warning: this chapter contains a mention of past child abuse.
I'm back~ After all the encouragement I got for the first chapter, I was motivated to get this out as quickly as possible. Although this chapter is only about half the length of the last, whoops. You guys will have to let me know if you want longer, less frequent updates or shorter, more frequent chapters.


Akashi Seiichi is a menace.

It doesn't take much to notice this. In fact, Kagami figures this out right away. The boy's heterochromatic gaze is much too intense, pinning down whomever it settles on. He leaves no room for disobedience and accepts no back-talk. He presents himself as an absolute authority, and Kagami fears him more than any of the teachers he's met so far—possibly even more than Akashi-sama.

Seiichi's smile is far from disarming as he zeroes in on the other redhead. "You must be Kagami Taiga. I am Akashi Seiichi, but you will address me as Seiichi-sama." His tone holds no room for arguing. His eyes glitter maliciously, almost daring the other redhead to challenge him. Kagami chooses to hold his tongue. "As I'm sure Shintarou and Kazunari have told you, this is the King's Room. You are to study your academic classes while in this room. If you finish assigned work early, you may read any book within this room—but do take care to put them back before you leave, yes?"

"Yes, uh, Seiichi-sama." Kagami fights back an embarrassed blush; he still isn't fully re-accustomed to honorifics, and calling someone who hardly looks older than himself 'sama' is awkward, to say the least. But Seiichi's smile softens, losing its hostile edge, so Kagami figures it's worth it.

"Good. Now, no talking until study hall is over."

Kagami glances over at Midorima and sees the green haired teen is already working on his assignments. Kagami pulls his own work out of his bag as quietly as possible.

He feels eyes on him throughout the entire study period. The feeling isn't necessarily hostile, but it's definitely distracting. He does his best to ignore it, forcing himself to at least appear to be doing his work. Kagami isn't exactly a scholar, and these classes are harder than the ones he took at his old school, even if they are the same courses. The only noise in the room is the incessant ticking of the clock. The silence, coupled with the unnerving stares, leaves Kagami uneasy.

The hour ticks by slower than he'd like, but when it's over, the silence is interrupted by the echoing, ominous ring of the school bell. Midorima immediately packs his stuff, and Kagami scrambles to get his own stuff together. As expected, the green haired teen doesn't waste any time in leaving. Although as much as Kagami would like to stay and talk to Kuroko, whom he sees being affectionately attacked by the pink haired girl, he can't be left behind by Midorima. He was not inclined to get lost.

"Hey, Midorimacchi, Kagami-kun!"

"Keep walking," Midorima hisses. "Don't look back."

The effort is in vain, however, as Kise pounces Kagami. "Ne, don't teach Kagami-kun to ignore me!"

"Shut up, Kise." A tanned hand shoves at the blond, and Kise pouts.

"Kise-chin is too loud." The purple haired giant agrees.

"Why is everyone so mean to me?" Kise wails, letting go of Kagami. The blond turns towards Kagami. "Have you met Aominecchi and Murarsakibaracchi yet, Kagami-kun?" Kagami shakes his head, exchanging quick introductions with the two. He learns their names are Aomine Daiki and Murasakibara Atsushi, and that they've been here (along with Midorima) since middle school.

Midorima sighs in annoyance. "Well, I suppose you've met the rest of us 'Generation of Miracles'."

Kagami looks over the four of the teens around him. "So you guys are the students with the 'insane' abilities?" He questions, quoting Takao.

Kise blinks up at him, assuming a falsely innocent expression. "Ah, I wouldn't go as far as to say our abilities are 'insane'."

"You shouldn't be talking," Aomine scoffs. "You've been here for an entire semester, and no one knows the full extent of what you can do."

"But the same could be said for you, Mine-chin." The giant adds. "Oh, and Mido-chin too."

"What are your abilities, then?" Kagami asks.

Kise frowns. "It's a little underwhelming to just explain."

Aomine yawns. "You'll see everybody's abilities on Friday. Harasawa is expecting me back in the art room anyway, so I can't stay and talk."

Kise nods. "I need to go too. I'm stuck on clean up duty again. See you later, Kagami-kun. I expect you to show off your abilities as well." With that, the blond and Aomine leave.

Once they've left, Murasakibara shrugs. "I turn into a beast." He says simply, popping a potato chip into his mouth.

Kagami blinks. "Oh yeah?"

Midorima rolls his eyes. "He shapeshifts into an Inugami." He elaborates.

"You mean the spirit evoked from killing dogs, or whatever?"

Murasakibara nods. His expression turns thoughtful. "Maybe I was one of those dogs in a previous life."

"Okay," Midorima interrupts impatiently, deciding to cut off that conversation. "We need to go find Takao. He knows which dorm you're in." Kagami gives some parting words to Murasakibara before following Midorima down the stairs. They walk back up the halls, out of the main building, and towards one of the various, small dorm buildings. The sign outside this particular building reads "Shutoku". "You can come in, or wait outside." Midorima tells him, walking inside. Kagami follows him, but hangs back in the entrance. The building gives off a much warmer feel than the main academic building he'd spent the day inside. It's a welcome change.

It doesn't take long at all for Takao to emerge from the hallway. He smiles when he sees Kagami. "Hey, how was study hall? I bet it was pretty intimidating in there."

"It wasn't bad," Kagami shrugs, playing it off.

"Right," Takao grins. "Come on. You're in Seirin." The raven haired teen leads him back outside and down the walkway. "The Seirin dorm was only constructed last year, as the student body was growing too large for the number of dorms, so it's further down the path." They quickly make their way to the dorm next to the Shutoku building. Takao escorts him to the door, stopping on the front step. "You can go on in. Kiyoshi lives in this dorm." Kagami nods. He pulls the door open and walks inside, Takao following closely.

"Hey, Hyuuga-san!" At his call, an older boy with dark hair and oval-shaped glasses walks into the entrance.

The older teen appraises Kagami before speaking. "So you're the new recruit, huh?"

"Uh," He wouldn't say 'recruit', but he was new. "I'm Kagami Taiga." He decides to say, dipping his head in a slight bow of greeting.

"I'm one of the dorm monitors, Hyuuga Junpei." The other acknowledges. "I'll show you around." Kagami nods, and Takao excuses himself with a quick 'have fun'.

Hyuuga explains that only first and second year high school students occupy this dorm, and it's rather empty in comparison to the other dorms. "To save room for future students, you will be sharing a room, though. The school already dropped your luggage off here, so don't worry about that." Hyuuga shows him where the kitchen and bathrooms are (the former being rather standard, but still nice), and enters the entertainment room where several people are lounging. He recognizes Kiyoshi sitting in the middle of the group, beside a shorter dark haired male with keen eyes, a brunet with a goofy grin, and a quiet teen with dark hair and bushy eyebrows. There's a trio of younger teens seated on the couch together.

"Guys," Hyuuga calls out, and everyone turns their attention to him. The older teen places a firm hand on Kagami's shoulder. "This is Kagami. Starting today, he's one of us. Kagami, this is Kiyoshi, Izuki, Koganei, Mitobe, Furihata, Kawahara, and Fukuda." Each person waves as their name is called.

Kiyoshi beams. "Good to see you again," he says cheerfully. "Welcome to the team."

"Thanks," the redhead says genuinely. Everyone seems friendly already, which sets him at ease. He already feels comfortable with these people.

Hyuuga turns back to the hallway. "One more stop," he says, and Kagami follows him out of the room. Once in the hallway, the peaceful feeling ebbs away. He frowns in confusion. What was that? He had no reason to feel so at ease. As if reading his mind, Hyuuga says, "Kiyoshi was probably using his powers on you."

"Huh?"

The older teen gives him a meaningful glance. "He's empathic. He can control others' emotions." Oh. "He never means anything harmful by it. He honestly just wants to help people." It doesn't seem like an honest way to help people, but Kagami can't say he can judge.

The two of them remain in silence until Hyuuga stops and gestures to one of the bedrooms. "You'll be sharing this room with Kuroko Tetsuya." He says. "He's a good kid—when he's not giving everyone around him a heart attack. Go ahead and get settled. Kuroko usually helps out at the school's library after classes, so he won't be here for another few hours." Kagami nods, and Hyuuga leaves him alone.

The redhead closes the door and sighs tiredly. He feels a bit disoriented. To think, this hadn't even been a full day at the school. He'd met too many strong personalities today. He needs to talk to someone he knows.

Kagami sits down on the bed his luggage is placed on (it's surprisingly comfortable), resting his head back against the wall. He reaches for one of his bags, rummaging through it in search of his cell phone. When he finds it, he wastes no time in calling the one person he can stand to converse with in his current state. He's relieved at the speed the other picks up.

"Hey, Taiga."

"Tatsuya," Kagami's shoulders slump, the tension already leaving his body. "You don't know how good it is to hear your voice."

Tatsuya gives a slight laugh. "I can guess," he returns. "How was your first day?"

"Tiring," Kagami answers. "You wouldn't believe the students here. If they aren't geniuses, they're just flat out crazy. The teachers are weird too. Everything is… different."

"Well, Taiga, you're not in public school anymore." He teases. "It can't be that bad. Tell me about some of the students you met."

"Well, Takao introduced me to this guy with psychometric powers. He was fairly eccentric, but nice enough. He tapes his hands, 'cos of his powers. I guess the stuff he usually sees isn't all 'sunshine and rainbows'. But he's part of this group of students that have crazy abilities."

"Have you met them?"

"Yeah. They've all got such strong personalities. Oh, shit, one of the guys shook my hand, and I fucking burned him." He frowns. "But his hand healed pretty much as soon as it happened, so I guess he's okay."

"Maybe you shouldn't have tried so hard to suppress your ability before you left." Himuro comments. "Will they teach you how to handle your power?"

The redhead rolls his eyes. "Midorima—Takao's friend—said something about a special class on Fridays, but who knows. I'd rather not have this stupid ability at all."

There's a beat of silence. When Himuro finally replies, his voice is soft and his words careful. "Taiga, no one blames you for what happened—not me, and especially not Alex."

"That's not the point, Tatsuya. Alex was hospitalized because I got angry."

"We all know you didn't do it on purpose, and no one even knew you had powers at that point. Besides, she could've ended up in an even worse state if you hadn't stepped in."

Kagami cuts him off with a frustrated sigh. "Just… Fine, alright? Drop it. I don't want to talk about it. How's she doing, anyway?"

"You realize you've barely been gone two days, right? She's fine. How was the train ride?"

"Awful. I'm not sure I'll be able to come back on weekends." He sighs. "Guess I don't have to worry about getting in trouble."

"I'm sorry, Taiga. Alex will be upset to hear that." Himuro says consolingly.

"I wish plane tickets weren't so expensive." Kagami grumbles. He heaves another sigh and stands. "I still have to unpack."

"I'll let you go then." They exchange goodbyes, and Kagami hangs up the phone.

"I don't mean to eavesdrop, but I think you may be overreacting a bit."

Kagami swears his heart stops as he startles. His gaze snaps over to the boy seated on the bed opposite his. "Where did you come from?"

The boy—Kuroko Tetsuya—blinks. "I've been here for most of your conversation."

Embarrassment causes heat to rise to Kagami's face. "So you heard what I said about my powers…"

"This may sound a bit ignorant and cruel, but you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. Most people don't have fond memories of discovering their powers. It takes extreme emotions to draw out one's potential—in most cases."

"Oh yeah?" Kagami challenges. "How did you discover yours?"

Kuroko shrugs. "My parents weren't especially loving, and during one drunken night, my father tried to kill me."

Kagami freezes, eyes wide. That wasn't at all what he was expecting hear. Guilt washes over him. "Oh… I-I'm sorry."

"There's nothing you should be sorry for." Kuroko tells him. "You had nothing to do with it, and I'm healed now."

"R-right…" He gulps, uneasy. "So… what are your powers, then?"

"I can make myself invisible and teleport small distances. I usually just teleport through doors, so that's likely why you didn't notice me."

"It's fine," he mumbles. "I'm just going to unpack." Kuroko nods, moving to the desk on his own side of the room. Kagami supposes that means their conversation is over. The redhead sighs as he places his clothes in the dresser by the window. Though he'd brought what he considered to be a large bag, the drawers still seem relatively empty (not that it matters; he can only wear his uniform during school hours). When he's unpacked his clothes, he decides to change out of his uniform and into his favorite T-shirt and basketball shorts. He lies down on his bed, keeping his phone within reach. It doesn't take long for him to drift off to sleep.