Accidental Siblings Chapter 20, a kuroko no basuke/黒子のバスケ fanfic

...Hi there. It's been a while, huh?

I know some of you must be very surprised to see an update for this fic after over six years. And, I must say, I am just as surprised as you are. Never did I think this would happen.

A lot has happened since I last touched this story. I got a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. I moved back to the States. There was the pandemic, and in the midst of that, I got a certificate in Organizational Behavior. Now, I'm currently doing a Master's program in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Also, I'm almost 25 now, which means it's been almost eight years since I posted the first chapter of this story. Things are just so much different compared to 2017 when I last updated.

Even though I never intended to give up on this story, I was suffering from writer's block for an extended period of time, especially when the series officially ended after Extra/Last Game. Once there was no more official content related to the main storyline, the fandom just slowly became more inactive, and it was at this time that I unconsciously distanced myself and found other interests to occupy my time. It was by pure coincidence I came back to the KNB fandom after so many years of being away.

A couple of months ago, I was just on YouTube and saw the Zero Step music video pop up on my feed. Thinking it was a fanmade video, I clicked on it just to have a look, but I was shocked to see that it was all new content that was made to celebrate the 10th anniversary of KNB. Seeing a video of all the main cast just hanging with their teams and doing regular teenage shit, it made me so happy to see, and I ended up falling back down the rabbit hole of KNB out of pure nostalgia. This led me to dust the cobwebs off my old Tumblr account and start looking for KNB mutuals again.

The English-speaking side of the fandom is kind of barren right now, and it's sad to come back into the community and realize how many of the accounts I used to talk with and reblog their content are now nowhere to be found. But, if anything, that just incentivized me to be the change I wanted to see and start actively talking about KNB the way I used to. From there, I began to find other KNB fans and make a little community of our own that is trying to pull this fandom up by its bootstraps. And one of the ways in which I could do that is to get back to writing fics.

I opened up Accidental Siblings on FFN to re-read through my story, and I realized that if I was to ever update, I would have to clean up the current chapters first. If any of you have been looking at this fic at some point in the past few weeks, you'll notice I have been tinkering around with it a lot. Most of the edits I have done were just to fix general formatting issues to make it an easier read. But I also made edits to correct the timeline of this story to match it up better with the canonical timeline of Extra Game. There are also a few paragraphs I added here and there within the existing chapters just to spice em up a lil, too. So, if any of you re-read my old chapters and think "I don't remember this part being in the story", it's because I recently added it in. But most of the fic has been left untouched to preserve the essence of my writing style from back then.

But anyway, I think I've talked for too long. You obviously clicked on this because you wanted to read the latest chapter. Lucky for you guys, it's very, very lengthy. The first 5k or so words were written by me between the ages of 18 and 20, but the remaining 6k words were written by me within the past couple of weeks. Fortunately, I had outlines I had written for this chapter many years ago, so finishing this chapter was quite quick because I just had to follow the guidelines of what I wrote.

For those who have been following my story since the very beginning and are coming back after being notified that I updated, I deeply thank you for waiting and I appreciate every single one of you. So, without further ado...

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 20

After returning from the stables, Miyoko began to come down from her high and wanted to do something else.

"What is it you wanted to do?" Bokushi asked her as they were coming back into the house.

"Maybe you could show me the rest of your house," Miyoko suggested. "I haven't seen many other places except for that one hallway and your bedroom."

Bokushi shrugged. "Alright, if you would like to see the rest of the house, I'll show you." He turned to his father, who had been quietly walking beside them this whole time as they passed through to the staircase in front of the house. "Did you want to come, father?"

He may think that his father was behaving a bit strangely, but Bokushi took the hint that his father somehow still wanted to be included. So, he would take it upon himself to now ask the man what he wanted.

Masaomi was about to open his mouth in response when his cell phone began to ring in his pocket. The man fished it out and looked at the caller ID, letting out a low hum after he read it.

"Apologies, I must take this," he said. "Bokushi, you may show her around, I am going upstairs to my office. I will see you when I am finished."

Miyoko nodded. "Okay, bye Akashi-san!"

Masaomi looked at her and nodded in acknowledgement before turning back around and picking up the call, making his way towards his office upstairs.

With the two left alone, Bokushi was now at liberty to show Miyoko around as much as he liked. So, once he got the okay from his father, he went straight ahead and took the initiative.

"If I am to show you the house, then we should get started right away. Follow me."

…

During his house tour, Bokushi took Miyoko everywhere she wanted. And as he showed her around, he couldn't help but get more of a glimpse into how children like Miyoko behaved on a day-to-day basis.

When he showed her the dining room, she skipped around the large dining table, brushing her hand across every chair she passed by, she crawled under the table and played peek-a-boo with the tablecloth, and when she came across the knight's armor on display in the far corner, she suddenly stopped in place and saluted towards it as if the armor was a real person.

The next place they visited was a large elegant looking room where Bokushi's father would sometimes hold business events. Even with nothing set up in the room, Miyoko still found a way to entertain herself by starting to hum a slow song and then waltz around the room on her own, swaying this way and that way and not giving a care if Bokushi wanted to dance or not.

When he showed her the room where they kept the grand piano, she eagerly ran over and climbed onto the piano stool, tapping random keys on the large instrument until she decided to play a simple nursery song that she said she had learned. She had then turned and asked Bokushi to play something, to which he obliged, rendering her speechless by playing Prelude No. 1 in C Major.

When they went into the library, Miyoko was enthralled at all the books that were stacked on the shelves. When she went into each different section of the vast room, she would periodically pick up a book from a random shelf, open it, realize she couldn't read most of the words, and put it back down. Either that, or she would put it down if she found it boring.

After showing her most of the other rooms, an hour had passed by and the two were nearing the end of the tour. The next one on the list was the living room. Bokushi led her in and gestured to the large space before him.

"This is our living room, as you have seen when you walked in here," he said. "Feel free to look around, but do be careful if you're going to touch anything. A lot of items in here are breakable."

"It's really fancy, just like the rest of your house," Miyoko replied offhandedly. She walked towards the coffee table where a newspaper was sprawled out and picked up a page. She looked at it for a few seconds, green eyes skimming over the words before putting it back down. As she was putting it down, however, she noticed something. Looking above the mantlepiece of the fireplace, she saw a portrait hanging from the wall. It was a woman with long bright red hair wearing a traditional kimono, almost seeming to smile down on the young girl as if she were happy that she stumbled across the portrait in the first place. Miyoko set the newspaper back on the table and looked up at it with wide doe eyes.

"That woman is pretty! Who is she?"

Bokushi quirked a brow before following Miyoko's gaze. It was only then when he locked eyes with the woman in the portrait, he understood what she meant.

"Her name is Akashi Shiori. She was Seijuro-nii's—" wait, that wasn't right. "She was our mother," he amended, exasperated at how many times he's already tripped over his words when giving this type of answer.

"Oh! Now that I think about it, you do really look like her." She went closer to the mantlepiece and went on her tiptoes to look at a photo in which the same woman was walking alongside a man and a child. The child was holding onto her hand while the man was on the other side, his hand placed on the child's back.

Miyoko cocked her head to the side. "Is this your brother in this photo?" she asked.

Bokushi nodded. "Yes," he answered. "That was him many years ago when he was a child. And next to him on the right is our father."

Miyoko looked closer at them and smiled. "Wow, Seijuro-san looks really young, and so does your mom."

"Ah, so this is where you wandered off to."

Suddenly Miyoko whipped her head around at the far-off voice behind her and saw Masaomi's figure standing near the entrance of the living room.

"Akashi-san!" she exclaimed. "You're done with your phone call?"

"Yes," he said. He began slowly walking over to them. "I presume Bokushi is still showing you around, yes?"

"Uh-huh!" Miyoko pointed to the photo on the mantlepiece. "Look! Bokushi-kun was showing me pictures of Akashi Shiori-san. She's so pretty! She's your wife, right? Where is she?"

"Ah, Miyoko—" Bokushi's eyes went wide as she asked Masaomi this question, his stomach churning in an unsettling way at the implications of the answer. Even Bokushi had trouble asking his father more about his mother, information which Bokushi had a right to know. He couldn't imagine how Miyoko, someone who had only known Bokushi for a bit over two weeks and Masaomi for a good few hours, could ask personal questions like this. Although this was clearly just innocent curiosity on Miyoko's part, he still gazed up at his father with a type of meekness he never thought he had as he expected some form of negative response. Instead, Masaomi seemed to understand her curiosity and did not reprimand her. He spoke in a calm and neutral tone of voice.

"She passed away many years ago, actually," he told the young girl. "However, we still keep all of her photos around the house."

Miyoko's face went blank at those words as she thought them over for a few moments.

"Oh," she managed to say. "Sorry."

Masaomi shakes his head.

"Do not apologize, child. It was a long time ago. It is no longer something to be sad over. She is at peace now and that is what matters."

"When did she die, Akashi-san?"

"Around five years ago."

"Five years ago?" She looked off to the side as she began doing some type of mental math in her head. "Bokushi-kun is five years old. So, by the time she died, doesn't that mean you were only just born?"

"Yes?" Bokushi replied, not sure where she was going with this.

"If she died right after you were born, then you really didn't have any time with her. Don't you miss her?"

Bokushi blinked as he processed the question. He never really got to meet his mother, anyway. All he could go by was what Seijuro or his father told him. The earliest memory he had was very brief flashes of her funeral. Other than that, he couldn't remember anything earlier. He frowned as he tried to force his brain to remember, but it was impossible. He was not born before she died, so he had no recollection of those memories.

"I'm sorry," he said "I don't remember much of anything about her. I don't know if I can miss someone who I don't remember."

"Oh…" Miyoko paused for a second. "But you're fine, right? You've still got Akashi-san with you."

"Well, I mean, I suppose," said Bokushi. "But he has his business to worry about as well, you know."

"Is Akashi-san busy a lot?" she asked, looking up at the man in question.

Masaomi nodded. "Running a business requires a lot of time, child. I am a busy man."

"But you still have time to play, right?"

"Play?"

"With Bokushi-kun," Miyoko clarified, pointing to the slightly bewildered boy next to her. "Don't you do anything together?"

"Miyoko..." Bokushi started, now wary of her question. Honestly, he knew Miyoko meant well, but from what she was asking his father, she was basically questioning his parenting skills. While Bokushi could willingly admit that his father's parenting could have most definitely been better, that didn't mean he was going to call the man out on it. Yes, Masaomi barely spent time with Bokushi anyway, but understandably, his job is what put him in that position. Bokushi bit his lip as he waited for a response. His father had this very subtle change to his expression that Bokushi didn't understand before blinking it away.

"Not much, I suppose," he said. "But perhaps if he was to ask, I might humor him."

At this, Bokushi raised a brow. Was that an invitation? He couldn't be sure.

Bokushi didn't know what to think about what his father just said, but surely if he was slowly changing, that means he'd be willing to actually spend time with Bokushi, right? He looked up to his father for any type of facial cues, but his father gave none. He wasn't even looking at Bokushi anymore. Was he avoiding eye contact on purpose?

Bokushi wouldn't bring it up aloud yet. If his father really meant what he said, he would hold him accountable for that statement and bring it up later when it was convenient for him. Soon, Bokushi would see if he could find out how truthful his father was really being.

Moments later, the butler came from the other side of the house, approaching the three of them before bowing politely.

"Good evening, Akashi-sama," he said to Masaomi. "Pardon the interruption, but the cook would like to prepare for dinner. Does this timing suit your schedule, or shall we delay it a bit?"

"No, proceed with the preparations, it will not impede my schedule. It is rather light today."

"Are you making dinner, Abe-san?" Miyoko inquired. "Can I help?"

The butler looked like he was not expecting her question, pausing to glance over to Masaomi as if to silently ask permission. Masaomi waved it off casually, his facial expression seeming like he was questioning why the butler even needed permission for something that did not concern him.

"It is alright," he replied. "As long as she is properly supervised and she does not do anything potentially dangerous, she may help as she likes."

Miyoko pumped a fist in the air in excitement. "Yes! I get to help cook!" She turned to Bokushi who was standing right by them. "You're coming, right?"

Bokushi hesitated for a second. Now that he thought about it, he never really remembered a single time since his creation when he helped the staff in the kitchen when making dinner.

Or breakfast.

Or lunch, now that he thought about it.

It wasn't like he disliked the idea, but he just felt unsure about it for some reason. It seemed a bit childish to him. But, at the end of the day, he was a child now, so did he really have a right to say anything? He thought back to the phone call he had with Seijuro a couple of weeks ago, after his shopping trip with the driver.

"The staff are all good people. They're always there to talk if you need to. That being said, try talking to the others. I'm sure they'll be delighted to have a conversation."

Bokushi exhaled, looking up at the butler.

Maybe the staff could use someone to talk to.

"I suppose I could come along," Bokushi said, coming to a conclusion. "It might be entertaining."

The butler smiled, ushering the two children to the kitchen. "Come along then, I'm sure the cook would appreciate the extra help."

"Okay." Miyoko waved to Masaomi with her own wide smile. "Bye, Akashi-san! We'll see you at dinner!"

Masaomi nodded, turning to make his way upstairs. "Very well."

Miyoko grabbed Bokushi's hand and dragged him along with her. "Let's go, Bokushi-kun."

…

Bokushi and Miyoko were led to the kitchen where all the food in the house was prepared. The kitchen was very large and spacious, and because of the design of their house, all the rooms had an old-fashioned element to them, including the kitchen. Giving off a warm vibe with the wooden brown cabinets and hardwood floor yet contrasting with the dark green on the walls, there was something about the kitchen that attracted Bokushi. It held a special place in Seijuro's memories, as back when their mother was alive, she would cook in the kitchen all the time and make the meals. Perhaps, unbeknownst to both Akashis, that fondness was passed on to Bokushi as well.

By the time they had entered the kitchen, the cook was already in the process of opening the fridge to take ingredients out and place them on the counter while a maid was clearing the sink. However, when they saw the butler walking in with two children in tow they stopped what they were doing. The butler stood with Bokushi and Miyoko near the kitchen entrance and patted them on the shoulder.

"Hashimoto-san, Fujioka-san, it would seem you have two volunteers to help prepare dinner tonight."

The cook looked down at both Bokushi and Miyoko as his mouth quirked into a grin.

"Oh?" he said in amusement. "Is that so?"

The maid was smiling as well, straightening up from where she was hunched over the sink, looking at the two. "Oh! Are you Young Master's friend that I've been hearing about?" she said. "It's very nice of you to offer to help. Come in, both of you, come in. We were just getting started."

The butler nudged them lightly towards the two staff. "Go on," he encouraged.

Bokushi watched as Miyoko eagerly stepped forward, ready to work, while Bokushi approached them with an air of awkwardness. Even though Bokushi had known the staff his whole life, somehow, being in the kitchen with them now was like meeting them for the first time. He felt like an outsider, like someone who shouldn't be there, and he wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to do, or how to introduce himself in this type of situation.

He didn't have to introduce himself, right? The staff knew who he was. Yet somehow, Bokushi felt as if he barely talked to them anyway, so he might as well. But introducing himself at a time like this when he had already been living in this house for over two weeks seemed somewhat improper. Perhaps if he communicated to the staff the way he communicated to teachers, it might ease the awkwardness and bring back the professional atmosphere that Bokushi semi-wanted to return. He knew he shouldn't want to revert back to his old indifferent behavior, but it was the only thing he knew.

He wished he knew better.

"Bokushi-kun, you're so slow! Come on!"

Bokushi blinked out of his trance and was dragged over by Miyoko, who was already getting acquainted with the two staff members in the kitchen. He glanced up to the two, who, amongst their snowballing conversation with Miyoko, both smiled down at him, free of judgement. It made Bokushi feel slightly bad for making such a big deal over such a small and insignificant thing (which was something that happened prettyoften these days).

"Good evening, Young Master," the maid said. "Would you like to help us in tonight's dinner preparations?"

Bokushi glanced over to the butler, who had taken his place on a nearby kitchen stool to sit for a few minutes while he was watching over the two of them carefully. The elderly man met Bokushi's eyes and he too smiled, gesturing for him to answer. Bokushi turned back around and nodded slightly, untrusting of his voice to speak in the fear that it may sound too feeble for his liking. The staff seemed to understand his non-verbal response, however.

"That would be very kind of you, Young Master," the maid said. "Do come over, we'll begin right away."

Walking over to where she was beckoning him to, Bokushi joined Miyoko, who had given the cook a hair tie she had in her pocket to tie Miyoko's hair back in a ponytail. When Miyoko was all finished, she looked up to the cook and the maid in anticipation.

"Hashimoto-san, what are we making today?"

The man gestured to the ingredients on the table.

"We're making a seafood donburi using prawns with miso soup on the side."

"I know what that is!" Miyoko exclaimed, raising her hand. "I helped my mommy make it once."

"Then I expect you to be of tremendous help, Young Madame. But before we start cooking, what is the first thing we must do?"

"Wash our hands!"

"Very good, we'll wash our hands first."

"Okay!"

Miyoko followed the maid to the sink so she could wash her hands before she started. Bokushi stood for a moment, just watching, before he heard the scraping of wood against tile and turned around to see the butler getting out of the chair.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going. There are still other preparations around the house to make before dinner. I will be seeing you children later."

Miyoko turned around from the kitchen sink and waved. "Bye, Abe-san! We'll see you at dinner time!"

"Goodbye. Please enjoy yourself."

As he said that last statement, he gazed directly at Bokushi, the glimmer in his eyes dancing in amusement before he up and left. Bokushi wasn't sure if he had meant to purposely do that, but he also wouldn't be surprised if the butler did. He must have realized that Bokushi needed to loosen up a little. Bokushi watched his butler leave the room and close the door before a voice pulled him back to reality.

"Bokushi-kun, it's your turn to wash your hands."

Bokushi turned back to find Miyoko being set down on the floor, drying her hands with a kitchen towel. The boy nodded and whipped around to join her by the sink.

"Alright."

Let's get dinner started.

~O~

Dinner preparation was quite eventful, as this was the first time that Bokushi had ever helped out, even more eventful at the fact that there was now a plus one with him to assist. The cook and the maid happily accepted the help, and Bokushi had the sneaky suspicion that they were waiting for the day he would come into the kitchen. While this wasn't exactly the first thing he would think of doing on a day where he had no plans, he was thankful that Miyoko was here the one time he was going to do this. Miyoko removed all awkward factors and genuinely just made things more tolerable for Bokushi. That innocence was something he craved for at that moment.

I suppose that's one of the pros of being a child, he mused.

They started on the preparations of the rice, since that would take the most time. Luckily, since there was a rice cooker within the kitchen, they would be able to cook it relatively faster than if they just boiled it. Because this was one of the safest steps to do in the recipe, Miyoko and Bokushi did this step by themselves while the two staff members just supervised. He showed her how much rice to put in the rice cooker and which buttons to press to cook it. From there, it was a matter of getting the rest of the steps right for the other ingredients.

Miyoko was especially eager to slice the vegetables, as her mother apparently didn't let her near the kitchen knives at home often, so the cook assisted her with that, holding her hand as she sliced the eggplant and the renkon lotus roots. Bokushi and the maid were working on removing the shells of the prawns on the side and then slicing the green onions and chopping tofu for the miso soup. For someone so reluctant to even help with dinner, Bokushi seemed to be very attentive to detail when it came to actually making the food. When questioned on it by the maid, Bokushi simply stated that he refused to put any less than a hundred percent of his effort into any task he did, regardless of how small it might be.

After this, they then moved to the making of the batter. While the oil began to heat up along with the pot of water next to it for the soup, the staff allowed Bokushi and Miyoko to make the tempura batter as they prepared the ingredients for the sauce. Bokushi started off by pouring in the tempura flour and ice-cold water. Miyoko was excited to whisk the ingredients together and see it become batter, but Bokushi was especially careful to make sure she didn't spill any over the sides of the bowl, reminding her to slow down her pace whenever she started whisking a little too fast for his comfort.

They finally got onto the main part of making the tempura bowl, the cook letting the maid handle the rest of the preparation for the miso soup. Bokushi and Miyoko helped the cook finish the tempura bowl while the rice was still cooking. Taking turns dipping ingredients in flour, Bokushi and Miyoko carefully coated both the prawns and vegetables in reasonable amounts of the flour before handing it over to the cook, who dipped everything inside the batter and let it fry. The prawns and vegetables were fried to a light golden color and were placed on the steaming rice once it was cooked. Afterwards, the cook began to make the sauce on his own, Bokushi and Miyoko moving to help the maid with the soup, going to get the bowls to serve it in. They poured the soup into the bowls, then poured the sauce on top of the tempura bowl.

By the time dinner was completed, the butler had come back into the kitchen ready to serve the food. But when he saw everything that had been made, he raised his eyebrows, a smile adorning his face.

"My oh my," the butler said in awe. "Young Madame, did you and the Young Master make this?"

Miyoko nodded fervently. "Yeah!" she affirmed. "Bokushi-kun and I cooked with Hashimoto-san and Fujioka-san!"

"Well, I think it looks lovely. I'm sure Akashi-sama will be very impressed."

Bokushi seemed skeptical. Would he actually?

The butler turned to Bokushi, who hadn't spoken since he came in, and kept the smile on his face.

"I take it you enjoyed yourself, Young Master?"

Bokushi fought the urge to narrow his eyes at that question, already understanding the subtext behind it, as if to ask: 'Have you actually come out of your shell and socialized?' Bokushi nodded, nonetheless.

"Yes, Abe-san."

Truth be told, however, Bokushi actually did enjoy himself a little. He was pretty reluctant about coming into the kitchen at first, but after spending time making food with Miyoko and the staff, it seemed he was wrong about this too. Because he was only trained to keep a professional relationship with the staff working around the house, Bokushi hadn't been able to spend time getting to know them personally. He felt somewhat closer to these two staff members after spending time in the kitchen like this, and on top of that, he learned more cooking skills (he wasn't bad at cooking at all, but certainly didn't cook much these days since he just never had the time). Bokushi predicted he may or may not have more visits to this kitchen in the future.

…Maybe.

The butler began to gather the serving plates for the dishes, ready to load them onto the serving cart.

"If this is all finished, then I will be taking these to the—"

"Wait, Abe-san!"

The three staff and Bokushi blinked at Miyoko's sudden outburst, wondering what she could be calling the butler for so earnestly. The elderly man looked down at her.

"Yes, Young Madame? Is there something you need?"

She pointed to the serving cart he had brought from the corner of the kitchen. "I was wondering if I could serve it," she said. "Since I helped with the food, I want to serve it to Akashi-san."

"Is that so? Well, I don't see anything wrong with that. You may serve the dish, if you would like."

"Thank you, Abe-san!" Miyoko began walking towards the cart before turning around to Bokushi. "Are you gonna help serve?"

It was almost impressive how much Miyoko would insist on involving Bokushi with whatever she was doing without fail. Still, Bokushi vaguely wondered what face his father would make if they came out with the food instead of the butler. Either way, Miyoko was kind enough to offer to help serve, and Bokushi would look like a horrible person to let her do it herself, so he really had no choice but to go along with her.

"Yes, I'll help you serve."

Miyoko grinned. "Awesome! Now, let's get the food and go."

…

Masaomi was sat at the dinner table, typing away on his phone, when Bokushi and Miyoko padded across the floor, wheeling the food cart out of the kitchen, coming closer and closer to where the dining room was. Bokushi could see the man's brows furrowed, turning his head over to where the sound was coming from to see something he most likely didn't expect.

They approached the table with undoubted clumsiness, Bokushi always having to pull the cart back the right way when Miyoko pushed it in the wrong direction. The butler was directly behind them, watching their every move in case something was to happen, yet somehow, the cart managed to reach the table in one piece. The cart halted to a stop near Masaomi's seat, Bokushi heaving a sigh of relief at the fact that he was finally done pulling the heavy cart down the hallway before looking up at his father with a rather sheepish expression.

"Good evening, father."

His father looked down at him. "Good evening," he answered back.

Miyoko waved from behind the cart as well, face hidden by the various serving plates in the way. "Good evening, Akashi-san! We've come to bring dinner."

"She insisted she would be the one to bring it to the table, Akashi-sama," the butler explained when Masaomi glanced up to him for a debrief.

He hummed. "Is that so?"

"Yeah! I wanna be the butler for today." She brought a plate from the cart, serving dish and all, walking slowly over to Masaomi with an air of caution, so as not to disturb the contents in her hand.

"Almost…there…"

Bokushi turned around to look at the butler standing behind him. He was watching Miyoko with a slight tinge of concern, his hands twitching every now and again when he thought that Miyoko might trip on whatever imaginary obstacle Bokushi assumed he had in his mind. By the time she reached the table, Bokushi could hear an audible sigh of relief from behind him. Watching someone else do his job must have been nerve-wracking.

Miyoko lifted the serving plate up to Masaomi, who took it from her and placed it on the table.

"I give you my thanks," he said to her. "Please do sit so that Abe-san may serve you."

Flashing one last smile at Masaomi in gratefulness, Miyoko followed Bokushi over to where the rest of the chairs were pushed into the dining table, surveying them all with narrowed eyes.

"Hmm…where should I sit? I think I'll sit next to Akashi-san." Bokushi watched as Miyoko sauntered over to the chair to the left of the man, climbing on and settling herself. Once she was properly situated, she gestured over to the chair directly across from her. "You should sit over there, Bokushi-kun."

Bokushi stared at the chair she was pointing to with a blank expression, almost as if he didn't understand he was supposed to sit there even though he knew exactly what she said. Because of his prolonged pause, Miyoko must have taken it as a misunderstanding about where to sit, so she pointed again.

"There, sit there," she clarified. "Next to Akashi-san."

Now snapped out of his trance, Bokushi glanced at Miyoko once before making his way over to the chair Miyoko told him to sit on. When he had climbed on and settled himself, he looked to his right and locked eyes with his father. It was just for a moment, but Bokushi knew that his father was most likely thinking the same thing as him. Never in his life had Bokushi ever sat next to his father in such close proximity. When he and Seijuro used to share a body, they would sit on the opposite side of the table and eat in silence. Even now that they were separated, Bokushi still held onto that habit. This was going to be yet another change that Bokushi would have to get used to, but he wasn't sure how many changes he could take in one day.

The butler came and placed their food down in front of them, leaving once everything was situated. It wasn't until the sound of the serving cart slowly disappeared that Bokushi realized how quiet it now was. At the very least, it's not like he had to speak. Since it was dinner, he could just eat in silence and go. He was about to start on his portion of rice before hearing a loud hum of satisfaction. Glancing up, he saw Miyoko eating her first bite of the food, enjoying it thoroughly as a smile dawned on her face.

"It's really good, Bokushi-kun!" she told him. "We made it well."

"That's great," Bokushi acknowledged slowly. He was unused to talking at the dinner table, and so starting conversation before he even took his first bite was new to him. Sure, there were more occasions these days where he spoke while eating, but never this soon into his meal. Neither Bokushi nor his father were rather talkative. "I'm glad you like it."

"What about you, Akashi-san? Do you like it?"

Bokushi glanced at his father, who had just taken his first bite. After swallowing, he turned to Miyoko and nodded. "It is good," he said.

Miyoko brightened at the words, clapping in excitement. "We should cook dinner tomorrow, too."

"I can tell Abe-san to take you both to the kitchen tomorrow as well, if you'd like."

"Yes! I'd like that very much. Cooking is really fun. Do you like to cook, Akashi-san?"

"Due to my schedule, I do not spend time cooking," Masaomi answered.

"What do you like to do, then?" asked Miyoko. Bokushi didn't take part in the conversation, but he was listening as he ate. Since he never had conversations like this with his father, Bokushi knew next to nothing about him outside of his business persona. Perhaps by letting Miyoko engage with his father, Bokushi would be able to gather some much-needed data that he could use to understand his father more.

Masaomi took a thoughtful sip of his water before setting the glass gently back onto the table. "In my time off, I enjoy reading and also riding my horse."

"Is there anything you wanna do that you haven't done yet?"

"Something I haven't done yet…" Masaomi repeated. He fell silent for a moment, and Bokushi was a bit surprised that he was actually taking the question so seriously. "I frequently travel out of the country for work, but perhaps one of these days I would like to travel just to sightsee."

Huh. That wasn't an answer Bokushi was expecting. But he barely had time to process his father's answer before Miyoko perked up and continued talking.

"Oh! So, you, Seijuro-san, and Bokushi-kun would go sightseeing together?"

"I don't have a passport, Miyoko," said Bokushi.

Miyoko blinked. "What's a passport?"

"It's a little book you're given that lets you travel to other countries," Bokushi explained as simply as he could. "So, because I don't have one, I can't leave the country."

"Can't you just get one?"

Under normal circumstances, he could. However, considering the fact that he did not come into this world through normal circumstances and was walking around undocumented in every way imaginable, the process to even apply for a passport would already be difficult at best and impossible at worst. But to explain this all to Miyoko would be too much work.

"It takes a long time," Bokushi settled for. "There's a lot of things you need before you can get one. So, it would be pretty hard."

"Perhaps not," said Masaomi, his sudden reappearance in the conversation startling Bokushi slightly.

He turned to his father, not understanding. "What do you mean?"

His father put his chopsticks down briefly to respond. "The documents needed to obtain a passport are not as out-of-reach as you imagine. They simply require you to apply for them as soon as possible in order to receive them in a timely manner. I will begin the paperwork for that this weekend."

"Oh," said Bokushi, forgetting his manners for short moment before tacking on a quick "Thank you, father" to the end of his sentence. He thought back to his father's words earlier that day about humoring Bokushi and realized that his father was actually keeping to his word about indulging requests. Because there was absolutely no necessity for Bokushi to own a passport, but it seemed like his father was trying to include him in the event that Bokushi ever did want to travel abroad.

But wait, did that mean that his father was actually serious about a potential family holiday? Did that mean he was actually working to spend time with Bokushi and Seijuro in the future? Bokushi tried to imagine actually going on a holiday out of the country with his brother and his father and wondered what it would be like. Where would they go? What would they do? How would it feel to sight-see, buy souvenirs, and take photos like a regular family for once?

"Bokushi-kun… Bokushi-kun!"

Bokushi shook himself out of his thoughts, realizing he had spaced out. He turned to Miyoko, who was staring at him from the other side of the table. "Yes?"

"I was asking what we were gonna do after dinner."

"Well," said Bokushi, "I was going to video call Seijuro-nii. He said he would be free after dinner."

Miyoko perked up at that. "We're gonna talk to Seijuro-san? Yay! We should eat quickly so we can call him."

"Not too fast or your stomach will hurt," Bokushi reminded her, but otherwise left her alone while she ate. Because, even if he didn't say it out loud, he was also looking forward to the call as well.

…

After dinner, as it was a bit late, the maids led Bokushi and Miyoko back upstairs to bathe and change into their nightwear. After they were properly dressed, they were ready for the call and Bokushi tried to hide his excitement when his father had come into his room with his work laptop opened and ready to use, setting it on the bed where Bokushi and Miyoko were sitting.

"I will come back for it at eight o'clock," Masaomi had said, before quietly taking his leave, trusting Bokushi to understand how to use the laptop without his help.

Once the door closed, Bokushi turned the laptop toward him and was easily able to open up the Skype application, find Seijuro's contact name and hit the call button. On the third ring, the call connected, and suddenly, the black screen was replaced with Seijuro's face, who smiled once he saw the two faces staring back at him.

"Hey."

"Seijuro-nii," Bokushi greeted, unaware of the way his own eyes lit up at the sound of his voice. "Good evening."

"Good evening, Seijuro-san!" Miyoko chimed, excited to hear him as well.

"Good evening to the both of you," Seijuro responded, eyes softening a little. "You two have been spending the day together, yes? Have you been enjoying yourselves?"

"Yes, it was amazing!" said Miyoko. "We made dinner tonight in the kitchen with Hashimoto-san and Fujioka-san."

"That's wonderful," said Seijuro. "What else did you do today?"

"Hmm…" Miyoko looked skyward as she tried to recall the events of the day. "Well, we went to see the stables, your dad let us ride on Yukimaru, and then he showed us his horse-riding skills on Kuroshinpi, too."

"He did?" Seijuro said, this time sounding genuinely surprised. He and Bokushi exchanged a look between each other through their laptop screens, and Bokushi knew that they were thinking the exact same thing. Their father didn't just whip out his horse for any old occasion. For him to not only ride his horse but show off for others was simply unheard of. "I'm sure that must have been exciting."

"It was!" Miyoko agreed. "Bokushi-kun and I had a lot of fun watching."

"Bokushi, too, huh?" Seijuro said with a tinge of amusement in his voice. Bokushi felt his cheeks warm without his permission at Seijuro's tone, glancing off to the side.

"It was nice," he mumbled quietly. "He was really good."

"Yeah, he was making Kuroshinpi run this way and that way and then jump as high as the sky!" Miyoko described, making exaggerated gestures as she tried to explain what she saw the best way she could. "Your dad is really cool."

"Well… thank you for saying that," said Seijuro. Bokushi clocked Seijuro's hesitation and understood it for what it was. Their father was described as many things, such as powerful, influential, and stern. But cool? That was certainly a new one, and Bokushi could tell it threw Seijuro off for a second. "Anything else you did today?"

"Oh! Bokushi-kun also showed me around the house. I saw old photos of you in the living room."

"Ah, those," said Seijuro. He looked the tiniest bit fond as he spoke. "I think when those photos were taken I might have been around your age. It was a long time ago."

"Wow, that long ago? Those photos are really old, then!" said Miyoko. "I wish I could've seen Bokushi-kun's old photos, though. How come he doesn't have any?"

Both Seijuro and Bokushi froze at the question. It was asked so suddenly that neither of them had time to prepare an answer. Yes, they had been telling everyone the truth of Bokushi's origin thus far, but those were people who were already aware of the circumstances in which Bokushi came to be. How could Miyoko, a five-year-old child, who knew of nothing of Seijuro's childhood or what happened in Teiko, be expected to understand?

But at the same time, Bokushi didn't like lying to her. So much of what went wrong with his friendships in Teiko and his first year in Rakuzan was due to his façade built off of lies, omission of information, and unhealthy coping mechanisms. After all that he had endured on behalf of Seijuro, he had been reborn in his own body and given a second chance. The last thing he wanted to do with the chance he had unexpectedly been granted was to start another toxic cycle by building his new friendships on more lies. He couldn't allow himself to do that again, especially not to Miyoko.

A few moments of silence went by and Bokushi took a deep beath and let out a shaky exhale. "Do you really want to know why I don't have any photos in the house?"

On the laptop screen, Seijuro's eyes widened, understanding where Bokushi was going with his question. "Bokushi—"

"It's alright. I want to tell her," Bokushi interjected quickly. He turned to face Miyoko, who seemed to be confused by the sudden change in the atmosphere, expression serious as ever. "Miyoko, I can tell you why you can't see me in any family photos. Do you want to hear my reason?"

Miyoko, despite the heaviness in the air, nodded, still wanting to hear her friend out. Bokushi processed her answer and mirrored her nod.

"Very well," he said, taking a moment to compose himself before speaking again. "The thing is… Seijuro-nii and I used to be one person."

He kept his eyes locked on Miyoko's face, gauging her expression while he explained himself. Rather than skepticism or outright denial of Bokushi's claim, she instead kept quiet, mulling what he said over in her head.

"You and your brother were the same?" she asked. "What does that mean?"

"It means that we used to share the same body. I wasn't a real person before. I used to be in Seijuro-nii's head, like—like a…" Bokushi felt himself fumbling for words in a rare display of uncertainty, trying to make Miyoko understand what he was talking about, but he eventually thought of a comparison that would make sense to her. "Like an imaginary friend," he settled on, relieved when he finally saw clarity in Miyoko's eyes.

"Oh! So, you were like Seijuro-san's imaginary friend? He made you up in his head?"

"Yes… sort of like that," said Bokushi, holding back a cringe because he felt like he was bastardizing the actual explanation for how and why he was born. "Seijuro-nii created me in his mind."

"Why did he create you? Was he lonely?"

Bokushi hesitated for a moment, considering Miyoko's question. "Perhaps," he said. "He was also stressed, tired, and a little scared. He created me to protect him."

"Protect him from what?"

For the first time in a few minutes, Bokushi glanced back at the laptop screen. Seijuro had not said a word since Bokushi began his explanation, and looking at him now, he seemed equally engrossed in what Bokushi had to say with no desire to jump into the conversation. He leaned back in his seat and stared, waiting for his younger brother to finish.

Well, here goes nothing.

"Miyoko, sometimes… sometimes the world isn't so nice," Bokushi began slowly. "Bad things can happen that make us very sad—sad for a while in a way that not many things can fix." Too many painful memories played back in his mind at that. The day of their mother's funeral. The day he became the captain of the Teiko basketball team. The day the team began to fall apart. The day Seijuro snapped and switched personalities for the first time. "To deal with that, people sometimes have their own ways to make themselves feel better. Seijuro-nii's way of doing that was by making me. For a long time, when the world was a bit too mean, I was there to help him. Does that make sense?"

Miyoko nodded, and Bokushi was happy she was still following. "I think I get it. So, if you were made to help him, then why did you leave his head?"

Bokushi gave a small bitter smile as he recounted the day he vanished. "He needed my help one last time, but the only way I could help him was by disappearing. So, that's what I did. And now I'm here."

At that, Miyoko furrowed her brows, and Bokushi was worried he didn't simplify his explanation enough, until she opened her mouth to speak again.

"You disappeared but you came back?" she asked. "Why?"

Now that was a question. So far, all the people Seijuro and Bokushi had explained this situation to asked how he came back, but nobody had ever asked why. At least with the 'how', Bokushi could chalk that up to not understanding the cosmic inner workings of the universe, but the 'why'? That would require Bokushi to dig deep within himself and pull out an answer that he wasn't even sure he had.

It felt like an eternity passed as Bokushi was thinking, but he ultimately gave up, shoulders slumping in defeat.

"I… I don't know," he admitted.

(He hated how small his voice sounded when he said that.)

Bokushi glanced back to Seijuro on the screen, who gave him a look of sympathy before finally contributing to the conversation.

"It's okay not to know, Bokushi. You don't have to force yourself to come up with an answer," he said. "You did well explaining by yourself."

That at least made Bokushi feel a tiny bit better, comforted by the idea that he didn't need to have an answer right away. "Thank you. Either way, I hope this helped you understand Seijuro-nii and I a little more, Miyoko."

"It did," said Miyoko. "Thank you for telling me. It seems like you and Seijuro-san are really close."

The corner of Bokushi's lips twitched upward unconsciously and he found himself smiling. "Yeah, we are," he said. "I'm blessed to have him as a brother."

To hear Bokushi be so honest and forthcoming like that must have taken Seijuro aback because Bokushi turned back to the screen in time to catch the owlish look that flashed across his face before he tried to rein in his expression.

"Oh, that's… thank you, Bokushi. Truly," he said. Bokushi could tell he was really happy to hear that. "I'm blessed to have you, too."

Bokushi's smile only became gentler at those words as he looked down momentarily and took them in. "Thank you."

From there, they changed the subject as Miyoko became curious as to what Seijuro was up to and kept asking him questions about his school life, which he readily answered. And when he was done giving life updates, Miyoko moved onto more miscellaneous topics, Bokushi giving his two cents every once in a while. The video call ended up going on for longer than they expected, and before they knew it, Bokushi and Miyoko heard a knock at the door and found Masaomi along with a maid standing at the doorway.

"It is eight o'clock," he informed the two of them, approaching the bed where they were both sat. "It would be best to wrap up the call so you may sleep on time."

"Aw, eight o'clock already?" Miyoko whined. "But I wanted to talk some more."

"It's alright, Miyoko. We can talk to Seijuro-nii another time," Bokushi reassured her.

"That's right," said Seijuro. "I should be free tomorrow around the same time. How about you call me then?"

"I think we'd like that," said Bokushi. "What do you think, Miyoko?"

"Tomorrow is okay," she relented. "Bye-bye, Seijuro-san. See you tomorrow!"

"Goodbye for now, Miyoko-chan. And goodbye, Bokushi," said Seijuro. "When you find your answer, let me know. Sleep well."

With that, the call disconnected, and Bokushi found himself staring once again at a blank screen. He tried to ignore the emptiness he felt as he closed the laptop and handed it to his father.

"Here's your laptop back."

Masaomi took his laptop from Bokushi. "Thank you," he said. "I will be heading back to my room now, I will see the both of you in the morning. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Akashi-san!" said Miyoko. Bokushi followed suit, bidding his father farewell.

"Goodnight, father."

Masaomi nodded and then wordlessly made his way back out of Bokushi's bedroom, the maid entering once Masaomi had passed her.

"Alright, let's get the both of you tucked in," she said, a warm smile on her face.

She ushered the two of them to sit on the other side of the bed, and when she pulled the duvet out from under the pillows, she gestured for them to sit on the sheets, where she laid the duvet back over the two of them (as well as Yuki and Mimi upon Miyoko's request) once they were situated. She fussed with the duvet for a few moments more before she was satisfied, straightening back up and looking down at them on the bed.

"Alright, Miyoko, if either of you need anything at all in the middle of the night, wake the Young Master up and he should be able to lead you to the staff's quarters. He knows what to do."

"I think I'll be okay," said Miyoko. "Bokushi-kun is good at protecting. He'll protect me."

Bokushi blinked at the implications of that response, shifting to look at Miyoko from his side of the bed with wide eyes.

"I'm sure he will," the maid replied without missing a beat, the same level of understanding in her expression. Bokushi felt like she could tell that he told Miyoko everything. "But I'll also be around, just in case you need me."

The maid passed a hand through Miyoko's hair in a fond caress, and then, without hesitation, did the same to Bokushi, smiling at the mild surprise on the latter's face. "Sweet dreams, you two," she said softly, walking over to the light switch next to the door and turning the lights off, engulfing the room in darkness before closing the door, Bokushi listening as her footsteps retreated down the hall.

As soon as Bokushi was sure she was gone, he resituated himself in bed and closed his eyes.

"Goodnight, Bokushi-kun," he heard Miyoko say. He didn't open his eyes again, but he did respond to her.

"Goodnight, Miyoko. And… thank you for believing me earlier when I said that I used to be a part of Seijuro-nii. Most people would think I'm lying."

The bed shifted and he got the distinct feeling that Miyoko's eyes were on him.

"You're welcome," she said. "I'll always believe you, Bokushi-kun. I hope you find your answer."

A smile played at Bokushi's lips. "Thank you. I hope I find it, too."

The bed shifted again, and Bokushi assumed Miyoko was done talking for the night, so he decided to follow her lead. It took longer than usual to relax, but slowly but surely, Bokushi felt himself slip away. After shaking away the last of his conscious thoughts, he gave up the fight against sleep and let himself be pulled under.

…

It's bright.

That was the first thought that Bokushi had upon awakening.

Rubbing his eyes and sitting up, Bokushi waited for his vision to adjust so he could figure out what was going on. However, he was shocked to find that instead of opening his eyes to sun rays bathing his bedroom in morning light, he was instead staring out into miles and miles of endless void, a singular stark white light source shining directly down on him.

That couldn't be right.

Bokushi quickly stood to his feet, his heart already beating quicker as he tried to figure out where exactly he was. No matter which direction he turned, there was nothing but darkness past his feet. He glanced up at the light source above him but instantly regretted it when he realized just how painfully bright it was, raising an arm above his head to shield his eyes. But in the middle of raising his arm, he took a closer look at it and stopped in his tracks.

This was not the arm of a five-year-old child.

Bokushi immediately looked down at himself and noticed his body was different. He was taller and more muscular, almost like he had a growth spurt overnight.

He tried walking a few steps forward, the light source following him as he tested out his current physicality, and it surprised him how acquainted he felt with this body already. It was familiar to him, as if he had it once before.

As if he had it once before…

Wait.

He was back in his original body.

At the realization, his eyes widened, gaping at his hands and turning them every which way to be sure. Without a doubt, this was the body he once inhabited, back when he and Seijuro still shared a consciousness. But how did he get his body back? And where was he?

Without warning, another light came on nearby, drawing Bokushi toward it like a moth to a flame. When he reached the light, he saw that under its glow was a small table. On that table rested a remote, and Bokushi picked it up to look at it. Upon further inspection, he noticed the remote only had one button, which was a play button. Bokushi deliberated for a moment whether or not he wanted to press it, but he eventually came to the conclusion that since he had no leads as to how he ended up in this situation, he had nothing to lose by using the remote. So, with no wasted time, he pressed play.

Immediately after pressing that button, the dark void that surrounded Bokushi disappeared in an instant and he was now sitting on some bleachers amongst cheering audience members. Jarred by the sudden noise and change in environment, Bokushi felt himself drop the remote, hands flying to cover his ears and eyes screwing shut. But one shout in the crowd managed to get through to him amidst all the commotion.

"You can do it!"

That voice… sounded familiar.

Eyes opening again, Bokushi turned to where the voice was coming from, and blinked in surprise when he saw somebody who was definitely part of the Seirin basketball team. He had brown shaggy hair and a cat-like expression on his face. If Bokushi remembered correctly, he was one of the seniors that attended Kuroko's birthday party earlier that year. What was his name again? Wasn't it Koganei?

As Bokushi looked around at the rest of the people on the bleachers, he realized that more of the seniors on Seirin's team were here as well, cheering and clapping. It was a long shot, but maybe they could help Bokushi figure out what was going on.

He turned back to Koganei, who was seated closest to him.

"Excuse me, Koganei-san" he called.

Koganei didn't even budge, almost as if he didn't hear Bokushi at all. Instead, he seemed to be staring intently at something in front of him that Bokushi could not yet see. Thinking that maybe the crowd was too loud, Bokushi decided to try a different method.

"Excuse me, Koganei-san," Bokushi repeated, reaching over to tap his shoulder. "Do you know what's going—"

The rest of the words died on the tip of his tongue as his hand completely phased through Koganei's body. Stunned, Bokushi tried again, and the same thing happened. His hand once again phased through Koganei's body as if Bokushi was a ghost. He retracted his hand and looked back down at himself, thoroughly bewildered.

How was any of this possible?

Just as Bokushi was about to give up and look for the remote he dropped, Koganei began cheering again.

"Let's go, Vorpal Swords!"

Bokushi whipped his head back to Koganei and the rest of the Seirin seniors, who had begun to join him with their own words of encouragement.

"You got this, Vorpal Swords!"

"We'll win this for sure!"

"Team Jabberwock is falling back!"

What?

Suddenly, everything past the bleachers became illuminated, and Bokushi looked down to see that they were outside, directly in front of a basketball court. A game was already underway, players on the court running back and forth at a pace almost too fast to keep up with. Bokushi leaned forward to catch a glimpse of who was playing, and, lo and behold, it was exactly who he thought it was.

There in front of him was Team Jabberwock and Team Vorpal Swords, duking it out on the court like their lives depended on it. Just looking at Team Jabberwock again made Bokushi's blood boil. The way that team looked down on others was beyond anything Bokushi had ever seen before, and his fingers twitched thinking about their nasty words and how physically aggressive they were.

Quelling his momentary anger, Bokushi took a closer look at Vorpal Swords to see who was on the lineup out there. From what he could see, there was Kuroko, Kagami, Midorima, Aomine, and…

Bokushi watched as Nash approached the fifth Vorpal Swords player on the court, the player in question getting into a defensive stance as he watched the ball bounce up and down on the court. There was no mistaking the red hair, it had to be Seijuro that was on the court with everyone. Nash said something briefly to Seijuro before crossing him with impeccable speed, and Bokushi watched Seijuro stumble and fall backwards onto the ground. It was in this moment that dread washed over Bokushi, finally grasping what was actually happening.

That wasn't Seijuro on the court. It was Bokushi.

Bokushi was viewing himself play the Jabberwock vs Vorpal Swords match in third-person.

And he happened to be watching the part of the match where everything began to fall apart.

Bokushi clenched his jaw, watching as Team Jabberwock quickly took back control of the game, intercepting Team Vorpal Sword's passes and blocking their shots. All their attacks were shut down, the members of Vorpal Swords starting to run out of steam. As Bokushi watched himself get into another one-on-one with Nash in the middle of the court, he couldn't help but feel sorry for himself. He tried so hard to strive for victory, and, with Vorpal Swords, this was the first time he sought victory for the right reasons. But seeing himself struggle like that and slowly lose control of the game was not a pretty sight at all.

He became more solemn watching himself pant as he stared at Nash with unfocused eyes until he suddenly heard his own voice ring out crystal clear over the noise of the audience.

"This is farewell."

The court and bleachers vanished around Bokushi, and he was back to standing in an endless void. However, this time, there was a light in the distance illuminating two people. It was himself and Seijuro, standing face-to-face, and nausea creeped up into Bokushi's throat, anticipating the conversation that was about to come.

Seijuro already had that look of distress on his face at Bokushi's words. "What are you say—"

"You understand already," said Bokushi. "Nash is strong. At this rate, we will lose. When I saw his Demon Eye, I was shocked. But at the same time, I also saw a possibility. That maybe the Emperor Eye wasn't inferior, but from the beginning, the Emperor Eye was incomplete. The reason is simple. It's because the two of us are split apart. But I will vanish. I'll return everything to you, so you can return to being whole once more."

Bokushi shook his head.

No, no, no. This couldn't be happening again. Not a second time.

He tried to run over to the pair and stop them before their conversation finished, but he found that he couldn't move his legs. No matter how hard he willed for himself to move, his body refused to cooperate. He could only stand rooted to his spot as he was forced to watch the scene unfold from the sidelines.

"I have confidence," said Bokushi. "If your court vision used to create the perfect pass merges with Emperor Eye that can see the future, you'll no doubt be able to gain a power equal to or greater than Nash."

Seeing that they weren't stopping, Bokushi bent down and began to pull at his own legs, trying to pry them off the ground by force, but nothing was working. In a moment of desperation, he looked up at the pair in the distance and tried to get their attention.

"Wait!" he shouted. "Please stop!"

"…Is that the only way?" Seijuro questioned.

"Don't worry, I was never meant to exist, anyway," Bokushi replied. "But to be able to play basketball with everyone again is the greatest gift I could ask for. Thank you."

"No!"

As if a spell had been lifted, Bokushi's legs regained their mobility, and he stumbled forward a few steps before righting himself and running over to Seijuro and himself, praying that he would make it in time and put a stop to what was about to happen next.

When he was within reaching distance of them, he stretched his arm out to himself just as he slowly began to fade away, eyes wild with panic.

"Don't leave!" he begged, attempting to grab on and hold him back. But once again, his hand phased through his body, and Bokushi watched himself in horror as he disappeared completely, never to be seen again.

He felt his legs buckle and let himself fall to his knees. He was too late. He couldn't stop himself in time. He failed.

Something shifted next to Bokushi, and he lifted his head slightly to check what it was, only to see Seijuro standing over him. He was looking Bokushi directly in the eye, and Bokushi was slightly unnerved since this was the first time his presence had been acknowledged.

"S-Seijuro-nii…" he choked out, surprised to hear himself sound so close to tears.

Saying nothing, Seijuro walked closer and sunk down in front of him, reaching out to cup Bokushi's face with one hand. Bokushi pressed his face into the hand more insistently, unconsciously seeking comfort after everything he had just witnessed. But when Seijuro leaned close to Bokushi's ear, his heart dropped at what his older brother had to say.

"Your job is done. Sleep now, Bokushi."

Bokushi had no time to react before it felt like the floor disappeared from under his feet. With a frightened cry of alarm, he tried to grab onto Seijuro, but Seijuro didn't even attempt to meet him halfway, watching with an apathetic expression as his younger brother fell into the void below.

Bokushi thrashed around as he fell, hoping to find something else to latch onto. Looking down, he couldn't see the ground either, which meant he couldn't anticipate when and how hard he would land. So, he closed his eyes tight and braced himself for impact.

Contrary to his expectations, he landed with a splash.

It took a little extra effort to open his eyes this time around, but Bokushi was able to manage and figured out that he was now completely submerged underwater. He looked to his left and to his right, but all that met him was darkness. He was unsure of where he was supposed to go until a light shone from the surface, Bokushi gazing up to see what was causing it.

Kuroko was standing at the edge of the water, dressed in his Vorpal Swords uniform and holding open a big extravagant metal door leading to somewhere bright that Bokushi couldn't see. Standing in front of Kuroko were Kise, Midorima, Aomine, Murasakibara, and Kagami, all dressed in their Vorpal Swords uniform. It only took a fraction of a second for Bokushi to realize that this wasn't just any regular door. This was the door to the Direct Drive Zone.

One by one, all of them began to walk through the door without looking back, Kuroko patiently waiting for them to enter. Bokushi decided to swim up, his desire to pass through that door growing every second. He was almost at the surface, and the Direct Drive Zone was practically in his grasp, but right before his hand could break the surface of the water, something grabbed onto his leg and tried to pull him back down into the depths.

Bokushi glanced down at his leg, wondering what could possibly have grabbed it, but there was nothing there. Something intangible was pulling him down, and Bokushi was unsure of how to stop it.

He resumed with his attempt to swim upwards, struggling against the invisible force to get to the surface, but it was to no avail. Eventually, all of his teammates entered the door, Kuroko followed them in, and he closed the door behind him, engulfing the water in darkness again.

Bokushi gritted his teeth, frustrated at the fact that he was too late again. Nobody noticed him. They all left him behind like he was nothing to them. Like he didn't even exist. He lost his final chance.

Seijuro's voice rang out again, his tone almost taunting Bokushi in his failure.

"Your job is done. Sleep now, Bokushi."

The force pulling Bokushi quickly overpowered him, and he was mercilessly dragged further and further away from the surface. As he was pulled under, more voices joined in.

"Sleep now, Bokushi."

Bokushi knew all those voices well. They were the voices of his former teammates, his friends, all blended into one distorted cacophony. He badly wished there was some way to make them stop, but they continued repeating that line over and over again.