𝐀 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟼

On the day of the practice match, Kise looked over his texting history to reconfirm his plan with Momoi. The blond grimaced over the text he had sent to the other miracles in his panic from earlier in the week. He really should have waited until Momoi responded before immediately running towards the group chat the generation had made for when their sky-blue friend was being stubborn (and if they had wanted to keep surprises from him, but the others tended to use yet another chat that excluded Kise from surprise plans).

With a shrug, the excitable teen decided that the text should do no harm. If any of the others took the matter as seriously as they should – then that would mean he and Momoi could have more help in their plan.

If any of the others brushed this off, then Kise would just have to get good enough to show them that this wasn't good. They shouldn't be playing basketball without Kuroko. They couldn't play basketball without Kuroko. If their shadow insisted on giving up on the sport, then what were any of them even doing anymore?

Kise couldn't bring himself to care about anyone else. He'd trample over as many people as he needed to if it would show his mentor that basketball wasn't worth giving up on.

*

From: Ki-chin

To: MiRaClEs

Kurokocchi says he won't be playing basketball anymore.

Murasakibara frowned as he looked at the text. They'd only been in school for what? A month? Two months?

"Hey, Muro-chin, how long have we been in school?"

"A month, give or take a week, Atsushi."

"Hnn."

A month and change. Was Kuro-chin's new school that bad? He knew the smallest boy had quit because he was tired of how the miracles got used to playing, but how poor was this school if it made their stubborn shadow quit before they had even had the chance to play again?

Kuro-chin should have just followed one of the miracles to their schools. They had all told him their choices before their friend had needed to send in his applications. Recruitment always started early and since no one was smart enough to recruit Kuroko, he could pick whichever school his grades would allow for. Murasakibara knew he was smart enough to get into all of them.

Then again, Kuro-chin probably wouldn't have a lot of fun if he followed him to Yosen. It was obvious that he and Kuroko got along best off of the court. It could even be fun if the two of them were in the same class. Then, practice would eventually come up. Murasakibara still hated practice and Kuroko was still stubborn, he couldn't not be stubborn.

But that's what made this text so wrong, wasn't it? Murasakibara knew no one who had loved the sport more than Kuroko. The shadow even played by himself when he had to, though it was his least favorite way to play. He relished in the trust that others would give him, but their phantom had once said 'Playing by myself means you don't get to know what I'm thinking. I've gotten to really like you all knowing how to read me.

Ah, maybe that was why he wasn't going to be playing basketball anymore. A little over two years of growing and bonding with the same team gave them strength even before Murasakibara had started to grow – they all knew each other better than their own families. Kuro-chin wouldn't have people like that wherever he went to. It'd take time to rebuild and that would take effort. A lot of effort.

At the end of the day, Kuro-chin was stubborn, just like Murasakibara. He would do whatever he could to play basketball and play it with passion. But even if Kuroko could play basketball, he couldn't make others play with him and he knew more than anyone that people will eventually stop listening to you if you talk to them for so long.