5Sho wouldn't have noticed the boy had it not been for the bright light emitting from his phone screen.
It was late; the sun had went down hours ago. He should've walked home much earlier, seeing that there was really nothing for him to do now that his knee is broken. Instead, he sat by his usual spot beside the river, under the bridge, and just.. stared. With his soccer ball placed beside him, Sho layed down on the short tuffs of grass facing the ball, turning it over with his left hand while his right cushioned his head. Encouraging messages and doodles from his former teammates wishing him a quick and full recovery. He stayed in that position all afternoon and had dinner - the usual udon- at Oya-san's place. The old man had seen him all afternoon and contemplated shooing him home, but decided against it. After all, Sho is, if anything, stubborn as a mule; he'd leave at his own time. After dinner Sho meant to go home, he really did, but the comfort of his grassy makeshift bed and lullaby of memories rocked him to sleep before he could even notice.
When he woke up, it was pitch black, save for the streetlights that hung overhead. Taking it as a sign to finally head back, Sho gathered his crutches and soccer ball and slowly treaded home. He was halfway down the street when a small white light caught his eye. Furrowing his eyebrows a twinge, Sho made his way over to the soft light, that of which he realized as he got closer was coming from a phone. Picking up the cellular device, Sho chuckled at the screensaver: a handsome orange haired boy with his arm around a smaller boy with soft, baby blue hair. The latter had an impassive face, a quirk of his eyebrow gave away his annoyance with the picture, but the taller of the two just smiled brightly as if he didn't notice. Sho looked around to see if the owner of the phone was anywhere, but found no one else around. A bit fustrated, he turned back, only for his left crutch to hit an unknown matter. When he looked down to see what it was he hit, he was greeted with the sleeping form of the blue boy from the screensaver.
"W-wait...was he always here?!" Sho half screamed. He swore he'd seen no other person around. Furthermore, why did this kid sleep in the middle of the street. Further examination showed a sheen of sweat covering his forehead and his breath was a bit shallow. COuld it be that he'd fainted in the middle of walking home due to fatigue? And to think people said he was the one too overworked.
In any case, Sho knew he couldn't just leave the kid lying here in the middle of the street- too dangerous. "Umm hey, wake up.." He gently shook the boy, hoping he'd wake up. The boy's fingers twitched. SHo started tapping his face. "Waaakeee up."
Lazily, the boy's eyelids lifted and Sho found himself staring into his aquamarine eyes. As if he didn't just collapse onto the street, the boy calmly stared at him before opening his mouth to speak. "Hello."
Is it just him, or is this kid flickering in and out of existence? It's as if the more Sho stared at him, the harder it is to see him. "Uhh, hi..?"
When the boy shifted his attention to the phone in his hand, Sho finally snapped out of his daze and remembered what was going on. "Oh, yeah is this your phone?" He held the device out to him and the boy took it.
"Ah, thank you. I must've fainted on my way back from school."
Silence. Is he serious? School ended long ago, just how long had he been lying here?
"My name is Kuroko Tetsuya. Thanks for waking me up, I would've been in trouble if you hadn't." The boy- Kuroko - was still waiting for him to say something.
"Yeah..I mean, you're welcome! I was a bit worried for a minute there.. haha…" He chuckled weakly. Kuroko nodded, his aloof expression remained. Then he stood up, Sho followed suit, grabbing his crutches that he'd left aside when he bent down to wake Kuroko up. "My name is Sho by the way. Sho Kasamatsuri."
Kuroko then bent down and picked up the forgotten soccerball from the ground. After a swift moment of hesitation he spoke up, "Is this yours?" Sho eagerly grabbed it from his hands. "Yup! This is my treasure! Do you play soccer too?"
"No, I play basketball."
"Eh? Really? You're so short though. I mean, I guess I shouldn't be saying that, seeing as how I'm shorter than you." Sho laughed weakly. There was a slight irritation to his tone at the last part he didn't mean to let out.
"It's okay, I'm actually really bad at basketball, but that's why I practice a lot- to get better." Sho beamed at that.
"Don't ever give up, okay? I'm sure you can do it! I was really bad at soccer too at first, but then I practiced a lot and got really better at it!" The awkward mood had lifted. It should be weird, talking so amiably with a stranger like this, but Sho couldn't bother to care. Kuroko reminded him of himself when he was just starting.
For the first time, Kuroko smiled. "Yes. Thank you, I swear I won't give up." Silence. "Uh it's getting really late, so I guess we should both head back now."
Sho felt just a little embarrassed for forgetting the time. "Oh yes. Of course. Hey, we should talk more another time, you can usually find me at the riverside most days after school." Kuroko's eyes showed a flash of sorrow at the last statement. "I-if you ever need anyone to talk too, I'll gladly listen, Kuroko-kun."
Kuroko's smile had faded, but his voice remained friendly, "I will. And thanks again for helping Sho-san. I'll see you around."
The two shook hands and parted. That night, they both went to bed with a smile.
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Whistle! is such an underrated manga...