Note: I didn't want this chapter to come in so late, but I skied for six hours yesterday and I kind of died to be honest. I had a three-hour nap but clearly it wasn't sufficient for me. I might end up rewriting the last bit of this chapter because I found it quite awfully written due to my lack of will to write at the moment.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke on any way, shape, or form; all rights go to Fujimaki Tadatoshi. I only own my OC(s).

Tutoring Calls

3.

She was still embarrassed.

Mai was more than glad that the sense of humiliation has been slowly diminishing within her heart as time went by though—but for her, a minute was an eternity. Having Aomine sitting right behind her did not help either, and she found herself mentally trapped in a way that made her dread the tutoring lessons by every time she thought about it.

All the same, she was relieved that tomorrow was Friday.

While her social skills with other students are pretty low, Mai didn't have something to really look forward to during the weekends. As an ordinary adolescent, she stayed up later than usual and yet viewed it as additional time to catch up on schoolwork that she didn't understand during the week.

Scandalously enough, Mai didn't hangout with Hana outside of school all that often. They did not walk each other home, too, but for particular reasons: they didn't live close enough.

It was the last class of the day, and frankly, all Mai wanted was to get back home.

"Oi."

Mai was succumbed to her subconscious, utterly ignoring what was happening in her surroundings. This wasn't normal of her to not be paying attention in class, but seeing as she already knew the material, the burden was less weighing. To be thorough, Mai had trouble falling asleep last night, and so it earned her quite the noticeable bags under her eyes.

Her hearing problems didn't ease her miscomprehension of the subtle whisper either, so it modestly seemed like she was ignoring the voice.

"Hey."

His voice was louder, almost to the volume of normal speech. As he viewed her ignorance quite maddening, it only made his tone sound harsher as he frowned once again—something that could be considered as a habit of his to do everyday.

But this time, Mai did hear him. There was no way that she could not recognize his deep, husky voice despite the fact that she doesn't hear him speak that much in class. But given that she had experienced a tutoring lesson—a ten-minute lesson to be exact—with Aomine, she was allowed to say that she could differ his voice from the others.

Did she want to look back though?

No. But her personality made her hesitate on her actions, Mai hated ignoring people even if they are rude, inappropriate, or indecorous; she found it as a chance to forgive and to forget, but at times, her views are fairly flawed.

Her blushing cheeks never ceased away after all, and she did not want to risk another possibility of Aomine thinking that she liked him. It sounded completely absurd and incomprehensible. She just hoped that Aomine was aware that 'blushing' can occur without having a crush on somebody.

Unsurprisingly, Aomine exceeded his level of patience—which was utterly close to none. Mai was too indecisive, and apparently the impatient basketball player did not have time to wait for a classmate to finally conclude their inner-dilemma.

And so, he insensitively kicked the bottom of her seat, almost startling her to death.

Oh, she really despised having his legs under her chair.

"What the—" She stopped and quickly looked at her surroundings to see if anyone noticed her sudden jolt. After doing so, she creased her eyebrows in annoyance and turned herself around to face Aomine, and whisper-shouted, saying, "What is it?"

To be ingenuous, Mai was surprised of her tone towards him. But she knew that she was not that valorous, especially when she is face to face with Aomine. His presence was too intimidating for her—his figure no less. At times, she wondered if other students (or people in general) felt the same way.

"Are ya failingly trying to ignore me?" Aomine teased as he smirked away, although there was a hint of irritation still playing on his tone. His arms seemed to be lazily resting on his desk, and she noticed that he hasn't even opened his book just yet.

She wasn't really intentionally ignoring him on the first place.

It was also not her fault that her parents were still too busy to get her hearing aid fixed, and that is why it annoyed her when people think that she is ignoring them—although on this case, she was, indeed, partially ignoring him, but not deliberately. However, that was only because she was hesitant; she didn't know if he was going to tease her for whatever she had done while he was, unfortunately, there to witness.

"No," Mai denied.

Mai was mad at him, although it did not seem like it. She was mad that Aomine carelessly left the tutoring lesson just because he wanted to. It only made her worry about the outcome of his test results in less than a couple of weeks. If her teacher were to find out that Mai isn't doing her job, she will probably not let her tutor anymore—or perhaps she is just exaggerating to some degree.

"I'm not going to that lesson today," he suddenly changed the subject in an uninterested tone. But before Mai could say anything, he overlapped her speed of speech and continued, saying, "You're welcome."

She left herself blink a few times before processing what he had just said.

You're welcome?

The add-on was completely irrelevant, and it almost sounded as if he was trying to be sarcastic, but his tone of voice said otherwise. This was why she disliked Aomine, he completely thinks that he is able to do whatever he wanted, and as far as she knew, it irritated her quite a bit despite her composed nature.

But then she wondered: why wouldn't he attend today's lesson?

So far, they have wasted almost three lessons on their first week. The first one was a complete failure; Aomine just left her to think that he was going to show up in the next thirty minutes. The second trial was a lot better—but it ended up on humiliation and, of course, he left far too early. And now he is saying that he won't be attending today's lesson as well? The only thing she felt glad about those news is that she wouldn't be waiting in the library like a complete idiot this time!

"Why not?" She asked, and then added, "And why did you say 'you're welcome'?"

"I have basketball practice," Aomine explained, and just by hearing his reasoning shocked Mai the most. At first, she suspected that he would respond with something straightforward as in 'I'd rather sleep' or some other absurd excuse, but his explanation was quite fair. Frankly, she wasn't aware that he was in the basketball team at all, but his height could be clear evidence that he is in the team after all. "And wouldn't it be better to not have you to be ridiculously waiting for me like last time? Then, you're welcome."

But the fact is: Mai wasn't aware that Aomine never—or at least, barely—showed up to his basketball practices. He observed that he did not need them anymore; he is a strong player even without having to weekly practice with his other teammates.

"You are very uncouth, you know that, right?"

Her comment was simply directed towards his last explanation, which she found quite ill mannered of him despite the fact that it is his personality in spite of everything. The fact that he viciously reminds her of how idiotic she must have had looked at the library during their first lesson was just pure lunacy.

"And you are really annoying."

Mai pressed her lips together and resisted herself from another comeback, which will probably just end up on angering Aomine even further, and outspokenly, she didn't want to anger him. It was obvious and understandable that she preferred to have him annoyed rather than angry.

All she did was just turn around and focus back on her work. And almost instantly, she felt quite relieved.

.

.

Sleep.

Mai had been yearning for sleep for hours. Right when she woke up this morning, she knew that she didn't receive enough sleep last night. Although she was only focusing on the regular path that would take her home, just after she exists out of the school she could easily see the flash of dark blue hair and tanned skin walking on the sidewalk to who knows where.

This sight completely distracted her from what she was previously focusing on, but the fact that Aomine was not heading over to the gymnasium puzzled her. But of course, it would be illogical of her to believe everything Aomine blurted out of his mouth, in all truthfulness.

He will never pass this test. Not this way.

Mai has been slowly losing hope on Aomine. She is absolutely unable to predict the outcomes of each tutoring lesson anymore. One day he doesn't show up at all, and on the next day he does but leaves near the beginning. How is she going to be capable of making Aomine focus on her lecturing?

To some extent, when Aomine called her annoying, it really bothered her.

It didn't matter who calls her such names, it will aggravate her mind at any rate. What's more, no one should mind other people calling them such names for no particular reason. Mai is trying to help him, but he rather views it as bothersome.

Following her instincts, Mai decided to follow him.

She probably looked outlandish, seeing as she is trying to light step her way behind Aomine who had his hands deep into the pockets of his cardigan. Mai didn't exactly know how following him would do any good, but she just wanted to see how much of a liar he was.

When they finally reached a turn around the block, Mai did not expect Aomine waiting for her to take the same turn as he did just a minute ago. By the look of his expression, there was no doubt that he was quite ticked off, and it only made him think of her as even more annoying than he previously judged.

"Are ya following me?" Aomine asked, his lips slightly forming the eminent smirk of his. "I told you I ain't interested."

If Mai said no, then she would be completely lying. In addition, she would be sounding like an absolute hypocrite. But the fact that he kept assuming that Mai had affectionate thoughts about him bugged her, for all she is trying to do is help him.

She thoroughly did not expect Aomine to pop out on the corner of a block waiting for her to turn on the same way. Mai never took this way to get home, and if she did then she would at least see Aomine from time to time. Thus, it was clear that there was a different motive in her mind—stalking him.

"Why are you not attending the basketball practice?" Mai accused as her neck slightly tilted up to meet his sharp eyes. She crossed her arms and said, "You are probably missing out a lot of essential things there right now!"

"I don't need practice," Aomine easily responded, shooting her a glare.

"And why is that?" Mai pushed. "Everybody needs practice!"

"No," he denied. "The only one who can beat me, is me," he said. "So don't bother me about attending practice as well."

Aomine's voice sounded almost venomous to her malfunctioning ears. It was such a nuisance to him—having to deal with someone else pushing him to attend the worthless basketball practices that, according to him, he did not need.

"You are very arrogant, that's what you are."

Mai was surprised of her sudden outburst. Although the small space that they shared between each other was quite vexing and inconvenient, there were little tints of pink on her cheeks—but it still existed nonetheless. She could tell that she always seemed to irritate Aomine one way or another, but she really didn't heed. It was now her duty to make Aomine pass this math test, but seeing as he had other plans before him she would let this circumstance pass by.

"Or maybe you're just very ignorant, don't ya think?" Aomine shot back, and almost instantly Mai didn't know what else to say. She has obviously never seen him play basketball, but she always thought that if someone always kept practicing even if they reached their limit, it could end up being very rewarding. "Leave me alone."

Just when he was turning around to resume his way home, Mai followed her instincts and grabbed his wrist.

"Wait!"

A deeper shade of red flashed on her pale cheeks as she quickly realized what she had done. The only reason she did so was to stop him since she knows that Aomine will not listen to her even if she begged—perhaps, that assumption could be tested.

Mai couldn't come up with a reason to why she tries to help him when she could easily let him go to the path of failing his math test yet again. But she knew that he would not pass mathematics if he didn't study or at least have his homework done daily. On this case, Aomine is the ignorant one.

Even so, she didn't want to force him into tutoring today. Mai wanted him to go to his practice, for she felt bad that his teammates would have to continue without him. Practicing with everybody present is very essential to build up on teamwork and tactics.

"I'll buy you food after practice," Mai offered, quickly letting go of his wrist once he slightly looked back. Aomine didn't seem to be amused at all, although the thought of getting free dinner conceivably could make the trick. "That is, if you are willing to postpone your nap and practice with your team."

Sometimes, Mai thought that she was too generous to people. Always willing to help others, there was no doubt her teacher knew exactly why she wanted Mai to tutor Aomine. But even the best in academics always had a challenge that they somehow must overcome. To Mai, it was Aomine.

Aomine turned around in order to fully face her, and it bugged her that their height difference always caused her neck to stiffen if she looked up at him for long periods of time. Mai was reasonably tall for a female, but their height dissimilarity was up to six inches.

Before he would make another smart comment, Mai quickly added, saying, "No, my intentions are not because 'I'm interested'—that's because I am not."

"I told you, I don't need practice."

Mai couldn't judge him. She didn't know how good Aomine was at basketball, but seeing as how arrogant he is being then to some extent, he must be good. Still, only showing up to matches just made Aomine look like he doesn't care about basketball, and just participated to crush a player's will to play instead.

"Why can't you accept a generous offer?" She asked, sighing as she loosened her arms from its crossed position and placed them on each side of her body. "I'll buy you your favorite food if you go," she repeated, although precisely adding more detail into her offer. "It's either that or we'll continue with our tutoring lesson scheduled today."

Aomine paused and speculated her to see if she was lying. There was no way that he would be so gullible to someone as innocent as her. But really, it would be quite unintelligent of her to trick him either way, obviously because she will see him on the next day in class.

She didn't like the way he looked at her, in view of the fact that she easily gets too intimidated by people. His tall and muscled figure undoubtedly overpowering hers simply made it worse.

He sighed as his hand ran through his short hair and said, his deep voice evident, "Fine." Truthfully, he didn't want to gain detention for skipping again, it was either getting free food or get help with mathematics. "Buy me a Teriyaki burger and you've got yourself a deal."

Aomine walked past Mai without giving her a second glance, as he assumed that she would be trailing behind him nonetheless.

Perhaps if he hadn't forgotten his lunch at home, he would of promptly rejected Mai's offer without hesitation. Detention just meant sleep, anyway.

.

.

Mai didn't want to go into the gym with Aomine, or else it would be awkward for her. His teammates would be wondering why she is accompanying him, too. So, she stopped following him once he entered the doors of the gym and from time to time peeked through the small window to see how it was going.

Although it did not seem like it, Mai felt as if she had accomplished something. When she watched Aomine walk in, it seemed as if their teammates were slightly surprised that he unexpectedly came to attend practice.

And yet, she was astonished herself.

It was her first time watching him play basketball—and it was true that there was a reason behind his pure arrogance when it came to that sport. When Aomine took possession of the ball, she noticed how he made the act of dribbling a ball be so easy; his dribbles were swift, but his dunks were what impressed her the most.

Even when she thought about it, there was no way she could ever do such thing.

Frankly, she didn't want to be here, seeing as she is sitting on the floor beside the gym doors just to wait for Aomine to finish his basketball practice. The basketball team only started practicing about twenty minutes ago, and she found herself wondering what else to do. If she watched them play for too long, someone will eventually see a head peaking through the window and might end up startling them somehow.

So, she decided to buy the burger that he wanted already. She didn't really want to be going into a restaurant with Aomine after practice for many reasons.

.

.

Buying the Teriyaki burger didn't took as long as Mai previously anticipated, much to her dismay. However, she was relieved that the practice was close to conclusion, and Mai desperately wanted to get back home. She didn't necessarily like to be walking when the sky goes dark, so she didn't want the practice to take so long.

She was still tired all the same.

It wasn't essentially her fault that she experienced insomnia last night, and it took all of her strength to not have fallen asleep during class. This wasn't her reputation around school—not that anyone knew about her anyway. Mai was almost non-existent, and only very few would ever remember her day after day.

And so, she fell asleep.

.

.

"Wake up."

They had finally finished their basketball practice, and Mai fell asleep through quite a portion of it. Right when she closed her eyes she felt as if she was in pure relief, and the weight underneath her eyes slowly vanished as her mind slowly succumbed to a typical afternoon nap—except, she fell asleep with her back resting on the wall along with her body laying on the floor.

Aomine didn't have time to wait for her to willingly wake up. Satsuki will eventually come out to walk home with him and he certainly didn't want to hear his childhood friend's blabbering about Mai and why she was here on the first place. In addition, he had skipped the clean up after practice, and he certainly didn't want to get bothered by it at all.

Frowning, he crunched down to her eye level and repeated the same words, but louder this time, "Wake up."

This was just another repetition of today's earlier events. But Aomine could tell she was still fast asleep and was not ignoring him. Mai only shifted closer to the corner of the wall, completely unaware of what was happening to her surroundings.

Sighing in impatience, Aomine, instead of shaking her awake, brought his hand closer to her face and gripped onto the hairclip, which was clearly sustaining her long bangs from falling on to her face, and pulled it out of her hair. Her reaction to the sudden foreign feeling on her face did not come out quickly, but as a substitute, her response was carried out fairly leisured.

Mai's blue eyes fluttered open, and for a moment she could only see a blurred figure in front of her—but it didn't take long for her to recognize who it was. "What—Oh," she said, suddenly realizing what was happening. Seeing as she has just come out of a relaxing nap, her mind had forgotten the events that preceded the current time. "Sorry," she said as she rubbed her eyes; Mai didn't wear make-up, thus, she deliberately could rub her eyes without hesitation. "I kind of fell asleep." She laughed slightly.

"No shit," Aomine cursed without any further thought. This classmate of his might be his tutor, but her obvious remarks made her seem to be dumber than him.

"Did you take my hairclip out of my hair?" Mai asked, frowning as she saw the small hairclip in one of Aomine's large hands.

"Why do ya wear one anyway?" He asked, totally ignoring her question. Mai hesitantly pulled out her hand to get her hairclip back, and when his hand slightly brushed against hers she could easily feel how hard they have become through years of continuously playing basketball.

"My hair gets into my face and it's quite irritating," Mai responded as she placed the hairclip back to place. After doing so, she pulled herself up, seeing as Aomine has already done so, too.

"You could use your ears."

It wasn't a question, but a simple observation. It was a fairly reasonable suggestion, but since her bangs were—and always were—located on her right side, she couldn't exactly place them behind her right ear since that was where her hearing aid was placed: behind her right ear. Switching where her bangs were parted to seemed quite unfamiliar for her, and thus, found the hairclip reasonably reassuring.

"I prefer not," she said, trying to avoid the subject of her hearing aid. Mai wasn't exactly embarrassed of being deaf, but she had a preference of being reserved to subjects such as her deafness. "Aomine, what are you—" Mai abruptly said, but then paused as she watched him take the hairclip out of her face yet again. "What, what was that for?!"

Although it was barely noticeable, Mai observed that Aomine's shoulders vaguely shrugged as a response to her questioning. As she scrutinized him carefully, she noticed that he had already changed back to the typical student uniform for Tōō. Furthermore, Aomine had his free hand sucked into his pocket once again.

"Did ya buy it?" He asked, slightly raising one of his eyebrows.

Before she would respond, Mai, annoyed, took the hairclip back from him, which he really didn't really care. "Don't do that again, please," she said as she placed the hairclip back into place, and wordlessly hoped that he wouldn't take it out again just to bug her.

"Do I have to repeat myself again?" Aomine asked, although his tone made it sound it like a statement. He is simply growing more and more aggravated at the fact that he always seems to have to repeat himself when he is speaking to her.

"I did," Mai said as she zipped her bag open and then held out the paper bag that contained the Teriyaki burger that Aomine wanted—and apparently was his favorite food, too. "Here."

Aomine promptly grabbed it from her and looked inside, and said, "Hm, thanks."

Somehow, his response sparkled an idea into her mind—something that shouldn't be considered as an idea, given that it was a typical thing to do. But in Aomine's case, it was like an open door for Mai.

"You're welcome."

He eyed her quite slowly, murky blue eyes locking with a clearer shade of the same color. "Tch," he said as he turned around to finally walk out of school. Aomine was far from planning on attending a basketball practice, today no less, but at least he selfishly earned himself his favorite food free for doing what he was supposed to do.

Mai was secretly hoping that he would show up to the next tutoring lesson that he desperately needed, which will happen Monday afternoon of next week.

But there was a high probability that he won't.

Note: Reviews would be lovely :-)