A/N: Thanks a lot for the reviews! I didn't expect so many people to like the first chapter :] It was funny reading them, with some of you wanting a harem and some not wanting it haha. But I'll stick to my original idea = not a harem. Hopefully you'll still like what comes next!

Chapter 2: Lucky Star

"The game will last two hours or until Kuroko is found. Kuroko, you have three minutes to hide." Riko explained, moderately enthusiastic. As much as she liked the idea of hide-and-seek, the reward part left her quite mitigated. "Use your misdirection wisely if you don't want to end up like a corpse." she advised the Phantom Player who nodded.

She then produced a stopwatch from her pocket and blew her whistle a first time, giving the signal for Kuroko to go and hide. A bit farther away, Momoi was crouched at a corner of the inn, an impressive aura of gloom and depression emanating from her. Her mouth was mumbling words that sounded like "My Tetsu" accompanied with curses and jinxes to all the other players who would dare touch him.

Next to Riko, the other coaches were displaying faces that clearly said they didn't care anymore. On the other side, the players didn't look less perplexed. Opinions on the game were mixed.

"This is still fucked up." Aomine grunted. "I guess I'll catch Tetsu just so I don't have to run." he added with a yawn.

"And what exactly are you going to do with him if you catch him?" Kise inquired, his tone suddenly growing suspicious.

"Nothing! Why the hell are you looking at me like that? I just said it's because I don't wanna run." the Touou ace defended himself, but Kise was still glaring at him, eyes narrowed in sheer incredulity.

Mibuchi elbowed his neighbour Nebuya and whispered:

"Hey, I was thinking about something. Maybe Sei-chan suggested the game because he wants to get his hands on Kuroko. What do you think?"

The Rakuzan centre's eyes opened wide in shock. "Seriously?! Our captain–" But Mibuchi quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

"Shhh! Not so loud!" he said, glancing at Akashi. Either the latter hadn't heard them, or he didn't care about such futilities, for he didn't even bother paying them any attention.

"Damn, even though he's in our team, I still can't get used to Kuroko's misdirection." Hyuuga mumbled as he stretched his legs.

"I've stopped counting the number of times we couldn't see him even without his misdirection." Koganei added. "Man, this is going to be a real pain. We had a higher chance of winning with the tournament."

"It's not what you said yesterday." Izuki reminded him.

"If they want us to run, they can just say so instead of making up stupid games with stupid rules." Hyuuga went on. He turned his head as someone patted his shoulder:

"Hey, is Kagami all right?" Takao asked, pointing at the power forward with his thumb.

The latter was standing with both fists clenched, eyes ablaze with rare determination and staring at the entrance of the forest as if he hoped to set fire to it. For an instant, Hyuuga could have sworn he saw flames flaring around Kagami. Around him, it seemed that the other players were keeping a safe distance from him, probably for fear of being burnt to a crisp.

"Does he plan to enter the Zone or something?" Aomine snickered. "If so, he can bring it on. I'll crush him."

"You're supposed to find Kuroko, not duel against Kagami." Imayoshi reminded him kindly.

"I think Kagami's on fire." Izuki joked, before sighing as no one seemed to find the pun funny.

Kiyoshi gave a strong pat on the redhead's back, surprising everyone else around. He was apparently fire-proof.

"Kagami, relax! It's going to be a fun game, so don't look so tense." he said cheerfully. His words seemed to snatch Kagami out of his trance.

"Huh, what? Oh, I'm relaxed, don't worry. I'm totally relaxed." he answered very unconvincingly. "I was just thinking that we must absolutely find Kuroko before the others."

"You know that there's only one person who'll get to catch him. All the others will have to run, even if they're on the same team as the winner."

"I'm not talking about that!" Kagami blurted out. "What's gonna happen to Kuroko if he gets caught by any other than us? That damn Akashi said they can do whatever they want with Kurok–Ouch! What did you hit me for?" he turned to Hyuuga whose fist was balled.

"Cool down a bit, Kagami." the Seirin captain ordered. "And have a bit more faith in humanity. I don't know what Akashi had in mind, but I'm quite sure most of us here don't give a damn about the reward. All we want is to be spared the running part. And if you're so worried about him, just do your best to find him first."

"I-I'm not worried about him or anything!" Kagami stuttered, suddenly blushing.

"Yeah, whatever."

The conversation was interrupted by their coach who clapped her hands twice.

"Alright everyone! Get ready to go in ten seconds!" she said, putting the whistle in her mouth. When her stopwatch indicated three minutes, she blew.

Immediately after, the small crowd of players was dispatched in the forest, leaving only the coaches and a forlorn Momoi behind.

"Let's see if the Phantom Player is up to his reputation." Harasawa commented. "By the way, I was wondering how you handle your players, Eiji. Especially Akashi."

The Rakuzan coach glanced at him. "Despite his age, he has the maturity of an experienced professional player. That is why I can trust his decisions. Though I have to admit I didn't expect this from him."

"Well, who cares now? It's done." Takeuchi shrugged. "I'll go wait for the results inside, if you don't mind. It's too hot out there." The Kaijou coach could hardly hide his abundant sweating, despite keeping fanning himself with a paper.

"Good idea, I can do with some refreshments too." Masako said as she started heading for the inn. The proposition was approved by everyone, and all the coaches went back inside, Harasawa dragging Momoi with him.

In the meantime, the high-schoolers were frantically searching every bush, every tree, every rock in the forest. The place was big and even with their number, the task proved tedious. Morning training had tired out most players, which resulted in a drop of pace as they roamed the entire area. The differences in ground level were quickening the exhaustion, and yet no one was giving up, for most of them remembered the trial of having to run on a cruelly empty stomach. Murasakibara had expressed the will to quit at some point, stating that he was too lazy to go on; Himuro's promise to buy him sweets kept him going.

Some had chosen to hunt Kuroko in small groups, others preferred carrying out the search on their own; there was no real strategy. Aomine would have liked to be part of the latter, unfortunately a certain person kept sticking to him.

"Aominecchi, not so fast!" Kise called after him, out of breath.

"Tch, why the hell are you following me?" Aomine snapped, though he slowed down his pace anyway.

"Because you know Kurokocchi better! You may be able to find him even with his misdirection."

"And you wanna steal him from me right under my nose?" the Touou ace retorted back, pissed off. The last sentence made Kise twitch and furrow his brows.

"Aominecchi... What do you mean by 'steal him from you'?"

"Huh? Obviously, exactly what I said." Aomine replied, oblivious to Kise's pout. "There's no way I'm gonna let you get him before me. Got enough running for today, and I'm damn hungry already."

"So you really aren't interested in... the reward?" Kise inquired with caution. Aomine almost tripped at the question.

"Idiot! Of course not! Damn it, what's wrong with your brain?" he muttered. Kise blinked at those words, then smiled.

"OK! Then let's find him!" he decreed happily.

Time passed until there was only half an hour left in the countdown, and there was still no sign of Kuroko. Half the players had already given up after spending the late afternoon climbing on trees, crawling in some unlikely areas and even swimming in the river. It wasn't a rare occurrence to find a teammate sprawled on the ground and cursing Kuroko's misdirection. Liu had found Furihata hunched up by a tree, shaking and looking partly staggered. A little bit of inquiry revealed that he had crossed path with Akashi and the latter had greeted him before moving on. Just an incident among many others.

"Aaaah damn it! He wasn't that invisible during our matches!" Miyaji snarled as he put down the leaf he had picked up to see if Kuroko wasn't, by any chance, hiding under.

"Not any luck here either, huh?" Fukui sighed, red with effort and drenched in sweat. He wiped out his forehead before sitting down on a nearby rock.

"I think I'd rather have a tournament instead." the Shuutoku small forward said. "At least you have a slightly better chance at winning."

"I'm starting to think so as well. Anyway, I'm gonna head back, time's almost up. I need to prepare my legs for our little running."

It was Miyaji's turn to sigh. "Coming with you. I suppose Kuroko wins this time."

Kuroko flipped a page of the basketball magazine that Kagami had brought with him, comfortably settled at the foot of the first tree at the forest entrance, where he had been seated for almost two hours. When Riko had given the signal to find him, everyone had rushed past him without even seeing him. He could safely assert that his misdirection had worked to the perfection. A few more minutes and he could claim complete victory.

Footsteps were heard.

"Found you. Figured you'd be here." a voice said with obvious satisfaction.

Kuroko raised his eyes to the figure standing in front of him.

"Takao-kun." he replied as he stood up. Of course, that was logical. Kazunari Takao had been one of the first to see through his misdirection.

"When I scanned the entire forest with my Hawk Eye and found nothing, I deduced that you actually hadn't even entered the forest. And bingo. So, does this mean I win?"

"It seems so." Kuroko nodded. "Congratulations."

The point guard made a sign of victory, relieved, and a small tear could be seen at the corner of his eye as he said:

"I can eat early today."

Evening passed in a rather peculiar fashion; Takao was congratulated by the coaches while Momoi cast death glares at him and Izuki wept on Hyuuga's shoulder asking why he only had the Eagle Eye. As for the other players, they merely took it like any other defeat. There were some comments about how Akashi had been expected to be the winner but the latter didn't seem to be much bothered by them.

The same couldn't be said for Kagami. At sleep time, he was pacing back and forth nervously in the Seirin room, much to his teammates annoyance. On the other side, Kuroko was calmly picking up his stuff and shoving them into his bag, to move them to a separate room that had been prepared for the occasion. He was almost done when Kagami moved closer to him:

"Kuroko." he said, gripping Kuroko's shoulders tightly.

"What is it, Kagami-kun?"

"You don't have to do that. We can talk to the coaches, they'll understand."

"Akashi-kun's words are absolute."

"Hey, we could pay Takao to pretend he did spend the night with Kuroko." Izuki suggested.

"And you're the one who's going to pay him?" Hyuuga sneered before turning to Kuroko. "But seriously, absolute or not, Akashi's just a student like us. If you don't want to do it, don't do it."

"I don't mind it, Hyuuga-senpai. But thank you for your concern."

"Mitobe says that if Takao does anything suspicious to you, use your misdirection to vanish and come back here." Koganei said.

"And we'll destroy him." Kagami added dimly.

"Thank you, Kagami-kun, but I don't think you will be able to do that. The rule did state that he can do whatever he pleases. However, I doubt Takao-kun has any interest whatsoever in doing anything to me."

"I suppose you're right. Just make sure to come back in one piece." Izuki said. "Hey, did your bag just move?" he suddenly asked, frowning at Kuroko's bag.

"It did not."

"It totally did!" Kagami exclaimed, pointing at his bag. At that very same moment, a stifled 'woof!' was heard.

Silence. Then:

"Oops." Kuroko merely said.

"Don't 'oops' me! You brought it here, didn't you? You did!" Kagami had suddenly moved to the other corner of the room, looking at Kuroko's moving bag as if it was a plague carrier.

As confirmation, a black muzzle slowly poked out of the bag, followed by the rest of an all too familiar dog head.

"Oh, you brought #2 here? I thought the coach didn't want to bring him along because animals are forbidden here." Kiyoshi said.

"The dog's out of the bag." Izuki added, which earned him nothing but a look of pity from Hyuuga.

"I could not bring myself to leave him in Tokyo." Kuroko explained, holding #2 in hands so that the dog was facing his teammates. Now it wasn't one but two pairs of identically oval blue eyes that stared at them. For a second, everyone but Kagami melted at the sight.

Hyuuga pinched the bridge of his nose and clicked his tongue of annoyance.

"We'd better not let anyone else know, or we'll be kicked out of the inn for sure. That means you have to leave #2 here."

"Are you kidding?" Kagami roared. "There's no way I'm gonna sleep in the same room as this–this–this dog!"

"It's fine, Kagami. I'll let him sleep next to me." Koganei patted his shoulder.

"That's not the problem!"

"Kagami-kun, please don't be so loud or we will be spotted." Kuroko said as he released #2. The latter padded happily towards the redhead – much to his despair – and sat in front of him, tail wagging. "He likes you a lot, Kagami-kun. He is probably heartbroken that his feelings aren't mutual."

"I don't care! And he definitely doesn't look heartbroken at all!" Kagami retorted, now completely pressed against the wall and pointing a trembling finger at the dog.

"Stop shouting, Kagami." Hyuuga ordered as he picked #2 up and away from Kagami. Turning to Kuroko, he added: "You take the entire responsibility of this if the coach finds out."

To which Kuroko nodded before bowing slightly and excusing himself. As he slid the door shut behind him, Kagami punched the wall:

"Damn it, tomorrow I'll find him for sure." he muttered.

Shuutoku's room

"Takao."

"What is it, Shin-chan?"

"If tomorrow, Kuroko reports that you did something that stained Shuutoku's name, I'll put a curse on you."

"Hmmm? Could you by any chance be jealous, Shin-chan?" Takao teased.

"I'm not." the shooting guard answered dryly and a bit too quickly.

"Midorima has a point, though. You'd better behave, Takao." Ootsubo nodded.

"Hey, hey, you guys... Please have a bit more faith in me." Takao said, twitching. "I do have plans with Kuroko anyway, but they're definitely not what you're thinking. Whatever you're thinking. In any case, good night everyone!" he said, leaving the room before any of his teammate could answer anything.

When Takao slid the door of Kuroko's – or rather, their – room open, he found the blue-haired teen already on his futon, reading a magazine. A pair of oval-shaped eyes rose to him, staring at him in their usual way.

"Good evening, Takao-kun."

"Hey there." Takao greeted back before giving the room a quick look. It was quite large for a supposedly two-person room, and he noticed the inn keeper had had the delicacy to place two futon. He dropped his bag next to the empty one. "Mind if I get changed here?"

"Please go ahead." Kuroko replied, turning his attention back to the magazine.

'Well, this is more awkward than I imagined.' Takao thought as he discarded his shirt. There was no AC in the room and though the window was open, it was hot enough for Takao to consider remaining bare chest, but Kuroko could get the wrong idea and it was definitely the last thing he wanted.

In the meantime, and all naturally, several high-schoolers were packed in the corridor outside the room, trying to listen to what was happening inside. The only source of light was coming from the moon rays through the large windows, making it hard for anyone to identify who the curious ones were. Kise's ear was stuck to the panel, frowning in an effort to try and hear something. Fukui and Moriyama were in the exact same position as him.

"I can only hear half the words." Moriyama whispered.

"Same here. Damn it, this sucks." Fukui nodded.

"If something happens to Kurokocchi, we should hear him scream." Kise said. "And if he does, I'll destroy Takaocchi." he added, his face turning uncharacteristically frightening.

Behind them, Aomine scratched his head with obvious boredom.

"Oi, Kise. Why the fuck did you bring me here?" he grunted.

"Not so loud, Aominecchi!" Kise whispered. "What if they hear us?"

"See if I care."

"Aren't you worried about Kurokocchi? What if Takaocchi assaults him?"

"Don't compare Takao to you, Kise." Midorima snapped, eliciting a very Kise-like pout.

"But the fact you're here means that you want to keep an eye on him too." he argued back.

The Shuutoku shooting guard adjusted his glasses on his nose. "I had no such intentions. I happened to have a night walk around here and seeing all of you here, I decided to stop by to make sure you didn't do anything stupid."

"Yeah, sure." Aomine snorted.

"Could you guys keep it down? They're really gonna hear us like this." Fukui intervened.

"Tch. Anyway, I'm out of here. Have fun or whatever." the Touou power forward yawned before sauntering away.

"Aominecc-hmph!" Moriyama's hand covered Kise's mouth and put an index over his own, motioning him to stay silent. Each one of them was ready to sprint away and hide in case they were heard, but the precaution proved unnecessary as no one went to open the door.

Inside the room, Takao was done getting changed.

"So, what do you wanna do to kill time?" he finally asked as he sat down on his own futon.

"You are the one who is supposed to tell me what you do, according to the rule." Kuroko replied with his usual flat tone.

"Excellent. Then I'd like you to tell me more about Shin-chan." Takao grinned.

"That is an unexpected requested." Kuroko closed his magazine, looking pointedly at the Shuutoku player.

"Well, my teammates threatened to behead me if I did anything suspicious to you."

"I see."

"Though let me add that I wouldn't have done anything suspicious anyway. Sorry Kuroko, but there's already someone else I'm interested in." Takao winked, not embarrassed at all by his own confession. "So, about Shin-chan?"

"Takao-kun, you are being too obvious."

"Hm? Well, I don't think you're the kind of guy who'd go and repeat that everywhere. So, tell me everything you know about Shin-chan."

"Please be more specific."

"Hmmmm let's see… How was he in middle school? Any fun story about him?"

On the other side of the door, the three eavesdroppers were trying their best to catch pieces of the conversation.

"Damn it, I can hear Takao quite well, but Kuroko's another story." Fukui muttered. "As if having a ghostly presence isn't enough, he had to have a ghostly voice as well."

"Midorimacchi, come here and help us a bit!" Kise prompted him.

"I can't see how my coming there will help you. This is ridiculous. I'll go back and sleep. Enjoy your spying activities." he said as he took a step away, but what Moriyama said next made him twitch:

"Too bad for you. They've just started talking about you."

One glance at Midorima was enough to notice the obvious inner conflict breaking out within him. After three seconds of silence, he finally spoke with dignity:

"I assume it will not hurt to stay here longer. I have to make sure Takao doesn't spout ridiculous things about me." he said, approaching the panel.

Inside the room, the conversation was going on, unaware of the intruders outside.

"Midorima-kun was no different from now. And there is nothing particularly fun about him." Kuroko replied plainly.

"You're not helping."

"I am sorry. Midorima-kun and I weren't the closest ones. We are only acquaintances." The blue-haired teen seemed to think for a second. "There is an anecdote, but I am not certain it could be qualified as fun."

"Let's hear it then!"

"It was during practice. Midorima-kun was throwing threes and Kise-kun was trying to copy Aomine-kun's formless shots. The ball's trajectory wasn't quite the expected one."

"Let me guess: it flew right in Shin-chan's face."

"It actually hit the back of his head and made his glasses fall on the floor. Since he couldn't see, he stepped on them."

Takao laughed. "Didn't he have his lucky item on that day?"

Kuroko nodded. "He did. But he mentioned that Cancers were ranked last on that day."

"What happened afterwards?"

"His lucky item was a kitchen knife. A sharpened one." Kuroko said, giving Takao a meaningful look. The latter opened his eyes wide.

"W-Wait, don't tell me Shin-chan..."

"I was joking, Takao-kun." The latter let out a sigh of relief.

"You got me for a second. Though I could never imagine my Shin-chan turning violent. So, what really happened?"

"Akashi-kun ordered Kise-kun to run ten extra laps around the school. Midorima-kun tripped on a ball when he walked to the bench for spare glasses."

"Seriously?" Takao burst out laughing. "I just can't imagine Shin-chan tripping of all things. That's so uncool! You have other stories like that?"

"I'm afraid not."

Takao scratched his head. "Damn, and here I thought you'd be able to tell me some useful stuff. You know, with his birthday coming soon and all, I was hoping you could help me get him a present."

"I see. Midorima-kun likes Oha Asa's horoscopes." Kuroko stated as if it was something unheard of.

"I thought about it too, but I can't get him his lucky item in advance. And I don't think Shin-chan's the type of guy who'd appreciate a poster of Oha Asa."

"Would you like me to ask him?" Kuroko offered, earning a short laugh from the black-haired teen.

"Definitely not. Knowing Shin-chan, he'd totally get suspicious. Maybe I should ask Momoi. She seems to have a ridiculously well-informed database on all of us."

Kuroko seemed to ponder the idea for a moment before speaking again:

"During middle school, I remember Momoi-san saying that the best present to someone you love is to ask them out. You could try the same."

If Takao had been drinking, he'd have probably spat everything out. Instead, he burst out laughing while patting Kuroko's shoulder.

"You're too blunt for your own good, Kuroko!" he said, chuckling. "I doubt he'd find it a nice present to be asked out by someone, and even so, I don't remember every admitting anything about loving anyone."

"As I mentioned before, Takao-kun, you are too obvious." Kuroko answered, unfazed.

"Alright, alright. You got me. I wasn't really hiding it either. Geez, of all people, I had to pick the most stuck up guy of the planet and whose interest probably only lies in collecting weird items."

"I am quite certain you are mistaken about Midorima-kun." Kuroko retorted politely.

"Well, obviously he likes basketball too." Takao said nonchalantly as he searched his bag for a bottle of water. "Hm? What the hell is this thing?" he muttered, producing a small bear figurine with a red ribbon, a blue cap and a small bell around its neck.

"I assume this is the proof that Midorima-kun isn't as indifferent to you as you may believe." Kuroko replied.

Takao cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Shin-chan probably dropped this by mistake in my bag."

"Takao-kun, I am sorry, but it seems your mind isn't as sharp as your eyes." Kuroko went on, face impassive. Somehow it stressed his point even more and made Takao twitch ever so lightly.

"Then enlighten me?"

"Today's Cancer's lucky item is an incense stick."

"I didn't know you also read Oha Asa's horoscopes."

"I heard it this morning on the radio during breakfast. Would you mind taking a guess what Scorpio's item is?"

"Don't tell me it's a bear figurine." he said half-serious, half-joking.

"More exactly, it is a bear figurine with a red ribbon, a blue cap and a bell."

Takao stared silently at Kuroko for a few seconds, as the pieces slowly fell back together in his mind. The point guard's expression turned to sheer incredulity. "That woman's either insane or a fraud. How the hell are you supposed to find something that specific?"

"It seems Midorima-kun managed to, somehow."

"When did he even find the time to get that? We were training the entire day."

"There was a half-an-hour break after lunch. The town isn't that far from here if you run."

Takao snorted. "There's no way Shin-chan would go through such troubles for me. Though now that you mention it, I didn't see him after lunch. When I asked him, he just told me he had gone back to our room for some peace and quiet." He crossed his arms, pondering for a while before chuckling. "I've known Shin-chan to be a tsundere for some time, but now I get actual evidence, hm? So this means I can still hope a bit, right?" he said, more to himself than as an actual question, holding the bear figurine in his hands. "Hey, I just thought of something. Maybe I managed to catch you because of this thing."

"That is a possibility. Though I do believe your Hawk Eye is a better explanation."

"Probably. That means I get to catch you every day."

"I would not do that if I were you."

"Hm? Why?"

"Midorima-kun may start suspecting something."

"Even if he were jealous, he's too stuck-up and proud to even admit it!" Takao laughed. "Not to mention clueless. He doesn't seem to realize that everything I do for him isn't only because I lose to rock-paper-scissors." He sighed. "Maybe I should really ask him out, but even then I'm not sure he'll get it. Oh! How about I ask him to directly marry me?"

"I think that is what people commonly call 'skipping a few steps'." Kuroko answered honestly.

"I was kidding, Kuroko. Besides, if anything, I'd prefer it if he was the one asking."

"Why?"

"Dunno, maybe because he's taller or some crap like that."

Outside the room, Kise, Fukui and Moriyama were giving Midorima funny looks, snickering and smirking while the Shuutoku player was going through an impressive choice of reds. With a small cough, he excused himself, pretending that it was more than time for him to go sleep.

"He's totally not funny at all." Fukui murmured.

"The fact that someone can actually like Midorima is cracking me up." Moriyama addressed Kise. "From what I heard from you and what I saw, he's a completely insufferable guy."

"Oh, he has his nice moments." the blonde player commented.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door:

"You can actually act pretty girly, Takao-kun."

At those words, Takao cocked an eyebrow, then a hawk-like smirk loomed on the point guard's lips and his face turned darker as he shifted closer to Kuroko and lifted his chin with one hand.

"Be careful of what you say, Kuroko." he warned dangerously, his piercing eyes staring straight into Kuroko's. "You wouldn't want me to show you the real me, would you?" he said, leaving only a few inches between their faces. "I could do many things to you tonight that'll make you swallow back your words, pretty little Kuroko. After all, it's within the rules."

At that instant, in the corridor, flames danced in Kise's eyes as the model prepared to burst the door open. By a formidable twist of misfortune, it was at that very moment that a terrifyingly familiar voice rose behind him:

"Ryouta, what exactly are you doing?"

Suddenly, the flames in Kise's eyes died out, leaving him instead frozen on the spot. Fukui and Moriyama were in a more or less similar state. Carefully turning round, the model wore his most charming smile and stuttered very unconvincingly:

"A-Akashicchi, what a coincidence! W-We were simply walking by a-and we... we lost our way!"

The Rakuzan captain cocked an elegant eyebrow. "The three of you managed to get lost here. How unexpected."

"Haha yes, w-we're such klutz, aren't we?" Kise turned to the two other players who nodded vigorously.

"I see." Akashi replied coolly. In the dim light of the moon through the windows, his eyes looked eerily bright, giving the Emperor an even more intimidating aura than usual.

The three trespassers were trying their best to look natural and guiltless, but what they didn't expect was to hear Akashi say:

"All our rooms are in the corridor behind me, on your left. You may leave now." It sounded more like an order than a mere indication.

"Y-Yes! Right away, Akashicchi! Thank you very much, Akashicchi!" Kise bowed quickly before sprinting past Akashi, followed by Moriyama and Fukui.

When Akashi was left alone in the corridor, he glanced at the door where the three had been standing by, and a small smile painted his lips. Satisfied with himself, he turned back and headed back for the Rakuzan room.

Meanwhile, in Kuroko and Takao's room, the previous events didn't go unnoticed. Takao, still holding Kuroko's face, turned his head to the door:

"I heard noises outside."

"So did I."

Takao sighed as he released the shorter teen. "That totally busted up my little scene. Anyway, you didn't seem particularly scared."

"I believed you wouldn't do anything indecent." Kuroko replied, making Takao grin.

"You're better than my teammates! They wouldn't even trust me for that! Anyway, I had fun talking to you tonight, but I think I'm gonna hit the sack, if you don't mind."

"I was about to suggest the same."

"Excellent! Then good night, Kuroko."

"Good night, Takao-kun."

In the morning, Kuroko slid the door open to find himself facing an extremely anguished Momoi and an even more anguished Kagami. Both of them wore bags under their eyes.

"Kuroko, how are you? Is everything OK?" Momoi asked right off the bat, throwing herself in Kuroko's arms. The Phantom Player patted her back before gently prompting her away.

"I am fine, as you can see." he said, but it was Kagami's turn to shake him by the shoulders.

"Are you sure? Did he do anything to you?" he urged in a loud voice enough to stir Takao awake.

The latter shifted on his futon a bit, mumbling something about 'sleep' and 'shut up'.

"We talked a bit and then went to sleep." Kuroko explained, impassive.

"Really? That's all you did?" Kagami insisted, and as Kuroko nodded, he let out a sigh of relief and patted his baby blue hair. "Alright, then get rid of that bed head of yours and let's get breakfast!"

Unexpectedly enough, breakfast conversations hardly focused on Kuroko and Takao, probably because neither of them looked particularly different from the previous day. And the program the coaches announced was a much greater cause for worry.

Midorima seemed a bit strange today, Takao noticed. When he joyfully jumped on the Shuutoku ace's arm and thanked him for the bear figurine, he expected him to shake him off and deny everything about any potential lucky item.

Instead, Midorima merely pushed his glasses back on his nose while his cheeks took on a very, very faint shade of pink.

Just enough for Takao's trained eyes to notice.

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And here you go for chapter 2! Opinions?