Kuroko No Basket [Miracles And Love]

Kiyoshi Teppei ~Always Here for You~

35. Kiyoshi Teppei
              ~Always Here for You~

The crowd in front of the newsboard was starting to get on your nerves. It was alright for them to barricade the results because there was so many students trying to look at their latest exam results - that's understandable. But, they really didn't have to shove you away so rudely. It was bad enough that you were short and that gave you double disadvantage to see the results.

You huffed, giving up after almost getting hit in the head by someone's elbow.

"Excuse me," a familiar voice was heard from behind you. "You almost hit my girlfriend in the head just now."

You spun around and saw Teppei looming over you. He tapped the guy's shoulder and repeated his last sentence with a frown on his face.

The guy flinched, quickly moving away.

"Teppei?"

"Let's go have a look, (Firstname)-chan.." He put his arm around your shoulders and led the way to the front of the crowd. He kept muttering 'excuse me' along the way. Everyone gave way to him. One, because they all knew him. He's apart of the basketball team for goodness sakes. They won the Winter Cup last year! The other reason would be because of his large figure plus, he's way taller than everyone else.

When you were in front of the board, you closed your eyes and held your fist to you chest. Your heart was pounding like crazy! You had a rough time during the exams. Your grades are super important to you. The school has high hopes of you.

But, things didn't all go well as it always used to during the exams. A month or two before the big exams, your best friend was expelled from school. You never thought that it could happen. She was the nicest, most mature and most positive friend you have. She was your very first friend when you first entered high school. You couldn't believe that she would do such a big trouble that she was expelled without question. You didn't want to believe it at first but, you saw proof with you own eyes and she admitted it all.

That sent you drowning in depression.

As an in introvert, you never really know how to express your feelings. You cried a lot because you lost your best friend. She was the place where you always talked to when things went rough - apart from Teppei, of course.

That wasn't the end of it.

The school was starting to depend too much on your high grades that you couldn't handle it. It was like having you every move watched. Even the slightest drop in your grades made them question you. You have been bombarded with questions such as, why are your grades dwindling, are there any trouble at home, are your friends this and that. You hated it. You wanted you space. You hate being interrogated like a criminal like that.

Your stress and depression continued to escalate to the point where you lost confidence as well as trust in yourself. You felt so hopeless. You tried to get up again, you tried to talk about how you felt to Teppei but, it was no use. You were already lost in a bewilderness of anger, confusion and fear. It all caused depression. You tried to tell people that you weren't okay but, they all thought you were over-reacting. So you did whatever you can to hold on and keep moving. You seemed alright on the outside but, the truth was.. You were broken on the inside.

"(Firstname)-chan?" Teppei squeezed your shoulder soothingly to pull you back to the present time.

"Eh?" you flinched, opening your eyes.

"Did you find your name yet?" Teppei asked.

"Ah, not yet. Gomen, I spaced out a bit there.."

"It's okay. Take you time.."