Maybe it was the intense amount of worry giving him strength, but Kagami had an easier time keeping track of Kuroko after that. It still took a concentrated effort, but he had become hyper-aware of his phantom friend. He found himself constantly glancing down and to the side even when there was no way that Kuroko was around. It was annoying and it gave him headaches, but he couldn't help himself.

He still suspected bullying or harassment, no matter what Kuroko said. It was impossible to prove, though. No one ever messed with Kuroko when Kagami was around, not that he saw, and he was watching very carefully.

Whoever was doing it had to be someone more than ordinary to pierce Kuroko's cloak of invisibility. Kagami found himself looking over the crowds of students, eyes narrowed in suspicion as he tried to suss out who it might be. No one stuck out to him as a likely candidate for Punk Bastard Who Is Bullying Kuroko, and Kagami was no kind of detective. This work gave him headaches, too.

He also watched Kuroko for signs. Watched for him to flinch when someone came near, to tense up when he met someone's eyes. Nothing happened. If anything, Kuroko seemed more relaxed when he was around Kagami, looking around with serene blue eyes and slurping his milkshakes with supreme nonchalance. Kagami was happy to provide an oasis, whatever was going on, so he didn't question this too closely. On their walks home from school, he took care not to lose Kuroko in more ways than one, keeping an eye on him and walking slowly to drag out the time as much as possible. Kuroko allowed it, though eventually, always, he slipped away at some anonymous train station.

Kagami never saw any bruises or other signs of physical distress, but that didn't mean much. They practiced in t-shirts and long shorts, and somehow Kagami never saw Kuroko changing, so who knew what was hiding under all that opaque fabric. Kuroko was good at hiding when he was in pain, too, so Kagami didn't trust the unbothered expression on his face.

All in all, Kagami was basing his conclusion that Kuroko was being mistreated on very little evidence. He was being stubborn and foolish, maybe, to hold to it in the face of all these denials. Yet he couldn't let it go. Call it an instinct, call it a hunch, call it sheer bloody-mindedness, but he knew something was wrong. He knew someone was hurting Kuroko, and he was going to do everything in his power to put an end to it.

It did occur to him, after a while, that he didn't have to be alone in this. There were plenty of people who cared about Kuroko and who, if they even suspected that Kuroko was being bullied, would be more than happy to help Kagami blow the roof off the school in order to make it stop. There was a fifty-fifty chance that most of them would discard his suspicions as the the usual Bakagami shenanigans, though.

Kagami considered his options carefully. Then he went to the coach first. Riko was smart and observant. She spent almost as much time watching Kuroko as Kagami did, though her attention was divided amongst the entire team. If there was anything to be noticed, anything at all, surely she would have seen it.

He approached during a water break in the middle of practice when most of Seirin was busy mopping their heads and pouring water down their throats as fast as they could. Kagami was dripping sweat, too, and he wanted nothing more than a towel and a giant bottle of water right now. But this was more important.

"Ah... Coach?"

Riko looked up from the clipboard she'd been studying and immediately squinted at him as if he was the suspicious one. She didn't rebuke him, though. Perhaps reading the seriousness in his face, his body language, she stood a little straighter, lowered the clipboard to her hip, and faced him solidly. Her gaze was bright and sharp. "Yes? Is something going on?"

Kagami looked around, uncharacteristically hesitant. He wasn't sure it would do any good for anyone to overhear this. After a moment, he gestured for her to move with him over to the wall, out of easy earshot. To his surprise, Riko went with him right away.

Her voice was softer this time. "What is it, Kagami? You seem unhappy."

Kagami nodded. "I'm...well...it's not me. It's Kuroko."

Riko frowned, wrinkling up her nose, but she said nothing. She gave him room to speak, to gather his thoughts and make them work.

"Does he seem... Does he seem different to you lately? Like maybe over the last three weeks or so?"

Riko went very still, staring down at the floor in thought. After a long moment, she looked at him again. "Now that you mention it... It's nothing obvious. It hadn't even occurred to me until you asked. But I think you're right. Something is different. He seems normal during practice, but... I've seen the way his shoulders come down when he first walks into the gym at the beginning of practice. It's like he's been hunching up for the entire day, his whole body tight and tense, but when basketball starts it all goes away for him. And then at the end, when we all leave... He tenses up again."

Kagami nodded. He blew out a breath and closed his eyes, almost swaying where he stood. He wasn't crazy. Coach saw it, too.

When he opened his eyes, Riko was still looking at him with a thoughtful frown on her face. "You think something is wrong."

Kagami nodded. A lump rose in his throat. "I think something is really, really wrong."

"You spend more time with Kuroko than any of the rest of us. You two are close friends, and he trusts you more than he trusts anyone else on the team. If you think something is wrong, I think you're right."

Kagami lowered his head, unable to look in her eyes for a moment. The relief was almost unbearable. Suddenly, he wasn't alone anymore. He hadn't realized how badly he needed an ally until he had one. "Thank you, Coach," he whispered.

"I suppose you've tried to figure out what it is."

"Yeah." Kagami nodded and rubbed a hand over his face, smearing the sweat around. "I straight out asked him. I demanded to know who is bullying him, who's harassing him. He said it's no one."

Riko's breath caught. Kagami jerked his head up to stare at her with wide eyes. Her face had gone deathly pale.

Oh. She hadn't realized that he thought someone was bullying Kuroko. She probably thought the problem was...more mundane. Stress over school or something like that.

To her credit, Riko did not back down. She did not waver in her belief that Kagami was right, that his instincts were correct. She just nodded, grim and firm. "Yeah, I guess a direct approach might not have been the best way to go about it."

Kagami nodded. Kuroko himself could be almost rudely blunt at times, when he really needed to get a point across. Despite his famous misdirection on the court, his personality was pretty damn straightforward. But something like this obviously needed a more delicate touch.

"What can I do, Coach?" Kagami asked humbly. "I can't stand this. I want to make it stop."

He wanted it more than he'd ever wanted anything in the world. Even the Winter Cup.

Riko considered the question for a long moment, rubbing her chin with her hand. Then she looked up, a small smile lighting her face. "Ask him to help you with something."

"Hah?" Kagami blinked. This was the last advice he expected.

"Trust me, it will increase the likelihood that he'll tell you what's going on."

"What? How will that work?"

Riko sighed and closed her eyes, leaning back with her hands on her lower back. Her voice remained patient. "Think about it. No one likes to feel weak. Not even Kuroko, and he's been using his weakness to his advantage for years. It might be that he doesn't want to ask for help because he wants to handle the situation on his own. He doesn't want to feel like he owes you for anything, that he's dependent on you for something he should be able to do."

Kagami gaped at her in something like horror. "Asking for help dealing with a bad situation doesn't make him owe me something! That's ridiculous!"

"I know that, and you know that. But think about it from Kuroko's perspective. If someone was bothering you here at school—trying to trip you all the time, or calling you 'stupid' in a cruel way, as if they mean it... Would you go to Kyoshi and ask him to protect you? Or would you rather take care of it yourself?"

"I'd punch them in the mouth."

"Exactly. That's not Kuroko's style, of course. But whatever is going on, I'm sure he thinks he can handle it alone."

Kagami crossed his arms over his chest. It made him uncomfortable to think about it like that. He just wanted to fix it. "I think this is more serious than tripping and name-calling. I think..." He looked away, biting his lip. His stomach was churning with a deep, uneasy ache that he couldn't deny. His voice, already low as he tried to keep this conversation private, fell even further. "I think something really bad might happen if we don't stop it."

"I know you do." Riko's voice was quiet, too. "I'm not saying Kuroko is right. I'm just saying that's how he feels. He doesn't want to be beholden to you."

"But that's not how friendship works," Kagami said. "This..." He gestured in front of himself with both hands, trying to find the words. "It's a partnership. We're both stronger together than we are apart. I want to stand with him, that's all."

Riko smiled, soft and bright. "I know. You both give to each other in a lot of ways, and it's wonderful to see that. It really is. So remind him that he's not alone. That you need him just as much as he needs you. Ask him to help you with something. It might be subconscious, but it will remind him that he's not weak, and you don't think he is. And it will remind him that it's okay to ask for help. The two of you can do that with each other."

Kagami nodded solemnly. Now that she'd explained everything, it made a lot of sense. "Thank you, Coach. I will."

Riko's expression lightened, though distress still lingered on the edges. "I'll keep an eye out, too. Maybe I'll notice something that can help. Of course, if you ever need something, don't hesitate to ask. I'm glad you talked to me today."

"Me too."

Now he at least had an idea of something he could do. A plan to follow. He just needed to think of something he needed Kuroko's help with.

He didn't think it would be hard. Kagami needed help with lots of things.