Chapter 61:

Confrontations

Akashi twirled his pen between his fingers. He was the last person who liked to create a scene,  but he was pushed to it. Aomine no longer even ate with them. He was doing his best to avoid Akashi. The bell rang signalling the beginning of lunch. Akashi was out of his seat in no time. The teacher barely left when he too exited the class. He strode towards Aomine's class and waited at the door. People were piling out and some cursed him for blocking the way. But Aomine didn't come out. Satsuki came out with her lunch.

"Momoi, have you seen Aomine?"

Satsuki shook her head. "Nope, Akashi-kun. Aho is cutting class again. Mou! I searched for him all day long, during brak and stuff, but I couldn't find him at all. Sorry."

Akashi nodded. "It's not your fault."

"Any luck?" It was Sora. Akashi raised his eyebrows. Ever since he'd told her about the club, she had been acting like this.

"You forgot your lunchbag...." she said, trying to cover it up.

"Thank you."

The last thing Akashi wanted was for her to pity him. Pity was almost like looking down on someone. And lately, he'd been getting quite a lot of that. According to him anyway. But there was not much that he could do but proceed to lunch as usual.

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"Where are Akashi and Sora?" questioned Akira. "Neither of them is anything but punctual. Why haven't they come yet?"

"Poor Akashi-san...." said Satsuki. "I think Sora-chan is with him......"

"Why what happened?" said Akira. Satsuki narrated everything that happened as briefly as she could. Akira swore.

"Damn that aho! At least Ki-chan has work so he can't attend. But he's cutting practice just for the sake of it!"

Satsuki nodded. "Almost everyone has tried reasoning with him. I don't think anything can be done. Even Tetsu-kun begged him to come back."

"Not everyone...." said Akira softly.

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There was a small corner at the extreme end of the tennis courts. A small grove of trees hid a small grassy portion. It was well shaded and particularly good for a nap. Aomine has just discovered that. With a thick canopy, just the right amount of soft, green light filtered though lulling him into a peaceful sleep. He had been spending two days there and no one had found out. But he was not lucky that evening.

Aomine heard someone's footsteps cracking the thick leaf cover on the ground. At first he thought it was Akashi. This was one of his last retreat spots and he didn't want to lose it. Luckily, it was just Akira. "Oh. You." he said and closed his eyes again. Akira came and sat down next to him.

"Aomine Daiki, I need to have a word with you."

Aomine sat up. The polite use of his full name unnerved him a bit. "Yeah?"

"You know, the entire club is suffering because of you."

Aomine snorted. A speech on world peace was the last thing he wanted to hear. Besides, they were the ones who had out-casted him. No one seemed to understand that. He lay back down and closed his eyes.

"I'm serious."

Aomine opened one of his eyes slowly. This had to be important afterall. This was the first time that Akira had spoken two continuous sentences to him without swearing or calling him aho. Seeing that he was actually listening, Akira continued. "Two hours a day.... Really, what difference can it make? No one is practicing without you. I've heard that Akashi's having a lot of trouble. You're impotant. You're the ace...... And isn't it the ace's job to look after the team?"

Aomine was in no mood to reply. Her every word rang true. But she didn't understand. She couldn't. He was different. Isolated.

"Come back, Aomine...." she was saying. "Don't you love basketball?"

Aomine felt horrible. He loved basketball. More than anything. But she didn't get it. Her words however made him want to go back. And that wouldn't do.....

"I don't give a damn." he found himself saying. He slowly got up. "Go rot in hell, you and all the rest for all I care."

She blocked his way. "Tell me, do you really want to quit playing?" she asked, looking at his eyes. Aomine felt like his very gaze would give the whole game away. He pushed her aside roughly and walked away as fast as he could without running. He knew he had probably hurt her badly.

But there was no way he was going back.