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Hot. It was hot. The sun was way up high in the sky on a summer day – the scorching heat, burning everything the warm rays touch. No clouds were present to shield the Earth’s surface from the unforgiving heat of the sun.
The weather wasn’t the only thing hot, though.
“Isn’t this great?” whispered a black-haired Japanese girl, silky smooth hair pulled back by a red hair band as she gushed at the sight presented in front of her.
There, in the waters of the ocean, were the famous Kiseki no Sedai. With Kise Ryouta, the famous model, Aomine Daiki, a popular player in the basketball circuit, Akashi Seijurou, the sole heir of the esteemed Akashi family, along with the rest of the members of the Generation of Miracles present, Midorima Shintarou and Murasakibara Atsushi, it was easy to catch everyone’s attention on the beach. Even their former manager, Momoi Satsuki was in the scene and – if not for the pinkette squeezing what looked to be thin air, no one would have noticed the presence of the renowned phantom sixth man, now of Seirin, Kuroko Tetsuya. Now if only Kagami Taiga were there, the picture would be complete.
“It’s been a while since their group made an appearance, no?” continued the girl, twirling her jet-black hair as she leaned closer to her companion. “The last time I saw them on public, it was the game between Vorpal Swords and the Jabberwockies!”
“And?” was the reply she got from her friend, sighing as she crossed her arms. “What of it, Mei?”
The gray-eyed girl, Mei, pouted. “Mou, you could at least be a little excited, Raa-chan!”
“Not a fan of basketball.” muttered the other, tucking a stray strand of auburn hair behind her hair, cursing herself for having cut it too short to reach her shoulders. “And don’t call me that.”
Mei sighed. “But calling you ‘Ramirez’ with or without honorifics is weird!” she exclaimed, watching the other zip up her purple jacket even though it was warm. Her friend was by no means tanned – rather, in her country, her skin tone was already considered pale but here in Japan, well…
‘Raa-chan’ rolled her eyes. “Then just stick with ‘Raeka’.”
Mei gaped at her. “B-but that’s too informal!” scandalized, she pointed an accusing finger at the brunette. “And it’s rude.”
“Not when I’m giving you permission to do so.” shrugged Raeka. Seriously, Japan was way too formal for her liking. Back in the Philippines, only teachers and professors call you by your surnames – and that’s only when they don’t know you or when they don’t like you, in general. Shifting her attention away from the black-haired teen, her almond eyes fell on the colorful group once again. “What’s there to be excited about?”
Mei stared. “Eh?! I mean, don’t you think they look cute together?” she said, watching the blank look on Raeka’s face. “Raa-chan, should I start teaching you the wonders of yaoi again?”
Seeing the serious look on the other’s face, Raeka reminded, “I told you. I prefer BL instead.” yaoi was too explicit for her liking. “Emotional love is better than physical.” she stated, harrumphing. In the distance, you could hear the splashing of water as Kise attacked the others with water. “And so?”
Mei grabbed her shoulders and directed her attention to the group. Raeka didn’t see her point but complied anyway. She stared expressionlessly as her friend squirmed as though preventing a scream from escaping her mouth. All she saw was Kise and Aomine roughhousing in the water.
What Mei saw was different. In her eyes, Aomine was being the pervert he was and taking advantage of the situation by groping the blond. And the blond was enjoying it, laughing as his ‘lover’ secretly touched him, unknown to the others as they thought the action was an innocent game (it really was innocent though). She let a giggle escape her lips.
Raeka deadpanned. It looked like the tanned teen was trying to drown Kise if the model’s screeching was anything to go by. Luckily, Akashi intervened. Bless his soul.
“Don’t you see it, Raa-chan?”
Raeka didn’t speak as she let her friend forcefully grab her face to face her. She was a bit disturbed to find hearts in the other’s eyes. Those were nasty signs in R-18+ logic. She mentally berated herself. Praise the lord.
“That’s a rare display of AoKi goodness right there!” Mei continued, unaware of the constant twitching of Raeka’s eyes. “I haven’t seen one of those since the game between Touo and Kaijou.” she sulked.
“No no, I don’t see it.” Raeka turned away, waving her hand to dismiss the thought. “Rather, I refuse to see it.” she added. “You know I don’t ship them together.”
“Oh, right!” Mei brightened. “You ship everyone with Tet-chan.”
Raeka sweat-dropped. “Well, he’s cute.”
Mei gave her a straight face. “Raa-chan, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you like Kuroko-kun.”
Seriously, this girl…
This time, it was Raeka’s turn to grab her shoulder. “And compete with that?”
Gray eyes trailed back to the group. As if on cue, the sun shined even brighter making the wet splashes of water glisten on the group’s body.
Aomine was leaning close to Kuroko, who was lying atop his banana float, the latter gazing down at him as though he was trapped in a trance with the bluenette flashing him white-teeth smiles. Kise was further ways away and looked to be crying out to the two with crocodile tears, but the way the wind blew his blond hair made him mesmerizing to look at. Midorima was standing stoically in the shallower part of the ocean, but the way he adjusted his goggles made him look as cool as the swimmers in Iwatobi High. Even Murasakibara was looking good just by floating around on his donut float, his laid-back body being blessed by the sun’s rays putting emphasis on his toned muscles. And Akashi… was looking as majestic as always. Nothing could be said more to Momoi, who was running towards the ocean with her assets bouncing in rhythm with her steps.
“Y-yeah, you’re right.” Mei sighed defeatedly before turning to Raeka. “What about MidoAka? Those two seem to have something going on between them at the Jabberwocky game. Even Takao-san looked jealous.”
Raeka merely shook her head. “It’s precisely because of Takao that I can’t ship them.” she furrowed her brows, thinking as she watched Midorima talk to his former captain. “It’s logical, y’know? Only Akashi has the ability to sync with Midorima, a teammate he’s played with countless times in middle school, and reenact the technique formed by Takao and Midorima.” she then glanced at her companion as if she was an idiot. “Even MidoTaka is better than that.”
Mei clapped her hands, surprised at the hardcore AllKuro fan supporting another ship. “Okay, okay… what about Kise and that Kasamatsu?” she asked, absorbing the other’s opinions being dropped like sponge.
“Hm?” Raeka tilted her head, looking at Kise who was trying to pull Kuroko away from the Touo ace by making a grab for the banana float. “Don’t care.”
“EH?!” Mei looked at her in disbelief. “That’s it?”
Raeka looked at her. “There are ships I hate and ships I can tolerate. Whichever category it falls to, I will respect them.” she then added, “But that doesn’t mean I have to like them.”
“Ohh…” Mei nodded along. “So you’re fine with AoKi, MidoTaka, and KasaKise.” she then wondered, “What about AoMomo?”
“Meh.”
The black-haired teen sweat-dropped. “And AoKaga?”
“’kay.”
Mei sighed. “Then, what about MuraAka?” she asked as Raeka stiffened. Bingo. “They seemed close.”
“Yeah, like a slave to his master.” the brunette muttered, turning to look at Mei in the eye. “And have you forgotten about Himuro-san?” she asked, unused to adding suffixes. “I’m cool with MuraHimu and I couldn’t care less if Himuro-san ends up with Kagami.” And the same goes with KagaKise, apparently. “But please not AllKaga – or even AkaKise.” No to Kaga- and Kise-harem, it seems.
“Hoh~” Mei raised an eyebrow as she assessed her friend up and down. “So you don’t care if it doesn’t involve your Tetsu-kun?” she ignored the blush on the shorter girl’s cheeks as she turned to look at Momoi, the pinkhead conversing with Akashi as they prepared their packed food, no doubt prepared by the best chef in the redhead's estate as Midorima managed the barbeque. “And Momoi?”
Raeka looked at her.
“What of MomoRiko?” the blackhead elaborated earning a frown from Raeka.
“Eugh! Writers need to understand that making a yaoi/BL story doesn’t mean everyone has to be a homo.” her face scrunched up at the unpleasant thought.
So MomoRiko falls within the category of hate but tolerable, eh? It can at least be ignored. Mei then thought, “Oh! What about AkaMomo?” she grinned, shaking the other by the shoulders. “The red x pink pair-!”
“No.”
Oh? What’s this? Mei continued. “And MayuAka? If you ship AkaKuro so much then Mayuzumi-san is also-?”
“Don’t even.” Raeka gave a head shake as the other faltered. “This Mayuzumi fellow seem too sarcastic compared to gentle Kuroko. No matter how you look at it, I can’t see them getting along.”
‘But you’re fine with MayuKuro, huh?’ Mei added in her mind. “And Mibuchi-san?”
“Looks better with Mayuzumi to me!”
“Nijimura?”
“Who’s Nijimura?”
‘Probably not a NijiAka fan as well…’ Mei wondered. ‘Ah, but Nijimura-san is partnered with Haizaki-kun most of the time.’ she sweat-dropped. ‘Competing with HaiKise too in the Kise fanclub.’ her eyes opened as she continued. “AkaFu-?!”
“–uck no!” Raeka stared at Mei, a disgusted look on her face as she blinked unapologetically on the other. Three years with foul-mouthed friends did that to her, and with women being toxic in general made her act a bit like a certain silver-haired phantom player *cough* Mayuyu *cough* by being constantly surrounded by guys. “Just, no.”
“But, whyyy…” Mei cried, inwardly surprised at the vertically challenged girl’s sudden cursing.
“They met like, once and it wasn’t even romantic.” she explained, waving her off. No, actually, they met twice – “Not like we knew that, right?” she snapped, glaring at the sky as Mei wondered what she had against the God(dess) of their world. “And I have nothing against Furihata. Nothing!”
“Buuut…?”
“Just… not… with… Akashi, please.” she sulked almost pleadingly, amusing Mei to no end. The brown-haired Seirin player was sweet and all but having him paired with Akashi is just…
“Fine, fine I see…” Mei smirked. “Raa-chan dotes on Kuro-kun too much but is protective of Aka-chan, huh?”
“Whatever.” Raeka muttered, staring back as the rainbow group enjoyed their lunch. “And don’t even get me started on OC pairings! Now let’s go, Mei. I got hungry from being reminded of those despicable pairings.”
“Raa-chan, wait!”
OMAKE:
“Raa-chan, wait!”
But it was already too late.
Before Raeka could even wonder what the warning was all about, her small, lithe body had already collided with something bouncy that propelled her backwards to the sandy ground. “Ay pukinangina!”
“Ah! Gomen…”
Eyes widening in response, Raeka looked up to see Kuroko Tetsuya, in all his glory, standing right in front of her as he held his banana float under his right arm by the hip. *insert fangirling gibberish* (She ignored the fact that she just got nudged by Kuroko Tetsuya’s banana float because that would just make things weird – let’s not go there, shall we?)
“Are you alright?”
She snapped out of her thoughts to see the teen of her dreams *ahem* fantasies I mean (with other guys of course) – shut up, author – offering her a hand as arctic blue eyes gazed at her evenly.
“Ah, um,” stuttering, she reluctantly took his hand as the pale-skinned boy pulled her up to stand on her feet. “Yes! Yes, I’m alright. T-thank you mister…?” good God she was shorter than him.
“Kuroko.” the tealnette replied blankly. “Just Kuroko.”
(Well of course Kuroko’s not gonna give away his full name to some stranger–)
“Ah, um, thank you then, Kuroko – uh -s-san.” still unused to Japanese customs, she bowed shyly as her face burned in embarrassment. “I-I’m Ra–?!”
“Is there something wrong, Kuro-chin?” Murasakibara drawled lazily as he approached the two, followed by Aomine and Kise who immediately wrapped a protective arm around the teal-haired boy. Behind them, Akashi and Midorima was watching silently as they continued with setting up the barbeques, the redhead’s eyes watching curiously.
“Ah, no, Murasakibara-kun.” Kuroko shook his head, tilting his head to gesture at Raeka. “It was my fault. I was just apologizing to miss…?”
“R-Raeka…”
“Raeka-san, right.” Kuroko nodded. From beside him, Momoi lunged at his left to hug his unoccupied arm, narrowing her eyes dangerously at the newcomer making the brunette gulp nervously. “Anyway, Akashi-kun was calling for us…?” he inquired and like an angel that descended from the heavens, dispelled the dark atmosphere that formed around them, bringing a lighter one at its wake with flowers floating around as he allowed the giant purple-haired teen carry the banana float – nevermind that he did it voluntarily as he let Aomine and Kise lead him back to their spot leaving a dazed brunette behind.
Yep, not gonna compete with that.
“Raa-chan, you okay?”
Hm, okay so maybe an OCKuro is fine as long as it’s one-sided.
“Raa-chan, are you a masochist?!”
“NO. SHUT UP, MEI!”