'The SSRA's Official Guide to Paranormal Beings and Subsequent Phenomena, 5th edition' is one of the first books Lysandra recieved from her mentor, even before she entered SSRA. It is, like many other books in her side of the library, filled with notations from a particular woman.
"Whisps are one of the most common paranormal phenomena, or beings. They vary from taking the appearance of fireflies or insects to humanoid. I personally ran into a rather peculiar one that took the form of what the children now call a, 'Siren Head' in France, sometime in the late 1800s. Quite an interesting coincidence. The Internet is a marvel indeed.
Whisps speak in their memories. Repeating the words spoken by their living selves like a broken record. Each word can only be used once, however, and when they run out of memories to voice, the Whisp usually fades."
Annotations in the margins of a copy of 'The SSRA's Official Guide to Paranormal Beings and Subsequent Phenomena, 5th edition'.
The first day of school is loud, rowdy and painted pink with sakuras, lined with booths of clubs and various enthusiastic promoters of their own interests. If it was anyone else, they would've been stopped by at least five senpais on their way to their destinations, wherever it may be. But Tetsuya finds weaving through the crowd not too much of an issue, his usual lack of presence allowing him to slip past students without them batting an eye. He briefly stops by the maps to confirm his destination, then makes his way to the basketball club's booth.
The booth is manned by three people, two seated in chairs and another... On the floor. Someone else is signing up, a redhead around Aomine-kun's height with a clearly athletic build. Tetsuya winds around the conversing club members, quietly picks up one of the forms and starts filling it in. After brief contemplation, he notes down 'Teikou Basketball Club' in the additional information margins. The redhead next to him leaves first, making a statement about basketball in Japan being the same everywhere before he walks away. Tetsuya stares after him for a brief moment, then leaves the form on the table and leaves after him.
Tetsuya gets a feeling that this person would like a good challenge. He almost feels like how Aomine-kun used to. Who knows, maybe he'll be his new light.
Tetsuya's eyes trails to the redhead's side, where a strange but not malicious aura clings.
Ah, Tetsuya blinks, he has a ghost.
First day of club activities begins not at the basketball stadium nor with anything basketball related. It begins, with as one should expect, an anticlimactic school day. It is only until after school that Tetsuya changes and makes his way over to the stadium marked for the Seirin Basketball Club, memorising the path as he walks.
The stadium isn't at all far away, but the paths and surroundings are unfamiliar, so naturally Tetsuya arrives at the building with several of his future club mates already standing about, chatting. He enters the court, taking a good look at the new structure Teikou's basketball club building, while well maintained and top of the line, has an age to it. In contrast to Seirin, a new highschool, he could tell that this building lacks the history the one in Teikou holds. A refreshing sight.
He steps to the side when he hears footsteps from behind, and the redhead an American transfer, apparently, they're in the same class and he sits in front of him, steps into the stadium. The faint aura clinging to him is still there, and Tetsuya can't help but steal a glance. He'll ask his aunt about it later. The transfer observes the surroundings before a noncommittal look crosses his face, and he makes his way to a group that looks like the rest of the first year. Tetsuya sets his duffle bag aside, and almost unconsciously, reaches up to be sure the metal tag his aunt gave him is still around his neck, and makes his way over as well.
A whistle was blown. And instructions to line up was said, Tetsuya follows along. "Alright! Looks like the first years are all here." Someone speaks up, and he recognised him as the person who was sitting on the floor on the first day. He observes the second years, recognising the captain- it was his wallet that he picked up off the floor, the day he discovered Seirin, someone seems to be missing from the roster, however. And Tetsuya briefly wonders where they are.
Some more chatter, and exclaims of disbelief were heard when the girl with the whistle reveals herself to be the coach, not the manager, then proceeds to tell them to take off their shirts.
Well, this is going to be one lively year.
Practice drags late until after dark, and still Taiga is feeling the itch of wanting a good game- which didn't happen during practice today. It's the first day, so outside of warmups and some degree of training, their coach was mostly getting them settled in and helping them figure out their limits and setting goals. He heads to the court a few stations away from the school, walking distance from his home and the fast food restaurant he frequents and starts playing on his own, meanwhile contemplating what he's heard today.
Kuroko Tetsuya, apparently one of the Generation of Miracle. He's heard that name being thrown around before, he thinks, never paid too much attention. His performance today wasn't outstanding, and there's absolutely nothing that made him memorable in anyway at all- maybe except for the fact that he kept getting overlooked, or his weird entrance today. He moves to shoot- aiming only to be distracted when he catches sight of a mob of light blue hair standing just a little ways away from the side of the hoop looking right at him like a ghost- and he misses.
The basketball bounces off the rim and falls into his new club mate's hands, who stare up at him with the same expressionless look he seems to wear all the time. For someone wearing a weird jacket that makes him look like a walking fashion disaster, he has way too little presence. How did he not notice him?
Annoyance rises in him. "Since when were you here?" Taiga asks, narrowing his eyes. He didn't notice anyone else in the court before he arrived, so he has to have arrived after him, right?
"Hello." The guy replies politely instead, nodding in greeting, which answers exactly none of Taiga's many questions. His eyes drift briefly to the side like he's daydreaming, before settling back on him.
"What are you doing?" Taiga asks again, fixing his uniform jacket as he walks towards the guy, who moves to toss the basketball back towards him.
"The apartment I live in is close by," Kuroko replies as Taiga catches the ball, "this is the court I usually go to. What are you doing here all by yourself?"
Playing basketball, Taiga snarks in his head, "nothing," he says instead.
"Is that so." Kuroko states without fluctuation.
Taiga thinks back to his abandoned train of thoughts before he was interrupted, and decides to fuck it, why not. "I was in America up until my second year in middle school," he decides to open with that, "and when I got back here, I was appalled by how low the standards here are." That seems to catch Kuroko's attention, and he looks at him with what Taiga will interpret as a little more interest. "I'm not playing basketball casually or for fun, I want an all out game that can get my blood pumping."
"I've heard all about you guys, the supposed Generation of Miracles from our year. You were on that team, weren't you?" Something seems to have shifted in the boy's eyes that he can't read. "I have a good sense of how strong the others are- people who can succeed carries a special kind of scent." He throws the ball back towards Kuroko, who catches it and raises a brow. "But something isn't right with you, weak people has a scent as well, but you. You've got nothing, and whatever you're good at has got no scent at all." He gives the guy a once over, then gestures for a challenge. "Show me, I want to know just how good this Generation of Miracles is."
A pause. "How fortunate." The blue haired teen meets his eyes, shrugging the jacket off as he speaks. "I have also been wanting to see how strong you are." The boy tosses his jacket over his bag, leaning against the basketball hoop. "One on one." He offered.
"One on one." Taiga grins, and braces himself for an unknown challenge.
Tetsuya thinks he's found his new light.
Kagami Taiga reminds him of the Aomine Daiki he became friends with to an almost painful degree. Passionate and looking for a challenge. He listens as the redhead advises him to give up basketball, and faintly thinks of how many times had he received that piece of advice before. Perhaps it would've mattered to him years ago, but Tetsuya knows his place on the court, and knows that one on one wouldn't be the place where any judgement made would be accurate to his performance or what he can offer in a team.
"...raw talent is a fact of life," walking over to pick up his belongings, Kagami-kun says, "to put it frankly, you've got no talent for basketball."
He turns to leave, and call him petty, but Tetsuya feels like its wrong to just let him leave like this without getting a last word in- so he speaks up. "I don't accept that." He says to his retreating figure. His classmates stops and glances back. "First of all, I love basketball." The words comes out easy now. Much easier than before, and Tetsuya almost surprised himself, "and I don't share your opinion, I don't really care who's strong or who's weak."
"Hah?"
"I'm not like you," Tetsuya states, then pauses, he's feeling a little cryptic today. "Unlike you, I am a shadow."
He doesn't stop Kagami-kun from leaving afterwards, and puts his jacket back on first thing after. It's a part of the old uniforms Mafuyu-san gave him, something that looks quite out of place o his person with those impractical amount of belts attached. He's asked what they were for before, and didn't get a straight answer for either of his guardians.
His phone buzzes in his pocket, and Tetsuya belatedly realises he forgot to text that basketball practice lasts until after dark. He digs his phone out, and pauses at the messages.
From: Hotaru-san
Tetsu-kun, your uncle and I won't be home tonight, dinner is in the fridge, I also had breakfast made in advance just in case.
Best case scenario we would be back by morning and you'll see us after school. We will text you if that is not the case.
I left a batch of coins on the table if you need them.
That's new. Tetsuya tilts his head, his guardians' jobs hold many similarities to the police force, so he's not particularly surprised. He shivers, when he suddenly gets the strange sensation of being watched, and hurries home.
Somewhere behind him, a man with gold-rimmed glasses stares after the blue haired boy, unseen by any of the passer-by's.
"Kuroko Tetsuya, huh." He snaps the book in his hand shut, "interesting."
"I hate ghouls."
Lysandra spat the words like they're dirty, stabbing the ground with her sword as she gets back on her feet. Her mouth tastes like iron, and she spits the redness from it before raising a hand. She's been bleeding all over the place earlier, there should be enough by now.
The splatters of red on the rows and rows of barbs and ground glows at her command, reshaping themselves before chains erupt from them, piercing the forms in front of her. The ghoul screams, and Lysandra flicks her hand. The chains change direction then, ripping their pray apart into chunks of... whatever they're made of. What it holds in its rib cage tumbles out, and Lysandra spends no time in tossing a coin over. it erupts into flames.
One down, she glances up at the screaming poltergeist perched at the top of the trash heap, and however many that thing is going to summon to go.
There's a crack and a groan, ice covers the ground of the area to her right before gunshots rang out, and two mutated whisps scream before being scattered to the winds.
A wall of ice erupts in front of him, and Lysandra joins her husband behind it for shelter, before a memory of gunfire rings and everything around them starts exploding.
"Really, who doesn't." The man wipes at his brows, not even looking as he lashes out to his left, taking a shade's head clean off with his katana before it reaches them. Lysandra tucks her bangs back as she fires a shot into some poor ghost's neck, trying to sneak up on her. Mafuyu grits his teeth. "Elias is taking awfully long."
"Give the guy a break, even with Anthea covering his back it can't be easy making a containment and stabilisation field in," she stabs another whisp in the face, "this. The rune stones they gave us exploded the moment we got in, and the new set I just designed isn't exactly a simple one."
Lysandra turns her gaze up and through the ice to the source of their problem— a poltergeist. The ice wall is quickly turning opaque from the cracks, with the now slowly ceasing gunfire, but she can still see the ghost, laughing in hysterics, tearing at its own face as the space around them distorts and shifts with its own crumbling sense of space, time and self. A little ahead of them, the trenches, barbs and tanks twist and groan before the bodies in them start convulsing, twisting, and then even more ghosts erupt.
"Third wave incoming." Mafuyu murmurs, half for her and himself, half for their teammates through the communicators, "there are 5 more ghouls this time."
"Fuck." Anthea says through her earpiece, with feelings. Lysandra agrees.
"I'll deal with those." Lysandra grimaces as she swipes at her arm, the lines on it pulsing briefly as the stamina replenishment rushes through her. Poltergeists' power levels can vary based on their memories, or simply put, how traumatised they were before they died. So lingering war ghosts are the worst . But this isn't time for sympathy, they need to contain this before the domain leaks and the it recreates a 1917 western front in the middle of a school in Japan.
She's not surprised how far this thing is from where it was likely created, but how did this pocket go unnoticed for a full century, anyway? How did they manage to get permission to build a school here? And even after that, did Teikou not have a sorcery contact? The poor kids' mental states stretch that, having such a violent domain in such close proximity can't be good for anyone's heads.
She has a principal to beat up after this, it seems.
5 people against the memory of a war this will be a long night. Hopefully Tetsuya's gotten home already. This place is too close to home for comfort, and Lysandra wouldn't be able to forgive herself if anything in here gets out. She needs to check on her nephew too, once this is over. Domains like this can have dormant effects that can go unnoticed for decades before they surface.
The ice wall drops behind them, and on cue, Lysandra fires a full clip of bullets into the face of another ghoul. It screams but charges undeterred, and as the magic density in the air gets high enough, Lysandra raises her arm, and moments later, a lightning bolt pierces the sky above Teikou Middle School.
Neither of his guardians returned home last night.
Testsuya spends a good part of the practice game observing his new teammates and their patterns, not bringing his passes into the picture yet and letting them work together first. It is as he thought last night, Kagami-kun is almost frighteningly like Aomine-kun back then- he shines, and has the potential to shine more. He brings his passes in after the seniors started to triple team Kagami-kun to make sure he doesn't get to touch the ball, assisting the other team members.
It feels great, to play with a team again. The familiar feel of the ball and his passes, tapping it to get it to someone else. Even just having an opposing team, it all makes him feel lighter. It's fun.
The game ends with their win.
He runs into Kagani-kun again, this time at his usual Maji Burger place. Since he hadn't gotten a text from his guardians on whether they're back or not, he decided to grab something to drink just in case, when his classmate sat down with a tray full of burgers- only noticing him afterwards.
"Gh-" Kagami-kun recoils, and very nearly spits out his food. Tetsuya, used to people reacting to his presence like this, politely greets.
"Hello."
The teen swallows the mouthful of burger he almost choked on. "Where did you come from?" The ghost- a whisp, is still by his side, hovering around as Kagami-kun fixes his stance so that the chair is no longer tipped, and shakes his head. "Also, what are you doing here?"
"I was here all along," Tetsuya shrugs, taking a sip of his vanilla shake as he takes this chance to observe the whisp by his classmate's side, "and I like the vanilla shakes they sell here."
They're an almost formless, colourless thing. Like water, but not. Around his height, if they're not hovering. Tetsuya could just about make out the shape of their head, torso and hands, everything else seems to shift with the wind. The eyes are clear, though. Two framed shapes that seems to glow a little brighter than the rest of it, sometimes it's shape change, almost like something has fallen in front of it, and from the shape change, it's likely hair.
"Hah..." Tetsuya glance back at his classmate, "go somewhere else." The redhead says.
"I don't want to."
The redhead makes a face, "if people see us, they'll think we're friends."
Ouch, Tetsuya deadpans in his head, but doesn't say it out loud. "This is my usual hang out in the first place." He simply explains, shaking his head, meanwhile the whisp busies themself with gliding up and down along the words of the window, tracing the shapes. His companion gives him an annoyed look, but relents before tossing him one of the burgers in his pile.
"Here," Tetsuya catches it before looking back up at his classmate, searchingly. Kagami-kun sighs, "I'm not interested in guys who are weak," he states, the whisp, hearing him, swats at his head like a cat. Their hand goes through him harmlessly, "but after that display today, I think you've earned one of those."
Tetsuya glances down at the burger in hand, and smiles. Acknowledgment is always nice.
"Thank you."
They end up leaving together, after finishing their meals, needing to take the same path. Kagami to the station near by and Tetsuya back home. The whisp follows them, though Tetsuya thinks they're more following Kagami-kun than him. They hovers close to the ground, gliding in swift little circles and stopping every once in a while, as if testing their own movements, before they take a little tumble, and rolls in summersaults in the air, and does an impression of a sneeze.
Spring nights are always just a little colder than comfortable. He glances in the direction of his building, and recognises the balcony of the apartment not that its hard, just look for the one that looks like nature has just invaded. He also sees that the lights in the living room behind is on, shining past the vines and leaves, drawing out the silhouettes of the plants.
"Hey," Kagami-kun asks, just as they leave the front of Maji Burger, "just how strong is the Generation of Miracles? How would I do if I played them now?"
Tetsuya replies without missing a beat. "You would be instantly destroyed."
"Gh-" Kagami-kun gives him a pointed side eye, "you couldn't have said that any other way?" He complains, looking a little miffed as he looks away.
Tetsuya is silent for a moment, recalling his ex teammates raw talent, the sheer force of Aomine-kun's light, Kise-kun's boundless potential, Midorima-kun's tenacity- and Akashi-
He stops there, shaking his head. There is no denying the raw talent that lies in them, fighting to shine. "Five prodigies have moved on to five different schools." He says, looking straight ahead. "One of those schools will inevitably stand on top."
His companion stares at him for a moment, before letting out a chuckle. "That's great," he says with a grin, and Tetsuya glances up at him, "these kind of things just really gets me going. Alright, I've decided. I'll beat all of them, and become the top in Japan." Kagami-kun clenches his fist, and out of pity, he gives him a moment before he bursts his bubble.
They stop at a crosswalk. "That's not possible." Tetsuya states, matter-of-factly, the redhead makes a noise in protest, making a face at his bland tone. "I can't speak for your future potential, but as of right now, you wouldn't even be able to reach their feet- not if you're alone," He pauses, "which is why I have also decided."
"Hm?"
The light turns, and they make their way across, Tetsuya several paces ahead as he reaches and turn around to face his classmate. He recalls the way he played, the talent that he sees, the raw passion for the sport. His new light.
"I'm a shadow." He says, again. "But the stronger the light, the darker it becomes— and the brighter the light is against it." He meets Kagami-kun's eyes. "As the shadow to your light, I'll make you the number 1 in Japan."
Kagami-kun grins back at him. "Big words," he comments, something like amusement or excitement colouring his tone, "do as you like."
Tetsuya smiles back, "I'll do my best, then." He tilts his head. The teen gives him a clap on his shoulder, and moves past him, hands in his pocket. Tetsuya was about to follow when he felt his phone buzz, so he fishes it out, moving to the side to let the other pedestrians pass.
"Hm?" Seeing that he's stopped, Kagami-kun rounds back in front of him, seeing him on his phone, he asks, "who's that?"
Tetsuya taps into the text, and frowns. He feels a chill behind his back as he types up a reply, and glances to his side to see the whisp is now hovering right behind him, upside down, as they read the screen of his phone. They right themselves, flipping back the right side up like a tumbler toy, and their hair very nearly smack him.
"Well?"
"My aunt." Tetsuya hurriedly replies, hitting send before turning the screen off as he slid the device back into his pocket. "She wants to know when to expect me home." His throat closes. Home. It came so naturally he doesn't know how to feel about that. It almost feels right.
"Oh, you live with your aunt?" The teen asks, tilting his head, "and your parents?"
The question sinks like a rock in a pool. "Yeah." Tetsuya answers, half-heartedly, "my parents... Aren't around anymore."
"Oh." Kagami-kun's eyes widen, and the air feels stale all of a sudden, both fall silent. Tetsuya hasn't had to tell anyone at all since it happened. Letting the words out felt like a different form of acceptance. The sound of someone clearing their throat snaps him out of his thoughts, and he looks up to see Kagami-kun, glancing awkwardly to the side, scratching his head. "Sorry for prying." He apologises. "My mum isn't here anymore, either. It's just me and my dad, so now I live alone."
Tetsuya blinks at the admission, and his eyes darts towards the whisp with a sudden realisation. The almost formless ghost sends a glance his way, spotting his gaze. The shape of their- her eyes narrow into crescents as she tilts her head, and brings a single finger up to her lips.
'Shh'
Under the faint neon lights, her hair gives way to a brief gleam of red.
('Tetsuya, your uncle and I are home already. There's someone else here with us, a colleague.
There is something we need to talk to you about, you have basketball practice today, right? Please tell us when we can expect you home.')
Tetsuya returns home to the sight of two familiar jackets on the ground. The kitchen and living area lights are on, leaking in from the mouth of the entrance hall, drawing a gentle leak of light onto the floorboards murmurs of voices coming from the area with it.
He slips his shoes off, slowly approaching the living space. The voices are just loud enough he could tell they're not speaking in Japanese, but not nearly loud enough for him to decipher it's contents, tilting his head, Tetsuya peers around the corner.
His aunt, who has changed out of work uniform, is sitting slumped and fingers crossed. One of her forearms is wrapped entirely in bandages, there's a patch on her face as well. His uncle doesn't look much better he's shirtless, but half is torso is bandaged up, he's applying something on his neck, which is covered in dark bruises. They're conversing in a low tone with a blonde woman— the colleague, probably— is seated in an arm chair as she packs up a set of what looks like medical equipment into a duffle bag.
"I fixed up your vocal chords and windpipe." The unfamiliar woman states, glancing up at his uncle, "doesn't mean you can go karaoke or scream at a rock concert any time soon, but since it's you , a normal amount of talking would hardly be any strain." She sets a small box onto the table with a little more force than necessary, as if to make a point, and narrows her eyes behind her glasses. "You hoard your words like gold."
"Thanks, Anthea." Mafuyu-san replies neutrally, ignoring the final comment, and grimaces, rubbing at his throat. The woman snorts, and returns to packing. Tetsuya steps into the living area then, and his uncle glances up, meeting his eyes. "Tetsuya." He greets with a nod. The colleague, Anthea-san spares him a brief glance before turning to speak with his aunt in a hushed tone, in English, seemingly reprimanding her for something— too quick and too quiet for Tetsuya to actually decipher anything.
" Tadaima ." Tetsuya nods in return, his aunt gives him a quick glance and smile between sentences, and goes back to her conversation. His uncle pushes himself off the couch, and throws on a shirt before making his way over.
"Give them some time." He nods in the two women's direction, "don't be surprised if Anthea drops by more often. Your aunt is a reckless woman." He looks almost exasperated. Behind him, Anthea-san bats his aunt over the head for something, and Hotaru-san dips her head with a wry smile.
"What happened?" Tetsuya tears his eyes away from the two, and then at his uncle's neck. The bruises turned a dark ghoulish colour under the yellow-tinted lights in the room, standing out even more against his skin in an almost horrific display. Tetsuya's heart sinks when he realises the shape of them is almost in that of a hand. "Hotaru-san said you two wanted to talk to me?"
"All three of us, actually." The woman, Anthea, speaks up over the distance, she's turned to lean against one of the arms of her chair, facing them more properly as she narrows her eyes at uncle Mafuyu. " You're not going to be doing much of the talking, though. I said no rock concerts as an example, but that doesn't mean you can go around doing speeches, Mafuyu."
His uncle sighs. "Yes, madam." He replies, and then shuts up. Hotaru-san chuckles.
"Doctor's orders," she shrugs as Tetsuya gives her a searching look, "I'd much rather fight a ghoul than face Anthea's bat, trust me. I've been working with her for two decades."
"And two decades wasn't enough to cure you of recklessness," the blonde scowls at her, this is in English, "you are my biggest failure in my entire career ."
"Love you too. Anthea." Her aunt cheerfully dismisses, before her smile fades, and swaps back to Japanese. "Tetsuya, this is Anthea Edgarson. She's our team's medic— as well as a director of the Association based in Orion." Tetsuya recalls that being where his aunt came from. He looks at the blonde woman, who stands up and extends a hand. Tetsuya takes it almost awkwardly.
"Nice to meet you." He says, and the woman makes a strange expression, not meeting his eyes. "I'm Kuroko Tetsuya."
"Anthea Edgarson, just Anthea will be fine. And, you too," she looks back up with a sigh, "Kuroko-kun."
(This is in fact, not the first time they met. Anthea doesn't know whether to be relieved or guilty, that the boy doesn't remember her from when she emerged from the surgery room behind Lysandra, tired and weighed down with failure. Looking at anywhere but Mafuyu's eyes.
She used to say he hurts everyone around him with his failure. But how the tables have turned.)
"Take a seat," his aunt moves to stand up, and braces herself on the arm a little longer than normal, "I'll go make us some tea, this will be a long talk."
Tetsuya sits down on the far side of the couch, facing his uncle and Anthea-san properly as his aunt starts tinkering about. Before long, she returns with four mugs on a tray and the sugar jar— which his uncle promptly hoarded for himself. Tetsuya nods his thanks as Anthea-san passes him his mug from where she sits, and her aunt, done setting up the table, takes her seat on the chair to his left, and sighs.
"I don't know if your aunt and uncle have told you or not," Anthea-san starts swiftly, not missing a beat. "But outside of patrol, Lysandra's instructor duties, and Mafuyu's head of house responsibilities, they are also a part of the special response unit. And yesterday, we were sent— well, I requested those responsible to send us in to contain a poltergeist domain."
His aunt shares a glance with uncle Mafuyu, who looked grave, sipping his tea. "Tetsuya," she says, her eyes meeting his, "the poltergeist domain in question, was found in Teikou."
A/N
The title is sarcastic. In case you couldn't tell.
Made a huge mistake while re uploading these chapters in the new order, like, huge. I deleted all my old chapter notes and that was fking stupid.
Managed to sneak in an extra chap, welp.
see you when I'm back in Canada!
(chapters of this fic have been reorganized, so yes, technically while the numbers have lessened, the contents have increased.)