Akashi had never been one to beat around the bush. He was rarely considerate of others' feelings and emotions, for he always knew best; naturally, they should simply accept his words. But this particular situation was different. Kise was an absolute wreck at the very mention of Aomine. And though Akashi was rarely considerate, he had to be in order to make the blonde understand. Or else, he'd be dealing with a walking waterfall for who knows how long.

The problem was, the redhead didn't even know how to be subtle. For him, there was putting something point-blank, or keeping his thoughts to himself. There simply was no in between. He sighed to himself as he stared at the blonde, just a few feet away. Finally, he pushed his apprehension down, deciding it was now or never.

Akashi calmly walked over to Kise, tapping him on the shoulder. The blonde jumped at the mere contact, and by the look on his face, Akashi determined this was going to be more difficult than he thought.

"A-Akashi-cchi? What's wrong?"

The redhead bit back a sigh, trying to keep his exterior void of emotion. Perhaps that was not the way to go, but he really didn't know how else to approach the situation. "Ryouta, do you believe in the afterlife?"

The blonde blinked at him, his golden eyes widening slightly. "Y-yeah, why?"

"What about an in between plane of existence?"

"…Like, ghosts?"

He nodded.

Kise smiled, but it was dark, and Akashi decided it didn't suit the bubbly blonde at all. "I w-want to, but no. M-Midorima-cchi said there w-was no scientific e-evidence." Akashi's lips turned down in a slight frown as Kise's eyes pooled with tears. He swiped at his eyes, laughing at himself. "S-sorry."

The redhead shook his head. "Not at all. You're still grieving." He paused, gauging the situation. But this time, he really had no idea what he was doing at all. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to take the risk. "I, for one, believe in ghosts."

Not knowing what else to say, Akashi made his exit, leaving the blonde to break down alone.

XXX

"How did he take it?"

Akashi sighed lightly, his heart beating rather fast as Aomine had merely appeared right before him. "First of all, Daiki, it's rude to randomly appear like that."

The tanned man rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. What happened?"

Biting the inside of his lip, he sighed again. "He doesn't believe in ghosts."

Aomine's expression twisted into a grimace of sorts. "Since when? He used to be terrified!"

"Shintaro has apparently changed his mind with his scientific logic."

"Tsk, that shit…"

"… Did you ever think that perhaps Ryouta only believed in ghosts because he had you to protect him?"

Aomine blinked, his brows furrowing as he thought about it. "You mean, he was faking it?"

"Hm, not so much as faking. Just, pushing himself to believe."

The taller man's dark eyes suddenly lit up, and he nodded. "You think that's why Midorima changed his mind so quick."

Akashi nodded. "It isn't like Ryouta to simply stop believing in something, no matter how unscientific."

"What are you guys talking about?"

Akashi nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned to find Kuroko smiling innocently up at him. "Damn you both."

"Ne, what'd I do, Akashi~?"

The redhead breathed out a sigh as he pushed past the ghosts, making his way to the gym for practice. "I'll catch up with you later," he called.

Kuroko smiled as he looked up toward Aomine. "Who does he think he's talking to?"

The tanned man snorted. "A pair of harmless ghosts or something."

A small laugh escaped Kuroko's throat as they both headed toward the gym as well, hoping to catch Akashi off guard again.

And so they did. In the middle of the redhead's play, Kuroko suddenly appeared to his left, waving happily as a large grin stretched onto his face. Akashi fumbled, his heart racing as Midorima stole the ball from him, sinking a three pointer before he could even move a muscle.

The green haired boy raised a brow skeptically, adjusting his glasses. "You seem rather off today, Akashi."

"Shut up," he muttered dangerously, "Keep running the plays." He stormed off of the court, shooting a glare toward Kuroko as he passed by. With his back turned to his teammates, he growled at his dead friends. "What the hell are you trying to do?"

Kuroko smiled up at him innocently, whilst Aomine refused to look him in the eye. "We wanna play too~"

Akashi rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fuck, you're going to be the death of me."

"Hey, it's not so bad," Aomine chipped in, grinning at his own joke.

The redhead simply glared at him for a long moment before a heavy sigh fell from his lips. "Whatever. Don't do that during practice. Or anytime, for that matter. What happened to your manners, Kuroko?" He turned and made his way back to the court, not waiting for a response.

Kuroko laughed softly to himself, looking on with interest. "He's just mad because we scared him."

Aomine chuckled. "Being a ghost really isn't that bad when you can mess with people."

And that was when Kuroko's eyes sparked with mischief. "Aomine~ Let's mess with more people~"

The dark skinned ghost glanced at him curiously, following his gaze to his own former teammates on the court. He grinned. "Ghostly pranks? I'm in."