Author's Note : Warning, this is kind of long. Don't read unless you really want to know where this story is going.
Where am I going with this story. . .? Haha, just kidding, I have a vague feeling on how I'm going to end this story, but I'm not sure how I should approach it.
Yes, sadly to say, Reign of the Champions is coming to an end soon. But wait! You haven't properly ended the story yet! When are Midorima and Shoko going to get together? Are they ever going to get together?
. .That is probably what you guys are saying right now. Rest assure, I won't end the story without cleaning up the loose ends. That means you can expect to see a lot more interaction between Shoko and Midorima – and I mean a lot. He's probably going to end up in every chapter (horray!).
But what is this talk about ending Reign of the Champions so early? Well, I mulled around with this idea for a while, but I decided that I was going to separate it into different arcs. So after Teiko arc is over, I'm going to write a story about them in high school.
Yay! Good news right? It depends how long I end up writing the chapters, but there will probably be at least 5 more chapters till the end of Teiko (cause they are at the end of their second year after all. .)
Anyways, after the Teiko arc is over, I'm going to take a short hiatus before starting the high school arc! Don't worry, I'll still update with short mini stories during the hiatus.
TLDR : Reign of the Champions will be separated into different arcs.
"Know your place." – Akashi Seijurou
[09]
Classes ended early that day since it was Saturday and everyone in Class 3-4 was buzzing with excitement about the school festival that was quickly approaching.
Everyone except for Harumi, who sat at his desk with his face covered with hands. His classmates had obviously noticed the suddenly change in demeanor of the usually energetic boy, but said nothing after he snapped at the last person who had asked him what was wrong.
Haisaki Shoko had finally returned to school that day. While his classmates didn't usually involve themselves in the affairs of underclassmen, the whole third year floor was exchanging rumors about the faint bruise on her cheek.
"I heard that she got into the fight with the yazuka." A female whispered in a low tone to her friend. "I mean, how else is her family so wealthy?"
Her friend shook her head. "I wouldn't be surprised seeing how her brother has a violent temper. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all."
Harumi sank in his seat and wished that the ground would engulf him to save him from further mortification. After he had cooled down, Harumi felt guilty – he hit a girl – and immediately called Shoko in order to apologize.
As expected, the girl had ignored his calls and when he went to visit her classroom, he heard that she had been absent for three days. 'I'm such an idiot.' Harumi sulked. Of course he would lose his temper and hit the girl he had a crush on.
The loud chattering suddenly dulled into a soft murmur as the door opened. Harumi heard footsteps approach his desk, but didn't have the energy to visit the visitor. It wasn't until the visitor spoke that Harumi lifted his head.
"Takagawa-senpai."
Harumi wrinkled his brows as he lifted his head. No one – not even teachers – addressed him by his family name. Turning his head, he felt the blood drain from his face as he saw his former teammate standing beside his desk.
Harumi's classmates watched with slight interest as Midorima pushed his glasses up his nose. It wasn't everyday that a member from the Generation of Miracles visited a lower string player. "A-ah. Hello, Midorima-kun. Wh-What can I do for you?" He managed a weak smile to push the feelings of uneasiness aside.
The green haired boy was silent for a moment, as if he didn't really know what to say either. Clearing his throat, the talented shooter finally spoke. "May I speak with you alone? There is something I want to ask you."
'No.' Harumi automatically answered mentally. While he didn't know why Midorima was talking to him in the first place, Harumi couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness from his system. "U-Uh. .Sure. ." Harumi lamely said instead as he stood up.
He couldn't help but to droop his shoulders slightly. Shoko was right. He was weak against the Generation of Miracles. Harumi followed Midorima outside the classroom and to a relatively secluded area under the stairwell.
"Don't tell me this is a confession." Harumi joked lightly, shaking his head at the stereotypical location Midorima had chosen. The green haired shooter looked unamused and glared at the slightly taller boy.
Harumi's smile faded and he resorted the kicking the floor lightly. "So, what is it that you want to talk about?" He asked awkwardly. Even though they were on the same basketball team, they rarely interacted more than a passing nod.
A slight frown was on Midorima's lips. He was obviously affected by Harumi's joke, but tried to brush it off as trivial. "It's about Haisaki." Midorima said.
Harumi instantly stiffened when Midorima mentioned her name. "I saw that Scorpios were having especially bad luck three days ago and was wondering if it had any correlation to what happened to Haisaki."
"It's not like I'm concerned for Haisaki or anything," Midorima quickly added. "You were the last person to see Haisaki." His eyes narrowed slightly in accusation.
Harumi didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry. The green haired shooter was accusing Harumi of hitting Shoko based of silly horoscopes. The sad thing was that Midorima was correct with his assumption.
"What happened?" Midorima asked.
Harumi's throat went dry. He didn't know what relationship Midorima had with Shoko, but he remembered that Midorima was very close to the other Generation of Miracles. If he confessed now, Harumi was sure that word would eventually reach Shougo's ears.
Aomine's warning echoed in his ears. "I heard that big brother had a particular hatred towards basketball players." Harumi gulped. While he never had a personal encounter with Shougo, the rumors that surrounded the ex-basketball player was enough to make Harumi wary of his temper.
"I. .-" He began.
"Did you do it?" Midorima pressured. "Were you the one that hit her?"
Harumi felt his stomach churn. The look in Midorima's eyes already told him that he knew about what he did – he just wanted confirmation. "I-"
"He didn't do anything." A familiar voice cut him off. Harumi's eyes widened as he saw Shoko standing behind Midorima with a stack of papers in her arms.
Midorima didn't look convinced and opened his mouth to speak. Shoko cut him off before he could say a word. "I appreciate the concern, Midorima-san, but what happened between us is my business."
A frown tugged on the shooter's lips. "I wasn't particularly concerned." He retorted, pushing his glasses up his nose. "The basketball team has a reputation to maintain. As vice-captain, I cannot have useless rumors floating around."
Shoko pursed her lips. "Hm. Is that so?" She said, tilting her head to the side. "It looks like the rumors are false, so you can rest assure that your reputation is not tarnished."
Midorima looked like he wanted to say something else, but decided against it. "Very well." He turned back towards Harumi and gave him a stiff bow. "I apologize for accusing you."
Midorima didn't sound the least bit apologetic, but Harumi weakly smiled. "I-It's okay! Mistakes happen." Midorima looked disgruntled by his remark, but said nothing else.
He turned to give Shoko a curt nod before walking away. After Midorima left, Harumi nervously glanced at Shoko. She stared at him with the same passive face she always had.
Harumi felt a little crestfallen when he noticed there was a guarded look in her eyes that wasn't there before. "Shoko-chan. .I. ." He began as he swallowed nervously.
Shoko cut him off once again. "Save it." Harumi flinched at the frostiness in her tone. "Please don't misunderstand what happened here." Shoko continued, her eyes blank at she spoke.
"I don't forgive you." Shoko said bluntly. Harumi looked hurt. "This is goodbye, senpai. Don't ever approach me again or I will tell my brother what happened." With her final thoughts said, Shoko turned on her heels and began walking away.
"W-Wait, Shoko-chan. .!" The girl ignored his calls and continued walking down the hallway with brisk strides. "Shoko-chan. .!"
Shoko frowned as she walked down the hallway. Harumi's voice was fading as the distance increased, but she could still pick out his voice from the crowd. 'What an annoyingly persistent guy.' She thought, irritated.
Shoko's eyes softened as she turned the corner. 'Goodbye senpai.'
Midorima knew that Shoko was lying. There was no doubt about it. Every fiber in his body screamed that she was lying when she bluntly told him that Harumi had nothing to do with her injury.
He wasn't stupid and frankly, he was a little bit insulted that Shoko thought that her lie would fly pass him so easily. A frown tugged on the shooter's lips. But why was he so bothered by the situation?
Shoko was right; it didn't really concern him in the first place. They were nothing more than mere acquaintances, but Midorima couldn't shake the uneasiness from his system.
"Oh? It isn't like you to look so absentminded." An amused voice remarked. Midorima snapped out of his daze and focused his attention on the shorter red haired boy.
"What's on your mind, Shintaro?" Akashi asked, although judging from the look on the captain's face, Midorima had a feeling that Akashi already knew.
". .The festival preparations." Midorima automatically responded. Akashi lifted a cool brow.
"The festival preparations, huh?" Akashi repeated. "Well, just be sure that the 'preparations' don't distract you from what is really important."
They had their last game for the championship next month, so Akashi was always reminding the members to keep focus. Midorima scoffed. "When did I ever lose my focus?" He retorted.
Akashi's brow remained raised. He didn't believe Midorima. Letting out a soft chuckle, Akashi shook his head. "If you miss your shots during practice today, you should not blame it on your horoscope."
"I heard it was a very good day for Cancers." Akashi said, before disappearing into their classroom. Midorima stood outside their classroom for a moment. After collecting his scattered thoughts, Midorima took a deep breath before walking away from the classroom.
"Eh? Why isn't Midorima-kun coming to class?" A girl asked Akashi after seeing the green haired shooter walk away.
"Is he finally playing hooky?!" The boy next to the girl asked, taking note of the time. There was less than five minutes until lunch was over.
Akashi ignored his classmates and took his seat near the window. 'Haisaki, huh?' A small frown tugged on the captain's lips. He should have figured that Haisaki would somehow continue to have a hold on the basketball team.
In this case, his sister was slowly breaking down the iron walls Akashi built around the basketball players. While Midorima wanted to admit it or not, Akashi could tell that Shoko was beginning to have an effect on the shooter.
It was too early to tell if it was a positive or negative effect, but one thing was for certain.
Things were changing within the team and Akashi did not like it at all.
"Thank you again for delivering these papers, Haisaki!" Niwa – the homeroom teacher for class 2-4 – shouted out as Shoko left the teacher's office. She gave him a curt bow before sliding the door close.
Since the school festival was nearing, it seemed as her responsibilities as class representative had doubled since she got back. Gouto – the male representative – was annoyed by her absence and left the rest of the preparations to her.
Luckily, there wasn't much left to do – Gouto had surprisingly done most of the work – so all she had to do was wait until the day and pray that the event was a success.
Checking the time on her wristwatch, Shoko debated whether she should go back to class or just skip out entirely. Shoko glanced outside the window and decided that she would rather spend the rest of her hour outside.
As Shoko turned the corner, her lips tugged into a small frown as she saw a familiar figure standing at the end of the hallway. "Are you following me?" She asked plainly, suddenly stopping a few feet away from Midorima.
"I already told you that nothing happened, so why don't you just let it go?" Shoko huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.
"It doesn't look like nothing to me." Shoko flinched slightly at his words. "Let's go to the rooftop." Without another word, Midorima began walking towards the staircase that led to the rooftop.
Shoko grimaced. What made him so confident that she was going to follow him? She could have easily just turned in the other direction and left while his back was to her, but she couldn't bring herself move in the opposite direction.
With a deep sigh, Shoko followed Midorima up the staircase. Once they reached the rooftop, Shoko immediately went towards the railing and leaned on them. For a few minutes, neither party said a word.
What was to be said?
They weren't exactly friends, yet they weren't enemies either.
Midorima cleared his throat, effectively breaking the silence. "Why are you keeping it a secret?"
"It doesn't really concern you does it, Midorima-kun?"
"We could kick him off the basketball team for engaging in violence."
Shoko scoffed. Everything just had to link back to basketball. "It wouldn't make a difference anyways."
There was a brief pause and then, "What happened?"
Shoko stared out at the school's courtyard. "This doesn't really concern you, Midorima-kun." Shoko repeated, brushing her hair to the side. "I would appreciate it if you just drop the subject."
Midorima's eyebrow twitched. "Why are you being so stubborn?" A deep frown appeared on his lips as he pushed his glasses up with his index finger. "As the vice-captain of the basketball team, I have the right to know what my players have been up to."
A laugh escaped from Shoko's lips. She turned around to face Midorima. "What are you more concern about?" Shoko shot back. "Are you actually concerned about me or are you more concerned about your reputation?"
Midorima looked taken back. "I-"
" 'Your players'?" Shoko repeated with a snarl. "The only players on the basketball team you are concerned about are the Generation of Miracles."
"You don't care about anyone else outside of your team. They don't care about anyone else outside the circle." Shoko continued. She couldn't stop. Her emotions that were bottled up the past few weeks were slowly becoming uncorked because of Midorima.
"I'm sick and tired of being compared with my brother. I know that you may have had issues with him in the past, but none of that concerns me." Midorima swore that he saw a trace of sadness in her eyes, but as soon as he saw it, it disappeared as she closed her eyes.
Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes. "Just forget that anything happened."
"I'll make sure that the Haisakis won't cause trouble for the basketball team anymore." Shoko said with a wry smile. Midorima stared at her as he collected his thoughts.
Maybe the Generation of Miracles was subconsciously discriminating against her because of her brother. It wasn't as if it was intentional. After all, Haisaki Shougo had caused a lot of trouble for the team their freshman year. It got so serious at a point where their safety was threatened during practices.
There had always been a distant between Shoko and the team. No one wanted to admit it, but it was always there. Even Kise – the most outgoing player on the team – kept his distance on Shoko by refusing to attach his trademark "cchi" at the end of her name.
She must have noticed. 'No,' Midorima thought, internally shaking his head. She did notice. The one thing that Shoko shared with her brother was their uncanny ability of perception.
She could notice the slightest flaw in any person, but she never used it in a cruel way – unlike her brother.
Midorima may be a little dense, but he wasn't stupid.
Shoko was essentially nobody and she knew her role. Classmates were too afraid of approaching her due to her brother and the basketball team wanted to do nothing with her because of her brother.
Although she and Momoi were friends, Momoi still kept a respectful distance away from Shoko.
Harumi was probably the first person to approach her without any fear of her brother. But after their little incident, Midorima had a feeling that Harumi wouldn't be approaching her again anytime soon.
". . .I'm sorry."
Shoko looked taken back by his sudden apology and raised her eyebrow. "For what?"
What was he apologizing for?
Was he apologizing for his teammate's irresponsible behavior?
Was he apologizing for the time he tried to keep Momoi away from Shoko?
Or was he apologizing for comparing her to her brother?
Midorima wasn't quite sure himself.
"I'm just. .sorry." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. Shoko didn't look too pleased with his answer. "For everything." Midorima amended.
Shoko stared at him for the longest time before shaking her head. "You're the last person I thought I would see apologize to me." She said flatly. Midorima grimaced. The more he thought about it, the more he could see the resemblance between Shoko's and Kuroko's personalities.
'Well, they are both Aquarius.' He thought.
"But thank you, Midorima-san." She offered him a small smile. Midorima blinked. This was the first time she had ever smiled at him. Usually her expression was passive every time he saw her. "Apology accepted."
Shoko cleared her throat. "I know that I can't take back what my brother did to the team, but let's start over." She held out her hand, waiting for him to accept her handshake. "My name is Shoko. Not Haisaki Shoko – just Shoko."
Midorima's expression remained passive as his hand enveloped hers. Although neither party said anything, they both knew that there would be drastic changes in the future. "It's nice to meet you, Shoko-san."