Do you love basketball?..

[Ryosei POV]

Looking around at my teammates as we head off the court, all of them have smiles and are holding their heads high. It's good that they are enjoying the moment, but I hope they aren't getting big heads from the wins. Block B definitely had the weaker teams and even our side of the bracket was the weakest.

Oh well if they get too cocky, I can always knock them down a peg with some extra hard practice. I turn back forward as we are reaching the end of the tunnel and when I step through I see some blue hair off to my left and I can only sigh. Turning to my teammates once more, I speak.

"Head on in to the locker room, my dad is in there waiting for us. Tell him somebody wanted to talk to me."

"Uh, sure Captain. But who are you talking to?." Kawahara asks.

"Well Kuroko here of course." I say while pointing to Kuroko who was standing beside me.

""Gah"" A couple of them jump with the "sudden" appearance of Kuroko, causing me to chuckle at his expense. However he still just has his same neutral expression, then he looks to me.

"Can we talk Aida?"

"Haaaa, yes yes we can. Lets walk outside, I want some fresh air anyways." He responds with a brief nod before following me into the crowd of people clamoring for the snack booth or restrooms.

It comes in handy being able to suppress my "aura" at times like this. I will say I'm not quite Kuroko's level of disappearing,but if you aren't specifically looking for or not completely sure what I look like it is extremely hard to notice me. This allows us to easily snake through the crowd, and make it outside the stadium.

Once outside we see a bench shaded under some cherry blossoms in a small park area. I use the term park loosely because really it just looks like a basketball ball court sized patch of grass with a few trees, flowers, and one bench. Taking my seat I lean back and stretch my arms up and back over the back rest of the bench.

Finishing my stretch I gaze up at the cherry blossoms, hands locked behind my head and my legs crossed at the ankles stretched out in front of me. Kuroko is still standing there, just watching me get comfy on the bench before he finally decides to speak.

"What was that in there Aida?" I lower my gaze from the cherry blossoms to see that Kuroko has a serious expression on his usually neutral face. Sighing out loud I decide to sit up, now propping one arm on the arm rest and holding my head up with the same arm as I look at him. Side eye while I contemplate what kind of answer he wants versus what he's expecting.

"Does it matter? Will it make you any happier or less annoyed if there was reason for me doing that?" I question him back with a bored expression l. Kuroko thought for a few seconds before he responded.

"It does. Whether it makes me happy or annoyed is irrelevant. I just need to know you had a reason." My eyes sharpen a little as I stare at him, trying to decide if he really means that. Just from my knowledge of the show I would say he did, but you can never be sure and I'm also not really his friend at the moment.

"Because I could." I said as I studied his reaction. He had a brief look of shock before he controlled it, but that brief look sent a giddy feeling through my body. I've always loved surprising and shocking people, I would say it feels almost as good as sports. Not to mention it was amplified being able to shock Kuroko.

"That's doesn't sound like it's everything. I haven't known you for long but I know you don't do things without a reason. If you did you would have just dominated every game of block B just to run up your stats." Kuroko says with a little more passion than anything I've heard him say since I've met him. I raise my eyebrow as I look at him before speaking.

"Why do you care so much whether it had a purpose or not. Does it matter if there was a reason for completely crushing a team to the point they may quit basketball? Would your mind be put to rest if I said it's because they annoyed me or I hated their play style.

First team insulted Kawahara, next time I played was Iwai and they started off with trash talk and put everything they had on their size while claiming they practiced hard. I watched their matches, they barely had the fundamentals and all they did was use their size to win. Which I can't blame them for, but I digress.

And now we're at Kamata West. Hopefully you've noticed, I know at least Momoi has, but they win their games by drawing fouls and eliminating players from the game. I don't much care for that play style and told them that. Warned them of that. However they didn't listen and now I am fulfilling my promise made to those cocky twins." It was long winded, but for some reason I felt like just saying it all in one go.

Kuroko nods before speaking himself.

"You're a good person Aida. Even if you go too far sometimes, you still did all that for your teammates. Because you could." He says as he slightly clenches his fists with a determined expression.

"Do.. Do you love basketball, Aida?" Kuroko asked while looking straight at me.

Damn, I'm getting asked Kuroko's iconic question now of all times.

"Pft well that's obvious Kuroko, of course I love basketball. However the real question you should have asked me and one that you'll eventually ask yourself is "Do you enjoy basketball?"" As I say that I hop up from the bench and pat him on the shoulder while he stands there with another surprised expression.

"Your teammates are fast approaching where I'm already at, they will start to get better and better until no one but them can beat each other. Well obviously me too, but that's not important. I'm also sorry to say, but it's my fault they'll progress to that point way faster than they would have if I didn't play. Sorry Kuroko, but I need someone to provide me with some competition, and hopefully allow me to enjoy the sport I love again."

I pat his shoulder one last time as I head towards the stadium.

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Author's Note

Felt bad not posting a chapter yesterday, so i decided to wake up early before my work and post a little small chapter for you all. Sorry to disappoint.

Next chapter will briefly show the locker room and then we will potentially finish the Kamata West match.

Also I'm off this Monday and don't need to go shopping, so I should be able to stock up on a lot of chapters. I also have next Saturday and Sunday off so I'll try to increase the stock pile even more on those 2 days.

Thanks for all the support.

Hope you enjoyed.