When he felt the coldness of the glass on his cheek, he half opened his eyes to see the flow of the city as the car slowly but surely moved towards their destination. Apart from the way the streets were so crowded and the lights – oh so many of them – played and danced in the evening sky, this city was quite alien to him. Like the other two he had lived in the last few years. How many years would it take for him to get used to this new land?

It was not that he was not used to it per se, he was used to it in a sense that his daily life went quite smoothly but every now and then he would stop for a second or blink for a second and realise that afterall, no, this place... this place was not home. Oh and people sure had been doing their best to remind him that. In every goddamn interview. In every goddamn magazine article. In every goddamn commercial. In every goddamn match review. In every goddamn...

"Um sir..."

He turned his bored gaze towards his driver for the evening, a man in his forties.

"Um, could I ask a question?"

"Sure."

"You are Daiki Aomine right?"

Aomine gave a slight smirk and return his gaze to its old place towards the car's window...

"I sure am."

"Wow... I mean I do drive many famous people but I have never drove a star basketball player. I mean I had heard the rumours that my guest tonight would be an athlete but I had no idea it would be you! I don't understand from basketball at all to be honest but my son is a huge fan of yours, sir! Everyone says you are the Japanese Miracle!"

Aomine's smirk fell awkwardly off his face.

"So what?"

"Huh?"

"So what if I am Japanese?"

"Ah... well, it's just you know it is not common for Japanese or Asians in general to be good at these kinds of sports I guess, so..."

"Who says that?"

"I – I am sorry if I offended you sir."

It was not that he was offended at this specific instance, it was that he was offended at being reduced to his race constantly by the media. People treated him as an exotic oddity, a curious existence and the word "Japanese" and a myriad of all things this country considered "Japanese" (which honestly was not that many and were not all correct) kept to be the main themes whenever he was covered in the media. At the beginning he felt a variety of feelings regarding this, from sincere amusement to some sort of national pride at times, but at this point he was simply tired of it. How many years would it take for him to be praised solely with regards to his strength and talents?

He sighed.

"I don't have anything with me to sign on or anything to sign with really... but if you want we could take a picture together? For your kid?"

The driver gave out a sigh of relaxation at the nice offer Aomine had broken the awkward silence with.

"Ah thanks sir, if you don't mind, it would be awesome. I am sure he would love it."

The rest of the drive continued mostly in silence and once they stopped Aomine leaned towards the driver's seat so that the man could take a picture with his mobile phone. He flashed his signature mixture of a smirk and a cheerful smile. As he left the car, entered the building, and took the elevator to reach the top most floor, he thought that maybe he was making too much of a deal out of all that. Maybe he was simply homesick. Maybe this new city and this new team would open a new chapter in his life here – despite how cliché it sounded – and maybe he would grow to like this city more than the other two he lived before. Maybe...

"Aomine ah welcome – look, I swear I didn't ask them for this theme. Before you get all pissed off, they are really just trying to welcome you in a warming way, that's all!"

His manager said in a single breath at the door of the terrace bar that was being reserved for his welcome party. His eyebrow started twitching with irritation. Same shit. Again.

The female hostess at the door and the servers inside were all clad or rather scantily clad in kimonos, at least that's what they were supposed to be he thought – not that real kimonos were so short, with multiple slits, and such low-cut necklines. The hostess, a little confused at why Aomine's manager had run to the door and said such words, explained with a genuine smile that he was welcomed and that it was so nice seeing him and informed him that this party for him would be Asian-themed, as she guided him inside.

"Asian-themed? The whole continent? Wow, you guys are sure a thing."

The hostess was bewildered now and didn't quit understand why Aomine was sulking or what he had meant with his comment, his manager on the other hand smiled and told her that she would instead continue with guiding Aomine.

"Look, seriously, they are just trying to..."

"Welcome me. I got it. No worries. Not the first time anyway. It is just frustrating to be slapped with this idiocy every single time somebody celebrates something related to me. You know, it is not even amusing anymore. Whatever. It could be worse huh, at least nobody is calling me slurs."

He grabbed a drink from a server's tray, "come on, introduce me again to people that I had already been introduced to so that I can endure their introductory bullshit again so that we can be done with this... whatever this is."

As he went through the night, he could not fathom whether he was truly used to this or not. Still, he went ahead with it. Not disappointing his manager who had pleaded with him so many times before and now, he smiled, he endured the ugly jokes, he made some snark but loveable or at least laughable comments, ensured that he drank enough to relax him but not too much and be nice to the resident otaku (in case of his new team it was the dorky point guard who had come to this particular party cosplaying as Naruto). After the introductions he was finally let free and he decided go to the open-air section of the terrace that others had mostly abandoned due to slightly cold and windy weather of the late September nights in the East Coast. He stood at the corner that was the farthest away from the noise of those inside and the few people who were making out outside ("Hmm I guess they don't mind the cold?"). Slowly drinking like this, gazing upon the city lights wasn't so bad, he thought. He thought that despite all, he could get used to, he could grow to like this. Well, not this this, but this this – the beautiful city of that was laid in front of him. "I am simply a little homesick" he thought, yes that was the reason why he had been so irritated these few months. Many things had happened in the last few months, including that crazy incident with the police right after he had moved here, and well, it was normal for him to be bothered and tired, he thought. Maybe he would take a break next Summer and visit back home. Yes, that would make him happy. If he could only deal with this till then. He could, why not, I mean he had been living in America for years now.

"Aominecchi!"

"Oh great" thought Aomine, of all the things I could hallucinate about home, I am hearing the stupid nickname Kise gave me. He was definitely drunk. Did he drink that much? He thought he had not. Weird.

"Hey Aominecchi!"

Aomine's head fell down a bit as he leaned towards the fancy railings. "This is really ridiculous. Why the heck am I hallucinating about Kise..."

"Aominecchi! Heey!"

When he looked behind over his shoulder, his glass almost fell down from the surprise – and that would definitely be dangerous to passersby down.

"Kise?"

"Yes!", Kise said, smiling.

Kise Ryouta was standing behind him in all his... well, not glory but pretty boy shine, one could say. His face was slightly maturer as was the tone of his voice but he sounded and looked as cheerful and cheeky as he had always been. Also, like always, he looked as if he had just come out of the cover of a men's fashion magazine, he surely was stylish.

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Aaaw, you first pretend to not hear me and then this is the first thing you say? You are so mean like always Aominecchi."

Kise pouted in his usual half-serious half-joking way as he approached closer.

"No seriously, what are you doing here? Why are you here?"

Aomine asked, puzzled, now his back turned to railings facing Kise.

"Weeeell, I should actually be the one asking you that considering I have been a resident of New York City for 4 months now. But then we all know why you are here I guess. The whole city. The whole world probably."

"For real? You've been living here for 4 months? Why?"

"Work."

"Work? You could not be playing basketball, right? I mean I would hear about it."

"Always the basketball-head, Aominecchi." Kise giggled though the cheer in his voice faded away as he continued,

"You know my knee. I mean it doesn't bother me during the day and I can even play once a week or so... but being a regular in a team could very well cripple me, is what doctors say. So yeah, I could not play basketball even if I wanted and plus, really, Aominecchi, it is not that easy to become pro though it may have felt so for you."

Aomine bit his lip a bit, he should not have said it that way. He remembered the depression Kise had gone through when situation of his knee had deteriorated suddenly by the end of high school. He had simply not thought of any other reason why Kise would move over here. Then he remembered and slightly smiled,

"So you have finally become a pilot and moved over here or something?"

Kise was genuinely surprised and thus giggled as he also slightly leaned towards the railing near Aomine,

"As much as I am delighted to hear that you still remember my childhood wish to become a pilot, no, Aominecchi, and really, becoming such a pilot would take time, I am not even that old yet. I am still modeling. Earlier this year I accepted the offer of an agency here so I came."

"Ah", Aomine sighed, maybe he was disappointed a bit but him making it here must mean he is really good, he thought. Then it dawned on him,

"Hey, none of that explains why you are here – at this party – though?"

"Ah yes well that is a little bit of a strange story... you see a female model friend was invited to this party apparently and some of the other girls were tagging along with her and they kind of invited me too."

"Oh you had told them that we went to same middle school?"

"No, not really. They actually thought since I am Japanese I should tag along."

They looked at each other with eyes that silently told "you are kidding" and "no I am not kidding at all" and then burst out laughing at the same time.

"I can't believe it..."

"Normally I would say no but hey I was already thinking that it would be great if we met but was not sure how to approach and this was a golden opportunity."

"So how have you liked the party so far?"

"Well... it is... it is fun I guess? I mean that guy in Naruto cosplay was interesting. Drinks are top-notch. Sushi is pretty good. Oh and boobs. Yeah, lots of boobs. I didn't know kimonos could ever expose so much cleavage. So maybe they actually know you pretty well even if they are a bit off on our culture."

Aomine laughed so much that he thought he had never laughed like this for a long time. It was not just the ridiculousness of their situation but the way Kise's face jumped from gesture to gesture as he commented on the party was very amusing. He felt much relaxed as he turned around, facing the city and night sky again, Kise also turned.

"That kind of stuff doesn't even interest me anymore really..."

"Oh my... well, orientations can change or rather expand too."

Aomine laughed again and he almost dropped his glass – again.

"Not really, I still like... the beauty of female form, oh who am I kidding large breasts, but I must admit I am especially tired of the kimono or Japan or Asia inspired fetish thing they have been bombarding me with since I moved over here."

Kise did not say anything. But for the first time for the last few months during which he had complained more than usual regarding the strange fetishisation he was being treated with, Aomine felt understood and content. After a few moments of silence, Kise said,

"You know, this is nice. To be honest, I have been feeling a bit homesick... specially the last few weeks. Even speaking in my mother tongue like this... I have been missing it so much. I even go to Japanese restaurants insistently just so that I can speak some Japanese. Well, unfortunately it turns out most are not really operated by Japanese people so I get stuck with waiters who can't even really pronounce the names of the meals correct but oh well..."

Aomine giggled a bit and he was a bit surprised that he actually giggled or rather that he was capable of "giggling" like a child. Still, he replied,

"I think I kind of get it, being homesick that is... I have been craving some good ramen... like proper ramen."

"Ah! There is actually an amazing ramen place that I know of. I go there regularly."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Hey, how about we go there sometime when we both are free?"

"Sure that would be cool."

The duo spent most of the night chatting away about silly things and ordinary things, but somehow these very banal things amused them a lot. By the time Kise had to leave as he had an early photoshoot the next day, Aomine was feeling much more cheerful. They exchanged numbers and decided on which day to go to the ramen shop together.

On the way home, Aomine smiled and mumbled the tune of Teikou Middle School's anthem, watching the dance of the city lights outside the car's window and his manager, sitting beside him, commented happily that despite all his grunting he must have enjoyed the party. Aomine nodded his head sarcastically. At that point in time, he was still not aware of how much he had enjoyed himself and exactly due to whom.