Chapter two: Midorima

Today was not a good day for Cancer, today, they were in for a rather…shocking surprise. Their lucky item? A bowl of vanilla ice-cream (it must not melt).

Now, it wasn't exactly that Midorima had gotten over Kuroko's death, but, after a few weeks or so of watching Murasakibara skip off to see Kise, big grin on his face, and having an all too ecstatic model checking in on him, he'd finally decided he'd had enough.

…and, no, Takao had nothing to do with it.

He wasn't curious, and, no, he wasn't worried, it was merely coincidence that Midorima wound up standing in front of the very restaurant the two had apparently decided to meet.

…and, no, Takao had not mentioned this, nor had he given Midorima a ride. It was pure coincidence that he happened to come by at exactly three thirty p.m. and then decided to bike around the area.

Pure coincidence, don't question, just nod your head and smile.

Now, what wasn't coincidence (in other words, what he was willing to admit to), was the fact that both Takao and himself had decided to hide behind the same bush.

The reason?

The bush had a wonderful view of the restaurant, a clear shot to the wide, rather expansive, window, in which both Kise and Murasakibara just happened to be sitting in front of.

The other reason?

It was the only bush in the area…and because this was Takao's idea.

"Now," Takao stated with a grin, mysterious sweat dripping down his face, "from here we can decide when it would be best to enter the restaurant."

Midorima adjusted his glasses, a small frown pulling at his lips, "and why, exactly, must we enter?"

"Well", Takao began, before sighing and turning around to face his companion, "don't you want to know what's going on?"

"Not exactly," came the swift denial as the young man sifted the weight of his hand held cooler, eyes staring holes into Takao's forehead.

"Tsundere," the point guard laughed, "you just don't want to be caught stalking."

Several minutes later, which Midorima would refrain from commenting on, and Takao was left quit incapable of doing such, the shooting guard swiftly walked into the restaurant, expertly ignoring all the stares his cooler acquired, alone.

Setting himself one seat before, and to the left, of Kise, he ordered at random, then cocked his head, in a rather stiff manner that set a few girls across from him on edge, and listened.

At first, he heard nothing but the regular drone of annoying, insistent, chatter. Then, slowly filtering through, he focused in on Kise and Murasakibara and heard the beginnings of a conversation.

"So...you…candy…simply…frogs…"

The candy bit made sense, considering the participants of the conversation, but the frogs, however, threw him off.

Concentrating a tab bit more, his face transformed into a rather…sinister sight. With glasses glinting, and eyes no more than (supposedly) angry slits, Midorima accidently scared off the one who was bringing his order. Which, all things considered, was a rather good thing, otherwise he might have chocked in embarrassment, for he had accidentally ordered a rather…romantic dish.

However, despite his concentration, he heard no more of the conversation; in fact, he heard nothing at all.

Nothing…but static.

Startled he almost jumped out of his seat (but he'd never admit it), and glanced around, of course, with the utmost subtlety, and noticed a surprising lack of people. He began to concentrate again, he heard the static once more, but, within the static, he heard…something.

A "voice" wouldn't be exactly accurate, for it sounded no more than buzzing, but that buzzing seemed to bring to mind words.

Words such as, "It's rude to eavesdrop, Midorima-kun."

Once again, he almost jumped, hands coming up to his ears and then messaging his temples. He has got to be hallucinating, too much exercise? Not enough sleep? Being in Takao's presence for too long?

"Thank you for the ice-cream."

This time it was a voice, though the static still stayed, lingering in the background; and the voice was rather…familiar.

"Midorima-kun," blue eyes, impossibly familiar (for only Kuroko had such eyes, but he was dead), blinked at him from across the table, "may I have a spoon?"

Blankly, as if he'd suddenly been broken, Midorima got up from the table to fetch a spoon. Wordlessly, he handed it over to the apparition—for the Kuroko look alike was see-through—and watched in silence as the ice-cream slowly disappeared.

"How..?"

"I'm not eating the ice-cream, Midorima-kun," blue eyes stared, "I'm simply imagining that I am."

"Why?"

A sigh, soft, and barely heard, past translucent lips, "You're sleeping, Midorima-kun."

Midorima blinked, glancing about once more, but unable to make much speculation before the buzzing, the static, kicked up to a new level.

"Please refrain from eavesdropping on Kise-kun in the future."

And then all went black.

At least, for a total of five seconds.

After which Midorima found himself being shaken awake by a rather worried (and annoyed) Takao. In answer to all the fuss, the shooting guard dragged the other out of the establishment, and then ordered him to take them to Midorima's house.

It was time to do some research.

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Blinking, Kise stared at Midorima's departing figure, "I didn't notice he was here."

Murasakibara shrugged, tossing another candy into his mouth, "neither did I, but I'm glad he's finally getting out, Kuro-chin's been sad ever since he heard about how much of a hermit Midorima-chin's become~"

Kise laughed, "Don't you mean how much of a hermit they've all become? Even Seirin's been feeling down, but they really shouldn't, Kurokocchi's where he belongs."

Murasakibara pouted, "That stuffy hotel isn't where Kuro-chin belongs."

Kise simply shook his head, a light smile tugging at his lips and a small, insane gleam entering his eyes, "That isn't what I meant, Murasakibaracchi, but, either way, you really shouldn't complain, after all, you still get to see Kurokocchi."

The giant's eyes narrowed, only slightly, upon hearing the hidden threat, before he plopped another candy into his mouth and shrugged once more, for in the end it didn't really matter, so long as Kuro-chin was happy and he had a constant supply of his most favorite candies, the details could wait.

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A/N: Alright, so here's the next chap, sorry if I messed up Midorima's character, or made the scene rather confusing, it'll be explained later. As for Takao, just to clear things up, he was knocked out by Midorima, thus, when he woke up, the first thing he did was look for his friend, and, upon finding him passed out, he panicked and caused a small scene.

Beyond that, as before, I shall require one review, 1, one, 1, before I post up the next chap.

Thank you all so very, very much for actually reading this.