turned around to see that it was just my childhood friend, Aoi Ogiyama, who used to be a member of the girls basketball team as Center back in junior high Kirihara middle school, who is 163cm with dark violet hair with a pony tail.

"Oh, Aoi!"

"Hey, are you free after School today?" She asks me wondering

"Why?" I asked

"We're going to play street basketball, and we were wondering if you wanted to come."

I put my right hand into a knuckle under my chin, wondering if I should say yes or no, since this is just my final day coaching the girls from Keishin academy. Oh well, I might as just well do what I can to just make them the best as they can be today, and I won't be there any longer.

"Ahh, I can't make it today, sorry." I responded, as I declined the invitation from Aoi and apologized.

"Do you have something to do?" She asked me

"Well, something like that, but it's the last time anyway" I responded, not wanting her to worry about me.

"Last time?"

Before she could ask me anymore, I just decided to walk away and get this last day over with, so I continued walking through the hallway, and waved my right arm behind to Aoi as I leave the scene.

(XXXX later at the entrance of the Keishin private academy!)

"Hey, are you the coach of the girls' basketball club" just then, when I was about to make my way to the School's gym, a voice just called out in front of me

The voice just now comes from an elementary boy. He stands proudly with a group of 4 boys, with pride in front of them, as he along with his four companions behind him, formed a 'v' shape line.

"I, Takenaka Natsuhi, must have a word with you, basketball coach!"

Oh boy, I wonder what this is about, and second of all, shouldn't he be treating me with more respect, more like a Senpai, since I'm in high school and he as the matter of fact is just an elementary student on the other hand?

(XXXX meanwhile at the same time)

Kuroko's POV

After what Subaru said last night, I decided to go to him first by waiting for him in front of the gate, and tell him that he shouldn't have said those things to her, did he not realize that he made her cry, as I walked my way to the School's gate, I stopped my way behind a group of boys, who formed a V-shaped line, who appear to be having confrontation with someone in front of them.

Wait, it's Hasegawa-kun, our recently new coach. But, what is going on between them? I decided to not interfere and watch them to see what happens in the end, otherwise if I interfered, could be worse for all of us.

END of chapter 2