Gazing at a fading rainbow

by Sky divider

Red, green, blue, pink, purple, yellow and pale blue...She knew these colors. She once shared a bond with them called friendship and just like an ephemeral rainbow, those colors faded away into the distance. So why not gaze at those dazzling colors one last time?

51. Friendship over Love (2)

They put together several desks into a big table and sat around it. Once all the lunches were displayed, Ritsu sensed the prying eyes of the group returning on her.

"For real?" Aomine broke the ice, more in shock than in disbelief.

"I love Akashi-kun." Ritsu confirmed it, leaving no room for mishearing or misinterpretation.

Aomine looked even more speechless, with his gaping mouth and wide-open eyes. He expected a meeker and shier behavior when expressing having romantic feelings for Akashi ; but here he got a frank and blunt confirmation.

Midorima and Murasakibara were in the same state. Obviously, those three hadn't suspected the slightest bit of romance between Akashi and she. For them, they were close friends, sometimes to some creepy extent, but if they had to define it, it'd be best friends. Nothing more, nothing less.

"You haven't suspected anything at all about my behavior?"

Aomine placed his hand on the back of his neck and started rubbing it in embarrassment.

"Because you've changed? For me, you're the same old Asaka I've met and known for months."

"No, I haven't." I hope not, Ritsu thought.

In fact, she was glad to hear that. First, there was still hope that Akashi might not suspect anything (even though she found it hard to believe) and Kuroko was a special case. Momoi and her teammates knowing about her feelings were merely the natural course of events. Since the day they saw the tiniest hint of romance between Akashi and she, they messed around and pried for fun before she eventually had to admit it herself (after some realization). Second, her behavior around Akashi seemed not to leak any of her feelings for him, and it was a relief. Although she didn't try hard to hide them, once self-consciousness hit, her feelings could gush out like water from a broken dam gates.

«When Asaka-san loves people, it just shows.»

Kuroko pointed it out right. She had no control over her emotions in situations like these and they might speak for themselves. So Aomine, Midorima and Murasakibara, who happened to witness her interactions with Akashi on daily basis, must have been a little bit suspicious of something at least. Moreover even though they would not believe it, they should have blamed it on their wild imagination.

"But I was just wondering if sometimes you weren't suspicious of something going on between Akashi-kun and me. I mean, there are material to."

"Material?" Midorima furrowed his brows, his tone pitching up in cluelessness.

"Are you going to make me say this?" Ritsu blushed, caught of guard. She meant to jog their memory and realize with hindsight how some of her actions could be mistaken as flirting with Akashi. But she may have overestimated their awareness on love matters.

They genuinely hadn't picked up anything at all. Of course, she would have understood if the illusion of Akashi and she being friends and nothing more was perfect to others since she never crossed the line when they were together— at least, not in public and at school. However...

«At this rate, you won't make him fall for you.»

Ritsu could now understand Yagami and Momoi's impatience about her love case. They didn't want to rush her but merely wished for things to move between Akashi and she. Because yes, at this rate, their relationship wouldn't go further than friendship in the next ten years.

So, the perfect illusion of them being friends shouldn't exist anymore within her circle of group of friends. Aomine, Midorima and Murasakibara were obviously dense when it came to love and romance but she couldn't blame it all on it. She must start becoming a little more active with Akashi if she desire to claim his heart.

Upon noticing her sudden sheepish state, Aomine quirked an eyebrow, "You just straight out admit you love Akashi. Why getting embarrassed now?"

"This and that are, well, different." Ritsu couldn't argue with strong conviction. Even though Aomine and Midorima didn't mean to pry, they'd naturally become curious to know more about it when she dropped the news like a bomb.

Ritsu resigned herself and directed her attention on Midorima, "Do you remember the other day, when we made the way home together and shared an umbrella, Midorima-kun?"

Midorima nodded with a sullen expression, his green eyes focused on her in full interest.

"It is this sort of material I'm speaking about. There might be nothing between us but from her third-party's view, it can look like a romantic scene considering how close we were."

"What?" He interjected in utter shock and his face scrunched up in plain distaste. "You're telling me that people may think we're f-flirting just by sharing an umbrella. That's preposterous!"

"People fantasize. I don't say it as a complete bad thing since it is as the saying says : there's no smoke without fire. But you get the point now, right? That's why I'm a bit amazed you haven't noticed anything so far. Akashi-kun and I are very close. You even said it yourself."

"Hmph." Midorima dismissed with a huff. "Even so, I don't understand what there's to fantasize about people sharing an umbrella."

"Oi, you serious, Midorima?"

Midorima darted a dark look at Aomine, disliking the condescending tone of his teammate.

"Midorin...Everyone knows that a boy and a girl sharing an umbrella leads to a romantic moment. Because you know...you're practically glued to one another." Momoi enlightened him the best she could. "You must know it. You must have shared an umbrella with a girl before, no?"

"The only girl I shared an umbrella with is my little sister." Midorima answered without a blush.

"Your life must be awfully lonely, Midorima." Aomine scoffed. "Not that I'm surprised."

"Shut up, Aomine."

"Un, it sounds very Midorin-like." Momoi stifled a laugh, unable to resist the temptation of teasing him out of habit. "So~ Midorin hasn't felt his first love yet!"

Holding himself back to retort, Midorima sighed deeply. He could not win against the Aomine and Momoi duo. Those two seemed barely on the same wavelength but once they connected, they were insufferable.

"Then..." Murasakibara broke his silence, finally managing to put the pieces together. "Asa-chin might have changed."

"Really?"

As he gained Aomine's interest, he confirmed with a nonchalant nod.

"Asa-chin spoils Aka-chin rotten."

"And?" Aomine pressed on, missing Murasakibara's point. This fact was obvious because Ritsu was in love with Akashi.

"At the start of the year, Asa-chin would always share food with me but now she does it less and less and put all her attention on Aka-chin. On Mido-chin's birthday, she shared half of her crêpe with Aka-chin. The other day, she forced me to share the hamburger she especially made for me because he was interested. Ah... and she has never invited me back to that famous coffee shop since the wallet incident but I'm sure she goes with Aka-chin... Just the two of them, like on Aka-chin's birthday. They went off alone. Asa-chin didn't want us around just to eat tons of cakes with him..."

After making his complaint, Murasakibara then fell silent, his expression was the exact same of a child sulking because of a lack of attention from his parents.

"In short, Asaka is favoriting Akashi, is what you're trying to say." Aomine resumed without fully grasping the reason of such a strong complaint. "But why do you sound that mad about it?"

"Aka-chin gets to be treated to all kinds of tasty food by Asa-chin without even asking and their time together has increased. I see them going to have lunch in the the music room occasionally while Asa-chin seldom invites me to come along with them...Before it wasn't like that. Asa-chin has changed."

His sullen face growing deeper, he then stated :

"I don't like it."

A blank ensued as the statement sank in, when Momoi let out a gasp of shock. A truth suddenly revealed to her.

"M-Mukkun...! Don't tell me you...you like Asaka-chan?!"

"Huh? I like Asa-chin." Murasakibara replied in full honesty. The lack of hesitation in that confession could have come out like a declaration of love but his innocent and direct tone expressed more of an answer to a question than an actual affirmation of some hidden affection.

That said, in her excitement, Momoi didn't seem to have picked up the nuance and squealed :

"Oh my god! It's a love triangle!"

"What's a love triangle?" Murasakibara asked, cocking his head confusedly.

"You like Asaka-chan but Asaka-chan likes Akashi-kun and—"

"Let me guess. Akashi secretly likes Murasakibara?" Aomine mocked, "There you have your perfect triangle."

"Idiot!" Momoi shouted back and glared at him.

"But I don't like Asa-chin that way. And Mine-chin should stop saying creepy things."

Momoi's excitement dropped down a notch. "Then why do you seem jealous of Akashi-kun?"

"I'm not jealous. I hate having the impression that Asa-chin cares only about Aka-chin."

"That is called jealousy, Mukkun."

"It's unfair and annoying." Murasakibara pouted. The only thing that didn't match with his childish features was his purple eyes judging her severely.

When Ritsu looked at him, his gaze revealed anger and to an extent, frustration. For a reason other than jealousy, Ritsu being in love with Akashi upsetted him.

"What is «unfair and annoying»?" Momoi asked.

"Now that I know Asa-chin is in love with Aka-chin. I can see why she's never won against him. From the beginning, she has a soft spot for him and it might have become worse with those feelings. It causes her to become weak."

"There is a saying that says the first to fall in love loses." Midorima added, taking his observation at face value.

Although he wouldn't take her defence like she needed it, Ritsu has expected him to vehemently dismiss it since it wasn't in line with a logical reasoning. But Midorima readily agreed with the weakness part.

"That's not true!" Momoi shouted back in her defence.

"What bullshit are you spouting, Murasakibara?"

"Ah? Mine-chin, use your brain more. Every time we have to spell things out for you. It's annoying." Murasakibara frowned at the irked tone of Aomine. "Aka-chin is Asa-chin's favorite, that means she would side with him and wouldn't do anything against him anymore."

"Impossible. Asaka's the first to scheme things against Akashi and it won't change because of her feelings for him. She won't go soft on him. She never has."

"She had refused to play rock-paper-scissors earlier." Murasakibara riposted and proved his point with that specific argument. "It must be because she doesn't want to compete and see Aka-chin lose."

Midorima concurred, "Months ago, Asaka would have accepted right away. On my birthday, she didn't hesitate a second in facing Akashi. But now she expresses reluctance when it comes to play against him."

"I prefer that Asa-chin isn't in love with Aka-chin. She's more funny to be with."

The point still had yet to convince Aomine. Even so, he couldn't totally deny its validity when two opposites characters like Midorima and Murasakibara came to share the same opinion on a subject. He heard, Ritsu wasn't the most competitive girl due to her soft-hearted nature. Thus, going easy on the one she liked would be something she could do and fairly easy to imagine.

Yet, could she really do it? Aomine believed not since he has witnessed the rivalry between Ritsu and Akashi. No matter how he looked at it, it was clear that Ritsu considered Akashi as a rival with whom she wished to stand on the same ground. That desire was probably born after her defeat at the volleyball and continued to manifest at the school festival with the play and on little events like the rock-paper-scissors game.

So Ritsu wouldn't betray this feeling of rivalry for love and would put her feelings aside when she had to if she hoped Akashi to see her as an equal. Which explained why Aomine didn't trust her to be the weak girl Murasakibara and Midorima depicted.

She had her flaws and weaknesses but in the same way as Kuroko, she did her very best to walk alongside Akashi. And he couldn't deny that too.

Besides, even though it was his own belief on the topic and he didn't know much about love personally, Aomine would hate that the one he likes didn't see and treat him as an equal.

"But in the end, I do participate, don't I, Murasakibara-kun?" Ritsu intervened calmly. Listening in each of their reactions was funny at first but they wasted enough time on speculations and theories. Moreover, the last thing she wanted was the argument to heat up and them quarreling on that ever childish question of who's wrong and right.

Given the time, Akashi could come in any time soon and with his «perfect» timing, he might ovearhear something he shouldn't at the moment.

"Only because we forced Asa-chin." The retort flew past his lips like she'd betrayed him.

Again, Murasakibara was truly like having a second little brother. When he was mad at her, he looked like Shōhei. He wouldn't hide his disappointment and did everything to make her feel bad about it. Plus, they wouldn't listen unless they heard what they wanted. So to tackle this sort of situation without making it worse was to be patient, calm AND most and foremost have a very good reason for them to realise their own childness.

"You misunderstood my words. When I said I must sit it out, I was talking about my opportunity of giving my chocolate to Akashi-kun. Since the two of us would be eating at the music room, it was the perfect break for Akashi-kun who's been surrounded by girls since morning, and a chance for me to enjoy Valentine's day with him, even for a short moment."

Aomine and Midorima were struck by awkwardness, suddenly and plainly being aware of having thwarted her plan for romance with Akashi. Also, as Ritsu spoke so earnestly, it hammered into them even more that she was actually in love with Akashi. On the other hand, Murasakibara didn't look apologetic at all and just pouted in silence.

"AAAH! You hopeless big idiots! I knew it all along! That's why I wanted Asaka-chan and Akashi-kun to be alone at lunchtime!"

The three boys, and Ritsu too, flinched as Momoi's anger gauge shot up to the max.

"Didn't I tell you it was NOT the time to play rock-paper-scissors?" She scolded them while putting her hands on her waist like a furious parent.

The three basketball players may be a head or two taller than Momoi but she seemed to have enough authority within her to be feared. Or perhaps they were painfully aware not to occur a woman's wrath at their own risk.

Thus Aomine kept a low profile this time and gave up on retorting to defend himself.

"So I imagine it's time for us to get the hell out of here." He just said after a sigh then grabbed his plastic bag full of sandwiches and snacks and pushed back his chair as a sign of retirement. "Our bad, Asaka."

"You needn't apologize for that. You did nothing wrong." Aomine becoming so meek caused Ritsu to feel actually bad. Honestly, she wasn't the least angry at them for their sudden plan of defeating Akashi. It wasn't like they did on purpose and even if they had done, she wouldn't have held it against them. Only because she knew how heated those three could be when it became a competition matter between themselves.

Their desire to defeat Akashi and rivalry between them were nothing new to her. And Ritsu was the same as them when it came to Akashi.

"And you can stay."

"Asaka-chan!"

Before Momoi could protest, Ritsu shook her head firmly and chuckled to lighten the mood : "I like their plan better. I'm not lying."

"It's supposed to be a romantic and decisive moment for you..." The emphasis on the word revealed even more of Momoi's real intention. She just didn't wish for Akashi and Ritsu to spend a romantic together but to also come to some sort of conclusion.

In which she would confess her love for him.

Hence she vehemently opposed the rock-paper-scissors game in spite of wanting to participate herself. That was Momoi all over. She'd put others before herself.

But a love confession at the end of the day? Ritsu mused. Rather than seeing it like a possibility, it seemed like a distant day to her. She wasn't ready for that yet but she'd work towards that day to eventually come.

"I can still make it, there's still time after school. Also, I was thinking that if Akashi-kun plays rock-paper-scissors and happens to lose, wouldn't my chocolates taste way more sweeter to him?"

"Huh?" Momoi exclaimed quizzically.

"I can console him with some chocolates by the end of the day, and maybe it can work on the romantic mood more than if I simply give them to him."

Momoi pondered over her idea before it sounded like a splendid plan for her. Her magenta eyes started twinkling.

"Let's defeat Akashi-kun!" Momoi shouted, pumping her fist in the air. She wasn't holding back anymore for her friend's sake.

Well, Ritsu was unsure whether it was because of the idea of defeating Akashi once and for all or the romantic moment to come between her two friends but Momoi seemed to be looking forward to the rock-paper-scissors game more than the boys themselves now.

The persuasion successful, Ritsu motioned Aomine to sit back. He did with a dumbfounded look, but on a closer inspection, there seemed to be a bit of wariness on his face too. One which showed distrust of women's nature.

"Women really have a cunning side in them, huh." He muttered to himself, although everyone could hear him in the silence of the room. Judging by the approval on their faces, Murasakibara and Midorima had some experience of it.

Ritsu chuckled, "That's the way the world works. I'm no exception."

"Coming from you, sure is a surprise nonetheless." Aomine scoffed, "But from the girl who tried to get rid of Akashi's wallet just to have lunch with him, I guess there was some hints of it way back. Geez, I bet even Akashi doesn't suspect that much deception from you."

"That's hard to believe." She giggled. "If one person must be conscious of it, that would be Akashi-kun. It seems like the wallet incident left a very deep impression of me on his mind."

"Telling you Akashi won't see anything coming." He affirmed back. "How can he suspect anything from that?"

His blue eyes shot downward, on the chocolates leftovers packet she left on the table.

"You made them for him, right? Though I was wondering why the hell do they have that shape if you like him?"

Ritsu colored up slightly in embarrassment but she'd prepared herself for those sort of questions when she decided to make superheroes chocolates.

"I couldn't bring myself to make him heart-shaped chocolates, even though it's the tradition."

Aomine cocked an eyebrow, barely understanding her process of thinking. Did she want to claim Akashi's heart or not? One moment she seemed like ready to do everything to get it, the other she reverted to the shy type who wouldn't do anything.

"I'm not ready yet for a love confession. Besides, I just wish to give him my chocolates."

"At least give him some fantasy to work on. Even if you give him chocolates, he won't get any message from them."

"How are you so confident about it?"

"Think everything you want about him, Akashi is a guy like the rest of us. Subtleties like that go over his head."

"Don't put Akashi on the same level as you, Aomine." Midorima intervened, not in his defence but rather in a simple spirit of contradiction.

"Put yourself in his shoes, Midorima. Imagine Asaka is giving you those chocolates, would you seriously think she loves you?"

His silent answer spoke volumes. Her chocolates killed any chances for a romantic development. Well, Ritsu didn't expect to make Akashi fall in love with her with her chocolates, nonetheless, she believed the simple act of giving him chocolate would create the mood by itself and was one step forward in her love quest.

But she had forgotten to consider a few parameters. For a romance to settle in, something had to be hinted. Something that could feed Akashi's fantasy and excite him.

And her superheroes chocolates gathered nothing of these requirements. When she pondered seriously about it, the best reaction she could draw out of Akashi was friendly appreciation and gratitude.

Nothing more.

«Still, I think heart-shaped chocolates would have been a better choice, because you like him, right? I'm not very sure a superheroes mask would convey the right feeling. When I look at it, all it screams is friendzoned.»

Yagami was right.

This was the same as giving him obligation chocolate. There was nothing to expect from them.

"Yagami said about the same thing. It's like I friendzone him."

"Not «like». You totally do!" Aomine drilled the fact into her head.

She should not regret the choice of making superheroes chocolate, it was too late for that. Still, it'd be a lie to say a part of her wasn't. Sure, she wished to take it slow and make Akashi fall in love with her little by little, but her way of processing might be way too slow to make actual progress.

In her arrogance, deep down, she might have taken Akashi's affection for granted. Convinced that by doing the bare minimum, things would still work in her favour. Incidentally, that also meant staying in her comfort zone. She wasn't taking any risks at all there.

Yet, a great goal required one to take risks in order to achieve. That was how people got ahead in life.

So if she was able to settle herself by staying friends with Akashi and only hope for progress, she could keep going at this pace.

But Ritsu was not. Her feelings grew day by day, faster than the way she expressed them to him. Thus, this sentiment that things might spiral out of control at some point proved it that much.

Now that her love for him was put into perspective, she was being truly and fairly nonchalant about it. No surprise that Yagami and Momoi urged her to be more active, and that Aomine, Midorima and Murasakibara could not sense the love in her half-assing way of doing things.

"What else can Akashi feel about them? "

"Well, I thought the act of giving him homemade chocolate alone would be enough to bring us closer and let things happen naturally."

"Hard to tell if you're confident or just naive about the whole thing." Aomine let out a sigh and scratched nervously the back of his head, hesitating for an instant to say the rest of his thoughts, "If you have the luxury to let things happen naturally, you might as well give up."

"Aomine-kun!" Momoi shouted in shock.

"I couldn't agree more with Aomine."

"Midorin too!"

Ritsu couldn't hide her shock. They were incredibly harsh and coming from Aomine, that was all the more shocking. If there was someone who'd tell her not to give up, it would be Aomine.

"What are you saying?" Momoi asked, furious by their lack of support.

"Because it's like she's waiting on a damn miracle to happen, like people who does efforts without actually believing they can achieve their goal and rely on some stupid luck! They go in circles. And Asaka is better than that."

On the hand, it was through the harshness of their words that Ritsu felt their support. As always, Aomine, Midorima and Murasakibara didn't treat her with kid gloves and didn't shy away from giving a piece of their mind.

They weren't kind for her sake, and thus made their friendship all the more real and deep. She trusted her bonds with them. The way they cared about her managed to keep surprising her then stole a smile from her every time.

«Asaka is better than that.»

It was this feeling of realization that they knew and paid a lot more attention on her than she gave them credit.

And she reciprocated their feelings.

"I have to create my own opportunities, is what you're trying to say."

Aomine pointed it right. Love was like a competition. If she didn't intend to fight and was unable to put her mind into it, she'd better give up than hoping in vain for a chance to win.

In what world a game was won by «letting things happen»?

As his message got through, Aomine beamed in full delight : "I wouldn't say it if I know you couldn't pull it off."

Ritsu cracked a smile.

"You know, Aomine-kun. You might be of excellent advice in love. I probably should come to you more."

"Give me a break." He snorted. Him as love counsellor? A matchmaker? What a laughable thing to say. Not to mention it sounded so lame.

"Really, I'm not exaggerating. I expected more indifference from your part than obtaining your full support. Though now I feel like you'd lend me a hand if I ever need help."

"I stop you there, Asaka. Leave me out and spare me the sight of you flirting with Akashi." Midorima immediately drew the line, having already the bad feeling that he'd put in the front line of that love quest of hers, which was definitely not the kind of seat he wanted.

"So you say. However, between Akashi-kun or me, you'll choose my side in the end."

"Where does your confidence suddenly come from, Asaka?" Midorima looked askance at her. Yet, the glint in her gray-blue eyes intrigued him enough to hear what she had to say.

"You consider Akashi-kun as a worthy opponent." Ritsu began, "For that reason, I simply believe that it'd be logical of you to side someone who challenge him too. As proof, we're teaming up in order to defeat Akashi-kun in rock-paper-scissors."

"Hmph." He huffed in rebuttal, "I'm not doing this to help you in making Akashi fall in love with you."

"That's fine because by the end of the day, Akashi will have to console himself with chocolates after his defeat. We both want to defeat him, right?"

Midorima frowned before he gave in. They did share a common goal in the end.

"I'm not approving of your motive, Asaka. Nevertheless, teaming up with you is likely the only way to get the upper hand on him. Akashi won't fall down easily."

"Yeah, we're all a team!" Momoi shouted in joy, loving the idea of them forming a team (since she was included in for once). Then she giggled as she gave an assured look to Ritsu : "A team like us can pull off miracles! We're going to kill two birds with one stone!"

Get their revenge and make him fall in love. Akashi sure didn't have it easy with opponents AND friends like them. Ritsu just hoped everything would be fine and ideally, it'd go as planned. Although she came up with the idea of consolation chocolate on the spur of the moment, she came to like it. They surely won't convey right this feeling of love she'd put into them, nonetheless, they would be sweet enough to melt his heart and get a glimpse of one of his rare expressions full fondness.

"The bids are getting high, I like it!" Aomine grinned fiercely, spark in his eyes. "Let Akashi know the taste of defeat and bring him at Asaka's feet, sounds like a plan!"

"I like it too. Aka-chin won't order us around anymore." Murasakibara nodded, the excitement getting to his head.

Midorima acknowledged their determination, "By the way, Kuroko, can you actually do it? Everything rests on you. As much as I'm not fond of the idea, it definitely is a risk worth taking against Akashi."

Kuroko, who had remained quiet the whole time eating in the background, lifted his nose from his lunch and said firmly : "I'm ready anytime."

As always, his flat expression never betrayed his emotions within. Yet Kuroko was undisputedly one of them. The perspective of a game fired him up, and after the whole story, he was more than willing to help Asaka and the rest defeating Akashi.

"Oooh." Aomine exclaimed with a smirk, "You're bubbling with excitement yourself, Tetsu!"

The shadow of a smile shaped on Kuroko's lips, "I'll do the best I can."

The whole table acknowledged his statement and would trust him for when the time came.

"Hey, Tetsu, how about some practice?"

"You should eat before, Aomine-kun. You still haven't touched your meal yet." Kuroko advised calmly then his cerulean round eyes cast a look around the table. "Everyone else too."

He was the only one who had finished eating.

"Oh, yeah. With all that stuff Asaka dropped on us, I totally forgot I was starving!" He rummaged through his plastic bag and grabbed an arm-length-sized sandwich. After sticking the straw into his banana milk, he removed the wrapping and started eating, "I'll be quick."

"No, take your ti—"

Kuroko couldn't even finish his sentence that Aomine wolfed down the huge sandwich in four bites and sipped the banana milk whole.

"Phew!" Fully satiated, he put down the empty drink on the table and rubbed his belly, "Okay! I'm full now!"

Ritsu and Murasakibara stared at him in astonishment, one wondering how it was possible to eat so fast and the other, how the mix of banana milk and yakisoba tasted. Midorima wore an expression of disgust, taking it as bad manner since food should be fully appreciated. Momoi sighed like an exasperated mother, all too familiar with this kind of scene.

"Let's get down to business!" Aomine leaped from his chair and urged his basketball partner to do the same.

"Doesn't he feel sick?" Midorima asked incredulously. He didn't even take the time to chew his food. Even Murasakibara would have been sick by eating this fast. The giant may eat fast and seemed like he gulped down his food but that was only because he chewed his food faster than other people, or so he justified it.

"He's totally fine." Momoi assured, "Aomine-kun always does that when he's too excited. In elementary school, he'd always wolf down his food and leave me eating alone when other boys come and ask him to play basketball with them. He doesn't care about anything in this state of exhilaration."

Aomine in all its splendor, if she could say so, Ritsu thought. Poor little Momoi. How many times had she experienced it to be so used to it? On the other hand, there really was something pure and innocent about this part of Aomine getting overexcited to play.

Certainly because you could only imagine him with a broad smile on his face.

Brimming with full happiness.

"What is he, a kid?"

A warm smile tugged at Momoi's lips at Midorima's comment. But that childish expression of his may be the reason why Aomine always got to be forgiven by his childhood friend, no matter how many times he forgot about her and left her on her own to go play with other kids.

Meanwhile, Aomine and Kuroko placed themselves at the front of the classroom and faced each other.

"Last time, we challenged Akashi on a alternate version of rock-paper-scissors."

"An alternate version?" Kuroko enquired curiously.

"The one where you point your finger in a direction and the other musn't look that way."

"Oh, this one. Okay."

As Kuroko already knew the rules of the game, they went on straight to play. They closed their hands into fists and looked at each other.

"Ready, Tetsu?"

"Do your best, Tetsu-kun!"

"Rock-paper-scissors...!"

Kuroko lost and kept his focus for the next part.

"Look that way!"

Ten rounds later...

"T-That was some performance, Kuroko-kun..."

"Kuroko, are you even trying?"

"Kuro-chin isn't supposed to look at the pointed direction..."

"Not gonna lie. You suck at this game, Tetsu."

Kuroko lost every rock-paper-scissors games and always ended up looking at the direction Aomine pointed him. At this point, either his lousy performance was the result of a very, very bad luck or a problem coming from him, Kuroko didn't live up to the group' hopes as their trump card.

"Hey! Don't be so hard on him! Tetsu-kun did his b-best! He's just warming up!"

"You don't even believe what you're saying, Satsuki."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" She played dumb and averted her gaze. "Tetsu-kun didn't do anything bad to be disappointed about! It's all your fault for forcing your hopes on him without even confirming earlier if he's actually good at rock-paper-scissors!"

Aomine seemed to agree with her point. They didn't ask him this important question nor his consent to play by the way.

"You're weak at this, Tetsu?" He then asked to fix their one-sided decision.

Momoi muttered, "What's the point of asking him now?"

"I'm pretty strong at rock-paper-scissors generally."

"And what's the win rate of your «generally»?"

"Even if you ask me, I don't know. I just win."

"Then win!" Aomine barked out of despair, "Besides, you «just winning» feels off. Sounds something Akashi would say."

Kuroko stayed unfazed, "Well, I always avoid doing chores or punishment games."

"Hmmm, perhaps Tetsu-kun is the type to activate his true power on decisive and high stakes moments, like some kind of survival instinct kicked in."

"Must be a possibility." Aomine concurred with full consideration. "In basketball games, Tetsu pitches in mostly when our asses get too much burned and manages to get us out of critical situations."

"It seems fitting for Kuroko. I get this impression of him struggling to keep his head off the water more than anyone in the first-string."

"Can you get even more rude to him, Midorima-kun?" Ritsu said flatly as Momoi bobbed her head, totally siding with her on that point.

"I'm stating the facts. Under normal circumstances, he shouldn't even be playing in the first-string. In this environment where survival of the fittest is the rule, a player like him would have already been crushed. So the will to strive is essential. To resume, I merely mean to say that I can understand why Kuroko found a place in our team. We don't need people who can accept defeat as an option."

"So you're praising, Kuro-chin."

"How about learning to be more honest, Midorima? If you want to praise someone, do it properly. No wonder nobody likes you."

"Thank you, Midorima-kun." Kuroko said stoically, his eyes shining with appreciation. This was the highest praise he could earn from him.

"However, no matter how strong his survival instinct is, I wouldn't call it a strategy if we bet victory on such an unreliable factor. Basing it on his bad performance earlier, Kuroko is not at his top condition yet. We ought to improve it."

Aomine cast a quizzical look around the table, seeking a translation of Midorima's nonsense.

"A lucky item."

Midorima smirked for a second. Ritsu's answer got full points from him.

"Yes. Rock-paper-scissors is a game of chance and we choose Kuroko to be our trump card as the luckiest among us. Improving his luck seems the smartest thing to do. The lucky item in his possession, even if his instinct fails him, he may have a chance to escape defeat. Furthermore, the confidence one can draw out of it isn't insignificant. Only then, I will take his words of being strong at rock-paper-scissors at face value."

In short, with this stats enhancement, Kuroko better proved that his previous statement was no empty words.

"Why not? This can work that way..." Momoi gave it some serious thoughts, when she used to mock Midorima's obsession about Horoscope and lucky items. She completely approved of his theory. "By the time Tetsu-kun's turn comes, Akashi would run out of luck after winning all the matches against each of us while Tetsu-kun would be at his top condition. And everything seems to align with Midorin's theory. I watched the horoscope this morning and Aquarius are ranked in the top three today."

"Why did you watch this crap?"

"Because! It's Valentine's day. I wanted to be sure that Tetsu-kun and I could spend the day together without gray clouds above our heads!"

Aomine rolled his eyes. "Watch the weather forecast instead."

"What is Kuro-chin's lucky item?"

"I can't remember...It has something to do with hair, I think." Momoi turned to the real expert in horoscope. "Midorin knows it?"

"Red hair bobbles."

"Where are we going to find one?" As Murasakibara asked the question, it all struck to the boys that they were two girls close by who would likely possess one of these girly accessories, "Sacchin or Asa-chin must have one."

"No, I only have a black hair tie. The one I use for basketball practice."

The hope immediately shifted to Ritsu. She was about to crush their remaining hope since like Momoi, she carried with her only simple hair ties in her school bag for volleyball practice. She didn't need them to be fancy or stylish for that purpose, therefore she wouldn't keep or even have hair bobbles with her, when a memory promptly flashed in her mind like an old mental note.

The image of Akashi wearing hair bobbles.

"I have one." Ritsu said, remembering their moment at the accessory shop on his birthday.

She had tied his bang with hair bobbles and the result was so spectacular that she ended up buying them and kept them inside her school bag in case Akashi needed it if his hair got in the way. Though in truth, it was first and foremost in hope to catch the scary sight of this little tuft of red hair wiggling on top of Akashi's head.

"Really?"

Ritsu hurried to grab her school bag on the table behind her and rummaged through it under the curious eyes of the group. There it was. Safely and preciously kept inside the inner pocket of her bag.

"Tada!" She proudly presented it to them, the red gum balls shining and dangling from her fingers. "Cute, isn't it?"

"Can't believe you actually have one. You wear those?" Which could be translated as «You wear these girly things?». Aomine stared at them dumbfoundedly. "I've never seen wearing you them."

"No, I kept them for Akashi-kun."

"A-Akashi-kun wears it?"

"Once. I tried it on him. It suited him, somehow...even though he looked pretty intimidating."

"No shit. That guy could even look scary with a big ribbon on his head."

"Teasing Akashi must be one of your favorite pastime, I see." Midorima commented, glaring at her in strong disapproval. "F-flirting is one thing, making fun is another!"

"I heard some people bully the one they love. Asa-chin must be that type..."

"I'm not bullying him...Though I'm impressed you know about it."

Murasakibara lifted his nose in the air for a minute and vaguely tilted his head.

"In elementary school, there was a girl who did a lot of nasty things to me like stealing my food or showing off whenever she was doing things better than me or pulling my hair or accidentally pushing me when I ate snacks to make it fall on the ground."

"Woah, she was pretty hardcore." Aomine whistled, genuinely impressed by the guts of his classmate. "She was bold enough to dare steal food from you."

Murasakibara nodded nonchalantly and went on with his story, "My friends said that she must be in love with me and that's why she bullies me."

"And? And? How does it end?" Eyes twinkling, Momoi pressed him to know the end of his first love experience.

"I paid her back with interest. Every time she did something to me, I did worse than her. She cried many times but she was the one who started it..."

A gust of wind blew coldly in the classroom.

«How childish!», everyone thought.

"After some time, she stopped bullying me."

"From where I stand, you might be the kind to bully the one you love too, Murasakibara-kun." Ritsu muttered while getting everyone's agreement.

"I don't understand...She was really annoying."

This bittersweet story of bullying and teasing sprouted up an idea in Aomine's head along with a vicious smirk on his face.

"Hey guys, why not raise the bet? How about Akashi has to wear the hair bobbles and keep them for the whole day if he loses?"

"Eh?! A punishment game?!" Momoi interjected in shock before the excitement got the better of her, giving her full support to his idea, "I want to see it! Akashi-kun with hair bobbles! It would look cute on him!"

Remaining silent, Midorima and Murasakibara didn't seem to be absolutely against with the punishment game idea. That would be some justice and a reward for all the times Akashi had wrapped them around his finger.

"But Akashi-kun wouldn't accept the condition easily. He's the only one with a punishment game." Kuroko spoke up with infinite wisdom before any foolish decision was to be reached.

Aomine shrugged fearlessly, "He just has to win if he doesn't want to wear them."

"Sure but it's not the point. It can backfire on us."

Getting his point, Momoi's excitation dropped a notch and she muttered dreadly, "True...Who knows what Akashi-kun might ask of us in return..."

"Don't chicken out! We got this! Whatever punishment game he has in store for us, Akashi'll be the one to go through it!"

The group were painfully aware that they were probably digging their own graves by raising the stake of the rock-paper-scissors tournament. But Aomine's positivity and confidence managed to persuade them of their absolute victory. And well, the stats supported his declaration and spoke for themselves as well.

Akashi had a one in six chance of winning all his matches. With that in mind, everyone would give it a try despite the risk of a punishment.

"Okay, let's give it another shot, Tetsu! Asaka, hand over the hair bobbles!"

Ritsu approached Kuroko and stopped in front of him. She studied his baby face and felt the temptation to tie his hair aroused within her. He'd look so good and be even "prettier" than Akashi with hair bobbles.

Of course, she gave in easily.

"Kuroko-kun, may I?" She slid the band around her hand and lifted it up to his eye level. Before taking it to the next step, she made her intention clear and waited on Kuroko's permission to touch him.

"What are you going to do?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Make you pretty for your match against Akashi-kun."

"Asaka-san looks like the Witch who gives the apple to Snow White."

"You won't die from that." Ritsu laughed at the comparison. He might not be far from the truth.

Just like Snow White, there was something very pure in him. At that thought, Ritsu was more than ever convinced that those hair bobbles would turn out magical on Kuroko.

"Now that I think about it, it must be a trick of Fate for your lucky item of the day to be hair bobbles and that you got dragged into a battle against Akashi-kun. It can be a sign of our victory. Since magical girls are Akashi's kun weakness."

"Eh?"

Everyone exclaimed, flabbergasted.

"Magical girls...?" Kuroko asked confusedly.

"...Are Akashi's weakness?" Aomine finished repeating.

Ritsu confirmed with a nod. "Akashi-kun likes magical girls. Their innocent air and overflowing cuteness can cause his downfall. When you wear those hair bobbles, I'm sure you won't lose to them and be as magical and adorable as any of them, Kuroko-kun!"

"Huh? Wait. Wait, wait, what?" Aomine wasn't sure if he misheard something or not. "You start to say some amazing things, Asaka."

"I'm only saying Akashi-kun may not be indifferent to Kuroko-kun's charm. Despite his looks, I can see him overflowing with cuteness."

"With a face like his?"

"We'll be settled right now." She focused back on Kuroko. "Is it okay, Kuroko-kun?"

He gave her the green light without a sign of reluctance. Permission granted, Ritsu gathered his soft hair on the side into a ponytail and tied the band around it.

"Et voilà!"

"You're so adoraaable, Tetsu-kun!" Momoi squealed, immediately grabbing her cellphone to take tons of pictures of him. "I want to take you home!"

"I don't regret my choice of buying it." Ritsu agreed wholeheartedly.

Compared to the dazzling and majestic Akashi posing as a magical boy, Kuroko won the battle of cuteness with that side ponytail and those little cherries on his head. His innocent aura doubled up. He wore them so naturally that nobody was able to mock his girly appearance.

Aomine, Midorima and Murasakibara couldn't find a reason to laugh but the view wasn't as enjoyable as it was for the two girls.

"You call that cute? It just gives me the creeps."

"Look closely at him, Aomine-kun."

Aomine doubted that it'd change anything no matter how long he looked at Kuroko but still made the effort. The two of them stared at each other. As minutes passed, Aomine narrowed his eyes while Kuroko fixed them on him. Unblinking. Big. Round. Aomine found himself slowly (and unconsciously) staring intently at him as if sucked in by those big-rounded-cerulean eyes.

Then, he grasped something about Kuroko that he had never caught in him before. His gaze began to twinkle more and more, sparkles appeared around him. Wait, where did this air of innocence suddenly come from? Could hair bobbles turn a guy cute?

As Aomine tried to keep his emotions in check, Kuroko slightly tilted his head on the side, making his small ponytail swing softly...

"Aomine-kun?"

And that simple gesture...

*badump*

«Huh? Badump as in a heartbeat?»

"AAH...! I-I don't get it at all!" Aomine shouted and averted his eyes. Though his distress made it sound more as self-persuasion than a refutation.

«What the hell?! Felt like a door almost opened in me?! You're terrifying, Tetsu! But that timing...! I know you've totally done it on purpose!»

"Kuro-chin is a boy after all..." Murasakibara added, barely reacting to Aomine's strange behaviour.

"Cuteness transcends gender. There's nothing wrong about thinking another boy is cute. Each one of you is cute in your own way. Even Akashi-kun had looked fantastic when posing as a magical boy."

"Akashi-kun has also been turned into a magical boy by Asaka-san?" Kuroko enquired, astonished to hear that Akashi (of all people) had gone through the same experience as him.

"Akashi-kun won me a magical staff at the arcade and one thing leads to another, I asked him to pose with it for a purikura."

Ritsu had the gazes of the whole group on her.

«Which means...»

"You have a picture of it?"

"Yes, not on me though. I hung it on a wall in my room. I keep it as a precious me—"

"Blackmail material." Aomine finished, seeing no other potential for that picture.

"Of course not!" Both Ritsu and Momoi sprang towards him and shouted back at him so fiercely that he shrunk on his chair and blinked in confusion. Two girls against a boy was unfair...and scary. Aomine made sure they sit back and the wrinkles disappeared from their forehead before retorting :

"Ah? That's the kind of thing you'd usually say, Satsuki."

Her face flushed red beef as he never missed an occasion to point out her duplicitous character. And the worst was that he didn't see the problem in it!

"Stupid ganguro!"

"I thought it was lively from the hallway. I see you're all gathered here."

In a synchronized movement, the whole group mechanically shifted their attention on the music room entrance.

Akashi was standing by the door and greeted the rowdy group inside.

An awkward blank ensued. Although his arrival was expected, his timing was, as always, insanely perfect, as though he did it on purpose. That said, there was absolutely no way Akashi would eavesdrop on a conversation. Perhaps, he couldn't find the moment to step in.

The thought of Akashi standing behind the door nervously, his hesitating hand shaking over the doorknob while listening in their silly conversations about magical girls and all had something extremely hilarious about it.

But then again, it only turned out funny because this gap in Akashi's character didn't exist.

"Akashi-kun! The meeting had lasted very long!" Momoi broke the silence after taking a glimpse at the clock on the wall. "Did something happen?"

He shook his head in reassurance, "Several important points had to be discussed and reviewed concerning the whole first-string and our strategy for next year."

Akashi wasn't about to elaborate further but the silence from the group pushed him in going into more detail.

"Since we're in the middle of the Winter period, with all official games over, the lack of pressure and goals for the rest of the year tends to result in a lack of motivation. In order to avoid that, the coaches intend to focus on building up experiences from practice matches in the two remaining months until next Spring."

"Eh? Aren't we already doing that? Four days ago, we played against Sakura. Two weeks ago, it was against Fujimaki." Momoi enquired, very interested rather than surprised by this new information. She finally grasped the coaches' goals and ambitions when they had asked her to bring them all of her data notes dating back from the start of the second school term a few days ago.

"Yes and no." Akashi answered enigmatically while walking up to Aomine, Kuroko and Ritsu at the front of the classroom. "Providing the reputation of our club and the attention we garnered at the Nationals, invitations and demands for practice matches come almost every day. So far, most of them had been selected carefully by our coaches so as not to impede our practice for Nationals. However, for these two months, they will accept more invitations than usual. All to strengthen the first-string."

"Ha! A series of practice matches? I couldn't ask for more!" Aomine pumped up at such good news, a toothy grin spreading over his face.

"That isn't all. The second-string will also get their opportunities to play, a lot more than they have till now. As much as you guess, that is nothing more than an open door to the first-string for the second-stringers. A place in the first-string isn't cheap, so they will fight for it. And the more players are promoted, the fiercer the competition will be for a regular position. Between those who yearns to integrate the first-string and incidentally the team and those who will fight to stay in the team, there is no time to slack off. Changes are bound to happen."

"In other words, anything can happen next year. Our regular position can be on the line." Midorima said gravely, pushing his glasses up his nose as a smirk found its way on his lips : "Good."

Akashi cracked a smile over the reaction of his two teammates, expecting that much of excitation from their part. None of them expected special treatment after triumphing over all games with flying colors. Like anybody else, nothing can be taken for granted and was definitive. That was what entailed to be playing in a prestigious club.

Results may be everything yet this strong sense of competition wouldn't exist without the will to improve. As long as there was competition, players were able to give their all and surpass themselves.

"And the third-string?"

"Still have attachment to them?" Akashi gauged Kuroko but the soft curve on his lips betrayed no judgement. Kuroko showed concern for his former comrades, even though he wasn't part of the third-string anymore. That naivety could be taken as a form of weakness because he shouldn't be caring about them.

"I was there not long ago."

Yet, Kuroko's honesty was a commendable trait about him. Akashi would not mock or criticise it. Him knowing his roots pointed out how much consciousness Kuroko had about himself and his environment. This sank in him harder the reality and the feat he had accomplished in being promoted to the first-string. Indeed, his place was earned through tedious efforts and an opportunity which he couldn't waste by self-congratulation and thoughts of having reached the finishing line.

Everything was only starting for him. At this point, Kuroko still might not help to look back yet the more he advanced, the more his gaze must keep forward.

"They will keep their practice as usual and test their progresses in try-outs and intra-games. That being said, I can say with certainty, the third-string coach has the will to promote as many third-stringers as possible to the second string before Spring. It seems that four members had been promoted last year over the Winter period."

"Eeeh..." Aomine exclaimed, impressed. "Four of them?"

The numbers seemed low but it was a lot in fact. Third-stringers didn't get the same opportunities as the first and second strings. None of them could participate in games - be it official or practice with another school. You only saw them supporting the team in the bleachers during them. Training was their only way to show their abilities and prove themselves and above all, their determination.

That sounded unfair as everybody should have an equal chance to fight for their place.

So the fact that last year, four of them made it to the second-string proved was truly and fairly something to be impressed. Even though the opportunities to shine were rare, they wouldn't miss one and would fight their way with the little of what was given to them.

Perhaps because Kuroko knew of that hardship as a former third-stringer, the news brought a genuine smile on his lips, happy that some of his comrades had their chances to go higher in rank despite everything.

"By the way." Akashi began, eyes fixed on Kuroko quizzically. "Is it a punishment game, Kuroko?"

At the silly question, the whole group drew their attention on the smaller boys and stupidly recalled that they were scheming something as soon as their gazes fell on his small side ponytail.

Upon Akashi's arrival, the atmosphere had naturally turned so solemn that they forgot about it. Which was so terrifying...Akashi really had PRESENCE to be able to change an atmosphere in such a natural way and bring everyone at his pace.

Only Kuroko didn't look fazed by the situation, the hair bobbles triumphantly shining on his head and calling out to them.

"Asaka-san made me pretty."

The wording expressed an innocence that caught Akashi off guard. His eyes open wide, he was left speechless for a long second before he couldn't quell a small laugh.

"I surely shouldn't say this, however, it does suit you well. Fairly well." Akashi replied, a genuine amusement raising from his laugh. "Asaka has eyes for these kind of things."

But Kuroko must have really thrown him off as Akashi had yet to question him about the reason behind the cute look. That unusual occurrence didn't get past his teammates. Him being flustered to this extent— No, him JUST being flustered was a rare, very rare sight. Not to mention, over that?

Aomine and the rest of the basketball team sneaked a glance at Ritsu.

«Did Akashi truly have a weakness against cute and innocent things and people?...like Magical girls?», they all thought at this revelation.

"That hair tie is hers, right?"

"You recognized it!" Ritsu's voice raised in surprise as he remembered it.

"I was your first guinea pig after all." Akashi openly admitted wearing it without an ounce of shame. "And I see, you weren't joking when you said you'd keep it for us all, «just in case»."

"I'm glad I did." What an excellent memory, she chuckled. When she had bought the hair bobbles, she announced him that she'd keep them for him and the rest of the rainbow squad.

But from his sheer astonishment, Akashi mustn't have expected his teammates to actually play along with her and willingly put them on, because however beautifully Ritsu put it, she had bought them for her own entertainment.

"It brings out Kuroko-kun's innocence just as I imagined! He wears it so naturally!"

"Kuroko sure does. I can even feel some confidence oozing from him." Akashi agreed completely with her, sensing some untypical strong aura from him. "You bought a fearsome accessory, Asaka."

"Well, you could not have chosen a better word, Akashi-kun. It might cause your downfall, as Kuroko-kun's lucky item."

"Lucky item?" That part didn't make sense to Akashi as he cocked an eyebrow.

In the background, the sound of a chair pulling back drew his attention. Midorima stood up and glared at him defiantly.

"We demand a rematch, Akashi." The request was formal but the fire burnt behind his glasses.

Akashi saw all gazes locked on him and felt their pressure. Their eyes were glowing with a thirst for blood, as if he found himself stepping into a den of wolves. He had yet to grasp the whole situation but those dangerous and feral gazes were meant to be directed at an enemy.

"This time, we're determined to defeat you at rock-paper-scissors." Ritsu said while grasping Kuroko's shoulders.

"Rock-paper-scissors...?" Akashi was puzzled and took another look at the whole group, one by one until his red-eyed gaze stopped on their last recruit. They were serious about it, and seeing how Ritsu was proudly showing Kuroko off, he was entrusted with their hopes of victory.

Akashi then smirked.

"So we're going through this again. Every time you lot are all reunited never bodes well."

"When big brains gather, this can only happen." Ritsu joked, stealing a soft, familiar chuckle from him.

Truthfully, Akashi was all the more amazed by their scheming minds. A very curious part of him wondered how everything lead them to wish for a rock-paper-scissors rematch after all these months and on Valentine's day of all time. And to say he expected nothing but an ordinary and peaceful lunch with Ritsu and Momoi. Perhaps, this was too much to ask for a Valentine's day, nonetheless, it confirmed to him what he'd always thought :

With them as teammates and to some extent as friends, he would not get bored.

"I presume that it's you six against me. Safety in numbers, it is."

"You'd better not look us down, Akashi." His observation associated with that condescending tone irked Midorima.

"Outnumbering your opponent is a strategy like any others. I wouldn't underestimate it in any regard. Also, what you've done to Kuroko proves indisputably to me that you have a concrete idea in how to use this strategy to your advantage."

As expected of Akashi, he was quick to think and saw right through their strategy.

"The King of Games isn't easily defeated." Ritsu said in jest, "Even though the premise of the game is clearly unfair for you, that's just how serious we're taking you and this game. Taking you down on our own doesn't work well, we can only do it as a team."

"So you form a team now." Akashi picked up the word, the corner of his lips pulling up. No bitterness lay under his words but his small yet gentle smile emphasized a hint of loneliness for not being part of it. And yet a second later, surfaced what seemed like a thrill on his expression.

"Oi, Asaka, what are you doing, encouraging your opponent? And Akashi of all people? He's strong (and evil) enough not to be given words of encouragement!" Aomine roared furiously next to her, catching Akashi's face twisting like a demon lord.

"Yay!" Murasakibara's voice pitched in with energy, "Asa-chin'd better not double-cross us, just because she likes Aka—Gromphg!"

"Aahaha, Mukkun! You have to eat to be ready for your match!" Momoi had intervened by poured the whole packet of Ritsu's leftover chocolates in Murasakibara's mouth to silent him.

That was a close shave! Ritsu broke into cold sweat and checked on Akashi's reaction. Fortunately, he didn't seem to have caught the whole sentence to care a second longer on it. Well, on the spot, she was relieved for his disinterest but with hindsight, she might have wished a tinge of suspicion from his part.

"Nice cover, Momoi-chan!", Ritsu thought. Either way she was deeply indebted to her friend's quick reaction. The last thing she wanted was Akashi to discover her feelings from someone else's mouth and make their relationship awkward from them on.

She wouldn't keep it a secret from anyone but Akashi. The moment she tells him would be when she decides it, when she confesses her feelings to him. She wouldn't have it another way because whether she faced rejection or not, this moment must be romantic. With nobody but two persons facing each other laying their bare hearts.

Probably, people would say she was old school to fantasize about it with such a purity but just like many girls of her age, she fantasized and wished to live a pure-hearted love.

HOWEVER, she mustn't have chosen the right confidants for this ideal ending. It's scarcely been an hour since she had confided them in having feelings for Akashi ; and one of them almost spilled the secret out. Now that she mused on it, Murasakibara and the rest actually were the type to unconsciously blurt out a secret on the spur of the moment before realizing their blunder one minute later.

At this thought crossed her mind, Ritsu began to dread the future. Unlike her teammates who had also been put into the confidence, the rainbow squad weren't witty enough to pass everything they said as a joke and raise no suspicion. Yes, that was the point! They were no good liars AT ALL. However good of a quality it was in itself, Ritsu was very worried about the troubles she might get dragged into because in order to keep their mouths from spilling her love for Akashi, it apparently and ABSOLUTELY meant she had to come to desperate measures.

Which was the worrisome part... It has never turned out well so far.

"Don't think it'll turn out like last time, Akashi! We have another surprise in store for you!" Aomine called out to him and declared confidently, smacking his pumped fist into his other hand. "We're raising the stakes with a punishment game. If you lose, you'll have to wear them the whole day!"

He pointed his finger at the red hair bobbles shining on Kuroko's head.

Rather than showing surprise, Akashi gauged him in silence for a moment that seemed to last forever, his red eyes trained on him with an intent look.

"Having second thoughts?" Aomine asked with a smug, taking the his long silence as hesitation.

"No." He refuted calmly, "I'm waiting for you to finish."

"Huh?" Aomine cocked an eyebrow, confused. "There's nothing more."

"Ugh, that idiot...We warned him that Akashi-kun wouldn't fall for it easily." Ritsu heard Momoi mumble to herself as she predicted what came next for them, those who fearlessly dared to put a cute accessory on him through a punishment game.

"I'm not against the idea of a punishment game as long as it's fair. You guys have yet to tell me yours in case of a defeat. Nobody would accept a game with nothing to win and everything to lose."

"What, afraid of losing?" Although Aomine deemed his argument valid, he couldn't help provoking him. As a challenger, he expected Akashi to swallow his pride and fight this unfairness head-on, only to prove to them who was the strongest.

But Akashi barely reacted to his provocation.

"Victory or defeat aside, that would be rather stupid of me not to take this opportunity to entertain myself as well. High stakes stimulate a game." The corner of his lips pulled up viciously. The red of his eyes turned brighter, an unfathomable thrill lying beneath. "In that case, you six and myself will have to put our pride on the line."

A heavy silence fell in the music room as one thought crossed everyone's minds on the instant : They doomed themselves.

"B-Be easy on us, Akashi-kun." Momoi broke out into cold sweats, only able to wait for their punishment game to be decided. Here was why she avoided being on Akashi's bad side! He was totally scary when he flipped out...

Seeing her tensing up, the sharp curve of his lips became softer. He then announced :

"I'll keep it simple. The loser of the tournament wears the hair bobbles for the day and the winner chooses the way they wear it."

"S-So your punishment game becomes everyone's." Momoi resumed with relief in her voice. It wasn't as terrible as she expected. At least, she and Ritsu had it easy with this punishment compared to the boys' dismay. But Aomine had it coming for bringing the punishment game!

"In short, yes."

"Tch!" Aomine grimaced but accepted the condition nonetheless. In the end, it didn't change anything to their initial goal, and it might even lit a fire under them.

They just had to show him who's the boss by winning.

"But we only have one hair bobbles." Murasakibara noted with a drawl, not in the slightest bothered by the punishment. Guess having to wear a girl accessory a whole day was easier than a personal spartan training with Akashi at the basketball club.

"There will be only one loser, Murasakibara." Akashi declared and cast a look at each of them, "Your idea of a team stands only against me. But this is a tournament. Therefore, if I am to win all my matches against you six, you'll have to fight among yourselves until a loser is decided for the punishment game."

Again, a moment of silence fleeted across the music room. Before they even began the game, Akashi was turning their team against themselves. How fearsome!

"Are you assuming that you'll win?"

"I am. You don't win a game with a losing spirit."

Midorima huffed, even though he couldn't have said better.

"Ha! We won't let you have your way! You're going down!" Aomine grinned, spurred on by his unswerving confidence.

"We may look as a makeshift team but we've learnt from our last defeat, Akashi-kun. We won't be easily swayed and trust ourselves able to defeat you as well."

"Well said, Asaka-chan! We're strong as a team!"

"So it seems that way, Akashi-kun." Kuroko added monotonously, looking strong with the hair bobbles tied on his head.

"Can we finish this quickly?" Murasakibara drawled, slumped on his chair.

A real den of wolves, Akashi mused with a warm feeling of familiarity. They were being so dramatic over a mere rock-paper-scissors game but by no means, he hated their intensity. Rare were the people who could make him sway and shiver this way.

It wasn't a bad feeling. Rather, it was fun. Yes, so fun.

They fired him up.

Meaing he must live up to their expectations and give a run for their money.

And so the echoes of their lively voices shouting «Rock-paper-scissors!» raised from the quiet music room.

---

"You must have done a tremendously good deed in your past life to be born under such a lucky star, Akashi-kun. Statistically speaking, how is it possible for you to never lose?" Ritsu felt the gazes of every single student in the hallway burning on her cheeks and heard them giggling and comments when she passed by them.

She'd be lying if she said that she wasn't embarrassed but she now had resigned to her fate. At the end of lunchtime, she already went through the same scene when she returned to her classroom along with Akashi, her side bang put in topknot with shiny red hair bobbles. But, the most embarrassing moments of all remained when her teachers stared stupidly at the small tuft of hair wiggling on top of her head and showed concerns about this odd girly appearance but wouldn't ask anything, certainly because it'd be awkward. In all honesty, Ritsu was glad they didn't.

And to say she wasn't very much worried about the punishment game because having her hair tied wouldn't be as embarrassing for a girl than a boy like Aomine. However, she had forgotten about Akashi's wicked bone (once again, as if she never learnt). Also, something told her that some old grudge dating back to last December, on his birthday precisely, might have played a part on the way and manner Akashi had decided to put the hair bobbles on her.

He, himself, tied her bang in the exact same way she did to him back then.

Ritsu reached out to her topknot. It was made in an instant yet she still could sense a bit of his delicate touch. Akashi has always expressed openly and sincerely his fondness for her hair and on that moment, she'd felt all his care as his fingers moved through them.

That instant alone was enough to make her forget all about the embarrassment. Of course because of their closeness but not only. She shared more than a moment with him but a memory with everyone. A memory which made you smile—No, laughed every time you reminisced it was one which would last for a lifetime.

They had played like rowdy kids by moving around and shouting rock-paper-scissors across the music room.

And the gentle smile on Akashi betrayed that much as well, how much fun he had.

"If we're going down your logic, I won only by luck."

"Six victories in a row at rock-paper-scissors can't be explained otherwise. You won the two tournaments, that is a record in itself." Ritsu replied more in a teasing tone than a bitter one.

"My own luck would assuredly not have been enough."

She tilted her head at the phrasing. Shouldn't it be something along the line "Luck alone would assuredly not have been enough."? Why being specific, as if there was something else which must have been taken into account?

It confused her on the spot but she shook it off the next minute. Although she doubted a wrong choice of words from his part, she would take it instead as his way of teasing her back. Akashi liked confusing her so...

Besides, it probably wasn't relevant in any way to their conversation. Rather, she shouldn't make it become relevant or it'd sound like...

"A winner shouldn't try comforting a loser."

"I'm stating a fact."

"The other fact is that we all lost against you again. Frankly, we had a lot of hope for Kuroko-kun as our newest member. He was supposed to be our hero."

Akashi smiled amusingly. If Kuroko was to be the hero, he was the bad guy.

"Your hope may have been too heavy on Kuroko's shoulders, or to be more accurate, on his head. Hair bobbles aren't for anybody."

"You're in an awfully good mood to attempt a joke."

"I wasn't attempting."

She cringed, his sense of humor was to be worked on in the future. The day she'd laugh (understand) to one of his jokes has yet to come.

"Don't make it worse." Ritsu begged, still thinking his lacking sense of humour was quite charming. "But to come back on my point, I come to realize that Kuroko-kun is the type to do well under pressure. He doesn't lack confidence and I can see him well keeping his head in dire and hopeless situations and calmly try to find a way out."

"I give you that point." Akashi shared the same high opinion on his teammate. "Kuroko had remained calm against me."

"He was looking straight at you. Not a lot of people can meet your eyes for long without feeling a huge pressure, even I was nervous when my turn came."

Kuroko may hide his emotions with great ability but Ritsu wouldn't completely dismiss his still-as-water calm on that sole account. Akashi had said some time ago that there was more to Kuroko than meets the eye. She came to believe so as well, day after day in fact.

She'd observed him and had noticed a small, almost overlooked detail yet very particularly when she reviewed everything.

Kuroko always looked people in the eye.

When she met him, she remembered his straight and steady gaze. Not once he averted his eyes from her. At first, she pushed it on curiosity's fault, but as she came to know him more and more, it became clear to her that he had nerves of steel.

Kuroko always faced the people in front of him.

Which was a great quality. Looking right in the eyes of the person in front of you, whoever it was, fearlessly and instead honestly meant putting them and standing on the same equal ground. She may be assuming things, even so she couldn't help thinking that although Kuroko's presence had been acknowledged fore and foremost for his potential as a sixth man, he rightfully gained his place in the team for not losing to any of the first-string talents surrounding him.

Of course, his nerves could be taken as a form of provocation, especially knowing how Kuroko appeared to be physically. There was a few times when she heard Murasakibara complaining about disliking the way Kuroko was looking at him every time they quarreled on basketball-related thing.

For the simple reason, he would not waver in front of Murasakibara (and anybody else) and stood his ground.

"He'd looked so reliable. It's a shame he lost against you that quickly."

In one round, the game was over, much to everyone's dismay but Akashi.

After their theory about Kuroko's instinct, they all had strongly believed in victory. Sadly, the outcome was decided in an instant. Because of that, Midorima and Murasakibara especially felt betrayed by his lack of performance and didn't waste time to snap at him.

Even though it was their idea to put Kuroko last, they were compelled to blame him, thinking that they would have done a better job against Akashi in the final round. Maybe they would have but no matter how weak Kuroko was in rock-paper-scissors, the result was still there.

He hadn't lost the rock-paper-scissors tournament contrary to everyone's expectations.

"Hm, I guess Kuroko-kun didn't lie either." Ritsu mused out loud.

"About what?"

"He said he was strong at rock-paper-scissors."

"Kuroko said that?"

"Yes, and with confidence." Ritsu laughed, remembering his claim after losing ten times in a row against Aomine. Kuroko was such an odd boy sometimes. Who would assert that in such a situation? "But if I think about it, it must be the truth. In the end, he won his last match against her and by the way, avoided the punishment game."

Exactly as he told them.

«Well, I always avoid doing chores or punishment games.»

"Next time we should probably make it so Kuroko and you face each other in the same condition."

A playful smile tugged at his lips.

"So there will be a next time already."

"More than a probability, it's a certainty. We still have two years ahead of us at Teikō. Everything can happen within them."

"Assuredly I made myself an enemy of you. Do you want me to lose that badly?"

"Personally, I'm not obsessed with the idea but you've never lost since you were born. It is enough of a reason for most people."

"You make a big deal out of it." Akashi replied with affection in his voice, underlining this prominent trait of her character.

"I surely do but not for the reason you may think."

Ritsu piqued his interest. Aside inflicting humiliation, why else would she want him to lose?

"Really, it's just a silly thought. Nonetheless, a victory weights as much as a defeat over one and people's consciousnesses, yet in a different way. Even so, you can't deny a feeling of pressure from both, and especially in your case who've known only victory. Thus I came to think that someone should be here for you in that moment. You might be depressed and cry."

Just like she was after losing at the quarter-final of the Nationals. Akashi's company pulled her out of her post-game depression.

A loser didn't need comfort but someone who would lend an ear. She only assumed things on her own through her personal experience but believed that the day (if it ever comes) Akashi would get the taste of defeat, he wouldn't mind a bit of company.

Though, as he pointed it out, she was absolutely making a big deal out of it here but only because the more victories stacked up on his back, the more a single defeat would crush him.

"Over losing a rock-paper-scissors game?"

The question almost came out innocent and stupid from his mouth as he looked genuinely amazed by her words.

"Definitely not. That being said, somehow, I can't help thinking that we're alike. In the sense, we tend to take things more seriously than other people and become overzealous to the point of losing sight of ourselves." Ritsu told him, remembering her pathetic state after the championship's quarter-final, "What I mean is that we're easily hurt because of the discipline we put ourselves under."

Akashi said nothing back and kept his gaze steadily ahead while he listened to her. As ever, his face allowed no emotion whatsoever to distort his placid expression. Still, Ritsu would always take it as a form of silent agreement from him. After spending such a long time with him, she'd noticed that Akashi was, kind of, more willing and prompt to show dissatisfaction, distaste and to an extent disappointment than the rest of his emotions.

So if he didn't appreciate or disagree with what she just said, a wrinkle would already have told her that much.

"Well, I'm probably speaking for myself and merely from personal experience. Most people would be dubious to hear you might be a frail person. Still, I'd like to believe it. And..." Her voice trailed off. Just the time to draw his gaze on her, Ritsu voiced her inner thought : "If I have to be really honest with you, you losing the tournament would have been nice."

His red eyes lingered on her with a curiosity unable to be shaped into words. Forbiddening himself a question or even a single sound from escaping his mouth, Akashi soon shifted his focus back on the long hallway. Whether he killed his curiosity off or thought there was nothing else to add, Ritsu would choose the latter.

His delightful expresion and the smug on his lips showed the triumph of a winner. Yes, her words had certainly been taken as regret from a rival who'd lost against him. She read that much. As a winner cannot jubilate without a loser. But more than observing it, she felt it through his behaviour, from the respect he demonstrated her : A winner had no words for a loser but expectations and hopes for a future confrontation.

Akashi was eagerly looking forward to it.

And Ritsu found no word powerful enough to describe the sudden burst of happiness in her. This sentiment of reciprocity could not be beaten and was so precious in this moment.

Because it meant that they both accepted each other's strengths and weaknesses.

As a friend and a rival.

When she used those two words to name their relationship, Ritsu felt nothing but pride, happiness and...desire. Desire to develop it into something more.

Every response Akashi gave to her and every feeling he made her feel pushed her to fall for him harder. How could she not have fallen in love with him?

Somehow, it was funny when the thought crossed her mind, it sounded as a predictable and inevitable outcome. But the most laughable part was that rather than denying it, she would embrace those feelings wholly.

She was conscious of the imbalance it might create in their current relationship since Akashi has yet to see her as a Girl. Nonetheless, it was bound to change. For the only reason she would affirm her feelings for him. She wanted him to walk alongside him as a friend, as a rival and as the one he treasured.

«I'm not very sure a superheroes mask would convey the right feeling.»

Yagami's words sure stung now, Ritsu sighed inwardly in realization. It looked like she has yet to grasp completely the weight of her love for Akashi. They were bigger and stronger than she thought.

No wonder Aomine and Midorima reproached her for being too passive. How would she convey anything like that?

Stupid me.

"Yes, it truly would have been nice..." Ritsu muttered, admitting her defeat on that aspect.

Catching a change in her tone, Akashi drew his attention back on her and saw her taking out a small white box fastened with a red ribbon.

"They're coming late but, that's for you, Akashi-kun. Valentine chocolate. I made them myself." She handed her chocolate to him. So casually that it could not leave any room for romance. Really, she had strayed quite far away from her original plan. "I wanted to give them to you way earlier and...in a more proper way. But with you, nothing goes the way we want them to be. Honestly, if only you had lost, I would have given my valentine chocolate to you to cheer you up and you'd be currently eating my chocolates...I was especially looking forward to your reaction. That would have been absolutely sweet, since I can only catch sight of your cute side in these kind of moments."

She finally stopped, only to realize after that she spilled out her whole intention to him and even more. A blush creeped up on her cheeks as she cursed this bad habit of hers. Rather than being easy to read, Akashi actually didn't have to do anything, she would perfectly fill everything for him.

"You speak a lot when you're nervous, Asaka." He said without sarcasm and instead looked rather charmed.

"...Because you're not helping me. At all."

"You don't leave me any room to. But in response to your honest feelings, I'll also be with you. That awkward side of yours is something I find terribly endearing in you. I don't get tired of it."

In other words, he enjoyed seeing her flustered. Hence why he hardly stopped her from blurting all her thoughts out. So she should be mad at him but his choice of words got the better of her. The blush spread from the cheeks to her entire face, turning it red like a tomato.

«Terribly endearing», he could just have said «cute». It'd have been embarrassing enough. However, this was Akashi she was speaking of.

"T-That's sly...How can you say that with a straight face?"

"I've never said it'd be easy to be at the receiving end."

"Well, I always am the most flustered between the two of us in the end. Whenever it comes to you, it seems like I only know to embarrass myself."

Akashi agreed in silence, the curve of his lips becoming softer. The movement was so natural that his expression shaped into a precious gentleness.

"You're honest to a fault. All day long girls have been pushing their valentine chocolates on me but you're the only one who had spilled her intent down to the slightest detail. You're the closest to me, and yet, of all people, why is it you who go at length to convey their feelings?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?" She understood his point though. As best friends, words were unnecessary to convey their affection for each other most of the time. It was the thought that counted. She didn't need to justify or confess like a criminal, Akashi would already get her intention right away.

Her feelings as a friend.

Such a bond made her happy from the bottom of her heart, it was the way to be. Nonetheless, Ritsu could no longer find satisfaction with just that. Did love make people greedy? Apparently so, and the intensity of that sentiment troubled her since she felt unable to keep the statu quo in the presence of Akashi.

Undeliberately yet skillfully, he always managed to push her buttons one way or another.

"Even if you ask me...I can just say that it shows how much I care about you. I can't stop myself, this strong desire to spoil you."

Akashi cocked an eyebrow, "Spoil me?"

"Ah...That must have sounded weird, freaky even." She blushed a little after realizing her odd choice of words then started debating with herself to look for a way to get out of this embarrassing situation. But she soon gave up, she had already took one step into the grave so...

"Yes...I want to spoil you." She confirmed and forced herself not to look away.

His expression seemed frozen, eyes slightly widened and mouth open that allowed a faint gasp to escape. Then a moment later, he drew his gaze away from her. From side-on, the corner of his lips curved up almost uncontrollably.

"I was right. It is hard to be on the receiving end with you."

This time, he breathed it out not as a tease but as nothing more than a hard fact.

"Then, as a mean to spoil you, will you accept my chocolate?"

"I will."

Akashi accepted her chocolate. "May I open it?"

"Please do!"

In a delicate move, he unfastened the red ribbon and opened the box, revealing a mix of chocolates shaped in a superhero's mask as big as the palm of hand.

Akashi stared at it then commented : "You made some manly chocolate, Asaka."

"Manly..." Ritsu whispered in a chuckle. Everyone had this astonished reaction so far upon seeing her chocolate. "...might be the word. You already saw them this morning, with Yagami."

"In truth, I was expecting them to be heart-shaped."

"Huh?" She couldn't ignore that awfully innocent statement. The ring in her ears was way too sweet for a boy like Akashi that seeds of suspicion sprouted in her mind rather than happiness. "You wanted to receive heart-shaped chocolates? Why would you?"

"Isn't it the tradition on Valentine's day?" He told her, his voice missing an undertone. He then examined the chocolates before picking one randomly.

"Are you maybe disappointed?"

"Whatever their shapes, I am nothing but thankful to receive chocolates from a friend. I appreciate the thought."

Leaving her at that, he bit into the chocolate and enjoyed the taste, whispering a «delicious» to himself.

The sight melted her heart that caused her to squeal inwardly. Everything was perfect from the pure happiness on his expression to the warm tone of his voice. As her gaze trained on his face, it was confirmed to her all over again.

She would never get tired of that quiet happiness and always grow on loving him.

"Akashi-kun."

"Hm?" He glanced curiously at her.

"Next year, you will have them. Heart-shaped chocolates. I promise." She declared with resolution, earning a puzzled look from Akashi. "You can already place your order. And don't regret it."

«Geez, I bet even Akashi doesn't suspect that much deception from you.»

The shadow of a smile crept up on her face but faintly, a tinge of mischievousness twisted her lips into a smirk. Aomine may be right.

Akashi has yet to know the depth of her love for him.

"Because no matter what happens, I'll make sure my feelings keep reaching you out."

---

Friendship is magic, isn't it? This chapter is all over the place and I blame it on the number of characters interacting together at the same time. Really, I'm no good when there's too many characters in one place. Alhough challenging and quite fun, it's too chaotic for me to write as finding the right balance between every of them and doing them justice is just sooo hard and nerve-wracking. I had rewritten dialogues countless times and even had to change whole events just because a line or development felt off for one character or another. It's not perfect but still...

Anyways, the rainbow squad (minus Kise. Sorry for postponing your arrival...) strikes again and now had discovered Asaka's romantic feelings for Akashi! They had to know, right? And what better moment than Valentine's day? At least, I no longer have to worry about it, even though the development and contents of this chapter had.

Except for the beginning part, fluff and romance are proeminent there. Maybe too much that it might have put many of you off, and I can understand because it mainly revolved around Asaka being in love with Akashi. Like you I also feared to make her appear or worst be a maiden in love with tunnel vision. I want to depict Asaka as a passionate girl when it comes to love. By passionate I don't mean it in an obsessive way but in the manner she affirms her feelings towards Akashi and others even. As I told to some of you, I do not ever wish for Asaka to be the kind of girl to change because of Love but, hm, rather improving? I don't know if it makes sense to you but it's the only best way I can put it.

Despite my worries, this was a necessary step for the story and inevitable at this point. Their second year is now one-chapter away.

Damn, I wrote a lengthy A/N again...I'll see you later!

Nuvola De Demone : Let's be honest, Asaka and Akashi love to tease each other. But they maybe just need to learn to be more self-conscious around each other and then they would be flirting and trying to seduce *wriggle eyebrows*. Ahaha, your Assassination Classroom plot seems very funny to read. And I like the idea of Asaka and Akashi working together to control the little monsters. In my fantasy, I tend to imagine Asaka as Akashi's knight or bodyguard. Someone loyal who stays close to him and protects him from any harm. Not something very romantic, huh? But I'm weak to these kind of relationships, they just make me squeal. Kise will have to wait a little more longer for his turn. Poor guy.

KooraX : Just by reading your review I can feel your excitement and I'm so happy you enjoy this story so much. The most funny and difficult part in writing Asaka and Akashi interactions is turning Akashi into a cute and ordinary boy through Asaka's perspective. I like the idea of having him opening to a world (aka shōjo manga and magical girls) at the opposite of his own reality (constant pressure and high expectations). It's this gap that makes him adorable and kind of simple as a normal teenager and tones down this psycho and complexed character. In truth, this idea has been inspired by one of the KnB extras in which Akashi happens to meet Mayuzumi on the rooftop reading a light novel with a cute girl on the cover, and is showing interest for it after Mayuzumi's explanation.

The Akashi's birthday chapter grew on me too. Nothing extraordinary happened but having the both of them acting a bit idiotic to the point of being out of character made them even more endearing.

Haha, I do write it to be read like a shōjo manga. Only because I enjoy building Asaka and Akashi relationship and also depicting her friendship with the GoM in the purest way possible. I have thought of a school field trip but it wouldn't happen until their third year.

I feel you about getting more into Asaka's life at the volleyball club as it plays an important part of the story. Until now, you only grabbed pieces of information here and there which made things hard to imagine and identify the problem Asaka is currently and would face later on. For the first year, my aim was to emphasize her vision of a team and the role she put it into perspective through her interactions with the GoM and mostly Akashi. In second year, there will be more glimpses of the volleyball club and Asaka's evolution and interactions between team members as new characters will appear to give more shape to that part of story and will be certainly way more present than the old volleyball team members.

That being said, I prefer to choose keeping this part of story as glimpses since I wish to keep this fiction focused on the emotional aspect rather than the action. And another reason that dissuades me of writing a lot of volleyball actions and stuff is that I don't know enough of the subtleties of volleyball to go deeper than the surface of the sport. And thus this always takes me a huge amount of time to make research, which sadly I don't have for myself. So I know I won't make a volleyball game an interesting read without knowledge and experience from someone who plays it. Haha, but I would be more than willing to get tips and enlightment from volleyball lovers. I want to make it right if I have to do it! Then why did I choose volleyball? Because it's damn cool to watch! It's simple as that. I regret that my younger self didn't see the fun of it.

Considering the snail pace of this story update, a sequel is still a distant dream even for me.

I do not mind long review and it's always a pleasure to reply them. They help me see things I wouldn't have noticed while writing, put some story elements into perspective and know what I must improve on.

Hana : Magical boy Akashi made another victim! I overdid with the fluff on that chapter.

Guest : Slowly but surely we're headind to the dark part of the story. I'm happy that you got attached to the characters and their interactions together. It meant to me you paid attention to details I've put in their interactons, and I really appreciate that (I can be mistaken). Anyway, be it serious matter or comical moments, I still have so many ideas of interactions between them before and after everything crumbles for the GoM. Hehe, surprisingly, some of you have shown great curiosity on which high school Asaka would choose to go, and so I also started to wonder which it would be for you and why. In my opinion, the majority would answer and like to answer Rakuzan obviously because of Akashi. But I think It's still too soon for everyone to guess it, we're too early in the story. Hints will be gradually dropped as the story progresses.

jrnkjm : Your reactions made me smile! Yup, Akashi and Asaka had an indirect kiss and they didn't even bat an eye. Those dorks! Akashi's birthday chapter is truly popular as I read the feedbacks. But who can resist a gentle and sweet Akashi? Thank you for leaving your direct impressions and I hope to keep this story as entertaining as possible for you.

guestststst (I definitely mispelled it! Sorry!) : I won't lie...I'm rejoicing about that. This fic is nothing extraordinary or new and tells a typical teenage romance like most of OC fics. Not to mention some are very well-written compared to mine, but if you had an unique feeling about it, it can only make me happy! Thank you and hope to see you again!