TheEmperor'sEmpress»
»Another story I cooked up when I was supposed to be listening to my professor babbling about philosophical stuff. I had my earphones plugged in and listening to Hiroshi Kamiya singing random songs and imagining a certain emperor doing it instead (Like, when are they gonna release his character song or what?). I just love his voice (who doesn't?). So, I'm ranting. This story will be set in their University years, where I'll be more free to do what I want with my characters without ruining the actual story too much. Akashi here will be more like a combination of the old and the new. As for my OC, her hair color is like that of Takatsuki Sen from Tokyo Ghoul, and I think the Japanese call that color as "yanagi" or "pea green" — I'll post a drawing of her and the emperor sometime soon. Yeah. Please read and review! Comments, criticisms, and suggestions are very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!«
*Chapter One : *
April 25, 20xx — Tokyo, Japan
•• They say that the only constant thing in this world is change. People and emotions are no exceptions to that. But do you really believe in that saying? Because honestly, I don't. ••
Yanagi Megumi slung her guitar on her shoulder, her black messenger bag on the other, and entered the gates of Tokyo University, taking time to admire the sakura trees lining both sides of the pathways, their pink blossoms falling like snow in the gentle April morning breeze. She can smell their faint fragrance as she crushed them under her feet, relaxing her considerably after having an almost sleepless night doing her math assignments due today. They were given a few days early only for her to completely foget about them until one hyperactive blonde asked her a calculus question last night, and that was when she remembered the four-page exercise problem sheet that her insufferable professor had given to his class.
It was still early in the morning, and only a few students can be seen milling about in the campus. Some huddled in groups, some laughing and talking loudly with their peers, some holding books and pen and papers in their hands, while some are just quietly going with their own businesses. A few waved at her, and she smiled at them and gave a wave in return; she recognized them as her classmates in either one of her subjects. She doesn't remember their names, but she recognize them well enough to be sure that they weren't waving at another person behind her or what.
She headed to her home college — the Faculty of Music. Not to be arrogant, but she knows she has it in her what it takes to survive in the music industry, which is why she doesn't have qualms on choosing it as her major. Life is boring, so why not make it more thrilling? She remembered someone telling her that she won't make it big in the music world, and that annoyed her to the point that she just had to prove it to him.
'Just you wait — you'll be watching me performing at the Tokyo Dome before ten years is over.'
She doesn't really have to try that hard — performing had always been her passion — her time in London was enough proof of that. Her European friends were fascinated by the petite Asian girl and her talents that they always grab any opportunity to see her onstage. Ever since she returned to her homeland, her Facebook account was always flooded with messages and notifications from her friends on the other side of the world, asking about her and reminding her not to forget to take photos and videos of her future performances for them to see.
Deciding that it would be better to hang outdoors, she sat on one of the benches outside the building, and took her guitar from its case. She tuned it to perfection, and soon, a beautiful melody emanated from the steel strings of the instrument as she plucked and strummed them with her nimble fingers.
She sang along, her voice light and soft, as if she was afraid of breaking the morning's silence. The sun shined brightly in the clear April sky, and a few clouds floated around resembling thin wisps of cotton. Birds twittered, singing their own melodies, and there was the occasional whirr of cicadas and other insects that are active during springtime.
Her song ended, and she waited until the notes died away into nothing. The campus was slowly filling up, and she preferred singing her own songs in private. Not that she was shy — she just wanted to relish them privately before releasing it to the world.
That was her plan, actually. However, it seemed that fate decided to intervene in the form of a clapping blonde with an idiotic smile on his handsome face.
"Yanagicchi, that was amazing! Can you sing another one, please?"
"Ryou-kun?" How long was he standing there? And more importantly, when did he got there?
Kise Ryouta, a famous basketball player-slash-model. She'd only known him for a year back in middle school, being the assistant coach of the all-too famous Teiko Middle School with its team of basketball prodigies. Kise had joined the club in second year, but with his remarkable skills and passion for the court, he was promoted quickly to first-string and became a regular not soon after, where he got to meet the rest of the Kiseki no Sedai, the phantom sixth man, the manager, and of course, the assistant coach.
Yanagi found it relatively easy to get along with the blonde copycat compared to the rest of the Kiseki no Sedai, phantom sixth man included. Kise might be overly cheerful and hyper, but he surely is the bringer of sunshine to the team, even though he gets bullied for it a lot. Well, aside from his natural vanity given that he works as a model in his spare time, it was nothing compared to Akashi Seijuurou's dominant streak, Midorima Shintarou's superstitious beliefs, Murasakibara Atsushi's food obsession, Aomine Daiki's perverted attitude, or to Kuroko Tetsuya's disappearing-and-reappearing act. His fangirls AND fanboys - yes, he have those, much to her horror - were easy for her to handle. She had quite a reputation as a delinquent back then enough to scare unwanted people inside the gym with only a simple stare.
"Ohayou, Yanagicchi!" He greeted her and sat on the other end of the bench. He leaned back and took a deep breath, before turning to her. "It's really nice to have you back here with us, Yanagicchi," he said, his tone happy and carefree.
She smiled at him, and absentmindedly plucks the guitar strings. "I am glad to be back, too. I really missed you, guys."
"Ne, Yanagicchi, can I?" Kise was referring to the guitar, and she handed it to him with hesitation. "Thanks! Eto... How did it goes again?" Kise mumbled to himself a bit loudly as his fingers tried to figure out the chords to a song that his high school captain had grudgingly taught him back then. Beside him, Yanagi looked on, not really surprised if Kise does know how to play the guitar — it's just that she never thought it would catch his interest. Well, he was curious about when he first saw her play the guitar during Teiko's music festival, but he was too focused on basketball to ask her to teach it to him. Besides, he said, it hurts his fingers.
"Ryou-kun, when did you learn to play it?" she asked, curiousity getting the better of her when said blonde strummed some chords tentatively.
"Hmm? Oh, Kasamatsu- senpai taught me when I was in first year of high school. Kasamatsu-senpai was my captain that time. We played together for one year — he was third year. Ah!" He stopped and looked at her excitedly. Yanagi can already visualize a pair of dog ears and a tail and Kise could pass off as a perfect golden retriever and no one would be able to tell the difference between him and the actual one. "I'll introduce you two sometime — he's also in Tōdai, too, and he has the same major as you Yanagicchi!"
"Really? You seem to be very attached to him, Ryou-kun. I guess he is a wonderful person."
He nodded in agreement. "Hai! Kasamatsu-senpai is really cool! He's an awesome point guard and a really reliable captain, although he can be pretty... violent — at times. He's very supportive and caring to the team, though he has a peculiar way of showing it. And he can play the guitar!" Kise stated the last line like it was the greatest thing in the world.
Yanagi listened as he told him about his former captain. As she'd told him earlier, it was obvious that Kise was fond of his senpai. It made Yanagi happy — Kise finding such friends during his high school years, as did the other Kiseki no Sedai members. However, it makes her sad that the bonds they had with each other were not how they used to be back in Teiko — before they bloomed into the amazing basketball players they are now. Such gifts come with a price, and it was their trust in one another that was sacrificed in exchanged for that power. They had been through rough times, but she wasn't there to see it for herself so she can't really say that she knows what they felt, but she can understand it at the very least. Still, she knows that they were all trying to renew their friendship, and it was going well. They were still wary of one another, especially to their former captain (not that she could blame them) but at least, the hostility was gone. Kise, Kuroko, and Momoi were doing a great job, and she is also doing her part as well.
"Is that so? Then maybe I've seen him somewhere before... What does he look like?" she asked.
"He has black hair, stormy grey eyes, a bit tanned, and his eyebrows are quite on the thick side, but not too much. He is not really that tall, and he tends to frown too much."
Well, Kise's description didn't help. A lot of guys have black hair, and she doesn't go peering into other people's eyes to check their color. Seeing her lack of reaction, Kise was a bit disappointed. It didn't last long, for the blonde quickly got out his phone and quickly swiped through his picture gallery and, finding the one he was looking for, shoved the yellow device in Yanagi's face.
She took the phone from his hands and studied the picture on the screen. It showed a group of high school in blue jerseys standing on the court, the word 'Kaijou' emblazoned in the background. Her eyes locked at the guy at the center, arms crossed in front of his chest, looking like he was annoyed at the camera. His jersey number displays the number four.
"Ah, so that's him. Unfortunately, I don't think I've seen him before, though. Given he's two years advanced, we don't have the same classes and there are too guys with black hair in here. Maybe I'll just wait for your introduction then. So," she said, handing the phone back to Kise, "what was the title of the song he taught you?"
"It's title is REFRAIN," he replied. "Do you know it?"
"Uhm. It's one of my favorites, actually." She showed him the chords and the plucking pattern, and Kise, being the fast learner he is, was playing the song's melody with ease. He asked her to sing along, her voice harmonizing with his slightly lower one, only to stop abruptly when he failed to reach the high note at the chorus. Kise laughed at that, and Yanagi joined him, giggling lightly.
"It's okay, Ryou-kun. You just have to practice on controlling your voice," she said when they have stopped laughing. Kise nodded, tears in his eyes due to laughing too hard at his own embarassment. He gave the guitar back to her, which she promptly replaced in its case. They both stood up.
"Well, I have to get going, Ryou-kun." She slung the guitar case on her shoulder, as well as her bag. She reached out and ruffled the model's hair, who yelped as his hairstyle just got a major damage. She laughed as he tried to get it back in place with his frantic fingers.
"See you later!" she said, waving a hand at him, and turned to go inside the building. Before she got out of hearing range, Kise called her name behind her. She stopped to look at the smiling blonde.
"See you at lunch, Yanagicchi!"
[From: Nijimura Shouzo-senpai]
[Oi, Yanagi, the brats want to eat together. Where are you?]
Yanagi's morning classes had just ended and she was just getting out of the lecture room when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She let out a sigh at how her upperclassman called her friends.
'He never changed,' she thought wryly.
Like her, Nijimura Shouzo, Teiko's former captain, had left the country to go — in his case — to the States for his father's treatment. She didn't heard much from him as they had lost contact upon leaving, she being too busy with adapting to France's foreign ways while he is too caught up with his family's problems. She learned of his father's death when she was in first year of high school and had sent him her condolences. That was what led them to stay in touch with each other, as both were fellow Japanese thrust into foreign soil. Thus, they pretty much knew about what's happening to the other person even if they weren't able to see each other in person. They didn't knew of the things happening to their other friends back in the Land of the Rising Sun though, not until her second year, when Kuroko decided to reply to her endless messages, apologizing for not doing so earlier. His reason was too vague for Yanagi to understand, though.
'Some things came up and it was pretty rough on all of us, but don't worry, Yanagi-san, the problem had been solved and everyone's back together again,' was the tealhead's sole reply to her, and he didn't offer further explanations when she asked him for more details.
She deduced that there must've been a misunderstanding among them, sometime in third year of middle school, seeing that they'd gone to different schools instead of remaining as a team with the aim to become Japan's number one team. She and Nijimura watched the online footage of their match against the American team Jabberwock, how they managed to defeat the idiotic bunch of morons who call themselves as basketball players. When the buzzer sounded the end of the streetball game, she found herself thinking, "Who're the monkeys now?"
Nijimura, she heard, was laughing manically on the other end of the line, shouting, "Ha! Get that, you jerks! That's Japan for you!"
That's where they also witnessed how their basketball skills had grown to the point of beyond awesome.
So they really had changed. Except for some things.
[To: Nijimura Shouzo-senpai]
[Shouzo-senpai, don't call them that — they're university students already, not the snotty kids we left behind! :D Anyways, about lunch... I'll meet at the front of the Chemistry lab? It would be too much bother if you have to go all the way here to the studio then back again. I'll be there in like, five?]
[From: Nijimura Shouzo-senpai]
[Hmp. Fine. I'll wait here. DON'T RUN. No one's chasing you. Take your time — they can wait for eternity for all I care.]
She laughed at her senpai's reply. Nevertheless, she ran, despite her heeled boots. Her guitar she left behind at the studio, as it is too bothersome to lug it wherever she went. With half a minute to spare, she reached the Chemistry lab, where a frowning Nijimura Shouzo looked at her slightly breathless form.
"And what did I said about running, Yanagi?" he glared while he let her catch her breath for a few minutes. The girl wiped her sweat with her handkerchief and smiled up at him.
"Exercise," she said lamely, stifling a laugh when Nijimura rolled his eyes.
"Come on," he muttered, and together they walked to the cafeteria where, through the glass panels, they can easily spot a group of people with colorful hair colors seated at one table.
"Yanagi-san, Nijimura-senpai, domo," Kuroko greeted them upon reaching their table. Nijimura took the vacant seat next to Midorima, and Yanagi sat beside the phantom.
"Uhm, where's Sei-kun?" she suddenly blurted out in the middle of their conversation. They were yet to order their food, looking at the menu, when she noticed that a certain redhead was missing from the group. It was Momoi who answered her question.
"Ah! Akashi-kun said he might be late — some things need to be taken care of, he said."
"Oh, is that so," she said thoughtfully. Out of all her Teiko friends, Akashi was the least seen to be hanging out with them. She rarely sees him here in the campus too. Life seemed busy and hectic for the emperor, it seems.
A while later, just as soon as they got their order, Akashi arrived, a black messenger bag identical to Yanagi's slung on his shoulder, and a laptop bag on the other.
"I apologize for the wait," he said, before moving to take the seat beside her, which was the only vacant seat in their table, by the way. "Megumi, nice to see you again."
"Same here, Sei-kun," she replied with a smile. It was the third — or fourth? — time she saw the redhead since her return, and she haven't gotten to talk to him properly yet. Yanagi loves hearing Akashi speak — his voice was just too — how can she describe it? — that it makes her want to listen to it over and over again.
"That's unfair, Akashicchi! Why did Yanagicchi gets a greeting and we don't?" Kise pouted.
Akashi raised an amused eyebrow. "A greeting, you say, Ryouta?" He was smirking now.
Everyone at the table prayed for the blonde's soul. No one questions the emperor and hope not to get punished for doing it. Akashi's smirk grew wider as Kise paled in fear. Nijimura can only sigh at their antics. 'And she tells me they're university students, though I fail to see that part.'
"Okay, okay, that's enough." Yanagi said, blocking Akashi's view of Kise with the menu. "Here, Sei-kun, choose what you want — I'll go get it for you."
Akashi's heterochromatic eyes scanned the list,and stopped at a certain dish. "I'll have tofu soup, and iced tea to go with it. Thank you, Megumi."
"It's alright, Sei-kun," she said, her hand resting on her shoulder for a moment as she got up of her seat to get his food. Everyone noticed the gesture, but said nothing of it. It was normal, after all, given Yanagi's nature. She's just too caring when it comes to her friends.
Also, the two were quite close friends in middle school. She's probably the only one in the club who did not fear the devil captain.
"Here you go," she said, arriving minutes later bringing a tray of with a bowl of steaming tofu soup that the redhead likes so much. A chorus of "Itadakimasu" was heard, followed by the splitting of the chopsticks, and everyone ate heartily.
"How have you been, Megumi?" Akashi asked, breaking away the silence of their table.
'Ah, that's right. I doubt these two had a proper conversation since she came back. It must have been bugging Akashi on not having the time to check up on her, especially with that attitude of his over the people he cares about.' Nijimura thought to himself.
"I've been fine, thanks to you guys. Well, Japan didn't changed much since I last saw it, so it's not too much of a a shock. If anything, the only thing that bothers me are my math classes."
"Me, too! I hate math!" Kise said, the word 'math' being equal to 'horrifyingly boring subject that makes his head swim with all its numbers and symbols.'
Midorima Shintarou pushed his glasses up with his fingertips, and asked the question for Akashi. "Why would they bother you, Yanagi? Your math was well and good if middle school was to be the basis of your skill in the subject, nanodayo."
Momoi sighed. "Midorin, you can just tell her directly that she's brilliant at Math," which made the greenhead huff indignantly, being the tsundere that he is.
Yanagi bit her lip and chuckled nervously, choosing her next words carefully. "Well, you see..."
"Yes, Megumi?" Akashi prodded.
"I guess it's a teacher problem," she said, slumping in her seat. This made the redhead beside her narrow his mismatched eyes dangerously, and Kise felt sorry for whoever Yanagi's math teacher turn out to be.
"Teacher problem?" Kuroko echoed, indirectly asking her to explain it properly to avoid unnecessary violence, if Akashi's silence was anything to go by. The phantom knew the redhead would hunt the unfortunate person and who knows what will happen next?
"My grades are fine, yes, but more because I do self-study. The lectures are not really that good, and he tends to give loads of homework and all that stuff."
Akashi seemed to have relaxed after hearing her reason, since it's more or less her opinion all and all. And here he thought the man was bothering the girl directly or what, else he would have to resort to doing things he'd rather not mention. And then he said the one thing he noticed during the whole conversation with her.
"It seems that you've been speaking British English long enough for its accent to still stay after almost a month of speaking in Japanese," he said matter-of-factly.
She turned to him, surprise in her golden eyes. "Eh? Really?"
He nodded slowly, a piece of tofu held to his lips. He heard her ask the others if they did notice, and they said yes, Nijimura commenting that it must be the accent that makes her speech sound a bit weird to his ears.
"How come your Japanese is normal?" the girl demanded.
"American English doesn't have an accent — not American English, anyway. Those in Europe though has a prominent one — it sounds wrong if spoken without the accent."
Akashi reassured her that it will vanish eventually, and because it will because he said so, earning a playful laugh from the girl, which did not offend him at the very slightest. She is that one person, the others have come to acknowledge ever since middle school, that was totally incapable of offending or annoying the redhead, whatever she does or says, unless its something that would put her in harm's way, and all hell would break loose. Sometimes, Nijimura just wanted to smack their heads to get it out of their system — whatever 'it' may be.
For being blessed with a high intellect, Yanagi and Akashi are impossibly dense.
As they filed out of the cafeteria half an hour later, his eyes didn't miss the close proximity between the two, how their hands innocently brush against another, and how, when they bid their goodbyes to one another, Akashi seemed almost regretful to see her go.
Nijimura's head throbbed. His troubles seem to have no end.
