MiRACLE (KnB Fanfic)

15.

"Come to think of it," Kuroko recalls it as if it were yesterday, "the first one to bloom... maybe it wasn't Aomine-kun after all. It was probably Hiroto-kun."

-

Everyone remembers the day Aisaka blew Murasakibara to the floor.

The former had attempted a lane-up, and Murasakibara hadn't expected it to actually reach. It did, so Murasakibara leaped for it-- only for the boy to dunk right through his arms, the sheer force of the blow making the entire hoop shudder and Murasakibara swayed backward, landing hard on his bottom, staring up in fear and wonder.

The entire court silenced.

Aisaka lands on the ground after hanging on the hoop for reverent moments. He looks up to the sky, and the court becomes clearer. The world is sharper, brighter, cleaner-- and Aisaka stands there, unhindered, like a god.

There's almost a flash of indigo in his eyes, electrifying and brokenly static.

For the rest of the practice match, Murasakibara is completely shut down. From his shooting to his charges, Aisaka was there-- posed like an expert, not to obstruct, but to pressure just enough to steal, to tap, and to make him miss.

It was frustrating for Murasakibara. Enough to make him give up and bench himself.

Sekiguchi, a third year, takes his place-- and is met with the same fate, if not worse. It was humiliating to think that Aisaka moved like a veteran player when he was two years younger, but the skill was unmistakable.

-

Aomine challenges him to a One-on-One, and the results are too heartbreakingly clear by the one minute mark.

Momoi keeps score for them, but at some point, she began to falter. When Aisaka broke through twenty points against Aomine's zero, neither of them wanted to continue.

There was something so pathetic in the situation.

The way Aomine looked so mortified, so speechless, sitting on the ground and breathing like he'd just run a marathon-- and there Aisaka stood, barely a sweat broken from his skin.

Aisaka had turned around and ran right out of the gym.

Because it was that pathetic. So pathetic he didn't want to stay to see, to realize it.

He was scared.

Scared of what he was becoming. Scared of becoming something so much more than he was-- scared of becoming a miracle.

-

It's the final stretch of Autumn, and with the Cultural Festival upon them, the clubs began to strain their hours to make time for preparations.

The basketball club itself would be hosting a school-wide streetball tournament, so aside from the seniors and the teacher advisors, no one had any preparations to work for.

"Murasakibara's class is doing a royal restaurant? And he's the Empress?" Aomine isn't sure if he's hearing this right, "what's with that?"