Shall we, one day, live in this house of sweets?

by Hoshi no Rancatore

Happy birthday to Mura-chin! People gather to Akita prefecture to prepare a gift for Mura-chin. And Akashi, very disturbed for some reason, just decides to give hard time to everyone. MuraAka, with onesided MuraHimu. And KagaKuro, MidoTaka, and AoKi. I rushed through, so I'll probably re-read things and fix some stuffs later.

A/N

Never thought I would manage to upload this on the 9th...!
But this just simply means that I rushed through things, changing the plot as I go, and just making this a whole lot worse than what the original plot already was.
I'm probably going to re-read this and fix some stuffs later, when I have more time.
Right now, all that matters is that I managed finish this on Mura-chin's birthday.
So I'm pretty sure there's tons of mistake, and it's gonna be painful to read through them.
If you're not prepared, just come check this again few months later.

This story is mainly about MuraAka, and onesided MuraHimu, though they don't really come out in the first half of the story... o Ao;;
On the other hand, KagaKuro, MidoTaka, and AoKi come out throughout the story.
Even worse, Mura-chin doesn't come out that much despite this being my present for his birthday.
Weird. I ended up focusing on Akashi vs. Himuro

Some things to take into consideration:

Akashi ain't so cool and composed in this story. I like all how funny parodies
of KRBS makes Akashi just one silly leader of the group of idiots.
Himuro ain't so composed either. I personally do not like him... no offense, Himuro's fans.
And just other failed attempts to make things sound bright. I'm so not good at writing things
that do not involve deaths and other gloominess. But birthday is mean to be happy, no?

By the way, ganguro refers to kind of girls that get tans to look prettier. I can't really explain this in English... so just google it. And Yokote yakisoba is just famous kind of yakisoba in Akita prefecture.

There might be some stuffs particular in Japanese schools that are hard to understand if you don't know about the culture and the school system. I can only tell you to just... bare with it.

---

"Huh…?"

It all started from the very day that his eyes landed on few numbers on the random paper. Things might have been different if his teacher hadn't told him to fetch something from the office.

"…He could've told me, at least."

Perhaps, this story wasn't the kind that started from a small coincident. Perhaps, everything started from 16 years and 360 days ago; the very day that the fate had entangled the strings of their futures together.

"What to do, what to do…"

---

Shall we, one day, live in this house of sweets?

Happy birthday, Murasakibara Atsushi

---

"—and then, suddenly, Captain was totally pissed off."

"So, to put things simply, it's because of you and Furihata-kun that Captain made us run laps around the school out of sudden."

"I've been trying to tell you for the past ten minutes that it wasn't!"

At Majibar, always the same table next to the window, there sat two boys. It had been quite a few months since they first began sitting together and barely a thing or two changed; one was always drinking a cup of vanilla shake with a poker face that looked quite innocent and cute, and the other with rather eccentric looking eyebrows was shoving burgers after burgers. One of the changes that had recently taken place was the light haired boy began holding the icy cold cup with one hand, just like how the red haired boys began eating burgers using one hand. Their empty hands, after some awkward attempts that continued for a whole week, were clasped around each others', holding firmly yet gently.

"You know that Captain flares up when you ask him that he and Kiyoshi-senpai seem to get along pretty well."

"And I don't see the reason why he has to be so bitchy about it! I mean, they're damn friends, aren't they? Even though Captain doesn't admit it!"

"…Kagami-kun, you're such a douchebag."

"Wha–?!"

Their conversation was cut short when the taller boy's phone began ringing. With an irritated look, he checked who was calling him, and then his look changed into that of surprise. The other boy only raised his eyebrow a bit as he watched him answer the phone, looking a bit tensed for a moment until the his companion said the familiar name.

"What's up, Himuro? Weird, you don't call me often."

Because the place was quite crowded, the smaller boy could not hear what the man on the other end of the line was saying. But he could still see the red haired boy's bright face slightly furrow, as if he didn't really like what he was hearing.

"Uh… So you want me to… ask him to gather everyone and go there?"

Now, that was something unexpected. Even he knew Himuro quite well, despite having met his companion's friend only twice, but he also knew that the man wasn't the kind to suddenly invite people for some gathering. Still, he could figure out that whatever they were talking about had to do with him by the way the red haired boy kept eyeing him as he talked.

"Fine, I'll ask him. Don't blame him or me if they don't agree to come, okay? What you're asking now is really sudden and random."

And after some more questions about how they were doing, the call soon ended. The light haired boy didn't pester the other with questions, but simply gazed into the red eyes as if he was trying to read what the other was thinking. The other boy, after a sigh and scratching the back of his head in annoyed manner, finally opened his mouth once he had another mouthful of hamburger.

"Himuro says that he wants you to call everyone in the Generation of Miracle and tell them to come to his house… but seriously, where the hell does he think he lives? It's gonna take hours!"

"To his house? …Ah, it might be because of that… I have completely forgotten."

"…You know what he's planning?"

Ignoring the other, the shorter boy began contemplating the matter for a moment, taking small sips of his drink as he gazed in the air. Then, as if he had finally decided, he pulled his phone out and began typing.

A blonde boy was following a black haired one like a puppy following his owner, though instead of playful barks, he was practically begging on his knees.

"Kasamatsu-senpai, I'm so sorry~ Can I just make up for it this weekend?"

"And what the heck are you planning to do this weekend?!"

"Uh… training? Let's call everyone for weekend practi—"

"Shut your trap, you idiot!"

At one moment, the whole situation changed; it was the blonde running away with the black haired boy chasing him, attempting some flying kicks as he ran. The sudden commotion drew some attention from people around them, but they were too absorbed in their own business to care about others.

"You think you can call everyone for a practice just because you want to make up for all the trainings you missed?!"

"Waaah, I'm sorry, but seriously, I forgot about it!"

"Yeah, yeah, because you were goddamn head over heels with that fucking idiot of yours! If you were gonna have a date, you shouldn't have gotten caught by me, dumbass! And just a day after that, you tell me you'll be missing /another/ practice because of your work?!"

"It's /work/, senpai! You just said it yourself too, I can't just miss it!"

The chase continued for few minutes, both of them running so fast that they would have looked like they were in a cross country team, not a basketball team. But eventually, all came to an end when one of the flying kicks finally managed to land on the blonde's back. A lecture started, then, with the shorter boy going on and on about being diligent, while the taller sat on his knees and endured his punishment.

"…You better not miss anymore practices. For your personal reasons, that is."

"Yup, I'll never do that again, senpai!"

"What am I gonna do with you, moron… Anyways, would Sunday be okay for the practice?"

The blonde was just about to nod enthusiastically when he received a text. As the ring went off, the image of certain blue haired boy appeared in both of their minds, and in the speed of light, the owner of the phone checked the text. The blonde let out a weird scream then, suddenly standing up, and slowly lifted his eyes from the phone and looked at the black haired boy in front of him. The text was not from the one they expected to have sent it, but from the person that was least likely to send such thing…

"H-hehe… Senpai… C-can we postpone the weekend practice to next weekend?"

"…Go die, you idiot!"

It was getting quite late in the afternoon, well past the club activity time. Even the basketball team, whose practice schedule was infamous for being strict and harsh, had finished the day's training and left the gym. Aside from two people, that is.

"Shin-chan, I'm tired, I wanna go home today~ I think I've kinda overdid stuffs during the practice."

"Then go home alone. I still have more shooting to do."

"Eeh~ Always so cold and straightforward. You're not cute."

The green haired boy let out an irritated sigh, but soon controlled himself and jumped, shooting the ball that he had been holding toward the goal. Despite the fact that he was standing on the center of the court, the ball, after taking its sweet time drawing a magnificent parabola, went into the goal without touching the rim. The other boy, who was now sitting on the closets bench and fiddling with the taller one's jacket, claps exaggeratedly.

"You're annoying. Just leave."

"Too cold, Shin-chan. I have to give you a ride home anyways, don't I?"

"Tch, always coming up with an excuse."

"But, but~ You want me to take you home anyways, right?"

Without answering the black haired boy, the bespectacled boy just continued his practice. One would have thought that he didn't hear the question if it wasn't for the slightly trembling fingers, hinting that in one way or the other, he was reacting to the question. The boy sitting on the bench, his eyes flashing like that of a hawk, did not miss even that smallest movement. Yet, the ball still went through the goal ever so cleanly. As if that tiny reaction from a moment ago had been a satisfying answer, he just beamed a bright smile as he watched his so-called partner immerse himself in practice. By now, he had put on the jacket that he was playing with, and the unexpectedly large size had suddenly reminded him of how tall the green haired boy was.

"Shin-chan, your scent's all over your jacket, I like it!"

"Wha—?! L-leave my jacket alone!"

"Ahaha, finally got you distracted, Mr. Oh-so-stoic!"

While the smaller boy happily threw his arms in the air, shaking the sleeves that covered his hands, the other simply blushed as he nervously slid his glasses up. Despite being taller and, probably, stronger in the sense of sheer strength, the green haired boy didn't dare to do anything other than huffing angrily.

"Aww, you look so cu— Huh? You got a text."

The sudden vibration from the pocket had distracted the black haired boy, and he immediately went on to pull it out and check it. If he hadn't, he would have seen the other boy finally making his way toward the bench.

"'To everyone'… Hmm? Everyone as in the Generation of Miracle? 'I'd like to ask if you can head to Akita pre—"

"Well, well, it's rude to mess with other people's things, right, Takao?"

"Eeek—"

With a rather scary look, the green haired boy snatched his phone from the other's grasp and read the text thoroughly, his expression bland as he read the same thing over and over. The one still sitting on the bench gave him a curious look, but kept his mouth shut since he didn't want to make his partner really angry. But as if he had been worrying about nothing, the bespectacled boy simply got handed his phone back to the smaller one, motioning to put it back in the pocket, and began gathering the balls scattered about the gym.

"Get ready, we're leaving."

"Huh? B-but, what about the practice? I thought you weren't done yet. Did something happen?"

"No… I just have to go get ready."

Simple ruffle on the hair was all that needed to move surprised black haired boy get on his feet. Watching how flustered the blushing boy was, the taller one too blushed as he looked away from his partner.

"Meh, he'd better be joking."

In an empty park where only some birds gathered around and chirped, there lay a blue haired boy on one bench. He kept checking his phone for every other minute, looking blankly at the screen as if he was expecting an important call or text. But, despite his sincere look of expectation, there came no sound whatsoever the whole time that the sun moved toward the western horizon an inch by inch. Sighing, he just fiddled with the phone anyways, and re-read the last text he got from certain blonde for some thousandth time.

"'I think Kasamatsu-senpai is really mad, so I'll probably be busy tomorrow trying to make up for missing the practice.' …So you just go ahead and ignore all the texts from me?"

The boy looked extremely annoyed, and somewhat bitter, as he mumbled to himself, and even pretended throwing his phone away, though he quickly retracted his hand to check any new texts once again. And then, he went on reading the texts he had sent today, all to one person. He threatened, nicely asked, and even begged for the other to just answer his text, but apparently, that simple minded blonde must be too busy trying to suck up to his captain.

"Dammit, the captain comes first before me? What the hell is a lover to him?"

"There you are, Dai-chan!"

Sighing even heavier, the boy placed his phone on his stomach and adjusted his bag under his head as if he was getting ready to fall asleep, but at the rather loud shriek from not so far away, he almost fell from the bench from surprise. He scrambled to sit up, and as soon as he managed to do so, he was confronted by a girl who bent down to look at the other eye to eye. The tanned boy scratched the back of his head, scowling as he backed away a bit to leave some personal space, and inwardly braced himself for what was to come.

"I was looking for you everywhere! You weren't at the practice, as usual, nor on the rooftop—"

"I knew you'd check the rooftop, so I decided to change my hiding place."

"That's not the point here! Just until when are you going to miss all the practices?!"

"Until I find someone that makes me want to practice."

It was a rather pointless conversation, and both of them knew it, since this definitely wasn't the first time that they talked through this matter. Yet, the pink haired girl continued with her usual lecture, or at least, would have tried to do so, if it wasn't for a phone ringing. Startled, the boy frantically grabbed his phone and checked it, and for a moment, there was a huge smile plastered on his face, making him look years younger and handsomer. But once he began reading it, he realized that this wasn't the text that he was waiting for, which caused the smile to falter.

"Dai-chan? Is something a matter?"

"Nah… It's… Huh? This is bullshit."

"What is it? You better not tell me that you're missing the practice tomorrow! …Though, I'm pretty sure that you will anyways."

"I won't be there, but it's got nothing to do with thi— …hang on."

The girl sighed, looking at her childhood friend with a concerned look. But the other just read through the text over and over, feeling like that this text definitely had something to do with what he wanted. Whatever that was, it was so close that he could almost grasp it, but he just couldn't come up with what it was. At this point, he sort of understood why everybody called him an idiot, though he'd never admit that out loud.

"Knowing Kise, he'd probably be there if Kuroko invited him for something, right?"

"Huh? Well… Yeah, I guess. But wait, Kuroko-kun invited him for something? What something?"

With an evil grin plastered on his face, the boy put the phone away and got ready to leave all the while ignoring the girl that kept pestering him about what the text was about. He'd probably not bother to do anything for someone's birthday (well, at least everyone's other than that certain blonde), but if this gave him an opportunity to see his lover that had ignored all his effort to contact him, then he'd most certainly take this chance to go torture him a bit.

"Yup, just some teasing and molesting should do the teaching."

"What the heck are you talking about? And what about Kuroko-kun, tell me, seriously! Dai-chan, Dai-chan! Don't ignore me, idiot!"

Despite the sun almost disappearing below the horizon and the darkness that followed it, a boy remained in the school building where there ought to be no students left beside him. Watching the street lights, rather cold and artificial, replacing the gentle warmth of the sun, he moved a shogi piece with an index finger, blindly yet gracefully. And as if he had an eye on his finger, he placed the piece exactly where it had to be to finish the game, though he didn't even bother to think about something so childish as to wonder whether the concept of winning when playing alone even made sense. Somewhere near the shogi board, there was his cell phone, laying open with the screen toward him, as if he had been reading what was on the screen just a moment ago.

'To everyone, I'd like to ask if you can head to Akita prefecture tomorrow afternoon. Himuro, the one from Yosen, has invited us for the weekend. It's an urgent matter, and I hope to see you all tomorrow.'

That was what the text on the screen said. And every time the screen saver of the phone made the screen go dark, the boy would press random buttons to light the screen again and again, though his eyes were still fixed outside the window. The club room, which the Rakuzan High basketball club rarely used except for that red haired boy sitting on the desk now, had eerie coldness filling it. That temperature that sent fine shivers down the body made the boy realize how fast the autumn has come.

"It's been… half a year."

The boy mumbled as he finally put the phone away, his voice showing no other emotion than mild surprise. The time sure did fly; after coming to Rakuzan, from consolidating his power within the basketball team to getting used to the daily train with the new members, it all seemed to have passed in a blink of an eye. Yet, it's been half a year since he had seen his gigantic friend. No, not just a friend. One of the important members in his team. The Keima in the shogi. Or even more than just that…

"Looks like he settled down pretty well."

Frankly, he learned what it felt like to be nervous when he realized that he and his purple haired friend would be living in practically the opposite ends of Japan. Not because he was afraid of alone, no. He was capable with or without people around him. He was more worried about that guy, who wasn't as capable as he was, despite that incredible height. Of course, as a former captain, he had thought about how all his former comrades would cope with the high school life without each other, but never worried one bit about the others; one was practically invisible and was fine with it, one was overly outgoing, one didn't care about having friends, and one had a childhood friend to take care of him. But that one, the one who only had snacks on his mind, definitely needed someone to take care of him, to remind him about things other than stupid snacks.

But for some reason, he hadn't bothered to contact him more than necessarily. Sometime, the taller boy would send a text first, and then he'd reply, exchange few more texts, and stop. From Kyoto, where the red haired boy was living, Akita was quite far, but if they wanted to, they could have met during the weekends. They even had plenty of time to do so during the summer vacation as well. Why haven't they met? Why haven't he sent any texts first? Why haven't he decided to ignore the worries that he had?

"As his former captain, I simply believed in him that he'd be alright. That's all."

Answering to his own doubts and hoping that would calm him down a bit, the boy put the shogi pieces and board away, and grabbed some sheets about his team. He put them in his bag, along with few other stuffs, and the last thing that he grabbed was a scissor, the big one that was usually used for cutting hardboards and other thicker materials. For a long while, he gazed at the blade with mixture of unspoken emotions; regret, fury, bitterness, and passion.

"And yet, he had to attract such fly to be around him all the time."

He hated how that black haired man smiled, the way he talked and moved, and the almost non-existing distance between him and Yosen's center. He despised how it was that boy that had assembled the Generation of Miracle, and how it was him that wanted to arrange something for the former member of Teikou basketball team.

"Somebody has to know his place."

A red eye glowed with intense love and the yellow eye glowed with murderous hatred. And the silver blade as well reflected the eerie glint before disappearing into the bag.

---

Friday evening in the rather urban area of Akita prefecture, Himuro stood outside his apartment while looking around the either side of the street before sighing lightly. He knew that his request was a pretty reckless one; how could he expect high school students who were extra busy with their club activities just randomly come to this far north? But he was hoping at least one or two people would show up, so that he could talk about the urgent matter on hand. It was getting quite late, well past the dinner time, so he was pretty sure that nobody would turn up. Yet, he just couldn't go back to his house; now that he knew that Murasakibara's birthday was just around the corner, he wanted to do something for his dear teammate. He thought planning something with his former teammates would have been nice, but things weren't going to work out that way… or were they?

"Yo, is that you, Himuro?"

From far end of the street came two figures, the taller one waving a hand madly and the other walking normally. Despite the lack of street light on that part of the street, Himuro could easily tell whose voice that was, and grinned at the thought of finally having some companies to spend the weekend with; whether there was a secret plan for a birthday involved or not, it was quite lonely leaving alone in a country that was so different from what he was used to.

"Thought you were never gonna come, Taiga. It took you long enough."

"You've never taken Friday afternoon train from Tokyo to here, so be quiet."

"It's been long time, Himuro-san."

"Hello there, brother-in-law. Or… sister-in-law?"

"Drop that, please."

At the slight tease, Kagami only blushed as he looked away, but Kuroko, looking rather scary with his poker face still on, asked, or more likely, demanded politely for the other to stop. By the time Himuro stopped laughing heartily, the two guests had finally arrived in front of him, both of them still wearing their school uniform as if to show that they had did hurry to get to the promised spot.

"Where's everybody from the Generation of Miracle?"

"Not here yet."

"They'll be here, don't worry. Though they never really cared about the word 'teammate', we still were close friends. Or, it would be better to say that we had only ourselves as friends, since nobody really dared to get close to the mighty Generation of Miracle, nor saw the invisible boy tagging along with them."

"What's up with you, Kuroko, you're all sarcas—"

"What are you saying, Kurokocchi! I had lots and lots of friends, and you're not invisible!"

While they were talking, a black van had parked nearby them, but the three of them haven't paid much attention to it, thinking that it must belong to someone from this neighborhood. But with a loud crashing noise of opening the door roughly, familiar blonde burst out and ran straight to Kuroko, apparently having heard the sarcastic remark.

"You had fans, Kise-kun. But you were pretty much incapable of making friends."

"I'm capable, definitely capable! I made friends in Kaijou too, you know!"

"Hey, stop clinging to Kuroko, damn it!"

Whining, Kise clung to the shortest boy of the four, just like he usually did, and that made Kagami fume as he tried to separate the two, thus making quite a ruckus. Trapped between Kise and Kagami, Kuroko let out an annoyed sigh, though his poker face didn't change that much, and all these scenes were just very entertaining to Himuro, who was watching from a feet or two away. He also saw a woman from the driver's seat of the van yell something about Monday's schedule to Kise, but the blonde obviously did not hear, too busy trying to win Kuroko, and the car soon just left.

"You guys are too loud, the neighbors will be complaining."

"But Shin-chan, if it wasn't for that noises they are making, we would've never found the place."

From another end of the street came another two figures, and soon stood in front of the ones that were already here. Midorima and Takao both looked exhausted for some reason, and everybody could see that it wasn't just from holding a gigantic teddy bear around.

"Midorimacchi! And…?"

"Takao-kun, I didn't know that you'd be coming as well."

"I secretly followed Shin-chan after school today, and hopped on the train~!"

Takao, clinging to the taller boy's arm, spoke while making a v-sign with his empty hand, only to have the other shake him off. Midorima blushed as he nervously slid his glasses up, trying to look as cool as he would usually, though it didn't really work well with Takao chuckling next to him, along with the suspicious look from people who were already there. For some reason, nobody seemed to notice the abnormally big teddy bear that seemed so out of place with six boys hanging outside the apartment.

"Looks like you've settled down pretty much in Shuutoku, Midorima-san."

"Yup, even Kimura-senpai and Miyaji-senpai decided not to throw pineapples anymore! They've stocked up some watermelons from summer instead."

"I seriously don't get you guys."

"Haha, but I'm glad that Midorimacchi is doing fine in Shuutoku~"

"Kise-san, didn't I tell you to get off me?"

"You're too cold, as usu—"

"Cold, huh. And don't you think ignoring your damn lover's texts and calls a bit too cold as well?"

At the sudden grumble from behind, Kise yelped and hurriedly turned around, letting the smallest boy go in process, who immediately took few steps to stand by Kagami. Behind them was Aomine, looking just as indifferent about his surroundings, though slight hint of vein popping out near his temple showed that he was somewhat pissed off. Though everybody did not get what the tanned boy meant, Kise blushed as he clapped his hands together and bowed, apologizing frantically, which reminded of Aomine one of his current teammates.

"I-I'm so sorry, Aominecchi, I didn't mean to ignore you! I told you I'd be busy trying to make up for missing the practices an—"

"So, you've been doing that for 48 hours straight? No time to even say that you've at least got my texts?"

"I had to work too! And you know what, it's your fault that I ended up missing the practice, so how about saying sorry for kidnapping me like that?"

"I didn't kidnap you. I asked if you wanted to come with me, and you came along like a damn puppy!"

The two gradually began raising their voices, and it seemed like it was just a matter of time for someone from the neighborhood to come out and yell at them. Yet, nobody really seemed to care about it right now; aside from the couple having fight, everyone else was just standing afar, watching the whole thing with much interest as if this was a scene from their favorite soap opera. Still, it seemed like Aomine and Kise could go on and on if somebody didn't step in, so Kuroko, despite how interesting he found this lover's fight, finally decided to sneak between them. Since everyone's attention was on the couple, he easily used misdirection, freaking the two out when he appeared between them, and shoved the two apart.

"Okay, Aomine-kun, Kise-kun. We can totally see that you are ordinary couple who have those lovey-dovey fights, so you might like to lower your volume a bit. I'm sure the neighbors here would appreciate that."

As if on cue, Aomine and Kise shut their mouths obediently, and then looked around to see the other boys around them, finally realizing that they've been blabbering a bit too much in front of them. Kuroko gave a tiny smirk at those two, who were now blushing from embarrassment as they tried to look like they were cool and nothing happened, and returned to his own lover's side to have him ruffle his hair a bit as a compliment. Seeing that, Takao clung to Midorima and started whining that he wanted some affection too, and the bespectacled boy, after spending long time in escaping, which was futile, finally gently petted the black hair. Himuro watched the three couples from only about a foot away, trying so hard to keep his generous smile on, though it kind of felt bitter standing right there, in the middle of some kind of love zone. Hell, he was sure he could feel pink love-love beam coming out from the couples and blinding him.

"Well, we're missing only one now, aren't we?"

Himuro tried diverting everyone's attention, and succeeded with much ease, as the couples now began looking around to see who was missing. But the absence of this person was just so huge that it didn't even take a second to realize who it was.

"Akashi-kun… Well, he lives in Kyoto, so I guess it's taking him quite a while to come."

"Since Akashicchi and Murasakibaracchi were close back in Teikou, I'm sure he'll be here soon."

"He was the kind to remember people's birthdays… At least, ours, he did, back in Teikou."

"Tsk, I was going to leave here after talking to this idiot, but if he's going to show up… I guess I'd better stay."

"Ahh, whatever. Himuro, can we go inside? I'm starving. Haven't had time to eat dinner yet."

"Yeah, Shin-chan, let's go inside. It's getting a bit chilly outside."

With everyone agreeing to Kagami's idea, they began heading toward the apartment building they were standing in front of. Seven boys, most of them bulky and tall, moving together was not a great idea, and they realized it when they decided to take the elevator together, but they still managed to arrive at Himuro's place without having a neighbor come yelling at them, so it seemed like everything was fine. Kagami immediately began emptying the fridge to make something to eat when they've entered the flat, and Kise began yelling at Aomine, who had brought Mai-chan's photo magazine with him, while everyone else just sat around the livingroom, talking about how nice this house was for a high school student to live alone. For next few hours, they've even forgot about what they had gathered for; it was as if they came here for a training camp or something.

"Now that we're all full… Shall we get on with making the plan?"

"Himuro, it's already past midnight. Not that I've got any problems with that, there is a kid here who needs to get a bit taller."

"Bakagami-kun, I'm going to hit you."

"C'mon, Kurokocchi, he's just worried about you. Unlike someone who's been playing with Mai-chan all along."

"What the hell? I thought you were having fun chatting with Midorima and he's chic!"

"Uh, hello? My name is Takao, even though I'm Shin-chan's chic all right. I'd prefer to be called by my name though."

"Idiot, what the hell you're saying?"

Watching how everyone began digressing again, Himuro laughed tiredly for a bit before sighing. It sure was almost midnight; everyone had nice dinner, thanks to Kagami, and some even took showers already, which Himuro have no memory of them asking if they could, out of courtesy. Generation of Miracle, no matter what amazing basketball players they are, can be quite an eccentric bunch.

"O…kay, can we quiet down a bi—"

Himuro started again, feeling like a primary school teacher trying to get the kids' attention, but this time, he was interrupted by the bell that rang loud and clear, making everyone freeze for a moment as they remembered the last guest that still hasn't arrived yet. Though Himuro was not the one sitting closest to the door, he got up to open the door since he was the host here. And for some reason, everyone seemed like they didn't really want to go open the door.

"Who's this?"

"Who else, other than the invited guest, would ring the door bell at this time of the night?"

The voice coming from the other side of the door was rather pleasant, though there was a weird noise, soft yet somewhat scary, mixed with it. Still, Himuro recognized the voice as that of the former captain of Teikou basketball club, and unlocked the door before opening it. And the first thing he saw, even before opening the door fully, was a pair of scissor. He felt his legs shake a bit from the surprise, but managed to hold on and open the door fully, to reveal the red haired boy, a bit shorter than himself, standing in front of him with his eyes glowing oddly. Akashi stood still, the scissor remaining near the where the doorknob was, as if he was examining Himuro with that eye that seemed penetrate one's soul rather than to just see the movements of the others.

"…Hello. May I ask what you're doing with the scissor…?"

"There was a flyer on the door. I simply did you a favor of getting rid of it. Or did you need that flyer?"

At the mention of the flyer, Himuro dropped his gaze to the floor and indeed saw the paper, though it was no longer in the state to be called flyer; it seemed like the flyer was put into the shredder and has been shredded into the finest pieces as possible, something that couldn't be done with just scissor.

"Are you planning to make your guest stand outside like this forever?"

"Uh, my apology. Make yourself at home, everyone's in the living room."

"I prefer matcha."

Akashi headed inside after taking his shoes off ever so neatly, and Himuro just stood there, trying to grasp what just happened. The sounds of the others greeting the red haired boy rang quite loudly, which only made it harder for Himuro to wonder why Akashi had took his scissor out; it certainly wasn't for the poor flyer. Though he was not on the closest term with that boy, considering that he had only seen him once or twice before and never spoke with him personally, from what Murasakibara had told him, Akashi usually was quite favorable guy unless he was writing down the training menus or was with someone who did not respect him. But that attitude was just the clearest sign of some kind of hatred, and damn it, Himuro couldn't remember what he did to make that boy angry.

"I'd prefer to have my tea and talk about whatever we came here for soon. It was a long train ride and I'm quite tired."

It was that bland voice with well disguised emotion hidden that had brought Himuro back to reality, and without saying anything, he just beamed a apologetic smile as he passed by the living room on his way to the kitchen. It wasn't so pleasant being hated for unknown reason; he was so determined to find out what it was that Akashi held against him.

"Now that everyone's here—"

"We have approximately four days left until Atsushi's birthday. But since we won't be doing much in Monday or Tuesday, the D-day, we only have tomorrow and Sunday. Any ideas?"

Now that Akashi was here, it seemed like he was going to be the leader of this group, despite the fact that Himruo still was the host. Still, Himuro just sat quietly, not mentioning how he thought about getting his sentence cut short, and watched how natural Akashi seemed to be in the charge of these people.

"I can only think of snacks when it comes to Murasakibaracchi."

"Same here, since only things I've seen Murasakibara-kun doing were either play basketball, eat snacks, or sleep during the class."

"But would snacks be enough for birthday present?"

"Whatever, let's just buy a year's worth of snacks and leave."

Only the Generation of Miracles gave ideas, since it was only them that were 'friends' of Murasakibara. Yet, Kagami and Takao still seem like they were trying to come up with something at least, since they did respect the giant's skill as fellow basketball player.

"That's just really lame. I'm going to shred you guys into pieces if you don't come up with something nice."

In on swift motion, Akashi scooped scissor out from his bag, as if that was the most natural thing to find in one's bag. And everyone, upon seeing the unusually sharp blades of the scissor, hushed and started holding their heads or doing anything else that made it apparent that they were thinking hard. Himuro too tapped his lips with his finger, aware of the death stare from the red haired boy that stayed on him for some reason, as he tried to think about something that involved something that his teammate would like but wasn't so lame.

"How about we make a house out of snacks, you know, like in Hansel and Gretel? Atsushi will love the snacks, and it won't be so lame either."

"What part of it is not lame? It's really girly an—"

"Hey, I like that! That's kinda cute and adorable."

"Ha? Whatever, let's just get over with this. I wanna sleep."

"I think Murasakibara-kun would be satisfied with that."

"Making snack house, I wonder when's the last time I've done something so cute. What do you think, Shin-chan?"

"…Whatever, I wanted to wake up early tomorrow and go buy some souvenirs. You never know what will be your lucky item."

"You're still listening to that Oha Asa shit…? Anyways, since Kuroko likes the idea, I guess I'll go along with it."

Despite what Akashi was trying to say, it seemed like everyone else was in favor of Himuro's idea, as it can be seen by the endless chatter that bloomed once again. The holder of the emperor's eyes, sitting on the couch while others were gathered around the coffee table on the floor to write out the plans on how they were going to build the house, looked at them with disapproving look. Secretly, he knew that the idea was pretty nice, and that Murasakibara would definitely love it. He was a tad bit excited to do something so innocent and fun with everyone too, though there was no way he'd show that in any way. Still, what he didn't like about this whole thing… was that it had to be 'him', out of everyone, that came up with the plan. Scowling a little, he stood up from the couch and headed to the bathroom to take a shower and to get ready to sleep. Other people noticed his sullen mood too, but since it was Akashi, they decided, with silent exchanges of glances, to leave him alone until he seemed to be feeling better.

---

Saturday morning, the first person to wake up, which was Midorima, found himself in the middle of chaos. He got up with much difficulty, since Takao was using his stomach as pillow, but he managed to coax the sleeping boy use his lap as a pillow instead so that he could at least sit up. Since the flat only had one room, despite being all fancy and whatnot, they decided to sleep in the living room while the owner of the house, of course, would sleep in his room. But when Himuro went to his room after finishing the plan for the grand construction, he found Akashi already in his bed, looking like he was fast asleep. And the rest of the Generation of Miracle, with sympathetic look, quietly dragged the stunned boy out from his room before their former captain wakes up due to commotion. So, though there was a slight change in the sleeping arrangement, seven people all got available futons and blankets out to the living room and went to sleep, all complaining about how crowded this was. Still, even though it was crowded, they were at least sleeping decently.

Right now, it seemed like a hurricane had passed through the living room or something, for the pillows and blankets were scattered about everywhere, while sleeping bodies were all tangled. In one corner, Kagami had his arms wrapped around Kuroko, protecting the smaller boy from rest of the chaos. And next to him was Kise clinging to the pillow as if he was having a really bad nightmare or something. But it was totally understandable since Aomine, taking up the most space as his arms and legs were sprawled about, had one of his legs up on the blonde's chest, pressing him. Himuro's lower body was stuck under the couch, though Midorima had no idea whether he had rolled all the way there on his own accord or had been pushed by Takao, who kept tossing about. It was a miracle that he had managed to find his glasses there, and even more so that he managed to grab it with just his right hand, just like usual.

"Ah, good morning. You're the only one awake."

At the cool voice, Midorima looked up to see Akashi walking toward the kitchen. From how he was all neatly dressed in his casual attire, it seemed like he had been awake for some time. He wasn't surprised at all on how his former captain had managed to wake up so early in the weekends, since Akashi definitely wasn't the type to sleep in on any days after all; even he himself rarely slept in, and today just happened to be one of those rare days.

"Should I wake them up?"

"No, go use the bathroom while I wake them up. It'll be quite crowded soon."

Akashi reappeared from the kitchen with a glass of milk, and Midorima was smart enough not to ask the boy if he was drinking it for his height. Well, ever since some poor soul had asked it back in Teikou basketball club, those who witnessed what befell on that guy never even dared to ask Akashi anything that might be related to height. Feeling chills as he saw the eerie smile on the ginger's face, Midorima felt less inclined to do as he was told, since he wasn't sure what the other was planning to do. Thus, he decided to pretend waking Takao up, so that he'd have an excuse to stay in the living room for a bit longer, and that's when Akashi set the glass, now empty, on a table and began walking toward them. The boy reached for the pocket on his jacket, and what came out had made Midorima freeze with horror, his hands that had been gently shaking Takao's shoulder now gripping him tightly. The sharp blades of the scissor from last night shone brightly once again, and with it in his hand, Akashi began walking like a predator stalking its prey, which would probably be the ones laying closest to him; which happened to be Midorima and his dear partner.

"Alarm clock would be too obnoxious and loud, right?"

Akashi's voice was soft and gentle, as if he was completely convinced that what he was doing now was for the best of everyone else, and that had made Midorima panic even more. Would Takao be the first prey of that scissor? If he flung the boy away right before Akashi strikes, would Takao manage to live? Would /he/ manage to live after interfering Akashi's hunt? Though thousands of thoughts passed through his mind, Midorima could only close his eyes tightly when he saw Akashi not even a foot away, holding on to Takao and eventually making the shorter boy choke. Seconds passed while only noises that can be heard were Takao chocking and hitting Midorima's arms in order to break free. Slowly, the bespectacled boy opened his eyes, at the same time he released his death grip on the boy to let him breathe, and saw that Akashi wasn't standing in front of them. He had apparently walked past the two, as if he didn't even know they were there. Why would Akashi start with someone that was far from his reach? It surely was inefficient. But never mind that; who was Akashi aiming for then?

From the corner of his eyes, Midorima saw Akashi finally come to a stop, about few steps behind him. Ignoring whining Takao, he turned his head around to see Akashi standing still right in front of Himuro, bending forward a bit so that he could look right down at the other's head. And even before Midorima could say anything, Akashi held his arm up and threw the scissor onto the floor like a dart. The green haired boy sure felt like fainting as he expected to hear scream of agony and see blood pooling on the floor. Crime scene was the last thing that he wanted to get involved with.

"Mmh… What was… that…"

Fortunately, the scissor stabbed the pillow instead, and most likely the floor under the pillow as well since it was standing straight, and the piercing noise that it caused Himuro to wake up, only to see something sharp and shiny right in front of his eyes. The boy blinked few times, unable to figure out what this weird thing embedded on the pillow was, which was totally normal considering that not many people expect to see a scissor the first thing they wake up, but when he finally came to conclusion, his already fair face began to pale in incredible rate.

"Ah, so you woke up. Pity, I have more scissors in my pocket."

"Umm… So… Y-you woke me up…"

"Yes. It's already quite late in the morning, and I thought we had a plan to follow."

Himuro was at loss of word as he stared at the boy looking down at him with such satisfied yet malicious smile. That scissor next to his head was definitely a failed attempt of assassination, though it'd be more like that Akashi had failed it on purpose so that the former captain could enjoy watching him freaking out. For some reason, Himuro was very aware that Akashi held some kind of grudge against him. Only if he knew why, he'd definitely try to fix it; he believed Akashi wouldn't really hurt him badly, since that'd just create too big of a trouble, but he wasn't delighted with having him constantly try these funny things with the scissors.

"I expect you guys to be all ready within an hour. Since Shinsuke and his friend said they will be going to buy souvenirs, rest of us will have to hurry if we want to get all materials before lunch, no?"

Standing straight, yet his eyes still on Himuro, Akashi spoke in polite but threatening tone as he reached for another pair of scissors. Behind him, everyone else was already up, Kise and Aomine, who knew too well to even think about what would happen if they couldn't get ready in an hour, hurriedly folding the futons, and Kagami trying to do something with Kuroko's bed hair.

"I meant that you have to have breakfast within that hour as well. As captain of basketball team, I cannot let fellow players skip a meal, you know."

The delighted tone of Akashi only made the others move even more frantically, and Midorima sighed as he quietly stood up. He'd better use the bathroom quickly so that rest of the people would be able to finish getting ready within an hour; he could have let others use the bathroom first, but since Akashi had already told him to go first, he wasn't going to try defy his former captain. By now, everyone could see that Akashi was pretty disturbed, though they didn't know what was disturbing him, and silently hoped that the weekend would pass without anyone getting hurt by the scissors.

"Ahh, I never knew snacks could be this heavy…"

"Kise-kun, please stop whining. You're not the only one holding the snacks."

"I'm pretty sure those snacks are much lighter than these stupid souvenirs… Why does Shin-chan even think that sake and Yokote yakisoba would ever be mentioned as lucky items? How did he manage to buy sake anyways?"

The three boys came crashing into the flat, though they all paid extra attention when putting down the gigantic plastic bags they've been carrying around for a while. Once they took their shoes off and entered the house, rest of their party came in, all groaning from exhaustion. And just by looking, it was obvious that Himuro had been carrying the heaviest bag, thus had to give the key to the house to the first three that entered the house, while Akashi came in last, holding just a small bag with some marshmallows in it.

"Are you all practicing diligently? If you do, there's no way you'd be tired after simple grocery shopping. You guys just had lunch too."

At the casual remark of the holder of the emperor's eyes, everyone inwardly groaned, except for Midorima and Takao, who had only joined the rest of the group around lunch time. The simple grocery shopping was not so simple; they had to walk practically for two hours in total, because Akashi wanted to compare prices of materials in every supermarket around the area, and still walk some more to find decent place to have lunch. They couldn't even take bus, due to the same boy insisting that they should save as much money as possible, so they ended up carrying their purchased goods, which were not just limited to snacks. For example, Kagami had to carry large hardboard papers, where they were going to build the snack house on, and found them to be quite hard to carry as they were in absurd size, making it uncomfortable for him to hold them in every possible way. They had called Midorima and Takao to have lunch together, and the two joined them in front of the restaurant, looking just as tired as others. Takao looked especially grim, and spent quite long time whining about his partner's weird hobby of collecting all items that might be his lucky item one day; he even mentioned that he wanted to destroy the radio station of Oha Asa.

Despite all these tiring experiences, everyone aside from Akashi, who just looked totally fine yet uninterested, decided to cheer up since the fun part of this plan was about to start. On the coffee table, they placed the hardboards and glued the papers together for extra support, and finally got the snacks out. There were tons of different snacks, starting from crackers, chips, and umai-bon to various sweets like candies and chocolates.

"Let's start with the walls. To stack it up on the hardboard, we need to keep them still. And for that, we bought the chocolates. Somebody, go melt these chocolates so we can pour them on the paper."

"Woah, Himuro, you're smarter than I thought. I'll get the chocolate, since I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who knows decently enough about cooking. I'll take Kuroko with me."

Exclaiming, Kagami stood up and took the bars of chocolate, and Kuroko immediately followed the suit, as if they were the opposite ends of a magnet and must stay together. Kise and Takao giggled about how cute the two were, while Akashi seemed even more ticked off at the pinkish aura coming from the two that headed to the kitchen.

"Tetsuya, I won't stop you from following, but I'm expecting you to work as well. You get what I mean, right?"

"Yes, Akashi-kun. More work, less cuddle."

At the barely audible voice coming from the kitchen, Akashi gave irritated huff and looked at the rest of the people left around the coffee table, and not so politely asked them to get rest of the snacks out and put them in groups according to where they will be used. He somewhat felt like taking his scissors out and threatening Aomine and Kise, as well as Midorima and Takao, to sit separately, but that'd just make it too obvious that he was envying all the couples around him, so he just mildly criticized them of how slow they were working. But that didn't make him feel any better, so he did the same to Himuro, only a bit harsher. The apologetic smile of the black haired boy looked somewhat pretty and feminine, and that just made Akashi feel even worse.

"I'm pouring it now, so get ready. The chocolate's gonna cool down quickly, so stick the crackers on it right away."

Once the chocolate was melted, Kagami brought the pot and began pouring them slowly onto the paper, and the other people quickly lined the crackers on the gooey liquid and formed a large rectangle with them. Soon enough, the chocolate cooled down and held the crackers in place, thus completing the first row of the wall; they'll have to repeat this procedure for a quite a long time.

"Okay, we got this now. Kagami, you may leave the pot here and return to the kitchen. I'll send you the pot when it cools down. Until then, get another pot of chocolate ready."

Kagami rolled his eyes as he turned around to leave, tired of the shorter boy ordering people around, but not feeling brave enough to confront him, especially when he knew that Akashi had the scissors with him. Aomine must have felt the same way, since he sighed loudly as he held a cracker in one hand and a brush in another, and then began carelessly applying melted chocolate on top of the cracker that had already been attached to the hardboard. Kise had noticed the lack of motivation in the tanned boy's actions, and began helping him apply the chocolate, just so that Akashi wouldn't get mad at Aomine for not doing the job properly. And within few minutes, those two were definitely enjoying themselves, Kise chatting excitedly about various things and Aomine answering with rather affectionate grumbles while stacking the crackers.

"You remember the time that I went over to your house and tried your uniform on? You know, I even took picture of myself wearing that."

"Huh… Yeah, I think you've done something like that before."

"Kasamatsu-senpai saw that picture few days ago, and got ticked off that I'm more devoted to you than the team!"

"No wonder why he was that pissed off when you missed the practice."

"But Aominecchi and the team are different! I'm still willing to take you on for one-on-one!"

"What, on the bed?"

"A-Aominecchi!"

Of course, they had no idea that Akashi would have preferred them to do messy job on building the house rather than to show off their lovely relationship.

"Kise, stop yapping like a dog. And Aomine, the wall's leaning, you ganguro."

Akashi mumbled sourly as he shot the two his death stare, and was satisfied when they immediately shut their mouths, which brought complete silence in the living room. Midorima and Takao seemed too occupied in building, as if they really were children in primary school, and Himuro just knew that this was not the best time to strike a conversation. Under this heavy atmosphere, the six people kept on building the wall until it had reached the height that, according to the proportion of the house, was about two stories high. It few hours to stack them, properly, since the walls just kept on leaning as they got taller; they had to make the walls thicker by adding more crackers to support the weight. Also, because the chocolate kept cracking under the weight of the crackers, they came up with an improvisation to paint the outer part of the walls with chocolate, so that it'd more strongly hold the crackers together.

Then, the six of them divided the roles while Kagami and Kuroko were still in charge of melting chocolates for adhesive. Midorima and Takao were in charge of decorations on the walls, such as making windows and drawing lines on the walls to make it look like it's made out of bricks, while the other four built the roof. Building the roof proved to be harder than building a wall, since roof, unlike the walls, aren't supposed to stand straight. They had to use thinner crackers and more chocolates to hold them intact, and the concentration it required made even Akashi feeling exhausted. His throat felt as dry as dessert, and he felt slightly dizzy after looking at nothing but crackers and chocolate for hours; such delicate hand-make works required completely different focus from shogi. Deciding that he'd get some cold drinks to relieve his strained nerves, he slowly stood up and headed to the kitchen, leaving the others to work. And as soon as he entered the kitchen, he just wished that he had not.

"Hey, Kuroko, you might want to stop eating too much chocolate."

"We've bought plenty, and I haven't even finished one bar of them."

"We're supposed to melt them, not eat them. And damn it, if you just continue half eating it and half smearing it on your lips, I can't…"

"You can't what, Kagami-kun?"

"…resist, damn it."

The way how Kuroko stood in front of the stove, nibbling on the bar of chocolate, while Kagami stood right behind him as he gently stirred the half melted chocolate, naturally keeping the other between his arms, was already irritating enough. And Kuroko just had to turn his head around and give the other an innocent, quizzical look, which Akashi was damn sure that the unexpectedly sly boy had done on purpose, and that Bakagami had to fall for it and bend down to sensually lick the smaller one's lips. His eyebrow twitching, Akashi repressed his urge to murder this couple in front of him and turned to open the refrigerator, and muttered in not so amused tone.

"No, I'm pretty sure you can stop kissing Tetsuya."

There was a shriek and the sound of teeth colliding. Akashi turned his gaze back to the other two after picking out a bottle of juice, and saw Kagami giving him angry stare that just made him look cute along with his blushed cheeks. Kuroko didn't even seem so surprised, as all he did was just to let out a disappointed sigh and rub his lip that throbbed after the collision. With his drink, Akashi left as silently as when he came, leaving the couple continue with their job of melting the chocolate.

By the time that the roof was completed, Akashi thought that he now had calmed down and was prepared for more pink aura that might leak from the cursed couples around him. But as he began decorating the house, which was the only task left for the day, he just realized that he was far from even being calm; Aomine and Kise were chatting again, and Kagami and Kuroko had joined them to help out with decoration after getting two pots of melted chocolate ready. However, they were nothing compared to Midorima and Takao, who had yet to get scolded by Akashi.

"Shin-chan, should I decorate the window with marshmallows or M&M's?"

"Come to think of it, your lucky item for today is M&M's."

"Heh, then I'll be using M&M's~ Ah, come to think of it, I've never really seen you having any sweets before."

"I don't really like sweets. Anything sweeter than red bean soup is too sweet for me."

"You're just too stoic. I mean, sweets make you feel better."

"Too much sweet is not good for health."

"Bah… Hey, how about I do this, would you still not want to eat sweets?"

Takao cheerily chirped, grabbing everyone's attention, and took one marshmallow from the bag that he had put aside just a second, and held it between his lips. And then, with his eyes curving slightly to hint sly smile, he leaned toward the boy that was sitting next to him. At this public display of such affection, everyone, except Akashi of course, began howling and clapping, while Midorima desperately wiggled backward to get away from his daring partner, but these reactions only caused Takao to grow bolder and place his hands on top of the other's legs as he leaned further, not letting the blushing boy back away. The bespectacled boy bashfully slid his glasses up with his taped fingers, and gave disapproving looks to the audience before inching closer toward the offered marshmallow until… a pair of scissor flew between the almost non-existing distance between his lips and the marshmallow. The scissor stabbed the couch behind the two and stayed there, allowing Midorima and Takao to study just what had passed between them. Midorima's face turned almost blue while Takao, sweating from nervousness, subconsciously swallowed the marshmallow that he had been holding.

"Takao, I advice that you go buy another bag of marshmallow."

"Eh… B-but… It was just one…"

"We might be one marshmallow short because of what you just ate, right? You'll go buy another bag. Alone, I might add. We need Midorima to do your work while your gone."

Heavy silence fell while stunned Takao frantically tried something witty to retort, but decided that for the sake of his life, he'd just get on with what he had just been ordered to do. After giving his partner an apologetic look, he quickly grabbed his wallet and headed toward the door, leaving the rest of the group get on with their jobs in uncomfortable silence.

"I hope I didn't give you another reason to hate sweets, Shintarou."

Akashi beamed as he watched the green haired boy avoid his gaze, and felt satisfied that there was no more pinkness to be seen in the air.

Things stayed the same for the rest of the evening, and even during the dinner, with everyone just busy trying not to disturb Akashi too much. It was obvious that the former captain was overly displeased with having couples around him, so the three couples tried not to be all touchy-feely during the whole night, while Himuro, who still had no idea why he was hated so much, just slowly got used to being targeted by constant nagging and bitter remarks. And finally, after few more hours of working after the dinner, they had managed to finish building the house itself, and decided that they were too sick of snacks to continue with decorating gardens and whatnot. So, the rest of the work was to be done tomorrow afternoon; Himuro had morning practice with his basketball team and Kise had to work, so Akashi only thought it'd be fair for everyone else to get the morning off.

"And now, we take shower and go to sleep~! Man, I'm sure I smell like chocolate all over now…"

With Takao's excited exclamation, the atmosphere seemed to get lighter again, and people resumed chatting, breaking the silence that had been filling the room for hours. And it was decided that they'll take turns taking shower while others get the futons ready, the first one to use the bathroom being Akashi, obviously. But when Himuro, who had been looking around the room with rather troubled look, opened his mouth, everybody fell quiet once more.

"Yeah… but what are we going to do with the house? I'm pretty sure the chocolate won't melt, since the weather's pretty chilly, but with the table in the middle of the room, where are we going to sleep?"

Aomine and Kagami, after not so much thinking, suggested that they move the table to the kitchen, but upon trying to lift the hardboard, and the coffee table itself later, came to admit that the house is so unstable that moving it in any way would result in the house crumbling down. And not only that, all the trashes of snack packages, as well as cracker crumbs and some spilled chocolate, were all over the living room, it was next to impossible to sleep in the living room.

"How about you sleep in the kitchen? If kitchen's too crowded, there's hallway too. Well, since I sleep in the room, I guess my opinion doesn't really matter, so I'm off to the bathroom."

With a smirk, Akashi muttered and stood up, leaving the rest of the group looking at each other with not so happy faces. Once the sound of the bathroom door closing rang in the house, everyone sighed heavily at the same time, some people even lying down on the floor as if they've been thoroughly exhausted.

"What's up with Akashicchi today? No, ever since he came here, he's grouchier than ever."

"I can see that Akashi-kun is annoyed with all of us having lovers. Ah, except you, Himuro-san… no offense."

"Nah, it's okay. It's not like I'm interested in going out with anyone now. …I think."

There was a short pause before Himuro mumbled the last part, in almost inaudible voice as if he was talking to himself. There was an image of certain person that came to his mind, making him wonder what it would be like to be with him; the boy sure gave him unexplainable pleasure whenever they spent time together. But without giving anybody to comment on his vague answer, Himuro quickly opened his mouth again to change the topic.

"Anyways, so where should we sleep? I think what Akashi said is our only option."

"Whatever, I'm sleeping next to the fridge. It's warm there."

"..Dude, how do you know that so well? Have you slept there before?"

"I assume Kise would sleep with Aomine. Then Takao and I will sleep on the hallway."

One by one, they all carried their futons and spread them on the place where they've decided to sleep. Kagami, Kuroko, and Himuro were left to find empty spaces from the entrance of the kitchen to the hallway where Midorima and Takao had settled down, since they were late to claim their spots. Soon, Akashi came out from the bathroom, and it was Midorima and Takao's turn to use the bathroom, since they were the closest. It almost took a whole hour for the rest of the people to take shower, and only after that came the comfy silence and darkness with the lights all out. Soon, steady breathing noises filled the whole house, but Himuro needed another hour to fall asleep despite his exhaustion and the pressure of having to wake up early tomorrow for the practice. The wild imagination of the possibility of starting a romantic relationship clouded his thoughts too much that he ended up falling asleep before he could straighten things out.

---

Next morning, Himuro left his house before anybody else woke up. Perhaps, Akashi could have been up, but everyone else was sprawled about the house, which just made it harder for him to navigate the way through the house. Still, he was lucky that his shirt and shorts were in the laundry, since he might have had to go in his room, where Akashi was, to get them if they weren't. The air was fresh yet chilling, making him shiver as he headed to his school gym. He was still quite far from the school gate when he saw a familiar figure that was just so gigantic that it was hard to mistake him for another person.

"Atushi!"

Himuro called out loudly and saw the figure turn around in sluggish motion. He then waved his hand to the purple haired boy as he ran towards him, his heart pumping a bit too much blood to his head that he began feeling even more confused than last night. Now that he was facing this very person that made him wonder what a nice feeling it would be to love and to be loved by someone, thinking rationally seemed harder. Completely unaware of the little chaos in Himuro's mind, Murasakibara, munching on the umai-bon, simply waved back with his large hand.

"Heeey, good morning, Himu-chin."

"Good morning. We better hurry, it's almost time."

Murasakibara nodded, yet remained on the spot until Himuro caught up with him. They walked fast, not wanting to be late, but the taller boy occasionally glanced at the other so that he wouldn't walk too fast for the shorter one to keep up with. Himuro noticed this as well, and it made his heart skip a beat and jumbled his thoughts even more.

"Atsushi, I wanted to ask you some questions."

Himuro spoke between light huffs as he practiced shooting, and from the corner of his eyes he saw Murasakibara, who had been taking turns shooting a ball to the same goal, pause and give a curious look. But Himuro did not stop, just because he was way too self-conscious about his inner confusion and was scared that his teammate might realize it. Without looking at the taller boy, he continued talking.

"About your former captain… Akashi, I mean. Does he… hate people in general?"

"Nope. He hates people only when he has reasons to. Did Aka-chin tell you that he hates you? …Nooo, did you meet Aka-chin?"

Murasakibara usually was not the brightest person when it came to reading hidden intentions, especially in times other than basketball matches. But as Himuro had noticed since after getting to know the boy, when it came to this red haired boy off in Kyoto, this giant changed. When he narrated some funny stories from back in Teikou days, he would even put his bag of chips down to make gestures with his hands like an excited child, and when Himuro asked something regarding the boy, he'd want to know why he had asked such questions. This change in attitude had always amused Himuro, not just because he was surprised at what a strong impression Akashi must have left in Murasakibara's life, but also because it was fun to watch the giant's speak cheerily, with a vague smile on his lips and his masculine hands flailing about in the air.

But interestingly, this change now started bothering Himuro.

"Well, no, he's in Kyoto, remember? And I don't have his email address or phone number, so I can't really contact him, not that I have any reason to."

"Yeah, you're right… But… If he ever shows that he hates you, you better be careful… You know, his scissors."

Himuro somewhat felt like crying at this moment, as he watched the rather unpleasant look on the other's face, clearly thinking back of any incidents from Teikou that involved Akashi's scissors. But even his fear of death did not help him get any thoughts regarding Murasakibara straight. Rather, he was now more confused after having been reminded of the changes in the taller one's attitude whenever he talked about Akashi. Did Murasakibara like Akashi so much that merely talking about him made him feel happier? Or was it good old memories that made him smile like that? If the answer was the former, Himuro felt like he would grow a bit jealous. No, not just a bit. A lot.

"Whenever I listen to your stories, it seems like Akashi and you got along really well."

Determined to probe the other a bit more, Himuro asked Murasakibara after throwing one more ball, which went through the goal as cleanly as possible. The taller one to threw a ball, and scored, before cocking his head a bit. His absent minded look made this man of enormous statue look rather cute, like a bear trying to figure out something, and Himuro had to push chuckles down his throat so that he wouldn't interrupt Murasakibara's thinking.

"Yeah, we were close, I guess. Aka-chin didn't mind me following him around, and I liked watching Aka-chin work. Aaah, he got a bit mad whenever I dropped crumbs on his head."

Surprisingly, Murasakibara chuckled quietly as he mumbled the last part, faint blush slowly making its way up to his cheeks. It was quite a rare sight to see Murasakibara laugh in any way, since the low-tension boy hardly ever showed any difference in his facial expression. Himuro certainly has never seen him smile like that, and was a bit taken aback. This purple haired boy looked so much handsomer with the his lips slightly curving upward, and Himuro was staring up with awe… but not only that, he felt something crack in his heart at the fact that Akashi could make this person smile. Perhaps, he was the only person able to do so.

"Ah… Y-yes, it'd be nice to have a friend that you could always be together... like you and him."

"Friend? Hmmm… Yeah, friend. Friends are nice."

Murasakibara's sudden lukewarm answer surprised Himuro again, who had started to wonder just how many more times he was supposed to be surprised when he was around Murasakibara or Atsushi.

"Aren't you guys friends? Akashi and you."

"Eeeh, are we? I've never really thought about that…"

"…What do you mean? You used to hang out with him, so you two must be friends."

"But…"

When Himuro continued to bother Murasakibara with insistent questions, the taller one, who was now bored from practicing and had begun just playing with the ball instead, finally held the ball still while cocking his head once again. He was just about to say something when his eyes landed on something past Himuro, near the opened door of the gym. His eyes focused for once and his mouth agape, Murasakibara stared at the spot as if he had just seen a ghost, and Himuro followed the other's gaze and turned to look at the door, where nothing but the bright sunlight came through.

"Atsushi? Is something wrong?"

"…Nah… I think I just saw… red hair… Weird, not many people have such brilliant red hair. I must be seeing things now. I need some snacks."

After shaking his head, Murasakibara threw the ball in the container and began walking toward the bench, where a plastic bag full of his day's worth of snack was. Himuro heard him mumbling 'He is in Kyoto' over and over again in such lifeless voice as he passed by. There were no more cracks in his heart, but he could feel dull pain slowly spreading throughout his body. But after a while, he felt numb, and the pain disappeared. He now understood what Akashi meant to Murasakibara, and was somewhat satisfied that his mind became clearer than ever.

"It's better to pluck out a weed before it grows too big."

He mumbled with bitter smile as he resumed his practice.

The practice was over around noon, and Himuro said goodbye to Murasakibara as he passed through the school gate. He stopped by a convenience store to get onigiri for light lunch, and headed straight back to his house, knowing that there was a person who'd love to torture him if he made everyone wait. Fortunately, he met up with Kagami and Kuroko, and Aomine and Kise in the elevator to his flat; at least, he won't be the last one to come back. Akashi, Midorima and Takao were already home, settled around the coffee table, when they entered the house. Without further ado, they continued where they left off last night, decorating gardens and the house.

"Akashi, what did you do this morning?"

Himuro's question was not so audible with other people, who were obviously in better sprits than yesterday, chatting loudly, but since Akashi was sitting right next to him, he could hear the black haired boy crystal clear. The former captain's blank expression slightly turned into a scowl, as if he did not appreciate the other's attempt to start a conversation.

"Am I supposed to report how I used my private time to you?"

"No, I didn't mean that. I was just… wondering."

Himuro himself was very surprised at how cool and unaffected he sounded even when Akashi gave off that murderous aura right from right next to him. He was feeling brave, or even recklessly daring at the moment, due to different emotions welling up inside him; he felt pang of jealousy, knowing that Akashi was Murasakibara's most precious person without a doubt; he felt accomplished at the fact he now knew the reason why Akashi hated him so much was probably because the red haired boy liked Murasakibara just as much and was jealous of Himuro being so close to him; he also was slightly ticked off by how he was made target of Akashi's anger because of silly love game, not something grave. Ah, but now that he knew almost everything that was going on, he felt like probing Akashi as well, just to make sure what the boy thought of Murasakibara.

"Your smile bothers me."

"Ah, I'm sorry. I was just thinking about what Atsushi and I talked about during the practice this morning."

Jackpot, the murderous aura had grown even more intense, making Kagami, who was sitting on the other side of Akashi, flinch a bit. Himuro too wondered if he had ventured too far, but he tried to look as calm as possible, deciding to keep himself busy with making a flower made out of marshmallows. There was a long pause, during which Himuro couldn't dare to look at the holder of the emperor's eyes, but after he had finished making the flower and glued it on the hardboard using melted chocolate, Akashi finally opened his mouth.

"It seems like you two get along quite well. You even call him by his first name…"

"Uh, that's more of a habit, since I'm more used to speaking Engli—"

"…Even when I'm the only one who's allowed to do that."

At that split second, Himuro could've sworn Akashi was going to slit his throat open or something with the scissors. That low mumble sounded more like Akashi talking to himself, but Himuro could see, from the corner of his eyes, the dark shadow covering the boy's face. It was obvious that Akashi was trying his best not to actually murder somebody right now. This was becoming too much of an adventure.

"So, what did you talk about?"

Out of sudden, Akashi's voice sounded a lot more casual than Himuro expected, thus making him slowly look up and see the smug on the other's face. It took him few seconds to figure out why the boy had such smile on, until he spotted another marshmallow flower next to the one that he made. Apparently, it was one that Akashi had just made, looking more delicate and realistic than the one that Himuro made. Suddenly, the smug on the other's face started to look like an invitation to a competition.

"About how things were when Atsushi was back in Teikou. He likes talking about the old days."

"Of course he does. It's not even worth betting on the captain of Yosen High being much less capable than me."

"Ah, but he doesn't seem to mind about that. Rather, he seems quite relieved that he doesn't have to exhaust himself out during the practice."

"Really? Then I'm sure you don't know a thing about Atsushi. He liked how I plan his training menu."

Starting with Himuro's subtle lie, the two began a rather lively conversation as they resumed making flowers for the garden. Their voices grew louder with each sentence, the tension apparent in their assertive tone, and the flowers they made grew more and more flamboyant that they soon began painting even the smallest details of petals with a brush and white chocolate. Their weird behaviors were more than enough to grab the others' attentions, but they seemed to be lost in their little world, going on about how one knew more about Murasakibara than the other.

"It hasn't even been a year since you met Atsushi."

"It's been almost a year since you last hung out with Atsushi."

"I live in Kyoto, what do you expect me to do?"

"At least, send him texts, give him calls, and visit him some time during the weekends or a break. That's what friends do."

"Ah, but we're not just friends."

There it goes again, thought Himuro. What was with these two, saying that they weren't friends? But this time, the mischievous smile gave off slightly different feeling than the confused look that Murasakibara had on when he said the same thing. Putting down a flower made out of jelly beans, which looked so realistic that Himuro had to admit that there was no way he'd be able to copy that masterpiece, Akashi leaned in a bit and murmured in low, taunting voice.

"I'm pretty sure that you don't know what Atsushi's lips taste like, so you can never know more about him than I do."

That uttered sentence was enough to make Himuro practically jump about a foot away from the triumphant boy. It seemed like nobody else really heard what Akashi just had said, as the rest of the group just gave Himuro and Akashi weird looks, half expecting Himuro to tell them what just happened, but Akashi's eerily bright smile made him think twice before telling them what he heard.

"Is everyone done with their jobs? Otherwise, I don't see why you are all so curious in other people's business instead of keeping yourselves busy with your work."

At Akashi's warning, everyone went back to their works with whines and grumbles, and it was Himuro and him alone again, ready to carry on the conversation once Himuro got over the shock. He wasn't shocked by having a homosexual couples so near him, since there were three more right there in his living room, but the fact that Murasakibara hadn't told him about this was what took him off guard. When he asked this giant long time ago, whether he was going out with someone, he had said no with so much confidence…!

"How come Atsushi never told me that you two were going out…?!"

"We aren't going out."

"…What the hell? You two aren't friends, you've kissed before, but you're not going out?"

Himuro was way too upset now that it was getting hard to whisper, but on the other hand, Akashi looked totally cool, still savoring the taste of victory. Thinking that he had had hard time sleeping wondering what would be like to go out with a guy who already had a lover whom he never addressed as lover… It just gave Himuro a headache.

"We never really said anything about going out. Or, even about our feelings."

"Then why did you kiss? For the heck of it?"

"I wanted to, and he wanted to as well, so we did. Do we need more reasons to kiss?"

At this straightforward answer, Himuro simply facepalmed; he simply did not get how the minds of Akashi and Murasakibara worked. But at the same time, he could vaguely imagine what it would be like to be attracted by someone without ever verbally announcing one's feeling, the natural progression of the relationship without necessity to bind it in the name of love… And then came this burning jealousy.

"Ah, whatever… How did I not realize this sooner? Even today, Atsushi thought he saw someone that looks like you at the gym during the practice, and he was so caught up with that afterwards that he just spent the rest of the time eatin—"

"I… did not go to the gym to see him."

With his voice suddenly low and threatening, Akashi threw the third pair of scissor during the weekend, missing Himuro's cheek just by an inch. This one hit the wall and fell on the floor, only after leaving a deep scratch on the concrete wall. However scared Himuro was to death, he could easily spot the faint hint of pink decorating the otherwise shadowed face of the former captain. With a sigh, he nodded as to show Akashi that he didn't doubt what he said, and just got on with his work. He had never expected this boy, who seemed so invincible with his emperor's eyes and scissor, was a tsundere.

"Done~!"

With this short exclamation from Kise and Takao, everyone moved a bit away from their masterpiece, so as not to hit in by accident, and sprawled out on the floor, panting from exhaustion. It seemed like they've just finished a marathon rather than building a house with snacks, but their extravagantly decorated work proved that their hard work was definitely worth it.

"I thought we would never finish it within today…"

"But Midorima-kun, today is almost over. It's evening already,"

"Wha-?! Kuroko, you should've told us that more quickly! Himuro, I wanted to stay here longer so we can catch up with what's been happening, but we better leave now, or else we might not make it back to Tokyo."

Kagami, looking quite troubled, quickly stood up and gestured Kuroko to follow him, while Midorima, upon noticing the time, began getting his things together as well. But Kuroko stayed seated and simply pulled the ham of Kagami's shirt with one hand to signal him to sit down again, while he grabbed his bag with his empty hand.

"I haven't told you about this, since I wanted to surprise you, Kagami-kun… But take a look at this."

What Kuroko passed to the taller boy was two pieces of papers, both of them looking the same except that each one had their names on them. At the bottom, there were signatures of their homeroom teacher and some random signatures on the spot where they were to get their parents' signature.

"Application… for extracurricular experiences? I thought this was what you turn in when you miss school because of family trip or something."

"Yes, I've told our teacher that your family and mine will go on a trip to Akita prefecture and learn about the history of this area. We can miss school for two days."

"…I really don't get how you come up with this kind of things, but you are genius, Kuroko!"

With a bright, proud smile, Kagami gently ruffled the smaller boy's hair, who softly smiled in satisfaction in return. And then, he turned to look at Himuro, who sighed in playful and exaggerated way before giving them a nod, silently saying the two could stay in his place for two more days. After seeing this, Takao too began pestering Midorima about wanting to miss school, but the bespectacled boy ignored the whining and continued packing things neatly in his bag.

"What about you, Kise-kun?"

"I actually have no choice but to stay here, because of my job. Ah, but my manager booked a room in nearby hotel, so I don't need to bother Himuro anymore~"

"Wait, you're staying? Well, then…"

Aomine, who seemed to have fallen asleep on the floor, suddenly sat up when he heard that Kise was going to stay in Akita, and fished his phone out from his pocket. He swiftly dialed someone, and after about few rings, he began talking.

"Yo, Satsuki."

From the other side of the phone, everyone, not just Aomine, could hear a girl throwing a feat about Aomine missing another practice session. But as if this happened daily, which was about half true, he simply held the phone away from his ear until the girl had finished yelling on top of her lung, and only when the silence fell he resumed talking.

"I think I'm going to miss school for two days. I'm… sick. Tell my teacher I won't be coming, okay?"

"Aominecchi… That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard."

With Aomine bluntly announcing that he wasn't feeling well, his voice revealing that he definitely was not, the girl said nothing more than shocked 'Ah?', and it was left for Kise to convince Aomine that such lie wouldn't work. But the tanned boy just swatted his empty hand as if he didn't care about it, and repeated what he just said, before hanging up. His phone went off few times after that, but Aomine simply threw his phone on the couch so as to ignore the calls.

"Momoicchi will be so furious later."

"So what? I'm gonna spend some time making you pay for ignoring me."

"Seriously?! It's been two days, and you still have grudge against me? You are so immature, Aominecchi."

"And you like it that way, don't ya? I'm staying with you at the hotel, by the way, so that it'll be easier to tease you."

And now that Aomine began glomping Kise just to tease him and make him squeak in embarrassment, Takao once again shook Midorima's shoulder, whining that he wanted to spend some more quality time with his dear partner. He had been deliberately pouting with teary eyes, trying to make it harder for the taller boy to ignore his plea, but knowing Takao too well, Midorima avoided looking at him, and closed the bag that he finished packing. Then, he just grabbed Takao's bag as well, and began packing it.

"We are not staying here. We have math quiz on Tuesday morning, and we aren't going to miss it."

"For real…? I just said I wanted to spend time with you… and you'd rather study for a quiz than to stay with me?"

"…W-we promised to study together… didn't we."

Blushing, Midorima cast a glance at his partner with a rather disappointed look, making Takao blink in surprise. Now that he mentions it, Takao did remember begging Midorima for help, and picking the date so that they can study together. Despite the way the bespectacled boy rejected the suggestion of studying together for few times before finally accepting it, it seemed like he was quite looking forward to it after all.

"Hah… If Shin-chan comes out like this, then there's no way I can whine any more. Fine, we can go back. But you better give me rewards when I get stuffs right while we study together."

"…Hmm? What rewards are you talking about…?"

"C'mon, don't tell me you forgot! Last time we studied together, I said, 'for every question I get right, I get a kiss, and if I get every questions on one page right, I ge—'"

"No, stop it there, don't say anything more…!"

Before Takao could continue talking with his mischievous smile on, Midorima hurriedly clasped his hand over the other's mouth, successfully hushing him. Still, what Takao had hinted already, along with burning red color of Midorima's cheeks, others have suspected that their study time must include something not so educational, and began howling once again. It was then Himuro turned to look at Akashi, the only one who hadn't decided what to do yet. Personally, he didn't mind having Akashi over for two more days, as long as he kept his scissors in his pocket, that was, but he still hadn't gotten over his jealousy yet. He thought he might as well as carry on trying to irritate this all mighty former captain of Teikou.

"What are you going to do, Akashi? From what I heard from Atsushi, you're quite a diligent student too, aren't you? So, I guess you won't be missing school."

"It kind of sounds like you want me to go back."

"Well, if you are planning to do what you did this afternoon, it might be better for our team that you just go back…"

Even going so far as to mention Akashi coming to Yosen High to see Murasakibara, Himuro half expected another scissor to fly past him. However, nothing came flying, and Akashi was sitting still with his stare fixed on him, the deep murderous intent burning from his eyes. After few seconds, he reached for something in his pocket, making everyone be ready to stop him in case he tried to throw scissors to Himuro, but what he took out was merely his cell phone. He too, like Aomine, dialed somebody and waited patiently until the person to pick up the phone.

"Ah, sensei, it's me, Akashi Seijuro. Sorry to disturb you at this hour on Sunday..."

Nobody really knew what Akashi was trying to do by calling his homeroom teacher, so they watched him quietly until he was over with the formalities and went on with the main point.

"About the reason why I called… One of my friends had passed away, so I'm in Akita right now for his funeral. I think I won't be able to go to school for three days."

Such absurd excuse made others look at each other with confusion apparent in their face, but Akashi didn't care a bit as he politely answered to his teacher's words full of concern. It seemed like this teacher, who knew Akashi as not the kind of student who'd make up stupid excuses to miss school, believed what he said word to word, and within few minutes, Akashi had his teacher's words that he'll make sure he let all the other teachers know about his unfortunate reason of his absence.

"What kind of excuse was that? A funeral of a friend?"

Himuro asked the other once the call was over, and Akashi did not say anything in reply as he put his phone back in his pocket. But in next second, the boy had a pair of his scissor in his hand instead, his odd eye gleaming eerily with dark aura as he lunged forward.

"I meant your funeral."

It took minutes to finally get a hold of enraged Akashi, and all the bulky guys had to separate Himuro and him with their forces combined. Still, it took some more time to finally soothe the former captain's anger, and some more to coax Himuro to promise Akashi not to taunt him like that anymore. Midorima and Takao almost missed their train due to this commotion, but all seemed to have ended well. The only thing that was left to do was to wait until the Tuesday.

---

It was finally Tuesday. There were small happenings on Monday, such as Akashi getting caught by Himuro while walking around Yosen High, and the former trying once again to murder him with his scissor, but things ended rather peacefully; at least, no blood was shed. And today, Himuro was supposed to lure Murasakibara to his home, saying something like he had some snacks to share, and everyone, who would be waiting at his place, would surprise the purple haired boy and start the party. They were lucky that they didn't have any practice today. Otherwise, Akashi might have ran out of patience once again, and visit the school himself.

"Oi, Atsushi."

After the school was finally over, Himuro found Murasakibara as they descended the stairs, and quickly began walking side by side. So far, the giant had shown no hint that today was his birthday, making Himuro wonder if he even remembered his own birthday. He simply looked at the black haired boy with his eyes slightly unfocused as usual, sucking on a lollipop this time.

"What is it…?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my place right now. My… relatives came by, and got me limited edition of umai-bon."

Realizing how bad he was at lying, Himuro inwardly facepalmed while looking at the other with worries that even Murasakibara might have figured out how weird his lie was. But apparently, the 'limited edition of umai-bon' part had practically hypnotized the boy, making him gaze at Himuro with his eyes opened wide with awe, and began nodding frantically. At how things turned out, Himuro had nothing much to comment on, except that he was lucky that Murasakibara lost his minds whenever he heard something regarding new snacks.

During their walk to Himuro's flat, they talked about daily stuffs, such as school, homework, and basketball. Murasakibara had not suspected anything even as they went up the elevator and stood in front of the door to the shorter boy's house. Himuro had sent a text to Kagami before departing school, so that they'd all be ready to greet the main character of the day, but just to make sure, he took exceptionally long to open the door, making some excuses like the key not working properly. The unusual darkness greeted the two, and the moment the door closed behind them, the light was on, revealing the overly decorated living room with the guests popping out from their hiding places.

"Happy birthday~!"

Even Himuro wasn't expecting such decorations around the house, with paper chains hanging on the ceiling, balloons everywhere, and they even got fake flowers to throw in the air. Watching others run about wildly, Murasakibara stood still as he blinked, apparently having hard to understand what was happening. His eyes traveled from one person to the next, growing a bit wider when he spotted Akashi, and finally rested on the big, magnificent house made out of snacks and sweets in the middle of the living room.

"You never told me that it was your birthday, Atsushi. But I figured it out, and thought we could throw a party for you."

Himuro placed a hand on the tallest boy's shoulder, petting him lightly as he explained how they came together and planned the party. It was a chaos, with Kise throwing flowers all over while bragging about how this decoration of the living room was his idea, Takao chasing Kuroko with a balloon, threatening that he'd pop it if the other didn't stop, and Aomine and Kagami were having not so friendly talk about how they'd buy some beers and see who could drink more. Midorima was sitting on the couch, his green hair covered with fake roses, and Akashi sat next to him with a small smile that was only visible to Murasakibara.

"You guys…"

In his usual slow way of talking, Murasakibara was about to say something when the door burst open behind them. A girl with long pink hair appeared, panting heavily, with a large box in one hand.

"I hope I'm not too late! I'm so sorry, Murasakibara-kun, I've forgotten about your birthday…! And nobody bothered to tell me about this party until I called Kuroko-kun this morning!"

"Momoi-san, you made it in time. So don't worry."

"Momo-chin…"

"Here, I brought a cake… and obviously, it's good thing that I did, since you guys seemed to have forgotten to get one."

"Momoicchi, I hope you didn't make that cake yourself…"

"What are you talking about? Of course I did!"

"Eek, Satsuki, you can't be serious!"

The room was filled with liveliness, and the warmth it created kept the chilly wind of autumn away. After making fuss over the inedible cake that Momoi brought with her, everyone began eating the house, though some people whined about eating something that they spent ages on building. Murasakibara had yet to say something that he had been trying to say, but it seemed like there was no need to say it out loud, for his soft yet sincere smile had conveyed his feeling in a way that no words could have explained.

Thank you, everyone.

In the midst of party, while everyone was busy having fun, Murasakibara and Atsushi was sitting on the couch, watching others play wildly like bunch of children. They both were munching on the parts of the house, their eyes fixed on the funny scenes in front of them. Despite the fact that they haven't seen each other for long time, they just sat still, savoring the sheer fact that they were in the same room, sitting next to each other with just enough distance between them that let them feel each other's warmth.

"You must have traveled quite long to come here, Aka-chin."

"Aah. It really did take hours of train ride."

"…I thought you wouldn't come."

"Silly. Why?"

"After we graduated from Teikou, you never called me or came to see me."

"You could've called me first, or came over to Kyoto."

"I thought… Aka-chin didn't want to talk to me anymore…"

Even with his height of 208cm, Murasakibara sunk into the couch, his shoulders drooping like those of a discouraged child. Without realizing, he had stopped in the middle of finishing a big piece of cracker, as if he was so lost in thought that he even forgot about the fact that he was still holding it in his hand. Akashi, after taking a quick glance at his depressed former teammate, scooted a bit closer to the other and reached his hand out to pet his head. It made him look like petting an enormous puppy, but he liked the feeling. He missed doing this for so long.

"I thought it might be better for you to make some new friends while you can. I was planning on not letting you meet anyone once we graduate high school. Just you and me, that's how I wanted things to be afterwards."

"I don't need new friends. I just want to be with Aka-chin."

"Well, but it's still better to have more people at your birthday party, right? By the way, you still haven't changed. Too lazy to even care about your own birthday."

"But… But birthday is nothing that special. It really is livelier with more people, like you said, but I still don't care… You're right, I haven't changed."

"I haven't changed either. I still want you to be mine and mine only."

At the confident confession from Akashi, Murasakibara let out a soft laughter and leaned on the shorter boy, placing his head on top of the other's. It was a snug fit, as if they were made for each other. The rest of the people in the party haven't really noticed the changed position of two, too immersed in the game they were playing. It seemed like Akashi and Murasakibara were in their own world, separated by an invisible wall.

"You see, I still can stay in this city for a day. And that friend of yours bothers me quite a lot. I don't want to stay at this place for another night. You get what I mean, Atsushi?"

"Aah~ Of course you can stay at my place. My parents have just gone to a business trip to Hokkaido. You get what I mean, Aka-chin?"

The two laughed once again, and reached for some more of the sweets.

"Aka-chin, when we graduate, let's build a real house with snacks. Would you like to live with me in a house like that?"

"Only if you promise me that you won't love the house more than me."

The sweets, the words, and the soft touches; they all melted into this moment and sipped into their heart. The warmth spread throughout their bodies, and nothing could have been sweeter than this very time that they shared.

---

OMAKE!

Sheesh, the longest oneshot I've ever written.
I was going to work on the illustration for the picture for this, but...
I guess I'll go on with it later.
I just have too much things to take care of now.

Anyways!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MURA-CHIN, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!