"Are you kidding me?? I lost again?!"
Aomine stared at the few remaining cards in his hand, disbelief written all over his face.
Two hours had flown by. By now, nearly everyone at the table had at least a few sticky notes plastered on their faces. The clear MVP of failure? Aomine. Close second? Murasakibara.
Both of them looked like walking sticky note billboards. Murasakibara, true to form, was still shoveling food into his mouth, the sticky notes flapping around on his face like sad little flags. The whole scene looked… deeply cursed.
"…Oops, I think I ate one."
Murasakibara casually moved his tongue around, then expertly spat out a soggy, half-chewed sticky note from his chipmunked cheek. Kota's eyelid twitched at the sight, while the rest of the group barely reacted—they were used to it by now.
"Pfft! Aominecchi, you really suck at this!"
Kise laughed way too happily. Even though he also had a decent collection of sticky notes stuck to his own face, thanks to his above-average learning ability, he'd started picking up the game pretty quickly.
Aomine's forehead pulsed with irritation. He jabbed a finger toward Kota, Midorima, and Akashi.
"Why do you three look like you're playing a completely different game?! Where are your sticky notes?!"
Kota gave him an exaggerated shrug and an innocent pout.
"Hey, what can I say? Some people just got skills."
In his past life, Kota was always decent at card games. Even so, he still had a couple stray sticky notes on his face. Nobody was totally safe.
On the other end of the table, Midorima adjusted his glasses, his own face similarly sporting only a few scattered notes.
"My horoscope this morning said Cancer was the luckiest sign today. Plus, my lucky item was Pepsi. I've done all I can… now I leave it to fate."
"…Wait. That random bottle of soda from earlier… THAT was his lucky item?"
Kota had assumed it was just a drink order.
"Uh, Midorima… your lucky item seems to be in danger."
Kota pointed at Murasakibara, who was eyeing the soda while stuffing his face.
"…Murasakibara!! Put my lucky item down!!"
"Huh? Isn't it just soda?"
"Hey Kota, when I was at your place earlier, I noticed you were watching old Japan National Team games on TV. You thinking about going pro someday?"
With the mood lightening up, the conversation flowed more freely. Kise suddenly remembered and asked offhandedly.
Kota paused for a couple seconds, then answered,
"Not really. I was just curious. Coach Takeuchi said in an interview that he used to play for the national team. I just wanted to see how that… body type… played basketball. As for whether I'd want to join the national team someday… haven't really thought about it."
Kise nodded, then grinned as a funny memory hit him.
"Oh man, you saw that interview too? Coach sounded like a total heartthrob on audio. Then the camera panned over and… well…"
Kota chuckled too. Their dear Coach Takeuchi had been riding high on fame lately. Walking around school like a man with a personal wind machine. Honestly, you could slap a whole collection of hashtags on him right now:
#176cmTall#NationalChampionHeadCoach#ThatOneWigIncidentThatAlmostCostUsTheTitle#NobodyInEasternJapanCanStopUs#ThanksToHimself#EmotionalGrowthArc
"Well, to be fair… we did just win a championship. If we were him, we'd be floating too—hey, Kurokocchi! Peeling off sticky notes while pretending to be invisible is totally cheating!"
Akashi crossed one leg over the other, smiling like a patient teacher.
"Foul play, Kuroko."
Busted. Kuroko silently stuck the note back on his own face. Caught by Emperor Eye.
"By the way, Akashi-kun… how come you don't have a single sticky note on your face?"
Momoi asked, blinking in surprise. Her face was nearly covered in sticky notes at this point. If not for her bright pink hair, you might forget she was even female.
Akashi tilted his head with his usual angelic smile.
"Because… I'm absolute."
…This guy. New personality, same old ego.
"Well, Interhigh are over. Sure, Kise won this time… but I'm not satisfied yet!"
Aomine crossed his arms and blew away a sticky note from his mouth. Scanning the group, he smirked.
"When Winter Cup rolls around, I'm not holding back! Y'all better get ready to see the new and improved Too"
"Funny, I was just thinking the same thing,"
Midorima added, cold as ever, pushing his glasses up. He was still bitter about being knocked out during qualifiers… Oh wait, so was Kuroko.
"Oi oi… you're talking that big in front of the reigning champs?"
Kise threw an arm around Kota's shoulders with a huge grin.
"I barely even played during Interhigh. I'm mad about that too!"
Murasakibara chimed in, still chewing like a garbage disposal.
"Doh winch, hey wah mebah geppin' beat…"
"…I'll make it up to you next time,"
Akashi replied without missing a beat, totally ignoring the fact that Murasakibara's words were 80% food.
"And what about you, Kuroko? Got anything to say?"
Hearing that, Kuroko froze mid-battle with another sticky note. After thinking seriously for a moment, he raised his head.
"Everyone's changing… but I promised Kagami I'd help make him Japan's number one. So… I'll do my best at Winter Cup too."
Hah?
Kota almost laughed out loud. Japan's number one? Bold words for a guy who still couldn't score more than five points a game.
Akashi glanced at Kota, then addressed Kuroko with a knowing smile.
"I heard you've been working on your scoring lately… You do realize, Tetsuya… back in middle school, the only reason I never let you practice scoring was because… if the shadow starts shining too brightly, it stops being a shadow."
…Eh?
Kuroko froze, realizing the underlying message. He turned toward Kota, almost like he was asking for confirmation.
Kota avoided eye contact, staring intently at the nearest soda bottle instead.
"Wow… what a nice label design…"
"But… if you control your presence carefully… I guess scoring and misdirection could coexist."
Akashi glanced at Kota again but left it at that. After all, Mayuzumi had proven it was doable… though Akashi still felt that kind of gimmick had too many risks attached.
Kuroko nodded seriously.
"I want to get stronger… Even if it's just a little… I want to help Kagami."
Aomine clicked his tongue quietly. Watching his former partner now putting this much effort into playing sidekick for someone else… yeah, that stung a little.
"Well, as long as you know what you're doing… Anyway, it's getting late. How's everyone getting home? Want me to have a car sent for you?"
Akashi glanced at the wall clock. It was already past 11 PM.
"I'm walking back with Kota! Gotta burn off all this food!"
Kise volunteered first. Kota shot him a look but didn't argue.
"I have someone coming to pick me up."
Midorima grabbed his phone and called his private driver.
"I'll jog back with Dai-chan! Gotta work off the calories before they settle!"
That was Momoi, already tugging on Aomine's arm like a personal trainer.
"Akashi… I don't wanna move~ I'm full and sleepy…"
"Same here. Sorry for the trouble."
That… was Murasakibara and Kuroko.
"Why are we walking back home? Don't you realize we could have hitched a ride for free with the rich kid's chauffeur?"
Kota walked with his hands behind his head, giving Kise a pointed side-eye.
Kise didn't answer right away. He just looked up at the moon and stayed quiet for a long while. Then finally…
"Hey… Kota… Let's win Winter Cup."
…Huh?
Kota paused mid-step, staring at Ryo's back.
Sensing the hesitation, Kise turned around, and Kota… raised a fist toward him.
"Duh. Obviously."
They bumped fists lightly. Kise grinned from ear to ear. Winter Cup? Already as good as booked.
"Oh yeah… Coach said we've got team practice starting Monday."
"…Monday? That's literally the day after tomorrow! Didn't we just win Interhigh? Man… talk about zero chill…"