Based on the music, "Daydream", an original soundtrack from Pandora Hearts.


He walked. Along the path of mist, he took slow strides. He ignored the cold that surrounded his clothed body, and the fact that he was barefooted. With his thin white shirt that was barely recognizable with the background, and his light blue shorts the same hue as his hair, he called within the place.

He screamed something intelligible. Even himself, he could not understand what it was. The words he wanted to form, the words he wanted to convey, his mind was jumbled.

He walked and walked inside the place he did not know, a place he never understood.

He woke up while he was standing, opened his eyes to the unknown scenery and that was when he heard the melody.

The wind, the images of falling Sakura petals, the memories of being with friends. He never forgot the joy he felt at that time. Despite his expressionless face that looked like apathy towards others, he knew himself best that he only felt bliss at those moments.

He knew it. He knew that warmth he felt from his heart.

The melody started becoming heavy, each keys of the piano starting to get frequent.

The mist started to darken as well.

Despite that, the boy only viewed his mind, not the path he took. Every obstacle in his way looked like it evaded him and he did not stop walking.

He watched as everything crumbled apart. He was shown how a single occurrence led to the destruction of everything. How a single failure to reply to his fist bump resulted to those series of events.

He recalled he cried. Inside the bathroom, away from the eyes of his concerned mother and father, away from the eyes of his classmates (who also failed to notice him all the time), away from everything else but the water, he let out his tears. The memories of being betrayed, of being toyed by the teammates he used to trust, and all those bad things, they never left his mind. It felt in close proximity, haunting him, and he even thought that the memories of bliss he had the weeks before were a lie.

The tune started to get lonelier. The melody going lower and lower.

And he stopped in his tracks.

Everything was grey.

He looked above, and saw the dead leaves, covered in the greyish snow. He saw the rain of snow, and how it visibly disappeared upon his touch.

Where is this…

And then, from his line of vision up straight, he saw a tanned, muscular man, taller than him, with smile he really adored.

Slowly, his expression became wicked. By each second, he saw how he became so self-centered. How he deemed himself to be the strongest, that the only one who can beat him is himself only.

He also saw the heterochromatic eyes, glowing gold and red, and how his gentle smile became fearful, a presence that screamed of "absolute".

He saw how each of them stayed away from him. They all whispered of "We don't need you anymore" with their retreating backs. "Your style of basketball…you'll never win with it." One of them had scornfully told him.

He ran, and ran, until his breath became irregular, while he screamed of anything to disagree with their opinions. But, he never caught up. The images disappeared, and he cried once again.

No…

Why…?

"The only one who can beat me is me." And his fist bump was left hanging in the air.

They stopped going to basketball practices.

Everyone had completely ignored him. He became truly a phantom.

Every player respected them, but at the same time, feared them.

Night after night, he self-pitied. Night after night, he resolved to himself. I was not like them. I was not like them. I will win with my own style of basketball. He told himself like a mantra, as he was breathing hard from the dash he just made.

"Kuroko! Kuroko! Oi!"

Who's that…

What a gentle …voice.

And then, the wind blew hard, enough to wipe away all the snow. The sun, and the light showered upon the once monochromatic world, and he saw how each color gradually returned.

His tears disappeared as if it evaporated. He loved this colorful world. Here was warmer, the music was livelier, the wind was gentler.

"Wake up! Damn it!"

He heard the voice once again.

Tear after tear came out from his eyes.

He smiled.


"Kuroko?! Hey!?" Kagami screamed, as he shook the boy in his arms. "Kuroko?! Shit, wake up?"

The blue haired boy opened his eyes, and saw the ceiling of the gym high up. And then, the frantic expression in his teammate's face.

"Shit, are you okay?! You were crying just a while ago? Are you alright?" He asked and asked, leaving Kuroko no time to answer.

"It was your fault, Kagami! You should pay attention to where the ball is going, mattaku. Of course, it hurts, he's gonna cry!" Riko said. She knelt in front of their team's shadow, and touched the back of his head, as if searching for something. "There's no bleeding, but we'll take you to the infirmary, Kuroko-kun. Kagami, go with him!"

"Ah, hai!" The redhead supported his partner in the shoulder, helping him walk.

"Kagami-kun." Kuroko called out. They were on the corridor in the floor where the infirmary was.

"What? Does it hurt?"

"No, but, when I was unconscious a while ago, I had a dream."

"Well…I'm really sorry okay? I'm just so excited for our second Winter cup." Kagami said, looking away. "What did you dream about?"

"I forgot about the details, but you were there at the end." Kuroko said. He looked outside, and saw the sky becoming orange. "You gave light to my world. Thank you."

They stopped walking, and Kagami faced the other for a while. And then, slowly, he felt himself blushing.

"Hey?! Aren't you at least embarrassed to what you're saying?!"

"I'm not. It's the truth."

Kagami covered his face with his free palm, hiding his blushing face. "Okay, okay. Well, you're… not really my shadow, you know? In a way, you're also the light, okay? I mean…okay I'll just shut up."

Silence ensued for a while, and the redhead looked at his partner's face.

His eyes were big and sparkling, and he was smiling.

Kuroko looked very elated.

"Thank you, Kagami-kun."

The heat never escaped the redhead's face. But he was very glad from the heartfelt gratitude his partner felt for him.

They then just resumed walking.

And they were just both comfortable with each other's presence.