Chapter 3: Finding Clues

A/N: Hello everyone sorry for the long wait! Things happened but its getting sorted. On my profile I have a list of stories I'll be updating and when I will update. This was suppose to go up on Friday but I had some errands to run. So hopefully this will get updated more consistently soon. Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Kuroko sighed as he looked out the window from his class. He didn't feel like paying attention to his teacher, he was more worried about the demon.

'Could it be someone from our past games? I know they were bad but I can't imagine anyone would call for a demon.' Kuroko sighed before he felt someone nudge him. He turned to see Aomine smiling at him.

"Don't space out on me." Aomine smiled as he whispered to him.

"Sorry, I was just thinking." Kuroko said.

"About who it can be?" Aomine asked.

"Yeah. What if Akashi-kun is right? What if it is someone from middle school." Kuroko said.

"I doubt it." Aomine said, "Though I do have someone in mind."

"Who?" Kuroko asked.

"Inoue Tomoya. We were pretty equal in our first year but he lost motivation in our second year after I became too much." Aomine said.

"From Kamizaki Junior High?" Kuroko asked.

"Yeah so you remember that game?" Aomine asked.

"That's when I noticed something had changed. I remember you were upset that day." Kuroko said, "I don't think he would hate you though."

"Well I'm telling Akashi maybe he can track him down and find out." Aomine said. "Think anybody hated you?"

"I don't know. I didn't really fight with others." Kuroko said as he looked down, "I did-"

"Aomine Kuroko pay attention." Their teacher said before going back to the lecture.

"We'll talk more later." Aomine whispered as he listened to the teacher.

Kuroko nodded and looked at the teacher but his mind started to wander. 'Maybe I should talk with Akashi about that day.'

Takao sighed as he looked around the school. "Well no demon markings which is good."

Nigou barked as he walked next to the guardian angel.

"That's right Nigou, the school is safe as long as I, Takao Kazunari, am here!" Takao chuckled as he patted his head. "I guess we can go on the roof or something. Get a bird's eye view of things." He smiled before he saw Kise walking next to a girl with pink hair. "Oh what do we have here?" Takao picked up Nigou and put his finger on his mouth to show to be quiet. They hid behind some trees as Kise and the girl with pink hair sat on a bench.

"Whatcha wanna talk about Ki-chan?" Momoi smiled as she sat next to Kise.

"Well it's been a while since we've talked. I haven't seen you around much so I just wanted to know how you've been." Kise said.

"Ah I see. Well I've been okay. You know I tried being a manager at other clubs but nothing really stuck. So me, Micchan, and Acchan have been hanging around the mall most days. You should hang out with us sometimes." Momoi smiled.

"Do you miss it? Being a manager for us?" Kise asked.

"Sometimes." Momoi said, "But we both know I can't go back to that."

"Yeah." Kise sighed. "Are you over Aominechii?"

"Why did they finally break up?" Momoi said a little angrily.

"No, but umm how can I say this that doesn't make me sound crazy." Kise said as he looked at her, "There's a demon that's trying to kill Kurokochii."

Momoi looked at him before bursting out into laughter. "Come on Ki-chan, that's funny."

"I'm serious Momoichii, a demon is trying to kill Kurokochii." Kise said with a pout.

"Yeah and I can fly on rainbows. Come on Ki-chan what's going on?' Momoi nudged him.

"I'm serious Momoichii, I'm not lying. You can even ask Akashichii or Midorimacchi if you don't believe me." Kise pouted.

"Come on Ki-chan it's not funny anymore. There's no such thing as demons. And let's say I believe you, what does this have to do with me?" Momoi crossed her arms.

"Well you're on the suspect list." Kise said.

"Excuse me?" Momoi raised her eyebrow.

"Look I don't think it's you but it's someone who hates Kurokochii and well you hate him and Aominechii." Kise said, looking at her with all seriousness.

"Ki-chan you're crazy. Yes I hate Tetsu-kun and Dai-chan but I didn't back then. I wanted you to be with Tetsu-kun and me with Dai-chan. I do hate Dai-chan more now but I don't care for Tetsu-kun. Why would I want a demon to kill him? What would that solve?" Momoi got up. "Call me whenever Ki-chan but not about Dai-chan or Tetsu-kun." She quickly left as Kise sighed.

"Well that went well." Kise took out his phone.

"Wow you really messed up." Takao said as he walked up to Kise with Nigou in his arms.

"Takao right?" Kise asked as he looked up at him.

"Yup! Saw everything that happened. Now I don't know about you but she left in a hurry." Takao said.

"She's mad. I don't know, maybe she really has no idea what's going on." Kise sighed.

"Or she realizes that you guys know now. Which can go one of three ways." Takao said as Kise looked at him, "One she can call the demon off or two she can tell him to hurry up and hurt Kuroko or three change her target."

"The person has to have the mark somewhere around their body right?" Kise asked.

"That's right." Takao said.

"Maybe after the game this weekend I can ask her to go shopping with the girls." Kise said.

"They let you see them change?" Takao asked.

"It's not like I look at them like that. I am gay after all. We used to change in front of each other all the time back in middle school." Kise said.

"And yet you're still popular with the ladies, it must be nice." Takao chuckled as he sat next to him.

"What about you?" Kise asked.

"What about me?" Takao looked at him.

"Were you popular? You know when you were alive and all?" Kise asked.

Takao chuckled, "A little. Though Reo, Shuzo, and Tatsuya were the most popular back then. Man they would get gifts everyday, I was so jealous."

"Where were you guys from?" Kise asked.

"We were all born in Japan but grew up in the states." Takao said, "We were all from the same neighborhood growing up."

"Kurokochii mentioned that you guys were playing basketball when he met you guys." Kise said.

"Yeah. We used to be basketball players back then." Takao smiled a bit, "We had a lot of fun. We were kinda like you guys. Miracles of our generation."

"What happened?" Kise asked.

Takao patted Nigou as he thought about the past, "We died."

"I see." Kise hummed a bit. 'Probably hurts to think about it. It must be hard still.' "Find anything while on guard duty?"

"Nothing yet. Thankfully there are no demon markings around the school which is good. We'll have to come back tonight to check in the classrooms and the offices." Takao said.

"We're doing late night practices this week, the school is mostly empty except for maybe a few students for club stuff." Kise said. "What do the markings look like?"

Takao looked at him, "They're mostly done by blood. Can't really give you a pattern or how they look because there are so many of them."

"What does it mean for a place to have demon markings?" Kise asked.

"It means a demon is around making deals. This isn't the type of demon that we're looking for but those demon's hear a lot of things. If there is a pact demon around they'll know where to find him." Takao said.

"So just look for a marking with blood, got it." Kise said as Nigou barked and licked Kise's hand. Kise smiled and patted his head, "It's nice that Nigou has someone to spend time with while we're in class."

"Why aren't you in class?" Takao asked.

"I have free period right now. Well they call it study period but student's usually do whatever they want." Kise said.

"Study period huh? Weird." Takao said as he rubbed Nigou's back.

"Didn't have a study period in the states?" Kise asked.

"Nope. All work and sports. That was our life." Takao smiled.

Kise nodded as he felt his phone vibrate, he looked and saw it was a text from Akashi.

Have you spoken with Momoi? - Akashi

"Akashichii." Kise said as he texted back what happened.

"What did Akashi say?" Takao asked.

"If I talked to Momoichii already. I'm just texting him what happened." Kise said.

"What if Akashi talks to her?" Takao asked.

"That might scare her. I'll tell Akashichii my plan and see what he says." Kise said as he typed.

Akashi read Kise's text and hummed. Midorima looked at him as he read a book. They are both in the library studying as well as playing a game of shogi.

"What did Kise say?" Midorima asked.

"He talked with Satsuki and like how we suspected she didn't believe him. Though he has a plan to talk with her over the weekend after the game." Akashi said as he made a move.

"Shouldn't he talk with her sooner? The faster we eliminate people the closer we can narrow the others down." Midorima said as he looked at the board.

"He could but that would mean he'd skip practice and we can't have that right now." Akashi said.

"I agree but if it means figuring out if Momoi is the one who made the pact or not should be more important." Midorima moved a piece. "It wouldn't be wise to wait."

"Maybe so but we can also give her time to talk to Ryota. Maybe she'll open up to him. Besides, the mark should have been on her body before Tetsuya went into a coma right?" Akashi said as he looked at Midorima.

"I believe she would have had it before Haizaki left." Midorima said.

"Then we should ask Daiki. He did sleep with her after all. Maybe he'll remember when we remind him." Akashi said as he made another move.

"You probably shouldn't bring it up in front of Kuroko. Even if he has forgiven him for cheating I'm sure he doesn't want to hear it." Midorima said.

"We can ask him during P.E. I'll have Atsushi distract Tetsuya while we talk to Daiki." Akashi said.

"Do you really think it's Momoi?" Midorima asked.

"I don't but she was angry. She liked Daiki for a long time. From my understanding, she and Ryota were trying to break up Daiki and Tetsuya?" Akashi said.

"I'm assuming Kise confessed to you?" Midorima asked as he moved another piece.

"More or less. He knows he can't hide anything from me." Akashi chuckled as he made a move.

Midorima looked at him, "You don't think Momoi is the pact dealer then?"

"I don't. Does she have a motive, yes, but she wanted Ryota with Tetsuya. She didn't want him dead." Akashi explained, "If she wanted him dead she wouldn't have tried to break them up with Ryota."

"Then why ask Aomine if she has the markings?" Midorima asked as he slowly made a move.

"It's just a precaution. I want to make sure she isn't the one." Akashi said.

"Do you have an idea who it can be?" Midorima asked.

"We did anger a lot of people in our middle school days. Not only those from other teams but from our own. If Shogo wasn't the first to go to a coma he would have been on the list." Akashi said before he made a move.

"Haizaki would never hurt Kuroko." Midorima said as he studied the board. "We both saw that when they came back."

"I know, I'm not casting blame on him Shintaro. You know that." Akashi chuckled.

"Of course Akashi, I know." Midorima said, "I just wonder who you do suspect."
"Do you suspect anyone?" Akashi asked.

"I did talk with my father, he doesn't think it's likely that a patient would target Kuroko to get to me or him. So I believe we can rule out anyone from the hospital." Midorima said, "As for a past player who would hold a grudge on us, I can name a few. But when we played them they didn't really pay attention to Kuroko, so I'm guessing they are in the clear."

"But?" Akashi asked.

"I never participated in the bets, so I do believe it's someone who has something against one of you." Midorima said as he started to make a move.

"So you believe no one had nothing against you?" Akashi asked as Midorima froze a bit.

Midorima looked at him, "Would you know someone who does?"

"Those threes you made were pretty devastating. Anyone who isn't of strong mind would fear those three's of yours. You also had a quota to fill as well. Even if you didn't participate in bets you still did your quota's." Akashi said.

"That is true, but to my memory I never really interacted with anyone outside of the team. If anyone from other schools hated me personally I wouldn't have known." Midorima places his piece. "But nothing escapes you Akashi."

"It's a stretch but you and Tetsuya helped the second string in a practice match in our second year where you met a third year clutch player." Akashi said.

Midorima looked at him, "A clutch player?"

"Yes I remember you mentioned him, about how he tried to copy your style which annoyed you a bit. It was a practice match that you made a lot of threes in." Akashi chuckled.

Midorima thought for a bit when he realized who Akashi was talking about. "I remember now. Hyuga Junpei, if I remember correctly. I was surprised when he tried to copy me. For a split second I thought he was like Kise or Haizaki but then realized it was nothing like that. He had potential but wasn't there yet when I played against him."

"From what I was told you told him your favorite line when he approached you." Akashi said.

"I did and then left with Kuroko. I don't think he would have noticed Kuroko. He only played in the third quarter." Midorima said, "But if you believe there is a chance then I'll look into it."

"It's just a precaution Shintaro, no need to worry over it." Akashi said as he placed the winning piece. "Always a challenge with you."

"I will beat you one day, Akashi." Midorima said.

"And what was your placement for today's horoscope?" Akashi asked.

"Second. To be cautious because a storm is about to hit. Stay close to your friends and loved ones. And stick to today's number one." Midorima said.

"And who is number one?" Akashi asked.

"Sagittarius." Midorima said, "Another game?"