The doors to the First Team gymnasium of Teikō Junior High's Basketball Club closed heavily behind Kuroko Tetsuya, shutting out the cold light and suffocating air within. Kuroko Tetsuya stood beneath the dim light of the corridor outside, his footsteps pausing for a moment. He tilted his head up slightly and took a deep, silent breath, as though he wanted to completely replace the heaviness and oppression lingering in his lungs. Afternoon sunlight streamed through the window at the end of the corridor, dancing across his pale-blue hair, yet it could not dispel the silence surrounding him.
He did not leave immediately. Instead, he turned and walked toward the secluded corridor beside the gymnasium that led to the Second Team and Third Team training grounds, a place few people ever passed through. His footsteps were light, as faint as his presence, yet they carried a heaviness unlike anything before.
He pushed open an inconspicuous door marked "Storage Room." Inside was not a pile of miscellaneous items, but a tiny world that belonged to him. This was where he kept proof of his existence as a "shadow": several faded First Team uniforms from Teikō, folded neatly; a pair of perfectly worn-in basketball shoes; and, most importantly—a battered basketball bearing Teikō's school crest.
Kuroko silently walked to the corner and picked up the basketball. The leather felt cold and familiar, as though it still held the warmth of countless passes. Fragments of the days he had spent training and competing with Aomine-kun, Bai Ze-kun, and his teammates at Teikō surged uncontrollably through his mind. As his fingertips brushed over the rough surface, he seemed to hear the squeak of shoes against the floor, the cheers after a basket, and Captain Akashi's calm commands... as well as that final, icy verdict: "A useless