Imperfect match // Daiki Aomine (Kuroko no Basuke)

2. New exercise plan

The next day, after class she goes training.

Half way through the session, Kise expectedly calls her from behind the net curtain, as he takes a break, sitting on bench.

"Why do you insist?" Aomine asks.

"She's cute." Kise answers smiling.

"So? There's plenty of cute girls on campus. Why her?"

"She looks... interesting. I love a challenge."

"I don't think she's interested in dating."

"How do you know?"

Aomine looks at her as she's about to jump serve and once she hits the ball with all her might, landing with such a powerful aura, he answers.

"She's got that fire."

"Fire?"

"She wants to be the best. Training. Work. No time for pleasure."

"What, like you?"

"Yeah. Like me."

"How do you know all this? Have you spoken to her?"

"No."

He looks in her direction again and, unexpectedly she looks in his, locking gaze. She smiles timidly nodding to greet him and, fighting his urge to turn away and disappear, he nods back.

"You totally talked to her." Kise says slapping Aomine's chest loudly.

"Ow! I didn't. "

"What's her name? Come on! Tell me!"

"Aomine! Kise! Get back here." Coach shouts from the middle of the court.

At the end of training, after freshening up in the changing rooms, she crosses the court, scanning the area to make sure she avoids Kise. She doesn't want attention and he seems over the top and loud.

Once out, on her way to the sports science building, she recognises Aomine, a few yards ahead of her and she jogs to catch up but, once she's at his level, she says nothing. Adjusting where he's walking on the path to leave enough space for her to walk next to him, she notices and feels thankful.

Why is she more keen on befriending him than Kise? He's more quiet, he's really quiet actually. There are other people around campus after all but in the lot of basket ball players working alongside her and her team, these are the two that stand out.

"Hi Jordan!" She greets cheerfully.

"Hey guys. Here you go." He says handing them a sheet with their respective exercise regime. "If you can come every day for a 20 minute session, that will be great."

"20 minutes? Is that all?" Aomine asks.

"Yeah. That's the first part of my research. But you need to come every day... except Sundays. I can't train hung over athletes."

"Do I need to change anything from my current training regime?" She asks.

"No. Stick to the usual, but if it ends up being too much, tell me. You should come here to use the facility. I have made sure all the equipment you need is here. I will be your personal trainer. We will measure your performance after 4 weeks and see if we need to make adjustments. We start on Monday. Have a good weekend."

"You too. Bye."

They leave, both reading through their plan.

"What time is your session?" She asks wondering if he'll answer.

"Straight after practice." You?

"Same."

They both put their new plan in their bags and walk home together, quietly, again.

When they get closer to her building, she asks:

"Do you have a game this weekend?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah."

"Good luck then." He says without stopping, looking to the ground.

She's shocked that not only he talked to her but that he wished her luck. But she's happy.

"You too."

The weekend passes quickly.

In the absence of a suitable free gymnasium, her coach has agreed they would play most of their games away and so she did. Playing away is often seen as a disadvantage, but the team is strong and they won.

She also takes the opportunity from little homework to meet up with her high school friends studying in other departments, Akiko, the bluntly honest other athlete and Eri, the sarcastic petite cutie, for a well overdue catch up.