Forgiveness - KnB (ON-HOLD)

Chapter 8 - The lost bet

Hey there, sorry for the delayed chapter.

Seirin sat on their bench during halftime. The first half was over and Tōō was still leading as expected, but Aida looked at Ai to wait for a suggestion of her.

"Tsuya-kun is the only one whose moves are unpredictable, so it's an advantage for us since Momoi cannot predict what he will do. He has to take a break so that he can be able to regain his strength, even if a little. This is pretty rude of me, but we have no other choice than leaving Aomine to you, Taiga", Ai explained with her usual serious face and everyone agreed.

"You can rely on me! I promise that we'll win, Haru!", Taiga said with a determined and bright smile and the third quarter began after Ai replied his smile with a small but genuine one.

The two tall basketball players aka enemies encountered in a one-on-one very soon and Aomine revealed his amazing speed and skills. Taiga didn't stop trying to steal the ball though, but he unfortunately failed at that when Tōō's ace showed off his amazing solo street-ball movements no player of Seirin could catch up with.

He called Kuroko back to the court after scoring and Ai first didn't agree to it because it wouldn't have helped Seirin if a powerless Kuroko would be sent back. This on the other hand pissed Aomine off and bored him, so he scored so many times that Seirin was 20 whole points behind when there were only five minutes left for the third quarter to end.

Ai finally agreed after a while when the team had no other choice since they were falling back with the points drastically. Kuroko was charged in again and this was a help for the team. Seirin was able to catch up so that there was a 15 point gap.

But Ai got up up from the bench to sub Taiga out when she sighted something terrible. His state was awful. He had strained his other leg in order not to use his injured one and he looked like he was going to collapse soon because his legs wouldn't endure any longer. She couldn't let him play anymore, even if it was close and they needed him.

"I'm really sorry, Taiga, but I can't let you play like this in the next games either", Ai said with a sad tone in her voice and handed a towel to the disappointed player who limped to the bench and put the towel on his head so that his face wasn't visible.

The raven haired girl didn't sit down on the bench again because she was nervous and Seirin fell back with 40 points behind. Aida was worried, but she relied on Ai and thought that she had made right decisions till now, even if it didn't look really good for her basketball team.

Everyone except Kuroko on the court began to lose their motivation, but they regained it fastly once the blue haired boy showed them that they shouldn't give up and give their best.

But the sad result was 112-55 for Tōō; their score was doubled and they were just too strong for Seirin. It was a disappointment for everyone, especially after they have gotten so far. It was really disappointing for Seirin because even giving everything they had wasn't enough for them to win.

Ai handed each of them their towels and forced a barely visible smile on her lips, even if she felt like crying. It wasn't fair that this asshole would always get what he desired. He didn't deserve winning.

Everyone headed to the exit of the gym to go to the dressing room without saying anything to Ai or waiting for her. She was left alone with the regret of having made Seirin lose. 'I made us lose after all... I deserve to be ignored...', the girl thought to herself and lowered her head with a silent sigh.

"Ai-chan!", a high pitched voice sounded so loudly that everyone from the defeated team heard it. They continued walking silently with lowered heads and dark looks after they heard the said girl's first name that she had always tried to hide from them.

"Leave, Momoi. I don't want to talk right now", Ai replied with a surprisingly still calm voice and grabbed her belongings to leave, but a certain somebody decided to butt in and anger her.

"This is what you get if you rely on someone so weak. He even broke the promise he made to you, and with that he lost the bet. Isn't this sad, Ai?", Aomine mocked and made Ai stop on her tracks. Enough is enough. He insulted Taiga and Ai knew that Taiga did his best. Everyone knew and saw that.

"I know that he isn't weak, so don't try to convince me of anything that is not true", the black haired girl answered and angrily gripped onto the shoulder strap of her school bag to not flip out in front of the audience that was still attendant.

"Yeah, yeah. Wait for me in front of the gym. You lost the bet, don't forget that!", the ace laughed and Ai rushed out of the gym in an instant with a darkened expression and gritted teeth.

'I knew that you would be mine again one day. The only one who can beat me is me.'

"Let me guess. You're waiting for your new boyfriend?", a low and angry voice sounded as a figure exited the gym and stopped a few meters in front of the girl. She was waiting for Tōō's ace to get out of the goddamned gym to say what he wanted to spit out of his mouth. But he was late as always. That wasn't really surprising.

"My boyfriend? I don't know what you are talking about, Taiga", Ai replied confusedly and Taiga laughed sickly, shaking his head in disbelief afterwards. His attitude terrified Ai and she furrowed her eyebrows at him. What the hell had happened to the guy who was so friendly to her before?

'How can a loss change someone so much? Why is he angry at me? Is it because I subbed him out?'

"I didn't expect more from someone who hides her name from us. I wish you two good luck, Ai", the redhead replied, emphasizing her first name.

The situation was slowly getting out of hand and Ai didn't like how Taiga was acting. Sure, he was upset and all because he lost, but how can this be the reason for him to act like that?

"We aren't a couple. But why are you angry at me if you are the one who made the bet with him? I mean... I didn't even agree to it...", Ai replied, with a still soft tone in her voice, but she immediately realized what her words were going to release. They weren't even meant as an insult, but Taiga's expression showed that he once again misunderstood her.

She knew that this would end really badly.

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UGH, I hate how Aomine is messing everything up!