i have this hc about murahimu with kiyoniji that's centered around mukkun's character exploration. Nijimura is Himuro's ex who now dated Kiyoshi when he came to the US to get treatment. Every time murahimu visits and Himuro asks Nijimura to hang out with them, he'd bring Kiyoshi.
Murasakibara got this inner turmoil that he never disliked Nijimura before and was indifferent toward his ex-captain;; all this time only ever listened to Akashi.
He got so pissed that Himuro still calls him Shuu but he wants Himuro to trust him and he knows that there was nothing between them anymore.
He's even more pissed knowing Kiyoshi befriended Himuro so easily. Mukkun learns so much after dating Himuro. He learns that he can't get special treatment despite Himuro's way of bribing him with food. When it comes to other things, other real life and social life things, he can't tie Himuro, and Himuro doesn't want to humor him with further bribing.
He learns that just because he doesn't like someone, he can't make Himuro feel the same way, and just because he doesn't like that person, it's not justified to be a dick esp knowing Kiyoshi or Nijimura never done anything wrong to him.
("I lost to Kiyoshi! That's enough reason to hate him!"
"Atsushi, I was there too. We lost to him but is that really a reason to not visit him at the hospital? He moves from another country by himself and he needs all the emotional support he can get.")
Now that Himuro is there, Nijimura feels like he can go back to how things are, playing basketball. He can play with the guys from the neighborhood court but he knows it doesn't feel the same. During his move to L.A. Nijimura was at his lowest, with no certainty if his dad will survive or not. Aside from being his ex, Himuro was also his best friend.
Murasakibara decides an ex-captain or not, he doesn't care because he only wants Himuro to himself. It's not the first time he turns a friend into a foe and even though it feels awful and it feels alienating, he just doesn't care. But it's even harder to tell Himuro how he really feels about Nijimura because Himuro knows their past and assumes Atsushi won't have any ill feelings. The best way he can do is to distance himself. Of course, this saddens Himuro.
Kiyoshi being the first to realize and tries to give Murasakibara the talk but ofc Atsushi resists so he has to physically corner him or bribe him with food or something. In the end, murahimu talk.
Maybe Atsushi 'tolerates' Teppei a lil bit now.
