III. you never notice
By the second day, Kagami realized Aomine was right.
He arrived late since his alarm didn't go off, but not only was Kuroko not there (again), but there was a pot of flowers lying on his desk.
That was his first indicator.
The second was the fact that a lot of people had the same crestfallen expression on their faces. Other than that, from whispers in the hallway, it was always the same topic.
"Morning announcements..."
"Yeah, that's horrible, isn't it?"
"Wonder how it happened..."
"Who was Kuroko again? Haha, I can't seem to remember!"
Kagami bit his lip at the last one, clearly angered. He was your fucking classmate, shithead.
He sat in this classroom with you.
He was here.
But he didn't dare say anything, because it wasn't like he was looking to get kicked off the basketball team.
But Kuroko was there, too.
Kuroko seemed to be everywhere. Is this what happened when someone died? They just began to appear everywhere? That was so unlike the phantom, who, in the past, couldn't be found.
Now, wherever he looked, it was as though he was there.
Putting books on the shelves in the Library, sitting behind him in class, his silhouette trailing Kagami's in the hallway.
Speaking of silhouettes, isn't that what he said he was? No, no, not a silhouette. A shadow. A shadow to his light.
His. Not Akashi Seijurou, not Kise Ryouta, not even Aomine Daiki (at least, not anymore).
Haha, and in each of his memories, Kuroko had the same expression, with only small changes to each one.
The two missed calls must have come from Kuroko's parents, then. It had to be, because others rarely called.
After school, even though he was told by a forlorn Hyuuga that practice was cancelled, he didn't care. He still went over to the gym and practiced, as he always did. Because nothing was that different, right?
His gym shoes sliding on the gym floors, the familiar feeling of rubber tracing over his fingertips, and the breeze from running up and down the court, only to jump at the end and slam the ball in.
He began running down the court—a fast break! He reached an arm forward to receive a pass on impulse, but then stopped.
Because the ball was still at the other end of the court, almost as though it were dribbling itself.
Thump.
He's
Thump.
not
Thump-thump.
here to
Thump-thump-thump.
send you his
thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthummmp...
passes anymore.
Kagami didn't say a word. He simply jogged over to the basketball, picked it up, and started dribbling back.
Kuroko noticed Kagami took a while longer than usual at the gym after school, even though he was unsupervised. Yeah, he remembered learning something like that in Health Class—a good way to relieve negative emotions was to exercise. It was the healthiest alternative. So really, Kuroko didn't mind if Kagami was trying to get over it.
Kuroko wasn't sure what compelled him to trail Kagami around all day and follow his normal routine. Did he want to see if people cared? Did he want to know how others were faring?
Mm, that didn't really seem the case, though...
Sitting on the wooden bench while waiting for Kagami to finish up, he wanted to get up and reach for the ball. He wanted send a Cyclone Pass straight at Kagami as he ran back and forth down the court.
Even if it was to be Kagami's opponent, even if he would inevitably lose by a gigantic amount, he wanted to play.
But would it have even been any use? More than likely, his hands would go through the ball like they would in movies or multiple books.
Suddenly, a dog poked his head into the door and barked cheerily. Kagami's attention was diverted a bit faster, due to being nearly cynophobic. Kuroko looked in eyes that seemed to mirror his own.
"Ah, just Number Two, huh..." Kagami muttered, before furrowing his eyebrows. "Wait, why're you..."
"Eh? Kagami-kun, what're you still doing here?" The door opened wider, allowing Tetsuya's Doggy Double to rush in further and revealing Riko Aida, the club's manager.
"Just practicing." Kagami said tersely.
Normally, Aida would have frowned and told him to go home angrily, and that he was stupid for overworking.
Normally.
Instead, she replied with, "Ah, I see."
"How about you?" Kagami asked, though he honestly couldn't have cared less. He shot another three.
"I was just walking Number Two." She said.
"This late?"
Seirin's coach didn't reply.
Interrupting the silence, the dog went up to the bench and started barking, even going as far as climbing onto the bench and barking at nothing.
Kuroko simply stared at the dog barking at him for a few seconds, as though surprised. Then he lightly smiled as a tear fell from his eyes.
He pet the dog, who seemed confused at Kuroko's odd reaction. He was used to being pet with a deadpanned expression. Sometimes a small, brief smile occurred, but things were definitely different this time. It stopped barking and cocked his head at Kuroko.
Kagami and Aida both knitted their eyebrows at the dog's odd antics.
"What's gotten into him?" Kagami asked.
"No clue. He wasn't like this before, though... Number Two, come!"
Seirin's pet looked at Aida, then back at Kuroko. Kuroko beckoned for it to come to who was calling it, and its tail stopped wagging. It went back towards Riko, but looked at Kuroko several times while doing so, each time Kuroko telling the dog to go on ahead.
"Well, it's getting late, so I'll see you tomorrow, probably... but we might not start club activities for a while..." Riko said, getting quieter with each word.
"Okay. See you." Kagami practically disregarded Riko's words.
Kuroko smiled at the dog as he left with Aida, and Kagami took it he should probably leave, too.
After that, like usual, he went over to Maji Burger, Kuroko behind him.
That day, Kagami also bought a Vanilla Milkshake.
He didn't drink it, and instead left it and a single burger on the table.
Kuroko found that trailing Kagami held no results, and instead he decided to see how the others were dealing with the news, which was how Kuroko ended up at Touou Academy, looking for Aomine, the Generation of Miracle closest to his home.
Naturally, there were no questions asked as Kuroko walked through the hallways. Not because of his usual miraculous misdirection, but instead because they couldn't notice him.
After wandering throughout halls, he noticed Aomine wasn't there.
But Momoi was.
He found Momoi during break with her friends, all of them laughing or smiling. Kuroko furrowed his eyebrows. Was this the way Momoi coped? Acting happy?
No, Kuroko could tell: She didn't know. She didn't know that Kuroko was gone. She had no clue.
Knowing that there was no further reason to stay at Touou, he decided to go to Aomine's house.
After Middle School, Aomine was one of the Miracles to stay at his current address (actually, both him and Midorima were the only two, now that Kuroko was gone). He didn't move, like everyone else, so Kuroko knew exactly where his house was.
He stared at the doorknob to the Ace's house. Could he even open it? Or would his hand just pass right through? Besides, could he even go inside? That would classify as trespassing...
Who cared.
Kuroko decided to try his luck, and fortune was in his favour, since he was able to open the door like he would normally. The second his shoes scraped the tile flooring, the familiar scent of Aomine's house rushed at him.
He hadn't been to Aomine's house since their second year at Teikou, and though so much had changed since then, it seemed the house was oblivious to the differences. It remained the same. The hard, turpentine floorboards, the calm atmosphere the house had... nothing had changed.
Kuroko took off his shoes out of habit (or maybe it was for another reason... what do you call it... the nostalgia?) and began to ascend the stairs to go to Aomine's room. Turning the second doorknob, he found Aomine still sleeping.
The shadow stared at his old light for a minute, before frowning like he would have if it were Kagami. "Honestly, Aomine-kun, you can't sleep just because I'm gone."
Obviously, as Kuroko expected, there was no response from Aomine, and he continued his slumber, as no voice could be heard.
Kuroko looked at Aomine's phone.
3:12 PM
Kuroko sighed. Was he planning on sleeping all day? He opened it up and saw the Generation of Miracles group chat Kise had created, where Akashi had tried to tell everyone what had happened.
And, since it was Akashi, who had no reason to lie, everyone who bothered to think about it could realize that he had no reason to lie.
Kuroko looked at Aomine, who was still sleeping. Frowning in discontent, he suddenly had an idea.
He plugged in Aomine's phone to the speakers and scrolled down.
Ah, there it was. The song that had been all the rage while they were in Teiko. Back in the day, he and Aomine would have had it play in the background while they worked on their homework. A hard rock song, with heavy bass and electric guitar for the intro. Kuroko set it to be the alarm tone.
He put the speakers on full blast and set the alarm to 3:14 PM.
After that, he took a seat in Aomine's chair (which was supposed to be used for working or studying, but don't forget that this was Aomine), and he waited.
When it went off, Aomine didn't just wake up. He scrambled to get up and found that he was too close to the edge, so his knee and hand he had placed for stability fell off the side of the bed, taking the rest of his body with him. Even his protests of "What the fuck" were drowned out by the sounds of the alarm.
Kuroko smiled at Aomine's spectacular reaction. He even let out an extra, heavier breath of air. A half-laugh.
Aomine looked confused for a few seconds while he stood up, and with one of his palms covering his left ear, he reached his right to turn down the volume.
Thank god his parents weren't home. That would have taken a lot of explaining to do, especially considering Aomine didn't remember setting the alarm himself. Or plugging it in.
He passed Kuroko as he unplugged his phone and took it with him as he sat on the edge of his bed.
That song...
He never played it. Not since Teikou. Not because he didn't like it, but because it just got old. Aomine had practically forgotten about it.
No. The timing, the volume, and the song (especially the song) screamed at him that all of it couldn't just be a coincidence.
He groaned at his rude awakening, and squinted at the light emitting from his cellphone.
Though it was impossible, he opened up his phone and began typing.
[Aomine: Tetsu, what the fuck.]
He stared at it for a few seconds, before deciding that it was pointless to send.
But if things like the supernatural existed, then Aomine was sure that Kuroko would have to be behind this one.
Oh boy, then he technically would have been 'scared of his own shadow'. Wouldn't have been the first time, but...
He closed his phone and thought for a second.
Well, even if things like the supernatural didn't exist, and Kuroko really wasn't there anymore, Kuroko probably wouldn't have wanted Aomine to lie down in bed all day.
Tetsu...
Aomine covered his forehead with his palms for a second.
Then he stood up and reached in his dresser.
That was enough for Kuroko.
The phantom smiled before leaving the room, deciding to wait downstairs for the power forward.
After Aomine came downstairs, he started heading for the door. Curious, Kuroko began to follow him.
Past his house, across the stream, through a familiar park. Kuroko realized the destination only when they arrived at it: The convenience store near Teikou.
He only bought one popsicle, but bought one none the less, and continued walking, though without a clear destination this time. Aomine sighed while looking up at the sky.
He never got to say thank you for anything that Kuroko'd done.
He never was able to tell him anything.
And now, he never would be.
"Tetsu." Aomine said to the sky that mirrored Kuroko's own hair and eyes, "You're a real asshole sometimes."
The voice was bittersweet.
Kuroko didn't really mind.
"I know you don't mean that, Aomine-kun." Kuroko said.
Kuroko took a seat beside Aomine, who was still eating his popsicle.