The Wager (Kuroko no Basket)

Phase 17: Circumstantial Facilitation

"Kise-" I begin. Classes had just ended and since Kise expressed his interest in seeing Seirin play against Shuutoku, I'd gotten permission for the two of us to head over and watch, but of course, on the day I decide to be nice, this happens. I watch the scene play out with a deadpanned expression as a hoard of fangirls stampede Kise. After hanging around Kise for as long as I have, I'd consider myself rather lucky because I've only had a few close encounters with his surprisingly vicious fanbase.

"K-Kimikocchi, don't just stand there!" Kise exclaims. He grabs my hand and starts to sprint down the hallway.

"You're kidding right? This is an absurdly large crowd," I comment as I do my best to keep up with him as he flies down the hall.

"Well..." he replies. A girl behind us shouts something about attacking me.

"Damn it, Kise. If you'd just left me alone, I wouldn't have a target on my head," I comment.

He looks as though he's about to whine.

I sigh. "Well, whatever. It's already done, so it can't be changed; No use griping anymore. Let's just outsmart them quickly and get this over with." I begin to run faster and command, "Take the next turn."

He seems to realize what I'm getting at because he asks, "There's a closet there, right?" I nod and he acts accordingly.

I sigh as the door closes behind us and we're enveloped in darkness. The only problem is that Kise isn't a very tiny person and we end up shoulder-to-shoulder as we fight against the supplies for space. "This sucks," I whisper.

"Sorry," he replies.

We both fall silent as we wait out the fangirls, or at least try to. The silence quickly becomes an awkward one, but I do my best to shake it off. It shouldn't matter anyhow. On a somewhat unrelated note, I must say, the fangirls are rather tenacious. I'll give them that much.

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I'm not sure how much time passes as we wait, but I do know that it starts to get hot. I sigh and slip my blazer off before shoving it into my bag. I watch Kise struggle to take his off without making noise for a long moment before turning to face him. I reluctantly help him take his blazer and pass it back to him wordlessly. I think I see him nod in thanks.

Eventually, the closet begins to feel cramped. Time seems to crawl by and I wonder how long it's actually been. I know nothing about the actual time, but it sure feels like we've been in here for a while. The silence doesn't really help either. No that there's really much of a choice anyhow. I loosen my tie and try to keep what little patience I have left.

Kise turns to face me. "So Kimikocchi..." Kise whispers, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes?"

"...Do you think they're gone yet?"

"Beats me."

I hear a ton of thundering footsteps pass by. "Find them!" a girl exclaims.

I sigh and, finally giving up on patiently waiting things out, pull a penlight and a book out of my bag before beginning to read.

Kise smiles weakly. "Only you would start reading in this sort of situation."

"What else is there to do in this sort of situation?" I reply.

"Well..." he begins hesitantly. "Um..."

His hesitation leads me to draw the conclusion that he's talking about indecent things and I sigh. "As if I'd go along with that sort of indecency," I reply. "Normal people should exercise discretion."

"Oh, you know what I'm talking about?" he asks.

I sigh. "Of course. This is a typical scenario in the more indecent forms of entertainment, isn't it?" I reply. "A guy and a girl get stuck in some dark, cramped space together and get to know each other and improve their relationship or whatnot before spontaneously shifting to making out or having intercourse." I shake my head. "That or they just skip to making out and having intercourse." I sigh deeply. "Like I said, most people who live in the real world should have far better judgement. Ideally."

"You broke that down really... blandly, Kimikocchi."

"I know. That's the point," I reply. I flip the page of my book and glance at him. "By the way, if you didn't pick up on the hints, I'm telling you that I will absolutely refuse to participate in anything of the sort. Talking is fine. Get to anything past that and I'll sacrifice you to the fangirls."

He smiles weakly. "Relentless as usual, huh?" It's quiet between us for a while longer. "I'm tired of standing..." he complains.

I count the number of pages I've managed to read. I've read about twenty pages, so we've been in here for longer than twenty minutes.

"I swear I'm not trying to make a move on you," Kise says suddenly. It takes me a moment to process what he's saying, but that moment is all he needs to grab me from behind and pull me down with him as he sits on the floor. He has me sit on his lap and keeps his arms wrapped tightly around me to prevent me from throwing him to the fangirls.

My eye twitches and I start to decide which pressure points to hit. "Kise, I swear if you do anything more than this... "

"This is it, I promise," he replies hastily.

I'm not too certain about that one. Hm... well accidentally killing him would be a bad idea, so I'll go for... the pressure point on his inner bicep? I decide to give him the benefit of the doubt for now and trust him, so continue to read as I do my best to ignore Kise.

It's quiet between us again. We've been in here for a while. I begin to wonder just how tenacious these fangirls are. They've got a boatload of patience.

I look up from my book as footsteps approach the supply closet. I turn my penlight off and do my best to keep my breathing even. There's no point in getting nervous. "Who was that girl with Kise-kun anyways?" a girl asks as three sets of feet stop right in front of the closet. I hear Kise's breathing hitch and feel his heart start to race.

"Tsukino, Kimiko, I think," another girl replies.

"Tsukino? The girl from Class 1-A?" the first girl asks. "Why her?"

"I heard that they're dating," the third girl chimed in.

The first girl comments, "A bookworm like her date someone? Please."

"Now that I think about it, I think I heard that one too," the second girl says.

"Ugh, whatever. It doesn't matter. She shouldn't be allowed to hog Kise-kun like that," the first one replies. "Let's mess up some of her stuff tomorrow in school. She'll give up if we push her buttons enough."

I roll my eyes. Typical.

On the other hand, I feel Kise start to stand up, so I grab his tie and pull him back down. It sounds like they're going to give up for the day, but if he does something stupid now, we'll be stuck for much longer. Their footsteps recede down the hall and I let out a sigh.

I glance at Kise. The minimal lighting in the closet isn't enough to mask his irritated expression. "I won't let anyone bully you, Kimikocchi," he tells me.

"I'll be fine," I reply. "I'm not particularly worried. It'll be a nuisance, but anyone who resorts to petty things like that probably isn't very bright."

Regardless, Kise springs out of the closet, probably to tell the girls off, but to his dismay, they're nowhere in sight. I pick his blazer up and pass it back to him as I head out of the closet myself.

"You look like you just rolled out of bed," I tell him. I straighten his tie for him before fixing my hair. "Come on. We should go. We're already going to miss the first quarter of the game at this rate."