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daiki watched the airplane soar and fly across the sky.
he had been sure that he's going to america that time, knowing that there are other stronger players out there—including kagami, who was on board in that airplane. he told his friends about it, of course—and they knew, given that they were also woken up by that very light guided by their shadow from the past. tetsu never lost his faith on them—on him—and showed them that there's more than keeping their innate talents by themselves.
sure, daiki found himself back on his old self because of them—
—of him, that light who shone in his own brilliant way without being swallowed by it.
daiki played basketball with the same passion reignited by that fateful match that he lost for the first time. he watched that light breaking through the walls they stubbornly built with their pride and ego, only to realize that it was the very reason why they lost against him—no, not just kagami—but against him and his team who believed in him. basketball wasn't meant to be played alone, and they were too jaded to see the light hidden behind the gate of true zone themselves until then.
it's just supposed to be a stupid metaphor, but daiki knew that he couldn't deny what it truly meant to trust other people than himself.
so daiki played basketball with the same passion once more, now with his team as how he had seen from his rival. he played through the remaining years of their youth, trying to learn what it meant to trust again. he'll be damned not to admit it himself that he did, but that trust is nothing but emptiness without its depth and meaning to trust that word itself.
he dove into that depth already, but the meaning remained elusive for him to grasp. daiki didn't know what went wrong even after he finally learned to trust again. he played every damn match he could play, running through every court he stood in—only to find that he was just chasing the shadows of what had been there before.
his cobalt light against his crimson fire—
the pieces of heat sparked by their lights;
that second match where touou lost against seirin.
daiki knew what was missing throughout those days, yet he couldn't bring himself to admit it when his answer had been long gone to another continent already.
since then, daiki began to yawn again. he still played, but satsuki quickly noticed him holding back like before. he told her his problems, but all he got is a sympathy he didn't ask for.
daiki then talked to tetsu.
his old partner understood what he meant.
he gave his answer that he'll remain as a shadow to their lights.
it wasn't enough, and daiki felt that he's just being an asshole at this point.
he kept on trying this time, only that he began to compensate for what was lost. he tried to pick up an english textbook, tune back to nba again, and play basketball as he usually does. still—the longer he spent time on those things, the farther he seemed to be slipping away.
so he tried another new thing that he wouldn't normally do.
[cavs got your bulls' asses again, lmao.]
daiki knew what he was doing by texting him, but it didn't help him to brace whatever he was expecting to hear from kagami since the idiot actually called him and started to chew his ear out through the phone. it's been a while since they actually bothered to text or even call each other, given that they've been busy with their own lives. still, daiki couldn't understand how his stupid rival still sounded like before—as if they were still in the same country who just happened to watched the same thing that tied them together.
too tight that daiki felt like he's getting choked.
"still sticking on your bulls' asses again, huh?"
"Of course, you moron! They actually had an eye on me, after all!"
and it tightened further that he couldn't breath.
"... that's good."
"Uh-huh. Is that all you can say?"
he wished he could say more than that, but his scoff caught him first before he could even think about it.
"i didn't know."
"You didn't? I texted it back then, though."
a pause, followed by silence.
"guess i forgot."
another silence. a deafening one this time.
"... Is everything alright out there, Aomine? You sounded off."
daiki fucking hates himself for dragging it out this way.
"what? yeah, i'm fine. the hell are you talking about?"
"Nothing... Forget about it, then."
he wish he could just forget easily as that.
so he did what he only knew and asked the other about his dream again.
it was the remaining thing that tied them together, after all.
"You still up going pro here, though? It'll be more fun with you around."
he knew that he couldn't quit from his words that easily.
"you think so?"
he wished he knew how to quit it.
"Yeah. We can definitely show them what we got here, after all."
daiki wished he knew how to quit kagami from being the answer.
"... we'll see about that, then."
by then, he wouldn't be able to find himself in this goddamn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation at all.