A/N : Yes, I'm late, I know. I've been busy with my prep to join prep class this December.
Lady Syndra : I just hope I don't make anyone too OOC in this story ;D
AngelHeartObsession : Without I realized it, I put too many unsolved mysteries.
TI : *Spoiler alert* Enjoy your long-awaited character!
It's finally the day of the long-awaited Winter Cup. As expected, the tournament attracted a large number of people. With the presence of the Generation of Miracles, they spiced up the tournament even more.
Among the sea of people, a young girl reached for her orange cellphone in her long, purple coat because it vibrated. Flipping it open and reading the message, she sighed to herself before she started to walk more briskly towards her destination.
Outside of the stadium on the north side, the Generation of Miracles were having their own reunion. The air was tense even though their conversations sounded normal to outsiders.
"What, Tetsu, you have a chaperone with you?" Aomine's finger adeptly spun the orange ball.
"Mine-chin has Sa-chin as a chaperone too." Murasakibara took another bite out of the chocolate bar in his hand.
"Hey! Leave Satsuki out of this!"
"Wait, Midorimacchi. Why do you have scissors with you?" Kise's fingers were typing something.
"It's my lucky item of course, stupid!" The scissors were raised a level higher to prove Midorima's point.
The blonde sweatdropped. "Um…either way, it's dangerous. So, can you stop holding it like that while walking?"
Their casual conversations were interrupted when the phantom player arrived. "Sorry for the wait."
Furihata, who was with Kuroko, was sweating like crazy inside out. The winter breeze, along with the scene before him, sent shivers down his spine.
"That phone's annoying, Kise. Is it from Akashi?" Aomine asked when he noticed the copycat's phone received mails non-stop.
"..Oh! A text from one of my fans was cheering me on!"
"Die." Was all Aomine's short reply.
On the other hand, Murasakibara was having difficulties to open his Maiubo, so he asked for Midorima's scissors to open it. His request was denied of course.
"Kuro-chin. Do you have scissors?"
"No, I don't."
"Speaking of which, why is the person who called us here the last one to arrive?" Kise was asking in his annoyed and slow-voice, afraid that it may cost him his dear life later.
Midorima just pushed his glasses up. "Don't get angry every time. He's just this kind of person."
Hearing Midorima's reply, Aomine was tch-ing under his breath. It was cold and yet here they were, surrendering themselves to be frozen to death, in case that person didn't show up.
"Sorry. I've kept you waiting."
Six heads turned towards the voice. He was standing at the top of the stairs, like a king mentoring his countrymen.
"…Akashi-kun."
Furihata was obviously surprised when he heard the infamous name escaped Kuroko's lips. God knew what went through his mind at that moment.
"Daiki, Ryota, Shintaro, Atsushi and Tetsuya…" All five of them tensed when he called out their names. "I'm happy to see you here. The fact that we're all gathered here is very touching."
"But, here's someone who shouldn't be here. Right now, I only wanted to talk to my comrades." Akashi's eyes focused on Furihata. "Sorry, but can you leave?" Those last words may look like a request, but when it came to Akashi, it's always an absolute order. No one can say no to him.
"Furihata-kun." Kuroko called when he realized Furihata didn't even blink. He couldn't even move after he heard Akashi clearly.
"Come on, that's cold." Suddenly a big hand landed on Furihata's shoulder." Don't leave him out of the loop."
Furihata was brought back to his usual self when a familiar voice reached his ears. "KAGAMI!"
"Yup, I'm back." Kagami smiled. "We can catch up later, but first…" Kagami stepped up front. "So, you're Akashi. Glad to meet you."
His jaw almost dropped when he looked at the female before him. Shakily pointing his finger at her, he barely managed to asked, "What happened to you?"
"Just some makeover. Nothing much."
"Nothing much, my ass!" Kasamatsu spontaneously threw the water bottle in his hand at her that it hit her head slightly. "You completely turned yourself into someone else!"
Yuuki just chuckled while rubbing her sore head innocently. "Don't exaggerate, Yukio~ I'm the good old Yuuki."
Kasamatsu let out a sigh in defeat. He knew she was right. Before him, he saw his childhood friend from ten years ago. Orange-haired and peach irises that were staring at him really took him off-guard when he saw her fiddling with his things. He thought it was one of Kise's fangirl slipped into the locker room because he couldn't recognize her in an instant! God knew that he was about to break Kise into two if that really was the case.
"If you're looking for Kise, he's being summoned." Kasamatsu quoted Kise's words regarding Akashi's text Akashi's text.
"I'm not here to see him." 'Although it's not hard to predict Akashi would summon the rest. "I'm here to see you."
"Why?"
It's Yuuki's turn to throw the water bottle back at him, but he caught it skillfully. "You didn't call or text or whatsoever after you last came to my place after the blubbering session."
Kasamatsu sweatdropped due to the fact that she still remembered about their little 'heart-to-heart' session after his lost to Touo during Inter-High. "Uh…that's because…." Kasamatsu's eyes looked all over the room, except for her face. "Because…"
"Because?"
'Because I was embarrassed! Read the atmosphere, idiot!' He could only scream those words inside his heart.
"Anyways.." Kasamatsu took a seat beside her. "What made you turned back to your old self?"
There went the change of topic. Damn Kasamatsu! Yuuki went silenced. She knew he was referring to her old appearance. Out of clear conscience or whatsoever, she went to the saloon and dyed her dirty-brown hair back to her original colour – orange. And she stopped wearing her hazel contact lenses too.
"To commemorate something, I guess?"
Kasamatsu raised his brow. "Something like what?"
"Something like, things changed, people leave and life doesn't stop for anybody."
After the meeting with his former teammates, on his way alongside the hall, he stopped his track when he spotted a young girl, only with different appearances.
"Hey." The girl said without even looking.
"I see you did some changes on yourself." Akashi's eyes traveled from up to down, left to right at the girl who's leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Sorry I can't say the same to you."
Silenced filled in. From where they were standing, they could hear the loud cheering. Both could certain it came from the court where Touo and Seirin was about to have their battle.
"Your premonition came true."
Flashback
"Sometimes, I think you deserved to be called Generation of Assholes." Yuuki's eyes were emotionless, but deep down; she couldn't even begin to show what she should feel after what happened in the last match of their last tournament.
"Tetsuya asked for us to go all out."
"He didn't ask you to give them a mercy shot!" Yuuki's voice became thunderous. The score between Teiko and Meiko, 111 to 11, was to mark their place as the winner and at the top of the nation.
"That's what it meant to be the strongest, although being in the same team as the strongest could be quite boring."
"What do you mean?"
"Generation of Miracles have our own way of doing things. Starting from now on, the next time we'll meet will be in battle to determine who's the strongest of the strongest. And Yuuki.." Akashi's heterochromatic eyes fixated on her. "You would be there to witness it."
End flashback
"You should be careful of Tetsu and his new light."
"You mean Kagami Taiga?" Akashi chuckled, as if he just heard something funny. "I hope his performance against Daiki wouldn't be affected after our little 'greeting'."
Flashback
"So, you're Akashi. Glad to meet you." Kagami's eyes were stating you-might-be-the-absolute-whatsoever-but-I'm-not-s cared-of-you.
Akashi was staring down at the uninvited fellow, definitely planning something unknown to the others. In the end, he only made his way towards Midorima and asked to borrow his scissors.
"What do you need them for?" Midorima asked, but still handed him the scissors. No one defy Akashi after all.
"My hair's bothering me. I was thinking about cutting it." He retorted. "But before that…" Then, he turned to Kagami. "You're Kagami-kun, right?"
After he finished his sentence, without any warning, Akashi charged at Kagami with the scissors in his hand and earned gasped from both Kuroko and Furihata. Thankfully, Kagami managed to dodge it in time, but still weren't fast enough that his left cheek was slightly cut.
Akashi was surprised, but he smiled later on. "Wow. Good job on dodging that. For moving like that, I'll forgive you this time. But there won't be a next time. If I say leave, then leave." He grabbed his bangs, measuring the length with his fingers. "In this world, winning is everything. Winners are validated and losers are denied. Since I always win, I always right." And his hair fell with a single snip from the scissors.
End flashback
Her face was still impassive even after she heard the mini-killing-stunt Akashi pulled on Kagami. "Is that your way of saying Kagami isn't worth to stand next to the Miracles?"
"I see your perception on human value hasn't change at all." Akashi stared at the girl. Kurosaki Yuuki's vision on human exceeded the level of normal. She saw what other's fail to see in human - let it be a good or bad value. Mostly the latter though.
"Wrong. Maybe it's not Kagami who isn't worth standing next to us. Maybe, we're the one who's not worth the place beside him."
"Do you believe in him that much?"
She shrugged. "But Tetsu does. And you and I know, Tetsu will do anything to prove his point. Or at the very least, he'd done quite a great job so far."
Akashi didn't say anything at that. But as Yuuki was leaving and they crossed paths, he said something that she didn't see it coming.
"I like the colour."