Vengeance of the Phantom

Chapter 2

Don't Strain Yourself

I woke up early that morning. Very early, I was at the gym before anyone else. I took out my giant basketball shoes and decided I'd get a good warm up in before everyone else showed up.

I had something to tell Captain and Coach, something I had been thing for the past week while practices were happening. I shot the three point and made it, I jogged to get the ball when the doors to the gym opened. I looked over seeing the first years, like me. Hiroshi, Kōichi, and Furihata all walked in stopping their conversation and looking at me. We just stared before they bursted out laughing and I chuckled.

"Hey, Kagami." Hiroshi greeted me with a wave while his other hand was in his pockets.

"Morning, what are you guys doing here they early?" I knew it was still three hours before practice started but they were here so early.

"We could ask you the same thing." Kōichi remark with a small smile while they change into t-shirts and out of the school shirt. It looked almost natural to them.

I decided to ask, "Do you guys come this early every morning?"

They all nodded but Hiroshi spoke, "Yeah, we always come early. I got an okay from the principal so we can come way early and start some drills."

"So you put in extra practice, everyday?" They all nodded again walking out on the court. "That's cool."

We played around a little, 2v2, horse, some random drills we do in practice, for about an hour and a half when we decided to take a break. I couldn't stop thinking about what o needed to say so I asked the guys. "Hey," I paused getting their attention, "mind if I ask a question?" They all looked as if they were saying for me to go ahead and ask. "What do you guys think about Kuroko?"

They all seemed shocked by my question. "Well you see, he's a good friend, kind of funny and scary that he pops up everywhere, though." Furihata laughed, as did the other two.

"Okay, but I mean about as a player." I corrected my not specific sentence.

"Oh, uh." They all went silent. "We don't want to be mean, and it's a cool playing style, but it gets confusing and when people find out, he's just seen as a bad player."

That's the answer I wondered about. "So you agree with me." I mumbled to myself but they heard it.

"You think that way?" Kōichi, Hiroshi, and Furihata said at the same time.

I shrugged, "I've been thinking about it for the past couple days." We all felt a little guilty.

"He is." Hiroshi spike up from the silence we sat in, that grabbed our attention, "Kuroko is weak. You'd think with an awesome skill you could play like an average person but we are stronger than him and we don't play, it's frustrating." Both didn't want to nod, but the other two boys nodded in agreement.

"I was thinking of telling Coach one day but ruled against it because no one else would want to speak the same." Kōichi confessed.

"Let's do it." I said not giving any context clues. They all looked confused and went 'huh'. "Let's tell coach, after all, you aren't alone anymore. He may be a shadow, but once again, the light no longer needs his shadow." In my head, it didn't sound as rude but that's how it came out. All three guys looked at each other before looking back at me and nodding.