(A/N: Hi, everyone! I'm back with another update! I just wanted to let you guys know that I've finished the recording I made of Kuroko's song. It's currently on youtube. I'll put the link on my bio. Anyway, thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews, guys! I really appreciate it! :) I hope you enjoy this chapter!)

Chapter Six

"It's not full yet, but, hopefully, it will be someday."

~Gray Skies~

Back at the Kuroko residence, Kuroko was fixing up the guest room for Nijimura. Meanwhile, Nijimura had opened up his laptop on the living room couch in front of the TV. He plugged in the flash drive and was starting to mix Kuroko's song. Well, Shadow's first song. He put on his headphones and listened to the individual recordings.

Wow, this is really good, he thought. The lyrics are kinda depressing, but I guess that's expected considering what he's gone through. I can't get over how unexpectedly good his voice is.

A few minutes later, Kuroko came down. "Nijimura-senpai, your room's ready," he said.

The college student slid his headphones off so they rested around his neck. "Ah, thanks. I was just listening to the recordings for your song. How'd you get instrumental people in that fast? It usually takes about a few days before instrumental people can get scheduled for new artists."

"I didn't have instrumental people."

"So Aikawa played for you then?" That was the only plausible answer Nijimura could think of since the music seemed pretty complicated, and Aikawa could play pretty damn well.

"I didn't know Aikawa-san could play music," Kuroko answered.

The former captain gave him a semi-bewildered look. "You played all of this?" It hadn't struck Nijimura once that Kuroko played everything since most new artists had someone play for them even if the artist played.

The shadow nodded.

"Wow, they must really trust you with your music. Usually, Aikawa never lets artists play when they're debuting."

"Oh, I thought that was normal."

"Well, that just means you're one of the best," Nijimura said with a small smile. "Congrats on that."

"Thank you."

"Well, we should get to bed now," Nijimura said. "You have school tomorrow, don't you?"

"Yeah," Kuroko said.

The former captain quickly packed up his laptop then the shadow led his senpai upstairs to the guest room. Before Nijimura entered, he remembered he had something to say to Kuroko.

"Oh, yeah. Kuroko."

The boy looked at him expectantly.

"You know I'm not one for cheesy, cliché words but remember this: Momoi and I, we got your back. The damage done by others like Seirin or even Akashi and them is done so it probably won't be easy for you to fully trust someone for a while, but I hope you'll eventually be able to trust us fully. We won't force you or anything. Just take your time. But know that we're here for you."

Kuroko nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Nijimura-senpai."

Nijimura had a faint blush on his cheeks. "Great, now I'm embarrassed for saying stuff I normally wouldn't say." He smiled and ruffled Kuroko's hair. "Good night."

"Good night."

They went to their respective rooms. While Nijimura went to sleep, Kuroko sat at his desk to come up with a logo. He took out a blank sheet of paper. He didn't have any sort of idea of what to do.

He figured he should do something that had to do with how he was starting with this whole new music thing. He was done with basketball. School basketball, anyway. He loved the sport too much to be able to just quit. He'd always have it as a game he loved. It was a part of him that he just couldn't let go. He might not be able to pick it up right now, but he would someday.

He decided he'd make his logo look somewhat like a basketball to remind him of what he'd been through before he started this jazz with Musical Tendencies. But the logo should reflect his image. He didn't know what to do for his image. What am I going for? he thought.

Kuroko stood up and opened up his closet. He thought he'd look through and see what his image already was. Most of the stuff in there was stuff he'd wear to practice likes hoodies, tee shirts, sneakers, wristbands, and jeans. The more nice-looking clothing articles weren't all that different. The only major difference between his nice clothes and his regular clothes were collars and buttons. He found that he owned a lot more hoodie-styled clothes than he actually thought.

Hmm… Hoodies… The first thing that Kuroko thought of when he thought of hoodies were ballers, which led to basketball. Well, I guess I could make that my image. It's pretty much already mine besides the fact that I don't play anymore. He thought of what else hoodies reminded him of. The second most significant thing he thought of was gangsters. Gangsters led to graffiti, from which the shadow got a lightbulb.

It was pretty late by the time Kuroko figured this out so he quickly wrote his ideas on the blank sheet, and he'd finish it tomorrow at school.

~Gray Skies~

The next morning, Kuroko woke up early to make breakfast. He didn't have mad cooking skills like Kagami, but he could at least manage a simple Japanese-style breakfast.

Nijimura woke up when he smelled food. He quickly fixed up the room to its original state to save Kuroko the trouble of cleaning it, grabbed his stuff, and went downstairs. He found the shadow dressed in his Seirin gakuran, setting the table.

"Morning," the former Teiko captain said.

"Good morning, Nijimura-senpai," Kuroko answered. "Food's almost ready. You can sit at the table."

He nodded and sat down.

A few minutes later, Kuroko had the food out. The two conversed as they ate about anything they could other than basketball. Nijimura thought it'd be best if that was left out. They talked about how they both came to be in Musical Tendencies. Takahashi was apparently one of his relatives. Once he found out Nijimura had a talent in music mixing, he immediately talked to Shirona, Nijimura had an interview, and he was in. When they finished, they cleaned up and went out the front door where, unknowing to the college student, the backstabbers had stood just a few days ago.

Before they parted ways, Kuroko said, "I look forward to working with you, senpai."

Nijimura smiled. "Same here."

Then they walked on to their separate ways.

~Gray Skies~

When Kuroko got to school, he succeeded in evading basketball people. He went to class, unnoticed by everyone, as usual. The teacher had yet to arrive so people were at their desks mingling half-heartedly with each other, others were half asleep, a few were even completely asleep, like a certain redhead, and a few were finishing last minute homework—nothing out of the ordinary, which was just perfect for the shadow. No one would pay any mind to him as he completed his logo.

The blue-haired boy took out the sheet he wrote his ideas on and a pencil. The teacher still hadn't come so he wouldn't get in trouble for anything, not that he would in the first place. He drew a circle then started sketching the graffiti letters.

A few minutes later, the bell rang, signaling the start of class, but the teacher still wasn't there. About ten minutes later, Sato walked in with the attendance book and a binder.

"Hello, everyone!" she said. "Unfortunately, your teacher, Hage-sensei, has called in sick at the last minute. He's come down with a cold so he won't be here today. I'm Sato, the school nurse. I'll be subbing for him today."

The class chattered excitedly. They didn't really like Hage-sensei that much (if it wasn't already obvious).

"Well, I'll be taking attendance now."

She called names and got answers from the students, notifying them that they were here. Then she got to Kagami.

"Kagami-kun."

No one answered because the redhead was asleep.

"Kagami-kun?"

Someone next to him tapped him on the shoulder. He shot up. "Huh? What?"

"Well, I can see that you're here," Sato said with a small smile.

"Ah, sorry," he said, seeing they had a sub. He scratched the back of his head, embarrassed, then slouched back into his seat.

"Kuroko-kun," she called.

Kuroko looked up. "Here," he said, quietly. No one heard him, though.

"Sensei, I don't think he's here today," someone said.

"Don't be silly. He's right there," she said, smiling at the shadow.

Wow, that's new, Kuroko thought. He wasn't used to actually having people notice him the first time. But, then again, there were a lot of new things happening for him this week.

The class looked taken aback when they realized Kuroko was right there. Kagami followed the teacher's eyes then found the 'missing' blue-haired boy there, sitting in his seat, looking toward the front. Kuroko! He was a little reluctant, but he still had to apologize.

Sato finished taking attendance then started class.

~Gray Skies~

At Touo, break had just started. Momoi stepped out for a breath of fresh air. Aomine followed

"Oi, Satsuki, where were you yesterday? You just disappeared Tetsu-style," he said.

"Places," she answered, vaguely.

Aomine watched her carefully to see if her expression would give him any hints. "Like what?"

"No comment."

Her ambiguity irritated him so he just decided to spill what he knew. "Like with Tetsu?"

Momoi was a bit surprised he knew, but she made sure she didn't show it.

"Heard you were at Seirin yesterday from Daisuke. They're all in a fuss over there, trying to locate Tetsu then you show up, and Tetsu comes out of nowhere then you disappear with him. We tried going to your house later to ask you about it, but you weren't there. And it was almost 9:00. You're usually home by then, and your dad didn't seem surprised at all when he'd normally be freaking out. What's happening?"

The manager said nothing.

"Satsuki, are you gonna answer me or not?"

She hesitated before saying, "Sorry, Dai-chan. I can't answer you right now." She felt really guilty about hiding things from him, but she had to. For Kuroko. At least until he debuted. Then she could tell him since it'd already be known that she was Shadow's manager.

"Why not?" he demanded.

"Reasons."

"Satsuki, please?"

It was rare for even Momoi to see The Great Aomine Daiki beg, but she couldn't say. "I'm sorry, Dai-chan. I'l tell you when the time comes. I promise."

"When will that be?"

"I don't know yet, but I promise I will," she said, looking him straight in the eyes.

Aomine was pretty impatient, but he knew she was very trustworthy when it came to promises, and that she'd definitely go through with it.

"Fine. Do what you want," he said, giving in. He messed up her hair just for the sake of it. "But I'm warning you now. Be careful. Akashi's onto you. Midorima and Takao saw you in a car with someone and assumed Kuroko was with you based on what the heard from Shin. I'm pretty sure Akashi knows since it's Midorima we're talking about. Akashi'll see it as an act of defiance since we were ordered to spill anything and everything we possibly could about Tetsu."

She nodded. "I'll speak with Akashi-kun when the time comes."

"Will you be okay?" Aomine asked, eyes focusing on her. He was seriously worried about his childhood friend. He didn't know what Akashi might do. He could be pretty unpredictable at times. "Should I come with?"

The manager smiled at the sentiment. "Thanks, but I'll be okay." She found it amusing how Aomine usually acted like he didn't care but occasionally let on that he did. In a way, he was a tsundere.

~Gray Skies~

At Seirin, Kagami attempted to catch Kuroko, but he managed to evade again. He stalked out of the classroom, semi-disappointed.

Well, Kuroko was actually called by Sato to discuss business for later. They decided they'd drop by Touo after school ended to pick up Momoi.

Before break ended, Kuroko texted Momoi to let her know the plan for later.

'Hello, Momoi-san. Sato-sensei said we'd pick you up from school after it ends. Is that fine with you?'

'Of course! :D'

'You have practice, right?'

'Actually, we don't. Coach gave us a day off.'

'That works out then. See you later.'

'See you!'

~Gray Skies~

After school was dismissed, Kuroko went to the infirmary. Sato was still working on a few papers so she told Kuroko to come back in about thirty minutes.

The blue-haired boy decided he'd just chill in the music room until it was time to go. He made his way there. He was hoping no one was in there, and, thankfully, there wasn't. The music room was pretty far from the infirmary, and Kuroko hadn't run into any basketball club members yet so he was thinking they gave up on looking for him already, therefore making him safe, but he closed the door just in case.

He sat at the piano and played. First he played a classical song then moved on to pop then some ragtime then played an anime song that got stuck in his head earlier (the Sword Art Online opening, Crossing Fields). He had so much fun playing that anime song he played a bunch more like Believe in Myself from Fairy Tail, Guren no Yumiya from Shingeki no Kyojin, and Unravel from Tokyo Ghoul. No one knew he was an otaku, but it was because no one ever asked.

As he was playing, the sound of the piano drifted out into the halls, and, like any good otaku would be able to do, midorima Shin recognized the song the second he heard it. He followed the sound of anime music to the music room to find out who was playing.

When the door to the music room began to open, Kuroko quit playing, activated his misdirection, and hid under the piano.

"Hello?" Shin called. He walked inside but saw no one. "Is anyone here?"

He thought it was pretty weird that just a second ago beautiful music resounded from in here then it suddenly stopped and no one was in there. He searched the room to see if the person and just hid, but he found no one. Soon enough, he left.

Am I just hearing things? he thought.

He shrugged it off, guessing it was just someone's phone.

That was close, Kuroko thought, getting out from under the piano. It was about time to meet up with Sato so he went on his way to the infirmary.

~Gray Skies~

On Shin's way to practice, his phone suddenly rang. "ONE PUUUUUUUNCH!"

"Hello? Nii-san?" he answered.

"Shin, look to the side."

He looked to the side toward the school gate where people were making a committee. And, to his surprise, the commotion was Aomine, Kise, Midorima, and Takao. Girls were crowding around them since the Miracles' younger brothers were actually quite popular around campus and they were intrigued by the older brothers and because of Kise. Shin hung up then quickly walked over to the non-Seirin students.

"Nii-san? Senpais? Why are you guys here?" he asked.

"We need to talk to your coach," Midorima answered, stiffly.

"Aida-san, was it?" Kise said, giving a small laugh after managing to get away from Seirin's female idol-loving population. He really needed to get these girls away from him. It was bad enough at Kaijo. The remaining girls at the scene were staring at the group like, IKEMENS!

"Have you found Tetsu yet?" Aomine said, eagerly.

"No such luck, Aomine-senpai," the younger Midorima answered. "For now, I guess I'll bring you guys to the gym so we don't attract so much attention," he said, eyeing the crowd. And so they started walking to the basketball gym, Shin leading.

"You know, if he's still around, I could probably help you look," Takao offered.

"That'd be awesome, Takao-san, but I don't know if he's still around."

"I'll keep an eye out while we're here just in case."

"Did you have any sign of him at all?" Aomine asked.

"Kagami-senpai saw him in class, but Kuroko-senpai escaped before Kagami-senpai could talk to him."

"Well, it's obvious that Kurokocchi would avoid Kagamicchi after what he did," Kise pointed out. "If someone hurt me that bad, I don't think I'd talk to them for the rest of my life."

"Exactly. Then how did Kuroko manage to forgive us and even bear to talk to us after what happened in our third year at Teiko?" Midorima said. He was done playing tsundere. The fact that he wasn't denying that he cared just showed how serious this situation had gotten already. "I don't know exactly what we did, but, from what the chihuahua said and what's happening now, it had to have been about as bad as this situation with Seirin. Kuroko leaving the basketball club, him going into hiding, refusing to talk to anyone—the results are the same. We need to fix this."

"But how?" Kise said.

"Yeah, how are we gonna fix this?" Aomine said. "Get Tetsu back on Seirin? I doubt he'd want to do that now. He never even came back to Teiko's team when he left. He didn't even go to the graduation ceremony. Do you really think he'd go back?"

Listening to the Miracles' conversation caused two reactions: a sad, despairing one from Shin and an awkward, I-know-I-should-be-doing-something-to-help-but-I-don't-know-what one from Takao, who felt like he was giving off the 'outsider' vibe. Both were already in shock that Midorima wasn't being a tsundere right now.

"Honestly, I don't know. I don't know how we'll fix this, but we need to," Midorima said.

By the time they came to the conclusion to fix things somehow, they were at the gym. Shin opened the door, revealing the Seirin members warming up. the Miracles barged in to interrogate them.

"Yo, Seirin! Where's Aida-san?!" Aomine yelled.

~Gray Skies~

Kuroko saw the crowds of people by the school gate along with the hints of green, yellow, and blue through the windows on the way to Sato's office. This can't be good, he thought. He rushed to the infirmary, hoping Sato would be done by now.

When he got there, she had a stack of papers with her and was locking up. "Kuroko-kun, just in time. I just have to bring this to the office then we can go pick up Momoi-chan."

"Shall I take those for you?" Kuroko asked, pointing at the heavy-looking stack she was carrying.

"That'd be great. Thanks," she said with a grin.

They walked to the office, turned the papers in, then were on their way to Touo.

~Gray Skies~

When Riko finally got to the gym, she saw the huge disruption known as Aomine, Kise, and Midorima. Takao was okay. He wasn't being as much of a disruption.

She blew her whistle to get the attention of the players. "Okay, what's going on here?!" she yelled. "Why are you four here?"

"To interrogate you guys about Kurokocchi!" Kise yelled, pointing accusingly.

"Nii-san, don't point. That's rude," Ryou scolded, but he was ignored.

"Well, you'll have to wait. Practice comes first, and you guys did come unannounced," she answered sternly.

"It can't be helped. We'll wait," Midorima answered.

"Then we'll join in on your practice," Aomine said. "Let The Great Aomine Daiki teach you the ways of balling!" he said with a cocky grin.

"Nii-san! You can't just barge in on our practice like that! We're on opposing teams!" Daisuke said.

Riko thought for a minute. "It's fine," she said. This would be a great time to analyze them in depth.

"Hehe, now's the time for me to show Bakagami how to get his ass handed to him!" the tanned player yelled.

"Is that a challenge?" Kagami said, stepping up with a grin.

"Hell, yeah! For Tetsu!"

Aomine threw his jacket to the floor then ran off with Kagami for a one-on-one. The rest knew it was futile to try and get their attention when they entered that mode so they ignored them for now.

"What about you three?" Riko asked. "Joining in or nah? It's up to you."

"I'm in!" Kise yelled.

Ryou groaned with contempt.

"Maybe in a little," Takao said, grinning. "I need to talk to Shin-chan first." A serious expression overcame the hawk-eyed boy's face.

Riko nodded. "Feel free to join in if you feel like it." Then she walked off to train the rest.

"Shin-chan," Takao said.

"Hm?"

"Just how bad is the situation with Kuroko? I know it has to be bad since you're not even being tsundere."

Midorima sighed. "It's bad," he said since he couldn't think of any other adjectives to describe it at the moment. He couldn't hide this from Takao forever so he decided to just tell him. "Akashi's been pretty agitated about what happened since Kuroko went missing. He isn't answering any calls or texts, and we can't find him anywhere. We've checked all the places he might be like Maji's, the convenience store by Teiko, the bookstore, the arcade, and even his house. He's never there. It's only been a few days, but usually he answers his phone or we see him around, which just goes to show how weird this is. His disappearance is affecting everyone, and I'm sure that the impact it will have on InterHigh and the Winter Cup is going to be bad," Midorima explained. "Akashi's already resorted to using his connections to try to find him, which is never good."

"Oh, yeah," Takao interrupted. "He called me."

"Akashi did?" This was news to the carrot.

"Yeah, last night. I thought you gave my number to him at first, but he said you didn't. He asked for the license plate of the car we saw Momoi-san in."

The shooting guard's eyes widened. "That's not good. He's using his government connections now."

Wow, this is worse than I originally thought, Takao thought.

"There's really nothing we can do when Akashi gets like this since he has connections everywhere. Takao, do you know why we came here today?"

"To ask about Kuroko, right?"

"Yes, on Akashi's orders, but also for ourselves. We want to know what actually happened, fill in the missing pieces of what happened in Teiko, and find out how to fix things, like we said earlier. That's the only thing I can actually agree on with those two idiots."

Takao smiled at that comment.

"The more we know, the more we can increase our chances of finding Kuroko." Determination was evident in his eyes.

This is the first time Takao's seen Midorima be so straightforward with his words.

"Midorimacchiiiiiiiiiiii! Aominecchi and Ryoucchi are ignoring meeeeeeeee!" Kise whined.

Midorima sighed. "Well, should we join?"

"Yeah, it looks like fun!" Takao said.

"How is this chaos 'fun'?" he said, pushing up his glasses.

"Because it is! The more the merrier!"

The carrot let out a small smile then the two Shutoku players took off their movement-restricting jackets and joined the starting three-on-three game.

~Gray Skies~

Kuroko, Momoi, and Sato walked into room 317 where Aikawa was waiting.

"Welcome, Team Shadow!" he said with a grin. "Shadow-kun, have you thought about your logo and/or album cover?"

"I have," Kuroko answered. He took the paper he drew the logo on out of his bag. The logo was a circle with graffiti letters spelling 'SHADOW' on it. "Here's the logo," he said, laying it out on the table.

"Very nice," Aikawa said.

"Ooooo! It looks so cool, Tetsu-kun!" Momoi said.

"Thank you," the phantom answered.

"Did you draw it yourself?"

He nodded.

"He was working on it during class," Sato said. "It isn't good to ignore your schoolwork, Kuroko-kun, but I do agree that it looks very nice."

Momoi giggled. She examined the logo closer. "It kinda looks like a basketball."

"I was aiming for that. It's sort of so I don't forget my roots or how I started here," the blue-haired boy said.

"Good idea," Aikawa said. "It's common in showbiz that people develop an ego and forget what they used to be. That's a great way of reminding yourself," he said with a smile. "I assume this is to go along with your image.

"Yes," he answered.

"Alright, then. You're going with the gangster theme?"

"Well, not really gangster," Kuroko said. "I was looking through my stuff last night to get an idea. I realized that a lot of my stuff related to basketball and that a lot of my clothing articles had hoods. Hoods made me think of the graffiti idea. So I guess it's not really 'gangster' but just hooded fashion sense. If that makes sense?"

"Basically an artistic baller with fashion sense?" Momoi said.

"Something like that."

"I see," Aikawa said.

"I think that image fits you," Sato said. "And it's realistic since you based it off of what your image pretty much is right now. You're basically being yourself both onstage and off."

"Alright, I approve of the logo and your image. It suits you well," Aikawa said with a grin. "What did you have in mind for the album?"

"A gray sky on the verge of raining. Like the song," Kuroko answered. "I didn't really have a complete idea of what it should look like, but the gray sky was for sure."

"Okay, that's fine. We can come up wit that."

"What about a gray scale picture?" Sato said. "That would fit in with your motif."

"Yeah, that'd be cool," Momoi said.

"That's a good idea. Let's do it," the blue-haired boy answered with a smile.

"Kuroko-kun, what did you have in mind when you wrote Gray Skies?" Aikawa asked.

Momoi saw the look of sadness flash across his eyes and disappear as fast as it appeared.

"A past experience," the shadow answered.

The room was dead silent. Aikawa knew he should be cautions about this topic since the lyrics to the song were pretty sad. "What did the scene look like?"

"The skies were gray, as I'm sure you've figured out already, I was alone, and I was later left walking home in the rain."

The pink-haired manager remembered the scene of him singing alone at the park before Aikawa came. She really wanted to say more about it, but she couldn't hint that her, the rest of Seirin, and the Generation of Miracles had stalked him.

Aikawa got a feeling this was recent, but he didn't want to pry. "I see." It was hard to stay upbeat in the suddenly heavy atmosphere. "Then how about we make the album cover a person standing alone on a street in gray scale? A bit of editing and we'll have those gray skies in. That sound good?"

"Yeah," Kuroko answered.

"Great. We'll have to do the photo shoot as soon as possible in order to make the deadline Shirona-san set for your debut. Momoi-chan, Miyako, I trust you'll handle that?"

"We're on it," Sato answered. She took out her phone and dialed a number as fast as lightning. "Momoi-chan, I'm calling the photographers right now. I'll explain what's happening then I'll pass the phone to you, alright?"

She nodded, her heart racing a bit. I'm actually talking to a professional photographer!

While they took care of the photo shoot scheduling, Aikawa decided to tell Kuroko about the music video. "Kuroko-kun, before your debut, we'll have to release a music video for a bit of advertisement. Just a preview, though. It'll also include a short interview to let viewers know who you are. Is it alright for us to reenact that scene you described or is that a bit much?"

"That's fine," he answered. "But will my face have to be seen in the video?"

"You'd like to stay anonymous?"

"If possible, yes."

"I suppose you could. If you'd like, you could wear a mask. Or we could do a voiceover."

"Let's do the voiceover," the shadow said.

"Alright. Then for concerts you'll use a mask?"

"Yes."

"Okay. We don't have to get your mask yet, but do you have some idea of what you want for it?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I have a friend that makes masks. I'll give you his card later, and we can arrange to have your mask made. It'll take around a week."

"Sounds good."

"Awesome. We'll have to do some major advertisement starting now so we'll have the logo scanned and sent to the people who make the fliers. I've already made arrangements for you to meet them so we'll be going there as soon as they're done with scheduling the photo shoot. They'll scan it over there."

"Alright."

"We'll also put the logo up on our website along with a few articles about you, how you came to this agency, and your musical talent. There needs to be a few pictures on there, but we can put those up after the photo shoot. The preview video should at least by out by tomorrow, though. We'll start filming today after meeting the flier people."

Kuroko nodded.

The producer realized something. "Oh, actually, we'll need to have your mask by the time we do the photo shoot."

The shadow thought for a moment. "I could just wear something with a hood that covers my face during the shoot."

"That could work," Aikawa said, nodding. "Let's do that then." He sighed. "Well, that was a mouthful," he admitted. "Busy week, right?"

"Yup. But I'm sure the results will be worthwhile."

"Definitely. You and Momoi-chan have been working pretty hard. It'll pay off for sure," he said with a smile.

By then, Momoi and Sato were done.

"Alright, so the photo shoot will be on Thursday at 5:30," Sato announced.

"Great. So we'll be right on schedule for Shadow's debut on Friday," Aikawa said, grinning. "Kuroko-kun's decided to stay anonymous so during pictures he'll be wearing a hood that covers his face."

"It'll be like a mystery!" Momoi said.

"The mystery effect might actually cause Kuroko-kun to get more hype with the media," Sato pointed out.

"We could also put in ads and stuff on TV," Aikawa added.

"Wouldn't that cost a lot, though?" Kuroko asked.

"It's something we at Musical Tendencies are willing to invest in to get you started. I don't think I told you, but you do have a fund in our budget now."

"I see."

"Well, now that that's settled, let's go meet the advertisement division."

The four filed out of the room with Aikawa leading the way to the ad people.

~Gray Skies~

After Seirin's practice ended, Aomine, Kise, and Midorima (Takao was just there to support Midorima) were finally about to get their answers. Well, some. Not all since some Seirin members didn't even know the full story. Riko called them into Seirin's athletic office since none of the other sports staff was there and she had special access to it even though she was a student. (Haha, perks of being a coach.)

"Have a seat," she said. She sat behind the desk and had the Miracles plus Takao sit across from her. "What did you guys need to ask me?"

"Where's Kurokocchi?" Kise asked.

Aomine smacked him. "Idiot! If they knew, we would've heard from our brothers already!"

Riko sighed. "He's right. We have no idea where he is. Kagami saw him earlier, but Kuroko slipped away. That's about all we can tell you. We've looked for him for the past few days. I haven't seen him once since that time at the park."

The two Miracle idiots looked stumped.

"Aida-san, what can you tell us about what happened at Teiko?" Midorima asked. "We really don't know anything. The only one of the Miracles that would know something about it would be Akashi, but he isn't disclosing any information to us."

"I'm just gonna give you the same answer as Furihata did to Akashi. It's not my story to tell."

"I'll tell you this now. Akashi's gotten serious about investigating Kuroko's whereabouts. He's using all his connections now."

"No kidding there," Takao added. "He called me when I never gave him my number. Shin-chan didn't give it to him."

"It really wouldn't be surprising if Akashi had connections to the higher ups of Seirin, but things might get messy. Is there really nothing you can tell us?"

The female coach thought about it for a moment. These guys really are desperate. I guess one little clue would be okay. "I'm only saying one thing. It had to do with the Meiko match."

The Meiko match? they thought.

"That's all I can tell you guys about Kuroko right now. If we find out any more, we'll let you know."

The three Miracles stood up and bowed. "Thank you, Aida-san."

"No prob. You guys did go out of your way to come here."

The four filed out of the Seirin athletic office, met up with Daisuke, Ryou, and Shin, then went home with the Miracles pondering about the Meiko match.

~Gray Skies~

Nijimura took off his headphones after listening over the song once more and being fully content with it. "Yo, Takashi, I'm done." He passed the headphones to him so he could hear it.

The brunette put them on. "The balance of the bass is pretty good. I have nothing I wanna change about this," he said with a grin.

"Whooooo!"

"See, Shuzo? I told you you had a knack for this."

The former captain answered with a cheeky grin and a victory sign.

"Did you already put the completed version on the flash drive?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, good. Go take it up to Aikawa. They're currently filming for the PV. You know where to go, right?"

"Yeah," Nijimura said, taking the flash drive out of his computer. "Room 236, right?"

"Yep."

"Kay. I be goin' now."

"Don't die."

Nijimura marched out of the room and to the filming department. When he entered, he found Momoi and Sato standing to the side while the crew was filming Aikawa and someone wearing a black hooded coat. The music mixer couldn't see who it was due to the hood. At first he was a bit puzzled since he thought they were supposed to be filming Kuroko, but when he got close enough to hear the hooded stranger's voice, he realized it was Kuroko. He walked up behind Momoi and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Ah, Nijimura-senpai!" she whispered. They couldn't really talk since they were filming.

"Sup, Momoi," he whispered back. "I just finished mixing the song." He handed it to her. "Here."

"Ah, okay. Thanks. I'll give it to Aikawa-san as soon as they finish the PV interview."

"That," he gestured toward Kuroko, "really surprised me when I walked in. Is he planning to stay anonymous for his whole singing career?"

"I think so."

"He's gonna be using a hood the whole time?"

"He's gonna alternate with a mask at times."

"I see. That should be interesting."

"And cut!" the director yelled. "Alright, that's a wrap for today!" he announced. "Great job, everyone!"

"They already finished shooting for the PV?" Nijimura asked. That was quick!

"No, we only did the voiceover and the interview. We're doing the rest of it tomorrow along with the music video."

"Ah, okay." When Aikawa and Kuroko joined them afterwards, Nijimura gave the producer the flash drive. "Just finished with the song. Tanaka-san needs it too, right?" Tanaka Kenta was the director.

"Yeah, I'll have him copy it to his computer later. Thanks, Nijimura-kun."

"No prob."

Aikawa turned to the rest. "Well, tomorrow, we'll be shooting the MV. We'll meet in our usual room at 3:30 to discuss other things before we come here for filming at 4:00, alright?"

They nodded.

"And here's my friend's business card for your mask," he said, handing it to Kuroko.

"Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome."

"I'll give you two rides tomorrow," Sato said, addressing Momoi and Kuroko.

"Thank you," they said.

"Sorry for the trouble," Kuroko added.

"It's no trouble at all!" she denied. "We're coming from the same place anyway, and Momoi-chan's school is on the way."

"We'll see you tomorrow then!" Aikawa said.

"Bye!" Sato said with a wave.

Kuroko, Momoi, and Nijimura walked out of the filming room, and were on their way home. The two second-years said goodbye to their senpai when they got to where they split ways then walked home.

~Gray Skies~

Kagami had stopped by Maji Burger after practice for dinner since he was too lazy to cook. He sat down in his usual spot with a tray piled with cheeseburgers. He ate in silence and was about halfway through the mountain when his phone rang. The redhead checked the caller ID, which read 'Himuro Tatsuya.'

He flipped his phone open and answered. "Yo, Tatsuya."

"What's up, Taiga?" his brother asked.

"Eating dinner at Maji's."

"I see."

"You?"

"Makin dinner." He paused. "Taiga, can I ask you something?"

"You just did, but I guess you can. Nothing's stopping you."

At the Yosen dorm, Himuro glanced toward Muraskaibara watching TV—without snacks. "How are things at Seirin? I heard from Atsushi that Kuroko was missing."

Kagami choked on his burger. He had a coughing fit.

"Taiga, are you alright?"

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm good."

The Yosen player wondered if he should've kept his mouth shut, but something was obviously wrong.

"Is that all you've heard?"

"Yeah," he said, cautiously. He knew Kagami was hiding something. He decided he wouldn't ask.

"We haven't been able to find him. I saw him in class, but he disappeared on me."

Why is Kuroko avoiding him? Himuro thought. "I see. Are you guys doing okay? The basketball team, I mean."

"I guess. Why?"

"Atsushi's really affected by this. He's watching TV without snacks.

"Whoa, that's a whole new level even for Murasakibara."

"Right? It's depressing."

"Muro-chin, is dinner ready yet?" Murasakibara asked from the couch of their room.

Himuro put his hand ver the mic. "Almost. Just wait a bit, okay, Atsushi?"

"Kay."

"Taiga, I have to go. Let me know anything you hear about Kuroko, okay?"

Kagami grunted in response.

"Alright. See ya, Taiga."

"See ya." And Kagami hung up.

While Himuro finished up dinner, he had a couple questions stuck in his head.

Why did Kuroko disappear? Just what happened?

~Gray Skies~

Kuroko walked Momoi home. They stopped in front of the Momoi residence's gate.

"Momoi-san."

"Yes?"

"Nijimura-senpai told me this last night after we dropped you off. He said that you and he had my back and that I'd be damaged after what happened at both Teiko and Seirin. It won't be easy for me to trust people anymore, but I'll try to fully trust you two."

Momoi was moved by his words. She was tearing up. "Tetsu-kun…"

"It's not full yet, but, hopefully, it will be someday," he said with a smile.

Momoi stared at him, awestruck. That was the brightest he's seen him smile since the incident last week.

A puzzled look came across his face. "Momoi-san? Is there something on my face?"

"Ah, no! There's nothing. It's nothing… Haha…" She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. Was I staring for that long? "And I thought we were past the 'Momoi-san' stage!" she pouted, arms crossed.

"Ah, sorry. Satsuki-chan. Better?"

"Infinitely," she said with a grin. "And Nijimura-senpai's right. We do have your back." She held out a fist. "We're in this together."

At first, Kuroko didn't respond. He just stared blankly at the fist in front of him.

Momoi internally panicked. The gesture! Maybe I shouldn't have done it. Was it too soon?

But her worries were soothed when Kuroko smiled. "Yeah." He tapped his fist against hers.

She entered the gate with a newfound energy. "Good night, Tetsu-kun!"

"Night," he said with a wave.

~Gray Skies~

A certain redhead with heterochromatic eyes stared at his computer with an aggravated expression. He was unable to find anything about his missing friend. He couldn't contact him or anything either. Akashi might just show up at Seirin soon. He'd already sent three of his minions there, but they'd found out nothing he didn't already know other than the hint of the Meiko match.

But now Akashi knew what had caused Kuroko to disappear on them. All that was left now was to find him.

Where are you, Tetsuya?