MiRACLE (KnB Fanfic)

19.

"They gave up in the middle of the match, huh," Aisaka sighed.

The match had been a disaster. Aomine joins in, eager to play against a power forward that had given him trouble last time-- only for his opponent to not even try against him.

It's pathetic.

When Aisaka looks into those eyes-- he only see fear, fear and despair. Saddening, really, but it wasn't as if he couldn't understand. Aomine's facing exactly what made his own heart wrench and shatter.

And Aomine is a young heart-- unlike Aisaka's soul, he isn't mature enough. Aomine is still a kid, it made sense that he hurt harder.

"Am I... a monster?" Aomine asks, leaning on the ledge of the pedestrian crossing, watching the cars drive by.

The light passes his face, and he rests his chin on the cold paint.

The night is high. The street lights are luminescent against the curtain of darkness. Aisaka leaned back against that ledge, and wondered what he could say.

"Not yet."

Their heads turn to each other, the same, lifeless smiles on their faces. It's hard to say whose was harder to witness.

"After all, I'm still here, aren't I?" Aisaka twists into a happier smile, hoping that can seem a little more assuring.

Aomine does not tell Aisaka that he is not a monster.

(Aisaka is a monster, after all.)

"Then, when I finally surpass you..." Aomine lets the word hold on his tongue. When, exactly, did Aomine start being the one that chased after Aisaka? Once, it was the other way around... it was barely a year ago. Why did it feel so far away?

"When you do," Aisaka tells him, "you'll be a Miracle."

(Ah, Aomine thinks.)

(So that's what it means.)

-

"Is it scary?" Aisaka asks, and Kuroko falters.

"What is?" Kuroko asks, though he knows exactly what the question was about. He's asking it rhetorically-- because he doesn't want to answer it.

"Is it scary, knowing how we can fall apart because of something we love?" Aisaka says, and he's not sure if he's asking it for an answer, or if he's asking it just to make him think of it.

Kuroko doesn't know, and he doesn't want to know.

"I wonder how he felt that time too," Aisaka mutters a little softer, just under his breath, "when everyone broke away, and he began to hate basketball."

It's been a while since Kuroko heard Aisaka mutter to himself.

Is Aisaka aware of this habit of his? Or does he than he is thinking in his mind? Kuroko isn't too sure, and in fear of never hearing them again, he doesn't try to find out.