The 10th chapter! This story is ending soon, so please stick around! Flame's POV and we have a surprise guest!. -Soranryu

Snapping my eyes open from the nightmare, I sat up and tried to catch my breath. "Are you awake, Flame-chan?" Reo asked as he walked into my room. However, seeing me in this state, he quickly walked over and sat down beside me, putting an arm around me, "What's wrong?" "Nightmare…" I muttered, taking in deep breaths.

Reo said nothing, only offering silent reassurance. When my breathing is back to normal, he stood up and turned to leave, "Go and wash up, Flame-chan. I made breakfast and afterwards, let's head to Sei-chan's house." I nodded and headed to the bathroom. Reo really is my best friend; he knows what I want without asking. Well, that's a childhood friend for you.

After breakfast, we headed straight for the Akashi manor without delay. The mansion loomed over us, as if threatening us to leave. I swallowed my fear and went forward to ring the doorbell. A minute passed and a smartly-dressed butler came out of the house, "What can I do for the both of you?" "I'm looking for…your Young Master, Akashi Seijuro," I replied as calmly as possible, pausing in between to remember Seijuro's position in the family.

"I'm sorry, miss. The young master is away with his fiancée and wouldn't back for a period of time," the butler apologised with a bow. "So the marriage is real? Can you tell me where is he now?" I asked again, growing frantic. "My deepest apologies. I cannot reveal their location," the butler bowed again, "If there is nothing else, I ask of you to leave."

After that, the butler turned to head back to the mansion. "Wait! Please tell me! I really have to know where Seijuro is!" I shouted towards his back, but he paid me no heed. Just then, Seijuro's father came out and the butler bowed deeply. The older Akashi dismissed the butler and walked towards us with a cold smile, "Unfortunately, dear child, Seijuro is going to fulfil his duties to the family instead of wasting his time on you."

Unable to control my anger, I screamed at him, "You forced him, didn't you?! You have never wanted to let Seijuro do as he pleases! The last time at the park was just an act, wasn't it?!" At my outburst, the older man merely chuckled, "What if I told you Seijuro did all these on his own free will?" My mind went blank after registering his words and Reo quickly cut in, "You're lying; Sei-chan would never do this, not to Flame-chan."

"How can you be sure? For all you know, he might be just playing with you. He is, after all, a master at mind games," the older Akashi mocked lightly, before going back to the mansion. By now, I have already sunk to the ground, my legs too weak to hold me up. "Flame-chan…" Reo was speechless as he helped me up back onto my feet.

When I finally snapped out of my daze, we were at the Kansai International Airport located in Osaka. "What are we doing here, Reo?" I asked, looking around at the busy place. "Oh, someone called you just now, Nijimura Shuzo, I think. He asked you to pick him up," Reo explained. "Nijimura-kun?" I muttered in surprise, "I thought he was in America."

Reo shrugged, "That's what he told me. Anyway, Nijimura is the previous captain of Teiko before Sei-chan, isn't he?" I nodded in confirmation, "Yeah, he's our age too, so you must have heard of him. Back in Teiko, he was the best player before the Generation of Miracles took over. However, because of his sick father, he had to quit." Just then, a shout caught our attention, "Flame-san, over here!"

I turned to my side and soon found him coming towards us. "Nijimura-kun, long time no see! How are you?" We shared a brief hug before heading for a bench. "I'm fine. America's not bad," he replied with a smile, "Anyway, how are the others? I saw the Winter Cup; it was awesome! Everyone seemed to have returned to their old selves." "They did. More importantly, what are you doing here? Is your father alright?" I asked in return.

"My dad's fine; he's on the road to recovery. He said he missed Japanese tea and snacks since those in America can't really compare. Seeing that he's much better, I decided to come back for a while to see you guys and buy the food," Nijimura explained. However, his smile faded the next moment, "What's going on between you and Akashi?"

I felt tears welling up in my eyes, "I don't know. First, it was as if he vanished from the face of the Earth, and the next, he has a fiancée." "I saw him at the airport in America before I boarded. That jerk was with this rich-looking girl all over him," Nijimura frowned, "That time when I appointed him as captain, I thought he was a good guy." His words sent my tears flowing, "Then it's true…Seijuro has really thrown me aside…"

Giving a pat on the shoulder, Nijimura commented, "If I see him in America, I'll punch him." At that, I laughed a little, "That's what Daiki said." Seeing me laugh, Reo and Nijimura smiled as well, glad that I'm feeling better. "Well then, Flame-san, help me find my hotel!" Nijimura grinned as he stood up. "Aren't you Japanese? You should know your way around," Reo retorted.

"I haven't been in Japan for quite some time. Besides, I'm not familiar with Osaka or Kyoto. I'm Nijimura Shuzo, by the way," he defended himself before reaching out a hand. Now that I thought about it, these two haven't done any introductions. "I know, we spoke on the phone just now. I'm Mibuchi Reo from Rakuzan," Reo took his hand and shook it.

After the introductions, we headed off to find Nijimura's hotel. We found it after some searching and after checking in, Nijimura invited us inside. Checking around, he sat down on the bed looking serious, "Now that we are somewhere more private, I can do my job." Reo and I became confused at his sudden change of attitude, but we waited for him as he took out a tightly sealed letter from his backpack.

"Here, Flame-san. This is from Akashi," Nijimura handed me the letter. My eyes widened as I took it from him. "When I met him at the airport, he quickly excused himself from the girl and dragged me into the guys' toilet. That brat didn't explain anything, just told me to find you. He then emphasised to give you this letter only after reaching my hotel room. How he even knew I was coming to Osaka was beyond me," Nijimura then explained.

Hearing his explanation, I wasted no time in opening the letter. Here was how it goes:

Dear Flame,

I am sorry to break up with you in this manner. However, I have come to understand my responsibilities as an Akashi and realised that I have no time and reason to be with you. I only regret that I could not tell you this personally because my fiancée is quite insistent that I spend time with her. I understand that you may come to hate me, but do know that my feelings for you were real.

I hope that we could still be friends after I return and work hard together for the basketball team. I'm sorry.

Akashi Seijuro

Reading the letter, I can't help the smile that spread across my face. "Flame-chan, are you sure you should be smiling?" Reo asked worriedly, shaking me a little. "Guys, it was just my imagination after all! Seijuro's heart has never left me!" I exclaimed happily, hugging Reo so fast he barely caught me in time. The two boys just stared at each other, not understanding my words.

Calming myself, I pointed to the inequality signs and explained, "Seijuro knew this would happen, so he formed a plan with me. If there ever is a time he acts differently towards us and sends these kind of messages that are out-of-character, the signs come into play, changing the meanings of the sentences. Whatever he wrote in here, has the opposite meaning instead!"

Grabbing a pen and paper from the desk, I slowly worked my way through the letter. "Done!" I looked at my work in satisfaction. This is what the letter really meant:

Dear Flame,

I am not breaking up with you, so don't think that. Even if I do understand my responsibilities, I will not give you up. I wanted to tell you about this earlier, but I can't because my father and my "fiancée" are watching. Please don't hate me; I was never toying with you.

I will settle this as quickly as possible, so wait for me. I will come back, for you and our team.

Love,

Akashi Seijuro

"So that's what it meant?" I nodded, "Roughly what it meant because I don't know what Seijuro's exact words were. All we have to do know is wait. Thank you so much, Nijimura-kun, for bringing this letter." He waved off my thanks, saying that he was glad to help. "Then, Flame-chan, were you acting this entire time?" Reo frowned, slightly offended. I quickly shook my head, "There's no way I could act that good. Trust me, my breaking down was real."

Reo sighed in relief, "If you really were acting, I would feel so cheated." I laughed at his words, "Nah. If my acting is so good, I would have been scouted by the media already." The three of us shared a quick laugh before Reo asked, "What do you want to do now?" I folded the paper and placed it back in the envelope neatly, "We wait. I don't know where Seijuro is right now, and I don't think I could do anything even if I knew, so we could only wait. Seijuro will think of something."

With Seijuro's letter, it's as if the stone in my heart was lifted. With nothing to do, since it's a Saturday, we spent the day shopping with Nijimura for Japanese snacks for his father. After that, we went to Teiko, which was in Tokyo, because Nijimura said he wanted to take a look. After that, we went to visit Teiko's previous coach, seeing that he was hospitalised with illness. He was really happy to see Nijimura, and the two shared a long conversation.

Time passed by really fast and it was soon evening. We decided to have fast food for dinner before we head back to Osaka, so we stopped at Maji Burger. To our surprise, Kagami, Tetsuya, Daiki, Satsuki, Ryota, Shintaro and Takao were all there. The members of Teiko team were shocked to see Nijimura, but they were soon talking happily. Introductions were made and we all happily ate dinner.

"It's about time we head back. It was nice having you guys around for dinner!" we said goodbye at the train station. On the train, Nijimura told us that he could back on his own, so Reo and I headed straight to Kyoto. As it was dark, Reo insisted on walking me home. "Do you still need my company?" Reo asked with a smile that said he knew the answer once we were at my doorstep.

I shook my head before hugging him, "Thank you so much, Reo, for everything." "No problem at all. Who ask me to be your closest best friend?" Reo laughed, patting me on the head. When we separated, he said goodbye and left. Looking at his back, I can't help but feel grateful. Reo is like the older sibling I didn't have, without him, I don't know how I would survive. Casting one last look, I went back into the house.

Hopefully the plot is interesting enough! Did anyone guess it's Nijimura? He's actually a pretty cool guy to be able to watch over all the Miracles. I hope I have conveyed Flame's feelings!

P.S. Oh right, the inequality signs in Akashi's letter kept being deleted by the system, so please imagine that they are there. -Soranryu