The note's sequel: Since it really seems like something multi-chaptered now, I'll continue. For those who have read, favorited, and reviewed, please continue to do so~ Followers too, thank you very much. I'll try not to put in more notes after this...
It pissed Kagami off, how surprised he was when every person he'd talked to about Kuro before suddenly disappeared from the net.
Izuki was there to save the day then.
Using his "Eagle Eye" (Seirin's nickname for his infamous book of contacts), he found someone else for Kagami to talk to. They were perfect in the sense that Seirin had never used them before. In terms of everything else...well. There was a reason Seirin refused to work with them.
Kagami had never interacted with anyone from Kirisaki Daiichi but his seniors, especially Hyuuga, had told him more than enough about their...less than ideal methods.
Walking away from his meeting with Hanamiya, Kagami had to agree. Operating as an information agency, you had to toe a fickle line between helping and selling people out. Seirin was new, but Riko was good at reading exactly what a person wanted versus what they had to give and they managed that way.
Kirisaki Daiichi, on the other hand...they didn't just collect information. They stole. And once the information was out of their hands, "We're not accountable for anything that happens. So what if some office happened to get broken into? Isn't it someone else that's holding the evidence? If you're that careless, you deserve to get caught, idiot!"
Just thinking about that bastard's smirk had Kagami grinding his teeth. But there was no questioning the quality of his information. They wouldn't have survived so long operating on faulty data. With that and the promise of info on Kuro, Kagami struck a deal with Hanamiya.
And despite his misgivings, he was rewarded with a folded slip of paper that looked suspiciously like the stationary he'd seen Aomine's secretary using. It was followed by a flash drive that he had yet to look through.
He kept both on him, in the vague superstition that everything he'd worked on wouldn't disappear again.
Although he doubted that Kuro would suddenly put out a hit on him. Even the guys that had given him information weren't gone permanently; they were just in hiding. Riko had still been concerned but Mitobe managed to talk her out of it, somehow. If there was one sure thing, that guy operated strictly on the web, and completely alone. Small blessings. (If worst came to worst, he was sure Tatsuya would give him a discount for Yousen.)
The address the paper revealed was an innocuous apartment, a five minute walk from the nearest bus stop and twenty minutes from the station.
"Surprisingly normal for a psychotic criminal with privacy issues." Somehow, Kagami felt disappointed.
The stairs creaked under his weight, ruling out a surprise visit. That suited him just bastard had completely wiped their servers, erasing two year's worth of his seniors' work. Kagami was looking for a head-on confrontation.
On the way up, he had assumed that no one else was around. It wasn't until the kid actually brushed past him that Kagami realized there'd been someone there. Luckily, he managed to catch himself before his face and the stairs had a rather painfully intimate meeting.
"Hey, you!" Kuroko paused, before slowly turning around to face the nosy redhead. His expression might have been a bit surprised at his sudden appearance, but suspicion wasn't there. As expected, he asked something along the lines of, "Do you live here?"
"Yes...are you looking for somebody?" Anyone else would have walked away. But, Kuroko was a manners kind of person.
The redhead nodded and asked about his apartment. For an answer, "I live there, but...?" Kuroko's words expertly trailed off with just the right amount of hesitance, mixed with polite wariness.
As the redhead turned away, grumbling about lying bastards and forged information (who asked for the address of some kid?!), Kuroko reached the bottom of the stairs. He was playing with fire here and he knew it.
But sometimes, it was just so easy. He smiled at the thought, just a bit, as he continued walking, newly acquired flash drive safe in his pocket.
