Disclaimer: Characters' names and some references are originally made by Fujimaki Tadatoshi-sensei. I do not own anything aside from the story itself.
She was a phantom of delight
By: William Wordsworth
- ― -
She was a phantom of delight
when first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely apparition, sent
To be a moment's ornament:
I saw her upon nearer view,
A spirit, yet a woman too!
A countenance in which did meet
Sweet records, promises as sweet;
And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveler between life and death;
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;
A perfect woman, nobly planned,
To warn, to comfort, and command;
And yet a spirit still, and bright
With something of angelic light.
...
..
.
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An Angel's wish: 天使の願い
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In the world where humans dwell, every person who lives has a guardian angel. Heavens above angels watch as they emotionlessly judge living things whether one will continue to abide or not. This established theological concept of angels' existence wherein science does not concatenate however, is ideal and obscure.
Yet, it is apparently conceivable that there is.
- ― - PROLOGUE - ― -
A sacrifice for his chance: 彼のチャンスのために犠牲に
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"Arriviste, has he forgotten that heavens reign above all?" One of the angels said as they observed the forthcoming conjuncture of a certain man.
"Indeed." The other one sighed.
"What should we do now?" the other angel said.
"Soul who has been devoured by own selfishness and arrogance. Feelings of others he has abandoned. Limit of life he has reached, as shown, suppositions of contingency for his better change was all in vain – if anything, it will turn into worse. With this, I cannot submit consideration for him to live a second life."
"Wait!" a faint voice, yet a firm objection coming from the man's guardian angel said. "I am his guardian. I beseech you to give him another chance." She pleaded as she knelt and bowed.
"For what reason may withhold his time to decease?" asked by the others.
"…" the angel didn't reply as she knew to herself that his imminent death is paradoxically right. Or perhaps, her premise might be only a mere mistake.
The other angels presumed that she has no remonstrance as she has no reply. "Well then let's proceed–"
"No! Please, this is an entreaty!" she begged once more.
"Such persistence, do not tell me that you are commiserating him!"
"I…I do!" she boldly replied as she closed her eyes. "The chance of him changing for good shall be obliterated if you give up on him. Please do contemplate into his actions twice!" She reasoned.
"Blasphemy, are you saying we should overlook him?" the other one said.
"Let her." Another angel intruded. "However, this is a quid pro quo. Upon thy consideration had him continue living, punishment shall you receive. Thou shall henceforth live as one of humans and realize what path you've taken by meeting the person you are in charged with."
With that words sealed, it is irrevocable. There's no turning back now.
That was her last view to heaven. Her surroundings slowly faded as her vision only contained the flash of bright light that was continuing to dazzle her.
And she entered the threshold of humanity.
- ― - CHAPTER I - ― -
She has arrived: 彼女が到着しました
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"I, who wins everything, am always right." This has become the firm belief of the red-haired captain of Teiko Middle School Basketball Club.
Although the said school has been known for its legacy of superiority and countless numbers of honourable achievements, Teiko Middle School has become even more powerful, increasing the odds between it and the other schools higher, towering all ever since the appearance of the five promising prodigies that were called "Generation of Miracles" (Kiseki no Sedai). True to its philosophy – ever victorious, the one who led Teiko Middle's Basketball Club to the pinnacle of triumph and glory was none other than Akashi Seijuro.
As the team captain and point guard, he has been ultimately utilizing and polishing his team mates skills – of course, his own too – at best whether inside or outside the basketball court. No wonder Generation of Miracles were called geniuses. With Aomine Daiki's formless shooting and agility, Midorima Shintaro's ever accurate and high-arc three point shots, Kise Ryouta's perfect copying of any form of threatening basketball moves, Murasakibara Atsushi's absolute wide defense, with the help of Momoi Satsuki's intelligent data researches, no one can be able to surpass them. Not as if there is.
Of course, the team will not be as successful as now if not for his great leadership. Because of giving insane training menus, because of standing tough ahead all events and people, because of thinking of winning is everything, there's no questioning about the perfection of his captaincy.
However, as the angels had predicted as precise as it is, Akashi had grown full of himself. Yes, success and grandeur most of people's ambitions and hopes had been thirsting for, had been longing for, had been wanting for. But its meaning had faded to null ever since victory had been cliché to him. And someone will arrive to change this wrong belief of his.
It was winter, cold and bleak. Just like Akashi's personality, just like his heart. No warmth and unfeeling.
"Ōte." Akashi said as he placed with his slender fingers the piece of small shogi that concludes that he has won, again. His imperious voice echoed inside the cold and silent room repeating the word of victory in his ears. Not that it has effect on him. Not that it will make him happy at the slightest! To him, victory is merely given and it will never defy him. Not even once. The quietude also reminded him that he's the only person inside. Alone. And what's that to be of his concern? He can play all by himself. Whether there is an opponent or none.
Boredom attacked him as he finished playing. He slumped back to his seat sluggishly as he looked nonchalantly into the blurred windowpanes with bits of hardened hails that seem to resemble a chalk-filled blackboard. For an average person, the view outside when looking into the bleary and hyaline windows may be compared to that of a person with eye deficiency. But not for Akashi as he surpassed the perfect eye-sight a normal person has. He saw how the white snows fell into the ground as if time too has been slowed down.
It was grey outside. The dark clouds and the sombre atmosphere had made it harder for anyone to identify if it is day or night time. Luckily, Akashi had been wearing a wristwatch, fits with a person like him who values time. He looked at it and unluckily, to his dismay, it was not ticking. It was frozen stop in 2:48 in the afternoon. He sighed. Biologically, his own instinct was telling him that the time was wrong. Instead of being irritated, he just decided to go home. He stood up, wore his black trench coat and carried his shoulder bag and shogi board as he left the classroom.
While walking, his footsteps echoed hard on the icy blanched floor repeatedly. He noticed that his surroundings were somewhat dismal. It's winter solstice, the season where sunshine is rare. Of course, it will be somehow dark around the place where the radiance of sun can barely reach.
"But this is suspicious." Akashi thought as he reached the club room of board game players. He politely knocked twice, asking for the permission to enter, but no one replied. Without hesitation, he opened the door swiftly. "Sorry for intruding, I'm returning this–" his sentence was discontinued as he realized shortly after he opened the room that he is talking to no one.
"No one is here? At least there should be one club member left to check if all board games are returned properly. Don't tell me they got lazy to stay? Such irresponsibility they had." Akashi said irritatingly.
As he returned the shogi board into the dusty shelves, he saw on top of it a round-shaped clock attached to the ash-coloured wall telling it was only 2:48 in the afternoon. He looked at it as if it was the most absurd thing he has ever seen. "How can it be only 2:48 P.M. when there's no single club member left to stay here? It shouldn't be early for them to take their leave." He thought.
As he left the room, he noticed the more he walked into the hallways, the more it got suspicious and creepy ahead. All of the clocks he had passed by displays the same 2:48 P.M. he had seen a while ago. He walked faster. By this time, he was hoping to see a single soul, but there was none. He walked much faster, and to his panic, he saw a ticking clock again. After all the steps he ambulated, after all he walked through; it was telling him lucidly, it was still 2:48 in the afternoon. And suddenly, it ticked around wildly and rapid. With that, he ran as fast as he can away from the clock, away from that sinister time-teller. Realizing he was in a precarious situation, he searched for the school's exit.
"Ah, there it is!" He said to his delight as he saw and rushed to the holy door that he was hoping to lead him outside this bewitching labyrinth. As he opened the door, he reflexively tightened his grip into the door's handle as one more step and he'll fall into the bottomless black pit. A few floor crumbs fell. He saw nothing but darkness. Appalled much more when he turned back and saw the same darkness he first saw outside. And he was devoured by void and nothingness.
Akashi's eyes snapped open when he hearken a sound. A sound like something has fell. He stared at his bed room's ceiling blankly as if he was a lost child and he clenched his fist into the glacial bed sheets tight. His shivering was unknown whether it was because of nervousness or the freezing temperature, or perhaps, both.
"A dream?" he said to himself ironically sweat dropping because of tension even though it was winter. He tried to calm himself down as he felt his heart was palpitating and his breathing was ragged. "It was just a dream." He told himself as he turned his head sideward to see the digital clock in the table beside his bed. It showed 2:48 A.M. He locked his stare at it, making sure it will change to 2:49 A.M... And, it did. He sighed in relief. So he was still alive. After all, he felt his soul had been taken away in that nightmare.
As he moved up into sitting position, he looked at his windowpane. It was like in his dream. The ashy sky was filled with melancholic fluffy clouds crying of soft snows. As he looked down below to look at the ground, he saw something strange again. Extraordinary. Perspicuous to his sight, he felt the urge of seeing it in a closer view. It was almost fantastic to believe. He hurriedly jumped out of his bed as he quickly wore a thick coat and a muffler.
He carefully scurried all the way just to make sure that the dead silence that lulls any soul inside the house remains. As he got outside, he finally, finally got a clearer view of it.
"T-tenshi?" Akashi stuttered flabbergasted. "I already woke up right? Am I still half-asleep?" he thought as he opened his palm and waited for a snow to drop. As he got one, he felt its coldness and how it was dissolved into water in his hand.
Amidst the falling snows, there was a person with two refulgent and splendid wings that are widely drawn out lying in a curled position that seem to resemble a newly born baby in a gelid snow-filled ground. At that time, he didn't feel any peril nor mirage in what was happening. What was registered to his mind was that person, that only person right before his eyes, the person who evoked him to go all the way down.
As he went closer, he saw that it was a girl asleep. A pale-skinned girl with a long light blue hair wearing a white fleecy long dress and a robe secured by a platinum cincture on her waist attached to it was a pearl-coloured rosette at the middle, her feet showing bare and small.
Fascinated, the red-haired man lightly touched out of curiosity her wide gold-white feathery wings ensuring the reality of what was going on. Slowly, he noticed that it faded dimmer and dimmer until nothing was left. What was in his sight now was a normal structure of a human. Nothing extraordinary than the erstwhile moment she had her clinquant wings.
Akashi lifted her head only to rest it to his shoulders. Perhaps, he would like to hear her breathe. More importantly, he would check if she's not a corpse being thrown out of no where and if that's the case, worst was why of all places, is in his backyard. The white puffs exhaled by her slightly parted plump lips had proven enough that she's alive. As the fragrance of her breath reached Akashi, "She smells like vanilla." he commented.
A flurry of snow suddenly howled and reminded Akashi about the wintry state that keeps the girl into a chilled position.
"What should I do now?" he asked himself. He was not a saint after all to help her nor was he too diabolic to desert her in this frigid weather. "Tch, never mind the doubts first." Akashi said as he covered the coat and muffler he was wearing to her pallid body and carried her into a princess way. Thus in the end, he had no other choice but to let her stay into his house, for the mean time.
As they got inside his house, Akashi quickly laid her into the majestic carpet near the hearth and covered her with a thick blanket. He threw a few blocks of wood and lit a fire to the fireplace to somehow give warmth to her cold and almost frozen body. He sat on a furry red couch nearby and scrutinized the girl sternly for this was the first time someone caught his utmost attention.
As Akashi did cogitating, half an hour had already passed.
"Was it a hologram? Perhaps it was an illusion? How can there be such thing as an angel? But no, it's veritable. I touched her wings and–" he was cut off in pondering when he heard her muttered. Probably she's starting to get conscious now.
The girl, as she felt something lukewarm caressing her wan face, had gently opened her eyes to see a welcome view in the mortal world. She unconsciously turned her head sideward facing the fireplace as she blankly stared at the blazing ember.
Akashi saw how the red luminescent fire reflected on her eyes but, the blue powdery colour of it that seems to resemble a calm sky extinguished the menacing flare.
"Are you feeling well now?" he said, calling her attention.
As she turned to the voice who spoke to her, she saw more regal than the proud fire was a man with red pair of eyes fixed at her, his kingly composure unquestionably emanates an authoritative aura. And the colour of the flickering fire reflecting in his red eyes made it bloodier.
"Yes. But, may I know who are you?" she asked meekly as she rose in sitting position, pulling unto herself the cozy blanket Akashi has covered unto her.
"That should be my line." Akashi said as he stood up and walked towards her. "Who are you?" he sternly asked.
The girl had her eyebrows perplexed as she turned her face down, her bangs covering her blue orbs, and folded her knees just to embrace them.
"I do not know who am I." she replied which earned Akashi a frown.
"But, at the very least, I can tell you my name for that's the only thing I remember." She continued.
"Let's hear it." Akashi ordered.
"I am…Kuroko." She said.
.
.
.
"Kuroko Tetsuna."
Author's notes: Okay… What's with that poem I put before the story? Well, as I finished writing this, I happen to read an Anglo-American literature book and as I scanned the pages, the word "phantom" struck me that the first thing I thought of was Kuroko XD And as I read the poem, coincidentally, it was similar on how Akashi first seen Tetsuna here in my story. I only took some few lines to emphasize the description of how the two met each other. So… How was it? Should I continue? :)
Ahh, by the way, HAPPY AKAKURO DAY! :DDD