Did you hear?

"Did you hear what he did?"

"Yes"

"...As dramatic as always...until the very last..."

"Yeah, I would never have believed..."

"Everything was going so well for him!"

"To just give up like that"

"What could have driven him to this"

"He was such a strong person, I have no idea"

"His future was so very bright!"

"It's such a shame"

"Yes, indeed"

"I still can't believe it"

"It's not that uncommon among people his age...but him?"

Some people were sad. Some disappointed. Some were just shocked. But most were quite indifferent.

It was a mystery why he had done what he had done, how he had managed to make it the news of the month, and how he had even succeeded in making those arrangements to end it like that.

Don't get me wrong, he hadn't been a straight-out disturbance to others, like those who decided to jump in front of trains, and make people late from their busy timetables, those kinds that had brought the level of people's caring to the minimum. Now the loss of a humans life in such close proximity from them meant nothing more than a nuisance.

No, Akashi did it with style, as any one would expect. He left a mess yes, but he also made his last impression to the world one to be remembered. The poison he ingested, was very...effective. And he made sure to do it at a time when no one would miss it.

It was a very mysterious thing, how he had acquired such a substance... But it was Akashi after all, not impossible for him, no.

There was only a limited amount of people who knew. Who knew why?


"Do ya really think that's it?"

"Yea, I mean, he sounded pretty passionate, Akashi is never like that"

"But...for Kuroko?"

"Yeah, Tetsu seems to be the only person he ever cared about and blah blah blah, should I feel offended btw, I've know him for longer, but anyways, why would it matter to ya? Ya didn't even know him?"

"...No I didn't...But...ya know...Kuroko? I just thought...What if it's really true?"

"I wouldn't doubt that Akashi thought so at least. He isn't the type to lie. He might have gone crazy, if that is to be counted as a possibility."

"Nah, Akashi's always been a little...U kno, but I don't think he could sink any further?"

"Haaaaa...Aka-chin is dead..."

"Don't lie to me, you are affected, aren't you?"

"Aren't we all?"

"No. I only care about Kuroko"

"I wasn't including ya Taiga"

"Hah!?"

"Ignoring that, do you believe in Akashi's story? He clearly believed in it enough himself to...Die for it"

"I'm not sure what to think...It's pretty unbelievable, yeah?"

"But Akashi isn't stupid"

"But I seriously thought that guy was incapable of human emotions and feelings"

"I believe ...it's true..."

"Huh? Really, wouldn't have thought that of you"

"Or is this just something to give you hope cause you miss them?"

"Nah, I wouldn't do that. I don't really miss him anyways"

"Yeah, no kidding, you even cried when Tetsu died, and I know that ya were one of the closest to Akashi too"

"Hmph"

"But we gathered here today to discuss Akashi's suicide, the reasons and truths behind it. Should we maybe get to it already"

"Haven't we already? We talked about if what he told us could be true"

"Let's voootteee!"

"How can ya be so cheerful! U should be crying!"

"Those who think Akashi is happy raise their hands!"

"Seriously?"

"he's dead, Kise, accept reality"

"Agh, why would I do this"

"This is useless"

"Just shut up Kise"

"Weelll! We've reached a conclusion, everyone raised their hands so now we'll just have to move on to the next thing!"

"I didn't"

"No one was counting ya in Taiga"

"Haah!?"

How are they all so cheerful? Do they think death is a game? A joke? Or were they hiding sadness behind happy faces? Maybe they were just truly idiots who were accepting and believing. I would never know.


It had been a reasonably average day in May, when Akashi Seijuro had taken his own life. He had done it for his own sake, still wanting to make it known. That was the last of his desire to be remembered.

(But as all - or the very majority - he was soon to be forgotten. With the definition of soon being 'within a lifetime' Because in the end a lifetime is nothing. Not compared to the eternity he would probably have hoped for)

There wasn't a single person who straight out cried. The ones that were the closest to it were those that had never really known him...the former servants of his house, those who had lived with him at his worst and seen him grow, and become better, those that had become attached to him with time. They cried at everything anyway. Maybe they were just shocked to not reach that point in this case, where crying would have been more appropriate than usually.


It has been mentioned that they supposedly knew each other in the past, right? Kuroko Tetsuya and Akashi Seijuro.

Truth be told, Akashi had long wondered how he couldn't recall a single memory of Kuroko in middle school, where they - according to the others - had went together and been in the same club and all. Kuroko did have a weak presence, but three years was a long time, and Kuroko - again, words of others - apparently spent a year as a regular too...on the same team, so this was pretty strange.

He had yet had to figure out a answer before the time he had decided to die, but he wasn't the type to leave things unfinished - it would leave him with too many regrets even if it was something as trivial as to close the fridge door before his death. And this was a mystery, even concerning his beloved (and dead) Tetsuya.

He literally postponed his suicide in an attempt to find out why he didn't remember his middle-school teammate. He had had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to make the connection in his mind, even if he managed to regain the memories (he was sure he had just forgotten), but as mentioned, he wasn't one to give up.


He asked around, trying to figure out what their relationship had been, if they'd interacted...He heard a lot about it...Apparently they used to be fairly close, until he himself did something quite unforgivable. It seemed as if he had changed because of the same Kuroko then too...but it had all been reversed due to shock, at what he had done. Had it been because of that that he had forgotten? Probably.

They hadn't been the closest, even if quite. They were teammates, they occasionally did something together, but not like it was now. They had then preceded going to different schools in different cities, and Akashi had completely forgotten about it all.

Did this show how things were so very unimportant to him? How nothing mattered but success, victory and perfection, how welfare and superiority should be reached for not for the gain but for itself? Yeah. Can you blame him? Being raised like that could have serious consequences.

But back to how well they had known each other in middle school. No one knew.


Truly, when Kuroko had first seen Akashi in the dream...He had not a single memory of it either. How that had happened was as much of a mystery as how any logic can be discovered in this story.

Perhaps his memory of things prior to his death was selective. He might have forced himself to leaving it all behind. After all it had been a bit mentally scarring - the last year of middle school. He had been pretty weak back then. If not only physically then also psychologically.

His 'feelings' had developed with time just as Akashi's not due to any memories.

His love was as real as any other.

The relationship that had developed between them was nothing too surreal - ignoring that it all happened inside a dream-world and one of them was dead most of the time - just a simple attraction, turned into extremely deep feelings. Something that simple high school students would maybe be considered incapable of.

Kuroko had always known that it must end someday. And he was convinced that the end would be a tragic one. How could it be anything else? How he continued to live on in this dream even if his life in reality had ended. Wasn't it a sin to be granted another chance? Wouldn't he surely be punished by suffering deeply in losing Akashi? That was enough, right?

But when Akashi gave up, wouldn't he stop existing too? That might be less painful that what this could lead to otherwise.

He had in his head written numerous endings to this story. His story.


"Tetsuya...Is that you?"

In front of Kuroko's eyes appeared an old man. He was nearly unrecognizable...But still, who else could it be but the same Akashi he loved. He just kept staring at the supposedly-Akashi. To him not a second had passed since Akashi had left him as a 20-something year old. To Akashi clearly a much longer time had went by. That was what it meant to be dead. It was as if being a ghost, except he had not been observing Akashi these years. He had not been.

"Yes...It's me...may I inquire...If you could possible be...?" He lowered his gaze shamefully, having been so disrespectful. His voice was trembling.

"Yes. I am who you are thinking of."

Akashi's tone was too familiar...to cold...it awoke too much of his feelings. The awkward silence that followed, made it possible to hear Kuroko's quiet sobbing. His tears were flowing and he could not stop it. And Akashi wouldn't comfort him anymore.


Kuroko could finally feel every lat bit of anything disappearing. He hadn't known he had anything left. But now he could still feel it going away. He finally felt peace. Was this what death was? He couldn't feel anything anymore. He wasn't anymore.

So now Akashi was dead too.


"Sei-kun...Seijuro- No, Akashi-kun...Wait-"

"No. I wont wait. I just came to confront you, before saying farewell."

"Akashi-kun..."

"How could you? How dare you? Why would you do this? Make me- ME- fall in love and then just tell me it was all nothing but an illusion!? I will never forgive you. I couldn't if I wanted to. So now, goodbye. We'll never see each other again."

Kuroko hadn't the time to say a word before they were both gone.


None of the endings was ever happy. He didn't deserve a happy end, nor would he ever get one. The closest to a peaceful one was the one where Akashi simply passed away and he got to dissipate in to nothingness without pain. Not without regret. But at least there was no pain.


Now outside Kuroko's world, that was limited to only knowing himself, and nothing of what Akashi would actually do, or what was happening in reality, the fact remained that Akashi Seijuro - heir to the huge Akashi complex, slightly maniacal and previously suffering of an unfortunately undiagnosed multiple personality disorder - was dead. Inevitably and undoably so.

And for what reason? Love? Yes, the emotion he had denied and despised for so long. Something most normal (-if a term like that is to be used-) and sane human beings outside of stories would not got to such lengths for. Akashi was neither really so was it that unbelievable? Yes. Why? Because Akashi was not stupid. But...

Tetsuya...If I do this, will I be able to see you again?

He had jumped into the unknown, knowing he might not reach his goal, knowing he might've thrown everything away for nothing. Had he?

If there's even a little chance...I'll meet you again...

Then he would take any risk. What had he even become? To be like this...? His self from only 5 years ago would've cringed away at this unrecognizable person, and scorned him for the choices he would make in the future. He wouldn't accept it. Still, Akashi had changed in the previous 5 years, and they were undeniably the same person. All this change was mostly due to a certain boy with a blunt attitude and a hair color as unnatural as Akashi's own.

Ah, would they be able to meet again? Or would it end with both dying, because of their wish to be able to touch?


Okay please don't hurt me I know it's been a long time...I've been maybe kinda busy, school's started properly, and on the other hand I had a small writers block and I'm bad with those, due to lack of experience...I swear though I'll try to have the next and probably last chapter up as soon as possible! Oh and no I don't have any idea what I'm trying to do with this chapter either, nope. Their past? A whim that just might've ruined the whole thing...I have no idea what Akashi did, something horrible anyway, and ik this is too late to bring anything new to this but weeaaallll... Thank you for all the support until now, and I selfishly hope that you'd keep giving it into the end...

...Sooo, reviews to this meaningless chapter? Anyone? I understand I'm too greedy...