Princess of Miracles (Kuroko no Basuke FanFic)

Papa From Senegal

"He's just big." Kagami stated the obvious, not seeming worried about their next opponent in the least, despite the fact that his seniors were all freaking out around him. The second years ignored his comment, and Tamaki peered at the photo in silence, studying the photo carefully.

Height is always a major factor in basketball matches, as many players tend to use their height to their advantage. When the Generation of Miracles have first started their debut during their freshman year, apart from a certain purple haired center, all of them barely reached 175 centimetres for height. Hence, their training usually had them training against their tallest regular, and learning to deal with a player taller and bigger than themselves.

"This Papa Mbaye… What was it?" Hyuuga asked.

"Papanpa?" Tsuchida offered unsurely.

"It's Papa Try-Hard." Koganei said, not remembering the name either, with Izuki coming up with another bad pun and scribbling into that notebook of his.

"We're not getting anywhere. Tamaki-chan, find a nickname for this guy," said the coach with annoyance.

The blue haired girl fell silent for several moments before her brain came up with the easiest name to remember. "How about 'Dad' then?"

"Where's your naming sense?" Koganei spluttered, almost beside himself in laughter at Tamaki's naming choice, not that the rest of the team were any better.

Riko finally lost patience at seeing her team goof around. "Listen!" And the team jerked to attention. "He's not just tall. His arms and legs are long too. Everything about him is big. More and more schools are inviting students from aboard to increase their power. Our next opponent, Shinkyo High, was only a middle tier school until last year. But with the addition of a single foreign player, they've become a completely different team. They can't reach high enough. Because of this one simple reason, no one can stop him."

The entire team fell silent, and Kagami grunted. "But we can't just do nothing," he protested.

"Who said we would?" Riko smirked, and Kagami blinked in confusion. "That is why… Kagami-kun. Tamaki-chan. Starting tomorrow, both of you will have your own training regimen." She then grinned. "The preliminaries start on May 16th! Until then, you won't even have time to complain!"

* * * *

The next week after that before their first match in the Inter High preliminaries is considered 'training week' for the basketball team, as they were put through numerous drills, practices, and even strategy meetings that had Koganei complaining once that it should really be renamed 'hell week', as every single one of them were so exhausted that their eyes were drooping continuously in class the next day.

Two days before their match against Shinkyo High can find Tamaki closing the glass doors of the florist shop where she worked at, pulling down the shutters of the shop and locking it. She then turned around only to raise a curious eyebrow as she saw a familiar dark blue haired boy sitting on the railings outside the shop, waiting for her, dressing in his school uniform with a white shirt worn beneath it.

"Hey." Aomine Daiki grinned, waving at her.

Tamaki smiled. "Aomine-kun."

* * * *

"You don't have to walk me back home every single time I had work," said Tamaki. She then sighed. "And you're missing practice again, aren't you?" She said accusingly, and Aomine had the decency to blush. "I knew it."

"It's not like I need it anyway," said Aomine, staring at his clenched fist with some sadness in his eyes. "The more I practice, the stronger I get. And it's not like anyone can beat me anyway. Because…—"