In Shadows

Chapter Three

Small Talks

After a small time it took to recover from the shock of Kuroko's drive, the three of them, plus the dog, decided they had better make their way back. With Kuroko's dog at their heels (Gina had learned the dog had been named Tetsuya #2, due to the unnatural similarity in the dog and Kuroko's eyes), they headed off.

Even as they walked, Gina continued to send looks of surprise Kuroko's way. She couldn't believe he was capable of performing a trick like that. She hadn't even thought a drive like that would have been possible.

She redirected her attention to Momoi, as the pink-haired girl announced that she had to leave them to head back to her house.

"You don't want us to go the rest of the way?" Kuroko asked.

Momoi smiled. "I'll be okay."

"Don't worry. I'm sure Aomine will forgive as soon as you return," GIna said reassuringly, even though she was sure Momoi was pretty much confident about talking to her childhood friend once again.

"Thanks, Gina-chan." Momoi stepped forward, and Gina found herself being pulled into a hug which she gladly and eagerly returned. "It was good seeing you again. Let's meet up at some point."

"Yeah. We definitely should. I've missed you." They stepped back and, after one last smile at each other, Momoi danced off.

"Thanks for today!" she called as she walked away.

Gina smiled. She was so glad she had been able to meet up with Momoi again. It hadn't been until she had seen her friend in person that she'd realised how she'd missed her.

"Tetsu-kun!" They looked over to see Momoi on the other side of the street, waving her arm. "Let's play basketball again someday! With everyone else!"

A light smile crossed Kuroko's face. "Okay."

They watched Momoi go. When she had disappeared, Gina glanced at the blue-haired boy beside her. "Your house is in that general direction as well?" she asked, pointing at the direction to her house.

He nodded. "Yes. Should we go home together?"

"Sure."

They walked off, navigating through the brightly lit streets of Tokyo. Gina looked across at Kuroko, unsure how to even start a conversation. They had only run into each other a few times in middle school and high school, so they weren't exactly close. Ins was unsure what his interests were apart from basketball. She didn't think Kuroko would know much about her, either.

So where did they begin?

Unable to bear the awkward silence any longer, Gina rubbed the back of her neck and cleared her throat. "So, Kuroko-kun... how are you?" It was an easy, general question to start with. No problems with that.

"I'm well, thank you. And you?"

"I guess I'm good as well."

Another pause. Gina wrung her hands. Why was she so awkward with conversations? She wished Momoi was back with them. Momoi could start and continue conversations so easily, that Gina was a little envious of her ability. Saki was like that, as well.

"So... you've joined the basketball club, huh?" Gina murmured, hoping they could start a conversation a little longer than their last.

If you counted a few lines inquiring about the other's well-being a conversation, that was.

Kuroko nodded. "Yes."

"I hear the team's fairly strong." She tipped her head to the side. "You made it to the finals in the preliminary league, didn't you? You only just missed out making it to Inter-High."

"I suppose so. Things didn't go too well for us after Kagami-kun was injured. We're aiming for the Winter Cup now."

Ah. I remember a period of time where Kagami basically rested all day. Was that an injury to his legs or something?

Gina could sympathise: she had weak ankles, and constantly had to tape them up before every netball game she had played, and had to see a physio regularly to strengthen them up. Nonetheless, there had been numerous of times that she'd been injured by her ankles giving way, which caused her to roll over them.

"Even still," she said. "Fourth place in Tokyo - that's nothing to turn your nose up at. There's some tough competition out there, and a lot of schools."

"You speak as though from experience."

"Gina smiled, her mind going back to her numerous netball competitions. There was always a new opponent out there, and no two of them had the same methods of playing the game. It was a thrill, almost, to play against these different teams consisting of different players, where you had to use a different attack and defence strategy for each of them.

Gina had a lot of fond memories of competition days. She laughed lightly. "I guess I do..."

Just then, her stomach decided that it was a good time to growl, complaining of hunger. Gina clutched her stomach and looked at Kuroko with widened eyes. She felt fairly embarrassed. She was sure that growl could have woken the entire neighbourhood. She was almost surprised that no one was switching on their lights and peeking through their windows, trying to detect what that source of noise had been.

Gina sent a sheepish smile Kuroko's way. "Sorry. I haven't eaten in a while."

Kuroko looked around briefly and then came to a stop. Gina followed suite, watching him with curious eyes. Why had he stopped?

"Do you want to stop and eat here, then?" Kuroko suggested. Gina looked at the building before. Magi Burger. She had only been there a few times, but Gina rather liked the burgers they served.

Something about Kuroko's choice of words then clicked in her brain.

Wait. Eat here? As in eat together? Gina's eyes bulged. But, we hardly know each other! Wouldn't it be awkward? I suck a holding conversations! And wouldn't people think we were together or something if we went in together?

Gina felt herself begin to panic at the suddenness of this suggestion.

"Eh? Kuroko-kun, don't you need to get home -"

"Don't worry." Kuroko smiled at her. "I like the vanilla milkshakes here. I often come here late, after basketball practice."

Gina bit her lip. She was still unsure but... Kuroko wasn't a bad guy. He was really nice, and kind: Gina knew that much about him.

Surely it wouldn't hurt...

Gina sighed, mentally slapping herself. She was overthinking things again. She should just think of this as an opportunity to get to know Kuroko better. It was surprising to think that they'd been at the same schools for two years, and yet Gina knew hardly anything about him other than what Momoi told her.

It was time she got to know Kuroko Tetsuya, and not through Momoi's perspective.

She smiled lightly at him. "If you're sure..."

He nodded. There was a moment of confusion as to what they'd do with Tetsuya #2, and in the end they had to leave him outside with their two basketballs, and pray that he wouldn't move, which they probably didn't have it sorry about because the dog since he was so placid and hardly moved anywhere without Kuroko. Kuroko usually would sneak his dog in of restaurants with his bag, but he didn't have one today.

There weren't too many people inside, fortunately, due to the time of day. This also meant there was hardly a queue; only one person was in front of them, and they were just finishing off being served. Once the woman walked off with her order, Gina and Kuroko walked forward and ordered. Gina ordered a burger and chocolate milkshake, while Kuroko stuck with his vanilla milkshake.

There were plenty of spare tables, so once they received their orders, it was easy to find a place to sit down. Gina unwrapped her burger and took a large bite, closing her eyes in content as the flavour filled her mouth.

Her chocolate milkshake was just as good. Then again, anything that was remotely chocolate instantly earned a tick of approval from Gina, who probably had the biggest addiction to chocolate out of anyone.

Kuroko took a sip of his milkshake and then looked up at the girl seated opposite him. "What have you done since moving to Seirin, Gina-san?"

"Hmm?" Gina swallowed a mouthful of her burger, and placed the rest of it back down on its wrappings. "Not much, to be honest. Saki does more for the two of us, I think, what with her cello performances and places she drags me off to." She chuckled lightly. "But I miss middle school sometimes."

A wistful expression crossed her face. Middle school had been a marvellous time. She missed talking with Momoi often, and the lesser amounts of homework. Also, thanks to Momoi, she had interacted a few times with Teiko's basketball team - mostly with Kuroko and Kise, since they were the most approachable. Gina felt that her social life had decreased a little since arriving at high school, but often didn't think much of it since Saki had a big enough personality for about five friends.

It was then she noticed Kuroko hadn't responded. His eyes had drifted down after she'd spoken. "Kuroko-kun? You're quiet..."

"Huh?" He looked up. "Gomen, I was lost in thought."

She smiled, understanding why he may have become a little distracted - because of the mention of middle school. "How different is the basketball club here compared to Teiko?"

"What do you mean?"

"Momoi mentioned a few things, such as that you weren't as happy in the team as you once had been. Not to mention you hardly turned up at school after the championship game in third year. " Gina felt the corners of her mouth turn down slightly. "Momoi was really worried about you, you know."

Kuroko lowered his gaze. "I didn't agree with Teiko's policies."

Gina placed her drink on the table. "Victory is everything, right?" she hummed, recalling what Momoi said the coaches had drilled into the players from the moment they joined the club. "As if they needed to push that with the Generation of Miracles and the Phantom Sixth Man."

Beforehand, and even now, Gina thought that was a harsh policy to enforce on a bunch of middle school students.

"I like Seirin better," Kuroko admitted. "Here, we really are a team."

Gina smiled softly. "I understand."

For someone who had once played a game that revolved entirely around teamwork to get the ball down court, Gina understood Kuroko immediately.

*          *          *

When Gina returned home that night, having said goodbye to Kuroko about five minutes ago, she greeted her parents quickly before she made her way up to her room. She tossed her bag on the floor, which was fairly messy with quite a few clothes strewn across it. Gina wasn't exactly the tidiest person around. Not only did clothes litter her floor, but her bed sheets were thrown across her bed in a crumpled mess.

Gina walked over  to her bookshelf, fingering through the volumes she haphazardly placed on it. She eventually found what she was looking for - a magazine - wedged between two of her books. She pulled it out and flipped it open, searching for the article she had in mind. She found it quickly, since it was toward the front of the magazine.

The Generation of Miracles, the section was titled. Momoi had given her this magazine while she was talking about them to her. No one went to Teiko Middle School without knowing the powerful, undefeated team of three years, consisting of five geniuses who were all in her year.

Gina flipped through the article with little interest, reading information that wasn't new to her. She knew everyone and their skills; she knew Aomine, the ace of the team; Midorima, who only shot threes and never missed his shots; Kise the prodigy who had only started in his second year but had developed at an incredible rate; Murusakibara, the unbelievably tall and strong centre; and Akashi, the player who had been made captain of the team while he was only in his second year.

The article didn't feature Kuroko, however. Momoi said he had been interviewed, but the reporters had forgotten about him while making their articles. Gina couldn't help but think that was a little depressing.

The Phantom Sixth Man didn't get enough credit.

Gina sighed, bored with the article. She tossed it to the side, and ambled over to pick up one of her many netball magazines.

It wasn't like Gina hadn't already read these magazines over and over again, either, but she had so little connection to her sport in Japan. She read through the numerous articles, some interviewing players, others giving health tips. Her eyes lingered over an article about Natalie Medhurst, the Goal Attack for the West Coast Fever, and also chosen to represent Australia in many international tournaments, including the Commonwealth Games. She was the player Gina had looked up to, and not because they played the same position, but because Natalie was a rather small shooter

Looking at her had proved to Gina that she could shoot and get rebounds, no matter her height.

Old posters with creased corners decorated her wall. Some had signatures, others didn't. All things of her past.

Gina sighed, turning on her side. She couldn't remain like this. She needed to find something else to occupy her time - other than her music and her books. 

Maybe tomorrow, she'd take a look at the clubs offered at their school.

It was about time to find another sport to pursue in Japan, another place where she could belong.

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so, conversation between gina and kuroko! what do you think?

gina will be meeting the basketball team next chapter! things definitely start to pick up from here on :)