General Drabbles Part 4

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20. Innocence (Furuhashi Koujirou, Tsuchida Satoshi)

They all seem like innocent kids, for the most part, maybe some of them are a little bit jaded or teetering on the brink—but they're what one would call "good" kids. They believe wholeheartedly in achieving some sort of goal they consider to be noble and pure; maybe it is. (It doesn't matter if the goal is pure, only that they won't be achieving it.) That one guy on the bench with the closed eyes seems oddly the happiest of the bunch—perhaps because he doesn't play as much, doesn't get into those moments when basketball feels like an unrewarding chore. He's the most innocent of all, and Furuhashi happens to see the moment when his eyes open in surprise as that guy Makoto's been targeting falls, when that innocence drains from him as if his body has become a sieve and it's beautifully awful and Furuhashi thinks, this is why I play.

21. Roar (Touou, Rakuzan)

The next time Touou plays Rakuzan, in a practice match, Akashi okays Aomine's participation. Aomine shows up on time and ready, and it all seems to be going okay until Nebuya makes the mistake of dissing Touou within Aomine's earshot. What results is nearly a full-scale brawl, with Aomine pulling in Wakamatsu to help out, Hayama biting Aomine's writs hard enough to draw blood and the referees unable to decide who is at fault and allowing both sides to compete. It's less a basketball game than it is a devastating battle, with Wakamatsu almost breaking his wrist from dunking so hard and Hayama running so fast and hard the momentum from a layup makes him keep going and crash into the wall. All in all, no injuries are sustained. Akashi's amused grin is more than a little suspect, though.

22. Milk (Kawahara Kouichi, Koganei Shinji)

Koganei is still wheezing ten minutes after Kawahara tells him that he should like to drink milk because he looks like a cat. There's something that strikes him as incredibly amusing in the combination of the ridiculous words and his underclassman's absolute sincerity. Hyuuga kicks both of them in the head and gives them twenty more laps, and Koganei tries to look away through the first five. They're keeping perfect pace with each other, though, so it's only a matter of time, and this time Kawahara gets it, too, and they're both rolling on the floor.

23. Hunger (Aida Riko)

Aida Riko has been surrounded by hunger all her life. Growing up at the gym, she's seen athletes desperate to come back from injuries their second and third and fourth opinions have dismissed as career-ending, desperate to prove doubters and haters wrong. She's seen intense, one-sided rivalries burn in the eyes of the tennis player who wrapped her elbow for thirty minutes and then went back to exercising it, of the marathoner who ran lap after lap after lap, trying for the perfect pace to shave just seconds off of his mileage—forget the longing for food in the eyes of her fat classmate or the zeal with which that one kid thirsts for perfect grades. This is true starvation, an empty desire that should have burned out by now but keeps feeding itself against all odds. And unintentionally she fills herself with that hunger—it's not directed at anything yet, but she can feel it deep inside of her and no matter how much water she throws on it the droplets evaporate and vanish into the air around her because the hunger inside of her is untouchable and unsatiable.

24. Basically Idiots (Uncrowned Kings)

"They're so gross, Mako-chan," says Reo, scrunching up his nose. Makoto rolls his eyes. What the fuck is he supposed to do about them? He was about to try and make a quick getaway, but then of course Reo just had to fucking latch his arms around Makoto's shoulders and start whining about Teppei and Eikichi's impromptu eating contest. If they want to stuff themselves until they explode, well, it certainly makes it easier for Makoto. He doesn't even have to move a muscle; they'll break themselves. Reo sighs again for dramatic effect and Makoto elbows him hard in the ribs.

"Ow! Mako-chan, what was that for?"

Makoto pointedly ignores him. Reo pouts and apparently they've decided to annoy Makoto in shifts, because Kotarou leaps on top of him and the chair topples over backwards. Makoto has experience falling the right way, and he manages to dig his heel into Kotarou's ankle. Still, Kotarou's all bones and sinewy muscle and the chair's not soft either and it fucking hurts and Kotarou kicked him in the calf and now there's a footprint on his pants and ugh. Why the fuck does he even hang out with these people?

25. Mama's Boy (Izuki Shun)

He's nervous, but tells himself it's really nothing to worry about—coach will understand. "I can't make it to practice today; I'm sorry."

She looks up from her lunch. "You'd better have a damn good reason."

"It's my little sister's birthday today."

Riko drops her chopsticks. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"It's important!"

"It's okay," Hyuuga interjects. "Izuki has a bit of a sister complex."

"I do not."

"Yeah, you do," says Koganei. "He seriously threatened Kiyoshi because he thought he made a move on her."

"Izuki, didn't you say that the team comes first?" Riko says, folding her arms across her chest.

"Well, yeah…but…my sister will be so disappointed. She's counting on me! I can't ruin her birthday."

"I seriously doubt that you not being there will ruin her birthday." Riko glares.

Izuki throws up his hand. "It's just one practice! My mom wouldn't be happy with me, either, if I miss this."

"That's right; he's a mama's boy, too."

"Shut up, Koga, I am not. Is it so bad to want to make your mother happy? She's worked so hard raising us."

"Doesn't your sister understand you have an obligation to the basketball team?" Riko is almost hysterical by this point.

"You're the one who doesn't get it."

Hyuuga places his hand on Riko's shoulder. She brushes it off, but Hyuuga says, "It's fine. Go to the party. You'll have to do extra laps tomorrow, Mama's Boy."

26. Not Isolated (Uncrowned Kings)

"It must be lonely," Reo says, biting his lip. It's obvious who he's talking about, and Teppei would have to agree with him here. It must be very lonely being one of the Generation of Miracles.

Truthfully, Teppei isn't sure if Reo knows the whole story (or even as much as Kuroko was willing to disclose to Teppei and the rest of the Seirin team). It's obvious, though; it was obvious a few years ago and it's obvious now how isolated they are, from the world and from each other. There's no one there really to compete with them on an individual level; their highly specialized skill sets are unique. There's nothing to discourage them or for them to set a benchmark by, nothing there haunting them the way the memories of Murasakibara absolutely crushing him haunts Teppei still.

The weight of the things they carry, the burden of a crown, those are things that Teppei's awfully glad he doesn't have to deal with. And he never stopped loving basketball for itself, never fully hid from himself how fun it is. It was never completely not fun, never just a business or an exercise in futility. It was all about winning, success, and that was the be all and end all for the Miracles, something none of the Kings—even spread across five schools—ever came close to tasting in middle school.

There are things deeper than victory, more sure than victory, and each of them is searching for that meaning and they're damn well closer than any of the Miracles. Teppei has a team he can believe in, a team that gives its all. Eikichi has steady hands that pass him the ball. Makoto has people willing to follow his strategy. Reo doesn't have to uphold any type of tradition on his own anymore. Kotarou can go wild without worrying about having to restrain himself. None of them is on his own; it's been like that since day one. Unlimited talent is a blessing, something Teppei would have an awfully hard time saying no to if he was offered. But it's not worth the loneliness, and he's sure the others would agree.

27. Senior's Hardship (Ootsubo Taisuke)

It's so hard to act mature sometimes. People tell Ootsubo that he must be under a lot of pressure as the captain of the Shutoku basketball team, but they're not talking about this kind of pressure. They assume that he's already mature enough and such a natural leader that he won't have the urge to goof off, but they're wrong. Sometimes he wants to kick the freshmen's asses as much as Miyaji does because they're being lazy or unreasonable or over-the-top annoying, but he has to sit back and watch Miyaji yell and Kimura hand him the fruit or offer the use of his truck.

He can't be too nice to the freshmen, but he has to learn all of their names and let them know they can rely on him and be there for them and help them become better players—not that he's complaining, but there's more than he expected, more that they don't tell him and that he has to observe, faults in their steps that are rooted in troubles that have nothing to do with basketball.

It's worth it, though, in the end, when the team clicks and despite Miyaji's grumbling they're all working hard and making the plays and they're all worrying a little bit less and it's easier to pull the rebounds in and pass the ball and shoot it with certainty. They hold their heads a little higher and run a little faster. It's worth it to see Midorima's shy smile that he thinks no one catches when he tightens the red scarf around his neck in the cold. It's worth it to see each and every freshman improve something, or multiple things—in just a year they've all come so far. But it hasn't been easy.

28. Big Finish (Ishida Hideki)

This is supposed to be his big finish, going out on top and leaving his mark on the high school basketball career before going onward to college and maybe the pros—but it's not. It's all about Haizaki, stealing the moment the way he steals the ball and the moves. Ishida is shunted aside, irrelevant, an afterthought in the match writeups. Fukuda Sogo is an afterthought, not even in the semifinals. Instead of leaving in a blaze of glory, he's crawling out of a charred remain that can't even be called a legacy.

29. Tutoring (Wakamatsu Kousuke, Susa Yoshinori)

Wakamatsu's pen makes quick scratches on the paper, and he furrows his brow and pokes his tongue between his teeth. Susa can't help but smile—this is the third time Wakamatsu has tried to do this type of problem, and he's frustrated but he's willing to put in the effort to just try again and see if it works. He slams the pen on the table and looks Susa squarely in the eye.

"I'm finished."

Susa looks it over, checking the calculations against the key. Not bad. He's done everything as Susa told him to, and he double-checked his work, which saved his ass in the end because he messed up on several of the calculations the first time around. "Good job."

The look of proud relief on Wakamatsu's face is evident. Susa reaches out to ruffle his hair. Wakamatsu blushes. "What was that for?"

"For working hard," says Susa. These team-mandated tutoring sessions have been pretty damn hard, and how Susa got stuck tutoring math instead of one of his stronger subjects he'll never know, but it's actually been quite rewarding to work with Wakamatsu and correct his habits and teach him the methods. Even if he's embarrassed about his bad grades and hates the subject, he puts in the effort and he's a very good listener when he stops shouting.

Imayoshi had bemoaned their lack of cute kouhai on the basketball team (the one thing he claimed to be looking forward to about the new school hear) but Susa will have to disagree with him. Wakamatsu's quite cute.

30. Mario Kart (Kirisaki Daiichi)

"Why can't I be Daisy?" Yamazaki whines.

"Shut up," says Hara. "I always do better when I have Daisy. Do you want to be switched out for Seto?"

"He's asleep!"

Seto is indeed asleep, mask over his eyes and drooling on Furuhashi's shoulder. Hara and Yamazaki both start sniggering.

"Shut up and just pick your characters," says Hanamiya. "Or I'll pick for you."

"Fine, fine, I'll be Waluigi," says Yamazaki.

Furuhashi chomps down voraciously on his sandwich.

"Dude, if your eyes weren't so dead I'd think you were getting excited about this," says Yamazaki.

Furuhashi ignores him, wipes his hands, and grips his controller.

They all start mashing away before the race even starts. Hanamiya nearly crushes his controller and screams when he gets caught in one of the dumbest traps.

"Yes, speed boost," says Hara. "Choo, choo, motherfuckers! Get it, because I'm the train?"

Furuhashi elbows him in the chin. "Whoops."

They're all on the final lap and Seto is still asleep—Furuhashi really doesn't move erratically or very much at all outside of his deft fingers. His flat eyes are focused on his screen.

"Goddamn it, why am I in last place?" Hanamiya yells.

Hara crashes his car into Yamazaki's.

"Hey, fuck you," says Yamazaki. "Hey, fuck you, too," he says a moment later when Hanamiya passes him.

"Kiss my ass," says Hara.

Furuhashi crosses the finish line and puts down his controller. "It seems I've won."

"God fucking damn it!" Hanamiya yells. "This is my house. I should win!"

"That makes zero sense," says Yamazaki. Hara has secured second place. Hanamiya grabs Yamazaki's controller and uses his own to propel himself toward the end. Yamazaki snatches it back. Hanamiya crosses the finish line.

"Ha, ha, you got third," says Yamazaki.

"You lost," says Furuhashi.

"Yeah, but I didn't claim to be some kind of Mario Kart wizard," says Yamazaki.

Hanamiya chucks his controller at Yamazaki's head.