Something had changed when Kagami and Himuro returned from basketball practice. Kagami felt it as soon as he stepped into the apartment, though he couldn't say what gave him that feeling. Something about the expression on his dad's face, maybe, or the light-hearted way Akashi and Murasakibara were playing card games in the main room. Kagami looked around, eyes narrowing in suspicion, while Himuro moved over to join Akashi and Murasakibara at their game.

Kagami looked to Dad, who was kneeling at the table in the main room with his laptop, just enjoying the atmosphere while he ostensibly worked. "Where's Tetsu-chan?"

Dad gave him a smile and nodded toward the balcony door. "He's enjoying the air."

Kagami's eyebrows rose. "Really?" Tetsu hadn't put one foot outside the apartment since they brought him home from the hospital. He and Dad had discussed it, once, aware that it was worrisome, but they'd decided to give Tetsu more time to recover before they pushed him into doing anything he wasn't comfortable with.

Dad's smile just got wider. "Really. We went down to the convenience store, and then Sei-chan and Mura-chan played at the streetball court for a while. And...I'll let Tetsu tell you the rest. He'll want to share the news with you himself."

Kagami gave a slow blink. Sei-chan? Mura-chan? Clearly things had changed a lot in the few hours he'd been gone. And now Tetsu was on the balcony. He turned and looked, and saw his brother tucked into a corner of the railing, holding it with both hands and looking over the city. His stance seemed strong and relaxed, but there was a bend to his neck that spoke of sadness to Kagami.

"I'll go talk to him."

Dad nodded, and Kagami stepped away and set his hand on the balcony door. He moved it slowly and carefully, so the noise wouldn't startle Tetsu, and moved out to join him.

"Tetsu-chan, I'm home."

"Welcome back, Taiga-nii." Tetsu looked up at his approach and gave him a smile, smooth and sweet. But again, Kagami saw something sad there.

He leaned on the railing on his elbows next Tetsu and squinted down at the street below. "What are you thinking about?"

Tetsu stared with him. He was silent for a moment. "Akashi-kun said the two of you talked last night. Did he tell you that he was pulling strings to get my father transferred away?"

Kagami tilted his head. "No. He must not have wanted to say anything until it was final."

"It's final now. My father will be on a plane to Russia tomorrow. Akashi-kun says that he isn't coming back."

A fierce rush of joy lit in Kagami's chest. Good. Let the bastard go away and never return. Let him never trouble Tetsu again, neither his body nor his heart. Kagami glanced behind himself through the balcony door at Akashi, bent studiously over his hand of cards as Himuro laughed and Murasakibara pouted. Maybe the guy wasn't so bad after all.

But Tetsu was sad. Kagami turned back to him, careful to keep his savage happiness to himself. It wasn't what Tetsu needed right now. "Is that the news Dad said you wanted to tell me?"

Tetsu blinked and looked at him, his eyes wide. "I don't think so. I don't think Hiroshi-san knows about it yet. Akashi-kun was the one who told me."

"Then what was Dad talking about? He said you went to the convenience store, and then your buddies played on the streetball court, and then... He said you would want to tell me the rest."

"Oh." Tetsu smiled, sudden and broad. He all but glowed in the evening light. "I spun a basketball on my finger. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to, but... But I did. It worked. It felt wonderful."

Kagami sucked in a breath, a giant smile splitting his face in return. "Oh my God, Tetsu-chan, that's fantastic!" It felt like winning the Winter Cup all over again. Kagami couldn't help himself. He lunged forward and wrapped Tetsu into an enormous hug, almost knocking him over in celebration.

Tetsu laughed and hugged him back. Kagami pushed away after a moment and held his shoulders, grinning so hard it felt like his face would break. "Does that mean it's back? Your basketball? Everything is good again?"

Tetsu's smile faded, though it didn't quite vanish. "I don't know. It was only a finger spin. I didn't try anything else." He looked down at his hands. They were trembling. "I don't... When I think about going on the court again, my knees still feel loose and my head gets light. I think maybe...this was just a start." He looked at Kagami again, smiling wider than ever. "But it was a start, for certain. And it feels great."

"Good, good. I'm so glad." Kagami hugged him again, quick and impulsive, then let go and turned back to the railing, grinning out at the city. In that moment, he loved everything and everyone. Tetsu-chan was getting better. His bastard father was going away. The world was beautiful.

Except...

Kagami looked back to Tetsu again. He was looking over landscape again, still with a small smile playing on his lips. But that hint of sadness hadn't gone away. Kagami couldn't really be happy until that was gone, too.

He gave it a few moments to settle in, to the let the high of celebration fade. Then he turned his head to stare at Tetsu's face. "So why then... With all this good news... Why are you sad?"

Well. He'd made a try at subtlety. Failed in the end, but he hadn't really expected a different outcome.

Tetsu didn't seem bothered by the bluntness. He was probably used it by now. He sighed, his hands tightening on the railing, and shook his head. "It's stupid."

"It's not," Kagami said. Whatever was bothering his little brother couldn't possibly be stupid. He leaned over to bump his shoulder against Tetsu's. "C'mon, tell me."

"It's just..." Tetsu bent over to fold his arms on top of the railing and rest his chin on them. "I never really... I never said good-bye."

Ah. Kagami should have remembered. Tetsu still loved his father, even while he feared him. It was complicated and uncomfortable, almost as much for Kagami as it was for Tetsu. Tetsu had chosen this family, chosen Kagami and his dad, and he was happy here. But he had been happy with his old family, too, once upon a time, and he still grieved for that.

And it was true that he'd never had a chance to say good-bye. At Maji Burger, he'd been out of his head with fever by the time everything was concluded. It was a toss-up whether he even remembered the last thing he'd said to his father, or the last thing Kuroko-san had said to him. They had probably been words of anger and fear, anyway. It all must feel so disconnected, so unfinished. For both of them, probably. And the sudden move to Russia wasn't going to help with that.

Kagami didn't give a single yen about Kuroko-san's feelings. He could suffer from a lack of closure for all eternity, for all Kagami cared. But Tetsu was different. Him, Kagami cared about. A lot.

"What do you want to do?" he asked. "We could go to the apartment tonight so you can have a word." He regretted the suggestion as soon as it left his mouth. No, never. Tetsu shouldn't do that, and Kagami shouldn't allow it. Dad might like it, though. He would want to come along on the off-chance that he would get a reason to punch Kuroko-san in the face.

Tetsu shivered and shook his head. "N-no. I'm feeling a lot better, but I'm not ready for that."

Kagami grunted. "No, that was a bad idea. How about this instead: We find out from Akashi when and where his flight is taking off, and you can go to the terminal and give your dad the finger as he leaves."

Tetsu laughed at that, startled out of his fear. "I don't want to give him the finger. I just want to say good-bye. I just want..." He went quiet, leaning more heavily on the railing. "I don't really know what I want. I wish I could... I wish I could tell my father what I need to tell him, just once. Once and for all, and then done. But the thought of seeing him face to face right now makes me feel even worse than the idea of going on the basketball court again. If I saw him, I don't know if I would be able to speak at all. I think my throat might close up. He terrifies me so, so much. But I also..." He drew a breath, shaky, on the edge of tears. "I also love him, and miss him, and I know that's weird and messed up, and I know I shouldn't feel that way, but I can't help it, I wish I could but I can't, I wish..."

"Tetsu-chan..." Kagami couldn't stand it. He leaned down next to Tetsu on the railing and put an arm around him. "Tetsu-chan, stop that. Stop it. You aren't weird. Of course you love your father, even though you're scared of him. I know you had good times with him, too. He ruined that, in the end, but that doesn't mean the good times never happened. There's nothing wrong with you feeling the way you do."

Tetsu turned his head and sobbed into his big brother's shoulder. "I want to say good-bye, but I don't know how."

"Then we'll figure it out, okay? We'll figure it out, just like we're figuring out everything else. It'll be okay. Everything will be okay."

Tetsu nodded into his shoulder, sniffling. His tears were already dying away, though. He trusted Kagami, trusted his word. Kagami squeezed him tighter in response. He couldn't fix everything for Tetsu immediately the way he wanted to, but at least he could help.

After a moment, Tetsu pulled back and straightened away from the railing, rubbing his eyes. Kagami stood next to him, close but not touching, giving him a little space. "Are you ready to go back in?"

Tetsu nodded, though he sighed a little. "Mura-nii is going to grab me again. He barely let me go on the balcony alone at all. Akashi had to be firm with him."

Kagami could have laughed. This problem seemed so trivial when compared to the other issues Tetsu was dealing with. He kept his face serious, though. "You want me to run interference?"

Tetsu looked relieved. "Yes, please."

"All right." Kagami ruffled his hair. "Let's go, then."

Inside, though, there was a commotion around the front door. Dad and Akashi were both standing in the entryway, staring down at something on the floor. Murasakibara hung back in the hall, looking around the corner as if he thought whatever it was might be a bomb, and Himuro stood in the main room, scowling in that general direction with his arms crossed over his chest.

Kagami moved hesitantly up to his big brother, Tetsu slightly behind him. "Aniki, what's going on?"

Himuro turned to frown at him. "A package came for Tetsu-kun. Your father is deciding whether or not to take it directly to the dump. Or call the police."

"Wait, what?"

Tetsu was already pushing past Kagami and making his way toward the object in question. Kagami reached out to grab his shoulder, but Tetsu slipped away. He made it all the way to the entryway and stood by Dad, Kagami and Himuro following close behind.

"What is it, Hiroshi-san?" Tetsu pressed up against Dad's side.

Dad put an arm around his shoulders, still staring at the thing on the floor. He nudged the box with his foot, making it scoot a few centimeters along the wooden planking. It seemed to be rather light, though it was a fair-sized box, about the size of the moving boxes Aomine and the others had brought over two weeks ago.

"Don't touch it," Dad said, squeezing Tetsu tight into his side. "It might be dangerous."

"How do you know?"

"Look at the return address."

Tetsu looked, and Kagami craned to see it, too. Tetsu figured it out first. "Oh." He blinked. "It's from my father."

Dad grimaced. "A delivery service brought it by. I signed for it before I noticed the address. Now I don't know what to do with it. Drop it off the balcony? That might be safest."

Kagami expected Tetsu to shudder and agree. He knew how scared Tetsu was of his father, of even the idea of seeing him. But Tetsu shook his head solemnly. "No. I don't think it's dangerous."

He dropped to his knees by the box and began to lift it in both hands. "Tetsu-kun!" Akashi rapped out, darting forward to stop him. "It could be a bomb!"

Kagami shivered. Murasakibara's position in the hall suddenly made sense.

But Kuroko just shook his head again and looked up at Akashi with his wide blue eyes, serious but unafraid. "That's not the way my father works. He hurt me, yes, very badly and very often. But it was never...calculated. This must be something else."

Akashi halted, and no one else moved to take the package away. But no one tried to help, either. Tetsu blew out a breath and looked to Kagami. "Taiga-nii?"

Kagami slumped, but he really couldn't refuse this kid anything. He'd tried. It didn't work. "Fine, fine," he grumbled, already stepping away. He went to the kitchen and fetched his least favorite paring knife, then stomped over to Tetsu and scooped up the box with one hand. It was as light as he'd thought it would be. He couldn't imagine what was inside, but surely a bomb would be heavier, right? "Let's at least go to the main room, then."

He set the box on the table and knelt by it, knife poised. The others gathered around at various distances, Tetsu kneeling beside him, Dad and Himuro standing nearby, Akashi leaning on the counter, and Murasakibara still in the hall, peering around the corner into the main room instead of into the entryway. Kagami looked at the box, then to Tetsu.

"I'm gonna open this for you, but you have to let me look at what's inside first. Just in case. If it's anything bad or upsetting, I'll take care of it."

Tetsu nodded solemnly, then made a show of covering his eyes with hands. "I trust you, Taiga-nii."

"Yeah, and I trust you, too, or I would be agreeing with Dad about dropping this thing off the balcony."

Tetsu smiled. Kagami shook his head with a grumble, then stuck the knife under the nearest edge of the shipping tape. He swiped it through all the seams, then grabbed the flap and pulled it open, popping an edge of tape he'd missed with the knife. Nothing exploded or flew out. He peered into the box, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Oh." His voice was light and surprised.

Tetsu's face twitched behind his shielding hands. "Taiga-nii?"

Kagami slumped down beside the table. "It's okay. You can look."

Tetsu lowered his hands, blinking in the light, and Kagami reached into the box and drew out the first item. It almost made him laugh, though it wasn't really funny. "First thing... It's a basketball." He hefted the ball between his palms and set it in Tetsu's hands. "I'm pretty sure I recognize it. It's your ball, right? The one you've been practicing with on the street lately? Aomine and the guys must have missed it when they got your stuff."

Tetsu knelt there on the floor with the ball in his lap, blinking. His face twisted up, his emotions unreadable. Shock? Grief? Humor? All of the above?

"Yes," he said softly, his voice choked. "It's my basketball."

A harsh chuckle jerked at Kagami's chest, ripping like a bullet. "Your basketball. Your father is trying to give you back your basketball."

It was so funny. It was hilarious. It was also the least humorous thing that had ever happened to Kagami in his entire life. He shook his head and reached into the box to pull out the next item—a somewhat large bundle wrapped in a blanket. "And here's this one."

Tetsu set the basketball aside and held out his hands for the blanket-bundle, his breath stuttering in his chest. "This..."

Kagami nodded. "I think I remember that blanket, too. It was over a chair in the hallway at your apartment."

Tetsu's fingers tightened on the bundle. "It was my mother's," he whispered. "It..."

Kagami swallowed. He'd figured. "Open it and see what's inside."

Tetsu obeyed. Everyone pretended they couldn't see his fingers tremble. The blanket fell away, revealing what it had been protecting from the bumps and jostles of the journey. A green pot, beautiful and finely crafted, decorated with a pattern of leaves across the surface. Kagami remembered that item from Tetsu's apartment, too, remembered thinking that it seemed out of place, a keepsake, something treasured.

Tetsu traced his hand around the opening of the pot. "My mother loved this," he murmured. "It was her favorite... She always said... She said that when I married, she would give it to my bride, so we could start our home with a piece of beauty."

Everyone was silent for a long moment. Then Kagami reached into the box and pulled out the last thing. It was an envelope, thick and unexpectedly heavy. He hefted it his hands and pressed it between his fingers. He felt the outline of a key.

Tetsu watched him silently. He did not reach out for the envelope, his hands still holding the pot in his lap. "It's a letter."

Kagami nodded. "A letter." He looked Tetsu in the eyes. "Would you like me to read it for you first? To make sure there's nothing in there that will hurt you?"

Tetsu hesitated, but he shook his head. "No. I should read it alone." He held out his hand for the envelope, and Kagami set it gently in his hand. Tetsu's fingers closed around the thick paper, holding tight. He drew in a thick, shaking breath. "I...I'm not ready to read it yet, I don't think," he said slowly. "But... Soon. I'll read it soon."

Kagami watched him carefully. "Good-bye," he said.

Tetsu looked up at him. Blinked.

"Your father is saying good-bye."

"Oh." Tetsu looked down at his hands, at his lap. The blanket, the basketball, the pot, the letter. He looked to Akashi. "If I wrote a letter for my father, would you make sure he got it?"

Akashi nodded immediately. "Of course. Just let me know. You won't need to know the address. Just give me the letter, and I'll see to it that's it's delivered safely."

Tetsu nodded. He set the envelope on the table and held the pot with both hands again. And he knelt there, and he breathed.