Chapter Text
No one noticed the smaller girl trailing behind the imposingly tall red-haired freshman. They simply couldn’t see her. The smaller girl, named Kuroko Tetsumi had no presence whatsoever and she knew exactly where this tall girl was heading and she planned to follow. She had known it in an instant; when she saw the huge girl walking through Seirin’s gates just a few seconds after she did. This mysterious girl was heading towards the stand of the basketball team. Tetsumi pretended to read her book as she followed the towering back in front of her.
Some guy with a mouth shaped like that of a cat came running up to them; actually he came to the tall red-head, because he didn’t even notice Tetsumi was there.
‘Would you be interested in joining the basketball team? I know you’re a girl and all, but you seem strong and we’re pretty short on members! Besides, I think Japan’s competitions don’t really mind allowing girls to play in the boys league, so I figured I should just ask.’ The boy spoke. He seemed to be quite nervous while speaking to the tall girl.
But what he said did also catch Tetsumi’s interest. Boys basketball was exactly what she had planned to join all along. Ever since Ogiwara-kun’s friend had told her that Ogiwara had wanted her to not stop playing basketball after the whole 111-11 incident. Ever since that day, Tetsumi had had a clear goal in mind; perhaps with this tall girl by her side she could fulfill her mission; her dream. But in order to be able to do so, she would have to be allowed to join the boys team, there was no other way. If she’d end up having to join the girls team instead, her whole plans would fall to ashes.
‘I can join the boys team!? Oh that’s a relief. I was scared I’d have to put up with girls much weaker than me, but it doesn’t seem to be like that after all, huh? <This is awesome!>” She said. Tetsumi noticed that this girl spoke perfect English.
‘Bilingual? That’s interesting.’ She thought. People speaking English as fluent as this girl did were rare in Japan.
‘Yup! I think there should be no problems with you joining our team! You look like you’re really good.’ The cat-mouth boy replied.
Tetsumi tried her hardest not to laugh out loud when the red-haired girl randomly picked up the poor boy and dragged him over to the basketball-stand. Tetsumi followed through the path between all the people this insanely tall girl made for her.
‘I brought some fresh meat.’ The boy cried as the strange girl placed him back on his feet.
Tetsumi noticed the two people, a boy and a girl, probably the team’s manager, behind the desk look up at the redhead in surprise. She recognized the guy with the glasses; she’d found his student ID last year. But she didn’t remember his name anymore.
‘Uhm… right! Hyuuga, please give this young lady a drink.’ The girl with short, chestnut brown hair spoke.
The boy, she now recognized as Hyuuga-kun, quickly obeyed and offered the paper-cup filled with green tea to the girl that was so much taller and stronger than he was.
‘If you’d like to fill in this form, please. We’d be happy to have you, we’ll have to consult with the authorities, considering the fact that you’re a girl and all, but I don’t think it’ll be a big issue considering how some other schools have a girl in their line-ups as well.’ Hyuuga-kun said.
‘<Sure thing.> I’ll just be signing my name here and I’m going back home.’ The girl said. She grinned and Tetsumi noticed something a pointed tooth which strongly resembled the fangs of some kind of wild tiger in the corner of this strange girl’s mouth.
Tetsumi gulped and curiously watched as the tall girl scribbled her name on the piece of paper. Her handwriting was sloppy, but she could read it just fine.
‘So you’re ”Kagami Taiga”, huh? Although she appears to be the opposite of gentle and refined.’ She thought as she read what the other girl wrote down.
She then quickly took a form of her own and wrote down her personal application, a short moment of hesitation when asked about her middle school, but she ended up writing down the name anyway. It didn’t matter to her that they hadn’t yet noticed her; the longer she went by unnoticed, the better. They’d accept her for sure after reading what school she came from, but if they first saw her before reading the form, they’d think she was too weak to be joining the team. It had always been like that wherever she went. She quickly finished writing down her name, middle school and goals and placed her form on the small pile.
‘You went to middle school in America!? That’s amazing, you must have learned basketball from the source, huh? I first assumed that you must have been one of the miracles, but you’re from America!’ The girl being the stand asked.
Tetsumi looked up and saw that she was talking to Kagami Taiga-san, well it was no wonder that their first initial thought had been that; Kagami Taiga-san sort-of had the same vibes as the Generation of Miracles did.
‘So that’s why her English is so good; she’s a returnee from the States.’ Tetsumi noted.
‘Ah, yeah. I moved to LA when I was in elementary school because of my dad’s work; I just returned to Japan a few months ago. But what do you mean, “one of the miracles”?’ The redhead shrugged.
‘Ah, you don’t know who they are!? They are basketball legends in Japan! Teiko’s all-girl superstars that took the nationals 3 years in a row! They’re entering high school this year, so it was my first thought that you must be one of them based on how you look and all. Oh? You didn’t write a reason for joining?’ The girl with the short, brown hair asked Kagami Taiga-san.
‘Nah, I just wanna play ball and besides, no matter where you are in Japan, basketball’s the same everywhere. I’m happy enough that I’m allowed to participate on the boys league, that’ll give me a little bit of a challenge at least. However, considering that the strongest players of this country appear to be girls, like you said, I think I‘ll be disappointed. ’ She said as she got up from the little seat and crumpled the paper-cup in her large hand. She then walked away and threw the little pile of carbon over her shoulder, straight into the bin.
‘She’s really something, this might just work out.’ Tetsumi thought upon seeing the technique hidden in that little act of cockiness Kagami Taiga-san had shown them. A strange warm and fuzzy feeling rose up in her body, dusting her pale cheeks with a soft touch of pink as she watched Kagami, the tall, redheaded and tanned returnee, walk away.
Deep inside she knew exactly why she was so drawn to the American returnee without even really knowing the girl at all and she was well-aware that it might have been a bad idea to start this silly one-sided attachment. But Kagami Taiga-san simply resembled her. Her beautiful former light, decidedly the strongest basketball player in Japan.
However, Kagami Taiga-san resembled Aomine-san’s old self. The Aomine-san that was so incredibly free-spirited, always smiling the brightest smile and just madly in love with basketball (and later Kise-san too). Tetsumi had always loved Aomine-san, but had never been in love with the miracle ace. This feeling was mutual. Aomine-san loved her just as much, but it was never something romantic, even if both of them were attracted to girls they had simply never been each other’s type. They were simply best friends; maybe even platonic soulmates, but nothing more than that. They were different as fire and ice, but on the court they had been inseparable; until they got separated anyway by mental pressure.
Tetsumi wanted the old Aomine-san back, maybe that was why she’s subconsciously been searching for someone that was just like the miracle ace’s old self; that was why she was so drawn to this returnee from America.
All in all, Kagami Taiga-san was exactly the one she’d been searching for ever since the miracle fallout. The fact that she was a girl was only a huge bonus, because Tetsumi wasn’t really all that good at communicating with guys. She knew how to act around them and she was quite comfortable with acting like a man, because she was anything but a girly type of girl, but in the end she found it easier to talk to girls and on the court it had always been a girl to catch her passes. It was just easier for women to understand one another.
Tetsumi clutched her hand against her chest and smiled. She was definitely going to do it. She, with the help of this Kagami Taiga-san would save her middle-school friends from their arrogance and sadness and she’d finally find the answer to her long lingering question; what is victory?