A few weeks after the training camp, Momoi was under the impression that Rindou didn't like being in the first-string, and it bothered her.
To add weight into the burden, she was also confused about what Rindou meant when she said that 'if someone changed in a bad way.' She started to notice how Rindou preferred to be with the second-string and that she's not making an effort to get closer to the Miracles than she currently is.
The first-string was heading off to a practice match against a neighboring school. Of course, Rindou had to come as well.
"Is this a new opponent?" Rindou asked Momoi as they were in front of the gym.
"No, we've played against them before" She replied.
"And won" Rindou added.
"Hmhm~! How did you guess?" Momoi chuckled.
"The first-stringers are extremely ambitious, along with the second-string too" Rindou replied.
"Ah...." Momoi scrunched her eyebrows in doubt, "Well, our regulars are on a different level from the second-stringers. It doesn't feel right to compare them" She nervously smiled.
"Of course they're different in terms of skill. I meant--" Rindou paused for a second and shook it off, "never mind."
During the game, the miracles were, once again, in the lead.
"They're doing great!" Momoi exclaimed, "And it seems like the opponents have improved since the last time!" She added as she wrote in her notebook.
She then glanced at Rindou, who fell asleep.
"KAERIIN!!"
"UAH!" Rindou instantly woke up, "What happened??"
"Why did you fall asleep?!"
"Sorry...this game is kind of predictable. I mean...they're obviously going to win"
"Well yeah, but I like to keep my eyes on Tetsu-kun. He's the most unique one out of all of them" She smiled in admiration.
"Who?"
"Kuroko Tetsuya! You've met him!"
"Oh....where is he?" Rindou lazily scanned the court.
Momoi turned Rindou's head to where Kuroko should be, "Over there!"
"what?" questioned the girl while staring at an empty spot in the court.
"You missed him! Now he's over there!" She turned Rindou's head again, just when Kuroko disappeared again.
"Uhh..."
"Oh! There he is!" Momoi quickly turned Rindou's head to the other direction, causing her neck to crack.
"AHHHH, OKAY, I GOT A GLIMPSE OF HIM!!" Rindou screeched in panic.
"Sorry! Did I hurt you??"
"Gah...I'm fine" She rubbed her neck. "He's not very noticeable, to be honest"
"He uses that to his advantage during the game!" Momoi stated.
"Oh....smart, you don't really see those in basketball. Well, not like I'd know; I don't know anything about sports"
". . .And it doesn't seem like you're interested to learn more" Momoi pouted.
"With the position that I'm in, I'm sure that I have enough knowledge to last me" Rindou grunted,
"You're not going to go anywhere with that idea" The senior paused for a moment. "Say, what do you think of the second-stringers?"
"They have a lot of potential. It's disappointing that they're not treated as 'special' as the first stringers...specifically, those guys," Rindou explained while watching Aomine score a point.
"You mean the miracles? They're prodigies who need special coaching and treatment to enhance their talents."
"So they've already reached their potential."
"Well...yeah"
"Then it's their own responsibility to decide what they want to do with their power."
"Ha...." Momoi said in confusion of why the girl was being so critical and defensive.
Normally, people would be honored to work with the miracles, but Rindou doesn't seem to be impressed; which slightly bothered the senior.
"What difference would that make...?"
"An effective one" The junior plainly replied.
"Be specific!"
Rindou simply ignored her as she watched the game. Genuinely, Rindou doesn't care about the outcome in the miracles if they were to learn to be responsible of their powers, like she just said. She only cared about the second string.
As she learned more information about the miracles, she knew that they weren't going to stay together for long. Especially when she saw what was going on with Akashi.
"They each possess their own unique ability and they'll eventually come to the conclusion that they're better alone" She muttered.
"....who?" Momoi asked,
Rindou had her attention focused on the miracles as Aomine jumped from the three-pointer line to do a dunk, which made her eyes widened in realization that he's the most similar to the second-stringers.
The rowdiness and the brute strength...it definitely reminded her of them.
"Are you ignoring me??" Momoi whined.
"Hey, Senpai--what is that move called; the one that Daiki-senpai just did?" Rindou asked, rather excitedly.
"It was just a dunk..." Momoi replied with a surprised expression.
"But he jumped so far!"
"Eh....?"
After the game, everyone was getting ready to leave.
"Yo, Daiki-senpai" Rindou said.
Aomine turned around to see her walking smugly and suspiciously towards him with a weird look on her face as Momoi tagged along.
He leaned back in suspicion, "Sup..."
"That last dunk you did was...pretty cool~" She grinned while creepily raising her eyebrow.
"Really? It was just a regular dunk"
"How did you jump so far?"
"Oh, I just....did" He answered as Rindou squinted her eyes questionably.
"Oh wow..."
"Is that seriously your answer, you big idiot!?" Momoi scolded.
"Ugh,I don't want to make a mental effort to explain it" He groaned,
"Well...that was helpful" Rindou sarcastically replied.
"Why do you need to know?" Aomine asked.
Momoi gasped, "Are you finally taking an interest in basketball, Kaeriin?!"
The orange-haired junior tensed up in panic, "Uh--yeah! Seeing your dunk just...opened up my heart and I'm hyped to learn more...!" She painfully lied as it felt like a sword was slowly plunging into her gut while she said it.
"No way! I'm so happy!" Momoi cheered and wrapped her hands around Rindou's arm.
"That's good to hear actually, I'll explain it better during practice tomorrow! Maybe this time, you won't just stand there with your scowl and make everyone uncomfortable" He smiled,
"Wait what--?"
"We gotta head to the bus now!" He quickly replied and ran off.
Rindou looked back at Momoi, who was smiling ironically at her, with a taken-back expression.
"I make people uncomfortable?"
"Hm? Maybe you should stop glaring at everyone...it shows that you hate being there and it gives off a negative energy..."
"This is my face"
Momoi's mouth hung open, "Oh...." She simply said as she slowly and awkwardly removed her hands from Rindou's arm.
---
Standing beside the court, Rindou watched as Aomine played basketball. She never paid attention to him prior, so she wasn't aware about his skills. He was the ideal athlete that she had in mind.
"How was that, Kaeri?" Aomine asked after doing a dunk.
"How did you manage to jump so high? And have fast reflexes?" She asked
"Ah....Kaeriin is taking interest in basketball!" Momoi smiled from afar.
"Well, I just....can" He casually said.
"Be more vivid with your explanation!!!" Momoi yelled at him.
"What an idiot...." Midorima sighed before turning to Rindou, "It takes a lot of training to build enough strength and stamina in order to do certain things" He explained.
"What types of training?" Rindou asked.
"Hahah! You aren't any better at explaining things, Midorimacchi!" Kise teased as Midorima's glasses flashed.
"I-It's self-explanatory!" He defended.
"Right~. Technically, we jog, do basic exercises, and... practice!" Kise answered.
"That's pretty vague as well" Kuroko appeared next to Rindou, making her tense up and stumble forwards.
Akashi overheard the conversation, "Every athlete has different ways to train and it isn't always the same system," He stated with a calm smile.
"In Aomine-kun's case, he's been training all his life; which makes him understand basketball more than any normal player!" Momoi cheerfully explained.
"Understand basketball? Like knowing the rules?" Rindou raised her eyebrow.
"That's a bit complicated now. Maybe one day, you'll understand" Akashi did a small smile.
"I hope so..."
"Hello~, what's with this gathering~?" A loud voice said as a large shadow casted over Rindou.
Looking above her, the barely-five-feet-girl saw Murasakibara, directly behind her, looking straight ahead at his teammates.
She felt panic, "He definitely does not see me right in front of him! I have to get out of here before he steps on me!"
"Ah, Murasakibara, we were just trying to explain to Kaeri about training and stuff" Aomine confidently said.
"Sounds lame...." He replied,
"Why don't you give some advice as a center?" Akashi asked,
"What is there to say?"
Kuroko noticed that Rindou was gone, so he looked behind him to see her crawling on the floor from him,
"Rindou-san, what are you doing?"
She nervously looked back, "I just realized that I forgot something"
"You should stay a bit longer, we were here to help you," He politely replied.
"Oh, right" She stood up,
"Eh? Who said that~?" Murasakibara asked while looking around.
"Murasakibara-kun, I'm sure you've met Ri--" Kuroko turned his head to see her ten feet away from where she was originally standing as he tilted his head in confusion.
"Yes...I'm Rindou...." She anxiously smiled.
"Ah, you're standing as far away. Anyways, there isn't much to say as far as training goes~" Murasakibara said.
Momoi started to push Rindou towards the group,
"W-Well...I was r-recently thinking about the whole...'understanding basketball' s-sort of t-thing and-- Will you stop pushing me?" She stammered before complaining to Momoi.
"Don't be rude, Kaeriin," Momoi said as she finished dragging her.
"Well...I don't really like basketball that much...so I don't really care about that~" He replied.
When the group looked at Rindou, she was twenty feet away again.
"I see! Well, you don't have to force yourself to answer it!" She said from afar.
"Why do you keep doing that?!" Momoi yelled.
"Kaeri...can you teleport?" Aomine asked.
"What the hell kind of question is that?" Midorima grumpily asked.
"She could've just ran" Kise replied,
"Yeah but... she doesn't run."
"Rindou, what's the matter?" Akashi asked.
"Sorry. There are some times where I just physically refuse something that is rather overwhelming for me," She stated.
"She started acting weird when Murasakibara showed up, so..." Akashi repeatedly looked at Rindou, then to Murasakibara until he finally figured it out.
"Oh......Well I understand your reason, but it's a bit too much if you repelled yourself that far" He nervously smiled.
"Hey Kaeri, I've been thinking about something." Aomine started while strutting towards her.
"Oh no..." Kuroko sighed.
"You're like...the smallest person I've ever seen, so I wonder what you look like next to Murasakibara" He did a childish yet smug expression.
Akashi scrunched his eyebrows in irritation, "That was the thing that I was trying to avoid" He thought as Aomine started dragging the girl.
"Sorry, there's not much that I could do. Well, I could do something...but I'm actually rather curious as well"
****
Rindou discouragingly stood next to Murasakibara as everyone examined their drastic height difference in amusement.
"HAHAHAHAH, SHE'S...SHE'S--PFFFFT" Aomine laughed as if his lungs were going to eject from his body.
"She only reached up to his waist..." Kise said in amazement.
"What an intimidating height difference. I'd hate to be you, Rindou-san" Kuroko said in a polite tone.
"I know..." She simply replied as she gazed at the floor.
"Murasakibara, did you seriously not notice her when you walked over here?" Akashi asked.
"No...My field of vision doesn't go that low..." He replied.
"OHHH, NICE KAERI! MAYBE YOU CAN USE THAT AND BEAT HIM IN BASKETBALL!" Aomine laughed.
Midorima was desperately clenching his teeth together as he kept holding up his glasses to cover up his struggle while peeps of weird noises came from his mouth.
"Midorin...are you laughing?" Momoi asked.
"I am not so immature..." He stammered.
"See?! Even this guy finds it funny!!" Aomine grinned.
"Don't put me in the same level as you!"
"Hey Kaeri, don't break your neck trying to look at him!"
"Oi Mine-chin! Don't use me to be made fun of!" Murasakibara complained.
"It's hilarious!"
"You should probably be careful around Rindou to avoid any accidents" Akashi stated.
"No, don't worry about it. I shouldn't even be in his way in first place" Rindou grunted in exhaustion.
"Oh...?"
"Don't worry~! I'm always careful around people because of my height~. It's a rule that I have~"
"You have a policy like that?" Midorima asked in disbelief.
"Of course~! Everyone has~!"
"I see. You don't have to avoid Murasakibara, it appears that he's often already aware of his surroundings" Akashi stated.
"He might have to go through extra effort because Kaeri is extra small" Aomine stated.
"Mine-chin, shut up!"