I want to say thank you to those who took the time to review (you know who you are). It made me really happy to read them.
Thank you also for making it this far (again). So in this chapter - you'll have to read it yourself. Hope you enjoy~
Chapter 24
"Ojii-san. Obaa-san. Hontouni arigatou!" Sayumi bowed gratefully to the two elderly landlords who cared for her greatly in the past years. "I'll never forget your kindness."
Ojii-san patted the bowing girl's head and chuckled. "I'm surprised you finally decided to leave. Come back and visit any time."
"Ojii-san." Sayumi was getting teary. She would definitely miss this old man who could run faster than her when they raced to the community shogi center on the weekends. "Take care. Say hi to the people at the shogi center for me."
Sayumi turned to the old woman standing beside Ojii-san. To her surprise, she was handed a box of homemade sweets. She bowed and accepted it gratefully.
"Sayumi-san. Eat it on the plane." The old woman, though usually very strict, smiled gently at the young girl. "We'll save a spot here for you."
"Obaa-san. Ojii-san. I'll miss you two very much. Take care." Sayumi bowed one last time and dragged her red suitcase out of the house.
...
At the familiar airport, Sayumi found herself sitting alone in the waiting area. Her flight was a little delayed and she had some extra time. She looked at her cell phone.
[Should I tell them? Would they even care? Maybe not. None of them called or texted me this past month. It's better this way...it's better this way...]
Sayumi stowed away her phone and headed to the gift shop. It would be rude to come home empty handed.
The girl looked around at all the souvenirs, gifts, snacks, and clothes in the populated gift shop. Sayumi picked out a little of everything, but stopped when she looked at the cute little toy kitty in the kimono. She glanced back at her watch and decided to pay and get ready to board. Before she left the store, a hand grabbed her.
"It's the lucky item of the day," the tall green hair boy said and handed one of the two kitties in kimono to Sayumi. Sayumi could tell he didn't like cats by the way he held it out, but smiled at his thoughtfulness.
"Lucky item, huh?" Sayumi took the kitty and petted it. "Thank you..."
"Midorima. Midorima Shintarou." The boy adjusted his glasses.
"Thank you Midorima-kun. I'm Kineno Sayumi." The girl looked at the boy again and recognized him. "You play piano beautifully." Sayumi smiled. "I was the girl listening from the outside. Sorry if I scared you."
"..."
"Do you remember me?" Sayumi questioned.
"I saw you walking with Akashi."
"Akashi? Akashi. Right. You know him?"
"Yes."
"He's great at shogi."
"I know."
"I also bumped into you at the other gift shop. A bear was the lucky item that day." Sayumi reminded.
"I remember."
"I see. Well, I have to go soon...Why are you here?"
"I came to pick someone up."
"I see. I'm...going home." Sayumi revealed to the stranger who didn't really care.
"Bye." Midorima said coolly and left.
Sayumi stared at the boy who headed to the exit and disappeared. Her heart was thumping violently.
[He looks so cool! What luck to see him before I leave. He reminds me a lot of them...I wonder why.]
The announcement for her flight departure followed soon after and the girl stepped into the airplane. She scooted closer to the window and looked outside as the plane took flight. The last time she sat on a plane and looked out the clear skies was with her brother, who wasn't with her this time around, and will never be ever again. She let a tear run down.
...
The plane ride felt really short. Sayumi didn't even get to sleep a wink before she landed back in her hometown. After leaving the plane and passing the checks, the girl walked out to the pickup area. Immediately, she spotted her parents whom she didn't see for almost four years.
"Sayu-chan!" mother's voice called out happily.
"Sayumi," father's voice greeted warmly.
Sayumi ran to her parents and gave them both a big and long hug. They were all thrilled to see each other.
"Sayu-chan. You've grown taller."
"Not really. But it's probably 'cause I started playing basketball again."
The two parents looked worriedly at each other. "Sayumi..."
"Tou-san. Kaa-san. I have something very important to tell you. Please hear me out."
"We will listen after we get you settled down."
"Okay." The reunited family walked together to the car in the parking lot and drove home right after.
...
Back in Japan, Kuroko and Kagami bumped into Aomine who so happened to bump into Kise at Maji Burger.
"Hey." Kagami placed his tray down across from Aomine. Kuroko slipped into the seat next to the redhead.
"Kagamicchi. Kurokocchi. What brings you guys here?" the jolly blond asked casually.
"We always come here." Kagami began chewing on a burger while Kuroko slurped his favorite dairy beverage.
"Haven't seen you in a whil-," Kise commented, but was interrupted by his vibrating phone. "Hello? Murasakibaracchi?... What?... No?... You?... Eh?...I'll try calling. Yeah... I'll let you know. I'll pass on the message. Alright. Bye."
The three boys around him looked at Kise expecting an explanation for the sudden call from their friend who rarely even calls.
"That was Murasakibaracchi." Everyone looked at Kise to continue. "He asked if anyone saw Kinenocchi lately. He called her, but she didn't pick up. He's a little angry since he had a tough practice and is craving sweets."
"Maybe Sayu is running low on money and can't afford to buy Murasakibara any more free food and therefore is trying to avoid him? Aomine said with his mouth full.
"The last time I saw Kineno was the last time we played ball together. Did you see her Kuroko?"
"No." The baby-blue haired boy innocently sipped his addicting vanilla milkshake.
"So no one kept in contact with Kinenocchi? Ah. That's terrible. She must feel so left out."
"Why don't we just call her?" Kagami pulled out his phone and dialed the girl's number but the call didn't go through. "She's not picking up. Maybe she's busy?"
"Murasakibaracchi complained that he tried calling her a few days ago, but she didn't pick up then either."
"Maybe she's mad that we all left so suddenly." All eyes looked at Kuroko who had a point. They did all leave her at the same time without much warning.
"Sayu said she understood."
"Yeah. Kineno said she understood."
"Kineno-san couldn't say anything else." Kuroko slipped in.
"I agree. Kinenocchi may still not like what we did."
"Kuroko. You call her. She favors you the most. She might pick up your call." Kuroko obeyed and dialed her number.
"Kineno-san is not answering."
"Aominecchi. You try."
"She favors Tetsu. If she's not picking up his calls, forget mine."
"Good point."
"Then what do we do?"
"Kise. You worry about others too much."
"I think we should all go apologize to Kinenocchi."
"..."
"What we did was unintentional, but still, rather demeaning." Kise said a little guiltily.
"How so?"
"Well, I don't know. But since she's not answering our calls, why don't we just go find her. Talking in person is more sincere after all. Don't you guys want to see her too?" Kise looked at the rest of the boys.
"We could just tell Sayu to go to the park again."
"Good idea."
"What if she doesn't want to come?"
"We can get her something as an apology gift. Kinenocchi'll definitely come if we get her something."
"Kise-kun. What do we get her?" the curious Kuroko asked.
"Something she'll definitely like." The boys looked at the blonde model who had an idea. "A basketball signed by the whole Generation of Miracles and Kagami."
Aomine laughed at the last part. "And Kagami. Pff."
"Aomine. You picking a fight?"
"Kagami-kun. Aomine-kun. Please don't cause any commotion here. Kise-kun, please continue."
"I still have the new basketball Aominecchi and I shopped for last time. Let's sign that one and get Midorimacchi and Akashicchi to sign it."
"Will Akashi-kun autograph it?"
The four boys shuddered at the thought of confronting the redhead (not Kagami).
"So who's asking?"
"..."
...
...A few days later...
Aomine was the last one to show up at the park. The other four basketball boys were already in the courts.
"Good job Kuro-chin. We knew you could convince Aka-chin to sign the ball." The pale boy received a pat on the head, something he found extremely annoying.
"Kurokocchi, how'd you get Akashicchi to autograph it?"
"I asked." The boy blinked and stared at the other four taller boys. "He didn't ask why."
"..."
"Anyways, we got all seven autographs. Did anyone tell Kinenocchi to come?"
"Kine-chin wouldn't pick up."
"Kineno didn't answer any of my texts either." Kagami added.
"Let's play until Sayu gets here." All the boys took up Aomine's proposal.
...
Three hours had passed and the exhausted boys decided to stop playing for the night.
"Kineno-san isn't here yet." Kuroko looked around as he wiped the sweat off of his pale face.
"Kineno isn't the type to be late." Kagami began to say a little worriedly.
"Maybe Kinenocchi is still mad? I think we should just go find her. It's not too late."
"We can go to Kine-chin's part time job." Murasakibara helpfully suggested.
"You just want to go and eat sweets."
"That's the reason I'm looking for her."
"Let's go."
...
As the tall group of boys strolled into the familiar restaurant and looked around, they didn't see their waitress friend.
"Maybe Kine-chin is not on duty today?"
The manager who saw the boys come in walked over to talk to the old customers.
"Hello manager. Have you seen Kinenocchi?"
"Kineno-san? Where is she?" the manager asked the boys back.
"You don't know?" Kagami asked annoyed.
"No. She told me she wasn't going to have time to work part time anymore."
"Did you talk to Kineno-san?"
"No. I tried calling to make sure, but she never picked up the phone. She was so helpful too. If you see her, tell her she's welcomed back anytime."
The boys thanked the woman and left together.
"Where is Kineno?"
"We can go visit Kineno-san's house. It's very close to mine," Kuroko recommended. "We can deliver the Generation of Miracles and Kagami-kun basketball to her." Kuroko lifted the scribbled on ball.
...
The boys praised the quiet boy's suggestion and did just that. They were sure they'd find Sayumi there, but the news didn't find them well.
"Obaa-san. Is Kinenocchi really gone?" Kise, who was also popular with the elderly, asked nervously.
"She left around half a week ago," the old lady replied, a little sad herself.
"Do you know why and where?" Kise asked the question that everyone was itching to know.
"She told me something about 'it's time'. She was really out of it the past month. I didn't expect her to leave so suddenly either." Obaa-san looked at the five boys standing outside the doorstep. "She should be in America by now."
"Is...is she coming back?"
"I don't know." The old lady admitted quietly.
"Did she leave anything?"
The old woman shook her head. The boys apologized for the disturbance and excused themselves.
"What's Sayu thinking?" Aomine was frustrated. He was upset he took the time to go the park then to the restaurant and then to the house only to learn that she isn't even here. "She should've just told us from the start. Then we didn't have to waste so much time."
"Kine-chin..." Murasakibara looked down at his own stomach that grumbled.
"America, huh? Why'd Kineno go there?" Kagami scratched his head.
"Kineno-san didn't tell anyone?"
The whole gang shook their heads.
"Kinenocchi left without saying a word." Kise looked down. "She isn't picking up our calls either."
"Screw this." Aomine walked ahead and waved his hand at the group of boys standing idly.
"Aomine-kun..." Kuroko looked at his former teammate as he slowly disappeared in the darkness.
"I have to restock on Pocky. See you guys." The tallest of the boys was the second to leave.
"What now?" Kagami asked listlessly. He missed the girl already.
"Kurokocchi. Can you hold on to the ball for now?" After seeing the nod, Kise left, followed by Kagami. Kuroko also walked the few blocks back to his own house.
...
{Text from Kuroko Tetsuya}: Kineno-san. Where are you?
{Text from Kagami Taiga}: Kineno. When are we playing basketball again?
{Text from Murasakibara Atsushi}: Kine-chin. I'm hungry!
{Text from Kise Ryouta}: Kinenocchi. Call back if you see this.
{Text from Aomine Daiki}: Sayu. Get back up.
{Text from Manager}: Kineno-san. Was the pay too low? We can talk it over.
...
Sayumi watched as her parents entered through the entrance door after their one week absence.
"Sayu-chan. We're so sorry. I feel really bad about bringing you home and then leaving for a week, but your father and I had an important out of state meeting," mother said as she yanked a big suitcase through the door.
"Sayumi. Why didn't you answer any of our calls?"
"I answered the home calls."
"How about your cell?"
"I dropped it by accident. I'm trying to get it fixed, but it's not working."
"That's fine. It's pretty old. You haven't changed it since you went to Japan."
"Yeah. Koukai-nii picked this one out for me." Sayumi looked down guiltily.
The two adults noticed the regretful look on their daughter's face and changed the subject.
"Sayu-chan. Now that we're back, what did you want to tell us last week?" Mother and father gave their daughter their undivided attention.
"You should settle down first. I'll prepare dinner." Sayumi nodded.
The two parents understood their daughter. This was important so they best be prepared.
"We'll talk after dinner then."