Kuroko and His Siblings: Athletic Royals [1rst version]

Ch. 12: Who Are They?

Momoi and Aida found a long list of magazines in which Asuretikku Roiyaruzu was briefly mentioned. It shook them to the bone when they found that there were almost two hundred issues for just one magazine company. And there were as many as fifty magazine companies. Aida and Momoi put on an enthusiastic front and went to work to find the magazines. Following the suggestion of the girl they had met, they searched for the top twenty magazines and included several more that seemed interesting.

Twenty minutes later a leery Aomine nervously gazed at the two stacks of thirty magazines each that were in the girls' arms. He hoped that he didn't have to-

"Dai-chan, please help us find data on the Asuretikku Roiyaruzu." Momoi said with a sweet smile. "After all, YOU ARE NOT LOOKING AT YOUR PERVERTED MAGAZINES IN THE LIBRARY, ARE YOU?"

"No." Aomine sweated, his hands, which were holding said magazines, twitched underneath the table.

But Momoi saw the small tall-tale signs. Aomine's left foot was tapping softly against the floor.

"Dai-chan!"

Momoi smashed Aomine's head with a paper fan she borrowed from Aida. Aomine fell down to the floor. His ghost drifted over his head.

"Let's get started B-chan!" Momoi turned to Aida happily. Aida sweat dropped at Momoi's one-hundred eighty degrees personality switch and the odd nickname that Momoi kept calling her.

"Ok." Aida nodded.

Two hours and forty magazines later, both girls had found plenty of basic and background information on the Asuretikku Roiyaruzu. They checked out the rest of the magazines and went home very happy girls. Aomine left like a zombie.

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Monday afternoon practice at Seirin:

"So let's get this straight..." said Hyuuga. "From the data you had gathered with Moimoi-san, Asuretikku Roiyaruzu, who we never have heard of before, is made up of six middle schoolers who graduated from Saino Chugagkko almost six years ago, and they only participated in minor sports tournaments."

"How does this apply to us?" Izuki added. "They would have graduated three years ago."

Aida looked at the boys seriously. "Asuretikku Roiyaruzu, when roughly translated in English, means Athletic Royals. The Athletic Royals went to Saino Chugakko when they were in middle school. My cousin Kenta apparently attended there when he was in middle school, so I asked him about them yesterday. And did you know what he said? He replied to me that he mentored several of them when they were first years in basketball club with several of his friends during his last year there. His friends are your older siblings. Now tell me, how did we not know that my twenty-one-year-old cousin and your older siblings were friends, or the fact that your older siblings were dating each other?!"

Hyuuga's and Izuki's eyes widened.

"Excuse me. I have a phone call to make." Hyuuga said. "Don't expect me to be back quite yet."

"I'm going to be a brother-in-law!" Izuki whispered-shouted. "Oh no. Captain is going to be my brother's brother-in-law! Nooo!"

"What happened to them?" Kiyoshi said, confused as Izuki and Hyuuga ran passed him.

"Remember what Tora-san said when she first came here?" Aida asked him.

"Yeah." Kiyoshi nodded. "She said, 'Watch out, for the Athletic Royals have not reach their full potential.' Who are they?"

"My cousin told me that they are actually younger than what people who had watched their sports tournaments actually believed them to be." Aida twitched. "He said that they were five years younger than him and they skipped going to school for three years before last year, which means the Asuretikku Roiyaruzu are second year high schoolers right now, and that they are as good as the Generation of Miracles, or even better!" She said all this without taking a breath.

"I see..." Kiyoshi replied. "Anything else?"

"Yes." Aida answered in a troubled voice. "Kenta-kun also mentioned something that troubles me. He said that they are someone close to us. All I want to know now is 'WHO ARE THEY?'"