A/N: Finished my exams. Woo.
00.
decay
There once lived a caterpillar.
It was smaller than most caterpillars and was very weak.
Thankfully, it was hard for most predators to notice the caterpillar.
Actually, it was hard for anyone to notice the caterpillar.
.:.
There's blood oozing out of his chest. He's lying on the pavement in some dirty, shifty parking lot and there's blood oozing out of his chest. He tries to sit up and reprimands himself for doing such a stupid thing because there's blood coming out of the bullet hole in his chest. Not only that, but there was also still a bunch of people shooting at each other, so obviously getting up after being shot at was a bad idea.
"Shit! Tetsu-kun's been shot!" Aomine. That was Aomine, right? Wait no, Aomine was dead. He was the body lying face down next to him.
Midorima? No, he was dead, too. The green-haired boy was also next to him. He was lying on his back, seven bullet holes decorating it. His hand, ironically, was still clutching his lucky item for the week.
"Get him out of here while I finish them off!" OK, he knew that was Akashi's voice. Only Akashi had that tone of authority in his voice. Moreover, Akashi was too smart to be hit like Midorima, Aomine, and himself.
He feels himself being dragged away.
"Don't worry; you'll be okay, Tetsu-kun." Ah, that was Momoi, wasn't it? How stupid of him. She was, after all, the only one who called him Tetsu-kun.
He wonders where she's taking him. Wherever it was, it was thankfully far away from the battleground. He could just barely hear sounds of bullets and screaming. He hopes Momoi isn't taking him to a hospital. But Momoi is smarter than that. She knows she can't take him there. They'd be screwed if she did. Whatever underground clinic she takes him, he silently prays it's somewhat clean.
.:.
Soon, with right amount of time and nourishment, the caterpillar began weaving his cocoon.
He began weaving a little later than the others did, but he liked to do things at his own pace.
Slowly but surely, the caterpillar had weaved himself a nice and cozy cocoon and was resting happily in it.
.:.
His thoughts shift to whether or not he's going to die – which was a high probability considering he was shot in the chest – and thinks about how his life could have been before all of this.
That one guy, he recalls. That one who he met at the basketball court a few months before this. The really tall one. Kiyoshi was his name, right? He got out, didn't he? He got out before things got too bad. He went back to school, joined a basketball team and was now in the midst of playing in a championship.
Kuroko could be like that. A basketball player instead of what he was now. They all could be like that. Him, Aomine, Akashi, Kise, Midorima, Murasakibara, and even Momoi. While Momoi couldn't play alongside them, there were girl teams, weren't there? She could have even been their coach with her skills in analysis, too.
"You'll be OK," Momoi repeats. He isn't sure if it's to assure him or herself anymore. "You'll be fine after this, Tetsu-kun."
Don't pretend for me, Momoi, he thinks with a wry smile. He had always gotten mad at Momoi for losing hope in her future, but here he was losing hope in all of theirs.
.:.
Except, when it was finally time for the caterpillar to get out of his cocoon, he found that while everyone else had become a beautiful butterfly, he remained the same.