Hey hey, I am here to announce that I'm not dead but I'm truly sorry for my terribly long absence. Just to let my thoughtful readers know, my Sport's Day went great! My team won second! :)

I seriously thank everyone who has supported me to this point and those who took the time to read this story. I love every single one of you and I'm not saying this out of courtesy or guilt. I absolutely mean from the bottom of my heart. You are my pillar of strength to keep writing.

Note: "If the speech is bold, it means it's in another language. Most likely English, this is set in Japan afterall"

Again, I like to say...I'M SO SORRY T_T

I DO NOT OWN KUROKO NO BASKET

"Kagami-kun, wake up" Tsukiyo whispered carefully to the red-haired boy who was dozing in class. She wanted to wake him up before the teacher might notice the slumbering student. Tsukiyo sat next to Kuroko who was sitting behind Kagami which makes Kagami a little farther away. She was fearful that the teacher might hear her so she had to be careful.

"Kagami-kun, please" the albino pleaded lightly as she kept her voice soft, careful not to tip off the teacher. She really didn't want the poor tired player to get in trouble since the practice match with Kaijou really took it's toll on him. You tried endlessly until it too late when the teacher started walking towards their direction and caught sight of Kagami.

"How dare you sleep in my class Kagami?!" the balding teacher angrily fumed at the snoozing student as the other students stared and chuckled at the situation. "Wake up this instant!"

At that moment, the redhead slowly raised his arm high above his head in a dunking-like motion. Tsukiyo's eyes focused on Kagami, wondering silently if the redhead was actually awake this entire time.

"Kagami-kun?"

Then, without warning, the fiery redhead slammed his hand onto the teacher's balding head, as if he was dunking a basketball, shocking said teacher and every student in class. Every pair of eyes widened in shock and Tsukiyo's and everyone else's jaws practically dropped to the floor in surprise.

"K-Kaga-" Tsukiyo wanted to call out his name but she stopped herself before the teacher could hear her when the maroon-eyed student lazily opened his reddish eyes and saw where his hand was carelessly placed.

"Huh?" Kagami groggily said, furthering angering the teacher with his sleepy response.

"Don't 'huh' me!" The older man angrily exclaimed at the newly awaken teen. "Come to the faculty office later"

"What?!" When Kagami finally took the time to access the situation he was in, he couldn't believe his luck as his eye twitch irritably. To add salt to the wound, he also caught sight of Tsukiyo looking at him, silently chastising him with her eyes for sleeping in class.

"Why didn't he get in trouble?!" Kagami questioned bitterly in his mind as he carefully looked back to the aqua-haired student who was dozing off just as he was just a few moments ago. If Kuroko were awake at that moment, he would have seen the nasty look Kagami was giving his way.

"You really shouldn't be sleeping in class, Kagami-kun"

After leaving the faculty office, Kagami, Kuroko and Tsukiyo were walking through the hallways to meet up with the seniors. Tsukiyo, being her rather motherly self, starting to lecture the redhead probably the same way their teacher did not long before.

"Why aren't you lecturing Kuroko too?" Kagami tried averting the albino's attention to the silent boy walking along side them. "He was sleeping too"

"Kuroko-kun is different from you. You know that" The green-eyed girl countered, defending her aqua-haired friend. Though, she was probably being a little bias at the time. She did notice the aqua-haired boy napping during class but he looked so peaceful, the snow-haired maiden didn't have the heart to wake or scold him but she didn't want Kagami to know about her favouritism lest she wants to be on the receiving end of his mean glare.

"Damn you..." Kagami cursed under his breath.

Innocently ignoring him, Tsukiyo turned to her quiet friend with a curious expression. "What do you think Riko-senpai and the others called us for?" She referred to the text message Riko sent them the other day requesting their presence during their recess.

"I'm not too certain of anything. The message was quite vague" Kuroko answered recalling the contents of text message the older brunette sent the freshmen. "But, I can't imagine it goes well for us"

Tsukiyo laughed sheepishly, scratching her cheek lightly. "Well, it usually doesn't..."

"You want us...to buy a sandwich?"

The six freshmen (excluding one or two) all had a look which gave an 'are-you-f***ing-kidding-me?' expression while the seniors stood their ground, expressing themselves that they were dead serious.

"Actually, on the 25th of each month, the Seirin High store sells a limited number of a special sandwich" Riko explained thoroughly. "A phantom sandwich that makes you succeed at anything if you eat it, whether it's love matters or club activities...according to rumours"

"According to rumours? And quite an exaggerated one as well" Tsukiyo pondered skeptically in her head. "With such an outrageous rumour, I guessing it's not a normal made sandwich"

"A sandwich with black Iberian pig cutlets and the three best delicacies; caviar, foie gras and truffles! For 2800 yen!"

"Expensive!...And won't the quality drop if you add in so much stuff?!" one the freshmen exclaimed in disbelief. Thee freshmen boys thought that all of those ingredients seems unnecessary on one loaf of bread but one junior begged the differ

"But those ingredients sound amazing and delicious!" Tsukiyo's green eyes sparkled when she heard those ingredients. As a regular teenage student, she never thought she would ever get the chance to ever taste such famous delicacies. She had to try them. "We have to get those sandwiches!"

"Eh, Shirokawa's actually in?!" the boys said surprised. Who would imagine such a frail-looking girl would have a such a stomach on her.

"We just have to go buy a sandwich?" Kagami sighed exasperatedly' annoyed by the anticlimactic favour. "That's too easy"

"Here" Riko handed Tsukiyo a white envelop. From the feel of it, there were thin paper and coins inside.

"Money?" the snow-haired freshman guessed in which Riko nodded brightly in response.

"Of course the second years are paying for it" Hyuuga smiled gently enough but the freshmen suddenly saw it turn eerily creepy as he continued. "But if you fail... you can keep the change"

The helpless freshmen flinched when they heard the scary tone Hyuuga uses when the brown-haired captain goes into clutch mode.

"We'll just increase your amount of muscle training and footwork by three times"

If the six younger students thought this was going to be simple task, Hyuuga threw that notion out the window and into a shredder. Even though Tsukiyo wasn't going to suffer from this, seeing she's just the assistant coach, she knew that she won't be able to handle watching her friends suffer in the hands of their terrifying seniors.

"All this for a sandwich!?"

"Come on, if you don't hurry they'll run out of it" Izuki, as the only sane man, told them "It'll be alright, we did the same thing last year"

That took a lot of pressure off of them. For a moment, they thought this was going to be near impossible from the way the seniors acted. Perhaps, it won't be as bad as they thought. The freshmen let out a sigh of relief.

Then, Izuki had the look. The look that warn the people of an incoming pun. The sharp-eyed senior opened his handy notebook and started writing. "The sand witch eats sandw..."

"We're going" the freshmen said in unison as they simultaneously left, definitely not interested in hearing their senior's lame joke.

As the freshmen walked to the school store, Tsukiyo, as curious as she is, had to wonder. Why would the seniors make them do such a seemingly simple chore where they themselves could have easily done it themselves. Why make such a fuss over a sandwich?

"What could they be thinking?"

"Oh...now I get it" Tsukiyo muttered her breath as she saw a raging ocean of students gathered around the store, pushing each other at a chance for a single sandwich. This is the first time the ivory-haired freshman ever seen such an unruly riot. "I think senpai is trying to kill us"

"Almost the entire school population is here!" Tsuchida exclaimed as the basketball club wondered how are they gonna get through the outrageous crowd.

"Well, I think we should probably make a plan to...wait!" Before Tsukiyo could even finish her sentence, the boys impatiently dove right into the crowd in attempt to reach the front.

"Seriously you guys?!"

But regardless which ever angle the boys approach, they ended being tossed aside like fruit cakes after Christmas and Tsukiyo simply stood there, uncertain whether she should worry for her comrades or chuckle at their failure.

"THIS IS JAPANESE LUNCH TIME RUSH!"

"Why are you saying that?!"

Eventually, the boys gave up on their fruitless attempts and finally stop to a breather. They lay panting on the ground, their clothes ripped and tattered from their fight against the crowds. Tsukiyo looked to them with slight pity but a lot of annoyance.

"Why couldn't you just pause for a minute and listen to me?" Tsukiyo started scolding the boys of their impatience and inability to learn from their mistakes. "Brute strength isn't gonna cut it"

"You're in a real nagging mood today, aren't ya?" Kagami said lightly panting. Tsukiyo sent a nasty glare at the exhausted redhead which said the words 'you-have-no-right-to-talk-panting-on-the-floor-li ke-that' written all over her deadpan turquoise eyes.

"I'm not nagging! I'm just saying we obviously need a better plan than ramming ourselves into the crowd" The albino student sighed exasperatedly. At this rate, they'll never get close enough to get to the front. Obviously being the brains of the freshmen group, she knew she had to think of a way to pass through the crowd, but how?

Pausing for a moment, Tsukiyo looked around the crowed area and tilted her head in confusion. "Hey, has anyone seen Kuroko-kun?"

"I'm here"

"Kyaa!" Tsukiyo nearly jumped out of her skin when the aqua-eyed student suddenly appeared behind her. You'd think being with this boy for most of your middle school would help but no, she still can't get used to that.

"Kuroko-kun, where have you been?" Tsukiyo inquired about Kuroko's temporary absence for a moment. Even with his lack of presence, she knew when Kuroko was missing and not just before her eyes unnoticed.

"I went and bought it" Kuroko presented the bread in his hands out of nowhere and instantly everyone's jaws drop, utterly speechless. Well, except for the ever aggressive tiger-like player.

Kagami furiously grabbed the front of Kuroko's jacket and pulled the shorter blunette up so to face his taller and fiercer classmate. Kagami questioned the blue-haired student's of his tactics to obtain the rare bread. "How did you do that?!"

"I let myself pushed by the flow of the crowd and ended up in front of it" The aqua-haired freshman explained nonchalantly. "I asked for a sandwich, left the money then left"

Stunned speechless, Kagami unconsciously released his grip on Kuroko left his hand hang in the air and Kuroko briskly placed the bought sandwich in the redhead's open hands. "Here"

"..."

"As expected, the phantom sixth player is on a league of his own" Furihata muttered as his tattered blazer dropped down his slumped shoulder.

Tsukiyo scratched her cheek sheepishly and she tried to laugh away this weird atmosphere surrounding the freshmen members. "Kuroko-kun is truly amazing..."

Finally, the freshmen walked up to the rooftop to meet their seniors waiting for them. Unlike the seniors who look fresh as daisies, most of the freshmen were exhausted with their clothes in a disarray from the fight against the raging crowd downstairs.

"H-Here's what you asked..." Furihata said as he shakily stretched his arm to give his seniors the precious bread they fought tooth and nail for.

"Ah, thank you for your hard work~" Riko smiled sweetly at them, pretending not to see the condition of her freshmen.

"That's all you're gonna say to us?!" Tsukiyo would love to scream that out into the heavens but frankly she was too exhausted to utter a word and let it slide for now. Ah, the woes of being a freshman.

"Since you guys went to buy it, you can eat it"

"Eh? Really!?"

"Yea, don't hold back"

The freshmen then discuss amongst themselves and since Kuroko was the first to success in getting the Iberian bread, they decided the light-haired boy should get the first bite.

"...Well then, here I go..."

Kuroko said his thanks for the food before taking a bite of the Iberian bread as everyone watched him intensely in anticipation of his reaction. There, they saw it. Kuroko's face of pure joy as his face sparkled with delight.

"Very delicious" The delighted phantom player commented before continuing taking his time to enjoy the Iberian bread. It was safe to say the bread's praises and rumours around it is well-deserved.

"Whoa. This is the first time I see Kuroko looking so happy!"

Kuroko's friends watched in awe of Kuroko's blissful expression as Tsukiyo felt her face heat up slightly as she discreetly watched Kuroko's happily eating. It's been a while seen she saw Kuroko so happy and to see his gleeful expression up close, the poor girl couldn't help but let a blush paint her fair face.

"He's really cute..."

Unfortunately, Kuroko caught her staring defiantly at him and then offered her the bread. Tsukiyo snapped out of her thoughts and looked to him confusedly.

"Shirokawa-san, would you like to try it? You were staring at it" the calm phantom player offered her the sandwich. He completely misunderstood the young albino for staring at his face and has mistaken it for taking an interest in his sandwich.

"A-Ah thank you!" Not to look suspicious, she took the sandwich from him and stared at it for a while. She was rather thankful for Kuroko's obliviousness to your true interest. She wouldn't dare to think what would happened if the aqua-eyed boy knew she thought he was cute.

"My first Iberian sandwich...here I go" The pale albino carefully took a shy bite out of it and once the taste buds kicked in, she squealed in childish delight "Amazing!"

The boys watched as the snow-haired girl continuously ate the Iberian sandwich with childish glee. They couldn't help but found it adorable as the albino cutely squeal at every bite. The boys thought simultaneously how pleasantly refreshing to see Tsukiyo's more childish side.

"Oi Shirokawa, is it really that great?" Kagami asked as he scooted over to the green-eyed girl. "Give me some of that"

Instead of being kind like she normally would, Tsukiyo instead pouted and stubbornly kept the sandwich out of Kagami's reach. "No, Kuroko-kun gave it to me"

"What? Stop being selfish"

"No! If you wanted it you could have just bought it" Tsukiyo childishly argued back. "Instead you went and bought that 100cm BLT sandwich. Isn't that enough?"

"Seriously, just one bite damnnit!"

"No!"

The seniors smiled awkwardly at the scene as they watch the redhead and the albino fight over a simple sandwich. Those two sure know how to liven up the place, even if it's just lunch.

"They're both acting like spoiled kids"

"That Iberian sandwich was so good! I'm definitely going to buy it again next month!" Tsukiyo smiled gleefully as she walked home from school. She separated from Kuroko and Kagami not so long ago as Kuroko worried once more for her safety.

"Honestly, Kuroko-kun is too gentlemanly sometimes" she giggled as she drew closer to her home. But Tsukiyo's joy suddenly died down a little when she saw a mysterious woman standing outside her house. She seemed to be a young woman in her early twenties and seemed to waiting for something...or someone.

"Excuse me, miss" Tsukiyo politely called her attention. "Do you have any business with the residents of this house?"

Apparently the young woman was startled by Tsukiyo as she let out a small yelp of surprise and turned around hastily to see the younger girl standing there.

"Eek!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you" Tsukiyo apologized immediately to the easily spooked woman. "Are you looking for someone?"

"Um...yes. I was hoping that Shirokawa Kazuki lived here?" the young woman shyly asked the Seirin student as she fidgeted around in her spot.

"Hm? She's looking for my brother?" Tsukiyo thought warily as she stared at the woman inf front of her. She didn't look intimidating or mean. Tsukiyo noticed she was rather timid and flustered. There, Tsukiyo knew who she was. "Oh, she must be those girls"

Tsukiyo looked to her house and noticed the lights were off. But then, Tsukiyo's turquoise eyes caught something moving in the house and she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Typical brother"

"Um...excuse me" the older woman called for Tsukiyo's attention and the white-haired girl smiled politely at the timid woman.

"I'm sorry but my brother isn't home yet. He usually comes home very late" Tsukiyo told the woman as sweetly as she could.

"Oh, you're his sister" The woman muttered to herself. She took a long glance at Tsukiyo and titled her head slightly. Tsukiyo didn't find it strange at the woman's silent confusion. Seeing there was no physical resemblance to Tsukiyo and her brother, it was hard to believe that the two were related.

"Yes and I think you should head home. It's not safe for a woman to be outside alone at night" Tsukiyo suggested concernly. "Would you like me to relay a message to him?"

The young woman frantically waved her hands around, her face painted bright red while she refused the younger girl's offer. "No, that's not necessary! I'll be leaving now!"

The woman quickly turned her heel and immediately walked a beeline away from the Shirokawa residence and Tsukiyo gave one last glance at her before entering the dark house alone. There, she turned on the lights and called out into the darkness.

"You can come out now, she's gone"

Then, she saw a tall, fair-skinned man emerged from behind the sofa and and seated himself onto the couch with a casual expression and a small smirk. "Welcome home"

Ignoring her brother's greeting, the young albino when straight to questioning her brother. "Should I even ask who was that?"

"A store was broken in and she was one of the nearby shop owners we questioned today" Kazuki explained exasperatedly before continuing. "Apparently, she asked one of the guys from work about where I lived and found the house"

There should be an explanation here. Since long, Tsukiyo's brother longed to be a detective who solves crimes. With an unwavering determination, Kazuki became one of the youngest detective working in the police department and a well-respected one at that. Kazuki was the one who taught Tsukiyo to observe her surroundings which inevitably resulted in building her observation skills and eventually creating her 'Queen Eye'.

"Well, she didn't look dangerous. I was pretty sure she just wanted to see you and get to know you better"

Using her Queen Eye, Tsukiyo could tell from the way the woman before was fidgeting around and shuffling her feet that she wasn't here on official business as she only came on personal business. But knowing her brother full well, Tsukiyo knew she had to spare the poor woman's feelings from her brother's cold attitude. The green-eyed student felt guilty for lying to the woman but she knew it was the best course of action.

Kazuki felt his ego grow bigger as he looked to his sharp-minded sister. He taught his fair-skinned sister well. Kazuki smirked as he poked his young sister on the forehead, grabbing her full attention.

"I see that the Queen is back" Kazuki commented, slightly mocking her. "You're right, she was. We already caught the guy that broke in" the dark-haired man said which in response, Tsukiyo frowned disappointedly, swatting her brother's finger away from her forehead.

"Then, you really shouldn't have left her alone outside" Tsukiyo said, upset with her brother lack of compassion towards others. Kazuki further proved his inability to feel compassion for people outside his family when he simply shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, why do you insist on calling me Queen? I'm your sister for goodness sake"

"For a girl well-known for her observation, you sure can't see the obvious" Kazuki plainly said, poking his sister on the forehead. "Whenever there is something you think intently about, you narrow your eyes and turn calculative; nothing like my naive baby sister. Therefore during those moments, you are Queen"

"You make it sound as if I have a bi-polar disorder" Tsukiyo muttered under her breath as she knew telling him that would not make a difference.

Tsukiyo should have been furious with her empathetic brother and whack him in the head but then again, this wasn't the first time this has happened. Unlike the rather polite and soft-spoken sister, Kazuki rarely beats around the bush and says what he feels like he needs to say. His sharp observation skills and blunt personality makes him a hard police detective to deal with. While some people found his personality abrasive, others –mainly girls- find it strangely endearing. Tsukiyo would never understand the so-called charm of her older brother and frankly she's content with that.

The older brother patted Tsukiyo on the head and tousled her snow-coloured hair to bring her back from her train of thought. Tsukiyo looked up to see her brother looking the other way as he pointed to the bathroom.

"Go take a shower first. I'll call you when dinner is ready"

"Alright" Tsukiyo obeyed as she left the living for her bedroom to get ready for a bath. "Boys are so hard to understand"

Her brother smirked back at her "Girls aren't exactly an open book either, dear sister"

After a soothing bath, the two siblings sat down at their dining table to eat dinner together. It was a relatively comfortable dinner as the two was able to make small talk with each other. It was then the conversation turned a little personal.

"So brother, I heard you're gonna be coming home late from now on"

"Yea. I've been assigned a big case and this is gonna take up most of my time" the dark-haired man looked away from his meal and focused his eyes on his sister. "Are you okay with that?"

"I'll be fine" Tsukiyo assured her secretively protective brother. "I'll just eat out with my friends"

Kazuki's detective instincts kicked in immediately. "Friends, you say?"

"...Yes?"

"From your basketball club?"

"That's right..."

"A boy's basketball club"

Tsukiyo raised a fair brow at him. "What are you trying to get at, Kazuki?"

"You're not thinking of bringing a boy to the house, are you Tsukiyo?"

Kazuki's straightforward question nearly choked the life out of Tsukiyo and she coughed on her dinner in surprise. She quickly grabbed a glass of water and chugged down the clear liquid before staring back to her brother with a pink-hued face.

"H-How could you ever think that?!" Tsukiyo questioned her calm brother as she grabbed her cheeks with her hands in attempt to calm her burning face. "Bringing a boy to the house like that, I-I never done that b-before! I-I wouldn't know what to do!"

Kazuki watched as his sister freaked out in embarrassment and smiled faintly at her naivety. No matter how old they get, he would at least try his best to protect her innocence, especially from any boy with wicked minds. At her age, Kazuki knew this was the time when boys can turn into wolves and if anyone tried to harm his baby sister...

They will learn a brother's wrath bears no mercy.

Finishing off his last bite, Kazuki excused himself from the table and walked back to his room, saying he had some work that needed to be done before the next day. Tsukiyo nodded her head as she took the job clearing up the table. While her brother left the living room, Tsukiyo noticed the calender not far from where she was. She focused a little more attention on a certain date and resumed her chore.

"What should I do? It's coming up soon"

I should totally slap myself right now. I have literary wasted freaking months on this and this is basically filler. I wanted to update this a long time ago but since my final exams, I couldn't even touch the computer very often.

Does Tsukiyo have a bi-polar disorder? Yes and no. While she does seem to be a completely different person when her focus in at her max, it's no medical condition. It's just that Tsukiyo loves to give all her concentration on one particular thing at a time and she has no time to act silly in these situations. During this period of immense focus, she unknowingly likes to narrow her eyes a.k.a when she's the "Queen" as her brother puts it.

I was thinking of making a Halloween special after this chapter but with my exams I wonder if I can still make it...I sure hope so at least.

Seriously, thank you all for being so damn patient with me. Just...thank you.

Hopefully I'll have more time to work on my stories once my finals are over.

See You Soon (hopefully)