Nina the Miraculous

Chapter 4: The newcomers

As Furihata went to let Kuroko in, Nina was sitting on the comfortable couch with Takao next to her, a card for Kuroko in her hands. Every few seconds the girl would glance at it, looking for flaws, hoping to find none. Nina didn't have that much time to make the card, so she knew her hand-made piece was far from perfect. She could only hope that her present would be enough.

Takao glanced at her with worry in his eyes.

"You ok, Nina?" he questioned.

Nina smiled at the boy sitting next to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "Why do you ask?"

Takao, seeming relieved at her assurance, just shrugged.

"Just looking out for you," he said. "In case of, you know, another anxiety attack or something."

Nina chuckled at Takao's explanation, amused and a little touched.

"Thank you, but you don't need to do that," she said. "It's not like I'm some damsel in distress, ready to burst in tears at any second. I'm just nervous. In Poland, I never went to any party like that, let alone in another country with people I hardly knew and all of whom being boys, may I add."

Takao nodded, but was actually surprised to hear that Nina's never been at this kind of birthday party before. Didn't she want to? Haven't she had any friends? Then again, Nina did mention something about being from a small village in the mountains, so maybe throwing big parties like that wasn't very common to youths she knew. Still, it wasn't like they were going to talk about inappropriate things (baring Aomine, according to Midorima's description of the GoM's ace, assuming he'd come by) - lady or no lady in the house - or drink themselves into oblivion, especially since there was no alcohol to drink in the apartment to begin with, though Takao was fairly certain that nobody would even try a droplet if there was. Most of them were still not of age.

"Besides," Nina continued, "I'm also not so sure about my present for Kuroko."

That confession shocked Takao.

Not more than three minutes ago, he and Seirin guys were all taking turns to compliment Nina's absolutely stunning hand-made masterpiece, so why in the world would she be doubtful of it for even a second? Moreover, Nina did actually come up with some kind of idea for a birthday gift for Kuroko and then she made it herself, whereas Takao didn't bother to even buy anything for the guy. But then again, Takao wasn't really supposed to be here in the first place, any more than Nina.

Himuro was actually the one who invited them to come and he himself has only got the invitation because of his close relationship with Kagami. None of them would be here if not for Seirin's ace.

"Did I hear you right?" Himuro asked, sitting between Nina and Takao on a couch.

Shutoku's point guard yelped and was absolutely shocked that he didn't notice the guy coming, until he spoke. Was his hawkeye getting rusty after the Winter Cup or something?

"Did you sneak up on us like that on purpose?" Takao demanded, pointing at him with a finger.

Himuro chuckled and had the audacity to not look even a little sorry for the stunt he's just pulled, while Nina looked at Takao questioningly.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked. "It's not like he popped out of nowhere. He was standing nearby for at least five minutes now."

Takao blinked, looking back and forth between them in disbelief.

"For real?" he exclaimed.

Himuro and Nina nodded.

"This cannot be! My hawkeye was defeated by a pretty boy who needs a hair pin," Takao lamented, then stood and went to sit on the floor, putting as much distance between himself and the Yosen's ace as he could.