Kou's hand began to really hurt from the prolonged banging on the doors.

    "It's me, Kou. Open up!" She called, not minding if the neighbours would curse her for the peace disturbance, or better, they'd call the police.

    "Go away!" A muffled voice retorted.

    "Just let me in."

    "What do you want from me, anyway?!"

    Miho heard faint steps and the voice got a little more clear.

    "We need to talk." She explained, unclenching her fist and resting her palm against the smooth, metallic surface of the doors. "Just... I need answers."

    "Then find a priest or a psychiatrist... Or both." The voice snarled. "I'm not in a mood for a company, especially not yours."

    Kou heard a click and the doors went ajar. From a newly appeared slit, she could recognize Seto's grey eye peeking from behind the heavy doors.

    "I need to speak with you, Kentarö. This is important." The girl insisted.

    For a moment she felt Seto glaring at her before he closed the doors. In a flash, Miho pushed her foot between it, preventing Seto from shutting them completely.

    "Move, Kou."

    "This is important..." She repeated urgently, wishing she wouldn't have to add the magic word, because Kou would rather eat her own hair than beg Seto for anything.

    "Just move your foot! I need to unlock the chains." He snapped, apparently already irritated by her behaviour. That only made Kou feel even more irked that she was forced to come to Seto to get in the first place.

    Kou slowly pulled her foot back to watch the doors shut with a crash. The soft click of the chain was heard and before her appeared Seto. To Kou's relief, he still had his hair.

    The boy stepped back, motioning for her to get in. The girl did so, observing him as he carefully locked the door back again. It was disturbing how obsessively he was checking if all the chains were properly secured. His look hasn't changed much, she had to admit that even with a bandaged hand and already greening bruise around his eye, Seto seemed pretty well.

    Not sparing Miho a glance, the boy passed her. For the lack of better options, she reluctantly followed getting into a large kitchen. Kou walked to the counter and climbed on a stool, her eyes locking on scattered tablets' bottles.

    "I'm surprised to see you here, Kou." Seto stated, taking out an extra cup and purring some liquid in it. He pushed the cup before her, by the way spilling some of the beverage over its stony surface.

    Eying the content of the cup suspiciously, Kou brought it to her face and took a sniff, the smell making her grimace in a process. Was that a herb mix?

    "Don't make such a fuss about it." She countered, tasting the tea. It definitely didn't taste better than it smelled. "You weren't even my second choice, but since Hara is... indisposed... I was out of options."

    "What about Furuhashi? If I had to take a pick it would be him you'd go to." Seto admitted and leaned against the counter a cup of a beverage in his healthy hand.

    "He's out of the country. Switzerland." Kou explained, twisting the cup in your fingers. "Too much trouble..."

    Seto winced. "Well, you should have to give yourself the trouble..." He muttered, rubbing his forehead tiredly.

    It seemed off for Kou to see Seto being so exhausted. He even had faint bags underneath his eyes, not large enough to stand out clearly, but definitely enough for her to feel disturbed. The tiredness and all those pills... maybe Seto wasn't as well as she originally assumed? Silently praying, he didn't break just like Hara did, because, honest to god, Kou had no delicacy left in her body whatsoever and if Seto snapped she'd have to punch him.

    "What are you staring at?" The boy yawned, as Kou eyed him like a ticking bomb.

    Spotting odd, blank spaces in his jaw, the girl snorted finding a perfect excuse. "I'm counting your missing teeth."

    Seto immediately pursed his lips, sending her a hateful glare. "Five. Three up and two down. Besides that, two broken fingers." He raised his arm, showing her his bandaged hand.

    Seto's blunt statement made Kou's stomach drop. Rarely was he that straightforward, usually choosing to keep his mouth shut and save himself the trouble of talking in general. He was the laziest person she'd ever had the displeasure to encounter and, taking to account Kou's own personality, that was a lot coming from her.

    "You disappeared a day after the game with Töö..." Miho stated, locking her eyes at the cup in her hands. "What happened?"

    The floor clanked as Seto pulled back the stool, sitting on the opposite side of her.

    "I'm genuinely surprised you haven't yet dug into the truth. Why do you want me to tell you stuff you already know, Kou?"

    "I know something, but it's not enough to fill the whole picture." The girl explained, raising her chin. "I can't work if I don't have enough data."

    Watching Seto squirm uncomfortably in his seat, she seriously hoped he'd cooperate. Switzerland option was definitely not appealing.

    "Alright... But listen carefully, cause I'm not going to repeat myself." Seto warned with his mouth twisted in displease. "And do not interrupt me."

    Kou nodded. The boy sighed, fingering his long hair, before looking her straight in the eye.

    "It not like we didn't see it coming." Seto sighed. "If you befriend people like Hanamiya, sooner or late there will come a day when it will all literally blow up in your face. With Töö it wasn't that unexpected. I have no idea what Hanamiya and you did to make those idiots so paranoid, but it majorly contributed to our victory that day... it has also made some people very angry."

    Miho frowned, already opening her mouth to ask what people did her companion had in mind, but then she remembered if she talked, Seto would leave her high and dry, so she kept her mouth shut.

    "Players say various bullshit during the games, but with Töö it was not the case. They didn't even utter a word... Basically, it was just Hanamiya and Aomine bickering around, while the rest of us minded our own positions—"

    "You were on the bench with me — snoring — for the first three quarters, so how can you tell, eh?" Kou couldn't stop herself from interjecting, since inaccuracy in his words started bugging her.

    Seto grimaced, second-guessing his sanity because he seriously thought she could keep quiet for at least 5 minutes.

    "I'm getting to that!" He spat. "Just pay attention, Kou!"

    The girl rolled her eyes, biting on her tongue to keep quiet. After a moment of silence, Seto resumed his story.

    "Yamazaki said he overheard Aomine saying that if Hanamiya lays a finger on them, someone will make sure neither of us would be able to move on our own anymore—"

    "You've got to be fucking kidding me! He didn't!" Miho exclaimed, her brows rising above her hairline. Aomine had a subtlety of a drunk hog and finesse of one, threatening someone so openly. "What an idiot..." She huffed.

    Seto glared at her, choosing to ignore her interruption.

    "After the second quarter, Hanamiya reminded us to just stick to the plan. Furuhashi was kind of pissed at you back then so he lashed out that your bullshit plan is not working, yadda yadda, and that once we're done with Töö, you need to rethink what should we do during the game with Kaijou."

    Kou clenched her fists. "I'd like to see Köjirö, for once planing anything. I know my job since I've been doing it probably longer than he can read."

    "Is there anyone, literally anyone you don't treat like a retard?" Seto winced, but Kou didn't respond, narrowing her eyes, as if deep in thought. "Just never mind... it was a rhetorical question." He sighed resigned and took a sip from his cup. "After you left with Momoi, winning was just a matter of time. Imayoshi was down and so was Aomine... So close to Inter-High... not that I care..." He shrugged. "We waited for you to burst into the locker rooms after the game but Matsumoto said he saw you leaving the gym. Hanamiya announced you're done with working for us and if anyone dares to contact you, he'll personally take care of him."

    Miho frowned at that revelation. "I didn't quit. That bastard sacked me..."

    "I don't particularly care," Seto informed dully. "The point is, Hanamiya knew they'll come for us. Fine, he told us we're gonna have a company, yet... we didn't expect it to be so— hmm... maybe it's for the better you weren't there, Kou."

    "Oh, don't act as if you cared, Kentarö!" The girl spat, angrily putting her cup back on the counter. "Sending me away, in front of Momoi — Momoi! — Hanamiya has basically signed his death wish. What a dumbass... and fat a lot good for all of you for not calling me about what he told you! It has never stopped any of you before, so why now?" She questioned, thumping her fist against the marble. Kou twitched at the pain that run through her arm, emitting from her numbed knuckles.

    "If Hanamiya is an idiot, then so are you, Kou." Seto retorted. "The two of you play and we pay."

    Seeing his angry face, Miho took a deep breath trying to calm herself down. If she didn't shut up, Seto would definitely stop talking and there still were some blank spaces in her picture.

    "What happened after the game?" The girl asked, her face expressionless as she spoke.

    "You tell me, Kou, since you're so fond of listening to your own voice."

    "Oh for fucks-sake, Kentarö! Just tell the rest of it." Miho demanded. "What happened next? After you left Töö?"

    "What do you want me to say, huh? We got beaten to a pulp and left on the street to bleed out. End of story." He snapped and reached for a small bottle on his left.

    Kou silently watched as he popped at least 4 pills, flushing them down with his herbal tea. Even if Seto's behaviour didn't seem to change, he wasn't alright, making her realize that whatever happened that night it didn't want to fade away.

    "There were supposed to be only six, maybe eight of them," Seto mumbled as if to himself. "Twenty. There were twenty of them... They treated us individually, making the rest watch. Once they were done, they took another one, and then another..."

    The silence surrounding Miho kept buzzing in her ears. Seto's words were barely audible but she could hear all of them, as his lips moved, his eyes dully locked on his hands placed flat on the counter.

    "Hanamiya didn't break so quickly. He even had the nerve to talk back." The boy informed. Kou's ears perked at the mention of her friend's name. Feeling both nauseous and impatient, she clenched her jaw not to interrupt Seto. "So they kept breaking and breaking until there was nothing more to break..." Seto raised his eyes at her, suddenly looking just like he used to — composed and calm. "No wonder Furuhashi and Yamazaki left. I thought you'll do the same."

    A lone mention she could simply run away, screaming made Kou irritated again. Seto had this rare gift of rubbing her the wrong way, whenever in her presence.

    "You don't seem affected by that... incident." The girl stated cruelly, staring at her companion. "From what you've told me, I'd say it was a rather dreadful experience, yet, here you are, not looking too traumatized." Unlike Hara, she added in her thoughts.

    Awaiting Seto's probably hateful retort, Kou toyed with the handle of her cup. The blow however never came and instead of it, the girl heard something which made her stomach drop like a stone.

    "I haven't been sleeping since the day I was singed out. The pills don't work..." Seto deadpanned. "Just because I don't crouch in the corner, swaying back and forth, it doesn't mean I'm perfectly fine with what they did."

    Before Miho could rethink her reply, her lips parted slightly, the words that came out later nearly making her clasp her hand over her mouth.

    "I'm sorry." She mumbled.

    Wondering if it was she or Seto, who was more surprised by her sudden apology, Kou clutched the handle of her cup tighter. The whole team was broken, both physically and mentally. Miho simply couldn't believe, that even Seto was affected. Of all people she could list as easy to snap, Seto was on the very bottom, his indifferent demeanour making it nearly impossible for anyone to get to him. Yet, here she was, surrounded by various bottles of sleeping pills, Seto's dark circles underneath his eyes now extremely clear to her.

    She would make them pay.

    "Stop it, Kou." Seto's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

    Realizing her knuckles turned white, gripping the cup the girl immediately relaxed her fingers and plastered a bright smile on her face.

    "Stop what?" Kou asked innocently. "I'm only sitting and drinking the piss you call a tea."

    Seto rolled his eyes. "You know what. Don't you even dare! You'll get us all in even biggest shit than we already are..."

    "What little faith you have in me, Kentarö." Kou chuckled darkly. "None of this would happen in the first place if you listened to me."

    "Just don't..." The boy shook his head, utterly resigned that she would listen to him. "I already told you all I knew, so...?"

    "One more thing." The girl smiled, leaning over the counter. Seto pulled back slightly, upon seeing the dark spark in her eyes. "You haven't told me who's responsible for the damage. Say the name and I'm gone."

    "I'd be stupid if I ever believed any word you have said. Besides..." Seto winced, before finding the strength to meet her eyes, "don't ask me questions you already know the answer to, Kou."

    And he was right. Long before she came here, Kou was well aware of whom should she turn to in order to even the deed.