Please excuse the un-Akashi-ness of their conversation… I barely had known even half of the canon storyline when I wrote this.

Chapter One

I smoothened out my new school uniform while I was taking one last look at myself in front of the mirror. Our conversation from a few nights ago resurfaced in my mind. 'Why would you go to Subarashi?' he had asked casually but I could feel an exasperated undertone winding within his words.

'I just want to,' I had answered stupidly, a tad childishly.

'Why not Rakuzan?' he asked again. This wasn't like him, to ask me one simple question at a time.

'I just do. I mean, Rakuzan is kinda cool but I feel like I have a place in Subarashi. And besides, my brother did go there. Also, it's in goddamn Kyoto. Don't expect me to suffer an hour-long train ride everyday just for school,' I answered – no – reminded him from the other line. Since my cellphone was dead last night, I was sitting in the hallway of our home holding our old telephone tightly. I was playing with a loose hem of my old sweater while waiting for his reply.

'No,' came his firm answer.

'Aw, why not?' I feigned defeat. I was so not the mood for this. Over the past years, ever since we met, I'd become a very moody person. He understood me, though. He saw past this flaw of mine.

'Just because. You belong in Rakuzan.' I noticed his voice had become a bit fiercer.

I sighed and ran a hand through my thick curly hair. 'No. For the last time, no. we've already had this conversation, okay. No.'

'But—'

'No.' I knew where this was heading: he was going to explode and scream at me. He'd chastise me for disobeying him, for finding my own cunning ways of getting under his skin. I just knew it.

As a safety precaution, I set the phone a foot from my left ear. He constantly yelled at me for contravening him, but I'd been so used to it that I really didn't care. At the end of the day, both of us would find our ways back together again, however melodramatic or subtle the method may be. This was his flaw, being a control freak. I saw past this, though.

But this time, I was surprised. Beyond surprised, actually. He didn't scream at me. I set the phone near my ear again. 'What happened?' I asked worriedly. All my moodiness disappeared when our routine had abruptly changed.

'Nothing happened,' he answered so formally it had scared me.

'No, seriously, what?' I asked in my close to frantic voice.

'Nothing, honestly.' He deadpanned.

'Akashi Seijuro, I've known you for quite a long time now to know that something. Is. Wrong.'

'Nothing's wrong. I've realized that this is your chance of making your own decisions. And...I have been too selfish and kept you away from the world for a long period of time.'

This rarely ever happened—Seijuro surrendering in an argument. And when it did, the problem was either (a) very bad or (b) extremely bad. I was guessing extremely bad. What he said had a double message hidden in it: you haven't seen the last of me. Akashi Seijuro did not simply give up on an argument. He just does not. He wanted to win, he needed to win. Now I was nervous. He was going to do something.

'see, um, I'm sorry,' I apologized. I closed my eyes. Look what I'd done now.

'Don't. Good night,' he abruptly said. Then I heard the depressing sound of the dial tone.

I forcefully slammed the phone back on its place with so much rage. I buried my face in my hands. I was so crazy, what was I thinking? He let me win. He does not let anyone win an argument, not even I, his best friend. I was scared, not of him but for our friendship. It was because of my stupid clairvoyance that got us arguing for days now. He knew he was right: I belonged at his side, I couldn't stand without him. But me being the rebellious me, chose otherwise. I didn't know what I was thinking—did I just want to anger him or did I just want independence? (In my defense, I was being pragmatic. It's going to bust my pockets if I'd chosen Rakuan…)


I sighed, dismissing the memory. He wasn't the selfish one, I was. Knowing him, he relentlessly needed someone to level with him or else he'd go murdering, if not severely injuring the whole student body and probably the whole faculty and staff, too. All I could do was hope and pray that he had already found someone worthy of leveling with him. Or at least someone who'd obey him. He wanted absolution, wanted everyone to not disobey him—and that was all. Seijuro might be smiling and laughing at you one minute but the next he'd probably scream his head off at you. He's just...bipolar, suffering a multi-personality illness or something...he'd been like this since middle school. Something had happened then.

'Utsu! Come down, breakfast is ready!' I heard my mother call down from downstairs where she was cooking before she went to work.

I sighed and grabbed my schoolbag that was sitting on my bed while I had been busying myself in front of the mirror. I was wearing the standard yellow and blue Subarashi high school uniform. Today was my first day as a freshman in my brother's former school. I had butterflies in my stomach even days before today. They say high school is one of the best years of one's life, so I had to make sure to make the best of it.

But considering my argument with Seijuro, high school definitely wouldn't be the 'best' for me. Whatever the definition of 'best' was.

I ran downstairs and almost tripped on the last step. 'Careful there, pumpkin,' my brother, Yuki, teased me. He was sitting, as per usual, at the table. He was already sipping his daily cup of coffee brewed by our dear mother with love and affection. I rolled my eyes. 'Whatever.'

'Someone's moody today.'

'Shut up.'

'What crawled up your ass and died?'

'I said shut up.' I quickly made my way right across him. I gave him my deadliest glare. I hoped he was cowering in fear inwardly.

He wiggled a finger at me. 'Let me guess, fighting with your boyfriend again?'

'He's not my boyfriend.' everybody in my family knew I was best friends with Akashi Seijuro, the rich bipolar boy who hadn't stepped inside our house since we first hanged out. So technically he hadn't met my mother yet. And I also hadn't met his parent/s yet. After all these years.

Yes, I know. That sounds a little...odd for two best friends. Well, you see, fate always had a way with certain things.

'Oh please. What're you fighting about this time, what ice cream flavor is better?' he teased, rolling his eyes. Yuki propped his elbow on the table and placed his chin on the palm of his hand. He gave me the lazy eye and a sly smirk. 'Hmm?'

It really irked me whenever Yuki insulted and/or mocked Akashi's...sudden fluctuation. Nobody but the ones who really knew what happened could ever understand.

'Okay, stop fighting you two,' Mother warned as she set two bowls of onigiri in front of my brother and me. 'Yuki, stop teasing your sister about her friend. Have you ever heard her mock your friends?' she chastised my brother sternly.

'No, ma'am,' Yuki silently said. I stuck my tongue out at my brother. Great timing, too, because Mom said, 'And don't think you're already off the hook yet, Utsubara.' Now it was my brother's turn to make funny faces at me. I simply rolled my eyes at him.

Mom clapped her hands thrice quickly. 'Okay, eat 'em all up as fast as you can or else you'd be late.'

'Whatever,' my older sibling and I synchronized before saying our graces. We quickly ate our breakfast and bid our mother goodbye. When we were both out of the house, I said to my brother in a monotone, 'Bye. See you after school.'

Yuki ruffled my hair and smirked. 'Bye, kiddo. See you at five.'

I rolled my eyes at his eager enthusiasm. I really hated it when he'd call me by that wretched moniker but no matter how much I'd protest, Yuki'd ignore me every time. So I let him be.

Subarashi, ever since I was a kid, was big. The edifices were big and the school's gymnasium was huge. Not to mention clean. In fact, the school was bigger than Teiko, the middle school I had gone to with Seijuro.

Anyway, it was the first day of school, so of course there was a lot of buzz. My brother schooled here so I knew my way around here pretty well. But my adeptness wasn't enough to navigate me around the whole school. I only knew the route to the basketball court and to the different classrooms my brother was in when he was my age.

I made my way to the large mass of students crowding in front of the bulletin board. I bet they were looking for their respective classrooms and running their fingers down the long lists of their new classmates like I was about to. I wish I knew at least one person here. Why did I not listen to Seijuro?

I waited a few minutes for the crowd to thin. When it did, I shyly approached the information board and scanned for my name under the first years. It took me a few moments to locate my name under class 1 - C. I ran my finger down the list of my alleged new classmates—I knew none of them. While I was scanning, I kind of felt nervous. This was a new start.

I knew where class 1 - C was, it was right beside my brother's old classroom, which was class 1 - B. I sauntered my way to the said classroom, savoring the remaining seconds of solitude before I had to face the music.

When I slid the door open, I was met by the usual chit-chat and the laughter of my new classmates. I was trying to find a peaceful seat that could isolate me from the entire student ruckus. I was a loudmouth, that was for sure, and I liked meeting new friends. But today, I felt discouraged of branching out. I didn't feel like it. Finally, I had spotted the last seat adjacent to the window. It was my kind of seat. I quickly strode to my chosen station.

When I finally situated myself in my new desk and chair, I felt my phone vibrate. it was a text, probably from one of my friends. I flipped my phone open and clicked my inbox. It was, as to be expected, from Sei. It read:

Are you at school already? - Akashi.

He always ended his messages with '- Akashi.' Although he had a neutral feeling towards my calling him by his first name, sometimes, when the need would arise, his surname, he always insisted on ending his messages to me (and to his friends and...acquaintances) with his last name. And although I constantly complained about it, he would still use his surname. In the end, I simply let him be.

I quickly replied to him:

yeah. you?

I flipped my phone shut and placed it on the desk. I should've brought a book with me to at least entertain me while waiting for our teacher (and for his reply), but instead, I found myself looking at my new classmates and my colleagues for the next ten months of (torturous) school, amusing myself by fathoming what their life might be.

I had my chin on my hand while giving these students my dissecting stare. In the corner, diagonal to me, sat a brunette boy reading a book. Judging by his posture and height, he seemed like a kid with no self-confidence whatsoever. He looked like he could get frightened of everything and nothing. When I knew I had guessed him enough, or, to be honest, he wasn't that entertaining, my eyes roamed for my next candidate for my own little mind game. They landed on a girl with flaming red hair that strongly reminded me of Akashi. Her fiery red mane cascaded down her hips. It looked smooth and silky, compared to mine which was frizzy and dull. The owner of the said tresses was animatedly chatting with some other lass who more or less looked entranced by the redhead. After a long stare at her, I concluded she was one of the people I would learn to dislike. Ugh.

Just then, just as my eyes moved to find another contender, my phone vibrated again. I hastily flipped it open and read his reply:

What class are you in? - Akashi

I sighed lightly and typed a message back to him:

class 1 - c, you?

I took note that he didn't answer my questions, but I dismissed it easily. Sometimes, depending on his mood, Sei wouldn't answer your questions. It used to irritate me a lot before but now, seeing as I'd been now used to it, I kind of tolerated it. Kind of.

I flipped my phone shut again and placed it back on the desk. I decided to find one last interesting person in this room. My eyes landed on a giant sleeping right beside me. The tall first year had long black hair that terminated a little bit past his shoulders and was tied loosely by a pale yellow rubber band. He had ivory skin that seemed to...glow. He had his head on his arms and was snoring lightly, facing me. I smiled a little bit. The guy reminded me a bit of Daiki. He appeared to be just like a slacker, just like that ganguro. But at the same time, he reminded me of Sushi. Sushi liked to sleep and was insanely tall. Maybe he was a mixture of both?

The early-morning noise died down as a middle-aged corpulent man, who was going bald, strode in the classroom and placed his belongings on the teacher's table before us. He introduced himself as Mr. Fukiko Seitona. He taught English to first years and Advanced Geometry to second years.

After introducing himself to us, he announced, with flamboyant happiness, that the students, he was referring to us, were to introduce themselves in front. That little declaration of course set my heart clamoring up my throat. I was, and always will be, an inept public speaker.

As if lady luck had a grudge on me, Mr. Fukiko decided to start on my column. Now my heartbeats were exhilarating. First was a short mousy-haired girl named Chisana Hono who stated her name, age, and her former school. After her quick and accurate introduction, students from my column followed her lead: walking to the front, name, age, former school. I watched them with fidgety eyes until their eyes landed on me, signaling me to walk to the front and introduce myself.

If there was one thing being Akashi Seijuro's childhood and best friend had taught me, it was to have at least a small percentage of dignity, if not half of Seijuro's. You had to know how to carry yourself before you start walking around the hallways of the school with him. If you looked and acted like a scalawag, people would misinterpret. Being his best friend had a lot of standards, I was glad I managed to reach standard one: a girl with dignity. Or, at least, the girl who had sufficient self-confidence and who had the audacity to show up everywhere in tow with the redhead.

So I paced to the front with equal dignity and poise like Sei would have when he walked. (It was very hard!) All eyes were trained on me, I could feel it. I could feel their eyes marking me, throwing speculative darts at me, rating me. I introduced myself: 'I'm Sora Utsubara, fifteen years of age, and a graduate of Teiko middle school.'

No doubt about it, the name of my former school sent whispers throughout the room. It was a known fact that Teiko reigned supreme in the world of middle school basketball. And cradling all five (to some, six) of the famed Generation of Miracles only added to their prominent reputation. I guessed it must be rare for Subarashi to obtain graduates from Teiko middle school, even if this was a relatively prestigious school. Usually the alumnae would choose more prestigious schools than this, like Kaijou or Rakuzan or Touo.

Mr. Fukiko asked me to go back to my seat and I complied. I could sense yet again their eyes lingering on me before I took my seat. When their numerous stares subsided, the girl in front of me turned around and asked cheerily, 'Do you happen to know Ryota Kise?'

I inwardly smirked. Based on how jubilant she asked me, I was guessing she was a fangirl. I didn't know how she knew Ryo—through the countless magazines he modeled for or for his status as an eminent basketball player. Either way, I was slightly impressed that his fandom had branched out to other neighboring schools.

'Yeah. We were in the same classes,' I answered with scant joy. I was trying to mask my amusement.

I'm not lying when I say this: I could see hearts in the girl's eyes. She looked hopeful and ecstatic to hear what I had to say about the blonde ikemen. 'Really? He's hot, isn't he? Is he nice? Is he a gentleman to all ladies?'

I loved Ryo like a brother. And that was why I was not selling any information about him that would be controversy-worthy. I knew he loved his fans and the attention he garnered from them but sometimes a celebrity needs a break from everything. (Secretly, I was just tired of his fangirls wholly. I used to scare them away sometimes.) 'He's...okay.'

Suddenly, the once angelic young girl turned into a rabid animal. 'What?! Ryota Kise is not 'okay!' He is the best, okay? The best!'

Instead of spouting a witty comeback at her, I simply shrugged. She didn't know Kise enough to say that.

Then she blinked and the rabid animal was gone in an instant. When she realized she couldn't squeeze any more juicy information out of me, she turned back and listened to the others' introductions. I did so, too, after she turned around. Apparently, the column that was currently introducing was the one adjacent to ours because unbeknownst to the girl and me earlier, something that a student said had tickled Mr. Fukiko's funny bone. And knowing teachers, what the student must have said might not have been very funny.

Finally, it was time for the boy right beside me to introduce himself. Unfortunately, the said boy was still fast asleep, oblivious to our little activity. Everyone prodded him awake, but none of them were ever successful. So in an attempt to wake the tall boy up, I poked him on the ribs. Instantly, the boy sat up straight and his eyes fluttered open revealing brilliant sea-foam green eyes. He rubbed the nape of his neck and yawned.

He then demanded aggressively, 'Who did that?!'

All fingers were pointed at me. The boy's eyes followed the direction of the pointing fingers until they landed on me. I simply shrugged at him and said in a monotone, 'You were sleeping and Mr. Fukiko wanted you to introduce yourself.'

The boy, who was cracking his knuckles, suddenly blinked and looked kind of awestruck at me. He stood up and walked to the front, all eyes on him, and introduced himself. His height was definitely intimidating, especially to me. 'Koharu Asuhara, sixteen, Zensin middle school.'

He somewhat jogged back to his seat and just stared at me. I stared back at him, too. We had a staring contest for a few moments until I finally broke the ice by saying, 'What?'

'Your name.' He deadpanned.

'Um, Utsubara Sora?' I propped my elbow on the desk and placed my chin on the palm of my right hand. I was looking at him. Both of us weren't listening to the others' introduction.

'You're a tough one.' He crossed his arms and slouched in his seat.

'But I didn't do anything.'

'You're impressive.'

'And you're ticklish.'

Koharu cringed and sweatdropped. 'Just shut up.'

I discreetly covered my mouth and smirked. 'You know, I kind of tolerate you,' I said.

Koharu opened one eye. 'And why is that?'

I shrugged. 'I don't know.'

Koharu's big hand ruffled my hair. 'You're kind of weird, you know that?'

'What makes me weird?'

'you're just so...apathetic?'

I smirked, this time, Koharu could see it. 'Big word you got there, Asuhara.'

Koharu sweatdropped again. 'What, no honorifics, Utsu-chan?'

I pretended to gag. Nobody ever called me with honorifics, but some chose to disobey that mere rule. But, like, no. I didn't really want to be called with honorifics...for no apparent reason. 'Please don't call me that, Koharu.'

Koharu snickered. Talking to him reminded me of talking to both Daiki and Sushi respectively. He said childish yet somewhat rash things. Now I was starting to miss those two. Great. 'Why not? it's cute, Utsu-chan.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Whatever.' But nonetheless I had a smile playing on my lips. I held out my hand for him to shake. He raised a fine eyebrow at me. 'What are you doing?'

'Making a new friend?'

He shook my small hand with his large and calloused one.

And, hey, maybe I couldn't have my childhood friend with me at all times. Maybe I could start over...