"He injured his knee."

Ah, Ryota's golden eyes darkened at the mention of the injury. He knew all too well what a knee injury meant to basketball players. He suffered from one in his previous life, pushing himself to the limits, hoping to beat the other GOM and bring victory to Kaijo. 

He didn't bother to hide the saddened glint in his eyes as he crouched to Momoi's level, gently brushing her tears aside. In his former life, Momoi was his first girlfriend, the one with whom he could praise and fanboy over Kuroko's ability. In this life, she was more of a younger sister, someone to pamper. She was a shadow of who he used to be.

There was a light, distasteful smile on his face as he listened to the girl. He— Kise Ryota, was responsible for Aomine's injury. If Too's Ace got injured from overexerting himself, then Kise did too. He bit his lower lip, his hand reaching for his left earlobe to gently rub it as he learned of Momoi's distress.

Part of him felt glad he wasn't injured this life around. He despised himself for not preventing Aomine or Kise's injury— overexerting their knee could lead to never playing again.

"He wouldn't hate you, Satsukicchi, never ever," Ryota soothed, petting her pink locks as his other hand gently stroked her cheek.

The girl's pink teary eyes looked up to meet Mikaël's golden hues, she sniffled. Her lower lip trembled. "Really?"

Ryota's smile turned gentler as he carefully nodded. "Of course, he wouldn't. If he does, then this Senpai of yours will come and beat him up yeah?" he teased, loving how her expression brightened from his poor joke, before she buried her puffy face in his chest.

It felt a bit strange to Ryota, the prospect of scolding Aomine. But after living his life as Aomine's captain, disciplining and scolding him when necessary, such threats weren't out of his reach.

From beside him, he saw Kuroko nod in agreement. The smaller blue head reached out his hand to pat the girl's back soothingly. "Aomine said things he didn't mean out of anger," he began, watching with a small comforting smile as the girl turned to face him. "There's no way he'd ever hate you."

The girl's eyes watered at once. "Tetsu-kun," she whispered in a whimper as she threw her arms over the younger teen, burying her face in his shoulder.

Kuroko awkwardly stood for a second before returning her hug. "Let's go back. I'm sure Aomine is out there looking for you."

"Right, he must be worried," Ryota added next to his Juniors as he watched over them. He felt happy at the sight of them, both from their close relationship and their reliance on him, yet he couldn't help the looming guiltiness from creeping into his heart. It felt suffocating.

"I'll bring Momoi-san back, Senpai," Kuroko called out as he lifted his head to look at his Seniors. His blue irises flickered to his left to look at Mikaël, a silent question to ask whether he would come with them or not.

Ryota hummed, smiling at Kuroko in silent agreement. "Should we head back too, Juncchi?"

The raven head perked up at his name, lifting his head he momentarily dismissed the sudden focus on his person. "Ah, yeah. Whatever you say, Mika," he casually answered.

Ryota beamed, humming at his friend's response. "Yeah, we'll go too, thank you for your hospitality," he bade with a polite nod of his head. "Let's speak more next time?" with these words he turned to face the other Uncrowned King. "I'll see you later, Teppeicchi!"

Kiyoshi hummed, vigorously nodding. "Sure, at the Winter Cup?"

"Ya, at the Winter Cup."

The Iron Heart beamed.

::

"Didn't you want Mikaël-senpai to stay a bit longer?" Kuroko asked as he looked at his ex-captain's retreating back. His blue eyes flickered to Momoi's smaller figure, awaiting her answer.

The pink-haired girl sniffled, shrugging her shoulders with a small smile dancing on her lips. Her reddish-pink eyes focused on the mop of green, a fragment of longing looming in the back of her irises as the older's back disappeared.

She shook her head, pulling her gaze away from Mikaël's shadow. "I— I think it's better if I grow less dependent on Mikaël-senpai," she whispered, a trace of regret and pain, in her hoarse voice.

Kuroko stared at the girl with a complicated look. He wasn't used to feelings such as love. The only affection he remotely knew was friendship, familial love or his devotion to basketball. Everything else was foreign to the teen, love advice was a whole other discipline for him.

Perhaps, Momoi sensed the blue head's loss, she chuckled, lifting her gaze to look at the boy. "You're so kind, Tetsu-kun," she praised, a nostalgic glint in her eyes. "If not for Mikaël-senpai I would have probably fallen for you!" she teased, walking forward and twirling on herself once, ending their conversation.

Kuroko blinked, a foreign warmth spread through his chest as his heart abnormally contracted for an instant. What was that? He tilted his head, bringing a hand to his chest before shrugging the feeling off. A certain spring in his steps— where did it come from? He caught up to the girl.

He grabbed the girl's arm, abruptly stopping her. His blue irises squarely met her pink ones and he blinked. Ah, why did he do that? As quickly as he caught her, he let her arm go. "Uhm."

"What is it, Tetsu-kun?"

"I," he paused, face as blank as usual, only him was aware of the turbulent feeling in his heart. He didn't understand his actions. "I have something to show you so that Aomine won't stay mad at you," he said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to a nearby basketball court.

Momoi stared at the short teen's back unblinking. A bright smile crept up her face. Ah, Tetsu-kun was so kind. She gave an enthusiastic nod. "Okay!"

Maybe, in another life where Mikaël wasn't, the one she fell in love with was Tetsuya.

::

The rest of the weekend went by in a flash. Both males didn't drop by Seirin or Kuroko and instead strolled down Tokyo's streets. It was quite a leisure day compared to the previous Saturday and all in all it was a good way for the two teens to bond with one another after Mikaël's prolonged absence.

Things truly couldn't have been better.

Hah, if only. Good? Who was he fooling but himself?

::

"'You okay Mika?" Junichiro worriedly asked as he sent his friend and inquiring glance from beside him. Dressed in his uniform, the raven made his way to the school gate. It was Monday, meaning their homeroom teacher would come and check on their class in the morning. It wasn't the time to be late, much less to skip.

The green head blinked, chasing the haziness of his golden hues. "Ha?"

Junichiro sighed. "I said, are you okay? Did you stay up all night dude?"

Ryota gave an embarrassed laugh, not bothering to hide his discomfort. "Yeah, I played video games all night long," he laughed, unconsciously quickening his steps, as if to run away from the raven head.

Jun frowned, easily following the taller's pace he didn't mention his strange behavior. With a raised eyebrow he nodded, keeping the occurrence in the back on his mind. Mikaël had long stopped hiding from him, him not telling the truth definitely was a bad thing.

"Anyway," he changed the subject, Ryota wouldn't tell him a thing and Junichiro wasn't smooth enough to inquire. "Did you finish the math homework? Those were such a—"

"Wait, math?" Ryota interrupted a panicked look in his eyes. "Oh my God, Juncchi, please let me copy yours!" he begged.

The raven blinked, more or less expecting the outburst before laughing as they entered the school grounds. "Don't sweat it, Mika. Those weren't for today, they're for tomorrow, I was only asking," he dismissed with a grin.

Mikaël heaved a relieved sigh, whining some more as to show he didn't like his friend's trick before they went back to their casual banter. Greeting some classmates and underclassmen in the corridors to their class, both males soon reached the second floor where the second-years' classes took place.

A grin painted on his face, Ryota easily followed the lesson before minutely narrowing his eyes. He hadn't seen Hibari Kyoya or Suzuki Adelheid this morning.

Though he wasn't familiar with them, he knew them enough to know they wouldn't let the school grounds without surveillance. He saw members of the disciplinary committee, and Ryota was skilled enough to detect their president's flames.

Kyoya Hibari wasn't in Namimori, he doubted Suzuki Adelheid was either. If Adelheid wasn't there, chances were the Simon students went back to their school.

He shook his head, dismissing the matter. What was the use in speculating? It didn't concern him, anyway, he would know once he dropped by the baseball field. Yamamoto usually played with— what was his name? Ah, Kaoru, Mizuno Kaoru.

With these thoughts, Ryota's attention went back to his history class. The man's low voice entered his ears as easily as it went out, leaving his mind with barely any information as he tried to keep himself focused on the class.

"They aren't coming?"

"Mmm? Did you say something Juncchi?" Ryota questioned, leaning back on his chair to be closer to his friend's desk behind his.

Jun shook his head with a laugh. "Nah, I was talking to myself," he dismissed before leaning forward to continue their conversation. "You remember Sasagawa, right?"

Sasagawa? Ryota narrowed his eyes in thoughts before widening them in realization. "Sasagawa Ryohei? In first year right?"

Jun nodded. "Right, right, the boxing fan," he added with a smile. "Anyway, you know those Simon students yeah? These days Sasagawa and Aoba, one of the transferee, keep on challenging one another," he laughed. "They come to me to play referee from time to time during recess," he explained.

"'S that so?" Ryota contemplatively mused.

"Ya, well, it doesn't matter, it means less noise yeah?" Jun joked as he stretched before cracking his neck. "Both are fun and all but they get loud real quick you know?" he half-heartedly complained.

"Mhm, I can see what you mean," Ryota whispered, mind drifting to his rather loud pupil in Teiko before he snorted.

Junichiro observed his friend in silence before laughing in turn. Though, it truly was calm on the first floor. Unusually so when two loudmouths spent their days there.

It wasn't until later that day that Ryota learned Mizuno Kaoru, much like Aoba Koyo, Yamamoto, and Ryohei were absent.

Not like he had the heart to worry about them.

Mikaël, your brother is in hospital. He hasn't woken up. Mamie is scared, won't you come back to France?

::

Landing in Tokyo airport, the teen calmly stretched his limbs. He felt mildly apprehensive, excitement easily overpowering any lingering hesitation he may have had before departing from his home country.

The foreign chatter invaded his ears, his eyes automatically scanning the lobby for any emergency exit, toilet, corridor, recording each panel and corridor in his memory he walked out of the airport to find a taxi.

A hand to pull his suitcase while the other kept a notebook and pen 'just in case,' he glanced at his wristwatch— a gift of his beloved father. It was still a bit early, he would drop by a grocery shop on the way before settling at a hotel for the night. He would go to his host the next day.

Walking to the gate he nimbly evaded every other passenger, local and tourist. His eye-catching hair easily blended in the crowd of black and brown as he went further into it until disappearing from sight.

He would need to grab a taxi, his eyes flickered around. If he picked up his pace he would gain at least ten places in the queue, it didn't take long for him to decide. With an undeniable spring to his steps, he exited the airport and went to the taxi station.

Ah, fortunately, he had written his request on his notebook beforehand on the plane. He stopped at the station, skimming through the pages he soon found the one with his desired question.

A taxi soon stopped before him and in less than a minute his suitcase was in the trunk. "Where do you want to go, sir?" the driver politely asked from the driver seat, a thick accent to his broken English as his eyes met the teen's blue hues in the rearview mirror.

The boy raised his head, beaming at the driver before shoving his notebook in the driver's hands.

The man raised a dubious eyebrow that the teen returned with a brilliant smile. Silently, he read the address, maybe the foreign boy was shy and didn't want to speak, it surely was the first time he saw someone so prepared.

The driver shrugged it off, committing the address to his mind he easily found a route to take to reach the hotel. With a silent smile, he returned the notebook to the foreigner.

The teen beamed, taking it and reading through his note some more before looking out the window and taking in the view. It wasn't so different from the one a few days ago. Only this time he didn't have a ceremony to attend as one of the бриз's subordinates.

Ah, he couldn't wait to reach Namimori! How was His Future Lord's town?

In his excitement, he missed the pair of familiar teens that entered the airport.

Actually, Momoi's "crush" on Ryota was somewhat foreshadowed in the Teiko Arc (chap 3 to 14). At the time I was wondering whether or not she should be Ryota's ex-lover (instead of Akashi) so the crush could have been explained as him unconsciously 'flirting' with her LoL. 

But well, it never happened ¯\(◉‿◉)/¯

Also, End of the Street Basketball Arc, next up Fran enters the scene!

Thanks for reading, until next time^^