Akari: Yes, I'm sorry it's very short. One thing first, I can't really make a daily update with school and homework and that doesn't mean during the weekends you will get two updates. No. Depends on how fast I can come out with something and write. These days, school's being an ass to me, but I hope that you guys continue to support me. I'll try to write and post longer chapters (but that means a longer update).

This short chapter is to describe and explain a bit about the Trials. "So it's short." Yes, I'm sorry. I'll try to write longer. My passion is just not there yet. It's really giving me a headache that I loses interest very quickly in my stories and I don't like how I do things. My writing style dropped and I'm losing my imagination. Right now, my life isn't so perfect. I have holes in my life. Meaning, I'm dealing with family problems. Something personal.

Anyway, I'm honoured by the reviews. I'm grateful for you to give my story a chance. Don't worry, I won't abandon it. Thanks for loving it and stay tune.

Disclaimer: Do not own Kuroko no Basuke.

The Trials

Chapter 3 Lesson One

Kuroko woke to see Mark's face staring down at him. "You're alive, kid?" Mark asked, grinning like an idiot. Kuroko looked up at the guy who saved him, the guy that sent someone double his size flying with a backpack.

"Mark!" Teresa shouted, throwing a notebook at his head. Mark grunted. "Of course he's alive, you idiot!" It took Kuroko longer to see Teresa pushed Mark out of the way, protesting when she did it by throwing her full body weight on him. She looked worried. "Are you alright? Is your fever back? Headache? Do you need—"

Kuroko reached for Teresa's hand, giving it a squeeze, shutting her up. "I'm fine, Teresa-san. My fever's long gone."

Teresa nodded, the look was still there. "What about your neck? Let me see." She cupped his face, lifting it slightly. Mark sucked in a breath. He had bruises from his chin diagonal across the entire section, purple and blue merging into his skin. Teresa remained silent, tracing lines over the bruises with the obvious flinches from the boy. She released him and went over to the backpacks and began rummaging through medicines, holding one up to check the label before dumping back in unsatisfied, her attitude grew worse as time was eating away.

Kuroko watched, concerned.

"Don't worry," Mark reassured him, hands on his lap as he crossed his legs, giving another goofy grin. "She's always like that. She adores children and it's a good thing she's acting like a mother since I'm way off track being a parent. Tell you what, if this continues on, bet she'd start complaining to no one and usually if that happens, either she'll toss the medicines away, deeming them useless or throw a tantrum on me."

Mark meant it to cheer the boy up. Following yesterday's events, he wanted to flush every single bad experience from yesterday out of Kuroko's mind, the least he could do was give some support; help him onto his feet.

Kuroko blinked. Without thinking, he bluntly asked aloud for both to hear, "Are you two married?"

Mark stared at Kuroko in disbelief. Teresa stopped what was she doing. Two pair of cheeks flushing madly

Teresa resumed her search and thankfully found what she was looking for after a bottle laxatives. She took long strides over to Kuroko, kneeling down and gestured for him to sit up, she applied a thin layer of bruising cream over his neck. Kuroko shivered from the contact, the cream felt really cold after a fever, but soothing at the same time. She later wrapped a row of bandage over his neck, all the time being quiet and indifferent. Was she mad? The silence made Kuroko regretted what he'd just dully said without any concern over their reactions. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

Mark snapped out of his reverie. "No no, you got the wrong idea. It's just…we never really see that in each other. We're childhood friends. So I guess others think we're like married or a couple because we stick together a lot. So it's just a small misunderstanding, you no need to apologize for it. You just caught us off guard awhile ago. You know… We're like in this mess and than some kid suddenly says something like that, it brings back memories, good times. Like things aren't different from before. I mean, that doesn't mean I like her or anything. We do stick together, but it's not like that at all." He tried to explain, but ending up yanking his head in frustration. "AH! I don't know anymore! Stop it!"

The episode lasted for a half hour with Mark being overly embarrassed; Kuroko being blank; Teresa laughing and rolling on the floor, giggles bursts out, accompanying criticisms from Mark. They sat in a circle, conversing to each other about their lives, question after question, Kuroko got to know more about the two. They weren't strangers anymore, they were his closest friends in this maze. Happiness hung in the air as they had a little humour in their words, trying to lift the atmosphere more. If they were to be stuck in this place, better to have a little of confidence in surviving than pressing on in depressing matters. Soon it got heavier with each word, leading towards the maze, more about the Trials they had to complete.

"The Trials are specially meant for adults like us," Teresa gestured to her and Mark. "My dad survived the Trials four years ago with some good friends. He told us about the stages, the difficulties, the monsters and the extra card."

"The extra card?" Kuroko inquired.

"The extra card is referring to a special rule," Mark continued. "A special rule is added for every year, stages changes also. Example, the normal amount of stages was supposed to be three, but because of this year's special rule, it became five, so we have a less chance in surviving. The first stage is always the same, just with different scenarios. Everyone is split up into fifty arenas, backpacks are limited and weapons are laid out for you, if you want to kill, be my guest." He spoke like it wasn't a big of a deal killing someone, like humanity had turned for the worse.

Teresa kneed him on the stomach. He doubled over, coughing. "Ignore this guy right here. He's a sour puss because I made him agreed to the plan." It came out a slip from her mouth. Kuroko noticed Mark had froze and Teresa was lamenting mentally over her mistake.

"So you're saying you guys willingly volunteered? Is that what you're telling me?"

"No, I mean—" Then she gave up. "We came here to do something. An important deed we're repaying back to Unit Four, the creators of the Trials and currently, the one in control over our lives. If they want us dead, one click of the button and we're gone."

"And yet you're going in there?"

Teresa nodded with a mischievous grin. "Of course. A little birdie is going to lead us there. She's working undercover for us, she joined Unit Four along with her sister just for our sakes, and if we hold it any longer, they'll probably conduct a search group themselves." Her face was grim in a minute later, whispering, "If we make it through the last stage."

Mark was quiet by her side, feeling the tension rising. "If."

"Anyway," Teresa added before Kuroko could speak. "The first stage of the Trials are basically for lessening out numbers. Once you passed through the Flat Trans, you are immediately transferred into the same arena as everyone else. The second stage is the hard part of it. It's like hundreds of survivals out there waiting for you to come out so they can start commanding you or killing you off if you're worthless. So the best way to avoid being caught is to hide for safety measures, until someone figures out how to solve this maze. Then we'll just tiptoe away silently, no fights, no injuries. There."

"Sounds like a good plan," Kuroko agreed. "How long does it takes for that to happen?"

Teresa shrugged. "Who knows. Let's hope that someone does it or we'll be having each other for meals."

Kuroko paled, scooting away from the circle and into the safety of the sheets.

Mark looked at her. "I think you went overboard with that one."

"Next time, stick something into my mouth before I say anything like that again to him."

"Well do, Madam."

Another day went by since the opening of the Trials. Akashi was planning to explore the maze more. He did it yesterday, but he somehow found the corridors were different. The junctions that were there before weren't there anymore, numbers of vines decreases or increases. The maze was playing with his mind. With every route changing during the night, he couldn't imagine anybody figuring out anything about the location of the Flat Trans. The next problem was the contestants. He ran into a few earlier, but managed to lose them with a few twists and turns, his memory subconsciously working to map out everything.

Then came Hikaru. A man with that goofy grin he wanted to wipe off. They were trapped in a maze that would take up to weeks to solve and someone came waltzing in smiling like a moron like everything was going to fine. Like the world wasn't ending enough, but he did retrieve some significant info. Turned out, the head of Unit Four, a so called genius introduced the idea to the government that putting people into a death game would allow him to further investigate an unknown disease called the Flare that drives people insane.

Hikaru had been part of the team of scientist once, but pulled out when the idea was approved immensely by the government. He fought for his rights, trying to convince everyone that the Trials wouldn't help solving anything, that they were sacrificing more lives than saving. He had tried developing a cure himself, spent his foolish attempt on finding a cure without the Trials. His study soon became his room. Everyday he had spent his time drowning in books, experimenting and looking through the early records from Unit Four's achieve that kept everything they knew about the whole world.

He travelled across the globe, meeting up with his new partners that fought for the same reason. Their research had taken a downfall when Unit Four had discovered their 'bad' intentions to stop the Trials. Their facility was burned down, all the intel they had gained from years of suffering were devoured by the flames. As their second punishment came, their own lives were put to the test, dropping them into their very own Trials, the thing they feared most was witnessing people killing each other for survival. Humanity had suddenly lost its perks.

"My guess is that they didn't have enough responses," the man explained. "The adults might be not sufficient enough for their intel gathering. Maybe they thought that putting a few youths would change. The Trials always ended the same way with a few number of survivals. All I know now is that they are observing your every move. Maybe you guys can spike up something that we can't, that's probably it. If including in some teens will help, all eyes will be on you right now. Shifts may be carried out. They watches you 24/7. It's how things work when new changes are made. Creepy, right?"

Akashi didn't respond, his mind coiling with more questions and answers. There was a chance he wasn't alone in this. He might be able to search for those who were illegally forced here. The explanation from Hikaru confirmed a few things for him though. That the teens they'd chosen for this game must be intelligent. They would not simply forced a few teens in for entertainment. Their minds need to work together in order to come out for a solution. One brain wasn't enough for him to pull through the game, would they be able to start something up with a couple more brains?

The only problem standing in his way now was to find them.

Whoever's left in the game.