So on the PoT fandom wiki has Akaya's favorite music as hip-hop. I feel like he'd like rap more so I'm changing it.
"Can I go now?" The boy groaned, fingers rubbing deeply into his forehead. "My brain is trashed."
"Only if you can say it in English." Akina breathed out. They were so close to finishing his homework. Just a few more, please, Akina begged in her mind. She starred down at his work. He had gotten a bit better in just the few weeks that had passed. However, she still didn't know if it would be enough for the test he had next week.
The poor boy's eyes furrowed. "Please Echizen-chan? It's Friday and it's already 5:30! And we're meeting tomorrow anyways, so can I just go n—"
Knock knock.
Both of their heads snapped towards the door, the temporary distraction unwelcomed by both. Silver hair greeted their weary eyes. Niou gave them a weak wave, feeling bad about Akaya's struggle sessions with Akina. He felt bad for both of them.
"Yes?" Akina and Akaya both answered him.
"I— uh— Yukimura was wondering when you'll be down. You've been up here for a while now."
"Soon."
"Well, how soon? We kind of need you."
"Just soon, okay?—"
Akina rubbed her temples. She could feel a headache growing with her frustration. "If your coach needs him that badly, he can come up here and get him himself."
"I—" Niou held up his hands in defense. If Akaya does come down before practice ends, he could sense that Akaya might be a little more aggressive than usual today. "I was just asking."
Akina sighed before appologizing. "I'm sorry, Niou-san."
"It's fine." Niou waved her apology off before heading back to the courts, leaving the two back to their own devices.
Akaya was over ninety percent done with his homework when the clock read fifteen before six when he put down his pencil for umpteenth time this session.
"I swear I will do my best to finish this before our session tomorrow. Echizen-chan, please?" His leg was bouncing when he said this, agitation and desperation clear in his face.
Her face fell in her hands while a small but exasperated breathe left her lips. This was one of the longest sessions that they had had yet. Despite being impressed with how long they had held on, they were still reaching their end point. "There's literally just one more sentence, Akaya-kun. You can do this."
His brows furrowed even more. She could now hear the tapping of his shoe quicken. "I can probably do this by myself. And we're meeting tomorrow anyways! Echizen-chan, I swear I'll get it done—"
Knock knock.
Red flashed before Akina's eyes. Akaya's tennis team harassing them did not help Akaya with finishing his English homework. Snapping her head towards the door and arms crossing, words flew out her mouth before her brain registered who was standing in the doorway. "Niou, I thought I told you that if your coach needed him that fucking badly, he could get his own ass up here."
"I did get my 'own ass' up here." A gentle voice— one not known to the Echizen— travelled through the room, freezing Akina's rapidly growing frustrations. The boy across from her stopped his fidgeting; his own frustrations fizzing away as he waited for more to happen. No one had ever spoken to Yukimura— not even his own parents— like that. "Echizen-san, I do need him."
Annoyance overpowering her ability to be embarrassed, Akina leaned back into her chair, a hand reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose. Mentally exhausted, she gave in. "Alright. We'll finish it tomorrow."
"Thank you," Akaya scrabbled, shoving his things in his backpack before bolting out of the room. She shook her head at him. Yukimura spared her a glance before following after his youngest regular.
Her body stayed put until the last tennis member left, only catching his leaving form from the corner of her eye. She released a heavy breath once his form left her sight. Only now was her embarrassment able to over take her annoyance.
"Ooohh my goooood." Akina's head fell to the desk, her arms splayed out around her head. Fucking awkward.
"Ah, you managed to get Akaya-kun down!" Sanada's voice boomed from across the courts. The bluenette only managed to respond with a small wave. As Akaya bounced off to practice with Sanada— perhaps the only time Yukimura has ever seen him so willing to practice with him, he turned to Yanagi.
"Did something happen? Did she turn us down?" Yanagi could see the strain, the weariness in his eyes. He didn't think that she would reject them. She had seemed so desperate to join the girl's team and his calculations were always correct.
Yukimura shook his head, his eyes now looking in the distance, staring at something far away. He was avoiding his gaze. "I didn't get the chance to ask her."
"You—" Yanagi's eyebrow rose. "Why not?"
"I'll ask her Monday," Yukimura spoke with a strained tone— his way of saying that the conversation was over.
Only when Yukimura turned away from him to speak with someone else, did Yanagi realize what— or who— the bluenette was staring down. Akina Echizen stood near the entrance of the tennis courts, watching over the practicing team. Just as Yanagi decided that perhaps he could just ask her himself, the girl quickly turned away after being spotted by Niou and Marui who had waved at her.
Well, he thought to himself, that was odd.
"Well today went a lot better," Akaya stretched, all his English homework and other study sheets competed in front of him on the coffee table. He leaned back in his living room chair; he didn't want to strain his back before tennis practice today.
Akina nodded, a relieved smile on her face. She checked her phone from the loveseat across the living room. "Yeah, actually."
"Ooo," Akaya's head shot up to meet her eyes as he shuffled his papers together. "We could get lunch before you drop me off at Rikkaidai."
"Yeah," Akina nodded her head at the idea. She had driven to his house initially to spend less time commuting but once he had told her that he was going to tennis practice after their study session, she had offered to drop him off. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea. I'm kinda hungry."
With their idea in mind, the two hopped in her car and headed for a fast-food place on the way to Rikkaidai.
Akaya chatted away with her as the two snacked on loose fries in their bags. His fingers reached for her aux cord, finding the end the cord before plugging it into his phone. "Is it alright to play some music?"
"Yeah," Akina agreed, ignoring the fact that he had already changed the car setting to play from aux before asking her.
"Sorry, if you don't like it. I just need to get into the right mood before practicing with Yukimura-san today."
"Wait, are you just practicing with your coach. What about everyone else?"
Akaya sighed heavily before leaning back in the passenger seat, Miyachi's Wakarimasen blaring in the background— the irony of his chosen song not lost on her. "I've been struggling with some of my shots lately. We don't really know what's been going on. So just me and Yukimura-san are practicing at Rikkaidai today as everyone else is at the match today."
"Ah," Akina weakly responded as she pulled into the Rikkaidai parking lot. She didn't see any bluenette. She looked down at the dash's clock. "We're really early."
"What?" His head shot up from his phone. "Oh. Yeah, that's fine. You can leave me at the courts; I'll be fine on my own."
"Actually," Akina couldn't believe what she would say next. "Let's see what you've been struggling with."
The boy raised his eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah."
He was skeptical, but it couldn't hurt to have a second opinion. "Okay. I guess."
Yukimura quietly walked down the steps to the tennis courts. With his mind so consumed with managing the tennis team and the quietness of the school grounds penetrating his endless thoughts, he didn't notice the extra person on the courts. He stopped when her voice reached his ears.
"Do you sometimes feel an ache in your elbow after intense matches, Akaya-kun?"
"Sometimes." His youngest regular responded back to the feminine voice.
"I figured." She responded back to the boy. Yukimura was too far away to see what exactly did to Akaya's form, but she adjusted his body and made a swinging motion. "See how that feels from now on."
"It already feels better—" His sentence stopped as he caught sight of the bluenette standing far from the courts. Thinking that perhaps Yukimura couldn't see him, Akaya dramatically waved from across the courts. "Hey! I'm over here!"
Akina stepped back from where she was initially standing, heading back over to the benches to pick up her phone. As the bluenette made his way over to the duo, Akina and Akaya exchanged their goodbyes to one another before Akina made her way to the steps leading out of the tennis court area— the steps he was just lingering on. Just as the two began to pass each other, a small burst of lavender hit his senses, causing him to pause in steps. When the girl had just made her way past him, an apology so quiet, so quick, he almost missed it, slipped by his ear.
Shock rumbled him. He whipped around, finding her retreating form making its way up the steps, her skirt swaying gently with each of her steps. He blinked away his confusion, before turning back to his awaiting kohei.
Hmm, was his only thought.
Anticipating forsythia.