Chapter Text
The bus full of high school athletes kept an even pace as it went down the street in direction to the beach. Slowly, the sound of heavy traffic, both for automobiles and for people in the streets, started to fade out, being replaced with the sense of tranquility only the beach could provide. Eyes shut and arms crossed, Midorima kept going through the most memorable events of this year’s Winter Cup. Memories of all his games kept flashing through his mind, accompanied with the feeling of joy he had felt as his teammates and him grew closer. It was almost inevitable to think about the satisfaction of being close to his team without thinking about an overly annoying Takao. Midorima had to admit it, out of all of his teammates, point guard number ten was the one he felt the closest to. Asides from being a first year starter like him and a great match for Midorima’s shooting skills, Takao was also a very persistent player who would not leave the green-haired player alone. Midorima’s lip curved upwards as he compared Takao to one of Kise’s annoying fangirls, with the exception of Takao being ten times more annoying and ten times more interesting. He quickly furrowed his eyebrows at the simple thought, he did not mean that just now, at least not in a romantic way.
“Shin-chan, are you awake?” Midorima’s thoughts were interrupted, opening his eyes just enough to the only person in this whole wide world who calls him by such name reach out to poke his cheek.
Faster than a heartbeat Midorima swat the other’s hand away while closing his eyes, receiving a laugh from Takao.
“You were not sleeping were you?” Takao grinned mischievously, resting his face on one of his hands.
“I was not. However, you did interrupt my train of thoughts. Didn’t I tell you not to touch my face?” Midorima opened one eye, a blank expression on his face. Takao shrugged.
“I had to make sure. Plus, I could have swear I saw your face turn pink just a while ago…”
“Stop the nonsense, what do you want.” Midorima cut him off before he could finish his sentence. Even if he was blushing he would not admit it, and having Takao say it outloud just bothered him even more.
“Hm, someone is grumpy. Anyway, we are almost there.” Takao pointed out the window next to him, the houses they passed by were notoriously different from those near the city. “We should go play in the beach once we get all our stuff in the hotel room. The coach said we have an hour to kill since we got here sooner than expected.”
“No, I’d rather stay in the room and rest.” Midorima was mentally exhausted, and he knew their conditioning was going to demand a lot from his body. Instead of fooling around he saw that free hour as an opportunity to clear his mind.
“Shin-chan you haven’t moved from your seat or even said a word in the whole trip, you can’t be tired.”
“For your information, Takao, I woke up early today to go buy this week’s lucky items in advance.” Midorima pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Oha Asa announced an average start of the week for Cancer, but also predicted an unknown change in pace as the week progresses. I am not about to take any chances.”
Takao looked as his friend and sighed. “Is that why there is a bamboo plant in the very back of the bus?”
Midorima nodded. “We are going to the beach. I was not sure if I would be able to find that item near this area.”
“You are a whole different thing Shin-chan. I still can’t believe the coach let’s you bring all this stuff to practices, let alone training camps.” Takao looked over his shoulder where some first years were taking pictures with the bamboo tree. He stood silent for a moment but then laughed.
“What now-” Midorima glared at the other.
“Nothing is just… it must be because Shin-chan is our ace, but I also can’t imagine you being any other way.” Takao shrugged, a grin curling up his lips. “Paranoic and all, I like it just like that.”
Midorima’s eyes widen and just as his heart skipped a beat the bus made a sudden stop, causing commotion amongst the passengers. No one knew it at the time, but Midorima was perhaps the most affected, but his reason being a total different one from the rest.
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“Are you sure? You could use some sun you know?” Takao teased. Midorima simply ignored him, trying to look for a spot where to place his bamboo plant.
“No, for the fifth time today.”
“Shin-chan you are no fun. We have a free hour and you decided to spend it in a hotel room.” Taka threw the remaining of his bags without caring where they landed. “Come on, if you would rather go explore the town’s market then I will sacrifice my beach time for you.”
Midorima actually considered the offer but overturn it before Takao could keep going.
“We are going there tomorrow morning, there is no point on going twice.”
Takao shrugged “Then have fun with mr. bamboo. If you change your mind I’ll be with the seniors” After throwing his towel over his shoulder and giving Midorima one of his mischievous grins, Takao left.
The door closed and Midorima sighed deeply. Finally, he was able to free his mind from any unnecessary input. If he wanted to make the most of this training camp, he would have to commit his body and mind more than he usually did during games and practices. Soon he would be a second year, and as a senior the expectations of him as the ace of Shutoku would be higher than in the previous year. New members would also mean more starters looking up to him and relying on him to bring them to the championships. Of course, that much Midorima could do without having to struggle. He knew, however, that the true challenge would come as soon as the prelims began, with rivals as strong as Kagami and his former junior high teammates he could not afford to fall behind. Midorima laid on the spacious twin bed, forgetting about Takao’s luggage until the back of his head hit against the stuff. Midorima sat on the mattress while rubbing the back of his neck. Even when absent the fox-faced player was able to disrupt his state of mind. He glared at the bags full of clothes, all thrown carelessly on Takao’s side of the bed. Midorima couldn’t stand it. He had agreed, forcefully, to share a room with Takao after the coach had denied his request of having a room for himself. However, his one and only condition was for the point-guard to match Midorima’s level of tidiness. Not even an hour had passed since the team had settled at the hotel and Takao was already messing with Midorima’s space. Midorima was not going to touch Takao’s stuff, but he refused to let it stay that way. Changing to his swimming attire, Midorima was determined to make Takao clean this mess. After all, the other had already messed with him too many times in one day. Midorima was about to leave when he saw his lucky item from the corner of his eye, the porcelain frog notoriously placed on top the night table on Midorima’s side.
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Cancer had placed last on today’s Oha Asa, another major reason that convinced Midorima he should remain inside the hotel room where safety was assured. On his way he encountered one black cat, two broken mirrors, and was a step away from walking underneath a ladder. That did not stop him, however, from going on a rather annoying search to find an even more annoying Takao. Midorima ended up taking longer than expected to get to the beach, mostly because he had walked around all those back luck encounters and got lost more than once. His level of patience was quickly being outnumbered with the increasing combination of anxiety and irritation, and right when he was about to give up he was able to perceive a smiling Takao a couple of feet away from him. Midorima focused on that irritating smile of his and approached him without paying much attention at what surrounded the other.
“Oi Taka---” Midorima’s call for the other died before he could obtain Takao’s attention, stopping abruptly to observe the scene that he almost had failed to notice.
Next to Takao were two girls, a tall blonde who was mostly trying to get Miyaji’s attention, and a petite brunette who was speaking to Takao. Midorima was able to identify the blonde one as a foreigner do to her coloured eyes and western features, however his attention was mostly set on the short one next to his friend. She had nice and fair skin, with the exception of a few freckles on her cheeks that instead of ruining her complexion favored her a whole lot. Her hair was down, which only made her look more like a natural beauty wearing no makeup. Her eyes were mostly fixated on the ground as she spoke to Takao, and after a few seconds she actually gathered the courage to look up at him. At that moment time froze, and as Midorima observed a blushing Takao rub the back of his neck he remembered the rest of Oha Asa’s predictions for today.
Scorpio you are today’s first place! ! ! Your lucky item is an umbrella, but do not worry that today you will not experience any storms. On the contrary, if you carry your lucky item and go on with your day you might find out that an unexpected surprise is coming your way.