"What on earth.." I sighed, my cheeks resting on my hands as I watched Kagami sleeping on his desk beside me. "..this guy is so hopeless. Few seconds later and the teacher will scold him."
"..And..I'm right." I mumbled, watching the teacher made its way to the sleeping Kagami. I suddenly sweat-drop and made an idiotic expression when Kagami just put his hand on the teacher's somewhat bald hair, like he's shooting a ball on the net or something.
"Huh?" Kagami asked in confusion, his right eye opening to take a peek of what on earth did he used as a net for his shooting basketball dream.
"Don't huh me." The teacher said to Kagami, obviously pissed.
Kagami's senses returned to him, and he sweat-drop, as our other classmates look at them with a surprised face.
"How dare you sleep so shamelessly in my class?" The teacher asked, trembling in anger. "Come to the faculty office later."
Kagami suddenly removed his hand on the teacher's funny almost bald head. "What?"
I cover my mouth to hide my giggle, and I flick a piece of small paper on his face. "Bakagami." I teased him between giggles.
Both of us turned back when we heard the quietly snoring sound, and much to Kagami's annoyance, we found Kuroko sleeping soundly.
"He's kawaii." I mumble, hiding my blushing face.
"What the hell.." Kagami muttered, his eyebrows flickering in irritation. "Why didn't he get into trouble?"
"Lack of presence, obviously." I answered him, itching to take a picture of the super adorable sleeping Kuroko. "I'm quite sure the others are also sleepy as heck."
Kagami yawned. "No doubts."
*******
On the lunchtime, all of us freshmen went to see the upper-class men for some unknown reason. Riko-senpai just told us to go here without telling why.
"What do you want?" Kagami asked.
"Go buy some bread." The coach said, with the other senpais around her smiling.
"Huh?" All of us freshmen asked simultaneously. "Bread?"
"On the 27th of every month, the Seirin High cafeteria sells a limited quantity of very special bread."
"I see."
"Supposedly, eating this fantastic bread will bring you great success in love, clubs or anything else. The triple delicacy Iberian pork cutlet sandwich with caviar, foie, gras and truffles! It's 2800 yen!"
"It's expensive!" I exclaimed. "What the heck is that bread? Is that a legend or magical?"
"And there's so much there, it must be trash." Furihata added.
"We beat Kaijo, and practice is coming along well. We're asking you to get this fantastic bread so you can continue building momentum." The captain stated.
"But we're not the only ones with our eyes on it." Riko sighed. "It always get a little busier than usual."
Kagami smirks. "We just have to go buy some bread, right? That's easy as pie...ma'am."
"I've got a bad feeling about this.." I said, arms crossing as Junpei-senpai handed us the money.
"The seconds year are paying for this." He said. "Buy lunch for everyone else while you're there, too. But if you fail.." Dark aura started surrounding him making us sweat-drop. "..I don't need any change. Instead you'll be doing three times as much strength training and footwork. And Miu, you'll be analyzing every schools' playing patterns in Tokyo."
All of us shiver, terrified. What is this, a matter between life and death?
"Kagami, I'll kill you if we fail." I muttered to the redhead idiot beside me.
"Lunch time clutch time!"
"If you don't hurry, they'll be sold out." Izuki-senpai said. "It's okay, we managed to buy some last year, and you're just going to buy some bread."
I sighed. "Let's go now if all of us don't want to die young."
*****
"Seriously?" Kagami muttered, as all of us are frozen on spot, seeing the whole students almost killing each other just for the fantastic bread. "Are you serious?"
"I know I've got a bad feeling about this." I added. "They're having a...riot."
"T-This is a chaos." Fukuda stated.
"No, this is the world war three...exactly happening...in Seirin."
Kagami swallowed his throat, looking determined. "We have to go. Three times the strength training and footwork will kill us."
"Okay, I'll go first!" Kawahara volunteered. "I might not be as strong as Kagami, but I'm pretty confident in my power." He said, springing onward to the mobs of students.
"Don't die!" Both Fukuda and I warned him.
And...not one second before, we saw Kawahara flying away from the riot. We all sweat-dropped at him, with me mentally face-palming. I don't know what's even more harder, Kuroko breaking up with me, or the captain torturing me with the analyze every schools' playing patterns in Tokyo stuffs.
"You're unbelievably useless." Furihata said.
"Now that I take a look of it, this isn't going to be a little power. The rugby team's forwards. The american football team's linemen. Sumo and weight lifting. We're supposed to get past this guys?"
Kagami clenches his fists. "Sounds interesting. Let's do this!" He said, also springing forward, only to be not-so-much-brutally thrown in front of us.
"This is Japanese Lunch Time rush!"
"Kagami, I don't know what on earth did you just said, but stop acting American now!" I shouted, vein popping on my head. "We need to get that freaking bread to save our lives."
"We've got to go together." Kawahara said, gritting his teeth.
"Seirin fight!"
I watched as the three of them sprang to the mob, but then get overthrown...repeatedly. I sighed, crossing my arms. "Hey guys, don't die, basketball club still needs you."
Kagami suddenly grab Fukuda on his back. "We've gotta take our chances." He said, before throwing Fukuda on the crowd. "Sorry, Fukuda!"
"Is he serious about this.." I whispered to myself, sweat-dropping as Kagami rode Fukuda on his back like a crowd-surfing.
"Come on, ride those waves!"
But no matter how they attempt it, Fukuda and Kagami were also being brought...back to us...until they are being thrown..again.
"This is Japanese lunch time rush!"
"Can you stop that?!"
"Excuse me.."
All of turned around to look at Kuroko, holding the bread that we're literally going to die because of getting it.
"I bought one." Kuroko said, as all of us look at him in surprise and disbelief.
Kagami suddenly grab Kuroko by his collar, multiple veins appearing on his head. "What? You? How?"
"The flow of the crowd pushed me to the front, so I got the bread and left some money." Kuroko explained, leaving us mouth-hanging.
"Here." Kuroko handed Kagami the dark spawn's bread.
I suddenly hug and spin Kuroko out of relief. At least we're going to die! We're alive! We're alive!
"Ohmigosh Kuroko-kun, you've just save several lives!" I cheered, still hugging him.
I can sense Kuroko smiles. "It's not a big deal, Mari-chan."
I suddenly sweat-drop, realizing what did I just did. What now is wrong with me?
"Hehee.." Giggling nervously, I let go of Kuroko, as my mind is somewhat hammering me with a mental thing. What did I just did?
"Come on! At least we're alive and that's all that matters." I said, finally taking a deep breath of relief because we're done with this...chaos..in Seirin.
******
"We bought them." says Kagami with a tired look, handing the few breads we've bought to the coach.
"Good work. Thanks." Riko-senpai said, now handing as some juices. "Here, there's juice."
"It's fine. You guys just eat it." Izuki-senpai added.
"Huh? Are you sure?"
"Of course. Don't hold back."
"I guess we'll take turns. Who's first?" Fukuda said, turning around to look at us fellow freshmen.
"It's gotta be Kuroko-kun." I suggested, smiling at him. "Without him, we'll be so dead."
"I refused." Kuroko said. "Ladies first, Mari-chan."
"Eh?"
Fukuda handed me the bread, and I look at Kuroko, who is smiling at me. I sighed, taking a portion of it. "Thank you for the food."
As I ate it, my eyes sparkled, like I never ate this kind of food before. I grinned at them. "Now I can see why the students are willing to kill for this. This is...incredibly delicious!"
The others get curious too, with them taking their breads and started tasting it. And we all have the same remarks, the food is wonderfully delicious.
And we all enjoyed the fantastic bread, with the senpais smiling at us.
******
"The Inter-High preliminaries start as a tournament." I said, handing them the copies of the preliminary tournament bracket I'd gathered. "Like we all know, if we lose, we're out."
"We can't let our guard down." The captain added.
"Tokyo has blocks A through D. The winner of each block goes on to play in the championship league. The top three teams from the championship league participate in the Inter-high. Only three schools are chosen out of 300 schools who are participating. Only the chosen 1% will stand on the court of their dreams. That's the Inter-high." I explained to them.
Kagami looks at us. "I sort of get the picture, but all of you are worry about one thing."
"Huh?"
"They're not chosen. They win it....miss."
I smile confidently at Kagami, reassured that we can win this, even if we'll face the school where the generation of Miracles are playing. Even the senpais and the freshmen also smile confidently.
"We've got three weeks until the Inter-high preliminaries." Hyuga-senpai said. "We fell one short step last year, but we'll definitely go this year. We'll be facing a lot of strong schools, but our biggest and strongest opponent is Shutoko High."
I stepped forward, remembering that Midorima-kun is there. "Last year, they were in the nation's top eight.On top of that, just like Kaijou, they had one of the Generation of Miracles in them, Midorima Shintaro-kun."
"If we can't beat them, we won't make it to the Nationals." The captain stated.
Kagami looks at Kuroko. "Kuroko, you know about him, isn't? You and Miu?"
"I doubt you would believe me even if I told you. Better ask Mari-chan." Kuroko said, as he glances at me and back to Kagami. "However, as Kise-kun said, the other four are on another level. If they've gotten even better, I cannot imagine how good they are."
Kuroko-kun's right. I cannot imagine how much stronger Midorima-kun has gotten. Him and his unbelievable and impossibly long range shots..
"Before we can play Shutoko, we have to play our first game! Let's make sure we're on the ball!"
"Yeah!"
Tsuchida looks around. "By the way, where's the coach?"
"Oh, yeah. She went to observe our first opponent's practice game." I answered, before Riko-senpai walks in, not looking pleased or what.
"She's not skipping today." I heard Furihata said. "Coach, are you gonna skip today?"
"Like hell I will!" Coach answered, the dark atmosphere envelops in the whole gym. She's pissed off, isn't it?
"Idiot." The captain scolded. "She wouldn't act like an idiot over an official game. But you do seem unhappy, are they good?"
"We shouldn't be worrying about Shutoku." Riko-senpai said. "..when out first match isn't looking good."
That makes us widen our eyes in surprise.
I scanned my clipboard, searching for our first opponent. Shinkyo Academy..
"One of their players might give us trouble." She said, handing me her cellphone. "You can watch the video later. Miu, analyze their playing patterns."
"Right.." I said, opening the coach's cellphone. "T-This is.." I mumble in shock, as everyone started surrounding me.
We all sweat-drop as we saw a cute picture of a cat in the coach's homescreen.
"I-It's cute..but..."
"Sorry, it's the next one."
"The next one.." I mumble, pressing the next button and we all gasped in shock at the fearsome player we're supposed to be playing against.
"Papa Mbaye Siki." I said, handing the phone to the captain. "I knew him, he's been the player that caught my eye among their team."
I read his vital statistics written in my clipboard. "Height: 200 cm, weight: 87 kilograms, A foreign student from Senegal."
"Senegal? He's huge. Two meters?" Hyuga-senpai repeated.
"Can they do this?"
"He's studying abroad?" Izuki-senpai said. "Sorry, but where's Senegal?"
That leaves us sweat-dropping.
"He's just big." Kagami commented.
As Hyuga-senpai attempted to call his name (but fails) all of them started to attempt trying to call the Papa or something's name, and I face-palm.
Riko-senpai sighed. "We're not getting anywhere." She stated, crossing her arms as the others are snickering. "Kuroko-kun, give him a nickname."
"How about "Dad" then?" Kuroko suggested, after seconds of thinking.
"Where's your naming senses?"
And all of them went to snicker again because of Izuki-senpai's lame pun.
"For this dad, we'll have to..HEY LISTEN!"
Everyone became serious, now standing straight like a soldier.
The coach looks at me. "Miu-chan." She said, and I nodded at her, reading my observations about Dad..or Papa..or whatever we called him.
"He's not just tall. His arms and legs are long, too. Fast reflexes. Everything about him is big." I explained to them.
"More and more schools are inviting students from abroad 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."
"But we can't just do nothing." Kagami said, after a few seconds of silence.
"Who said we would?" Riko-senpai smiles. "So, Kagami-kun, Kuroko-kun, starting tomorrow, the two of you will have your own training regimen."
"The preliminaries start on May 16th. Until then, you won't have time to complain!"
"Yeah!"
******
After those days of heavy practicing, the preliminaries will happen tomorrow, and I'm confident that they can win this thing. They can win against..Papa, or dad. Whatever.
At those days, I can sense the growing strength of the individual players, but mostly the strength of the captain, Izuki-senpai, Mitobe-senpai, Kagami and Kuroko.
Of course, I'm not just watching them practice, but also helping the coach to gather data about the Shinkyo high, and I stayed up late night often, analyzing and predicting their moves, carefully planing a tactic.
It's already getting darker as I walk home by myself, my mind is full of nothing but the strategies and tactics I've made up.
"Mari-chan."
My senses went back to me, and I shriek a little when I saw Kuroko walking beside me.
"D-Don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry." He said. "I was looking forward to have a milkshake with you."
I grin at him, it's been a long time since I've been to Maji Burger, so that's a great idea. "Sure! It's been so long since I've tasted their milkshake."
Since the Maji Burger is closed by, we went for it and ordered two vanilla milkshakes. I smiled sadly at Kuroko when he handed me my milkshake, his treat and we both started walking home again.
I never thought that this will happen again. When we usually go here to order milkshakes, before walking home together. How I miss those days...but..still...it's happening right now, right? Even though we are long gone together, at least we can still be good friends.
Good friends..
"To be honest, I missed the times like we used to have." Kuroko stated, out of nowhere, and I look at him curiously, before forcing a smile, though I'm sure my eyes are glistening with sadness.
"Don't worry." I said quietly, taking a sip of the milkshake. "Thanks for the milkshake, Kuroko-kun. I'll get you next time."
Kuroko smiles at me. "You've been getting a lot stronger and better too, Mari-chan."
"Eh, why?"
"I observed the way you were analyzing players. You weren't serious like this compare to you when we were still in Teiko."
"Ah, yeah. Maybe because I was too lean back there. Besides, the victory is secured, even though there aren't no tactics, right? But right now, I need to be more serious when it comes to predicting their moves so I can make a specific aim...tactics needed to be make carefully."
"You're right..You've been so mature now.."
I giggled, patting Kuroko's fluffy hair. "We all do." I said, sighing, knowing that Kuroko has to go now. "You go that way, right?"
"Oh, yes." Kuroko answered. "But I can still-"
"No, it's okay. Besides, you need to rest for tomorrow's game."
Kuroko flashes his rare smile to me again, before patting my head gently. "Good luck to us, Mari-chan."
"Yeah..Good luck to us, Kuroko-kun.."