Princess of Miracles (Kuroko no Basuke FanFic)

Sick Day

“When one thing ends, another begins.” - Aida Riko

* * * *

Seirin had lost.

The sound of the loud cheers surrounding them – both from the spectators and from the winning team itself sounded almost muffled to Tamaki. The Seirin players currently on the court looked defeated, with an almost dull look in their eyes as they proceeded to line up for the after match greeting.

Next to Tamaki, Kagami stiffened, and he gritted his jaw tightly. Tamaki doesn’t even have to look at his face to know that the redhead is seething with rage. On Touou’s bench, Satsuki looked at Aomine sadly before switching her gaze to Tamaki. 

Over in the bleachers where the Shutoku regulars minus Midorima were sitting together, Takao gritted his teeth in frustration, unable to believe his eyes and ears at the outcome of the match. “They doubled their score?” Takao closed his fingers over the safety railings that separated the bleachers from the court. “Touou’s crazy! If Seirin lost that badly, we’ll lose even harder.” 

Kimura wasn’t happy at Takao’s words and smacked him over the head painfully. “What’d you say, idiot?” he grumbled. 

Otsubo sighed. Unlike his teammates, the Shutoku captain understood the reality of the situation for what it really is. “He’s right. It’s not that simple,” he said seriously, recalling the outcome of their last match against Seirin, and just how they had lost. “For Midorima, Kagami was nearly the worst opponent he could have faced. And that Kuroko girl is his weakness as well. But if it came down to stopping Aomine…” He trailed off. Seriously, he doubted that even Midorima could stop Aomine should they ever get to face Touou in a match. Though the fact that the Kuroko girl isn’t playing in this match this time around had probably factored to Seirin’s loss. “The Generation of Miracles’ ace is off the charts.”

* * * *

Akashi sighed as he pulled the hood of his jacket up over his head, moving to leave the gymnasium. ‘The psychological damage to Tama must be big,’ he thought, looking over his shoulder to look at his cousin. Anyone would say that Kuroko Tamaki didn’t look any different than usual, but Akashi knew better. She is his cousin after all. ‘She can handle loss better than most of us, but this match…’ 

Akashi stepped out of the gymnasium. Night had already long fallen, and the redhead teen was surprised to see that it had started raining sometime during the match. “Rain…” he mused, staring up into the rainy skies, unable to see anything at all because of all the clouds covering the skies. ‘Come to think of it, it is on a night like this when…’

Akashi stopped his train of thoughts right there. He never liked to think about that night. The night when everything had started spiralling down to Hell for his cousin, and gradually, even without him realising it, had started to change.

The redhead pulled his cellphone out only to see that it is nearly 7PM, with his phone’s wallpaper being that of him and his cousin at the Teiko’s school entrance ceremony three years ago when they were first years. Akashi himself used to smile more then, but his smiles soon grew lesser after his father had walked out on him and his mother during his second year. His mother and his cousin were everything to him now, even his former teammates. The Generation of Miracles might not act as such, but they are like a close knit family who cared for each other tremendously.

Akashi sighed as he dialled a familiar number and placed his phone to his ear. Three rings later, the call was picked up, and Akashi smiled a small smile. “Mom? I’m coming home tonight,” he said. He listened to what his mother had to say on the other end of the line, and the smile on his face fell. “…No. Her team didn’t win.” Akashi said slowly. To say that Seirin had lost is an understatement. “Let’s leave her be for now. I’m coming home now. That’s that then. Bye.”