Wow, I'm blown away by all the support for the story!

I did a little research and found out that Aomine and Midorima were classmates in the second year of Teikou, as well as Kise and Murasakibara being classmates as well. That was interesting to find out, so it'll play a part in the story.

I know I'm dedicating a whole fanfic on the shadow and light duo between Kuroko and Midorima, but has anyone noticed that despite their so-called differences, they are a lot more similar than you think? Kuroko valued hard-work over talent. That was the main reason why his ideals clashed with those of Aomine and Murasakibara. In addition, Midorima didn't want to be involved in competing amongst themselves on who scored the most points against the other team, whereas the other four willingly took part in the competition. Midorima and Kuroko both had ideologies that reflect hard work and respect to the opponent. Yet, somehow, they didn't get along with the other? Personally, I think it's a missed chance at a deep friendship between the two.

The next day was a usual day like always.

School went by fairly slowly as Midorima already knew all the concepts and theories in his classes, but nonetheless, he still paid attention to the material. It was important to understand and fully know the information, so one can utilize one's talent and knowledge as best as they could, or else the talent would be wasted.

Unfortunately, it seemed like a lot of students and people in general failed to follow that philosophy. Most of the top students were looking very bored as their attention was drifting in and out of the classroom, while most of the other students were struggling to stay awake in the math class. In fact, one student didn't even bother to show to class and that person was none other than Aomine.

Hmph, how despicable. Midorima wasn't like those imbeciles, he had an amazing work ethic.

"Midorima, what's the answer to this question?"

The answer was obvious. Well, it should be to anyone if they paid attention to each step the teacher performed with a focused mind. The sharpshooter stood up and proudly stated, "The answer is twelve."

"Correct," the teacher responded. "You may sit down."

Along the way, he heard some scoffs from other students about how much of a nerd he was or how much of a teacher pet he was. It didn't matter. Not to him. All that mattered was the amount of work and effort he dedicated on the craft, which would later reflect in his works. After all, he strived for excellence.

"Dai-chan!"

Aomine turned his head to look at the female who was disturbing his peace and quiet. "What do you want Satsuki?"

Momoi puffed her cheeks and placed her hand on her hips. "You're not only ditching basketball practice, but you're also ditching class?"

The tanned teen couldn't help but bitterly laugh. What was the point? Everything had become so boring. What was the point of even trying? Soon enough, his melancholy laugh died down and he looked at Satsuki with a disappointed frown. "What's the point of even trying?"

Satsuki didn't say anything, but she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

With a sigh, Aomine twisted his whole body around to look at the sky. It was a bright blue sky, but there were several dark clouds. It was evident that it was going to rain soon.

Momoi lied, in order to see if Aomine was in class. She had told the teacher she was going to the washroom, but instead, she found herself walking towards the roof. She knew that her childhood friend would be there, but a part of her wished he wasn't. As it turned out, he was indeed at the roof, lazing around. There was nothing she could do and that fact truly hurt her. She was his childhood friend, but she didn't have the power or influence to change his mind. Even Tetsu-kun couldn't persuade the tanned teen otherwise. Tetsu-kun tried and it worked a few months ago, but at this current state, nobody could seem to reach Aomine.

As much as it hurt her, she knew she couldn't do anything to change his mind. Thus, with one last look, she turned around and began walking down the stairs towards her class.

The bell soon rang, signalling it was the end of class. When she walked in the door, the first person she noticed was Akashi. And Akashi was close, way too close for her liking. All she could see was red. Red hair. Red eyes...wait, one of his eyes was gold coloured?

She gave him a sweet smile. "Do you need something, Akashi-kun?"

"Why did you lie?" Akashi instantly asked, narrowing his eyebrows.

Momoi didn't deserve this. The first thing she had to deal with after entering the classroom was a questioning Akashi. And with his serious expression, Momoi knew better than to lie.

She quickly answered, "I went to visit Aomine-kun."

Akashi looked at her with a piercing look before he smirked. "There's no need. Daiki is fine as is."

The pinkette looked at the captain as if he had grew two heads. Did she hear correctly? Surely, she must have heard wrong. There was no way Akashi would refer to Aomine as Daiki, and Akashi wouldn't stand Aomine's nonchalant behaviour, she was sure of it.

"I assure you, it's the truth." Akashi stated. "And as for Daiki's behaviour, it doesn't matter as long as we continue to keep winning."

Once again, there was that smirk. It didn't seem right. Nothing did. Where was the good old days when everyone was united together by basketball? Where was the reliant captain that she knew would resolve this issue? Where was the old Aomine, the one who breathed basketball?

Akashi moved past her and left the classroom.

Normally, Kuroko would head to the roof to meet his light Aomine and Momoi. But after yesterday's events, he wasn't sure how to approach the tanned teen. He wasn't sure how to explain this feeling, but he didn't feel wanted or needed. Sometimes, he was certain Aomine felt irritated towards him.

Kuroko still had his other teammates, but almost all of them had drifted apart from each other. They all used to eat together at lunch, but that was looking less and less likely as time went on. Weirdly enough, when was the last time all of them hung out with each other? Maybe the last time was when they celebrated Kise making it to the first string, but Akashi wasn't there that day.

"Look, it's Kise Ryouta!"

"Do you think he likes me?"

"Kise is so hot!"

The phantom turned to look at the huge crowd of girls surrounding Kise. The model had a nervous smile as he rose his hands in defence.

Kuroko turned around, as he sipped on his vanilla milkshake. Well, it sucked to be Kise. The phantom could never comprehend how it felt to be the center of attention. Sometimes, he wished for attention. He knew it was silly, since being a phantom involved a lack of presence, but he couldn't help it. The past few weeks made him lonely, as he increasingly became ignored by his teammates. Though, he was certain that none of them intentionally did it, but it still hurt regardless.

A tall giant reached his field of vision before he went to a nearby bench and took a seat. That person was none other than Murasakibara.

The phantom was quite friendly with Murasakibara, but their basketball ideologies were drastically different from each other. He knew that he should approach the powerful purple haired male, but he hesitated. For some reason, he felt certain that if he did approach him, the topic on why the tall giant was ditching practice would soon surface and that wasn't a good topic to discuss for both parties involved.

Sometimes, he hated Murasakibara. How could someone so tall and talented be so uncaring about basketball and practice? Kuroko had to practice every day in the gym and even then, results barely showed.

They were complete opposites on the basketball court. Though sometimes, Kuroko wondered if Murasakibara ever felt grateful that he had the height and the talent to back it up on the basketball court.

Kuroko shook his head and continued walking. With all the noise in the cafeteria, he decided it would be better to eat his lunch elsewhere.

Soon, he was in a long hallway. He took three steps towards the window and looked outside. The sky was bright blue, but there were some dark clouds lurking behind the beautiful sky. Then, he looked down and he was surprised at what he saw.

The first thing Kuroko noticed was green. The grass, tree leaves and green hair. There was only one student that had green hair and that was Midorima. But somehow, watching the scene made the phantom feel that he looked so natural in the outdoors. Though, it was definitely a surprise as Kuroko didn't expect the sharpshooter to be enamoured with nature at all.

There wasn't much for Kuroko to do and he preferred that he talked with someone this lunch break. With a curt nod, he was determined to meet with Midorima outside.

"Hello."

Midorima jumped back in fright. Even without turning around, the sharpshooter already knew who it was. Honestly, the teal haired boy was going to give him a heart attack one of these days.

"Kuroko." Midorima said as he gritted his teeth.

"How are you Midorima?" Kuroko asked as he sipped on his milkshake.

"I'm doing fine," Midorima answered, pushing up his glasses. "And yourself?"

The phantom nodded. "I'm fine. It's quite a surprise to see Midorima outside."

"Well, I was just thinking about our whole team and potential solutions to remedy the problem." Midorima answered with a sigh. "It's quite difficult."

Unbeknownst to the bespectacled teen, the phantom smiled.

"I'm sure you'll find a way. And I'll be there to help."

School had finally came to an end. Basketball practice was now starting.

"Kuroko-cchi!" Kise cheerily hugged the phantom.

"Oi! Kise, get off of him!" Midorima yelled. "Can't you see he's clearly affected from such brazen actions?"

Midorima dragged the blonde away from the phantom.

"So mean!" Kise wailed. Then, in a few seconds, the blonde went back to his cheery self. He took a look around the gym before looking at the two in a confused expression. "Where is everyone else?"

The sharpshooter rolled his eyes. It was blatantly obvious. "The others ditched practice. Kise, are you that much of a fool?"

Instantly, the blonde's smile faded. He reached the back of his head and sighed. "Oh, I thought we would all still practice together as a team."

"Well, we're still here." Midorima stated. With a grunt, he turned around. "Unlike those buffoons, I refuse to stoop to their level."

And thus, Midorima walked away from the pair to practice on his shots.

Kuroko sent a look towards the model. He felt for the blonde, because he too wanted everyone to practice together and enjoy the sport as a team. Kuroko knew that there were some cracks in their team dynamics, but he wanted to fix it. Unlike Aomine, Kise still had passion for basketball and at the very least, he couldn't let such passion wither.

The phantom turned to the blonde and smiled. "Come on Kise, let's practice with Midorima."

Kise slowly nodded, but unbeknownst to anyone, there was a frown planted on the blonde's face.

After a while, basketball practice was finished. At this very moment, only two boys remained in the gym since Kise decided to leave immediately after practice for his modelling shoot.

Midorima made a cut to the corner, as Kuroko quickly passed it to him. The green haired boy grunted at the impact from the pass and took the shot.

Clank.

The ball hit the rim.

It was quite unfortunate. Midorima was not yet prepared for this type of pass. Before, he got used to the passes Kuroko made, but these were different. These passes were on another level. These passes were the one that Aomine regularly got.

"Let's try again." Kuroko said.

Even though Kuroko was stoic, Midorima was certain that the phantom was just as determined as him in mastering this.

With a sigh, Midorima began to cut once more. He was going to catch this pass and swish it. He wasn't going to stop until he got the hang of this catch and shoot.

Clank.

This was going to take a long time.

It was now ten in the night and both boys were prepared to head home after such an intense work out.

"Midorima, what do you think we should do about the team?"

Midorima jumped up. Once again, Kuroko appeared in front of him. Though he was stoic, there seemed to be a sense of uneasiness emanating from the boy.

The sharpshooter sighed. He had thought about possible solutions and as much as he didn't want to admit it, he did spend a fair share of time thinking about the team concept. The team was drifting apart and as more time went on, the worse it would be. Midorima wasn't an idiot, he spotted the occasional looks of disinterest from Kise today and it unnerved him. For even the blonde to be affected by such foolish and arrogant thoughts, it was possible that these types of thinking were contagious. But Midorima didn't have the luxury to indulge in these thoughts. Shooting was always about consistency and practice, there was no way he wasn't going to practice. As for teamwork, it was definitely important. Teikou wouldn't have won their first championship if they didn't have teamwork. Kuroko basically embodied teamwork, since his play style was all about supporting others. Midorima would be damned if he chose to leave Kuroko behind and what he represented.

"I've been thinking a bit, but don't worry. I'm sure I'll have a plan in place by this week." Midorima replied, as he adjusted his glasses.

The phantom nodded. "Midorima, would you like to go to the convenience store with me? I would like to buy a snack."

Midorima nodded. "Sure, lead the way."

A few minutes later, both boys left the convenience store. Kuroko pulled out an orange popsicle, broke it into two and handed one to Midorima. "For all the hard work today."

Midorima nodded. "Thanks."

A silence soon enveloped between the boys until Kuroko finally reached his home. He turned towards Midorima and offered him a smile. "Bye Midorima. Thanks for all the hard work."

As Kuroko began to walk towards him home, he heard a low whisper. To a normal person, he or she might not hear the whisper. But he caught every word.

"Don't worry Kuroko, we'll bring those idiots back."

And with that said, the phantom smiled once more.

That's a wrap. Sorry, it was short compared to the first chapter and such a long wait. I do have a plan in motion in terms of the plot, but I still got to establish the relationship between Kuroko and Midorima, so it might take a while until both these guys tackle the other Generation of Miracles.

Anyways, if you're still reading this after such a long update, thank you so much and I will try to update more. Until next time.