A note from Frog-kun

This chapter is dedicated to mayfairs, who has kindly been reviewing my KuroBasu fics anonymously because she appears to be too lazy to log into her account. Thus, in her honour, the theme of this chapter is BL.

I had to dig deep for these stories. On the surface of it, these basketball players do not seem very interested in love. But I will assure you that these stories are one hundred per cent canon. I went around to all the schools and observed their lives diligently. Why, I even went up to Aomine and asked him: "Is it true that you and Kise are in love?" He gave me a very unambiguous response to that question.

Again, I write this from my hospital bed. Please stop beating me up, Aomine. It's not very good for my spleen.

A Date in Shibuya

One day, Midorima asked his friend Takao to take him to Shibuya via rickshaw. Takao was not very amused.

"The heck you want to go to Shibuya for?" he grumbled.

Very knowingly, Midorima pushed up his glasses.

"A date," he said.

Takao instantly snorted out the cola he was drinking.

"Wh-Wh-Wha-?" He took a deep breath and then tried again for a semi-coherent response. "What the sausage rolls on bacon egg sandwiches? With who?"

"That I do not know," Midorima answered primly. "My horoscope said that I would meet my soulmate today or else come to a realisation about love. The horoscope does not lie, Takao."

"Okay, okay, but why do I have to take you?"

"I spent all my money on today's lucky item."

Midorima was wearing it. It was an oversized poncho.

"So wait," said Takao. "You're telling me you want to go to Shibuya so you can meet a soulmate who you don't even know, and thus you intend on hitting on random girls while wearing a poncho?"

"Yes," said Midorima.

Then he said,

"Prepare the rickshaw now, Takao. We go immediately."

"Screw you, man. I don't know if I want to laugh or punch you in the face."

Takao did neither. They arrived in Shibuya before lunchtime.

Shibuya was the busiest shopping district in Tokyo. There were probably more people at a single crossing than there were ants in a hive. Shibuya brought a whole new meaning to the word 'sprawling'.

"So, uh, what now?" asked Takao, breaking the awkward silence. Midorima was standing with his back leaned against a brick wall, sporting a pair of sunglasses as if this would be his disguise in case anyone he knew saw him. He was staring intently at the thick crowd at the crossing.

"Quiet, Takao," he said. "I'm concentrating."

"On what?"

"I must carefully select my soulmate."

Fair enough, thought Takao. Girl watching was a pretty normal thing.

They sat at the sidewalk, watching girls walk past. "That one's a nine," Takao remarked, his eyes following a tall blonde foreigner.

"A five," Midorima sniffed.

Takao tried again.

"Ahhh, just a four for that one."

"Eight. Still not good enough."

Takao wondered if they were looking at the same girls. "I like that one. Damn, she's gorgeous! A ten!"

"Three."

"What the-? Do you even have eyes, Midorima?"

Midorima did not respond to that. He merely pushed up his glasses.

"I spot a 9.768," he announced.

"What? Where?"

"There."

Takao stared. He squinted.

"Dude," he said, flatly. "She's obviously married. She looks like she's thirty and she's walking with her husband. She's even pushing a pram!"

"A classy, feminine lady."

"You have weird taste, Midorima."

They spent about fifteen more minutes doing this, going nowhere. Midorima was unable to find anyone who suited his particular fancies. Takao was even about to suggest they quit it and just go off home when a girl quite suddenly approached them.

"Midorin!" said the girl very cheerfully, peering up over her shopping bags. Truth be told, she was more shopping bag than human at this point. It was almost impossible to see her face. Her voice, however, was unmistakable.

"Momoi," Midorima greeted stiffly. Then he seemed to remember something and looked quite stunned. "How did you recognise me?"

"Silly Midorin! I'll always be able to recognise you, hee hee! Say, have you seen Aomine-kun around anywhere?"

"No," said Midorima bluntly. "I have no desire to meet with that moronic airhead."

Momoi put down her bags, letting them form a mountain on the ground. Now that Takao could get a good look at her, he put her down as a 9.5. She huffed, her mouth forming an adorable pout.

"Someone has to carry my clothes and shoes!" she whined. "I think he ran off from me. Aomine-kun is so useless."

"No wonder," said Takao, staring at the bags. He wondered if anyone could possibly lift all of that. Momoi was stronger than she seemed.

"I feel sorry for Aomine," Midorima remarked when Momoi was gone, taking her mountain of shopping with her. "I never thought I would say that."

"Think you'll see anyone else you know?"

"I hope not," said Midorima, glowering at nothing in particular. "I certainly hope not."

"Midorimacchi! I didn't expect to see you here!"

Midorima's gaze was withering.

Kise was in his element, doing some modelling outside a department store. The girls were squealing. "What's up?" Kise asked Midorima cheerfully.

"The sky," said Midorima boorishly. "I'm going."

"Midorimacchi, why are you going? We should hang out! Hey, hey, I know! We should play some basketball!"

"Takao, let's go."

Kise drooped. He literally drooped. Midorima scowled (such frivolous display of emotion was so unbecoming) and passed him his sunglasses.

"Cover up those meaningless tears if you wish to appeal to your fans." And with that he was gone, dragging Takao behind him.

"Thanks, Midorimacchi!" Then Kise inspected the sunglasses more closely. "Oh, wait, these went out of fashion thirty years ago…"

It turned out Aomine was inside the department store, wandering around the women's lingerie section. (Of course, Midorima was only there for the women. He couldn't speak for Aomine. Actually, women probably had a lot to do with it for him, too.) The two boys caught sight of each other, grimaced, turned away from each other and pretended to browse the music section. At one point, they glanced at each other from the corner of each other's eyes and grimaced even more.

"When were you into screamo, Midorima?" asked Aomine.

"When were you into Mozart?"

"Touche."

In his attempt to wipe his encounters with Aomine and Kise from his memory, Midorima entered a confectionary store.

Murasakibara was standing in the middle of the store, sucking on a giant lollipop.

Midorima looked at him, blinked once, and then walked straight back out.

The entire Seirin team.

THE ENTIRE SEIRIN TEAM.

They were standing around the dog Hachiko's statue for no good reason. They were just… there. As if their presence was taunting Midorima somehow.

At this point, Takao could barely hold in his laughter. "It's like they're stalking you, man! Who knows, one of them could be your soulmate!"

"If you continue to speak of that even jokingly, I will inflict excruciating physical harm upon you."

Just then, Kuroko looked up and happened to notice Midorima glaring in his general direction. He did not wave or smile or anything like that. Instead, he turned to the tall red-haired boy next to him and said, "Kagami-kun, it appears that Midorima-kun is noticing you."

"He's what?"

"Kuroko," Midorima said calmly, pushing up his glasses once again. "I will destroy you and your team."

"I am looking forward to seeing you again too, Midorima-kun. Seirin will show no mercy at the Winter Cup."

"Heh, as infuriating as always… No. he is not my soulmate, Takao. Wipe that grin off your face."

There was only one former teammate Midorima had yet to encounter in Shibuya. One teammate who was certainly not his soulmate.

Of course, Midorima thought, there was absolutely no way Akashi could be in Shibuya. Just what part of Akashi fit in with the hip, modern atmosphere of downtown Shibuya?

Midorima walked past a Shogi salon.

He had spoken too soon.

In the end, Midorima did not find any soulmates in Shibuya, just annoying people who pissed him off.

He truly was in a bad mood as he started making his way towards the station. There was nothing to do here. He had not found his soulmate – perhaps, like his horoscope said, he would soon come to a realisation about love…

"Hey, Midorima, in here," Takao said beside him, pointing at a nearby fast food restaurant.

"What is it, Takao?" Midorima asked sternly.

They went inside the restaurant, and Midorima was surprised when Takao handed him a burger meal.

"Thought you were hungry, man," Takao said casually. "You said you used up all your money."

Midorima merely gazed at the burger wordlessly. The sauce was dripping out of it. The bun was half-cooked. The lettuce was soggy. Everything about this burger screamed of half-assed effort.

"You know," Takao was saying as, blithely, he swallowed down his own meal. "You're so weird, Midorima. You pay attention to such weird details. I'm surprised you have so many friends."

"Friends, Takao?"

"Yeah, your old team. They're all your friends, right?"

"No," said Midorima. "They are most certainly not."

"Well, whatever. You played together, you won together. It's not a bad feeling. That's what matters, right?"

"Perhaps," said Midorima. He began to eat, chewing down his burger with measured bites. It was such a cheaply made thing, but it did taste good.

His horoscope, what about his horoscope? No soulmates. He had come to Shibuya for a date. Instead, here he was eating unsophisticated meals with Takao. He had spent the whole day with him, trying to avoid his former team mates.

Well, maybe a soulmate didn't have to be female…

It would have to do for today. Anything else was beyond the meaning of the horoscope. Midorima grunted.

"Let's go home, Takao."