Chapter 2

"Be careful what you wish for,

'cause you just might get it all."

- Daughtry "Home"


Kise was surrounded by nothing but pitch black darkness as he floated on his back. Not knowing what was happening, he tried to call out but nothing came out of his was then that he realized he couldn't speak. He started to get flustered, but what was even more frightening was that he couldn't move. His entire body felt as though he was paralyzed, he felt nothing in his arms and legs, he didn't feel his heart beating, hell, he doubted that he was breathing. Kise almost got a panic attack.

But suddenly, he saw images of him and Kuroko when they were in the locker room, he heard himself speaking.

"I've always wished that I was your light instead."

He was dead serious at the time and still is. Even though in the past he had morphed into something that he was not proud of, if he could do it all over he wouldn't hesitate. Of all the times at Teikou, even though he admired Aomine, he admired Kuroko more. The small teen couldn't do much, well, anything, yet still he was able to help lead them to victory. Whenever he and Kuroko are playing together, the blond was always amazed by Kuroko's passes, but even more so, he was always happy whenever the boy passed to him. It was in times like those that he'd envy Aomine, for being Kuroko's light, the one who receives most (if not all sometimes) of his passes.

He was taken out his thoughts when he saw the darkness starting to spin. Strangely, his body wasn't moving, instead, he continued to float there. Kise still tried to get his body to move which only ended in failure. No matter how hard he fought, he was as stiff as a rock. However, he was soon to be put out of his misery. A bright light shone, and that was when he heard a voice.

"Ryoutacchi. Ryoutacchi."

His eyes flew open, and he bolted upright. He looked about the room and saw that everything was normal. He thought everything was normal.

"Ryoutacchi? Are you alright? You seem to be having a terrible nightmare."

He looked at the lady sitting beside him on his bed. She had lustrous golden hair that was caught in a pony-tail, her bright brown eyes were caring. His mother. "Yeah, Mom. It was a horrible nightmare."

"Well, it's time to go to school." she perked up. "Hurry and hit the shower before your father does. You know he won't be coming out anytime soon if he does." With that, she left the room, and headed down the hall.

Kise then got up and stretched, but that 'dream' he had was still nagging. It felt so real, that even now he had to hold himself to regain his senses properly. But then something struck him. He felt as though he's experienced this before. He remembered when he was younger, he had a nightmare...and his mother was the one who woke him up...and she said the very same things that she just did…

Déjà vu? Kise shook his head. I must be over thinking things. He then realized what she said. He had school. There's no way he has school, after all, his match against Touou was yesterday...and it was a Saturday. Maybe it's a ploy to get me to wake up. He then chuckled to himself.

He then walked over to his dresser and realized something. The dresser. He stared at it in disbelief. This was his dresser that he used to have. It was a golden dresser, painted in the colour to match his hair. He had loved this dresser, it being with him since he was about five. But the dresser that he's supposed to have currently should be steel grey.

"What? What's going on?" He said as he touched the furniture. He trailed his hands along the edges to see if it was real. "I knew when I went to bed my grey dresser was there." He then looked about the room thoroughly this time. His walls were pristine white as he'd used to, his mahogany closet was nestled in the right-hand corner of the room beside the dresser. When he looked towards the bed, he found out something horrifying. On the wall, behind his headboard, there were posters of him. Posters that shouldn't be there anymore.

He walked up to the bed, and kneeled, placing a hand on the posters. These were thrown out, these were old...these were from he was thirteen. Looking at the wall again, he saw that there were no pictures from his time at Teikou, both basketball related and graduation. There were also no Kaijou pictures...he knew that there should be as these days, Moriyama decided to take pictures before their matches in their jerseys. Those should be there. Looking at his bed again, he realized that the sheets were different. He stood up straight, his mind finding it hard to process what was going on. But then, something pricked at him, and he dashed towards his closet, flinging the doors wide open.

He gasped in horror.

His uniforms and jersey weren't there. Instead, a different uniform stared back at him. To the left side of the closet, clean, white blazers were before him, and beside those were blue shirts with black ties under the collars. Next to those were his dark pants and lastly, to the right, were his white sweaters. With a trembling hand, he reached for one of the blazers, and without a doubt, it was his middle school uniform.

Teikou.

Kise let out a startled gasp as he threw the uniform as though it had burnt him. He stumbled backwards, crashing into his bedside table and landing on his butt. His phone, alarm clock and other things fell to the floor but that was when he saw it. His phone had landed right side up and the poor boy was beyond shocked.

That phone was from three years ago.

Kise started to have a hunch but he still couldn't believe it. This must be a dream. He thought. But something told him to look at his phone screen. Pressing the power button, the date and time came up. He nearly had a heart attack.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013.

He let out a blood curdling scream, as he scrambled to get up onto his feet. His entire body started trembling, his chest constricted, his breathing became laboured. He started to wheeze and Kise didn't know what was worse, him feeling like he's dying or the fact that time has been reverted to what it was three years ago. But as soon as he was upon his feet, they gave way, sending him crashing back into the floor. Using the bedside as some sort of leverage, he managed to get into a sitting position, while gripping into his bed sheets. With his other hand, he gripped his shirt at his chest because he felt like he couldn't breathe.

Then, the door busts open, he could hear thundering footsteps coming towards him. "Ryouta!" the gruff voice shouted as he held him upwards. His father. "Ryouta! Ryouta!" his father called out to him again. The older man then took the boy in his arms, resting Kise's head in his chest.

"Papacchi? What's…what's going on?" Kise asked, finally managed to calm down from his shock somewhat.

"What are you talking about?" the man asked with a raised eyebrow. He even noticed how much the boy was shaking. Kise then completely buried his face into his father's chest, not caring that the man was shirtless and wet. His two hands gripped the man's shoulders as though trying to penetrate his skin. His father then embraced him in a hug, whispering to him, "Everything's fine, Ryou. I'm here." he then rubbed the boy's back, knowing that this was something that would have always calmed him down when he was younger.

Just then, they heard a tap on the window, Kise's father immediately looked up. He saw that a ladder had been placed there, and then he saw well-manicured hands stained with dirt gripping at the rungs. The next thing he saw was beautiful golden hair swaying in the wind, followed by a face that he'd known all too well. Then, swiftly, the woman entered through the window, worry etched on her beautiful face.

"Ryouhecchi!" Kise's mother shrieked as she made her way inwards. "What happened? I heard Ryoutacchi scream!"

"I'm fine, now Mom." Kise then said, getting out his father's grip. He then got up onto his feet, albeit wobbling. "I'll be going to the shower, and Mom...cool entrance." he grinned, trying to ease their worry. He exited from the room, leaving his two parents bewildered.

"Ritsuko-chan," Ryouhei started as he got up, holding onto his towel that was around his waist. "Next time, use the door, it's dangerous to enter from the window. And plus, Ryou is thirteen now, you can't be giving him ideas. I don't want to be on the receiving end when he starts to use that as a means to get into his girlfriend's room."

"What?! I heard my baby scream! I couldn't think logically!" Ritsuko countered. "Plus, Ryoutacchi would never do something as distasteful as that."

"Please," Ryouhei chuckled. "It's in his genes." But then he looked at the door with a more serious expression, "he's calmed down now. From the looks of it, something scared him almost to death."

"I know he had a nightmare this morning." she said, "could that have been the cause?"

"No...well it shouldn't." he then added. "Unless, it was pretty realistic."

Kise had leaned on the bathroom door, taking in deep breaths. He needed to clear his head, so that he could think straight. Looking at the situation, and all that's happened, he's really back to the past. And an entire three years at that. He started to see the light in the darkness.

"I can be Kurokocchi's light." he said, half in joy half in disbelief. "I can actually be Kurokocchi's light!" he then squealed in delight at realizing what he just said. He then snickered, "Tough luck, Aominecchi. This time around, Kurokocchi's mine!" He then headed over to the face-basin and proceeded to brush his teeth.

xxxx

Darkness.

Kuroko didn't know whether or not his eyes were opened. There was nothing but pitch-black darkness, but one thing was sure to the blue-haired teen, he felt as though he was floating. To him, it seemed that he was in a void, a space, and sadly, with nowhere to go. It was then that he wondered if he was dreaming, dreaming of the emptiness that he felt because of the Touou match.

But, then, Kuroko felt like he was in a whirlpool. All around him darkness spun, but strangely, he didn't move. Kuroko then tried to stretch a hand out, but found that he couldn't move his body. More like, he was paralyzed. He felt nothing, not in his arms and legs, nowhere. He couldn't even feel the beat of his heart.

Just then, he saw the images of when he and Kise were in the locker room after his defeat from Touou, the pain and anguish resurfacing.

"I've always wished that I was your light instead."

"I wish so too."

He remembered when he had said that, and at the time, he had really meant it. Aomine had totally forgotten their friendship, his love for basketball. Kagami had then said something that didn't mean what he had thought but it had hurt nonetheless. But the main thing was still there, he had felt abandoned...twice.

"Maybe things would have been better if I had met Kise-kun first."

That too. After lying in his bed last night, he was really thinking what his middle school days would have been if he hadn't met Aomine first...if Aomine wasn't his light. Kise was quite attached to him, and even though the team had turned out to be monsters, Kise wasn't as terrible as the rest were. Sure, he was just as conceited as the rest, but there was a time, where Kuroko could have seen that the blond was different. But then he was taken out of his thoughts as a bright light shone in his face. He closed his eyes, to evade the brightness as he couldn't use his arms as a shield.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Kuroko opened his eyes to the sound. He quickly sprang up, as just a second ago he was floating in darkness. Looking at himself, he realized that he was in his bed, in his pyjamas. Placing a hand at his heart, he sighed a relief. That 'dream' had been all too vivid for his liking, and he was finally glad that he was back in his room. He then got off his bed and headed towards his dresser to turn off the annoying clock.

06:45 am.

He paused. It just dawned on him that it was a Sunday, so why was his alarm clock going off? And secondly, he sets his alarm for six thirty. He's never changed the time, the only moment in his life that he'd ever done so, was when he was starting Seirin, since it was a bit further than Teikou was, he'd have to change it. This was strange. He knew that his parents wouldn't have changed his time without informing him, not that they needed to, so what was going on?

It was then that he realized it. He was in pyjamas! He'd stop sleeping in these things for years now, but he knew that when he went to bed yesterday, he was not in pyjamas. Hell, he didn't even own any anymore. Seeing his bed, he noticed that the sheets were different as well, and Kuroko was finding it hard to believe his eyes. There's no way his sheets could have changed without him noticing.

Kuroko stumbled backwards, but ended up bumping in the dresser. That was when he saw it. His face wasn't the one that he went to bed with. His face was still his, but it was smaller than usual. His face was more round than angular, his eyes were a bit bigger.

"I've gotten…" Kuroko started, placing a hand on his cheek. "…younger? What?" he then opened the closet door and what he saw left him shocked. His Teikou uniform was there. Not Seirin's Gakuran, but Teikou. He knew that his parents wouldn't joke around like this, so why was this happening?

Indeed, something was strange.

"Tetsu-chan!" His mother's voice took him out of his thoughts. "Breakfast is ready!"

But strangely, Kuroko couldn't find it in him to move. This was all too surreal…but at the same time, he felt at ease. If he was now back in his days at Teikou, then that would mean the other miracles weren't the heartless monsters that they are…were? Kuroko then shook his head. "There's no need to over think." He then headed to the bathroom, hoping that a warm shower would be able to calm him down.

After he was done, he then got dressed and headed down the stairs. When he looked in the kitchen, he saw that his parents were already by the table. Silently, he took his seat and reached for his plate.

"Are you alright, Tetsuya?" his father asked. "You look a bit pale."

"No, Dad. I'm fine." He responded.

"Hikaru-kun, there's no cause for concern." she said, pointing her fork in Kuroko's direction. "If Tetsuya is sick, he'll tell us." she then turned to look at him. "Right, Tetsu-chan?"

"Yes Mom." he managed to voice out.

But then, he heard his father call him again. Looking up at the man, he saw that Hikaru was looking at him with a strange expression.

"Is there something on my face?"

"No, why aren't you dressed for school, Tetsuya?" Hikaru asked.

Kuroko almost choked. "It isn't a Sunday?" he really didn't know the date and he didn't even look at his phone. How careless of me!

His parents laughed at him. "You're way off, Tetsu-chan! Today's a Tuesday."

"Oh." he then put down his fork. "Well, I'll be getting dressed then." Without even waiting for his parents' reply, Kuroko swiftly made his way up the stairs.

xxxx

Kise walked through Teikou's gates with an air of unease, his father still hadn't driven off as yet. Both parents had found it hard to allow him to go to school, but the blond had been persistent. With a sigh, they gave in, but made sure to warn the boy that if he felt ill, give either of them a call.

For once, Kise was not his usual bubbly self, instead, he carefully scanned the school yard for any signs of Kuroko. Deep down, he knew that finding the boy would be a task, especially in crowded areas. He sighed deeply, and made his way to class.

I guess I'll have to look for him in basketball practice...Kise thought. But then he remembered something from seeing the date. I'm in my first year! I didn't join the basketball club until next year! Kise dragged his hand over his face in distress. I'd have to sign up, again. He then reached his classroom and as usual, his fangirls greeted him. He only replied with a small smile, and took his seat. He pondered about what he will say to Kuroko when he meets him. But, reality struck.

What if Kurokocchi didn't travel back like I did? I can't just be friendly off the bat! He groaned aloud. When he had wished to be Kuroko's light, he never imagined that he'd have to regain his trust, re-earn his friendship...everything. He sunk down into his chair further, strangely, he felt exhausted and the school day hasn't even started as yet.

However, the gods seemed to have wanted to aid the boys.

A scream took him out of his thoughts. He looked in the direction of the scream and saw a girl holding her chest in shock.

"I'm sorry!" she said. "I didn't see you there!"

"It's alright." the boy replied.

Kise's eyes brightened. Without even thinking, forgetting about what he thought not too long ago, he flew out of his seat and into the hallway, embracing the boy into a bone-crushing hug. "Kurokocchi!" he squealed as he spun around with the boy.

xxxx

So far, Kuroko had arrived at school without incident. At first, he wanted to stay home to get his mind straight, but something told him to go to school. He made his way through the gates, but his eyes caught a familiar blond. He stopped and looked at him, but seeing the look on Kise's face made him wonder. He's not used to seeing him look so unsettled before, but he then saw something else. It seemed as though he was searching for something. He then made his way to the classroom as he doubts that Kise had travelled back as well.

But, before going to class, Kuroko had made a detour to the first gym. He didn't know what caused him to visit the gym, but then he found himself at the doors. He then pushed the door open taking in the sight of the empty court. As he stood there, memories both pleasant and unpleasant resurfaced. He remembered the fun that they used to have, everyone laughing and such, he remembered the practices where Kise and Aomine would be fighting over who he should pass to, he remembered the times when Nijimura would be seen hauling Haizaki's half dead body to practice. He actually laughed at that memory.

But the sour memories left a nasty stain on him. Aomine and Murasakibara not showing up for practice, Kise and Midorima off doing their own thing. He remembered the times when Akashi had changed into someone that he didn't know. He remembered when they stopped believing in teamwork...he remembered it all.

"Now that I'm back here, I'll never let history repeat." Kuroko said with determination. He then moved off from the gym, finally heading to class. "By the hook or the crook, I'll prevent that horrid future."

He increased his pace as he neared the building and swiftly changed his shoes at the locker. He then made his way up the stairs, and as he was passing the door to class 1-A, a girl had exited in a rush, and ended up crashing into him.

"I'm sorry!" she said, clutching her chest in shock. "I didn't see you there!"

Kuroko had then gotten up onto his feet, brushing off his pants. "It's alright." he said. But when he was about to move off, he heard an all too familiar screech:

"Kurokocchi!" before he could react, he was caught in a bone-crushing hug, his face pressed up against the person's chest.

Kise.

The blond was the only one who addressed him as such, but right now Kuroko needed air. He pats the blond's back to indicate that he was stifling; he even tried to push away from him.

"Kise-kun, I...can't...breathe..."

"Sorry!" Kise released him and rubbed the back of his neck. But then, he realized what he just did. He hugged Kuroko, he called him Kurokocchi. He started to fret. Shit! What did I just do!? Kurokocchi doesn't know me yet! He inwardly screamed. He didn't even realize that Kuroko had called him by his name. "Look, I...I...I..." Kise tried to find an excuse but nothing came out.

"Kise-kun," Kuroko called out to him to gain his attention. From the way he acted, he knew that that Kise was from the future as well.

"Eh?" Kise couldn't believe his ears. "Did you just…?"

Wordlessly, Kuroko grabbed the blond's wrist and walked briskly down the hallway. Everyone that was there could only look on with shock, as they've never seen Kise act that way towards someone before. The two boys then headed down the stairs, surprisingly, Kise had not said a word. When they were at the base of the steps, Kuroko then spoke.

"Hello, Kise-kun."

"Hello?" he replied with uncertainty. "You're Kurokocchi, right? Seirin's Kurokocchi, right?"

"Yes, Kise-kun."

The blond looked like he was about to explode from happiness and made a lunge at the blue-haired boy. Swiftly, Kuroko dodged it just in time, causing Kise to crash face-first into the wall.

"Kurokocchi! Why'd you move?!" he whined as he held onto his nose.

"You hugged me already didn't you?" He said.

"But I wanted to again!" Kise pouted, wiping his face.

Kuroko sighed. "What do you plan to do now that you're back in time?" he then asked.

"Well..." he started. He then sucked in a breath and spoke. "...I want to become your light this time around!" He then held his breath again, closing his eyes, awaiting Kuroko's reply. When about a minute had passed, the blond opened his eyes, so see Kuroko's reaction. The smaller boy was only staring at him. "Sorry, I ―"

"Fine." he cut him off.

"Eh?"

"I said fine. I'll be your shadow."

Kise looked like he was about to tear up. "Thanks Kurokocchi!"

"But in exchange, you'll have to help me with something."

"Sure! Anything!" he chirped.

"If the other miracles haven't come back here, we're going to prevent them from becoming what they did. I'm not sure how we'll go about it as yet but I can't let it happen either way."

Kise's face then got serious. "Alright. I agree with you, this time other teams won't need to feel crushed and hopeless after they've finished playing us."

"But, since you're here, I won't be surprised if the others are as well." Kuroko looked pale in his face after he said that statement. "That won't be good."

"Don't give up hope just yet, Kurokocchi!" Kise perked. "You'll never know, maybe it's just us here."

But before any one of them could say anything more, the bell rung, signalling that classes were about to start. The two then headed up the stairs to their respective classrooms, Kise in class 1-A while Kuroko was next door in class 1-B.

xxxx

The moment Kise had entered his class for the second time, it was then that he had noticed something that he didn't in his past life. There, over by the window and sitting in the first seat was none other than Akashi Seijuurou. We were in the same class in first year?! He inwardly screamed. How could I not notice that unbelievably bright hair?!

Kise then collected himself, and walked to his seat, which was at the back in the third row. When he sat, he found himself staring at the small redheaded teen, as if trying to bore a hole in his head. He then took out a notebook to begin doodling, one of the advantages of being back into the past was that he'll breeze through the classes with ease. He then heard the sound of a chair being pulled out, and when he looked up again, he saw that the teacher had arrived. Upon seeing the teacher, he groaned loudly.

Now he remembered why he had always hated Tuesdays...first period was Math.

"This is going to be a nightmare." He mumbled to himself. "I can't wait for the day to end and I see Kurokocchi."

xxxx

Kuroko slipped into his class unnoticed as usual, and made his way to his seat. The classroom was filled with chatter, the students taking part in conversations spanning different topics. When the teacher had entered, the classroom was suddenly engulfed in silence, and after he greeted them, he turned his back to them and began writing on the board.

Unlike Kise, his first session for the day was English, this was one of the few subjects that he doesn't mind. And now that he's from the future, passing all his classes should be a piece of cake.

"Travelling back in time isn't so bad after all." he smiled to himself.

xxxx

After going through three periods of classes, the bell then rung, signalling lunch time. As fast as lightning, Kise dashed out of the classroom, heading to the cafeteria. There were two main reasons for this, one: today was the day that the special was being served, and two: he couldn't wait to meet his Kurokocchi. After the boy had agreed to be his shadow, Kise felt like he was on cloud nine. It is a great day indeed.

However, in his haste, he had failed to notice a boy walking pass the door. The blond slammed into him, the two crashing to the floor.

"Sorry!" he shouted quickly in defense.

"Can't you look where you're going, nanodayo?!" the boy shouted.

Kise stopped. The boy had jade green hair neatly combed in a sweep to the right. His green eyes were furious as he fixed his lopsided frames on his face. He then motioned to pick up something else, a spray bottle, and in doing so, it drew attention to his neatly taped fingers. Kise almost laughed out.

"I'm truly sorry, Midorima―" Kise broke off as he had almost added -cchi to the boy's name. Hell, he wasn't supposed to call the green-haired boy by his name.

"You know me?" Midorima then asked.

"No, not really." Kise answered swiftly, all the while thinking of an excuse. "It's just that people talk about you and your awkwardness a lot." As he said that he dashed off from the boy, not wanting to arouse anymore suspicion. But somehow, it placed a smile on his face. Two down, two more to go. He started humming, as that was one less miracle to worry about. But then his face became downcast as he thought about Aomine.

What if he's back here? Will I ever get to be Kurokocchi's light?

He sighed aloud. He didn't want that to happen. For once, he just wanted Kuroko to be his and his alone. Aomine had already done enough damage...he's here to help Kuroko with the repair. He then chuckled to himself,

Am I becoming possessive or something?

He quickly dismissed that thought and entered the cafeteria. Inside wasn't as jammed pack yet, so before that happens; he made sure to work quickly. Almost sprinting up to the front, he ordered and then scanned the place for any signs of the light-blue haired boy. But so far, so bad. He then wondered where Kuroko would eat lunch, as crowded areas aren't to the boy's liking.

"You're here quickly, Kise-kun."

"Uwaah!" Kise jumped as he hadn't noticed Kuroko come up beside him. "Kurokocchi, I was just looking for you."

"I saw." he chuckled. Kise raised an eyebrow but afterwards he grinned. Kurokocchi laughed! He laughed! He was practically screaming from joy in his head, but he dared not to show it.

The two then made their way to an empty table, which was all the way in the back of the cafeteria. As they did so, more students poured in, but it was then that one crossed their paths. He was extremely tall, and had shoulder length purple hair. He was munching on a maiubo but he didn't see them, and thus, ended up walking straight into Kuroko.

"Huh?" he said lazily.

"Kurokocchi!" Kise screeched as he made his way to assist the smaller boy. When he held him up under his arm, he then looked at Murasakibara. "You need to be more careful of your surroundings."

"What?" when he came to, he saw the light-blue haired teen in Kise's arms. With an alarmed look, he then said, "I'm sorry, I really didn't see you."

"It's alright." Kuroko replied. He was finally steady on his feet.

"Here's a maiubo." the purple haired giant offered as he turned to walk away. "Sorry about not seeing you."

Neither boy said anything but look at Murasakibara's retreating back. Kise couldn't help it, he grinned like a fool. He still held Kuroko's underarms and the boy kept constantly shrugging off his hands to indicate that he needed to let go. When that proved to be futile, he called out instead.

"Kise-kun, thank you for your help, but please release me."

"Oh right! Sorry!" he said with a sheepish smile.

They then moved off towards the table, and sat down. Wordlessly, the two had then started eating their lunch, Kise was itching to start talking to Kuroko. He found that he was more excited than usual, just because, Kuroko had agreed to be his shadow.

"The first thing that I think we should do is have you register for the club." Kuroko started, taking Kise out of his thoughts.

"Yeah," Kise answered after swallowing. "I was thinking about doing that this morning. I can't wait to start playing basketball!" he then chirped. "I'll be sure to catch all your passes, Kurokocchi!"

"Hmm, sure." Kuroko replied with nonchalance. "But I'm currently in the third string. So make sure you're there as well." He gave Kise a look. "We can't work together if you're in a different string."

"Right." He nodded. "But, could we do something else?" he then suggested.

"Like...?"

"Could we, umm, have our own practices? I mean, since we're in our thirteen year old bodies, we aren't strong enough to do what our sixteen year old bodies could and so I thought..." he trailed off, looking away from Kuroko. The blue-haired teen had on a small smile but he knew what Kise was getting at. However, he felt a bit mischievous, so he didn't say anything to the blond, causing ― forcing ― him to finish his point. "...I thought that maybe we improve ourselves. You know, like, we could improve our stamina, and speed and..." his face brightened, "We could hone the skills we already have to perfection!"

"Sure. I agree." he said in his usual monotone. But, somewhere beneath that blank look, Kuroko was actually smiling.

"It seems like it's only us who have travelled back."

"How can you be so sure?" Kuroko asked. "Even though we've just encountered Murasakibara-kun, he's just one."

"Well, I bumped into Midorimacchi today, and he doesn't recognize me. Also, I'm in the same class as Akashicchi; if he had come back, he would have definitely said something to me by now."

"Hmm..." Kuroko said with a nod. "I haven't seen anyone else. I don't share a classroom with either of them until second year. But..." he then trailed off. "...if all those don't know us then Aomine-kun and Momoi-san haven't travelled back either. I think it would be strange if only those two or Aomine-kun travelled back with us."

"True, and plus, I don't think Aominecchi would have a reason to travel back." Kise chuckled. He then smiled. "So, it's just us then. All the better." he mumbled the last part of the sentence but Kuroko heard and raised an eyebrow. However, he then dismissed it as Kise being Kise.

"Ah mou ~" he heard the blond groaned out.

"What's wrong?"

"I just realized that to be in third string, I'll have to pretend that I can't do much in basketball." the way the blond looked, he seemed to be in agony. "This is going to be a pain."

"Don't worry, Kise-kun." Kuroko smiled at the boy. "We'll make it to the first string before we even know it."

The moment Kuroko said this, Kise couldn't help but grin. "Right, Kurokocchi!"

xxxx

Further up from the two, settled around a table by the window, there were five individuals, all of which had unusually bright coloured hair. The shortest of the bunch sat by the window, and beside him was the only female of the group. In front of them sat three others; in the corner at the window was the green-haired teen with glasses, beside him in the middle was a tanned boy, who had dark blue hair and lastly, at the end, was the tallest of the group, who had shoulder length purple hair.

"What's happened to you, Midorima-kun?" the small redheaded teen asked. "You seem to be in a foul mood."

"A blond buffoon crashed into me earlier, sending me and my lucky item to the floor!" Midorima seethed. "He must've been a Gemini. Oha-Asa had predicted that I should be wary of them."

"Seriously Midorima?!" the tanned one laughed. His midnight blue eyes sparkled with amusement. "I still can't believe that you listen to that thing!"

"I still can't understand how we're all eating together." He retorted. He then turned to redhead, "Akashi, you know I can't stand that ruffian! Why is he here?!"

"Who're you calling a ruffian!?"

"Mido-chin, Mine-chin," the tallest of them drawled lazily. He had a look of drowsiness in his purple eyes. "Just eat your food."

"Shut up, Murasakibara!" the two boys attacked.

"Midorima-kun," Akashi replied coolly. "We're going to be stuck on the same team for three years. It's best that we get used to each other by now. As a matter of fact, it has already been a month."

"Hmph." He said while adjusting his glasses.

"Come on, Midorin!" the only girl of the group perked. She had long pink hair and matching eyes. "Akashi-kun is right! You should just get used to Dai-chan!"

"Be quiet, Satsuki!"

"Aomine-kun, I don't understand why you're being so defensive." Akashi said with a sly smirk. "There is truth to what Momoi-san is saying."

"Not you too!"

The entire table then erupted with laughter, however, for Aomine he was grumbling in discontent. Even Midorima, turned to the window to hide small smile on his face.


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