☞︎︎︎𝑷𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑭𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 ᵏⁿᵇ

Chapter 7

"The Inter-High matchups have just been released."

Aida Riko, the Seirin coach, entered the gymnasium holding up a piece of paper. At the sound of her voice, the noise in the gym quietened as everyone turned to look at her. Their eyes were drawn to the piece of paper in curiosity and anticipation.

"Who are we playing first?" Hyuga, the team captain, asked. He lifted up his glasses and brought up the bottom of his t-shirt to wipe the sweat off his face before setting them back on. He, along with the first-string players, gathered around their coach to peer at the matchup table.

"Looks like it'll be Shinkyo High again," Koganei muttered. "Didn't we play them first last year as well?"

"We did," replied Riko brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "We beat them 79 to 67. At the time, it wasn't bad but with how far we've come since then, that gap should be bigger."

"I'm sure every school is working hard this year," Kiyoshi Teppei commented. With a smile, he continued, "With the major upset we caused at last year's Winter Cup Championship, everyone will be motivated to do better. If a newcomer school like Seirin can topple the kings, why can't other schools do the same?"

Furihata and his two friends pouted, "It's going to be rough this year. Isn't it?"

Izuki grinned and said, "You know what they say Furihata-kun; life is rolling (korogaru) like a basketball on the court. We just have to keep dribbling through it."

Everyone groaned at the lame pun.

"Izuki..." Hyuga delivered a swift fist to his head causing the boy to release a yelp and nurse a growing comical bump.

"Mou, that was mean Hyuga~"

"Shut up!"

"...bully."

"Ha?!"

Kuroko watched in amusement as his two seniors began bickering back and forth, completely unaware of Riko's growing annoyance. It was times like this that Kuroko had to appreciate being a part of such a wonderful basketball team. He couldn't picture himself in any other basketball outside of Seirin and he believes everyone else would feel the same. Glancing over to his partner, Kagami Taiga, he was curious to find the other boy seemingly preoccupied.

While Kagami was physically present, it was clear that his mind was elsewhere and that, by far, was the strangest and most abnormal thing to ever occur. Anyone who is familiar with Kagami knows full well how the boy is practically married to basketball so for his mind to be elsewhere, it had to be something big. Kuroko was both curious and worried for his friend.

If he was being honest, Kagami hadn't been acting like himself for the past couple of weeks. Those who knew Kagami on a surface level probably wouldn't notice anything different but Kuroko, who was both extremely observant and Kagami's closest friend, picked up on the smallest of changes.

For example, whenever they walked home together, Kagami would stare off into space for some time as if thinking about something and his mouth would quirk up into an unnoticeable grin. There were also a couple of times when he would be completely glued to his phone during practice - an act totally unlike him since he considered phones a distraction to practice. And finally, he would disappear right after training instead of pulling Kuroko to the nearest court to play a match.

So yes; completely unusual.

Though tempted to ask, Kuroko was more willing to allow Kagami to open up when he was ready. Kagami was private about his personal life but at the same time, if someone asked about it, he would simply tell them. But then again, up till now, Kagami's entire life revolved around basketball so there wasn't really much to ask about.

And as far as Kuroko knew, it wasn't like the other had a girlfrie-

Oh.

Ohhh.

"How could you hide such a big thing from me Kagami-kun? You're a terrible friend," he said.

Kagami blinked; "...Huh??"

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It was currently 6 p.m.

The sun had set on the horizon and the streets were filled with people - workers and students - going out to restaurants, going to karaoke bars, but mostly just heading home for the day. Along one street, the Maji burger restaurant was lit up as the eatery bustled with people looking to purchase a quick and easy meal.

Sitting by the window, a pair of high school boys shared a table eating their meals.

Kuroko took a sip of his vanilla milkshake and stared at his friend across the table stuffing his face with burgers.

"So...Momoi-san..."

"Mhm."

"...You and Momoi-san are dating."

"That's what I said."

"Huh..."

Kagami swallowed the last bit of his burger and narrowed his eyes at him, "What? Something wrong with that?"

"On the contrary actually. I think it's great," Kuroko responded calmly with a small smile. "Forgive me if I offended you; I was just surprised. I hadn't really pegged you as a person looking for romance. Thought you were only in love with basketball."

Kagami rolled his eyes, "Hardy haha Kuroko. Real funny."

Kuroko's lips quirked up, "I'm just saying. You've never shown an interest in anyone in general so I assumed you weren't looking for a girlfriend."

"I wasn't," Kagami admitted taking a sip of his drink. "But it just kind of...happened. And, well, I really like her so..."

Hearing the redhead's earnest confession, Kuroko's expression softened. With a small smile on his face, he said, "Then, I'm glad. I'm happy for both of you."

"Thanks," replied Kagami.

"But how come you haven't told anyone? Was it supposed to be a secret or something?"

Kagami wrinkled his eyebrows and leaned back against the chair. With a sigh, he replied, "It wasn't a secret. We just didn't go around blurting it out to everyone we met. It's not like we kept it quiet or anything - heck, we've been out in public for dates already. And besides, no one has actually asked us."

"Then I take it that Aomine-kun doesn't know," Kuroko raised an eyebrow.

Kagami snorted, "The idiot knows Satsuki is dating someone; he just doesn't know who and she's having far too much fun teasing him with it."

"I see. Well, I'm sure it won't be long till everyone realizes what's happening but for Momoi-san's sake, I'll stay quiet," Kuroko said, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"You just want to see that Aho run around in a panic, don't you?"

"..."

"I'll take that as a yes."

Unbeknownst to the two boys, someone else was listening in on their conversation and was hastily typing on their phone.

Elsewhere, Kise had just finished a photo shoot when a message pinged in his phone. Waving goodbye to his manager, the yellow-haired teen stepped outside of the building tugging his jacket tighter around his waist. Feeling the vibration in his pocket, he reached in and pulled out his phone, tapping on the screen to read the message.

His expression went from calm to utter shock with his eyebrows raised so high that they were almost touching his hairline.

"WHAT?!!"

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A/N: I'll be finishing this story soon.