Author's Note: Hello hello hello! :D First update of the week yayy! Hopefully I will be able to update another chapter till Sunday, no promises though. So.. Akashi might be slightly out of character in this one... you've been warned! Get ready for some Akashi-Ogiwara showtime! Enjoy the reading~

Akashi was partially satisfied with the food that Ogiwara prepared. Sure, the meatballs were beyond fabulous and the rice was cooked to perfection, not that he would ever admit that on the little chef's face, but there was a distinct lack of a highly essential side dish in the meal. Akashi was quick to catch the sneaky glances that the little brunette were throwing to him in order to see any subtle changes in his behaviour following this apparent lack. This was definitely intentional, and the redhead was not happy at all, even though the delicious food that Ogiwara prepared kind of made it hard for him to stay genuinely unhappy. He was still irritated behind his usual poker face. There were absolutely no traces of tofu.

Everyone in the damned school knew about his love for tofu, especially the tofu soup. This particular dish had a similar effect to that of a digesting pill to be taken along with every meal for him. He lived in a household where tofu was consumed as a norm and delicacy, its soft texture melting at a slight graze with the teeth. Consumption of tofu, be it fried or boiled, was one of the unspoken rules in the Akashi household. Being born and raised in such an environment made the little heir develop a fond affinity for that particular food, and with the big fan-club that he had at school, he was certain that the little weakling must have caught word of his adoration for tofu to behave like that. Akashi was not going to sit back and miss his favorite tofu for lunch. He would let this pass only this time.

"Shigehiro, add tofu as a side dish next time," Akashi ordered while finishing his meal.

"No," the brunette refused instantly. Let the battle of the tofu begin, Ogiwara thought in anticipation.

Everyone around turned their face abruptly after hearing the instant refusal of the little brunette to comply to the captain's order. Akashi's eyes widened slightly at the ease with which the little weakling in front of him swiped away his words. He thought that he might have misheard it, but the shocked look that everyone was throwing at Ogiwara only confirmed the fact that his ears did not wrong him. Takuo-san paled instantly. Nebuya froze midway in his dig for meat, not even reacting when the meatball between his chopsticks slipped and fell on his lap. Mibuchi did a double turn to stare at his current room mate in utmost horror, fearing for his life, and Hayama, for once, did not break out laughing.

"What?" Akashi asked calmly, daring Ogiwara to repeat his disobedience.

"I don't know how to prepare any tofu meal, so it's a no from me," Ogiwara replied nonchalantly.

Now, this little weakling got to be kidding him. Akashi's eye momentarily glowed with irritation as Ogiwara simply brushed his command aside. No one dared to ignore his words so blatantly. Did the brunette already forget how easily he managed to drag him into the club against his will?

"You're lying," Akashi spat coldly.

"I am not," the brunette spat back. "I really don't know any tofu meal. I missed all the recipes at school," Ogiwara reasoned.

Never in his entire life did the little brunette think that he would feel so happy for missing some of his cooking club activities. Ogiwara actually went out of his way and skipped all the recipes involving tofu as main dish in the club ever since he learned about the red tyrant's high affinity to it. It was initially really hard for him to resist the temptation to run to the kitchen and whip out those tofu dishes like the awesome chef he was, but his efforts were now bearing big, fat fruits of reward. Even if he did learn those recipes, he would not feel so bad to unlearn them all in order to feel such a satisfaction.

"You are going to learn and get me some tofu next time," Akashi ordered smoothly.

"Yeah, right. I'll talk to the trees and get the recipes and instructions from them," Ogiwara replied sarcastically.

"I need Maeno-sensei and only Maeno-sensei's guidance to be able to learn something properly in the kitchen," the brunette deadpanned.

Akashi tried his best not to roll his eyes at the stupid statement of Ogiwara. This kid was definitely making a big deal out of this little, essential requirement of his. There was nothing hard in learning how to prepare some quick tofu side dishes. Even he, the majestic heir of the Akashi Company, knew how to make a decent tofu soup. It should not be a such great deal for the little self-acclaimed prodigy chef in front of him.

"You clearly overestimate your potentials as a chef then," Akashi mused mockingly. He knew how to target the ego of man to get his work done.

"You should not have chosen me to bring along for your meal service if you think so," the brunette retorted back.

"Talking about potentials, I am quite confident in my cooking skills. I just choose to work things at my own pace, without really bothering myself with requests from others," Ogiwara argued back, losing his cool at the smirking redhead.

"You're mistaken about two things. This is not a request. It's an order. And I'm not just some 'other' person. I'm an Akashi," Akashi enumerated menacingly.

"An order which I am not going to comply to from a snobby heir I could not care less about," the brunette scoffed in irritation.

"You never learn from your mistakes? When you get an order from an Akashi, you better follow it without argument. You should know better than to disobey me," Akashi spat.

"I'm not your dog. Just because you managed to drag me involuntarily to this club does not simply mean that I have to go along with each and every of your little tantrums. You should be grateful to the heaven and gods that I'm here right now," Ogiwara snapped back instantly, suddenly feeling bold and defiant.

"Watch your tone while speaking to me," the red heir warned.

"Three words: Don't. Want. To," the brunette emphasized on each word carefully.

"Is this how you usually treat the future of your country?" Akashi asked, trying to remind the weakling of his position in life.

"No. But this is how I treat someone who forced me into something I did not want to do in the first place," Ogiwara replied earnestly.

"You don't want to cook? Great, you should join us in practice then," Akashi smirked at the irritation that flashed on the brunette's face following his assumption. He finally hit a raw nerve.

"Oh, stop it, will you? We both know that this is not about cooking. This is about the fucking club transfer," Ogiwara snapped in rage.

"That you eventually approved of," Akashi continued smoothly, perfect depiction of calmness and hostility.

"Only on certain conditions, which clearly states that I shall not touch thy ball and play thy dirty games," the brunette reminded.

"I see no such written statement," Akashi smirked in reply.

"Are you a person who does not stick to his words? If so, then I am quite worried about the future of this country," Ogiwara mused with fake worry, swiping that smug look from the heir's face almost instantly.

"Why are we even talking about all this? I need tofu for breakfast, dinner as well as lunch, and you're going to serve it to me. Period," the heir said seriously.

"No tofu during lunch. Menstrual cycle," Ogiwara replied in the same severe tone as the Akashi facing him.

Everyone except for the captain almost dropped dead in mute laughter as the little brunette muttered his last ridiculous words with a serious face that could set examples.

"Break's over. Everyone get on the court," the assistant coach quickly interrupted the two teens while trying his best not to laugh out loud at the statement of his adorable brother-in-law.

"We'll proceed with a practice game, 2-on-3," the head coach elaborated.

Ogiwara wanted to jump and punch the air. He had the last word, meaning that he was not giving in to no snobby rich brat. He smiled at Takuo-san as the older male turn around in complete secrecy behind the Gorgon's back to wink at him. It was a good thing that the head coach and his brother-in-law took his side. They really had the perfect timing to resume the team's training.

"Did you seriously get transferred to the club unwillingly?" Hayama cautiously asked as he walked next to Ogiwara.

"Do I even look like I want to be here right now?" Ogiwara raised his brows exasperatedly while replying the blond guy with a simple rhetoric question. The blond guy simply nodded in understanding before jogging away. Ogiwara's facial expression and body language gave away the little detail he wanted to know.

Akashi Seijuro was true about one particular thing in their last argument: Ogiwara really did not know how to learn from his mistakes. He thought that he had mentally braced himself properly for the wicked revenge schemes of the heir that would follow his initial win in their little dispute but found himself paying a dear price for letting his mouth loose in front of the snob. Even though he remained cautious during the couple of days following his refusal to comply to Akashi, the red devil had finally managed to catch up with him using his wicked tricks. The evilness of the heir would never fail to amaze him, Ogiwara concluded. However, he was not someone to easily wave a white flag; he already did it once for the club transfer. He had absolutely no intentions of giving in and pleasing the captain's appetite. The battle of the tofu would continue.

From the moment the basketball emperor announced that they would be training outdoors today, Ogiwara knew that something was fishy. After all, the location where lunch would be provided was really far on top of a rocky hill nearby. Even though Akashi somehow managed to convince the elders that he had someone on standby to take the food to them, Ogiwara was still having this oddly bad feeling concerning his task for the day. His suspicions soon turned to be a real nightmare when he searched for the so-called ride to deliver their lunch and found no one. He now had only one hour to rush to the peak of a rocky hill, on foot since there was no bike or bicycle available for him, in order to serve lunch.

Ogiwara had no good training or hiking shoes with him and the dry, dusty path only made his way slippery and dangerous. He held on his bag of food like his life depended on it as he proceeded towards the top of the hill. The Akashi heir must have intentionally chosen this particular day for their training outside, Ogiwara pondered with great disgust as he felt his skin heat quickly because of the scorching sun. He was already drenched in sweat only after a couple of minutes of walking. His thirst was growing, and he was forever thankful for having this amazing idea of bringing some cold coconut water with him. To hell with this team he was supposed to treat now, Ogiwara hungrily gulped down the water as he made his way upwards cautiously.

However, being in this awesomely unfit state he was, Ogiwara was quick to register the fatigue that was starting to cloud his mind and vision. He was not even halfway through his tracks, and thirty minute was already over. Being the meticulous boy he was, Ogiwara was determined to reach the group in time. He was not going to give them any room for complaints, even if it only meant that he had to increase his pace in the ascent. He slipped once. Twice. Thrice. He also scratched his knees while falling down, but he made sure that the food was held securely like some goddamned trophy he was carrying back to his empire. His food was indeed no less that a trophy, after all.

He increased his pace, bumped into woods and tripped over a couple of branches lying around and yet found himself running late as the time ticked noon. Though the field on which the whole team was training was now visible to him, he still had a remarkable distance to walk. His already drenched shirt was now sticking to his body. His feet started to shake somewhere along the way and his vision got kind of blurry from the brightness of the sun in this clear patch of lane. He was already on the top of the hill, yet the little distance that remained seemed to be a similar to a walk through hell. Ogiwara was feeling so tired that he would not be surprised if some little satan creature like Akashi Seijuro just popped up in front of him to announce that he was indeed walking through the fires of hell.

By the time that the little brunette finally reached to the practising members, he was struggling with each and every step that he took and found himself panting hard for breath. He was late and had no idea by how much time. Upon seeing him, his brother-in-law rushed to his side, concern clearly visible on his face. He quickly dumped the bag of food in his hands before collapsing on his knees in order to catch his breath. No, he was not losing consciousness or anything; he was simply exhausted to a point where he could not understand what was happening around him. However, what he could clearly register was this little spout of red hair near him. Ogiwara felt a fuse blow in him as he lifted his almost dead weight off the ground and clumsily made his way to the redhead.

"You. . .," the brunette growled breathlessly. "You filthy, little liar!" he tried to scream in heavy accusation and irritation, but his throat was too dry to allow him raise his voice properly for a decent scream. The message was clearly conveyed though.

"Refrain yourself from throwing such baseless accusations on me," Akashi responded to the sweating teen in front him, with a slightly smug smile that could easily pass as a polite one.

"Baseless accusations? My ass!" the brunette spat as he stood in front of the heir. He found a little burst of energy from the rage that was consuming him inside.

"This is all your plan, you wicked witch of Kyoto," Ogiwara snapped. "There was no ride arranged!"

"You seem to sport a misunderstanding. I had personally made the arrangements for a ride. It seems like you are the one who did not get hold of it at the inn," the almighty Akashi reasoned, proud to be able to get the little weakling all worked up and exhausted.

"Oh no. I solemnly swear on my ass's virginity that there was no. such. thing!" Ogiwara exclaimed shamelessly, earning a few surprised looks from the other team members.

The red heir looked slightly surprised at his choice of words, but the brunette could not care less. He was too tired to think of the proper way to express himself. He had a message to drill in the Akashi's head, and he sure was going to do it before throwing his weight around.

"It's too late to even argue about that now. It's all good, as long as we got served our lunch meal," Akashi stated, in order to slam his win. The brunette was forced to climb up to him, after all.

"Wait, I can't see it!" Ogiwara pretended to be searching for something around the heir. "Where is it?!" Ogiwara asked with fake concern.

"What are you talking about, Shigehiro?" Akashi spat.

"Good manners! You definitely lack some of those. No thank you or sorry for the trouble? And on top of it, you call me by my first name? Last time I checked, I did not give you the privilege of doing so. You sure seem to come from a spoiled environment where everything is served to you on a glittery golden plate but hello? I am not your servant. I deserve a thanks, at the very least," Ogiwara snapped.

"You only did your assigned duty to bring us our lunch, and dare I add that you are not even doing it properly following your refusal to comply to my demand," Akashi reminded the brunette coolly.

"Do not play that duty card with me. I know everything! You did this to get back at me for not feeding you tofu. But guess what? You're still not getting those damn tofus! You don't deserve those tofus!" Ogiwara started throwing a fuss, pointing his little shaky finger towards the heir accusingly.

The fatigue and anger took a toll on Ogiwara's mind as his discerning capacities went for a quick sleep. Akashi was going to get served with some more realness from him, with no filter. Before the red heir got to respond, he quickly continued.

"Someone needs to put a diaper on you. I thought I was the child here, making such a fancy thing out of my food and rubbing it one the muscle freak's face to get some well-deserved compliments, but no!" Ogiwara confessed.

"Dear God, was I wrong. Your little stunt today proved the child in me to be even more mature than your immature, troublesome, bratty self! Who the fuck makes someone climb some goddamn hill in such a hot weather just because he did not get his tofu? Your thing with tofu is even worse than Tetsuya's obsession with vanilla milkshake!"

"You are undeniably not in your right mind to be able to utter the first name of the Phantom Sixth player so easily after all that happened," Akashi spat coldly to stop the chain of insults that was being thrown on him. He was successful, kind of.

The moment that name escaped his lips, Ogiwara bit his tongue and covered his mouth, eye widening in surprise and appall. The fatigue that he was initially feeling hit him up with full force, making him stumble a couple of step backwards. He had absolutely no intention of going on a trip to memory lane right now. He quickly let his eyes travelled around and spotted his brother-in-law's panicking face in his peripheral vision. He made one last statement before heading away.

"The battle of the tofu shall continue!" Ogiwara declared before wiggling his way back to the assistant coach.

"I'm dead," the brunette whined as he approached his brother-in-law.

The big bowl of spaghetti had been taken away from the elder male since long. The team had formed a little circle on the groud, slightly away from the dispute that was occurring and was already digging and humming their way into the delicious spaghetti, pretending to be in complete oblivion of the insult bullets that their captain was getting hit with. This coup of Akashi was really a low blow, and no one wanted to interfere in this argument. Even the head coach and his assistant slightly cowered away from the shouting and accusations being thrown around. The mention of the Phantom Sixth man of Teiko did catch the attention of some of them though. Reo and Kotarou exchanged a glance with each other as they noticed how the brunette silenced himself in shock at this particular mention.

"Carry me, I can't feel my body!" Ogiwara implored as he threw his weight on Takuo.

The elder male tried to catch the shaky teen but was a couple of seconds too late in doing so. The said teen slid halfway to his feet while he gripped on his frail arms to prevent him from landing his face on the ground. Ogiwara's upper body was practically hanging from the grip that his brother-in-law had on his arms.

"I'm so dead! Waaater~" Ogiwara switched to full on melodramatic mode as Takuo dragged him in the shades of a big tree near the group.

"Calm down, relax a bit. You will feel better later," the teacher tried to reassure the whining kid while handing him a bottle of water. The brunette quickly gulped down half of its content.

"Go eat with the rest. I already had my lunch before setting out," Ogiwara lied smoothly as soon as he settled himself. He was in no mood to eat after that atrocious walk and talk he went through.

"Are you sure?" the older male asked concernedly.

"Yeah, just let me lie down for a while to refill some energy," Ogiwara breathed while closing his eyes. He was surely up for a snooze.

Ogiwara was dragged out of his little resting session when he felt someone shake him slightly. Hayama was crouched in front of him, trying to wake him up. It was clearly afternoon, and practice was over for the day. Ogiwara quickly shook his impending fatigue away and tried to get up. As he thought, he could only try to get up because as soon as he managed to stand up, his feet muscles tensed up and ached, causing him to fall down almost instantly. His feet were like jelly.

"I still can't walk!" he shouted to Takuo, with a cute little pout and a frown to show his displeasure with the whole situation.

"Take me into your lovin' arms!~" He whined in a playful manner, while lifting his hands up in the direction of the older male, asking to be picked up.

"Kiss me under the light of a thooousand stars~" the teacher picked up the Ed Sheeran- Thinking out loud song reference instantly and sang the next line. Both Takuo and Ogiwara grinned toothily at their amazing feat together. They both thought that they should totally enter a singing competition together. They were so nailing this right now.

"Ah! Shige-chan is so adorable! Let me pick you," Reo cooed to the sitting brunette like the mother hen he was. Ogiwara became silent, but allowed the taller teen to pick him up.

"You are so light! Just like a baby," Reo exclaimed with wide eys as soon as he lifted the teen off the ground while proceeding to get him on his back properly.

"Tell me that I am like a baby again, Mibuchi-san, and I swear to god I'll tell you some sweet words that babies don't usually say to remind you otherwise," Ogiwara warned.

"Thank you for the lift, though," he added quietly. Unlike some rich brat around, he knew how to be thankful. Mibuchi chuckled at the words of the brunette.

"You're seriously so light though," he added a bit more seriously.

"Hey guys!" Mibuchi approached the rest of the team. "You won't believe how light he is! Anyone here could easily carry him around, even you Sei-chan!" Mibuchi sing-sang.

"Are you underestimating me, Reo?" the captain asked menacingly.

"No! Absolutely not, Sei-chan. I mean, he's really so light it's unbelievable," the black-haired boy sputtered in an attempt to avoid any sort of punishment.

"Mibuchi-san, please hand me over to Takuo-san if you're going to stay so close to your beloved captain. I don't want such a tasteless and disgraceful human being in my proximity," Ogiwara stated in disdain.

Mibuchi rushed slightly away from Akashi, but not in the direction of the assistant head-coach. He slipped Ogiwara into his arms as if he was carrying a little baby and approached his bunch of friends, the other uncrowned kings. Ogiwara could only struggle a little bit in reluctance at being carried like a princess.

"Catch him!" he said while literally slinging the brunette to Eikichi. Ogiwara yelped and blushed madly as he found himself floating in air for a couple of seconds before landing, princess-style, in the big ass arms of the muscle man.

"My little nephew is probably heavier than you," the tanned male noticed, laughing at the light weight in his arms. Maybe he could use the smaller boy for some muscle training. He in turn slung a tense Ogiwara to the blond in front of him. Hayama did not even stumble when he caught the flying teen.

"Oh! So light, I can carry you for the rest of the way, Ogiwara-kun. You should eat more," the blond guy proposed, to the disappointment of Mibuchi.

"No! I'm going to carry him," the taller male quickly disapproved of the suggestion of his team mate.

"I'm sure he is more at ease in my arms, right Ogiwara-kun?" Hayama prompted the blushing teen he was holding carefully.

"No! He likes my hold best. He even snuggled into me in his sleep," Mibuchi declared confidently.

"What?" the rest of the team asked incredulously.

"Stop it, y'all!" Ogiwara yelled in complete shame and embarrassment. He did not think that Mibuchi would remember such a thing and wanted to slap the older teen for bringing that up now.

"If you want to carry me so much, then take turns or something. No need to fight for such a petty reason," Ogiwara reasoned, irritation slightly coating his tone. "And yes, please, carry me on your back, not in your arms like that. I'm not a damsel in distress," Ogiwara implored.

"Thank you," he said as soon as they complied to his words.

The rest of the way down the hill was a bit more calm, but the uncrowned kings kept fighting occasionally to carry him. Ogiwara felt slightly peaceful on their back and silently appreciated the enthusiasm they had for carrying him, not like he was going to admit it openly. He had many things to worry about, like for instance the painful condition of his feet, or the devil incarnation in the form of Akashi Seijuro. What also caught his attention, as well as concern lately, was the grey-haired boy with a remarkable lack of presence. Ogiwara felt an bad, itching feeling creeping in him whenever their eyes met.

The stance of Mayuzumi Chihiro was all too familiar to Ogiwara.

A/N: I hope you liked the reading! I want to say a special thank you for Surely Blue again for her detailed review. It gets me right back on my tracks :D This summer camp trip is getting slightly longer than I've thought it would be in writing, but rest assured, we're still getting closer to the finals! Whoop whoop :D Thank you for reading the story so far. Rates and reviews will be much appreciated! ^^