In Shadows | Kuroko no Basket Fan Fiction

19. Realisation

In Shadows
Chapter Nineteen
Realisation

Gina fished her phone out of her pocket and made her way outside of the gym. She wanted to be able talk without being distracted by the usual sounds of training. It wasn't like she'd be missing up - they were slowing down into their cool down exercises by the time she left. 

Not even noticing the cold (having dressed particularly warmly today), Gina selected a familiar number and pressed the phone to her ear, patiently waiting for the person on the other end to pick up. 

She hadn't thought it would take long. Sure enough, the phone had barely started ringing when the person on the other end answered with a cheery, "Hello!"

"Hey, Momoi?"

"Gina-chan!" Momoi's bright, perky voice instantly out a smile to Gina's face. Oh, I've missed her. It had been ages since she'd last heard from her friend, and it was something she wanted to fix now. "It's good to hear from you."

"You as well," Gina laughed. "Hey, the reason I'm phoning is to ask if you want to catch up? Go shopping, perhaps?"

Gina had barely stopped speaking before she had her reply. "I'd love to!" Momoi gushed enthusiastically. "It's been too long since we last hung out."

"We haven't hung out properly for too long a time now." The last time they'd seen each other, it had only been a quick run-in at the hotel, and they'd barely had time to exchange words since Momoi's team had been waiting for her. 

"We haven't, have we?" Momoi said wistfully. Her tone then changed to all-business. "Right, we need a time and date."

Gina thought about this for a little. "Well... it's Saturday in two days. Do you want to go then?"

There was a small pause from Momoi, probably due to her checking to see if she had anything on that day. "Sure," she concluded brightly. "I'm excited already, Gina-chan!"

Gina laughed, "Same here. I'll need your fashion input, by the way."

"Oh, what for?"

"My friend Saki has a music concert the day after our teams face each other. I want to get a nice outfit for the occasion." Momoi's taste in fashion was constantly on point. If there was anyone Gina could turn to for good fashion advice, it was Momoi.

"No problem!" Momoi chirped. "I can definitely help out with that! It already sounds fun!"

"I'm glad." Gina smiled. Momoi's bubbly nature was infectious; even by communicating on the phone, Gina's spirits lifted. "How's things at Touou?"

An exasperated sigh came from the other end of the line. "It's the same as usual," Momoi said. "Trying to convince Aomine-kun to keep practicing, collecting data. You?"

Gina laughed. "Well... I've officially been Seirin's manager for about two weeks."

"Really? You should've told me sooner, Gina-chan!" Momoi exclaimed. "But, that's great!"

"I injured myself last week as well."

"Injured?" Momoi repeated, her voice like a squeak. This was followed by a hurried and worried exclamation of, "What did you do?"

Gina laughed and relayed the story of how she tripped while running up the stairs, which resulted in a twisted ankle that took a week to heal.

By the time she finished, Momoi was groaning on the other end of the phone. "Ah, Gina-chan! You did that in middle school too! Do you need to wear those ankle guards of yours every day to stop this from happening?"