That Manager - Kuroko no Basuke (Book 3)

Alternate Endings (高尾和成 & 緑間真太郎)

高尾 和成 (Takao Kazunari)

It was a Saturday morning, and Yasu was cleaning the house after she had her breakfast. While vacuuming the living room floor, she felt her phone vibrated, and switched the the vacuum, allowing her to hear the ringtone. She flipped open her phone to see Takao's name displayed on the screen, and answered the call.

"Hello?" she greeted.

"Ah, Yasu-chan!" chirped Takao from the other line. "I hope I'm not bothering you."

"Not really." she replied. "I had nothing to do, so I was doing some house chores. Anyway, can I help you with something?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanna hang out with me at the new shopping mall." he said, though Yasu could feel nervousness in his tone, picturing him scratching his cheek while saying it. "I invited Shin-chan, but he flatly rejected my offer. So here I am asking if you wanna join me."

Yasu let out a soft hum while thinking about the offer, and a smile flickered across her face before she said, "Yeah, I can join you."

"Great!" cheered Takao. "Wanna meet at ten?"

"Sure." she replied.

"Alright, then." he said. "See you later!"

She hung up the phone, and continued to vacuum the floor as quick as she could. When she was done, seeing that she still had time to get ready, she went to the bathroom to take a shower, then putted on some clothes to suit the sunny Spring morning. Grabbing small bag, she put her belongings inside before walking out the door. She walked towards the station to board the train that stopped at the station nearest to the shopping mall that Takao mentioned earlier, taking her about twenty minutes to reach there. By the time she arrived, he was waiting for her at the entrance.

Upon seeing the girl walking towards him, Takao's face lit up. "Hey, you made it!" he said.

"I can't possibly back out last minute, right?" joked Yasu while they stepped into the shopping mall.

"You're right." he chuckled before looking at the shops around him. "Where should we begin?"

She followed his action, realising that there was no point to pick a place and start because of the various interesting shops that attracted theirs and other customers' attention. "I think we'll just walk around and shop." she suggested sheepishly.

"Good idea." said Takao, who unconsciously held her wrist to walk with her, causing her to snap her head at him with confusion written all over her face that had tinted cheeks. "Shall we begin?" When he didn't receive any response, he looked at her with confusion before he realised what he was doing, and quickly let her go as if he was holding a hot iron. "Sorry! I didn't mean to! I wasn't even thinking what I just did!"

While Takao was frantically apologising to her, Yasu couldn't help but giggle at him, surprising him. And he was even more surprised when she held his hand, making him blush at the contact. "It's okay, Takao." she assured. "I don't mind. After all, this place is pretty crowded, and it's not a good idea to get lost."

"R-Right!" was all he could say as he stood frozen on the spot, with a massive blush on his cheeks.

Once he had recovered, the two of them began their day by watching a movie in the cinema, though Yasu failed to argue with Takao when it came to paying the tickets and popcorn. After two hours of enjoying themselves with loads of action, they decided to walk around the mall to check out the shops. While Takao was buying some trading cards from either the game shop, comic shop or merchandise shop, Yasu got a few figurines for her brother, who had sent her a small list through e-mail about the things he wanted her to get from Japan. When they were done with those shops, Yasu bought some clothes, and shoes to replace the old ones that had been worn off, with Takao by her side giving his honest feedback. The latter also got himself some t-shirts and hoodies from few other shops that got his attention.