Hiroto makes himself decently at home in Alex's streetball club. He's just there to play, though. Not to learn like the others.

Sort of like Nijimura's little siblings, Hiroto is just there to leech off the classes and play when people are free. The people don't particularly mind him there, and as long as he doesn't get in the way of practice, all's fine.

That's enough for him.

He managed to convince Alex out of sending him to therapy (he's had enough of that in his past life on a bed), and spends his time figuring out ways to spend his hours.

He jogs in the mornings, plays streetball whenever he can. Eventually, he regains his muscle mass and fitness, and gets accustomed to life here.

After his initial match on day one, people started fighting over playing one-on-ones with him once they got their break time. Alex yells at them every once in a while.

"I can see why they call you the Fairy of the Court."

"Stop calling me that."

"Fairy."

"Shut up, Tatsuya."

"Fair--"

Hiroto chucks a ball at his head.

"Oh c'mon, it suits you," Tatsuya teases him.

Hiroto beams. "Tatsuya, look at this trophy I found!" he raises Alex's doctorate in whatever medal made of glass, "it's the perfect size to chuck at your head and hopefully send you into an infinitely comatose state--"

Tatsuya wisely steps back. "Oh, I miss when you were just a scared little bunny hiding behind me..."

-

Hiroto puts the trophy back into the cabinet.

It's nine o'clock, much after dinner. Tatsuya, like some sort of obnoxious routine, has come over to pester his new friend. Hiroto wonders why he has a key to this house, and contemplates calling the police. Alex stops him, though.

Opening the cabinet again, he reaches for a metallic object in the corner. Tatsuya leans over to examine the pocket watch they've found.

"This is so out of place... I wonder why Alex leaves it in here."

He opened it, squinting at the hands and pressing the available buttons, flipping it over-- there's no switch or battery or mechanism outside of the device. Oh man.

"It's not even working anymore."

Tatsuya slings an arm over his shoulder. "Maybe it's an antique?"

Hiroto shakes his head. "This shabby thing?"

He runs his thumb through the rather paltry carvings on the shell. It's nothing special, just a clumsy string of stars that was probably a constellation, and a signature on the back.

"It says 'Jyo'," Hiroto reads it, carefully studying the crude, amateurish strokes.

And somehow, he sort of knew who carved it in.

Tatsuya puts a hand on his head, and Hiroto turns to see the older boy smiling at him.

"I'll ask Alex if you can keep it."

Hiroto immediately flusters. "It's fine!" he shoves it back into the cabinet and drags the drawer shut before turning away quickly. "I'm going to go for a run!"

"At this hour of the night?" Tatsuya asks, but the boy's already gone. The door closes behind him, and Tatsuya smiles knowingly. "He's adorable, isn't he, Alex?"

The lady sticks her head out from her bedroom. "Of course he is. He's got my blood, you know? That's the blood of a world-class beauty you're looking at."

"Not humble at all, I see."

"And by the way, he can't have the pocket watch."

"Yeah, that's what I figured."

-

-

"Hey, pretty. What're you doing outside at this hour?"

There's one thing in America Hiroto still isn't used to, yet-- and it's the fact that you shouldn't take a random nighttime stroll through unfamiliar neighbourhoods.

In his past life, this was common sense-- but he's adapted to nearly a decade of nighttime complacency in Japan. The habit's harder to break the second time.

The area right outside Alex's apartment is a main street. There's not exactly a sketchy spot in this area, but everywhere is sketchy at night.

Hiroto belatedly remembers all that when he finds himself surrounded by... are they in college? Man they're huge. Curse this Japanese midget blood, why are these humans so huge? Like, what contract do you have to sign with god for him to grant you height like that?

The punk with an awful face tattoo of a winged heart grins. "Man, I could clap that."

Hiroto's all about no-label mindsets, but he's not sure why these delinquents look like they've tried all year to show each other up on the edgy parameters. Maybe the person up there just doesn't give a crap about character designs. Or they're too lazy to spare it any thought. Anyways.

"Haven't you heard that it's dangerous to walk around dark, scary places at night?" Punk #2 with about three gothic rings on his hands steps forward, giving the looser portions of Hiroto's clothing extra attention.

Hiroto wonders if he came straight out of a basketball anime just to stumble right into the saga of a gangster anime instead, because this is entirely out of the genre right now. Talk about running out of the pot right into the fire-- immortal brunets and dullahans better not show up.

"Oh, I know you. You live with the basketball bimbo."

There are about five of them, and all of them were acting like Haizaki before Hiroto pinched his cheeks to oblivion-- except Haizaki was three times less creepy and five times cuter.

And what's with these Americans and mistaking him for a girl?

Okay, fair enough, his hair is still long.

He might be considerably short for American standards, and they can't really see his toned, very masculine not really arms under his jacket-- and there's absolutely nothing girly in his ugly leg muscles and-- okay screw this. These guys are fucking blind!

"Sorry to break it to you, but I'm a guy," he holds up his hands with a sigh, speaking with all the patience of three prayers and a sacrifice.

The thugs share a look.

"Well, isn't that just perfect, then?" they smirk, like they've just won the most disgusting prize in the world and they're darn proud about it.

When they laugh and come closer in, Hiroto feels dread sink into his gut.

Suddenly the situation didn't seem all that ridiculous-- because this was America in all its stereotypical lawlessness and freedom.

For the plot, obviously. Because what's a story without drama, right?

This was the environment he hadn't seen since his past life. Actual, outdoor dangers that existed outside the realm of fantastical peace in Tokyo.

And Hiroto... looks at himself.

Hiroto sighs with his shoulders, raising his hands in defeat. A smile tickles at the corner of his lips. "Alright then. From the left-- ugly tattoo, stupid rings, bomber jacket, suspicious hood, and mister huge fake gold necklace. Line up."

The thugs blink confusedly.

And Hiroto spins, his left fist drilling right into ugly tattoo face.

-

-

"Hiroto! Hey, Hiroto!"

He's been missing for hours, and that's not something Hiroto would do. His nightly runs were an hour at most, give or take another if he stopped by the outdoor court.

Now Alex and Tatsuya scramble around in a panic, searching the vicinity for any signs of the boy. Did he get lost in his frustrated run, because he went a little further than routine and strayed from his usual path? No, Hiroto wasn't careless like that.

"He's not picking up his phone at all. Should I call the others in the club?"

Tatsuya's near panicking at this point. There's one thing about having a fit figure and being adept at sports, but the thugs in this area aren't the most forgiving ones... if Hiroto riles them up somehow, it really won't be pretty. Even Tatsuya would have copious weeks of trouble if he disturbed them.

Alex is disheveled. Of course she is-- she's lost the kid so soon after getting him-- if anything serious were to happen, she would never let herself live it down.

"Maybe we should..."

Accidents always come out of nowhere, after all. Just like it was just Jousuke... Alex hates this. She hates how the both of them had to do this to her, out of nowhere--

"Oh, I wondered who that was. Alex, Tatsuya, what are you two doing over there?"

The two turn toward the alley, where the voice had come from.

And promptly, they scream.

"Hiroto!!"

"Why are you-- is that--" Tatsuya lost the ability to speak and ended up with a yelp of "Blood! WHY?!"

"Your HAIR!"

"NO no no, are you hurt?! What did you DO?!"

Hiroto steps out of the alley looking like he'd just dived through a windmill and lived to tell the tale. His hoodie was in pieces, stained in some places, and his hair was cropped unevenly above his shoulders.

His lip is split, and there's a rubbed blood stain on his face coming from a freshly dried scratch on his temple. There's even a cut at his pants, and if Tatsuya's looking right, Hiroto walks with a slight limp.

He brushes his hand against it, chuckling apologetically. Holding onto a particularly nasty-looking friction burn on his elbow, he stares at them. "Well, all that aside..."

"What do you mean, all that aside?! Alex, call the ambulance!"

"No, just a taxi's fine," Alex rectifies in all seriousness. A second later, she freaks out, swirling on her nephew, "I mean, call the police!! What happened to you?!"

"To clarify this firsthand, I didn't lose."

"NOT WHAT I ASKED!"

-

-

AISAKA:

Camera36.jpg View Image.

Look at this fucking idiot.

Ah I'm the hot gay American btw 
just thought you guys wanna know 
But this moron picked a fight with 
FIVE THUGS when we weren't looking

HAIZAKI:

Did he win tho

NIJIMURA:

THAT ISN'T THE PROBLEM WTH

KUROKO:

Haizaki-kun, Akashi-kun is looking for you.

P.s he has a stapler, my condolences.

MIDORIMA:

Scorpios are last place today.

Please take a bookmark with you.
That luck might make it easier
for us to find your body.

AOMINE:

F in the chat guys

HAIZAKI:

Wait fuck yall think this is my fault
?!?

-

-

Hiroto gives a V and grins into the camera as the nurse wraps his knee in bandages.

His hair isn't fixed just yet, so it hangs awkwardly, long on the left and high above his ears on the right. It's awful just to look at, with the various bruises, scratches, and the particularly obvious split lip he now sports.

"Your right arm is fragile enough, and of all things, you get into a gangfight?"

There are thick lacerations on his forearm, left behind by a ringed fist. Tatsuya studies it for a moment to put together guesses on who it could be... and yeah, it rings quite a vivid bell in his head.

"I had to protect my purity," Hiroto says, entirely serious.

"Don't be cheeky," Tatsuya's response is immediate. "Where did you learn how to fight anyways?"

Hiroto sparkles, because he's a little shit, as he gleefully informs Tatsuya that, "I learned all the dirty tricks and human weaknesses from my adorable delinquent clubmate who tried to maul me a few times."

Tatsuya isn't going to touch that topic with a ten-foot pole.

"Well, how do I say this... good job?" Tatsuya offers weakly. "But don't do that again."

"Which part of it?"

"Every."

Hiroto sulks.

Tatsuya pinches the bridge of his nose. "I swear, every time you go out at night, some crazy shit happens..."

Hiroto sulks further. "It's not like I do it on purpose."

"Yes, I know," Tatsuya assures him. He reaches for his own phone and begins to type messages at a rapid pace. "Well don't worry, I'll deal with the aftermath and the cleanup. I'll also make sure those guys never bother you again."

"Is it just me, or did you phrase that very ominously?"

"Just your imagination."

"But--"

"It's just your imagination, Hiro."

"...okay."

-

-

In the distance, Haizaki screams.

"It's rare that Akashi's coming in late, but I guess he must have duties in the student council to take care of as well, so I'll excuse it just this once." Coach Shirogane looks up from his notes. "Huh? Did you guys hear something?"

Aomine shrugs, pointing at the giant. "Murasakibara is a loud eater."

Midorima fixes his glasses, looking pointedly at the Center as well. "That's bad manners, Murasakibara. Fix that crude habit of yours now."

Murasakibara makes an offended whine, but he doesn't particularly change his noisy crunching actions. He's almost done with his potato chips anyways, so it's a pain to suddenly have to watch his... oh hey this flavour is good, he'll go get more after practice.

Kuroko has his hands held together, his eyes closed. "May his soul rest in peace..." he says, unheard and unseen by the rest of the club as usual.

"Guys, am I the only one that hears Shougo-kun screaming?" Kise asks. "Guys?!"