New chapter. How fun. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

"I know this façade will tear me apart sometime later. I know it will break me down, I know it will destroy me as whole. But what can I do? I can't live without it anymore."

"Ryouta, can you pass me my uniform?"

"Tomo-chan, I think you forgot to put out the laundry yesterday."

A grumble made its way through the small living room. "Nade, don't focus on such trivial things."

A girl with dark blonde hair – just a little more darker than Kise's sent the male a disgusted look in a jocular manner, snickering. Then she turned her attention back to Tomoyo, the only sibling that had inherited their mother's blood and had pale brown hair. Kanade the second oldest, whined in much disappointment, "But I seriously wanted to wear that blue muffler to look good for Eguchi!"

"Nobody cares about your boyfriend, Nade." As if waiting for Kise to agree, Tomoyo gave the youngest sibling an expectant look. The blonde male just laughed uncomfortably, making sure the sizzling scrambled eggs didn't burn on the pan.

"Well," He slipped the food onto four separate plates. "I think it's helpful to look pleasant once in a while for the person you love," Before a glare was received, Kise quickly added on, "But of course it's not Tomo-nee's fault that the laundry wasn't finished. She was busy yesterday and all…" He decided to not conclude his opinion, thinking it would just worsen the situation. It was a wise choice, since the argument seemed to be dying away.

Looking up in curiosity as if reminded of something, Kanade scanned the living room. "Where's dad?"

"He left twenty minutes ago." Tomoyo responded with a rather bored tone. She played with the eggs for a while and heaved a sigh, passing the plate on for Kanade to finish. "I'll go out to work. Ryouta, don't forget that it's your turn to do the dishes today." Picking up her purse, the eldest headed out to her modeling agency – though there was no reason for her to go out first, since Kanade was going to same place anyway.

"Hey, wait!" Gobbling down the eggs and throwing the plastic platter to the sink, (it went in perfectly, to Kise's surprise) "What's the rush? We're going to the same place, you know?"

"I don't want to go with you."

"That's so like you, Tomo-chan."

Their voices faded, and the door locked behind them as they left. Kise just simply stared at the slightly crumpled family photo that they ever took, stuck on the door with a cute kitty magnet. There was Tomoyo and Kanade sitting next to eachother on the golden-green grass, with their mom standing next to their dad, right behind the sisters. Kise was off to the side on his own, almost like an outcast. Everyone's smile looked so real – yet Kise's seemed quite off; a façade.

He then started to notice the difference in their physical appearance – about how his sisters and parents seemed to possess of a rather vibrant aura, a bright sunshine of dark blonde and pale brown releasing a beautiful, exuberant harmony to create the image of a happy family. If you didn't look closely, then you would be too distracted at the four to realize that Kise was at the corner, trying to fit in with them.

Drenching his hair in the water, Kise stared at himself in the mirror. There was a crack in the middle of it, for some odd reason – crooking the edge of his eye.

"I should go to school." Of course, he was going to be early again. But being early was quite his thing – it was better than meeting up with fan girls during the rush hour around seven-twenty. His house wasn't very far from the school building – approximately five to ten minutes, depending on his pace of walking.

Slipping on his shoes, Kise whistled a tune from his favorite band and started walking through the sunny pavement. It was that time of the year, where the weather was always good, no matter what kind of mood you were in – so you could never fault the weather for being depressed. The blonde wasn't sure whether he liked that or not, but he wasn't in a particularly scornful mood, either.

When he arrived in front of the school gates, what Kise could immediately hear was the squeaking sounds of basketballs and rubbery shoes sliding past the gym floor. The male never knew why it was always the basketball that had attracted his attention – there were other sports club engaging themselves with morning practice too, like baseball and tennis. But it was always the basketball club that had grabbed his eyes and glued them to the basketball courts of the three different strings.

I can't join it anyway. Kise would normally turn away and go straight to classroom, when this happened. However that day, he felt like watching. It wasn't against the rules, wasn't it? Then there was no wrong in just taking a small peek, right? Repeating these trivial questions in mind, Kise tiptoed toward the courts. He stared at the small scenery provided to him through the thin gap that displayed players of the first string running around and shooting.

"Aomine, that shot could've been better." A gruff voice echoed throughout the court.

"You try pulling a trick like that – it's hard as fuck, let me tell you that." Wincing at the sudden change of language usage, Kise leaned in further to have a better look of who it was. He saw an indigo-haired male dribble the ball swiftly past the opposing players, dunking the ball into the hoop like it was nothing. Loud cheers from his own team roared, as Kise fixated his eyes to the game in admiration.

"Who are you?"

"OH GOD –" Shrieking, Kise threw his body backward and slammed into the door, closing the entrance to the court abruptly. Momentarily he had forgotten that the door was made of metal, and that it hurt when you crashed your whole body into it. The pain rushed through later, making Kise regret everything that he did. Why did I ever come here in the first place? His bangs covered his eyes like a double layer over his eyelids. He could feel the cold stare of that unknown person pierce through him. Kise was never good with new encounters so sudden like this.

"Hey," The voice repeated, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you like that."

"No, no, I apologize for blocking your way." He stepped aside, detaching himself from the hard surface of the door. When the blonde looked up he saw a red-haired male glancing at him, instantly making Kise feel slightly uncomfortable. Finally, the so-called newcomer opened his mouth to start a conversation. The model felt better without it though, really.

"Did we meet somewhere?"

Blinking at the unexpected question, Kise proceeded to examine the male in front of him more carefully. "No, I don't think so. Why ask?" Then pausing, he went on. "You might've seen me on television or magazines or something. I work as a model, you see."

Akashi nodded. "That must be it." Then he pressed his fingers around the doorknob to open the entrance again. "Did you want something from here? I can ask the coach if you had some business to attend to at our club."

"No, that's unnecessary. I just came to watch, after all. I was interested and everything. You should just get it off your mind."

Seeming dubious, the red head just tilted his head to the side, trying to be convinced. "Alright, then. Do as you wish." With that he went in and disappeared. Kise decided that was his cue to leave.

This is exactly why I'm not supposed to join a club.

~TLTS~

"How's your practice with Akashi goin'?" Aomine threw a ball into the hoop faraway, as Kuroko just dribbled her own. She tilted her head to the side, trying to think of a suitable answer to the question.

"I want to say that it's going well, but… it really is rather difficult to explain just with words. He is teaching me this skill called misdirection, used in magic shows and everything… and honestly, I'm doing it myself, but I don't know how I'm managing to do so."

The male in front of her just frowned in mere confusion. "Then just show me how it works, duh." Kuroko hesitated a little, as she glanced back and forth at Aomine and then her basketball. She inhaled a deep breath as she slowly dribbled it on the ground. Aomine scrunched into his defense form, bending his knees as he stood in front of her. She then threw the ball slightly high up into the air where it came waist level, and performed a swift movement that was literally blind to the average human eye.

Before the latter even noticed, the ball was all the way behind him, as it bumped into the wall next to him and landed on the court. Kuroko caressed the small space between her palm and wrist. "I actually need someone passing to me in order to actually show you how this works, but that's the general idea. How is it –"

"That was AWESOME, Tetsu!" Aomine grasped her shoulders and shook her back and forth, as black dots appeared in front of Kuroko's eyes due the action. "How does that even work?! That was just great! We can totally use that to the advantage to our team- seriously, the move you pulled off just now is something only you can do! Damn, I really want to see how the other guys would react if they saw that just now. Akashi taught you that? Gee, it's terrific to know that he isn't just a bossy asshole."

"Um, Aomine-kun?"

"Midorima? Does he know? Gosh, I want to rip that prideful smirk off his face by showing him your misdirection or whatever thing just now. Murasakibara is boring so he won't show any reaction, but still –"

"Like I said, Aomine-kun –"

"Why isn't coach Shirogane accepting you into the team already? With this anything would be possible!"

Kuroko, exhausted to call out the overly excited male's name once again, just slammed her basketball into male's stomach with her misdirection. Aomine coughed as he stopped talking midway about the never-ending victories Teiko would seize after her arrival in the team along with her new technique. "Aomine-kun, please listen to me."

"You know, that was really painful?" He groaned, now on the ground as he supported his body with his arms stretched backward. "But what's the matter? I am not saying anything wrong – I'm certain that that arrogant, control-freak captain of our team would agree as well. Nijimura-san is pretty nice on terms like this, you know? You can be… I don't know, the phantom sixth man of Teiko! No, would it be woman? Nah, man sounds cooler, not meaning to be sexist –"

Sighing heavily, the female cut the ramble off. "This move isn't perfected yet. I don't even know whether it would actually worked out when played with a team, because I only practiced one-on-ones with Akashi-kun, and also –"

"This is exactly why you are so easily discouraged by what others say." Aomine let out a low grumble in response, as he patted her head, getting back up on his feet. "Low self-esteem doesn't help at all – have some confidence in your skills, Tetsu." He then stepped forward, staring out at the dark night sky. "It's getting late. Let's go home now." Kuroko gave a curt nod at that, running to the other side of the court to grab her bag. She hadn't noticed that she had picked up the habit of not changing into her uniform after practice from Murasakibara – nor did Aomine, who always did the same.

"Hey, wanna grab something from the convenience store?" The male pointed at the bright, illuminating white sign that said 'Momo 24-Hours.' If she was right, then Kise's turn should've still been going. As if to prove her memory quite accurate, her eyes stopped abruptly as they were captured by a vibrant dash of blonde. There was nobody present at the store, and Kise's expression was glum – Kuroko had never seen Kise in such a despondent state when she was around. An unapproachable aura looming over him, the blonde was staring down at something, which Kuroko presumed to be his phone.

She pushed Aomine along. "Let's just go." Aomine gave her a scowl, and then noticed Kise as well. That guy…

"Isn't that Kise Ryouta?" Aomine had reminded himself of Momoi saying so the other day, about a week ago. However, also being able to notice the rather odd atmosphere of the blonde, he did not retort and went ahead with the girl.

Kuroko stopped in front of a small apartment, in which Aomine assumed that it was where she had dwelled alone. He had never actually visited all the way to her place, as they tended to go separate ways as soon as they were done. Today was a special day, because the indigo-haired male wanted to cheer up the girl (though he wasn't entirely sure whether he had succeeded in doing so or not).

"Thank you for coming all the way here." Kuroko smiled brightly, which brought fervor to Aomine's heart. "I would want to treat you to something since you came, but it surely is too late…" Looking rather apologetic, Aomine understood what the female meant. He definitely didn't want to be treated like Haizaki at this time of the day.

"It's fine, really. My mom wouldn't be very happy if she realized I was hanging out at a girl's place right now. I'll leave you here for today, then. Good night, Tetsu." Waving, Aomine stepped past the guardhouse of the apartment as Kuroko gave him a nod of farewell and walked into the building. He didn't depart right away though, he stared at the lighted inside of the area where Kuroko had just been standing, remembering her smile.

The last thing I needed for the day was to recognize my feelings for someone. He inhaled a deep breath of anticipation and fear. Loving a person had always scared him – whether that was someone of an opposite gender, a family member, or simply a special person. As they all said in movies: "Love is like a double-edged sword."

His phone started ringing, the newest song of his favorite band exploding throughout the whole street. Jumping in surprise he quickly picked up, and then paused as he saw the caller ID: "Mom."

"Hello?"

"Daiki? Where are you?"

"Almost there, mom."

"I see. Get 'ere soon, then. Dinner's ready for your stomach."

"'Kay." He hung up and stared up at the sky that had absolutely no stars – only the half-moon seeming to lighten up the pitch-black blanket over their heads. He went past the exact same convenience store on the way, and he stopped to look at where the blonde used to be sitting. Now on the counter, a black-haired male had replaced him, with Kise nowhere to be seen at all.

I wonder what was with that guy just now. Aomine thought, the image of the gloomy male reappearing in his head. It had reminded him of someone he knew – a very familiar expression that had always been plastered on the same face of a very important person. It was very different in some aspects, though. Kise's was more like exhaustion, and the expression he knew of was closer to despair. The gap between those two emotions was gigantic, and Aomine didn't want to bother about it ever again.

"Kise… Ryouta, was it?" Mumbling aloud, Aomine walked along the busy streets of Tokyo. Doesn't seem like a very upbeat chap, like everyone says. He then ran his whole hand through his hair, messing it all up like a blue bush. "Why am I always meddling with stuff that aren't my freaking business?" Kicking the plastic bottle in front of him off to the side, Aomine just walked across the road, toward his house.

He didn't care at all – not for Kise, or Kuroko.

He really didn't.

~TLTS~

The morning breeze was rather chilly, but the sun was still bright. It was quite a good omen, Kuroko had decided – she had taken a glance at the Oha Asa channel for the day, just as Midorima had warned her. She really didn't believe in such supernatural and nonscientific foretellings, but it never hurt to take some preparations before the real event had begun. She didn't have her lucky item for the day, (because it was a wooden tanuki sculpture) but had remembered all the precautions the program had filled her with.

Her phone vibrated as soon as she locked her door.

From: Aomine Daiki

To: Me

Hey. You ready?

Kuroko wasn't entirely sure herself, now that the question had been thrown at her. Her test was apparently going to be held during the competition between the practice game held with Teiko and their rival school, Kurokami Junior High. Their players were about as well trained in comparison with the first string of Teiko – which meant that they stood at a completely different league with Kuroko herself. She possibly couldn't be prepared. Her hands were shaking, and her thin legs were barely supporting her own body from the pressure of the day.

From: Me

To: Aomine Daiki

Re: I think so. Not sure, though.

She closed her phone and threw it into her bag. The game wasn't held until after school, as all practice games were like. Kurokami was scheduled to come by three. Deliberately stepping on her own foot, Kuroko tried to stop moving her leg up and down in anxiously while she was in the bus.

As soon as she arrived at the gym, she moved past the third string courts and headed to first string, where Akashi, Midorima, and Nijimura were already engaging themselves with morning practice. Kuroko still had her uniform on, as she creaked the door open and made her way to the locker rooms.

"Hey, you!"

Kuroko's shoulders hunched as a loud, demanding voice obviously directed at her thundered throughout the empty court. She turned around and saw Nijimura narrowing her eyes at her. "… Yes, captain?"

"Is that a way to greet your upperclassmen? Don't think you're invisible now, just because the dense other ones can't see you – because I spotted you crystal clear. Now, what do you say?" He held his chin up and looked at Kuroko, who awkward bowed down. She had no chance to ever face Nijimura like this alone in the morning, as first string and third string had no encounters whatsoever, not even with the captain or vice captain. Even if they did, there was never a moment where they would meet any members alone.

"G-Good morning, captain." She mumbled, as she hurriedly ran off to the locker rooms, seeming to forget to see Nijimura's hilarious reaction of it. The captain laughed aloud when she was finally out of sight, throwing the basketball Akashi had secretly passed to him from behind into the hoop from the 2-point line.

"She's a funny one." He hummed, showing that he was in a rather good mood.

Midorima tilted his head to the side, puzzled. "What's the matter, Nijimura-san?" It was rare to see Nijimura with a grin on his face, as the captain was always so serious, and also because of the troublemakers of the first string that always gave him a hard time right off the bat of the day. Akashi was thinking the exact same thing – it was definitely infrequent to see Nijimura with such a great attitude.

"Firstly, it's quite an enlightenment to have a female member on the team." Nijimura smirked, as Midorima and Akashi responded accordingly by throwing their basketballs at the male in disbelief. Chuckling in amusement, the black-haired male shook his head. "Joking, obviously. I just found her… really fascinating. You rarely have members like that, you know… apart from the fact she is the first female member we ever had."

"Is it something about her personality?" Akashi inquired, curious himself. Nijimura stretched his left arm, pushing it downward behind his head as he held the elbow with his right hand, crossing them, and shrugged.

"I suppose you can say that. I mean, really – it's kind of cute to have a girl like that on a team. Those types look vulnerable but are surprisingly fierce on their own feet, you see." Humming a tune after finishing his sentence, Nijimura threw another ball from the 3-point line easily. Kuroko then entered, as if she had known that the conversation had ended. Nijimura's smile was wiped off from his face, hiding his delightful mood.

The female looked quite uncomfortable with the entire first string members glancing at her later throughout the morning practice session. She simply decided to dribble the ball on her own as usual, trying her best to avoid the attention focused on her back. Well, really, nobody actually noticed her in the corner at all – but those who did proceeded to inform others, and this wave continued until everyone knew.

A rough hand was placed on her shoulder a few minutes after the lonesome silence. "That's dangerous." The voice was droopy but also firm – it was a voice that she recognized, but couldn't quite recall who it actually belonged to. She stared for a while at the gigantic shadow that towered over her figure, and then turned around to see Murasakibara Atsushi looking down at her.

Nijimura finally smiled openly in front of everyone, proud that the purple head was making some progress with tardiness. He had apparently been arriving to morning practices a lot more than before for some unknown reason, in which Murasakibara always covered with that something had occurred with his family schedule, and so on. Nonetheless, it was good news to the captain and head coach who was fussing over this matter every single time.

"What?" Kuroko blinked, as Murasakibara just wordlessly pointed at the broken racks in front of her feet, as well as the sharp edge of the rusty metal pointing upward. She had never noticed that she had almost crashed into it, due to the many thoughts that were corrupting her mind. A chill traveled up her spine, her face going comically pale as she imagined what could've happened if Murasakibara didn't stop her. "Thank you."

The purple-haired male seemed mystified. "Nobody really lives out of their consciousness to the point that they wouldn't realize that they are on the verge of death, normally." Her face flushing with embarrassment, Kuroko quickly stepped away from the male and stumbled over her own words. "Well, I hope you just won't fail that test or whatever you are doing. Or be a burden on the team… something like that." He walked off, as the female just stared at the broad back of the male.

Gee, that helped. Kuroko thought angrily with much sarcastic mannerisms. The bell rang soon after, and members of students immediately filed out of the gymnasium. The girl was eventually the last one out, being naturally slow with everything. Aomine was waiting for her at the edge of the court, staring at his watch. He didn't seem to care much about being late to class.

"Hey," He smiled at her. "Saw you practicing, but didn't really bother to start up a conversation. Didn't want to disturb you or anything, you know." Kuroko nodded thankfully, though she remembered how her last minutes of practice was basically just Murasakibara saving her life (and then saying a sassy comment) and walking off.

They made their way out and headed to class in comfortable silence. Kuroko took this as a fairly good sign, as she didn't really hang out with other girls at school. Judging just by how much time she spent with Aomine, or just by the amount of conversations they had for the past two months or so – Aomine Daiki would definitely be the person she would claim she knew best. Knew best? Kuroko almost paused in her steps, finally seeming to realize the severity of the situation. I wonder if it's really good that a guy knows me best at this school… or that I know a guy best…

Parting ways at the staircase, the second bell went off as soon as they bid their farewells to one another. Midorima Shintaro, her partner was sitting alone in the middle of the classroom, glancing expectantly at her desk now and then. She dragged the door open and then closed it, all her classmates not even paying attention at all. It was almost as if everything she touched and shared were invisible and unheard along with her – as well as sound. However, the green head turned his pair of glasses instantly towards where she was coming from, and heaved a sigh.

"You were eight seconds short to being tardy."

"Oh –"

Another bell went off, signaling the start of class. The shooting guard sent her a triumphant glare as if to prove his chiding meaningful. "I'm sorry?" Kuroko raised her eyebrow, uncertain what Midorima must be gaining from seeing her come early to class. Or does he not like it when people simply come late? The teacher entered the classroom and set his folders and files on the desk in the middle, and picked up his piece of chalk as he began his lecture.

While completing the given assignment, Midorima had inaudibly passed on a petite and rather adorable keychain to her desk. "What's this?" Inquired the female, as Midorima cleared his throat.

"Your lucky item for the day, obviously. What could it be?" Kuroko took a closer look at it. A small vanilla milkshake was dangling at the edge of the chain, a thin plastic straw hanging in midair. Midorima seemed rather flustered. "And by the way, I didn't get this for your test today or anything, so don't misunderstand. I simply thought it would be rather humiliating to see you fail when you haven't taken any precautions whatsoever –"

"Thank you." Kuroko interrupted the male – not in any means trying to be rude, but because she thought it was rather cute that the male was getting nervous from presenting her a keychain. "I will cherish it." She added, not meaning to be romantic in any senses, but just to add the friendly formalities.

Looking quite honored, Midorima just huffed. "Such things are unnecessary."

The female just laughed.

~TLTS~

"Are you feeling alright?" Akashi Seijuro, now changed into his jersey for the upcoming practice match handed Kuroko a bottle of water. "I honestly believe you would excel in this test if you aren't feeling anxious or anything, but…" He examined the girl, who was now changed into an extra jersey that was quite big for her – it was borrowed by the vice captain. "Well, I would like to see your audacious spirit for this sport." With that he departed, leaving Kuroko in her panicky state.

The gym got noisier as the players from Kurokami made their flamboyant entrance. Some first string members gossiped joyfully among their seats, simply admiring the sight of the tense meeting between Nijimura and the other captain. Of course, Kuroko had no cool to even notice such things occurring in the vicinity, more or less realize that the colorful bunch was all sending her worried looks of their own.

"Hey, are you sure it's alright to send her on her own like that?" Midorima frowned, sensing their demoralized state of Kuroko. Akashi just tilted his head sideways, staring at the girl that was now looking ready to bite her own finger off from with anxiety.

Leaning back on the wall, the red head just closed his eyes. "She wouldn't be alone. We would all be on the bench watching, and if something goes wrong we can just request for a member change… and besides, Aomine would be on court with her. Why do you think I went through all the trouble of attempting to convince the coach, even after the top principle we were supposed to keep intact until our second year: We're all required to remain as bench players during our first year, and only exceptions would be made during emergency cases."

"Would this count as an emergency, though?" Murasakibara questioned, not much out of curiosity, but rather seeming like a rhetorical one, if someone was cautious enough to read through the dawdling tone of the giant. "Honestly, we could've left her alone at the third string courts, and she would've eventually just quit the team on her own. It's not like Teiko wouldn't win without her, so why was the process necessary in the first place?"

"How would you know a tool is useless when you haven't used it?" Haizaki murmured in his usual gruff voice. "Such things are yet to remain known when not experimented, Atsushi. Don't draw conclusions on your own." Midorima seemed surprised by Haizaki's insightful comment that was scarcely- no, never made.

The point guard slowly averted his gaze to Haizaki, and then nodded. "I would hate to admit, but Haizaki is right. We would never know what change could possibly occur after Kuroko passes this test… whether she would become a beneficial to us… or…"

"A burden."

The buzzer went off, which brought the divided attention directly towards the middle of the gym. The court was opened to the opposing teams, as Kuroko awkwardly joined in the unfamiliar lineup. She could feel that barely anyone was noticing her presence – and really, she was better off that way.

Furrowing his eyebrows, the referee spoke up. "Teiko Junior High, you are missing one member."

"We have one right here." Nijimura placed his hand on her head. "Sorry, she's rather challenging to see." Kurokami's players freaked out, finally noticing the female. The referee nodded, and then blew the whistle, signaling the start of the match. Aomine gave a small nudge to Kuroko's shoulder to ease her up.

As soon as the match began, everything happened in a moment that seemed like a second. The ball was out of her reach and sight, and the players were all scattered around the court, grabbing the ball back and forth – as Teiko made their first goal. I need to think. Kuroko inhaled a deep breath. There's one player on my right from my team, as well as two at the opposite side of our goal. Aomine-kun just made a goal, and is coming this way…

Opening her eyes, Kuroko stepped forward, a small, cool breeze seeming to wrap around her body as she spun herself into the air between the players, going unnoticed as the 'shadow'. Only a few players managed to notice, as the female pushed the ball away from its original course as her palm came in contact with the rubbery surface. She slammed it away towards Aomine who was looking prepared to catch her ball. His eyes were saying: "Pass it to me."

Then it all just happened in less than a second. The ball split across the air, releasing a lightning of blue as it was passed to the power forward, who made a dunk into the goal with ease. The scoreboard changed into 7-3, with Teiko leading.

Dropping her hand in disbelief, Kuroko's eyes widened as she witnessed the cheers of delight of her own team. Nijimura threw her a flashy grin. "That was quite a move you pulled off, newbie."

"Tetsu, that was great!" Aomine shouted, as he ran towards her as the whistle blew again, with Kurokami ripping past Teiko's players. Kuroko focused her eyes on the ball once again. Nothing came into her mind as she concentrated on simply passing, and with one goal echoing through her head – to lead her team to victory.

"Game over! Teiko wins, to 56-51!"

"Thank you for the game!"

The tanned male walked over, drenched in sweat. Then without uttering a single word, he held out his fist in front of her. For a while, Kuroko had no idea what he was implying – and then when Aomine just glanced at her once again, she balled her own hands and hit the other's fist. It was almost like their own way of saying that it was a good game that they did well.

"Kuroko Tetsuya." Coach Shirogane approached her. His smile wasn't stern, but very warm as he nodded. "You passed the test."

"We will welcome you as the sixth man of Teiko."