In Shadows
Chapter Twenty-Three
Quick Celebration

For a moment, there was stunned silence, as the weight of the scores sank in. Then the stadium erupted into cheers . Gina was beaming as she watched her friends celebrate, pulling each other into hugs and cheering at the top of their lungs - it was only the first match of the Winter Cup, but their opponent had been a challenge. Relief and joy passed over the team as they relished in their success.

Of course, Gina couldn't help but feel for the Touou players, who watched Seirin's celebrations with blank, devastated expressions. But she was so happy and proud of her friends; she wanted to run on court and pull them all into tight hugs.

Kuroko had started to collapse, but Kagami caught him just in time, leaving them face-to-face with Aomine. Kuroko seemed to have gotten what he wanted, anyway: Aomine had started to play with a smile on his face, and now, after experiencing defeat for the first time, Touou's ace returned returned Kuroko's fist bump. Gina couldn't help but smile at the sight. She didn't know too much about Aomine and Kuroko's past together, but figured that was important. Looking across at Momoi, who was watching the scene with tears in her eyes and a bright smile on her face, she figured that yes, it had been very, very important.

Gina wanted to go over and talk to Momoi, but Seirin was starting to head back to their locker room, and so was Touou. Touou's manager caught Gina's eyes and they exchanged and apologetic glance, with a promise to meet up later.

When they returned to the lockers, exhaustion seemed to hit the team at once. Gina slumped down by the lockers, resting her head back against the lockers and breathing out heavily. I've never seen a match that exhausting. She had been on the edge of her seat the entire time, all the while willing Seirin to crawl back from behind and win. It had been emotionally exhausting, too; her heart had been broken when she'd seen Kuroko so distraught, had anxiety gnawing in her stomach the entire time, and she'd cried with joy when they won. The match had been an emotional rollercoaster, and she hadn't realised just how exhausted it had made her until now, when she'd settled back and closed her eyes.

"Gina..." Kuroko muttered, sliding down beside her. His eyes blinked heavily, drooping with tiredness.

"What is it?" she asked, her voice caught between a laugh and a yawn.

A soft, tired grown came from Kuroko, and Gina turned to see him collapse against her, his head resting on her shoulder as he dropped off to sleep.

Kagami groaned and collapsed on the other side of her. "I don't know how I managed to remain standing for so long," he slurred out through a yawn. "I can't..." He leaned his head back against the locker door and closed his eyes. A minute later, he too was fast asleep.

She chuckled softly, careful not to make any sudden movement should she wake her two friends. They deserve a bit of a rest, though. They worked so hard, and that was a tough match.

Looking up, she was a little surprised to see that Hyuga, Kiyoshi and Izuki had also crashed, succumbing to tiredness. A soft yawn passed her own lips as she looked at them, and her tiredness hit her all at once.

Damn, she thought. Her arm wrapped around Kuroko, and her head dropped to the side of fall on Kagami. Who knew watching a match could be so emotionally taxing?

Then she decided to give in the her mounting tiredness as well. Squished between her two best friends, her head resting comfortably on Kagami's side and one arm wrapped around Kuroko, she closed her eyes and let sleep pull her under.

*         *         *

When Gina's eyes fluttered open, the first thing she noticed was that she was sitting on a freezing surface.

She shivered, feeling the cold radiate through the cool, tiled floors. Her skirt offered no protection for her legs. Aware that Kuroko and Kagami were still asleep on either side of her, she gently curled her legs up. Fortunately, being squished between her friends offered her some extra warmth, so she wasn't too cold. 

She didn't know how long they'd been asleep for, but it couldn't have been for too long otherwise Riko probably would have barged in and woken them up. Her neck was a little sore from being placed in an awkward position for a long time, so she turned and rested it against Kuroko's head instead. She smiled, waiting for everyone to wake up.

Slowly, everyone else came to, everyone groaning when they realised they'd crashed in the cold locker room on a cold winter night. Gina thought that she was probably the warmest out of everyone, since she'd been squeezed between Kagami and Kuroko.

With many curses muttered under people's breaths, yawns and stretches, everyone in the room was on their feet no matter how reluctantly. Kuroko and Kagami were the last two to wake up; Gina smiled and offered a hand to both of them, helping them to their feet. Together with the other three, they trudged back outside to where Riko and the other team members were standing.

"Okay. Everyone's here, right?" Riko asked, scanning the team. Upon confirming everyone was present she nodded to herself. "Let's go."

"Crap," Hyuga muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "I can't believe I fell asleep in a locker room in the middle of winter."

"Winter can be so uncool," Izuki muttered. Gina couldn't help but crack a small smile at his pun.

"So are you," Hyuga fired back.

"We'd better make sure we don't catch colds," Kiyoshi said. He pulled his jacket tighter around his body as he spoke.

"Come on, aren't you forgetting something important?" Kogani asked.

"What?" Izuki asked tiredly.

Kogani grinned. "Let's celebrate our victory!"

"We can't do that!" Hyuga yelled. "From the third day on, we have a game each day! Even if we win, there's no time to celebrate!"

But Riko had other ideas. "That sounds like a good idea," she said after a thought. "Let's go have dinner together. Recovery is part of your training, too," she pointed out, before anyone could question her decision. "For that, you need to eat properly and get plenty of sleep."

Izuki shrugged and stretched out. "Either way, we were intending to research our next opponent."

"Where, though?" Kiyoshi asked. "Eating out is expensive."

And I didn't bring any money with me, Gina thought with a sigh. She might just have to start bringing money with her wherever she went with this team, just in case they decided to unexpectedly go out.

"My place is so far..." Riko lamented with a sigh.

Kagami scratched the back of his head. "Uh... my place actually isn't too far from here," he admitted hesitantly. 

"How far is isn't too far?" Izuki asked, raising an eyebrow. 

The redhead shrugged. "A few minutes?"

That's not too bad. The team exchanged a quick look, nodding. As long as we don't have to spend too long in this cold, I'm fine with anything.

"So we'll cook at Kagami-kun's," Riko decided. "Right! Let's go, everyone!"

They dropped by at the markets first. Riko bought numerous vegetables to make their dinner for the night, along with some fruit for dessert. Once they'd finished, Kagami led them to the apartment building he lived in.

When they stepped inside, Gina's jaw dropped to the floor.

"K-Kagami," she stammered, hardly daring to believe her eyes. "This place... it's huge!"

It was. The apartment was spacious, with enough room for all of them to stand comfortably, and there was still a lot of extra room on top of that. It was nicely furnished, too. 

"Come on in," Kagami said awkwardly, stepping aside slightly.

"Kagami, do you live here by yourself?" Hyuga spluttered.

"I was supposed to live here with my dad."

So he was living in this huge apartment without any parental supervision, and he never invited us over? Gina shot a glare at her friend and folded her arms, raising an eyebrow in a very explain-yourself-Kagami manner. She was already imagining the missed opportunities for sleepovers where they stayed up well past midnight, watching movies and eating popcorn and chocolate. Damn you, Kagami!

"Kagami-kun, you're a despicable guy after all," Kuroko said blankly. "I'm not going to be your shadow anymore."

"What?" Kagami spluttered, rounding on the blue-haired phantom, as Gina hid her laughter behind her hand. "Why would you say that?"

"The decor's simple, though," Izuki noted. "Minimal furniture, a basketball, and magazines."

Hyuga sighed. "You really only do think about eating, sleeping and basketball."

I hadn't noticed that before... but it's true. In the living room, though the furniture was nice, there was only a couch, a coffee table, a TV unit and a shelf. Even the magazines on the coffee table were about basketball. Gina rolled her eyes. Oh, Kagami.

"Where's Riko?" Kiyoshi asked, wandering into the rooms.

"She headed to the kitchen with our ingredients," Fukada reported.

The reaction of everyone was so explosive, it was like a pandemic had broken out.

Gina stood on the sidelines, absolutely baffled as everyone started to panic, voices rising and faces twisting into expressions of pure and utter terror.

"You can't be serious!" Hyuga exclaimed.

Izuki turned ashen, all colour draining from his face. "Did you already forget what happened this summer?" he demanded.

"We're not going to recover, we're going to die!" Hyuga yelled.

"Uh..." Gina said hesitantly, anxiously stepping closer toward Hyuga, Izuki and the others. "Is Riko a bad cook or something?"

Everyone on the team rounded on her, horrified looks plastered on all of their faces.

"Gina," Hyuga exclaimed in a hushed, horrified time. "She's never had coach's cooking before," He looked terrified by the prospect of her getting anywhere near Riko's cooking.

An equally terrified look was on Kiyoshi's face. "Get out while you can, Gina!" the centre urged.

Gina blinked, a little overwhelmed by all the sudden action. "Wait, what?" she asked blankly, unsure what to make of the situation.

"Riko's cooking is horrible..." Hyuga muttered, a shiver passing down his spine. Frantically, he fished through his bag and pressed some money into Gina's hands, and pushed her in the direction of the door. "Here, take this money, save yourself and buy yourself some dinner. It would be suspicious and would hurt her feelings if we all left, but if it's just you not much will be said! Just go!"

"Please, Gina, we are concerned for your health and wellbeing," Izuki said grimly. Gina blinked. If Izuki is grim... then this must be a serious issue.

"Okay..." Still a little unsure about everything that was going on, Gina made her way over to the door.

And just as she slipped out of the door, Gina heard Riko's call that she was finished cooking, and the accompanying groans of despair that came from the rest of the team.

*         *         *

Dinner was lonesome. Left alone in the bitter night air with a handful of money in her hand, Gina made her way into town. She desperately wished that she had a scarf or gloves, or some other way to further protect herself from the biting cold. She could see her breath form thick, white fog in the air.

Riko's cooking must be nearly inedible if it caused everyone to react like that... With a shake of her head and a small sigh, Gina trudged through the crowd.

She wished there was a Maji Burger outlet nearby so she could grab herself some chips, but was out of luck in that regard. Instead, she wandered into the nearest food outlet and ordered the cheapest meal they had, which happened to be noodles.

At least the restaurant was warm. Gina say in the corner, slowly eating her food and watching others enter the restaurant. She saw many couples enter, and found her mind wandering if she and Kuroko would ever do that; walk into a shop hand-in-hand and take a seat together, smiling and laughing as they exchanged jokes and bonded as they ate.

Quit daydreaming, Gina. Who knows? It might happen, it might not. She shook herself and ate the last few mouthfuls of her noodles.

An hour had lapsed since she'd left Kagami's, so she decided that she'd allowed enough time to pass and that Riko's cooking must have been eaten by that point.

"Hi, everyone! I'm back!"

"Gina!" Riko called. Her eyes narrowed. "How was dinner?"

"It was okay," the bespeckled girl said hesitantly, frightened for a moment that she might offend Riko. She strode toward the group, and noticed there was one extra. With a start she saw another woman among the others; she was older than everyone, an adult, with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail and glasses. "Who are you?"

The woman grinned. "Alexandra Garcia," she introduced, as Gina took a seat beside Kagami. "It's nice to meet you."

Gina smiled back. "You as well. I'm Tsukino Gina."

"She taught me how to play basketball," Kagami spoke up. "She used played basketball in the WNBA."

Gina's mouth fell open. "Seriously? That's so cool!" 

She's probably the mentor Kagami went to visit in America, she realised. She chuckled. No wonder Kagami's game improved so much.

"So, why did you come to Japan?" Kuroko asked, now that introductions were over. 

"Huh?" Alex turned around, and jumped a mile upon spotting Kuroko sitting behind her. Gina blinked. Even she hadn't seen her friend, though she blamed Alex for blocking her vision. "Ah! How long have you been sitting there?"

"I was here all along."

"You were?" Alex's eyes widened. "Oh, you're that guy Taiga mentioned. I see."

She breathed in and recovered, before beginning her answer to Kuroko's question. "Taiga and Tatsuya," she explained, a fond smile on her face. "I came to see my two apprentices play basketball."

Tatsuya. The name rang a bell in Gina's brain. She briefly drew up blank. 

"By Tatsuya, do you mean that guy from Yosen you met at the street ball tournament?" Izuki asked.

Himuro, she thought with a gasp. She recalled her meeting with him at the store, the boy with raven hair swept over one eye, and the ring that was exactly the same as Kagami's hanging around his neck.

"Did he learn to play basketball from you, too?" Kogani asked.

Alex nodded. "After I retired, I couldn't accept my reality and was acting out. I played on street courts to vent my frustration. One day, this guy and Tatsuya asked me to take them on as apprentices out of nowhere." Gina smiled, conjuring the image of two small figures racing up to Alex, wide smiles on their faces and begging her to take them on as apprentices. "At first, I was reluctantly but before I knew it, I was playing basketball with a smile. Those two have grown up and are facing each other again here in Japan. Of course I'm curious."

"Actually, we don't know that they'll face each other yet," Kiyoshi said. 

Alex choked, and spat some of her coffee back into her mug. "What?" she exclaimed, in English.

"On top of that, we don't have a game tomorrow, so we're just watching."

"Really?" Alex sighed, but then grinned, her smile lighting up her face. "I'll go with you then!"

---------------
i have this headcanon that if seirin ever got a manager, they'd desperately try and protect her from the horrors of riko's cooking... so that's where that came from!
alex is now in the story!! i love her character, she's so fun to write! 
saki's concert is next chapter... and i think you'll like how it turns out!