Rebirth In KurokoNoBasket

At Teiko, practice at first-string was over for the day.

All: "Thanks for the practice!"

Kise headed to the locker room to change clothes and go home.

As he headed towards the door of the gym, he heard a voice call out to him.

Kuroko: "Kise-kun."

Kise looked around to see who called him, but he wasn't able to find anyone, then he heard the person speak again.

Kuroko: "Over here."

Kise followed the voice and found Kuroko standing there. Kise was once again surprised by Kuroko's sudden appearance.

Kise: "Can't you just call out to me normally?!"

Kuroko looked up and replied plainly.

Kuroko: "But I did call you normally."

Kise didn't agree and spoke.

Kise: "How was that normal?"

Kuroko spoke the reason why he came to talk to Kise and performed his duties as Kise's mentor.

Kuroko: "More importantly, could you take care of the clean-up with the first years?"

Kise nodded and replied.

Kise: "Sure."

Kuroko turned towards the supply storeroom and informed Kise.

Kuroko: "The mops are in the storeroom over here."

Kuroko walked towards the storeroom to show Kise around, Kise followed Kuroko and thought.

Kise: 'Is that all my mentor's good for?'

Kise wasn't thrilled at having Kuroko as his mentor.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Kise had finished cleaning with other first-years, changed his clothes, and was finally ready to leave.

As he got to the school gate, he saw a few people standing there.

Kise: "Hmm?"

He saw Aomine Daiki, Kuroko Tetsuya, and the big guy with purple hair standing there looking at him.

Aomine spoke when he saw Kise.

Aomine: "Hey!"

Kuroko bowed his head in greeting, while the big guy looked into space.

Kise wondered why they were there, and ran up to them.

Kise: "What's going on!?"

As he got close to the group, Aomine wrapped his arm around Kise's neck.

Kise wasn't expecting this.

Kise: "Whoa!"

Aomine ignored Kise's surprised expression and spoke up.

Aomine: "Kise! Let's go celebrate you joining the first-string!"

Kise was confused.

Kise: "What?"

Aomine once again ignored Kise, raised his free hand, and cheered.

Aomine: "Let's get going. Everyone!"

Kuroko and the big guy also cheered and raised their hand.

Kuroko and Big Guy: "Yeah!"

Kise smiled confusedly and spoke out.

Kise: "What's up with this?"

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Kise was looking at the popsicle in his hand, and with his eyebrows twitching, he yelled out.

Kise: "What's up with this?!"

He turned to the group, who were eating popsicles of their own and yelled at them.

Kise: "How'd it turn into this?!"

Aomine was confused and said.

Aomine: "What do you mean? We're celebrating"

Kuroko and the big guy who Kise was introduced to as Murasakibara Atsushi nodded their heads, and hummed in agreement.

Kise pointed at the place of their celebration and questioned them like he couldn't comprehend the situation.

Kise: "Why are we celebrating at a convenience store?!"

Kise pointed at the popsicles and shouted yet again.

Kise: "And you even made ME buy the popsicles!"

Aomine waved his hand dismissively at Kise and said.

Aomine: "Come on, you got money from being a model, anyway."

Murasakibara completely agreed with Aomine and gave his opinion.

Murasakibara: "Plus, we got a deal since we bought a box of them."

Kise wasn't having any of it as he pointed at the green-haired person behind him.

Kise: "And we even picked this guy on the way!"

The green-haired person looked at Kise, stopped eating his popsicle and clarified.

Green-haired person: "I was already at the convenience store first. We just happened to meet here.

Then Kuroko invited me to the party."

Midorima finished speaking and continued eating his popsicle.

Kuroko decided to chime in as his name was spoken.

Kuroko: "Parties are more fun with more people."

The green-haired person again spoke up and replied to Kuroko.

Green-haired person: "Well, I guess I don't mind staying to eat."

Kise looked at the green-haired person and spoke up.

Kise: "Yeah, that's alright, but who are you?"

The green-haired person introduced himself.

Midorima: "Midorima Shintaro."

Midorima decided to give a piece of advice to Kise, he pointed his popsicle at Kise and said.

Midorima: "You'd do well to at least remember who the regulars on the team are."

Kise backed away and defended himself.

Kise: "I just joined the first-string, so how am I supposed to know?"

Aomine finished his popsicle and said.

Aomine: "That's the kind of thing you're supposed to ask your mentor, right?"

He looked at Kuroko at the end of the sentence.

Kuroko was looking at his now clean popsicle stick and said.

Kuroko: "I won."

Aomine looked at the popsicle stick.

Aomine: "What?"

He saw the words winner printed on the stick.

Aomine grabbed Kuroko's hand and brought it up.

Aomine: "Woah, seriously? Sweet!"

Even Kise, who was complaining seconds ago, was surprised at the winning stick.

He leaned in to see the winning stick.

Kise: "This is the first time I've seen someone win one of these things! What are the chances?"

Kise stopped and stood back straight.

Kise: 'Huh? Why am I getting all excited with them?'

Kise heard the convenience store open, and then he heard a familiar voice.

Murasakibara: "What's up? What happened?"

Kise saw Murasakibara, so he explained the rare event.

Kise: "Oh, Kuroko-kun jus- Huh?"

Kise stopped explaining when he looked another box of popsicles in Murasakibara's hands. He looked up at Murasakibara and asked him.

Kise: "How much can you eat?!"

Murasakibara looked at the box of popsicles in his hands and spoke with a smile.

Murasakibara: "Huh? Lots."

Murasakibara again asked what happened.

Murasakibara: "Anyway, what's going on?"

Kise again started to explain what happened but was again distracted by the sight of another person.

Kise: "Uh, Kuroko-kun just won-"

Kise looked at the person and recognized her as the manager of the basketball club, Momoi Satsuki.

He sighed in his mind as he looked at her.

Kise: 'And we have another person.'

Satsuki was given the winning stick by Kuroko.

Satsuki: "Thank you, Tetsu-kun. I will go in and redeem it for another popsicle."

Aomine interjected and spoke up.

Aomine: "Satsuki, give me half of the popsicle."

Satsuki harumphed at Aomine and refused.

Satsuki: "Shut your mouth, Dai-chan. You didn't even invite me to the party, and now you want half of my popsicle. No way!"

Kise had enough as he covered his face with his hand and sighed.

Kise opened his eyes when he heard the sound of a scooter's horn and someone shouting.

???: "Outta the way!"

Kise saw a scooter heading their way even though they were on the sidewalk.

Aomine got out of the scooter's way, but in the process, Satsuki was pushed aside and fell to the ground.

Aomine looked behind to see a fallen Satsuki.

Satsuki winced in pain from the fall.

Satsuki: "That hurt!"

Aomine: "Satsuki! Are you alright?!"

Right then, they heard a voice from across the street.

Person: "He took my purse! Somebody help!"

Kise and Aomine, who heard that dropped their bags and ran after the scooter.

Midorima corrected the position of his glasses on his nose and sighed.

Midorima: "Idiots. You'll never catch up to a scooter."

Midorima took Murasakibara's popsicle box and threw it like shooting a basketball.

Murasakibara was not amused at seeing his sweets taken from him.

Murasakibara: "Hey."

Kise, who was chasing the thief, caught the sight of something up in the air. He looked up but couldn't identify the object.

Then he saw the object fall down right on the thief's helmet, startling him and causing him to lose control of the scooter and crash.

Kise took the opportunity and increased his speed even more, but then he saw Aomine pass him by and arrive at the thief before him.

Kise: 'He is so fast!'

The thief was uninjured and tried to run away on feet but was blocked from running by Aomine.

Aomine: "Hey, give it up."

Kise, who finally caught up, stopped and said.

Kise: "You can't run away now-"

But he stopped when he saw the thief running towards him with his fist raised.

Kise: "You want a fight?"

But before the thief could reach Kise, he collided with someone.

Thief: "Huh?"

The thief backed away and looked at who he had collided. He had to crane his neck completely to see the looming figure of Murasakibara.

Murasakibara had no interest in catching the thief. He had just come to retrieve the box of popsicle that Midorima had thrown.

When he saw the popsicles scattered on the ground, he was angry but also relieved because the popsicles were still in the packaging, so he could still eat them.

But when he looked at the thief, who had stepped in a couple of them, he was beyond furious.

Murasakibara: "My popsicles!"

The thief surrendered instantly, seeing the expression on Murasakibara's face that guaranteed pain.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The group was now heading home after handing the purse snatcher to the police.

Satsuki was impressed by the group's actions today and praised them.

Satsuki: "I can't believe you all caught a purse snatcher. You're all really amazing."

Kuroko agreed with Satsuki and chimed in.

Kuroko: "You're right. It was a good team effort."

Kise looked at Kuroko from the corner of his eyes.

Kise: 'You didn't even do anything.'

But then he remembered his contribution.

Kise: 'Well, I guess I didn't end up doing anything either.'

Kise remembered about how Murasakibara, who reached the thief rather quickly, even after starting late.

Kise turned towards Murasakibara and asked him.

Kise: "Are you a regular too, Murasakibara-kun."

Murasakibara looked at Kise and replied.

Murasakibara: "Yeah, I am. How'd you know?"

Kise smiled and said.

Murasakibara: "Uh, you've got a kind of presence about you."

Aomine agreed about the Murasakibara's having a presence and said.

Aomine: "Everyone here's a regular."

Kise looked at Midorima, Aomine, and Murasakibara and found that all of them were regular material.

Kise: "Oh? Really?"

But then he remembered Aomine's words.

Kise: 'Everyone here?'

He whipped his towards Kuroko and asked.

Kise: "Really?!"

Kuroko looked up at Kise and affirmed plainly.

Kuroko: "Yes."

Kise looked forward thoughts churning in his head.

Kise: 'You've got to be kidding me.'

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

{SIDE STORY: SATSUKI'S THOUGHTS}

Satsuki was walking home from school, and it was late.

She had stopped by the school library to compile the progress of all the members of the first-string.

When she finished her work, she noticed that it was already later, so she hurried and headed home.

On the way, she found and Aomine and other members of the group having popsicles together.

She didn't want to intrude, but couldn't help but think.

Satsuki: 'That must be nice. Eating popsicles with everyone.'

The time she and Shun eat popsicle together came to her mind.

Satsuki: 'That was a good day.'

As she was thinking, she met eyes with Kuroko.

Satsuki: 'Oh no, he caught me looking at them.'

Then she saw Aomine look at her and wave his hand and call her.

Aomine: "Satsuki, come here and look at this."

Satsuki now had no choice but to join them.

Satsuki found that Kuroko had won a wining stick, and she was surprised when he offered it to her.

Kuroko: "Excuse me. I don't want this anymore, so you can have it."

Satsuki took the winning stick and thought.

Satsuki: 'Maybe I should invite Shun-kun to hang out again. The day we went to the cafe was so much fun.'

But then Satsuki remembered the talk she had with her mother after she returned home.

Satsuki: 'Doesn't this mean I am thinking of asking him out on a date!'

Satsuki blushed at the thought and shook her head.

Satsuki: 'No! I will ask him to go out as friends. This way, there will be no problems.'

But if Satsuki thought about her chain of thoughts calmly, she would find that she hadn't even considered not going with Shun or inviting others so that they wouldn't be alone.

She didn't know this, but a seed of feelings for Shun had already taken root in her heart.

Satsuki cleared her thoughts and thanked Kuroko for the winning stick and talked with them, but not before reminding herself about making plans and inviting Shun out.