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Sometimes, Kasamatsu really hated Kise.
Kise had ruined basketball for Kasamatsu — it used to be like home. Familiar, comfortable and altogether a place to return to whenever he needed to.
But Kise had brought girls into basketball, and turned it into an alien place — scary, uncomfortable, and out of Kasamatsu's control.
Kasamatsu had gotten into basketball because it was something he found interesting, exciting, and most of all, within his control. He had not aspired to be captain of a nationally-ranked high school team nor a national-level point guard in his own right, but somehow he had fallen into it by virtue of attending Kaijou, one of the strongest sports high school in Japan.
It was fine even as the pressure mounted. It was still basketball, and something he knew. Then Kise had joined, and suddenly the seemingly mono-gendered realm of the boy's high school basketball team became a girls' haven.
Kasamatsu could handle the pressure of leading a basketball team to nationals. Kasamatsu could handle annoying teammates like Moriyama and Hayakawa. He could even handle the pressure of being the player that lost the team the nationals. But girls— Kasamatsu could not handle.
It started with Kise's fan club. Kasamatsu had gone to the first practice feeling optimistic about Kaijou's prospects in that year's nationals. He was feeling good about the training menu, and the new acquisition of an illustrious member of the Generation of Miracles.
He stopped short as he saw a gaggle of girls crowding the practice gym doors. They giggled as they saw him approaching, and a few of them approached him, fluttered her eyelashes, and asked sweetly, "Kasamatsu-senpai, can we watch Kise-kun practice today?"
He didn't even give her an answer — he choked, bolted right through them and locked the doors behind him. Later when Kise asked him what was wrong, he kicked him harder for good measure.
Later, upon Kasamatsu's request, the coach announced that no students could be around the practice gym except official team members "to minimise distraction." Kasamatsu hoped that was the last of girls in his safe haven of basketball.
But it was not to be. Sometimes, Moriyama could be worse than Kise. He had prodded, cajoled and whined until Kise agreed to bring his older sisters to watch a practice match.
"Geez, why is Kise always surrounded by girls?" Kasamatsu had exasperatedly thought, and kicked both Kise and Moriyama the moment he saw two beautiful college girls sitting on the bench. They were unmistakeably Kise's sisters — impeccably made-up, poised and elegant in the natural way only born models could be.
After the practice match, whilst Kise introduced the team to his sisters, Kasamatsu was noticeably absent. He had gone to "discuss with the coach about special training menus for Moriyama and Kise alone," Hayakawa had enthusiastically told them when Kise's sisters had asked to see the "super cool captain Ryouta can't shut up about." Kise and Moriyama had gone pale, and Kise never brought his sisters to any matches again. Problem solved.
Then came Seirin's coach, Aida Riko. Their first practice match with Seirin, their loss had jolted Kasamatsu right out of being uncomfortable in her very presence. Besides, their own coach had been engaged in feeling outclassed by a high school girl and Kise had been busy bawling ("So mean, senpai!" Kise would say every time one of them brought it up, laughing, later.).
The next time he saw her, he had been unfortunate enough to be alone. In the hallways of the stadium where the Interhigh was held, he bumped into her at the vending machine. She flashed him a friendly smile.
"Hey! Kaijou's captain, Kasamatsu-senpai, right? I'm Aida, Seirin's coach," she said, gesturing to herself. Kasamatsu turned bright red and immediately started choking. Thankfully, she did not notice. The vending machine had gotten stuck, and she had started kicking it trying to dislodge the bottled green tea she was trying to buy. In the height of her anger, she had demanded of a terrified Kasamatsu to help her kick it. Luckily, Kasamatsu handled action better than words around girls, and his kicking well-honed from practice on his own teammates helped dislodge the drink.
Riko's change in attitude from scary-angry to friendly was instant the moment the drink was in her hand. "Thanks! I've gotta go, but it was nice meeting you!" Riko flashed another smile at him, patting his shoulder and leaving. Kasamatsu had been left feeling strangely proud of himself. He had successfully handled an interaction with a girl without needing anyone else there. He had gone into the next match feeling on top of the world, like he could do anything. Girls weren't so bad.
Until he met Momoi Satsuki. She was just as bad as most girls, only worse. At least Riko could relate to boys in a way that Kasamatsu understood, as basketball captain. Momoi related to boys in an entirely different way.
Momoi fluttered into Kaijou's practice like she belonged there. Over Kasamatsu's choked declaration of "no visitors," she had giggled a "Ki-chan!" and Kise had fluttered back a "Momoichii~!". They were like two butterflies, fluttering and glittering together. The team was nearly in palpitations at the sight. Irritated, Kasamatsu kicked Kise and forced him to do double laps.
Unfortunately, Kise was not the only member in his team that liked interacting with girls. Momoi had nearly gotten half-a-year's worth of data from Moriyama through a combination of sweet smiles and deliberate shoulder touching by the time Kasamatsu had gathered all his courage and went over to walk her out. Luckily, he could do silence as well as action around girls. Her hair-flicking and shoulder brushing was completely ignored in his stony silence until she was safely out of the gym, after which he locked the doors, leaned against them, released a deep, long-suffering sigh, and kicked Moriyama twice.
However, the one girl Kasamatsu placed as being the most out of his control was when he met Alexandra Garcia. Kagami Taiga's former mentor had taken one look at Kise and with a "What a pretty boy!," had swooped in to kiss him. Kagami had yelled in shock, Kasamatsu had nearly a heart attack, and Kise had, with the patience of a model dealing with fanatic fans, handled it very well (Kasamatsu would die rather than admit envy of the little punk, but Kise knew how to handle girls).
When Alex had turned to him, Kasamatsu turned bright red. "You're cute too! Taiga, why have you not introduced me to your friends before!" Over the shouts of Kagami's "why do you think?!" she had slung an arm around him and brought him close. Kasamatsu had been terrified, but all she did was wink at him and say, "I watched you at the Winter Cup. Good job, kid!"
Such praise coming from ex-WNBA and a woman so beautiful (and foreign!), Kasamatsu nearly fainted from sheer awe and fear. As it were, Kagami and Kise helped smooth things over, and Kasamatsu eventually had a whole actual conversation with Alex about basketball, the NBA, and at one point, basketball fashion (she liked his socks, okay?).
Kasamatsu and Kise left Kagami and Alex bickering over which American chain served the best burgers. Kise had taken one look at Kasamatsu and smiled. "So senpai, girls aren't so bad, right?"
Kasamatsu smiled. "Nope, not too bad at all." He would handle girls the same way he handled basketball — the weight of the pressure a part of being a leader, and an inevitable part of his life.