The next day, all of the players were assembled at the gym, with all of the coaches standing in front of them. Aya stood with the managers, while Tsukiko was with the Seirin team, standing at the back. She yawned still sleepy from last night, because she kept wondering if Aomine could truly beat her.

'Who cares...? I don't mind if he beats me. Like that could change anything' she thought and glanced at Aomine with a bored look. He noticed her and returned the gaze. She immediately looked away and listened to the announcement that Aya was saying.

"Hai! We all know 8 teams had gathered here today in order to train for the first international competition Japan has qualified in," she started. "And with the combined teams here today, it's hard to train you all at the same time so..."

"All of us the coaches, including Aya talked about dividing you with the skills you have," Riko continued stepping forward and crossing her arms in front of her FLAT chest.

"It's kinda like dividing into first, second and third strings," Aya explained with a smile.

The players nodded in understandment as the coaches started to announce the members.

"And the first string... of course, the five prodigies and..." Aya read her list. "Oh! Kuro-chan, Taicchi! You two are included!" she chirped and smiled at the duo and saw Tsukiko. "And Tsuneko too!"

Aomine smirked. 'All right! I get to train with her!' he fisted his hand happily.

"What's up with the happy smile Aomine-kun?" Satsuki wondered, tilting her head at Aomine. He flinched and looked away.

"It's none of your business!"

"The first string players! Come with me!" Aya said and walked out of the gym going over to the other with the players trailing behind her.

'Crap... I feel sleepy...' Tsukiko said walking like a zombie with her eyes half closed.

"Oi Satoshi! Don't sleep on me! Get your energy together and give me a satisfying match!" Aomine yelled at her wakening her fully.

"Stop yelling at me!" she hollered annoyed.

"There that's more like it!" he grinned and ran ahead. Tsukiko sweat dropped and sighed. 'That guy...'

They lined up in front of Aya with Riko and the Rakuzan coach as they listed them up with the 3 by 3 teams.

"First team..." Aya said. "Hyuuga, Imayoshi and... Midorima."

"Whoa, 4 eyed dudes," Tsukiko whispered over to Kagami who just smirked with a nod. Aomine looked at them and twitched his eye.

'They're really close with each other...' he thought then shook his head. 'Why am I feeling this?!'

"Kasamatsu, Sakurai and Kiyoshi..." she continued.

"Kuroko, Izuki and Kise."

"YAY! I get to be teamed with Kurokocchi!" Kise cheered.

"Eto, Akashi, Murasakibara and Satoshi..." Tsukiko's eyes narrowed and glanced over to the red haired Rakuzan captain and the oversized purple haired maiubo lover.

"And, Kagami, Takao and Aomine," she finished.

"EH?!?!" the two idiots reacted violently, showing a sign of protest with their teams. "He's my teammate?!" they chorused pointing at each other. "Don't point at me!" they pushed their cheeks at each other with electricity striking between them.

"Oi, Daicchi, Taicchi, don't fight..." Aya pushed them away from each other.

"Then why the heck am I teamed with him?!" they yelled making Aya flinch and step away.

"Gomen..." she apologized and looked down. It was now their turn to flinch because they made Aya upset and now looked over at Akashi who was glaring at them.

"If you two have any complains, then better not join this training camp," he told them with a warning tone.

They stiffened and bowed. "GOMENASAI!"

The training started with some warm up and 10 laps around the court. So far, all of the players could keep up. Even Tsukiko, despite it was men's training. Aya and Satsuki recorded their strengths and staminas and calculated how much strong their abilities were.

"Tsuneko's amazing..." Aya stared at her paper in awe.

"Is that so?" Satsuki's attention was caught. "Can I see?" Aya showed the final calculation of Tsukiko's strength making the pink haired girl's eyes widen in shock.

"This... this can't be..." she muttered. "Her stats are too high..."

Aya nodded. "She truly is a monster," she looked over at Tsukiko and smiled to herself. "An admirable female player..."

"No wonder Aomine-kun likes her..." Satsuki muttered.

"Daicchi likes her?!" Aya shrieked hearing Satsuki excitedly. Satsuki looked at her and shrug. "Eto... maybe? He's obsessed about her... like talking about..."

"I knew it!!!" Aya didn't let Satsuki finish.

"... how he wants to beat her..."

"Kyaaa! Look at him! He's staring at her her!!!" Aya fangirled seeing Aomine gaze towards Tsukiko. But it was more than a glare than a stare... Satsuki sweat dropped and sighed. "Relax, Aya-chan..."

TIME SKIP.

"Yosh!" Aya raised her hand after long hours of practice. She catches every player's attention and started off with a soft smile. "We're going to have a practice game with the tag teams against each other, then after that, another match."

"Hai!" they chorused and went over to the benches to rest their feet.

"Gah! I'm so exhausted!" Tsukiko collapsed on the bench, her legs shaking in exhaustion.

"Aya-san must've prepared those plans..." a soft voice said from beside her. Her haired stood in shock when she saw her cousin sitting beside her.

"Tetsuya! You startled me!!" she exclaimed putting a hand on her chest. Seeing her phantom cousin, she suddenly remembered his sister who was nowhere in sight. "Where's Emiko?"

"I'm right here," the female version of Tetsuya appeared in front of her handling a fresh towel.

"S-Since when...?" she stuttered and waved it off. "Whatever," she took the towel from Emiko. "Arigatou."

"Everyone's working hard," Emiko commented, sitting at the other side of Tsukiko.

"Yeah, everyone seems excited about the International Competition," Tsukiko replied.

"By the way, Tsukiko-san, the first game is your team versus Onee-chan's," Emiko informed her cousin, glancing at her.

"Really? I see," the monster said and sighed. "I'm too exhausted to play."

The result of the first game was of course Tsukiko's team. And the second match against the 4 eyed team was against Aomine's team. Which of course the victory went to the GoM's ace and Seirin's.

The next match set was against the winners of the previous matches; Tsukiko's team against Aomine's. "This is what I'm waiting for!!!" Aomine piped.

Tsukiko seat dropped, and blinked like Aomine was an idiot. Scratch that, there was no 'like'. Aomine's truly an idiot.

"Let's just get this over with," Tsukiko sighed with her hands on her hips.

"You're going down Satoshi!"

"Urusai Aomine," Kagami whined.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" while Aomine yelled at Kagami, he didn't notice the match already started making Tsukiko already ran pass him. "OI!

"Too slow Aho," she smirked.

TIME SKIP.

The match ended with Tsukiko's team's victory of course. Akashi Seijuro was one of her teammates of course, plus, Murasakibara's defense was strong as always. Aomine's body was covered in sweat and he was panting in exhaustion. His butt was just kick off my Tsukiko again with only using 50% of her strength again.

"Damn it!" Aomine cursed, trying to stand up.

"Are you okay?" Tsukiko approached him and let out a hand. He hesitated for a while and took her offer. "Great game," she smiled.

"More like a, 'I beat your ass again'."

"Half true," she shrugged.

"Whatever! I'll beat you!"

"How many times have you said that already?"

Aomine silenced. "Whatever!" he huffed and walked away. 'How many times did he say that already too?' Tsukiko thought cocking an eyebrow.

"Hoho, I like what I'm seeing," Aya appeared beside Tsukiko with a mischievous smile.

"Uh, Aya...?"

"Daikiko!" Aya thought of a ship name for them which Tsukiko didn't understand since she was just a few IQ level higher than Aomine."Nothing!" Aya skipped away while humming.

'What's up with her...?'

'I'll beat her someday!' Aomine told himself and realized something. He paused for a while as a smile grew on his face. 'Come to think of it... I never felt like this towards a player like her before...' he thought. 'She keeps me pump up!'

Minna!!! sorry i haven't update for a while >.< it's because of school ;_; anyway, i hope you guys like the chapter... :3