I vaguely remember that the old Akashi called everyone by their last names. Am I right?

This was thought up of long ago, just posted it now. I found this old plot bunny somewhere in my files and then I realized "Hey, I could totally use 229Q & 230Q as inspiration, or something" and ta-da! We have a friendship fic!

R & R.

Enjoy~!

Kuroko was leafing through his photo album. He was looking at the photographs of their team that he had compiled.

The teal-haired male smiled fondly at the pictures. Later, after their practice match, they could all hang out and take more pictures together.

It was then that he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. The teal-haired teen looked up to greet them. Why was this person here? Weren't they supposed to be somewhere else right now?

"Ah, good morning. Is there anything you need—"

Teiko's first practice match for the year is starting in an hour, but the team has yet to get ready. By this time, they should be at the gym right now, but they're on the school grounds, roaming around.

"Any sign of him, Murasakibara?"

"Can't see him," Munch. "Too many people."

"Honestly, this wouldn't have happened if he had accepted his lucky item." Midorima was holding onto a bunny plushie. "By the way, my lucky item is a collar." He held up a spiked collar in his other hand.

"No one asked about your stupid item!" Aomine growled. "We have to focus on looking!"

"For once, Aominecchi said something smart!"

"Hey!"

"Guys, stop fighting!" Momoi intervened. "We won't get finished if we keep on squabbling!"

The entire team was panicking, for various reasons. First, one Kuroko Tetsuya was missing. Second, Momoi and even Akashi doesn't know where he is. Three, he is generally hard to spot because of his natural lack of presence.

"Where did Tetsu go, anyway?"

"Knowing him, he's probably lost again." For all his observation skills, Kuroko had a shitty sense of direction. They also forgot the count of how many times he got himself lost. It was just that bad.

"Honestly, Kuroko should've known better than to go to the bathroom alone by himself."

"K-Kurokocchi, where are you? Ohh, what if something bad happens to him? What if some shady guy finds him and—"

"That's impossible, Ki-chan. Tetsu-kun's practically invisible to almost everyone."

"Right, you shouldn't be such a worry-wart, Kise."

"Yeah, but there are the rare times someone notices him, Momoicchi!"

Midorima adjusted his spectacles. "Well, I hate to admit it but I have to agree with Kise on this one, especially since Kuroko didn't take his lucky item." The green-haired shooter appeared to be sulking, but it might just be their imagination.

"So it comes down to the lucky item, again?!"

Murasakibara looked bored. "Ah, I get it. So Kuro-chin will be eaten then?"

The four's eyes widened in alarm. Kuroko getting eaten… Kuroko getting eaten…

Oh, hell no!

They all dashed in random directions.

"WAAAAAAH! KUROKOCCHI!"

"SHIT, TETSU! I HAD NO IDEA ON THE THINGS THAT COULD HAPPEN!"

"Tetsu-kun, please come out!"

"Kuroko, come here already! …Not that I care about you. It's just troublesome to carry your lucky item for the day with me!"

"Then don't carry it, tsundere!"

"I'm not a tsundere! Besides, Oha-Asa said that Cancers should give Aquarius their items to receive good luck!"

Kise joined the conversation between Midorima and Aomine. "Liar! I listened to Oha-Asa this morning and they said nothing about that!"

"Shut up, Kise!" And their voices gradually became faint.

Akashi gave Murasakibara a pat on the head, with the purple-haired giant sitting on the ground. He also handed him a box of pocky. "Good job, Murasakibara. At least they've splitted up without much complaint."

In the end, the team decided to split up to cover more grounds.

Momoi was busy scouring the west side of the building where the canteen is located. Knowing her Tetsu-kun, he would usually come to the cafeteria to buy some vanilla milkshakes to keep himself preoccupied.

"Tetsu-kun, I hope you're safe." Her eyes became dark. "If anyone from the other school touches you, I'm going to tear them apart!"

All the other students who were passing by instantly left the area after seeing the pinkette's dark aura.

She felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned around and screamed in surprise.

"Oh, it's only you!" She sighed in relief, smiling sheepishly at the other.

"Yes, it's me. Anyways, please come to the rooftop and…"

"Tetsu!" Aomine bellowed in some deserted corridor. "Tetsu, where are you?"

His eyes caught sight of a familiar door. The tanned male stood in front of the science lab. The tanned male vaguely remembered that he had some magazines of Horikita Mai hidden in a compartment. 'Maybe I can browse through a few before looking for Tetsu again.'

When he approached his usual seat during science class, he rummaged through the drawers and found nothing. "What the hell? Where's my Mai-chan?"

It was then that he noticed a small slip of paper fell on the floor. Grumbling on how anyone found his secret stash in school, the teen picked up the paper and read whatever was written.

I see all, I know all. If you want your precious magazines back, meet me at the rooftop, ASAP. —Philosopher.

He clenched the piece of paper. Whoever this 'Philosopher' guy was, he's going down.

It had completely left Aomine's mind that he was supposed to look for their phantom player.

"Kurokocchi!"

Kise was running down a different hallway when someone tripped him. As his face was planted on the floor, he felt a weight on top of him. There was a person sitting on his back, and something sharp was pressed to his neck.

He didn't recognize who was speaking, because his assailant's voice was muffled. It sounded like a girl, though.

"Listen to me, pretty boy. Go to the rooftop, or else." The sharp object was pressed further to his neck and he could only shriek in surprise.

"Okay, okay!" The person suddenly stood up and left. When the blond was able to stand up, his attacker was gone. He headed to the rooftop in fear of what would happen to him. He paled at the notion that it could be an obsessed fangirl.

'Sorry, Kurokocchi, but I don't want to die yet!'

Besides, he hasn't thought up of checking the rooftop, so maybe the teal-haired male was there.

Midorima was walking casually in the back of the school when someone bumped into him, making him fall to the ground. He heard a shrill 'sorry!' before the other person fled.

The green-haired shooter dusted off his clothes and stood up, but not before fixing his uniform, of course. He had a slight scowl on his face. "Honestly, the manners of people these days…"

He was about to pick up his bunny plushie and the collar, but both items were missing. In their place was a small slip of paper.

I see all, I know all. Go to the rooftop if you want your precious lucky items back. —Philosopher.

'How did—' His eyes widened. The rude student must've taken his lucky items!

The green-haired shooter groaned before following directions. He can't search for Kuroko if he's unlucky, and he can't repel bad luck if he doesn't have his lucky items.

Murasakibara was bored. Akashi had asked him to stay behind just in case Kuroko miraculously finds his way back to the gym. The redhead left after someone texted him. The purple-haired giant continued to munch on some snacks. "I wonder where Kuro-chin and Aka-chin are."

Someone crept behind the tall player until he felt a tug on his jersey. The purple-haired player turned around, only for his eyes to lit up. "Oh, it's you—"

"Shh." The person placed a finger on his own mouth. "Just go to the rooftop right now. I have some snacks prepared for you."

"Oh, okay." There was no problem. He was running out of snacks, anyway.

Just a few minutes ago, Akashi was patiently waiting with the purple-haired player on the school grounds. He was pacing around until his phone went off. The redhead's eyes narrowed when he read the message.

From: Unknown Number

Subject: Call me Philosopher

—I see all, I know all. I challenge you to a Shogi match. Meet me at the rooftop, ASAP. Especially if you want your phantom player back.

The red-haired player clenched his fists and snapped his phone shut. He had put on their school jacket and started to walk away.

Murasakibara stopped chewing food for a moment. "Aka-chin, where are you going?"

"I'm leaving to show garbage where they belong," He smirked. "Murasakibara, I want you back to the gym just in case Kuroko comes."

"Okay, Aka-chin."

Oh, he'll show them what happens to those who dare challenge him.

The rest of the Generation of Miracles had arrived at the rooftop. They looked around and saw a few things like Midorima's lucky items, Aomine's magazines, and Murasakibara's promised snacks. There was no sign of the 'Philosopher', though.

Once they approached the pile of items, they immediately broke into chatter.

"Eh? Where's this 'Philosopher' guy? I want to sock them in the face for this."

"Oh, good. I'm not gonna die yet."

"I can't believe I wasted time for nothing. This is too easy," Midorima exclaimed.

"My snacks are here." Murasakibara opened up a bag of potato chips.

Akashi had his scissors out, ready to face anything. "Don't tell me that this 'Philosopher' had ran with his tail between his legs."

"No, I didn't run with my tail between my legs." A familiar teal-haired male appeared in the middle of their group. They were all surprised by his sudden appearance.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Are you trying to say that you're this Philosopher guy?"

"I'm not trying, I'm saying it, Aomine-kun."

The tanned male was confused. "Why did you suddenly disappear on us and gave us all this trouble just to go to the roof?"

"For that," Kuroko had an amused smile on his face. "Momoi-san, now!"

The pink-haired girl came out of nowhere and glomped whoever was at the leftmost position. In this case, it was Aomine. The ganguro was pushed towards the others.

"Everyone, say cheese."

After Kuroko said those words, they noticed the camera that was positioned in front of them.

"W-Wait, we're not ready yet—"

The flash went off.

Kuroko gazed fondly at the group photo.

There in the photo was Momoi at the leftmost part, where in she tackled a startled Aomine. Aomine had accidentally leaned on Kise, who was squished between him and a nonchalant, eating Murasakibara. Next to him was Kuroko who had a small smile on his face. He was also carrying the bunny plushie from Midorima and his other hand was in a peace sign. On Kuroko's other side was Akashi who had a surprised, aghast expression on his face. Last, there was Midorima who was spluttering as he held onto a collar.

He remembered that time as clear as day. When he was browsing through his photo album, Momoi, who was supposed to be preparing at the gym back then, had approached him. She had thought up of having a group photo. Everyone was busy back then so he had no choice but to take advantage of the time they were all together in school.

After easily finding Momoi along the corridors to the cafeteria, he had asked her to help him to make the others go to the rooftop. Momoi was the one in charge of tricking Aomine, Kise, and Midorima. He was in charge of tricking Akashi and Murasakibara. Because of that, the redhead gave him double training for the next two weeks.

"Kuroko, for tricking me, I should've given you triple training. Instead, I'll double it since it was for a good cause."

"Akashi-kun…"

"Kuro-chin, thank you very much for the free snacks."

"Kurokocchi, that was so touching-ssu!"

"Ah, it's good that you've taken the lucky item— not that I had been worried or anything!"

"What a tsundere. Anyways, there was no need to do all of this. Seriously, Tetsu. You should've just asked us to come here."

"But where's the fun in that, Aomine-kun? It's more exciting this way. Isn't that right, Momoi-san?"

"Yup!"

"Your blank face doesn't convince me one bit!"

It didn't matter. It was worth capturing the memory.

He placed back the picture on the bedside table next to his group picture with Seirin. The phantom player gazed at both picture frames. He had done the same trick to his current teammates, and they fell for it like insects on a spider web. It was too easy.

Reminiscing of the old days, the teal-haired male's eyes turned resolute. He will make sure that everything will go back to those peaceful, happy days. He'll make Akashi see his wrongdoings, and make him realize that Teiko's philosophy was wrong.

Winning isn't everything.

"Get ready for us in the finals, Akashi-kun. We will show you Seirin's Basketball."

Kuroko stood up, gathered his things, and got ready to leave. He ushered his pet to follow him.

"Come, Nigou. We're going."

Whew, finally over. Anyways, the reason why "Philosopher" is Kuroko's codename because I read somewhere that Tetsuya, his first name, means "philosophy or clear" and some other stuff that I can't remember.

I'm off to continue studying now.

Ciao ciao~! -Flonne.