A/N: Haha, wOw! Dedicated to soundrosegoddess because of her votes! I mean like seriously, you voted for every single chapter, and that totally made me happy! Everyone, don't forget to vote for me in the KnBWattys please! It's under the category of "Others". This would be a major boost for me to continue with my minor in creative writing although my intended major is in pre-med :) Almost done with senior year of high school!!
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After playing against two uncrowned kings in a row, we were all like zombies in the locker room. The sempais were alright after a few minutes of rest. However, I was stuck in a situation similar to Kagami’s – we were physically incapable of moving after exerting so much energy.
“Someone carry Masami-chan and Kagami,” Riko announced as she left the locker room.
“Let’s decide this with rock-paper-scissors,” Hyuga declared. Izuki motioned me over to him. I crawled on the floor, feeling the exhaustion overtake my bones. He chuckled as I clambered onto his back. The remaining members stuck their fists out and shouted, “Rock, paper, scissors!”
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“Excuse me!” Riko called out, walking into the restaurant. I had mine and Izuki’s duffle bags slung over my shoulders and my wig stuffed into my bag as we all walked into the warm building. I had to stifle my laughter when I saw Kuroko drag Kagami into the restaurant. Izuki set me down on my feet and I glanced around.
Oh, there’s Kise-kun and Kasamatsu-sempai.
“Kise and Kasamatsu!” Kagami shouted, pointing at them.
“What? No honorifics?!” Kasamatsu demanded. I sighed, face-palming.
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I found myself sitting with Kuroko, Kagami, Kise, and Kasamatsu at the table. [A/N: Haha, they’re all K’s] Kise narrowed his eyes at Kagami, “Why are we sitting together? Kagamicchi’s not wanted here. I only want Kurokocchi and Masamicchi here.”
I groaned, deciding to be the peacekeeper. Clapping my hands twice, I caught their attentions. “Hai, hai! If we don’t eat, the food will burn.” Just as I lifted a fork up, we all heard a familiar voice.
“Ah, excuse me! Sir, do you have two…Eh?” We all looked up and found Takao and Midorima at the entrance.
“What are you doing here?” Hyuga managed to ground out. “Where are the others?” Takao responded, chuckling, “Ah, well, we lost the upperclassmen while Shin-chan was crying.” I watched amusedly as a tick mark appeared on Midorima’s temple.
“Hey!”
Takao continued his explanation as if Midorima didn’t interrupt him. “We figured we might as well get something to eat.”
“We’re going somewhere else to eat!” Midorima sharply turned on his heels and stomped out of the restaurant. The second they closed the door, the storm outside picked up and the two of them had no choice but to come back inside.
That was how we ended up sitting together: Kise and Kuroko on one side of the table, while I was stuck in between Midorima and Kagami. I was sweating bullets by the time Midorima sat down. Kuroko realized the reason why – I wasn’t wearing my red wig. My medium-shaded pink hair was exposed for the world to see.
Midorima stared at me. “What is a girl like you doing sitting here?” He asked rudely. I scoffed at him, not bothering to answer as I continued to eat nervously.
“That table is ridiculous!” Hyuga whispered. I can hear you…
“Isn’t this exciting?!” Riko whispered back. Takao…you planned for this to happen, didn’t you?
The atmosphere was tense as I continued to shift around nervously. Midorima fixed his gaze upon me again, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“You…seem familiar.” I gulped.
“Hehe, I uh…don’t think so? I mean…I’m a close friend…of…uhh… the Seirin team?” I stammered.
“Why don’t we order something” Kuroko interfered. I sighed, grateful for his sense of interception. “I’m hungry.” A waiter came around to take our orders.
“Kagami, can I share with you?” I poked him. He nodded his head as he began to ramble off a list of food.
“You’re ordering too much! What sort of incantation is that?!” Both Kise and Midorima demanded. I didn’t care whatever Kagami ordered because I was so hungry that I could’ve ate my own arm.
As the food began to slowly cook, Midorima had an unpleasant look on his face.
“Maa, maa. You know what they say: yesterday’s enemies are today’s friends,” Kise tried to cheer Midorima up. In return, he scoffed at Kise.
“I never got your name, girl.” Midorima once again directed his narrowed eyes at me. I froze with my fork mid-air to my mouth.
“Fujioka Masami,” I mumbled.
“That sounds awfully familiar…” he mused. Kuroko, Kagami and Kise tensed up. I quickly stuffed some food into my mouth to prevent myself from talking. He turned his attention back to the guys and began to converse with them. But one of Midorima’s statements caught my attention.
“However, I am not playing basketball to have fun.” I whipped my head to the right, facing the green-haired man.
“You think too much on stuff like this. Of course we play basketball because it’s fun. We play to improve ourselves, have fun, and to learn.” I interjected.
“What?” He glared at me. “How dare you speak like you understand when you know nothing at all – ” At that moment, Takao decided to flip his food, which landed on Midorima’s head. “We can talk about this later. Takao, come here.”
Takao began to sweat in fear, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Midorima dragged him outside and closed the door shut. Within minutes, Midorima walked back in to grabbed both of their belongings. With a last warning to Kagami, he left.
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We finished our dinner up and gathered everything. I bent down to pick up my orange duffle back and noticed the size and weight difference.
“G-guys, wait.” I called out. I began to panic, unzipping the bag. Please, please, please say this is mine. Everyone crowded around me.
“What’s wrong, Masami-chan?” They asked.
I unzipped the bag and stared at the foreign contents. “T-this isn’t my bag! Midorima grabbed it!” I pulled out a spare orange jacket with “Shutoko” stitched on the back. I looked at Riko for help, but her face was pale too.
Kuroko took out his phone and dialled Midorima’s number.
“Midorima, you have the wrong bag. You took one of my friend’s,” Kuroko told the person on the other line. “Hai, I’ll tell my friend.” Kuroko snapped his phone shut and glanced at me.
The three words that I dreaded to hear fell upon my ears, “He found out.”