Chapter 3

"One of Akashi's teammates wants to know if Kiyoshi-san is also wearing a dress," reported Kise. "I've gotta say, I must have missed out on a lot that first year of middle school."

"I used to assume the things the seniors wouldn't let us see them looking at were dirty pictures of girls," said Aomine, munching away. "Obviously now I know better."

"Those were inappropriate things to be perusing within school grounds," said Midorima, pushing up his glasses.

"I think he's got Akashi's phone from him," Kise said. "I….I think he just grabbed it and now he's sending pictures of Akashi trying to take it back from him. It's…it's hard for Akashi because Akashi's not…as tall…" He stared at his phone, then passed it to Midorima. Kise stared off blankly into space (causing an explosion of squeals from the girls outside), trying to process it.

"Do these Uncrowned fuckers not know fear," said Aomine, watching the play of emotions across Midorima's face.

"Probably not," said Kagami, who had an excellent view of Kiyoshi trying to have a heart-to-heart talk with Hyuuga about how his feelings were perfectly natural, and Riko would never stop being their coach or their friend, no matter who she went out with, or held hands with, or married, while Imayoshi and Takao carried on what seemed to a horrible and ultimately pointless competition of one-upmanship about whose Ace was more unreasonable and stupid. Ootsubo was once again muttering to himself. "Why don't you all just go away? Go to other classes. Eat their food. Annoy their students."

"But we're waiting for your shift to be over," said Momoi, sweetly.

"Kagamichi, we can't go off and play without you," Kise added, and then they sparkled at him in unison. You're not escaping that easily, their eyes said. One of us. One of us.

Kagami felt a chill go down his spine, but it was just Kuroko. "They've been looking forward to this," he told Kagami. No one at all had appeared to notice the blue-and-white Alice costume they'd put Kuroko in, which, Kagami felt, was unfair, given that his own much less offensive knee-length plaid dress and matching kerchief covered by a totally inoffensive apron had been the subject of so much pointing and laughing. The girls had even managed to corner Kuroko, but not for very long, and so a light coat of red lipstick and shimmer face powder had smeared over the course of the day into slightly more colourful Kuroko, who despite all makeup, ribbons tied in hair and light blue frilly dresses, remained amazingly and resolutely a serious, athletic boy in a badly-fitted dress.

"I wasn't," said Midorima, primly wiping his mouth of whipped cream.

Kise and Kuroko eyed him with what Kagami could only call intent, and then Kuroko said, "Well, then. You can stay here with Takao-kun while we go to the games stalls."

Kise added, "Midorimacchi, you've already played and won all the games without us, right? You don't need to come. We can all have fun without you."

"We thought you came to support Kagami-kun and me, but obviously we were wrong," said Kuroko, twisting the knife.

Midorima gaped like a beached fish. He began to make little noises as Aomine watched with interest to see if Midorima would explode.

"Tetsu-kun, Ki-chan," murmured Momoi warningly, putting a loving, kind hand on Midorima's arm, smiling up into his face, the support that had always been there for them all three years of battle. "If Midorin hates us and doesn't want to spend this precious time of our high school lives with us, then surely there's nothing we can do about it."

Midorima urked.

"I-" said Takao. "I usually just… make him go. Shin-chan doesn't- he can't-"

"Yes," said Hyuuga, grimacing as he watched them file away, Midorima in their midst, and possibly dabbing tears onto Aomine's shoulder. Kagami had Momoi on one arm and Kise on the other, trying to detach them, and failing. "Those were the masters at work."

"Look well, look well, o wolves," said Imayoshi, bemused.

"Juniors are so adorable," said Kiyoshi, and beamed at all of them. "Ah, but Hyuuga, we've got to go see Izuki's show! We can't miss it!"

.0.

First they went around to all the games of the first floor, working their way around the stalls and negotiating the delicate balance of purpose and mayhem that arose whenever any of the Generation of Miracles were together for any amount of time doing any activity whatsoever, up to and including breathing. Kise and Momoi and even Aomine all joined in to flirt the game stall staff into letting Midorima stand there in their sight lecturing Kuroko on how to toss a ring over a soda bottle, Kise on how to aim without striking a pose every damn time, and berate Aomine for using the basketball mini-game to do such unbelievable trick shots that crowds formed and made it hard to move.

"Midorima-kun enjoys festivals very much," said Kuroko by way of explanation to Kagami, and when Kagami continued to make I can't believe you willingly hang out with this guy faces at him, shrugged, and looked instead at Kise biting the head off a taiyaki to Midorima's consternation, Momoi rising up on her toes to nibble at a bit of it still sticking out of his mouth, Aomine's arm snaking around Midorima's shoulder to grab the tail.

As they moved around, they consumed a truly alarming amount of snacks and festival foods. Momoi and Kise would buy something, taste, and then drop it down Aomine's gaping maw, which despite steadily consuming crepes for the better part of two hours apparently remained unsatisfied. Kagami had less such casual indirect kisses showered upon him: he gorged himself whole, causing Midorima to mutter statistics about choking and also dire warnings about Kagami's horoscope for today.

"Keeping my temper is using up too much energy," he said in answer to this.

"But aren't you having fun?" said Kise sweetly, slyly, half-propped on Aomine's shoulder, watching Momoi try her luck at the basketball mini-game and pinching Aomine very very hard every time he started to open his mouth, then getting elbowed for his trouble. Kuroko had his arms around Momoi and was showing her how to shoot with some cynicism and a certain amount of stomping hard on Aomine's foot whenever he opened his mouth: her aim was better than Kuroko's.

"Unwillingly," said Kagami, and yanked a still-talking Midorima out of the way of a stack of boxes moving at high speed, pulled him in close by the shoulders and ignoring the affronted sniff. "You guys are a nightmare."

"Ah," said Kuroko, suddenly reminded. "Kiyoshi-sempai's haunted house. We should go there."

"I'm not very good with haunted houses," said Momoi, and put her head on his chest, staring up into his eyes; the ribbon on his dress was soft against her cheek. "Tetsu-kun-"

"Momoi," said Midorima. "I cannot believe you are so credulous as to believe in ghosts. It is only a matter of baseless superstition-"

Aomine and Kise exploded with comments on the hypocrisy of this statement, and even Kuroko flicked a quick disbelieving glance to Midorima's stubborn face. Kagami opened another twelve-pack of takoyaki and sighed- they 'd go anyway, they'd always planned to go, and why was there so much dithering that had to go on before they did anything, managed something, connected, spoke? The Generation of Miracles made everything complicated.

"We can not go," said Kagami. "If you're scared."

"That level of taunt would only work on Aomine," Midorima informed him, and then Aomine unsuccessfully tried to apply a headlock, thrown off by reflexes and positioning, and the fact that Midorima was a biter. They scuffled back and forth inelegantly.

"Go through without your lucky item," said Kuroko. "If you're not scared."

"Kuroko," Midorima tried to explain, digging his fingers into Aomine's face. "It was built this morning by a bunch of high school students," he said. "There's not going to be anything worth seeing in there, and certainly no such things as gh-" Aomine jabbed him in the throat, and gained the upper hand.

Kuroko snagged one octopus, and began to let the air out of it, slow, wheezing. "If you're not," he said, and left the rest of the words hanging in the air like the deflated corpse of the octopus hung from his hands. "Kiyoshi-sempai worked hard on it, though."

"Bags me not stuck with Aominechi for a partner," said Kise. "His fits are never any fun and he chokes you dragging you through."

"You scream like a girl," Aomine retorted.

"Tetsu-kun is mine," said Momoi, as though any of them would challenge her on this, and glared cutely at them.

Kagami threw up his hands, and hurried to say, "I'll take Kise," and then waited to see how long it would be, before Aomine cottoned on that he was stuck with Midorima, and none of them would switch.