A/N: Hello, hello! Your support brings back another episode! Thank you very much. I really didn't expect this kooky little fic would get support! I mean, this is my side dish for extra fluffy, casual things I didn't get to write lately due to plot reasons. So, next update you won't have to wait a month or two, it'll be out faster since I'm wrapping up my other story (Beastly Call), I do think this story need my attention for a bit.

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Stealth Kill

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Chapter 4: To Be … Normal

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The first week had gone smoothly.

Tetsuya had started on his managerial duty, which was fairly simple. All he had to do was get to know every member by name and face, prepare towels before the practice started, take notes of the club meetings about practice schedules, dates of official matches and practice matches, file individual player's data, clean the gym after usage — even laundering the dirty, sweat-soaked towels at the end of the club practice. It was surprisingly physically demanding. At this point, Tetsuya would definitely demand a salary raise the next time he met Akashi.

In the other hand, Kise seemed to have caught the eyes of the Seidai coaches and Captain. He had a talent for the sport — despite being a little rough on the edges — he showed major potentials. They were pleasantly surprised. Tetsuya even overheard of their plans to give the blonde a special training before the next official match. He was more irked than glad, that would mean Kise would have less time for their job, away from the client — until he overheard that Kagami was receiving the very same training, so they would be spending time together for it.

"They said the Captain's in charge for my special training," The blonde scratched his head. They had a short break time, and stole the moment to regroup, sneaking out to the back of the gym building just the two of them.

"I mean, I don't mind it too much, since Kagamicchi would be there, too. But it seems like a lot of work, you know? We're here to watch over the client, and now they're putting me on the bench for the next match." His sentiments exactly, Tetsuya thought. This was derailing too much from their assignment, but how would they remedy this? Kise couldn't exactly refuse the special training.

Tetsuya admitted Kise was good with the sport, although he wasn't as good as Kagami, in the end of the day. Maybe he was biased, but the redhead was so dedicated — unlike Kise. The blonde would slack from the job to join frat parties and speed dating events if he could afford not to be caught by Tetsuya. He was enjoying this job too much.

And Kagami, well, he'd been nothing but sweet and wonderful to Kuroko. It was sincerely troubling.

True to his words, Kagami tried to spend more time with Kuroko and get to know her. Since the classes hadn't started yet, they'd been doing the Open House booth, tryouts and practices at the gym — three out of three, he was always with Kagami, which was deliberate. In result, however, the redhead had plenty of time asking about personal things Tetsuya had no choice but invent on the spot, the lies mixed with the truths — in order not to give away his true identity. His brain had to work nonstop to make sure he stayed undiscovered.

Kagami had been all grins, pleasantries and light blushes. Kuroko had been mostly tired, a little guilty and nervous.

At night, he could finally take a break by being Ogiwara Shiro — sans the fact that he still had to wear the wig, but it was much bearable. Kagami hadn't been asking more of … love life advices, safe for the occasional gushes Kagami told him, in which flowery, idealised long descriptions of female Kuroko were dished out so very freely. Each time, he'd felt as if his ears were burnt off of its sockets, if they hadn't short-circuited already.

That aside, the investigation wasn't bearing any fruit. Since the incident was months ago, it was difficult to retrace the steps as the trail had gone cold. They had no leads. Tetsuya had asked Kise to investigate the brother and former best friend of Kagami Taiga, with mixed results.

"They met when they were kids back in America, like childhood friends. It's a little later after Kagamicchi's moved to the country. His name is Himuro Tatsuya." Kise started, holding the document files and reading from it. "Later on, Kagamicchi's parents had to go back to Japan for work. Just before highschool started, during last semester of the third year in middle school, they took him with them. Coincidentally, Himuro also moved back to Japan a little while after Kagamicchi did. Here, I have the file you can read."

Tetsuya accepted the document, quickly flipping it open. Himuro Tatsuya. 20 years old. Moved back to Japan at 17 years old, previously lived in the USA, State of California. The school he moved into … Yosen Academy. There was an attached photograph of Himuro Tatsuya at the corner; a beautiful black-haired young man with a side fringe that covered one of his eye, and a mole near the visible counterpart. He seemed like the type who'd be popular among women.

Tetsuya thought he'd seen him before, in one of the videos of Kagami's past matches. Yosen lost to Seirin during Kagami's first year of highschool, if he remembered correctly. The player that he'd personally guarded all throughout the game, was Himuro Tatsuya.

"… how about his alibi?" He asked, chewing his lips.

Kise shook his head.

"Not very clear, he wasn't a suspect back then. Because they still considered it a random street assault, no evidence left behind by the attacker. Nothing suggested a planned assault." He approached Tetsuya and leaned close, a finger pointed a certain area over the paper. "But see this? There's something interesting — it looks like he suffered from some injuries around the time Kagamicchi was attacked. Wounds consistent to a beating."

Tetsuya's eyes made a beeline towards where Kise's finger pointed. Around two months ago, he suffered a few wounds on his torso. There was a minor internal bleeding that required two weeks for full recovery. Tetsuya sucked in the air, when he remembered that Kagami had fought back and wounded his assailant. There wasn't a clear information on how Kagami did it, but this could be a potential lead.

"Good enough?" Kise asked.

"I don't know, honestly." Tetsuya told him. The match with Ryuuoh University was next week, what should he do? "We can report this to Akashi. And … maybe contact the university police to amp up the security around the premise of the game."

The blonde shrugged his shoulders. "We need to convince Akashicchi there's an actual threat, though. Otherwise, it's a waste of resources. They won't lend us anything."

Tetsuya bit his lips. Kise was right.

The lead was too vague; he needed a solid one. But he still couldn't shrug away the bad feelings that kept circling around the match — Kagami's first official game after his injury. Why was Tetsuya feeling so uneasy about this? Maybe he was being too paranoid.

Lack of lead and lack of evidence, they had no other option but to tighten the security around Kagami, on their own innitiative. Tetsuya made sure either Kise or him, was with the redhead at all times. On the weekend, he'd go report to Akashi of their progress, maybe Tetsuya could ask his boss to investigate what he'd found so far.

Otherwise, college life had been fairly quiet so far, tinged with occasional colourful events — something Tetsuya hadn't quite gotten used to.

There were instances in which sudden changes of mood were made in split seconds; from silence to absolute uproar, people bursting in and out of their shared rooms seemingly on whims, either shouting or complaining, and sometimes wailing inexplicably — in which the latter was finely displayed by Koganei Shinji, as he once again made his way into their room without invitation, accompanied by his ever silent tall friend.

"Let's go Karaoke, Karaoke! My grades are depressing, I need a break!" Koganei exclaimed one night, raiding their room uninvited. Tetsuya greeted the two seniors, although only Mitobe responded to him. Koganei was busy convincing Kagami to go out with him.

"Koganei-senpai, you just want an excuse to play." Kagami had nonchalantly said, without even looking at the older boy. Seemed like Koganei did this on a regular basis.

The older boy pouted. "Kagami! You're not fun! Ima-senpai is busy tonight … even Captain isn't around and Hyuuga's on a date! A date! How could he get a girl and I'm single!? It's not fair! I went to more speed dating events than he did, and I never get even one girl's number! Dammit!" The senior depressively confessed, taking a seat on the floor and resuming to cry his hearts out.

What started as a demand to go to Karaoke had morphed into a lengthy consolation session. The unpredictability of this lifestyle baffled Tetsuya.

Occasionally, Kasamatsu would drop by to check up on their Ace and the new kid (a.k.a. Shiro) to see whether they needed something. He was nice and polite when he wasn't stressed out by studying or occupied with his spartan way of training, which became more and more apparent as Tetsuya spent time with the club as the manager. Captain Kasamatsu was tough, demanded discipline and fair. Kise's slacking, unfortunately had ignited the part of him which set off the tendency to dish out his own style of tough love. Koganei was a frequent receiver of his scolding.

Imayoshi often went around and about with Kasamatsu. The former called the latter by first name basis, that was how close they were. Although Kasamatsu didn't return the sentiment. Tetsuya wondered if he'd call Imayoshi by his first name when they were out of a junior's sight. The bespectacled young man seemed to be a favourite among the partygoers and frat boys, due to his lenience to the dorm's rules. In fact, he encouraged it. Kasamatsu didn't really try to stop the other senior, either. They sort of balanced each other out.

A few days later in the dorms, the two was joined by another senior Tetsuya didn't recognise — a flamboyant young man with a handsome face, whom Kasamatsu introduced as Moriyama Yoshitaka, another senior from the tennis club. The guy gushed about how he couldn't wait to meet the cute new manager he'd been hearing about, because the tennis club only had male managers. Tetsuya quietly withdrew from the conversation and excused himself.

On Sunday, he would take a day off to go to the office and report to Akashi. Tetsuya was glad nothing happened, everything had gone smoothly. Kagami was getting better in mood and health, he was happy for him. It was worth all the troubles he went through, with the disguises and such. So far, so good.

Also, he wouldn't forget about the salary discussion bit.

It was Saturday evening, the Open House had ended a few hours back and Tetsuya was in Shiro's disguise, after preparing for tomorrow's meeting with Akashi. He'd been to the apartment and Kise had gathered the documents they'd researched for the same of the meeting, at Tetsuya's request. Everything was settled for it.

Well, there was only one more night to deal with the college kids. What was the worst that could happen?

So there was another dinner for the dormitory residents, to celebrate the end of the Open House Week.

Most of the attendants were male students who were single (as those who were taken had gone on dates, much to Koganei's jealously-tinged grief) and there were more people, who had come back from the vacation break. They gathered in the common room, tables were set up for the big dinner party. The dinner tables were improvised from the pingpong desk, the coffee table, billiards table, etc. all draped in white sheets. Seating types ranged from sofas to flip metal chairs, dragged from the dorm storage and the administration office.

Kasamatsu and Imayoshi led and hosted the event. As soon as the guys came back, they were dragged in by the Dorm Chief or his Vice-Chief to help set up everything.

The dorm's common room was located in the first floor, open for all, and was big enough to fit in around fifty people for the dinner party. Food supply was donated by the seniors who'd returned with cardboard boxes of raw ingredients from their countryside homes, for what looked like a tradition in this dorm; they brought boxes of fresh vegetables, fruits, seafood, cut meats, rice and even jars of pickles. Some even brought bottles of homemade rice and plum wines.

As he was one of the earliest to return to the dorm, Tetsuya was immediately targeted and dragged into the preparation process soon after he walked past the threshold of the entrance.

"Ogiwara! You free? Come help us! We need more men for the dinner preparation." Imayoshi had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and blocked his way towards the corridor's gate, as if scripted, and talked him into accepting. Tetsuya was caught in surprise and lacked of an excuse to refuse, which was why he was easily persuaded into it.

"There is a dinner? I've never heard of it before?" He had to ask though, if he was going to be used as cheap labour.

"Oh, because you're a new kid. Of course you didn't know. It's a tradition in this dorm, when the Open House Week ends and before class starts, we celebrate and party before we all burn to hell with the assignments!" He laughed merrily, although some of the content of what he just said was bitterly sarcastic. "It's free of charge, by the way, so don't worry. Oh, get the chair from the admin office, wouldja? All five of 'em."

The dinner was free of charge, but he had to work in the preparation for it? This was rather counterproductive.

There was a pleasant surprise to this sudden predicament, however, after which Tetsuya had laboured through moving furniture, he was tasked to bring the boxes of ingredients to the dorm kitchen. Seniority wasn't something he could rebuke under this roof, so he agreed to it, carrying the boxes of fresh daikon, potatoes, onions and carrots to the kitchen, and found that Kagami was there, cooking. Needless to say, he was surprised.

"Kagami-senpai, you can cook?" He'd asked, amazed. Mitobe had been the one who'd taken the box off of his hands. He was also wearing an apron; a brown apron with a picture of a cute kitten that reminded Tetsuya of someone familiar. "Mitobe-senpai, you're cooking too?" The silent boy smiled and nodded. There were several other students, all were busy preparing for meals. …and then there was Koganei, on the sidelines near the kitchen entrance, sneaking little bites from the prepared meals.

"Ima-senpai and Captain gathered the guys who cook mean meals for the dinner~" Koganei said, stealing one of the fried chicken balls from a plate. He bit the honey-glazed fried chicken and munched happily. "Kagami and Mitobe are the best cooks here. Hmm, that looks yummy. Can I have that one — " He was met with a fierce glare when he'd accidentally asked Kasamatsu instead. The Dorm Chief was standing on the doorway, arms crossed over his chest and he had a hard, pissed off expression plastered on his face, fuming.

"Koganei. What the hell are you doing, bothering them!? Get your lazy ass back to the common room and help out!"

And with that, he was dragged away by the cuff of his collar by the Dorm Chief, out of the kitchen area, presumably to become another cheap labour to set up the 'dining' room.

"Shiro, can you pass me the black pepper?" Kagami's voice drew his attention from the pair. He realised everyone else in the kitchen was busy making meals and he was the only one with free hands.

"Of course, Kagami-senpai." He took the small seasoning jar that contained crushed black peppers, and handed it to the redhead, who took it from him. Tetsuya watched as Kagami seasoned the meal and continued cooking.

Kagami was wearing his usual red sleeveless shirt beneath a black apron, cooking a large portion of vegetables with a large metal wok and a ladle over a high flame. The heat of the kitchen was intense, which was why the redhead was sweating profusely, a white bandana was tied around his forehead. His biceps strained every time he flipped the pan, sweat dripping down his face and arms. Lines of veins popped just beneath a thin layer of tan skin.

The meal he was cooking gave off a very delicious fragrance, making his mouth water, swallowing. He was at awe with how good Kagami looked in an apron, and during cooking. Not only was he an excellent basketball player, he was also an excellent cook. They never mentioned anything about his cooking skills in the profile data. This was entirely new to Tetsuya. A wonderful surprise.

Also, he noticed Kagami cooked a lot more than the others did. He made large portions after large portions of meals, all by himself. Someone in the kitchen told him it was because Kagami cooked both for the other guys and for himself. Then Tetsuya remembered the redhead's seemingly bottomless appetite from the dinner with the basketball club. It made sense. Nobody could cook that much for just one person.

"Kagami-senpai would make a good husband and boyfriend." He'd remarked, innocently. A lot of girls would think this sort of plus was a desirable trait in men. Tetsuya himself never really cooked, always opting to buy bento boxes from the convenience store or the bento store, whenever he was home.

But Kagami's reaction to such compliment, was to make little choked noises, then clumsily dumped his stirred-fry vegetables onto a plate and spilt some of its content onto the floor. He cursed once, then turned to him with a flushed face, and said. "Do - do you think so? Do you think You-Know-Who will like it?" He whispered the last sentence. 'You-Know-Who,' was that some kind of a new secret code? Tetsuya had no comment on that.

Tetsuya realised he should really start filtering what he told Kagami — the redhead thought he was an expert of love life advice and everything he said must be true. Sigh.

The dinner started at eight, and it was an uproar; lively chatters were passed around, little sounds were drowned in the mixture of loud noises. Everyone was excited for the food and drinks, because apparently, that was one the rarer times the Dorm Chief would allow alcohol in the dorms. With his personal supervision, of course. The common room was rearranged to become a substitute dining room, tables and chairs of various sizes and shapes were set to fit all fifty something attendants, which made it rather cramped and everyone's elbows were touching each other's due to the lack of space.

Tetsuya sat between Kagami and Mitobe, across of him, sat Imayoshi, Moriyama, Kasamatsu and a tall senior who was wearing the Volleyball club's uniform jacket. He heard Kasamatsu called him "Kobori," he must be a Fourth Year. Tetsuya looked around and saw some people he recognised; Furihata, Sakurai, Nakamura and Izuki from the basketball club, whom Moriyama was presently speaking to. He didn't find Hyuuga — he must be on a date with the coach.

The amount of food was staggering. They ordered pizzas and food from restaurants, on top of all the homemade meals. "As usual, some kind soul paid for extra food. Such a generosity, don't you think, Yukio?" Imayoshi nudged the other senior with an elbow, grinning.

Kasamatsu shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't know who you're talking about." He said. "… someone mustn't let those kids work for nothing, at least. They've worked hard for the Open House. They deserve a prize."

"He's just shy." Moriyama made a comment, chuckling amusedly. "Yuki-chan is such a peculiar senior, don't you think, Izuki my dear?" He cheerfully turned to Izuki, who seemed to be not too comfortable with the senior, but Moriyama was too enthusiastic to notice.

"… Moriyama, if you use that nickname one more time, I swear …"

They waited until every chair was filled and every meal was served on the table, the rice bowls were steaming and plastic cups were filled with beer or wine. Kasamatsu and Imayoshi gave an opening speech, the first of them gave a formal congratulation to the students for the hard work they contributed to another successful Open House Week and welcomed the new students into the dorms, also to study diligently for the sake of their future.

The second speech by Imayoshi was much shorter in comparison, he mentioned to have fun when they could afford it, that studying needed break from time to time and there was no shame in having fun. Kasamatsu shot him a dubious look at that, but didn't add anything otherwise. In the end Imayoshi raised his glass and urged everyone for a cheers before chugging their drinks. Everyone raised their plastic cups and drank, Tetsuya sipped only a little of the rice wine, for he didn't particularly like alcoholic beverage. Kagami had filled his own cup with apple juice, so he had no problem finishing his.

With that, the feast began.

If boys in general ate quite a lot, young men specialised in sports had even more vicious, ferocious appetite. No wonder they'd ordered extra portions of meals on top of the homemade cooked meals, because the food was devoured in an incredibly fast pace. Plates upon plates were cleaned off with only grease or crumbs left behind, in just fifteen to twenty minutes into the dinner. What could have fed around eighty people reduced to a quarter of the original supply, at the first half an hour.

For someone who'd never lived in a boy's dormitory, this was a curious sight. The boys seemed to be capable of multi-tasking between eating, chatting and fooling around at the same time. They started competing for who could eat the most something or who could drink most cups of beers before getting drunk. When they accidentally made a mess of spilt drinks all over the floor, Kasamatsu stood up, yelled at the rowdy bunch and told them to clean up after themselves or they'd be cleaning the toilets for a month. That shut them up right away.

"Here, have some before those guys ate them all." Kagami put a large piece of beef onto his plate.

Tetsuya blinked. He was actually already pretty full, but he appreciated the sentiment. "Thank you, Senpai."

"These, too. You're way too skinny, Shiro. Eat more." He added a few Shiitake mushrooms, two pieces of tuna and half of a baked eggplant.

"Um, I'm already a little full, Senpai … I can't eat too much." He'd tried to decline, politely. His tummy was about to burst.

The seniors who sat across of the table chuckled amusedly. "Taking care of your junior, Kagami? First time having an underclassman of your own to care for, huh? How cute!" Moriyama pointed out, sniggering. Unexpectedly, Kagami flushed at that, face growing crimson. Tetsuya blankly stared at the redhead, taken aback. Their reactions seemed to amuse the seniors even more, laughing and gossiping amongst themselves.

"It - it's nothing big, okay? I mean, sure, I don't have a lot of juniors — but anyway, Moriyama-senpai's exaggerating. This is normal stuff." Kagami cleared his throat, loudly. "I mean, you're my roommate and my junior, so it's normal for me to - to take care of some small stuff for you. Plus, you've been helping me out with private … things."

He really didn't need to be all defensive about it. Tetsuya could feel the corners of his mouth twitching upwards. He felt a little happy, somehow. "It's alright, Kagami-senpai. I understand. Thank you for taking care of me."

Kagami grinned, cheeks flushing lightly. "Y - yeah! You're welcome, Shiro. Anytime."

After the food was all gone, the drinking needs escalated. The boys were complaining when they'd run out of alcoholic beverages. But there weren't a lot of stock in the first place, enough to provide drinks for everyone but not enough to make them all drunk. Tetsuya had a nagging suspicion that Kasamatsu had a control over the amount of supply allowed in the dinner. Tetsuya finished off his portion of wine, but didn't ask for more. He was going to meet Akashi tomorrow, and being hungover was the last thing he had in mind.

Since drinks were out of the question, the after meal desserts consisted of fresh fruits. Very healthy. He'd carried a number of cardboard boxes full of fruits into the kitchen earlier, there were several boxes of pineapples supplied by a senior named Miyaji (as he'd read from the address label on the boxes). There were plates of them on the table, freshly cut. They were delicious, juicy and fresh.

"Miyaji-senpai sent this? He always sends us pineapples, or durians. I wish he'd pick something else … I hate durians and pineapples." Someone commented, sighing exasperatedly. "Can't you do something about it, Ima-senpai?" A good number of the guys turned their heads to look at the senior, puppy-eyed.

Imayoshi merely shrugged his shoulders. "It's free. Next time, buy your own fruits."

Obviously, they didn't dare to complain to Kasamatsu, as he would've dismissed them the same way.

The dinner ended a little late, around ten-thirty.

Tetsuya helped with the cleaning up, which the Dorm Chief made clear that everyone was obligated to clean up the mess; sweeping the floor, washing the dishes and rearranging the room to its previous arrangement. Kagami had gone ahead to tidy up the kitchen with Mitobe, while Tetsuya gathered the sheets and brought them to the laundry room in the basement. The seniors had told him to dunk the dirty sheets into the machine and wash them overnight, so he did, putting a sufficient amount of powder detergent before he ran it.

Meanwhile, they put the cups and other thrash into a large plastic bag. Some of the guys swept the floor, moved the tables back to where they belonged and dragged the flip chairs back to the admin office. The common room was almost back to its previous glory, no longer needed much assistance. Tetsuya went to the kitchen to see if they needed any help. There were only a few people in the kitchen, including Kagami and Mitobe, who were washing high stacks of dirty dishes and wiping the kitchen counters. The thrash bin almost overflowed, so he picked that first.

When he was back from throwing the thrash, he came to help with the dishes. Kagami grinned gratefully to him. "Thanks, Shiro."

Shiro returned the smile. "Don't mention it, Kagami-Senpai."

They finished everything and went to bed past eleven.

Exhausted, with a full belly. Kagami went to the showers, while he climbed up the stair to get to his bed. Tetsuya vaguely remembered he had an appointment to meet Akashi at nine in the morning, he had to text Kise to give him a wake up call tomorrow … but he was far too drowsy and tired to lift a hand for his phone, much less composing a message to send to the blonde. He had to remind Kise not to forget the documents, and he had to prepare for his suit. Tetsuya yawned as he stared at the ceilings absently.

Before he knew it, Tetsuya's eyes fluttered close, fallen to a slumber with a sense of satisfaction he hadn't felt for a long time.

—

When he woke up at eight thirty in the morning, Tetsuya knew he was late.

There were ten unread text messages from Kise, some of which asked him where he was, whether he was awake and that they were going to be late for the meeting with Akashi. Instantly alerted with wide eyes, Tetsuya jolted up, got out of bed with a jump down the bunk bed stairs. Kagami was already gone from the bed, presumably for his morning run routine. Damn. No time, he had to go, now. He had his formal clothes back in the apartment, he could just run for it.

With his mind still slightly drowsy, Tetsuya went to fetch his jacket, put it on, grab his keys and phone — slipped into his shoes and dashed off, going through the backdoor for faster access. On a Sunday morning, the university was very empty. The weather was cool, pleasant. The trees and bushes gave off a really refreshing smell, one should be enjoying a stroll along the campus area, yet Tetsuya was rushing to get to his appointment.

This was the second time in a week that he had to run as if his life depended on it. He called Kise on his way to the apartment, told him to get his suit ready. He had to shower first, there was no way they would make it in time, so he told Kise to call Akashi and inform him they were going to be late. He felt guilty for having overslept, but at this point, he couldn't do anything about it. This was unprofessional, he scolded himself. Making his boss wait, what the hell was he doing?

"Morning, Tetsucchi. I've prepared your suit in the bedroom." Kise immediately sidestepped as soon as he opened the front door, allowing him to enter and make a beeline straight to the bathroom.

After he finished showering, he took a look at the clock. It was already nine. Tetsuya huffed, irritated, then went to the bedroom to change clothes. Kise was waiting for him at the living room sofa, in which it was a makeshift dressing room full of things meant for his disguises; three-way mirrors with numerous lamps, a big box of makeup, there were even mannequin heads with wigs displayed in the bookshelves. The blonde smiled, and showed the documents he'd prepared for the meeting, flapping it in his hand.

"Ready to go? Like they say, it's fashionable to be late." He teasingly said.

Tetsuya scowled, his fingers were busy tying the knot of the silk tie the blonde chose for him. He was wearing a set of black suit with a grey vest and white shirt underneath. A little too fancy for a short meeting, but that was what Kise prepared for him to wear. He wasn't big on leather shoes, yet it fitted the rest of the image. "Please don't make fun of me, Kise-kun. While it's no excuse, I do have a reason as to why I am late."

"It's your fault for having a party without me, Tetsucchi! Why can't I be living in the dorms, too? It's unfair." The blonde pouted, rising up from the sofa. He'd slipped the documents into a black leather bag which matched the suit he was wearing, he wore a light blue cravat instead of a tie. It was the same colour as the tie Tetsuya was wearing — the blonde had a thing for matching clothes.

Tetsuya sighed, he grabbed the car keys from the table on his right and tossed it at Kise. "Good question, you should ask that to Akashi-san."

The blonde caught the keys, rolling it with the ring in his index finger. "Maybe I would."

"We're late. Let's go." He clenched his jaw. He was feeling uneasy that he had to leave Kagami by himself for a few hours. "Kagami-kun is out on a morning run right now. I don't think he'll leave the university today, but I'd like to return as soon as we're done with the report."

"As dutiful as ever." Kise shrugged, grinning.

He knew there hadn't been suspicious persons or activities, but he was a bodyguard and a bodyguard's job was to be his client's shadow. A shadow was not supposed to stray from its main body. Kise was driving today, the car the company lent them hadn't been used in a while, but the tank was still full. Maybe Kise had gone out to fill it the day before. They drove off from the basement of the apartment's parking lot, into the neighbourhood streets.

"Akashicchi changed the meeting place." Kise told him. "He wants to meet us in a hotel at downtown Shibuya. Looks like he's going to treat us to some fine dining. I like his style."

Tetsuya rolled his eyes. "You just want free food."

"Guilty as charged." The blonde waggled his eyebrows meaningfully.

The hotel was located at downtown area, usually it would be quite crowded, but not on a Sunday morning. It was very peaceful. Without the traffic jam, it only took twenty minutes of car ride from the apartment to reach their destination. They'd used the GPS monitor to get to the hotel Akashi had mentioned in his text — the hotel in question turned out to be a large, luxurious hotel with sky-high structure with gold coating on the windows, for the entirety of its length, making it seem all the more glamorous.

Kise and Tetsuya got off the car, the former handed the keys to the valet service in a velvet red uniform. There was a line of a red carpet from the front entrance, very classy. They had to go through a metal detector before they could proceed. Then, a man in black suit approached them at the lobby entrance, recognised them by name and face, and told them Master Akashi Seijuurou was expecting them in the restaurant. Both he and Kise exchanged looks. Master Akashi. That was different.

The man led them into the hotel, which was far bigger than how it looked from the outside. There was a view of a Zen garden that could be seen from the inside of the hotel's corridors, through tall plates of glass. He realised the reason why the hotel seemed bigger was because they didn't build walls around the junction corridors, they had high glass windows with the views of the garden, letting in plenty of natural sunlights. It didn't feel confining at all.

The hotel itself was quite beautifully furnished, with classic decorations such as flower arrangements and paintings, gracefully woven rugs used as the carpeting, and shiny wooden furniture. It must be expensive to stay for a night there. The blonde seemed to think that way as well, wondering out loud how much it would cost for a regular room. Tetsuya had lost count of how many girlfriends or boyfriends Kise had so far, it did seem like he was presently single. He had always been the popular type. Tetsuya in the other hand … he brushed away the unpleasant thought. It wasn't important.

Akashi was as graceful and elegant as he'd last seen him, he looked like a royalty as he sat on a chair with legs crossed casually, reading a newspaper. Their escort announced their arrival, before anyone could say anything, causing the redhead to lift up his jaw and smile at them.

"Good morning, Kuroko. Kise. It's good to see you two, it's been a while." Akashi greeted, rising from his seat and folding the newspaper. The man in black suit hurried to his side to take the newspaper from Akashi. "I am still reading it, please do fold it and return it to me after I am done speaking with these gentlemen. Thank you." He gave a charming smile to the man, who seemed completely taken in by Akashi's demeanour.

This was why their boss was a force to be reckoned with, Tetsuya secretly thought. He could charm almost anyone so naturally, it was abnormal and frightening. People would just follow him blindly, worshipping the grounds he walked on — like the day he built his own Private Bodyguard Firm, a success story at such a young age.

"Order whatever you want if you're hungry, you don't need to pay." He offered as they took a seat, fingers laced together. "Why, Kuroko. You look refreshed, has something good happened to you recently?"

The blonde perked up, grinning. "Oh! Tetsucchi's totally crushing on the new client — oww!" Tetsuya was currently attempting to drill a hole into Kise's foot with his own. The blonde had such a big mouth, he should stuff it with something — like the swan-shaped napkin right in front him. Very tempting.

Akashi quirked an eyebrow at that, seemingly amused.

"Ah, Kagami Taiga. Yes. How is he? I haven't the pleasure of meeting him in person, unfortunately. I'd like to know more. Do you get along with him?" He urged, gently.

Tetsuya breathed in, deeply. "Yes. Kagami-kun is a good person. He has been nothing but wonderful to both of my … personas. He is polite and nice, I admire him." Tetsuya admitted, his cheeks heating up a little bit. "… I believe, despite the challenges presented to us, we've managed to do our tasks without anyone realising our true identity. Akashi-san. So far, there hasn't been anything of suspect. Kagami-kun is constantly surrounded by his peers, as well. While there is no cause to worry, caution is still necessary. He has just recovered from an injury, after all."

Akashi nodded once.

"Your disguises. Yes. Forgive me, that you have to go through such a difficult job description. It was a personal favour asked of me, so I'd like it if you could keep it a secret from the target for as long as possible." Akashi tilted his head. He gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'm aware of how odd the nature of this task truly be, and I'm willing to compensate for any discomfort and troubles you've been facing, Kuroko and Kise. Before we proceed with the details of the report, however, do you have any question you'd like to ask me?"

"I do have a question. Akashi-san." Tetsuya started. "The classes — the university will soon begin its new semester, and I have two different disguises from different terms and years. How should I do this? Do I need to attend to classes like a normal student?"

"I have classes with Kagamicchi too, so naturally I'll be going to school with him. Gotta keep an eye on him." Kise said. "But yeah, I'm curious too. How would Tetsucchi do it? Is he going as the girl Tetsucchi or as Shiro?"

Akashi took a moment to think it over. "Well, I have used my connection with the University's Board of Directors to register both Kuroko and Kise as temporary students. However, in Shiro's case, I merely registered him into the dormitory. You do not need to go to classes as Ogiwara Shiro, but you are still required to attend classes as Kuroko Tetsuya. Please do use this opportunity to gain a better understanding of the university's dynamics. I believe it will be important for the case."

"… you mean, intelligence gathering?" Tetsuya blurted out, surprised. That was actually Kise's specialty. His was investigation and personal protection, other than the disguise. "We are still investigating the random street assault case, but is that really necessary to do?"

Akashi's expression grew serious, crimson eyes glinting strangely. "Yes, I believe so. I will listen to your report regarding the random street assault case, but I must make you aware of another fact — Yesterday, we have received a threat call."

Tetsuya wasn't sure if he had heard right. "A threat call…? What do you mean?" He inhaled sharply, he felt a lump stuck in the back of his throat. "For Kagami-kun?"

Akashi shook his head.

"The message itself is quite ambiguous. But it's safe to conclude that they're targeting someone from Seidai University. The message sent to us, says as following; '… I will assault the Light after the sun rises in the East. I will put out the Light like a candle blown by the wind. When he thinks he burns brighter than ever before, I will put him out of his misery. I will throw him down the darkest pit of hell, where he belongs.' The caller recited the exact date of Kagami's first official game. I don't think it's a coincidence."

"Wait, the message was sent to our office?" Kise interrupted, eyes widened. "How the hell did they know we're taking the job to guard him? It's a supposed to be a secret!"

One of Akashi's eyes switched to golden, his expression grew grim, cast with a dark shadow. Both Kise and Tetsuya held their breaths. "We do not know who instigated the leak, yet. I have my men investigating this as we speak. I do not like the knowledge of someone in my firm, playing with my things and sharing without my permission. I will catch this rat and I will deal with them, accordingly."

Tetsuya swallowed, balling his fists. He was still digesting the information, taking its weight bit by bit. "Is there… anything else?"

The eyes switched back to a pair of red. The redhead's whole demeanour softened considerably, back to his friendly self. He gave them an apologetic smile. "We've tried to track where the call came from, and what we've discovered, was that the call was made from a public phone inside of the Seidai University area, near the Theatre and Performing Arts Campus. This is why you must remain cautious, and try to gather as much information as possible."

He felt a tinge of nausea rising from the pit of his stomach. The Performing Arts Campus wasn't very far from their dormitory. It was the nearest campus to the gym building the Basketball club used. "This — I have to go." Tetsuya said, standing up suddenly. "I have to go back! Kagami-kun is having his routine morning run, he's alone — "

"Please calm down, Kuroko. Do not worry. I have everything under control." Akashi reassured him. "I'm aware that the situation have grown quite dire, thus I've sent an email to Kagami Taiga's parents to see whether they'd like to raise the level of security for their son. Although they haven't given me a reply, I've already assigned two more bodyguards for him this morning. Just in case."

Tetsuya gaped, staring at the redhead. He wasn't aware there was another bodyguard around, but then again he overslept. "I — who did you assign the job to?"

"Midorima and Takao. They've just recently finished their one-year contract, I thought it would be good for them to take a casual assignment for now." He explained. "They sent me a message, Takao is following Kagami as we speak. Kuroko. You may rest easy."

Midorima and Takao. Two bodyguards of the Top Six in the firm, if it were them, Tetsuya didn't have to worry too much. He sighed, hearing his heart still beating in his ribcage. He sat down, again, he tried to cool down his nerves. A threat call. It might be a prank call, but, would a prank call be sent directly to a Private Bodyguard Firm? Just how much was the level of danger Kagami was in? He needed to know, and then prepare himself. He had to protect Kagami. He didn't like the lack of understanding in this case.

"Takaocchi, huh? I'm looking forward to working with him! It's been a while since I saw Midorimacchi, too." Kise commented cheerfully. "Though, are you going to make them go undercover like us too, Akashicchi?"

"No. It's not necessary. I will have them as your backup for the investigation, and to protect Kagami from afar. We're still keeping this a secret, at least until we know for sure, that the threat is something to be taken seriously." He told them. "That being said, Kuroko. I do need you to keep up with your good work, keep your identity a secret for a while longer. Can you do that?"

"Y - yeah. I mean, yes. Akashi-san. Of course." He repeated, with a firmer voice. He had to keep his composure, think over the possibilities and do his best to execute the tasks. He needed to calm down, be rational and be effective. He needed to protect Kagami, no matter what.

"That's all I wanted to hear." The redhead smiled. "Now, I'd like hear the details of your report. Oh, and, what did Kise mean by you crushing on your client, Kuroko? Care to elaborate on that?" His smile became wider, brighter and ever so elegant.

Shit.

—

TBC.

—