The school halls were empty, a thin layer of dust settling quietly in the illuminating sun. It was surprising that as for such a renewed school, Komagi's pupils were so keen to leave their seats in order to return to their homes; having diner, going out with their friend for a movie or simply laying around, the thoughts of school activities pushed back in their minds. It was amazing how easy it was for them to switch back to their regular lives. Mother asking how their day's been, father nodding in approval when presented scores of the semifinals. Kou nearly felt envious. Nearly.

A dry swoosh of a page-turning filled an empty classroom as she run her eyes down the words in an indifferent, almost bored manner, her fingers grinding the corner of the page. She was already in the first half of it, yet to story somehow didn't grip her attention enough for her to continue. Kou looked through the window, her eyes sliding down the winter scenario; before shutting the book, Miho stood up and checked the watch over the blackboard. The clock's needle neared the number 5; it was time for her to go. Grabbing her stuff from the desk, the girl left the empty classroom and disappeared into the quiet school halls. She didn't even bother to check for the messages on her phone already well aware of where she should go first.

As Kou reached the music room's door, her hand halted on the knob, cheerful laugh making her lips curl up in a smirk. With an exaggerated sigh, she turned on your heel and leaned on the wall, her hand already digging in her pocket for her phone. The screen lighted as Kou unlocked it; few flicks on the keyboard and she pushed the device back into her uniform's pocket. A small ring was heard from behind the door of the music room. The girl pushed herself on her feet and strolled further down the hallway. Shortly after she heard the door crack open, a large amount of light illuminating dusted, grey floor. Kou watched as three figures emerged.

"That was amazing, Hanamiya-kun!" Chirped a girly voice; a long-haired girl clenched her little fists in excitement. "I can't wait to hear you at the recital. I bet you'll win!"

"Hanamiya-kun doesn't care about winning!" A tall girl chided, the whole dust going up as she stumbled her foot angrily. Geez... "Don't mind Izumi-chan's words, Hanamiya-kun! Everyone is always very touched by your performances." She assured. Just like a puppy wiggling its tail at the sight of its owner.

"It's okay, Mi-chan." Hanamiya gave out a low chuckle of amusement; it nearly made Miho snort out loud. There was no way that those two took him seriously. "I'm sure Izumi-chan didn't mean bad." He added sweetly. "Now if I may excuse you, I have some previous engagements."

The girls made a sigh of disappointment, as Hanamiya already turned on his heel ready to go.

"Can we come to your practice some time, Ha—M-Makoto-kun?"

Miho couldn't stifle a snigger, as one of the girls called after Hanamiya by his first name. She could nearly picture his eyelid twitching.

Hanamiya turned his head, a wide smile already plastered to his face. "Of course. That would be very nice." And with that, he left.

Kou heard a loud squeak from the girls. This time she just couldn't control booming laughter coming from the very bottom of her chest. She didn't know what made her more entertained when seeing this situation ― the first-year's oblivious behaviour towards Hanamiya's apparent indifference, or her friend's petty way around his fangirls. As Hanamiya levelled with her, she already managed to regain her composure. Kou pulled a stony face.

"Can we take a moment here, so I could appreciate the way your bangs fall over your eyes, Makoto-KUN?" Miho's hand darted not so gently to pull on Hanamiya's hair; he smacked her hand away but she yet again ruffled his wispy fringe.

"Just give me my glasses back. I can't see my own feet."

Kou retreated her hand and lazily began rummaging through her bag.

"You know what?" She took the spectacles out, Hanamiya immediately snapping them from her hand. "Your life would be much easier, Makoto, if you kept wearing them."

"Next time try to be less obvious, Miho. I could hear your cackle from the other side of the doors." Hanamiya grimaced, examining his glasses; he wiped the spectacles over his trousers and pushed them up his nose. His forehead crinkled as he apparently still couldn't see clear enough.

Maybe Kou should have kept them in some sort of case?

Well, who cares.

"That's only because you knew I was there. Your... fanbase is pretty ignorant." Miho examined her nails. "But seriously... how do you stand them is beyond my imagination. What makes them so... into you."

Hanamiya pushed his finally clean glasses up his nose, which made him look more like her nasty friend and not a doll-like version of himself.

"My personal charm and handsome face of course." He deadpanned and strolled down an empty hallway.

Shortly after Kou caught up with him. "Just grow your hair out." She said levelling with him. "It makes you look less like an idiot."

"I like it better that way. Does not get into my eyes." The boy fingered his short hair and chuckled.

"It's not like you can see anyway, Makoto."

"I can."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"Then why did you let those pests into the music room?" Miho cocked her eyebrow.

"Well..." Hanamiya stopped and Kou stepped before him, her eyebrow raised mockingly. "That's a different case, Miho. You see... I—", he moved to her side and swung his arm over her shoulder, "— have a reputation to uphold. I am the piano prodigy and as if that wasn't enough, I am also good at sports. You wouldn't understand it since it's not the same for you, Miho. Eyes are watching me anywhere I go and you— well, I'm almost jealous of you." He added in a conspiratorial whisper.

Miho flicked her friend's shoulder off herself in annoyance.

"You don't need to remind me of that every single time, Makoto. I'm well aware of how my life is, thank you very much." She informed dryly, as she readjusted the bag's strap over her shoulder.

"Fine, fine. Whatever." Hanamiya waved his hand defensively. "Let's go before the four-eyes gets us both sacked. We're gonna be late." He bumped into her shoulder, as he resumed walking.

"Your sorry ass." Kou corrected as she followed behind. "Only you're on the team. And it's past five. We are already late."

"Didn't I tell you that the practice starts at six today?" Hanamiya asked, looking bewildered.

"No. You clearly said five."

Kou surely could remember that since her friend sent her at least a dozen of texts and even bothered to wake her up early this morning, just to make sure she did not forget that detail.

"Sorry, Miho." He really wasn't. "The dates must have got myself mixed up."

♕♚♕♚

As the two of them entered the gym, the duo was greeted by a glare from Imayoshi. Apparently only Hanamiya and Kou were dumb enough to show up roughly an hour before the time. The girl really wanted to kick Hanamiya in the sheen for making them come so early.

"Miho? Your psycho is showing." Her friend's voice burst in on her thoughts.

With a dead-fish gaze, she shoved her finger into his face, making well known to Hanamiya what she thought of his opinion.

"Oi! Cut it out and get here!" Imayoshi called before disappearing into the coach's room.

For the lack of better options, the duo followed the captain.

"Do you have everything, Kou?" Imayoshi asked as Hanamiya and she entered the room. "Where did that old cot put those..." The boy mused as he rummaged through carton boxes.

Hanamiya walked over to the coach's chair and casually dropped onto it, resting his feet on the desk, as Kou pulled a rather thick file and handed it to Imayoshi.

"The DVDs are inside." She poked the boy in the shoulder with the paper folder. "Can I go now?"

Imayoshi shot her a dirty look since he spend the whole afternoon looking for the DVDs which turned out to be in Kou's possession. He snatched the folder from her hands and stood up.

"It's not like I can stop you or anything." He barked, flicking the pages, "Hanamiya?"

"Just sit down, Miho." Her friend rolled his eyes. "You know that Imayoshi can't decipher your scrawl. Besides you always ask that and end up staying anyway. You're just too lazy to leave."

It was debatable who was more annoyed with Hanamiya's remark; Kou for being called lazy or Imayoshi, who turned redder every time the other boy called him so informally; both of them glared at him. Hanamiya only pushed his glasses up with that all-knowing smirk of his.

The girl rubbed the creased spot between her eyebrows with her fingers. "Fine. Whatever... just I'm not gonna say it twice so better everyone come soon."

♕♚♕♚

By the time clock chimed 6PM, every member of Komagi's basketball team gathered in the coach's room sitting on whichever spot was vacant. Soon the whole floor was filled with teenage kids, elbowing each other to get more space.

As the video of their future rivals ended, Imayoshi played on replay, slowly, as if to total retards, explaining every crucial moment in the game. Kou nearly dozed off on her spot by the desk, but as soon as her head began to sway to the sides, she jolted up, feeling Hanamiya's finger digging into her ribs.

"Just cut it out!" The girl snapped at him but he already leaned back in his chair, already razor-focused on the video. Imayoshi glared at them but Kou only stifled a yawn and waved at him to continue. The captain lifted his glasses slightly and rubbed his eyes; he started questioning his sanity for keeping their duo in the team for so long.

After a prolonged speech, Imayoshi was finally done. Literally elbowing her way between the boys, Kou made her way to the board.

"Miss manager!" Someone catcalled.

"Say it once again, Keiji, and I'll check how far your tongue lays your throat." She narrowed her eyes at the crowd.

"Oi, manners! Shut it you two!" Imayoshi chimed in. "We don't have a whole day."

For a moment Kou kept her eyes at your underclassman; the Keiji boy gave a nervous laugh.

"Fine... let's proceed." The girl turned her eyes back on the board where eight photos were hanging, pinned with black-dot magnets; Kou took out a laser indicator from her pocket and turned it on, light slipping between stilled faces. "Is there anyone who doesn't know them?" She scanned the crowd for confirmation. "We'll be playing against them next week so better get familiar with their mutts, okay? They're called..." She paused, feeling ridiculous. "Generation of... Miracles... for a reason."

With a corner of her eye, Miho could see Hanamiya rather entertained with her distress but as she began explaining about the players, his face went serious again.

There wasn't much to the Teiko team. After a closer look, Kou didn't really get what was so special about them, but nevertheless, she kept going through her information, skilfully moving from one player to another.

"We can't really tell now what their first string will look like now," The girl turned the indicator off as she was nearing an end, "but from my predictions, and I'm usually right—" The whole team gave a loud whistling sound as Kou bragged humbly, "—fine. Always—" Another whistle made her smirk at the team's level of maturity. "These goons should be in the first string." She announced, pointing her finger at the photos.

"What makes you think they won't bring Kise on the court?" Someone asked.

"Because he's new and we're not that weak," Kou stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So Haizaki will—"

"Yes, he will." Kou blurted in annoyance.

"Kou-san?"

"What now?"

"What about the girl?"

Kou's spine gave a crack as she starched her neck to the sides. "Does she look like a player to you, Ichiro? She's just a manager." The girl snapped, too irritated to be bothered.

Hanamiya leaned forward, resting his face cupped in his hand. "I heard that Momoi is a little fangirl of yours Miho." He hinted slyly; Kou grimaced, as she heard about the younger girl's... admiration. "They call her the female version of you."

"And what am I?! A dog?!" Kou barked. "Just take my words as I say. I've been doing this—" She motioned her hand over the board, circling it in a sweep notion, "— when that girl was watching Sailor Moon, running around with a wooden spoon! Just rest assured that Momoi won't have a shite on us when you enter the court." Kou ranted, feeling mildly offended by the team's lack of faith in her.

"If you say so," Hanamiya stated as he indifferently took off his glasses and began cleaning them with his sleeve.

Miho was about to open her mouth to say something nasty but Imayoshi raised from his seat, making her stop halfway.

"Alright. It's time for the real practice now." He clapped his hands; the team members got up, whining. "The last person on the court gets the cleaning duties with Kou."

In a flash, everyone was out except for Imayoshi, Hanamiya and her. For a moment Miho considered whether she should feel offended. Cleaning duties with her couldn't be that bad. She wasn't that bad with the cleaning duties, that was. Mostly because she rarely did anything productive, leaving all the work to the other person.

Fine, Kou couldn't get offended.

"You're still here, Hanamiya? Get in your sweats already." Imayoshi turned to the other boy, as Makoto gathered his belongings ready to leave. "Coach will flip out if he sees you skipped."

"I don't really care." Hanamiya stretched out his arms and not bothering to stifle a massive yawn."Let's get some ramen, Miho." He offered as he walked out, leaving Imayoshi grinding his teeth.

♕♚♕♚

"Are you that confident, Makoto?" Kou asked, slurping on her soup.

The two of them were sitting in a small bar near Hanamiya's place, two bowls of noodles before them.

"Not really..." Her friend was picking out the beans from his dish, putting them onto a small plate in the middle of the table. "I just didn't feel like sweating today."

"If that would make you win against Teiko, then you should." Miho grimaced, following Hanamiya's gaze, who looked out of the windowsill; it'd started raining.

"You think we can win?" The boy asked suddenly.

Kou took a spoonful of noodles before answering. "Well... sure... based on the data, if you actually give it a try, we can enter the nationals before we leave."

"Then I trust you, Miho." Hanamiya's words made her choke on the dish, "We'll see what happens on Saturday." He added, finally digging into his food, all beans left in a small pile on the plate.

Suddenly, Miho lost her appetite. The paper charts and numbers were one, unknown variables were another. She wasn't so confident anymore, she thought. At least not in the way her friend believed her to be.