I. here today

Kuroko was never the dramatic type. Despite the countless amount of people beside him screaming (though they had every reason to), his mouth wasn't even open. In fact, it was as though his physical senses weren't working at all.

He did not scream, but he didn't hear the screaming.

There was a book in his hand that he had been reading until moments earlier, but it must have fallen on the ground in his shock, because he could no longer feel it.

Though the smell surely must have been mephitic, he didn't bother paying attention to it.

It was as though he had become deaf, ageusic, anosmic, and lost his sense of touch all at once.

But through his widened eyes, a single colour was reflected in it: red.

The sunset dyed the sky red. The person who lay sprawled on the ground, limbs twisted at different angles before his eyes was red. The front of the truck was red. The pavement was smeared red. The stoplight was red.

But no, this person couldn't be anyone he knew.

No matter what anyone said, it couldn't be someone he knew. He couldn't even see the face of the person, since it was dyed red just like everything else, but it couldn't be someone he knew. It was just a lump of red.

Just the single colour burned the back of his retina.

Something began spreading out before his eyes just then, making it hard to see. Blurring the red and black together until he saw nothing but a dark crimson colour. It cleared and then blurred again as something ran down his cheeks.

In the end, everything faded to black.

When Kuroko opened his eyes, he was in his room.

So it was just a dream, then. He accepted that. It was rather rare for him to have a dream as frightening as that one. Just yesterday he remembered seeing a trailer for a movie as gory as the dream he saw, but Kuroko didn't usually get nightmares from such things, since he was aware it was all makeup, CGI, and other pricey special effects.

Well, as of now, it was a thing of the past. He looked at the clock, and saw that he had waken up ten minutes late. It was unusual for his alarm not to go off. Well, he paid no mind, and set it so that the same thing wouldn't happen tomorrow.

In a rush, he put on his uniform and patted down both the creases in it and his bedhead. Checking himself in the mirror for a moment, and jog-walked out into the kitchen.

He saw yet another unusual sight—there was no quick run-out breakfast this time. Normally, his grandmother would smear some jam on a piece of toast if he was late. He supposed it was fine today, though, since skipping breakfast wouldn't kill him if it only happened for one day. He wasn't even hungry, so he figured it would have been ill-mannered to trouble his grandmother.

Actually, now that he thought about it, usually if his alarm clock didn't wake him up, she would.

He also smelled an odd scent, but couldn't recognize it.

Perhaps she's feeling unwell? Kuroko thought, though he had no time to dwell on it. He decided to ask her after school, since he would be late if he stayed at home any longer.

"I'm off, then." He called out quietly, in case his grandmother really was feeling unwell and sleeping. Hearing no response, he assumed that was the case, opened the door and walked out.

At Seirin, Kagami was waiting for his daily jumpscare.

Usually, it didn't matter where he was—he could have been walking through the iron school gates or already in his desk in class when Kuroko would tap him on the back of his shoulder with a deadpanned, "Good morning, Kagami-kun." That usually ensued hilarity, as Kagami's relaxed stature would shoot up (if he was drinking anything, one could expect all the contents to be either all over the floor or in a misty form), and he would then scold Kuroko for doing it for the millionth time.

No matter how much he prepared himself for it, no matter how many times he went through it, Kuroko would manage to get him. Every. Single. Goddamn. Time.

But by the time the bell rang, he still didn't get his jumpscare.

Huh.

Kuroko was almost never absent. That was kind of weird (and lonely—but don't tell Kuroko that), but Kagami decided to enjoy his scare-less day. He could do anything and Kuroko wouldn't find out. He wouldn't get a glare after class for failing his tests and putting the entire basketball team at risk of losing by getting himself suspended from club activities. One test wouldn't matter that much, right? Besides, there were no tests he heard about today—just boring old lectures.

In fact, Kagami beamed. Even if it was for just today (since according to the rest of the Teikou starters, Kuroko had very fast recoveries from illnesses, and his attendance was almost always perfect), he could fully enjoy himself.

No! That kind of thinking was too naïve! He bet Kuroko was using his misdirection. After all, April Fools was coming up. Figuring that he was finally aware of Kuroko's diabolical plan, he jerked his head back at Kuroko's seat, but found that Kuroko really wasn't there.

Kagami smirked. No scolding from Kuroko today, he thought to himself in a sing-song voice as he made a pillow with his arms to catch up on sleep.

The rest of the day passed unexpectedly normally. After school, Kagami went over to the gymnasium in a considerably better mood than he'd normally be, especially considering that he had gotten at least two hours of sleep before his math teacher went over to him and hit him over the head with the textbook.

It was still worth it, if you asked Kagami.

Anyway, after going to the gym and practicing some layups, dribbling techniques, passing, and cutting, they all formed a group around their coach, Riko Aida, as she was forming ideas for her newest strategy to win yet another year.

"And Kuroko-kun, you'll be—"

She looked up to find him in the crowd, which was always a difficult thing to do. Still, she wasn't able to find him.

"Oh, looks like Kuroko-kun isn't here today."

Nobody exclaimed anything like 'you just noticed?!', since it was Kuroko. It was an easy mistake to make with the kid. Plus, it was rare for him to be ever absent, so it wasn't out of the ordinary to just assume he was there.

"Well, okay. It's fine, I'll tell him later. Furihata-kun, you'll be..." She continued on with her list, before they were all dismissed.

Kagami followed his usual routine. He figured he'd go to Maji Burger, get his usual ridiculous amount of burgers, then go off to play some street basketball for a bit of extra practice. The Winter Cup had been tiring, but no doubt after defeating them, they would be practicing to beat them again.

Especially that god damned, cocky, big-mouthed, 'your light is too dim', 'the only one who can beat me is me' Aomine Daiki.

Just thinking about the asshole messed up his three-pointer. His entire body was twitching with an eagerness to put Touou's Ace down again with Kuroko. Or maybe even by himself, this time!

Grinning evilly in anticipation, he dunked the ball in with a smirk just as cocky as Aomine would have.

Completely disregarding his ringing cellphone.

Kuroko knew two facts that lead him to his assumption.

1. April Fools day was coming up soon.

2. His entire basketball team was cruel. (And don't mistake them for the buddy-buddy type—any coach that made their team confess to their crush naked if they lost could only be called cruel.)

Since it was the week following April Fools, he figured they had all come up with a plan: ignore Kuroko, and when April 1st rolled around, after school, they would all do jazz hands, stick their tongues out playfully, attempt to surprise him and shout, 'April Fools! Hahahahahahahha!' As though it were some joke.

The rest of his class was only obvious—they never noticed him anyway, nor did they have any need to.

He was rather annoyed at Kagami the most.

When he was scolding Kagami for falling asleep in class during lunch, Kagami completely ignored him. If it were just fine, then Kuroko could easily have let it pass, but Kagami ignored him for the entire day.

He wasn't sure who came up with the scheme, but he guessed it was either one of the first years, Kiyoshi, the Coach, Hyuga, or Kagami himself.

Even trailing Kagami from the club to Maji Burger, with the inconsiderate idiot not even leaving a single burger for him, then to the usual empty court Kagami would play some streetball by himself or with Kuroko. Today, it was the former. Not because Kuroko didn't feel like it, but because Kagami didn't pass to him once.

...They must have been really insistent on not noticing Kuroko.

Kuroko looked over at Kagami's phone while he was sitting on the park bench and Kagami was practicing his dunking.

"Kagami-kun, your phone is ringing." He called out to Kagami, but Kagami didn't bother to look his way.

Kuroko figured it would be impolite to answer the phone call, but looked at the caller ID.

It was Aomine.

It was rare for him to call, since Kuroko figured there was no reason for him to call. It wasn't as though Aomine was searching for a casual streetball match with Kagami, nor was he the type of guy to call when he was bored. It was true that they were acclaimed 'rivals' and respected each other (the word 'respect' being used very loosely), but Aomine just wouldn't call.

Today was just one rarity after another.

Well, if Kagami was going to be like that, Kuroko figured Aomine wouldn't mind if he answered instead. Then, Kagami would have to reply to him.

Kuroko opened up the phone and hit the green button.

"This is Kuro-"

"Yo, Kagami. Did you get the news yet?" The voice was Aomine, but his voice sounded... different, somehow. Not casual, cocky, or challenging.

"This is Kuroko. Kagami-kun is ignoring me right now, for whatever reason. What-"

"Hey, Kagami. Answer. It's serious. I know you're there, you picked up the phone." Aomine replied.

"... Aomine-kun. Can you hear me right now? Please be honest." Kuroko said.

"Is your phone working?" Aomine asked. Kuroko took this as Aomine could not hear him, and would have undoubtedly replied—even if it was Kuroko—if it was serious. Plus, it wasn't the kind of thing to do.

"... Guess not. I'll talk to you later then." The call ended.

Kuroko looked at Kagami's phone before shutting it, seeing two missed calls from an unknown number.

Well, Kagami would find that out later.

"Kagami-kun, I don't think your cellphone is working." Kuroko stated. Kagami continued to play, without even looking back at Kuroko.

"... I'm leaving now. See you tomorrow, Kagami-kun." Kuroko said.

He was planning on calling Aomine from his own cellphone to see what was the serious 'news', but kind of curious why Aomine didn't call him in the first place.

He dialed Aomine's number on his cell, and it took less than a ring for an answer.

"Tetsu?! Are you alright?! The call earlier..." Aomine trailed off.

"Yes... is something supposed to be wrong with me? And what call?" Kuroko replied.

Aomine waited a few seconds before replying. "... What the fuck..."

"Aomine-kun, what hap-"

"The sound of air again...?" Aomine hung up after saying such an odd thing.

Kuroko began to believe it was more than a joke, and began walking at a faster pace toward his house.

The moment he entered, he smelled that odd scent he smelled before leaving that morning.

"I'm home." Kuroko said, but got no reply.

Instead, he heard a sob coming from the living room.

Turning the door around the corner, he saw that his mother and father were back home. His grandmother was there, too. She looked fine, except for her puffy eyes and red face.

Kuroko turned his head to see where they were facing, and immediately recognized the smell as his eyes widened and settled on the picture they were looking at.

It was himself.

Kagami headed home and looked at his cell. Two missed calls? He opened it up and saw it was from an unknown number, so he couldn't call them back.

He also noticed in his call log that he had answered a call from Aomine Daiki—no, wait, what?! He didn't recall doing that. And it's not like that was so insignificant he'd forget—Aomine not only never called him, how the fuck did he get Kagami's number—

Oh, wait. Momoi. Duh.

The minute he closed and locked the door to his house, he began taking things out of his fridge while calling Aomine back.

Ring...

Wedging the phone in between his ear and raised shoulder, he reached in the fridge and pulled out bread, lettuce, tomatoes, and leftovers from a piece of steak he cooked.

Ring...

He grabbed a large knife and began thinly slicing the steak.

Ring...

After finishing the steak, he moved onto the vegetables.

Ring...

Beep.

"I swear to god, if you're not going to say anything, I'm going to punch you." The voice on the other side shrewdly greeted.

"What are you talking about? I'm saying something right now. Never mind, why'd you call me?"

"Oh, so you're talking now." Aomine said. He seemed to be in a bad mood. Then again, Aomine was always in a bad mood.

"What do you mean 'now'?! I saw I got a phone call from you, and figured I'd answer. How did I do anything wrong?!" Kagami said.

Aomine didn't reply for a few seconds. "You said 'saw'."

"Yeah, I was practicing basketball, so I didn't pick up. It says I did, though, so my phone's probably messed."

Aomine was being oddly silent, since it took a few seconds for him to reply yet again. "... You sound normal."

Was that an insult? "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Was Tetsu at school today?" Aomine interjected.

"Huh? Kuroko? No, why? Something happen?"

There was a long silence. If one had to write it, it would be filled with ellipses.

"I was calling you to confirm it... but I guess you don't know, huh..." Aomine muttered.

"Don't know what? Quit being so vague!" Kagami exclaimed in annoyance. No matter how many times he talked to him, just from hearing his voice, he was annoyed.

There was a long silence.

"Oh my god, any year now, Aomi—"

"I got a call from Tetsu's parents. They told me he's dead."