The Courting Behaviour of Basketballers (and Other Animals)

Prologue

As Kuroko Tetsuna started her life as a second year high school student at Seirin, she recalled how amazing the past year had been. The Seirin Basketball Team had won the coveted Winter Cup against Rakuzan, and she had mended her once broken friendships with the Generation of Miracles. Those dearest to her were finally happy doing what they loved the most again, and even though one could've never guessed it from the smile on her face – or lack thereof –, she was happy.

She was truly… deeply… happy…

Yeah right…

Time to get serious boys and girls! Because this group of capricious narrators is going to tell you a story. Wait no! It's more than a story! It's an investigation! A social study! An in depth look into the courting behaviour of basketballers! (and other animals).

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When Kuroko entered the classroom that morning, she was greeted by Furihata Kouki, a second year member of the basketball team. "Morning Kuroko-chan," he chirped. "Have you seen that new video about that new dating game show?"

"The one those people were promoting at the school gate yesterday?" Kuroko asked.

"Yeah, that's the one. Have you seen it?" Furihata eyed her closely.

"No. Why?" Kuroko tucked a lock of her chin-length, light-blue hair behind her ear as she sat down.

"I just thought that you should," Kouki shrugged. "Here, we can watch in on my PSP." He pulled up a chair next to Kuroko's table and pushed play.

"Have you heard?! Have you heard?! Have you heard?! By popular demand, the creators of the massively-popular dating app – 'Love Quotient' – has partnered up with the on-demand Internet streaming media giant – 'OTL' – to produce 'Ai no Shoujo'!

That's right, this spring, ONE 'Shoujo' and SEVEN 'Shounen' from high schools all across Japan are going to be put together in 'Ai no Shoujo!'

Interested? Then take part! Ai no Shoujo is open to all high-schoolers aged 16-18. The 'Shoujo' must be nominated and then voted for on OTL's voting board, and more than one girl can be nominated from a school! Hurry, hurry, hurry! The faster a girl's nominated the longer she'll be on the voting board, which closes midnight on Sunday!

And after the 'Shoujo' has been elected, voting for the 'Shounen' will start! These boys can't be nominated! Meaning you'll just have to put your heart out on your sleeves and apply for the chance to court the shoujo! Not feeling so brave now aye boys? But, if you wanna take a chance at love, then post yourself onto the OTL voting board, and may the best boy win!"

"…" Kuroko blinked at Furihata. "Furihata-kun, are you applying?" Kuroko asked, failing to see the point of his showing her the video.

"What?- No! Just- just keep watching, there's a little bit more," Furihata urged.

There was more, but more of the same. In the video, some OTL idols were at high schools promoting the show. After that, it was just student after student with smiles on their face, all expressing how excited they were for the show, some even went as far as to ask for votes on camera.

Then, a familiar face came on screen. Hers.

Kuroko raised a brow. Yes, of course. A bubbly idol had asked her the same repetitive "Are you looking forward to the show?" question last Friday as she was exiting the school. She barely remembered their encounter.

"I'm not interested."

Kuroko watched her own retreating back on the video before the camera turned back to the idol and gave a close up of her teary face.

"You made her cry Kuroko-chan…" Furihata pointed out the obvious.

"How?" Kuroko asked. "She asked me a question, and I gave her an answer".

"Some girls are a bit more fragile than others Kuroko-chan," Furihata shrugged. "Read the comments."

"Okay." Kuroko scrolled down. To her surprise, the video had over 50 million views, but as she continued to scroll down, the reason as to why the viewcount was so high explained itself.

-: FAKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! (48660 likes, 32315 dislikes)

-: OMG that last 1 was sooo staged. (5465 likes, 4572 dislikes)

- - - - : Really, I thought it looked real. (789 likes, 572 dislikes)

- - - - - - - - : Cos you're a turd (11 likes, 2dislikes)

- - - - - - - - - - - -: No, and only an 11 year old would use the word turd. Why are u watching ths video anyway kid! And it wasn't fake (8 likes, 2 dislikes)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -: You're still a turd. (998 likes, 0 dislikes)

-: Fake as sh!t (3359 likes, 2956 dislikes)

-: It's not fake guys! (1235 likes, 1005 dislikes)

-: Keep calm and eat burgers (1111 likes, 60 dislikes)

The comment section went on and on. It was endless. The keyboard warriors were at war, clearly provoked, which begged the question...

"Why didn't they edit it out?" Kuroko looked at Furihata.

"Because whoever was behind the video knew it would get people talking- arguing rather." Both Furihata and Kuroko looked up. It was senior Aida Riko, coach of the basketball team. "Free publicity."

"Coach, you've seen it too?" Furihata asked.

"Yup," Riko grinned.

"It'll pass," Kuroko sighed, handing Furihata back his PSP.

"You sure about that?" Riko had that glint in her eyes. "The dawn of the Internet gave birth to nerdrage, and you should never underestimate nerdrage."

"Would you please elaborate?".

"Someone nominated you for the show!" Riko squealed.

"What!?" Kuroko and Furihata said.

"And you won!" Riko squealed again, jumping up and down at the prospect of Kuroko being on the show.

"WHAT!?" Furihata felt his jaw drop. Even Kuroko was visibly horrified at the news.

"I'm not going to do it," Kuroko told them.

"Yes, you are." Riko leant against Kuroko's desk, staring down at her. It wasn't something the 156cm coach got to do very often against the 168 cm manager.

Furihata would've found it funny if he wasn't so confused. Why on earth was Riko encouraging Kuroko to go on the show?

"I humbly decline." Kuroko stared back.

"I know it's not your kind of thing," Riko started. "But you're going to be the team's coach next year, and unless we get Seirin out there somehow, all the promising athletes will get snatched up by other schools."

"We won the Winter Cup," Kuroko retorted. "People know about Seirin."

"They also know that we're a new school, have zero athletic scholarships, are in the same district as Touou and Shutoku, and we have a coach who's a high school girl."

"But you're a great coach! Both of you!" Furihata interjected.

"Thanks Furihata-kun," Riko smiled. "But there are a lot of people who don't know our team. We need more than just the Winter Cup."

Kuroko couldn't lie; what Riko said made sense. "But would we really be doing ourselves any favours? Having a coach who's been on a reality dating show?"

"That's why you gotta go on that show and charm the nation!" Riko enthused.

"With what charm?" Kuroko asked, but she knew the coach was no longer listening. Riko was nothing if not determined. After all, that was how she had gotten the team this far. Kuroko had no doubt that she owed a lot to Aida Riko.

Still, Kuroko Tetsuna on a dating game show?

Her life was all about basketball.

Her friends.

Her team.

The game.

Kuroko looked at her friends. Riko had ants in her pants and Furihata was eagerly surfing through the OTL voting board.

Kuroko closed her eyes. Maybe it was time she dipped her feet in something different. Perhaps this was the universe's way of telling her to add a bit of variety to her life. It might not be that bad.

"Kuroko-chan look!" Furihata showed her his PSP.

Crap.

Of course it had to be them.

A/N: Well, well, well, I wonder who 'them' is? Look forward to these shonens on Ai no Shoujo! Stay tuned for the next chapter!