STOP! Stop telling me to find beta unless you're offering a suggestion! Other than that...yeah please continue reviewing. Flames are accepted..maybe not. Depends on my mood when I'm reading the reviews LoL XD

Oh, and do not, I repeat, DO NOT mention the hellish word of AkaMayu! NO! I am a strictly AkaKuro lover and neutral to AkaFuri but other then that..no more Akashi pairing! Especially that HELLISH word of AkaMayu. Speak of the heavenly word of KuroMayu instead.

Mayuzumi uttered a single word as he caressed Kuroko's cheek. "Cry." It wasn't a command. Not a sympathy-filled word. Not a plead either. It was just a single word that understands.

A single tear shine from his eyes and glisten his cheeks then his eyes overflow with liquid-like crystal wetting his cheeks and neck. No, Kuroko shut his eyes tight. He wasn't suppose to cry here especially not in front of him. The main reason why his heart ache so much. Kuroko smacks Mayuzumi's hand away.

Kuroko bawled his tears out nonetheless and slumped to the ground, Kuroko covered his face with both of his hands. Crying into his palm at the dreadful feeling of losing and facing heartbreak both at once. Mayuzumi didn't do anything except to continue looking down at the bawling Kuroko.

Tetsuya is special. One of a kind. Always.

Kuroko sobbed at the remembrance. It was so sweet and so reassuring. Felt so loving.

No one can take your place, Tetsuya.

Kuroko gritted his teeth at the lie. Kuroko had believed in those word even when Akashi left him. But now...Kuroko doubted everything Akashi had ever said and whispered to him.

I love Tetsuya.

A forgotten sweet word. Forgotten by the one who produced the word but remembered by the one that the words are meant for. Was it even true when he had said it? Had it ever been straight from the heart and filled with earnest love like how they seem to be or is Akashi is just that great of a puppeteer.

I should say that Tetsuya was the older prototype.

Is he just an experimental subject? Did the smile directed to him made-up? The chaste kiss forced? The cute little gestures and sweet actions were they all carefully laid out just to make him into what as he desires? A faithful little shadow. Faithful like a robot that never mentioned a single word of objection.

The new form of the 6th Phantom Player.

Akashi had replaced him and now Kuroko felt more empty then ever. The person that Kuroko looked up to and appreciate so much and love with all his heart had used him like a lab rat. Kuroko bit his lower lips and tilted his head upwards and looked at Mayuzumi. Kuroko wondered if Akashi now said the three sweetly poisoned words to this person in front of him here. Why did he bring him here anyway?

Kuroko stood up though his tears are still flowing. "Why did you bring me here?" Kuroko asked.

Mayuzumi seems to study him before replying to the question directed towards him. Mayuzumi again brought his arms up and stroked Kuroko's cheek and wiped away Kuroko's tears. Kuroko felt his face temperature heighten slightly at the gesture. "Comfort."

Kuroko was puzzled. Comfort? Kuroko shut his eyes and leaned at the gentle hand. It feels nice. Never had he felt such thing before. Often he would hold back his emotions and only when did he walked in his house his emotions broke through and he will cry. "Why?" Kuroko asked a single-word question that contains more. Why can he see through him? No one ever does. At least not as well as he is.

"Because we're the same." Mayuzumi answered the hidden question.

Kuroko unslung the bag from his shoulders and place it down in his room. He'd cry enough at the park then so for the first time he need not to let out his inner feelings alone with the darkness accompanying and enveloping him.

What does Mayuzumi meant by saying that they are the same? They are nothing a like. Kuroko frowned and sat up on his bag and looked sideways where a full-body mirror stands. Kuroko stared into his own blue eyes getting lost in it. Not because he was mesmerized by his own eyes, that would be stupid, but because of the similarity.

He had not seen eyes like Mayuzumi. He had seen the shadow of it. In himself.

Kuroko laid back on his bed and lulled himself to sleep. Replaying Akashi's word in his mind again and again like a broken tape. Dreaming of the sweet Teikou days with Akashi but laced with nightmare poisoning the sweet dream into horror.

The next morning Kuroko woke up from the piercing sunlight peeking through the curtains. Kuroko got up from his bed at squint his eyes at the light before getting off the bed to start off his morning. It was Sunday and Kuroko had no doubt that everyone was at home thinking about yesterday's lost, especially Kiyoshi-senpai.

Kuroko brushed his teeth and stared at his own reflection.

'Older prototype'

Kuroko clenched his fist. A prototype. Nothing more then a test subject. Kuroko garble the tap water and spit it out. He need to cool down and not to keep repeating the horror again and again in his mind. The heartbreak was too much for him to bear in silence. He'll just be more broken if he sat and did nothing because the mind will replay the sweet times before the horrors.

Maybe he should give a call to Kagami and ask him out to do something.

After Kuroko was done with his bath Kuroko went to search for his phone. At the side table near the bed, the desk, in the bathroom, in the cupboard, under the bed, in the kitchen, the living room, his basketball bag, his school uniform and various other spots in the house. After a full 2 hours of searching the search still bear no fruit.

Kuroko frowned slightly maybe he dropped it out of the house? Where though? Kuroko was sighing and resigning himself when the doorbell rang. Kuroko walked to the front door and opened the door slightly to look at the uninvited guest. Well unexpected as well since it was Mayuzumi Chihiro. Kuroko's face was laced with shock though the difference it his expression was barely a twitch.

"Mayuzumi-kun?"

Mayuzumi nodded and put his hand on the doorknob in a motion to let himself in. Kuroko still dumbfounded allowed Mayuzumi to trespass into his household. Kuroko closed back the front door and followed Mayuzumi curiously from behind and they entered the living room which is currently in a mess.

"It seems like a storm pass through here." Mayuzumi commented at the messy condition.

"Ah, I was searching for my phone. I lost it." Kuroko reasoned weakly.

Mayuzumi nodded and help himself to a seat on one of the couch. Kuroko was still standing dumbly looking at Mayuzumi who then motioned for Kuroko to sit as well and Kuroko did much to his amazement.

Mayuzumi fished out something from his pocket and held it in front of Kuroko to examine. It was Kuroko's phone.

"I found this at the park. Found your address in there." Mayuzumi said.

Kuroko nodded and took the phone. Then he look back at Mayuzumi wondering if there is something. Surely if he just wanted to hand back the phone he could have done it at the door. But then again Mayuzumi's house is all the way in Kyoto prefecture.

"Change your clothes." Mayuzumi said.

Kuroko stared, silent. Huh?

"I'm taking you out."

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