Hello everyone! Long time no see! Sorry for the brief hiatus again. A lot of things happened in my life. I lost two family members in three months, then I had exams, then my dog passed away and then I had to work during December.

I hope you guys like this new chapter! Thank you so much for all your support. All your reviews, faves and follows mean everything. But most of all, thank you for reading my story. On to the chapter!

Recap

"Did you know? Carnations are a puzzle, rather, they are fascinating," continued Akashi, still looking at the flower. He plucked one from the plant.

Kirimi blinked.

"Oh, no, I didn't know that. I thought they meant admiration or innocence," she replied.

Finally, something they could talk about!

Akashi nodded.

"Yes, they do mean those things too, but to me right now, they mean fascination,"

Akashi turned towards her and placed the flower in Kirimi's hair and then proceeded to give her that long intense stare again. Kirimi's face finally showed her true expression. She wasn't fooling anybody now.

"A-Akashi-san?"

His hand was still touching the carnation in her hair.

"Yes, they are a fascinating puzzle, much like you, Ayasaki Kirimi,"

Kirimi's eyes widened as she felt Akashi's face coming closer and closer…

End of Recap

Kirimi's eyes widened as she felt Akashi's face coming closer and closer. She stayed still for a second but then came to her senses. Kirimi pushed him back with both her hands. She forgot who he was; she forgot that he was the heir to the Akashi family. She had felt danger and had to protect herself.

"What are you doing?!" asked Kirimi in shock.

Akashi absentmindedly rubbed the place in his chest where Kirimi had pushed him.

"Ah, sorry, it was just your eyes," said Akashi.

Kirimi looked at him incredulously.

"E-Excuse me?!" she stammered, trying to keep her voice from shaking too much. "You creep up on me like that and your excuse is my eyes?"

She had forgotten her discomfort which the boy had given her before. Now she just looked at him apprehensively. It was a strange feeling. She wanted to run away and get away from him but at the same time she couldn't look away from him nor could she move. Forget her eyes, it was his eyes which were the real deal here.

Akashi looked at her.

"I told you earlier, didn't I? They are extremely striking. It really is as if they suck you in. It's a very nostalgic feeling,"

Nostalgic? What in the world did he mean by that?

"H-Huh…I see…" said Kirimi, trying to calm down. "But still, did you have to come so close to my face like that? You could've just told me that-"

"You're finally showing your true self, Ayasaki Kirimi," said Akashi, his mismatched eyes showing a spark of real interest.

Kirimi's legs started trembling at his new expression. It resembled that of a sly wolf, not showing its fangs but looking at its prey, tearing it limb by limb in its head.

"What are you-?"

"Your sweeter than sugar voice, your smiles which did not reach your eyes and your stiff gestures…they were all fake," said Akashi simply.

Kirimi stopped in mid-retort and then froze. She looked at Akashi. Then she heard a tinkle of laughter coming from inside the house. She glanced at it. What had she done? In her state of panic, she had completely disregarded who she was dealing with. She had shouted at one of her parents' dear friend's son, a person on the same social standing as she was. Her mother was going to skin her alive. How could she have let her emotions take control of her like this?

"I-I…" stammered Kirimi.

She had to hurry up and apologize! What if this had been this boy's plan all along? What if all this time he had wanted her to make a fool of herself like this? What if this was some petty game where would tell her parents what she had done and smirk in glee at her getting punished? What if she couldn't play basketball anymore because of her behavior today because he parents were appalled at her behavior? What if-wait. Why was she getting so paranoid? Kirimi tried to pull herself together.

She bowed deeply in front of Akashi.

"Please forgive my extreme rudeness, Akashi-sa-"

But Akashi interrupted her once again.

"To tell you the truth, I was getting tired of waiting," he said ignoring Kirimi's mini panic attack.

"E-Eh?"

What did he mean getting tired of waiting? Waiting for what? For her to break into a cold sweat? This boy was such an enigma.

Akashi looked at the carnations again. His face was so difficult to read. His right hand made its way to another carnation but he didn't pluck this one. He simply touched its stalk and felt it.

"As I said before, you're a puzzle, Kirimi," said Akashi.

He looked at her, his hand still touching the carnation.

"You're the puzzle!" thought Kirimi.

He was calling her by her first name? Who gave him the permission to do that? Kirimi wanted to ask, but something made her shut her mouth.

"When we first met, just one look at you, I could tell you were different. You tried very hard to conceal your true self, hiding under the shadow of your parents. But your face gave it all away,"

…face?

"I was expecting you to have a unique aura about you, Kirimi. But this was the first time I couldn't exactly pinpoint exactly what a person's aura told me about them. In that way, you exceeded my expectations," continued Akashi.

Expectations? Aura?

"Wh-" started Kirimi.

"-But I can't say I really like that," he said, continuing. "I need to know everything about you, everything,"

Huh?

"Just what-"

"After all, you have now become entangled in the Generation of Miracles, Kirimi. Whether you like it or not, your actions have changed things the way I thought things would be, you and Tetsuya,"

Entangled in the Generation of Miracles? Well, she supposed she had done that but wait, who was this guy to talk about them? At the word 'Tetsuya', Kirimi finally found her voice.

"Wait…please. Please wait! Generation of Miracles? You…you're an acquaintance of Tetsuya-kun? I don't really understand what you're saying, there are so many doubts on my mind," said Kirimi hurriedly, not wanting to get interrupted again.

This Akashi Seijuurou wasn't a very nice person. He was showing his true colors now. And Kirimi didn't like those colors one bit.

Akashi got up and stood to his full height, towering over Kirimi.

"You don't fully understand, you say?' he said, his impassive eyes on Kirimi's petrified green ones. "I see. No matter. You'll learn soon enough. You wouldn't have been able to come this far otherwise. You and Tetsuya defeating Ryota was not something I had foreseen,"

"Ryo…Kise-kun?" said Kirimi.

Why did he know about the practice match they had had with Kaijo? And he was calling Kuroko and Kise by their first names as well.

"Before your match with Ryota, I was contemplating on how to get rid of you, since you seemed like just an unnecessary useless piece that had crawled into our affairs. But you proved otherwise. That was something that should not have happened. An unnecessary little piece proved to be an emerald. That is why you are such a puzzle," said Akashi.

He had just insulted her without technically insulting her without batting an eyelash. If this was any other person, Kirimi would have immediately retorted but this boy left her terrified so she decided to pretend that she hadn't heard that. Getting rid of her? What right did he have to get rid her? Who was he to say all of this? Why was he acting like Kirimi was some kind of chess piece?

She wanted to retort but she was afraid.

"Please answer my question," said Kirimi, coming back to her main point. "Just who are you and how do you know Tetsuya-kun?"

The wind was blowing strongly again, but Kirimi wasn't bothered by it. She was only focusing on Akashi Seijuurou right now.

"I am Akashi Seijuurou, captain of Rakuzan High School's basketball club and former captain of the Generation of Miracles," he replied.

Kirimi's eyes widened.

This boy in front of her was the former captain of the Generation of Miracles? He was the captain of the team that had made Tetsuya-kun come to hate basketball? If Kirimi had thought that Kise was scary on the basketball court, this Akashi person was a hundred times more frightening even though he was just having a normal chat with her. At least, that was what it looked like to an outsider.

Kirimi quietly pinched herself to make her move again. She took a step forward. There were a lot of things Kirimi wanted to ask him. She felt a little braver after she pinched herself. That, plus he was the captain so he was probably one of the main people who had nearly ruined Kuroko. She couldn't forgive him. She wanted to talk back to him. But she couldn't find the right words to say.

"What does the former captain of the Generation of Miracles want with me?" asked Kirimi a bit defiantly. "Don't tell me that you came all the way here just to say all this to me?"

Almost instantly, Kirimi felt a cold chill go down her spine. Akashi was glaring at her. Kirimi gulped and clutched at herself.

"You will learn not to talk in that manner to me, Ayasaki Kirimi. I am absolute. The only ones who can look me in the eye are those below me. Don't you forget that," he said in a voice which sounded like a rose surrounded by sharp thorns.

Kirimi chose not to reply on that. How could a human being instill so much fear in a person like this? Kirimi had never experienced something like this before. The only other people who made her feel this way were her parents. But this guy, he sounded like he wanted to murder her.

Akashi seemed satisfied at Kirimi's decision not to reply.

"It was not a coincidence but it wasn't exactly planned either. Father had some business to do in this part of the city and it just so happened to be the Ayasaki house, where you lived. I had to know more about the girl who had dared to interfere with my plans. And thankfully, you didn't disappoint, Kirimi. Otherwise this would have been a waste of my precious time and you'd have to be disposed of," said Akashi.

Kirimi could feel her heart beat speed up with every sentence he spoke. He sounded so malicious yet sounded as if this was something that happened every day. What was with the heir of the Akashi house? She had met other heirs who had been domineering but never to this extent. He was being extremely rude not only to her but to her basketball and Kuroko's basketball.

Shizuo's face came into her head.

"Are you just going to let this redheaded psycho to put you down like this?" Shizuo asked in her head. "Did you just hear what he said to you?"

That's right. Shizuo in her head was right. He could put her down or her family down but he was treating Kuroko and her basketball like some kind of trivial thing. Was he trying to scare her into quit being Kuroko's coach? Kirimi clenched her fists, stood on the ground firmly and raised her head and looked straight at Akashi's eyes.

"Please do not put a person down like this, Akashi-san. Even if you are absolute, you are still a human being. And I am a fellow human being…who is on the same social standing as you," said Kirimi firmly but with no real defiance.

She had not meant to add the last bit. But she couldn't stop herself.

"You have clearly done your research on me quite thoroughly. Then you should already know that I, along with Tetsuya-kun intend to defeat the Generation of Miracles…including you! Please look forward to it!" said Kirimi, speaking loudly at the end, mustering up as much courage as she could.

It took just a second. Kirimi had barely blinked when she found Akashi Seijuurou just a foot away from her. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry and she wanted to run but she stood her ground.

In the next second Kirimi saw his hand coming towards her head. Was he going to hit her? She had to run! But she couldn't move. She urged her legs to move but they wouldn't. She shut her eyes tight and waited for the impact. It never came.

Kirimi opened her eyes slowly. Akashi had swiftly pulled the carnation from her hair and was holding it in his palm. Kirimi felt like he was holding a part of her while he held that flower.

"Hmm. Again, you did something unexpected," said Akashi, smiling an eerie smile. "Normally if someone talked to me that way, I would have made sure they would have paid for their actions but very well, then. I accept your challenge,"

Kirimi's heart beat went back to normal again.

"Thank you very much," replied Kirimi, trying to look unfazed.

Akashi looked at her and she looked back at him.

"Well then, we'd better return inside. Our conversation took up a lot of time," said Akashi.

He dropped the carnation flower as he walked back to the house. Kirimi looked at it. The flower had been crushed to bits, except for one petal.

Kirimi fell back on her bed with a thud. She put her hand over her eyes. Seriously, what was with that Akashi guy? She looked at her other hand. It was still trembling a bit though it had already been hours since the Akashi family had left and it was bed time now. The words Akashi had said stuck to her like slime.

Entangled with the Generation of Miracles…something to learn soon…expectations…aura…her actions and Kuroko's actions…

It seemed like Kirimi had only just scratched the surface behind the story of the Generation of Miracles. There were still four more to go, each in different schools which were powerhouses. Kirimi felt she had not prepared herself enough for the Kaijo game. They were too close to losing. She had made an error which resulted in Kuroko getting hurt.

Kirimi sighed.

She still had a long way to go before she could call herself a real coach. She thought of the match and how she had comforted Kise later. She smiled sleepily. He was such a baby, a real blond puppy. But she and Kuroko had helped him. He would be better now. He would love basketball again. It was just one step, just one member of the Generation of Miracles, but it was still victory.

Comforted by these thoughts, Kirimi soon fell asleep.

Kirimi walked towards the school basketball gym, deep in thought, bags under her eyes. Thanks to Akashi Seijuurou, she had a terrible nightmare of a red wolf trying to eat her as she tried to escape using her basketball shaped car. Needless to say, it had left her exhausted.

Kuroko and Kagami were also approaching the gym. On seeing Kirimi, Kagami decided to call out to her.

"…mi….rimi…KIRIMI!"

Kirimi jumped two feet into the air. She turned around.

"Y-Yes?" she croaked. "Oh. Hello, Kagami-kun and Tetsuya-kun,"

The said boys looked at each other and looked at Kirimi.

"Kirimi-san, are you alright?" asked Kuroko.

"Yes, as long as there are no red wolves wanting to eat my basketball," said Kirimi groggily.

…..

"Huh?" said Kagami confused. "What the heck are you talking about?"

…Oops.

Kirimi shook her head and then slapped her cheeks with both hands.

"Sorry! I'm really sorry! I was half asleep!" she said apologetically.

"What are you, a kid going on a field trip?" mocked Kagami in a girly voice.

"Shut up, Kagami-kun! You have no idea how frightening red wolves can be!" shot Kirimi.

"Makes sense since I've never seen one in my life," retorted Kagami.

"Kirimi-san, Kagami-kun, we've reached the gym," said Kuroko softly.

"Ah!" said Kirimi and Kagami at the same time.

"Well then, let's go-"

"Wait!" said Kirimi grabbing Kuroko's sleeve.

"What now?" asked Kagami impatiently.

Kirimi looked at Kuroko then at Kagami then back at Kuroko again. Kuroko could instantly tell something was bothering her. Kuroko put his hand on Kirimi's head, pretending to check her temperature.

"Kagami-kun, I think Kirimi-san has a slight temperature. Please go ahead to the gym and tell Coach that we'll be there in fifteen minutes," said Kuroko.

"Huh? O-Oh! So she's sick. Why didn't you say so in the first place? No problem, I'll let Coach know. You take her to the nurse's office," said Kagami, rushing off.

The school was mostly empty since most students had either gone home or were in their respective clubs. Kuroko and Kirimi were walking around the school gym. In the distance, she could see the track and field club practicing. Had anyone in that club had dreams, she wondered.

"Well, Kirimi-san?" asked Kuroko. "What happened?"

Kirimi smiled at him sheepishly.

"You figured out that I wanted to talk to you alone right away, Tetsuya-kun?"

Kuroko nodded.

Kirimi looked at the pebbles as she walked.

"It's nothing much really, or rather it should be nothing but, um….yeah, let me just cut to the chase. I met Akashi Seijuuro-kun yesterday," declared Kirimi.

She looked at Kuroko, waiting for a response.

Kuroko raised his eyebrows.

"Eh? Akashi-kun?" he said, shock showing on his face.

"That's right. Long story short, his father is very good friends with my father and he brought Akashi-kun with him last evening. I didn't know he was when I saw him, naturally, but then we had to walk in our garden and Akashi-kun…well, he said some things," said Kirimi.

Kuroko gazed at Kirimi.

"Could this red wolf you saw in your nightmare be Akashi-kun you're talking about?"

Kirimi's face flushed in embarrassment. Kuroko couldn't help but smile slightly at the girl's funny face. But at the same time, he was worried. What had Akashi told Kirimi?

"M-M-M-Maybe," mumbled Kirimi. "A-Anyway, he said some stuff and it was pretty creepy and scary-"

"What stuff?" asked Kuroko.

"Something about me turning out not to be a useless piece after all and how I was getting entangled with the Generation of Miracles and that I had some kind of 'aura' and that he was the captain of the Generation of Miracles and well…he was just being plain scary, Tetsuya-kun, I wanted to run away but my legs wouldn't move!" burst out Kirimi, not able to take it anymore.

"I'm sorry, Kirimi-san, did he frighten you that much?" said Kuroko with more concern.

He had realized that Akashi would have come to know about Kirimi sooner or later but he didn't expect it to be this soon. He was making jokes to hide his worries inside. What if he had told Kirimi to stop being his coach? What if Kirimi was so frightened that she wouldn't come to Seirin anymore? He had seen his former captain and how much terror he could spread. Kuroko felt very bad. He should have warned Kirimi about Akashi.

"He used some pretty big words last evening. Eradicating, disposing, useless piece…WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?" shouted Kirimi, half teary, half angry.

Kuroko's eyes widened to the maximum.

E-Eh?

"K-Kirimi-san?"

"Honestly, coming to someone's house and then threatening them and putting them down like this, what kind of a person is he? And he was your captain too, Tetsuya-kun! What kind of a captain would say such things?" said Kirimi.

Kirimi continued to spew insults at the 'red wolf' Akashi while Kuroko watched in amazement.

"K-Kirimi-san?" said Kuroko again. "Are you OK?"

"It's weird, Tetsuya-kun. I'm so scared of him but I'm mad at him at the same time," said Kirimi, sniffing.

Kuroko didn't get it.

"You're important to me. No, everyone in our team s important to me, basketball is important to me," continued Kirimi. "Yet that guy just waltzes in and says he wants to 'dispose of me'? I can't let him do that. I've made a promise with you and Kagami-kun, especially you, Tetsuya-kun,"

"So…you won't quit then?" asked Kuroko, almost whispering.

Kirimi's head jerked back at him.

"Huh? Quit at what?"

Kuroko slowly raised his head and looked at her.

"You won't quit at basketball?" he asked."Even after Akashi-kun said all that to you?"

"HUH?" said Kirimi loudly. "Just because of this Akashi guy? No way!"

Kuroko breathed in relief.

Kirimi huffed.

"Tetsuya-kun, did you really think I'd quit being your coach just because of that? I'm not stupid. When I became your coach, I knew your teammates wouldn't be anything ordinary….well, I didn't expect Akashi-kun to be that scary but anyway, I'm not going to back down like that. If I back down here, I have no right to call myself your coach!" said Kirimi huffing and puffing.

Kuroko looked at her. He felt really warm inside right now. He was really glad that he had asked this girl to be his coach.

"If he thinks he can threaten to kill me and stuff to make me quit, he has another thing coming. I'm used to being nearly skinned alive by my parents, Tetsuya-kun. He really frightened me yesterday but now I realize that I was a fool-ah!"

Kuroko put his hand on Kirimi's forehead again. It was almost as if he wasn't even needed. Kirimi had just needed to vent out her feelings and have someone listen to her. She was becoming pretty brave. It looked like the Coach and Kagami's personalities were rubbing off on her.

"Tetsuya-kun?" said Kirimi gazing at him.

He had put his own forehead on the hand covering Kirimi's forehead leading to their faces being very close. Kirimi seemed unfazed by this. Kuroko smiled at her, their faces still close.

"Kirimi-san, if that red wolf shows up in your dream again tonight, feed him some pickled ginger or seaweed. It will make all the evil red wolves disappear," he said.

"E-Eh? Pickled ginger or seaweed? Huh? Well, OK, I'll keep that in mind," said Kirimi puzzled.

Kuroko moved his head away from hers at last.

"Hehe," said Kirimi with a small grin. "Yesterday, now that I remember, when Akashi-kun brought his face close to me, it felt awful,"

Kuroko's left eyebrow twitched.

"Akashi-kun 'brought his face close to you?"

Kirimi shrugged.

"I don't know. Something about my eyes being nostalgic, I have no idea what that means," said Kirimi.

"Thank you for accompanying me, Tetsuya-kun, I'm fine now, let's go to gym, it's been nearly fifteen minutes,"

Kuroko followed in her wake.

"Kirimi-san," said Kuroko as they trailed back to the gym.

"Hmm?"

"Just now, I brought my face very close to yours….unconsciously of course. You…didn't get mad at that."

Kirimi stopped in her tracks.

She turned around and looked at Kuroko with a smile.

"That's because Tetsuya-kun is special!"

Kuroko stopped in his tracks. 'Special'. For reasons unknown to him, her words had made him very happy. It had been a while since someone had said that to him.

Kirimi and Kuroko opened the doors to the gym just as they heard Fukuda shout something.

"Captain, I got copies of the preliminary tournament bracket!"

Kirimi's eyes widened. It was here, the line up for the Interhigh!

She was as Hyuuga explained it to everyone. It was like a tournament. If you lost one round, you were out. The team would have to be on guard for every single game. There were three weeks left until the Interhigh Preliminaries. Seirin had nearly got in last year, but they had fallen one step short. They were all determined to definitely go through this year.

"We'll be facing a lot of strong teams but our biggest opponents will be Shutoku High. They were in last year's top eight and like Kaijo, they had one of the Generation of Miracles join their team," said Hyuuga.

"If we can't beat them, we won't make it to the Nationals, huh," said Kirimi scanning the tournament paper with Kuroko.

Kirimi eyes were glowing. This wasn't an order practice match. This was a game where she couldn't afford to have any mistakes. Getting Kuroko or some other team member injured would be asking for a death wish. She had to be very careful in her calculations and she had to do some research on the Shutoku Miracle, Midorima Shintaro carefully. She also had to think up new techniques for Kuroko which he would use with Kagami. She had a lot to do.

"The other four are on another level," said Kuroko. "If they've gotten even better, I cannot imagine how good they are,"

But before Shutoku, they had to do win their first game.

"Huh? Where's Riko-chan?" asked Kirimi. "She went to observe our first opponent's practice game but she hasn't come back yet,"

As if on cue, Riko returned almost the next second.

"I'm back," said Riko.

She seemed unhappy. She wasn't skipping like she did for the Kaijo practice game. This meant serious business. She indeed looked grim. Apparently the first team had a student from abroad, Senegal to be exact. The main problem was his height. The players couldn't help but be nervous when they saw his picture.

"Riko-chan," said Kirimi determinedly. "Can I request something? Is it alright if Tetsuya-kun and Kagami-kun have their own training regimen? I have some things I want them to try out,"

Riko smiled at her.

"I'm counting on you, my little assistant coach! Give it all you've got!"

"Right!" said Kirimi loudly.

Riko looked around at her players.

"There's only very little time left until the preliminaries begin! Until then, you won't have time to complain!" she said.

"YEAH!" shouted everyone.

This was it. This was their next step. Kirimi touched her chest. Her heart was beating fast but she didn't feel pain. She was excited, she was scared but most all of all, she was ready for the Interhigh.

I'm sorry if this chapter didn't have enough fluff for you guys. OTL This was so so so hard to write! Akashi is tormenting me too lol. I spent so much time thinking about how to write his part and still feel it didn't come out satisfactory. Darn you, Akashi! Special thanks to TeoBern for her constructive criticism. It really helped me a lot, thank you so much!

We'll be meeting Midorima in the next chapter, see you then!

P.S Review please?