#imakuro

  VERTICAL STRUCTURE

  It was a warm day of April and Imayoshi felt a creepy tenderness as his eyes lingered on the rookies who walked around the university’s yard. They were a crawling mix of feelings, from the ones who looked around like they didn’t know why they were there to those who already acted cocky. And the year had just begun.

Imayoshi’s smile was hidden behind the huge book he was trying to read — only trying, since it was such a nice day that he looked at the words without seeing them, he was distracted by the outside world. Maybe he should have gave up for that morning and go to the basketball court with some of his classmates. He seriously thought about it, then a little black and white dog jumped next him and the blurry idea about playing faded away.

“Hey, who are you?”

The dog was wagging his tail while he was sniffing on the bench until his nose reached the cover of the book. Then it begun to look at the pages with a puzzled stare.

“It isn’t as difficult as it seems.”

Imayoshi spoke out of boredom but he noticed that the dog was reacting as he truly could understand his words.

“But today is difficult to concentrate.” As he was speaking the dog walked on his lap and looked at him. Imayoshi let him be and stroked his head. “I bet you would like to play too.”

The dog barked, making him laugh. “Alright, it shouldn’t be difficult to find a little ball somewhere.”

At the moment he closed the book, Imayoshi heard a voice next him.

“Actually, he prefers basket balls.”

His bangs were a bit shorter than he remembered and he even got taller. But the boy with all those books on his arms was definitely Kuroko Tetsuya, with his plain look and weak presence.

“Good morning Imayoshi-san. It’s good to see you again.”

“Kuroko Tetsuya. It’s good to see you too.” The little dog run towards Kuroko and rubbed against his right leg. “What’s its name?”

“Nigou.”

“An unusual name.”

“Koganei senpai gave it to him.”

“Still senpai even if high school ended?”

The bond of Seirin’s basketball team was something that Imayoshi never managed to understand completely, so there was a certain mockery in his voice. Kuroko seemed to ignore it.

“From this year I am your kouhai.” He bowed a little towards Imayoshi. “Please, take care of me, Imayoshi senpai.”

There were some things that Imayoshi would have liked to say, but his mind in that moment was all for Nigou who raised his paws to seek the attention of his Master. Kuroko, even with all those books, was able to take him and the dog curled happily against his chest.

“As a senpai there is one thing I should tell you now.” He suddenly caught Kuroko’s interest. “You know that dogs aren’t allowed in the dormitory, don’t you?”

Kuroko’s expression didn’t change that much. “Don’t worry. I know what to do.”

Imayoshi wasn’t sure that his idea of what to do with the dog was the same as Kuroko’s but he didn’t asked further. “Well, you should go now. They are going to start soon with the introduction for the first years and probably you will meet the senpai in charge of you.”

“Thank you very much.”

By the time Imayoshi took his book from the bench, Kuroko had already disappeared.

“Mh…” Imayoshi didn’t bothered by looking for him through all the students, he knew it would have been a waste of time. “…I pity the one who will have to follow him.”

    “Imayoshi senpai, please, take care of me.”

“This line is quite familiar…”

Imayoshi wasn’t the guy who mourned upon his disgraces, or else he wouldn’t have allowed the arrogance of Aomine, but always tried to see the best he could gain from the circumstances. Yet he didn’t manage to get a sudden realization of what advantages he could grasp out of that situation. He sighed.

“So, you knew I was in charge of you.”

“Not really, it happened by chance that Nigou run to you.”

“I see… where is the dog?”

“The janitor is pleased to take care of him. They met by chance too and it was love at first sight.”

Out of the basketball court Kuroko Tetsuya was a different person. This was Imayoshi’s first impression and he didn’t know if it was right or if Kuroko himself was just pretending of being a calm guy who wasn’t bothered by the rush of the world — in that case the rush of the university.

“It seems you are behaving well even without my help.”

“It was just luck I suppose. And it’s all Nigou’s merit. He is so cute that it’s hard to resist him.”

“You have a soft spot for dogs?”

Kuroko nodded slightly. “Cats too aren’t bad.”

They were walking around the campus while talking about random things who popped out from the conversation casually, most of the time brought out by Kuroko’s questions about the specifics of the university. None of them would have ever imagined they would have met again and in that way.

“It’s pretty big here, but you’ll get used to it after getting lost once or twice.”

“Did you get lost on your first year?”

“Maybe.”

Kuroko raised his head and looked at him with a puzzled expression. But before he could ask something more they were already near the dormitory and Imayoshi spoke again.

“From here it should be easy for you coming back to your room.”

“Sure. Thank you for everything senpai.”

Another bow.

“You know…”

Kuroko was ready to leave and Imayoshi surprised him.

“…I didn’t know I was such a type, but…” He didn’t smile anymore. “I think I can’t stand you. After all Seirin defeated Touou but it was you who made it possible. If you weren’t there during the last seconds, do you think Kagami would have made it against Aomine?”

Kuroko didn’t feel anger, it was more a statement and he understood a little how Imayoshi could feel.

“You don’t make history with hypothesis.”

Imayoshi stayed silent for a while. “You are right.” He smiled again. “Well, I hope you’ll get along with your new kouhai’s life.”

“Huh?”

Kuroko didn’t get that strange greeting. He would have some days later.

  ***

  Kuroko wasn’t new at being a kouhai with though senpais, he passed through Nijimura and Hyuuga, so he was sure he wouldn’t have problems even at the university. Yet he soon discovered that the difficulty was dealing with Imayoshi, since his face and his thoughts sometimes were split apart, sometimes weren’t. And he couldn’t detect when Imayoshi showed his true guts or he just pretended.

After Imayoshi’s words Kuroko thought that he would have avoided him as much as he could, so he didn’t expected his senpai behind the door of the room waiting for him the following morning.

“Come with me Kuroko, we’ll get breakfast and then I’ll introduce you to the Book’s Society.”

As a kouhai Kuroko didn’t declined the offer.

“Here’s Kuroko Tetsuya.”

But Imayoshi was the president of the Society.

“Kuroko, when you don’t have lessons you can drop by. Please, think about becoming a member.”

Kuroko sensed Imayoshi had something in his mind -it wasn’t difficult, judging by his overjoyed evil smirk- but on the other hand he was truly interested. Yet all the troubles began far before he made his decision.

“Ah, Kuroko, thank God you are here. If you haven’t any lesson now come with me.”

“Help me with these documents.”

“Bring those box in the library.”

“Since you have a better handwriting than mine, copy this.”

“I didn’t know you were such a good kouhai.”

Kuroko, for the first time, agreed with Kagami’s complaints about the annoying vertical structure in Japan and those pissed observations seemed so far in time that he felt older than he really was. Or maybe was just the exhaustion he was walking towards thanks to his caring senpai.

“You look tired. Why don’t you eat more?”

“Here, I bought you this soft drink. Please enjoy it.”

And Imayoshi wasn’t doing anything to hide his true intentions. He wasn’t pretending to be a good senpai who respected the structure of the Japanese society replicated in the tiny world in the university: he was a sneaky bastard who enjoyed publicly that revenge. Or that thing Kuroko though it was revenge, since his point of view couldn’t be neutral.

“Kuroko, I need to finish this work but I have a meeting. Come to my room.”

It was almost eleven when Imayoshi came back and found an impatient Kuroko who had already finished the work and was just waiting to go away.

But Imayoshi closed the door and turned the key.

“Some crazy first year was organizing a party but rumors spread quite fast here if you don’t know how to hand the news.”

Kuroko couldn’t stop his frustration from showing on his face. “So they started the surveillance before this night.”

“It seems like I won’t sleep alone this night. It’s been a while since the last time I shared a room.”

“All the third years have a room of their own?”

“No, they are given beyond some factors, as your marks and participation in the activities.”

Kuroko remained near the desk.

“You finished all the work. Good job.”

Imayoshi took the papers and threw them in the bin. He observed Kuroko and was quite disappointed when there was no reaction at all — just a remaining of his desire of going away from that room.

“I saw your work in the drawer: it’s already done. Even all the other works I had to do for you, I suppose they were already done.”

There was no embarrass from Imayoshi, he simply looked disappointed. “I didn’t think I would have been discovered so easily.”

“It’s easy if you think about yourself. Since you can’t stand me, I don’t think you would give me important tasks. I had some doubts.”

“Yet you did them anyway. Despite the first impression you have a great pride.” Imayoshi’s smile grew wider. “But I would call it stupidity.”

They observed each other.

“It’s late, senpai.” Kuroko remarked the word. “Shouldn’t we go to bed?”

“Yes, definitely.”

    Imayoshi’s clothes were too big yet enough comfortable just for a night. Even though Kuroko felt like he was tangled in them, he wasn’t the kind of person who moved a lot in his sleep.

“Is everything okay?”

In the darkness of the room he heard Imayoshi’s voice clearly behind his back. They were sharing the same bed but Kuroko could only suppose that Imayoshi turned towards him to speak as he couldn’t see anything.

“Yes.”

“Things turned out being very strange since we met again. Who would have though one day you would have been my kouhai?”

“I’d spare it.”

“Are you still angry?”

“I’m not angry.”

“You are.”

“I’m not.” Kuroko didn’t change his tone of voice. “You play with everyone. I just happened to be from Seirin.”

Imayoshi chuckled. “I’m human, it’s fun getting a sort of payback.”

“So that was revenge…”

“Maybe. But I was more interested in your reactions. It was funny, because your face said no but your mouth always replied yes.”

Kuroko was grateful to the darkness, yet he thought Imayoshi was able to sense his frown even without seeing him.

“Did I had some choice? You are still my senpai.”

“…really how could you get along with Aomine since you are on opposite sides? He even kicked Wakamatsu once.”

“Daiki-kun had a difficult puberty. Lately he gained again some cute sides he had during middle school.”

“It’s difficult for me to image it. He was arrogant and pretty selfish back then.” Imayoshi stayed silent for some seconds. “Really, what part of Aomine can be actually cute?”

“He need to be taken care of. If he is left alone he is like a lost puppy.”

“Making comparison with cute animals won’t make him cuter to me.”

“He still has underwears with teddy bears on.”

“The more we talk about Aomine the more this conversation is getting difficult.”

“Yeah, we should change topic.”

“Oh.” This time Imayoshi clearly turned towards him, Kuroko felt his movements. “You want to continue our chatting, that’s unexpected…. So, what do you think of me?”

That question came out of the blue but Kuroko didn’t wait to reply.

“I can’t understand you and I don’t know how to deal with you. You are shifty and probably your behavior is one of the worst I’ve ever witnessed.”

“I’m pleased by all your kindness.”

“But when you had your fun and took your advantages you can be quite nice too. That book you recommended me was truly interesting.”

“So it is?”

“Yes, I read it in no time.”

“I wasn’t talking about the book.” Imayoshi gave again his back to Kuroko. “That’s the nicest description I’ve ever received from an ex opponent. Guys from Seirin are seriously too kind.”

“Thank you.”

That wasn’t a compliment, both knew it. And they fell asleep without saying anything else.

The first one who woke up the following morning was Imayoshi. He felt an extraneous presence near him and didn’t remember suddenly what happened the previous night. Then he realized.

“You are such a bother…”

Kuroko was still sleeping and didn’t make any move when Imayoshi moved above and gave him a kiss on the lips.

When Kuroko Tetsuya stayed silent he could be quite beautiful. Imayoshi had to admit it.

  ***

  Nigou run towards Imayoshi. The dog probably was more interested in what he was carrying than in him but it didn’t matter. Kuroko looked at the orange ball.

“It’s been a while since I played. How about a one on one?”

Imayoshi put down a drink next to Kuroko, making him sigh lightly over his book.

“Don’t worry, this time it isn’t a coke.” Kuroko sniffed it and wrinkled his nose due to the bubbly smell. “It’s an orange soda.”

“I guess I’ll come play with you.” He would have find a way to get rid of that drink.

“I’m glad.” Imayoshi adjusted his glasses and the light of the sun made the lenses sparkle, giving him a more evil aura. “That’s a pity I can’t play for much time. Someone spilled a drink on some documents I was preparing for a meeting and now I have to make them again.”

“What a waste.”

“Yes. They were all soaked into orange soda.”

Imayoshi could see that Kuroko’s lips were curved in a little smile that he was trying to suppress and that made his cheeks being a little more chubby.

“Do you know anything?”

“Nothing at all.” Yet his voice managed to sound normal, without any inflections of laughs. “Then shouldn’t we hurry up to the court?”

Imayoshi nodded. “I’m lucky I have a troublesome kouhai who is willing to give me a hand.” He patted Kuroko’s head and felt so good when his bothered look pierced him. “So we can play again when the work will be over.”