During the time that Akashi was in class, Kuroko and Aomine had been plotting. It wasn't much, but they'd finally decided on the pranks they were going to pull.

One evening, after practice, the two ghosts stayed behind in the gym. They were sure Akashi was on edge, waiting for them to appear at any moment as he walked home, but they couldn't exactly tell him what they were doing. That would ruin the suspense.

It wasn't long before Midorima appeared, placing his lucky item upon the bench before making his way to the basketball cart. Kuroko looked up at Aomine curiously. "Does he really shoot every ball before going home?"

The tanned man nodded, his arms behind his head as he stared at the green haired boy lazily. "Yeah, every evening."

"… Dedicated."

Aomine snorted. "Weird."

Kuroko smiled at the comment before heading over to the bench. He tilted his head at the toy penguin perched on the bench. "What's with the toys?"

Aomine sighed, following the smaller ghost. "He says it's some lucky item thing. He comes in with a different one every day. He spends way too much time in the freaky horoscope world."

Kuroko smiled softly, gingerly picking up the item. "Hey, this isn't as hard as I thought it would be."

The other male raised a brow at him. "You've been eating a lot, right? Things like this aren't really that tiring if you're well fed."

Kuroko laughed softly as he twisted the toy between his fingers, elated that he wasn't tiring in the slightest.

"Oi, let's do this."

"Right." Kuroko bounded over to Midorima, a mischievous grin on his lips. As soon as Midorima shot the ball, the bluenette poked the penguin into his line of vision. He laughed as the green haired boy's eyes widened, his feet stumbling backward.

"What the-" He paused, adjusting his glasses as he leaned in closer, examining the penguin for any unseen strings. He sighed, looking around. "Is someone playing a prank on me?" he muttered.

Kuroko giggled to himself, waving Aomine over. The tanned male grinned as he stepped behind the toy. "Midorima," he said, raising his voice in hopes the boy could hear him.

Midorima stepped back, his eyes darting around the room once more. "Who's there?" he called out.

Aomine snickered to himself, sharing a look with Kuroko. "It's me, the penguin!"

Midorima's brows furrowed as he stared at the toy, trying to come up with a plausible explanation in his mind. "There has to be some hidden string somewhere, and a voice box on top of that."

Aomine rolled his eyes. "Nope~ Just a penguin! Oi, Midorima, do you remember having yellow hair?"

The green haired boy's eyes widened as he stared through the toy, almost directly into Aomine's eyes. His heart was beating frantically within his chest. Only one person had known about that incident. He had made sure not to leave his home until all the dye was out. And the person that had been behind that ridiculous act, was none other than Aomine himself.

"A-Aomine?"

The said ghost grinned. "Ah, what's up with your scientific explanation now?" he taunted.

"…Shit, Akashi was right. Kise's going to be thrilled." The next second, the two ghosts were watching Midorima's back as he ran out of the gym.

Aomine blinked, turning to Kuroko. "You think Kise will believe him now?"

The smaller ghost shrugged. "We'll find out soon, I suppose."

XXX

The next day, Kuroko met up with Aomine outside of Akashi's classroom. He'd been hoping for a bright, cheerful smile from the taller boy, but he'd only received a saddened grimace.

"He still doesn't believe?"

Aomine shook his head somberly. "He accused Midorima of being on drugs."

Kuroko sighed. "Well, Ak- Seijuro, is going to try again today."

"That's probably not a good idea."

"Eh?"

"Kise got violent last night after Midorima left. He trashed his whole place."

Kuroko frowned, unsure of what to say. "He'll come around, Aomine."

The tanned man shrugged. "Whatever. We still on for today?"

A small, sad smile tugged at Kuroko's lips. "Of course, if you're still up for it."

"Duh."

XXX

The duo decided on putting their plan into motion at lunch this time. Or rather, just before lunch. Kuroko appeared in Murasakibara's classroom, carefully removing some of the sweets from the giant's bag. Grinning to himself, the bluenette willed himself back to Aomine's side in the cafeteria, where the two waited for their victim.

It wasn't long before Aomine's former teammates were all seated around the table, and they watched in eager anticipation as Murasakibara fumbled through his bag. The purple headed boy frowned deeply, glaring holes into his bag as he sifted through it once more. Finally, he turned his violet gaze to the rest of the group, death evident in their depths.

"Alright, who stole them?"

He received many confused stares, but he just knew it had to be one of them. Little did he know that two ghosts sat at the table as well, laughing to themselves as they watched the scene unfold.

"Stole what, exactly, Murasakibara-cchi?"

Murasakibara turned his glare to Kise, making the blonde flinch in fear. "My snacks. Half of them are gone."

"Atsushi, no one touches your snacks. We're not that idiotic," Akashi commented, shooting a warning glare directly toward the ghosts.

"Eh, I thought he couldn't see us if we flipped it!" Aomine muttered.

Kuroko shuddered, cringing away from the redhead's gaze. "I think he just took a guess."

"Well someone stole them!"

Midorima's eyes widened, and he leaned in toward the center of the group, eyes wildly darting about. "It's him."

Kise rolled his eyes, huffing out an exasperated sigh. "Really, Midorima-cchi? First Akashi-cchi, now you? Are you going to tell me you believe in ghosts too, Murasakibara-cchi?"

The purple headed boy growled, completely ignoring the question. "I want my snacks!"

"Think about it!" Midorima exclaimed, "If it were Aomine, he'd be in the perfect position not to get caught! He can do anything and get away with it!"

"Aomine is dead, Midorima!"

The table fell silent, all eyes locked onto Kise after his uncharacteristic outburst. Aomine's previous smile faded, and he stared longingly toward his blonde.

"Kise…"

The blonde shuddered, but showed no other sign of acknowledging the ghost beside him.

Akashi sighed under his breath, eyes softening as he continued to stare at the space he hoped his dead friends were. He gave a small, almost unnoticeable nod, and Aomine immediately understood.

Reaching into his ghostly pocket, he pulled out a tiny piece of candy. He glanced toward Kise one last time before throwing the candy at Murasakibara.

The purple headed boy's grimace was soon replaced with an expression of wonder as he saw the candy flying toward him. Somehow he managed to use his basketball reflexes to catch the treat between his fingers. His purple eyes stared at the sweet for a long time until they found their way to Kise's shocked face.

The blonde quickly snapped himself out of his stupor, shaking his head. "No," he said, "No, there's a scientific explanation for that, and it's not a ghost. If Midorima won't be the logical one anymore, I will. This is absurd." Kise quickly stood up, grabbing his food as he left in a hurry.

Murasakibara looked to the space where his candy had appeared. "Mine-chin, I'd like my candy back."

Sighing, Aomine stood to his feet, emptying his pockets onto the table as the others looked on with wide eyes.