~CHAPTER 2~
Whispers were all the things he heard when Kuroko's consciousness regained.
"-work well… what about if we're going to set traps? Like what we did last time?" A guy's voice.
"Crybaby and Ganguro and sometimes Titan would definitely fall for that, but Tsundere and Sadist? Fat chance." Another guy's voice, but this time it's familiar.
They sure are weird names. Wait, didn't I heard them somewhere? Kuroko thought as he opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was the bright light, making his headache activate again and close his eyes immediately.
He heard another guy's voice. "But isn't it better to catch those three? I mean, they're part of Generation of Miracles right?"
"And have those two hunt you down and kick your ass like there's no tomorrow. Hah! Don't you remember that they're much more intelligent and powerful than those three combined?" The first voice commented.
Kuroko then heard a sigh. Moving his head and opening his eyes again he saw the pink-haired girl who's the one sighing together with four boys around his age. "Guys, don't just plan to yourselves like that. We had to wait for Riko-chan and the others to come here okay?"
"Yeah, but I wonder what's taking them so long?" The blonde which Kuroko recognized as Hayama said with a bored expression.
A tall guy with glasses said. "Riko said that they had to attend classes too in order to guard the Generation of Miracles so we'll expect them to arrive after last period this afternoon."
"What?! Two hours more?!" The guy with crimson red-hair and split eyebrows exclaimed.
The eyeglasses guy punched the split eyebrows guy. "Don't shout in front of your senpais, you kouhai!"
"S-sorry."
"Well, it's your fault guys for being excited and decided to just ditch the remaining two classes." The pink-haired girl commented while smiling. "Sometimes it's better to get some new information from you you know. It's hard when it's just me."
"Good morning everyone."
The eyeglasses guy smiled nicely. "What 'morning'? It's already 'afternoon' you moron."
"Then good afternoon everyone."
"…"
"…"
"WAAAHHH!"
"Is there a ghost here in Afterlife?"
"What the fucking shit was that?"
"Ah… guys." Hayama interrupted, then pointed at Kuroko. "It's the newcomer."
"…Eh?" Then seconds later… "EH?!"
Red-and-golden eyes averted their gaze to the door when it was opened, revealing Midorima Shintarou with a green teddy bear, which is his lucky item for today. It's weird, but it's not surprising for Akashi seeing that even Oha-asa is weird.
Akashi leaned on his swivel chair and stopped writing whatever-he-wrote and looked at Midorima. "Shintarou. What brings you here at the Office of Student Council?"
Midorima sighed and then proceeded to walk in the aisle that separated the long, wooden rectangular table and the white walls and stopped near Akashi, which is sitting on the other width of the table. "Akashi, the Kirisaki Daichi especially Hanamiya… they made someone remember again. Not that I care or anything."
Akashi sighed. "Again, huh? Then remember to hunt them down. We must make sure lost souls will remember every lost memories of them on their own."
"Yes." Midorima replied. But he never walked outside after his report, making Akashi confused.
"Any others, Shintarou?"
The latter arranged his glasses. "Not that I care about him, but Kuroko's here and we just confirmed that. Does that mean…"
"He's in coma." Akashi replied. "So everything that we've done is all in vain."
"And the so-called Integrated Resistance Battlefront had kept him, which means he joined in a group of rebels against us and most likely to be hit." Midorima added. "If a weapon here happens to hit him while fighting…"
"…he will die in real world. I know that." Akashi massaged his temples using his right hand while his elbow resting on the chair's armrest. "We can't afford that to happen. Remember what that God said?"
"Someone who arrives in Afterlife are all people who suffers from comatose in their real life or is dead already, with no memories alike, and it's your duty to make them remember their memories and fulfill their regrets." A voice from above said. "But remember, once that someone would forcefully remember their memories or that he would be hit by any weapon, they will die and will never come back in their previous lives again."
"How can we be sure that you're not just fucking us around, huh?!" Aomine shouted in rage.
"Yeah, and how come we remember our own memories?!"
"Calm down Daiki, Ryouta!" Akashi scolded.
"Simple. You are made in the first place to be my representatives here in Afterlife. I will give you powers to defend yourself, and give you enough power to authorize yourself on erasing your existence in exchange for someone's one wish. That is simple."
"You mean we're stuck here for the rest of our lives?! You knew that everyone who arrives here are fucking unkillable! You wouldn't even feel any pain when you're stabbed at all!"
"Daiki!"
The so-called God chuckled. "You have such kind of mouth in front of me Aomine, however I'll let it slip for now. As for your question, I assure you won't be stuck here for the rest of your lives. That is, if you are ready to erase your existence for someone else's wish."
"Then we'll do it!"
"But remember… that someone must be worthy. One must have been forcefully remembered and accidentally hit by a weapon. He or she must have pure heart, but have enough courage to hate something he or she loves. One that is obedient, but is brave to exceed the limitations that was set on that person. If you could find a person like that, then I'm ready to erase your existence."
"And I can't believe that the one who could 'forcefully remember' someone is that evil Makoto. So aside that IRB, we have another gang and Tetsuya that we needed to keep an eye on." Akashi said as a matter-of-fact. "Speaking of, the news about that Battlefront?"
"Aside from them recruiting Kuroko, they've been trying to gather new information by following the other three's classes." Midorima said. "Let's just hope Momoi wouldn't remember us that much or we're… ahem… I'm dead."
"What's more?"
"Do you remember their assassination attempt last night that almost hit Kuroko?"
Akashi nodded.
"That is only a diversion in order to get food coupons on the canteen. Earlier the canteen vendor told me that more than half of the dessert coupons went missing."
"That's headache, given that we cannot force them into detention if we don't have concrete evidence and we can't chase them either if the other students just saw them eating and no problems at all." Akashi said. "So if they created a diversion, it means they are divided into teams?"
"Yes. They are divided into six factions since they have 25 members including Kuroko. I don't know what are the names of all factions, but I know that the Seirin group is the mind of all of the plans and the Rakuzan team are the ones who are in the lead to pull it off. They're also made to guard each one of us, and specifically, the team Rakuzan is after your head."
"As expected." Akashi hummed, and then twirled his pen many times for less than a minute before stopping it. "Shintarou, what plan do you think are they going to do again tomorrow night? Based on my calculations, they're going to be out of coupons today."
"I don't know. They made a lots of operations these days."
"Probably something new since Tetsuya is on their side and they learned that we knew him. Maybe they'll use him as a bait or something like that." Akashi contemplated for a bit. "Hmm… what about an advance counterattack?"
"Advance… counterattack?" Seems like Midorima is slow today.
"Yes, so tell me… when is the School Journalism going to release their next magazine?"
"Probably this Wednesday. Today's Monday, so the journalists will be very busy today." Midorima replied. "Why did you ask? Not that I cared or anything. I'm just asking if you had special announcements to make or something."
Akashi smirked. "No. I just have something to throw into Entertainment section."
"Welcome to Integrated Resistance Battlefront Against God! I'm Riko Aida, the leader and founder of this Battlefront." The brown-haired girl introduced herself. "And I'm going to introduce you the members, although we're not complete yet."
"Ah… are you sure about that? It's because… you're already many." Kuroko said pointing out every present members.
"It's okay! The more the merrier!" A tall man with brown hair and thick eyebrows said while smiling happily.
"That's Kiyoshi. And the one who has eyeglasses is Hyuuga. The black-haired beside him is Izuki. The one who has split eyebrows is Kagami. I'm sure you knew Hayama, right? Beside him with long black hair is Mibuchi. The one who had closed eyes despite the eyeglasses is Imayoshi, and the girl with him is Momoi." Riko introduced them all.
"Hello everyone, I'm…" Kuroko hesitated a bit, then answered. "Kuroko… Tetsu…ya? Yes… Kuroko Tetsuya."
"You probably didn't remember anything, right cutie?" Mibuchi said then he headlocked Kuroko. "Don't worry Tet-chan! We also experienced that kind of thing."
"So if you also experienced having no memories, then why are you fighting God?" Kuroko asked confusedly.
"It's because we already remembered that God gave us an unfair life that's why we're fighting against him. And what's with the nickname Reo-nee? You just met him right?" Hayama said with a hint of fake jealousy in his voice.
"Oh come on, it's alright! He's cute you know!" Mibuchi said happily while ruffling Kuroko's hair. "Look, look, he's got smooth and soft hair I just wanted to ruffle it silly!"
"You really have soft locks. I wanted to feel it and ruffle it like there's no forever."
"There really is no forever and you know that." Kuroko saw himself pout to someone whose face was blurred.
That someone stopped ruffling his hair and proceeded to comb it. "Then how about making one with me?"
Kuroko frowned, hearing his undeciphered words. "You said something?"
He paused combing, then continued it again. "No… nothing."
It was enough for Kuroko to frown a bit because of the headache and because it was something he did not remember at all but no one saw that little frown at all. Maybe a lost memory?
Momoi let out a shriek. "Waaahh! Tetsu-kun's ruffled hair's totally ridiculous!"
Everyone paused, then laughed not just because of Kuroko's ridiculous hair but also to Momoi's shriek, and it made Kuroko unconsciously smile.
"It's the first time I heard Momoi shout because of something equally ridiculous." Kagami's joke wasn't funny in Momoi's ears, so she showed a knife and stabbed him a number of times. And it was enough to make Kuroko gasp especially when Kagami's just standing there with blood flowing on his black gakuran with a nervous smile.
"Nah, it's okay Kuroko-kun. You won't be killed if you're here." Imayoshi assured the surprised Kuroko. "But if you're in the Afterlife means you are in coma or dead."
Kuroko widened his eyes. "D-dead?"
Suddenly a jolt of pain emerged in Kuroko's stomach and he lost his balance. Just one look at the smirking Riko's clenched fist says it all.
"O-ouch…"
"So you 'ouch'-ed huh? That means you're in comatose in your real life and you're not dead… yet." Riko answered. "If you don't feel anything at all, that means you're dead."
Kuroko sighed in relief. "Then? What should I do to go back in the real world?"
"There's only one thing you should do. You should fight God, who gave us unreasonable life and brought us here in the Afterlife." Mibuchi explained.
"But how?" Kuroko asked with confusion.
"Fight Generation of Miracles, the God's representatives. Only they knew where God is." Hyuuga answered.
"But you should have a valid reason for fighting them, not just because of you joining us." Riko added. "That's why you had to retrieve your lost memories. It's the only reason you had."
Kuroko nodded. "Yes."
"But… remember this…" Izuki decided to join in the conversation. "If you met someone named Hanamiya, or anyone from the group called Kirisaki Daichi, don't you ever befriend them or hang out with them because they had the power to hypnotize you in order for you to remember everything. It's not allowed here in Afterlife to forcefully remember someone his or her memories because it might affect your spirit especially the way of coping up in this weird place."
"Yeah… I mean… you still haven't adjusted in this place and then you suddenly remembered sad memories making you to wish to just leave?" Kagami seconded Izuki's speech. "If that happens, God will surely have you reborn as another creature."
Long silence… and then…
"Wow. Bakagami said something intelligent."
"Wha-! Hyuuga-senpai?!"
"Ehem! 'I mean… you just haven't adjusted in this place and then you suddenly remembered sad memories making you to wish to just leave?' Whose mouth said that?" Hayama said teasingly.
"Hayama-senpai!"
"Well… what does he mean by another creature?" Kuroko asked particularly to everyone, but they seem to be intent on teasing Kagami…
"We learned that a person might not be reborn or reincarnated as a human again, so you might end up as an earthworm or a snail or a louse or anything, whichever you end up."
…except for one person then.
"Earthworm? Snail? Louse?"
"Hehe…" Momoi scratched the back of her head. "It's just a theory. But there's a possibility."
They heard a loud whisper of "Theory. Possibility. Yes, I should make one out of this!"
Momoi sighed but smiled all the way. "Izu-chan, we had enough of your jokes."
But all of a sudden the noise were silenced when someone with gray hair and blank eyes entered the door of IRB HQ while muttering. "…doesn't exist." Then sighed.
"Oh, Mayuzumi-kun." Riko greeted happily. "I see you've already memorized the password."
"Yeah. I don't even know why the hell I could remember that phrase." Mayuzumi replied, closing the door.
"Password?" Kuroko asked confusedly, catching Mayuzumi's attention.
"You should say the password before entering here or the trap will be activated and you will flying out there." Mibuchi replied. "The password is 'Fair life doesn't exist.' You should say that after turning the knob."
"Oh… okay." Kuroko said, not minding about the weird way of this dead… or comatosed members of this Battlefront.
But Mayuzumi's next move surprised everyone, and the next thing Kuroko knew is that his back was lying against the floor of the wide room.
The gray-haired man's clenched fist immediately gave away who punched Kuroko for the nth time on that day, and Mayuzumi shouted angrily.
"What in the six depths of hell is that fucker doing here?!"
