The 24th chapter is out! I hope you enjoy it :)
****
Just after Kuroko left the hospital, he went straight over to the hall where Interhigh was hold. He wanted to take his little sister's stuff back home. Home. He totally forgot about home. What was he supposed to say to his parents? That Yuzuki had a chance to die, because he let her play basketball? They would probably hate him for the rest of his life. He stood in front of the hall, and for his luck there was still opened. He walked down the hall, and into their changing room. On the bench Yuzuki stuff still laid just thrown on there. She really just wanted to teach them a lesson, not caring to fold her clothes. At first he kept staring on the clothes, but at last he picked it up. He was about to walk, when he heard something fall to the ground. It gave a clinging sound, like it was made out of some kind of metal. He looked down, and saw a little glittering thing on the floor. Yuzuki's necklace. She probably had taken it off before the match, like Kagami did the same with his. Kuroko picked it up, and noticed the little button on the side. His curiosity took over him, and before he knew it, he pushed the button.
****
"Dai-chan-" Satsuki started. "-Do you think....Yuzu-chan will..."
She started crying. Aomine didn't say anything and kept walking.
"W-What if i-it really happens?" she stuttered. "I don't want.....I don't want Yuzu-chan to die."
Aomine still didn't say anything.
"Dai-chan! Don't you even care about what happens to her?!"
"What do you mean?"
"You haven't shown any sign that you are worried or anything! You’re just acting cool as always! Do you even care if she dies?!"
"Stop saying she will die!!"
She gasped when he yelled at her like that.
"S-Sorry, but please....just leave me alone. Just leave" he said trying to hold his tears back.
Satsuki finally understood he really was worried about Yuzuki, but he just acted cool. She nodded and walked the opposite direction. Aomine started walking faster and faster to his house. He just wanted to start letting his feelings out, but he wouldn't want anyone to see him like that. He finally came to his house and was about to open the door when a voice called his name.
"What?!" Aomine shouted, but stopped when he saw who it was. "Tetsu."
Kuroko stood a few meters away from him clamming something in his hand.
"Are you okay, Tetsu?" Aomine asked worried.
"I don't know" he answered. "I just feel a bit empty, but I know if Yuzuki was here right now, she would probably just smile and say everything was going to be okay."
"Yeah, that sounds like her."
Kuroko walked closer to Aomine and reached his hand out. He opened his palm.
"Aren't that...Yuzu's necklace?" Aomine asked.
Kuroko nodded.
"I want you to have it."
"What? But I can't."
"It makes more sense if you take it."
"What do you mean?" Aomine asked still a lot lost.
"Just take it."
"Tetsu, I don't think it's a good idea I take it. And I don't think we should see each other again anymore."
"Why's that?"
"I just don't think it's a good idea."
"Come with your hand."
Aomine took his hand out with palm up, and Kuroko dropped the necklace into his palm.
"Tetsu! Didn't you just hear what I said?!"
"Please take it. For Yuzuki."
Aomine looked at him with slightly widened eyes, but didn't say anything anymore. Kuroko turned around and started walking.
"Tetsu-"
Kuroko stopped and looked over his shoulder.
"-You better win tomorrow, or I'm going to teach you a lesson" he said with a teasing voice.
Kuroko gave a little smile and continued to walk. A sigh came out of Aomine's mouth as he walked inside. Just as he closed the door, his eyes looked on the little necklace. He always wondered what was inside it, but when he asked Yuzuki, she always just said it was a picture. At first he thought he wouldn't open it, but then thought that it wouldn't hurt pecking just for a second. A little click came from it when his finger pushed the little button. A gasp left his mouth, when he saw the little picture inside the necklace. Tears began to come slowly and come streaming down his cheeks. Slowly he glided down against the wall, holding his face in sadness.
"Yuzu....Yuzu......Yuzu."
****
4 years earlier
Aomine sat outside looking at a little piece of paper. Big letters where there stood: SPECIAL EVENT! SEE THE AMAZING PARADE AT 10 PM FRIDAY AT THE AMUSEMENT PARK! To every girl: please take a yukata on.
'I wonder if she wants to go with me' Aomine thought.
"What you looking at?"
He jumped up and stared on Yuzuki with surprised eyes.
"Don't scare me like that! You almost gave me a heart attack!"
"You too young to get a heart attack, Aomine-senpai" she said with a weird face.
"It just something you say when you are surprised, for god sake!"
"I know that, I was just kidding."
Aomine sighed heavy and looked at the paper again.
"So, what is it you looking at?" she asked once again.
"Just....there's coming this parade show to town tonight. I was wondering to ask a girl out."
He began to blush a bit. He was actually saying he was planning to ask her out. Or sort of.
"A girl?"
"Y-Yeah. I’ve known this girl for a while now, and I was planning to ask if she wanted to go with me. Do you think she will accept?"
Yuzuki face lit up and she smiled a big smile.
"Yeah! I'm sure Momoi-senpai would love to go out with you!"
"You thin- wait, what?!"
"I go and ask Momoi-senpai, if she wants to go!"
"Wait just a second!"
"No need to thank me" she said and started running. "I see you later!"
Aomine stood like a stone with a weird face.
'She got it all wrong!'
****
Aomine sighed heavy and looked up in the sky. Shows that, Yuzuki was already supposed to go to the parade, but she had planned to go with Kuroko. And now he didn't have any choice to go with Satsuki, because Yuzuki already had asked her if she wanted to go with him.
"Sigh, why am I always such a coward, when it comes to Yuzu. Why can't just talk as I always do?" he asked himself. "And why does my heart race more when I'm beside her, than when I train?"
A heavy sigh came out again.
"Better go and see Satsuki before she rips my head off, because I'm late."
He started walking, with his hands in his pockets and a tired face. And when he finally showed up, shows that she hadn't came either. He sighed and stood and waited for her.
"Yoho!"
He looked to the side and saw Satsuki waving over to him in a pink yukata with a flower decoration on. But what most caught his eyes where the little girl standing right behind her.
"Yuzu" Aomine whispered to himself.
Yuzuki gave him a kind smile with her head tilting a bit to the side. He opened his mouth slightly of the sight of how beautiful she was. Her yukata was white, but at the bottom it was light blue light her hair. You can say the higher you went, the lighter it became. The decoration was small glittering flowers, but they looked more like snowflakes when you were standing far away, and at last a little red flower sat on her hair.
Beside her, just old Kuroko was standing. They all three walked over to him.
"Hi there, Aomine-senpai" Yuzuki said with a calm smile.
"H-H-Hi!" he stuttered.
"You don't have any reason to stutter that much, Aomine-senpai."
"S-Sorry."
He tried not to blush, but still a lightly pink came into sight on his cheeks.
"Now! Should we go in?" Satsuki asked excited.
They nodded, but before they walked in she whispered something into Aomine's ear.
"Let's switch places."
Suddenly she ran over to Kuroko and grabbed his whole arm, like it was some kind of teddy bear.
"Come Tetsu-kun! Let’s go over there."
And off they went.
"Sigh, what is she doing?" he asked and face palmed.
"I guess it just you and me then, Aomine-senpai."
He froze and looked surprised on Yuzuki. She took his hand and started to walk. That just made him blush even harder, but for his luck, Yuzuki didn't see it.
"There still a bit time before the parade starts, so what do you say to try some things out?" she asked.
"Um, sure" he replied.
"Then what do you want to try first?"
"Um, the roller coaster?"
"Then the roller coaster it is!"
They walked beside each other like some kind of couple. She had let go of his hand by the time, they came to the roller coaster. There's was a long line, but not too long that they had only hat to wait a couple of minutes. Finally when it was their turn, Yuzuki began to shake a little bit.
"Are you okay?" Aomine asked a bit confused.
"Y-Yeah! W-Why shouldn't I?!" she for some reason shouted.
"If you so scared we don't have to ride-"
"No, it's fine. Really."
She tried to stay calm and stepped into one of the wagons. Aomine gave a little sigh and stepped in too. The coaster slowly started up, and up it went. Meanwhile, Yuzuki started sweat drop like mad.
'She sure is scared' Aomine thought to himself.
Suddenly the coaster went down with enormous speed and people began to scream. But not Yuzuki. She just closed her eyes and held on tight to the seat. Aomine saw it and clapped her head. She finally opened her eyes.
"You don't have to be scared" he said with a calm smile.
Her eyes turned big, but she just smiled with a single fast nod.
After that, Yuzuki sat on the bench half dead.
"Um, should we try something else?" Aomine asked worried.
She gave a little nod.
"Can we try the Ferris wheel?" she asked. "I heard the view should be beautiful, when it's dark."
He nodded and off they went.
****
"Heeeh! Amazing!"
Yuzuki looked outside the window, and saw all the lights of the city switched on. Aomine enjoyed her smile. It was like the whole world lit up, just because she was happy. She sat down and kept staring outside.
"Yuzuki" Aomine called.
She didn't answer.
"Yuzuki!"
She finally snapped out of her thoughts and stared surprised at him.
"Sorry, were you talking to me?" she asked still surprised.
"Of course it's you, I'm talking to! You’re the only one in this capsule thing!"
"Actually, you are in here too."
"I didn't count myself, okay!"
"Haha, I was just kidding. But I really meant that I didn't know you talked to me. I guess, I'm just so used to, that you are calling me Yuzu."
"It is a long time I called you Yuzuki."
"So...why do you call me that now?"
"I just....tsch, I actually don't know myself."
Yuzuki looked confused at him.
"Aomine-senpai?" she asked. "You’ve been acting a bit different lately. Is it because, I've done something wrong?"
"What? No!" he panicked. "It just yo- I mean this girl I like, make me a bit, what can you say, different."
"Why don't you just say Momoi-senpai's name instead of "the girl you like"?"
"Because it's not Satsuki I like, it's someone else."
"Someone else than Momoi-senpai?"
"That just what I said" he said with a weird face.
"Hm, who else do you know that is a girl with big boobs?" she asked and crossed her arms. "I only know Momoi-senpai, who has big boobs."
"Maybe that girl I like doesn't have big boobs" he said.
"Huh? Really?! Then what is it about her you like?"
He sweat dropped and looked outside trying to avoid eye contact.
"Um, I don't know, if I should tell you."
"Just tell how she's like."
Yuzuki looked excited at him. One of her best friends really had a crush on someone. But for some reason she felt a bit....sad.
"Um well, she's kind, she would do anything for her friends and she's an amazing musician. She's.....perfect."
He didn't say anything about basketball, because he didn't want her to know it was her.
"She sounds amazing" she said calm. "I wish, I was like her."
He looked at her with widened eyes.
'She doesn't realize it's her I'm talking about? I thought it was already obvious it was her I described.'
Suddenly the Ferris wheel stopped, a sign they should go out.
"So what should we do next?" Yuzuki asked while she stepped out.
"I don't know. What do you want?"
"Hm...."
Yuzuki looked around and something caught her eyes.
"What about that?"
She pointed over at a little photo booth a few meters away.
"Sure, if that's what you want."
The photo booth wasn't that big. Only two persons could be in there. They walked inside.
"It sure is tight in her-" Aomine started until he heard a weird buzzing sound. "Wait, is that-"
A bee sat on his shoulder and he panicked.
"Get off me!!!" he shouted and waved his arms around in the little booth.
Yuzuki stared confused on him, but suddenly she burst into laugh. Aomine stopped waving around and looked at her. Her laugh was different than usual, like that laugh was....real.
"W-What?" he asked.
"Hahaha, sorry it just that you afraid of a little bee."
She continued to laugh.
"I'm not afraid of bees! I just...hate them."
"Admit it. You’re afraid of bees."
He gave a little smirk and began to ruffle her hair.
"I'm not afraid of bees!"
She kept laughing and the same did he. Suddenly the camera went off. They looked confused at the little screen. Aomine took the tiny picture that came out of the machine.
"Guess this is the result."
He gave it to Yuzuki. A calm smile came into sight.
"It couldn't have become any better."
They walked outside, where they could hear a lot of noise.
"Oh no, is the parade already started?!" Yuzuki asked. "We gotta hurry!"
She grabbed Aomine's hand and they ran over to the crowd. Between all the people, they got their eyes on Kuroko and Satsuki.
"Big brother! Momoi-senpai!" Yuzuki shouted while waving.
They waved back.
"So where have you been all this time?" Satsuki asked when they came over to each other.
"Just here and there" Aomine replied. "You?"
"We were in the love tunnel, but it was not as romantic as I thought it would be."
They looked up at the big wagons driving by, with different people doing different things like playing music or just waving around.
"Amazing!" Yuzuki said just as amazed like she was in the Ferris wheel.
They all smiled when they saw her being so happy. Just that smile would make any heart melt away.
****
Slowly people began to leave and the amusement park was about to close. The same did all four of them,band they parted ways. When Yuzuki and Kuroko walked home, Yuzuki kept staring at a little picture the size of a passport photo.
"What's that you keep looking at?" Kuroko asked.
"J-Just a picture. Nothing special" she answered while blushing a bit.
A smile came into sight across Kuroko's face.
"You know, there’re some necklaces where you can put a picture in. Do you want one of those?"
"Yeah, that would be cool."
"Then I know what to buy for your birthday."
"Aw, don't say it out loud big brother, or it's not a surprise anymore!"
He laughed lightly, and they continued to walk back home.
****
Back to present
The others were on their way to the court for the last match. No one said anything, 'cause they all kept thinking about Yuzuki. The sight of her laying on that bed with different things sticking into her body, really made them get goosebumps.
"Wait!"
They looked behind them, and saw a single person trying to get air. Ai.
"What do you want?" Kagami asked cold.
"Is she...alright?" Ai asked.
"No" Hyūga said. "She's in coma right now. She might not even wake up."
Ai widened his eyes in misbelieve.
"You can't be serious!"
"Thanks to you and your team she's maybe about to die right now!"
Kagami grabbed his shirt and pulled him up to his face.
"Just be happy I'm not-"
"Kagami-kun-"
He stopped yelling and looked at Kuroko. He walked closer against them.
"It's not his fault...that what Yuzuki would have said."
Kagami looked away and slipped his shirt.
"Are you...Yuzuki's brother?" Ai asked.
He nodded. Ai held his tears back and bowed deeply.
"I'm so sorry! Please forgive everything I've done! Is there anything I can do to show, that I'm really sorry?"
"Just....be happy."
Ai looked up at Kuroko with big eyes.
"Yuzuki protected you. That means you were her friend, and she probably just want you to follow your dream and be happy."
Ai didn't say anything. They began to walk again leaving him behind, but he kept staring at them. For the first time someone really wanted him to be happy. And he may had killed that one single person.
****
That was the 24th chapter and I hoped you liked it :)