-Emiko POV-
"Coach" said Tetsuya to Riko when we went into her classroom. She spat out her drink, making me laugh. "Can we have an official club member form?"
"He wants to play in a game" I said.
"Fine, but I'll only accept your forms on Monday at 8:40 on the roof" she said and gave us the forms.
"Why is that?" I asked.
"You'll see" she smirked.
~
On Monday we went to the rooftop.
"I hate these skirts" I said and held my skirt down. "Why can't the girl uniform have pants too?"
"You're already wearing long stockings under them" said Kagami. "What are you complaining about?"
"Thanks for reminding me, Kagami" I said and I kicked him.
Riko was laughing.
"I've been waiting for you" she said.
Of all the first years, a few had left. But the three from the mini-game had stayed.
"Are you stupid?" asked Kagami.
"Is this a duel?" asked Tetsuya.
"I forgot all about it, but on Mondays..." said Kagami. "The morning assembly is in five minutes!"
He angrily took out his membership form. "Hurry up and take it"
"Before that, I have something to tell you" she said. "I made a promise when the captain asked me to be his coach last year. I promised to focus solely on pushing the team towards the national championship. If you don't think you're ready for that, there are other clubs better suited to you"
"What? Of course I'm..." began Kagami.
"I know you're strong" interrupted Riko. "But I need to know you have something even more important. No matter how hard you practice, 'someday' and 'maybe' aren't good enough. I need to know you have ambitious goals and the will to accomplish them. Give me your year, class, and name. Announce your goals here and now. If you fail to achieve them, you'll come back up here, strip naked an confess your feelings for the girl you love. Or boy, in Maeda's case"
"Heh?!" freaked the other first years.
"All the second years did it last year" she said.
"What? No one told me about this" said Furihata.
"I heard about it when they recruited me" said Fukuda.
"But I didn't think they'd actually..." said Kawahara.
"Like I said before" said Riko. "I'm looking for something concrete and reasonably ambitious. You'll have to do better than 'play my first game' or 'do my best'"
"This'll be easy" said Kagami and stepped forward. "This isn't even a test"
He jumped up the railing...
"Are you nuts?!" I yelled.
"Class 1-B, number 5, Taiga Kagami!" he yelled. "I will defeat the Generation of Miracles and become the best player in Japan!"
"Who's next?" asked Riko. "If you don't hurry up, the teachers will get here"
"Excuse me" said Furihata. "Could I say I want a girlfriend?"
"Nope" said Riko.
"Really?" I said.
"What else do you have?" asked Riko.
"I-I've got one" said Kawahara and walked forward. "Class 1-A, Koichi Kawahara, from Chuo Ward, Tokyo!"
He began to tell his life story until Riko kicked him away from the edge.
"Next!" she yelled.
"Um, I want a girlfriend" tried Furihata again.
"I said no already!" yelled Riko.
"Class 1-D, Hiroshi Fukuda!" yelled Fukuda. "I like helping others, so when I heard an upperclassman asking for help, I immediately offered my assistance!"
"Class 1-D, Koki Furihata!" yelled Furihata. "The girl I like said she'd go out with me if I became the best at something! I joined the basketball team to become number one!"
'That's just sad'
"If that's not good enough, I don't mind if I can't join the team" he said to Riko.
"I guess I'm moved" she said.
"My turn" I sighed and walked forward. "Class 1-B, Emiko Maeda! I like being a manager and making sure people are in good physical health! I want to help the basketball team perform at their best and help them win the championship!"
"Nice, Maeda" smiled Riko. "Who's next?"
"Excuse me" said Tetsuya. "I'm not good at speaking loudly, so could I use this?"
He held a loudspeaker.
"Eh, Tetsu, where did you even get that?" I asked.
But the moment Tetsu tried to announce his goals, a teacher opened the doors.
"Hey! The basketball club again?!" he yelled.
"Crap! We were almost finished" said Riko.
We all had to sit down on our knees and listen to his lecture.
"I warned you last year. Didn't you say you'd never do this again? You should know what's right and wrong at your age!"
~
I ordered our drinks at the take-away restaurant again while Tetsuya sat down.
I saw Kagami walking to the chair in front of Tetsuya again and I sighed.
"I can't believe he got so mad over a little shouting" said Kagami.
"I didn't even finish and I got in trouble too" said Tetsuya, startling Kagami.
"Here, Tetsu" I said and gave him his milkshake.
"Thank you, Emi" he said and I took a chair and sat with the boys.
"You two again" said Kagami. "Maybe I should start going somewhere else"
"We aren't allowed on the roof anymore" said Tetsuya. "What will we do if we can't join the basketball team?"
"That's not gonna happen" said Kagami.
"We'll see" said Tetsuya.
"By the way" said Kagami. "Why didn't you go to some big name school like the other five guys? You were good enough to be known as the phantom sixth man"
I grabbed my cup a bit tighter and looked down.
"Is there some reason you play basketball?" asked Kagami.
"My middle school's basketball team had one core principle" said Tetsuya. "Winning is everything. Instead of teamwork, we pushed the individual talents of the Generation of Miracles to win. Nothing could beat us, but we weren't a team"
He laid his hand on my arm, making me look up.
"The five of them approved, but I felt we lacked something important" he said.
"So, what?" asked Kagami. "Are you gonna beat the Generation of Miracles your own way?"
"That was what I was thinking" admitted Tetsuya.
"Seriously?" said Kagami.
"Your words and the coach's words really struck me" said Tetsuya. "Now, my biggest reason to play is to try and make you and our team the best in Japan"
"We're not gonna try" said Kagami. "We're gonna be the best"
~
The next morning, I helped Tetsuya with writing down a big message on the ground of the school.
But when it was time to practice, the coach came into the gym, but she was skipping.
"Eh... Riko-senpai" I said. "Why are you skipping?"
I was done changing earlier than the boys.
"I arranged a practice match" she smiled.
"Really? With who?" I asked while filling up the water bottles of the boys.
"I'll tell you when the boys are here" she said and I sighed.
"It's a strong team, isn't it?" I asked and she nodded.
She had to go away for a bit, so I started practice.
They were playing a mini-game and Kagami was pretty good...
'I wonder...'
"Gather round, everyone!" yelled the coach, getting me out of my thoughts.
"Yes, ma'am!" they all yelled.
"We're playing a practice game against Kaijo High School!" she announced.
"A practice game against Kaijo High School?!" repeated Hyuga surprised.
"That's right, they won't disappoint us" said Riko. "We'll put plenty of first years on the court"
"Disappoint us? They're way better than us" said Koganei.
"Are they really that good?" asked Kawahara.
"They're strong at the national level" said Hyuga. "They play in the Inter-High every year"
"And this year, Kaijo got their hands on one of the Generation of Miracles, Ryota Kise" said Riko.
I looked at Tetsuya, who looked as worried as I did.
"Apparently, Kise works as a model" said Hyuga.
"Seriously? Amazing" said Izuki.
"Good looking and good at basketball? That's brutal" said Koganei.
"Idiot" sighed Riko.
"Eh coach" I said when I noticed a lot of girls in the gym. "What are all these people doing here?"
"Uh, I didn't mean for this to happen" I recognised that voice...
"That's..." said Huyga.
"It's good to see you again" said Tetsuya when Kise saw us.
"Good to see you" said Kise. "Sorry, really. Um... Do you think you could wait five minutes?"
After a while all the girls left.
"What are you doing here?" asked Hyuga.
"When I heard our next opponent was Seirin, I remembered Kurokocchi and Maedacchi went here" said Kise. "So I thought I'd come say hi. We were best friends in middle school"
"Not any more than anyone else" said Tetsuya, making me smile.
"You're so mean! Say something, Maedacchi" cried Kise.
"Don't be such a cry-baby, Kise" I sighed.
"Why are you so mean, Maedacchi?" he cried. "We haven't seen each other in so long, since you left the club before the championship"
I sighed and rolled my eyes.
"Ryota Kise" said Furihata, he was reading the article about Kise. "Though he only started basketball in his second year of middle school, his exceptional physical abilities and instincts got him on the Teiko team as a regular in a heartbeat. While he has less experience than the other four, he's a rapidly improving all-arounder"
"Since your second year?" asked Hyuga.
"That article exaggerated quite a bit" said Kise. "I'm glad to be called part of the Generation of Miracles, but I'm the worst of the bunch. They bullied me and Kurokocchi for it all the time"
"That never happened to me" said Tetsuya.
"Yeah, it was really only you we bullied" I said.
"What? It was just me?" cried Kise, but he stopped and quickly caught the basketball Kagami had thrown at him. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Kagami!" they all yelled.
"Sorry for interrupting your little reunion" said Kagami. "But don't tell me out came all the way here just to greet us. Why don't you play with me a little, pretty boy?"
"What? I don't know if I'm ready" said Kise. "But I just... fine, let's do it. I have to thank you for that display"
"Unbelievable" said Riko.
"This could be bad" I said.
"Huh?" said Riko.
"He learns plays as soon as he sees them and makes them his own" explained Tetsuya.
Kise began by doing the move Kagami had just done.
'Show off... but... this isn't what I remember from Kise... he has improved a lot since I left...'
Kagami fell on his back and stared at Kise.
"This is the Generation of Miracles" said Kawahara. "Kuroko, Maeda, your friend's way too good"
"I don't know that person" said Tetsuya. "To be honest, I may have underestimated him until just now. It's only been a few months since I left them, but the Generation of Miracles has improved far more quickly than I expected"
"I don't know about this" complained Kise. "After something so disappointing, I can't just leave now. Give us Kurokocchi and Maedacchi"
He walked to us. "Come join us" he said. "Let's play basketball together again. I seriously respect the two of you. It's a waste of your talents to stay here. What do you say?"
"I am honoured to hear you say that" said Tetsuya. "I must respectfully decline your offer"
"If Tetsu's staying, I'm staying" I said, making Kise look surprised.
"That doesn't make any sense" said Kise. "Besides, this isn't like you. Winning was everything. Why didn't the two of you go somewhere better?"
"My thinking has changed since then" said Tetsuya. "More importantly, I made a promise to Kagami. I told him we'd beat you, the Generation of Miracles"
"It really isn't like you to joke around like that" said Kise.
Kagami laughed, making us all frown.
"What are you doing?" asked Kagami with a smile. "I was gonna say that, Kuroko"
"I still have no sense of humour" said Tetsuya. "I'm serious"