"Sorry, Tetsuya-kun, actually, I don't like you anymore"
"SAKURA-SAN!"
Kuroko shouted and stretched his hand as if he was trying to grab something. He panted as he tried to analyze his situation
"A dream?" he asked himself and it was then his alarm went off. He went off his bed and prepared for school
He entered their room and sat on his usual sit, at the very back behind the window.
"Argh! My body hurts" Kagami sat down in front of Kuroko as he massaged his shoulder
"Kagami-kun, your voice is loud as always"
"Geh! Kuroko! You are already here?" Kagami complained as he was surprised seeing Kuroko on his back "I hope I can get used to it soon" he sighed and again massaged his shoulder
"Akashi-san, good morning!"
"Akashi-san, you got first on our grade during the midterm exam, right?"
"Congratulations!"
Kuroko and Kagami looked at the door and saw the red long hair that became the center of attention once she came
"Good morning" she greeted back and smiled "And thank you"
"Kuroko, you really have a hell of a girlfriend. She's really smart and popular. Are you really going out with her?" Kagami commented but received a smack of Kuroko's wrist band from behind "Kuroko, you bastard!"
Kuroko remembered the Sakura in his dream and just sighed "That was a dream" he muttered
"Good morning" Sakura approached the two with her usual smile but realized the different ambiance from Kuroko "Tetsuya-kun, did you sleep well?"
Kuroko looked at her and wondered "I did, why?"
"You seemed not okay, though" Sakura put her left hand on Kuroko's forehead to check his body temperature "You are fine though"
"Thank you, Sakura-san, but I am fine" Kuroko smiled on her that made Sakura blushed and Kagami to be annoyed "By the way, about tomorrow Sakura-san"
"Tomorrow?" Sakura wonder
"Yeah, we don't have practice tomorrow, we decided to go out, right?" Kuroko reminded her, however
"Is it tomorrow?" she surprisingly asked
"Eh?"
"Sorry, Tetsuya-kun. I forgot! I suddenly have a plan tomorrow" she said. She was about to explain when their teacher came in
"Oh, she has an important plan tomorrow, more important than you" Kagami wondered but again, Kagami received a wristband attack from Kuroko "Kuroko, you bastard!"
The day had passed and Sakura and Kuroko didn't have a chance to talk. They had a practice, but Sakura went home because of a family business.
"I wonder what happened to Sakura-san" Kuroko asked himself. He sighed and the others were concerned
"Kuroko, are you okay? You are not in your usual self" Teppei approached him and asked
"Sorry for worrying you, but I am fine"
"Yosh, everyone, since it's our day off tomorrow, let's go and do something fun. Plus today will be my last practice. I'll be going to America next week!" Teppei announced but he just received a big smacked on the head from Hyuga
"What are you saying?! Suddenly planning for everyone?!"
Even though Hyuga and Riko complained, Teppei already decided and they would all go bowling the next day
"Let's all meet up, in front of school, tomorrow at 10am! Don't be late!"
The next day
Furihata and Fukuda were running on their way to school, they were already late on their meet up time when
"Furihata, that's Akashi-san, right?" Fukuda pointed on Sakura who was wearing a casual clothes in front of the subway station.
"Yeah, is she waiting for someone?" Furihata wondered. The two stopped and they were about to approached her when Fukuda's phone rang and it was from Hyuga
When they arrived, they listened to Hyuga's endless preach,
"You are late!" But when Teppei came, he switched to him "You are late too! Aren't you the one who decided on this?!"
"Are you okay, you two?" Kagami approached them and they just shook their head
"Wasn't he complaining yesterday about this?" Fukuda remembered
"We shouldn't stop a while ago" Furihata sighed and then remembered the reason why they stopped "By the way, Kuroko, on our way here, we saw Akashi-san in front of the subway station."
"We were about to approach her, but we received a call from captain" Fukuda added
"Sakura-san?"
"Yeah, she seems waiting for someone"
"Right, right, she is wearing a casual clothes"
"Not just casual clothes, she looks different. She is wearing a skirt and a blouse, well she is wearing a white leather jacket too."
"She keeps on checking the time, too"
Furihata and Fukuda respectively explained
"What are you doing? Let's go!" Hyuga called them but Kuroko was left concerned to what they said
"Why don't you call her?" Kagami told him
"You are right. It's no use of thinking. I should ask her" Kuroko responded and dialed her number
"Tetsuya-kun? What's wrong?"
"Sakura-san, where are you right now?"
"Right now? I am in front of the subway station, why?" Sakura answered. Kuroko was about to answer when he heard Sakura "Ah, you're late! Sorry Tetsuya-kun, I'll call you later"
Sakura hang up on the phone that made Kuroko wonder who the person she had plan with was.
On the other hand,
"You are late! Seriously! You asked me to go out with you today, leave the house earlier, telling me to just meet here at 10, and then arriving 30 minutes later! You better have a good reason, Akashi Seijuro-san!"
"Sorry, Sakura, and don't call me in full name. Thank you for waiting. Let's go"
Sakura sighed in defeat and recalled what happened two days ago
Sakura just finished doing her homework. She was on the middle of tidying her things when her phone rang
"Sei-nii? I wonder what's wrong" Sakura received the call wondering what it would be about "Sakura speaking"
"Ah Sakura, are you busy?"
"Not quite, I'm just tidying up my things. I just finished my homework, why?"
"Do you have practice on Saturday?"
"Saturday? Hmmm, no, we don't have"
"I see. Well then, I'm going home tomorrow"
"Eh? You are going home?"
"Yes, father wants to talk to me."
"Ah. Now that you mention it, he just got home"
"Well, he just need to talk about something. But it is not why I call you"
"Eh?"
"On Saturday, I am planning to buy some stuffs. Can you come with me?"
"EH?! Sei-nii?! Are you for real?!"
"You can say no if you don't want to. I can ask-"
"No, let's go! I'm going with you"
"Good, then see you tomorrow"
"Are you going home after your class?"
"Yes"
"I see. Well then, see you tomorrow" Sakura hang up and still couldn't believe what just happened "EH? I wonder if he eat something wrong? When was the last time he asked me to go with him?"
"Where did you go this morning? I thought we would leave the house together" Sakura sighed and was still not in the mood
"Sorry about that. I need to hand in the things father asked me to do. I was late because of the traffic jam" Akashi chuckled and explained to Sakura "I will surely pay you back later to what happened, for now, help me buy this kind of shoes, I need two with different color" Akashi gave Sakura a piece of paper and a list of the things he wanted to buy
"Let see, let see." Sakura read the list and looked at Akashi in disbelief "Sei-nii, these things, you can buy these all in Kyoto"
"I know"
"You came back here just to buy these things?" Sakura asked but Akashi just remained silence "I understand. Well, I know where to buy these things. I'll lead you"
The two went around the city to buy the things Akashi needed, but there was one thing that they couldn't find
"I'm tired! Where are we going to find your shoe size?! No precisely, your size! Every store we went to, they were all out stock and they didn't have your size! Your size also changed, did your feet become big again?"
Akashi didn't response to her question and then checked the time and suggested to eat first. Sakura followed him and wondered where they were going, and to her surprise
"Sei-nii, for real?" Sakura asked as they were standing in front of a high class restaurant
"Is there something wrong?" Akashi asked innocently "Let's go"
Sakura grabbed Akashi's hand and walked away from the restaurant and start complaining to Akashi "Seriously, can you be a nice normal high school student just this time? Going to a high class restaurant in this kind of day? Are you for real?! I will lose my appetite eating there. Since you ask me to accompany you today, right now, you will accompany me in the place I want to eat!" Sakura kept on complaining to Akashi until they arrived in a family restaurant "We're eating here!"
"Here?" Akashi stared on the restaurant and just sighed "I got it"
They entered the restaurant and to Akashi's surprise, there were lots of people going in and out.
"You go find a table, I'll go order our food" Sakura ordered Akashi
He just followed what she said. He saw a table for two beside the window and about to go there when he heard the two guy who entered after them
"Ah, isn't that girl with red hair cute?"
"True! Let's go ask her to eat with us"
Before he go to the table, he went towards the two guy
"Know your place" he muttered and the two fall on their knees
"What's going on?"
"Uncool"
The people around talked about the two guys and silently laughing on them. The two guy hurriedly went out of the restaurant, and Akashi went to sit on the table beside the window
Ten minutes after, Sakura came with their order, four burgers, two medium fries, one medium cola and one large cola
"Sakura, can you eat all of these?" Akashi commented once she sat down
"We're sharing." She sighed then glared to Akashi "You did that to those guys, right?"
"They don't know where they stand" Akashi ate one fry and commented "Salty"
"I really can't believe you" Sakura again sighed and started eating. She opened five sachets of ketchup and put on her burger. She again open three sachets of ketchup and put on a tissue. She open a sachet of pepper and salt then mix them altogether using two potato fries. Sakura giggled as she mixed them. "Sei-nii, you better start eating" she said to Akashi who was watching her moves
"You do like ketchup, don't you?" he asked and still amazed by what just happened
"Do I?" Sakura responded and made a mouthful of bite of her burger "Delicious!"
"Sakura"
"Hmmmm?"
"Eat like a lady" he said while he wiped the ketchup on Sakura's mouth "Do you eat like this in front of Kuroko?"
"Tetsuya-kun? Yeah" Sakura answered and about to eat another mouth full when she remembered "Ahhhhhh! Tetusya-kun! I just remembered, I need to send a mail! I forgot!"
"Did you have a plan with him?" Akashi asked then started opening his burger
"I did but because I got too excited when you asked me to accompany you, I forgot that we have a date today" Sakura got her phone and was shocked about what happened "My phone is dead. Sei-nii, lend me your phone!"
"It is your fault for using your phone"
"I did that because I need to find the store, I was using a GPS" she countered as she put back her phone and stared at her phone strap "He didn't notice the strap, did he?"
"You forgot to charge your phone last night, and used it continuously today" Akashi got his phone and before he gave it to Sakura he put it back to his pocket "No need to call him. Just talk to him personally. If you explain what happened, he will listen, for sure"
Sakura again sighed and continued eating
"You sure sigh a lot"
Sakura finished one of her burgers then open her another one. While putting the ketchup on her burger, Sakura gave Akashi a sharp look "You know Sei-nii, I really hated you, to the point that I really want to kill you."
When she said that, Akashi dropped the last bite of his burger because of shocked "I know that you hated me, but to that extent?"
"I, I didn't expect that this thing would happen again. You changed a lot." Sakura took again a mouthful of bite. After chewing and swallowing, she drank a mouthful cola and then continued "But I, I don't blame you to what happened. Your source of strength during middle school suddenly changed. Added by the pressures around you. Especially from father, his expectations and pressures he gave on you, it was hard. But now, it is great that you revert back to your old self. Even though your aura is kind of the same, it became lighter"
Akashi stared on Sakura as she ate three pieces of fries "You experienced the zone, right?"
She swallowed the fries she was eating and nodded "I did, but after experiencing that, I immediately forgot about it"
"Eh?"
"Remember the time when I played against them, indeed, I experienced it. I also met my other self. The greediness on victory, that no one could win against me. However, I went deeper and saw Tetsuya-kun, which was why after the game, I really hated how the Generation of Miracles team was. Tetsuya-kun was just standing and waiting there."
"I see. Kuroko showed you that, because you were not on the team" Akashi commented
"Yeah. Well, that happened in the past. Right now, every member of the Generation of Miracles treasures their team. Same with you" Sakura again took a bite on her burger and teasingly said to Akashi "You got along with them, right? Especially with Mibuchi-senpai" Akashi gave her a cold response and she immediately backed up "Sorry" she chuckled "Well, let's finish this and then continue searching for a shop"
"There's no need. There's only one place" Akashi said
The two continued eating and when they were done eating, they went to the place Akashi suggested. However, they didn't go there easily as expected