-CHAPTER ONE: SEATMATE-

"The only one who can beat me, is me."

With a confident yet arrogant statement like that, nobody thought that anyone could truly face Aomine Daiki head-on. Said people are too quick to judge; in fact—to say that means none of them have met the elusive yet arrogant swimmer of Toou High School.

Ex-swimmer that is.

Ahhnn… Coach is making me part of the medley this season; can't wait for the break!

Yah! Don't complain! Practicing for a medley is waaay easier than doing the Butterfly sets!

Oi! Oi! Stop chatting! It's time to change the ranks for this season! Get on to the pool will you all?

Agh! It's still cold as f**k! I don't get it… We won all those tournament, got all the media running after us, the Board thinks we got great reputation too—WHERE'S OUR HEATED POOL?

Shut up Nakamura! Get your ass in the pool or you'll replace Yamada in the Individual Medley!

Oi! Coach!

What do you want now, Nakamura?

She's here.

Who?

The noisy one tips his head in my direction while the Coach turns around and greets my line of sight. We hold the stare-off until he drops his eyes and ushers Noisy Boy over to his pool lane. I check my watch and it read 7:00 a.m. I got off a couple rows down the bleachers and headed for the door. As soon as I grabbed the handle, a voice echoed down the entrance:

Don't you miss it, Tokugawa?

I do.

But no one needs to know that.

After all,

Swimming gets boring, Coach.

I push myself against the hard doors of the swimming hall and lead myself out until the stench of chlorine was washed away with freshly watered grass and warm concrete. Eventually, the sound of bodies hitting the water or kicks resonating throughout the hall was replaced with high-pitched laughter and enthusiastic greetings.

It's the fourth day of school.

Why do people still act like it's the first?

If you were an athlete, the first few days of school never really mattered. After all, you were probably stuck in some court or field within the school grounds so the whole school environment was never foreign, not even after a break. Not to mention, most of your friends were probably from your own team and seeing them every day for the break was never really different from seeing them in the halls.

But oh well, I'm not an athlete anymore so yes-

Hi! Hello!

How are you?

You got prettier over the break, you know!

Ah, so xxx-chan got a new man, huh!

-Back to those days.

HUH? HE'S NOT THERE? I JUST SENT HIM OUT AN HOUR AGO! I'M SO SORRY SENPAI! I'LL HAVE HIM COME RUNNING RIGHT AWAY!

Oi, Momoi-san, don't worry. It's nothing new afterall, a new copy of that idol magazine of his was just released this morning, you know.

Wah! Even if he didn't attend practice, what about regular classes? The morning routine is going to start in a few minutes! This would've been okay if we were in the same building but—

Relax, Momoi-san. Worrying will give one wrinkles, haha! I'll go send someone from his building to go after him, yeah?

Err… If it's alright with you, Senpai… Um, I guess I'll just see you this afternoon for training… I apologize for his rash actions… Again…

Ahn.. Don't worry! A friend already volunteered to find him before the routine! Go on now, Momoi-san! See you!

*beep*

Sigh… What am I going to do with you, Aomine Daiki…

*Morning announcement plays*

Good morning students! Hope you are all well! As you know, next week, the sports season will be opening! Join us in the warm welcome for our representatives for this year's tournaments! Speaking of which, don't forget to be active in a club this year! Sign-up sheets and booths will be set up this afternoon for your convenience! The school has great pride in you all, good morning once again!

*beep*

Some warm welcome.

I continue to push past the remaining bunch of chattering students and as the clock strikes 8:30 a.m., I made it to my classroom and sat my ass down. The morning roll call was initiated and by no surprise, not even the ghost of my seatmate was present today. While most people wouldn't complain about a missing seatmate—

I mean, extra bag space, air to breathe, no one to bother you, who wouldn't want that?

-I dare to be different.

First week of school and a good amount of homework was already laid out for us. According to some classmate of mine, pair work would help make the load lighter. Teachers agreed on two conditions:

Only for the first week of school…

And to make things more interesting and interactive:

Your seatmate would be your partner for the meantime.

Some people rejoiced, some people groaned—

Not only was I one of those who groaned, I was one of those who cursed this classmate of mine for his brilliant idea.

I mean, how fun would this pair work be, you know, WITHOUT A PARTNER?

Eventually, the heavy load of homework and the feeling of dread washed away as classes came one after the other.

Advanced Math, English, Physical Education, History…

Thank god the topics today were easy… I mean, I was the only one without a partner yet got in the teacher's good graces for being a top scorer in today's worksheets.

God, my seatmate is having it real easy these past days… The minute he comes back, I swear, I'm going to flip a desk at him or something… Ergh…

I mean, who is this douche?

I take a peek at a bulletin board behind me with the class on it.

Seat 06: Aomine Daiki

What. The. F**k.

I swear, when this Aomine Daiki guy comes back to class, I'll make his life hell! I mean, five- FIVE pages of Advanced Math homework?

God.

Eventually, the afternoon bell rang and signaled today's free period. As soon as our teacher left the room, students quickly left their desks and headed to the chaos out in the corridors. The chattering quickly got louder and footsteps could be heard echoing down the hall. Looking out the window, you could see the mass of students rushing to different booths.

Although, a huge mass crowded over three booths:

Cooking Club

Basketball

And of course,

Swim Team

Ah, the swim team. Memories. Such wow.

Well, there's always a first time—especially a time to join a different club…

I walk out the classroom and into the now-empty halls of Toou High School. The whole front yard of the school was still full of enthusiastic students so I made a detour towards the rooftop court. As far as I know, everyone—including the teachers, was busy with the booths downstairs so the best place to get some peace and quiet, and not to mention, fresh air, would be the rooftop.

Hopefully, no one's there… I mean, no one would be stupid enough to miss a chance to join their *favourite* club…

And no, I'm not stupid, I just don't want to get stuck in the student rush.

As I open the door to the court, a gust of fresh wind hit my face.

Not so great but great at the same time.

Nothing like Mother Nature telling you to shut up and enjoy.

I continue my way down the court and head over to one of the empty bleachers to lie down. Since no one was there, I positioned myself comfortably—

-Until the crease of my elbow hit a worn-out basketball tucked into the seat.

What the?

I sat up and examined the ball. While the orange stain was turned into an ugly brown, the ball was actually fully inflated, as if someone had meant to use it. I got down the bleachers and dribbled the ball around. While the sound of a basketball hitting concrete didn't exactly sound pleasant to my ears, I ran up to the ring and tried to shoot the ball in and—

-Totally failed.

Okay.

While it was somewhat embarrassing, thank god no one witnessed that.

And then a laugh echoed throughout the rooftop.

F**k me.

A spot of blue hair appeared from behind a wall until it revealed itself to be some tanned six-footer.

HAHAHAHAHA

I could feel the pink- no, RED creep up my face.

You should've seen yourself! So serious! You were already so close to the ring and it didn't get in? HAHAHAHA Good one! Good one! Don't tell me, you're joining the basketball club?

Uh, what if I am?

A small fry like you? HAHAHA

His laugh rang like thunder throughout the court. Slowly, my embarrassment was replaced with anger.

What are you laughing at? Not like you could do any better?

Ahn? You think I can't do better?

His laughter died down to a smirk.

Dozing off during classes? Surely you can't do more than that.

Ah.

Before I could put a smirk on his face, he quickly got past me and grabbed the ball before resting his arm around my neck and on my shoulder; he craned his neck and got dangerously close to my ear.

Ah.

Still think I can't do more than this?

He kept his position while waiting for an answer; drawing me closer the longer I took.

So what if he can dribble like some NBA player, I can't lose to some slacker like him.

Yes.

He smirked and brought me to the three-point line before adjusting his arms and shooting the basketball perfectly in the ring.

We probably stood there for only a good five seconds but they felt much longer than that.

He loosened his arms but not his position.

You're a funny girl. What's your name?

I refused to speak. What pride I had left, I had to keep intact in front of him.

Silent, eh? Well, I'll find out soon enough.

If you can read, you'd know my name.

He relaxed his arms and walked towards the stairway. As the door swung, I turned by head to read the faint name on his jacket.

Ao…

Aomine Daiki…

I stood there in both fear and silence as he flashed me a smirk before closing the door.

Like a plump tomato, I felt the red not only on my face, but every part of my body.

Damn him!

…

But wait.

Isn't he…

A flash of the piece of paper on the bulletin board came across my head.

He's my douche of a seatmate?

-END CHAPTER ONE-

Wow. That was a long one.

Thank you for reading my unusual piece of writing! This is, after all, 0122298's first fic on KnB! I'll do my best to improve here on out and don't worry! There will be more Aomine to come in the following chapters Feel free to drop by and say hi or leave a comment/suggestion! They'll be greatly appreciated! Thank you once again and hope you follow my next post!

~0122298