Princess of Miracles (Kuroko no Basuke FanFic)

Together We Stand

"If it is one thing about basketball that I hate, it is players like you. But I hate losing even more, especially to someone like the likes of you." - Kuroko Tamaki

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Aoi ran into the small apartment with happy little barks the moment that Tamaki had opened the door, turning on the switch, thus flooding the dark apartment with light. The small husky immediately went to his water bowl and started lapping up the contents with his tongue, his tail wagging happily.

Tamaki gave a small smile as she watched her puppy and gave the dog a few pats on the head, dropping her bag on the chair at the small table, and sitting on her bed. She stared at nothing for a few moments, her mind going back to what Hyuuga-sempai had told her and Kagami just a few short hours ago.

"Seirin High School is a new private school which was completed just a few short months before we've started our freshman year." Hyuuga told Tamaki and Kagami solemnly, arms leaning against the railings of the overhead bridge. "Izuki and myself have been friends since middle school, and we were even on the same basketball team. But our middle school basketball team had never won a single match. By the time that I'm in my second year, most of the team have given up on winning, and never took practice seriously." Hyuuga glanced at Tamaki who seemed to understand the underlying meaning of Hyuuga's words, but Kagami was confused. "It was probably...because of Teiko Middle School as well." He admitted.

"The Generation of Miracles." Kagami nodded, understanding what Hyuuga was driving at, and the basketball captain nodded.

"Riko said this before." Hyuuga sighed. "Teiko Middle School was overwhelmingly strong. Most high school players will be their former members. Being strong isn't a sin or even something wrong. It's just that because of their overwhelming strength, everyone around them has given up on winning. I'm sure that there are several in Teiko itself who had felt the same way too."

Tamaki nodded slowly. Back in Teiko, as vice-captain of the team, she was in charge of the administrative stuff—mainly taking care of stuff like practice matches, the registration of new members and even the club resignations.

By the time that they were in their second year, there were many members who had long given up on becoming a regular or even being moved to a different string, and had handed in their resignation. Lord knows that Tamaki will at least receive a club resignation form at least once a week.

"That's the reason why I joined Seirin." Hyuuga sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I quit basketball around my third year of middle school. I was sick and tired of losing." He looked at his two kouhai seriously. "If someone beat us, they'd lose their second game. The guys who beat them would lose their third game. Everyone who managed to win would ultimately have their score doubled in the final round by Teiko. That is why by the time that the Generation of Miracles were in their third year, there isn't a single team who dared to go up against them, and runner up is the best that they could get. That's how much that everyone feared them back then. They're simply...too strong." Kagami glanced at Tamaki, but the teal haired girl looked stonily ahead. Even so, the redhead could tell that she seems a little affected by what Hyuuga had said. "That's why when I started high school, I joined Seirin. They're a new school, and they don't have a basketball team. I thought that I could get away from basketball that way." He admitted.

"But you didn't, sempai." Kagami said matter-of-factly. After all, Hyuuga wouldn't be standing here as their captain if he did.

Hyuuga nodded. "Because of Kiyoshi," he answered. "I met him on the first day of school. And even back then, he was a weirdo." Hyuuga's eye twitched in remembrance of that day when he had first met Kiyoshi, and the guy had then followed him for an entire week, pestering him to help him form a basketball club. "As Seirin didn't have a basketball club, he proposed to create one. I refused of course. But Izuki joined. So did Koganei and Mitobe. And then Tsuchida joined after that."