4:45 P.M.

3 January

To say that Seirin's coach was angry would be an understatement – a huge one at that. Aida Riko was beyond mad. She was fuming in a silent and cold anger. One might ask why and how anyone could manage to make her this angry. Well, the answer came in six syllables, two words, and one name: Kuroko Tetsuya.

The blue-haired male had not been sighted for the last 3 days and all of Seirin were getting worried. It wasn't like Kuroko to skip practice or fail to inform the coach of anything that might have obstructed him from attending. According to Kagami (though she was unsure how much she could trust the idiot), Kuroko had not been to class as well.

Seirin had been quick to adjust themselves so they would tread carefully around the coach's temper. Izuki did not quite make any more lame puns. Hyuga stopped quarrelling with Kiyoshi. Kiyoshi started to be more serious. Even Kagami stopped being the usual idiot he was. Besides, they were quite concerned about Kuroko's wellbeing too. Their shadow was what kept them going in the dark times; and they would be damned if they weren't worried.

And so, finally, Riko decided that she had had enough.

"Alright, that's it! We're going to pay Kuroko-kun a visit!"

Almost instantaneously, everyone froze in silence, the only sound being the basketball bouncing to a halt as it fell from Kagami's hand. Resonations of I should have known this would happen and that's why she was all happy today echoed through their minds. Everyone could feel the sense of dread slowly settling down, suffocating them.

"A-ano… but we don't know where Kuroko-kun lives…" Furihata timidly spoke up, daring to break the pregnant silence. Immediately, he regretted it when everyone turned to face him, including the coach.

"Hm, I'll admit I haven't thought of that…"

Hyuga could feel the sense of disbelief attacking him. His left eye twitched as if in annoyance or disbelief. As if sensing this, Riko turned to face him instead, smiling her usual demonic smile that screamed if-you-do-not-do-as-i-say-you-shall-have-your-training-quintripled and Hyuga knew he was dead.

"Hyuga-kun, do you have something to say?"

Hyuga shook his head violently.

"Good! Now, team, as for Kuroko-kun's address, we can simply ask the school office for it! Since I'm his coach, they should let me have it!" Riko's smile suggested that something unfortunate would happen should that not be the case. The team started praying that they should make it out unscathed.

The rest of practice went by in a quieter way. Only the squeak of shoes against the tiled floor, the bouncing sound of the ball, the victorious sound of the ball going into the hoop, and their tired pants could be heard. Not a single word nor conversation was exchanged. It was simply as if Seirin had learned how to communicate mentally in 3 days.

Riko stood to the side, with a clipboard in hand and eyebrows scrunched in concentration. She took note of all their moves, and their possible weaknesses. Basketball practice had never been duller, and all because of a certain shadow's absence.

Unknown to them, Tetsuya was watching from outside – observing quietly on how they got on without him. Once in a while, Kagami would toss mindlessly to the side, as if forgetting that Tetsuya wasn't there, and assume a position for Tetsuya to pass back, only to find the ball hitting out-of-bounds. The scene brought a small smile to the otherwise emotionless face of Tetsuya. It was nice to know that Kagami missed him.

Just then, the pendant he wore around his neck gleamed momentarily, but it was enough for Tetsuya to catch. Tetsuya sighed as his fingers enclose around the pendant. Then, he yanked on it, and he disappeared, leaving no traces he had ever been there.

Inside the practice courts, Kagami felt a sense of foreboding and he turned to look at the window that Tetsuya had been looking through just a few seconds ago. A puzzled look came over him when he sees no one there. He could have sworn that he had seen someone, or something outside. Perhaps it had been Aomine, who had somehow managed to blend into the darkness with his skin…

Well, he would have to give that ganguro a call later. Perhaps he had seen Kuroko?

Riko ended practice early on the note that they needed to visit the school office before it closed. They barely made it, and the team sat on the chairs while waiting for their coach to coax the address out of the secretary. Within 5 minutes, Riko procured the address on a slip, and they set off. Small banter was exchanged between the team, but it was nothing serious. No one wanted to bring up any guesses on why Kuroko had not attended school for the past 3 days.

When they finally arrived in front of the apartment block, they had to persuade the security guard that no, they were not axe murderers, they were from one of the residents' school and were here to visit him. The guard only relented the key to them after scrutinizing them for a good 10 minutes (or what felt like it anyway).

After much squeezing, they managed to fit into the elevator. Izuki attempted to make a pun to relieve the tension but Hyuga glared him into silence. When they came to a stop on level 10, they walked albeit hesitantly towards number 1007. As Riko unlocked the door, the others held their breath. They weren't so sure what they were supposed to expect.

What was revealed to them surprised them to no end. The apartment was bare, not in the sense that it had no furniture, but rather in the sense that there were no… memories in the house. No photographs, no certificates – nothing. A quick search of the bedroom and bathroom proved the fact that Kuroko had not been living in the apartment for some time. It wasn't until later that they found the letter on the coffee table, weighed by a paper weight.

To everyone,

I deeply regret having to leave, but it is something that can no longer be avoided. I have looked forward to spending my second year at Seirin with all of you, and to play basketball with you the way we used to, but it seems that even staying for the rest of the school year would be impossible.

By the time you have read this, I will be gone. My parting words to you have been written to each of you individually, and you should receive them a few days from now. I wish you all a happy new year. I apologize for leaving, and I will definitely miss all of you. Thank you for all the happy memories we shared.

Love,

Tetsuya

A dark silence settled over Seirin as they stood, stunned at what their coach had read to them. There was a kind of vulnerability in Riko's eyes as she passed the letter to a stricken Kagami, who inspected it over again to see if there was a "Just kidding" anywhere on the letter. This couldn't be happening. Kuroko couldn't have left them, right? This was a sick joke – a prank that would be over when Kuroko came back… Kuroko wouldn't – couldn't – just leave without a word to any of them.

And yet, that was exactly what had happened. The handwriting was Kuroko's. The words seemed like ones that Kuroko would write.

But why would Kuroko leave?

The Kuroko they knew would never do so without informing anyone about it personally. A question weighed itself down on their minds as they pondered, had they ever really known Kuroko after all?

Seirin stood there for a long time, heavy tension lingering in the air. It wasn't until Riko's watch beeped to inform them that it was now 5 in the afternoon that they came to their senses and began to leave the apartment. The tension lingered long after they left.

Riko gave the key back to the guard and thanked him. Anyone would have noticed her looking like a lost puppy who had been abandoned by its owner. The blow was a hard one. Realizing that Kuroko was gone… no, she could not accept that. She was not going to accept that fact until she got her letter and read it. She was not going to break down. How could she when Kagami was giving her looks that screamed 'please tell me this isn't true'?

Seirin parted without words of farewell, something Kuroko would have pointed out and frowned upon if he were there.

If he were there.

Thank you for reading all up until here! In appreciation, I wrote a small omake below!

Omake

A basketball aimed for his face snapped him out of his reverie violently. He fell backwards onto his back as the basketball came to a stop against the benches. No matter how much he loved basketball, Kagami most definitely did not like being smacked in the face with one. Sitting up, he sent a furious glare in the direction of a smug-looking Hyuga.

"My hand slipped." The smirk curled on his face suggested anything but that. Kagami started to plot out Hyuga's demise in his head. He retrieved the ball and started to dribble it. Well, he was going to teach his senpai a lesson or two. He dribbled right up to Hyuga, taking on a stance he did in one-on-one only. Hyuga arched an eyebrow but got into a similar pose in order to stop him from pulling off a drive.

Miraculously, Kagami somehow managed to pull off an Ankle Break, but moments after Hyuga fell, he followed suit as he lost balance. It was a hilarious, stomach-aching scene that brought tears of mirth to Riko's eyes. She gave up on muffling her laughter and instead let it all out, the sound of joy echoing.

"S-shut up!" Kagami yelled, his cheeks as red as his hair. Even Hyuga let out a chuckle as he stood up, dusting off imaginary dust. He mockingly offerd a hand to Kagami, which made an urge to spit on it rise up in the red head. Kagami slapped the hand away and instead, stands up himself.

"This. Never. Happened." Kagami hissed at them, sending each and every one of them a death glare, as if that would make their memories of the past few minutes disappear. No such miracle existed for the poor tiger, however, and he would come to be the brunt of jokes and Izuki's puns for the next few days.

Edited as of 16/3/2015

A minor reminder that from this chapter onwards, there might be quite a bit of confusion! But you finally get to read about just a little bit of action in the next chapter!

Read, review, follow, and favourite! Thank you!

XOXO,

LegacyOfLight