A/N: The fact that no one guessed this either means it's a great idea, or an absolutely terrible one.

Aomine realizes he's fucked up. He's fucked up a lot, but this was an especially awful fuck up.

With that being said, he doesn't need anyone (especially not Tetsu or Midorima) to remind him of that. His lip curls in disdain as he stares down at his phone. Arrogance really didn't suit Midorima (especially directed against Aomine).

"He's not interested in you whatsoever."

He'd sneer at the remark if he wasn't so doubtful of the other being wrong.

But it's okay if he's right, because Aomine still won't give up. He can still win Kise over—no sweat. All hope can't be lost for him, not when Kise still looks at him with such warm admiration (he pushes back the thoughts detailing how different that admiration looks now, how much more placating it feels at times). And if Kise can still act like nothing's changed between them, then who's to say that honestly nothing has? (They've changed so much, in so many different ways; he just refuses to acknowledge it in fear of it being a bad change.)

Even with Midorima's text momentarily taking over his thoughts, he can't help but remember Kise's face when he'd lied about Tetsu. Thinking back, he can place at least one emotion hidden in that unfamiliar expression: disappointment. If Kise really didn't have any feelings for him, why would he be disappointed hearing he had a date?

It could always be Tetsu he's disappointed about.

Well. Fifty-fifty chances were a lot better than twenty-eighty chances (though to be honest, it hasn't really felt like twenty-eighty odds anyway; more like forty-forty-fifteen between himself, Tetsu, and Akashi with Midorima and Murasakibara sharing the five percent left).

That's not the point. The point is, he needs to do something, and he needs to do it soon. And what better time to do it than while hijacking Kise's date? So what if Tetsu is going to be right there? They've got the same goals, so it shouldn't matter. In fact, Tetsu should be thanking him for volunteering to do this dirty deed (okay, maybe he should find a better way to phrase that).

There's just one problem. He doesn't know exactly what he needs to do.

He groans. This was definitely not his area of expertise. He'd never actively tried to romantically win anyone over before. In the few brief (so very, very brief) relationships he'd been in, the girl was always the one to set up dates, or show 'affection'. He didn't know how to do that for someone else, hardly knew the basics of even asking someone out. All of that should be the girl's job anyway. In this situation, however, he doesn't have a girl—

Oh. Wait.

Aomine Daiki is not one to admit defeat (on the off chances that it actually happens). He does, however, have a small inkling of an idea on when to concede and ask for help in areas he is not skilled in. This is one of those instances. So naturally, he does the only thing he can think to do. He pulls out his phone and calls the only number he's ever bothered to memorize beside his own.

"Dai-chan?"

Aomine sucks up any semblance of pride that may get in his way and says, "Satsuki, I need your help."

Immediately, Momoi assumes the worst. "What happened? Are you alright? Did you get in another fight? Do I need to call an ambulance—?"

"Satsuki," Aomine interrupts, "No one's dying. I just need your… advice about, uh—," he grimaces. Does he really want to do this? Satsuki had a tendency to go a little overboard with things like this. Maybe it would be better to do this on his own…?

If the past week was any indication, you're screwed.

"'Advice'?" Satsuki echoes, quickly going from worried to elated. "Is Dai-chan asking me for my romantic expertise?" How am I this see-through!?

"Uh," he answers intelligently. There's an alarm in his head begging him to hang up and get out.

The girl squeals in excitement, "Finally! I was wondering when you were going to man up and ask him out!" Aomine wants to smack himself. So everyone knows except Kise. Dammit. "Okay, okay, so have you actually asked him out yet?"

This won't be so bad; it's just Satsuki. The thought does little to reassure him. "No," he manages to say, "I haven't asked him out. I, uh, can't exactly tell him outright that I… like him," and Momoi lets out this really, really weird noise. Oh god, this is going to be painful, isn't it?

"So you're planning on winning him over completely before you confess? I can't tell if that's romantic, or dumb,"

"It wasn't my idea, okay, so shut up and help me." He retorts irately. This whole situation was getting on his nerves—not to mention the fact that this was embarrassing as hell.

"Eh? What do you mean it's not your idea?"

"It's… complicated," he answers. She stays quiet, as if prompting him to continue, and he reluctantly relents, "Akashi said I can't confess to him."

"Oh… okay," Satsuki says, contemplative. She ditches the notion a second later, and if Aomine wasn't already completely regretting this, he would be very soon. "So, if you haven't asked him out, per se, have you tried to meet with him and seduce him?" She giggles.

The ace grimaces. "… I don't wanna talk about it."

His childhood friend laughs louder. "Dai-chan is so hopeless," Aomine clenches his jaw. "But that's okay. I know you can do it! But you'll need my help."

"Just tell me what I should do."

She makes a noise of admonishment, "Ah, ah, ah! Patience, Dai-chan! You can't rush these things! Though I suppose you've waited long enough," the girl hums in amusement. To be honest, Aomine didn't expect Satsuki to be this excited for him. Thinking about it, he shouldn't be surprised that she knew about his, er, afflictions towards the idiot blond. Satsuki knew almost everything about all six of them; how could he expect this to slip her attention?

Wait, so could she know—?

"So first off," she starts, interrupting his train of thought. "Put basketball out of your head while with him. You need to have connections other than basketball if you want a stable romantic relationship. Take him out to do something you can both do—like karaoke." Aomine snorts. Like he'd be inclined to go on a dumb karaoke date. That was out of the question (even if it was one of Kise's favorite things to do). There was only so much he was willing to do, and he'd already gotten roped into this dumb festival.

"Yeah, yeah," Aomine interrupts. "But what can I say to him? Y'know, just to… clue him in?" He's thinking about what Kagami had told him; "He's not good with subtlety." He can see why Kagami would say that. With all the subtle (and bold) advances thrown at him. Kise would have to become numb to them at some point. Another problem to seducing a goddamn model, Aomine's sure. "He's… not good at taking hints."

Satsuki is silent for a few moments. "Maybe," she says, "instead of saying something, you could show him."

He doesn't know why, but that sets off some kind of warning. "What do you mean?" he asks carefully.

"Well you're not just bad at coming up with words; you're bad at conveying what you really mean through them as well. If I give you something to say, you'll probably still mess it up." She answers, and her casual tone ticks him off. He bites back a retort as she continues. "But you can be good with action, if not a little impulsive. So start acting more like how you want him to see you."

"What the fuck, that sounds dumb."

"Dai-chan, stop being so defensive." Momoi chides. "It can't hurt much to try it, right?"

"What do you mean 'can't hurt much'?"

"Well you don't want to go overboard. Then he'd just be turned off by it, you know?"

"I don't think you understand," Aomine says, needing to stop her before she can continue. "I don't want to be different around him. He—I like him because of how we are. I don't want to have to change that because we're… 'romantically involved' or whatever." That didn't sound appealing. Why should he have to change anything just because he wanted a different kind of relationship? He likes Kise as he knows him, and he's sure the blond feels the same. Why bother acting different?

"You would act different in a relationship whether you realized it or not." Satsuki reasons patiently. "And as your relationship is now, you hardly act like his friend. Here, just work on dropping the tough, disinterested act. Being more open would show him you're serious. Besides," her tone grows more serious. "You still have a lot of stuff to apologize and make up for."

Aomine grimaces. "Yeah, I know. I'm… I'm trying."

"So stop being defensive and let him back in." In the background, Aomine can hear muffled talking that steadily grows louder. "Look, I have to go, okay? But I'll send you a link to this website that might help; I promise it's not girly."

"Wait, hold on, I still don't—," Click. She hung up. Typical. But true to her word, she does manage to text him a link to some dating website with… shit, twenty four way to "hint to someone you like them". He's not really sure what to think about that. Unlike what she had said, it's still girly. Reading through most of them, the tips are either stupid or common knowledge anyway. There's maybe one or two that catch his eye. He stops at number sixteen, already having had enough. He's got the gist; hang out and be with the person you like in basically any way possible. Like I didn't know that already. Why can't these dumb websites have real, applicable advice?

At least the call gave him a better idea about what to do for the festival.

Damn thing better be worth it.

It takes until noon on Sunday for Aomine to realize he really needs an alarm clock that actually wakes him up. He scrambles around his house as he rushes to get ready; the last train to Tottori was leaving in two hours ("What kind of bullshit is that? The last train leaves at two in the fucking afternoon?"), and he had only just decided to wake up. Damn internal clock and horrible sleeping habits.

Despite putting so much effort into going, Aomine was really not looking forward to this dumb festival. He's not really a festival guy in the first place (especially after all the shit that had happened at the middle school festivals), and the thought of going to one solely to ruin Kise's date made the whole thing even worse—and it didn't help that he was going to be stuck with Tetsu, who Kise probably thinks he's dating. The ace had tried to get Satsuki to go with him, texting her insistently about it after the conversation, but she apparently already had plans. His childhood friend had simply teasingly wished him luck.

But he was mostly upset about having to leave so damn early. The time of the festival was earlier than he had expected, and because Tottori was so far, he had to waste his entire damn Sunday enduring a six-hour train ride with Tetsu first thing (or first thing for him, anyway).

He wishes that's where the surprises ended, but unfortunately, there's still plenty more in store for him. One prominent surprise stands at his and Tetsu's agreed meeting place (AKA the station). "What the hell are you doing here?"

Kagami scowls up at Aomine. "It wasn't my idea," he replies flatly, seeming more annoyed at Aomine's presence than usual. He gestures to the teen beside him, and Aomine is only just able to keep himself from starting at the other's sudden appearance. "Kuroko dragged me with him."

"Kagami-kun is here to make us look less conspicuous." Tetsu nods matter-of-factly. "I figured it was necessary after you failed so miserably."

Aomine grunts. "Don't remind me." That hadn't been one of his finer moments. But it didn't matter; he would make up for it. He always did. Mostly.

Kagami is eyeing them both oddly, his eyebrows pulled together in thought. "So, what are you guys even planning to do?" he questions, and Aomine grimaces. It wasn't that he didn't want the redhead to know—he already knew about how Aomine felt about Kise, apparently—but it's not like he should know. And it's still kind of embarrassing to explain this to someone outside of the situation (especially considering how freaking petty it makes him look).

"Kise-kun has a date, and we're simply here to supervise." Tetsu answers easily enough, causing Kagami to nearly choke on his own spit.

"That's what he's calling it?" Aomine frowns; what's that supposed to mean? "And that's seriously the only reason you're here!? You're making me endure a six-hour train ride just to spy on Kise's date!?" Aomine scoffs, but nods in confirmation. Kagami groans in exasperation.

"'Spy' might not be the best term." Tetsu says, his own brow creasing in thought.

"'Completely ruin' might be the best way to put it." Aomine agrees begrudgingly. At least they were on the same page.

Kagami gives them both a flat look. "Seriously? You're going to a fishing festival six hours out from Tokyo just to ruin Kise's good time?" Aomine returns the look, unwilling to let the other's guilt trip get to him.

"This is your fault, dammit." He mutters, shoving his hands into his pockets. "If you hadn't told me to ask him in the first place, none of us would've even known about it." He's not sure whether that's a good thing, or a bad thing.

The redhead's expression turns confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You told me to ask him out when we all hung out last week, remember?"

"I never—oh." Realization seems to dawn on the other power forward, though annoyance is quick to follow. "I didn't think you were going to do this."

"We should go," Tetsu interrupts just as the train pulls up to the station. The three proceed to board the train, each with varying levels of reluctance. There was really no going back at this point; they'd only managed to find one clear route from Tokyo to the little town in Tottori they were headed for; once on the train, they'd have to wait until tomorrow to get back home (they were lucky to even find a hotel on such short notice, considering there were so few acceptable places nearby).

And now it's time to endure the six-hour train ride all the way to some dumb festival Aomine would rather pretend never existed. The list of things I'm somehow willing to do for that idiot keeps growing… He groans internally.

As it happens, Fate must really love him. Because who else should they be standing-slash-sitting beside than another unfortunate acquaintance of theirs. "I guess Kise wasn't kidding," a voice scoffs from behind the navy haired teen. Cue tired sigh.

Kuroko peeks around the taller power forward. "Hello, Midorima-kun," he greets. Kagami looks just as pleased as Aomine must.

"You guys are so weird," he mutters under his breath as he turns his attention to his cell phone.

"And what the fuck are you doing here?" Aomine nearly growls. He only just got in the train, and he's already considering aborting the mission.

Midorima adjusts his glasses as he answers, "I'm simply visiting relatives." Kagami scoffs under his breath.

"You don't have to lie," Aomine says, "Kise told you about the festival, didn't he? That's what your text was about yesterday." To be honest, that exchange, as short as it was, left a really bitter taste in Aomine's mouth (or, since it was a text message, should he say it left a bitter feeling in his fingers? Whatever). He didn't need to put up with this shit, and he was being especially lenient just playing along with these guys. They're stretching him way too thin here, and he doesn't appreciate it in the slightest. "By the way, just so I make sure you get the message, fuck you."

"How crude," Midorima says wryly. "It's not my fault he assumes you and Kuroko are together. If anyone's to blame, maybe you should point fingers at Momoi."

"Satsuki?" Aomine echoes. "What does she have to do anything?"

The shooting guard elaborates, "It seems she's been pairing us all off. Kise knows her predictions are never wrong, so he'd likely be more than willing to believe her if she suggested you and Kuroko would end up dating."

"Hold on, that doesn't make any sense." Aomine argues. "She was giving me advice about Kise yesterday. Why would she do that if she thinks Tetsu and I should be together?" If Akashi had been able to pick up on his afflictions, Satsuki would definitely know. There's no way she could be so far off base. He levels a doubtful look at the shooting guard.

"Did he say anything regarding the rest of you?" Kuroko asks, more-or-less ignoring his former light.

Midorima glances to the side, confliction momentarily flitting across his face. "He declined to say anything regarding himself, and what he did have to say about Murasakibara and myself was rather… ambiguous. He was very clear on his thoughts about you two, and made no mention of Akashi." He still looks thoughtful. Kise had obviously given him something more to think about. That's not really the part Aomine's concerned about, though. Damn it all, he'd really fucked up this time (though for once, he was already set up for failure). This was going to be difficult to fix; once Kise had his mind set on something, it was impossible to change. And if he's honestly got his head wrapped around Aomine and Tetsu dating, the two of them were in for major setbacks at the very least. They'd be lucky if they could fully and completely convince the blond they had no interest in each other, and that would be so much time wasted—time Aomine isn't sure he has anymore.

And the more this shit piles up, the worse he feels about everything, because this keeps feeling less and less about Kise, and more and more about his other aggravating ex-teammates.

He didn't want to focus on Akashi or Tetsu or Midorima or Murasakibara. He wanted to focus on Kise, but this sudden drama being thrust in his face was making that impossible. He can't get around them, can't ignore them, and he feels like he's being held back at arm's length. Actually, as much as he'd hate to admit, it's not the first time he's felt like this with Kise. They have a rough history, and this year in particular had gotten off to a really rocky start. He realizes he hasn't done much to remedy that, but he was trying. That's more than he can really say for his middle school self who let Kise do all the chasing. The only problem is he didn't know how to make it up to Kise. Something about Kise just clicked with him, and their problems had a tendency to resolve themselves. Their latest fallout (and technically their first real, serious one) needed a lot more help—and because he'd never had to resolve this before, he didn't know what he was supposed to do. Aomine just wants to tell Kise everything, but he couldn't do that even before he was commanded not to by his scissor-wielding ex-captain.

All-in-all, he figures he's screwed.

"Hey, I've got a question," Kagami speaks up suddenly, tone utterly sarcastic and more than a bit irritated. "Does the fact that Kise has a date deter you at all from thinking that he likes any of you, considering that he, y'know, is with someone else?"

"I know you're upset, Kagami-kun, but you don't have to be rude." Kuroko says plainly.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch," Aomine agrees. "Like I said, this is your fault."

"It is not," Kagami nearly hisses. He suddenly backs off, as if surprised by his own hostility. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he glances out the window and promptly shuts up. Aomine stares at him in bemusement before directing his attention elsewhere. Asshole.

"I agree with Kagami-kun," Kuroko says, "The misunderstanding is definitely your fault, Aomine-kun." Aomine opens his mouth to snap at the other, but Kuroko continues on. "If anything, you should be thanking Kagami-kun. He's helping us—even if he didn't intend to." Sky blue eyes glance over to the redhead, who tenses slightly under the scrutiny. He doesn't comment, however.

Something in Tetsu's gaze is almost accusing, and Aomine can't imagine why. It's not like Kagami has anything to do with Kise (not any more than he does with either of them, anyway). And Tetsu had just said Aomine was the one to blame (he wasn't), so why glare at his teammate? Tetsu made no sense sometimes.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is." Midorima interrupts. "Either way, we're all here, and we've all got the same goal."

"Are you suggesting we cooperate with each other?" Aomine asks flatly. He's not quite sure how he feels about that.

"I'm saying that it's not worth arguing about." The shooting guard corrects. "I don't really care what you three do. It probably doesn't matter anyway."

The navy haired ace frowns. "What do you mean?"

Midorima glances away once more and Aomine frowns. Whatever he'd done with Kise yesterday must have given him ideas. "Never mind. I wouldn't worry about it."

If the remaining (though thankfully uneventful) train ride hadn't been bad enough, the walk to the festival is absolutely awful. Aomine didn't think it was possible to get so lost in such a small town, but considering they can't do anything other than butt heads, they wind up almost hopelessly lost. Luckily the locals are friendly, and help them find their way. It turns out the festival is being held on a small cliff overlooking the beach. It's actually kind of… cute. Small, but cute.

Aomine sighs. This was going to be a long night, wasn't it? For Kise, he muses to himself. It's hardly assuring anymore.

Kagami leads the way. He had managed to simmer down his temper some, but he was still pissed off. Aomine feels maybe the tiniest bit bad for him; unlike the rest of them, he had no reason to be here. With Midorima here now, the redhead's original purpose had disappeared. And because of that, Aomine had a feeling they'd have to keep a leash on him if they didn't want him wandering off and getting himself (or them) in trouble.

Whatever. He'd leave that to Tetsu. Kagami was his partner anyway.

With the smaller scale of the event, Aomine figures it can't be hard to find someone like Kise. So long as they followed the crowd, they'd find him soon enough. Kagami, however, has other ideas as he leads the way towards a thinner part of the crowd over by a booth selling decorative masks. A couple is there trying on masks, and Aomine is quick to recognize them.

Tetsu leans in closer to Midorima, murmuring something Aomine just barely catches in his sudden shock. "Are you certain we shouldn't worry, Midorima-kun?"

"Yo," Kagami calls out, and the taller of the two removes his mask, revealing bright golden eyes and a wide smile.

Aomine had sworn to himself no matter what happened, he'd be ready. He would be ready to deal with whatever the world threw at him. Even if Mai-chan was the one hanging off Kise's arm, he'd be ready. Unfortunately, he hadn't been prepared for this outcome.

That momentary confidence boost dissipates in exactly point-zero-two seconds when Aomine does finally see who Kise's with. In fact, it's such a huge blow that he can't even react for several moments. He just stares. Because oh fuck, he made a mistake. Even though his face remains passive, Aomine knows Tetsu is sneering at him when he glances up at his former light, and even Kagami's holding back a snicker.

Standing side-by-side with Kise is the only person he thought he could trust in this situation—"What the fuck, Satsuki?"

A/N: Lo and behold, Kise's date has been revealed (finally)! I feel like these two need more love, like they are so cute, even just as friends. Unfortunately I had to cut the mischief as the chapter was getting too long. But next chapter should be lots of fun~.