Archive of Our Own ^beta

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?

Chapter Text

When Kise Ryouka first entered the gymnasium of the boys’ basketball team with an application from clutched in her hand, the non-regulars had thought she had come to be their new, cute manager. However, when a rather clueless first-year asked her about it, the extremely beautiful girl had gotten angry at them, she had grabbed a ball out off the hands of one of her senpai and told him to defend her like his life depended on it. He was unsure of what to do, but he took a defensive stance anyway, because what teenage boy could deny anything to a girl that beautiful? He was supposed to be one of their strongest players, but when Kise broke past him, fast and easy without wasting any movements, they realized just who they had in front of them.

‘Do you know who I am now? Or was that still not enough?’ She said, blinking innocently, while her eyes spat fire.

The boys sucked in air, because goddamn was she gorgeous. Tall and fair-skinned, with stupidly long blond hair, those golden eyes framed by insanely long, pitch black eyelashes, her full, pink lips and her perfect muscular-yet-slim hourglass-figure, supported on the longest pair of legs they had ever seen. The fact that she played basketball like an absolute beast only added to the effect. They simply couldn’t keep themselves from staring and they noticed a bunch of boys and girls standing around on the balcony, dreamily staring at the beautiful girl standing on the court.

Most of the regulars had known it in an instant; this was Kise Ryouka, an ex-Teiko regular, the basketball-star they had scouted with a lot of effort, because she kept declining their offer because she had wanted to “maybe attend Touou academy”, for some to them unknown reason.

They almost hadn’t recognized her though, because while she was still so very beautiful in person, arguably even more so, she was extremely different from the girl who grazed the cover of numerous fashion magazines.

Kise Ryouka was very unlike from what they’d expected her to be. They’d expected her to behave like a girl as you’d see in anime, shy around boys and cute with a lot of make-up and cute, pink mini-skirts.

However, she seemed to be the opposite. She didn’t wear make-up at all and when asked about her hair, she said that she found it a pain to handle and that the only reason she kept it long was because of her modeling job. She came to practice in a dark grey, form-fitting tank-top with the logo of some band they’d never heard of on the front, she wore simple blue sport-shorts underneath it, exposing most of her delicious long legs, but her shoes were big and heavy just like theirs, because her legs were so skinny, the shoes looked twice as huge on her as they did on them. Her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail-like braid; strands of her bangs falling lose over her face. She was also a lot taller than they’d expected, since she was a model they’d assumed her to be pretty tall, but not hi-I’m-a-girl-and-I’m-still-the-tallest-person-in-this-room-filled-with-basketball-players tall; really, only their center was taller than her, and only by a little.

She played basketball just like a boy would, reckless and free. Whatever they did, she did better. No one wished to believe that this girl really had only been playing basketball for less than 2 years like the interview in basketball-monthly stated.

‘Excuse me, but this is not how we introduce ourselves here.’ Kasamatsu, the captain of the Kaijo-high basketball club, said after he’d suddenly drop-kicked Kise square in the face.

She pouted and looked up at him with tears in her eyes and her first thought was that he was unattractive. His face wasn’t defined and his eyebrows looked like they belonged to some kind of wild beast. He was much shorter than her too; something she didn’t appreciate in boys at all, if she decided to date a boy, one of her rules was that he had to be as tall as or taller than she was. His body was nothing spectacular either; he had some muscles, but he was weak compared to Kise. His fashion-sense seemed to be non-existent. He wore socks like Midorimacchi would always wear them on the rare occasions where she decided to wear a skirt that ended above her knees, they ended right under the knee and because Kasamatsu’s legs weren’t ultra-long like Midorimacchi’s, it looked just plain stupid. All-in-all, her new captain was quite the boring guy to look at, a huge step-back from the beautiful and graceful person Akashicchi had always been. Kasamatsu had an unpleasant voice too; it was annoying and loud.

Kise didn’t like him one bit.

Those tears she had rolling over her pretty face earlier seemed to be nothing but an act, because within seconds the unnaturally beautiful girl rose up from the ground, dusted of the cheek where he’d hit her and arched her body up to her full height. She was nearly half a head taller than Kasamatsu was, he only came up to a little past her nose.

‘What? You think you’re all important just because you were born a year or two before me? What kind of bullshit is that? Besides, I’m probably better at basketball than you are.’ She said with a smug look on her face, she was leaning forward with her face nearly against Kasamatsu’s.

She seemed to be satisfied with herself when the captain of Kaijo’s basketball team flushed red and when she rose up to her full-height again and his face was dangerously close to her chest, he turned his back on her in embarrassment. What a loser.

‘I don’t care w-who you are, or how strong you might be or whatever! I am y-your senior and man on top of that, you’ll either respect that, or l-leave this gymnasium right now. You are no longer the s-star Kise Ryouka of Teiko, you’re simply a first year on Kaijo high now, don’t you forget that, you d-damn brat.’ Kasamatsu stammered while his shoulders were shaking in embarrassment and his face was basically radiating heat. He still wasn’t able to face her.

‘Tch. You’re one of those guys, huh? So annoying.’ Kise said in response. After all, she hated guys like that. Sexist and a superiority-complex, while in this case she was clearly superior in every aspect. On top of that; he was too scared to even look at her! What a joke. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and walked away, swaying her hips as if she were on a catwalk.

‘Oh, don’t mind him, Kise-san! He’s just very grumpy and he doesn’t know how to act around girls, especially not one as beautiful as yourself.’ Moriyama said in a flirty tone.

‘Oh my, aren’t you charming.’ Kise replied with giggles in her voice and a soft blush tainting her cheeks while she batted her eyelashes at him.

Suddenly, she was much different than the girl, but basically a very pretty boy with long hair and boobs, that had come crashing into the gymnasium earlier. Suddenly, she had become the perfect high school girl. Talk about two-faced people.

‘Only for you, miss.’ Moriyama replied.

‘Awww! That’s so sweet! You are my favorite senpai for sure!’ She beamed and Moriyama (the moron) fainted on the spot.

‘I’ll be joining practice again tomorrow, but I have a photo-shoot this afternoon, so I’ll be leaving now! Bye everyone! Bye Kasamatsu-senpai.’ She said, adding venom to that last few syllables.

She then skipped to the exit where she halted to take selfies with some of her many fans and she gave out autographs. In return she received love-letters, blushes and confessions. Kise smiled at each of them with equal energy and seemed to be perfectly fine with girls confessing their love for her too. She also seemed to be the opposite of shy; because she flirted back to everyone that threw the moves on her, boys, girls, first years, third years; it didn’t seem to matter to her one bit. She winked and giggled when a boy told her she looked beautiful, as if he was the first one to say so.

Kise seemed to be very fond of her fans; the Kaijo basketball club noted by the way she took each gift offered to her with such care and a very expressive “thank you” for each she received. After what seemed to be an eternity, Kise finally left the gymnasium for real, not looking back at her new teammates even once.

‘Oh my… this girl is gonna be a piece of work.’ Was the collective thought from everyone present in the gym and “we might need to ban all of her fans from coming to our practices, because this is distracting as fuck.”

Chapter Text

When she first entered the doors of the school grounds, people looked up at her in awe. She was unlike anyone they’d ever seen before. Their first initial thought was that this girl was weird as balls. They couldn’t do anything besides looking up, because the new girl was just so, so tall, especially for a girl. She was nearly two heads taller than the average girl and she was at least a head taller than the average male student. She seemed to be strong too, her shoulders were wide and what was visible of her legs, hidden in black tights, seemed to be muscular. This gave a vibe of some kind of warrior princess, but this image was quickly dispelled by the girl’s prudishness.

Unlike almost every other girl on school, she wore her uniform-skirt all the way down over her knees. She didn’t hike it up; on the contrary, it looked like she had altered the waist of her skirt to make it appear to be even longer than usual, which wasn’t that strange, really, considering her height and the difficulty of finding clothes to suit it. She wore her blouse completely closed all the way up to the highest button, which must at least be a little uncomfortable in this spring weather, but you didn’t see her caring and her vest was equally closed. Her necktie was done with extreme accuracy; she looked like the prime example of the perfect student.

Her hair was waist-length, which is a challenge for any girl, but considering her insane height, the distance from her head to her waist was naturally way longer than that of the average girl. The other female students were convinced that she’d have a hard time taking care of hair that long and thick. She never wore her hair loose; it was always divided evenly in the exact middle of her head and then styled into two neat, thick braids falling over her shoulders. Even more strange was the color of it; the new girl had vibrant green hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. Since a prudish girl like that wouldn’t dye her hair green in a million years, the other students had no other choice but to assume that the strange girl was, in fact, born with naturally green hair.

Her eyes were green too, hidden behind black half-rimmed glasses, which she adjusted at least 3 times every 5 minutes using the middle finger of her left hand. She’d take them off to clean them at least twice a day, which caused them to be spotless. The fingers of her left hand were always bandaged, or taped; they couldn’t really tell because no one dared to come close enough to her to see, in an extremely clean and neat manner, the bandaging was never undone, not even at the end of a full day of school and it always remained spotless white. She always brought weird items to school, varying in size, shape and color. She clutched those items tightly in her right hand, while her left hand usually carried her bag. Her nails were always perfect, there was no dirt underneath them and they were never long or cracked. She always had them neatly coated with nail-polish, usually a natural shade, green, purple or dark red. She didn’t seem to be wearing any make-up aside from some colorless lip-balm. Around her left wrist, she wore a bracelet, it was a thin, black leather strap with a green ornament in the middle, and it had a small, white symbol of the cancer zodiac-sign on it. So it was widely assumed that the sign of the weird new girl must be cancer.

The aura around her was strange too, she spread a wave of dominance, a high financial status and intelligence, as if she was better than everyone else; and they knew that she probably was, when they saw her walking there, her posture unnaturally straight for a person of her height and age. He back was always arched in a perfect S-curve and her shoulders were straight, with her head held up high, the line of her chin almost parallel to the floor. She walked as if she was from an alternate universe, her steps always graceful and exactly even, but strong. Her legs stretched out by each step she took. Ballet instructors would probably faint upon seeing such graceful walk.

Even though this new girl was obviously plain weird, she was also very pretty to look at. Her face was symmetrical and decidedly beautiful; it would be a nice extra if she smiled for once. Her unique emerald-green eyes were as deep as an ocean was, they had the perfect almond-shape and if you dared to look long enough to see behind the thick glass of her spectacles, you’d be able to see the many different shades of enchanting green that usually went by unnoticed. Her eyes were framed by long eyelashes all-round, even on the bottom which made them look big and beautiful, even when they always appeared to be so cold in the way they seemed to look down on everyone.

Her skin was like ivory, pale and fair. Her lips were curved exactly how they were supposed to be and her contours were sharp, cheek-bones prominent on her face, accentuating her skinniness. She was very thin, but lean muscles supported her gorgeous figure, causing her to have many secret and distant admirers. Granted, they were mostly interested in the new girl’s extremely long legs (even if she made sure to hide as much of them as she could) and her full bust. Even through all the layer of her uniform, it was easy for all to see that this strange, new student was pretty big where it counted the most.

(Although she sadly seemed to have a sense for who was staring at inappropriate places of her body and whenever she sensed it, she gave of a menacing stare which sent shivers down your spine.)

Social skills didn’t seem to be her biggest talent, judging by the way how she kept everyone on a big distance and glared at everyone that looked at her inappropriately for even a second.

Rumors about this strange new girl started spreading fast and they went into extremes. One day she was a professional ballet-dancer, while on another day she was a street fighter and by throwing an especially hard punch, she’d broken all the fingers on her left hand, ever since that day she taped them to ensure safety. The rumor of her being a prodigy in piano and that she would move to Russia at some point to become a famous componist was very popular too, after all, they’d seen her play the instrument during music classes. Sitting there on the stool which was actually too small for her, but still with a straight back, her fingers moving swiftly over the keys. Some people had spread a rumor that she came from another planet, hence her green hair and eyes that had the, what seemed to be magical, ability to shut everyone up.

But the real truth behind this strange, tall girl her classmates had learned to know as Midorima Shinoko-san, came out when the class was instructed to play basketball in PE. Midorima-san was faster than them, dribbled with ease and her shots. Her shots were simply unbelievable, arc extremely high, the ball always falling through the net without even grazing the rim in the process, no matter the distance. It was a surreal experience to watch Midorima-san shoot.

When club activities finally started, they learned Midorima-san had enlisted for the basketball team, the boys’ basketball team. After that it was easy for them to see it all, they all knew their school was crowned a king in the world of the Japanese high-school basketball. Magazines in the clubroom featured her on the front page on multiple occasions. Her alone or with her, also female, middle-school teammates. She was one of those so-called Generation of Miracles, Teiko’s all-girls-but-technically-still-the-boys basketball team that took all three major tournaments three years in a row. She was the student that was specifically scouted to Shuutoku high with the intent of bringing the basketball team to the top of the national tournament. They had all heard the rumors about it last year; they just weren’t expecting this “hopeful basketball rookie” to be a girl, especially not one that was this proper, girly and prudish.

Some boys of the team dropped out after she joined, because even if she had proven herself to be at the very top of the pyramid, they still couldn’t agree with the fact that she was a girl. Others had quit because they were simply scared of her killing them in their sleep if they had accidently looked at her in a (in her eyes) wrong way. The coach had instructed everyone that had objections against this to leave the team, because whether they liked it or not, for the next three years their team would work around their new, tall, weird and pretty miracle-ace.

Chapter Text

‘Yo. I’m Aomine Daika and I’ll be joining your team. But I will not be coming to practice anyway, so whatever. You’ll only have to deal with me during games, nice to meet ya.’ The tall, dark-skinned girl said. She actually resembled a boy more than she did a girl. Her boobs were non-existent and her hair was cut short to her head and framed her face with messy spikes. She was muscular all over her body. The pink shirt she wore was baggy and her shorts were incredibly short, almost indecent. She had a bored, yet cocky expression on her face. She was pretty, if you knew how to look at her without being intimidated by her height and scary expression.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing? Just walking in like you own the place? 30 minutes late and then telling that you won’t even come to practice? You’re a hard one, aren’t you?’ Some guy said. When he walked over to her to scream in her face, she noticed that he was only a little taller than her and he had short blond (nearly white) hair. Probably that center, Waka-something, she judged.

‘I do what I want. It’s one of the terms I accepted to come to this school in the first place. Be a little happy, will ya? I’m gonna lead this team to the top so quit whining like a little girl and move over.’ She snarled at him.

‘Don’t tell me what to do, you bitchy brat.’ Waka-something said. He didn’t move, so Aomine just gave him a nasty kick, right there on the place where it hurts the most.

Waka-something screamed like a pig that was being slaughtered and the other people present gasped audibly.

‘AOMINE-KUN!’ Satsuki yelled.

‘You son of a bitch. Imayoshi-san, do something about her already!’ Waka-something said as he rolled over the floor with tears in his eyes.

‘Sorry, Wakamatsu, but unfortunately, she’s right. We did accept her at those terms; she’s free to come to practice whenever she pleases as long as she plays in games. That was a nasty kick she gave you, are you okay? You better just learn how to roll with her, because she’s gonna be this team’s main-player for the next three years.’ Some guy with glasses said. Oh wait, she knew him. It was that snake of a captain that came along with the coach when they came to scout her.

‘Hear that? He told you.’ She grinned. ‘Should have moved over when I told you so. Anyway, this is so boring, I’m going home now. Bye.’

‘Aomine-kun! Don’t be like this please!’ Satsuki said as he grabbed his child-hood friend by her wrist.

‘Oi, let me go. I’m tired.’ The blue-haired girl protested.

‘Please just stay! Or today only, because it’s your first-time at your new school, do it for me?’ He pleaded with his signature puppy-dog eyes.

‘Ugh. Fine, but just this once, you hear me!’ Aomine replied rubbing the back of her head with one of her large hands, causing the unruly hair to become even more messed-up. ‘Why don’t you guys show me what you’ve got, then? Come on; play me 5-on-1!’

‘Uhm, don’t you think that that’s a little cocky? We’re older than you, you know. And you’re a girl.’ Wakamatsu said, after he’d recollected himself.

‘Rude. That’s sexism, you know? And besides, even with 5 of you against me alone, I’ll still be the one to win. The only one who can beat me is me, after all.’

‘Oh wow, is this chick for real? She’s driving me nuts.’ Some dude named Susa or something like that said.

‘Yes, I am for real. You scared or something?’ Aomine said flatly as she picked up a ball.

‘Aomine-kun! Please behave yourself!’ Satsuki yelled. His protests were in vain.

‘Sure, sure. Now, are you coming or not? I’m waiting.’

‘Forget 5-on-1, I’m gonna fight you 1-on-1 so I can show you that you’re not as good as you think you are. If I beat you, you’re gonna behave yourself like a normal fucking person and you’re coming to practices like we all do!’ Wakamatsu said as he grabbed a ball and stomped over to Aomine.

‘Hey, I’m the captain here, you know?’ Imayoshi said. He didn’t make any objection though and just stood there with a creepy smile on his face. Aomine thought that he could very well be even scarier than Akashi. Imayoshi was a real snake.

‘Oh, it’s a deal! Let’s see what you can do then!’ Aomine grinned and took a defensive stance.

Wakamatsu drove-in with all his speed and was surprised when Aomine let him pass her by, but when he had almost passed the 3-point line he felt a sudden blow of air and saw a blue flash passing him. Suddenly, she was right there in front of him, arms spread, knees slightly bent. The perfect defensive stance in basketball and goddamn, made she look it relaxed and easy. He hesitated for less than a second, but that was all that was needed for her to take her chances. An incredibly long and muscular arm stretched itself and smashed the ball right out of his hands, in the blink of an eye the girl had passed him by and had started a full drive to the basket on the other side of the court. Wakamatsu ran but couldn’t keep up; the distance between them only grew larger. However he suddenly came to the realization that Aomine was going a little too fast and that she wouldn’t be able to stop in time. He grinned, in her own cockiness she had managed to lose a game she could have won. What he didn’t expect was for the ridiculously agile girl to suddenly come to a halt and gracefully jump forwards, she passed the basket and just when he thought he’d won, she threw the ball in the air.

Everyone silently watched as the ball rose up from behind the backboard and fell through the net while Aomine landed on her feet as if she hadn’t just pulled off an incredible basketball move, but a graceful ballet-jump instead. Her facial expression wasn’t cocky anymore; it was bored, cold and emotionless.

‘That was a waste of my time.’ She yawned as she walked away. ‘I’m sorry, Satsuki. But I won’t be staying after all. It’s just as I thought it’d be; I’m still the strongest and no one can come close.’

‘Amazing…’ Wakamatsu managed to say. He was too amazed with the display of grace and raw power to be angry at getting whipped.

‘Uhm, who brought these?’ A voice suddenly said.

Everyone turned their head around to the sudden sound; the atmosphere of awe and admiration was suddenly broken. One of the 3^rd years was standing next to the pile of bags and towels with a bunch of magazines in his hand. Porn magazines.

Satsuki let out a high-pitched yelp and a cry for help.

‘Oh, hey! Those are mine! Where’d you get them, they were stashed in my bag, weren’t they!? You’ve got some nerve, going through a girl’s belongings without asking for permission.’ Aomine said as she walked over to grab the magazines out of the blushing boy’s hands.

‘They’re yours? But they’re filled with girls in little to no clothes with huge breasts, why would you have these?’ Wakamatsu asked after grabbing one of the books from her hands and inspecting it with a flush on his face.

‘I obviously have them to look at, I like big boobs. Why’d you even ask?’ Aomine said with a yawn as if it was the most natural thing to say.

‘WHY DID YOU BRING THOSE TO SCHOOL, YOU IDIOT!?’ Satsuki yelled in second-hand embarrassment.

‘To look at them when I’m bored, Satsuki. Don’t ask such obvious questions.’

‘Uhm… does this mean that you’re… uhm… Aomine-san, are you… you know. Well… uhm.’ Ryo, one of her classmates and apparently teammates too, asked.

‘What? A lesbian? Gay? Yeah I am, wasn’t that like… pretty obvious the moment I walked in? Or had you wanted to do me or something? If that’s the case, I’m flattered and I’m well aware that I’m hot as hell, but no thank you.’ Aomine said with a flirty grin on her face. ‘Although, I guess I do make some exceptions for especially hot guys, just so you all know, none of you apply to that.’ She finished with a chuckle.

Ryo seemed ready to die. ‘I’m sorry I asked! Sorry, sorry, sorry! I’m so sorry to be alive!’ He rambled.

‘You’re into girls!?’ A very red-faced Wakamatsu, Aomine now knew that he was a perverted little shit, yelled.

Aomine laughed internally, she’d never seen anyone get that red before, not even Midorima when Kise had kissed her cheek on her birthday in front of her entire family. That was funny as shit; oh, those good, old memories.

‘Well, that’s usually what being a lesbian means, right?’ Aomine said sarcastically. She found that she really enjoyed being a dick to this center. His reactions were hilarious.

‘Anyway, as much as I’d like to hang out with you all some more, I will now really go home to read my magazines in peace. Have fun in practice!’ She said sarcastically as she stuffed her items in her bag and walked away.

Satsuki sent an apologetic look to the head coach and Imayoshi and then ran after the miracle ace.

Chapter Text

‘Oh my god, look at her!’ A girl whispered to her friend.

As if she wasn’t able hear them.

‘Damn, look at that chest! I’d do her, even if she’s a freak; she’s still pretty damn hot.’ Some guy said, eyeing her body up and down. He nudged his friend in the ribs, wanting him to comment too.

‘Well, I get what you mean. I mean, she’s a freak, granted. But that figure doesn’t lie, man. If only she had been shorter, she would have been a real babe.’

As if she wasn’t even walking right there.

‘Nice tits, baby!’

‘Rude.’

‘Did your dad have sex with a giant or something?’

‘Shut up, I’ll crush you.’

‘AAAAH! Everyone, seek shelter! The titans are attacking! 3 meter-class spotted down the hallway!’

‘That one’s not that far from the truth, if you don’t shut up right now.’

‘Wow, am I glad that I don’t look like that!’

‘Good for you then.’

‘You would have been pretty if you were like… 40 centimeters shorter!’

‘As if I’m not aware, dumbass.’

‘Hey! How’s the weather up there?’ A boy shouted at her. She ignored him and pushed her way through the staring crowd.

Murasakibara was painfully used to insults and comments like this, she heard them ever since around her 8^th birthday back when she first started towering over people her age, but that didn’t mean these comments didn’t still hurt each time. She had just learned not to react to them anymore and keep her thoughts to herself. If she ignored them long enough, they would stop eventually she had learned through experience.

In middle school, she once decked a guy in the face because of an extremely mean and gross comment, breaking his nose in the process. She had gotten a week-long suspension, a tripled practice schedule, an “I’m not mad, but disappointed” from her mother and an hour-long life lesson from Aka-chin and Mido-chin for that one little (ok, maybe not so little) punch she gave. She never did it again after that, even if the person deserved it, because all these events had been horrifying. (You simply had no idea how scary and boring the life lessons from Aka-chin and Mido-chin were.)

Murasakibara was what her psychotherapist called “body-insecure” which meant that she was unhappy with the way she looked. She was pretty okay with her face and she liked the color of her eyes, but it was everything below her face which she hated.

Her chest was too huge, it hurt her back and made her appear like some kind of prostitute, or at least that was what she thought it looked like. Her limbs were too long, way too long, she was pretty sure that her legs where well over 130 cm. Where her legs ended, was the place where the shoulders of a usual-heighted girl started. Her arms looked out of proportion in contrast to the rest of her body; they were long and thin, while the rest of her was muscular; too muscular, if you asked her. Her stomach wasn’t nice and flat, it was clad with a set of strong abs, which would make any man jealous. She hated weighing herself; she didn’t want to see the small, green numbers reach over 90. She knew she wasn’t fat, it was just that she was so tall, but still, 92 kilograms was very heavy for a girl. All in all, she was struggling to accept herself as she was, but all those comments she got didn’t help at all.

To cope with her negative self-esteem, she ate all kinds of unhealthy food to drown her problems. She knew that it was a bad idea, but she just couldn’t bring herself to stop. Whenever she ate, she forgot about everything that made her unhappy, unhealthy, yes. But it was effective and it tasted good. It was way more effective and healthy than over-dosing on growth-suppressors, which she had done once in her life and then never again.

This had been a little over a year ago, just after her team had fallen apart. Murasakibara was in the middle of one of her many excessive growth-spurts when her doctor told her about pills with hormones that could suppress or even stop her growth completely. The side effects could be horrible, one of the risks was that she wouldn’t be able to have any children in the future, but she accepted the pills anyway. Back then, her biggest fear was to grow even more, nothing else mattered, as long as she would just stop growing. She had hoped that the rule of stopping to grow two years after the first menstruation kicked in applied to her as well, but when it didn’t her doctor had offered her this treatment after consulting with her and her parents.

She overdosed 3 weeks after she got the pills and then woke up in the hospital a week later. She had cried non-stop after the event, because not only did she feel horrible, she also hadn’t stopped growing at all. It was not late after that she got the diagnosis of depression and body-insecurity. She had to talk to a psychotherapist twice a week ever since then.

She’d started feeling better after a few months of treatment and slowly but surely started to accept herself more and more. She had been 14 at the time and had just passed the 2-meter mark. She had learned to see that being so tall sucked sometimes, but that it didn’t define her as a person.

Slowly but surely, she learned to accept herself the way she was. She was pretty okay with her height now, she still wasn’t exactly happy with it either, but the closest she had ever been. Right now, it was just the things people said that hurt.

In middle school she’d been treated with awful comments like this as well, but the impact was simply less wrecking when Mido-chin or Mine-chin walked next to her, because the attention would always be divided over the three of them. They might not have been as tall as her, but they were the only girls she had met to come close to her in height. Mine-chin might have been loud and annoying and Mido-chin acted like her mother (she still loved them both a lot), whenever she spent time with them she felt better about herself, because she felt normal, just a little on the tall side instead of into the realm of giants. In middle school, the teasing had stopped when she became one of their most famous students, a hero to the school. 

She knew that this wasn’t automatically the case at her new school; still, she hadn’t expected her first day in high-school to start off this bad. The comments she got from mainly the boys were just horrible. She was already on the verge of tears and classes hadn’t even started yet. To make it all worse, she slammed head-first into a doorframe because she was somewhere else with her mind. She dropped all her books in the process.

She gritted her teeth in pain and humiliation as she sunk down on her knees to pick up her fallen stuff while pressing a hand against the painful spot on her head. Tears welling up in her eyes at an alarming rate when she heard people laugh. She wanted to go back home, just sleep in her own bed, in her own house where the doorframes where costume-made for her and her oldest brother, who was only 6 centimeters shorter than she was.

‘Oh my god! Are you okay? That was quite a bang you made there. Here, let me help you.’ A girl said. She sat crouched down next to Murasakibara and helped her pick up her fallen books.

Murasakibara looked to her side and saw the other girl picking up the books. She had dark-brown hair styled in a messy bun on top of her head and a friendly smile on her face. Her eyes were filled with warmth and genuine concern. The girl rose back to her feet and offered her hand to help Murasakibara stand up.

‘I’m fine.’ Murasakibara replied quietly as she took the hand which was offered to her. She could now see that the girl was pretty tall. Not anywhere near her, but she was well over 170cm for sure.

‘Does that happen more often? You hitting your head on doors, I mean?’ She asked.

‘Mhhh, yeah it does. I’m kinda used to my home; we have altered doors and furniture there so I sometimes forget that not every place is like that.’ Murasakibara shrugged.

‘That’s gotta suck. My name’s Kobayashi Misa, by the way.’

‘I’m Murasakibara Atsushi.’

‘Ah! Nice to meet you, Murasakibara-chan!’

‘Ehh? “-chan”?’

‘Yes! Because you’re absolutely adorable! I mean, look at you! Your hair’s super cute, I love your bag and the way you talk is adorable too.’

‘Right…’ Murasakibara replied in confusion.

‘It seems that we’re classmates, so that’s fun! Now come on, I’m gonna introduce you to some of my friends! They’ll love you!’ Misa-chin grinned, pulling Murasakibara into the classroom. Somehow, Misa-chin resembled Kise-chin a lot in behavior.

It was strangely comforting.

Chapter Text

The students of Rakuzan high were surprised to say the least when their new student council president turned out to be some first-year girl from Tokyo, it was usually a 3^rd year that got elected. But when she first came walking onto that stage to give her speech, they suddenly understood why this girl had been chosen for the job.

Akashi Seiju was beautiful and unique looking, that fact was hard to miss. Her hair was vibrant red, but with the way the light fell in, it appeared to have a pink glow. It was long and almost unnaturally straight, her bangs fell over most of her forehead, ending just a little above her perfectly arched eyebrows; they were the same shade as her hair and thin and elegant. Her right eye was the same shade as her hair, but it appeared to be a little lighter in color. Strangely, her left eye was golden. Both eyes possessed split pupils, a true rarity. Her eyes were filled with wisdom, talent and leadership, as if she was born for the role as student council president. She was pretty tall too, but nothing extreme, she was around the same height as the average boy. Her body wasn’t exactly thin; she seemed to be pretty buff instead. This little detail gave away her identity as a sportsman.

Her voice was soft yet strong, whatever she said, you couldn’t do much else than believe and obey. She seemed to be the natural top-student of the school, despite only just having entered a few weeks ago.

She was also known for being the captain of the boy’s basketball team and for some reason no one objected. Of course, it was hard for those that hadn’t seen her play to know just how strong this girl was. It wasn’t her physical strength per-say, (although Akashi did lift weights everyday) but it was her presence, her personality. Whenever she looked you in the eye, the natural reflex was to bow your head for her. Akashi knew how to utilize this strength on the court. Because combined with her extremely high intelligence, which made her practically able to see short moments into the future, that stare was a deadly weapon.

“Ankle break”. A renown move in basketball, performed by various professionals in the NBA, but the way Akashi performed it just seemed to be different. It wasn’t just tripping over your feet; it was literally just kneeling down before someone superior to yourself.

On top of that nasty little trick, Akashi was ridiculously fast and agile. She had a perfectly harmonized mind and body, allowing her to execute perfect passes at perfect timings. Akashi could use basically every single part of her body to do this, from her hands to her elbow or even her shoulder. She could use all of these to pass. She made the perfect point-guard; a true pillar to support her team.  She always wore her team jacket hanging loosely over her strong shoulders, walking in the front while the rest of her team followed her obediently; showing once again how strong she really was, considering how she kept all those giant men in tow.

She was popular with boys and girls alike, she got many confession-letters each day, she often entrusted Mibuchi to read them to her while she tied her shoes or did business related to the school council. Ever-so often, she’d smile at the contents of a particular letter, but whenever the vice-captain asked her if she’d like to him to relay a message to the sender for her, Akashi always said that there was no need for elaborate measures; he could just go tell them her apologies and that she did not have time for romance. He was the only one on the team she trusted enough to handle these kind of jobs.

The truth was, he reminded her of her former best friend and vice-captain, Midorima Shinoko. Back in middle school, the green haired shooting guard had always been the one to fulfill these kinds of requests from her. Aside from that, they were quite similar in person; the both occupied the same position on the field and they always followed the team around as if they were their mother. They’d scold bad behavior and act disgusted with everything improper.

Akashi had noticed it in an instant; all regulars of Rakuzan reminded her of her old team in certain ways and with the newly added sixth-man Mayuzumi Chihiro, this picture was completed. Back in the Teiko days, Akashi had struggled and failed to keep her team together, one by one the friends she loved had slipped out of her hand. She had tried to bend her fingers to make a fist again, but in the end they’d seeped through her fingers like sand. They were only her foes now; these new team-members would be her new friends; she wouldn’t fail them.

Deep down she was well-aware that her old teammates were irreplaceable. No-one she had ever encountered was as strong as they were and they were all girls; just like her. It was something she missed. Even if Aomine and Kise had been rowdy and loud, Kuroko was kind-of appearing and disappearing everywhere, Midorima was prudish and uptight and Murasakibara was barely even a real person; they were still girls, so they could understand her feelings better.

The friendship they’d had in the first year-and-a-half of their time at Teiko had been unbreakable. They were always together, on the court, during breaks and sometimes after school too. Kise would host sleepovers at her house; Midorima would always refuse to come at first, but they always managed to persuade her into coming over in the end.

Akashi remembered how she always went food-shopping with Murasakibara in advance and how they’d all end up huddled together with blankets on their shoulders, seated on pillows and mattresses on the floor of Kise’s spacious bedroom. They’d watch stupid movies, or basketball games.

Sometimes they’d fall asleep just like that, while other times they’d share secrets and have pillow-fights. It was always a delight seeing Midorima and Murasakibara to come out of their shells; even if only a little. They’d keep themselves distant from the party at first, quietly sitting together in one of the corners of the room side-eyeing everyone else from a safe distance. Until someone asked them about something they were passionate about and they’d join in with everyone else. They didn’t really mind listening to Midorima’s long stories about horoscopes and fortune-telling; nor did they mind Murasakibara giving them elaborate explanations on which snacks or foods tasted the best, because parties were always the most fun when everyone was involved.

Kise would always give them near-professional makeovers, experimenting with looks and styles. Akashi still had to suppress her giggles whenever she remembered that time when Kise had given Midorima an extreme gothic makeover; while she had given Aomine a Lolita look. They had all laughed so much, even Midorima, who had pretended to be mad at first. It really had been funny; Akashi thought.

When the lights finally went out and they all laid down on their futons, Kuroko would pretend to be a ghost; Aomine lost her shit each and every time despite knowing that it was going to happen sooner or later and that the ghost in question was always just her best friend being a little shit.

The next morning they’d all get a million messages from Kise with pictures and text saying how much fun they had. They were always very annoying, but Akashi missed them now that they were no longer coming.

Those were the golden days and Akashi Seiju wanted them back. She wanted her new team to become what her old team once was. Something (or more accurately; someone) inside her always told her that this was impossible. No matter how hard she tried, the Rakuzan bunch would never become the Generation of Miracles.

None of these boys would give her nails a makeover (okay, Mibuchi might just do that if she asked), none of them would tell her to always follow horoscopes, none of them would ever ask her to play a one-on-one at 2 am, none of them would come to her with tears in their eyes to confess that they’d been in love with one of their teammates and didn’t know how to say this and that they needed Akashi’s advice, none of them would ever dare to randomly pick her off the ground and imitate the lion-king.

Akashi knew that she was mostly to blame; it was her poor behavior and mental state that had lead to this downfall of miracles and to them eventually splitting ways without remaining in contact at all.

She missed those golden days and she was going to get them back. She’d work hard to turn her new team into the ex-friends that were now nothing but her foes. She’d do it and the miracles would bow down before her once more after she’d beaten them all with her new team.

She would prove to everyone in Japan that she, Akashi Seiju, first and only heir to the wealthy Akashi-family, was the absolute.

Chapter Text

‘Y’know? I’m so fucking sick of this shit.’ Aomine spoke after their team had just won another practice-game.

‘Sick of what, Aomine?’ Midorima replied. She was sitting on one of the benches in the dressing-room and she was busy with brushing her long hair.

‘Just the way that every game is so easy. All those other girls are just so small and fragile.’ Aomine replied.

‘They are hardly small nor fragile, Aomine. You are just very tall and strong.’ Akashi replied bitterly. The redhead didn’t like being mocked on her un-impressive height. At 158 cm she was the shortest regular on the Teiko girls-basketball team.

‘Aka-chin doesn’t get it because she’s not tall like we are.’ Murasakibara replied. The 12-year-old giant was munching down on some sweets.

‘Sometimes I think that I should just cut-off my hair and pretend to be a boy. Unlike you guys I don’t even have any sight of boobs, so it shouldn’t be that hard right? I mean I’m already tall and pretty muscular and my face isn’t all that girly either; if I start calling everyone homie and dude and dress like a boy, do you think I can sneak into the boy’s team? They’re a lot stronger, so it will be more fun.’ Aomine said as she inspected herself in the mirror.

‘Aomine, you cannot be serious.’ Midorima sighed as she rubbed her temples.

‘But I am being serious, Midorima. Just imagine; playing against national-level guys I can go all-out for once instead of getting half-assed victories. It would be so much fun. Hey! We should all pretend to be boys! Even you, Akashi! You might be small and all, but you’re really good and pretty strong! Yeah, let’s do this for real!’ Aomine shouted. She seemed to be hyper excited.

‘Oh my. Mine-chin has gone insane, right Aka-chin?’ Murasakibara asked as she side-eyed the ace with a judgmental look.

‘I think you’re right.’ Akashi replied.

‘I cannot believe that you would even think of something like this, Aomine. Posing as a boy to get what you want is very weird and inappropriate, in fact. I highly suggest you drop the idea.’ Midorima said. She had finally finished combing her hair and was now braiding it.

‘I am really going through with this. I don’t care what you say. Satsuki will help covering me and no-one will ever know the difference! I mean, come on. You guys must be tired of these games too, right? It’s unfair that we can’t play on the highest level just because we’re girls. I mean, look at us; we’re all already taller than the average man in this country! So there shouldn’t be much difference between us and the guys, right?’Aomine said.

‘Aomine, that’s beside the point. We were all born as girls and, as far as I know, none of us is transgender, so that means that we should accept our role as a woman and just roll with it. A weaker boy isn’t allowed to play in the female league and a strong woman isn’t allowed to play with the men. It’s just rules that were established in this world and you better start accepting them now, because in your later life nothing will be changing.’ Midorima replied as she adjusted her glasses.

‘Man, you’re such a boring person; just live a little, will ya?’ Aomine said.

‘I agree with Mido-chin; we should all just accept our roles in society. But I also agree with Mine-chin saying that Mido-chin is very boring.’ Murasakibara added.

‘Die, both of you.’ The green-haired girl replied bitterly.

‘Aomine, I understand your feelings very well; but you’ll be found out eventually when your body starts changing for real. Choosing this path will probably bring you misfortune in the end.’ Akashi said. To both Midorima and Murasakibara’s surprise; Akashi didn’t give Aomine any sign of displeasure.

‘So… Akashi, are you saying that I should just try and face my doom later on, or that I shouldn’t do it at all?’ Aomine said in confusion.

‘Mhhh, I suppose I wouldn’t mind seeing you try. It might give me some ideas of how I can infiltrate the best.’ Akashi shrugged with a smirk on her lips.

‘AKASHI!’ Midorima exclaimed in horror. Murasakibara just looked very, very, very confused.

‘Oh man! Akashi, who knew I could count on you!? You’re a lot cooler than I thought you’d be!’ Aomine said as she swung one of her arms around the captains’ small shoulders. She stuck-out her tongue to the purple- and the green-haired girl standing on the other side of the room.

‘Seems like me and you are the only sane persons in this room then, Mido-chin.’ Murasakibara said as she rested her chin on top of Midorima’s head.

‘I suppose so.’ The smaller girl sighed.

---

‘I’m Aomine Daiki and I’m gonna be on the first string from now on!’ She announced. Aomine had been practicing on saying her fake-name as naturally as she possible could. He once shoulder-length hair had been cut short and her usual pink workout-shirt had been replaced by a grey one. She was surprised by how much the new hairstyle changed her face. Her bangs were now completely gone and the short hair gave her face a more angular look. She really did resemble a young boy now. Her mother hadn’t been all too happy with her daughter’s sudden new haircut, but it didn’t really bother her. Aomine didn’t tell her mother about the rest of her plan, of course.

‘Welcome to the team; everyone, this boy will be newly added to your team and I expect you to treat him well. He’s a newly added transfer-student. He came to today’s try-outs and completely overwhelmed everyone else, so even if he’s a first year I allowed him to join our official lineup.’ The head coach said.

Aomine could hardly contain her excitement; her plan had actually worked! Together with Satsuki she had ordered a male-uniform and they had snuck into the principal’s office to change her name on the forms. They also changed her name in the computer and added a different photo to her profile; one with her new haircut. They removed all possible traces of Aomine Daika from Teiko’s database and wrote down that Aomine Daiki was a transfer student that had only just joined.

During lunch the next day Aomine gave Midorima the shock of her life by showing up in the boy’s uniform with short hair and an approved application-form from the basketball team in hand.

‘Oh my god; you actually went through with this!? What is wrong with you?’ The poor girl shouted.

‘Mine-chin, what the hell?’ Murasakibara said. The immensely tall girl was staring at Aomine with her jaw dropped.

Akashi smirked and read the form Aomine carried with her. ‘So, Aomine Daiki, huh? Nice to meet you.’

‘Nice to meet ya too, Akashi.’ Aomine replied with a grin.

‘Didn’t I do a great job!? She looks like an actual boy now, doesn’t she? Even our classmates didn’t notice!’ Momoi grinned. ‘I am now the manager of the boy’s team so I can always look after Dai-chan! She won’t bring any trouble; I’ll make sure of it.’

‘But what are you going to do if they find out, Aomine? They will figure it out at some point. Like; where will you change clothes!?’ Midorima said while making unclear gestures with her hands.

‘I already have that planned out! You see; I’m just gonna play a couple games with the dudes and they will be like “Oh wow Aomine-san is so amazing” and then I’ll dramatically reveal that I’m a girl. But that that point they’ve already accepted me as one of their own, so they will most likely allow me to stay. Besides, Satsuki did some research and there’s no written rule that says girls can’t play in the boys team. So it’s not as if I’m actually doing something wrong.’ Aomine explained.

‘You are doing something wrong! If there’s no such rule, you should have asked or consulted about this with someone instead of cross-dressing and pretending to be someone you’re not, in fact!’ Midorima hissed back.

‘Don’t be like that, four-eyes. Being a guy has many advantages. For one, I can now openly flirt with girls and no one even bats an eye! So, what’s up, beautiful?’ Aomine jokingly grinned as she wiggled her eyebrows.

The dull banging sound of a head falling down on a table was heard through the entire cafeteria of Teiko middle school.

‘Ah! Mido-chin!’ Murasakibara yelled in shock after her friend suddenly fainted. ‘Mine-chin, good job. You killed Mido-chin!’ The purple-haired girl added as she poked Midorima’s cheek with one of her fingers in the hope that the shooting guard would wake up. Midorima did not respond, which was strange because she’d usually get annoyed by people touching her.

‘Uhm… oops?’ Aomine said. ‘Yo, is she gonna be okay?’ She added with slightly more panic in her voice.

‘Yes, Midorima is most likely fine. You just brought quite the shock upon her structured life and she finds it hard to deal with such a thing. I think she’s just re-setting her system to get properly adjusted or something like that.’ Akashi said.

‘You’re not even sure!?’ Aomine yelled.

‘Poor Midorin. I hope she’ll feel better once she wakes up. Dai-chan, you shouldn’t have flirted with her.’ Momoi said. He felt a little guilty because his friend had fainted partly on his behalf.

‘That was a joke! I mean, sure she’s good-looking and all, but EW, I would never want to actually date her!’ Aomine shouted.

‘Maybe someone should take her to the infirmary, just to be sure.’ Akashi said after a good 30 seconds without any changes. ‘Murasakibara, do you think you can carry her there?’

‘Mido-chin is very skinny, so it shouldn’t really be a problem. She should eat more snacks.’ The center replied as she picked up her friend as if she were nothing but a feather. ‘See? Very light. I’ll be back soon. See ya~.’

‘Well, at least she didn’t murder me, so I guess you could say that that went better than expected.’ Aomine said after Murasakibara left the cafeteria with a still very much unmoving Midorima in her arms.

‘I really didn’t think you’d actually have the guts to pull this one off, Aomine. I’m pleasantly surprised.’ Akashi said.

‘This is all just a part of your master plan to get into the boys’ team yourself so you can prove just how strong you are, isn’t it?’ Momoi asked.

‘Yup. You’re right, Momoi.’ Akashi replied

---

‘Do you two have any idea of what you did!?’ Nijimura hissed at the two underclassmen in front of him.

‘Please don’t be mad at Satsuki, I dragged him into this. It’s my fault, not his.’ Aomine said in order to defend her best friend. Barely a month after she’s first joined the guys her true identity had been found-out. Someone from the opposing team pointed it out. A boy she went to elementary school with played on that team and he had shouted that he was surprised to see that Aomine was now a boy. The Teiko team had been confused and they asked Aomine about it; she had no other choice but to reveal everything and they were mad to say the least.

‘He still helped you pull off this ridiculous plan, didn’t he? What made you think that you could just change your fucking identity and play with us?’ Teiko’s captain shouted.

‘I’m sorry okay!? It’s just that I was getting so bored in the girl’s league. Everyone was so much weaker than I was and I didn’t experience any joy while playing a game anymore. So I thought that if I could play with the guys that it would be more fun.’ Aomine said.

‘Yes! And Dai-chan is already around your height and you’ve seen it for yourself; she’s so very strong, Nijimura-senpai. Way stronger than any girl. I couldn’t just stand by and see her lose passion for something she loves, right?’ Momoi pleaded. The tears were welling up in his eyes.

‘I already looked like a boy a lot, so all I had to do was cut my hair and so I did and we looked into it; really. We didn’t find any rule saying that girls were forbidden from entering the boy’s competition. So it was not as if we really broke any rules.’

‘Didn’t break any rules, you say? Girl, you made a fake identity and pretended to be someone you’re not for weeks! That is breaking a lot of rules. And that there’s not rule written down doesn’t mean that the rule isn’t there! It’s unspoken that boys and girls have to play in separate teams! I wouldn’t be surprised if they decide to kick you two off the team; or even of the school.’ Nijimura said.

‘That’s enough, Nijimura. I’ll take it from here. You two, please come to my office right now. We’ve got a lot to discuss.’ The head coach suddenly spoke. No one knew when he had joined their conversation.

‘Yessir. Captain, I’m sorry, once again.’ Aomine said as she followed the older man towards his office. She was biting back tears.

---

The next day Aomine showed up in her uniform skirt and sweater like she had done before she decided to pose as a boy and on her face was the biggest smile.

‘Mine-chin has finally come to her senses?’ Murasakibara asked upon seeing her friend.

Midorima audibly sighed in relief.

‘Well, not really. They found out about me yesterday and the Captain was mad as fuck; I honestly felt like crying. Man, that dude is scary. But anyway, he’s yelling at me and Satsuki and then the head coach shows up outta nowhere and asks me and Satsuki to come to his office. So we do that and there he tells us that he’s willing to overlook what we did, delete all the evidence and not mention anything to our parents as long as I promised to stay and fight for the team! In other words, you were wrong and I was right and now I’ll get an official place on the team!’ Aomine explained. She was hardly able to contain her happiness.

‘What!? But that’s outrageous! Bad behavior shouldn’t be rewarded, in fact!’ Midorima said.

‘Yeah, no fair. If Mine-chin is allowed on the boy’s team, then I want in too.’ Murasakibara replied.

‘Oh my god, you are not being serious with me, are you? Not you too.’ The shooting guard said in shock. She glared at her taller friend with fury in her eyes.

Murasakibara just shrugged in response.

‘Congratulations, Aomine. However, I think Murasakibara’s got a point. We want in too, so how about we bring the head coach a little visit to show him what we’ve got?’ Akashi said.

‘Yes. Go Aka-chin.’

‘No wait, I think it’s actually a better plan if we visit Nijimura-san first, since he’s the captain and as vice-captain of the girl’s team, I know him from basketball-club business.’ Akashi said. For some reason; her face turned scarlet.

‘You three are absolutely insane, in fact.’

‘Well, we’ll have to leave you behind then, Midorima. Unless, of course, you come with us.’ Akashi smirked.

‘Fine. Just leave me then. I don’t care.’ The green-haired girl replied. She raised her chin, crossed her arms and turned her head away.

‘But Mido-chin. I’d be sad if you didn’t come with us. ‘S not the same without you.’ Murasakibara said. She attempted to bribe her green-haired friend by pouting and putting on her sad eyes.

‘No, do not try me, Murasakibara.’

‘Yep, she’s right. We’re gonna miss your constant nagging and your awesome shots.’ Aomine chimed in.

‘Aomine. Shut up.’

‘Whatever will I do without you around? I thought we were best friends.’ Akashi said in a little voice.

‘I have no intention of being friends with such irresponsible people, in fact.’

‘Please come with us? I’ll even give you snacks and Mine-chin will not tease you for a week!’

‘Ugh… Fine. I’ll come with you! Alright? Stop acting so sad, I don’t like it.’ Midorima hissed.

‘Yay! I knew you’d give in under all our love and affection.’ Aomine shouted. She slapped her bespectacled friend on the back.

‘Tch. I didn’t do it for you or anything.’ She replied.

‘Whatever you say, Tsundere-chin.’ Murasakibara said. She then took a firm hold on Midorima’s wrist and dragged her all the way to where Akashi led them.

‘Nijimura-san, I’d like to ask you for a favor.’ Akashi asked once they’d reached their destination.

‘Akashi, hello there. What’s it?’ The captain replied.

‘Well, as you can see I’ve brought some friends with me.’ Akashi started.

Nijimura looked over his shoulder and saw the friends Akashi just talked about. Two very tall girls, the tallest one with purple hair and a blank expression on her face, the shorter one with green hair and glasses. The latter looked as if she was in a panic and wanted to get away, but she couldn’t because the extremely tall girl had a hold on one of her arms.

‘Yes, I can see that. Would you please tell me where this is going?’ Nijimura asked suspiciously.

‘Now, we’re also friends of Aomine Daika; you know, the girl that joined your team recently.’ Akashi continued.

‘Please just tell me what you-- Oh no. No way, forget it.’ Nijimura said. He shook his head and gestured them to leave.

‘You catch on quick. I’m impressed.’ Akashi said.

‘Don’t even think about it, little one. It’s hard enough having to deal with one girl. The head coach shouldn’t have allowed that in the first place. I knew something like this might happen.’

‘Midorima never misses any three-pointers and her range is very big. She’s a very strong one at defense, too.’

‘Impossible, something like that would make her the best shooting guard in this universe; stop trying to convince me by spouting nonsense.’

‘Murasakibara’s almost 190 centimeters and her defensive range is incredibly big. Not to mention that she’s a monster on the offensive part too and despite her size, she’s very agile.’

‘Shut up, you spoiled brat.’

‘I’m very good at passing, I can build up plays and I’m fast. And I’d love to learn from you, Nijimura-senpai. I really look up to you.’ Akashi said; her speech had changed form. She now talked like the stereotypical school-girl instead of like a hyper-intelligent being. She twisted a lock of her long red hair around her finger and she looked to the floor in a shy manner.

‘Uhm… thanks, I guess.’ Nijimura said.

‘Senpai, We’d really love it if you gave us a chance at least. I won’t disappoint you, I promise.’ Akashi batted her eyelashes at the speechless captain of the Teiko basketball team.

Midorima couldn’t believe her eyes; Akashi was flirting her way onto the team… and it seemed to be working! She couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. She really wanted to leave the hall right this instance, but someone prevented that.

‘Please, senpai?’ Akashi whispered.

‘Ugh! Fine, Akashi. Have it your way. You come to practice at exactly 5, understood? Not even half a second later. I expect you to be able to do every single exercise and not use the excuse “but I’m a girl” even once.’ Nijimura said. His face was bright red as he spoke. ‘And what about you, purple goliath?’

‘I wish to join the team too. I really will not lose~. And my name is Murasakibara Atsushi, class 1-C, don’t call me goliath, I’ll seriously crush your fucking head.’ Murasakibara said darkly. She really seemed to be very upset.

‘Fine, just be on time and drop the attitude. I’m sorry for offending you.’ Nijimura decided to add that last bit because he noticed that he had seriously offended the tall girl and he didn’t mean to actually sadden her. ‘Now what about our little lady with the glasses? She doesn’t look so sure to me.’

‘Ah, don’t worry about Mido-chin. She’s very serious about joining the team. She’s just a little shy.’

‘And a tsundere.’ Akashi added.

‘Shut up, both of you. I am perfectly capable of speaking on my own behalf and I am no tsundere, please don’t be ridiculous. I am Midorima Shinoko, class 1-A. I will make sure to be there at the right time and I shall not miss any of my shots, nor will I allow myself to get blocked by anyone. You can count on that, in fact.’

‘Very well then; we’ve got ourselves a deal. Just remember, this doesn’t mean that you’ll actually be on the team; I will just be observing you all for a little to see if you’re actually as good as you claim. So don’t celebrate just yet; our selection protocol is hard. On top of that, the head coach still has to approve all of you. The chances are very small, you hear me.’ Nijimura said.

‘We’ll see about that, Captain. We’ll be on the starting line-up before you can even blink.’ Akashi said.

Chapter Text

‘Oh my god. Hyuuga, look at this application form I’ve got.’ Riko suddenly shouted, causing the other Seirin-members to look at her in confusion.

‘What’s wrong, coach?’ Hyuuga asked.

‘This person. I don’t remember her coming up to our stand at all, but she’s from Teiko! Aargh, how can I not remember that girl’s face!?’ Riko said frustrated, pushing the form into Hyuuga’s hands.

‘What-? Oh my god you’re right! And she’s a girl, judging from her name, so she must be one of them… right?’

‘First we had that American girl and now one of the Teiko girls. This year’s line-up is going to be insane!’ Riko said with a mischievous grin on her face.

‘Oh no. Practice is going to be brutal this year.’ The Seirin basketball team collectively thought.

---

‘Ok, is everyone present? Koganei-kun?’ Riko said after blowing her pink whistle.

‘Yes ma’am!’ He replied, giving of a salute as if he were in the army.

‘Mitobe-kun?’

‘Mitobe says yes!’ Koganei said.

‘Hyuuga-kun?’

‘Yes!’

‘Tsuchida-kun?’

‘I’m here.’

‘Ok good, that’s all the second years present! Now, let’s see our new first years!’ Riko said with a smile on her face.

‘Let’s see… Furihata Kouki-kun?’

‘Uhm, I’m present, miss!’

‘Fukuda Hiroshi-kun?’

‘Yessir!’

‘Kawahara Koichi-kun?’

‘Yes!’

‘Now, our strange rookie; Kagami Taiga-san?’

‘I’m here! Hey! Why am I strange!?’

Everyone suddenly turned their head towards the tall redheaded girl. They had simply forgotten she was a girl for a moment, but hearing her voice was a reminder of this little fact. Kagami was pretty, but kind of scary too, so none of the boys really dared to look at her for all too long.

‘So, that’s everyone present! Great! Let’s get started!’ Riko beamed.

‘Uhm, coach. What about Kuroko-san? The one from Teiko middle?’ Hyuuga asked.

Whispers went through the room “Did he say “Teiko”? One of them is joining us!?”

‘Oh, right. My excuses. Kuroko Tetsumi-san!? No? She seems to be skipping practice today. Let’s get on with it then!’

‘Uhm, excuse me, but I’m right here. I am Kuroko Tetsumi…’ A feminine, yet kind of low voice spoke.

Riko looked to the source of the sound and saw a small girl standing in front of her. Ok, Kuroko Tetsumi wasn’t small. She was over 10 cm taller than Riko was, which made her tall for a girl, if we were speaking technically. But she looked small for some reason. Or more like, she didn’t have any presence whatsoever.

Her skin was impossibly pale and her eyes were as blue as the sky on a spring day. Her hair was just as blue as her eyes were, cut just below her chin, but now tied up in a small ponytail with hairpins keeping her bangs out of her eyes. She had some muscle mass, but nothing special, she was pretty, but nothing extreme. Kuroko Tetsumi was plain, nothing like the basketball superstar they’d been expecting.

‘AAAAH! Where the heck did you come from all of a sudden!?’ Riko screamed.

‘I was here the whole time, actually.’ Kuroko replied flatly.

‘Wait! Kuroko-san, you’re from Teiko, right? You were a benchwarmer there, weren’t you?’ Hyuuga asked, visibly confused.

‘No, I played in games all the time. If I were just a benchwarmer I would have been on the girls team, hadn’t I?’ She replied, as if it was all so obvious.

‘You’re joking, right? Someone like you can’t have been a regular.’ He said, his brow was twitching.

‘No, I’m dead serious.’

‘Uhm… sure. Please join the others, we don’t have all day. Okay everyone; shirts off!’ Riko said with a spark in her eyes.

The boys did as she said with the tiniest bit of hesitation and allowed her to look up and down their bodies.

‘And why are you two still wearing your shirts?’ The coach asked as she came to Kagami and Kuroko.

‘Well, ya can’t expect me to randomly strip in front of all these guys, right? Uhm… miss.’ Kagami said.

‘What Kagami-san has already said applies to me as well. We’re girls, us stripping here would be highly inappropriate, coach. Although I am wearing a bra, so it’s not really that much of an issue.’ Kuroko added dryly.

Riko looked at the both of them for a second and then turned around. ‘Boys, close your eyes and look at that wall until I tell you otherwise, understood!? Take one look in this direction before I say you can and die.’

The boys couldn’t do much else but to obey, because “die” in Riko’s words means “quadrupled practice menu” and you didn’t want that.

‘Now, there are no more boys to look at you. So off with those shirts, girls!’

Kuroko quickly pulled of her shirt, but Kagami hesitated a little at first. All Riko had to do was glare at the redhead once and she, too, pulled of her shirt.

Riko inspected them both for a moment. ‘Kuroko’s pretty skinny. She’s not very muscular and her body is almost at her physical limits, so I can’t really understand how she was a regular from Teiko… she’s not in bad physical form, it’s just not good either. Hold on! She’s bigger than me! Goddamn it! She looked about as flat as me with her shirt on, but she’s at least a C! Screw her. Now; let’s move on to Kagami. As expected, she’s tall and still growing. She’s muscular and her physical limits are practically not to be seen right now. She’s a monster, just like I expected… now let’s look at the most important part now. No way. This isn’t even funny anymore. She’s an E, wait no; she might be an F, even! Ugh, I can’t properly see when she keeps that bra on. But I can’t exactly ask her to pull it off, right?’

‘Fine. I got the data I needed. You can put your shirts back on now.’ Riko said. Somehow she didn’t sound as imposing as she had before and she seemed to be avoiding Kagami’s eyes.

‘Uhm, do you think I did something wrong?’ Kagami whispered to Kuroko.

Chapter Text

Kise skipped all the way from the train station to the gates of Seirin high school. They would be her very first high school opponents and to top it all off; Kurokocchi went to that school! She knew that she had “better” things to do, such as homework or practice, but Kise was never one to deny herself what she wanted and right now, all she wanted was to see her best friend from middle school. So Kise decided to tell her team that she was going to “scout” on Seirin to “properly prepare” for their upcoming practice match. Kasamatsu-senpai had said no at first, but she had managed to persuade him with a lot of begging and faked-tears.

And here she was, entering through Seirin’s pretty brand-new gates. She admired the beauty and cleanliness of the complex; the school was only two years old after all and with that it was much more modern than Kaijo high was. She wore her usual school-uniform; her skirt hiked up to mid-thigh and her blazer hanging open over her white blouse which was neatly tucked into her skirt. She also wore black thigh-highs and white sneakers. She didn’t look all that special, if she could say so herself, but she still got a lot of attention in the form of whispers and stares.

Unlike some of her former teammates, who’d get insecure or mad at the stares they got, Kise was perfectly fine with all the attention; she lived for it. She was well aware of her own beauty. The only thing she’d change about her appearance if she had the change was to reduce her height by about 15 centimeters, but being tall had its’ benefits. Those nasty guys she had hitting on her from time to time were easily intimidated whenever she rose up from her seat and in crowds she didn’t feel like suffocating because she was taller than most of the people anyways. But the most important reason she valued her unusual height for was basketball, obviously.

‘Oh wow, look at that girl. Isn’t she super beautiful?’ A girl said to her friend.

‘You’re right. I recognize her from somewhere. Wait, she’s that one famous model, isn’t she?’ The friend replied.

Kise smiled and walked over towards the two girls; she hated to admit it, but she had no idea where to go if she wanted to catch the basketball club; she might as well just ask these two girls because they seemed to like her.

‘Excuse me! I was wondering if you could tell me where I can find the basketball club? I’m kind of lost, you see.’ Kise said sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head.

‘Oh, yes I can help you with that. Uhm, let’s see. Ah, you need to walk straight ahead and then there’s this passage which leads to a gymnasium, you need to take that, but you need to go to the left to go to the second passage and there you’ll find the basketball club, miss.’ The bravest one of the two girls explained.

‘Ah! Much thanks! Your help is very much appreciated. I’m off then, see ya!’ Kise said. She threw a peace-sign as she ran in the direction the girl had instructed her too.

It only took her a minute to reach the basketball gymnasium and the door was wide open! Kise silently sneaked-in and seated herself on the stage. She watched how the Seirin team practiced. She spotted Kurokocchi easily enough; it was one of her talents, because most people weren’t able to see the blue haired girl that easily.

Her eye then caught the other girl standing on the court. She immediately caught Kise’s interest. Not only because she was really good at basketball, but also because Kise thought that this girl was hot as fuck.

It was a real shame that her eyebrows were like that.

Kise watched how the redhead went in at full speed and suddenly turned back, went around the defense, only to cut back in as sharp as a knife and dunk the ball through the net.

‘Oh hey! That’s pretty good.’ Kise said to herself.

Who was this girl and where had she been all this time? She reminded Kise of her. It was both comforting and painful at the same time. The main difference between them was probably the fact that Aominecchi was a vastly better and faster player (and Aominecchi had normal eyebrows) but personality-wise this girl really did resemble the miracle ace.

It took Kise only a few seconds to grasp the situation when she noticed Kurokocchi staring at the new girl with a faint smile on her face.

‘So that’s how it is, huh?’ Kise thought.

It was then that Kise noticed the crowd of people that had followed her into the gymnasium.

‘… Oopsie.’

Kise distributed autographs while the Seirin team seemed to be talking about things. She couldn’t hear, nor did she care. She cheerfully talked to some of her fans until the lady with short brown hair, most likely the team’s manager, turned around and screamed in surprise because of the crowd Kise had gathered around her.

‘Ah, uhm. Excuse me, I didn’t mean to disturb your practice but…’ She trailed off.

‘Wait, that girl! What is she doing here!? That’s…’

‘It had been a while.’ Kurokocchi said coldly. (Always so mean!)

‘That’s Kise Ryouka of the Generation of Miracles!’ The team shouted collectively.

‘Uhm, sorry, but would you mind waiting a few minutes?’ Kise said to her fans. ‘Kurokocchi! How have you been! Hey!’ She shouted next as she gracefully jumped of the stage she had been seated on.

‘What? Why are you here!?’ Some guy with glasses shouted at her.

‘Well, when my coach told us that our net practice match would be against Seirin, I remembered that Kurokocchi joined this school! So I came to say hi!’ Kise said as she pulled the invisible girl in for a hug. ‘We were besties in middle school, right, Kurokocchi?’ The blonde miracle said as she rubbed her cheek against Kurokocchi’s soft hair.

‘… I wouldn’t necessarily say that.’ The smaller girl deadpanned.

‘So mean!’ Kise cried.

‘You’ve only been playing for two years!?’ Some guy suddenly shouted at her. He pointed at an article in a magazine. Kise hated that interview; the pictures they took were horrible.

‘Ah, well… that article is exaggerating a lot! Although I did start playing in second year. But it’s like; I’m honored to be part of the Generation of Miracles, but the truth is, I’m just the weakest of them all, to be completely honest with you.’ Kise replied.

It hurt her pride, saying something like this, but it was the sad, sad truth. She simply couldn’t compare to the others; they each had their special skills and all she had was extremely high physical abilities and she was a fast learner. She could copy any move she had seen once in an instance, but she couldn’t copy anything done by players stronger or better than her. As much as she wished that she could play amazing and fast freestyle like Aominecchi, or nail full-court threes like Midorimacchi; she wasn’t able to do it. Not yet, at least. ‘That is the reason why me and Kurokocchi were often picked on by the others…’ She added.

‘I wasn’t picked on, Kise-san. Please speak for yourself.’

‘Wait!? You weren’t? It was just me they picked on. Boo, that’s so mean.’ She sulked.

She didn’t have long to sulk about it, because a ball was thrown at her in full speed. Her senses registered the flying ornament just before it hit her head; she had experience with balls flying at her head and developed a sense for it. Kise extended her arm and blocked the ball’s path.

‘Ouchy! What? Why?’ Kise cried. Her hand really did hurt.

‘Sorry to end your emotional reunion like this, but you didn’t just come all the way here for just that, right? Now, how about you be my opponent for a little while, princess?’ The girl with the eyebrows said.

‘She’s exactly like Aominecchi. Geez, she even randomly throws basketballs at me to get my attention! Is she Aominecchi’s long lost twin or something?’ Kise thought as she tried to forget the sharp pains in her hand. Damn this girl was a strong thrower.

‘KAGAMI-SAN!’ Some Seirin team-members groaned.

‘Ah, so that’s her name.’ Kise thought.

‘Eh? If you wanted to play me couldn’t you have asked like a normal person instead of trying to harm my face? I need that for my job, okay!?’ Kise said dramatically.

‘Uhm, sure. My bad.’ Was the only reply Kagami offered.

‘But, fine. I’ll play you. Consider this a thank-you for showing me some cool moves! Just give me a sec, I need to change out of my uniform for a sec.’ Kise said as she pulled off her blazer and necktie. She then unbuttoned her blouse.

‘What are you doing!? You can’t play basketball in a skirt that short and why are you unbuttoning your shirt!?’ Some guy with a cat mouth shouted at her, red-faced.

‘Awww you look so cute!’ Kise said in all honesty. ‘But not to worry, I’m wearing shorts and a tank-top; I just don’t want my uniform to get dirty and then get scolded by my mom.’ She finished as she folded her clothes and put them on the ground.

Kise walked over to the court, now only dressed in her black tank-top with spaghetti-straps, uniform-skirt, socks and shoes. She picked up one of the balls lying around and started dribbling, remaining on the same spot for a few seconds to allow Kagami to take a proper stance. She then made an exact replica of the move Kagami had performed earlier, except she did this with more elegance and agility. She was genuinely surprised to find Kagami to be able to keep up with her long enough for the redhead to have a serious change of blocking her dunk, but Kise wasn’t weak and she knew that she was better than Kagami was, so she forced the dunk through with more power than Kagami had used. The rim was shaking as her hand slammed the ball though the net and she felt her body colliding with Kagami’s, sending the redhead to the ground while she kept hanging from the rim for a little longer to add a dramatic effect. She released herself with a jump and elegantly landed on her two feet.

‘Kagami might be like Aominecchi in a lot of ways, but she’s weak. Far too weak. This battle was kinda disappointing to be honest. That’s too bad.’ Was Kise’s final thought as she left the grounds of Seirin high school after having been coldly rejected by none other than sweet, little Kurokocchi.

‘Mhhh, I guess I’ll give her some time to evolve.’ Kise said to herself, because she knew that the potential was there, somewhere inside Kagami. It just had yet to be awakened like it had with all of the miracles and when that time came, perhaps they’d finally have a real opponent they could go all-out against with no reservations or regret.

Chapter Text

‘Hey! You’re Midorima Shinoko-san, right? It’s nice to meet ya!’ Takao shouted as he ran up towards the tall green-haired girl. Why he even asked was a mystery to him too; the identity of the green-haired, 195cm tall girl was deadly obvious already. He just wanted to make a grand appearance. After all, this was the one person he’d sworn to defeat.

He had been shocked to see her standing there earlier that day, in her baggy t-shirt and pants. Dressed as if she was just another boy on the basketball team instead of a pretty little girl; okay not so little at all, but the point is clear.

Takao knew that one of the Miracles would be attending Shuutoku, it just sucked that it had to be this chick. He was pretty sure that the green-haired girl was his least-favorite out of the illustrious team, it was her specifically that had torn his team to shreds back in middle school; she and the model-girl had been the only Miracles in the line-up that day and he was in charge of marking the beanpole with the spectacles, only to get ultimately destroyed. Midorima was faster than him, taller than him and stronger than him, all despite the fact that she was a girl. She spoke to him in a condescending tone; told him that he played a nice game. Something like that was easy to say when you won with overwhelming strength. He had scored ten points for his she team; she had made well over 30 for hers, he stopped counting after the second quarter. He disliked Midorima with every fiber of his being from that day onwards, but he also looked up to her and wanted her to acknowledge him.

He had to try his hardest so he wouldn’t scream during that first moment when he first noticed her presence. He was beyond pissed that it was this girl he was going to be locked with for the next three years. However, he also noticed that she had become prettier, so maybe he would forgive her a little. As much as he tried to hate her like he did in the old days; he just couldn’t do it anymore. He must have become more mature over time and wasn’t able to hate some girl just because she had done something that was expected of her; it was her job to bring her team to victory and he had no right to be mad at her, because if he had been in her shoes he would have done the exact same thing.

She was an amazing athlete and he couldn’t help but respect and admire her. She went all-out in every single exercise the coach gave them and most of the time she was the best at those exercises too. It was really quite depressing to see all those nationally ranked players get beaten by a 15-year old girl. The coach had told Midorima that she didn’t really have to participate in the try-outs for the first string because she would be accepted anyways; but she said that she insisted on doing them; she wanted to get there by showing her strength, not just based on speculations. She had flatly told a first-year boy to pass to her whenever he could during a practice game of the new first-years against the upperclassmen, the boy had been scared to refuse and did just as she asked. Midorima single handedly took out the entire team consisting of some of the strongest players in the league.

She had gotten pissed at her victory though; she seemed to be sure that the others were subconsciously holding back on her. Midorima then declared that she wished to be treated the same as everyone else on the team; as long as they were on the court she insisted on being viewed as a full-fledged member of the team, not as the former shooting-guard of Teiko, not as a delicate girl; just Midorima Shinoko, the ace of Shuutoku high school. She made her statement in a voice that suggested that she was some kind of world-dominator. Full of ego, strength and wisdom.

Although selfish and dominant, Midorima was also very humble and shy. This surprising side of the girl showed itself when someone gave her a compliment on her basketball and then told her that she looked nice today. She’d instantly gotten color on her pale cheeks and denied every single thing that was being said to her as if she were a shy school girl instead of a monster. Takao though that the little bit of color on her face suited her very well.

She had become even better a player than she had been the last time Takao saw her. Taller, too. Only Otsubo-senpai, a fucking three of a guy, was slightly taller than she was. The height-difference between Takao and her hadn’t even been that big in the past, barely a centimeter or 10. It was nearly 20 now, again, such a let-down for his manly pride.

It was only after practice that he checked which class he was in; he had missed the first few hours of school because of a wedding of one of his family-friends. And then he saw it. She was in the same class as he was and their numbers suggested that he has to either sit next to her or in front of her. Takao really hated his life right now, because he instinctively knew that Midorima wasn’t just a better basketball player than he was; she was most likely also a lot smarter. And when talent, beauty and brains combine; you usually get a horrible person; or in this case, Midorima Shinoko.

He wondered if she’d remembered him from middle school, so he asked her for her name in hope of getting the recognition he thought he deserved, despite knowing very well who she was.

‘How do you know my name!?’ Midorima replied as she spun around as if she was stung by a bee or something, her long, heavy braids flying over her shoulders with the movements; Takao had to take a step back to avoid getting slapped in the face by one of them. She looked genuinely confused and even a little bit scared by his sudden call.

‘Oops, I didn’t mean to scare you or anything. But really, you’re quite famous at this school already; top-ranking student, amazing athlete, great musician and on top of that; I play basketball and it’s nearly impossible to find anyone in Japan that plays basketball that doesn’t know why you are.’ Takao said. He would be lying if he said that he wasn’t amused by her shocked reaction.

‘… Well I guess that makes sense, in fact. And who might you be?’ She asked, raising her chin. She felt even more imposing this way.

‘I’m Takao Kazunari. You should know me, you know? We’re on the same team and in the same class.’ He said. She didn’t remember him after all.

‘Oh, I see.’ She replied. She didn’t show any shame nor remorse for forgetting his entire existence.

It was in that moment that he noticed the scotch-tape, including the holder, she was holding in her taped hand. Which was really weird; they didn’t even have art classes or anything like that and they just got out of practice, so why she had something like that was simply a mystery to Takao.

‘Why do you have that with you?’ He asked.

‘What a foolish question you ask me. It’s obviously my lucky item as foretold by my morning horoscope, in fact.’ She replied. Dead serious and with a straight face.

‘Bwahahaha! Oh my- you’ve gotta be kidding me and… and what- ha-ha, what’s with your speech, “in fact”?’ Takao was clutching his stomach to contain his laughter as much as he could. The prudish way this girl talked was beyond hilarious and that horoscope-story was too funny to be true. He never would have guessed that Midorima would be this weird. He knew that the miracle shooter wasn’t completely normal, but her actively following her horoscope and her old-fashioned, almost poetic speech in combination with her serious expression just made him crack up.

‘I can assure you that I am not joking, in fact. I value planning everything ahead so no misfortune will come in my way, my horoscope is my guideline for that. And what’s wrong with the way I speak?’ She replied bitterly.

‘Haha, I can’t with you. you’re hilarious and I’d love to talk more, but I need to take my leave now, see you at practice, Shin-chan!’ Takao said as he started to walk away.

‘Do not call me that again; ever! It seems overly friendly, in fact.’ She replied. Her voice was as cold as ice, but her face was bright red in embarrassment.

‘Sure thing, Midorima-san.’ Takao made sure to drag the syllables as much as possible with the sole purpose of annoying the shooting-guard. He was going to keep calling her Shin-chan anyway; not even her scariest look or threat would stop him.

As Takao passed the corner; he smiled. He would make his old rival notice and respect him and then after that he would make it his mission to bring warmth into her cold voice and expression.

Chapter Text

When Himuro Tatsuya had his first day of practice in his new high school, he was genuinely surprised by how strong and tall everyone appeared to be. He’d just come back from America and to be honest, he wasn’t expecting all that much from the Japanese basketball world. He’d gotten into Yosen high because he heard that they were one of the strongest teams in Japan. He’d only returned to Japan half-way into the school year, so he had missed the interhigh, but he’d heard that Yosen had placed third in that tournament, with that they were the highest ranked school from Akita; exactly what he was searching for. Himuro wasn’t expecting to find any players of his level or better, but the regulars from Yosen weren’t all that bad at all.

‘Wow, you guys are pretty strong, I gotta give you that!’ He sighed after a though 3-on-3 practice match.

‘You’re not all too bad yourself; in fact, I’d say that you’re a monster! But please, I know we’re pretty strong and all, but our real monster ace isn’t even here today. Now that is what you call a strong player.’ Okamura, the team-captain said.

‘What do you mean?’ Himuro asked. He was getting excited at the thought of there being a guy on the team that was even stronger than the others.

‘What do I mean? I mean our center, of course, you stupid American! The real powerhouse of this team, one of the legendary Generation of Miracles from Teiko middle school, but no big deal. She’s only the best center in the entire country! None of us, not you either, can compare to that absolute basketball she plays.’

‘I thought that you or Liu occupied the center position, judging from the practice match we just played and well, your height.’ Himuro said, seriously not noticing the little word “she.”

‘I used to be center until Murasakibara joined the team, so that’s why. But believe me, that position is no longer mine. You’ll see soon.’ Okamura replied.

‘Then why isn’t this Murasakibara-kun here right now?’ Himuro asked.

‘Uhm… well that’s quite the story.’ Liu, who suddenly joined the conversation, said with a terrified expression on his face.

‘You’ve got my interest now.’ Himuro said slyly. He liked people that knew how to rise a bit of mayhem.

‘I’ll keep it short and just say that coach banned Murasakibara from practice when she’s on her… uhm… period, because the first and last time she did attend while… menstruating, four guys quit the team and the ones that stayed all ended up crying. She somehow knows your deepest insecurities and she brings them out in the open just like that. Or she just grabs your head with one of her hands and attempts to simply murder you.’ Liu said with a shiver.

Himuro saw on his face that his trauma went deep; Okamura and the others wore a similar expression.

It was only then that it hit him; he hadn’t given it any thought up until now. He never knew that something like that would be possible.

The impact was sudden; Himuro Tatsuya realized that boys didn’t menstruate.

Naturally he then also realized that it could only mean that the so-called monstrously talented center of Yosen high was, in fact a girl.

‘Wait, are you trying to tell me that there’s a girl on your boys team and that she’s better than all of you!?’ He shouted in genuine surprise and a tad of shock. Up until now, only Taiga (he hated to admit it though) and Alex (a genuine professional) had been girls stronger than he was. He never met any other girl like that.

‘Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. You’re really dense, aren’t you? The top five players in this fucking country are all girls, playing in the boy’s league. They went to middle school together, were done with playing in the girl’s team, joined the boys and took the cup 3 years in a row; they never lost a single match. Then they split-up their team and entered high school this year, they are now all freshmen and the aces of their respective boys-filled teams. One of these schools will stand at the top of the league this year, no doubt. They’re all monsters; seriously, Murasakibara’s not the kind of girl you’d expect her to be. She’s not the deadly cute, tall, but-not-as-tall-as-me girl you usually see in basketball movies. Murasakibara’s simply a monster, she’s just strong as hell and huge.’ Okamura said, only to be interrupted half-way.

‘In what way should I take that?’ Himuro asked, for science, of course. He was a man of culture and simply had to know these things.

‘Ah, you’re that kind of guy. Well, with “huge” I was referring to the fact she’s literally taller than both me and Liu, but if you must know, she’s huge over there too and she’s admittedly very good-looking. So if you wanna hit on her, I can’t really blame ya, but do mind that you’ll probably get your neck snapped in two.’ Okamura finished.

‘Uhm, wow. She sounds very… intense.’ Himuro replied, deep inside there was a certain sadness because the mental image of a pretty, full-busted, tall-but-not-taller-than-him basketball girl was crushed in his head and promptly replaced by a 7ft tall monster woman that would kill anyone that even attempted to flirt with her. He couldn’t really believe that this girl was actually taller than the two insanely big boys that were standing in front of him. That meant that this girl must be freak-show heighted. He knew his fair share of tall women, but the supposed height of this girl was over anything he had ever encountered before. On top of that; they mentioned that she was a year younger than he was, and probably still growing.

‘Oh! If you want we can go pay her a visit in her dorm-room after practice, we were going to check in on her anyway, so why not tag along? Can’t have a first day of practice without meeting the ace, right?’

Himuro thought about it for a second, according to most of the guys he’s spoken too, this Murasakibara girl was well over two meters tall, strong as a bear and very moody while on her period, making her upperclassmen run or even cry. Meeting a girl like that didn’t sound like an item that was very high on his bucket list. But on the other hand was his curiosity, telling him to go and meet her anyway. He was very eager to meet the ace of the team and he kinda wanted to see what a girl of that height looked like. He couldn’t imagine it. Would her features be as raw as those of most insanely tall men he met in the states? Would she even really resemble a girl? On top of that; he was simply dying to see her in action. He wanted to judge if she was really as good as these guys claimed she was.

‘Uhm… do you think that it’s such a good idea to go see her while she’s like… this?’ Himuro said nervously. He really didn’t want to die just yet.

‘Oh, no don’t worry. She’s a real sweetheart and she doesn’t hurt a fly… as long as she’s not on a basketball court and when you’re not actively trying to stare at her boobs. She’ll be delighted to meet you, I’m sure of it… probably! Just be sure to bring her something sweet and she’s all yours.’ Liu said.

‘How can she be a sweetheart when you literally just told me she’s a monster that makes grown men cry like little babies?’ Himuro asked. His head was starting to hurt from all the confusion.

‘As Liu already told you, she’s only like that when you’re hitting on her or when she’s on a basketball court.’ Fukui, the point-guard, as far as Himuro knew, said.

‘I’m just so confused right now. Why?’

‘Well, it’s easy, really. She doesn’t like being hit on because she’s ridiculed and objectified for her sizes pretty often and the other reason is that she simply hates basketball with burning passion.’ Okamura said.

‘Then why does she even play?’ Himuro asked. He was seriously getting so tired of this conversation. So many questions swarming through his head.

‘Oh, that’s something you can ask her yourself. I forgot to mention that the topic is completely out-of-question with her. She might even start crying if you asked her that; she suffered a bad break-up with her old team, so that might be part of the reason. Wouldn’t risk asking it, if I were you, all the girls of her class simply adore her for some reason and they won’t take it lightly if you made her cry.’ Fukui said bitterly.

‘I asked her about it once and she got pretty upset, but she gave me an answer told me that she plays because she’s good at it and she hates losing and that if I ever asked her again, she’d crush my head. I wouldn’t recommend it to you. My doctor said that removing that fork carried a higher risk of my death then just letting it stay there.’ Okamura said.

‘WHAT?’ Himuro screamed in pure, undeniable terror. And then they said America was weird.

‘Haha, I’m just kidding. She’s not that bad, in fact, we all love and protect her as if she’s our little sister. Just come with us and introduce yourself, it’s called manners.’ Okamura said. The other regulars were trying their hardest not to laugh out loud.

‘Man, you should have seen your face when he mentioned that fork!’ Fukui said. He was clutching his stomach to contain his laughter

‘And just what do you boys think you are doing?’ The coach suddenly spoke. She magically appeared next to Liu, slapstick in her hands.

‘Uhm… nothing! We were just asking the newbie if he wanted to come meet Atsushi after practice!’ Fukui said.

‘Get your asses back to work! We’ve got a Wintercup to win, you hear me!’

‘Yes ma’am!’

---

A little while later, the team stood in front of a closed door with a name-sign carrying the words “Murasakibara Atsushi” in bright pink Kanji, decorated with all kinds of cutesy stickers and sparkles, this gave the idea that there was a very sweet girl staying in the room, this effect was quickly dispelled, however. On top of the doorframe was a sticker with “mind your head” written on it in bright red letters. It was a door of approximately 2 meters in height, a reminder that this girl was insanely tall and scary. Himuro half wanted to turn around and leave, but his gut-feeling told him he had to stay.

Okamura knocked on the door a few times; no reply came and he tried again, but this time it was louder. There was still no sign of life from behind that door. ‘Oi, Murasakibara, are you still alive in there?’ The team-captain yelled. Himuro noticed that he sounded kind of worried, as if he thought that she could actually just die like that.

‘The new kid from America’s with us! Also, we brought you snacks.’ Fukui tried.

‘The door’s open.’ A small voice from beside that closed door spoke. It was barely audible and Himuro couldn’t believe that it belonged to a supposedly 7ft tall murderess.

‘Atsushi, are you dressed?’ Fukui asked hesitantly.

‘Uhm… no. I’m in my sleepwear though, so it’s fine, right? Just close the door behind you.’ She replied.

Fukui looked at his teammates and shrugged. Then he opened the door.

The first thing Himuro noticed when he entered the room was that this girl was a lucky bastard, because she had a room all to herself. The white walls were decorated with posters from bands, several pictures of some group of girls with rainbow-colored hair, probably some idol-group, and small stickers of red, purple and pink flowers. It wasn’t the kind of room he’d expected to walk into; it was just as girly as any bedroom of the average Japanese teenage-girl was. There was a pile of books on the wooden desk placed against the wall and some magazines, the window was covered with a set of purple curtains, a chain of little LED-lights was swirled around the pole, and a heart-shaped pendulum was hanging from the ceiling.

Underneath the window was the bed, Himuro instantly noticed that it must have been costume-made, because it was nearly a foot longer than his own bed was, it was supposed to be a single bed, but it could easily fit two people in it, maybe even three. On the bed was a huge pile of light-pink blankets and a shit-load of rainbow-colored pillows and all kinds of stuffed animals. From beneath the mountain of blankets a small mop of lavender-colored hair was visible.

‘Girl, how are you not suffocating under all those blankets?’ Okamura sighed. Then, in a much nicer tone he added; ‘How are you doing?’

‘It’s cold, and I still feel like shit. Everything hurts.’ Murasakibara replied. ‘I’ve just been drowning in my self-pity; I don’t even feel like eating any snacks!’ She added. Himuro thought she sounded really tired, although he wasn’t completely certain, given the fact that her voice was muffled by the blanket fort she had locked herself in.

‘Ah, that’s sad to hear, but try to get over it for a moment, just so you can come out of your blanket fort and say hello to your new teammate.’ Okamura said as he walked over and lovingly patted one of his huge hands on the girl’s head, as if he was her father.

For a moment nothing changed, but then Murasakibara rose up from her curled-up position and peeked her head full of shoulder-length, unruly lavender-colored hair out of the covers, while keeping the rest securely wrapped around her body. Himuro could now tell that this girl was, indeed, unbelievably tall.

‘Hey there, Murasakibara-san, it is right? I’m Himuro Tatsuya; it’s very nice to finally meet you. I heard a lot about you…’ He said, trying to not sound scared or intimidated.

She then turned her head around and for the first time ever, he was able to see her face. Himuro couldn’t believe what he was seeing; this girl was, simply said, pretty as hell, nothing like he had been expecting. For someone as tall as she was, her features were very delicate. He knew he was a goner right in that moment. Of course; it just had to be like that, hadn’t it? He just had to develop a massive crush on the scariest girl in the school. Why could he never fall for a normal girl?

‘You’re so tiny.’ She replied, cocking her head slightly to the side, as if she were trying to get a better look of him. Himuro now understood why the other regulars had told him that she was strangely adorable.

‘I’m not tiny; I’m over 6’ feet tall!’ Himuro protested. “You’re just huge.” He wanted to say, but he didn’t, from what he’d heard, her height was a sensitive topic and he valued his life; despite what his scene-kid haircut might suggest.

‘We use centimeters in Japan, I don’t feel like calculating while my head hurts me this much.’ She replied flatly.

‘Ah, that’s right. I forgot for a moment. I’m 183 cm tall, therefore I’m not tiny.’

‘Anyone under 195 cm is tiny to me.’

Himuro felt like crying; this girl really knew how to hurt someone with words. It had always bothered him that he was on the shorter side for a basketball player, heck; even his little fake-sister was taller than he was!

‘Oh, come on. Atsushi, give the guy a break!’ Fukui said. Himuro thought that the blond might feel personally attacked by her words because he was even shorter than Himuro was.

‘Fine, I’ll stop. For now~ So what position do you play?’ She asked, but her voice sounded disinterested and bored.

‘I’m a shooting-guard.’ Himuro replied, he was glad that the conversation had turned around somehow.

‘So you’re the same position as Mido-chin?’

‘Who?’ Himuro asked. He was confused, because he hadn’t met anyone with that name on the team.

‘Her.’ Murasakibara said as she pointed one of her impossibly long arms out from under the blankets to one of the pictures on her wall, her index finger pointing to a very pretty and skinny girl with spectacles and long, green hair. She appeared to be very tall too; the picture showed that she was less than a head below Murasakibara in height. Anyone that could say that was tall.

‘Oh, so those rainbow girls are… your old basketball team?’ Himuro was confused for a moment. They were supposed to be ridiculously strong, right? Then how was it possible that all of them were pretty as fuck? It’s unfair when the prettiest people are the most talented, but then Himuro realized proudly that he was no exception to that rule.

‘Yes~. That’s Mine-chin, Kise-chin, Kuro-chin, Aka-chin, me, Sacchin, Mido-chin.’ She said as she pointed to each of the girls and the only boy on the picture.

‘You’re all very pretty.’ Himuro said with a smile on his face. He hoped that he could break the ice somehow, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

‘Don’t flatter me. Looks don’t matter when we’re better and stronger than you are.’ She sounded intense, it was almost like she was threatening him. He liked girls that played hard to get, so Himuro decided to test the waters a little more.

‘How can you be so sure? You’ve never seen me play.’

‘I just know. What’s your accuracy when going for a shot? What’s your range?’

‘I’d say around 75% and a few meters behind the three-point line, why do you ask?’ Himuro said. He was proud of how accurate he was, 75% was insanely high after all. Not many players reached that.

‘To simply prove my point. You see, Mido-chin never once missed a single shot in all the years that I played with her and she was able to score from half-court and now probably even further away.’

‘That’s simply impossible!’ Himuro said. There was simply no way that anyone, especially not some anorexic high school chick could do something like that.

‘It’s very true, there’s plenty of interviews and videos of her doing just that, if you want prove, but you could just choose to believe me instead because I’ve seen her do that over and over again. On top of that, all of us have special skills like that and to be honest, we’re all at least 90% accurate or higher. Whether it’s agility or pure strength; we’ve all got something we’re the best at on top of the naturally higher potential we were already born with and Kuro-chin might not be strong or anything, but she can disappear from the court and break any defense with her special passes. So yes, we are better than you are.’ The girl said with a taunting grin on her face. Himuro was surprised by the childish manners she seemed to possess. ‘But I suppose that you’re pretty okay too, better than our last shooting guard.’ She added while she turned her face away.

‘The one he one you chased away from the team, if I remember correctly.’ Liu said bitterly.

‘Not my fault that he was being mean to me.’ The purple-haired girl said as she crossed her arms and pouted.

‘Oh my god, you really are cute.’ Was the only thought Himuro’s mind was willing to come up with.

‘Excuse me?’

Oh. He didn’t realize he spoke that out loud.

In the blink of an eye, she stood right there in front of him. A full head above him, shoulders broader than his, body more toned. He had seen his fine share of tall people while living in the States and playing basketball every day, but was pretty sure that he had never met someone this tall before. Liu came close, but this girl was at least an inch or two above him. Yet she was oh so pretty. He gave her a quick full-over, admiring her lean muscles which were visible through her pink t-shirt. He simply couldn’t look away from the girl’s legs, insanely long and perfectly shaped, coming out from under her shorts. He tried his hardest not to fixate his gaze to her well-developed chest, which was pretty hard, because it was so close to his eyes, unlike her face. He never had to look up to a girl in such extreme manners; she was nearly a feet taller than him.

Himuro felt dizzy in his head; he’d never once though that he’d be able to fall for someone at first glance, especially not a girl that was a head taller than he was and not to forget that Murasakibara was a bitch towards him, while she acted all sweet and innocent with the other guys on the team. Girls like her had never been his type, but he felt just so attracted to her for some reason; the weirdest part was that he hadn’t even known her for an hour.

‘Uhm, nothing. I didn’t say anything!’ Himuro said in an attempt to save himself, after he woke up from his train of thoughts.

‘My eyes are up here, you know.’ She said flatly, but a hiss was softly audible in the words.

‘Uhm, yes. You’re right. Your eyes are uhm… there.’ Himuro laughed sheepishly as he arched his neck backwards to be able to look her in the eye. She had beautiful eyes.

A long arm came towards his face and Himuro heard the other team-members suck in air. He could swear he saw his life flash before his eyes, but instead of a punch, a giant hand simply lifted his bangs away from his face.

‘So you do have two eyes after all and they are the same color. That’s a good sign.’ Murasakibara said as she released his hair after she thoroughly inspected his face.

‘Yes, I do have two eyes and they’re the same color.’ Himuro confirmed in relief. Had she really expected to see something different? This girl was an oddball, he noticed that now. She was pretty, but above all she was very, very strange. Himuro thought that she was pretty interesting.

‘You have a girly face.’ The giantess said as she flopped herself back onto her bed.

‘I love your hair. It’s really brave of you to dye it in such a bright color, but I like it.’ He said. He purposely ignored her comment about his girly face.

‘I didn’t dye it, I was born this way.’

‘You’re lying! That’s simply not genetically possible.’

‘I’m not lying.’ She bit back.

Chapter Text

‘Do I really have to play in this? I mean, it’s just a practice game, isn’t it? What’s the point for me to play if you guys can just easily take them down?’

The team was currently in their changing room, discussing their game-plan for the practice game they were about to start playing. However; there was one certain player. That didn’t seem to feel like playing at all. Like always.

‘We want to at least play one game with you before the actual tournaments start. Need I remind you that you failed to show up for our last two practice games? We have never played with you on the field. We need to know how to post-up our plays.’ Imayoshi replied.

‘That’s bullshit; you just have to give me my space and get me the ball and I’ll score. Nothing that needs to be tested or anything. I really don’t feel like playing a game today, especially not when the opponent is so weak.’ Aomine replied.

‘Dude, we’re playing a fucking school that got in the nation’s best 8 last year, since when are they weak?’ Wakamatsu grunted.

‘Let me just tell ya straight; the only teams that are exciting to play against are the following; Shuutoku, Rakuzan, Kaijo and Yosen. You know why? Because they each have a player that could maybe manage to actually beat me. Not that they could actually defeat me, of course, but they’d have a chance at beating me, which makes the game interesting because I can go all out for a change. I don’t care if they are a king or best 8 or anything, without one of my ex-teammates in their line-up, they’ll just be easily overtaken by me and me alone.’

‘Well, I don’t believe you. This opponent is very strong.’ Imayoshi replied.

‘Oh? Want me to prove it?’

‘Sure, go ahead and show me.’ The captain replied with a grin.

‘Fine. Just you sit back and watch.’ A pause. ‘Wait… hold up! You ass! You tricked me into playing!’ Aomine yelled.

‘Who, me?’ Imayoshi replied as innocently as he could. This really wasn’t very innocent at all, because snakes are never innocent.

‘Wow, Imayoshi-san! That was impressive!’ Wakamatsu said in awe.

‘Ah well. Aomine might be stubborn as hell, but she isn’t very smart and has a natural desire to win. It’s easy to take advantage of that.’

‘You called me stupid! Okay, fair enough. Ugh. What a drag. I suppose I should get changed then, huh? If one of you has the nerve to look, I’ll kick your ass so hard that you can’t sit for a week, understood?’ Aomine growled as she proceeded to remove her shirt to replace it with her jersey, exposing her underwear to all of her teammates, who quickly turned away in embarrassment; who would have ever thought that Aomine was the type to wear lingerie with pink lace?

‘Are you an idiot!? Are you just casually getting yourself changed in front of all of us? What’s your fucking problem?!’ Wakamatsu screeched. His face was bright red and while he had his back turned on the ace, but he could still very much imagine what was going on behind him.

‘Geez, Aomine-kun. You should really learn how to behave a little more ladylike. You can’t just get changed in front of a bunch of teenage boys!’ Momoi sighed. He was used to his friend’s boyish behavior, but he still wished to correct her.

‘Satsuki, please shut up. You sound like fucking Midorima. Besides, it’s not like I’m trying to seduce these guys or anything, they’re as far away from my type as you can possibly get. If they can’t keep it in their pants, it’s their problem, not mine. All they have to do is simply look away for a few seconds and the job is done. Here, see? I’m already changed. Nothing to fuss about.’ Aomine replied.

‘That-- that’s really not the point…’ The pink-haired boy replied with a massive sigh.

---

‘Let the match begin!’ The referee shouted as he tossed the ball in the air for the tip-off.

Wakamatsu reached just a little higher than his opponent and managed to pass the ball towards Imayoshi. The latter drove in at full speed, allowing his defender to keep-up with him; only to reveal that the whole action had been nothing but a fake, as he passed the ball towards Aomine without a single wasted movement. Without any form of emotion, the blue-haired miracle dunked the ball over her defender.

Their turn to attack. A pass, simple and boring, but effective. A shot was taken; a tanned arm slapped the ball away and the ace proceeded to cut around three guys to reach the other side of the court all by herself, with unbelievable speed; back-up came and attempted to stop the dunk. Aomine grinned and easily switched the ball between her hands while hanging in the air and forced the ball through the net by putting her full body into it. The guy defending her fell to the floor and looked up to Aomine in absolute awe.

‘Man, who are you? I don’t remember there being any guys like you last year. You’re amazing.’

‘I’m Aomine Daika. I just graduated middle school this year.’ She replied, a little bit pissed at how she had been mistaken for a boy once again. Not that she didn’t understand where it came from; she was well aware that her ridiculously flat chest, height and muscular body, in combination with her short haircut made her appear pretty masculine. But they should at least notice it from her face, the length of her legs and her nail polish, right?

‘Wait, your name-- your voice! You’re a girl!?’ The boy shouted. This caused the other players to turn their heads.

‘No that can’t be right?’ Someone whispered.

‘Hold up-- Doesn’t this mean that she is one of them?’

‘Them?’

‘Teiko’s Generation of Miracles, you idiot!’

‘That’s right; Aomine came from Teiko. You really didn’t do your research on us, did you? She’s our freshly recruited star.’ Imayoshi grinned.

The reply they got was not what they were expecting it to be. ‘It’s a shame, really. She’s the least exciting miracle to look at. I mean have you seen that blonde chick they had? Oof, what a damn babe she is.’ The captain of the opposing team said.

‘Oh yeah, right, she was a model, right? And that point-guard and shooter they had were smoking hot as well, but this chick is not attractive at all. What a let-down.’

‘Yeah I know right? Even that monster-woman that played center was more appealing.’

‘I gotta agree, but the blonde one takes the cake.’

‘Imayoshi! Keep getting me the ball. I’m going to fucking crush those scrubs to pieces.’ Aomine growled under her breath. She was shaking with rage. Not only was she getting insulted and objectified; they were talking about her friends and former girlfriend as if they were nothing but sex-objects! Aomine didn’t appreciate it one bit, she wasn’t allowed to kill any of them, and so she decided that she would crush their souls with basketball instead.

‘Oh! How scary. Did we hurt your feelings by calling you an ugly hag? It’s not my fault that it’s the truth.’ One of the guys said as he forcefully placed an arm around Aomine’s shoulder, brought his mouth close to her ear and whispered; ‘Oh well, I’d still take you, if you’re up for it.’

‘What did you say--?’ Aomine hissed. She prepared herself to give the guy a massive punch in the face, but she was stopped mid-way by the loud whistle of the referee.

‘Hey, you boys! Knock it off, leave her alone. One more of these comments and I’ll throw you off the court, have I made myself clear!? And for you, miss, I get that you’re the victim here and that what they said about you is truly horrible, but don’t go throwing punches, please. I’d be forced to remove you from the court.’ The referee said.

‘Oh. I was just kidding; nothing to worry about here, right, Aomine-chan?’ The guy replied.

‘Nothing to--! Hey, no. Listen here you little punk, I hate her fucking guts, but I will seriously not tolerate you talking down on her like that!’ Wakamatsu yelled.

‘Dude, let it go. It’s fine. I’m used to stuff like this. I’ll just go crush them and make them regret everything they said.’ Aomine replied. She turned around and faced the guy that had just talked down on her as if she were dirt, raising her chin to appear even taller as she spoke. ‘You! I seriously don’t care about the shit you just said about me, but you also talked shit about people I care about. I’m gonna make you regret this so damn hard.’ She finished with a dark expression on her face as she cracked her knuckles.

She did as she promised she would. Touou won; with a terrifyingly strong Aomine leading the team. She made goal, after goal, after goal and couldn’t be contained. She left right after the match, not even bothering to listen the pointless apologies they were shouting at her; the damage had already been done.

---

‘Aomine-san, are you really okay? What those guys did… that was really horrible.’ Sakurai said after the match while the team was sitting in their dressing room.

‘I’m fine, Ryo. As I said earlier, I’m used to stuff like that. We used to get called things like slut, monster and whore on a weekly basis. Some men just seem to find it really hard to respect and realize that there are girls that are stronger than they are. I really don’t care about what they call me, or if they think I’m a guy; I’m just really pissed because they had to involve the others in their insults too, that’s all.’

‘You really had to deal with stuff like that so much? I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!’ Sakurai replied.

‘Oi, dude. Don’t go apologizing for things you didn’t even do.’

‘I’m sorry for apologizing!’

‘Oh wow. You’re incorrigible.’ Aomine sighed. For once, she was in the shoes of the corrector instead of the corrected.

‘Next time I’ll punch them!’ Wakamatsu yelled.

‘Quiet down a little, will ya? My eardrums are about to explode.’ Imayoshi sighed.

‘No, but seriously! I’ll punch them the next time! Who do they think they are? Just talking down on a girl like that? How dare they, you should always respect women, even if they have a horrible personality. It’s my job as a man and a senior to protect her, so I’ll punch them for real!’ Wakamatsu repeated on a lower volume.

‘Awww, aren’t you my knight in shining armor? I’m so flattered right now, I could fall in love with you. We should start dating and get married and have a couple kids! Wouldn’t that be so much fun, Wakamatsu-chan?’ Aomine replied sarcastically.

‘Oh, please no.’ Wakamatsu said with the most horrified expression Aomine had ever seen. She had a really good laugh at that.

Meanwhile, Momoi was off to give those horrible guys a lesson.

Chapter Text

The Seirin basketball team was greeted by a pretty sight when they entered the Kaijo grounds. Kise Ryouka came running up to them dressed in a loose tank top and impossibly short shorts.

‘Hi everyone! I thought I’d come to greet you because this place is so big!’ The model exclaimed.

‘Uhm… that’s very much appreciated, Kise-san.’ Hyuuga said, very obviously staring at Kise’s fully exposed legs.

‘Yes, we’re very happy with your assistance, Kise-san!’ The other boys said.

‘Stop that you idiots! Don’t be so overly friendly with her!’ Riko yelled. ‘Thank you, Kise-san. We would have gotten lost otherwise.’ Riko then said in a much nicer tone.

‘Yo, Kise. Are you ready to go down today?’ Kagami smirked.

‘Ah-- Kurokocchi! Ever since you rejected me I’ve been crying into my pillow every night! I have never even been rejected by any boy before! All my self-confidence is gone.’ Kise whined.

‘Huh!? You’re ignoring me!?’ Kagami yelled.

‘Please stop being so sarcastic, Kise-san.’ Kuroko deadpanned.

‘Right. I wasn’t being serious, but your rejection did make me quite curious to someone else. You see, I’m not really obsessed with the name “Generation of Miracles” at all, but when someone challenges me in such an obvious way, I’m just not mature enough to let it slide. Sorry, Kagami, but I’ll have to seriously take you down; I’m not ready to let go of that title just yet.’ Kise smirked.

‘Heh! That’s exactly what I wanna hear, princess!’ Kagami grinned.

‘Oh I’m a princess alright, but know that I’m not waiting from my prince to come around and save me, you’re going to taste defeat by the own two hands of this princess.’ Kise said. She walked away, swaying her hips in a seductive manner, gesturing the Seirin team to follow her.

‘Kuroko-san… that girl, she’s a massive flirt, isn’t she?’ Riko asked with a frown.

‘She is, but don’t worry; flirting is simply in her nature, she doesn’t mean anything by it, most of the time. Besides, from what I can see, she’s still in love with her middle-school ex-lover and she won’t even think about going any further than flirting with anyone else. She’ll only lead them on to distract their attention from the court; a simple, stupid strategy, but it seems to be very effective. You just need to tell those guys not to fall for it. They need to view her as a threat while on the court, not as an attractive lady.’

‘Her ex? She had a boyfriend? I mean, it’s kinda logical because she’s so pretty and all, but aren’t those models in Japan not allowed to date anyone?’ Kagami asked.

‘Yes. They’re not allowed to date in public, but Kise-san never really cared about rules and guidelines. On top of that; Kise-san’s ex wasn’t a boy. She’s one of my ex-teammates; my former best friend, to be exact. They dated all through middle school, but a certain chain of events made them break up even though they’re obviously still in love. They weren’t even secretive about their relationship. I believe it was even in a basketball monthly interview at some point.’

‘Wow are you for real!? Kise-san’s into girls?’ Riko asked. She was secretly relieved because this meant that all her stupid boys stood no chance with the model and that Kise didn’t intend to take any of them.

‘She identifies as bisexual, but all the crushes she had that I know about have been on girls exclusively. More exactly; she claims that she’s had a crush on every single member of the Generation of Miracles. She’s completely hopeless.’

‘Whoa, that’s quite the surprise; I thought she was straight for sure. Not you though, Kuroko. From the moment I first saw your face, I knew you were about as straight as a circle.’ Kagami said with a teasing grin.

‘You got that right.’ Kuroko deadpanned.

‘Wait? For real!?’ Kagami and Riko half-yelled.

---

‘Kise, why are you changing into your uniform? You won’t play in this game.’ The Kaijo coach said. He was a fat man in his late 30’s, but he actually used to be a player on the national team at some point, so his investment and knowledge of the sport weren’t to be joked about.

‘Eh!? Why not?’ The model said. She was in the process of removing her sweatpants.

‘Even though I did say all our regulars would play, I didn’t mean you. We’re always scouting top talents from all across the country, so our team is naturally strong, but you’re on a completely different level.’

‘Wha-- Coach, please stop saying stuff like that!’ Kise said, hastily looking over her shoulders to see if anyone had heard. She liked attention and compliments, but she still felt a little awkward every now and then. Especially because by praising her, others were talked down upon.

‘This game will already be a piece of cake; it won’t even be a match anymore if we put you in. It’s just completely unfair that way.’ The man said. ‘But I guess you can sit on the bench, if you really want to.’

Kise noticed the Seirin-team standing there with angry looks on their faces; she assumed that they must have heard what the coach had just said. She felt kinda bad about it, so she speeded over to them while frantically apologizing.

‘Sorry! Sorry, I’m seriously sorry! It’s fine, I’ll still be on the bench! Besides, all you’ve got to do is give those guys a beating and they’ll put me in for sure. Sorry if I sound a bit selfish now, but,’ The tone in her voice changed drastically. ‘If you can’t even force him to put me in, you have no right to say that you’ll take on the Generation of Miracles. You might be able to reach my feet, but the others, don’t make me laugh.’

‘Oh you’ll play! I’ll beat ‘em up so hard that they’ll have to put you in!’ Kagami yelled.

‘Kagami-san, shut up. We’re going to the locker room now, Kise-san, stay warm. You’ll be put out there soon enough.’ The phantom sixth woman said with a relatively angry expression of her usually blank face.

‘Heh! That’s my Kurokocchi! Gimme a hug!’

‘I’d rather not, you’re sweaty.’

---

Kise was getting bored; sitting on the bench wasn’t her favorite thing to do. She had smiled when the referee and everyone else failed to notice Kuroko standing on the field; no matter how many times that happened, it just never got old, Kuroko looking completely done with life while the others were just screaming in surprise and fear.

She watched the tip-off and smirked when Kuroko smacked the ball out of Kasamatsu’s hands. This promised to be good. Kuroko passed the ball to Kagami, who jumped and slammed the ball through the net. Kise couldn’t believe her ears when she heard a strong ripping sound; but her vision showed the image her brain had already formed with the sounds alone.

When the redhead landed, she had the hoop in her hands. Kise found the confused expression on Kagami’s face when she noticed what she’s just done hilarious. The girl kept looking back and forth between the hoop in her hands and the empty backboard on the wall.

‘Wow, that’s dangerous. One of the bolts is completely rusted!’

‘Still, something like that isn’t normal! She’s supposed to be a high school girl, not Shaq!’

‘Oh didn’t she give us one hell of a greeting. You’re one interesting girl, Kagami Taiga.’ Kise thought as she got ready to play.

‘Sorry, but it seems like we destroyed your goal. We can’t play here anymore, so do you mind if we use the full court instead?’ Kagami said. She then flashed a grin in Kise’s direction that basically said “come on out!”

‘Haha! Wow that was the best thing I’ve seen in a while! You certainly surprised him there! I’ve never seen the coach so angry before! The look on his face when you ripped that hoop of was priceless! He’ll put me in for sure now.’ Kise giggled.

‘Well, that’s what you get from looking down on us! Let’s go, Kise!’

‘Bring it on.’

Chapter Text

‘Your old teammates better be damn good, Shin-chan. I swear, if they suck, I’m gonna kill you.’

‘A copycat and an invisible girl. They are as different as day and night when you talk about their styles.’

‘Well, they sure don’t sound all that awesome. And why am I still the one pedaling this damn thing? Weren’t we supposed to switch at the lights?’ Takao huffed. He was really completely done with his teammate’s weird habits and he wondered why he let her persuade him so easily each and every time again.

‘We were, yes. But you lost at rock, paper, scissors; therefore it’s still your turn. Besides, do you really want people to see how you let yourself be carried around by a girl? They’d definitely think the worst of you, in fact.’

‘Shin-chan, I swear. How did you get so good at rock, paper, scissors anyway?’

‘It’s because cancer is on #1 today and I’ve got my lucky item with me. Don’t ask foolish questions.’ The green-haired girl replied as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Takao wasn’t sure what their relationship was. They were team- and classmates, sure. But he still couldn’t wrap his mind around whether they were friends or not. He wasn’t even sure if he even liked Midorima at all. He knew that the other Shuutoku guys felt the same way about her as he did, they often talked about Midorima behind her back in the locker-room; she wasn’t allowed in there because she was a girl and had her own small room to get changed. They all acknowledged her as the strongest player on their entire team, they all acknowledged her as valuable and beautiful, they all acknowledged her as one of the most selfish and annoying persons they had ever met.

Takao knew that Midorima was well aware of what was being said behind her back; he saw it in the way she’d always distance herself from them, sending them dirty looks and in the way how she didn’t even attempt to socialize. She sometimes asked for huge favors that were completely unreasonable; like if she could use an entire court for her post-practice shooting-sessions.

They all initially disliked her, but when they saw her standing there, in her absurdly big shoes and formless practice clothes, her braids slowly getting undone and the sweat dripping from her forehead, shooting endless, never-missing shots; they just couldn’t bring themselves to actually hate her. She worked harder than any of them; her absurd talent wasn’t just a gift she got at birth. She hadn’t always been this strong, but her endless practice drills, her willpower and her unrivaled accuracy had turned her into a machine.

While he was so unsure of what to think about the ace, Takao felt kind of bad for her. She really had no friends at all. Of course, no one could be blamed for that but Midorima herself, but Takao still hated seeing her always sitting alone during classes and breaks. So he had decided to approach her one day during lunch, she looked pissed at first, but soon enough Takao had been able to get her to talk to him. It was a short, objective conversation about basketball, but it was better than nothing. Since that day Takao would join the miracle for lunch every day. It became an unspoken agreement between them. He guessed that you could view them as “friends” in a way, but they were very weird friends, if that were the case.

Lately they had started to go to school together, Takao lived just a few streets away from her. Every morning he’s stop by her house to pick her up in order to get to school. He had met Midorima’s mother and little sister. They were very different from what he’d imagined them to be. Mrs. Midorima was a pretty woman, almost two heads shorter than her eldest child and a very cheerful person; if anything, she resembled him more than she resembled her own daughter. Midorima’s little sister was barely 4 years old and a literal angel. She had the same eyes as her sister did, but she didn’t wear glasses and her eyes had a spark in them; the spark that was missing in the eyes of the miracle shooter. She was really adorable and she was always happy to see him, in contrast to Midorima, who always shrugged and stuck up her nose whenever she saw him arrive. Still, Takao sort-of liked her and he was convinced that despite her constant nagging and disapproval, she sort-of liked him too. He was happy to be her friend, if she needed him to be.

Right now they were on their way to Kaijo high to watch the practice game between Seirin and Kaijo, or in Midorima’s words; Kuroko Tetsumi against Kise Ryouka. Of course; he was the (un)lucky man entrusted with the task to bring her there. Traffic was horrible and Takao wasn’t exactly able to go fast on these hills. They were running late and Shuutoku’s ace wasn’t all too happy with that.

‘Takao, stop pedaling right now.’ Her commanding voice spoke.

‘What’s it now?’ He replied as he abruptly halted the bike.

‘I’m getting out. This way we’ll never be on time. You can just pick me up after the game or join me in the stands, if you happen to make it on time after all.’ She replied. She easily swung her long legs over the edge of the cart and rose up from her sitting position. She straightened her skirt and shirt and took her weird frog-toy in her hand.

‘What? Shin-chan! Don’t do this; you’ll make me look so weird! People will think that I upset you or something!’ Takao said in a slight panic. He really didn’t want the bystanders to think he’d cheated on his girlfriend or something along those lines.

‘I really have to be on time, in fact. See you later, Takao.’ She said.

Takao wanted to protest against her, but Midorima had already started running, to his surprise she waved her hand at him shortly. He decided to remain quiet and sulk in silence as he watched her cross the road and then run around a corner out of his sight. She was so goddamn fast; it wasn’t even funny.

‘Why is this stupid practice game so important to you anyway?’ Takao thought to himself. The lights turned green before he was able to find his answer and he started to pedal his remaining path to Kaijo high, now with approximately 70kg less baggage.

---

When Midorima arrived at the gates of Kaijo high she sighed heavily. She had just ran over 5000 meters without any warm-up after all. It wasn’t that much, considering how she ran 10k every morning without fail, but it still took a toll on her. Without any further ado she started searching for the basketball gym. She looked on her phone and saw that the game had already started, they would be somewhere into the second quarter by now. She cursed under her breath and picked up her pace once again.

When she finally reached her destination she firstly had to push her way through a crowd of people watching the game from the entrance of the gym instead of on the balconies. Midorima sighed; these people were obviously Kise’s fans. She saw it in the way how they were constantly whispering to one another and they made weird noises. Making her way through the hurdle of Kise-fans was pretty easy. She was taller and stronger than them and she was well aware of the fact that she could be quite intimidating if she wished to be. They made way for her as if she were some kind of gang leader and they were her underlings. She quietly made her way over to the balcony and took time to look at the current scores and players.

She spotted Kise easily enough; a yellow-haired girl that tall and beautiful was very hard to miss, even with eyesight that was as bad as hers. Finding Kuroko was slightly harder, she wasn’t called the phantom sixth woman for nothing, but Midorima found the familiar small frame accompanied by a stylish sky-blue haircut without all too much difficulties. When you dealt with her for nearly 3 years, spotting her became less of a challenge eventually.

Kuroko passed; she was still as amazing as she had always been. Two large hands caught the masterful pass. Those hands belonged to an unfamiliar face; a red-haired girl seemed to be flying mid-air and dunked the ball over Kise’s reach. Midorima gasped and took a step forwards and adjusted her glasses, as if she thought the mysterious redhead would just disappear that way, the people around her must have been thinking that she was crazy. This girl… she had never seen anyone jump that high before and the vibes she gave off were those of a true monster; a miracle.

‘Who is that girl and where did she suddenly come from? There wasn’t anyone like her in middle school. And to think that Kise wasn’t able to block her just now… this is certainly a very unexpected turn of events.’ Midorima thought in shock. ‘And the smile she carries on her face… she looks like the Aomine from way back.’

The new girl patted Kuroko’s head and grinned; Kuroko smiled back. Midorima noticed it in an instant. There was something between the former Teiko player and the tall redhead and if there wasn’t something between them now, it would grow sooner or later.

‘How nice for you, Kuroko.’ Midorima thought.

A sudden wave of melancholy washed over her. She suddenly missed her old teammates a lot. Even Kuroko; a girl she had never really been close with; they didn’t really get along all that well because of various reasons that could be explained with blood-types and horoscopes. Midorima did care about the smaller girl and she did consider her to have been one of her closest friends, but she was furious at how Kuroko had chosen to join a school with so little reputation. Midorima believed that her former friend was wasting her talents in a place like Seirin. Kuroko needed a strong light by her side, that was the only way for the shadow to shine in her own way. Seirin didn’t have such a player; Kuroko might be thinking that this new girl could play the role of Aomine, but she was utterly mistaken. Because while the redhead was undeniably a very strong player, it was clear that she hadn’t even reached half of her potential yet. Midorima respected Kuroko’s abilities; therefore she could not accept the choice the phantom player had made.

She watched how Kise paid Kagami back with her own moves; Kise had become a better player in the short few months they hadn’t seen each other. Her copying van even more sublime than it had already been. Kise used to just copy moves, but now she was a shining star. She made the moves her own, easily changing small aspects to suit her. Whatever Kagami did, Kise returned it twice as hard.

The blonde miracle seemed to get along with her new teammates, something Midorima had already been expecting; Kise had always been a very social and, of course, popular person and made friends as easy as she took a breath. The polar opposite of Midorima herself; who still struggled to make a single friend on her new school.

Something the green-haired girl liked about Kise was the fact that the model, despite being “perfect”, respected people that were less pretty than her or those who were deemed weird by society. She never made fun of Aomine’s boyish looks and behavior, she never made fun of Murasakibara’s or Momoi’s (lack of) height, she never made fun of Midorima’s many habits and she never made fun of Akashi’s lack of humor. She treated them all as if they were just normal persons. Granted, Kise wouldn’t treat anyone she didn’t respect or like in that way, but the fact that a girl like her choose to befriend the weirdo’s of the school did say something about her open-mindedness.

In the end, it was Seirin that won. Surprisingly enough. In the last few seconds Kuroko pulled a shining combo-attack with her new light. Midorima noticed that Kise was tearing up. It might look strange to everyone else, but if you knew that Kise had never really lost at anything in her entire life, her tears would be more understandable. It was quite the shock for her to lose like that, but Midorima couldn’t really feel any compassion for her friend. In her eyes the game Kise had played had been nothing but pathetic.

She didn’t mean that Kise hadn’t played a good game, because there was no doubt about the fact that the model was incredible in the way she moved and scored. She meant that Kise could have easily won if she had used her mind better. Instead of childishly copying everything the redhead did, she could have gone for different moves with more value. Kise was an incredible outside-shooter too, so why didn’t she put that talent to more use?

It was something that Midorima had never understood. Why did people prefer dunking for two points when you could just shoot for three? She herself was perfectly capable of dunking or inside attacks, but she didn’t see the point in doing it when so many of the other players on her team already did that exclusively. A three-pointer was the greatest weapon in basketball; it even had the potential to turn into a four-point play; why would she use anything else if she never missed her shots anyway? And even if she were to miss, she had always been able to count on the absolute rebounding of her teammates. No-one could out-jump Aomine and the only one that was able to reach even higher points wasn’t on the opposing team either; she was there in the form of an incredibly lazy, lanky violet-haired girl. On her new team she could count on Otsubo for rebounding if she missed. So she didn’t see the point in dunking unless it was absolutely necessary for some reason.

However, pathetic game or not, Midorima noticed that Kise really could use some cheering up from someone who knew her well. So the green haired girl decided to go to the place where Kise always used to go after she lost a one-on-one against on of her miracle-teammates in the past; the fountains and try to comfort Kise as well as she could.

---

Her suspicions were confirmed once she found her way to the fountains of the Kaijo-complex. Kise was in front of the aluminum sinks, her head bowed forwards, getting soaked by cold water running from the tab. She most likely did this to cool her head; in a very literal sense, but mostly so that others wouldn’t see her tears. Midorima knew they were there, even if they couldn’t be seen right now.

‘It’s true that the horoscopes predicted terrible luck for you today, but I never would have guessed you’d actually lose.’ Midorima said. She had never been good at expressing concern or sympathy, her words always sounded cold and distant. She hoped that the model would understand her actual intentions.

‘Wha-- Midorimacchi!?’ Kise said. She turned off the tab and looked at her bespectacled friend in disbelief. ‘So you came to watch, huh? I’m flattered.’

‘I did, but before we talk you should dry your tears, in fact. They don’t suit you.’ The miracle-shooter said as she threw a towel at Kise’s face. The model caught it with ease.

‘Thanks…’ The blonde dried her face and hair with rough movements. ‘Aaahh, c’mere! I haven’t seen you ever since graduation, how have you been? I missed you so much!’ Kise beamed as she crushed her friend in a hug.

‘I have been perfectly fine, in fact.’ Midorima said as she attempted to pry Kise away from her, which was quite the challenge, but Kise gave in after a few seconds. ‘What about you? You seem to be friendly with your new team, that’s good.’

‘Ah well, I have been doing good! As for my team; I have to admit that I didn’t think much of them at first, but they’re cool, I guess. It’s a shame that they’re not all that hot or anything. Nor do they know how to flirt with a girl properly.’ Kise pouted. As always; the model was still busy with boys, romance and beauty. ‘Speaking of hotties; you’ve become quite the beautiful lady yourself, Midorimacchi. You look really grown-up; I mean, you always have looked so mature for your age, but you’re a real woman now.’ Kise said with a smile.

‘Thank you, I guess.’ Midorima replied with a blush on her face. She didn’t mention how Kise had also become even more beautiful than she already had been. She was slowly losing the childishness that had still been present on her face on the last day at middle school and she was turning into a stunning woman instead of a pretty teenager slowly, but surely.

‘You should definitely consider coming to my modeling agency; you’ve got what it takes to be a model! It would be so much fun to do shoots with you. You and me, together in the magazines! Can you imagine!?’ Kise said cheerfully.

‘Oh, no, I definitely cannot imagine that, Kise. Don’t even think about it. I am not interested in doing work like that. It really doesn’t suit me, in fact.’ Midorima replied. Kise had always been trying to get her, or any of the Generation of Miracles, really, to join the modeling world.

‘Aw, boo you. You’re still as uptight as ever.’ Kise pouted. ‘Also, Midorimacchi?’

‘What’s it now, Kise?’ Midorima felt her patience slowly starting to wear-off.

‘Did you get bigger?’ Kise asked with a grin on her face.

‘Excuse me! Do not ask such indecent questions! You’re in a public place, in fact. And since when did you take-over Aomine’s mindset?’ Midorima hissed back. Her face was bright red and she was basically creating steam inside her body.

‘Haha, sorry, sorry! Please spare this innocent girl! You’ve also become so tall… geez, we’re so far apart now. I think you might even be taller than Aominecchi.’ Kise replied. She sounded kind of jealous.

‘I wouldn’t know about that… I haven’t spoken to nor have I seen Aomine ever since we graduated. Have you ever heard from her, since you two were so close and all?’

‘I called her a couple times and we text every now and then. We went to play streetball once, but other than that, nothing much. She’s still just so gloomy all the time… Have you heard from Akashicchi or Murasakibaracchi?’

‘I tried to call Akashi more than once, but she doesn’t answer any of my calls; her phone always goes straight to voicemail. As for Murasakibara; she texts me all kinds of random pictures of her dorm room or her food and she sometimes texts me about her day when she’s bored, in fact.’ Midorima replied.

‘Oh, I see, that sucks. But Murasakibaracchi hasn’t changed a bit, has she? I get those random messages of hers too, just like always. I guess she did get a lot taller though. It’s always been like that with her, huh? You don’t see her for a day or so and suddenly she’s grown taller once again.’ Kise replied with a hint of melancholy in her voice. She carefully avoided the topic of Akashi.

‘Yes, you’re right. That is indeed what she does.’ Midorima said with a sad smile on her face. ‘Now; could you please tell me about that girl on the Seirin team? Who is he and where has she been all this time?’ She decided that she wanted to move on from their sad conversations about the past.

Midorima knew that the only real reason to Kise’s constant rambling and indecent asking was the fact that the model was hiding her loneliness. She must have truly been affected by everything that happened in those last few months at Teiko and seemed to be prepared to forgive and forget everything without second thought if it meant that she could get her friends back. It hurt Midorima to know that Kise was feeling so bad, but it made her happy to know that she wasn’t the only one struggling with these feelings.

‘Oh, that’s just Kagami Taiga. She’s a returnee from the States and she said that she wants to beat the Generation of Miracles together with Kurokocchi, but there is no way that she’s strong enough.’ Kise replied. ‘But she’s pretty hot I guess, so who even gives a damn if she’s strong or not?’

‘She did still manage to beat you, in fact.’ Midorima ignored Kise’s last comment with all her might. She wasn’t blind and she had noticed that the redhead was what many would consider as an attractive girl, but to put it in the way Kise did? Never, in a million years would she think that way of anyone.

‘So mean! But seriously; you know just as well as me that you four are on another level than me.’

‘I am very well aware of that, yes.’ Midorima said smugly as she adjusted her glasses.

‘Midorimacchi!’ Kise whined.

It felt like they went back in time. As if they were middle schoolers again. They’d always tease and bicker with one another. Not just Kise and her; but all of them. The way they treated each other resembled a group of boys more than it did a group of girls, most of the time, at least.

‘We should go for a drink some time.’ Kise said. ‘It’d be nice to catch up with you for real, with the others, too.’

‘Yeah, that would be nice, in fact.’ Midorima replied.

‘Oi, Shin-chan, there you are! I still can’t believe you stood me up like that! In the middle of traffic, no less! Do you know how embarrassing that was for me!?’ Takao yelled.

‘Ah, it seems like my ride has arrived. See you later, Kise.’ Midorima waved. She completely ignored Takao’s constant yelling.

‘Bye, Midorimacchi! Call me!’ Kise yelled after her.

‘So, how was the game? And that girl that you were talking too, that was Kise-san, right?’ Takao asked bitterly when Midorima took her usual seat in the carriage.

‘Yes, that was Kise, obviously. Who else could it be? As for the game; it was rather surprising. Kaijo actually lost in the very last seconds of the match. Not to mention Seirin’s new ace, the one that pulled off that buzzer beater with the help of none other than Kuroko. They’re a combination to watch out for in the upcoming competitions. I’m glad I went to see this game, in fact.’

‘Oh well, if you’re happy, Shin-chan, then I think that I’m maybe not mad at you anymore about having to drive you all the way over here.’ Takao replied with a smile, and for once; Midorima smiled back.

Chapter Text

Kise knew she had to talk to her.

Kuroko beating her had impacted her greatly, she still couldn’t really believe what happened just about an hour and a half prior. Her salvation had been the little chat she had with Midorima earlier, which made her stop crying.

Kise didn’t really know why it helped, the green haired girl hadn’t even been all that kind to her at all (not that Midorimacchi intended to be mean most of the time, she was just really socially awkward), yet Kise felt so much better after talking to her former teammate.

She was pretty curious about that cute boy on the bicycle that came to pick the shooting guard up, Kise was sure to send a teasing text message to the bespectacled girl later to ask who her new “boyfriend” was. She could already visualize the blush that would creep on Midorima's face once she opened the message and the furious texts filled with protests and denial that would be flooding her inbox. Kise chuckled to herself, pleased with the scenario she knew would go just the way she’d imagined just now.

But despite all her plans, Kise still felt pretty bummed, and she knew she would remain that way until she cleared things up with Kuroko. The model had a burning question for her small friend; why did she disappear from the face of the earth after their final game together? It was something Kise had never understood and never ceased to wonder.

Finding the blue-haired girl wasn’t all that difficult for Kise, considering the fact that she literally stalked the Seirin team to the restaurant where they were dining and waited until Kuroko came outside.

‘Kise-san? Hello.’ The blue haired girl said, a slight hint of surprise lacing her voice, upon seeing Kaijo's ace, casually resting on the iron barrier separating the road and the sidewalk. ‘It’s unfair how she can look great in every single pose.’ The shadow thought bitterly.

‘Kurokocchi! Could I have a word please? There’s some things I want to talk to you about.’ Kise asked while flashing a smile.

Kuroko remained silent for a little while, looking both perplexed and completely done. ‘Fine. I suppose I have some time.’ She said eventually.

‘Thank you! Kurokocchi is the best!’ Kise exclaimed.

Side by side they walked to a nearby playground. They must look pretty funny, a tall, unnaturally pretty girl clad in a perfectly tailored school uniform and a much smaller, blue haired girl in a tracksuit, a bandage secured around her head. Kise was toying with a basketball she apparently brought with her.

‘How's your injury?’ The blonde asked.

‘The doctor said it was nothing to worry about, just a slight concussion and a split eyebrow. It didn't even need to get stitched.’ Kuroko replied.

‘Ah, I see. That's good. I was pretty worried when you went down like that. Glad to see it was nothing to be worried about after all.’ Kise sighed in relief. She hated to think of it that way, since it was just an every-day in-game accident, but it was technically her fault that the shadow had gotten hurt and hearing that she was doing well pleased her, removing the bit of guilt she felt, silently lurking in her mind.

‘You know… ever since high school started, life has been like a downpour for me. First I break things off with Aominecchi out of nothing but my own stupid pride and conflicted feelings, then I come to realize none of the guys on my team are my type at all and that my heart is still broken despite the fact that I was the one who ended things, then you turn down my invitation, I mean I knew you'd turn me down, but my offer was serious! And then I get beaten by none other than Kurokocchi… my life is falling apart.’ Kise sighed. She was sitting on the backrest of a wooden bench, dangerously balancing on the edge with her feet in the air and the ball balancing on her forehead.

She looked serene, Kuroko thought. Almost like a painting, the red glow of the setting sun accentuating the curves and edges of the model's face, making her bright yellow hair appear to be molten gold, falling down over her shoulders in straight lines, only slightly curling at the bottom. The sun-kissed skin of her impossibly long legs practically glowing. Her expression was a little forlorn, not necessarily sad, but more… incomplete. As if there was something missing.

‘You're being a little dramatic, Kise-san.’ Kuroko said, hoping it would bring Kise back to her usual self. The mood surrounding her right now just didn't fit her. It was a mood that belonged more to people like herself. ‘Careful, you’ll fall.’ She added, as Kise was dangerously hanging over the edge of the bench.

The blonde immediately sat upright again and threw the ball in the shadow’s direction. Kuroko caught it with ease, yet she stared at the object a little bewildered, almost like she had never seen a basketball before.

‘You know, I talked to Midorimacchi today. She came to watch our game.’ Kise said.

‘Really? I didn’t expect her to do something like that. To be honest, I don’t really get along with her all too well…’ Kuroko said hesitantly. She threw the ball back in Kise's direction.

‘Ah, that’s right. It’s always been like that, huh? Fair enough, she’s a little hard to deal with sometimes. But she’s doing well, I was happy to see that.’ Kise chuckled.

‘That’s good to hear.’ The blue-haired girl replied.

‘Say, Kurokocchi?’

‘What is it, Kise-san?’

Kise rose up from the bench and walked a few meters in Kuroko’s direction, where she halted. She, once again passed the ball towards her friend. A sudden blow of cold air sent chills down their backs.

‘Why… Why is it that suddenly, after the finals in middle school, you disappeared?’ The model asked.

Silence.

‘I…’ Kuroko said, but halted before she finished. The shadow mentally rephrased her words until she found the right way to speak them. She didn’t want to tell the direct reason, yet she didn’t wish to lie to Kise. She sought until she found an, to her, appropriate way to say the words.

‘I'm not sure, all that I know is that I hated basketball at that time.’

Kise didn’t really catch on to what her shorter friend was saying. There was a mixture of expressions visible on the model’s face, with shock being the most dominant.

‘The basketball the Miracles played, no. The basketball our team played, I didn’t agree with it. I felt like we were lacking something important, even though we never once lost.’

‘But… I thought winning was everything to you? What could be more important?’ Kise asked in confusion.

‘I used to think that way, but after that last game, I didn’t know what victory meant anymore. All I felt back then was anger and sadness. The Generation of Miracles, I admired you, yet I couldn’t agree with the way you played and thus resented you. I wanted to make you acknowledge my basketball… by beating you.’ Kuroko explained.

‘With Kagami, right?’ Kise asked bitterly.

‘Yes.’ Kuroko confirmed with a small nod.

‘About her, do you really think that she'll stay the same? She’s not even able to reach our feet yet, but there will be a day where she'll come up to our level. Don’t you think that’ll change her? Do you really believe that she won’t grow apart from the team when that happens?’ Kise asked. ‘Like Aominecchi.’ She didn't add.

Kuroko was about to reply when Kagami body-slammed into her.

‘Oi Kise! What are you kidnapping Kuroko for!?’ The redhead spoke loudly.

‘Ehh!? I'm not allowed to talk to her?’ Kise yelled back.

‘Kuroko, do you really think of me that way?’ Kagami asked, her voice was suddenly filled with something that could be described as tenderness.

‘You were listening?’ Kise said with a cocky grin on her face and a twinkle in her eye. ‘How much did you hear?’

‘Just that last bit. Enough to call bullshit.’ Kagami replied smugly.

Both of the tall girls continued bickering for a little and had failed to notice Kuroko slipping out onto the basketball court which was right next to the playground to stop some thugs from harassing a group of boys wanting to use the court.

When they finally caught on to what was happening they immediately stopped bickering and proceeded to find their way onto the court as fast as possible, with Kagami running around it to get to the fence while Kise had decided to just scale the 5 meter high fence. She had practiced bouldering for a while after all.

‘Mind if we join in?’ Kagami asked with a grin on her face as she and Kise went to stand behind their friend.

‘5 on 3 is fine.’ Kise added.

‘Wha-- they're so tall!’ The thugs panicked.

‘Yes, but they're just girls, they are underestimating us and overestimating themselves.’ Their leader said, obviously angry.

Turns out, they were not underestimating them. As expected, there was overwhelming victory for the miracle, the new light and the shadow. After some yelling at Kuroko for her stupid behavior, Kise bid her farewell to the duo from Seirin.

‘I'm so happy! I got to play with Kurokocchi again in the end.’ Kise said with the brightest smile as she picked up her stuff and skipped away.

‘Oh, and I won't lose next time, Kagamicchi!’ Kise yelled just as she turned around a corner.

‘Kagamicchi?’ Kagami sputtered in confusion.

‘Kise-san adds -cchi to the names of people she admires. Very nice for you.’ Kuroko said dryly, patting the taller girl on the back.

‘But, I don't want that!’

Chapter Text

‘Aomine-kun! You will not believe what just happened!’ Momoi yelled as he ran up to his friend.

Aomine stretched herself from her sleeping position on the roof at the sound of her friend’s voice and looked at the pink-haired boy with dull eyes. ‘Ah, Satsuki what happened? Can’t it wait? I’m fucking tired.’

‘Tetsu-chan managed to beat Ki-chan in a practice game the other day!’ The boy said. His voice was filled with surprise and enthusiasm.

‘Are you serious, Kise lost a game and Tetsu of all people was the one to beat her? Wow, never would have seen that one coming. How do you even know this? You didn’t even go to watch the game.’ Aomine yawned. She sounded as disinterested as always. Though the first few sentences sounded at least a little bit surprised.

‘Baka, Ki-chan obviously texted me! I feel sad that I hadn’t been able to go and watch, because as it turns out Midorin was there too, she went to see the match and she talked to Ki-chan afterwards. I would have liked it to see her again, it’s been such a long time. Anyway, hear this! Seirin’s new ace… she was able to go head to head with Ki-chan! She played a lot like you, if I have to believe what Ki-chan told me on the phone.’ Momoi said.

‘Wait? Seirin’s got another chick on their team!? And the bitch thinks she can be me? What kinda bullshit is that?’ Aomine replied, suddenly fully awake.

‘Her name’s Kagami Taiga and she’s a returnee from the States. According to Ki-chan she’s very strong and has great jumping power. That’s why she was allowed to play in the boy’s league. She and Tetsu-chan have sworn to defeat you of the Generation of Miracles together.’

‘Damn, this girl came from the States, huh? That’s pretty cool I guess. But so what? She thinks she can just return to Japan and behave like she’s a miracle or something like that? Become Tetsu’s new light and defeat Kise at that! And swear to take down the Generation of Miracles? What a fucking joke.’ Aomine said. The miracle ace was obviously pissed off.

‘Geez, Aomine-kun. You’re not even sure if this girl is copying you at all, most likely not, because she grew up in the States and no one knows who you are over there, not yet at least. Look at it from the bright side; she could be a potential rival for you to spice your basketball senses up! And I get that it sucks that you and Tetsu-chan left on such bad terms, but you can’t blame her for finding new friends!’ Momoi spat back.

‘I don’t care about Tetsu anymore; the past is in the past. All that I do care about is how this bitch thinks she’s suddenly worthy to be her new light! As if she’s strong enough to give herself that title. As for you saying that she could be my new rival; don’t make me laugh, Satsuki. The only one who can beat me is me and we both know that.’

‘Ki-chan seems to be very convinced that Kagami-san has potential. She even called her Kagamicchi, so that means that Ki-chan has acknowledged her strength and potential, doesn’t it?’ Momoi realized that he probably shouldn’t have said that; because his best friend was probably not gonna take that statement the right way.

‘What? Are you seriously telling me that this Kagami person has been getting all friendly with Kise or something? She’s got some damn nerves.’ Aomine growled. She still considered Kise to be hers, even after their messy break-up.

‘That’s not what I’m saying at all, are you deaf or something! Please calm down! Don’t go murder someone you’ve never met, please. I don’t have the money to bail you out.’ Momoi said defensively. ‘Besides, it’s not like Ki-chan is your girlfriend anymore. She’s free to flirt or date with other people now, you know?’

‘Satsuki, shut the hell up! You know damn well that our break-up was mostly my fault, but you also know that I still care for her and I’d do almost everything for her! I will not allow some random chick to go up to her and steal her heart. Over my dead fucking body! I can’t lose her, Satsuki. Even though I suppose already did.’

‘Stop overreacting! Ki-chan thinks Kagami-san likes Tetsu-chan anyway. So you shouldn’t worry about it, if anything, it’s my heart that should be broken here... Also, if you really do want to get back together with Ki-chan, don’t you think that you should be, I don’t know, nicer and more open to her? Like, whenever you two text, it’s always her who starts the conversation. Maybe you should actually show her you care instead of being a tsundere. Did you catch Midorin’s germs or something? Geez, you always used to be so upfront with everything and everyone. You becoming so closed-off and distant is what got you dumped in the first place! Why can’t you realize that you’ve already lost her? She’s not just going to come back to you like that after the way you broke her heart, she’ll have to move on. ’ Momoi said. His volume was rising slowly and he was saying things he knew he shouldn’t say, because he knew that these words would hurt his best friend to no repair.

‘You think I don’t know!? You think I don’t know all of this fucking crap already? Don’t you think I’d change if I could? Maybe I should just get myself checked by some doctor, Murasakibara was diagnosed with depression, wasn’t she? Well, don’t you think my symptoms are pretty much the same as hers!? Maybe I really am sick and that’s why I became this way, ever thought of that!?’ Aomine snarled back.

Momoi looked at his friend for some time and sighed in defeat. ‘Of course I thought of that. Of course I did.’ He whispered. It had been his first thought, ever since Aomine had started to really change, but in the fear of pressuring his best friend and because of the taboo around mental illness he ended up keeping his thoughts to himself. ‘But even if you’re sick… that’s still not an excuse for the way you treated Ki-chan and Tetsu-chan. You really broke their hearts. Sick people can still try to recover instead of staying inside their pity-bubble. Look at what happened to Akashi-san; that is what happens when you leave a mental illness untreated.’

‘Satsuki, leave. Please.’ Aomine whispered. Her body was shaking with cold rage.

For a moment, he considered to leave, but then his senses kicked in and told him not too. ‘No I won’t. You’ll just do something stupid. I know you don’t want to hear the things I’m saying to you right now, but you’ll need to hear them at some point. It’s the only way to get through to you. I know you better than anyone; I love you more than anyone. You’re like the annoying little sister I never wished for, but am grateful with anyway. You’ve always been there for me when I was being picked on or when I was sad, now it’s my turn to be here for you. But I can’t just kick bullies in the face for your sake, because the only bully here is you. You’re being a bully to yourself and the only way I can make you stop is to confront you with facts. That has always been my strength. I’m not tall or strong like you, I’m small and smart. All I have to offer are these words.’ Momoi said. Aomine did not interrupt him even once. She just listened, the anger leaving her face like water going down the drain once the plug is removed. ‘I want to help you, but I can’t do that without having said these things to you. Sometimes you just need to break in order to be fixed, I’m sorry.’

‘I’m sorry. You’re right.’ The miracle ace breathed out. ‘I know that you only want the best for me. I was just being an asshole, like usual.’

‘Yup, you were!’ Momoi grinned. ‘Now, come here and give me a hug, you stupid girl.’

Aomine did as his friend asked. She had to practically sit on her knees because of their huge height-difference, but she didn’t really mind at all. It was a comical sight, a 192 cm tall girl hugging a 161 cm tall boy. They could be forming some kind of variety act in some medieval circus. She thought back to all the times where Momoi had been mistaken for a girl while Aomine was often mistaken for a boy. That rarely happened anymore, people just slapped both of them with the gay-label these days, which was the exact truth in Aomine’s case. She knew no one that was gayer than she was and she’d have a hard time finding a person like that. She just flicked off the haters and kicked the people that hurt Momoi in the face. They had both changed a lot, mentally and physically, but one thing remained the same; they were still the best friends you could imagine, the backbone supporting the other without any ulterior motives.

‘Will you come to practice with me now?’ The smaller boy asked.

‘Haha, nice try, Satsuki.’ Aomine said. She truly felt better, but she didn’t feel that good yet. It would take a little longer and a little more than just words before she was fully fixed and in a good enough state to love basketball again.

Chapter Text

Akashi Seiju was scary. That was a given, everyone that had ever locked eyes with the unnaturally beautiful girl had noticed that; her gaze made you want to kneel down for her, the unusually colored eyes were so different from one another, one looked kind whereas the other was terrifying. But they didn’t know; they didn’t see how this girl had just taken on three guys at once- all far taller and more muscular than her, three uncrowned generals; all a year older than she was- and won with overwhelming margin. They didn’t know the extent of Akashi’s terror.

The match had been randomly proposed to them by the redhead, they had hesitantly agreed after they asked if she was sure about playing a three-on-one game. They knew she was very strong, but they felt like she was overestimating herself here. But when they started they soon realized that not even three of the best players in Japan were enough of a force to be able to stop her. She easily threw them to the ground with her quick and flawless ball-handling, combined with the emperor eye and her sublime dribbling ability. She had been able to actually dunk the ball through the basket, even with her shorter statue. She had amazing spring, reaching all the way up to the hoop was a challenge for them too, but Akashi was even smaller than them and the fact that she could just do that only proved how much strength she had in her body.

She was in the Zone. There was no mistaking it; her movements were faster, more precise and her eyes seemed to have that characteristic glow to them. The Zone; an intense state of focus which only opens for the chosen ones; the natural-born prodigies with a strong and undying love for their sport. Even though they were basically prodigies too, those huge doors had never even budged before them. Yet Akashi was able to just walk right into the Zone as if it were nothing. They had no idea what her so-called trigger could possibly be; all they were concerned with right now was her extreme display of pure and unrivalled strength. A talent, worthy of the name “Miracle" and highly unfitting for a girl of her age and build.

Akashi Seiju was a scary girl, yes. But the way she was standing there, ball in hand, eyes glowing, thick, long, hair falling over her shoulders still perfectly straight and tame, drops of sweat making her milky-white skin shine, face hidden in the shadows of the dark gymnasium made her nothing short of frightening.

It made the three boys, who were kneeling and panting on the floor, want to scream and run away; not that they had any energy left to do that. It was as if Akashi had drained all of their strength and absorbed it into herself. It made them want to pray to gods they didn’t even necessarily believe in. She was a demon; they were highly convinced of that.

She looked like the women you'd occasionally see described in gothic novels. The pale, but ever-so-beautiful vampire empress that came to seduce men and then make them her slaves for all eternity. And drank from their blood, drained every last bit of use out of them so she could toss them aside later on and just get a new one to serve her.

‘Know that if you ever are to see me in this state during a game, the trigger for me to enter this state is that I have lost all faith in you and have decided to abandon you. Don’t even attempt to help me in those times; you will not be forgiven. As you can see, in this state I am perfectly capable of winning by myself; no matter who comes to stop me. Be it a talent, a prodigy or even a god; I will be victorious. As long as you continue to play good, you have nothing to worry about of course.’ The demoness spoke. Her voice was deep and commanding, yet still unmistakably female. She sent shivers down their spines.

Nebuya, strong as a bear and tall as one too, had never feared a girl before (Ok, maybe he had feared his mom whenever he came home with yet another pair of ripped jeans because he tended to fall out of trees a lot in his childhood), but right now he feared for his life. He was well aware that Akashi wouldn’t actually kill him or hurt him, but the mere thought that it was possible for her to do that made his neck hairs stand upright.

Mibuchi, who had never once thought of Akashi as scary or insane and had only looked up to her beauty, intelligence and leadership was now beginning to change his mind. He had first assumed that Akashi was just misunderstood and unloved by her parents, but now it seemed that he had been mistaken. Akashi was definitely not completely sane. There was something wrong with her, he just couldn’t figure out what it was. He was scared and realized now more than ever how this girl had been able to contain all those miracles and made them subservient to her will.

Hayama, the most carefree person on earth was now shaking on his legs. He was both excited and scared about Akashi’s insane abilities. He saw how valuable this would be on the court; yet he'd rather stay far, far away from her. His animal-like instincts gave him the warning signs, he needed to be on edge right now, ready to flight at any moment or else he would be hunted like prey.

It wasn’t weird that the Rakuzan regulars couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Akashi; for they had never met the other one; the person- the original- that was now buried deep beneath the second Akashi. The one that did no longer dare to show her face to the outside world because she felt like a failure after she her futile attempts to keep the Generation of Miracles together; they’d slipped through her hands because she had been to kind, weak and naïve, or so the other Akashi had told her before taking over.

The Rakuzan team didn’t know what Midorima had suspected and then known for sure since the early days, what the other miracles knew late into their second year at Teiko. They had no idea about the severe identity disorder Akashi was suffering from, because they had only seen one side of her. They only knew the second Akashi; in their eyes the one and only. They had no idea that Akashi was severely sick and needed support and therapy as fast as possible, they didn’t know the trauma she was suffering from and the enemy that preyed on her from inside of her mind.

The trauma of her mother’s early death and her ridiculously strict upbringing where she had little to no freedom had caused her mind to tear into two separate entities. One that held on to the things her mother gave her; freedom, kindness, basketball and the other one, who held on to the things her father thought her; leadership, intelligence, mercilessness and, above all, victory. And now that her mother was long gone she didn’t need those feelings anymore. Her father didn’t want to see them, so she locked them away right before she would experience her first-ever loss in order to keep her perfect victory-streak.

The only way to fix Akashi would be with professional help that would be able to lead her back to those dreadful moments, to be able to finally deal with them the proper way and possibly a set of medications that would suppress her other self, but that was something that was impossible right now.

Her teammates didn’t know; they couldn’t know. So they were unable to provide the help Akashi needed so dearly. All that they saw right now was a demon and all that she saw were three people that served her and would never oppose to her commands.

‘I hope I made myself clear. You are now dismissed.’ The redhead spoke.

The three uncrowned kings left the gym without any further words. They left Akashi alone to continue her endless practice in the dark, because somehow, she didn’t even bother to turn on the lights. It was a habit of hers; just like the way she refused to tie her hair and how she refused to get changed in a separate room, she just demanded that everyone looked away from her and they did; despite her incredible beauty, but as they say, beauty can be misleading. Akashi was like one of the brightly colored frogs you could find in tropical rain forests, beautiful, but one simple touch could be deadly because their skin was laced with venom. Or perhaps the name Medusa was more fitting to describe her as, because one simple look in her direction could turn you into stone.

Hayama, the most talkative of them all, spoke up first. ‘That was seriously insane. That girl took down all three of us as if we were nothing.’

‘You don’t have to tell us that, you idiot. We were there too, you know?’ Nebuya said with a grumpy voice.

‘Dude, you’re a sore loser, aren’t you?’ Hayama replied.

‘Who would have ever imagined that my dearest, pretty little Sei-chan would turn out to be such a monstrosity?’ Mibuchi sighed dramatically.

‘Literally everyone thought that, Mibuchi.’ Nebuya grunted.

‘Well, I didn't. I knew she was a strong person, with a slight superiority complex, maybe, but I honestly believed that she was a true lady, not an absolute creature of darkness.’ He said as the shivers trailed down his spine.

‘Well, Reo-nee, you've always had a very poor judgment of character. If I remember correctly, your latest boyfriend turned out to be a huge douche bag, right?’

‘Yes, but he was cute. Plus I disposed of him before he could do me any harm, so it’s fine. Just leave me alone.’

‘You sure have your priorities straight, huh?’ Hayama sighed in defeat.

‘We're not talking about that guy and all his ex-boyfriends now. We need to set that girl in her place. She might be from a filthy rich and prestigious family, but she’s a damn junior, yet she thinks she can just boss us around. We’re older than her, therefore she should respect us.’ Nebuya grunted.

‘She is our captain and student council president and that does put her in a superior position, whether we like it or not. Besides, she’s more mature than both of you combined.’ Mibuchi replied.

‘Dude, please shut up. We're very mature.’ Hayama said.

‘Yeah and on top of that, the things she says and does are really outrageous you know? If I started to threaten to cut people’s eyes out, I would be expelled, but if Akashi does it it’s suddenly okay. That’s not really fair, is it now?’

‘Whatever you say. But are you really even considering pulling any stunts with Sei-chan? That will most likely be the end of your life.’

‘What will be the end of whom life?’ A sweet-as-honey voice spoke from behind them.

The three boys froze in their spots. They were immobilized for a moment. Then, they slowly craned their necks around and then downwards, only to meet a pair of beautiful, yet scary heterochromatic eyes, belonging to the devil himself.

‘A-Akashi-s-san. Fancy seeing you h-here.’ Hayama said as he avoided looking the captain in the eye.

‘Good to see you too, Kotaro.’ Akashi nodded. ‘You should go home; all of you. There’s a practice game tomorrow and I need you at full strength; slacking off will not be forgiven. Please make sure to go to bed early and have a nice evening.’ Akashi said with a smile as she walked away from them towards the Rakuzan gates; where a car was already waiting for her.

The three kings were left wondering what just happened; because Akashi suddenly seemed like a completely different person.

Chapter Text

All Murasakibara had wanted was to have a peaceful lunch with her girl-friends. All that she had not wanted was for the pretty American scene-kid that showed up at her room a few days ago to come to the cafeteria and cause a stir by openly attempting to become friends with her.

The violet-haired miracle was sitting at one of the corner tables with a handful of girls from her class surrounding her. To her surprise, the girls had not shown any signs of fear or dislike towards her and had wanted to hang out with her during and even after classes. Murasakibara had never guessed that she’d be able to make new friends so quickly and was extremely grateful. They weren’t anything like the friends she had back in Teiko, but they were still nice enough. She supposed that she didn’t really like it that, except for Misa-chin, they were all 160 cm or below, it made her feel so bulky, even more than usual. Yet they never judged her and didn’t even give her any weird looks. They treated her like they treated everyone else: inviting her for sleepovers, braiding her hair, cry over anime shows and all those other things teenage girls do together.

Right now they were doing one of those things; they were talking about boys.

‘So, Mura-chan, what kind of guys are you into? I’ve always wondered about that.’ A girl, named Tama-chin, asked.

‘Mmmh, I suppose I’m attracted to guys that are around the same height or taller than me, not that there are many of those in Japan or anywhere, really... But yeah, they’d definitely have to be over two meters tall. And they have to be nice and not all that uptight too, I wanna be able to just laze around instead of doing all kinds of stuff all day; it’s tiresome~. But I don’t really fall in love all that much.’ The giantess replied while sucking on some candy. ‘Oh, but I’m also sometimes attracted to girls or whatever. I don’t really care, as long as they’re tall and stay off my back, I guess.’ She shrugged.

‘Well, fair enough. I mean, I might not be tall or anything, but boys shorter than me are just not my thing; I’m into tall guys. Though, probably not as tall as the ones you’re into. But you’ve really never had a crush before? That’s so hard for me to imagine. I have had consecutive crushes ever since I was about eight years old.’ Saki-chin said.

‘Really? You’ve never even crushed on idols before? Girl, that’s a talent you’ve got there.’ Misa-chin sighed.

‘No, I did have some crushes, but I’m not into idols very much, so I don’t really know any.’

‘Oh, oh! What about those guys on the team? They’re both over two meters right? You never thought about diving into the locker-rooms with one of ‘em after practice?’ Misa-chin then said. She wiggled her eyebrows in a very suggestive manner.

‘Ewww noooo~! That’s gross, Misa-chin! I don’t wanna date that gorilla!’ Murasakibara hissed back. The shivers went down her spine by just thinking about it. She wasn’t a person to judge people on their looks, -that would be quite the paradox- so she didn’t really mind the way her senior looked, but she’d still rather not date him. Or Liu. She kind of saw the guys on her team as her substitute-brothers and you just… do not date your brother. Ever.

‘Haha, that’s totally understandable. But really? Not even one crush you wanna tell us about? Come on, we need something to talk about! These conversations always end with us talking about everyone else’s love-lives but yours. We just wanna hear your stories too!’

‘Ah, I did have a couple of crushes, just nothing special, really.’ Murasakibara shrugged. ‘Oh, but there was this one guy in middle school, I played against him in a game and I think I might have had a crush on him for like… five days? And I liked my team-captain for a little while, but everyone did at some point, even Mine-chin who’s lesbian. It was not Aka-chin, she’s way too scary, but the guy that did it before her; I think that they were in love with each other. And then I had this embarrassing crush on this girl in my class and I liked my neighbor at some point.’ She added after a little pause.

‘Oooh, you liked your captain! That’s so adorable!’ Tama-chin squealed.

‘I was twelve and it was only for a few weeks! He was just really hot okay? Don’t judge me.’ The miracle protested as her cheeks caught color.

‘That’s still adorable, you can’t escape your faith. Say, do you like anyone now?’

‘Not really.’

‘Oh my god you do! Who is it, who is it!’ Saki-chin grinned.

‘I don’t, I’m serious.’ The giantess replied. She was serious and hoped her friends would just leave it at that. They did, because a certain person decided to fuck things up.

‘Oh my god, look at that. He’s hot as hell!’ Misa-chin suddenly said as she pointed to a guy just entering the dining hall.

‘You’re so right, who is he? Where the fuck did he suddenly come from? He’s perfect.’ Tama-chin said. She was basically staring her eyeballs out of their sockets.

Saki-chin just sighed dreamily.

Murasakibara recognized him instantly; it was that emo-boy with his girly face that came to bother her a few days ago. One of her new teammates; the returnee shooting-guard from America. To her horror, he was approaching her table.

‘Oh my god he’s coming over here! What do we do? Everyone act natural!’ Misa-chin whispered in a panicked voice.

‘Ugh,’ Murasakibara sighed. Her friends were making a way too big fuss over this guy, who’s name she had already forgotten. ‘He’s not that hot.’

‘Mura-chan, are you blind!? He totally is! He’s so handsome and tall.’

‘Could be, but he’s so annoying~. And not really all that tall.’

‘How would you know that? More like, how could someone that looks like a literal angel ever be annoying? And he totally is tall for the normal standards! You just set the bar to high.’

‘He’s on the basketball team and he came to bother me when I was sick last week. He was asking way too much questions and he was acting like he was some kind of celebrity all the time.’

‘What!? You get to play with him every day? Goddamn it, Mura-chan. I’m so jealous of you right now! I should have become a basketball prodigy too.’ Tama-chin sighed.

‘You’re all so hopeless just because he’s kind of good-looking.’ Murasakibara sighed while shaking her head; she really didn’t get the hype.

‘Shhh! Shut up, he’s nearly here!’

‘Hey there girls, hey Atsushi. Are you coming to practice today? I can’t wait to play with you again.’ That guy spoke after he arrived. The other girls swooned at the soft and melodic sound of his voice and the sight of his smile.

‘Who said you could call me by my first name?’ The miracle replied with a frown. He hadn’t done that yesterday, when she was forced to play with him during practice. He had been nothing but nice to her up until now, but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to like the way he talked to her.

‘That’s… what friends do right? Besides, you’re looking very pretty today.’

‘I’m literally wearing the same uniform as everyone else. I look like this every day.’ Murasakibara said, genuinely confused. ‘On top of that, we’re not friends; I don’t even remember your name.’

The other girls at the table gasped at that; they all knew that their purple-haired friend could be quite harsh and forgetful from time to time, but they hadn’t expected her to be able to forget the name of a man as perfect as this one. Not to mention the fact that she completely ignored his attempts at flirting for some reason. But then again; they had heard from her that she used to be class- and teammates with the Kise Ryouka and still forgot about her existence all the time, so maybe this wasn’t all that weird for her.

‘That was unnecessarily harsh of you to say… It’s Himuro Tatsuya!’ Himuro said with a sad expression on his face.

‘Sorry~, I have a bad habit of forgetting the names of weak people. I’ll try to remember your name from now on, Himuro.’

‘Sure thing…’ The dark-haired boy said. He didn’t sound all too convinced with the tall girl’s promise. ‘Would you ladies be okay with me joining you for lunch?’ Himuro asked with a wink, once again in his role of the perfect gentleman.

‘No we--’ Murasakibara began, only to be interrupted.

‘Sure, I don’t see a problem with that!’ Misa-chin said, patting the empty seat next to her with a smile before Murasakibara could even begin to protest against it.

‘<Thank you!>’ Himuro said.

‘Oh wow, your English is really good!’ Saki-chin noted.

‘Ah, sorry, I tend to slip back into English some times. I grew up in the United States. I’ve lived there ever since I was around 5 years old; just moved back this summer.’

‘That’s amazing, Himuro-san. So I heard from Mura-chan that you play basketball, are you good at that?’ Tama-chin asked.

‘Well, I’m certainly not as good as your friend over there,’ He flashed a smile in the miracle’s direction, which somehow made her feel kinda funny inside. ‘But I’m confident enough in my skill to be able to call myself a strong player.’ Himuro finished.

‘Himuro-san, you’re so cool! I’ll totally cheer for you in your next game.’ Misa-chin said. Murasakibara wanted to barf, they were all way too invested in this guy- and he was taking the bait too! Not to forget that they already came to watch every game the basketball team played anyway.

‘That’s so nice of you to say, isn’t that true, Atsushi?’ Himuro said.

He rested his face on one of his hands and just kind of stared in her direction with a weird expression on his face. His cheeks seemed to be a little red too… oh.  ‘Oi, mind your eyes! Or eye, because can you really even see?’ Murasakibara spoke in a threatening voice when she noticed that the raven-haired was actively resting his eyes on her chest. Again.

‘Oh sorry, my bad. And yes, I can see.’ He said sheepishly.

The other girls looked at the violet miracle with jealousy burning in their eyes. They wished that they had such a well-developed chest so that they could attract this beautiful man’s attention. They just couldn’t believe how the transfer student from America seemed to have developed a massive crush on their tall and slightly strange friend in the few days that he had known her, the way he couldn’t take his eyes off her spoke volumes. It wasn’t just her breasts he was looking at, it was everything. Himuro looked at Murasakibara as if she were the most precious thing he had ever seen, with a content smile plastered on his face. He didn’t even seem to care about the fact that she kept pushing him away at every chance she got and was trying his hardest to befriend her.

‘…It’s alright.’ The giantess muttered.

Everyone fell silent. They had never expected her to say that. Out of all things she could have done, this was the thing they had least expected and they were wondering to themselves whether they were looking at the small beginning of love. But then again, you just never knew with Murasakibara. She changed moods like she changed clothes, they suspected that there was something bad that she had gone through, something aside from the bullying they all knew of. They were pretty sure that she was hiding something from them, something about her past. They had all seen the pictures on her walls, heard various names come up, supposedly belonging to her ex-teammates from her legendary team from her middle school in Tokyo. Something happened between her and those other girls, they were sure of that. And whatever it was, Murasakibara seemed to be very affected by the situation and couldn’t seem to move past it yet.

They knew that what she needed most was a friend she could rely on at all times and they all tried to be that friend to her, it was the reason why they had approached her in the beginning of the school year when she was just that weird, tall loner from Tokyo, because no one else seemed to want to talk to her. But no matter how hard they tried and how hard she tried; there was always a distance. They hoped that this ridiculously attractive transfer student could be the person she could lean on at some point. (Even if it made them curl their toes in jealousy, because they be damned if they didn’t want a piece of that guy.)

Chapter Text

‘So… we’re gonna be facing that ex-teammate of yours in the finals, right?’ Kagami asked Kuroko.

‘We will, if they win their semi-final game.’ Hyuuga corrected.

‘Oh, they’ll definitely win; Shuutoku has always been strong, but with Midorima-san joining their line-up, they’re the strongest they’ve ever been. I can’t see how their opponent would be able to take them down; they’re not a regular Interhigh-contender and do not have any means to stop Shuutoku’s attacks.’ Riko replied.

‘Yeah, about that. What’s her special talent, Midorima’s, I mean? Kise has the copying and Kuroko, you’ve got your passing, so she’s gotta have something too, right?’ Koganei asked.

‘In her case, I wouldn’t really call it a talent anymore. She’s basically a precision machine.’

‘What do you mean by that? Just explain it clearly instead of being all mysterious every single time, you dummy. We don’t understand all of that!’ Kagami said as she forcefully shoved her smaller friend.

‘What I mean by that is that I have never seen her miss a shot. She’s the absolute top-shooter of the Generation of Miracles.’ Kuroko replied. She elbowed Kagami in her side as revenge.

‘Ouch! Kuroko, you asshole why’d you-- Wait, you’ve never seen her miss? As in never?’

‘Not once.’ The blue haired girl confirmed.

‘What the hell?’ Kagami sighed. She was really getting done with these Miracle-girls. Even if she’d just met Kise up until now and only briefly met Midorima for like 10 seconds. She just didn’t like the looks of her. So pretty and frail, yet with a pair eyes that could burn you alive, acting all high and mighty while adjusting her glasses in that over-the-top way you always see in anime.

‘Kuroko-san, are you serious?’ Riko asked.

‘I am very serious.’

‘Oh man… that’s gonna be a real shitty opponent.’ Hyuuga sighed; he played shooting guard too, so he was scared to have her as his direct opponent. It was bad for his manly pride to be crushed by a girl; and a junior at that!

‘The Generation of Miracles is really… miraculous.’ Izuki contributed.

‘Izuki, shut up.’ Everyone said in unison. Except Mitobe, who remained silent.

‘On top of that, when I went to “shake hands” with her earlier, I noticed that she’s actually quite a bit taller than me and that she has pretty long arms and fingers. So she’ll probably be able to reach high points, right? She’s gotta be hard to block.’ Kagami said.

‘Yes, she is very hard to block. Not many can do it,’ Kuroko replied. ‘She developed her shot in a way that makes it hard, even for extremely tall players, to block her. She makes use of ridiculously high arches. I think that even Dad wouldn’t be able to block her. But Kagami-san might just be able to, with your jumping, I mean.’

‘Ugh, that guy was such a pain.’ Kagami said after the mention of Dad. In her eyes, the rage she had felt in that game so many days ago was becoming visible on her face again.

‘Jeez, Kagami. Cool your head.’ Riko sighed as she rubbed her temples.

‘Is rage really the only emotion you possess?’ Kuroko deadpanned.

‘Shut up! I do have other feelings… and stuff.’

‘Shuutoku has just won their game! It’ll be a few hours until we’re hitting the court. So how the heck are we gonna stop that Midorima person? They benched her for almost the entire game, but from what I saw… she’s ridiculous.’ Furihata said. He just came walking into the dressing room after scouting on Shuutoku’s game.

‘Do not only focus of Midorima-san, you bunch of idiots! Boys are really so simple. They only ever focus on the toughest guys or on the cute girls! Just because Midorima’s a little bit of both, that doesn’t mean that Shuutoku hasn’t got more strong ones to watch out for!’ Riko yelled, low-key jealous at the attention they all seemed to have for Shuutoku’s new ace.

‘Now I wouldn’t call her cute.’ Kagami mumbled to herself; annoyed.

‘Yeah, she is pretty hot, isn’t she?’ Koganei said and Mitobe nodded in response.

‘You’re right. She’s really a gorgeous lady, definitely no Kise, but still.’ Izuki replied.

‘And that body, man--’

‘Oh my god, you idiotic bunch of boys! That was not what I was asking for. Just because she’s kinda pretty and because she has a good figure doesn’t mean that you have to do all this stupid talking!’ Riko yelled.

‘Sorry coach.’ Hyuuga said as he cleared his throat.

‘You really do not want to flirt with that girl, she’ll get really mad. She’s very difficult to deal with, even more so than Kagami-san. I never really got along with her, because she tends to act like my mom. Or well, she mothered all of us back in Teiko’ Kuroko said.

‘Did ya just say I’m hard to deal with?’ Kagami hissed. Kuroko gave no reply.

‘Thank you, Kuroko-san. Now, let’s finally move on to the important stuff. Their center, Otsubo is ridiculously strong, too. He’s a real unstoppable scorer; he used to be their ace until, of course, this year with a miracle in their line-up. And the other players are absolutely top-notch too, probably of an even higher level than Seiho. Although, this is really putting me in a pinch. I was originally planning to put Hyuuga on Midorima-san, because they have the same position and I wanted Kagami under the basket to guard Otsubo-san, because of everyone in our team, she has the biggest amount of brute power, but hearing what Kuroko just said, I think it would be wisest to put Kagami on Midorima-san instead and let Mitobe handle Otsubo. I never thought of the fact that Midorima-san would be quite that tall, but if she really is, like Kagami said then Hyuuga-kun definitely won’t be able to block her.’ Riko said, with a puzzled expression of her face. Her brows were narrowed as she wrote her notes down in a small notebook.

‘Yeah, she’s really tall. I’d guess her at around 195? But she’s like… really thin, not much of a powerhouse.’ Kagami said.

‘You’re wrong, Kagami-san. You’ll notice when she takes off her jacket. She appears to be thin, but that’s because she builds her muscles very carefully. She’s a very proper girl, she builds her muscles in a way that makes her still appear very feminine and thin when she’s wearing regular clothes. But because we wear jerseys in basketball, you’ll see that’s she’s actually quite muscular.’

‘Wait, it’s possible to, like build muscles in a certain way?’

‘Of course it is, Bakagami!’ Riko said. ‘Or more like, are you saying that you became this buff just by mindlessly running around and lifting weights?’

‘Yeah? Is that a bad thing?’ The redhead asked in confusion.

‘Sometimes I really wonder if you’re not secretly a boy…’

‘Huh? What’s that supposed to mean!?’

‘Nothing really. We’re getting off-topic. So we’ve got Mitobe under the hoop, Kagami on Midorima-san, Hyuuga on Miyaji-san and for the others, you just mark the guy that plays your position. I think it’s best if we grab an early lead, so I was thinking that we could use Kagami and Kuroko’s combo-attack to get the jump on them. You know; the one that defeated Kise-san.’ Riko said.

‘We could definitely try that, yes. However, I heard from Kise that Midorima came to watch our match against Kaijo. So she has seen that strategy already.’ Kagami said. ‘Because a certain person decided to give my phone-number to Kise and now I’m getting a shitload of spam from her.’ Kagami glared in Kuroko’s direction.

‘In my defense; she asked for it. I think Kise-san genuinely wants to befriend you, Kagami-san.’ Kuroko replied.

‘Really? But still, I don’t believe that Midorima-san would be able to block an attack as fast and powerful as that, so we’ll just try, okay?’

‘Sure thing, coach. If you never try, you’ll never win… or something like that!’ Kagami agreed with a grin on her face.

‘Naturally, I will give it my all, but you should not underestimate her defensive capabilities; she’s at least as good as Kise-san, if not better. Also, she can shoot from anywhere within half-court.’ Kuroko replied flatly.

‘And you’re only bringing that up now!?’ The team yelled.

‘Ugh, even the girls on this team are morons.’ Riko sighed as she rubbed her temples. As if a bunch of boys wasn’t enough of a challenge already. ‘Anyway, let’s go kick their asses tonight, shall we!?’

‘YES!’

Chapter Text

‘Takao, we’re on defense. Fall back with me.’ Midorima said as she pushed her glasses back in place and started walking to the other side of the court.

Kagami stood there, still frozen in her defensive stance. Once again she had tried and failed to stop the green-haired girl. ‘How can she be so confident? Walking back before even making the shot… to do just that!’ She said.

‘It might literally be impossible for her to miss! This is ridiculous! As soon as she releases the ball everyone but Otsubo walks straight to the defensive. How can we counter that? They are at our destination before we are.’ Izuki said.

‘This isn’t funny anymore.’ Hyuuga breathed.

‘There is a way.’ Kuroko said. The blue-haired girl was a little short on breath, but they had gotten used to that by now.

‘Really?’

‘Yes. Next time she manages to take a shot, Kagami has to go with her immediately. Don’t even think about it, just keep running. I have a special pass I can use in this situation. Midorima-san is fast, but she’ll never be as fast as the ball itself.’ The phantom explained.

‘Wait… are you saying you’ll pass from one side of the court to another!?’ Hyuuga yelled.

‘Yes. I might not look it, but I’m quite strong. I was a regular on the best team in the country after all.’

‘Fine, we’ll try. This better work Kuroko; or I’ll kill you.’ Kagami said.

‘Whether this will work or not is up to you, Kagami-san.’

‘Okay everyone, we have a plan now. But first let’s make a goal with this possession. Midorima isn’t the only one that can shoot a three, you know!’ Hyuuga said. He cracked his knuckles as a sign that he was very much ready. Kagami threw in the ball and the game resumed.

As expected, it was tough to cross the court with all of Shuutoku’s regulars already on their spots waiting to stop them. It had just been as Riko had mentioned; Shuutoku was way more than just Midorima. All of them were amazing players. Kuroko had a very hard time using misdirection with the first-year point-guard Takao, who had something special about him. He had the ability to mentally picture the entire court and its’ players to accurately intercept Kuroko passes. He also had a special kind of bond with the ace, it seemed. It was unnaturally easy for him to sent perfect passes towards her, leading to goal after goal. Midorima never returned his passes, but she didn’t really need too. Wherever she was located on Seirin’s half, if she got the ball it was an instant goal. And that wasn’t all; each and every player on the team could score. They didn’t have to rely on just Midorima. It had been different with Kaijo, the regulars had been good players, but in the end it all came down on Kise. Without her it wouldn’t really have been an exciting game.

Kagami tried and tried, but no matter what, she just couldn’t reach high enough. Midorima’s arc was too high, her motions too fast. It was discouraging, but Kagami wasn’t the type to hang her head and give up in the face of a challenge, so whenever Midorima scores, she scored right back. Or she tried, at least.

Their plan for the quick attack to start the game hadn’t worked after all. It had defeated Kise, but Midorima turned out to be the better defender. After seeing Seirin’s faces Shuutoku’s ace had looked offended. “Why so surprised? Did you really believe I was only good for threes?” She had said with a bitter expression on her face. Of course she wasn’t. They should have expected at least this much. Midorima was part of the generation of miracles after all.

It was pretty clear that because of her height, the green-haired girl regularly trained as center, too. As she was the second tallest on her team, she often had to go against Otsubo during practice, to train him to become stronger and he did, but what it also resulted in was an incredibly strong defender who also happened to be the strongest offender. Midorima could beat any shooting guard, but she also had a shot at beating most people under the hoop. That’s why she always hated it when people acted surprised at her blocking a dunk, or keeping someone out the two-point area, forcing a shot. Just like how Murasakibara had always been perfectly able to shoot threes with pretty high accuracy, she had always been able to defend. The miracles weren’t just made of one element. They each just had something they were the best at, and when they teamed up they never needed Midorima under the goal, they never needed Murasakibara to shoot threes, they never needed Aomine to pass, Akashi didn’t really have to score all that much and they never needed Kise as a point-guard.

Because of that, now that they were no longer a team, people were always surprised when they did. Yosen didn’t have a very great shooting guard, so Murasakibara would often make threes for her team. When Kasamatsu was sitting out a game because he had exams or another appointment, Kise would fill in the role as point guard with ease. Akashi was good for anything despite her lacking the trademark height, but with a team like Rakuzan she never needed to play any other position. And just like that, Midorima could defend and even dunk.

Seirin was falling behind pretty fast, so after Midorima scored once again, they decided to go with the strategy they had discussed earlier. Kuroko stood behind the back-line, spun around and cut a straight through the entire length of the court, startling Midorima in the process. The miracle ace couldn’t catch up and Kagami scored.

‘Well Kuroko, I gotta hand it to you, that pass was pretty sick!’ Kagami said as she gave the smaller girl a fist-bump.

‘I’m always sick, Kagami-san.’ Kuroko deadpanned.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. It was indeed an impressive strategy; I’ll give you that much. However your counter attack is only worth two points while my shots equal three. So even if you score as many times as I do, the gap will only continue to widen, in fact.’ Midorima said.

‘Well I’ll just score more than you then. I like it to be challenged. Tell your hawk-eyed boyfriend too.’ Kagami said with a grin.

‘Takao and I are just teammates. He’s is not my boyfriend.’ Midorima hissed. Her eyes spat fire as she said those words.

‘Yeah whatever you say, girl.’ Kagami replied.

‘Tch.’ Midorima said as she rolled her eyes. ‘You wanted to be challenged? Fine. You’ll get your challenge.’ She picked up the ball which was still lying on the floor and tossed it to Kimura so that the latter could throw in. ‘I believe I told you before, but my shooting range isn’t that short.’

Kimura passed the ball to Midorima after the whistle went off. The ace was standing right under the basket as she entered shooting motion.

‘No way! Is she really gonna--!’ Furihata yelled as he rose from his spot on the bench. He didn’t get to finish that sentence, because Midorima had already released the ball.

Like a laser the ball flew through the air, high and barely spinning. The Seirin players, the referee and the crowd could only watch with open mouth and huge eyes. Even the Shuutoku regulars seemed a little shocked at this display. From the moment she’d released the ball it was clear that it would make it through and so it did.

‘The entire court is my shooting range.’ Midorima said after the ball fell through the net. ‘But more importantly, with me already here your counter attack will not work, in fact.’ She finished with a smug smile on her face. The cocky expression didn’t really suit the ever so proper ace, but at the same time it did.

‘<What the fuck>.’ Kagami breathed. ‘I am so done with these miracles.’

‘Gosh, isn’t Shin-chan just the coolest person on the planet. “The entire court is my shooting range” what a power-move.’ Takao sighed.

‘I don’t know about that, Takao-kun. I think your crush got a little out of hand. You seem to be blinded by your love.’ Kuroko said. After knowing Midorima for such a long time she knew very well that the green-haired girl wasn’t really what you’d call cool.

‘Well, whatever. All that matters is that this pretty much declared you useless now. Your misdirection won’t work against me and your super-attack has been beaten.’

‘That’s… pretty harsh.’ Kuroko replied.

‘Well, I’d say sorry but I really can’t. I guess I just don’t really like you. Because we’re alike.’

‘Glad we’re on the same page, then. I’ll work extra hard to beat you.’

‘Takao! Quit flirting and get to the side.’ Midorima said as she walked past. ‘You have no chance; Kuroko isn’t into guys, in fact.’

‘Huh, really?’ Takao said in surprise.

Kuroko just shrugged as she followed her team to the side.

‘Kuroko Tetsumi, could you explain to me why you haven’t mentioned that Midorima-san could shoot that good!?’ Riko hissed as she grabbed Kuroko’s head with her hand.

‘Coach, you’re hurting me.’ The phantom sixth woman said.

‘First answers, than release.’ The brunette replied.

‘I had no idea she could do that, just like Kise-san she’s just gotten stronger. From when I knew her she could shoot from as far as the center-line! Please let me go now.’

‘Fine, you’re good to go.’ Riko sighed after letting Kuroko go. ‘This is rather unfortunate, though. I can’t really believe what I saw just now.’

‘I know right? I mean I’ve seen video’s of NBA players shooting from that far, but only during practice and one-handed. Not in such a perfect form. To just even think of attempting that in an actual game… she must be mad.’ Izuki grimaced.

‘It’s like a very bad joke, this generation of miracles.’ Hyuuga said. He felt extremely inferior in that moment, he’d always considered himself to be a great shooter, but this was the first time he’d started to doubt that mindset. Losing like that, to a girl no less. He hated it.

‘Yeah, like, how to stop that?’ Koganei spoke.

‘Sure, that little performance she showed us was impossible and made us realize how weak we are compared to her, but the game’s not over yet. We’ll find a way to stop her. Kuroko-san! I know you’re very tired, but we need you for a little bit longer, think you can do it?’ Riko asked with a serious look on her face.

‘I’ll give it my best shot; after all I need to settle things with Takao-kun.’

‘Very well. The plan is the following; remember what we did in the Kaijo-game, where we had Kuroko-san and Kagami-san team up to stop Kise-san by Kuroko-san guarding the front with Kagami-san coming from the back? We’re going to try that.’

‘Sounds like a plan to me, what about you Kuroko?’

‘It’s worth trying.’

‘Alright then boys, get out there!’

‘And girls!’ Kagami yelled.

---

The look in Midorima’s face when Kuroko came to guard her was priceless, but it didn’t last long, Midorima had soon recollected herself.

‘Did you really think such a foolish display would stop me?’ She said, almost mockingly as she drove past Kuroko with ease. Kagami was quick to help, but Takao was quicker. He jumped in between Kuroko and Midorima, creating a screen and thus making the planned back-tip impossible.

‘Well, well, Kuroko. I gotta say, never expected you to target and innocent lady from the back.’ Takao teased.

‘Think you can stop me now, Kagami? You would be mistaken, in fact.’

‘We’ll see about that.’ Kagami said. She adjusted her stance, making sure to be ready to jump into action at every movement. But Midorima was faster and smarter than Kagami had expected her to be dribbled the ball around her, making the redhead lose her balance so she wasn’t able to catch up anymore as Shuutoku’s ace effortlessly made her shot.

‘Crap! You really aren’t just three-pointers, are you? You’re devilishly fast too!’ Kagami yelled.

‘Well, yes, naturally.’ Came the reply.

‘How do you even manage that with that body of yours? I find it difficult to move around very fast, but you’re built even more inconvenient for quick movement, yet you’re faster and more agile than me! That’s not possible’ Kagami said, pointing her finger at the bespectacled girl.

‘Are you honestly suggesting I am not human or something? Figures. I was blessed with this since birth, that’s all there is to it. With this mind-set you’re going to faint finding out just how fast Aomine is, or how Murasakibara can move so quickly with her body, because if you think I’m tall, you are going to be in for a nice surprise.’

Kagami stopped right in her trail. Hearing this tiny bit of background information about these two persons she assumed where from the Generation of Miracles made her very curious about them. Who were they? What position did they occupy? This Aomine was very fast and Murasakibara was supposedly taller than Midorima herself. Kagami couldn’t wait to find out all of this.

‘Takao, you do not have to push yourself this hard, I can deal with what they throw at me.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Thanks mom. But you don’t have to be ashamed using my efforts a little, this is a team sport, you know.’

‘Don’t call me that, it’s obnoxious, in fact.’ Midorima hissed at Takao, who just laughed.

Kagami had the ball and Midorima was guarding her up close, any shot or drive would be stopped by those long fingers that could reach so far. Therefore, Kagami passed to a seemingly empty space; however nothing is always as it seems and Kuroko showed up, to pass right back to Kagami to do their famed combination attack.

The pass got intercepted by Takao, who managed to tap in right into Midorima’s waiting hands and when Kagami spun around and realized that she couldn’t let the green-haired get away for even a second since she could shoot from anywhere, it was already too late. The shot had been made.

Seirin’s next attack through Mitobe was a success, his hook-shot caught Otsubo off-guard and earned the losing team a basket. Midorima wasn’t willing to give points away, so she grimaced and scored right back. Kagami jumped as high as she could, but the ball was still out of reach. Those few centimeters in height cost the redhead the block.

 ‘Three in a row! Midorima is unstoppable!’ Someone in the crowd yelled. A certain blonde also in the crowd silently chuckled to herself; she was used to this.

‘I can’t deal with this! The hang-time for that shot is just too long!’ Furihata cried out.

‘This girl… she will make our spirits break.’ Riko whispered. ‘Is it even possible for anyone to stop her… this level of shooting, how has she not been scouted for the national team or the WNBA yet? She’s the most formidable shooting-guard I have ever seen; even on TV.’

‘Aah, she’s such perfection.’ Takao smiled.

‘Perfection, sure. But this game is getting a bit boring for us.’ Kimura sighed.

‘Kimura, can I run her over with your pick-up truck?’ Miyaji asked.

‘Oi, don’t run over my girl!’ Takao yelled.

‘She’s not your girl, Takao.’ Otsubo sighed.

Midorima just glared at the smaller boy intensely.

‘… Not yet.’

‘Feel free to fire a shot at this guy’s head, Midorima. You have my permission.’ Otsubo said.

‘Understood, captain.’ She replied.

Then the 2^nd quarter ended.

‘Interesting… so this is Midorima Shinoko. She’s damn strong; this is just what I was looking for!’ Kagami grinned.

‘Yo, Kagami, are you okay? You look like a demon.’ Hyuuga yelled.

‘Oh, I’m fine. I was just thinking about how I really wanna beat her.’ Kagami said. ‘She’s so strong; I’m excited, even though we’re losing.’

‘Good to see your motivation hasn’t dropped.’ The captain replied as he gestured his team to follow him to the dressing room for evaluation.

In the dressing room, everyone was very silent. Riko didn’t know how to begin her speech now that things were looking this bad. They were so far behind and still hadn’t found a way to shut down Midorima. They had assumed it was just Kise fishing for compliment when she said the other Miracles were on another level, but she had been absolutely honest.

‘Kuroko, what are you doing?’ Izuki said as he noticed the phantom player looking at a recording on a small camera.

‘I’m studying Takao-kun, on my request; Kawahara-kun has taped him during the 2^nd quarter.’

‘Did you find a weakness!?’ Izuki exclaimed, suddenly in high spirits again.

‘Well, I have always wanted to win, but as a left-over from my time with the best I had forgotten how it felt to question your chances of winning, because I became so used to victory.’

‘Kuroko-san…’ Riko began.

‘However it then dawned on me that even if we were 100 points behind in the final seconds, there is still a chance that meteor will strike the opposing team’s bench in the very last second. We can’t say we’ve lost until the final whistle has been blown.’ She finished.

‘No! They do not randomly drop from the sky like that! What’s wrong with you?’ Hyuuga yelled.

‘Huh?’ Kuroko asked.

‘Meteors don’t fall at our convenience! How did you even come up with that? Do you want your former teammates to die that badly?’ Izuki asked in horror.

‘What if they all get sudden food poisoning? That’s more realistic.’ Tsuchida offered.

‘That won’t happen either!’ Izuki said.

‘Well, compared to Shuutoku getting sudden freak-accidents, a comeback from us seems a lot more reasonable, doesn’t it?’ Koganei asked. Mitobe nodded in response and showed a tiny smile.

‘Right. Just go after the ball with all that you have and don’t dread too much on possible outcomes. We’ll see when we get there.’ Hyuuga said.

‘Spoken like a true captain, Hyuuga-san. Let’s go!’

‘Yes!’

---

‘You’ve done a decent job, but it’s not perfect. They’re still not dead, they haven’t given up yet. Otsubo will join the attacks, finish and crush them. That is all I have to say.’ Nakatani said to his pupils.

Everyone nodded in response, all but one.

‘Are you even listening to him? What are you doing anyway?’ Takao asked the only girl present in the room.

‘Can’t you tell? I am filing my nails, in fact. I need them to be perfect, since bad nails can affect my shot.’ Midorima said, intensely focusing in her left index-finger as she dragged the pink file over it with great care. ‘You heard him say “finish them” didn’t you? I need to be in top condition, in fact.’

‘So you were listening, huh?’ Takao said. He honestly didn’t get it; Midorima taped her fingers to protect them every single day, except when she was playing basketball. He didn’t know, but he assumed she slept with her hands taped up as well. Midorima called it perseverance, but Takao knew that it went beyond just that. It was obsession. ‘But really, you don’t have to do this, you know? As if you’d ever miss.’

‘No, I do have to do this, in fact.’

‘OUCH! Who put this damn raccoon here!? It was on the bench during the entire first half, too! It’s constantly in the way.’ Kimura yelled while clutching his foot.

‘It’s my lucky item, in fact. It’s from a daily horoscope program that has never once failed me. It shows me what item I should bring each day to boost my luck and it tells me my compatibility with other signs---’

‘Who the hell cares about that?’ Kimura yelled.

‘What will happen if I break it? Let me break it.’ Miyaji said.

‘No don’t!’ Midorima said in a slightly raised voice.

Everyone turned their heads. They had never heard Midorima raise her voice before. They were shocked to see blind panic in the girl’s face. She was trembling on her feet and looked like she was about to cry. It caught them all off-guard.

‘Oi, Midorima!’ Otsubo exclaimed in shock.

‘Please, don’t break it.’ Midorima repeated as she forcefully took the object out of her upperclassman’s hands. ‘I’ll be on the court as the game starts. You can do the rest of this talk without me.’ She said as she strode away with large footsteps. She closed the door louder than necessary on her way out.

‘What was that all about?’ Miyaji asked.

‘I don’t know man, but I think you should better apologize later, she seemed really agitated just now.’ Kimura said.

‘Maybe that thing’s a family treasure or something?’ One of the benchwarmers said.

‘I wasn’t actually going to break it, you know? I was just messing with her. I didn’t think she’d lose her cool like that.’ Miyaji said.

‘She’s a peculiar person, huh?’ Takao sighed. He had become curious, yet also a little concerned. Maybe Midorima’s obsessions went a little deeper than he’d originally thought.

---

Kuroko was benched in the 3^rd quarter, Koganei had taken her place. The beginning went as expected. Midorima made an instant goal. The thing that was unexpected though, was that Kagami had almost managed to touch the ball. She had almost stopped the miracle ace. Another thing that was unexpected was that Midorima seemed to be irritated by something; her eyes were slightly red too, as if she had been crying.

Koganei managed to make a shot, which was greeted by a mix of surprise and joy. Then the ball was in Midorima’s hands once again.

Kagami thought about what Kuroko had said during half-time, the way how she never intended to give up despite being so weak. It had affected Kagami, these words, seeing Kuroko hang her head as she was told she’d be benched, it hurt. That’s why she wanted to fight, fight for herself, fight for the team, fight for her. She set-off. Kagami reached her hand all the way out and suddenly came the familiar touch of raw rubber on the tip of her ring-finger. She saw the shock wash over Midorima’s face. Emerald eyes blown wide, glassed sliding down the bridge of her nose, mouth agape in a soundless scream.

Then came the blissful sound of a ball hitting metal. Everyone, audience and referee included, was dead silent and frozen on their place as they watched the ball bounce on the metal surface of the hoop. It bounced from one side to another, nearly falling over the rim, into a total miss, but then back over the edge through the net.

‘Pfehw. That was a close one.’ Takao sighed in relief.

‘That’s the first time I’ve seen Midorima barely make it.’ Kimura said in disbelief.

‘You!’

Kagami turned around as she heard Midorima’s voice.

‘You, what’s your star-sign?’ The bespectacled ace asked.

‘Me? Oh, I’m a Leo.’ Kagami grinned.

‘Damn, that horoscope is really never wrong.’ Midorima said while gritting her teeth.

Hyuuga made a shot. Nothing impressive, he was overshadowed by the presence o a shooter many times greater than him. Yet the shot was met with joy from his teammates.

Midorima shot again, but Kagami was right there and tipped the ball again. The trajectory told it all. The greatest shooter of Japan and perhaps the world had been stopped. Otsubo came storming in and dunked the ball through the net, securing two points.

Midorima was frozen in her spot. This was the first time that she had been blocked by someone other than Murasakibara, back during practice at Teiko. Kise and even Aomine had never managed it, despite trying many times. They just couldn’t block her once she entered her motion. Only the freakishly long arms belonging to the miracle center had done the job before. The sole reason she had decided to shoot so high. She had kept expanding and expanding until she was met with a set of furious violet eyes early into their second year.

“Mido-chin, if you shoot it that high I can’t block you!” The purple-haired girl pouted after trying and failing to block the smaller girl’s shots for a few consecutive times. They stayed behind alone that day, the others all had something else to attend too and Aomine was sick at home, the ace had caught the flu, so it was just them for once. Midorima had decided to do her usual shooting-drills and Murasakibara had decided to try and annoy the smaller girl by slamming down her shots, but she was surprised when that didn’t work out.

“Murasakibara, that’s the whole reason why I’m doing it, in fact. I trained for this exact situation, to build a strong front against players taller than me. You are perfect practice material for that, I’ve got to say.” Midorima replied as she wiped away the sweat from her eyebrows and out of her eyes. She then proceeded to clean her glasses with the hem of her light green shirt.

“Well, it’s no fun this way. If I can’t win, I don’t want to play anymore. So I’m going to get some food from the store now; it’s nearly campus curfew anyway. You can come too, if you want.” Murasakibara said, bending down to pick up her water bottle. Her way of thinking was childish as ever.

“I suppose I could do with something to eat, in fact. I’ll join you after clean-ups are done. But you know that if you work on getting stronger, you’ll be able to block me again someday, right?” Midorima replied as she went to retrieve the ball they’d used to put it back into storage.

“Yeah, I suppose I do. However, why would I work hard to beat someone on my own team? I’ll save the extra work for the day you and I become foes, Mido-chin.” Murasakibara said, stretching her arms above her head as she yawned. She went and picked up a mop and a bucket filled with water.

“Very well then. I’ll be keeping you to that.” Midorima replied as she followed her friend’s lead on mopping the floor clean.

This had been at Teiko, but now there was this woman, Kagami Taiga, who had done it too. She wasn’t happy. At all.

Riko saw the potential immediately; a double team on Otsubo, to force Midorima into shooting. If Kagami could touch the ball twice, a third time wasn’t far away. Kagami did more than just touch it though.

Midorima’s body was laced with fury and shock as Kagami slammed the ball back to the ground. This wasn’t just stopping the shot; this was a perfect, undeniable block.

From then on it went downhill for Shuutoku and uphill for Seirin, Kagami did end up completely worn-out, but in the final seconds she had managed to stop Midorima’s attempt at a buzzer-beater. Seirin had done it; they had advanced to the finals league, they were celebrating. Kagami lifted Kuroko all the way into the air, despite her obvious leg pains. It didn’t seem to matter as the team happily celebrated their well-fought victory.

Perhaps it had been a bit of a fluke; maybe Midorima’s horoscope had just predicted everything correctly. Nobody knew for sure, all they knew was that one team was celebrating while the other was grieving.

Shuutoku was out, disqualified for the finals league and so also the Interhigh that year. Midorima kept her posture all the way through the line-up and lecture from the coach. It was only when she was outside, alone in the rain that she cried a few tears of sadness and... Relief.

Chapter Text

By the time Midorima decided to go back inside, her teammates had already left. She didn’t feel betrayed because she knew they weren’t friends. They saw her as a tool they could use to win; she saw them as a supporting act to elevate her to her maximal potential. After what had happened during half-time it had become clear to her that they didn’t understand her at all, didn’t try to understand her. It would be a lie if she said she wasn’t hurt by it, she was. She didn’t understand why they thought they could taunt her in that way; push her over her boundaries like this.

Was it because she was a woman while they were all men? Was that sexist classic cliché the reason why they thought they could just to things like this? Did they believe they were better than her just because of their genitals?

Midorima had always considered herself to be a feminist. Nothing extreme like the recent feminism you saw in the media, she just believed men and women should have equal rights. They weren’t the same, but they should be treated as such. She told herself that this was the reason why she hadn’t fallen in love once in her life; she believed she didn’t need a man in her life to complete her. She was fine on her own. The only man she would ever date would be one that shared her beliefs on the topic and treated her as a person instead of a sex-object and kitchen-slave. She had promised that to herself the moment she’d started puberty. Maybe she was subconsciously staying far away from her teammates for this reason, afraid to fall in love with the wrong person. Though she doubted any of them even viewed her as attractive, because she was well aware that not many guys would come running after a nearly two meters tall girl with green hair and a horoscope obsession.

Perhaps they had left without her to just state this to her clearly. We don’t like you, we don’t want you and we don’t care about you. She had always been a person to pull quick conclusions and she was usually right about those conclusions too. She knew full well that this made her an unlikable person, hence why she didn’t have any friends, excluding the ones she’d had and lost in middle school. If her teammates didn’t want to be her friends then she wasn’t going to complain. You didn’t need friends to win. Though she wondered if that mindset was true now. Kuroko and Kagami were friends, perhaps even a little more than that. They worked together and had defeated two foes stronger than they were by the power of their combined work. Maybe you did need friendship to win after all.

When she stepped inside the dressing room to collect her stuff, she was surprised to see Takao still there, vast asleep on the floor. After her initial surprise had faded, she moved. She knelt down beside the sleeping boy, nudging his shoulder, perhaps a little too roughly. Oh well, at least she didn’t use her foot as she had originally intended, she didn’t know what made her change her mind.

‘Takao, what are you doing on the floor, in fact? Do you have any idea how unhygienic dressing rooms are?’ She scolded as soon as the point guard opened his eyes.

‘Huh? Oh it’s just you. I was waiting for ya to come back, figured I shouldn’t come searching for you and you’d rather have a moment alone, but it took a while. Guess I just dozed off.’ The boy said as she sat upright and stretched himself.

‘Why didn’t you leave with the others?’ Midorima asked. She didn’t understand why he would wait for her so long.

‘I didn’t agree with them leaving just like that. They’re supposed to be upperclassmen, y’know? I found it cruel that they wanted to just leave you here, so I stayed behind.’

‘Is that it, huh? I see then, thank you.’ Midorima sighed as she rose upright again, brushing over her clothes, smoothening the still wet fabric.

‘I also view you as someone I care about, Shin-chan. So it’s only natural to stay behind and wait on you, right?’ Takao said with a vibrant smile on his face.

Midorima became immobilized. Her jaw dropped and her eyes immediately grew wide as her face caught fire. This was the first time in her life someone had told her something like this. More accurately, the first time that a boy did.

‘You’re probably surprised right? Thinking “why would he like someone like me?” Well, to be honest with you, I’m not sure myself. I know that I just do. You’re all sorts of weird and annoying, sure. But that doesn’t change it for me. I just want to stay close to you, get to really know you.’

When she didn’t react Takao decided to just continue talking.

‘The others all thought you were emotionless when you left the dressing room with such a straight face, not me. I knew that you were probably hurting pretty badly. A first loss is painful, I imagine. Being the very best is probably harder than I think it is. So I figured that we should all leave you be for a little while, but they insisted on leaving, with or without you. So I said that I would stay behind until you came back, whether they were leaving or not. I don’t really know why I’m saying all of this to you right now, but I think you could benefit from hearing it. Maybe it’s just me starting to fall for you, I don’t know.’ Takao laughed.

Midorima was pretty sure her face was hot enough to melt stone at this point. Was this guy seriously giving her a love confession here? This was probably just one of Takao’s many jokes. There was rarely a time when Takao Kazunari could be taken completely serious.

‘I… what? Takao, quit joking around. We should go home, in fact.’ Midorima said. She couldn’t think of anything else to say. This was all just a bit too confusing for her, so she just brushed his words off as meaningless nonsense.

‘Shin-chan, I’m not--, never mind. Let’s go eat out, it’s dinner time, our houses are pretty far from here, so it’ll get really late otherwise. There should be some restaurants around here, right?’ Takao said. He decided to just leave it at this for now, Midorima had just been forcefully dragged down to earth after living on another hemisphere for so long, and this surely wasn’t the best time for her to take a confession. Not the best place either, someone like Midorima had much higher standards than a filthy dressing room smelling of teenage-boys’ sweat.

Besides, he wasn’t even really sure about his feelings for Midorima. He thought he might be falling for her, but he couldn’t tell yet. He had had so many crushes on so many different girls in his life, it wouldn’t be impossible if he was starting to fall in love with her. His brain had always turned his feelings into words and he wasn’t ashamed of that in any way, if he really did fall in love with Midorima, he would just say so to her straight. Just on a strategically planned time and location.

He didn’t think it was strange that he was thinking of the miracle in such a way, after all he was a teenage boy in the middle of puberty and Midorima was a visually pleasing young woman, of course he would notice her good looks and trained body. It wasn’t bad or misogynist to appreciate a girl for her looks and staring a little was no sin either. As long as you didn’t cross any of her personal boundaries it was fine, right?  

‘I guess that’s not a very bad idea, in fact.’ Midorima said in reply to his proposal to eat out. ‘Let’s just grab our stuff and find a place to eat. We should be a bit hasty; it is destined to rain very badly after 45 minutes or-so.’

‘Sure. Wait, how do you know this without looking on your phone?’ Takao asked. He was a little confused.

‘Naturally, I remember the entire weather forecast of the day every morning.’ She replied as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

‘I guess you’d do something like that, huh?’ Takao chuckled.

Not even five minutes later they left the building.

---

When they entered the restaurant seeing the entire Seirin team and Kise Ryouka with one of her teammates inside, Midorima immediately turned around to leave and Takao followed. Outside, the rain came down like a waterfall; Midorima had been absolutely right about the heavy rain she’d expected. Within mere seconds the both of them were soaked all the way down the bone and the wind was blowing like mad, a business man with an umbrella was nearly lifted off the ground by it. The Shuutoku freshmen quickly stepped inside again, dripping an impossible amount of rain water on the welcome-mat on the doorstep.

‘We’d like a table, please.’ Takao said. Suddenly, he had the best idea he ever had in his entire life and oh boy was he going to do it!

‘We’re pretty full as you can see, but if you don’t mind sharing a table with other people, you can sit down wherever you like.’ The shop-owner said.

‘You’re Kasamatsu Yukio, right!? I’m Takao Kazunari! Oh man, you’re on the same position as I am; I read a lot about you in magazines and stuff. Hey, would you mind come sit with me over there? I’d love to receive some tips from you!’ Takao exclaimed with a huge grin.

‘Uhm, sure.’ Kasamatsu replied as he went and followed Takao to another table.

‘MIDORIMACCHI! Come sit with us!’ Kise yelled full of enthusiasm, waving her hand at the startled Midorima still standing in the doorway.

With a scowl on his face she went inside and sat down at the empty spot beside Kagami. ‘Good evening.’ She said.

‘That table is just ridiculous… you could even say it’s filled with miracles.’ Izuki said.

‘Izuki, shut up.’ Hyuuga hissed.

‘So this is what you were after, Takao-kun! I am impressed’ Riko said with a gleam in her eyes.

‘Who, me? No way~’ Takao replied with a grin.

‘I am totally gonna eavesdrop.’ Riko said.

‘Me too.’ Shuutoku’s point guard agreed.

‘Ah it’s so good to see you again! And Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi too! This is such a wonderful day.’ Kise said happily. ‘I went to see your game, of course and oh man! I almost fell out of my seat because of the excitement. Midorimacchi, you have become so good I can hardly believe it and Kagamicchi! That damn block, I thought my mind was playing me! Did you know I tried so many times but never blocked Midorimacchi before? You finally found your hidden talent! You just need to perfect it and you’ll be good to go head to head with the Generation of Miracles! And Kurokocchi… Kurokocchi is always the best, isn’t she? Yes she is!’ Kise continued her ramble as she rubbed her cheek against Kuroko’s hair.

‘I see you’re very energetic today, Kise-san.’ Kuroko sighed.

‘Ain’t I always?’ The model replied.

‘Let’s order.’ Kuroko said.

‘I have enough with what I’ve already ordered.’ Kise said.

The waiter came to take their orders and while Kuroko and Midorima both ordered minimal servings of food, Kagami did not.

‘Are you summoning a demon over there or something?’ Kise said with wide-opened eyes.

‘It does sound like an ancient curse used by rituals of summoning the devil, in fact.’ Midorima agreed. She was still busy drying her hair.

‘Don’t worry; Kagami-san will finish it all by herself.’ Kuroko said. ‘Trust me, I have seen things.’

‘Kagamicchi are you even human!?’ Kise said in bewilderment.

Their food arrived not very long after.

---

‘Ne, Midorimacchi, your food is burning.’ Kise said after a while.

‘I don’t really feel like eating right now.’ The green-haired replied. ‘Moreover; I am surprised you can eat food that greatly resembles shit.’ Midorima said.

‘Huh? Midorima can curse?’ Kagami replied.

‘Yes, I am capable of cursing, in fact.’ Midorima bit back.

‘Come on Midorimacchi, cheer up a little. Today’s enemies are tomorrow’s friends… or something like that.’ Kise said.

‘Well that might be so; however I literally just lost to them. Kise, don’t get me wrong, it is good to see that you’re enjoying yourself here, but I don’t get how you can be so friendly with them while they have beaten you, too.’ Midorima said, gesturing towards Kuroko and Kagami with her eyes. Her hands were occupied with undoing her braids to squeeze the water out of them with her towel.

‘Well, that’s obvious isn’t it? I’ll get my revenge on them… at the interhigh.’ Kise said with a smirk.

‘Heh, I’d like to see you try, Kise!’ Kagami replied.

‘Kise… you seem different.’ Midorima said after intensely focusing her view on Kise for a little while.

‘How so?’ The model asked.

‘Your eyes, they look strange.’ Midorima replied.

‘Wha- strange!?’ Kise yelled. ‘Well, I guess you might be onto something though. Ever since Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi beat me, I started to attend practice again more often and lately I even… I think I’m having a lot of fun, playing basketball with everyone at Kaijo.’ Kise said with a content smile on her beautiful face.

‘It seems like I was wrong. You haven’t changed; it’s more like the changes you went through were undone. You have gone back to your former self, from before we were triple-champions.’ Midorima said.

‘But isn’t it a good thing, that Kise-san has gone back to enjoying herself?’ Kuroko said.

‘What you see in basketball is a game; however I do not play for fun.’ Midorima replied.

‘What are you talking about, jeez? You girls are thinking about this way too hard, of course you play basketball because it’s fun.’ Kagami sighed.

‘Don’t tell me or any of the others how to think when you don’t even know us. You have no idea what we’ve gone through. Basketball has ceased to be fun for us.’ Midorima said. Her voice was dangerously low and her articulation unusually slow and clear. With her emerald eyes she bore into Kagami’s ruby ones.

At that moment Takao catapulted his food on top of Midorima’s head.

‘Takao… get your ass over here.’ She growled as she rose from her seat and grabbed the poor raven-haired by his collar and dragged him towards the exits. ‘We’ll talk later, Kagami.’ She said as she stepped outside.

‘Oh my god Shin-chan I didn’t mean too, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please don’t do that.’ Takao’s pleading was heard inside, turning heads towards the exit in wonder.

They heard Takao scream in agony, muffled by only the sound of the rain that was still pouring out of the black sky and just moments later Midorima came back inside, cleared of any traces of food she was once again squeezing the water out of her hair, which was now hanging loose over her shoulders.

‘Kise, did you by any change bring a hair-brush with you today? I left mine at home, in fact.’ Midorima said as she sat back down and toweled her hair so it wasn’t dripping anymore. She was acting like nothing had happened, but Takao had still not returned inside and the mysterious disappearance of the food that had been on her head wasn’t any less concerning.

‘Yes, I believe I have it somewhere…’ Kise said as she searched through her bag. ‘Ah, there it is.’ The model said as she handed the metallic blue object to the taller girl.

‘Thank you, Kise.’ Midorima said as she started working on untangling the massive amount of hair, which had started to curl at the bottoms as it dried quickly in the hot air of the restaurant.

‘The amount of hair you have never ceases to amaze me, Midorima-san.’ Kuroko said as she watched Shuutoku’s ace brush her hair in jealousy. Midorima did this so precisely that it was almost hypnotic to watch.

‘Isn’t it very heavy on your head? Your hair must be like really long and all, right?’ Kagami asked.

‘Human hair barely weighs anything, so it isn’t heavy even in a big mass. And you would be correct; my hair is about 75 centimeters in length.’ Midorima replied. ‘It is a bit of time-consuming though, in times such as this. It’s naturally curly and I don’t have the time to style it every morning, therefore wearing it in braids is the easiest solution.’

‘Don’t you ever considering cutting it shorter?’ Seirin’s ace asked.

‘Think about it, yes. But I am simply not allowed to do that.’ The bespectacled girl replied.

‘Man, Japan is such an uptight country.’ Kagami said.

‘Ah yes, that reminds me! You used to live in America, right Kagamicchi? That’s so cool! Could you tell me a little about it, I’m pretty curious?’ Kise said.

‘Well, I suppose I could. What did ya wanna know?’

‘When did you move there and why did you come back to Japan, for starters.’ The blonde replied.

‘I believe I was around 7 years old when we moved overseas, me and my dad, that is. My mother passed away shortly after I was born due complications while giving birth, so I never got to know her. My dad’s a business man and he got an amazing job-offer from the states, but he was always considerate for me, so he asked me how I felt about it, naturally I was pretty excited to see America, so we moved. We came back last year, when you lot were still in middle school, but I didn’t participate in the basketball club back then, I had a fallout with the other girls, otherwise we might have met already. Anyway, my dad had to go back to America a few weeks ago and he didn’t want to drag me away again after just having settled, so since I’m able to take care of myself he lets me temporarily live on my own, until he comes back. It should be somewhere around April next year.’ Kagami explained.

‘I am very sorry to hear about your mother’s passing, Kagami.’ Midorima said.

‘Ah, it’s fine. It saddens me sometimes, but I don’t really know any better. I am unable to miss her so that soothes the pain a little. Besides, I do have a mother-figure in my life now, so it’s fine the way it is.’

‘You do? Did your father get remarried?’ Kise asked.

‘Nah, it’s not that. I had trouble making friends in America, because I barely spoke the language and the girls didn’t like me because I acted boyish. Then one day I met this guy, he was a year older than me and also Japanese. We quickly became friends and later developed a sibling relationship. He’s the one that introduced me to basketball and taught me the basics. We played streetball a lot and one day we went up to this woman who kicked everyone’s asses on the betting court. Outside from the games we saw on TV, we had never seen anyone that good before, so we were super hyped. Tatsuya asked if she would take us as apprentice and she said no at first, but she decided to do it eventually when she saw our passion for the sport. Tatsuya didn’t really have a mom either, his parents got divorced and his mother moved away with another man to god-knows-where. Alex, or Alexandra, didn’t have any kids of her own, so we became like a little family. Alex had quite a lot of money since she used to play as a pro, so she’d take us on holidays and little trips as our parents were too busy with work. I remember we went to the NBA-finals once, it was such an experience, and the energy was so intense! They were good times’ Kagami said.

‘It sure sounds like fun to me. But weren’t they sad when you left America, then?’ Kuroko asked.

‘I don’t really know. I had this big fall-out with Tatsuya one day and we didn’t talk anymore after that. I moved back to Japan not a lot later. I still have regular contact with Alex, but not with Tatsuya. In fact, she’ll probably come over if we are able to qualify for the Interhigh.’

‘Say Kagamicchi, did you ever fall in love with him, Tatsuya-kun, I mean?’ Kise asked with a grin on her face.

‘No way in hell I did! He was like a brother to me, don’t be gross. On top of that he already had enough girls and boys swarming around him. Tatsuya was ridiculously good-looking, his face was so refined that you could almost mistake it for a girl’s face and he was quite the social butterfly too, not really a talent for monogamy either. Everyone always loved him, but on the flip side he’s also very smart and cunning. He could play everyone like a fiddle to get what he wanted and he fought on the streets. All in all, he was a great person, but as a lover I really wouldn’t recommend him. I have had some other boyfriends though, just nothing really serious, Tatsuya would act like a true brother and give them a stern talking-too if he suspected they might cause trouble, they usually backed off straight away, meaning that they were probably just into me for money.’

‘Ooh, intense and beautiful, what’s not to like? He sounds like he could be my next bad decision.’ The model chuckled.

‘Oh my god…’ Kagami sighed.

‘Please just ignore her.’ Midorima said.

‘So was he a good basketball player?’ Kuroko asked.

‘Oh, yes he definitely was. He’s a shooting guard, but his shock value lies in his refinement instead of hit/miss percentage or distance. He always moved so gracefully and perfectly orthodox. His skills were fully polished by Alex, of course. If we talk about form purely, his shots are even more graceful than Midorima’s. He would have loved it to challenge you miracles if he were here, I’m sure. Though he is a very sore loser. He couldn’t really deal with the fact that I became stronger as him, he had big dreams for the future and he felt like I overshadowed those.’ Kagami said. ‘Well, that’s enough about me. What’re your families like? We might as well get to know each other while we’re at it, 'cause we haven’t seen the last of each other yet, Kuroko actually likes you guys.’ The redhead directed the question to Kise and Midorima.

‘Of course Kurokocchi likes us! Ah, for me it’s my parents who might have the most stable marriage in history, like they never fight and are still very much in love, they had me and my two older sisters. Tomoecchi is 22 and Yayoicchi is 19, I have always been picked on because I was the youngest…’ Kise sulked.

‘Ah, I see. Do they play basketball too?’ Kagami asked.

‘No, they both play volleyball on their college team, they’re majoring in fashion design and photography. I used to play volleyball until my second middle-school year too! I was Teiko’s ace; I even got a national win out of it. Volleyball is the second sport tall people look at and I always looked up to my sisters, so I followed them. Ah, but I also did gymnastics for a while before turning to basketball and swimming, baseball, soccer… you name it, I aced it!’ Kise said with a flirtatious wink.

‘Dude, if you were that good why did you quit volleyball? Fucking multi-sports talent…’

‘I don’t know; I had no one to challenge me so I quit out of boredom. It was the same with the other sports I did. I loved it at first, but soon there was no one left to stand up against me. So then I wandered around the school grounds wondering about which club to join and I ended up with basketball. So it’s destiny I guess?’

‘The true story is that Aomine-san purposely threw a basketball at Kise-san’s head, causing Kise-san to have her gay awakening, join the basketball team and follow Aomine-san around the school 24/7.’ Kuroko explained. Midorima nodded in agreement.

‘Well, that’s one way to put it’ Kise chuckled.

‘So this Aomine person is your ex-girlfriend?’ Kagami asked. She wondered what kind of girl this Aomine was, you had to be pretty flashy too keep up with Kise, right? Probably tall, pretty, maybe even a model, energetic, fashionable.

‘Yes, they had quite the good relationship until the team started to fall apart. It’s a shame they broke up, in fact. Their constant flirting was decidedly less annoying than their constant sulking.’ Midorima said.

‘Mhhh, y’know I had assumed you’d be like kinda conservative and homophobic.’ Kagami said.

‘I am not; I respect others regardless of the orientation they were born with. It’s not like they have a choice, you know. Aomine and Kuroko were openly lesbian; Kise and Murasakibara were openly bisexual and Akashi was a vast supporter. They’re the people I was closest too, how could I ever judge other people like them?’ Midorima said. ‘I’m also smart enough to not verbally judge someone by appearance or first impressions, Kagami.’ She added bitterly.

‘I know that it’s a bad trait, but I can’t really help what my mind thinks, y’know? Anyway I’m glad to see that I was wrong about you, maybe you’re not a complete asshole after all.’

‘You really have a way with words, don’t you?’ Midorima sighed. ‘You are so much like Aomine, it’s hard to believe.’

‘I gotta give it to Kagamicchi though; you do strike like someone like that, Midorimacchi. With that constant frown on your face and those angry eyes. People that don’t know you will most likely misjudge you because you always act so uptight. You should really try to live a little; if you act this way no one will know you’re actually a sweetheart, you really are a tsundere.’ Kise said.

‘Ugh; I am not having this conversation with you again.’ Midorima said as she rolled her eyes.

‘Well Midorima, you haven’t told us about your family yet. I want to know how you started basketball, too. Because you don’t really strike me as the type.’

‘I have a father, a mother and a younger sister aged 4. I grew up in a gated community, so I did what every other girl born there did; I played the piano, practiced classical singing, did ballet and strived for straight A’s, in fact. I quickly noticed that I wasn’t made for ballet; I had a lot of power and was tall which made me stand out. One day some kids approached me, asked me to play a game of basketball; I must have been around 10. I hesitated, but I ended up saying yes. I quickly realized that everything that made me feel bad during ballet made me feel good there. I was better than all of those boys despite it being my first time playing. I ended up playing every day and quit ballet when entering middle school. My father wasn’t really amused because basketball is not ladylike, but my mother thought it was cool, she supported my interests. So no, I’m not really the arch-type for a basketball player, but you can’t talk to me about it for as long as I am better than you are, in fact.’ Midorima explained without taking a break for possible side-comments from others.

‘You really don’t like talking about yourself, huh? How will I ever get to know you like this?’ Kagami said.

‘Midorima-san always takes her time to warm up to people; it took her ages to befriend Aomine-san and Murasakibara-san. That’s just how she is; she’ll come around in a few months.’ Kuroko said.

‘Yeah and what about you! You never really told me anything about yourself either!’ Kagami said. ‘Out with it!’

‘Fine…’ Kuroko sighed. ‘I have a mom, a dad and no siblings. My grandmother lives with me and my family in our apartment. I was raised with the mindset that I could be anything and anyone as long as I worked hard for it. So despite me being small compared to other kids my age, I went to play basketball with a boy from my school every day. There wasn’t a mini-basketball club anywhere near us, so we just used the park to play. He was better than me, obviously, but that made me want to work harder. He then moved away a year before I started Teiko, but we stayed in touch and promised to meet on the national stage one day. But as someone without talent, how will you ever meet a boy on the national stage? I knew it was impossible, but I didn’t want to crush his feelings. But after meeting the Generation of miracles it became possible. I saw that girls could play in the boys’ league so I worked hard to get there too.’

‘As expected from you… this story is so average.’ Kagami said.

‘Please don’t judge my normal life, Kagami-san.’

Somehow they had managed to keep a good conversation going, with all four participating in it without all too much mayhem. Midorima seemed to have moved past her bitterness a little and Kagami wasn’t trying to pick a fight with her anymore. Kise was enjoying herself greatly chatting with three of her closest friends, Kagami might not view her like one and Kise found that the woman who helped change her life for the better deserved such a title. Kuroko was smiling to herself; this is what she had missed. All that was missing were three more people, still broken waiting to be fixed. The conversation went through many topics, eventually stopping with Kise and Midorima looking at Kagami with horrified expressions on their faces, for the redhead had finished her entire serving. Kuroko wasn’t even fazed by it anymore.

‘Well, it seems like the rain has stopped. I best get home now or my parents will worry.’ Midorima said. ‘Oh and Kagami, let me give you some advice; there’s two of the Generation of Miracles in the Tokyo district. Me myself, obviously, and a woman named Aomine Daika. You’ll definitely encounter her in the finals league. She’s the same type of player as you are, in fact.’

‘Huh? I don’t really get what you mean by that, you are being just as vague as Kuroko. But the bottom line is that she’s strong, right?’ Kagami replied.

‘Yes. She is. But her basketball… I don’t like it.’ Kuroko said with a dark expression on her face.

‘Aominecchi, huh?’ Kise sighed. ‘If there is anyone in this world I admire, it would be her… before she changed, that is.’

‘It’s no use dwelling on the past, those who wish to come back will, in fact do so. Kise, just do your best on qualifying for the interhigh, I’ll come watch. Kuroko, Kagami, do your best too, it would be cruel if you were to miss it after you made me do so.’ Midorima said.

‘Midorima-san!’ Kuroko said.

The taller girl turned around. ‘What is it, Kuroko?’

‘Let’s play again sometime.’

‘I would like to. But next time it will be my victory, in fact.’ Midorima said as she walked out the door.

---

Outside Takao was already waiting on her.

‘We don’t have to play rock, paper, scissors. I’ll pedal home tonight.’ He said.

Midorima offered him a rare smile and she sat down in the cart. They departed in silence. The shooting guard looked at the people walking their dogs in the semi-darkness. The yellow glow of the streetlights was reflected in the water the rain had dropped on the ground. It was a pretty sight, but it also brought a wave of melancholy. Memories of late-night stops at the convenience store after practice had run late. Laughter, familiar voices and countless celebrations of a victory. When had those victories turned into sorrow? When had she lost them? Midorima couldn’t tell. Some had at least returned, but half were still missing. How did all of this become relevant again despite her having locked those memories away? Was this the true purpose of her defeat? She knew it was. Someone had reached out to her, grabber her ankles and slammed her face-first back into reality. The change Kise had made, back to herself. Midorima wondered if she would make it too someday soon. Perhaps she couldn’t do it alone after all and so she spoke up.

‘We’ll win next time. There’s still the Wintercup, in fact.’ It sounded like a meaningless promise, but it was much more. It was Midorima telling someone that she wasn’t scared to rely on their assistance anymore; it was her showing that she wasn’t planning to fight alone again.

She had fun tonight, though she wouldn’t tell anyone. She too had enjoyed talking with Kuroko and Kise. Even getting to know Kagami a little better hadn’t been as bad as she’d anticipated. The resemblance between the ruby-haired and Aomine was truly uncanny, but maybe that was why she was able to talk to Kagami without feeling uncomfortable. The atmosphere was already familiar to her, her former classmate and teammate might have changed, but Kagami was a mirror as to how she had been for so long. Kise had changed, she herself had changed, perhaps Aomine would return to her former self after a loss. Midorima hoped so, but it seemed unlikely that the miracle ace would lose. Still, there was hope. Not just for Aomine, but also for Murasakibara and even Akashi. Perhaps they would one day be able to do something like this with all of them together. Midorima decided that she would like that.

‘Yes, we’ll win.’ Takao replied. He hadn’t expected her to say something.

‘I’ll bring an even better and bigger lucky item next time.’

‘Shin-chan, I don’t think it works like that…’

Chapter Text

‘Stupid legs.’ Kagami muttered under her breath as she sat beside Coach on the bench. Her other teammates were doing pool exercises. (Well, Kuroko was basically just drowning and the boys were not so subtly side-eyeing their phantom sixth player. Her swimsuit showed them that Kuroko wasn’t quite as flat-chested as they’d thought she was. Coach had been surprised about it too; she asked the blue haired girl what size she wore and then got pissed when Kuroko dryly replied that she wore a D.) Kagami didn’t particularly mind that she had to sit out on this one; she didn’t really want all the horny teenage boys staring at her body and exercising in the water is heavy business. She just wanted to play some basketball, but she couldn’t.

After the game against that monster Midorima, Kagami had immediately felt that something wasn’t right. She’d had muscle aches before, but not like this. After a visit to the doctor she’d gotten the advice to have two weeks of no sports activities that required her legs, then physiotherapy to build the muscles her body needed to perform at this level. She wondered if the green haired was injured as well and if she wasn’t it was just a clear picture for Kagami; Midorima was far stronger than she was, she had no chance against the Generation of Miracles this way. She needed to train.

‘Coach, I’m gonna head out. The chlorine is giving me a headache.’ Kagami lied.

‘Ah, sure.’ Coach replied absently as she watched her other players train.

---

Kagami walked through the sunny streets of Tokyo, she noticed that her legs didn’t really hurt anymore, the two weeks weren’t over yet, but the weather was so nice and her legs didn’t hurt, so why not just get some practice done? It’s not like Coach would find out anyway. Upon seeing a court in the park, Kagami took the ball out of her bag and carefully started doing some exercises.

‘Left, then right, a crossover behind the back, run forwards, halt and then a fade away.’ Kagami said to herself as she practiced. Her shot went in. ‘Take that, Midorima! You aren’t the only one that can shoot some three pointers.’ The red haired girl grinned; to passerby’s she must look like a lunatic, talking to herself like that.

She enjoyed being able to play again, she had really missed the game she loved so dearly. The sun burned on her skin, but Kagami didn’t really mind that much, she didn’t mind getting tan, unlike most Asians she didn’t really fancy a milky white skin that required lots of sun-protection. She was used to some heat from her time in the States. She would spend endless afternoons just like this one playing with Tatsuya and Alex until they finally collapsed and went for some cold drinks.

Kagami continued with some dunks and other basic patterns until she noticed a rather unwanted presence. A boy, or even a man, Kagami couldn’t really tell, was watching her from the sidelines. He was tall- around Kagami’s height- and muscular. He wore a dark blue sweater, a baseball hat and loose-fitting jeans with a hole in one of the knees, at least his shoes were nice; brand-new Jordan’s, bright, spotless white. His expression was dark, annoyed. The dark eyes complimented his dark skin, because of the deep shadow the cap of the baseball hat cast over his face his features were hard to determine. Kagami couldn’t tell if the man was Asian or not, perhaps a mix? Anyway, this guy seemed like bad news and Kagami didn’t like bad news. She had various run-ins with guys like this back in the States, usually Tatsuya would stand up for her, but she was alone now and she was mildly panicked. She was a tall and strong girl, but she doubted she could take on a man of these sizes.

‘What do you want?’ Kagami spoke up. She made herself as tall as she could, while making sure to sound confident. Intimidation was important in situations like this; let them know you are not to be messed with right from the start.

‘You’re Kagami Taiga, right?’ The man spoke. His voice was surprisingly high-pitched, it contradicted with his looks. It was unsettling to hear a man of these sizes with a voice that high. Well, it wasn’t very high, just higher than she had expected it to be. The uncanny part was, however, that the tall stranger knew her name. Kagami felt her palms get sweaty and her heart pounded fast inside her chest. Could it be that this man had been stalking her?

‘Look, man. I don’t know who you are, or how you know my name and I don’t want any trouble, but I have a phone with me and if you keep stalking me I’m going to call the police.’ Kagami said, she noticed that her voice was on the verge of trembling as she spoke. Keeping up the tough act was harder than she’d thought it would be.

‘Girl, please. Take a fucking chill-pill, will ya? I ain’t gonna mess with you; I just wanna play some basketball. I’ve heard a lot of rumors about you lately and I don’t really believe them, so I want to see what you’re really made of. Seeing is believing, they say right?’ The man said.

‘I don’t really feel like playing you.’ Kagami replied as she shook her head. She was getting more and more anxious with each second that passed. The man was standing in front of the only exit on the court; she couldn’t just run away if things got ugly. She wished she’d just followed her doctor’s advice and on top of that, her legs had started to hurt again.

‘Oh, shut it. If I tell you to play, you play. Got it?’ He said; a smirk was playing on his lips. He started walking forward, slowly approaching Kagami.

‘You think you can just boss me around ‘cause I’m a girl and you’re a man? Forget it, I’m leaving.’ Kagami said bitterly, she took a few steps back to create more distance between her and the stranger.

‘Oi, wait a second! Do you seriously think I’m some nasty old man!? Fuck no, I’m a girl! The name’s Aomine Daika, you should know who I am.’ The stranger yelled in surprise. The atmosphere changed instantly.

‘What!? You’re Aomine?’ Kagami yelled in disbelief.

‘YES!’ Aomine yelled angrily, throwing her cap away and unzipping her sweater, revealing her face properly.

Kagami could now see her face was actually very refined, it was the frown on her face that made it appear manly. Her figure was slender, her arms were toned nicely as one would expect from a basketball prodigy. Her white, low-cut top showed a lot of tanned skin, but no cleavage whatsoever. Aomine was almost completely flat, that’s why in combination with the shadows of the cap, the facial expressions and the loose sweater she had resembled a man so much. Yet she was actually quite… pretty in some way. Her midnight-blue pixie-style hair resembled some sort of youthful freedom, the silver rings in her ear resembled rebellion, the slender limbs were graceful, her muscles showed her capacities as an athlete and her tanned complexion was glowing in the sun. Kagami just knew that Aomine would look great with a smile (and maybe some boobs).

‘Sorry, dude. I really couldn’t tell.’ Kagami apologized. ‘Wait no, I’m not sorry. You’re not some creepy old dude, sure, but you’re still rude as hell! On top of that, I can’t help it that you look like a man.’

‘Now I get why Midorima was so pissed after that game, you’re fucking annoying. Not everyone has been blessed with big boobs, you know!?’

‘And I thought Midorima was annoying until I met you! She’s the nicest person on the planet compared to you.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Let’s just skip all this chit-chat and get it on. I’d like to see what you’re made of, Kagami; I want to see why Tetsu likes you so much, why she wants you to take my place as her former light.’ Aomine said. ‘Though it’s obvious you stand no chance; the only one who can beat me, is me.’

‘Fine, you’re damn persistent. I will make you regret everything you said.’

‘Please, I don’t even think you can beat me. I just want to test you, see how much you can cease my boredom. There is no one as strong as me in this country, so I’m not looking for that non-existent person. I’m just bored and I want you to entertain me, got it?’ Aomine snarled.

‘Tch. Kise, Midorima. The generation of miracles seems to be filled with annoying people, but you, congrats, you earn the award for the biggest dick in the whole group and I haven’t even met your two friends Akashi and Murasakibara yet! I’ll teach you a lesson!’

‘Try me, hot stuff.’

Aomine had passed her by before Kagami could even blink. The goal was made within mere seconds.

‘Well that was disappointing. I don’t know what Midorima was thinking, losing to someone as weak as you.’ Aomine sighed. ‘Let me tell you something; you and Tetsu, that’s never gonna work. You’ll never beat me, or Murasakibara or Akashi and the fact that you beat Midorima was just pure luck because your jumps are the perfect foe to her shots, you only beat Kise because her other teammates are lacking power. You didn’t stand a chance against them. You need Tetsu by your side to stand a chance and that’s nice, start a basketball-rebellion with her for all I care, but the thing is that you can’t utilize her power the fullest. A shadow is only strong when the light is bright.’

‘Huh, what-?’

‘Your light is too dim.’ Aomine said as she made yet another basket. (She was really proud of herself for the awesome light/shadow metaphors she’d just used; Kagami must think she’s really smart now.)

‘You bitch-!’ Kagami began, though she knew that Aomine was partially correct. Kise and especially Midorima had been far better than her and Aomine might be even better that the shooting guard. She could only imagine the other two, “Akashi” and “Murasakibara” familiar names she couldn’t put a face with yet.

‘Aaahh, I can’t believe I came all the way out here for something so disappointing. See you later, Kagami. I’m going to get myself some comfort food and some good old gravure magazines now.’ Aomine said as she walked away.

Kagami stared until the figure disappeared. Aomine was unbelievably fast and agile, Midorima had not been joking when she mentioned it during their game. What Kagami didn’t get though, was why those miracle girls kept comparing her to Aomine. She was nothing like that cocky, arrogant person! More importantly, why had someone as nice as Kise been dating a jerk like Aomine? She could get a lot better. Kagami couldn’t wait for the day she would be able to give Aomine a proper beating.

---

When Kagami got to the Seirin basketball gym, she immediately got scolded by Coach, who noticed her legs had gotten worse again from her little game against Aomine. She ordered Kagami to go to the infirmary, while walking on her hands. Kuroko silently followed.

‘Kagami-san, what happened?’ Kuroko asked. ‘You’re an idiot,’

‘Oi, you-!’

‘But I know that you aren’t stupid enough to risk your injuries to worsen without reason.’ The smaller girl said.

Kagami flipped backwards to revert to using her legs to walk; only narrowly avoiding giving her friend a kick in the head.

‘I met Aomine.’ The redhead said bitterly.

‘Ah, is that so.’

‘That chick mentioned she used to be your light in the past and by how she said this; I doubt that you two were “just teammates” who happened to play together.’ Kagami said. ‘Kise, Midorima and now Aomine, too. I’ve noticed it on all of them; that their eyes are dead. They seem to be deeply intertwined with you, but especially Aomine. So tell me, what really happened back there in Teiko middle school; between you and her.’

Kuroko sighed.

‘We can’t stay away from practice for very long, so let’s talk while we’re making our way back.’

‘Sure,’ Kagami agreed. ‘I need to go to the infirmary anyway.’

‘Aomine-san and I used to date. For three days until we decided to be friends because it was just weird.’

‘You actually dated that horrible human!?’

‘I said it was only for three days and we were like 12, so shut it. On top of that, she hasn’t always been like this.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Kise-san and Midorima-san as you know them are undeniable geniuses, but when they started Teiko they weren’t like this. All of the miracles, though by the standards set for the boys, started out as just above average, but physically gifted players, nothing more and nothing less.’

‘Huh? Are you serious?’ Kagami asked, surprised at the revelation.

‘I am not denying that they had serious talent, of course not. Teiko had both the strongest boys- and girls-teams in Japan. They were immediately sorted into the first string of Teiko’s girls-team, which never happened. First years never got placed in the first string, ever. The four of them, Kise hadn’t started playing yet, became close friends, despite their very different characters. Aomine-san back in the day however, was a very ambitious young girl. You’d never she her without a smile on her face, but she quickly became bored. Teiko’s first-year girl’s team was too strong; their games weren’t games anymore for both them and their opponents. You have probably noticed that Aomine-san resembles a boy quite a lot.’

‘Yeah I saw that; I actually though she was some nasty old dude stalking me before she introduced herself. I was this close to calling the cops on her, I swear.’

‘I believe you without needing any proof, but it is the truth to say that she didn’t always look this way. She used to have long hair she tied up in a ponytail and a cute face, but one day she cut her hair and started pretending to be a boy. This way she got allowed to play with the boys-team eventually and even when they found out that she was a girl, they allowed her to stay because her power could easily compare to the boys on the team and they were in need of a strong offender. Akashi-san then smelled her fortune and -as I’ve been told- flirted herself, along with Murasakibara-san and Midorima-san, onto the boys-team to play with Aomine-san. So when they compared you to Aomine-san, they compared you to her former self.’

‘Well, I didn’t see that coming.’

‘It was around that time Aomine-san and I had started to become friends. She would play with me every day despite the fact that I was so weak and promised me we’d play on the same court one day. They won the championship and near the end of that year I got my place on the team. Aomine-san and I were best friends, we could tell each other anything and laughed a lot. We were very different outside of the sport, but on court we shared one mind; everything was in perfect balance and we won yet another tournament. Kise-san then joined and for a while Aomine-san was in the best mood she’d ever been in. Those two would play one-on-one every single day, even on weekends and despite Kise-san always losing, she never gave up.’ Kuroko said and finished with a sigh before continuing.

Kagami remained silent. She knew more was to follow.

‘Then one day the balance in the team toppled; Aomine-san suddenly awakened her powers. No one could stand in her light, not even the other miracles. She didn’t need me anymore to win; our friendship began to fade along with the spark in her eyes. We won the nationals, on mainly Aomine’s power. We were still all friends at the time and would do fun things together, but basketball started to become an obstacle to our friendship. This was at the end of our second year. In the 3^rd year we could only watch in horror when Murasakibara-san suddenly improved greatly, then Midorima-san evolved too. In the end Murasakibara-san challenged Akashi-san to a one-on-one and since then nothing was the same anymore. In our last official game something happened and I quit the Teiko basketball team.’ Kuroko concluded.

‘Damn, it seems like you had to put up with a lot. If I could talk to them I’d say: Don’t get ahead of yourself, asshole! The only one who can beat me is me.’ Kagami mocked.

Kuroko giggled behind her hand. ‘That was a very good impersonation, Kagami-san.’

‘Just put a sock in it! You’re like, 15; you haven’t even seen every person on this earth. Geez, she pisses me off!’ The redhead continued. ‘We’re gonna give her a beating to show her how stupid she’s being.’ Kagami said. She put out her fist for a fist-bump.

‘Of course we’ll do it, Kagami-san.’ Kuroko said as she returned the gesture and offered a small, but genuine smile. Despite her eyes having the color of ice, they were filled with warmth as she looked right back at the taller girl.

Kagami couldn’t explain it really, but something changed there in that moment. They couldn’t ever go back, pretend there had been no changes because they were undeniable. Electricity flowed through the place where their fists connected, like a stream of warm water. Ruby eyes stared deep into icy ones, without blinking they grew in size. Never could they go back to being strangers, never could they go back to being teammates. They had left that behind now, the fist-bump had sealed it. Kuroko had finally found her new light; her true light. Were a fist-bump had broken her ties with Aomine Daika; another fist-bump had sealed her ties with Kagami Taiga.

A bright path was unveiled, a path to success. Kagami would surely become the best player of that year and Kuroko would get back the ones she had loved so dearly, despite the challenges that were sure to come. But that was not all; their friendship up until now had always been a little off. They weren’t exactly close, nor did they really get along at all, basically all they had done up until now was play basketball together and bicker, but that was all different now. It had taken only a few seconds, but Kagami knew that she had fallen in love.

She knew the feeling; she had multiple boyfriends in the States, but not once had she felt this was about a girl. The strangest was that Kagami didn’t have to be all nervous about planning a confession, because she could just tell that Kuroko knew how she felt. She could tell that the smaller girl returned her feelings. She knew that, without having to say a word about it, they were now in a relationship. Girlfriends, soulmates, romantic partners, whichever word you preferred.

They could all be used to describe what had just formed.

Chapter Text

Ever since he could talk, Mibuchi Reo had been different. The eyelashes framing his strangely bright blue eyes were significantly longer than those of other boys, causing many to mistake him for a girl during his years as a preschooler. He was also more delicate than others, he cried easily when picked on (though he didn’t seem to mind to slap the person who made him cry, which caused the teachers to call his parents on multiple occasions) and had a strong dislike for bugs and dirt. As he got older, his body became unusually slender with glamorously long limbs and an impressive height for his age. It was then that he decided that he wanted to play basketball, as a tall statue and long limbs came in handy there. There more of his differences shone through; he was by far the best player on his team, yet instead of bursting through the defense and slamming down balls while blocking a shot, he played with unbelievable elegance. Smooth, refined and beautiful yet powerful movements were what he excelled at. He was also immensely popular with the girls because of his appearance, athletic skills and his respectful attitude towards them.

In his third year of middle school he had to play against Teiko in one of the quarter finals of the Wintercup. He didn’t mind, even though he knew that he would most likely be beaten in huge numbers. He found it and honor to play against such a formidable team. He was quite the stand-out himself; taller, stronger and simply better than his other teammates. Some would even call him a prodigy, but his status as one of the best was simply ignored because he played in the shadows of the strongest; those five girls, one year his junior.

He was waiting together with his team for the star-team to arrive for the warm-ups and when they entered; something strange happened. His entire team, including him, fell silent.

The illustrious players of the oh-so-famous team were all absolutely gorgeous. Not necessarily because they were all picture perfect models (except for the blonde, who definitely was a picture perfect model), but because they all shone with confidence and strength. They were unusually tall, but that didn’t make them look less feminine at all. Their light-colored warm-up shirts stretched over their recently formed curves. Sure, some were more endowed than others, but they all had started to turn into women instead of pre-teen girls. The shorts they wore were exposing most of their legs, taking everyone’s breath away. The center ducked all the way down (which was a long way, because this girl was tall) to grab a ball off the ground, causing her shirt to hang loose, giving everyone a free way to stare right into her cleavage. Her baby blue sports-bra was still covering up the important parts, but the sight was enough for the boys to stare in wonder.

Not him. Mibuchi didn’t feel aroused upon seeing the topside of the girl’s breasts. He felt an emotion he couldn’t quite place, it made him look down at his own chest; flat, not even the slightest bulge. A strange, painful feeling welled up in his stomach and for a few seconds he felt a burning, acid-like jealousy. It melted his insides; it enraged him because in that moment his own body felt like some kind of prison. Was he jealous that the other boys weren’t staring at him instead? Lately he had started to realize that he was more interested in boys rather than girls, so was it that he desperately wanted their attention to be turned towards him? No, that wasn’t it! Then what could possibly explain the feelings he’d just experienced?

Mibuchi decided that what he had felt just now was rage. He wanted to rush over and tell the purple-haired girl to stand up straight, because he didn’t really like the way she was leered at, but a thin bespectacled girl with long green braids beat him to it. With a scowl she gestured the center to stand up right, she then protectively took a hold on her friend’s arm and then the green-haired proceeded to send a murderous look to him and his team, notifying them that she had seen them staring and was not amused by it in the least. The taller girl seemed not really interested or mad at all. She looked completely dead inside as she stared into space.

A shorter girl with long vibrant reddish-pink hair walked over to the two giants and talked to them for a little, she then came walking his way. She was breathtakingly beautiful and her smile was calm. When she was only a few meters away from him, she outstretched her hand; he took it in his own and shook her hand as she introduced herself. He noticed that her hand was much smaller and more delicate than his own, even though his hands had always been so delicate compared to those of the other captains whose hand he had shaken. Compared to hers his was raw and ugly. Her perfectly painted nails were also looking so much shinier than his, even though he had always made the effort to keep his nails clean.

‘I am Akashi Seiju, I’m Teiko’s captain. I look forward to playing you, though I must ask you to tell your teammates to please have a little decency. Neither Murasakibara nor the other girls really like it to be looked at in such vulgar manners.’ She said in a sweet voice.

Mibuchi was surprised; she didn’t scold him even though he had been staring too. Another thing that unsettled him was the way Akashi looked at him; she looked at him as if she knew everything about him already, even the things he didn’t even know. She seemed to understand him on a level he didn’t even understand himself. It was freaky.

‘Ah, yes I will be sure to tell them, Akashi-san. A woman is to be respected at all times; I apologize for the careless act.’ He said and he bowed his head in the respectful way. ‘I’m Mibuchi Reo by the way. I look forward to playing you and your team as well.’ He finished kindly.

‘Very well then, that is good to hear. I’ll see you later.’ The redhead said as she turned around on her heels. ‘Oh by the way; I forgot to mention that you look lovely.’ She added with a kind smile and a wink as she went back to her own teammates, where she was immediately scolding the dark-skinned girl for pulling the model’s hair.

Mibuchi looked after her in bewilderment. Had she just tried to hit on him? It didn’t feel that way. After all “lovely” wasn’t really a commonly used word to praise a guy’s looks. It was most often used to praise the appearance of a woman. Why had she said that to him and why didn’t he feel insulted or embarrassed? He felt thankful instead.

He shook his head and paid no mind to it; Akashi probably just misspoke herself. He rushed over to his team to scowl them for the staring they had done earlier, just as the redhead had told him to do, because for some reason he was completely unable to disobey Akashi’s orders.

---

The glasses-wearing girl turned out to be the shooting-guard, making her his direct opponent. They were pretty equal in height; she was maybe a couple centimeters taller than he was, but that was about the only thing they were equal in. She was far stronger than him and it wasn’t just her unbelievable shots; her defensive capabilities were the second best on her team, only their center was a better defender. While she could block him; he couldn’t block her and that caused the balance of the game to topple to Teiko’s side quickly. He was his team’s main scorer and because he was nearly shut-down, the only ones to score were his other teammates. Teiko’s monster under the hoop took care of that. It didn’t matter if they came with all four at once, the ball was never out of reach for those arms. With the girl he came to recognize by the name Midorima scoring three after three while her other teammates weren’t exactly sitting still either, the game had been decided before the second quarter ended.

Mibuchi knew he could do better; this game wasn’t his best by far, but he was so distracted for some reason. He couldn’t get his head straight, not with the girl in front of him playing her hardest. Her emerald eyes shining with determination, the perfectly arched eyebrows and high cheek-bones. The slender hands with long fingers; they touched the ball so delicately and precise. The drops of sweat rolling down her collarbones into her jersey, the elegant swaying of her hips as she ran in front of him and he couldn’t catch up; he was hypersensitive of it all. The game-ending buzzer went off and the model immediately ran up to Midorima while cheering and she swung an arm around the taller girl’s neck. The big amount of sweat made her white jersey stick to her back, but it didn’t look gross like it did on the boys of his team. Her blonde ponytail was happily swinging along with her steps. Long, shiny and thick locks of hair, a pretty little head resting on a slender neck connected to a beautiful hourglass figure with all the right curves on all the right places supported on two long legs.

The other girls soon joined and they celebrated their well-deserved victory. They celebrated their victories so differently from a team made up of boys. Their emotions were expressed more freely, they saw no shame in hugging and the model even proceeded to kiss the dark-skinned girl on the cheek! No-one screamed like a lunatic of even farted loudly in celebration, they didn’t slap each other so hard that it kept on hurting for days. With their arms around each other’s shoulders they walked out of the gym, giggling and smiling.

For the second time that day Mibuchi looked down at his own body, this time in one of the mirrors in the boys’ bathroom. His chest was flat, his waist wasn’t thin and his hips weren’t round. His body was a little square-shaped, his shoulders were so wide and his limbs suddenly seemed so rough and short. His hair was in good condition, but it was nothing compared to that model’s hair, or Akashi’s hair. He found his face so unrefined, his jaw-line was too sharp and his neck was too thick. His voice sounded weird too, it had become a lot lower lately and it would often embarrassingly crack in the middle of words. The only thing he still liked about himself in that moment, were his eyes and full lips; the only parts of his body that truly resembled femininity. He had never felt this way before; in fact he had always been very confident in his looks, because everyone else always seemed to love the way he looked. Now he felt only jealousy. He was jealous of Murasakibara’s well-rounded chest, Midorima’s delicate hands, Akashi’s beautiful hair, Kise’s gorgeous face and Aomine’s nearly elastic slender limbs. He wanted those things for himself, he wanted to be pretty and cute.

‘What is wrong with me all of a sudden..?’ He whispered to himself.

---

A week later he tried on his mother’s make-up (he watched YouTube tutorials, mind you) and clothes when he was sure she and his father wouldn’t come home early. The pink lip-gloss, the eyeliner and contouring made him look beautiful. The dress he’d borrowed from his mother was a little short on him, but that didn’t really matter because it made his legs look longer. Her shape-wear made his waist nice and thin and the bra he’d filled with crumpled toilet-paper looked almost real underneath the thick navy fabric of the dress. He styled his hair and put an expensive-looking hair-pin in it and clip-on earrings finished the look. He admired himself in the mirror for hours and he couldn’t take his eyes away. He spun around like a 5-year-old girl in her first princess costume, making the dress flow smoothly with his movements. He tried posing in various ways to make it all look even more real; it was almost as if he was staring at an actual girl! He was so excited about it. He was absolutely beautiful right now and he loved it.

The only thing that still gave him away as a boy was his height, but then again; those Teiko girls had been taller than him too and no one minded it one bit. The other thing was his Adam’s apple, but a fancy scarf could easily cover that up. Aside from that he looked just like a woman.

A woman…

His heart sank. What he just did was extremely weird! Dressing up like a woman, only perverts would do something as weird as that! What was he thinking? He didn’t understand why he had suddenly gotten the urge to dress this way and why he had actually went through with it. He felt sickened with himself and rushed to his bedroom and locked the door. There he took off the clothes, wiped away the makeup and let himself fall face-first on his bed. He calmed down eventually and got to work on cleaning everything so that it would appear as if nothing happened, but when he passed a mirror and saw the reflection of his natural face, the feeling of sickness returned to him.

He had looked so pretty earlier, so lovely. Just like Akashi had told him back in time. He wanted to look like that again, but not for just a moment. Forever. But not right now.

He still had a lot of studying to do; after all, he was trying to get into Rakuzan high school. A school with an immensely strong basketball team, but also a school with one of the hardest entrance exams in the country. Until he reached that goal he could not take his time for stuff like this.

Or at least that’s what he told himself. In the months that followed, he changed his speech patterns into a feminine kind of speech, he changed the way he moved and walked, he refused to cut his hair anymore and secretly started hoarding on facial masks, dresses, perfume and makeup supplies. In the stores he used the excuse that he bought it for his girlfriend or his sister, despite having neither. Every day when his parents went to work he would spend his free time in front of the mirror in his room, trying on all kinds of makeup (he’d become pretty skilled at it) and clothes. No one discovered this habit of his, but his parents did notice the change in his speech and the way he moved so they sat him down and asked him what was up.

He had been prepared for this moment. He had planned it a million times in his head, in fact he said it so many times that he had come to believe it himself. He told his parents that he was homosexual, he knew they were both okay with things like that, so they accepted him without further ado. His dad had happily asked him if he had a boyfriend yet or if he was fancying someone right now. He felt great for the fact that his parents accepted him for who he was, or for who he had forced himself to believe he was.

The urge to dress and act like a woman never quite left him, but he paid no mind to it, after all this was normal for a gay man, right? This was what you saw on television or in BL-manga, anyway. In western countries this would probably be a little different, it was more widely accepted in certain parts on Europe. He’d like to visit one of their pride parties some day, to see how it was over there.

Deep inside there was a voice that told him that this wasn’t usual behavior for someone who’s gay, It might be for some of them, but it definitely wasn’t very common. He knew that he had been in the wrong ever since he was born, because he was never meant to be a boy.

He was a girl; or a trans-girl if you had to call it that. Looking back it had always been obvious. He had always resembled a girl more than he had resembled a boy, but he wasn’t yet ready to come out for it. He wanted to stay within his safe-space for a little longer, for as long as he could. Being gay was usually less complicated and easier understood by the masses than being transgender, so he didn’t mind playing the role of an effeminate gay man. He kept it up all the way into his first year of high school. His teammates just shrugged and went on with their daily stuff when he had told them he was gay. Only a few of them made mean remarks, but he was still very much able to defend himself. The fierce child he had been wasn’t completely gone and delivering a good punch wasn’t something he was against.

One day he would come out for real and tell everyone what was really going on. One day he would ask people to call him ‘she’ and ‘her’. One day he would change the spelling of his first name to a feminine one. Reo was a name that could be given to both boys and girls; all you had to do was change the kanji. He was grateful for that, because he was quite attached to the sound of the name; it suited him the best. One day he would live his life as a girl, wear feminine clothes, and wear the girls’ uniform to school and all of that.

But not yet. For the time being he was still okay with being the charismatic, popular effeminate boy in public. He was okay with being the “team mom”; he liked the way Hayama would address to him as if he were his sister. He dated a couple of guys, just for fun and enjoyment. He was happy this way, he really was. None of those words were a lie; he was just a happy and healthy person with a slightly unusual wish.

And he would remain okay with it until a certain red-haired girl showed up at Rakuzan, took over as captain of the basketball team and looked at him with a knowing face. He realized that Akashi had known ever since they met that one afternoon at the middle school Wintercup. That’s why she had always addressed him with gender-neutral pronouns. It was definitely freaky, but the fact that there was someone out there that respected his wishes despite the fact that he had never spoken of them out loud was strangely comforting.

Chapter Text

Getting a permit to leave the school-grounds for the weekend was always a pain at Yosen High; they were unusually strict when it came to leaving school overnight. You needed to have a reference, written by a legal adult, from where you were going, an exact time of departure and arrival and permission from your guardians, both of them or else it wasn’t accountable. They were a little less strict on their adult students, but everyone that was underage for as much as even a single day would have to file out masses and masses of paperwork. The application must have been made at least two weeks before the date you wanted to leave and to make it worse, there were times were it wasn’t approved, but Atsushi and Himuro had been lucky and got permission to travel to Tokyo for the weekend. Atsushi wanted to visit her family, as her oldest brother’s girlfriend was pregnant and they were celebrating the joyful occasion, and she maybe wanted to catch up with some friends if the time allowed it. Himuro had wanted to come along to do some sight-seeing, after all it had been years since he’d last been in the capital.

She was glad they approved her little outing, but she was pretty pissed that it had been so last-minute. They had only let her know she could go the night before her scheduled departure in the early morning. Her school was always a pain in the ass when it came to absence on Sundays.

That was another thing she disliked about her new school; Yosen was Christian and all the students were expected to go to church on Sunday morning and pray before their classes on weekdays. Atsushi had been raised as a Christian, her parents were both born and raised in England (They were Japanese by blood, but her early family had moved to England somewhere around the 1850’s), but they did not go to church every week, only on special occasions such as Christmas or Easter. Atsushi didn’t really know if she believed in god or not, Mido-chin had always said that there was a scientific answer to everything and Atsushi guessed she was probably right about that, yet Aka-chin was a devoted Christian and believed in the words of God. It was hard to make a decision when the two smartest people you knew had opposing views on something, so Atsushi remained indifferent about it and didn’t ask her other friends for their thoughts, since they were stupid anyway.

But being indifferent made it hard to concentrate during the preaching and the choiring. The only reason she couldn’t fall asleep was that the wooden benches in the church were way, way too small for her to sit properly, so she sat with her knees pulled up near her chin; the only things that could fall asleep in such a difficult position were her legs. It was a nice thought to believe that there was a god somewhere; Atsushi just couldn’t understand why he seemed to dislike her so much and she didn’t want to believe in something that didn’t believe in her so she wasn’t going to pray for him. On top of that, her music teachers had discovered she had a nice singing voice and their choir was short on alto’s, so they’d approached her and asked if she wanted to sing for them, but she’d flat-out refused. It was way too much effort to do singing on top of her harsh training with her sports team.

Well, she supposed that not everything was bad about Yosen high; that would be a bit of an exaggeration. She had a lot of nice friends in her class, the food was really good, the dorms were spacious and clean, the building had a nice Western aesthetic, the teachers loved her because she was smart, athletic and quiet, her teammates were very nice to her and just very recently she had fallen in love.

Of course the object of her affection was none other than Muro-chin, but that was no surprise to anyone. It was nice, because Atsushi knew he was into her as well and that meant there was no chance of a possible rejection, so they were dating now. She hadn’t really been in a relationship before, so nothing had really changed between them; Muro-chin just spent even more time with her. She supposed she liked it.

Her other teammates had threatened to kill Muro-chin if he were to hurt her; they protected her as if she were their little sister. The coach had just shrugged a little and said that it was all good as long as they kept performing well in their games and didn’t do gross PDA in public spaces. Her friends had been very jealous of her and constantly plagued her with questions about “how far they had gone” and stuff like that. It annoyed her a little; she was still only 15 after all and she was not even mildly interested in sex and stuff yet. Maybe it would come one day, maybe it wouldn’t. Atsushi didn’t really care. Muro-chin had kissed her once, just a small peck on the lips. Atsushi wasn’t sure whether that was enjoyable or not; she didn’t really get the hype around kissing. It was not that special. There had been no sparks, no butterflies and no weak knees. At least not for her, maybe Muro-chin had felt something like that. She hadn’t asked him and wasn’t planning too.

They were sitting in a high-speed train to Tokyo, they had been on the road for a bit more than an hour now and the sun was already rising. The scenery was pretty, Muro-chin was listening to some famous American emo band Atsushi had never heard of before and she was listening to her own music. Which might be even weirder than Muro-chin’s. After all, no one she knew (except for Kuro-chin who had taken a liking to the music after she’d shown her and Kise-chin who just listened to every type of music imaginable) listened to underground 144p Italian atmospheric black metal music with gothic influences from the late 80’s. Aka-chin and Mido-chin had been horrified when she’d shown them; they understood English and were a bit shocked and confused, to say the least, by the lyrical themes of the songs. The looks on their faces had been really funny, Atsushi recalled.

They were sitting side by side and they would occasionally chat for a bit, but they both preferred the quiet. Muro-chin would sometimes touch her hand and she’d quickly pull her hand away with an annoyed face, for she wasn’t that used to receiving physical affection yet. The cart in which they were seated was mostly empty, there were a few old couples and some students from other schools, Atsushi recognized only one of them from previous basketball competitions, a boy of even shorter statue than Kuro-chin, but he had been ridiculously fast and skilled with ball-handling, if she recalled correctly. There was no doubt that he’d recognized her as well, as she noticed him staring at her every few minutes, she paid him no mind; she was used to stares. The stares of a sad boy that couldn’t handle losing to a girl didn’t bother her at all; they could just cry themselves to sleep and she wouldn’t care. They shouldn’t play a sport they weren’t good at anyway.

They were traveling first-class, not because they were so loaded (Muro-chin was loaded, she wasn’t) but because she needed the leg-space. For small distances second-class was fine, but for trips that lasted longer than an hour it was a necessity. Cramps could get unbearable and her legs would fall asleep and painfully throb until the end of the journey. But even with first-class the leg-space was barely enough for her, it was nothing new to Atsushi. Headrests were also something that was something she could never enjoy, so she opted to rest her head against the cool window instead, watching the landscapes and towns pass by as she quietly hummed along to a tune.

---

Somehow she’d gotten separated from Muro-chin, who went to play in some street-ball tournament. Atsushi didn’t really care and was now just doing her own thing. She was walking through the busy and familiar streets of Tokyo, sucking on a piece of candy.

Heads turned in her direction and children stared at her with open mouth, parents telling them not to. It was the same wherever she went, but she guessed it was only natural; she also stared at someone missing a limb. Heads just turned automatically when noticing something different or something rare, Aka-chin had explained the reason of it to her once, something about the human brain detecting dangers, weaknesses or opportunities for reproduction. Boring things she could read about in her biology textbook if she really wanted to know; she did not.

Well, at least she did not have to breathe the same air as all those thousands of people walking in the street, those who were so much shorter than she was. It was one of the few advantages that came with her height. She always had a clear view on the streets and didn’t suffocate is the masses of people walking in each other’s personal space.

Someone caught her eye; Atsushi felt a smile come to her face as she raised her hand to wave. She knew she didn’t have to do that, since everyone she had ever met would immediately recognize her on sight, but she still did. Mido-chin waved back with a small nod and crossed the street to meet her at the green light.

‘Murasakibara, I didn’t expect to see you here, in fact.’ The green-haired girl said. She smiled slightly.

‘I didn’t expect to see you either, it’s way too hot outside.’ Atsushi replied. She noticed that her friend was wearing a pair of tight-fitting grey jeans and a fashionable, yet modest tank top. ‘Ehh? That’s rare, Mido-chin in jeans.’

‘Well, it’s not like I only own skirts, you know? I thought I’d try something else for once, and jeans were my lucky item for the day, so there you have it, in fact.’

‘Mhhh, that makes sense. But it suits you well. You look nice, more like your age, I guess.’ Atsushi said.

‘Thank you, in fact. So what are you doing in Tokyo, if I may ask?’ Mido-chin asked.

‘I’m just here to visit some family, my brother is hosting a baby-shower to reveal the gender of his unborn kid, so I’m going there tomorrow. Today I was on a sightseeing-date, but he ditched me to play basketball, so I decided to just wander about a little, retrieving memories and stuff like an old person.’

‘You have a boyfriend?’ Mido-chin asked, clearly surprised.

‘Yeah, I do.’ Atsushi said with a smile.

‘Congratulations, Murasakibara. That makes you the first out of us to have one.’ Mido-chin said. ‘I guess I’ve got some time to spare, why don’t we go sit down somewhere and properly catch up? So you can tell me all about that boyfriend of yours. I also demand pictures, in fact.’ Mido-chin said, she acted like it was a business proposal. Silly Mido-chin; she was always so serious.

‘Sounds good to me.’ Atsushi replied. Getting a cold drink and sitting down in the shade didn’t sound like a bad deal to her at all.

They went to a nearby café and sat down at one of the few empty tables. Their table was only half in the shade of a parasol because the ones that were fully in the shade had all been taken, but Mido-chin didn’t mind sitting in the sun so she sat down on the opposite side of Atsushi and let the sun fall in her face. They talked for a little while, talking about the past and their current lives. The waiter came by after a little while and they ordered. Mido-chin ordered a black coffee and Atsushi ordered an ice-tea.

‘So you have a boyfriend now? What’s he like?’

‘Well, first of all he’s hot. Like, really hot. I don’t really get why he fell for a girl like me, but there you have it. All my female classmates are legitimately jealous of me for once.’

‘Smart, pretty, unique, talented and a really attractive body. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a good catch for any guy to me, in fact.’ Mido-chin said as she counted the points she listed on her taped fingers. ‘Don’t put yourself down because of your height, there’s way more to you.’

‘Wow, Mido-chin is so nice today.’ Atsushi chuckled.

‘Oh, shut up. I’m just trying to make you feel better. If you ask me, no man could ever be good enough for you.’

‘But that just says more about men than it does about me.’ Atsushi pointed out.

‘Naturally.’ Mido-chin agreed. ‘Now tell me more about that boyfriend of yours, as your friend I naturally need to see if I approve.’

Atsushi let out a small laugh. ‘Alright, so he’s Japanese, but he came here from the states after the summer-break, so he’s really good at English. He looks like a scene kid, but he’s really nice. He’s calm and doesn’t talk too much, which is nice. He fell in love with me pretty much the first time we met, which was pretty funny. I could see it on his face, after he got over the shock of my height he just looked love struck.’

‘That’s adorable.’ Mido-chin remarked.

‘It took a bit longer for me to start liking him; I thought he was obnoxious and fake at first, but in the end I came around. The only thing I really hate about him is how passionate he is about basketball, enough to ditch me even. Well, I guess I’m not too keen on his height either, but judging on looks is not fair.’

‘Well, I guess boys everyone has a strong passion for something, huh?’ Mido-chin replied.

‘Ah, here’s a picture.’ Atsushi said after scrolling through her gallery for a little while. She turned the device so that her companion could see it. Mido-chin adjusted her glasses and leaned closer to get a good look.

‘Excuse me; I need to get a little closer. My eyesight has worsened again; I will get my new glasses in a week.’ Mido-chin said, a little embarrassed about the fact that she couldn’t see.

‘Ah, sure.’ Atsushi said before passing her phone over to the green-haired girl. She trusted that Mido-chin wouldn’t randomly scroll through it, not that she had anything to hide except for some offensively funny memes.

‘Okay, wow. You weren’t kidding.’ Mido-chin said after inspecting the picture for a little while. ‘He’s unbelievably good-looking indeed. You got yourself a very attractive man, Murasakibara. His face is so refined; he could almost be mistaken for a girl, in fact.’

‘That’s what I said when we first met.’

‘You told him he looked like a girl?’

‘Oh Mido-chin, you know me. I always say what I think without hesitating.’

‘That’s true. Remember when you told your English teacher that he was going bald because you had a look at the top of his head?’

‘I got detention for that.’ Atsushi sighed. She didn’t understand why she had to be punished for telling the truth. ‘So how are your eyes doing?’

Mido-chin sighed. ‘Not so well, in fact. They have decreased with over 15% the past 9 months, I’m at -8,25 on the right and -7,50 on the left now. At this rate I’ll be completely blind in less than a decade. I’m considering surgery, as my optician recommended it to me.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ Atsushi said. She felt bad for Mido-chin, it wasn’t fair. Mido-chin wanted to become a doctor and without good eye-sight that dream was impossible and she wouldn’t be able to play basketball anymore either. Mido-chin really cared about the sport where Atsushi didn’t; so Atsushi hoped it didn’t worsen to a point her friend would have to give it up.

‘It could always be worse, besides it is not like I didn’t predict that this would happen eventually; it just went faster than I’d anticipated.’ The green-haired girl replied. ‘About that, how are you doing, medically speaking?’

‘My growth hasn’t stopped yet; I guess that’s what you wanted to know. The cartilage in my hands hasn’t yet turned to bone, so there’s more room for me to grow. They predicted at my last appointment they think I’ll eventually reach up to the 20’s, quite possibly before my 18^th birthday.’ Atsushi replied sourly.

‘They are still looking for tumors or genetic defects, right? It’s really unlikely all of this is just natural, in fact. It’s the same with my eyes; they discovered a genetic abnormality in my DNA which is most likely responsible for my bad eye-sight.’

‘They’re still looking, yes. They couldn’t find anything on the latest scans or blood-samples, though. They now assume that it’s an after-affect of the fact that I was born way too early and that my thyroid got damaged or something like that, but that was the first organ they checked when I first came to the hospital and they never found anything out of the ordinary.’

‘It’s certainly true that being born prematurely enhances the risk of multiple diseases and disabilities, but I have to admit that I have never heard of excessive growth being a direct symptom, in fact.’

‘I don’t think it is. Those doctors are just trying to make up a story that will please me to hide the fact that they can’t find out what’s wrong with me.’ Atsushi huffed. ‘They can’t deal with the fact that they don’t know something.

‘That just sounds like a conspiracy theory to me. Why would they have any reason to lie to you?’

‘I don’t know, conspiracy theories are fun though. Remember when Kise-chin convinced Mine-chin that the earth was flat and that NASA was covering up the truth?’

‘Kise was ahead of the time; these days the entirety of the United States seems to believe so. I internally feel myself scream whenever I see a piece of media trying to convince us that the earth is flat, in fact.’

‘Mido-chin always gets triggered when people go against science.’ Atsushi pointed out.

‘Well, I can hardly help it, because it appears that I am, quoted directly from Aomine, a nerd.’

‘Say, Mido-chin? How’s your love life doing?’ Atsushi said with a grin.

‘I think you know the answer to that yourself, Murasakibara.’ Mido-chin replied, rather annoyed. ‘However, Kuroko has a girlfriend now, if that interests you at all.’

‘Kuro-chin does? What kind of girl is that?’

‘It’s Kagami Taiga, you’ve probably heard of her name I assume. She’s a girl who came and joined the boys’ league just like us. She went head to head with both me and Kise, although it pisses me off to admit it. She’s an extreme prodigy at vertical jumps; I think she might be able to reach nearly as high as you can, so that’s a natural challenge to my shots. I suppose she’s a nice girl though, after I got over my initial distaste towards her we’re now on some-what friendly terms.’ Mido-chin explained. ‘It seems like everyone is importing their lovers from America this year. Kagami grew up in the United States as well.’

‘Oh, she’s dating that girl? I haven’t met her yet, but I don’t think I will like her.’

‘I don’t think you will indeed,’ Mido-chin agreed. ‘Given that you usually have something against people that are very passionate about basketball.’

‘Yeah, you know you better not lose to her again and fail to qualify for the Wintercup. I wanna square off against you for real some day; I think I can take you.’

‘There is no way that I’ll let them beat me again; I’ll be at the Wintercup for sure. There is simply no doubt, in fact.’ Mido-chin said. ‘Kuroko and Kagami form a strong duo, but the rest of their team is just not that strong, in fact.’

‘Yeah, you’re a loser, Mido-chin.’

‘Take that back.’

‘Fine.’ Atsushi replied. She didn’t feel like fighting right now, Mido-chin wasn’t as easily agitated as she used to be in middle school, she had matured a lot, Atsushi supposed. Mido-chin had always been mature, but she was also still a child despite it, but that was no longer the case; or less so at least. Atsushi wondered if Mine-chin and Kise-chin had matured like that, she assumed that that was definitely not the case.

‘Well, I best get going; I have to go to my job now. It has been good catching up with you.’ Mido-chin said as she left her share of the bill on the table.

‘It was nice to see you. Ah, you have a job?’

‘Yes, I work part-time at the vintage store. You know; the small one, near our old school.’

‘Oh, yes I know that one; the real expensive fancy store you used to get your lucky items there, right? And Aka-chin would sometimes shop there for clothes, I believe. Working there is typically Mido-chin. I have just one more question; do you by any chance know where they’re holding that street-ball tournament? I feel like I should probably go and try to find Muro-chin.’ Atsushi said. She’d just remembered that their school didn’t allow their students to enter non-official competitions. Which was a bit strange since this was literally their free time, but oh well. Yosen academy was just like that.

‘Oh, yes. It’s just on that recently opened court in central-park. Some guys from the second string of my school and part of the girls’ team are participating; I believe Takao went to watch. He invited me too, but I turned him down as it will rain heavily this afternoon and I have to work, in fact.’

‘It’ll rain? But it’s so sunny today.’ Atsushi replied. Looking at the sky, there wasn’t even a single cloud to be seen.

‘There will be massive rains, possibly even a thunderstorm; trust me.’

‘Well, if Mido-chin says so it’s probably true.’

‘It’s definitely true.’ Mido-chin said. ‘I’ll see you at the Wintercup.’ She said.

‘Yeah, see you there.’ Atsushi replied.

---

Kagami was nailed to the ground as she looked up at the person that had just casually placed a candy bar on top of the ball which was high up in the air. It was a girl. Kagami had to do a double-take to make sure, but no, there was absolutely no mistaking that this was a girl; after all she had more than enough proof of that on her chest-region. She was wearing a pastel-pink sundress with a pattern of white skulls with heart-shaped eyes, a pair of white sneakers and she had a green bow-tie in her messily styled (or not) hair. She wore a denim jacket tied around her waist, as it was too hot to wear it. It was decorated with patches of different metal bands, Kagami knew some of them, but most of the names were unfamiliar to her. Kagami supposed that she was pretty, but not overly so like Kise, this girl was naturally pretty. She had beautiful eyes and a symmetrical face and wore just enough make-up to neither stand-out nor look plain. She had shoulder-length purple hair which curled up at the bottom and wore cute earrings in the shape of a bear. The girl was sucking on a lollipop and sassily had one of her hands on her hips.

All in all she looked like your average teenage-girl, except for her athletic body and her height, because what the fuck did they feed this girl? She was definitely over 10 centimeters taller than Kagami was, maybe even 20? The top of Kuroko’s head didn’t even reach this girl’s shoulders.

‘Ah; it’s Kuro-chin.’ The girl said.

‘Long time no see, Murasakibara-san.’ Kuroko replied. ‘How have you been?’

Of course, Kagami thought. A miracle. She should have known straight away; Asian, abnormally tall, strong build, pretty face, rainbow hair, probably lesbian, resting bitch-face, kinda weird, probably depressed? Check. This girl had completed the full bingo-chart.

‘I’ve been good, until that idiot over there ditched me to play basketball.’

‘You know Tatsuya?’ Kagami asked in surprise.

 <<‘Yes, she knows me. Atsushi’s my girlfriend.’>> Himuro replied, in English.

<<‘Dude, I thought you were gay.’>> Kagami said. <<‘Dude, I thought she was gay.’>>

<<‘It actually depends on the situation.’>> Murasakibara replied dryly. She spoke perfect English.

<<‘Atsushi, you speak English!?’>> Himuro said in surprise.

‘Yeah I do, but whatever. Enough about that; so, Kagami? What’s wrong with your eyebrows? Is it a birth-defect?’

Yup, definitely a miracle. Because Kagami didn’t like this one at all.

Chapter Text

The waves were crashing against the shore as the sun was burning on their skins. The Seirin basketball team was practicing on the beach, their chests heaving with each sharp breath they took, sweat dripping down their brows. Running in the loose dry sand of the beach in this heat sure was though. You couldn’t dribble or jump very high either, meaning that you had to make all of your plays by passing without bouncing. It made the game that much more exhausting.

Due the heat no one was really dressed properly anymore, having stripped down to just their shorts. Kagami and Kuroko were wearing their bikini tops on top of their shorts; it was simply too hot to wear a shirt. Besides, the boys were all too focused on the game at hand to care about staring for oce.

They had just started their first training camp to prepare for the Wintercup qualifiers. They were staying in an old inn near the shore, close to the location where the interhigh was being held this year, in the hope they could go there and do some scouting on the other members of the Generation of Miracles. It was the second day now and everyone had slowly grown a bit accustomed to playing in the sand, therefore their level was a lot higher compared to the first game they’d played yesterday. Everyone had been too tired at night to fool around, so they had all gotten a good night of sleep. Especially Riko, Kuroko and Kagami, for they shared a room with just the three of them. No stinky, snoring boys allowed.

‘Okay team; that’s it for today! You’ve done well! Go take a break now, don’t forget to drink a lot of water and take care of your salt-intake to prevent dehydration!’ Riko shouted.

‘Man, that was one intense session.’ Koganei whined.

‘Yeah, and it’s so sunny out here too, look! Even Kuroko got a tan!’ Kiyoshi said.

‘Nothing like Kagami, though.’ Hyuuga pointed out.

‘Gosh, I’m so jealous of your ability to tan so beautifully, Kagami.’ Riko sighed. ‘I never get past this shade and if I do it’s all just red.’

‘Don’t complain, coach. I still look like a ghost no matter what I do.’ Kuroko said bitterly as she gestured to her milky -now slightly tanned- skin. ‘Kagami, your melanin; hand it over.’ She said.

‘What? No I can’t do that, idiot! Guess I just grew accustomed to tanning in the states.’ Kagami replied. ‘Besides, you would look hella weird with a dark skin, Kuroko. Your hair and eyes are so light that it would look really fake on you.’

‘I can just dye them.’

‘They really sound like an old married couple, don’t they?’ Kiyoshi grinned.

‘Perhaps someday we will be.’ Kuroko deadpanned. Kagami just turned as red as her hair.

‘S-shut up idiot!’ She said.

‘At five we’ll meet in the gym,’ Riko said. ‘Don’t be late or I’ll end your miserable life.’

‘Yes coach.’ The now slightly scared basketball players replied in unison.

---

Later that night Kagami, Kuroko and Riko were laying down on their futons after a long day of training. Their private room was spacious; it could easily contain the entire team. Riko had been very strict on the boys and had them sleep at 9, but she wasn’t so strict with Kagami and Kuroko anymore now that the boys weren’t around. They were doing what girls do best at sleepovers; gossiping and making silly jokes.

There was the sound of knocking on the door. The three girls glanced at each other in confusion, it was past midnight, so who on earth could be knocking on their door?

‘Kuroko-san, you get it.’ Riko said, pushing her small friend towards the door.

‘Why do I always have to do the dirty work?’ Kuroko sighed, but she didn’t complain any further as she was kind of curious as to who she would see after opening the door.

The knocking sound repeated, more agitated this time. The person outside was clearly getting tired of waiting.

Kuroko inched closer to the door and glanced over her shoulder to the two other girls one last time before opening the door. There was a man standing on the other side, he was tall and middle-aged.

‘Nakatani-san?’ Kuroko said after her eyes adjusted to the warm light from the hallway. ‘What are you doing here? And at this hour?’ She was clearly confused.

‘Shuutoku’s coach?’ Riko whispered to Kagami.

‘I know; I’m just as confused as you are.’ Kagami whispered back.

‘Excuse me for this late hour, but I wanted to ask you girls a favor. I am staying here with my team for our annual training-camp which we always hold at this place, but I have forgotten something crucial.’

‘Wait, Shuutoku’s here? Never mind that, what is it?’ Riko asked. She had walked up to stand next to her friend after rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

‘You see, Midorima doesn’t have a place to stay as the only girl on the team, so she’s just staying with the team now, but she is refusing to go to sleep. I can see that she’s clearly uncomfortable. I’ve asked her if something was wrong, but she stubbornly kept refusing. So I decided to sort it out myself. Would you girls be so kind to allow her to sleep in your room? Again, I’m sorry to ask this of you, but I need to think about the wellbeing of all my pupils, hers included.’

‘Well I, gosh this is kind of a shocker.’ Riko said. ‘But I guess she can stay in this room, we’ve got more than enough space.’

‘Sound like a good idea, it’ll be nice to catch up with her.’ Kuroko replied.

‘Yeah, I’m cool with that as well. I mean, she might be kind of a bitch, but I wouldn’t want any girl to sleep with a bunch of sweaty guys, y’know? I’ll go help her move her stuff.’ Kagami said.

‘Thank you, Kagami-san. That’s very nice of you to offer.’ Nakatani said.

Kagami followed him out of the room.

---

‘Sup Midorima?’ Kagami said as she walked into the room where the Shuutoku team was sleeping.

‘Wha- Kagami!?’ Midorima said. She made sure not to shout so her teammates wouldn’t wake up.

‘C’mon, pack your bags. I’ll carry your mattress. You can sleep with me, coach and Kuroko.’

‘It’s actually Aida-san, Kuroko and I, but whatever.’ Midorima said as she rolled with her eyes. ‘However I feel like a thank you would be in order here, in fact. So thank you for your help.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Don’t sweat it. Our room smells a lot better, that’s for damn sure.’

‘I certainly do hope so.’

‘Oi, dude quit staring. There’s nothing to see here. Pervert.’ Kagami hissed at one of the benchwarmers of the Shuutoku team. He was staring a little too much at Kagami’s legs. ‘Damn this. I get why you want to get the heck out of here. Let’s go.’

‘Yes, thank you.’ Midorima nodded.

They quickly packed up all of Midorima’s stuff and moved her to the room on the other side of the building.

‘Geez, the nerves of those guys.’ Kagami muttered.

‘I know. Men think they can just threat us as walking sex dolls. “Midorima, you’re wearing shorts?” Of course I’m wearing shorts in midsummer; you’re not the only ones that are feeling hot. Disgraceful.’ The green-haired girl scowled.

‘Really, huh? Even if I decide to walk around in only a pair of boxer shorts, it’s none of their damn business. At least it’s slightly better here in Japan compared to how it was in LA, though the sexualizing of minors and children are worse here.’ Kagami said.

‘Did you know that until a few years ago it was legal in Japan to be in possession of pornographic content with real-life children? I still find it an utter disgrace, in fact.’

‘That’s really fucked up, dude. Legalize child porn and frown upon gay marriage. Japan sure has their priorities straight.’ The redhead sighed. ‘Ah, here’s our room by the way. You can drop down your stuff wherever you want, there’s more than enough space here anyway.’

‘Alright, thank you, Kagami.’ Midorima replied. She then turned herself to face Kuroko and Riko and greeted them with a bow. ‘Thank you for having me, I will not cause you any trouble, in fact.’ She said.

‘Uhm, there’s really no need to be so formal with me, Midorima-san. You would have done the same if it was me that was in your situation.’ Riko waved her hands as she spoke.

‘My apologies, I’m just used to properly greet my elders.’ The green-haired woman spoke awkwardly.

‘It’s all good, let’s just get along as friends, okay? Just four girls rooming together for a couple of days on a school camp.’ Riko said. ‘We have enough time to be enemies on court.’

‘Understood, miss- uhm, Aida-san.’

‘Just like in the old days, don’t you think so, Midorima-san?’ Kuroko said with a small smile after Midorima had sorted out her belongings and settled down on her futon.

‘Yes, just like in the old days.’ Midorima smiled back.

It then occurred to Kagami that perhaps Midorima wasn’t the horrible person she’d always thought her to be. Perhaps she was just like Kise. Not terrible, just damaged.

Chapter Text

‘Midorima-san! That’s been a long time for sure!’ Kiyoshi exclaimed as he entered the gymnasium that morning.

‘Kiyoshi Teppei..? That’s certainly a surprise, for I had no idea you were still active.’ The tall girl replied.

Both Shuutoku and Seirin were in the gym, the coaches had decided on playing against one another for practice. They kind of stood around in silence, looking at how Kiyoshi cheerfully greeted Midorima.

‘Huh? You know Kiyoshi?’ Otsubo asked. It confused him a little.

‘We played against one another in middle school, I remember him because he was strong.’ Midorima said. Kuroko looked a bit puzzled. ‘That was before you became part of the team, Kuroko.’ The taller girl explained. ‘But I am also aware of his status as an uncrowned king, he was seen as a worthy rival to us in Teiko.’

‘You say that now, but your purple-haired buddy completely crushed me, remember?’ Kiyoshi chuckled. ‘You beat us 45-112, if I recall correctly.’

‘I meant mentally strong, naturally. Most other players would have given up three times already if they were in that dire situation. But you didn’t, even though you knew you had no chance against her, you kept on going. Even when she started taunting you with her vile words. That’s quite a feat, I must admit.’

‘I have to say, some part of me was quite amused at a 12-year-old girl talking down on me like that. She’s a fierce one, huh? I’m sure she hates me far more than I ever disliked her. What an amusing girl she is, that Murasakibara.’

‘At least someone here finds Murasakibara’s bad habits amusing.’ Midorima said as she rolled her eyes.

‘Ah-! You’re taller than me now, aren’t you? Gosh, you kids grow up so fast.’ Kiyoshi said. He looked like he was ready to cry for some reason.

‘It has literally been 3 years since I saw you. This amount of growth is a completely normal occurrence in girls of my age group. You should pay more attention in biology classes, in fact.’

‘Even so! You’ve become a beautiful young lady, Midorima-san.’

The green-haired girl looked like she was going to yell, but forcefully shut her mouth and sighed. ‘Thank you, Kiyoshi.’ She said as she rubbed her forehead.

‘Alright, Kiyoshi that’s enough!’ Hyuuga hissed. ‘Jeez man, what’s wrong with you? You can’t talk to her like that! She’s going to kill you in your sleep!’

‘I was just stating the truth; she looks like she can use it to hear something like that. Miracle or not, she’s still just a teenage girl, you know? You’ll never get a girlfriend with that mentality, Hyuuga.’

‘Fucking moron.’ Hyuuga sighed.

‘Quit flirting with Shin-chan, you… tall person!’ Takao yelled.

‘Oh! Are you her boyfriend? That’s so cute!’ Kiyoshi replied happily. ‘I apologize, I just wanted to give her a little compliment. Don’t worry.’

‘Well, I will be one day, hopefully! Shin-chan keeps rejecting my love, though.’

‘Oh no, you should try to woo her! Make a big gesture, like a firework show!’

‘Ooh! That’s an awesome plan! I’ll make it so that she cannot reject me!’

‘Yes! You got it!’

‘Teppei, shut the fuck up.’ Riko sighed.

‘I fucking hate these people.’ Midorima muttered. ‘Also, Kiyoshi’s dumb comments aside, I would like to know where he has been all this time. You wouldn’t have lost to Touou like you did if he’d been with you.’

‘Ah, I got a knee injury! But I recovered just fine! See?’ Kiyoshi said. He demonstrated how good his knee was doing by making a pirouette.

Midorima’s eyes narrowed. Takao looked at her face with a similar expression.

‘Ok teams! Enough chitchat, we’re going into business here!’

---

Midorima silently left the room after getting dressed. It was time for her daily morning run, always at 6:00 exactly. Takao was waiting on her, he had asked if he could join her and she’d said yes, but only if he wasn’t late. He wasn’t, for once.

‘Yo, Shin-chan!’ He greeted her. ‘Where did you go last night?’

‘I went to sleep in the room of Kuroko and Kagami and their coach, in fact. I have been for the past two days, thanks for noticing. It’s time to get going; we will be doing 15k this morning.’

‘Fifteen kilometers!?’

‘Yes, it’s Tuesday, so that means today is 15k, I already did 10 yesterday. Do not worry, though, for we will take a 5-minute break at half-point.’

‘Oh the things I do for you, Shin-chan…’

‘You insisted on coming, Takao. You will only slow me down; I am doing you a pleasure here.’

‘A pleasure my ass.’

‘Language.’

They started running. Takao had trouble keeping up with Midorima, for she had legs for days compared to him. He admired how she could run so swiftly, he was out there looking like a mess and Midorima still managed to wave politely to any car passing them.

That girl was a mystery to him, she was rude, annoying and a pain in the ass towards people her age, but anyone she deemed a friend, or people younger or older than she was were always respected by her. She could be so damn polite and proper when she was around others; Takao wondered that maybe she felt like she had to act like a boy whenever she was around the team in order to fit in. Though she would probably get mad at him for suggesting such a stereotypic thing. Shin-chan hated gender-based profiling. Nah, Shin-chan was probably just a little two-faced.

‘That’s 7500; we’ll take a break now.’ She said after a while, looking sternly at her watch.

‘Aah, thank god!’ Takao panted. He plopped himself down on a bench and drank from his water bottle.

‘You noticed, Shin-chan?’ Takao asked. ‘From yesterday’s practice, I mean.’

‘About Kiyoshi Teppei being a terrible liar? Yes, I did in fact notice. It was subtle, but his knee is far from fine. The muscles are too weak; he won’t last.’

‘Inherited your parent’s doctor-eyes, huh?’ Takao said. ‘Well, I am no doctor but I noticed the trembling and I know enough about muscles to be able to tell that it’s no good when a knee does that.’

‘You would be right. I don’t understand how Aida-san has not noticed.’

‘Maybe she’s in denial or something? I mean, from what you said this afternoon I can only assume that Kiyoshi is really strong, right?’

‘He’s an uncrowned king.’

‘Right! That’s the word I was looking for; I think Seirin’s lady coach is scared to admit something is wrong because she’ll need him in the Wintercup.’

‘It’s not like her to risk something like that though, but who knows.’

‘You think we should inform her?’

‘No, it’s their problem.’

‘That’s cold, even for you.’

‘I mean that Kiyoshi probably has a reason for coming back now. We shouldn’t interfere with that.’ Midorima explained.

‘What reason could he possibly have to jeopardize his future like that?’ Takao asked.

‘I don’t think we’d be able to understand even if we knew, Takao. I know that it’s in your nature to be kind and do what you think is right, but there are times when you shouldn’t.’

‘You’re always acting like my mom, Shin-chan.’

‘I am not. I am simply looking out for you, is all.’

‘So you like me after all?’

‘You’re my only real friend at school, Takao. That says something.’

They sat side-by-side looking over the ocean.

‘Shin-chan? Can I ask you something?’

‘You just did, but go ahead.’

‘Do you think there’s a chance I’ll outgrow you?’

‘Absolutely not. We should get going again, 5 minutes are over.’

Just as Takao had mentally prepared himself for another 7,5k, he was saved by the melodic ringing of his friend’s phone.

‘Who on earth is calling you at this time?’ Takao asked.

‘It appears that it’s Momoi,’ Midorima replied. ‘Touou’s manager.’ She clarified after seeing Takao’s questioning face.

‘Hello Momoi.’

‘Hey Midorin! I am just not able to get any sleep this night, I knew you’d be up and running already, so I thought I’d just call you. Is it convenient?’ The boy asked.

‘Not really, but I suppose it can’t be helped.’ The green-haired girl replied. She signaled Takao that he could sit back down if he wanted too. ‘What do you have to tell me?’

‘Touou won yesterday, we’ll be in the semi-finals! As are Kaijo and Rakuzan. Yosen is still unconfirmed, but I can’t imagine Mukkun losing.’

‘Looking at the brackets I have memorized, that would mean Aomine is playing Kise tomorrow.’

‘Yes, you’re right. The game will start at 19:30.’

‘You’ve done a good deed by informing me of this matter, I will ask my coach if I can get this evening off in order to watch. We’re on training camp at the moment.’

‘I know! Tetsu-chan told me two days ago that you ended up staying in the same inn! I have to admit, I envy you!’

‘Of course you do.’ Midorima sighed. ‘You are aware that Kuroko’s dating Kagami, right?’

‘Yes, yes. But a boy can still dream, right?’

‘Sure. I’m now hanging up. Goodbye, Momoi. I might see you later today. For now, try to sleep at least a little.’

‘Thanks Midorin! I’ll wave to you in the audience!’ Momoi said cheerfully.

Midorima ended the call. ‘Takao, Kise will be playing Aomine tonight. I’m going to watch the game, will you come as well?’

‘Oh hell yes I will! That game is gonna be wild and I’ll get a chance to swoon over Kise’s pretty face.’

‘She’s not going to be pretty this time, Takao. She’ll be in a mode you have never experienced before. This is nothing like any game you have seen before. The audience, the players, the referees and the press are going to be unruly tonight. This game will be intense beyond imagination.’ Midorima said as she narrowed her eyes. ‘You will see their true forms tonight.’

‘If you think that made me any less excited, you are so wrong! Count me in, Shin-chan.’ Takao grinned.

---

‘Kagami-san, are you awake?’ Kuroko called quietly. It was still dark outside; Midorima had just left for her daily run, which she had been doing for as long as Kuroko knew her.

‘Hmmm? Kuroko? No I am not awake, moron.’ Kagami replied. He voice was thick with sleep.

‘I’m coming over to your futon.’

‘Sure.’ Kagami replied. She shifted so that there was enough room for her girlfriend to lay down beside her.

‘Thank you.’ Kuroko said as she nestled herself into Kagami’s buff arms. ‘You know, Kagami-san?’

‘What’s it?’ Kagami replied. Her ruby eyes were still closed as she kissed the top of the smaller girl’s head. She noted that Kuroko’s hair smelled like vanilla. Kuroko was really obsessed with the stuff, she noted. Vanilla ice, vanilla shakes, vanilla soap, vanilla shampoo, vanilla tea, maybe even vanilla bed sheets, might those exist. It fit her somehow.

‘I am really happy right now.’ The smaller girl said. She didn’t sound very happy as she did, but that wasn’t all too surprising.

‘Uhm, that’s kinda random, but I’m glad to hear so.’ Kagami replied. ‘Why?’

‘Because I got a text from Kise-san yesterday and Midorima-san has been talking to me like she used too. It feels good to have them back. But it’s you I have to thank for it.’

‘Well, I guess I helped you in it all, but I still don’t really get why you like them so much. They’re weird and slightly scary, if I’m honest.’

‘They are, but I like them because they aren’t like everyone else. They’re strong on the court and as women. In fact, I think the world could benefit if there were more girls as strong as they are.’

‘You’re kind of weird. You know that right?’

‘Kagami-san, that is not very nice. I’ll have to punish you for that later.’

‘Getting kinky, are we?’

‘I meant that you had to buy me food, but if you want to get kinky we can do so, just not here. Coach will be very mad.’ Kuroko joked in a monotone voice, keeping a perfectly straight face. She felt Kagami tense up in embarrassment. ‘Kagami-san the hopeless virgin.’

‘Shut up! Jeez, you are embarrassing!’

‘Not as much as you though.’ Kuroko said.

‘Hold up, where the fuck that that weird friend of you even go too?’

‘She’s running. She starts at 6:00 every morning.’

‘How?’ Kagami said in amazement. ‘Generation of Miracles for sure.’

‘I guess so, huh.’ Kuroko replied. Her phone started vibrating; she rolled over to grab it. On the message screen she saw that she had a text from Midorima, dated at 6:45 that morning. Its content was short, but clear and well-formulated. The two short sentences were enough to make Kuroko sit up and gasp in excitement.

From: Midorima Shinoko
To: Kuroko Tetsumi
“Touou will face Kaijo in the semi-finals this evening at 19:30. Do not miss it.”

For the first time, two members of the fames group would be facing off against one another. Kise and Aomine were the match-up that was the hardest to predict a winner in. They played alike, because of Kise’s long-time adoration of Aomine’s style. It was also a rare chance to see the miracle ace go all-out. Kuroko knew that there was no way Aomine would take any chances when it came to Kise. Maybe Kise would be able to win and bring Aomine back to earth. That would be wonderful, but unlikely. Aomine and Kise aside, the Touou regulars beat those from Kaijo by a huge margin. Kuroko supposed she could only go there and see with her own eyes.

She felt a heavy drop in her stomach when she remembered what that meant; Akashi and Murasakibara would be there too. For the first time in a year, all miracles would be under the same roof. It would proof itself to be an interesting night, she thought

‘What’s that?’ Kagami asked. She noticed how Kuroko had suddenly become alerted after receiving and reading the message.

‘Kise-san and Aomine-san will face off tonight. We have to go see it.’

Chapter Text

1. This is my most recent art, as you can see the descriptions of characters in this fic have changed a little over time, I might re-introduce some of them at a later point in this story. I used this as an excuse to draw pretty dresses.

2. A study on Model-chan, Kise. just trying out some funky outfits.

3. Tetsumi, Atsushi and Shinoko in outfits I liked and what fits their (re)imagined personality.

4. This one is slightly older, but it still holds up with the fic pretty well, I think!

I will resume to posting written chapters soon!

Chapter Text

Atsushi felt her mother squeeze her hand and heard her father gasp.

They had expected these results, but hearing it out loud was still a terrible experience. Someone telling you that you were most likely going to die young just did that to a person. The surgery to remove the tumor wasn’t a complete success. They had been able to remove most of it, but small spots had been left untouched, for the extreme danger that lay in removing them. She was good to go for some years, but another surgery was inevitable. Eventually there would be a time where the tumor would become inoperable and that would mean an early death.

At sixteen, most girls had their full life ahead of them. They weren’t in a hospital bed with their heads shaved bald and their parents weeping next to them. 4 healthy children they had and they had wanted another. They got a daughter, finally. After four sons, they were excited to add a little girl to their family. Everything seemed to be fine, until she reached the age of 10.

She got taller fast, not unheard of for a girl of that age. But she just didn’t stop growing. At the age of 12 she had reached an impressive 186 centimeters in height, towering over her middle school peers. She had started high school nearing the 210 centimeter-mark. It was that November, a little short of a month since her 16^th birthday that they had found the tumor. It was around the size of a kiwi-fruit and was the root of all evil in her body. It made her have insufferable migraines; it released growth hormone without a stop. She came from a tall family for Japanese standards, but they came up to her chin at most.

It had taken a couple of months to arrange the surgery; she had finished her first year of high school, had finally found a love for basketball and had gotten her friends back. But this cloud of despair was always hovering above her head. She hadn’t told anyone up until a week before the scheduled surgery.

‘Oh, by the way, next week some doctors are gonna dig in my brain for 12 hours on end.’

Of course, that was not what she had said, but that must have been how it came across to her friends, who had all looked at her with dumbfounded expressions. Mido-chin’s father was a neurosurgeon, so she understood the dangers of the procedure. Her father had lost many patients over the years. Aka-chin naturally knew the weight of the situation, of course, since Aka-chin knows everything under the sun. For her other friends… well, they understood that surgery wasn’t a good thing and that having a kiwi-fruit in your brain was probably a reason for concern.

How would she bring them the new news? ‘The surgery was partly successful, but not all could be removed so the tumor will come back and I will keep growing until I’m like 8 feet tall and then I will just die in my late twenties or early thirties.’

No, that wouldn’t do. Muro-chin aside, her friends did not like her pitch-black humor and tendency to laugh away all her problems. No, her former teammates would most likely cry or be stunned into silence. They would go on to achieve their dreams; a career in the WNBA, winning Olympic gold some day. By that time, Atsushi’s skeleton wouldn’t be able to support her body anymore and she’d be walking with crutches or even wheelchair-bound.

She laughed bitterly, for years she had wanted to die, but it had never happened. Now that she finally found her way out of that dark hole she was in, they dropped this bomb on her.

It was unfair.

---

‘It has gotten worse yet again, mother. Minus sixteen on the right, minus seventeen and a half on the left.’ Shinoko sighed. ‘A full transplant is the only hope at this point, but that has never been done successfully before and I doubt that they’ll figure it out in time.’

‘Oh, dear... I am so sorry.’ Her mother sighed as she put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder.

‘It is not your fault, you know that.’

‘I do. But I can’t help but blame myself; you did get the genetics from me and your father, after all. If we’d known we both possessed this gene… you wouldn’t have to lose your sight.’

‘Mum, it doesn’t work like that. These things happen. Besides, look at Takara, she’s free of the gene. There was always a 1 in 4 chance, I just happened to be it.’

‘Sweetheart, you do not have to talk over your sorrow, you should allow yourself to out your emotions.’ The older woman sighed. ‘You have always hid your feelings.’

‘I need to be strong. I will go blind, yes. But I will still have my life Atsushi will die, mum. I can’t let something like this break me. I can get a dog… find a career suited to my eyesight, a lot of people are blind and live a normal life. I don’t have to sit around waiting for my death, at least.’

‘You never told me. About Murasakibara-chan. You said her surgery had been a success.’

‘She didn’t tell me, either. But I could see it in her face, the way she couldn’t look at me or any of our friends. I know enough about neurosurgery to put one and one together. Her surgery had not been able to get it all away. I need to be strong, mum. For her.’

‘Shinoko… you are too mature for your age, you know that?’

‘Yes, mother. But I have to be.’

---

‘I’m afraid I have bad news, Kise-san.’

‘The bump on my ankle is not a normal bruise, is it?’

‘I’m afraid not. It’s a tumor of the bone and it’s malignant.’

‘How are we going to fix it? Surgery or chemo?’

‘The only option is amputation of the foot. If we don’t do that, it will inevitably spread. The chances of surviving that are low.’ The doctor explained calmly. He searched in his drawer and pulled out a brochure.

‘But how am I going to play sports with one leg? How will I be a model?’ The blonde cried in distress.

‘You’ll get a nice prosthetic. One you’ll be able to sport in as before. You will surely make it to the Paralympics.’

‘But I don’t want a prosthetic. This is not what was supposed to happen! My foot just hurt a little, I can’t have cancer, I just can’t!’ Ryouka cried out. ‘Please, this is my life we’re talking about. Can’t I just take drugs for it?’

‘I’m afraid not. It’s too close to the veins. If we don’t act fast, it will spread.’

‘I’m calling my lawyer, you are just lying to me!’ She frantically started searching for her phone.

‘Listen, Kise-san. I am very sorry, but I am telling the truth. As apposed of calling a lawyer, why do you not call your parents instead?’

‘Doc, you don’t understand. My friend has a tumor. It can’t be that I have one too. I am young and healthy!’

‘This world can be cruel. It doesn’t discriminate like humans do. I will refer you to a therapist that can help you come to acceptance with your diagnosis and the things it brings with it.’

‘I will never accept this.’ Kise said, tears flowing freely. ‘Never.’

‘You’ll have too, I’m afraid.’

---

‘So my immune-system is attacking the cells of my brain, which causes the hallucinations and the voices inside my head?’

‘Yes, Akashi-san. That is a very good way to describe it. The symptoms can be treated, but that would mean your immune-system would have to be shut down by intense chemo.’

‘Leaving me vulnerable to minor diseases. Meaning that I could die from the flu.’ Seiju remarked. ‘And the alternative is that my brain will suffer so much damage that I’ll become paralyzed and mute in my 30’s, I assume.’

‘You have great understanding of your condition, Akashi-san.’

‘That is because I have done my research well. I have foreseen that is was not only in my mind. The images and voices were too real and persistent to have come forth out of the minor childhood trauma I suffer.’

‘You know that it’s okay to cry, right? I will keep all we discuss confidential.’

‘I know, but somehow I can’t. It feels like it was my fate. I was too perfect, I suppose, too selfish.’ The redhead smiled bitterly. ‘I don’t worry too much though. My father will surely ensure that I have the best possible treatment, all drug trials I will be included in, no matter in what part of the world. If I become in a vegetative state, I will have the best care and the most comfortable room to reside in.’

---

‘Doc, I can’t do it anymore.’

‘I see you and I hear you.’

‘This… shadow it follows me all the time. Those meds don’t work for shits, either.’ Daika said. She was toying with the cords of her sweater. She sat slumped in her chair.

‘Describe how you feel please.’

‘Really? Again? Well, sure. I am better than anyone else I meet, but it’s no fun. I don’t enjoy anything and everything just annoys me all the time. Also, while I am better than anyone, I also fuckin’ despise myself.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Can’t you just prescribe me more meds or something?’

‘I’m afraid I can’t.’

‘Fuck man, I told my ma that therapists are useless.’ She groaned. ‘I’ll just start doing coke or something.’

Chapter Text

KnB hc updates

Akashi Seijurou:

• Formerly Akashi Seiju
• Came out as transmasc during high-school year 2
• Mibuchi came out as transfem around the same time
• They are a t4t het couple 💑 
• Akashi is heterosexual
• They might have a child in the future, as their bodies are compatible but idk yet
• Hypothetical kid would be cute af tho
• Had a lot of therapy and moved out of her dad's house at 16, moved in with Mibuchi's family
• Had a growth spurt and reached 180 cm, Kuroko hates him now

Aomine Daika:

• Aromantic homosexual
• Identifies herself as female --> remains the same
• In an on and off queerplatonic relationship with Kise
• Has a coily hair texture
• Half African-American on mother's side
• Afro!Mine my beloved

Kise Ryouka

• Bisexual disaster 
• Capable of romantic attraction, but grows bored of it quickly
• That's why she and Aomine work so well, good sex, cuddles and a best buddy with no pesky romantic drama
• Half Finnish, father unknown to her
• Sees her Japanese step-father as her father and as such took his last name
• Her eyelashes are actually blonde like her hair, but she dyes them

Midorima Shinoko

• Lesbian asexual
• Has a distaste for men in general
• PTSD and OCD
• Very, very poor eyesight, legally blind in her right eye
• Dresses like someone's gay grandma in the 50's
• Actually ambidextrous, but left-favouring 
• Surprisingly she's quick to get visibly angry
• Blames herself for Akashi's bad decisions
• Really, really smart and quick to understand basically everything 
• Eventually lets her horoscope thing go after a lot of therapy 
• Musical prodigy, has a surprising appreciation towards prog-metal and rock
• Lord of the Rings soundtrack on repeat day and night

Murasakibara Atsushi:

• Biromantic asexual
• Just doesn't vibe with the idea of sex
• Her asexuality is the main reason she and Himuro never worked out 
• She and Midorima are essentially the opposite of Aomine and Kise on the couple spectrum
• Actually quite good in handling really small objects despite her size
• Incredibly smart, IQ almost nearing that of Akashi, but too lazy to use it
• Very insecure, undergoes a breast reduction surgery to feel better about herself
• For some reason she's very well liked by almost everyone she meets, despite not being the nicest person
• Autistic
• Hates anime for some reason
• Horror movie stan, her and Kuroko's main activity to do together is watching really out-there European horror films

Kagami Taiga

• Obviously a Gay, but has actually dated guys in the past
• Essentially married to Kuroko since age 15
• Is actually half-american by blood, her mother was red-haired, but died during childbirth
• She's incredibly strong, no one really knows why
• Was attacked by a dog as a small child 
• Not smart, but intelligent 
• Honestly just really hates academics because she can't focus
• ADHD sufferer
• Needs a knee replacement before turning 25

Kuroko Tetsumi

• Against popular belief, she is not really an introvert at all. It's just that no one ever notices her
• Lesbian goth gf
• Might be as horny as Aomine, but is more chill about it
• Loves to read, she especially likes Scandinavian crime novels
• Her wrist bands are replaced by pride ones instead of black and white
• Can actually sing really well
• Has a pretty low voice
• Uses She/They pronouns
• Platform shoes are a must, not because she is small, but because her friends are TALL
• Wears a black dress on her wedding, still not noticed T-T
• Into occultism and wicca

Takao Kazunari

• Is straight and has a never-ending crush on Midorima
• Also is her biggest supporter when she comes out as gay
• Gifts her a pair of rainbow socks, she actually wears them
• He ships Muramido, but it's complicated for him poor guy
• Is the platonic malewife to Midorima's girlboss
• Honestly do everything together. He basically lives in her house. Her mom all but adopted him
• Definitely soulmates in one way or another

Reo Mibuchi

• Transfem
• Will eventually kick Hyuuga in the balls for his nasty comments towards her
• Shopping trips with Kise!!!
• Decided to keep her birth name because she likes it and could work for a woman 
• Was very confused as to why she was attracted to Akashi at first, but when he came out as a transguy it made sense
• Girlboss 
• Can walk in heels better than you

Himuro Tatsuya

• Pansexual as can be
• Used to date Murasakibara, but she broke it off when realising that their ideas of a relationship were too different 
• Still cherishes her greatly
• Probably has had a thing for everyone of the GoM ngl
• Hopeless romantic 
• Fashion icon in the emo scene
• Doting older brother to Kagami after resolving their ☆~issues~☆
• Not the smartest guy you'll ever meet, honestly 
• He uses They/Them pronouns, but only to look cool on dating apps