The 7th Miracle ( New Update! )

05 - Teiko

ICHIRO DOESN'T KNOW WHAT to think when Teiko is up receiving the Nationals trophy. The Interschool Tournament turned out to be a quick affair, especially since none of the freshmen regulars, also recently known as "Teiko's Genius Freshmen", participated in the finals. Thus, Ichiro and his friends ended up watching the heated match between Nijimura and their other seniors versus the other finalist school from the bench. Ichiro did not protest, but it sucked to be watching such a great game without playing in it.

After the tournament, life returns to normal. Both Aomine and Ichiro still go play with Kuroko in the abandoned gym after practice, and the excitement of the Interschool tournament dies down eventually. The light-blue head had been working extremely hard ever since he had a short talk with Akashi about his potential.

*Flashback Begins*

"Shirosaki. Aomine. "

Akashi stood at the entrance of the gym, flanked on both sides by Midorima and Murasakibara, watching as the three boys immediately stop arguing and turn to stare at them. Ichiro and Aomine are slightly tense because Kuroko has just told them he has been thinking of quitting basketball, and that's something they can even think of happening because Kuroko just cannot give up on something he loves so dearly.

"The two of you have been disappearing after practice quite a lot lately." the redhead comments offhandedly as he walks calmly forward. "You were here?"

"Yeah, the other gym has become pretty crowded when we were preparing for the Nationals, so the three of us often came to practice here." Aomine explains.

"The three of you..." Akashi turns to look at Kuroko.

"Huh." Murasakibara remarks, "Was there a guy like this on our team?"

"I'm quite interested in him." Akashi says, after a beat of studying Kuroko, surprising Midorima. "I'm sorry, but can you come with me for a moment?"

Ichiro takes it as a cue to leave the two of them alone, and he drags Aomine out, followed by Midorima and Murasakibara.

"You think Akashi's going to be able to help Kuroko?" Aomine asks.

"Yeah. I mean, if someone can help, it's probably him." Ichiro replies.

"You're right." Aomine sighs. "I just really want for Kuroko to find a way to get strong you know?"

"I feel the same." Ichiro nods.

( Ichiro feels like Kuroko is the one in their group who probably deserves to be recognized the most for his burning passion. )

"I'm not good at shooting." Kuroko admits when they're walking home, contemplating ways to use his strengths as a weapon. "All I'm good at his assisting and passing."

"Maybe.. you could do something cool! Like a pass that curves like crazy" Aomine theorizes, making weird hand movements, "Like 'swoosh'!"

( His friends just stare at him in disbelief. )

"I think you should focus on enhancing those skills" Ichiro proposes. "You can focus on making assists and passes and build your skill from there."

( The next day, there's a burning motivation firing up inside the light-blue head, who is actively researching for a way to make an impact on the court. )

*Flashback Ends*

While Kuroko spends much less time with Aomine and Ichiro as he researches the steps to create his own original basketball style, it doesn't mean that they neglect their budding friendship. On more than one occasion, Aomine manages to drag Kuroko away from his reading and experimenting and Ichiro from his basketball training, and they go in town to hit the arcade games, one of Aomine's favorite pastime after basketball.