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I.
“Excuse me,”
Nijimura startled, he hadn’t sensed anyone approach him, and met a pair of familiar blue eyes.
“Oh, it’s you. Guess I’m out of practice, huh?” Nijimura said wryly.
“How have you been, Nijimura-san?” Kuroko asked.
“Eh, you know. Fine,” Nijimura said. Really, what else was he going to say? That his dad’s health was still shit and he was working two jobs to help support his family, so he wasn’t sleeping enough because he was also trying to set a Good Example by finishing high school?
Yeah, no one needed to know any of that.
“I guess you want a table, then?” Nijimura asked.
Kuroko nodded. “A large one, please. My team will be here soon,”
“Seirin, right?” Nijimura asked, leading Kuroko through the dining area.
“You keep tabs on us, Nijimura-san?” Kuroko asked, sounding both surprised and pleased.
“Don’t get a big head. It’s kind of hard to ignore you idiots,” Nijimura said.
Kuroko smiled faintly. “Of course,”
II.
Nijjimura was up by the entrance, straightening up and sweeping, when the door burst open and there was a blond whirlwind blowing in.
Kise paused briefly, meeting Nijimura’s eyes, before practically diving behind the host’s podium.
“Senpai you have to help me!” He said, eyes wide and panicked.
Nijimura sighed, leaning against the broom in his hands. Yeah, he definitely remembered this part, and had not missed it at all.
Seconds later, the door burst open again, revealing a group of determined looking girls.
“He went that way,” Nijimura said, pointing in a random direction.
The girls smiled at him gratefully before running off.
Kise sighed, relieved, and came out of hiding.
“Thank you, Senpai! They were going to eat me alive,” Kise said, shuddering.
“No problem,” Nijimura said, amused.
“You know,” Kise said, eyes as bright as his smile. “My agency is always looking for new talent, you should totally –“
“Get out,” Nijimura said brandishing the broom at him. No way was Nijimura getting involved in that world. Dealing with the press back in Teikou had been enough, thank you very much.
Kise pouted. “So mean! Even Nijimuracchi is mean to me~! Well, think about it, Senpai, the offer’s good anytime you want it!”
And then Kise left, leaving Nijimura shaking his head. What a weird kid.
III.
“Excuse me, may I please have a take-out menu?”
“Yeah, sure,” Nijimura said.
“Thank you,” Midorima said, just as stiff as he’d been back in middle school. “It’s today’s lucky item,”
“No kidding,” Nijimura said, raising an eyebrow.
Considering this was the third Miracle he’d had drop by recently, Nijimura was willing to bet both that Oha Asa had said a take-out menu was the lucky item, not a take-out menu from this particular restaurant, and that Teikou’s phantom 6th man had a big mouth.
“Yes,” Midorima said, frowning. “You know, ever since your stepping down –“
“Don’t care, not your Captain anymore,” Nijimura said, shutting down that line of conversation hard.
He really, really couldn’t afford to get invested in those kids again. Fixing whatever the hell had gone wrong there would take time and energy Nijimura just didn’t have.
“I suppose that’s true. Sorry for the interruption,” Midorima said, bowing before walking out.
IV.
“Dare I ask what you two want? This is starting to get ridiculous,” Nijimura said, leaning against the host podium.
Momoi smiled at him sheepishly. “Tetsu-kun said he’d run into you, so I thought we’d say hi!”
So it was all Kuroko's fault that Nijimura was being ganged up on by people with ridiculous hair.
“And did he agree to that?” Nijimura asked, motioning to Aomine, who had been lurking and looking surly a few paces behind Momoi.
“You said hi, can we go?”Aomine said.
Momoi rolled her eyes at him.
“How have you been? Do you get to play much anymore?” she asked.
Aomine snorted, just as Nijimura was about to mention the street games he managed to join every few weeks when he had a rare day off and light homework loads.
“Obviously not,”
“I’m sorry, care to repeat that?” Nijimura asked. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
“You were the best power forward in the league. Emphasis on were. Now look at you,” Aomine said, gesturing to Nijimura, his uniform, and the entire restaurant.
Nijimura leaned forward, speaking lowly so that his boss wouldn’t overhear. “Listen here, ungrateful brat, and get this through that thick skull of yours, because I’m only going to say this once. There are some things in life more important than basketball. I know that’s a shock. If you wanna talk shit again, I will gladly take this outside after I get off work, because clearly that glasses wearing bastard over at Touou doesn’t know how to do his job,”
Maybe Nijimura wasn't quite as over these kids as he thought he was.
A bunch of emotions went across Aomine’s face –surprise, anger, a little bit of guilt, a fair bit of quickly stifled fear, and a whole lot of defiance.
“Whatever,” Aomine muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets. Maybe he was remembering the beatings Nijimura used to give Haizaki.
“That’s what I thought,” Nijimura said firmly.
Momoi looked mortified, and began pushing Aomine towards the exit. “I can’t take you anywhere, Dai-chan! This is why we can’t have nice things!”
V.
“Akita isn’t even anywhere near here!” Nijimura said as soon as Murasakibara opened the door.
Murasakibara just shrugged. “Muro-chin is visiting people, so I thought I would visit people too,”
Nijimura sighed. At least this one wouldn’t cause trouble.
Probably.
“Here, have the dessert menu,” Nijimura said, resigned.
VI.
Nijimura was actually expecting it when Akashi waltzed in. Definitely, all the other visits had been leading up to this.
“You should transfer to Rakuzan,” Akashi said, once he was seated at the table Nijimura had led him to.
“Why on earth would I do that?” Nijimura asked.
“There would be a spot for you on the basketball team, of course,” Akashi said, unbothered by Nijimura’s response. “Your grades are good enough, and there are scholarships. If I said the word, Rakuzan would –“
“Boundaries, Akashi. Thanks but no thanks. I don’t need or want you to throw open the gates for me, and I’d rather stay close to my family, since I actually like them and they need me and all that,” Nijimura said.
“Well, think about it. Consider the offer an indefinite one,” Akashi said.
“Sure. I’ve been getting those recently, you know. Kise wants me to be a model,” Nijimura said, amused.
Akashi smiled. “Think about that offer, too,”
VII.
Nijimura’s boss poked his head into the break room, where Nijimura was taking a few minutes to cram.
“Oi, you’ve got someone asking for you,”
Nijimura frowned, confused, and put his pencil in the book as a bookmark.
The second he was out of the break room, he saw the tables that had been pushed together.
The entire generation of miracles was there, and a few select friends/current teammates, if Nijimura was counting correctly.
“We hadn’t actually ask for you yet, you know!” Momoi said, sheepishly. “But I guess he recognized us,”
“Missy, you’ve got bright pink hair and your friends are freakishly tall,” Nijimura’s boss said. “Of course I remember you talking to Shuuzou,”
“Why are you here?” Was all Nijimura could get out.
“If Captain Nijimura won’t come to us,” Kuroko said calmly. “then we will simply have to come to Captain Nijimura,”
And really, not even Nijimura could argue with that simple logic.
“You’ve still got 20 minutes on your break. Visit with your friends,” Nijimura’s boss said.
Nijimura sighed and took the empty chair next to Akashi. “Alright you weirdos, you win,”