The Author (Kuroko no Basket)

Group Chats and Closets

Chapter Five

Rakuzan won, obviously. Akashi, being Akashi, also had excellent table tennis skills. Mayuzumi was really good too. He smiled towards the Uncrowned Kings with a look that said, 'Mission accomplished!'

"Phase One: Complete," Mibuchi said, grinning.

"Woohoo!" Hayama cheered.

Nebuya had a triumphant smile.

"Atsushi," Akashi said.

The purple giant already knew that the emperor meant for him to be his slave. "'Kay, Aka-chin," he said, walking to his former captain's side.

Then they went looking for Kuroko. It wasn't hard to find him because he was with the rowdy group consisting of Kagami, Aomine, Kise, Kasamatsu, Midorima, Takao, and Momoi. Well, it wouldn't take long for Akashi to locate Kuroko, anyway, since he had some sort of Kuroko radar.

"Hmm... I pick Himuro-san," Mayuzumi said.

"Hello, Mayuzumi-san. That was a good game. I didn't know you were so good at ping pong," Himuro said, polite as always.

"Thanks. I happen to be good at most useless things," Mayuzumi said with a small laugh.

"I choose Liu-kun," Mibuchi said, happily.

Wei Liu silently made his way to Rakuzan's shooting guard.

"Well, you're quiet."

"I don't see a need to talk," he said, apathetically, which reminded him of Mayuzumi.

Hayama smiled. "Fukui-kun! I choose you!" he said, imitating Pokemon.

Fukui smiled, getting the reference. "I like how you think, kid."

"Okamura, I guess you're with me then," Nebuya said.

This is kinda sad that two monkeys were paired together, Okamura thought.

"Okamura, if you're thinking you both are monkeys, you're wrong. Nebuya-san isn't, you gorilla," Liu said.

Fukui burst out laughing as the former Yosen captain sunk into a depression.

Nebuya was just confused. "What just happened?"

Hayama shrugged.

Since Akashi had gone to Miracles and Kuroko, and he wasn't looking at them anymore, Mibuchi gathered the Rakuzan members together once more so they could discuss what they would do next. While they were huddled up, Yosen had gone back to whatever they were doing before they started the tournament since they really weren't needed by their 'masters.'

However, Himuro couldn't help but overhear little snippets of what Rakuzan was talking about. He'd heard 'Sei-chan' and 'Kuroko-kun' and 'lock in a closet' and 'isolate.' They way they whispered sounded pretty shady, too. Are they planning a murder? he thought. I should probably do something.

He tapped Hayama on the shoulder. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear some things you guys were talking about. You aren't doing anything necessarily bad, are you?" he asked.

"Not unless getting Akashi and Kuroko-san together is bad," they boy said.

"Kotaro! You just blew our cover again!" Mibuchi scolded.

"Oopsies," he said with a sheepish grin.

"Himuro, now you have no choice but to join in on this," Mayuzumi said. "I order you to," he said, using Rakuzan's victory to its advantage.

The American returnee was dragged into the huddle, and Mibuchi explained everything to him.

"So that's how it is. I can't say I know Kuroko-kun enough to come to that conclusion, but I guess it's true," he said, looking at the shadow and the emperor interact. He thought they looked really happy and sparkly, like they brought out the light in each other. "They look awfully cute together."