ii. forgotten

"I am Midorima Shintaro," he said, sniffing as he tipped his head into a low bow. "I hope for both of our sakes we do not see each other around."

Kuroko opened his eyes on the morning of his first day of middle school to the sound of glass shattering.

He flinched. Noise bled through the paper-thin walls easily, and he was certain the neighbors could clearly hear what was going on. (Not as if they would ever interfere.) He cast away that bitter thought and instead focused on building his composure, bracing himself for the war outside his bedroom door.

Deep breaths. In, out. Out. Don't freeze, keep moving keep moving keep moving you are nothing don't let anyone notice—

—don't stop. Look down, porcelain shards scattered across the floor, a distant shriek. Look around, where are your shoes? Over there, and a piece of glass stuck on the bottom of his right foot, take it out later. Hurry hurry hurry have everything, backpack? Forgot your schedule? Don't go back just go and remember—

The door swung shut behind him and Kuroko was free.

"Ah, excuse me," Kuroko said with a little bow as he squeezed in to stand in the space next to him.

"It's nothing."

Dark eyes followed him with a peculiar interest. It was only mild, however, and with a sigh he turned away and promptly forgot about it, facing towards the director. Orientation was about to start

The director of Teiko was a man easily moved by words of passion and promises of success, and as such moved his audience of incoming first years with them. He hid behind a mask of honest geniality contradicted by his underlying threat to not just do fine, no, to be superior, and Kuroko did not like him at all.

"At Teiko," the director gestured in a grandiose manner at the banner behind him, "we have a history of not only excellence, but superiority. Generations and generations of students have come and gone, but all of them—yes, all of them—have achieved some form of greatness and I have no doubt you will as well. Our academics department is nationally recognized; our athletics clubs have all held national titles. I encourage all of you to strive for our long-standing traditions…"

Maybe it was just because Kuroko was average and unnoticeable and jealous, but he disliked the idea of being outstanding for the sake of being outstanding, didn't like the cruel rush one feels from being better than someone. Kuroko'd always been taught that the journey was better than the final destination—that the opportunities lay in involvement and not isolation. He inclined his head, deep in thought. Maybe, he mused, maybe the slowest runners were slow because they were enjoying the view, were pacing themselves—maybe the fast runners tired in the middle and couldn't finish. He dared to think that the tortoise outran the hare.

The director stopped, paused, glared. "Yes?" It was a timid boy towards the back. His hand was shaking as he set it down. "I, I-I-I-I…"

The boy lowered his head. His whole body shook with effort. The boy had a stutter, Kuroko realized. "I-I'm n-not sure, not s-sure that I…c-can meet that s-standard."

The director smiled but his eyes grew colder. For a fraction of a second—it was almost unnoticeable—the corners of his mouth shook from effort, but he inclined his head to the side (away from the boy, Kuroko noticed) and replied, "I have…faith, faith in your success. Faith in your abilities."

People were nodding along, smiling, whispering to themselves—if he believes it, then so will we. A newfound sense of determination sparked and ignited in their hearts.

Teiko wasn't inherently terrible, Kuroko realized. At least, not outwardly. He could understand their methods—expressing their confidence in students' abilities generally boosted student morale, thereby boosting their personal confidence which improved their skills. Lowered self-esteem tended to limit rates of success. Of course the director would try to almost intimidate them with far-reaching expectations and then tell the students he had confidence that they would succeed.

However, something wasn't quite right. The director glanced at a section of the crowd which didn't react the way he expected them to—they were biting their nails and murmuring worriedly to each other. Kuroko squinted and—Aha!—there it was, that asymmetrical mouth, curled on one side and flat on the other. A sneer, an expression of disgust.

And then everything added up. Teiko's ranking as number one in the nation and its high suicide rate. The overwhelming lack of any tutors or teacher's assistants. The highly, almost too selective scholarship program Kuroko was on.

Why should a school waste resources on people who had failed before?

For the second time that day, Kuroko was scared.

Kuroko was lost.

There were so many people, and the school was so big, and he forgot his schedule at home, and no one noticed him when he walked up to ask them to direct him to the administration office, and he was completely, utterly lost.

"Ah, excuse me," he muttered, accidentally bumping into someone as he walked past the door to class 1A. Again. He hurried on past, certain that the guy hadn't even noticed, when Kuroko suddenly heard—

"Not making eye contact with the person you're apologizing to? How rude."

Kuroko looked up. Green hair, long eyelashes, and fair skin. Rectangular glasses sat on the perch of his nose, which was upturned in an expression so familiar to Kuroko he had made his own name for it—aristocratic disgust. It was apparent every night at the dinner table, and was impossible to misidentify.

What was most bizarre, though, was the pink Hello Kitty choker the boy was wearing around his neck.

Kuroko dismissed his incoming thoughts. He had no right to judge another's preferences and habits. "My apologies," he said, bowing low, before straightening and looking him in the eye. "I did not mean to hit you." He swallowed the words that threatened to come crawling out of his throat—it couldn't have been helped; you couldn't see me.

"Very well," the stranger acquiesced, and made to turn away.

"I'm sorry," Kuroko said again. He wrung his hands. "I'm afraid I'm lost. Could you direct me to the administration office?"

Kuroko chose not to hear the boy's scoff. "You're a first year like me, correct? Didn't you receive your schedule in the mail?"

He had. He'd slipped out of the room to sift through the growing pile of bills on the dining table in the middle of the night until he found it. Kuroko was on scholarship; he couldn't afford falling behind on something as simple as class placements. But the end result had been the same. "I left it at home," he confessed. He should've memorized the rooms. Why hadn't he?

The boy sighed in great annoyance. "The administration office is that way," he said, pointing to their left. "Go straight down, there should be a sign. What's your sign?"

Kuroko blinked. "I'm sorry?"

The boy tugged irritably at his glasses. "I'm not asking again. What's your zodiac sign?"

"Aquarius."

The boy frowned. "Cancer and Aquarius? Incompatible. We won't get along," he said decisively. He turned his back to Kuroko.

Kuroko felt vague tendrils of annoyance stirring in his chest. "It seems illogical to judge another's character by the date they are born on," he remarked.

Green eyes chilled behind those black-rimmed glasses. Kuroko wondered why they hadn't fogged up yet from all the cold. "You are only proving me right. Oha Asa is never wrong."

"I think we will not like each other more because you believe in things outside of your control," Kuroko said coolly. "I will only reciprocate—ah, sorry for my manners, what is your name? I am Kuroko Tetsuya."

Another scoff. "I am Midorima Shintaro," he said, sniffing as he tipped his head into a low bow. "I hope for both of our sakes we do not see each other around."

lol it's been 9-10 months me in a nutshell a lot has happened haha

for a while i genuinely decided to discontinue this bc i had no idea where i was going. but september of last year i began writing original fiction, and i started taking writing more seriously! i've definitely learned a lot about plot and character development and prose and writing in general, and although i do admit i half-assed the vast majority of this 2nd chapter, i've (tentatively) decided to continue this. conveniently, i had half of this chapter written 5 months ago sitting aimlessly on my computer, so it wasn't that hard to get off my ass and write cringy anime fanfiction lmao

it's nice to be back i turned to this on a whim bc i keep putting pressure on myself to make every sentence in my orig fic perfect and it gets frustrating and exhausting sometimes. there's no pressure here. ok i'll stop rambling hope you enjoyed this chap

pls leave a review you'll get good karma or if you don't want good karma do it for kuroko