𝐀 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟽

Kagami was not known for being patient, calm, or understanding. In general, he got a lot of flak for being a very abrasive guy. The other freshmen got along with him just fine after they realized he only really got angry at jerks who looked down on others or weaklings who gave up too easily – or talked a big game. Mostly, it was just people who talked outside of their threshold of skill and if they avoided that, they got along with Kagami swimmingly.

The generation of miracles, however, seemed born to piss Kagami off. Kise was a constant thorn in his side, showing up to practice as if he owned the place and wasn't an outsider intruding on their own plans. He did what he could for the senpai's sake, but it was ridiculous that they had to do this at all because of some stupid bet.

Kagami had said as much and gotten only a small amount of protest in return, meaning that he wasn't the only one on the team to think so. But he was also perceptive enough to tell that all of them were more curious about Kuroko. Putting up with Kise, and the less troublesome Momoi had become a means to an end if they wanted to figure out what was up with their resident phantom.

It was eerie, how well the old phantom seemed to embody that title now that school was in swing. No one ever saw him walking anywhere, it was always that he just showed up, and he was mostly only seen when someone was talking about him – as if he had appeared because his very name was spoken. It seemed kind of jerkish to say, but his eyes looked almost soulless, dead. His lack of changing facial expressions seemed to drive that fact home faster than anything else.

Momoi would reminisce that the old Teiko rumor of a haunted basketball gym had been Kuroko's doing and it seemed like he was unintentionally repeating his tradition in Seirin's library. Books disappearing and reappearing on the shelves, the beeping of the checkout system when no one is supposed to be in there.

As much as he wanted to befriend the self-isolating boy, he was still getting pretty pissed off. Not nearly as much as by Kise, and now Midorima, but it still irked him that the kid would even let himself be driven away from basketball this long. Kagami got that he needed his space, but the kid didn't even say anything about the letter he had left! He barely even nodded in acknowledgment when he tried waving!

When would he see any results? From Kuroko or from the special training that Momoi was pushing him through?

What was that about anyway? For the first few days that Momoi and Kise had been meddling in Seirin's training, he had been going along with the Teiko training that they had insisted on. However, after he quickly adjusted to the regimen, Momoi took him to the side with a sparkle in her eye and told him to start working on a completely different set of training. It had something to do with the definition of his legs? He didn't understand, but the coach nodded enthusiastically when they explained it to her.

The point was everyone seemed to be up to something. Momoi, Kise, the coach, Hyuuga, Izuki, and even freaking Kuroko seemed to have something going on that none of them were going to talk about and he was going to blow a gasket if he didn't find out what he had to do with any of it soon enough.

Whatever. Getting upset wasn't going to make him any better in the next qualifying match and he should devote at least some of his attention to the green-haired jerk who had that 'holier-than-thou' attitude.

The biographies that the other freshmen had read said that Midorima was the miracle shooting guard and from what he could see during warm-ups and Shuutoku's qualifiers, he certainly fits the description of being a miracle. His aim was amazing and that insane hang time drove him crazy from the courtside.

But it didn't matter how he stood up to Midorima's three-pointers with his apparently impressive jumping height if he wound up strangling the guy before their match even got solidified. The stuck-up prodigy had outright ignored him when he went to introduce himself, only scanning the stands and walking off without a word despite Kagami standing right in front of him. He wanted to scream. It was like none of the ex-Teiko students understood common manners – and he was rusty on those as it was!