Akashi arrived at the Akashi Foundation offices promptly at nine in the morning and sat at attention in the waiting area outside his father's assistant's office. The woman at the desk greeted him with a weary smile and offered him a choice of coffee or tea, alongside a classic assortment of pastries from Brasserie Viron. He politely declined both. I don't want anything that will prolong my departure as soon as my business here is concluded, he thought.
"Hamada-sama is ready for you, Akashi-sama," the woman said, holding open the door for him. He stood and approached, nodding his wordless thanks to her.
You wouldn't make my father wait, Akashi thought as he crossed the threshold.
"Akashi-kun!" Hamada stood behind his desk and gestured for Akashi to take the seat across from him. "I've prepared everything you need. You are registered for classes. I've secured your dorm room and had it decorated to your tastes and fully stocked. All of your textbooks and supplies are already in your room. And here is your plane ticket — first class of course — you'll find everything in order for your May 29th departure."
"May 29th?" Akashi asked as he slid the ticket out of its sleeve. "Sapporo? I'm supposed to start class at George Washington University in August. This is a mistake; fix it."
"That's not what your father told me. Let me get him on the phone and we'll clear this up."
The phone rang exactly three times before his father's crisp, cool tone answered.
"Yes?"
"Akashi-dono, I'm here with your son and there is some confusion about his school arrangements I'd like to clear up while we are all on the phone together."
"There's no confusion," he replied stiffly. "Seijūrō will be attending my alma mater, Hokkaido University."
"That's what I thought, thank you — "
"The confusion, Father, comes in that the last time we spoke you wanted me to go to George Washington —"
"The naming rights fell through on the sports complex at that University, so you will go to Hokkaido. The new Akashi Foundation International Business center will be completed during your first year."
"They wouldn't accept your proposal for naming a sports complex?" he asked, glad that his father couldn't see the gambit of emotions playing out in his eyes.
"Their loss: an Akashi has never attended a school without a building named after our family and that is one compromise we will not make."
Akashi thought back to his primary school's library, Teikō's gymnasium, Rakuzan's weight room… Wonderful, he thought, another school where no one will look at me as anything other than a wallet and a legacy.
"How was I accepted to a school at which I did not apply."
"Of course you did, don't be obtuse, Seijūrō. Kenji and his team filled out your application and sent in your essay. It's all done."
"Do they have a basketball team?" Akashi asked as his heart began to beat so wildly in his chest, he thought it might be audible to the ridiculous flunky, Hamada. Kami-sama, what will I do if there is no basketball —
"Yes, there is a team. You've already been accepted into the starting line-up," Hamada answered, smirking just a little. Akashi narrowed his eyes. Are you making fun of me? he wanted to ask, but Hamada's smirk faded under Akashi's intense scrutiny.
"Kenji, he leaves on the 29th?" his father continued as if the small aside hadn't been spoken. Is everything ready for his arrival."
"Yes, Sir," Hamada chirped happily. "Everything is ready, as I was telling Akashi-kun before we called you."
"Excellent. And you've begun the overtures of naming rights at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia? I don't want his graduate school prospects to be limited to Japan. Make sure that happens and I'll see you at the meeting at 10:15. Don't forget the Hitachi report."
"Of course, Sir." The phone line went dead, bleating for the half a second it took for Hamada to hit the disconnect button.
"Harvard? Yale? Columbia?"
"For graduate school," Hamada repeated.
"So I heard."
Hamada pushed a Hokkaido University folder across the desk. Inside, was his official letter of acceptance in the Economics Department and underneath that, his full eighteen-hour class schedule including a combination of basic first-year and business courses.
"Is there anything else you require, Akashi-kun?" Hamada asked out loud, even though his eyes and attention were already somewhere else.
"No," Akashi said. He took the folder and continued to flip through it on the way to the office door. "Actually, yes, there is one thing. I'd like the essay you sent in for me. I want to read it, just in case someone makes mention of it. I want to be prepared."
"I'll have it sent over to you. Good luck at school, Akashi-kun."
"I don't believe in luck, Kenji," he said, slipping the man's first name casually into the conversation. "I am an Akashi, after all."
Author's Note:
I apologize for being away so long, but my new job keeps me pretty busy. I am working on finishing up some larger works I've been writing in my spare time, but since this one is done I knew I wanted to get it out as soon as possible. It was inspired when I was re-reading some of my fics before continuing working on that longer piece (for Midorima and Takao) and realized I never explained why Akashi didn't go to school in the United States as he said he would in Partners. Anyway, this should take care of that plot hole while I'm finishing up the next longer story.