Ｌｉｇｈｔ

twenty five - milkshakes and brackets

(Dedicated to CCE5568 for being the first to comment on the last chapter!)

"Could you help me with my new pass please?" Kuroko asked Sasaki as they left the school for the day. He hummed in response.

"Sure, I'm excited to see what you've come up with," He grinned, before stumbling over a rock and almost face planting. "I'm okay!" He exclaimed. "By the way, do you want to try it in a game setting? Or just..."

"It would be a good idea to do that, but I would like to just practice passing and you catching," Kuroko told him, so with another hum, the two headed to a street ball court.

The blue haired boy showed Sasaki how the pass worked, and then they started practicing. By the time an hour and a half passed and the two decides to call it quits, Sasaki was confidently able to catch the pass with either hand coming from any direction.

"Good work, wanna go grab something to eat? My treat," Sasaki offered, and so Kuroko nodded.

"I could go for a vanilla milkshake right about now," He said, making the other boy smile.

"Is that your favorite?"

"Yes," Kuroko replied with zero hesitation. Sasaki chuckled as he heaved his bag onto his shoulder.

"That so? Have a particularly favorite place to get them from? I personally like KFC."

"I've never tried theirs," Kuroko seemed interested, so with another grin, Sasaki led them to the nearest KFC (yes he owned it) and opened the door for him.

"The usual, Sasaki-sama?" The workers immediately recognized him, and he nodded.

"Add two vanilla milkshakes to that, thanks guys," He waved, and Kuroko frowned at him as they sat. "What?"

"You must come here a lot. They even have your order down," He stated his observation, and Sasaki nodded.

"Well yeah, I guess. I mean, the food's good so why hold back?"

"..." Kuroko stayed silent for a while, observing Sasaki a bit more as the white haired boy's phone went off.

Ryouta Kise 😘🌟
Hey Sasakicchi! How was your day?

🥰😍😘💋❤💍❣❣❣
Pretty wild bruh, ngl. Met Momoi-san, weird encounter. Did some extra practice with Kuroko, and now me and him are chilling at KFC. Got him a milkshake 👊🏻🥛🍦

Ryouta Kise 😘🌟
You met Momoi-san?? She's really into Kurokocchi isn't she

🥰😍😘💋❤💍❣❣❣
Fr, she was all over him. Oh, our foods here, gtg

"Thanks for the food!" Sasaki put his phone away before clapping his hands together and digging into the food in front of him. Kuroko deemed the vanilla milkshake good and sipped it serenely as Sasaki stuffed his face.

"Are you going to try yours?" Kuroko questioned since Sasaki had yet to touch his milkshake.

"Mmm! I should probably do that," He chuckled before taking a sip. "Oh, it's good! It's been a while since I had a milkshake, or ice cream for that matter."

"That's probably for the best," Kuroko said, taking another gulp of his milkshake as Sasaki pouted.

"Yeah I knowwww."

It didn't take much longer for them to finish and head home for the night. With a farewell wave, the two parted ways at an intersection.

~•~

"Hey guys! The names of all the schools appearing in the championship league are out!" Riko informed as she handed out the sheets of paper with said names on it.

"Oh, how exactly do you read this?" Sasaki asked, having never seen a bracket like it before.

"As you can see, A Block is us, B Block is Touou Academy, C Block is Meisei, and D Block is Senshinkan. These four schools will compete to represent our region."

"I don't get it-"

"This is a fresh league chart," Hyuuga said, everyone ignoring the poor Sasaki who was more confused than a bird flying into a window.

"Until last year, the Tokyo Representatives always included the three kings, Shutoku, Seiho and Senshinkan," Izuki said.

"I've been thinking.." Koganei spoke up, "We beat two of those teams, right? Do you think this year we could make it all the way?!"

"Wait, is this how we're matched up?" Sasaki pointed at the paper as he showed Kuroko, who shook his head.

"You!"

"You said it!"

"Even if we lose to Momoi-chan and Aomine, if we beat the others-"

"It's not Senshinkan," Riko interrupted Koganei, all eyes going to her. "Those two go to Touou Academy."

"I'm so confused!" Sasaki fell to his knees as he was almost to the verge of tears because he didn't understand the bracket sheet setup and no one was helping him.

"I thought all of the generation of miracles went to well known schools!" Koganei said.

"I thought he would have gone to a strong school like Midorima," Izuki agreed.

"I looked it up, so I'm sure," Riko told them.

"That's unheard of."

"Their history isn't impressive," The coach continued on with her explanation. "But they've been putting energy into their scouting efforts recently, recruiting promising athletes from all over the country. In the last few years, they've rapidly gained power and this year's lineup is comparable to Shutoku's."

"I don't believe it," Fukuda muttered after listening to her.

"Hey!"

"Kagami," Koganei and everyone else turned to see the late arrival.

"You're late," Hyuuga scolded.

"Sorry, cleaning up took longer than expected," He explained as he put his shoes on after taking off his outside ones. Suddenly, Number Two barked at him.

"Number two?" Riko raised an eyebrow at the dog. Then, it seemed like she realized something as she gazed scrutinizingly at the redhead. Stomping over to him, she swatted Koganei out of the way. "Kagami-kun, did you play basketball?"

"Friggin nuts," Sasaki glanced over to them from his spot on the ground.

"N-no."

Lies, obviously.

"You've gotten worse," Riko stated, looking directly at his legs.

"Well, I-" He went to rub his neck, "a little-"

"KAGAMI YOU IDIOT!" Riko gripped his hair as several angry veins popped out on her forehead.

"Sorry- ow!"

"How many times did I tell you?! Are your ears just for decoration?! Are they just holes in your head?!" Riko demanded before taking a breath and pointing at him. "You'll just be watching today! Get a heating pad from the nurse's office! Since you can't sprint, walk all the way there on your hands!"

"Seriously?"

And thus, Kagami was kicked out, Kuroko going with him to make sure he didn't use his legs and that he went the whole way on his hands. Sasaki was pulled off the floor after a bit, and in the end no one taught him how to correctly read the championship league bracket sheet.