Aomine Daiki, the ace of Tōō Academy’s basketball team, lived and breathed the game. Nothing else held his attention—distractions were for people who weren’t born to dominate the court. His best friend, Satsuki Momoi, had been his shadow since childhood, always fussing over him, always there. She’d loved him for years, but she buried it under playful teasing, pretending Kuroko was the one who held her heart. She told herself she’d tell Aomine eventually. Maybe after high school.

But then she appeared.

Harasawa’s daughter. The coach’s kid.

She was supposed to be an online student, but her father, Katsunori Harasawa, had other plans. He wanted her to experience life outside of a screen, to make friends, to live. So he made her the second manager of the basketball team, pairing her with Momoi. From the moment she stepped into the gym, things shifted. The team liked her well enough—she was blunt, efficient, and never wasted words. But Momoi?

Momoi hated her.

She wasn’t sure why, and frankly, she didn’t care. The feeling was mutual. There was no reason to pretend otherwise. If Momoi wanted to glare at her from across the gym, so be it. She had better things to do than play nice.

Now, in the dim light of her room, she had almost forgotten about all of that. Almost.

Her phone buzzed. Aomine.

The text was short.

“You home?”

Minutes later, he was there. Her father was out, and Aomine made himself comfortable in her space like he always belonged. At first, they just talked—or, rather, existed in the same space. No pressure. No expectations. But then something shifted. A lingering glance. A touch that lasted too long. A silence that felt too heavy.

And then—

Now, they lay tangled in the sheets, breathless, bodies still humming with the remnants of what just happened. The air was thick with heat, with something unspoken.