AN: Uhm. Uh. As an author I must regretfully tell you guys that this story is coming to an end, not yet, but soon. Very soon, if I may add.

There will be a timeskip after this point on to high school where Aisaka finally comes back to Japan, but Aisaka won't be attending any of the schools. Honestly that's because I can't imagine giving him to just one of the miracles, and Aisaka doesn't really need school. 

Anyways, thanks for coming along so far, don't kill me, enjoy this chapter!!!

-

"Aomine, if you don't get your ass to practice now, I'm going to tell Aisaka."

Surprisingly, it's Haizaki that approaches Aomine on the rooftop when it's time for practice to start.

Aomine scoffs, rolling over. "Pot, meet kettle."

Haizaki feels the sudden urge to smash his head against the edge of the ladder.

"Alright then!" Haizaki declares, "if you don't get your ass to practice NOW, I'm gonna call Tetsuya."

Aomine jerks upright, "no you wouldn't!" Heck, that's double suicide.

"Yes, he would," came the monotonous voice, "actually, I'm already here. Please come to practice, Aomine-kun. Now."

The truant club members scream in unison.

"When did you get here?!"

"I followed Haizaki-kun out of his classroom."

"But I went to like three other places after that! Mommy I'm scared."

"Can we go to practice now?"

-

They get popsicles after school, and since they've deemed Kise pitiable enough, Aomine and Haizaki are bullied into paying this time because they tried to skip practice.

Even without Aisaka, their life goes on.

Akashi splits his strawberry popsicle apart, handing half to Midorima. "You two can't make a habit out of skipping practice like this. It's causing trouble for Momoi."

Momoi chuckles, splitting her popsicle in half to share with Aomine. She chuckles, "it's fine, there's always a senior who wants to play more."

"That's not the problem," Kuroko squints from between Haizaki and Aomine (they flinch back a little in surprise), "it's not like you're going to the arcade or going home early. Why can't you just come to the club and laze about there?"

Aomine groans, "that's pointless. Watching you play will make me want to play, too."

"And what's so bad about that?" Kise asks.

They all fall silent.

Kise blinks, mutedly wondering if he's said something wrong again. He's done that a lot both on purpose and by mistake, but it's always scarier when no one immediately smacks him for saying anything wrong.

"There's nothing wrong with it," Haizaki says.

And he doesn't say anything else.

Kise sighs. Again, they're all evidently thinking about the same thing but leaving him out of the loop. They do it a lot.

"Is basketball getting boring for you too, Dai-chan?" she asks, sounding melancholic.

"Yeah," Aomine says. "A little."

Kise chokes on his popsicle.

"Eh?! Aominecchi, you're getting tired of basketball?!" he latches onto the taller guy, hooking an arm around his to tug him towards the outdoor court across the road. "C'mon, play one-on-one with me! I'll win this time!"

Kise doesn't notice the way the rest of their eyes widen at his exclamation.

(You're not a monster! I'm here, right?)

(Then, you two can two-on-one me. It won't be boring like that, right?)

It was so casual, so easy. Kise hadn't even been thinking about anything deep-- he was just acting like himself.

And yet, he had solved it perfectly.

"Eh? Wait, Kise, look before you cross--"

"Wait, Kise, Aomine!" Midorima chases, "it's too late to go for another round of basketball! Are you two not tired?"

Midorima and Momoi chase them over there, bash them over their heads, and started yelling about curfews and the importance of a good night's sleep.

Later, when they pick up the ball and start playing, Aomine has a smile on his face.

Kuroko's eyes meet Akashi's, and they smile.

"It's different now," Akashi says.

Haizaki scoffs. "It wasn't that simple last time around," he says, stubborn. "If it was so easy to solve, nothing would've happened to Hiroto."

And he's right.

"Huh? What's this about Saka-chin?" Murasakibara emerges from the convenience store with an armful of potato chips. "Are Mine-chin and Kise-chin playing again?"

Speaking of Murasakibara...

"Hey, Murasakibara," Akashi says, "are you tired of basketball?"

Murasakibara blinks. He doesn't really think much about it when he quickly admits, "yeah, it's boring."

He's never been the person to be enthusiastic about the game. He joined on a whim, played to fill up time, and was always complaining about the effort.

"Then, why do you play?" Haizaki asks, annoyed.

Murasakibara opens a bag of chips. "Well, no reason, really," Murasakibara says, lowering the bag so Kuroko could get some. "It's not like I played in every game last year. I switched out with Saka-chin and Nijimura-senpai a lot."

That grabs their attention again.

"But you're playing in every game now," Akashi says.

Murasakibara hums. "Yeah?" he says, quoting it like a question because he wasn't sure what the context of the answer was, "because everyone's weaker now, right?"

Akashi stares, recognition rising in his head.

(Everyone's weaker now, so he's playing more often. Or is it that he's playing more often now, that everyone seems weaker?)

(Aomine plays less. Just like Aisaka, because they don't want to improve until everyone's at their level. They're skipping club, avoiding basketball, because the little they can enjoy gets less the next time they play.)

(If it was as easy as just needing one person to be on par with them, nothing would have happened to Hiroto.)

"What are you thinking, Akashi-kun?" Kuroko asks.

Akashi looks at Kuroko, a grimace setting on his face. "Hey Kuroko, I have a suggestion, but I don't think everyone will like it."

Kuroko looks up from his ice cream.

In the most innocent, confused voice he can muster, Kuroko asks, "and when has that ever bothered you, Akashi-kun?"

Immediately and in perfect unison, Haizaki spits out his drink, and Murasakibara chokes on his food. Then they struggle into breathless laughter, trying vainly to apologize so Akashi won't get mad at them.

Akashi squints at the blue-haired player, "you're a very rude person, Kuroko."

Kuroko licks his lips, admiring the winning popsicle stick. "I don't know what you're talking about, Akashi-kun," he deadpans.

Akashi resists the urge to flick him in the forehead.

-

MISTER HOT GAY AMERICAN:

Camera_album03hiro_159.jpg View Image.

He got a haircut!
You're welcome °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

KUROKO:

Thank you for this blessing.

-

"Tetsu, why do you have his name saved as 'Mister Hot Gay American'?!"

...is not something you would shout in a fast food store, but Aomine is an idiot.

They decide to forgo going home, and all go to Maji Burger's for dinner instead. Momoi is walked home first, because it's inappropriate for her to be out so late with a bunch of boys, without prior notice.

Kuroko just continues to cheerfully type away on his phone, carefully saving each picture of Hiroto's very alarmingly impressive new haircut into the special little corner of his gallery.

"Because I don't know his actual name," Kuroko says, as if it's obvious.

"I have it saved as that too," Haizaki says around a mouthful of his burger.

"Me too," Murasakibara says.

"Me as well," is Akashi's very unexpected admission.

"Et tu, Akashi?!" Midorima yelps.

"Oh thank goodness Midorima, you are the only sane person we have left," Aomine says, still horrified.

He retrieves his phone and reads the message anyways. Unlike the insane other people, he has the guy saved as Aisaka stealer.

"Ooh!" Kise peeks into Aomine's phone from the side, grinning around his straw. "Aisaka-kun got an undercut! Hey, it looks good on him!"

Just one side, though. His hair is long and brushed back to form an impressive one-sided look.

"It's a very Kise-kun haircut," Kuroko observes.

"Huh?!" Kise says, surprised by the suggestion.

"Because he's a model?" Aomine says.

"Yeah."

"Indeed, Kise would look good with an undercut," Akashi says, "Midorima, what's your lucky item today?"

"It is a blade, Akashi. I am not lending it to you," is Midorima's curt response.

"Stop it!" Kise whines dramatically, shrinking closer to Murasakibara while holding his hair away from the dangerous fellows, "I'll get in trouble! We have haircut regulations in school, you know!"

"We're just joking," Kuroko deadpans.

"You better be!"

Midorima has his phone out to look through the photos the unsaved number has sent him.

"Seeing how horrid his hair looked the previous day, I'm glad they managed to salvage it at all," Midorima says.

"Huh? What happened?" Kise asks.

Immediately, they all launch into a chaotic information spill.

"He picked a fight with--"

"Five thugs! Five!"

"And he didn't lose, by the way--"

"--enough about that, Haizaki, he broke a rib!"

"I break ribs every month, so that's a total win!"

Kise stares at them in muted surprise as they divulge into an argument of Aisaka's recklessness and bravado, practically fighting to share information first.

Honestly, he didn't expect his question to be answered-- after all, Aisaka had always been a topic hard to bring up. Kise had only prompted the question like a stone into the darkness.

This reaction was rather unexpected, but he liked it. They were so eager to share it to him, and he almost felt like he was being included in their rant.

-

"Now, now, enough about Aisaka," Akashi interrupts them. "As we all know-- and Kise should be told-- Aisaka's talent began to grow far earlier than the rest of us."

Kise sips on his soft drink. Most of them were finished with their food by now, only Murasakibara was still inhaling a parfait.

"Similarly to Aomine now, he was in a competitive slump," he says.

"That's putting it very lightly," Haizaki interrupts. "He was an absolute depressed fuck."

Akashi corrects himself, unfazed. "Since Aomine is right now, experiencing the 'absolute depressed fuck' phase," he quotes it strongly with a perfectly straight face because he's a little shit, "I've considered countermeasures to the situation."

"Countermeasures?"

All attention is on Akashi now.

"Yes," Akashi says. "All of us just shouldn't play basketball."

Pause.

"Hah!?" is the general response. "What?"

Even Kuroko is taken aback. He puts down his milkshake, "Akashi-kun, I--"

"Rejected!" Aomine declares, "hell fucking no!"

"For the first time ever I agree with Aomine!" Haizaki asserts, "I just barely got put back onto the starting lineup!"

Midorima fixes his glasses, "what is the meaning of this, Akashi?"

"Wait, me too?!" Kise says.

Murasakibara hums, "I think the coach is going to get mad at us."

-

"What? You can't be serious, Akashi!"

"I am serious, Coach," Akashi says, hands held behind him and speaking as respectfully as he can, eyes set firmly on the coach.

Coach Sanada looks baffled. All eyes in the gym are on them because of the sudden exclamation. In the corner, Murasakibara sighs with an 'I knew it' under his breath.

Akashi stands with Midorima, the vice captain, beside him, and the latter fixes his glasses. Momoi is also standing beside them with the training menu in her hand.

Haizaki and Aomine are standing around them, holding a basketball as they dawdle anxiously, glancing at the captain every once in a while.

Beside them, Coach Shirogane looks on, a scrutinizing gaze set on the redhead.

"I will repeat myself," Akashi says, unfazed. "I request that you remove all seven of us from the starting lineup."

Immediately, Momoi follows that up. 

"If we keep just two of them on the field at one time, we can utilize better formations with the rest of the seniors  can get better at the game-- of course, if our score differencs are too wide, we could put more of them on the field. But according to the data I've gathered, there will be virtually no drawbacks to this decision."

This time, the response comes from all around the gym.

"Huh?!"

-

-

-

OGIWARA;

Hey guys! ヾ('▽｀;)ゝ

GUESS WHAT?!

KUROKO:

Did you finally fix your 
clumsy eating habit?

AISAKA:

You managed to walk home
Without getting lost or smth?

OGIWARA:

NO! (°ㅂ° ╬)

You guys are terrible friends

I'm tryin to say, guys

UR HOMEBOY'S FINALLY
A STARTER PLAYER YO

KUROKO:

That's great.

AISAKA:

Cool.

OGIWARA:

BE HAPPIER FOR ME U ASSHOLES

Camera121.jpg View Image.

AISAKA:

Don't cry in your new uniform
That's bad luck

KUROKO:

You look great in it

I'm happy.
We'll get to play together in
the national interschools, right?

OGIWARA:

YEP!! ❤❤❤

Saka, you won't be back anytime
This year or the next?

AISAKA:

Nope. I'll probably finish studying here.

I'll pursue a basketball career, so
I don't need my grades.

OGIWARA:

Wow the cOnFiDEncE

R u seeing this rokoroko
Our baby has GROWN

KUROKO:

Camera01.jpg View Image.

I'm proud of you, Hiroto-kun.

AISAKA:

WHY RE U CRYING TOO?!?!

-

-

-

"Are you uh, thirsty? Sir?"

The delinquent with the ugly tattoo hovers nervously around Hiroto.

Hiroto fiddles with his phone in his left hand, his right one in a cast for his slightly shifted elbow that needed care.

"I'll go get you a drink?" the one in the jacket says, meekly. "Oh, uh, the others are standing guard around the kids."

Hiroto chuckles, "c'mon, you guys, this is awkward," he waves them off. "Did Tatsuya threaten you guys or something?"

"No no no absolutely not no in no way, form, or shape, he did not--"

"Woah, you're traumatised," HIroto muses.

He lounges on the airport's benches, watching the arrival board for a certain flight. He's here with Nijimura's younger siblings, but they got bored and went to explore, to the expense of the other three delinquents on babysitting duty.

"Then, Tatty and Bombey-- how old are you guys anyways?"

"Tatty?" the tattooed one says, eye twitching, "hey, I'm at least five years older than you, show some respect!" he snaps. "We're just here to make sure you don't get punched by the rest of the gangs because you look easy to target."

"Really? Thanks, Mister Tatty," Hiroto says, turning back to his phone.

"Wait, am I Bombey because I'm wearing a bomber jacket?!" the other says, baffled, "it sounds stupid!"

"Then, is Bob okay?"

"Uh, that's better, but-- no, not the point! Ask for our names!"

"Can't. You're mob characters, I can't make you too relevant or the readers will get tired of keeping track."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?!"

Hiroto bursts into laughter.

-

-

"Hey, Rin-rin and Uncle Darkness, there are waffles over there!"

Nijimura Setsuna and Nijimura Souta are absolute gremlins. They get three chauffeurs, and immediately, they start bullying them.

"Wait, airport food is expensive as fuck. No," the delinquent with a handful of rings, not dubbed Rin-rin, tries to chide them.

He is NOT spending a fortune on these brats.

"Just one and you guys can share?" Uncle Darkness, wearing a hood and looking like he hasn't slept in years, offers. "Get your Mister Cool to buy it for you."

"Okay!" and the kids run off, dragging their third servant-- who was wearing a huge fake gold necklace that read COOL on it-- with them. "Let's go, Mister Cool!"

"Hey, don't spoil them!" Rin-rin snaps.

Uncle Darkness glares at him, "trust me, they know what they're doing. The last thing you want is them crying in the middle of the airport and security gets called on us."

Rin-rin shudders.

-

Setsuna holds Uncle Darkness' hand, and Souta grabs the edge of Mister Cool's pants, just so they wouldn't get lost. The twins share their waffles in silence, and the delinquents are all exhausted.

A distance away, Rin-rin talks on the phone.

"Huh? Oh, the plane landed?" Rin-rin says, speaking to Hiroto. "We're right around the corner of the arrivals platform, so we'll meet you there. Got it."

And Rin-rin makes his way back to the kids, but a hand abruptly takes his arm, gripping his shoulder bone much too tightly to be an accidental touch.

He narrowed his eyes on the intruding hand, turning slowly toward the agitator.

"Excuse me," the black-haired teen speaks to him, his english accented but his tone strong and his gaze set on an angry gaze, "why are you with those kids?"

"Hah?" Rin-rin says, "and why is that your business?"

-

It got ugly.

-

"So, from the left-- it's Mister Tatty, Bob, Rin-rin, Uncle Darkness, and Mister Cool," Hiroto introduces them in Japanese.

This meeting would probably go better without the numerous extra scratches and disheveled clothing on everyone. The five delinquents stand behind Hiroto around the park bench., looking impressively scary.

Nijimura Shuzo has his younger siblings around him, clinging happily.

But the man himself is utterly annoyed by the five delinquents that had apparently been arranged to guard his junior.

"They're the ones that beat me up yesterday, you saw the picture, right?" Hiroto says, like that's a cheerful topic.

Nijimura snaps. "They gave you those wounds and now they're your guards?! How does that even work?!"

"Now now, you know the saying-- yesterday's enemies are today's underlings."

"The word there is friends! Wait, they're underlings?!"

"Tatsuya gave them to me!" he says, brightly. "He threatened to castrate them all if they tried anything, so don't worry, we're friends now!"

Nijimura grimaces, "don't say terrifying things with that innocent look on your face."

Hiroto just keeps smiling.

Nijimura sighs.

He stands up and pats him on the head.

"Nice haircut, by the way," NIjimura says. "I have time before I need to go visit my dad, so how about you introduce me to your aunt on the way?"

Hiroto stands up and takes his senior's hand.

"Of course! C'mon, Setsuna, Souta. We're going to the club!" he says. The twins cheer, and take off in the presumed direction of the basketball gym.

From where they stood, they could see the delinquents give chase in a panic, one of them yelling for the twins to watch out for traffic.

And Hiroto giggles at that.

Nijimura looks over, and he can't help but smile right back.

(He wanted to send a picture of that smile to the Generation of Idiots, just to assure them that Aisaka was doing well over here, and they didn't need to worry after all.)

(After all, he was happy again.)

(And beyond anything, that was a sign of a new beginning for all of them.)

"C'mon, Nijimura-senpai!" Hiroto pulls him forward, their hands still intertwined awkwardly, "we can't keep them waiting, right?"

Nijimura snickers.

"Don't underestimate me, you punk!"