Summary:

Tetsuya gets a stalker, and swiftly realises he will have to allow lying as a part of his new reality now.

Miles away, Akashi Seijurou wakes with a start.

A/N: I'm alive :)

Sometimes Lysandra sits and reads through her old books, none of the contents, but just the notes. Just so it feels like she can hear her mentor again.

"Poltergeist domains can enhance, lengthen as well as strengthen negative emotions of the people around it, like a bad atmosphere. It can't keep you from being happy, or make you unhappy or depressed. But they can make life a lot harder and emotions a lot more difficult to manage.

Their effects are often minor, and entirely dependent on the affected party's psyche. Individuals with depression are observed to have a more prominent reaction towards the effects, and it is strongly advised that any individual currently undergoing difficulties to leave the affected area.

Otherwise, poltergeists effects and aftereffects fades within the time span of a year, unless the emotions of the ghost responsible for the domain creates a resonance with an outside party, where the resonant party will then be further affected, and become a conduit for the poltergeist domain's effect, where the negative effects will concentrate. In this case, the recovery period are often slightly on the longer side. Only the resonant party however, are observed to have a significantly longer recovery period. Professional services such as therapy are strongly recommended for resonant parties.

Resonant parties are however, extremely rare. As the criterias for a resonance to be achieved are strict. For example, a war ghost will only ever resonate with someone who have been through war and bloodshed, if not, even if the emotions and situations are endlessly similar, nothing would occur."

Written in the margins of a copy of 'The SSRA's Official Guide to Paranormal Beings and Subsequent Phenomena, 5th edition'.

"Poltergeist effects fades over time," noticing his silence after their explaination, his aunt said gently. Tetsuya looked up in surprise, "this was a war ghost, so it's impossible for any teens to have been resonant with the ghost inside. We checked the student and staff lists already, without a resonant, if you noticed any of your friends who were seemingly effected, they will be alright in a matter of a year." She paused.

"But if you're still worried," she added, thoughtfully, "I can help if you want to make sure, and pay them a visit, maybe? Or if you run into them, now that you're sighted, you will be able to sense if anything is lingering. It should feel clearly magical now."

Surprised by her offer and that she even read what he was thinking despite his blank face, Tetsuya nodded, a little faintly.

"I'll... keep an eye out."

Tetsuya shakes his head, drawing away from the memory of that night. He will admit, having to almost yell his goals from the rooftops from a megaphone worked as a rather good distraction from that conversation- which had haunted him for a good few days. He knows he's going to be fine, since Anthea-san gave him a check up before she left, drawing with light over arm as she muttered in something that sounded a little like something his aunt says while she does her spells. Latin, probably. But he wouldn't know.

She'd then spoke in a low, rapid tone with his guardians in English, nothing that he caught or understood, and quickly wrote up something that looks a little like a report, then left, leaving Tetsuya both a little confused and lost before Hotaru-san assured him that going to be fine.

"The checkup spell results were fine," she'd said, patting the back of his hand gently, "the signature it's from however, showed Anthea exactly what she suspected and," she paused then, and grimaced, "I think Anthea's on her way to fire someone for that oversight."

Tetsuya stared out the window, sipping on his milkshake. Both his aunt and uncle has been busy since the incident, and their schedules have completely changed. Patrols and randomly dropping in from windows are replaced with rapid fire English over the phone as they bend over maps and pins with grim looks in their eyes- as well as a brand new conspiracy board being dragged into the home library upstairs.

He was deep in thoughts when someone in what seems to be a kimono passes by, outside, and Tetsuya blinks in mild surprise. They seem to notice his gaze, turns towards him, and the light from a passing car briefly illuminates them. After the car passes by, however, they're already walking away down the street, a paper parasol now resting over their shoulder.

Tetsuya looks away when he hears someone getting into the seat across his, and looks up to see Kagami-kun, pulling the chair back as he sets down a tray of a pile of burgers large enough to feed both his aunt and uncle after a mission, twice. He doesn't notice him at first, and starts muttering about earlier today— which Tetsuya hums along.

"I didn't even finish, and I got in trouble too." He says lightly. Kagami-kun blinks as he finally notices him, and almost chokes. The ghost by his side fusses over him, unseen before he swallows, and mutters under his breath.

"You again?" He complains, referencing last week."I should start going to a new place..."

Tetsuya ignores that sentence. "It seems that we're not allowed on the roof anymore." He states. The whisp by Kagami's side chuckles, whirling in circles around their table, then takes a seat on the ledge where the glass sits, phased halfway through. "What happens if we can't join the club?"

Kagami-kun snorts, "That's not gonna happen," he says, he seems rather convinced, and Tetsuya could only shrug.

"We'll have to wait and see." He murmurs around the straw.

There's a moment of silence, before Kagami, who has been staring at him for a while, decides to speak. "Hey," he starts, "by the way, why didn't you go to one of those famous powerhouse schools like the rest of the miracles?" He asked. Ah, Tetsuya blinks, here it comes. "You're strong enough to have been called the phantom sixth man, so why didn't you do the same?" He paused, "don't you play basketball for a reason?"

Tetsuya falls silent for a moment. The end of his third year seems almost like a jumbled mess of terrible memories that he couldn't even tell what came first and what after. The overwhelming pressure of victory... It was suffocating. Now that he knows there's an additional reason to that overwhelming sense of dread that place exudes, it seems to... Calm him enough. And he spoke.

"My school's basketball team had only one principal, that's 'winning is everything'." The words are almost bitter when he spoke them, the old motto. "In response, the team had pushed individual talents to the max, leaving teamwork behind. Nothing could beat us, but we weren't a team." The banner of 111-11 haunts him. It feels quieter now, not even Kagami's ghost is making any noise. "The five others agreed with it, but I felt like something was missing."

The explication is lacking to the extent of what actually happened, but Tetsuya feels that this is enough, just to explain. Kagami-kun stares at him for a moment, a brow raised, then huffs a laugh. "That's it?" The laugh feels good natured, and Tetsuya feels the tension bleed away, "so what, you gonna beat the rest of 'em with your basketball?"Kagami-kun's demeanor would seem borderline rude if one is thinking about proper etiquette, but right now it just feels right. The subject flows away with the tension, and Tetsuya simply nods. "Yes." He replies.

"Seriously?"

"That's what I was thinking, and," a pause, he glance at Kagami-kun's mother's whisp, who is staring out the window now, "and what you and the coach said really struck me, so for now, my biggest reason to play is that I want to make you, and this team, the best in Japan."

Kagami-kun looks at him, and he's grinning. "There's no wanting about this," he says, and the haughty, confident tone in his voice is once again painfully familiar and nostalgic. "We're gonna be the best in Japan!"

Tetsuya finds it in him to smile, just a little, before he shivers. And the hairs on the back of his neck raises like there is danger. He glance around, he understands now, what his aunt meant when she said something would feel magical. The past few months it'd almost felt like he's developing an entirely new kind of sense, like learning to see with a new set of eyes but less tangible. He's more aware of the flow of something within him, the sound of his heart pounding and blood rushing when he runs during practice, where everything goes after he takes a breath. He have since learnt to avoid certain alleyways and even more innocuous places, their feeling telling him that he shouldn't be there.

He looks towards the window. Kagami-kun's ghost is staring at something across the street, her formless body moves in a way that makes her seem agitated, and the red flicker in her hair grows slightly more prominent. A low rumble comes from her chest, almost like a growl, and her back is arched as her hackles raised like a warning.

Then, she hisses, and something twists so horribly in her face that the formless, kind and sometimes mischievous but still vaguely normal, human looking face morphs into something like a corpse. From pale to greying and hair from a smooth flow to almost stringy. And her agression isn't directed towards anyone, but rather the street across, where a park sits with a small smattering of trees.

Tetsuya's heart sinks. He couldn't feel all that far away yet, not through a wall. He doesn't have what his aunt does, something she calls a 'Ripple', that could tell her about her surroundings. He's still very much a beginner in terms of magic, and very much aware of his limits. He is reminded of it every time he sees his guardians come home, age old scars in their bodies and darkened spots of rust on their clothes. The fact that there is a dangerous world out there should he reach for it, just several missteps away, is something in razor sharp focus for Tetsuya- this much, his guardians never hid from him.

He asked once, and his aunt had answered with a harsh, heavy voice that almost made him feel like she's speaking from experience.

"I prefer you cautious and alive over ignorant and dead."

Tetsuya whips out his phone, and immediately begins texting his aunt.

"Oi, Kuroko?" Kagami-kun frowns at him, "you good? You're looking a little pale over there."

"Alright." He answers, his poker face something he is ever grateful for, "I just think we should leave."

"Leave?" Kagami-kun glance down at his tray, over their brief conversation, the teen has managed to clear out most of it, but there are still a burger and two left. "What's the hurry?"

The whisp is nolonger hissing at the window, and her face has returned to normal. But is now instead trying and failing at clenching and tugging at her son's arm. Tetsuya feels his heart sink more, if a ghost- a protective whisp at that, isn't only worried about themselves but also their charge, then they really should get out of here.

His phone pings, and Tetsuya glances down at the text.

From: Tetsuya

I'm in the Maji Burger near the apartment right now

My classmate's whisp just started hissing at the patch of trees across the street

She seems

agitated

From: Hotaru-san

The protective one? How agitated is she? Just for herself or her charge?

Either way both of you should get out of there. I'm occupied but I've sent a notif to the local patrol unit, they'll go take a look.

From: Tetsuya

Kagami-kun. It seems.

From: Hotaru-san

Get out.

Tetsuya takes a deep breath. How does he explain this? Meanwhile the ghost has only gotten more worried, glancing between the window, him, and Kagami-kun. She hisses at her son, almost desperately, glancing at him once more pleadingly before with a frustrated stomp of what seems to be one of her legs, opens her mouth wide, and a female voice rings out, almost as though through an old radio.

'Taiga!' The voice sounds desperate, and almost glitched out. Tetsuya startles. Right, whisps can only speak in phrases of things they've spoke before. Like broken records of a memory. The whisp claws at Kagami-kun again, the voice playing once more, intoned differently, likely from a different memory. 'Taiga-' it cuts off before something else, and this time, Kagami-kun jerks.

He reacts like a particularly chilly wind has just passed, and shivers. Looking around, his eyes glides right past his dead mother's whispy memory without pause, and falls quiet for a moment, looking a little weirded out.

"I don't know- I feel weird all of a sudden," he murmurs, packing the burgers into his duffle bag as he stands up with him, "yeah, let's leave. I'm getting weird vibes from the seat."

The whisp relaxes, slumping before gliding behind him and ushering him out alongside her son. Tetsuya doesn't need another reminder before he, trying his best to look as normal as he can, hightails it out of the shop, steering clear of the forest, staying as far away as possible.

Tetsuya relaxes, finally, when they get around a block away from the trees, and they're far out of sight. He sighs, and his steps slow. And Kagami-kun, long since noticed his strange behaviour, glances at him, frowning.

"Okay, what's going on?" Kagami-kun crosses his arms, raising a brow, "you look pale, and on edge. Is something going on?"

Tetsuya pretends to be catching his breath, as his brain goes through a full list of possible excuses, then something comes to mind- and still keeping a firm hold on his poker face, he almost blurts- and keeps it in just in time to make it sound natural.

"I thought I saw someone." He says, stopping to turn around and look properly at Kagami-kun. He recalls the kimono man from earlier, and catches an idea, "from my mother's side of the family, they've been..." He grimaces, and this time it's real, "unpleasant."

Kagami-kun's expression immediately morphs into one of understanding, and doesn't keep asking again. Tetsuya almost felt guilty. But then a low growl stops him in his tracks.

Kagami-kun's mother's whisp, perched on the air above her son's shoulder, back arches and hackles raised, is growling at a figure standing just across the street. Tetsuya shifts to the side, peering past Kagami-kun's side, and catches eyes with the same kimono silhouette from earlier.

Except it's the same silhouette, but it's not a kimono. They're wearing a dark red haori, yes, and some kind of qipao and kongfu pants, gold rimmed glasses gleams with chains dangling from their sides. And a closed eyed smile directed straight at him. The style of dress is almost reminiscent of the Sorcery Society's, and his mind immediately goes right back to what he just said.

Well, he might've just jinxed it.

But then Kagami-kun, confused, turns around to look alongside him, but frowns only, and glances back towards him. "What are you looking at?" He asks.

"You don't see them?" Tetsuya asks, almost instinctively. He swallows thickly, that could only mean one thing. He looks back towards the figure, who tilts their head, their braid swooping to fall over their shoulder as they tap their paper parasol on the ground, and the noise echoes through the empty streets. Then-

Something flicks atop their head, and Tetsuya's eyes flick up, those are- ears. Long, furry ears protrude from the top of theur head, flicking every now and then. His eyes immediately snap back to them, just in time to watch as four tails fan out behind them, almost translucent. And they grins with all teeth.

Then a car drives by. And Tetsuya finds himself backing away.

"Oi Kuroko? Kuroko? You good?"

He snaps out of it, and looks back towards his teammates, before the lights of the car leaves and his gaze immediately locks back towards where the fox- that was a Kitsune- was. And they were gone.

"Nothing," he replies, not quite answering his question, "just, thought I saw that relative again."

"Oh."

The rest of his walk home was the uneasiest he's ever been his entire life, and the moment he steps back into the apartment feels almost like a sigh of relief.

He doesn't see the Kitsune again.

It was calm for a full week, even though his guardians had immediately looked after the problem something still feel off- like something was supposed to happen but just... didn't. The fact sat uncomfortably in his mind throughout his classes, some of which he spends ducking behind Kagami-kun, reading to take his mind off of the incident. The other teen doesn't mention any of it since the night, but then again it is equally likely he just didn't notice him. His quiet unease almost reaches the point of anxiety today, and Tetsuya was almost glad, when he spots Kise-kun on the cover of a sports magazine laying on the bench of the changing room, Hyuuga-senpai flipping through it as a group of his new teammates began peering at it, curious.

"Wasn't this issue published while Kuroko was in Teikou?" The bespectacled teen flicks through several of the pages, frowning. "They said they interviewed all of the players of the Generation of Miracles, you were their sixth man, but I can't find you anywhere."

Ah, that issue. Tetsuya lifts his gaze in recognision. "Someone came, but they forgot about me." He replies. The reaction on his senpai's faces was almost comical, and Tetsuya takes his amusement from where he can get them. "On top of that, they're completely different from me-" he paused, his mood sinking once again as he recalls how brightly they shined, as well as how it tore them apart. "Those five are true geniuses." He states.

Tetsuya uses the rest of practice to keep his mind off of the issue with the Kitsune, and as usual, the distraction works, and before long his mind was in razor sharp focus on the current game at hand. He focuses on Kagami-kun, in particular, the full force of the teen's play is slowly rearing its head, through the past weeks of practice and games. And even when he recalls what he said to Kagami-kun before, he couldn't help but doubt his own words, just a little.

He doesn't have enough information, he hadn't contacted any of the Generation of Miracles since... his parents death, and he's not Momoi-san, he can't predict how his ex teammates would grow. But with only the information he did, as he looks towards Kagami-kun, is it possible still?

"Kuroko! Come out!"

He's snapped out of his thoughts by his senpai's directly behind him, shouting in search of him- even though he's directly in their line of sight but what's new, really. They startle when he walks up behind them, announcing his presence so that coach Riko could start the club meeting.

"Kaijou!?" The Captain voice boomed over everyone else's surprise. "A practice match against Kaijou?!"

"Yep!" The look on the coach's face is a cross between elation and glee. "They're a good opponent, and we can get to use the freshmen too!"

"I think 'good' is a bit of an understatement..." Hyuuga-senpai pinches at the bridge of his nose. And at some of the first year's inquiring looks, clarified, "They're of national class, and takes part in the Interhigh tournament every year."

"Ehh?!"

Tetsuya keeps quiet. Kaijou, he remembers that school- they've scouted them, that year, though Tetsuya was preoccupied with other matters- and his memory of those times feels blurry.

"More importantly, coach, was what you said last time true?" After calming the first year students down, Hyuuga-senpai turns back towards coach Riko, looking a little exasperated at this point. "Last time."

"Yep!" The look of elation on coach's face now borders on terrifying, and Tetsuya already knows what she's going to say. "This year, Kaijou is one of the schools that has a Generation of Miracles- Kise Ryota!"

The crowd of first and second years around them explode into exclaimations, but Tetsuya's attention is elsewhere, as they descend into excited chatter about his friend. His gaze cuts past the doors, and towards a tall figure standing in that almost trademark crowd of girls around him, and the shock of blonde hair.

His teammates are a beat behind, only noticing the sudden crowd when Tetsuya has began to make his way to the front, winding past several of his club mates , ignoring their shocked reactions, to catch a better look.

"Ahh, damn. I didn't mean to come here for this," Kise-kun's signature cheery voice rings clear over the short distance, and Tetsuya can't help but feel like this should mean something. Like he should say something.

"...It's been a while." He says, and the words sound weak to his own ears, for the first time in almost 5 months to his ex teammate. He's not sure if anyone picked up on it, or if anyone can.

"It's been a while-" The blonde waves with a pen in his hand, sheepishly, "Do you mind, uh, giving me maybe five minutes?"

It takes around 15 minutes for him to finish signing the autographs. And Kise-kun has somehow gotten himself sitting on the stage area of the stadium. "Why are you here?"

"When I heard that Seirin is going to come for a practice match, I remembered that Kurokocchi came here, so I wanted to come over to say hi," Kise-kun says, grinning as he pushes himself off the ledge, and the familiar way he addresses him with is almost painful to hear but not. "We were like best friends back in middle school!"

"Not particularly," Tetsuya states off handedly as he moves a little away from Kise-kun.

"So mean!"

Tetsuya shifts, a little uneasy. Something on Kise-kun feels clearly magical. The warmth and... texture? Is unmistakable. And it brushes uncomfortably against his senses- nothing strong, like a faint lingering bit of colour. Like dipping an already washed paintbrush into a glass of water, or the perfume of someone who'd just walked past and brushed against your jacket, but hostile.

Someone managed to get hold of the magazine, from the locker rooms, and began to read, "Kise Ryouta," Furihata-kun begins, "despite only starting basketball in his second year of middle school, his incredible physical abilities and instincts got him on the Teikou team as a regular in a heartbeat... While he is considerably less experienced than the other four, he's a rapidly improving jack of all trades."

"Since Second year?" Hyuuga-senpai's voice is coloured with disbelief.

"No- no, that was just an exaggeration..." Kise-kun scratches the back of his head, "I'm glad to be included as a part of the Generation of Miracles! But honestly I'm the worst of them all." Tetsuya, sensing the topic change, attempts to use this momentary distraction to keep his distance, only to be pulled right back as Kise-kun hooks him around the shoulder and pull him right back next to him. "They even bullied Kurokocchi and me all the time!" He exclaims, and Tetsuya shrugs his arm off, backing away to keep his space.

"That never happened to me." He states again. Almost to keep his distance, even though it's true. And Kise whines in indignation, as physically affectionate and fond of theatrics as ever. Tetsuya almost feels guilty, thinking that he would have to pull up another excuse to slink off. Perhaps just keep his distance from the now strengthens aura of something he seems to be sensing around Kise-kun, only to be saved by Kagami-kun, as he throws a basketball clean across the court right at Kise-Ken's face.

He takes his chance, and slides off to rejoin the rest of his teammates, as they watched the showdown between the two aces, and Tetsuya only feels the unease in him raise. Alongside this new thing he could sense, Kise-kun's abilities, speed and play style and strength have improved far more than he could've ever expected. The familiarity of the way he plays however, lingers. That all encompassing, sense of dread, and cold.

"I don't know that person." He finds himself almost wishing the answer was a lie, when he speaks to reply to Kawahara-kun. "I don't know that person." He repeats, once too much, face impassive but inside, he almost hurts when he explains, the speed of his friend's growth and improvement.

The declaration that comes after does not help his mood.

Lysandra closes the book in her hand with a clean snap.

The follow up for the poltergeist domain was a flurry of paperworks, emergency checkups for wards around nearby schools and for Anthea, it was a series of firings and re staffing. The sorcery community had always been short of hands, of course, with the new wave of ward setups it was almost easy to skip a few due processes and get the yokai wards set up as soon as possible, though she made sure to key in those she personally knew.

She slides the book back onto the shelves, slotting it back where she took it- a habit she never lost from her archival assistant era, as Mafuyu likes to call it. The poltergeist outbreak had revealed a series of hidden problem from the period of time between Tatsuake and Karasuma's time and their's, the newer administratives who would cater to the older families, leaving behind talents in favour of connections. The whole thing reeks of Nanakasa Azuma's work, though she's almost sure they had his influence cut out years ago. Mafuyu had gone back to the family home for exactly that, and would likely be unable to return tonight.

She steps down from the sliding ladder, having gotten the information she needed. Her mentor really thought of everything, sometimes she would flip through these notes, over a decades since their writer passed, just to feel like she can hear that calming murmur of guidance, and dry humour. Her finger trace over a French title, one from her mentor's collection, and pulls away, averting her eyes.

Of all her scars and all her grief, this is perhaps one she will never quite forget.

On the table lies a full list of Teikou's administrative staff and related companies, and she could feel the exhaustion creep up on her. Coffee wasn't enough anymore, and she had resorted to more magical means. While those have considerably less physical strain, the mess it makes of one's sense of time is not to be taken lightly. She stretches, almost cat like, and walks back towards the table, ready for one final all nighter this week, when she spots a figure out the corner of her eyes.

Lysandra very nearly startles, but it's only Tetsuya. She breaths a sigh, rolling a tired shoulder as she turns to face her new properly- she hadn't gotten caught off guard like that in a while. "Tetsuya," she greets, smiling, "how was practice?"

Something shifts in his expression, and immediately Lysandra knew she's on a fine line. This is either exactly what she needed to ask, or the worst thing she could've mentioned at all. She opens her mouth to attempt to better gauge what to do, when her nephew beats her to the chase.

"Remember when you told me I could... find you? If I'm worried?" Lysandra straightens a little, surprised, "I need a favour."

When Akashi Seijurou wakes, it is with a sharp intake of breath, and sweat on his brows.

He doesn't make a sound, but every intake of breath is harsh, bordering on hyperventilation, and his mind is frantic in its grasp to aim it's razor sharp focus on. Flashes of something clings, empty arms and the scorch of heat, the sound of metals and a faint ringing of his ears. And it is all broken by a single quiet sigh.

'Nightmares?'

The voice murmuring into his head is quiet, their gender indistinguishable, but bares a familiar note and cadence that calms his rapid breaths. "Red," He addresses, and after a beat of silence, "I suppose I am getting used to them."

'Sorry.' the voice, his other halve says, as they move from the bed, raising to a sitting position. 'I will go make us some tea.'

'Don't be.' Seijurou wants to say, he never remember these dreams, anyways, and he knows for sure they haunt Red more than they do him, even if Red remembers nothing at all.

He doesn't protest when Red takes the reigns from him, draping a jacket over themselves before making their way down to the kitchens. Seijurou watches quietly as they maneuver around the room. Red makes excellent tea- one of the first things he noticed, ever since their appearance into his mind roughly a year ago. Alongside many.

They look up into the mirror, mismatched eyes gaze back, the gold belonging to Red, and the red belonging to him. Strangely ironic, but Seijurou doesn't pay much attention to it. More often than not they copilot the body, switching between one and the other for tasks.

'It's done,' Red murmurs into their mind, quiet. It's something Seijurouhas noticed as well, despite how harsh and authoritarian Red appears, when there are no one but the two of them, Red is quiet.

"Thank you," Seijurou says aloud to an empty room. Red doesn't reply, and Seijurou sits as he washes away the memories of a nightmare he cannot remember with the aroma of tea.

Red truely makes exquisite tea.