AHAHAHAHAAHHH I'M SORRYYY. and a short chapter is all I can manage after over a year.

but really, I hesitated to update His Other Side and That Phantom Player. idk. so many OOCness and stupid plot. but I will try. I don't wanna disappoint you all (more than I did). orz

anyway, thank you for you all who still reading this. I'm so honored. I don't deserve the time you spend on my writings. ;;;;;

warning : unbetaed

"Excuse me,"

The murmurs were heard everywhere, be it in the corridors or in the class 1-C. The rumored president of student council slash captain of Teiko basketball team appeared on the entrance of class 1-C.

"Is Kuroko Tetsuya still here?"

"Ah, um!" Kise took the initiative to answer him. "Actually, he wasn't here since lunch. He told us he was going to buy pocari, but he didn't return even until the last period ended. We even took turns to search him in every short breaks but failed." Not that he would normally be easy to find, though.

There was an uneasy look on Akashi's face. It sounded strange no matter what. "You are Kise Ryota, right?" He tried to remember. He knew Kise was one of Kuroko's friends. In fact, he tried to talk to them a lot lately to catch up on Kuroko.

"Yes, captain!"

"Do you think it's possible that Kuroko-kun is being bullied?"

"Actually…."

"Uh, sorry, capt'." Aomine pushed Kise aside. "It's too obvious to know. But we don't know what to say to you. Tetsu didn't even say anything to us. Well, I got a tips for you: educate your groupies so that they won't touch Tetsu."

"Aominecchi, that's not nice!"

"I'm not sure if I have any, but I'm sorry." Akashi let out a soft sigh. "I'm trying to know things as well. But now that Kuroko-kun is gone, I have to take a serious action."

"…Whatever you seniors are going to do, please kindly stop." A soft, indignant tone was heard in a small, dark room. The guy speaking was surrounded by female upperclassmen. "This…is the only uniform I have. I can't let my father buy another one."

"Well, sure. Why don't you just go to school with torn uniform? You don't have shame, after all." Giggles followed the rude statement.

"Why are you all doing this?"

"Aren't you the deaf one?!" A kick was blown, leaving Kuroko coughing rather loudly. Must be a member of female soccer club, he guessed. "We've been here telling you to get away from Akashi-sama. Get a hint!"

"Then…," Kuroko coughed a bit more before he raised his face. Still unnerving, yet brought everyone in the room ticked off, thinking he was giving a rebellious look. "why don't you approach him and talk to him? Why are you doing this instead? Akashi-senpai won't be pleased to know that you all are doing this dirty thing."

The one who seemed the leader of them all raised her hand that was holding a pair of scissors. "GET LOST!"

Kuroko closed his eyes, was ready to face anything he had to, until a loud noise was heard. He opened his eyes only to have Akashi standing by the entryway of the building. He did not look pleased. He was panting, sweat covered his face.

"A-Akashi-sama!"

Wordlessly, Akashi approached Kuroko. He untied him and let the blood flow in the wrists normalized. Then he offered a help for a lift to the younger teen before he got politely rejected and left with him. It happened in a good one minute in silence.

And before he really left the room, he said, "I memorized your faces and names, and I will try my best to convince the principal to expel every one of you." He smiled. "I dislike women who lack of indignance, after all."

The two of them reached their room. Kuroko lied on Akashi's bed after the redhead told him so to rest.

"I will sleep on the upper bed tonight. You can use mine. I'm sure it's tiring to get to the top only to have a nice sleep."

"I can't trouble you like this."

"No, it's okay. And I just changed the sheets two days ago, so I assure you it's still fresh."

"That's not what I have in my concern…." Even so, unconsciously, Kuroko softly inhaled the sheet, of course after making sure Akashi didn't see him and was too busy arranging books for tomorrow's lesson. The laundry scent was strong, but he still found a hint of Akashi's.

"I am sorry for everything that happened to you." Akashi spoke.

"No, it's not—"

"Even so," Akashi turned around, looking Kuroko right into his baby blue eyes. "I can't tolerate something like this, Kuroko-kun. Should you ever tell me a single hint, we can prevent something like this to happen."

"I'm sorry." Kuroko quickly said. Simply apologizing, without sparing a beat to utter any excuses or anything. He knew he was at fault as well.

Akashi smiled. "Now it's settled. From now on, both you and I would never keep anything important like this, as long as it's not too personal. I can keep my distance if I have to, but I rather know necessary things so something like this won't happen again. We are roommates, after all. Don't you agree?"

How could Kuroko not? Akashi made sense in every word he chose. Making Kuroko could not help but agree. That upperclassman of his always know how to convince him. "Okay, Akashi-senpai."

"Let's just take a shower before dinner, so you can sleep early tonight. Do you want to use the bathroom first?"

"Please go on, I want to lie down a bit more."

"Sure."

Kuroko was indeed tired, and the luxury that compensated it was Akashi's bed with his slight fragrance, and the soft sound of shower running in the bathroom. Almost made Kuroko fall asleep. He did not even want a dinner; well, it wasn't like he normally do.

And one minute before his eyes closed until next morning, he recalled the worried yet glad expression when Akashi found him.

"Akashi has been worrying about you."

"Is it just because I am your roommate…?" Or, am I something else?