Kagami walked his motorcycle up the street. His neighborhood's "no loud noises" policy didn't let him ride all the way up to his apartment. It was a nice night for walking though. Especially since he was carrying a treasure! After she'd taken a couple pieces for herself and Hiyori, Yumi-san had been kind enough to pack the leftover pie in one of the restaurant's to-go boxes.

He felt a bit keyed up since that afternoon. There hadn't been many patrons after Tendou so Kagami got to leave earlier than usual. Maybe he'd be able to catch that new toku show he'd been hearing about. It had something with trains and monsters in it; that sounded kind of cool. He heard the main character was kind of a wimp though, but Kagami had always been a big fan of underdog heroes.

It certainly was getting dark earlier these days. Well, it was fall, after all. Perfect weather for apple pie dessert! He had some good milk tea to go with it too. Who cared about picky, sarcastic, stubborn, perfect-at-everything, good-looking…

He stopped, mentally berating himself. He shouldn't even bother thinking about the incident at Bistro le Salle. But…the insulting way the man had left…it was like he couldn't get as far away from the dessert as possible! Really, he shouldn't be so upset about it at all; he got teased and berated by Tendou all the time. But…but…the recipe to the pie was…

…One of the few things he had left to remember his mother by.

She had died…not too long after Ryou had started middle school. Kagami had dropped out of high school to take care of things; his father being too busy with work in the city to do more than handle funeral arrangements. It had been up to him and his brother to do the rest. Even then…Kagami couldn't hate him…not when his mother had been…so understanding, so forgiving of his father during those last days at the hospital…At least the whole family had been there to say their good-byes. He still remembered holding Ryou's hand…pretending not to notice how hard his little brother was trying not to cry.

And then…they had moved to Tokyo; Kagami re-enrolling in highschool. So they could be closer to father's work. Kagami had fought it…saying that he could watch over them just fine in the house their mother had lived in since before Kagami had been born. But Riku Kagami had won the argument by reminding his son that a good education had been one of the dearest wishes his mother had for her children.

But, even though they were physically closer to their father…they had become even more distant to each other. With mother gone…it had seemed to strain the bond they had.

At least until...Kagami had started getting into baseball. He'd even been on the team in highschool. For a while it seemed as if things were getting better. Father had attempted to reach out then. He had even arranged to go to a few of Kagami's games. Ryou had really loved the game as well; he could remember many nights of playing catch at the park until it was too dark to see. Father had even joined them sometimes. It had seemed the rift was slowly healing between them.

Then…Ryou had tried out for the team when he was graduated to highschool…and failed. Kagami gritted his teeth at the thought. Being a pitcher had been his little brother's dream. He had practiced so hard! Luckily Kagami had found him right after; he'd been in his favorite spot by the river. Burning the gear Kagami had excitedly bought him with the money he'd gotten from his part time job. Though, it hadn't been money on his mind when he'd tossed his jacket at the fire, smothering the flame. He had reacted like it had been Ryou's hopes burning up; in a way it had. It wasn't right to give up when you failed one time. Their parents hadn't raised them to be like that. You couldn't give up until you smashed yourself against every wall. He couldn't let his brother give up something so dear to him. Not when he had a big brother to help him through. So they had made a promise that day. Ryou wouldn't give up as long Kagami still believed in him. He swore he'd practice every day with him, even if he had less free time between college and his part time job. It was what big brothers were for, after all. And even if Ryou couldn't make Pitcher, there were plenty of other positions. They had even arranged to meet in the park the very next day to start a whole training regimen.

And then…Kagami had the worst day of his life.

He stopped. Gripping the handlebars tightly for a moment, head bowed down, he berated himself for letting his train of thought travel to such a dark place. And he'd been in relatively good mood too. Well, despite that one thing marring the afternoon…

Shaking his head and grumbling to himself for letting Tendou get to him so much, Kagami continued his pace to his apartment.

When he suddenly heard a slight scuffle behind him; Kagami turned around quickly. There wasn't anything there. Turning to face forward slowly, still looking for any sign of movement, Kagami frowned. He'd let himself be distracted. Worm attacks usually occurred when the victim was out walking alone; and what was more vulnerable a time than in the isolation the night provided? At any rate, it was best to hurry back to the apartment. Hyper aware of even the slightest noise behind him, Kagami sped his pace up, trying to show any sort of clue of awareness that he thought someone was following him. He could have sworn the noises were getting closer to him, but he wasn't sure if it was one of the notorious neighborhood cats or something less (or more, considering which cat you ran into) dangerous. Mr. Boots had a particularly heinous record of pretending to be a sweet cat before leaping onto you in a hellish scratchy fury. Thank goodness Mr. Nishikawa had finally gotten the little guy declawed (due to a block-wide petition). Kagami thought he had a few scars on his back from last time.

Ah, was that another noise? It didn't sound like a footprint…Kagami turned his head slyly to the right…concentrating. Was he going to be attacked?!

"Yo."

"UWAAAAH!"