Rebound (Kagakuro)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kagami

"Mind if I join you?"

I immediately pulled away my earphones to see who it was that spoke to me. Aomine appeared by my side, both his feet catching up to my pace as we jogged by the beach. I stared at him blankly, before nodding my head. Aomine smiled at my response.

We quietly jogged. No one said a single thing even though we both had a lot of stuff going on in our minds. He must've wanted to talk to me about Kuroko. Aomine still doesn't know about what happened to the both of us a few days ago, unless Kuroko told him.

"I'm sorry to bother you," He finally said once we've come to the end of our exercise. "I'll leave you alone."

"No, Aomine," I stopped him. The tanned boy turned around, the forced smile on his face no longer there. "I know you didn't come all the way here just to jog with me. You came here for a reason. What is it?"

He smiled, again. "You're actually smart, I'm surprised."

"Don't change the subject." I warned him.

Aomine nodded his head in amusement, then he walked towards a spot on the ground and sat down. He glanced up at me, patting the space beside him. Aomine gestured me to sit next to him, so I did.

"I don't like this already," I sighed. "You're here to talk about Kuroko, aren't you?"

Aomine hummed quietly, his eyes fixed on the sunset in front of him. I did the same, because the scenery was too beautiful to be ignored. The sunset was reflected into the ocean, and seagulls flew right above it. The sound of waves crashing against the shore made the situation calmer, and I found myself letting out a sigh.

"Our next tournament is coming up," The boy next to me announced softly. "I need you to do me a favour."

I hummed. "What is it?"

"Promise me you'll give your best."

That made me laugh. When did I not give my best?

"What do you mean promise you?" I looked at him with an amused look. "I always play my best, whether the opponent is Touou or not."

When Aomine made eye contact with me, my chest squeezed a little. It wasn't a good squeeze, because the look in his eyes told me he was serious about what he'd just said.

"I know, I just," He looked away and breathed. "Sometimes I feel like Tetsu's not doing his best. I don't want him to pity me anymore, Kagami."

"Pity you?"

Aomine nodded. "Like you, I was his light during Teiko. He was my shadow, and we were unstoppable, just like you and Tetsu now. The star players of Seirin."

"We're not." I blushed a little in embarrassment.

Aomine smiled. "I want you to know that Tetsu and I are in good terms now, so don't worry about me stealing him away from you. But do promise me you'll fight me with all you've got. Once Tetsu sees how eager you are to win, I'm sure he'll be pumped too."

"Then I'll get to play with the real Tetsu," He continued and eyed his fingers. "I want to play with the real Tetsu."

I finally understood what he meant, and Aomine was right somehow. I've seen Kuroko falling back a few times, and sometimes his passes failed. I just hoped that everything will go alright, now that all of our broken relationships have been fixed.

"Well, good talk." Aomine got up and patted his bum, causing some of the sand to fly into my mouth. I cursed and spat, playfully hitting his knee. The boy only chuckled in amusement.

"You're actually not that bad, to be honest," The blue-haired boy commented. He placed a hand on my shoulder once I was standing up. "Let's hang out more, yeah? You don't mind that, right?"

"Only if you agree to play basketball with me." I smirked.

Aomine raised his eyebrows. "Eager, I see."

"Oh, screw you!"

It was a nice feeling, to be able to mend your friendship and to talk like this. I've always despised Aomine Daiki, because he was always better than me, be it studies or basketball. But now that I've thought about it, we could actually be best friends. Would that be awkward for Kuroko though? Would he mind if I was close friends with his ex?

Probably not.

"How did you come here anyway?" I questioned as we both walked towards the road. "I know you don't live around here."

"Satsuki." He simply shrugged.

I smirked.

"Don't look at me like that," Aomine frowned. "Satsuki and I aren't like that. She's my childhood friend. I don't see her that way. It's weird."

"You never try, you'll never know." I shrugged.

"I'm gay, Kagami Taiga."

"No, you're bi. You love boobs."

Aomine was about to say something in return, but his cheeks were reddening and I found myself laughing at him. He only shot me a glare, but that didn't change the embarrassed look on his face.

My evening was spent with Aomine and I throwing insults at each other, and none of them succeeded to make the other feel bad. I really enjoyed being around Aomine. He was a good guy, and Kuroko was lucky to have been friends with him.

Boyfriend too.

"Remember what I said," He reminded. "Play your best."

"We'll win this time. We'll beat Touou." I grinned.

"Good luck," Aomine flashed me a genuine smile and nodded his head. "Seirin needs it."