I do not own Kuroko no Basuke, but the OC in this story is mine.

Thank every deity in the world that I managed to finish up this chapter in the year of 2019. I kept going back and forth with it until I actually liked it, so hopefully everyone can enjoy this. It's been a while since I have really done one of these things.

I thank everyone who gave their reviews as well as their follows to this story as well as their support to a fandom that I'm not sure is still active. Frankly, I keep deivating to other fandoms, so I might need to think of something to come back to this little account of mine. (^^;) This chapter is so freaking long though?

Without further ado, here's the long-awaited chapter of From Letters to Skype! Detailed Edition (or as detailed as I can make this)!

Kise Ryouta was not the smartest one of the Generation of Miracles. That was a fact that was constantly said by the resident horoscope-obsessed megane.

If there was one thing that he had a knack for, it was having a good fashion sense and remembering the little details about people's styles.

Kurokocchi was pretty simple too and not too eye-catching, which made it hard for the group to see him at times. It was getting easier to see him over time, but he still managed to disappear since he was quiet. Momoi had a fondness for cute-looking outfits, but stayed fashionable and professional when the situation called for it. Aominecchi was pretty basic in terms of style, aside from his massive basketball shoe collection and some fan memorabilia for his favorite teams. Murasakibaracchi wore the basic t-shirts and pants combo, which was pretty hard to do in Japan since he was already rather large for his age. Akashicchi was a sharp dresser, due to his father's influence and looked as if he'd stepped out of a suits catalog from one of the higher end brands of designer suits. Midorimacchi was a practical dresser, paired with his lucky item and his glasses. Given how much their little study group spent a good chunk of time out running away from Kise's fangirls whenever they had their weekend out, the green-haired megane wore running shoes that saw frequent use.

And if there was one thing that was consistent with Sakamuracchi, it was that she never went anywhere without her special bag that held the most important objects to her entire existence: her art supplies. It was a simple black bag that had seen better days, but it seemed to handle being tousled around whenever the studying trio had to run around from the fangirls who always found Kise.

That same bag was being worn by a Sakamuracchi who was walking alongside Akashicchi in the middle of the day.

"Midorimacchi! Come over here!" Kise yell-whispered to the green-haired sharp shooter. "This is really weird to see the two of them together like this!"

"It's not as weird as you trying to hide behind a potted plant while wearing that disguise of yours. If you were someone else, I would've called the police by now."

"Midorimacchi, that's so mean!" The blond put his tears aside as his eyes widen at the thought that invaded his mind. "Are those two on a date?"

"What are you talking about, you fool? Those two hardly know one another. Why in God's name would they go out on a date?"

"Midorimacchi, there is a line -a delicate line- between a date and a social gathering. This is definitely a date since these two are trying to figure out how the other feels. I should've seen something like this coming, but at the same time, it's definitely out of left field. As expected of Akashicchi."

Midorima looked like he was asking for the Rapture. "...I suppose that you'd force me to go along with your schemes?"

"Yep!" Kise flashed a thumbs-up, a sparkle flying straight towards Midorima who smacked it away without batting an eyelash. "Don't worry though! I've called for back-up, so you don't have to worry too much!"

"What are you talking about-"

"Ki-chan! Did you lose track of them? Where are they now?" Momoi suddenly popped up beside the blond, her eyes locked on the two who were steadily walking away from them. "Oh! I'm really surprised that Saka-chan is wearing something like that! She told me that she didn't own any girly outfits, but that dress looks nice! The bag ruins the look though."

"I know! I didn't realize that was her at first because she normally wears a shirt and jeans, but that bag was the only thing that stuck out because she carries it around so much that it's impossible to miss it!" Kise furrowed his eyebrows together at the pair who began to disappear into the crowd of people on the streets of Tokyo. "Ah! They're on the move!"

Midorima says absolutely nothing on the fact that he knew she owned that dress because she'd worn it on the night that his family came over for the promotion of her mother's position. He knows that it wasn't worth the headache.

"...that's why there's a bunch of colored lead!" Sakamura told the redhead who nodded in response. In the shop, it was relatively busy as it was late afternoon, filled with all sorts of people who were shopping for their respective stationery needs, art supplies, and whatnot. For school, art commissions, or hoarding cheap art supplies, they were all there for a reason.

"So, colored lead in these bright hues can be used to help with the basic skeleton of a manga artist's work. When the black lined manga is finished, the colored lead will disappear since it doesn't register on the printer's scanners due to the light recognition, allowing only the black lines of the manga to show up in the final product. Either that, or it could be digitalized on the computer."

"Exactly! You pick up on this type of thing really quickly, Akashi! Granted, this depends on the printer's scanning quality..."

"...Ki-chan, are you sure they're on a date? Saka-chan is only talking about stationary and manga." Momoi was stealthily hidden in the next aisle to the two teens, whispering to Kise. "I thought she'd be more girly if this was a date? She's acting totally normal."

Midorima, on the other hand, was looking over at the aisles of pen brands, his eyes locking on a pen that had a cute frog head on top of the cap. He made sure to stay a good ways away from the pair who talked to one another. Which one of the two pairs, no one knows. To be honest, no one cared what he thought as he made sure to ignore them.

"Momocchi, that's basically what Sakamuracchi talks about all the time, aside from the random things that pop into her brain once in a while. I'm just surprised that Akashicchi is interested in it. She can talk about this type of thing for hours. We've actually timed it before. It was scary."

"Really? Saka-chan really loves stationary, doesn't she? Wait, we're getting off-track, Ki-chan!" The pinkette huffed silently, pointing a finger at the oblivious girl who chattered on to the redhead who simply nodded along to her words. "That's what I mean! She's not trying to be cute with him! She's not trying to be romantic at all! That's why I asked if this was a date?!"

"Hmm~ I think that's just how Sakamuracchi is though? She's more for talking about things that are interesting and weird." Kise thought back to the time when the two of them escaped Midorima's wrath after a math test gone wrong. During the time that they hid from the greenette, they talked about horoscopes, sheep herding, and how jumping from a window would be impractical every level, aside from the first floor. The memory made Kise smile. "It's how she's always been."

"Wow, Ki-chan, you really know how Saka-chan acts." Momoi looked at the blond with a pout , though there was something else in her eyes that Kise couldn't help but shiver at. It was probably nothing. Probably. "Honestly, why can't I come along with you guys whenever you hang out on the weekend? I want to be included too!"

"Nope, it's only for people who are part of our study group!"

"Does that mean Aomine would qualify for the group? He really needs it."

"...For the sake of Midorimacchi's blood pressure, we should avoid including him into the group." Kise bowed towards the pink-haired girl. "Thank you for your interest, have a nice day."

"Ki-chan...!"

While that happened, Midorima was having an internal crisis on whether to buy the cute frog head pen that was cheap or the frog-themed scissors that was part of a set that included various other frog-themed items, but was expensive.

Meanwhile, the targets in question walked out into the streets with some new pens and notebooks, chatting with one another.

"HM?! KI-CHAN, THEY'RE MOVING! AND-"

"Huh?! Into a dress store?!"

Indeed, the two teens walked into a high-end dress store that took up a fair amount of space on the city block.

"..." Midorima stayed silent for the sake of keeping his headache to a minimum. He savored the delicious red bean drink as it worked wonders on keeping the heat to a minimum.

"Shoot! We can't go in there! We'd be immediately spotted! I guess we have to wait until they come outside." Momoi sighed, putting away her binoculars. Deciding to eat at the cafe across the street, they focused on eating the late afternoon meal. "At least, we have food."

Midorima silently wondered where the hell the pink-haired girl got those binoculars because she sure as hell didn't have them when they first met up with Momoi. He didn't ask questions, knowing that it wouldn't make any sense, regardless. Kise, on the other hand, kept an eye on the store.

"I wonder why Akashicchi is taking Sakamuracchi around. They don't really talk much to one another..." The blond mumbled out, trying to understand why the captain was out and about with their one friend who wasn't part of the team. ...Although, the more that Kise thought about it, Sakamuracchi was technically an honorary member by association due to the fact that she had recently hung out with him and Midorimacchi outside of the study lessons, so she might be?

That was one of the confusing parts about Sakamuracchi.

On one hand, she wasn't super tied into the basketball club like the rest of the group, but on the other hand, she hung out with most of them on a semi-regular basis to the point that she would classify as a member of the Generation of Miracles, a nickname that made Kise feel flattered, but uneasy. She was like Momoicchi, in a roundabout way. It was something that Kise heard about through the numerous rumors that circled around their club. The Generation of Miracles and their one random friend who had almost no connection to basketball, other than getting one of the core members into basketball. With everything that had happened recently, it was something that they'd have to address.

The thought of that bastard made Kise grimace. He knew that Haizaki resented him and how the regular spot had been taken by the blond before they'd gotten their nickname. The fact that his self-proclaimed girlfriend went off with Haizaki didn't bother Kise all that much. If anything, it was a relief to see that girl gone.

However, to see Sakamura, the one person who seemed to take everything from the fangirls with a blase attitude and indifference, was in near tears with a dark bruise on her wrist, made Kise want to find him, and for a lack of a better term, beat the shit out of him, even if it meant punishment from the coach. The mere thought of Haizaki bringing someone who had no part in it made his blood boil. Granted, they intervened fast enough, but what if the worst case scenario happened before they helped her?

Momoi perked up.

"Oooh! Those two people over there look amaz- Wait, that's Akashi, and is Saka-chan wearing an evening dress with a shawl? Wow, she looks really good! Wait, they're going by a limo?! Ki-chan, let's go!"

"Momoicchi, we've pay for our meal before we go!" Shunting the thoughts that plagued him to the side, Kise plopped the cash onto the table with a scrambling Momoi who was muttering about the entire thing being a date.

Midorima quietly hoped that they would forget him.

"Midorimacchi, don't you dare leave us when we've come this far! Help with the bill!"

"Why is it that when it comes to covering the bill, you suddenly remember my presence?"

"I...don't think that we'll be able to go in there." Momoi frowned at the sight of the heavily guarded entrance of the restaurant.

The restaurant in question was one of the fanciest buildings in the area, famous for the lookout deck that allowed the patrons to see above the city and into the night sky. On a clear night, the moon would hang above the city in its calming silver light. That was the reason why the restaurant in question was named The Haven of the Moon.

"To think that we'd get this far, only to be stopped at the gate." Kise sighed out.

"This was a total goosechase in the first place." The glint off of Midorima's glasses somehow made the statement sting more.

"Still, I wonder why they were together in the first place." Pink eyes looked at the restaurant. "From what I know, they haven't spoken more than a handful of times, most of them being about Mu-kun trying to steal Saka-chan's candy."

"I guess that will be forever a mystery..." Kise still had the feeling that they were missing something from the whole situation, but he couldn't think of a reason why. Somehow, things weren't adding up with what Kise knew about the two, but he only hoped that Sakamuracchi was okay.

On the other side of the restaurant, Sakamura Akira was definitely not okay. Granted, she never expected to ever step into this place since 1) it was hella expensive and she had no Yen to speak of, 2) it was a super formal place with everyone dressed to the nines while her fanciest outfit was deemed only semi-formal, thus resulting in Akashi buying her a dress, and 3) how the hell did Akashi get her house address in the first place? This is why the day started the way it did.

~Flashback to the Late Morning~

Being dressed in pajamas and enjoying the day was something of a rarity for Akira Sakamura.

With the growing problems that have been plaguing her since the beginning of the year, it's only gotten worse. Getting threats from his fangirls was expected because of Sunshine being too clingy to her for some strange reason, along with the other fangirls who liked the basketball team's assorted group of rainbow boys. In the end, they always got found out by Teiko's extensive security system and investigation team. Sure, Akira could deal with them. It was easy enough.

...It was frightening to get attacked by some asshole who thought it would be great to steal "Ryouta's girl" from him. The less said about that situation, the better.

But then, the situation had gone to shit, what with Kiyoko spreading blatant lies about her and suddenly, everything made sense and got even worse when the full implications settled in after a good long cry. The entire week or so she'd been away had been a haze of just trying to keep her mind afloat, even though nothing really seemed click with her. With some momentary lapse in judgement by sending a shitty letter to the most judgemental asshole she'd ever written to, the grand epiphany of a lifetime smacked her in the face. Before she knew it, it was all over.

When her mom entered the principal's office, the look in her eyes would've looked kind if it wasn't ruined by the pissed off smile on her face. Akira's dealt with that expression more than enough times to know the difference between a smile and a smile. By the time the dust had settled down from the complete and utter destruction of a mother's wrath, Akira wanted to sleep for a thousand years and then some because the drama surrounding her was starting to get ridiculous, borderline stupid.

Midorima, the most studious person that she's ever known, told her to take the day off.

Freaking Midorima told her, someone who's he'd repeatedly said was a dumbass who didn't know how to string her words properly together to be as subtle as the ancient Japanese poets (not his words, but a translation of those words via her brain), needed a break.

Of course, Kise started complaining how he should take a break because of how exhausting the week had been and that 'Midorima-cchi isn't being tsundere! It's a miracle!' That ended with the blond taking a whack to the head with a rolled-up test paper with the word IDIOT in English.

There was nothing but the sweet, sweet freedom of being alone in the house on a weekend, which meant chilling out in the most comfortable way possible.

So imagine her surprise when the doorbell rang its three chime ring.

"Just a second!" Opening the door, Akira opened it. "Who is it-"

"Hello, Sakamura."

"..."

"..."

Akira's brain shut down like a Windows '95 as the door slowly shut on one (1) freaking Akashi Seijuro who was standing at her doorstep.

When the frickin' heck did he find my house address-

I'm in my pajamas. My cute chibi strawberry pink pajamas with little dancing stick limbs.

Holy shittake mushrooms, this is really awkward.

Lemme just hide under a rock for a thousand years. That sounds really good right now.

I feel like I need to commit sepukku.

Why can't I get a break?

NOOOOOOO-

"Sakamura? Are you okay?" The voice on the other side of the door sounded faintly amused, but Akira was thinking of what to say since she never really had a proper conversation with the guy. Well, as proper as it got with her, in any case. "May I come inside?"

"Oh yeah, sure. Come inside. I'm just gonna...get something that isn't pajamas." She dashed up the stairs faster than she thought was physically possible. For anyone else, inviting someone who was a sort-of-but-not-quite stranger into their house was stupid, but Akira knew Akashi- sort of. He was an acquaintance at the very least who was known for being level-headed, so there was no problems. From what little she knew about him, he was an overall good person, considering the whole incident with Haizaki and the clusterfuck that happened afterward.

Pulling on a graphic t-shirt with a penguin on it and some knee-length shorts, she hurried back down to see a calm Akashi who was looking around the living room in interest.

"Sorry 'bout that. I wasn't expecting anyone today."

"It's fine."

"So," she sat right beside him on the worn out couch, their knees knocking together in the process, "what brought you around my humble abode?"

"Sakamura, the things that you've experienced as of late were because of us, is that correct?" Oh Kami, this type of thing again. Akashi stared at her. Suddenly, the texture of the ceiling seemed strangely mismatched. They probably needed to paint it again. Who knew when was the last time they painted it? "Sakamura, don't avoid me by staring up into space."

His eyebrows smoothed out into the most serene facial expressions Akira had ever seen. It was almost unnatural how calm he looked, but for some reason, something felt off.

That's when it hit her.

"It's because of other people getting too nosy and assuming too much." She might need to stop by the hardware store for some paint. Ah wait, she's supposed to rest her hand. Well, crap. "Really, you shouldn't take the blame for something like this, much less for someone like that asshole Haizaki."

"...I never said that, Sakamura."

"You can't control on what people will do is what I'm trying to say. I know that looking over the team and its past connections is your thing, but that's not your fault." She waved her slightly bruised hand, trying to not jostle it too much. "Don't think about it too much, alright?"

Another beat of silence.

"...In actuality, I do need your assistance in something."

"Yes?"

"I need your help trying to figure out the best places for certain things, so do you mind assisting me in these endeavors?"

"Ah, sure." The mindless answer came from her, to which Akashi nodded.

"Excellent, we're leaving at this moment, so bring what you need."

"Wait, what?"

"Sakamura, are you alright?" The voice made her look at her dinner companion with an awkward chuckle.

Out of all the places that they could've chosen to be seated at, Akashi chose the most glamourous option possible: the Moon Garden. It was a balcony that looked out into the lush, green traditional Japanese garden, allowing the guests to see the moon in its various phases while dining on fancy gourmet food that would've costed her entire life savings to purchase.

"I'm fine, Akashi. Just a bit overwhelmed is all." She pulled at the shawl draped on her shoulder, fingers fiddling with the edge of it. The shawl had been marked with so many zeroes that Akira nearly fell over foaming from the price. The dress...let's not go that far because that cost more than what she'd ever spent in her entire life. It was a simple black and white dress that was close enough to her tastes that she didn't mind it the price, but she still felt awkward. "I'm not used to dealing with this sort of thing."

"Is that so?" His words made her mouth twitch. Why did that sound so condescending? Midorima's making me too paranoid.

(In the distance, a green-haired shooter sneezed.)

At that moment, the waiter came back offering the menus and the table fell into a silence, albeit strained. While she was debating if it was possible to escape via bathroom window, the waiter came over with their drinks and the largest bread basket that she'd ever seen. Breaking off a piece of the bread and dipping into the sauce, all thoughts of escaping vanished instantly.

Damn, this bread is really good...! How can bread make me cry this much?! Her thoughts screamed out, trying not to stuff herself full with bread when the waiter left their table with their menus in hand. "Wait, why did they take-"

"I took the liberty of ordering our meals while you were eating the bread." Akashi folded his hands together, crimson eyes staring at her like she'd committed some heinous etiquette faux pas. Knowing her habits, she probably did, so she said nothing and nibbled on the bread. Places like this always made Akira uncomfortable. So high maintenance to the point that it was almost never worth the food that was served at the place. Looking out at the cloudy sky, a thought from Midorima that week made her open her mouth.

"It's supposed to be a full moon tonight."

Akashi raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"Midorima said that our next Japanese Literature assignment is based on the love poem on the moon. I haven't read it yet, but it's apparently really popular for being mysterious and subtle."

The image of a young maiden sitting on a windowsill in a soft glow cast by the moonlight popped into her mind. Sakamura's fingers twitched. Throughout the day, she'd been dragged by Akashi doing whatever seemed to cross the guy's mind. Although they'd also stopped by some places that she'd been meaning to go to, most of it came to her memories as a blur. All she really wanted to do was draw. She'd even burned the majority of her allowance to buy a new sketchbook since her current one was nearly full.

"Ah, this sucks."

"If you want to draw, you can."

A question mark floated above Sakamura's head at the moment.

"Your facial expressions need some work, Sakamura. It's all too easy to know how you're feeling at the moment." Akashi took a moment to sip the hot tea that had been cooling off for a while. Sakamura thought, "Where the hell did that tea come from? Was I really spacing out that much?"

"So, it's alright for me to plop down my art stuff? This place seems really fancy..." Even though she said those words, she'd already brought out the brand new sketchbook and her trusty mechanical pencil. The redhead nodded, not phased by the action.

"Well, if you insist."

Her hands went to work, filling the first page with the light sketch of her earlier vision. Sketches were loose and flowy in the beginning, usually to get the dynamics of the pose right without worrying about the absolution of anatomy. Gestures were everything in bringing art to life, especially for living creatures. For the first page of this new sketchbook, it was doubly important. Even though Sakamura was hesitant about this in the beginning, all she cared about was getting everything that she was feeling onto the blank page, one step at a time.

~A Few Weeks Prior~

Sakamura Akira.

An anomaly that was associated with the Generation of Miracles, both to those who frequent the club, her classmates, and the Generation of Miracles themselves.

It wasn't a matter if Akashi had looked into the matter and discovered the matter between the friends of Sakamura Akira and the girl in question. It was a matter of when, and that when was during the week that Sakamura Akira didn't show up at the club. It started out normal enough, but something was out of place. Although they were still performing the same drills, practice matches, and monitoring their overall progression, there was something different that made everyone feel uneasy.

The person with the least amount of attachment to the girl by far was Aomine. Granted, the young man seemed to recognize her on the account of Momoi, but they didn't seem all that close. Aside from the times that the girl brought in food, Aomine didn't seem to acknowledge Sakamura more than someone to leech food off of. It was something that Akashi had been trying to reduce as of late, if only by the strange afterimage of Haizaki taking food from their lunches back in first year.

Momoi, on the other hand, was beyond the moon to have another girl around. They became quick friends and became the iconic girl duo of the basketball team. They spent nearly all their time together outside of the court with either Midorima, Kise, or both in tow. At basketball practice, they sat close together with Sakamura helping out from time-to-time whenever there was too many things to get done. They seemed to radiate a certain atmosphere around them that made the other club members stare and have a look on their faces, saying things like, 'The healing powers of cute girls talking is amazing.' or 'These two are total goddesses in this hellscape for training. We cannot disappoint them!'

Granted, that only helped with the club's motivation for training, so Akashi didn't comment on it.

Akashi remembered how Momoi seemed to look towards the doors of the gyms with anticipation, only to be disappointed when they never revealed the person she'd been looking for. Aomine comforted the girl who repeatedly said she was fine because 'Saka-chan must be doing something right now. She can't always be here.', though the tears that peeked at the corners of her eyes said otherwise. When Sakamura had finally showed up, Momoi had all but flung herself at the girl.

"Saka-chan! Are you okay? Why do you have that bruise?!" Momoi cried, fingers hovering over the bruise that spread across the ravenette's cheek. "What happened? Did Haizaki do something to you again?"

"It's okay, Momoi. It's nothing too big." The smile on Sakamura's face made Momoi cry even harder. "Shh... it's okay. There's been a lot of things going on, but we've got a bunch of things to talk about now!"

He remembered how Kuroko talked to her about the whole friend issue after Sakamura had been stolen away by Kise and Midorima. That was the first time that he'd ever seen Momoi furious beyond anything that he'd ever seen before.

Her wrath became one of the things he'd never invoke willingly unless he was stupid enough to incur that wrath in the first place.

Murasakibara had brought nothing short of a headache whenever he stole snacks from someone, willingly or unwittingly. The person who was still willing to share anything food-related with the hungry purple giant after many, many attempts of peace was Sakamura Akira who demanded stationary in return. That resulted in the most bizzare hidden food market that came to the school where people would hide their stationary trades in plain sight while saying the snacks were for everyone to share. Though the creators of the market didn't know it, Akashi was both impressed and baffled by the phenomenon.

It was during lunch break, one of their seats empty like it had been for the past few days. Murasakibara was eating his snacks with the rest of them when he suddenly asked, "Aka-chin, I want candy. The nice strawberry-choco candy that you brought back that one time. Do you know where we can get them?"

"Yes. I'm assuming that you want the jumbo size?"

Murasakibara went quiet before saying, "It's not for me. It's for Saka-chin."

"...May I ask why?" Akashi tried not to let his own curiosity seep through his calm exterior. Everyone had been showing signs of change. All but him. It was strange.

"When I was walking through the hallway, Saka-chin looked really sad, so I thought she needed some candy to be happy."

When Sakamura came back to the club looking worse for wear with a bruise on her face, Murasakibara gave her at least five boxes worth of sweets and many more for the days afterwards. The most surprising factor that came out of the encounter was when she offered him some of the candies because really, it was too much for her to eat by herself.

Murasakibara, the lover of sweets and anything delicious, said, "No. Those candies are yours, so only you get to eat them."

Sakamura started to cry, Kise and Aomine were stunned, Momoi was smiling so bright it was like seeing the sun, Kuroko was watching the scene with wide eyes, and Akashi had never felt as weirdly proud at the fact that Murasakibara had finally given up his candy-stealing ways, even if it was only for that one occasion. He went back to bartering, but for less excessive demands than before. Akashi made note of that.

In hindsight, he knew of Midorima's extra tutorial task given by the school in first year and the stress that came with it. He was studious, hard-working at the things that he was committed to, and never had excuses, aside from 'Man proposes, God Disposes.' Akashi just never expected his friend to get used to the stress so easily. His demeanor became more understanding over time in the sort of sense that the combined craziness of the club members wasn't all that strange to him anymore.

That was what caught Akashi's attention.

The ease that Midorima gained against the more esoteric members became one of the reasons why Akashi trusted him with more and more tasks until he'd become an incredibly reliable source that Akashi knew that when they were in their third year, they'd be the Captain and Vice-Captain without a doubt. Even though the greenette denied it constantly, he seemed to relax more over time to the point that he'd willingly walk around with Sakamura and Kise at the same time. It was another flag that caught his attention.

He'd been one of the first, if not, the first to interact with the girl, so Akashi knew he had to tread lightly to catch the sharpshooter off-guard when gathering information about her then-current circumstances.

He got his chance during one of their shogi matches. Midorima's eyes narrowed, staring down at the pieces like a god deciding on the poor victim of his wrath. It was one of the ticks that meant that the Midorima had thought processes going faster than a bullet train. Akashi had asked about the tutoring sessions. It was a harmless throwaway, meant to test if the greenette was still coherent. It was at that moment that Akashi saw Midorima, for the first time since he'd known him, blank out for three seconds before looking as calm and collected as usual.

"They are alright for the most part, though they are significantly less rowdy." Midorima moved his piece.

"Why is that?" Akashi moved his own, seeing his victory within the next 5 moves. The look on Midorima's face confirmed it. "Is it because of You-Know-Who?"

"..."

Akashi knew better than to continue a conversation that had a subject too touchy to talk about, but filed the interaction away for something that he had to look into on his own time when everything would eventually blow over.

When Sakamura Akira's personality began to show itself once more, Akashi swore that he'd seen Midorima smile in relief when no one was looking.

Kise Ryouta was a force of nature, being known for a multitude of things. He was certainly on the rise of celebrity status, if he wasn't already. His modeling job, fangirls, his ability to do everything better after seeing it once- it seemed strange how the blond decided to look for the basketball club on a whim and became a regular within a few short months of joining. Along with that, his blase attitude was a detachment towards everything, people most of all. Akashi knew how to read people very well. It came with the territory of being an Akashi, after all.

From what Akashi found through the rumors and asking the blond himself, Sakamura Akira, a girl of no real significance, was the reason for staking his interest in basketball in the first place. For that reason, Kise became increasingly attached to her, which attracted the rage of the fangirls and Sakamura's own annoyance by Kise's clinginess. Even though she was annoyed by him, when pressured by her longtime friends to give up Kise's private number, she respected him and his privacy, which caused the most recent events to unfold. It was strange. She had everything to gain and nothing to lose, but this- this was-

"Ki-chan, are you alright?" The pinkette was solemn, the light in her eyes continuously fading away throughout the week like a candlelight slowly burning out.

"I'm okay, Momocchi. Please excuse me, I have to finish up my practice before heading out." Kise promptly began shooting, his speed easily outpacing everyone else and kept moving faster.

"I've never seen him act like this before." One of the other first string members mumbled out. "This is kinda strange."

"Didn't he show up thirty minutes earlier than normal too?"

"Why's everyone in the Generation of Miracles acting so weird lately?"

"We'd better get back to practice before the coach catches us talking."

Kise Ryouta was a force of nature. When he wanted to be alone, no one dared to go near him. No one, but Akashi, that is.

"I do hope that your efforts are not in vain," was the only thing that Akashi said to the blond before dismissing him for the day for his work ethic. "Although I do wonder why you work so hard in the first place."

Kise, the young man who was described as Sunshine by a certain person, glowered at the statement before leaving.

The day that Sakamura Akira came back, Kise didn't even bother with hiding his intentions and straight-up demanded attention from her for leaving them alone for a week. Surprisingly, she agreed, which stunned the blond into silence before cheering so loudly that he'd gotten hit in the back of the head with Midorima's Three Pointer Shot. The day after that was even worse, what with Kise being extraordinarily clingy with the girl, although everyone by that point was used to the blond's antics. Even the fangirls seemed to appreciate the effect that Sakamura had on the blond as he had been incredibly distant throughout the week with everyone, thus leaving notes on her desk about 'making Kise happy or else' and some cookies that were Kise's favorites.

The snacks were distributed among the Generation of Miracles, but Kise was the happiest out of all of them.

Kuroko was easily the odd man out in the situation. They barely talked to one another, save for the occasional scream of realization that he'd been there the whole time. Although when this was realized, Sakamura would gift him delicious vanilla candies, so all would be forgiven. Just before the other Miracles would change throughout the week, Kuroko took the time to talk with him about the situation the day that it happened.

"Akashi-kun, is there any way that you can help Sakamura?"

At this statement, Akashi put the pen down. "Why do you want to help her? From my knowledge, you've barely interacted with her."

"...This may be true, but she has helped the others in more ways than I can ever imagine." The light in the boy's eyes was bright, which made Akashi finally pay attention to the enigma known as Sakamura Akira. "I feel like she's a very good person, but there's a bunch of resentment towards her by a few people that are jealous of her proximity with the others."

"Then, she should deal with it on her own accord. This is her business." He didn't look at Kuroko since the paperwork about the captaincy was too important to put away, especially if the other topic at the moment was about someone else's business. Flicking through the papers on the desk, Akashi thought that was the end of the conversation. It wasn't.

"Two girls were the ones who spread the rumor about Kise and Sakamura being in a relationship, which cause the incident with Haizaki to escalate to the point that it did." This made Akashi pause before looking up at the determined Kuroko who stared back at him. "I fear that if we don't do something about this, things will only get worse."

A heavy sigh escaped Akashi. "I will see what I can do, Kuroko. Please go back to practice."

"Yes, Akashi-kun." Opening and closing the door, only Akashi remained.

He folded his hands together, closing his eyes and trying to sort out everything that he knew about the girl.

Midorima seemed annoyed with her, but still dealt with her, for some reason. Perhaps out of studies or by the school's enforcement on the tutoring. Aomine didn't really care about her, besides eating her cooking and the occasional friendly . Murasakibara was in the same category as him, so no clues there. Momoi, Kuroko, and especially Kise were attached to her, but they never said anything specific.

That's when he realized that he didn't really know much beyond the fact that she was a good person towards his friends.

"What is so special about Sakamura Akira?"

For all the time that he'd spent with the Generation of Miracles, he's never seen them react this differently before. It was fascinating how a person like Sakamura Akira had managed to pull it off. She had some decent exposure to basketball, though nowhere near the level of expertise as the Generation of Miracles. Her interests were in the artistic field and only that from what Akashi knew, but she was able to keep their interest for an extended period of time. Though Akashi was not a person who judged a person solely on their appearance, Sakamura Akira was rather plain: black hair, pale, and short.

Nothing too exceptionally capturing or interesting.

Except for one thing in particular.

"Akashi, are you alright?" Golden eyes glittered in the moonlight, looking at the young man who looked absent-minded. "You've been staring off into the distance for a while. Do you need something? Candy? I have some chocolate stowed away for emergencies."

"I'm perfectly okay, Sakamura." His voice was steady, a professional smile on his face that was created specifically for business matters.

How was she able to keep them as her friends, even though she essentially left them? This makes no sense-

She only continued to stare at him, the mechanical pencil twirling idly in her fingers. "Sorry if I sound a little blunt here Akashi, but I'd like to know why you're still lying to my face."

His smile that was carefully honed for many years twitched. "Pardon?"

"See, that right there is the point I'm trying to make!" Sakamura crossed her arms, the black shawl on her shoulders mirroring the action. The image of a penguin popped into Akashi's mind for some reason. "You're trying to be nice to me, but I get the feeling that you're more guarded around me, for some weird reason. All I want right now is to be friends, but you just seem closed off about the idea."

"So," Akashi took his tea and sipped it, his eyes fluttering open into a sharp glance, "you want to become more acquainted with me?"

"You're friends with my friends, so why can't we be friends? Isn't that how this sort of thing works?" The confused tone was so convincing. This girl really is quite the actor.

The reply made Akashi put down the tea cup. "Is that so?"

Such a simple answer from a person who doesn't know how complicated it is to be an Akashi, a privilege for any person. A person whose life doesn't necessary revolve around basketball, the one thing that relieves him of that privilege, yet stays within his sight for some reason. It's honestly quite vexing as it was confusing. Once again, the waiter came over with their respective meals, and they fell into a silence that could only be brought by the presence of food. The delighted hum from the girl as she ate.

"Sakamura, you should realize that being my friend means different things to different people." Akashi spoke up once more after the waiter disappeared with their meals. "Everyone has something to gain from having that status, so I will ask you this in a way that you understand: what do you have to gain from being my 'friend'?"

He felt the familiar note of knowing that he was right when he saw the look on her face go blank. She quietly put down her eating utensils onto the plate with a clink. This girl was trying to use his friends to get to higher places. He knew it, he knew it, he knew it she was just like the others-

"Rights to keep my candy from being stolen because I know that Bara-kun has been stealing it secretly from me recently, and I have no idea what I should do. See, my dad sent these boxes of candy from the US since he's planning on doing a whole birthday beach day bash for me when he comes back. Those things were so freaking huge that I was having trouble trying to find ways of getting rid of it. Until I realized that they were suddenly just gone for some reason, which is super weird." The serious look on Sakamura's face was so solemn and stone-faced that Akashi wished that it was something as equally serious, but this? This was...certainly something else. "Please, for the sake of my candy, tell Bara-kun to stop taking it away from me."

"...ha!" Akashi couldn't stop the laugh, even if he tried. "That's utterly ridiculous! All this trouble for a couple of pieces of candy? Is that really all you care about?"

"Uh, I guess?" The girl tilted her head to the side, squirming in her seat. The normally calm and stoic Akashi Seijuro was laughing at her for being honest, which was weird. All of the things that have happened today were weird things. Nice things, but weird things. It was weird to see him switch from stone-faced to laughing. "I don't really know what else to think."

"Being oblivious like this should've tipped me off. Honestly, what was I thinking?" Chuckles bubbled out of him. "Although, I do wonder why you agreed to this outing today, Sakamura, given the current circumstances."

"Well, what could I say? I didn't want to just ignore you when you already showed up at my front door. It seemed rude? Also, the recent shitstorm of events has been affecting everyone recently, so I thought that you were trying to remedy the problem by asking me what was going on with my life and stuff?" Her eyes widened. "Wait, were you going to shovel talk me about the things that've happened?"

"I was going to talk to you about your closeness with the others, but given the previous response, I don't need to worry about it." The long-time tension that he'd been dealing with poured out of him so fast that it made his head throb. Was this the reason why the others liked her so much? She was so stupidly honest that everything else didn't seem to matter? He didn't know how to feel about it.

"Oh, okay. I'm glad that I found out what's happened right now and only got punched. If I kept Kiyoko and Hana in my life, who knows what they could've done to me, or worse, to the others in the long run?" A heavy sigh came out of Sakamura. "This whole situation is really shitty. Friends from before stabbing you in the back because you didn't do what they wanted- sounds like something from a movie, but it's something that really happens to people. Honestly, those types of people are the worst."

"Indeed." Akashi tried to keep back his laughter.

"I will admit that it was super satisfying to see my mom rip into the both of them for being manipulative scum buckets. They should've known that she would casted hell onto them, especially when I had to tell her about the whole Haizaki thing. It may have costed me a week's worth of screaming, but it was worth it." Finally, the corners of her lips turned upright into a smile, eyes shining like the sun. It made Akashi smile in return. It was the polite thing to do. "In the end, they got expelled on charges of harassment, spreading false information, and physical assault onto another student. Thank Kami-sama that Teiko does things like this super fast."

"You look happier than normal."Akashi paused, thinking back to the nights spent figuring out what he could find on the two girls before shunting them from his mind. In his opinion, they weren't worth a single thought, but the girl across from him was the better option to think about. "It's a comforting thought to know that despite all that's happened, you seem fine."

"Yeah, it looks that way, but really, I'm a bit of a mess. Honestly, if I didn't talk to someone about it, I'm pretty sure that it'd just blow up in my face eventually." She paused. "Is there dessert? I remember that they have really good mochi in this restaurant."

"I'm assuming that you've read about it online?"

"Nope, Murasakibara told me that he would be going to this place for a celebration or something. I can't really remember what the event was for, but I do remember how much he loved the mochi specifically because we were arguing about the best flavors of mochi." She suddenly lit up. "Oh, we could all meet up with everyone and make mochi for New Year's! That'll be so much fun!"

"Yes, that would be a rather fun activity."

"Mm. Ooooh, the moon finally came out!" Turning her head towards the balcony where they were seated, Akashu took his time to think.

After what seemed like a long battle, both physically and mentally, the girl in black and white with golden eyes was bathed in moonlight and finally at peace with the world.

It was- It was-

"The moon tonight is beautiful, isn't it?" Those were first words that came out of Akashi's mouth after processing everything. It truly was beautiful.

"It really is! Usually, the only time I can see the moon is at my mom's hometown, but it's a rare thing to see it so clearly in the city with all the air pollution." She clapped her hands together, her laughter echoing out around them. "This only means that things will only get better from here!"

"It is rather rare." To see someone so carefree like this is truly a rare thing. Perhaps being her friend wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

"It probably means that even though it's rare for friends to last forever, maybe they'll stick around this time! At the end of the day, I'm happy that I'm still with everyone else! Without you guys, I probably would've been running around in circles with this whole mess."

"I suppose that we should toast to new beginnings and friendships?" Akashi raised his cup towards her.

"To new beginnings and friendships!" The resounding clink of cups was loud in the strangely quiet setting that they were in.

If no one looked at that moment, one of two crimson eyes flashed golden before reverting back to normal.

To new beginnings indeed.

Hooooooooly cow guys. This took me forever to finish.

9-freaking point-K words is the largest amount of words that I've ever done for this fanfic, which is essentially half of the fanfiction wordcount as of Dec 2019 before this upload. The fanfic is also around 6K views, about 60 Favorites and 70 Followers, which absolutely blows my mind.

What the actual heck is this sorcery.

It's kinda crazy, but I'm proud to finally upload this total monster of a chapter (*cries because holy crap, I finally managed to get this up before the year ended). Granted, the chapter without the Author Notes is 8.5 K, but still, oof.

It's also the reason why it's taken me forever to update because there's so-many-words. Way more words than my original 2.5 K plan. Practically triple my original amount.

School was being an ass, then I went on vacation to Japan (it really made my inner weeb sing with joy), and then school came again, which sucked, but then things just rushed on by until I finally could update this story. I got so much writing done for this chapter in December that I easily wrote over my Nanowrimo word count. (Granted, I didn't do too much writing then because I was super busy with shit, but still.)

It was supposed to be stupid and funny because this story is labeled humor for God's sake, but then it got super serious because honestly whenever we talk about Akashi in Teiko, we all get those nervous chuckles about the bomb that'll go off. Granted, there's more shit to this story because we're only halfway through the three freaking years of hell, but we ain't even all that finished yet- AND WE'VE GOT THE MAIN SERIES TO GET THROUGH TOO AGGGGGGGH-!

So, yeah, details are the death of me, but I also love them because I get to talk way more than the letters. I just didn't know if anyone would like to read the thousands of words of possible rambling BS (how I see my writing) in the story. It's kinda why I asked if anyone would like to see this sort of thing. I hope that I get to update again within the next few months, but there's still stuff to do unfortunately. :'-)

As always, leave a review on what you think on this special year-end update, and I hope that the next year will be great for everyone else!