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It wasn’t a mystery that Seirin’s number 12 was happily taken.
A little while after they’d won the Winter Cup, Furihata let slip that he’d been seeing somebody. Of course, it hadn’t been intentional on his part—just a classic case of accidentally blurting out something he hadn’t meant to.
Initially, everyone had assumed that the person must be the girl he’d mentioned having a crush on when he’d first joined the team. However, that assumption was quickly stomped down when Furihata eventually disclosed that he’d outgrown that crush halfway through the Inter-High. That was how it soon became known that rather than a girlfriend, Furihata Kouki had in fact gotten himself a boyfriend. The news came as quite the shocker at first. But after the initial stage of surprise, everyone readily accepted it for what it was.
It now came as common knowledge amongst Furihata’s peers that he had a boyfriend.
That was no mystery.
The mystery was who exactly that boyfriend could be. Unfortunately, Furihata was successfully keeping his lips sealed on that front.
But for what it was worth, it wasn’t as though there was a lack of clues to work with. The clues were quite plenty, actually.
***
It was hard not to notice. Furihata had started coming to school looking very…red.
And not just red in the sense that the brunet would often gaze off into space, and then promptly flush sixty shades of crimson at some memory unknown to his observers. No, he’d been showing up to school literally with red all over him.
The new mahogany coat he was wearing in the mornings in lieu of the usual green. The pair of loafers he’d recently acquired to match along with the coat. That scarlet pencil case with equally scarlet pencils he’d suddenly started using during class. Furihata’s missing white towel and the cherry-colored one he now hung in his locker in its place.
Perhaps the most glaringly obvious was the red wristband he had taken to keeping on during practice.
Kawahara squinted as he observed his friend from afar. Furihata was currently shooting a few baskets from a couple of feet away, the flamboyant color encircling his right wrist highlighting his every movement. “Doesn’t he look red?” he asked Fukuda.
“He looks very red,” Fukuda agreed.
“Yeah, it’s rare seeing so much red on someone other than…”
Furihata’s two friends paused, for just then, on the opposite side of the gym, Kagami jumped rather boisterously and landed the most perfect dunk.
***
“You know,” Kawahara said, as the three of them were walking home from school. “Now that one of us is in the dating scene, doesn’t this change the dynamics of our friendship a bit?”
Furihata blinked. “How so?”
“Well, you’re dating somebody. We’re still single,” said Kawahara. “Seriously, I still can’t help but keep wondering how the heck this even happened!” There was a little of a whine in his voice.
Furihata simply sent a blank stare his way.
“The spotlight has been on you recently, hasn’t it, Furi?” said Fukuda.
“What do you mean?” asked Furihata.
“Well, let’s see. You got to leave the bench first out of the three of us,” Kawahara said. “You scored a basket in an official game first out of the three of us. And now you’ve started dating somebody first out of the three of us.” He scratched his head and emitted a noise which sounded much like frustration. “Since when did fate make you into the lucky superstar of this trio anyway?”
Furihata knitted his brow, one hand coming up to grab at the straps of his shoulder bag. “Is that…animosity I’m sensing from you two?!” he said, somewhat hurt. “Guys, I thought we were friends.” He puffed his cheeks out slightly as if to sulk.
“We are, we are,” Fukuda reassured. He gave Furihata an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “We’re happy for you, really. But it’s just…you know. When is it going to be our turn?”
“Yeah!” said Kawahara. “I want a girlfriend!”
Furihata frowned. “It’ll happen,” he said. “When you least expect it.”
“That’s what everyone who’s happily taken says!” Kawahara bemoaned. Not that he was wrong, though.
Furihata shook his head. “No, really,” he said. “I’m not even sure how I got into this myself.” There was a reflective quality to his features. “It’s funny, because…uh…my initial impression of him was that he was a really intimidating guy.” A soft chuckle escaped him. “Not at all someone I could even imagine being friends with, if I’m to be honest.”
“Intimidating, you say?” It came to Kawahara then that this was actually the first time he’d heard the brunet talk about what this boyfriend of his was supposedly like.
Furihata nodded. “He’s, how do I put this, he’s the type who has a sort of…commanding presence?” Furihata glanced up at the sky in search for the right words. “You know, the type who draws attention to himself the minute he walks into a room.”
Kawahara perked up in thought at that, face speculative.
“Anyways, he came off to me as, um, pretty scary at first!” said Furihata.
“Huh…” Kawahara blinked. He suddenly thought about 190 centimeters tall teenage boys who towered over the majority of this country’s population. He thought about guys with fierce looking eyebrows split into the shapes of…scissors. Guys who gave off auras with the intensity of a wild tiger. A guy who had initially freaked Kawahara out when he’d first joined the basketball team, but not so anymore after getting to know that same guy over a period of months in training together.
“We’re complete opposites too,” Furihata continued. “So you could say that we’re even…ah…mismatched.”
Kawahara eyed the air, nose wrinkled in contemplation.
Opposites.
Chihuahuas.
Opposites.
Tigers.
“In any case, what I’m getting at is that these things can happen out of the blue,” said Furihata, his voice one of learned experience. “Sometimes, you won’t even see it coming.” He stopped talking when they reached the intersection of a new set of streets. “Oh, my house is that way!” he said, gesturing to his right. “I’ll see you two tomorrow!” He waved and took off.
Once Furihata was out of sight, Kawahara turned to Fukuda.
“Hey…” he said. “This is going to sound pretty crazy. But lately I’ve sort of got this…theory circling in my head. It’s totally weird but…”
Fukuda shot him a curious look. “Let’s hear it.”
***
Lunch was in session, and like what many high school students did when presented with the opportunity of free time, Furihata had his eyes glued to his phone. So engrossed was he in the world of internet surfing and text messaging that he was completely tuning out his surroundings, thus failing to notice another presence looming beside him.
“Furihata-kun, is that a new phone?”
Still rather preoccupied, Furihata looked up out of pure instinct. As soon as his eyes recognized the form of Kuroko peering down at him, he instantly shot backwards in surprise, cradling his hands to his chest. “AH! D-don’t scare me like that!” he whined.
“I’ve been here from the start,” said Kuroko. “At any rate, I can’t seem to recall seeing you with that phone before, Furihata-kun.”
“Ah…yes, well,” Furihata coughed. “The one I had broke, so I needed a replacement.” There was a tinge of regret in his voice, alluding Kuroko to the fact that he was probably still mourning its loss.
Kuroko looked at Furihata’s phone in interest. It was an extravagant looking thing, which had been the primary reason why it’d caught his attention in the first place. “That’s quite an expensive model,” he observed. “I never thought you’d be the type with such...luxurious tastes.”
That comment prompted a light pink to dust across Furihata’s cheeks. “I’m not!” he protested quickly. “My, um, boyfriend gave this to me, actually. As a present.”
Kuroko stared at him. “You’ve been buried in gifts lately, haven’t you?” He flicked his eyes over the casing to Furihata’s phone. Crimson. “He must enjoy spoiling you.”
A shred of embarrassment crossed Furihata’s features then. “I keep telling him not to, but he never listens,” he said, his lips pulling into a pout. “Especially when it comes to pricey things…” Furihata frowned a bit. “Though I suppose from his economic standpoint, they wouldn’t be considered expensive.”
Kuroko stopped, reading between the lines of that remark. “Furihata-kun, you’re going out with somebody who’s…rich?”
“Hm?” Furihata blinked at him distractedly. “Well… I guess you could put it that way? I mean, his dad is in the field of business and is very successful.”
***
“Kagami-kun, what does your father do again?”
“What?” Caught unawares, Kagami glanced up from his English assignment.
“Your father’s occupation,” Kuroko clarified. “You mentioned it briefly to the entire team that time we were first gathered in your fancy apartment, remember?” He tapped his pencil against his half-finished homework in recollection. “When we found out that you were a despicably wealthy guy, and I had to threaten to stop being your shadow as a result.”
“Hey!” Kagami exclaimed at the last part. “How was any of that my fault?”
“What does he do?” Kuroko pressed, ignoring the outburst.
Kagami leaned back in his chair, eyebrows scrunched up in thought. “Consulting work. For big corporations in America.”
Kuroko hummed reflectively at the answer. “Consulting…was it?” he repeated, scanning the reading their teacher had assigned for today.
The business field.
“Pretty much. I don’t really know all the details, but he’s supposed to be really good at what he does,” said Kagami. He looked to Kuroko curiously. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason in particular. Just wanted to confirm something.”
***
“Furi, I’ve been wondering all day, but what’s with the bag?”
Furihata paused when the extra sack of clothes and other utilities he’d been lugging around since this morning was brought into question. To his left, Fukuda was currently eyeing him with a probing air. Kawahara, who was standing directly behind Fukuda, mirrored it once he’d finished pulling his T-shirt over his head.
“Uh. Well.” Furihata cast a quick glance down at his hands. “You know tomorrow’s the start of our Spring Break, right?” He quickly shoved the bag into his locker. “I’m going to be staying at my boyfriend’s during that time. I’m heading right over there after practice.”
“You are? For the whole week?” Koganei chipped in from his right.
“What's the occasion?” Kiyoshi asked.
The other occupants in the locker room had all turned to peer curiously at Furihata now, causing the boy to shrink involuntarily into himself in an instinctive display of self-consciousness.
“N-no occasion, really. Just, he sort of lives in this big place mostly by himself,” said Furihata, trying to ignore the stares that were undoubtedly trained on him. He was never very comfortable when talking about matters pertaining to what he did in his relationship. Especially in front of crowds. “He says he gets lonely, particularly during the holidays. So, um, he asked if I’d mind keeping him company this year.”
Koganei seemed as though he might have wanted to ask another question or two, but a knock at the locker room door interrupted him. As Kuroko and Kagami started introducing their presences into the room, the topic was swiftly dropped.
***
“Kagami, we should have a hotpot at your place again soon.”
It was right after their grilling practice session. Kagami was in the middle of drying his sweat-soaked hair, about to leave the gym when Kiyoshi suddenly came up behind him and made this proposition.
“Huh?” Kagami turned around, pure confusion adorning his face.
“What he means is, it can be hard. Living all alone in that oversized apartment of yours without having anyone to talk to,” said Koganei, clapping a supportive hand on Kagami’s shoulder.
Kagami’s response was only to express more of his initial bewilderment. “HUH?”
“So let’s have a hotpot at your place again soon,” said Kiyoshi with his thousand-watt smile. “And we can have as many more of those hotpots as you want.” The smile brightened, if that was even possible. “Whenever you are craving company, just say the word—don’t be shy!”
Kagami was incredulous. “Wha—you guys just want to invite yourselves over, don’t you?!”
***
It was a rather chilly afternoon and Coach had sent the entire team out to run their weekly dosage of laps. Between trying to properly pace himself and doing his best to keep up with the rest of the group, something was suddenly brought to Kuroko’s attention.
“Furihata-kun, you have a few strands of red hair stuck on your jersey jacket.”
“What?” Furihata automatically slowed. On impulse, he began inspecting himself through an erratic series of self-induced pats.
“Towards the hem,” Kuroko said helpfully.
Furihata heeded the advice and brushed the stray strands away, an oddly flustered expression making itself home on his face as he did so.
Kuroko noted his teammate’s reaction with interest. “I’m going to assume you’re dating a redhead, then?” he inquired.
Furihata sputtered in response, which Kuroko interpreted as a ‘yes.’
“Out of curiosity, would this person happen to have red eyes as well?”
Furihata sputtered once more, which Kuroko again interpreted to be substitution for a ‘yes.’
“H-How did you know?!” The brunet’s eyes were wide in genuine surprise.
“I didn’t. I was merely guessing.”
***
“Hey, Furi. Is it just me or has Kuroko been staring at us a lot lately?”
Furihata temporarily diverted his attention from the novel he was reading to look at Kagami. “He has?”
“Yeah, he keeps giving us these weird looks!”
Furihata furrowed his brow, uncomprehending. “Really? I haven’t noticed.”
“Well, you should. I mean—see he’s doing it right now! Behind you!” Kagami motioned for Furihata to turn his head.
Furihata made to comply, but his phone decided to vibrate then, alerting him to an incoming call. Putting down his book, Furihata reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone. Upon taking a look at the screen, his face promptly lit up, a fond smile immediately pulling at his lips. “Sorry, Kagami. I, um, have to take this call!” he said, picking up his book as he rose from his seat. “Later, okay?”
***
It wasn’t often that the basketball team ate lunch together. But whenever they did, their meals were always consumed through a blur of bad puns, stale jokes, and the other usual antics that would occur during practice.
“By the way, where’s Kagami?” Hyuuga asked Kuroko, noting the redhead’s absence from their circle.
“Having a talk with our science teacher,” Kuroko replied, unwrapping the sandwich he had purchased from the cafeteria. “He got in trouble for falling asleep in class.” Kuroko took a bite out of his sandwich.
Furihata was seconds away from digging into the contents of his own homemade lunch, when he was interrupted by a comment from Koganei.
“Woah, I’ve never seen an omelet prepared in that way before. Pretty neat,” the cat-like boy said. Koganei’s remark had the effect of drawing the rest of the group’s attention over to Furihata’s lunchbox. Murmurs of agreement to Koganei quickly followed as the other members of the team noted the appearance of Furihata’s omelet.
“Erm, yeah, I thought the same thing!” Furihata said, lowering his chopsticks. “This is actually a new recipe I learned over Spring Break.”
“Oh! The one you spent with your boyfriend, right?” Koganei chewed into his melon bun.
Furihata squirmed involuntarily at the abrupt mention. “R-right. Anyways, he had this prepared for dinner one day, and I liked it so much that I had to ask for the recipe,” he said. “It was very hard to recreate—I still haven’t gotten it down pat—but it’s really, really tasty!”
As everybody’s thoughts immediately went to the creative culinary skills of one Seirin ace, Furihata’s thoughts immediately went to the creative culinary skills of the chef who worked at his significant other’s manor.
***
“Furi, call me crazy but it’s not just Kuroko anymore! The entire team has been looking at us weird!”
Furihata raised an eyebrow in a show of skepticism. “Eh? That again, Kagami? Are you sure it’s not just your imagination?” He had just been about to exit through the school gates when Kagami ambushed him.
“No! They keep glancing over at us strangely whenever I talk to you.” Kagami paused before adding, “Or whenever you talk to me.”
“Well…have you done something out of the ordinary recently?” Furihata looked at the redhead curiously.
“Heck no! Have you?”
“Of course not,” said Furihata, puffing out a breath. “And I don’t think I could even if I wanted to. I’m all about being ordinary, remember?”
Kagami made a few disgruntled noises. He then proceeded to rattle some more about how they had apparently been the subjects of an intense scrutiny all week, and that it was driving him mad. He seemed very much wrecked by paranoia. “We’re being watched, I tell you! We’re being watched!” he insisted.
Furihata frowned, trying but failing to understand his teammate’s plight. He listened to Kagami’s nonsensical babblings for another full minute or so before his gaze flicked down to his watch. Furihata’s eyes widened as he noted the time. He took that moment to quickly interrupt and excuse himself from Kagami’s ramblings, citing that he had to catch the next train leaving for Kyoto.
***
Furihata Kouki was the type to wear his heart on his sleeve. It was just one of those many things which ran in the Furihata family. He was an insistently transparent person even during times when he tried hard not to be. That was why, when he came to school that morning nursing troubled thoughts, Kuroko was able to pick up on it in an instant.
It had taken a bit of coaxing, but the point guard eventually relented and admitted that something was indeed bothering him.
“Did you have a quarrel with your significant other?” asked Kuroko.
“No, nothing like that,” said Furihata. “I’ve just been um…thinking about his family situation recently.”
Kuroko blinked. “His family, you say?”
“Yeah. He has a…uh…well, I think he has a sort of complicated relationship with his father,” Furihata said slowly.
“Oh?” Kuroko paused in thought. It wasn’t long before the implications of Furihata’s words suddenly clicked. Oh. How could he have overlooked something this obvious? His light’s family situation was as bizarre as they could come. After all, how often does a father choose to stay in one country, and then leave his 16 year old son alone to fend for himself in an entirely different country? It wouldn’t be surprising if a strained father-son relationship had spawned from that as a result. Not to mention, his light also had to deal with the additional stress of having his mother be absent from the picture.
“To begin with, they rarely see each other because his dad is always immersed with his work, you see,” continued Furihata. “So the relationship is kind of a distant one from what I can observe.”
Kuroko nodded. Of course. Frequent contact would be rather difficult with the father working all the way in America and the son attending school in Japan.
“And, well, I think it bothers him—quite a bit.” Furihata looked down at his hands as he laid out his concerns. “He gets that kind of look in his eyes whenever I talk about how close I am with my own mom and dad.” He fiddled with his fingers, the action prompted by a combination of uncertainty and worry. “But he isn’t one to talk about his private problems with others so he never speaks about it. Even when I ask.”
Kuroko couldn’t agree more. When was the last time his light had talked about something regarding himself that didn’t have a connection to basketball?
“N-Not that he has any obligation to tell me things he doesn’t want to!” Furihata quickly put in. “But, I just think that sometimes he tries too hard to…you know, keep up appearances of being…strong.” Furihata’s eyebrows converged slightly in his quest to find the right words. “Also, he’s the type who prefers shouldering everything on his own, so he’s not very open to outside interference.”
And Kuroko, who’s been working as his partner on the court for more than a year now, understood completely. The reluctance to expose one’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities—it was an automatic defense mechanism which came hand in hand with being independent to a fault. Kuroko still remembered when his light would take on the crushing weight of winning every basketball game by himself. Of course, he’s since learned to rely on his teammates on the court, but apparently that kind of mentality had yet to be transferred over to matters regarding his more personal life.
“Anyways, he hasn’t seen his dad in a while because of all the business trips. And a few days ago, he got a phone call from him,” Furihata explained, his eyes downcast. “And ever since, I’ve felt that something about him has been…off.” The frown hanging on his face deepened. “But whenever I try to talk about it, he changes the topic. He’s been pretending that everything’s fine when something’s clearly on his mind.”
“I see,” said Kuroko pensively. Now that Furihata mentioned it, his light had been acting rather strangely recently. The redhead seemed antsy and on edge as of late, especially when he was around Kuroko and the rest of the team. That phone call must have been the culprit.
“A-and, w-well…I don’t want him to have to do that around me.” Furihata paused and pursed his lips in concentration. “If something’s bothering him, I want to be somebody he can talk honestly with,” he said, playing with the hem of his uniform. “But I’m not sure how to bring this up without seeming like I’m, um…overstepping my boundaries.”
Kuroko hummed thoughtfully. “Furihata-kun, sometimes it’s necessary to overstep boundaries to get through to someone.”
The brunet simply looked at him, features marred with hesitation.
“In my opinion, the best thing to do is to tell him directly; let him know that you don’t wish for him to bear his troubles by himself.” There was a solid resoluteness to Kuroko’s tone. “Even if he decides to reject your outreach initially, he’ll be glad to know it’s there in due time.”
Furihata regarded the advice with an air of discretion. “You…really think so?”
“I know so.”
Kuroko mentally reminded himself to also bring this matter to the attention of his other teammates. His light could very well do with having a few more people as potential support pillars on hand.
***
When Kagami sauntered his way to practice that afternoon, he was greeted by the unusual sight of his upperclassmen teammates barricading the door to the gym. The image came as a perplexing one, to say the least. As he noted how oddly happy they all seemed to be, Kagami wondered if perhaps practice had been cancelled and that they were currently rejoicing after being spared from a day of torture.
However, it soon became apparent that wasn’t the case.
“Kagami, you know that if you ever need someone to speak with regarding any personal issues, your Senpais will always be available to lend a listening ear, right?” Izuki said, in a voice which made him sound like he was a school counselor in training. Which pretty much freaked Kagami out, because whenever Izuki wasn’t sounding like a comedian in training, the end of the world must be near.
Naturally, Kagami gave the only response he deemed was appropriate. “Uh…what?”
“We understand that your home situation might not be a very ideal one,” Koganei chipped in. “Y’know, considering your long-distance relationship with your dad and all.”
“And living in a single-parent family can be tough emotionally,” Izuki added.
“Uh…” said Kagami.
“So we want you to know that we’re here for you! You don’t have to carry all your burdens alone!” Kiyoshi chirped, his shiny smile stretching from ear to ear. “If you ever need us, we’ve got your back!”
Kagami only blinked. “Well…thanks? I guess?”
They all beamed warmly at him in response, sending out pheromones they thought were intended to soothe but in reality had the most discomforting effect on Kagami.
The redhead twitched. What’s with you all lately?! You’ve been acting really creepy!
***
There was something about listening to your best friend talk on the phone with their significant other that made the experience feel rather foreign and invasive. And that was exactly how Kawahara and Fukuda would describe it when Furihata’s boyfriend suddenly called while the three of them were walking home together one afternoon, following a day of shopping at the mall.
“Ahaha…yeah, I know! Um…so how are things going with…”
The two of them trailed behind Furihata quietly at a respectable distance—far enough to give their friend private walking space, but close enough to catch bits and pieces of the ongoing conversation. For a while, Furihata’s melodic voice had been the only sound to grace the air in their vicinity. That changed, however, when they started traversing through the park. As they were passing by the fountain, their ears were suddenly attacked by a loud, rebellious yapping.
An elderly woman was trying to get her dog to behave to no avail. “Come on, boy!” she ordered, pulling on his leash. “Let’s get going!”
Said dog refused to comply, and simply responded with an even louder series of annoying barks.
“Down, boy!” She gave him a rather sharp tug. “Listen to me! I said, listen to me!” she snapped. “Why do you never listen?!”
Furihata winced as the dog began to bark viciously in his direction. Cupping his free ear, he quickened his pace to move away from the lady and her disobedient dog. His two friends promptly followed suit behind him.
“S…orry, could you please repeat that?” Furihata said to his phone once they were in the clear. “Right…yes, that’s right. Oh, a woman was trying to control her dog, and—” Furihata paused as he listened to the voice on the other end of the line. The person must have said something amusing, because a soft laugh escaped Furihata’s lips. “Well, good thing you’re not here, then! You wouldn’t want to deal with a dog like that [1]!”
It was with these last words out of Furihata’s mouth that Kawahara and Fukuda looked at one another, eyebrows raised.
“Just now, did he—” began Fukuda.
Kawahara nodded. “Sure did. He just confirmed that his boyfriend is a dog hater.” Well. Technically that wasn’t Furihata’s exact wording at all, but when suspicions were running at an all time high, it was close enough to be interpreted as such.
Fukuda wrinkled his nose. “Another piece of evidence to add to the ever growing pile, huh? I’ve been trying to remain skeptical, but I think I believe it in full now.”
“You should. There’s just no other logical option.”
***
“Furihata-kun! You’ve improved a lot since the Winter Cup!” Coach Riko remarked one rainy afternoon. The lack of clear weather outside meant that they were spared from running laps, at the very least. “You’ve been surpassing expectations lately.”
“A-ah, really?” Furihata shyly scratched the back of his head, caught unawares by their Coach’s unexpected compliment. Furihata wasn’t accustomed to being the target of praise, and that was entirely because he wasn’t used to ever thinking that anything he did was considered worthy of praise.
“Yeah, Furi! Did you sign up for extra training lessons or something?” Kawahara asked.
Furihata coughed. “A-actually…I’ve been practicing with my…boyfriend.” He rolled the basketball sitting between his palms in an experimental manner. “Outside of school.”
Fukuda side-eyed him from his position below the hoop. “Your boyfriend plays basketball?”
“Well…yeah,” said Furihata. “He’s, ah, much better at it than me, so I’ve been getting a lot of pointers from him.”
It was lost on Furihata and a certain redhead, but everyone in the gym swapped a series of silent looks then.
It was a series of looks identical to the ones detectives might exchange when reaching the climax of a long running, investigative case.
***
The lights were dimmed out, and a group of teenage boys were huddled closely together in a locker room, peering down at a yellow document. The grave expressions on all their faces were half-covered in shadow due to the lack of proper lighting. It was long after practice hours had ended, and the current atmosphere at hand was a serious one. Outside, the rain was still going strong as streaks of lightning flashed across the dark skies. If it weren’t for the fact that this was a locker room and everyone was still dressed in their basketball jerseys, one would think that this was a screenshot taken directly from a mystery-genre anime.
“So for those of you who were still on the fence, there’s no question about it now, right?” said Koganei. “We finally got that last confirmation—plays basketball.”
Kawahara nodded. “The facts pretty much speak for themselves.”
“I have to say, I was somewhat skeptical at first, but this case is closed,” said Tsuchida.
“I’ve tried to be skeptical this whole time, but after that thing with the dog…I can’t anymore.” Fukuda shook his head.
“Well, the majority of us started believing it at the halfway point anyway,” Izuki said. “And some of us right from the start.” He pointedly looked to Kuroko and Kawahara.
“There’s no way it couldn’t be him! He matches the information in this compiled data set to a T!” Hyuuga declared, in a way which reminded Kuroko an awfully lot of Momoi.
The ‘compiled data set’ was a list of notes scribbled meticulously by Mitobe on a yellow notepad. Said notepad was currently sitting on the middle of the bench the group was huddled around, being subjected to intense scrutiny. The title at the top of the front page read, ‘What We Know Regarding Furihata Kouki’s Mystery Boyfriend.’
“Ahaha. Well, let me just say that I fully approve of this relationship,” said Kiyoshi with his usual port of buoyancy. “And if any of you disapproves at this point…well, as the honorary father of this team, I will approve in your place.”
“Why is he honorary father?” Izuki whispered to Koganei.
“Because he’s the tallest of us all?” Koganei whispered back.
Izuki couldn’t argue with that.
“Idiot! Nobody needs you to approve in their place because nobody disapproves!” Hyuuga slapped Kiyoshi on the back. He then turned to the rest of the team. “Right?!”
There was a collective nod.
“So now that the case is officially closed, and nobody here has any further doubts…” Koganei looked around the circle. “…we’re going to have them come clean like we agreed, right? It’s been fun, but I can’t take this anymore.”
“Frankly, I’m offended that they didn’t trust us enough to tell us in the first place!” said Hyuuga. “I mean, we’re all part of the same team! There should be no secrets between fellow team members!”
“Okay! So next week on Monday, let’s all surprise them and tell them that we support their relationship!” Koganei declared, pumping a fist in the air.
***
Kagami Taiga had been walking around half-asleep all day.
His unfortunate condition was entirely attributed to the rather rough weekend he’d had. The rather rough weekend transpired as a result of Alex’s spontaneous decision to crash at his apartment while she was visiting Japan. And as if that wasn’t trouble enough, she had invited the two friends she was traveling with along for the ride, effectively tripling the intensity of her apartment crashing.
“Why not stay at a hotel?” Kagami had exclaimed whilst watching his tidy home get ransacked.
“Well, I ran into a little blue bird while I was in town,” she’d replied. “He told me that you’ve been feeling down and alone recently. And perhaps in need of a comforting parental figure.”
Which had then led Kagami to argue that comforting parental figures usually wouldn’t do things such as destroying their son’s apartments, but had Alex listened? Of course not.
Kagami groaned as he was forced to recall what was probably the two most sleepless and rowdiest nights he’d ever had. Alex and her friends had taken it upon themselves to be as lively as inhumanly possible. They’d went as far as to throw three parties in what they’d claimed was a bid to relieve Kagami of some of his…‘lonely rich boy angst.’ It had been total chaos. If Kagami ever found out who that little blue bird was, he had a few unkind things to say to him.
Weighed down by his sleepless state, Kagami sluggishly made his way to the lockers.
Rakuzan was supposedly coming over for a practice match today. How on Earth was he supposed to play his best in said match when he was having trouble even staying awake?
The redhead cracked open the door to the locker room, trying to rub the lack of sleep from his bloodshot eyes.
He vaguely observed that his teammates were all clustered into one big group over in a far corner. His nose wrinkled at the sight.
That was strange. Why was everybody standing like that?
Kagami yawned, tears springing to his eyes from the effort.
Through his hazy vision, he made out the form of Koganei bouncing over to him, a wholly cheerful look on his face. Koganei started talking rapidly, so rapidly in fact that in his sleep-deprived state, Kagami had trouble comprehending what was being said.
The power-forward squinted, trying to stifle a second yawn as his ears worked to get up to speed.
“—you and Furihata are going out, and we, like, totally support you two!”
Wait, what?
Needless to say, those words functioned as a magic elixir of some sort, and Kagami was sleepy no more. He was now as awake as they could come.
“WHAT?!”
“We know that you two are dating!” Koganei repeated proudly—optimistically. As though what he was saying was irrefutable fact, and not something he’d cooked up while under the influence of god knows what. “Have known for a while, actually!”
“And we’ve decided that it’s about time we put this issue out in the open!” Hyuuga adjusted his spectacles, the twin glass planes reflecting light in an almost resolute manner. “As a competitive team, it’s crucial that we’re all on the same page.”
“Wha—” Kagami gaped. He staggered, eyes going as wide as saucer plates. “No. No! Furi and I are not—”
“The overwhelming evidence has spoken, Kagami-kun,” interrupted Kuroko. “Denying it at this stage would be unbecoming of you.”
Next to Kuroko, Mitobe was nodding solemnly while pointing at a yellow notepad sitting in his left hand. However, since the front of the notepad happened to be facing Mitobe, Kagami had no idea what he was even pointing at.
“BUT WE’RE NOT!” Kagami exclaimed. What even was happening here? “Oh my god! Coach’s training from hell must have gone to your heads!” That must be it. She’d been upping their workload drastically as of late. “Or maybe you’ve unknowingly been served her cooking!”
“Hey! Did I not just say that as a team, we ought to be on the same page?!” scolded Hyuuga. “Especially with the tournaments coming up!” He sniffed and crossed his arms. “Confess so that we can all move forward as a harmonious unit!”
Kagami was incredulous. “You’ve all DEFINITELY gone off the deep end to have reached that sort of conclusion!”
“Come on, Kagami,” Izuki piped up. He was using his school-counselor-in-training voice instead of his comedian-in-training voice. Which was proof enough to Kagami that Izuki, at the very least, had gone off the deep end. “Just admit it.”
“There’s nothing to admit!”
“You can’t hide from the truth!” Koganei sang.
“There’s no truth to hide from!” Kagami cried.
And Mitobe, for whatever reason, kept pointing to his notepad solemnly, his movements growing increasingly urgent.
“Just what is on that thing anyway?!”
“Enough!” Hyuuga bellowed. He plucked the notepad from Mitobe’s hands and waved it in Kagami’s face. “Look! Someone who’s red all over, lives in a single-parent household, has daddy issues, plays ball, is rich, and on top of that, has beef with dogs! Who else could that person be but you?!” He jabbed a finger towards Kagami’s chest as he listed off each point.
“I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE HECK YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!” Kagami shouted. “WE’RE NOT GOING OUT, I SWEAR!”
As all this was going on, Furihata was on the other side of the school campus, trying to deal with a crisis of his own. His phone had gone missing, and he had no clue as to where it could be. He couldn’t even recall when exactly he’d lost it, much less where. Though, he did vaguely remember having it in his possession on Friday before heading off to Kyoto for the weekend.
Furihata blushed as recent memories of gentle touches, soft kisses, and sweet words filtered through his thoughts. It had been, for lack of better words, a very pleasant weekend. And he’d been in pretty good spirits up until the point he’d realized his phone was AWOL—which was this morning, actually. The vibrant hue drained from his face as reality of his current predicament crashed down again.
He hadn’t even had this one for that long! It was a treasured gift too, which only added to his distress. Furihata cringed as he recalled how his first phone had met its demise—accidentally dropped out of his bedroom window while he was trying to snap a picture of a firefly. He could only hope this second phone wasn’t missing right now because of another dumb move he’d unknowingly made.
Still mourning the possibly permanent disappearance of his second phone, Furihata dragged himself to practice.
Come to think of it, didn’t they have a practice match with another school today?
Which school was it again?
His energy meter was still quite low when he reached the basketball team’s locker room. With a heavy heart and a sigh, he granted himself entry. As soon as he’d walked in and closed the door behind him, however, he was treated to the sight of his entire team half-circled around Kagami like a group of hungry piranhas.
Furihata blinked.
Had Kagami broken yet another basketball hoop in his pursuit to perfect his Kagami-style slam dunk? If so, the redhead has got to stop doing that. Their club funds were not going to last if such behavior was to continue. “What’s…going on here?”
“Furi, help!” Kagami exclaimed. “Everyone’s gone nuts! For some crazy reason, they think the guy you’ve been seeing is me!”
And just like that, Furihata’s energy meter went from pitifully low to impossibly high in no time flat. “WHAT?!”
“I know! My reaction exactly!”
Furihata let his jaw hang unhinged. “Where the heck did you all get that idea?!”
“Everywhere!” Koganei’s declaration was one of utmost confidence.
Kawahara nodded in agreement. “Everywhere.”
“How?!” Furihata cried. In his shock, his duffel bag had slipped from his shoulder to hit the ground.
“It was as obvious as could be, Furihata-kun,” said Kuroko. “The facts don’t lie.”
“What facts?!” Furihata was growing dizzier by the second, the entire situation taking him for a loop. “I’m not going out with him!”
“See?!” Kagami crossed his arms in triumph. “Furi agrees! You guys are nuts.”
“Actually, you’re both just doubling up right now to deny the truth,” Tsuchida said unsupportively.
“WE ARE NOT!” Furihata exclaimed. “Oh my god,” he murmured. “What have you all been eating?!”
“Coach’s cooking, probably,” Kagami replied supportively.
“Now, now. We’ve all fully approved of this relationship already,” said Kiyoshi, as though that was the issue here. “There’s no fear in publicizing it.”
“Did you even hear a single word we’ve been saying?!” Kagami yelled. “We’re not in a relationship!”
“Of course you are!” Hyuuga waved Mitobe’s notepad wildly in both Kagami and Furihata’s faces. He was waving it so very, very wildly that neither Kagami nor Furihata could see a thing that was written on it.
The locker room was in a clear uproar now. There was simply too much of a disconnect between what one side believed was true, and what the other side knew was actually true. The disconnect was of such enormous magnitude that it would probably take a miracle to fix. Not that Furihata would ever resolve to such measures, though, because said miracle happened to be a subject of top secrecy. So, the all-important question of: ‘Are They Dating?!’ continued to be disputed, with Furihata and Kagami insisting, “No, we’re not!” while the rest of the team kept proclaiming, “Yes, you are!”
As it became apparent that there wasn’t going to be an end to this anytime soon, Furihata cradled his head and wobbled back from the turmoil in dismay.
How did it end up like this?! He moaned inwardly to himself. With that, Furihata slumped against the door to the locker room, his head spinning from bewilderment and disbelief.
Rubbing his temples, Furihata attempted to piece together a suitable solution to the dilemma at hand, one that wouldn’t include revealing who he’d actually been seeing. He was still trying to make sense of the mess he’d been unceremoniously thrown into, when a series of knocks from behind him seized his attention. Furihata frowned, raising a brow. He turned around to open the door, ignoring the screams from all around him. His distraught expression quickly transitioned to one of surprise, however, when he saw who was beyond the painted wood.
“Ah, Kouki. Just the person I was looking for.”
It was not unlike the calm before a storm.
The voices behind Furihata quickly died down as everyone’s attention pivoted to the newcomer on the scene.
“Forgive my intrusion, but I wanted to return your phone to you before the practice match.” Akashi Seijuurou was stood at the front doorway, his composed and polished demeanor a complete contrast to the chaotic commotion that had been engulfing the room. “I found it on my nightstand this morning.” He held the item in question out towards Furihata. “You must have neglected to take it with you when you left my house yesterday afternoon.”
Pure silence consumed the room then. With this abrupt change in atmosphere, a sliver of dread gradually began crawling up Furihata’s spine. It was the same kind of dread someone involved in a covert scandal might experience minutes before their unfortunate exposé.
Within the assembled Seirin crowd, a few mouths began to part open in a show of bafflement. Furihata could feel every inch of his skin prickling. He swallowed thickly.
Akashi was still looking at him expectantly and calmly. As if he hadn’t just arrived in the most inopportune moment to say the most inopportune thing.
“U-um.” The brunet reached out with shaky fingers. He hesitantly took the phone from Akashi’s outstretched palm. “Thank…you.” He flinched when their hands brushed. The normally familiar skin on skin contact sure felt incredibly foreign right now what with the unwanted audience he had standing mere feet away.
Akashi smiled charmingly. “You’re very welcome, Kouki.”
Furihata shook. The various sets of eyes behind him—all indubitably boring into his very soul—burned.
He wanted to run. Run straight into a ditch, that was.
Too bad there just wasn’t one available for him to run into.
Finally, Fukuda spoke, sounding nothing short of mystified. “…Did he just call you by your first name?”
Like a domino effect from hell, Fukuda’s question quickly ignited additional ones from various other members of the team, each one more incriminating than the next.
“Uhh…why does Akashi have your phone?”
“What were you doing at Akashi’s house?”
“How did your phone end up on Akashi’s nightstand?!”
Furihata’s cheeks went up in flames. He covered his face with his hands.
What then followed were a few seconds of silent blinking from every person in the room, as the pieces of puzzle gradually started coming together.
As the light bulb lit up, the team gasped in unison, pointing at the Rakuzan captain.
“EHHHHHHH?! HE’S THE ONE YOU’RE GOING OUT WITH?!”
And that was how the curious case of Seirin number 12’s mystery boyfriend got resolved. By sending the entire Seirin team on an unintended wild goose chase, throwing the life of Seirin’s number 10 in disarray, and finally having Rakuzan’s number 4 show up to deliver the actual shocking conclusion nobody had seen coming.