Author's notes: Doing 2 chapters in one go to make up for the long row of inactivity. I'm having fun writing this again - I gauge it'll be about 2 - 3 more chapters until the end? Thank you for everyone who's still reading this.


After lessons, it is time for Nijimura to head for basketball practice. Despite all that had happened last time, Natsuko seems quite touched that she has been allowed to join the basketball team for lunch - something that they've been doing more commonly since the Home Economics kitchens are occupied. She even asks Nijimura to help her convey her gratitude, which Nijimura is very certain he is not going to do. All they did was make space for her - at his request. None of what they did seemed anywhere near significant enough to be praiseworthy. Least of all from Natsuko.

But Natsuko seems to enjoy their company. Nijimura recalls how she had opted to sit with Kise and Akashi instead of himself. He pauses, in the middle of packing his bag, when that scene flashes in his head again.

"Say, Tachibana…"

"Hm?" Natsuko looks up mid-way through packing her bag as well. She's just started working at an old local bakery to acquire money for more ingredients, and is packing up to leave for that. A small part of Nijimura feels guilty, wondering if she's doing it because she has to make two sets of bentos. Even though Natsuko has insisted time and time again that it's something she enjoys. But this would also mean that when he chided the entire basketball team for imposing themselves on her, he was actually depriving Natsuko from having other people to cook for.

Not knowing how to talk about that, Nijimura settles with an easier topic. "Why'd you choose to sit with Kise and Akashi, but not me?"

It is only after he's said those words aloud, and watched Natsuko's eyebrow raise in confusion, that Nijimura realises how bothered he sounds. It's not that he thinks Natsuko was only allowed to sit next to him since he brought her there… It's just— Argh! Nijimura scrambles for something to say to clear his name until Natsuko finally replies him.

"Ah… I thought the table would look nicer if we were all in a rainbow."

Rainbow? Nijimura squints his eyes and tried to imagine it. Kise's blonde hair… Natsuko… followed by Akashi, who is a redhead... True, with all their hair colours, it would indeed look like a rainbow.

"And Nijimura's name has the kanji for rainbow in it, doesn't it? I thought it'd be fun!" Natsuko gives an embarrassed smile here. Nijimura's a little stunned that she made such a connection to him.

"Also, about making bentos for everyone…" Well, since they've already brought up lunch time that day, maybe it'd be easier to talk about something that's been on his mind too. "If you want to, you should. I'm sorry I turned them down on your behalf."

"It's okay." Much to his surprise, Natsuko does not seem very bothered by it. "Nijimura-kun's the only one I want to make food for right now."

Nijimura does not know why, but when Natsuko admits that he is the only one she wants to cook for right now, somewhere in his heart, he feels a sense of relief.


"Ehhh, Natsu-chi's started working in a bakery?" When asked as to why Natsuko didn't wait for Nijimura after club practice (Why would she? Nijimura barked impatiently. For the last time, we're just classmates!), Nijimura has to break it to Kise that she's started a part-time job elsewhere.

Also, 'Natsu-chi'? They're on first name basis now? Since when? All they'd done was spent a handful of break times together, nothing so extensive as to warrant such an upgrade. Even he calls Natsuko by her last name, despite being classmates.

"Which one is it? I want to go see her!" Kise seems undeterred by Nijimura's irritated response. This only serves to annoy said captain more.

"Don't bother her when she's doing her work!" Nijimura barks, about to throw a basketball at the pretty boy's face.

"Eh, but you never know - what if someone gives her trouble at work, or bothers her?" Kise actually tucks his basketball under his right arm, and starts listing out potential dangers that Natsuko could be facing at work. "Thugs, gangsters, students from other schools… She's the daughter of pretty renowned chefs, and not bad looking at that, so it's not unreasonable to be concerned about her safety."

"…"

"Oi, Kise! How long are you going to be yakking for? Hurry up and start warm ups!"

Kise makes a surprised sound and runs off to join Aomine. He leaves a speechless Nijimura in his wake and tries not to grin too widely at his response.


"Welcome—- Ah, Nijimura-kun! You're here!"

"Yea, I came to…" Check in on you, Nijimura finishes the sentence in his head lamely. But he doesn't want to sound like an overprotective father, or a busybody, or admit that Kise's words actually got to him. All of those options were mortifying. "… To buy bread. For breakfast. Tomorrow." That didn't sound too bad, right? His family might be in the process of moving to America, but he still had to eat.

"Okay! A fresh batch is coming in - do you want to wait for a while?"

"Mm," Nijimura makes a noncommittal answer as he shakes off the droplets of water on his head. It had started drizzling on his way to the bakery, and he'd gotten caught at the tail end of it. Without an umbrella, he doubts he'll be leaving any time soon, and truth be told, seeing Natsuko safe and sound at the bakery is enough to put his mind at ease.

"Here!" Suddenly, Nijimura feels a towel being draped over his neck. He looks down and sees that Natsuko has reappeared with a towel in her hand, which she is currently trying to use to dry his hair with little success, given their height difference. Wordlessly, he bows his head forward a little to give her more access, even though the words "It's okay, it'll dry on its own" hang on his lips.

"Ah, it's raining quite heavily now. Thank god you didn't get caught in the rain. But thanks for coming over to see me!" Natsuko dabs his hair dry gently, before leaving the towel draped on his head. "Done!" She declares cheerfully. It is only when she says this that Nijimura raises his head slightly to look up. Their eyes meet and he realises just how close their faces are to each other. His heart skips a beat.

Is it the proximity? The fact that he can see the surprise in her eyes? Or is what Kise said getting to him? "Not bad looking, at that"? Nijimura does now know. He's never paid close attention to whether Natsuko counts as 'good looking' or not, but he finds himself being confronted by that fact right now.

"Tachibana…" He wants to say something to break the silence. He wants to do something to close the gap between them.

"Nijimura-kun!" Until someone else barges into the bakery. Nijimura snaps up into an upright position, pulling the towel straight out of a surprised Natsuko's hands. He hastily turns to see who has entered, but he does not recognise the elderly man at the door.

"It's a slow day since it's raining, so you can take a break!" How does this man know his name? Nijimura is about to open his mouth and ask before Natsuko yanks him down by the ends of the towel again. She presses a finger to her lips and makes a beseeching expression on her face, not unlike the look of fear and uncertainty he caught a glimpse of when the cleaning lady almost walked in on their lunch session. Seeing this, Nijimura gives an imperceptible nod.

"Nijimura-kun, who's this?"

"My classmate! He came to buy bread. For breakfast. Tomorrow." Natsuko parrots this line back at the old man, who looks to be the person in charge of the bakery. "I told him he could wait for the next batch!"

Seemingly delighted by the presence of a potential customer and Natsuko's friend, the avuncular man, which Natsuko later calls Saburo jii-san, shoos them off to take a break on the old verandah. Watching the rain fall gracefully from the sky is indeed relaxing. But Nijimura still doesn't know why the head of the bakery seems to think Natsuko is the one with his name.

"Tachibana… Do you want to tell me why the bakery guy thinks that you're called Nijimura?"

Natsuko stiffens nervously before her head droops down. Nijimura would have felt bad if his curiosity didn't win over.

"I… I came to work at this old bakery because I figured there'd be less paperwork and questions to deal with. I wanted to get some real work experience without being associated with the Tachibana name after all. So…" Here, Natsuko slumps her shoulders dejectedly. "So when Saburo jii-san asked me for my full name… Your name was the first one I could think of."

"You told him you were called Nijimura Natsuko?"

"Mm-hmm. I'm sorry, Nijimura-san. I wanted to tell you about it but I didn't know how to bring it up. I should have asked you for your permission first, at least. I'm truly sorry." Natsuko dips her head into a low apologetic bow.

"… It's fine. Do as you like." Contrary to her reaction, Nijimura is more embarrassed about the idea that someone out there thinks Natsuko shares his last name, though it is probably for different reasons than what Natsuko is assuming. And thankfully, despite his gruff words, Natsuko seems to cheer up a little, likely being able to tell that Nijimura is not genuinely upset by her misuse of his name. They watch the rain for a few more moments before Saburo appears to call them back, telling them that the bread was ready.

"Enjoy your food!" Natsuko packs Nijimura's order of freshly baked bread carefully into a large paper bag. Then, she drops her voice to a whisper. "I gave you an extra bread I baked myself. I know you're not a sweets person, but I tried to balance the sweetness here with some other flavours, so let me know what you think!"

As she walks him to the entrance to bid him goodbye, the rain having died to reveal clearer skies, Nijimura privately thinks that Natsuko has grown remarkably so as a person. Instead of apologising and making disclaimers about her food now, she seems more confident in letting him try her newest creations. He rather enjoys her newfound confidence.

"Have a safe trip home, Nijimura-kun!"

"… Shūzō."

"Hm?"

"… From now on, you can call me Shūzō. You wouldn't want Saburo-san to mistake us for each other, right? So to better distinguish us, you should call me Shūzō." Nijimura thinks that there's nothing glaringly wrong with his logic. It'd be confusing to have two Nijimura-s when they're both at the bakery. Yet he still can't stop himself from getting flustered by what he's saying.

"… See you tomorrow in school." Mortification might not be enough to cover just how horrified he is by his own actions. Nijimura beats a hasty retreat and hurriedly grabs the paper bag full of bread as he turns away.

"See you tomorrow, S— Shūzō-kun!"

Nijimura waves without turning back to look at Natsuko. It is the only thing he can think of doing to preserve his pride, considering how warm his face feels


Last notes: I ended up having a lot of fun writing this! Though I'm still trying to get a good grip of Nijimura and Natsuko's character. As well as the GoM. I feel like the canon GoM we see in the original timeline would naturally be slightly different from their younger middle school selves. The past arc showed some of that but I'm not confident I have a good understanding of it.

I feel like I end up turning Kise to propel the plot forward with the most number of lines, since he seems the most chatty, though I'd still like to reference Fujimaki's line that manga-Kise isn't really as nice as anime-Kise is portrayed, hence Nijimura's internal thoughts on how Kise seems unusually friendly towards Natsuko (whether it's because younger Kise was friendlier/less cynical or because he honestly wants to test Nijimura's reactions is up for interpretation).

Also, I always wondered how to progress Nijimura and Natsuko's relationship (considering they're still in middle school. That's not even high school yet like the canon storyline timing. But middle school, high school - they're all kids t me now. My god, I've gotten so old.) But ramblings aside, I think it all worked out. I like to think that this chapter is the one where Nijimura really recognises Natsuko as 'a girl'.