In Shadows | Kuroko no Basket Fan Fiction

26. Unexpected Reunion

In Shadows
Chapter Twenty-Six
Unexpected Reunion

Kuroko and Aomine worked on shooting for an hour, until Gina checked the time and warned them just how late it was getting. Reluctantly they both stopped playing. She couldn't help but laugh at that. Aomine was acting like this was some great ordeal, but she knew that he was enjoying it. He wasn't very good at hiding it.

When she and Kuroko walked back to their houses, Gina paused at a street. "Go on ahead," she said. "I want to talk to Saki for a bit before I go home."

Kuroko sighed but agreed, giving her a warm hug and a soft goodbye. Gina smiled at him and made her way to Saki's bakery. It didn't take too long until she arrived, opening the door and finding Saki finishing doing the cleaning up for the night.

"Gina?" Saki exclaimed in surprise. "I thought you'd be home by now."

"I had to come see you for a bit. I didn't get to properly congratulate you on your concert." Gina gave her friend a hug. "You did so well, I could hear the passion you were putting into that piece."

Saki laughed as they stepped back, running a hand through her hair. "Thanks, Gina. I really did have a lot of fun up there."

"I'm glad. With all the times you complained about practice, I thought you were going to give up," she teased.

"Nah, I'd never give up cello," Saki admitted sheepishly, flushing lightly. "Practice was hard, but was worth it. So, Gina," Saki's voice suddenly changed, and a sly glint sparkled in her eyes. "Answer this truthly: do you like Kuroko Tetsuya?"

It was only a matter of time before she figured it out, wasn't it? Gina laughed. "Yeah. I do. And we're dating now."

If Saki was holding something, Gina thought she would've dropped it. "Since when?" Saki half-screeched, half-spluttered.

"Since we left your concert."

"Jeez," Saki chuckled. A grin spread across her face. "I called it! I knew you liked someone on the team! And I suspected it was Kuroko!" She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Now I think of it, it was more than just a suspicion."

Gina adjusted her glasses, laughing. "I know. You have me all figured out."

"That I do," Saki mused. "So, what's going on next? Do you guys have a game tomorrow?"

"We do."

"Ah, I guess I shouldn't keep you for much longer." Saki sighed, then gave Gina a quick hug.  "Goodnight, Gina. Thanks again for your support."

"No problem, Saki." Gina waved once and backed off, headed back home. She looked over her shoulder once to see Saki smiling as she closed the door.

*          *          *

The next two days passed by in a flash.

Both days, Seirin had games. For the first game against Nakamiya South, Kuroko and Kagami had been benched. Despite a scare early on in the game, Seirin was still able to beat their opponent 83-77 without the assistance of the light and shadow duo. The next day they their next match, in needed to put in Kagami and Kuroko in the final quarter to pull out a victory of 87-82.

During the day, they played games and watched review videos, formulating strategies to use against opponents. Now that they had won their last three games, Seirin found themselves in the quarterfinals against Yosen.

Which contained Murasakibara and Himuro, Gina thought, biting her lip. No doubt they had yet another tough match on their hands. 

And, sure enough, when they watched the videos that night, they'd been stunned to see Yosen had won their last game 81-0, and hadn't let their opponents score a basket in the game before that, either.