I watched my seniors coach Kagami expressionlessly. Perhaps the lack of sleep had done something to my brain, breaking open the seal on a portion of my memories. The memories that I locked up, deep in my heart, simply because they caused so much pain.

They were good memories. Warm, filled with bright colors and laughter. Then, everything turned gray and black. The colors remained, but their luster faded. It was replaced by metallic, cold, elements.

They were memories from before.

"How are your grades, Kise?" Akashi asked suddenly.

"Eh? Why bring this up now, Akashicchi?" Kise asked.

"Teikō's policy is that if you don't score over 50 percentile, you cannot participate in matches," Midorima answered.

"Oops," Kise laughed. "Umm, 40 percentile?"

"Tomorrow recess, library. Aomine you have to come as well. Kuroko, do you want to come?"

"I think I should play it safe, Akashi-kun," Kuroko answered.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow as well. Midorima, make sure Aomine doesn't run away. Kise, I'll be watching you. Murasakibara, make sure you don't forget to study."

Kise shuddered, as if already feeling Akashi's gaze on his back.

Kise Ryōta.

English: 78

Japanese: 69

Japanese History: 53

Mathematics: 32

Science: 44

"I see…"

Aomine Daiki.

English: 27

Japanese: 42

Japanese History: 46

Mathematics: 38

Science: 34

"As usual."

Kuroko Tetsuya.

English: 47

Japanese: 82

Japanese History: 63

Mathematics: 68

Science: 59

"You do need to work harder."

Akashi returned the last set of test papers to Kuroko, and said, "An important part of learning is understanding your mistakes. Kise, do your corrections properly. Aomine, do your corrections. Kuroko, look over your mistakes and redo them."

"I don't know how to," Aomine muttered. Akashi set a stack of test papers in front of him in response.

"These are Midorima's test papers. I photocopied them from him. His working is clearer than mine," Akashi explained, handing out the papers. "After today, I'll be checking your test papers, and reviewing last semester's information." He leaned back in his chair and took out a book, keeping an eye on the four at the same time.

They were silent for a short while until Kise somehow took it upon himself to break the silence.

"Akashicchi, what do you mean by Midorima's working is clearer?" Kise asked.

When he was ignored, he repeated his question.

Akashi sighed and reached for Kise's paper. He took out a pencil and wrote something beside Kise's work. "This is my answer for this question."

He pushed the paper back to Kise, who glanced at the long but sole equation leading to the answer. "I see," he muttered weakly. "How can you do everything in your head, Akashicchi?"

"Midorima-kun always says that he'll beat Akashi-kun this time, but he never does," Kuroko suddenly added.

"But I heard Midorima was the second in the level…" Kise said.

"That's because Akashi is first," Aomine replied. "Don't you get it? Akashi never loses. Hasn't ever lost, and I can't imagine him losing anytime soon."

Kise glanced at the red-haired boy, who was ignoring all of them. So this was Akashi.

"Stop talking, unless you want to stay here for the whole recess," Akashi murmured quietly. "You aren't supposed to talk in the library anyway."

"Akashicchi, Akashicchi! Look! 60 for Math! I passed," Kise announced, drawing away from the crowd around the scoreboard towards where Akashi stood.

Akashi looked up with a small, indulgent smile. "Of course. I will make sure that all of you pass."

"By the way, why are you here? Are you waiting for the crowd to clear before checking your score? You are kinda small…" Kise babbled, without realizing who he was talking to.

Much to his surprise, Akashi laughed. "No. I have no need. Everything will be perfect, as usual."

"Akashi-kun, I have said this, but you have a nice laugh," Kuroko commented by the side.

"Thank you," Akashi answered politely without showing any shock at Kuroko's sudden appearance. "I presume you passed as well?"

"Of course." Kuroko smiled. "My scores are getting better." He sounded honestly happy.

"I will definitely defeat you next time, Akashi," Midorima declared as he joined them.

"Second again?"

Midorima's silence was answer enough.

Momoi dragged Aomine over, smiling widely. "Akashi-kun, I got tenth in grade, and this idiot passed!"

"Thirtieth~" Murasakibara hummed as he opened yet another pack of snacks.

"Thank you, Akashi-kun."

Of course, there were ones that are less pleasant. All of us wanted to forget it, but a certain someone always managed to say the wrong thing. Perhaps it was because of the last memory that led to this one… After all, Kise started this memory as well…

After another draining training session, the second-year first string were drying off after a shower, as Kuroko was collapsed on the bench at the center of the locker room. One of them would get him up when they were finished anyway.

As Kise raised his head, he caught a glimpse of two long scars on Akashi's forearms. They should be slightly faded, but the shower had reddened them and made them stand out on Akashi's pale skin.

As a curious and stupid person, he asked. "Hey, what are those scars, Akashicchi?"

The locker room fell silent as everyone else froze and avoided looking at Akashi.

Akashi looked down in surprise at his arms and back at Kise. With a small laugh, he said, "It's a long story, Kise. Maybe not today."

Kise ended up asking about it from Aomine after Akashi left, but Aomine dodged the question with shocking finesse. Finally, Midorima tired of Kise's curiosity and answered him.

"It's difficult being Akashi Seijūrō, Kise. Perfection is asked of him, but he's only human. He did that to himself last year."

"We can't tell you any more either, Kise-kun," Kuroko said. "To tell the truth, we don't know much about Akashi-kun, except what he is in school and that he's probably from a very welathy family."

"Akashi never talks about himself, to us at least," Aomine snorted.

Akashi-kun knew a lot about us, but we knew close to nothing about him. Even Midorima-kun, who was so close to Akashi-kun, never admitted that he understood who Akashi is. But nevertheless, we were extremely reliant on Akashi-kun, not only for the daily managements of the club, but also to be our emotional pillar. We looked to him, because he seemed so strong and perfect. If even Akashi-kun couldn't pull through, neither could we.

This was what destroyed him, eventually. We followed after him, but when they began passing him by and leaving him without a word or a backward glance, he had to catch up. He had to change, he was forced to change into something completely foreign and frightening to us. Even if it worked.

Now that I think of it, perhaps my support would have helped. I was too obsessed with my own problems with Aomine-kun, the feeling of being left behind, to notice that he was also being left behind. Maybe I could have made it better.

It's too late now. Now, I can only hope for us to be repaired, slowly but certainly.

It's time to put memories behind once more and look to the future. My future is with this team and Bakagami, as their futures are with their teams.

A/N:

This is an edited version of a story I wrote nearly a year ago. I liked it. And now, even after cutting the most OOC parts out, I still think it's OOC. Frankly, I find it a bit embarrassing, but I guess it's better for me to post it and garner some criticism instead of letting it ferment while I refuse to look at it out of embarrassment.

*sigh*

I'll try harder next time.

If you didn't like it, please review. If you liked it, I'm very touched, and please review. Thank you.