So I realized this after someone pointed it out but I really didn't give a description of Kazuki, who seems to show up frequently. Sorry, I'm lazy and when I did a quick Google search of 'black haired blue eyed anime boys' I quickly chose one picture as the image of Kazuki. Keep in mind, I don't know a damn thing about Ikemen Revolution or Ray Blackwell but yeah, Kazuki can be thought of to look like him: kinda looks like snake but when he smiles, you kinda forget that he's probably cunning as hell and want to say: 'Sir, if you're going to hell, let me hold your hand and we'll go together.' Funnily enough, you could do the same with Akashi ;) (Hoping with all my heart that I don't get canceled for this non-essential note)
"We're not on this call to talk about the wedding are we?" Kise looked genuinely saddened that he couldn't rave more about Himeragi's appearance in the only photo Akashi spared him a glance at. He couldn't even have a turn at persuading Akashi to send over the photo because the latter wasn't even on the call.
"Will you listen to a request without a bargaining chip or do I need to state a reward?" Since she gave the option for a reward, the boys racked their brains for something that Himeragi could do for them, that she wouldn't shoot down immediately.
"Hey, have some morals! This isn't a bonding event if there is a reward besides just learning to enjoy each other's company!"
"What, you really think we're gonna change our minds after spending more time together, Satsuki?" Aomine looked at her as if she was spewing nonsense and she looked back at him with the exact same, disgusted look. It was such a usual occurrence for them to be in each other's rooms that their friends didn't ask about it anymore. Himeragi and Kuroko were enjoying the interested gazes of her committee members, who were still trying to decode the relationship between Momoi and Aomine.
"Tell us first, what needs to be done and we'll pick and choose responsibilities if we can't accomplish them all."
"Let me give some background first." Before Midorima and her committee members had a falling out, Himeragi quickly diverted the situation. "For starters, I would like to help out Akashi-kun. In helping him with his father's company, we would also be helping the Himeragi Tycoon. The problems they're facing can be mainly split into three things: the spies within the companies, the negative press that won't seem to die down and executives pressuring the CEOs for a change in leadership."
"And you know all of this, how?"
"I am Akashi-kun's partner after all." There were quite a number of bulging eyes at her revelation before Himeragi realized that she should have qualified her statement. "This won't seem to help my case but I meant 'work partner.' " The more she thought about everyone misunderstanding her relationship with Akashi, the more she wanted to avoid the topic altogether. Kuroko sensed her discomfort and quickly asked her for more details.
"I currently know that a huge problem for both the Akashi Conglomerate and Himeragi Tycoon is the millions of dollars they lost in failed deals. The situation surrounding those failures is quite suspicious, given the CEOs' impeccable track records."
"Based on what Kuro-kun has said, I think both companies are dealing with moles who stole information and sabotaged the deals. They're also still probably at large however, this is a problem that we can't interfere in because it would mean illegally obtaining confidential information that we don't need to see, to help out." Himeragi was also reluctant to reveal her identity so getting her father's company's documents involved would only let the cat out of the bag. Her friends were thinking nothing along those lines, instead envisioning Himeragi Yamato's reaction to this uproar. When they imagined him, who was known to have an incredibly low threshold for incompetence and would give even experts only eight minutes to present at meetings, dealing with the issue himself, they wondered whose blood he was ready to spill.
"Then is the problem we're tackling regarding the suspiciously negative news?" Momoi caught onto Midorima's drift quickly and checked on the newspaper reporting about Akashi's father and the mysterious lady.
" 'A steamy night at a love hotel?! No longer thinking about an old flame?!' For a scandal, the writer really blew this out of proportion and blurred out the background, yet no one from Akashi Masaomi's company issued a statement against this."
"There are likely people on the executive board that benefit greatly if Akashi-kun's father steps down. The fact that no one in the press thinks all of these problems appearing simultaneously is fishy is proof that someone is controlling the stations. I want to have three people that are capable of reporting the crux of updates, in a succinct manner, handle this issue with my brother." The thought of having to spend more than just a few minutes with that fellow made the blood drain from the boys' faces. Kazuki definitely didn't like them either but even all six of the guys combined, would probably lose to him in a brawl.
"Can I please not be paired up with him?"
"I was planning for Satsuki, my fellow committee member and Midorin to help out my brother in keeping the press under control. More specifically, we would be in constant contact with you three so that you can relay information as soon as you can possibly do it, to my brother." Hearing that Midorima was taking one for the team, the rest of the boys were quite satisfied, openly showing smug expressions on camera.
"... I recommend Kuroko to take my place." It sounded like he was offering up Kuroko as tribute and the latter was not interested in becoming easy prey.
"Moving on, the main operation is an infiltration into a heavily guarded home." There was a dead silence on the conference call because that idea sounded highly problematic.
"But Azu-cchi! Midorimacchi is such a stickler for the rules! If we accidentally dent a window [which we won't because we would actually mean to break it], he'll start lecturing!" Murasakibara said nothing because he was not interested in technicalities or terminology that went over his head. At this point in time, he would accompany Himeragi virtually anywhere and listen to her requests, no questions asked.
"I'm fine with sitting this one out but I am not so sure Midorima-kun will agree to many of the things Aomine-kun and Kise-kun would like to do, Azusa-san." If the other boys voiced objections in the same manner as Kuroko, the meeting wouldn't have dragged on but Himeragi and Akashi thought it would be more concerning if their friends suddenly turned over a new leaf.
"Hold on, don't argue just yet. I haven't told you why I'm opting for this infiltration tactic. Aomine, wake up or else I'm calling you Ahomine for the entire duration of the operation." The rest of the girls on the video call said nothing but were quite impressed with Himeragi's one-liner that was able to wake up Aomine. "The last problem that we are actually going to tackle is about the imbalance in the Himeragi Tycoon's shares. A family friend that has now burned all bridges and more with the family, bribed a few executives on the board of directors to give him their shares. I've done a bit of research on who is left for him to bribe or target before the board meeting in a week." No one understood nearly enough to process what Himeragi's annotations on people's profiles meant but everyone could see that she circled the picture of a gentle-looking elderly man
"Yikes, they're bothering a kind old man? At least leave the elderly out of this mess…"
"Kise is right when he says yikes; however, the easiest person to obtain the last five percent that person needs, is this grandfather. According to my brother, his only grandson, the nephew of his last remaining son, has been missing since last night."
"You're not saying that these people with no morals…"
"Another thing to note is that this nephew is quite gifted in coding so they probably took him away and threatened to hurt his grandfather if he didn't try to break into the firewall of the company. Likewise, since the nephew has been taken away and his son's family is currently in debt, the grandfather is feeling pressure to sign over his shares." Aomine and Murasakibara were usually boys that couldn't be bothered to do anything but hearing of the atrocious things that people in power did to oppress innocent people, made even their blood boil.
"What are you planning to do, Azu-chan? From the way you described the situation, the only breakthrough would be to get the grandson back right? But there's no way they would leave him unguarded because he is the leverage against the poor old grandpa."
"What do you think of the 'eye for an eye' tactic?"
"You want to kidnap someone and ransom them?!"
"You want to do that? I was thinking of surprising the loan sharks and bodyguards that are keeping the family in a rundown place, by destroying that place." They couldn't tell if her initial idea was an improvement from their original assumption and began to sweat bullets.
"... And how are we going to ward off professional delinquents?" There was a dangerous glint in Himeragi's eyes and for the nth time, they were glad they were not her enemies.
"AOMINE DAIKI—" Himeragi quickly closed her digital music app, which she had mistakenly opened instead of her flashlight.
"Delete that already!" Himeragi's carelessness sent the boys into a frenzy, hoping that no one heard the recording and their terrible attempt to get through the backdoor of a two story house.
"How about we just break a window?" As expected, Midorima was the only one against the idea and held up the team, which mainly consisted of people that didn't enjoy listening to him.
"How about we use me as a decoy?" Himeragi was dressed in dark clothes but looked like a normal civilian, disregarding the helmet covering her entire head.
"Absolutely not. If you're not here, I won't be able to control this rambunctious trio." With Midorima present, there was a lack of options, to the point where everyone (besides him) was in favor of throwing him into the pack of wolves first.
"That purple-head over there! Come out!" Himeragi's fight or flight response kicked in immediately and she dealt with the first hooligan by throwing her helmet at his face. The boys followed after her, glancing at the poor man that now had a nasty bruise on his nose bridge and was completely unconscious, while she retrieved her headgear.
"I thought we'd have time to take it easy but we don't. There are about ten people inside, excluding the hostages and we're going to meet them, right at the front door." Her team wanted to protest but she was already trotting from behind the house, to the entrance, giving them no other orders, besides to stick close to Kise, who had a "secret weapon."
"Who is this shortie—" Their second victim was taken down by Aomine's powerful punch to the face and that alerted the others inside the home to come check on what happened. Midorima's kendo stick took down the next enemy and after stepping past his incapacitated body, they encountered the living room where the old man they were looking for, sat with half of his remaining family members. When two others lunged to take down Murasakibara, he ducked, sending the two of them smack into each other. Once they fell, there were only five remaining for the team to take out.
"What do you think you're doing?! I'll call the police on you!"
"What a shabby house. As expected of that son of a gun who doesn't treat his followers right. Hit that piece of crap!"
"Where did she learn to talk like that…" Regardless of Himeragi's shocking vocabulary, Aomine socked the guy in front of him right in the jaw, sending the latter to the floor.
"This place needs some remodeling. Break them all!" While Himeragi and Aomine were defeating the rest of the kidnappers, Kise and Murasakibara went around the room to rip open cushions, break vases and topple over everything else they touched.
"Was this really necessary?" Midorima came along even though everyone told him that him and his rigid moral codes didn't have to. Himeragi shrugged her shoulders and dodged a punch headed her way.
"Let's have you tell us where the kids are. If you don't provide any useful information…" Her initial threat wasn't enough to scare the head of the kidnappers and his taunt didn't improve her mood, so Himeragi sent him flying, headfirst, into the remnants of the vandalized sofa. Once untied, the family members also looked unnerved by their actions, hoping that they weren't another group of kidnappers.
"Who… are you children?" Himeragi's gold-colored contacts were enough to disguise her identity, as the old man hadn't caught on.
"We're the backup that is here to help you. Where was your daughter taken?" Matters took a bit of a complicated turn because not only was the grandson missing but so was his younger cousin, the daughter of the middle-aged couple in front of them.
"They should be coming back at any moment to try and get our father to sign those share transfer papers!"
"We need to ensure that we protect the little girl but we'll be outnumbered. What do we do?" Himeragi's attention was on her phone, which showed another notification about an article detailing yet another scandal.
"Oh wow, look at them go."
" 'A fight in a wine cellar between the two CEOs! Share prices for the Akashi Conglomerate and Himeragi Tycoon continue to drop!' What are they doing?!" There was even a video uploaded by paparazzi, detailing the fight and with every second of insults being tossed around, the boys felt the color drain from their faces. What were they doing, helping a pair of adults that weren't even helping themselves? Himeragi typed away on her keyboard, looking for any attacks on her firewall that matched the nephew's signature. When she only saw one attack with three words in the message, she closed her small laptop.
"Mukkun, help me sanitize our helmets." It seemed today was another day where Kise's cries would be left unheard. Simultaneously, the CEOs watched their scandal on their tablets, knowing that their share prices were looking quite concerning. When Himeragi Yamato walked out of his office, he saw quite the spectacle, police officers hard swarmed the executive suite's floor.
"Himeragi Yamato, your hotels are suspected to have mass produced illegal items and we will need you to come with us."
"Show me the appointment contract." When the police officers did as they were told, they found that there was a very important clause at the end of the document that stated that the deputy director would be fully responsible for any problems in the products. Said deputy director was shocked that the blame was put on him and looked at the two police officers that also had the same goal as him: to oust Himeragi Yamato from his position. As it turned out, he played one mole in his company and the two officers that were bribed by the same individual, right into his hands. After dealing with that headache, he looked at his phone to see a text message from his son, stating that the situation with the press calmed down. Yamato dialed the number of another person he felt the need to check up on.
"What?"
"Yo, you haven't gone down yet, huh?"
"Of course not, you fool. What is it?"
"I'm realizing that it's faster to not take out all the moles ourselves and deal with the idiots on our board of directors directly." Masaomi understood that to mean that his son and Yamato's kids were working in the shadows to make their lives easier.
"When will the evidence be ready?"
"I'd say an hour from now. Seijūrō will hand it off to you."
"Don't get voted out of office by your board of directors."
"Be more worried about yourself." Their call ended on another tension-filled note and when his secretary reminded him again of how some companies were reconsidering their partnership with the Himeragi Tycoon, Yamato felt the urge to wring someone's neck. His daughter had the exact same feeling when she saw the ringleader of the issues popping up in her father's company, in front of her. Her team had hid the three hostages in an empty room and designated all four of the boys as their bodyguard but they didn't solve the problem of the young child in the enemy's hands.
"I'll trade you this girl for the old man."
"No thanks."
"I don't think you have a choice." It would be simply too silly for a young girl to be his opponent, with nothing up her sleeve. The man was cautious, having all ten of his bodyguards point guns at her. "You have no options so stop dawdling."
"Sweetheart, close your eyes."
"No, you are not allowed to close your eyes. If you do, you won't be seeing your family ever again."
"It's okay, you can close your eyes. After all…" While Himeragi created a makeshift frame with her hands and captured the evil man at the center, she smirked. "That uncle won't be able to hurt you anymore." A bullet came through the window and pierced through the back of the man's left shoulder and before his guards could figure out the shooter, they were under attack as well. Amidst the gunshots, Himeragi secured the little girl and threw a smoke bomb in the air, to buy time for them to get away. Unsurprisingly, she ran into the enemy's backup and was outnumbered against five grown men. Her connection with her guards and Akashi was also interrupted, so she glanced at the gun she picked up from the fray.
"Don't worry, we're here!" With the help of tasers and Kise's selfie stick, the five men were taken down before any of them could fire their guns.
"If you gave such a strong thing to him, couldn't you have at least given me one?" Aomine said, pointing to the still very much intact and gleaming "weapon" in Kise's hands.
"It has a power that matches that of a luxury steel pipe, with emphasis on the word 'luxury.' " The rest of the boys flashed Midorima the "I didn't ask for such information" look but he wasn't looking at them because Himeragi was handing off the young girl to him.
"Hold on, we agreed that we wouldn't separate. Even if you lead them away from here, the ten miles you'd have to cross would be impossible to do without getting caught."
"Keep this sweetheart and her family safe. I have a plan to draw out the leader and stop him for good." Midorima looked at the gun in her pocket and hoped that her plan didn't entail using it. But as the situation currently stood, the boys wouldn't be helping Himeragi if they tagged along. After handing off the unsigned shares transfers papers, Himeragi jumped out of the first floor window, while the boys headed to reunite the family. Once outside, Himeragi confirmed internally that she had no plan and was glad that Midorima didn't see through her bluff. Her communication device had also malfunctioned, leaving her unable to contact her guards or Akashi. Her brother and Akashi were on their way, since the moment their connection to her turned into static and they hoped with all their might that she was being a sitting duck for once.
"Momoi, give the anchor the USB. Tell her that she is allowed to show all the contents during the 9 PM news show."
"Tetsuya, send the footage to my father now. We're heading to deal with Himeragi Yamato's enemy now."
"You're telling me that the oaf thinks my sister is at fault for him getting shot? Monitor Azusa's location. We'll be there in five minutes!"
"Remember, Azusa's safety is your priority." The duo were aware of her location and their guards knew to look out for her but it didn't sit well with them that a cunning man was chasing after her, with intentions to inflict pain.
"Huh, so Akashi Masaomi's heir is headed over here too? Then that girl really was good bait!" The web was expanding and Himeragi hoped that Akashi wouldn't appear. "Hurry up and find her!" She estimated that she had only a few minutes before she had to switch hiding spots and in between that switch, she hoped to be able to do what she could, to bring down the ringleader. The sound of guns clicking into place made her more hasty than usual to move. While avoiding the minions looking behind every tree in groups of two, Himeragi approached an area that still seemed to be unexplored. There were two pairs of footsteps in her general vicinity and neither sounded like her or Akashi's family's guards.
"We miscalculated how much help he acquired. He shouldn't have access to this many gangsters." There was no option to stand still and she continued to listen to their footsteps, while consistently walking a few steps ahead of the steps she heard. She finally reached a darkened booth, with no one inside. Himeragi readied her weapon and approached it with every intent to fight back against her opponent. When she sprang toward the left side of the booth with intent to kick whoever was behind it, she was surprised to have kicked nothing and instead, suddenly pinned up against the booth with a hand to her mouth. It was Akashi, who had found her first, that had the nuzzle of her gun at his neck. Just as Himeragi noticed that he was profusely sweating, he leaned closer to her, in an attempt to confirm that she was there with him. Both of their eyes reflected relief that the other was safe and that they found each other but the tip of Himeragi's gun dug further into Akashi's neck, a detail he didn't care much for. Himeragi cared very much and she was worried that her anxiety would cause an irreversible mistake.
"It's okay. You did well. Put the gun down and rest." His words soothed her beating heart and she dropped the gun into his extended hand, before he resumed hugging her, for the sake of both of their sanities.
"Come out! You have nowhere to hide, you foolish girl!" Himeragi wanted to step to the other side to sneak a glance at the pursuer but Akashi didn't allow her that glance.
"Don't worry. I won't allow anyone to hurt you." Himeragi was no damsel in distress but she refrained from doing anything because Akashi had the situation under control, within seconds. His guards had already pinned the criminal to the floor and Himeragi's team came out with the family. The nephew had been successfully rescued as well and his grandfather rejoiced at his grandchildren's return.
"Aren't you going to drag them away and then round up the traitors with your father?"
"No, I will stay here." The rest of the boys were frightened by Kazuki's bad temper again and tried to discreetly ask that Akashi reconsider, for their collective safety.
"You all have asked me about how I plan to deal with this love affair and about posting our earnings figures. Yet you all seem ignorant to your flaws." The Akashi Conglomerate's board of directors consisted of twenty people and at the rate in which Masaomi's mood was descending, they were all going to be fired. In the USB drive delivered to him, were legally obtained financial transactions that detailed who participated in fishy deals and how much money was involved in all of these deals. With their illegal acts displayed on the large screen at the front of the meeting room, his directors were quiet. "I've told you time and time before. It is a simple matter to replace incompetencies. Since you have not only taken bribes but were colluding with that fool in the Himeragi Tycoon to restrict American trade with Japan and prepare to vertically join our very different companies together, you all shall be dismissed." There were complaints that went back to the fact that the company's stock prices were performing terribly and that he couldn't afford to make structural changes during this time.
"I'm afraid this company will fall to ruin if you dismiss us right this moment!"
"Tell me, what use do you all have left? I have no trust in any of you so I will handle the press conference myself." In the last hour before his scheduled television appearance, Masaomi replaced his executive suite and had all of them arrested by the police, purposely letting a small number of them get away with just an investigation. Himeragi Yamato was less kind, as his voice thundered throughout his meeting room.
"I've told you time and time again that I don't condone incompetence! While you're accepting bribes from idiots like this one, you're causing more messes for me to clean up! How will you repay me for this trouble, you fools?!"
"Shachou, I've returned from my captivity. I apologize for the inconvenience my and my nephew's disappearance has caused you."
"Good to see you alive. Tell me, young boy, what did this evil man force you to do?"
"I was supposed to hack into the Himeragi Tycoon's database to find out more information about your family, President Himeragi. However, I realized that someone on your side already installed a very strong firewall. When I attacked it, I found a way to add a message with those attacks, to try and alert you of the situation."
"That was a good idea, trying to use my family against me. However, your execution was poor. Exploitation of child labor, kidnapping, coercion, the list goes on."
"President, we were not a part of this plot! We simply accepted his money to help pay off our debts!"
"I don't really care if you're guilty or not because this meeting was convened for one purpose right? To figure out if I'm still the CEO."
"Even if I go down, your authority is going to be threatened by one of my moles!" Yamato had no patience left to exercise and threw a contract at his face. It was the original contract each shareholder signed when they acquired large shares of the Himeragi Tycoon. Through further inspection, he suddenly realized an important condition stated in the regulations: if Himeragi Yamato were to have a second child, that child would automatically gain 8% shares or rather, 1% of the eight largest shareholders' shares, minus Yamato and Kazuki.
"There was no way you could usurp my position, not with the existence of my second child, who holds more shares than most of the people in this room." The truth dawned on him and he fell to the ground with his bloodied shoulder, with no intention to struggle when the police came to take him away. "The rest of you are dismissed from your positions, besides this old man. Get out!" Yamato allowed for no rebuttals and walked out of the meeting room that was now swarmed with police officers. His next stop was the same stop for Masaomi, the national news station. Neither looked happy to see one another but their remaining messes overlapped, to the point where the easiest method to finish off the rest of their enemies, was to attend the broadcast together.
"Welcome, Akashi-san, Himeragi-san."
"Do I need to make it clear that neither of us lost our previous titles?" The two male anchors internally sighed, knowing that the next hour was going to be a long one.
"You do know that you sound like a jerk right?" One of the CEOs wanted to get into the meat of the matter and the other one wanted to annoy him every moment of the way. While Momoi and Kuroko accompanied Himeragi's committee members at the broadcasting station, the rest of their friends were taking a break and also watching the livestream.
"Yes, yes of course, Akashi shachou, the CEO of Akashi Conglomerate, the oldest, talented group of financial advisors that also control banks and railroads! Don't worry we also understand your position as well, Himeragi shachou, the CEO of Himeragi Tycoon, the amazing group of mortgage brokers with dozens of hotels, resorts, and properties in Asia and the United States! We totally understand that it is due to both of your insights that your investments in technology-based incubator companies always end up doing well!" In that mouthful, the anchors confirmed once again that this duo was never to be offended. "W-We've all seen the scandalous news about your executive suites being bribed and in the case of the Himeragi Tycoon, a schemer resorting to kidnapping to fulfill his plans! Please tell us any other details we've missed in our coverage of this piece of news!"
"There isn't additional news to add because the footages and statements were crystal clear."
"The point of our appearance on this show is to confirm your thoughts on us. Yes, we want y'all to fear us. If you want to take us down, be smarter about it. Seriously, don't accept bribes."
"I thought you were told to be more friendly on camera, Yamato."
"Next." Yamato couldn't bear to disobey his wife and daughter but he also couldn't make references to them to apologize so he opted to move the conversation forward.
"May we ask for more clarification about what happened in the wine cellar earlier today?" If they weren't dealing with the presidents' overbearingly dismissive attitudes, the interviewers were dealing with an awkward silence.
"I'm not sure how to answer that question."
"We meant every word we said. I am extremely annoyed with Masaomi's uptightness and unwillingness to compromise—"
"And I in turn, despise Yamato's rambunctious behavior that leads to conflicts that truthfully, didn't have to come to be."
"S-So does that mean that the relationship between you both, who make up half of the pillars of Japan's economy, is not good?"
"Yes, with that trending video as evidence, I can tell you here and now that our relationship sucks. It's also heading downhill real fast because Masaomi isn't controlling his boy."
"Don't speak nonsense. Your son was the first to express his animosity. The Akashi household does not back down against such provocations."
"Oh? You're shamelessly blaming my protective kid huh?" If it wasn't for the fact that he couldn't mention anything about Azusa, he would have given Masaomi a piece of his mind.
"For two people that don't like each other, they can talk for hours at a time about useless things." Kazuki, Azusa and Seijūrō were the designated supervisors that (reluctantly) looked after the other middle school students, who weren't all that interested in the broadcast.
"I wonder when Papa will bring those that badmouthed Mama to justice…" In response, Kazuki was quick to draft a text to his father "to stop messing around and do his job" but their father already had an inkling that his family was rebuking him.
"My understanding is that everyone is more curious about the scandal between Masaomi and a woman. What questions do you have about that matter?" The transition was clearly not smooth but beggars can't be choosers; since Yamato was casting them a fishing net, they had to take it.
"What is the relationship between you and that lady, Akashi shachou?"
"Contrary to speculations of her being my mistress, a drug dealer [that is apparently dealing photos?] and/or a reporter, she is a friend from college. More specifically, she is a close friend of my late wife."
"What were the circumstances behind that photo?" The audience felt that something was very wrong with the angry air around Yamato, who didn't have anything to do with the current situation.
"I received photos from this college friend of my son enjoying his time at his school's annual festival. My son is a minor so I can't show the photos I received but I hope you all correct your misunderstandings, before a certain someone retaliates." His glance was on Yamato, who was having his secretary pull up the latest posts with the tag #akashi CEO love affair. "Instead of boiling with anger, why don't you say what you've been wanting to say for a while?"
"This beautiful lady that you all think is having a love affair with Masaomi, is my wife." Everyone needed a moment to process and many spat out the same nonsense: that the friendship between Masaomi and Yamato took a turn for the worst because of that messy affair.
"Oh my gosh! Akashi-cchi, your father is a homewrecker?!" Seijūrō was now angry, glaring at Kise to say not another word.
"No, you idiots. I was in the car in the background of the shot and knew exactly what my wife was doing, not that she has to explain herself to me. Also, just to be clear, Masaomi is absolutely not her type." Out of respect for Rina, Masaomi stayed quiet about his preferences not matching her features either.
"Just to be clear, I have no plans to ever remarry because Seijūrō, I've only ever loved your mother." His son was stupefied in surprise. Masaomi was not the type to want to make such things clear because he always thought it was a waste of time. Yamato also came to a conclusion that made him smirk in triumph as well.
"It's decided. The last 100 people to make disgusting posts about the scandal on Twitter and Facebook, will be sued by our company's lawyers. Get ready, adults and delinquent children because none of you are getting away unscathed."
"I-Isn't that too heavy of a punishment…"
"You all thought I was going to let you all keep running your mouths? None of you netizens even tried to figure out her identity? Instead you labeled her nasty names that shouldn't even be in your vocabulary repertoires? You stinky brats!"
"For the rest of the folks that are philandering with my company's stock prices, you all will also receive papers from my lawyers for libel and slandering of my reputation. The people that found their way into my wine cellar will also be sued for trespassing on private property." The realization hit everyone that had been running their mouths: the two CEOs didn't take action until now, to trap them in this situation. No one was being spared and it reinforced everyone's initial fears of crossing the two CEOs. When Yamato told the anchors that he needed to pick up a phone call, Masaomi off-handedly said that it was impolite of him to pick it up and the anchors let it be, hoping that they wouldn't get papers from either of their teams of lawyers.
"Sir, your children are currently wiping out the rest of the gangsters near the house the hostages were held at." After reading a few comments about their mother, the pair of siblings were angry beyond reason and proceeded to attack the remaining gangsters.
"Hey! Can you guys stop?! There's no more space in the wall for anymore people to fly into it!" Yamato's reaction was unexpectedly calm and he even fawned over how "accomplished his children were for taking up arms against evil-doers, for the sake of his almighty wife."
"You have a few more questions for us, correct? Quickly ask them before Yamato storms out."
"Ah yes of course… This is an inquiry from many curious young girls: are your heirs involved romantically?"
"How do you mean?" Masaomi didn't have particular qualms about his son's sexuality, besides the fact that there would be a problem regarding the next generation heir (and that his son neglected to inform him).
"Hey, son? Father never heard of your change in sexual orientation? Care to enlighten me?" There was the faint sound of snickering in the background, followed by Kazuki's loud yell that whoever just laughed was going to be the first set of bodies he would drown in the nearby lake. Clearly, his son didn't appreciate others shipping him with his mortal enemy.
"We won't count it as slander but make sure to confirm with those inquiring minds that my son is not romantically involved with Yamato's son. If I had to describe their relationship, they're both students under the same set of instructors."
"Can we move on from this topic? I'm worried that my son will actually blow his fuse." Thankfully everyone couldn't hear how much Kazuki was losing his marbles over the phone, as he chased after Kise and Aomine.
"Oh, uh, it seems our one hour interview slot is approaching its end! Do you both have any closing remarks for the audience?"
"We do, actually." When Masaomi and/or Yamato smirked, their dazzling aura made them seem friendly, in addition to being good-looking, for just a second.
"If you all are wondering if you'll be able to meet my wife and my second child, absolutely not. You aren't worthy."
"That was not what we agreed on as our last statement, Yamato." They squabbled some more before their secretaries stepped in to save their reputations.
"Shachou, your wife has sent a text asking that you pick up your children and be home in the next hour."
"Shachou, your son has sent a message asking if you would be dining together with him tonight."
"To all of those companies that don't want to work with our companies—"
"We will gladly terminate our partnerships. We wish you the best of luck." They omitted the last part of their "friendly" remark but everyone could tell that those former partners were in trouble.
"Now then, my children and wife are waiting for me."
"My son is also waiting for me." They curtly excused themselves, cutting off the anchors from closing the interview and they were left wondering if it was too late to rethink their careers.
"Akashi-kun's father and our father will be picking us up soon so how about our guards send you all home now?"
"It sounds like you're chasing us away."
"That's exactly what she's doing. Shoo-shoo." Midorima would have glared at Kazuki if the latter wasn't so scary but since he couldn't, he just silently speculated Azusa's identity. He also judged his three other teammates that weren't even curious about who Himeragi Azusa really was because they tired themselves out running away from Kazuki.
"Azu-chan, mission completed! Can we go celebrate now?"
"Little girl, it's time for you to go back home. I promised your parents that you would be back by ten."
"Eh, but that's no fun! You promised me that we would hang out soon~"
"Us too! What will happen to our girls only outing?"
"Let's go on our next day off. I promise I won't bail." Kazuki was already plotting to make all of Azusa's weekends busy, so she couldn't hang out with friends. Seijūrō disapproved and flashed him a look, to which the older boy just shrugged his shoulders.
"Momoi has reminded me of something." Seijūrō hadn't opened his mouth until now and Azusa felt herself breaking out in cold sweat. The phone call was still in session when Seijūrō reached out a hand to Azusa. What would have usually been his hand holding her wrist or hand, suddenly became a grip on her wrist that allowed him to pull her into his arms. "How will you make it up to me?" The boys looked at them with tight-lipped lips, wondering why Azusa wasn't resisting.
"Hold up, what makes you think you can force my sister into—"
"The mark hasn't gone away." Everyone called her name to ask for clarification because their current understanding of the situation was that there was a mark that should not have been on Seijūrō's body that was caused by Azusa. Although their minds were wandering in different directions regarding how she put that mark on him, everyone wanted answers.
"You've already cornered me into obedience so can you stop adding oil to the fire?!"
"Oil?"
"Yes, oil. Because the current you is so unbearingly greasy." Her comeback made the boys snicker in the background and they gladly left on that note, telling Azusa that they enjoyed the time they spent with her.
"Why does their obedience seem so ominous?"
"You're looking away? That won't do."
"Stop teasing me and let go."
"I'll let you escape this time but I will claim my compensation for you pointing a gun at me, soon." The girls demanded answers, to which Akashi did the honors and hung up the phone call, while Kazuki whistled at his sister's prowess. What a great, early birthday present.
"Kazuki, Azusa! Papa is here!"
"Don't run over here like that, old man!"
"It's your birthday in two hours. Why can't I congratulate you?"
"Who needs this kind of congratulations…" Kazuki struggled against his father holding him and Azusa close while Masaomi walked over to his son. After an awkward cough, he posed an unexpected question.
"Rina-san asked if we would like to stop by their estate tonight. What would you like to do?" Seijūrō looked over at the trio and slightly smiled because it would greatly annoy Yamato and Kazuki but he could be with Azusa for a little longer.
"May we stay for just a bit?"
"Members of the Akashi household don't meekly request. Say it with conviction."
"I would like to stay at the Himeragi estate until midnight. Please make time, Father." He came off a bit more assertive than expected but Masaomi didn't have plans of denying his son's request.
"Kazuki-chan! Mama has your birthday present! Open it before you go to bed!"
"Don't tell me it's another hot pink suit…"
"Why ask if you already know?"
"You literally made me almost identically atrocious suits for the past 4 years! Can't you cut it out, Mother?!"
"What do you mean?! This year I increased the efficiency of the design by adding a pocket to the right arm!" Kazuki looked at her with a look that said that her "creativity" fixed none of the initial problems he had with her presents. "It's already made! Go try it on!"
"... I could really do a year where y'all didn't harass me like this." At Kazuki's expense, the two families enjoyed a relatively peaceful evening, after finally receiving closure regarding a series of incidents that shook up the respective companies. And soon, it would come time to hear Seijūrō's decision, the feelings he had when he gazed at Azusa under the moonlight, at the upcoming masquerade ball.
"... By the way," Kazuki and Yamato had the same thoughts when they looked at Azusa, who had been out on a mission with her guy friends and not once had revealed her relation to Yamato (although it was heavily implied). "Has your cover been exposed?" Azusa and Seijūrō smiled in unison, having the same (lack of) belief in their friends' observation skills.
"Probably not."