This one rammed me like freight train riding on a tidal wave today.

And that's why this update appeared so fast.


Akashi's Door Trick


Akashi Seijuurou had always avoided a certain room at the dorm.

It was on the second floor, the door in the middle of the hall.

Not once had he gone up the east stairwell— as his room was placed at the end of the hall by the west staircase.

No one could blame him though. That door never looked inviting with the tiny scratches around the frame. The window from the outside was always closed. It was dead silent in there, so there were never any complaints from students who were in the next room over.

Now that Mibuchi thought about it, no one had really questioned why that room was never occupied. The only warning they received when he first moved into Rakuzan's dorms, was to leave that room alone.

The door knob was stuck anyway, so none of the students ever managed to open it.

Well, that was until Mibuchi saw an unusual sight on his way down to the first floor. Akashi stood in front of that door. At his heels sat the familiar cat that occasionally bumbled about campus.

While it had only been a few days since Rakuzan's loss against Seirin at the Winter Cup, he noticed a very large change in Akashi's personality.

No, everyone did.

Mibuchi wasn't sure if he should be worried or not.

On the bright side, Akashi was kinder for certain, and he still remained absolute in school. Yet, the second no one looked, Akashi either talked to thin air or his mind was clearly somewhere else.

Like right now.

Mibuchi blinked several times when the cat, Nyanko-sensei (what a weird name for a cat that basically stalked Sei-chan for a whole year), turned to look at him. He had an awkward moment of some sort of silent plea coming from the cat. Somewhat. He never knew that cats could scowl until he met Nyanko-sensei.

Concerned now, he looked back to his captain. It was so odd to see Akashi staring at the door, almost as if he truly saw it for the first time.

"Sei-chan?"

Akashi hummed in response, tearing his gaze from the door.

"Is… are you alright?" It was a question that everyone seemed to be asking nowadays, and Akashi always smiled to shake anyone off— but not this time.

Instead, Akashi placed a hand on his hip and tilted his head a bit, "I'm alright."

Ah, the usual answ—

"It's just—"

Mibuchi never thought that he'd be one of the few to ever experience Akashi cutting himself off. Hiding his own shock, he took a few steps to stand closer, "What's bothering you?"

Akashi frowned as he looked at the door again and hovered a hand over the surface like something was there, "How long has the paper on this door been torn up like this?"

Mibuchi blinked, following his captain's gaze— especially to his hand. There was nothing different since the last time he'd seen it; tiny scratches along the frame and still appeared the same as every other door on this floor.

But no paper.

"Paper…? I don't see any. This room had always been empty, and it looks the same as always. No one ever uses it, anyway."

Apparently, that was the wrong answer— Akashi's face suddenly paled a shade or two and his hand flew away from the door. Nyanko-sensei hissed when the door suddenly rattled— no, it sounded like something rammed its body against the door.

Immediately, Mibuchi stepped away from the door, "What was that?"

Akashi gave his perfect smile, but the paleness never left, "Nothing— or rather, there will be nothing in there tomorrow."

The way the captain narrowed his eyes at the door was unnerving. He shook his head, "I'm sorry. I said something strange. Please make sure that no one goes near this room. Tell the Genji-san and Yoma-san to leave their room for the night. Make a sign if you have to— just keep it clear."

"Of course, but," Mibuchi didn't have time to ask why when Akashi gave a quick bow of his head.

"I'm heading out," he bent down to pick up the cat, and promptly shoved Nyanko-sensei into Mibuchi's arms, "He'll keep watch if you need to do something."

"Out? Now? We have less than an hour before dinner starts—"

But Akashi was already heading down the stairs in a light jog, "I'll skip!"

"S-Sei-chan!"

Mibuchi tried to follow after his captain (because no one misses a meal on his watch), but a low, angry mutter made him freeze, "Troublesome brat!"

He looked down at the cat in his arms, who happened to look like it realized that it messed up.

There was a long— almost awkward silence as it fully began to register in Mibuchi's head.

The cat talked.

It actually talked.

(Did Sei-chan know?)

Then everything sort of clicked into place.

The sudden change in his captain's personality—

The cat that happened to be stalking his captain all year—

The odd times Akashi had been seen deliberately arguing with a cat, talking to thin air—

He didn't know why but everything made sense.

Mibuchi blinked, "Ara— what an unusual talking cat Sei-chan has."

"I AMM-MEOW."

Oh, he knew that Nyanko-sensei was about to say something and tried to cover it up with an absolutely unconvincing "meow", but Mibuchi decided to let it drop.

Literally.

Too bad Nyanko-sensei didn't plop on the floor like he hoped.

._._._._._.

Mibuchi ended up having to make a sign when Akashi didn't come back before dinner. He left the "Please stay away! President's orders!" sign hanging on the doorknob. Thankfully, the cat did exactly what Akashi promised it'd do and stayed curled at the foot of the door.

Dinner came and gone, but the captain didn't show up. Of course, everyone had noticed the sign on the door, even Nebuya had to ask why, but no one had an answer for that. Only Hayama tried to ask the cat ("I don't think he talks, but he sure understands!" was his reasoning), and got the weird meow.

Even when the cafe was almost empty, Mibuchi stayed behind to wait for Akashi. He gained permission to save some left over tofu soup and a light meal just in case. It also gave him time to worry about his captain a little more.

Certainly, Akashi had truly changed from his high and mighty attitude, so it was nice to have an encouraging captain and a perfect school president. While it amazed him how the first year managed all of those things, it made him realize just how much was on Akashi's plate.

And to add in the recent moments of probable schizophrenia, the door, and a talking cat on top of all of that (and probably even more)—

Well, Mibuchi figured that he would do his best to lessen the burden on his captain. After all, it was unlikely that Akashi wouldn't be voted as president for another year and assigned as the captain of the team again.

With five minutes left until their nine o'clock curfew, Akashi finally slipped into the cafeteria.

"There you are, Sei-chan!"

"Good evening, Mibuchi," he greeted back (the "Aw, Sei-chan, you can always call me Reo again!" went unheard as usual), "The dorm head told me you were waiting for me. Thank you."

Mibuchi smiled as he reheated the food for him, "Not a problem! Everyone knows not to go near that room. Yoma-kun and Genji-kun got permission to spend the night with someone else."

Akashi sat himself on the closest table and nodded, "Good. This is only temporary, so everything should be fine tomorrow."

As he placed a tray in front of his captain, Mibuchi finally asked the question, "Just where did you go, Sei-chan."

The smile that appeared suddenly made him feel a tad sorry for that door.

"I had to get some supplies to open it," he paused for a second, "And I called for some advice in the process. That's all."

As much as he wanted to know why in the world did that statement seemed to contradict everything in the world-

Mibuchi wisely kept his mouth shut.

._._._._._._.

In the dead of the night, the whole dormitory rocked with a sudden explosion out of nowhere. It threw Mibuchi out of bed and he hauled himself off the floor to the hall of the dorm. Everyone else in a panic since they were out in the hall as well.

"What happened?!"

"There's no fire?"

"What hit us?"

"Shit— do we need to call police?"

Mibuchi didn't stay still. Instead, his feet took him from his room on the third floor to the second floor. Nebuya and Hayama were right behind him.

Already, many of the other guys were warily waiting for hundreds of paper scraps to seemingly burn away in the air. The second it seemed like it was over, Mibuchi saw the damage.

The door that never opened for years had been wide open, almost blown off its hinges. Tens of destroyed, white paper strips littered the surface of it.

"How long has the paper on this door been torn up like this?" Akashi's voice echoed in his head.

Realization hit him a second later.

"Sei-chan!" he cried as he ran to the door. He ignored how his fellow uncrowned kings crowded around him to peek inside.

There, standing calmly in the midst of utter chaos of scattered burns and shattered glass, was Akashi.

An ink brush was gripped in his hand and the other seemed to rest on thin air. He had a folded white blanket around his shoulders. He looked exhausted, like he just fought a vicious battle and won by the skin of his teeth. His cat was no where to be found.

He turned, rubbing the growing bruise on his face, "Ah, sorry to wake you. I meant to…. clean the dust little bit, but I'm afraid I made a mess in the process."

Mibuchi almost couldn't breathe.

Akashi Seijuurou smiled under the pale moonlight, his red eyes lightly glowing as he spoke, "And you are right, Mibuchi. There was nothing in this room."


And we got Mibuchi now- so technically speaking, he knew about Nyanko-sensei before Mayuzumi did. And no one ever mentions this incident because everyone just unanimously voted not to breathe a word of it since it was so bizarre and Akashi didn't deserve to be questioned by police and nothing terrible happened- just a busted room. Nothing they can't fix as a group. (And yet it's now one of the reasons why Mayuzumi gets those reactions in Emergency Contract)

Okay, side note- so I figured that Akashi (get him away from dear ol dad) Mibuchi, Hayama, and Nebuya all live in the dorm while Mayuzumi actually lived with his parents before moving out for college.