Chapter 3

Expanding one's horizon: Professor Akashi has no chill

The next day Kuroko showed up with a handful of shoelaces. Akashi refrained from asking about them. He figured if he waited long enough he'd get to see why the colorful strings were present in his classroom. He really did want to ask though. He already had to deal with Midorima bringing in odd things every day. He wanted to hold onto hope for as long as he could that Tetsuya wasn't following his influence.

He was right about getting to find out by waiting. As soon as the others showed up Kuroko started passing out shoelaces to his friends. He explained that his daddy wouldn't let him have any real ties, but his mommy was okay with buying him some shoelaces and so now they all had ties.

Momoi's was pink with stars on it, Kise's was rainbow, Aomine's was blue and black plaid, Midorima's neon green, and Murasakibara's had pink frosted donuts on it.

Akashi wasn't really sure what to do. They all looked ridiculous with shoelaces tied around their necks, but he didn't even begin to know where to start on explaining that to them. A look at how happy and proud the stupid strings made them and Akashi gave a resigned sigh as he decided not to say anything at all about it. He'd gotten used to the weird things Midorima brought to school every day, today it was a step ladder that the green haired boy was having trouble dragging around; he could get used to being associated with people who wore shoelaces on places other than their shoes.

He did step in to pry Kise off of Kuroko when it looked like the smaller boy was having trouble breathing.

Kuroko watched the fifth graders at lunch that day. At one point he disappeared from the table so quietly that Akashi almost didn't notice. Akashi was actually a little impressed, because he was pretty sure Tetsuya and Mursakibara had been speaking mere seconds before Tetsuya's disappearing act, but the purple haired boy didn't seem to notice his friend was missing. A glance at the fifth grade table showed that none of them seemed to notice the boy half their age sitting with them.

"Big kids are weird." Kuroko declared when he returned in time to form a line to go back to the classroom.

"What do you know about big kids, Tetsu?" Aomine scoffed.

"More than I did an hour ago, and certainly more than I want to." Kuroko answered with a slight frown.

"I have an older sister. She's thirteen. Big kids are definitely weird." Kise agreed.

When they went to recess Tetsuya relayed the information he had gathered to Akashi.

"Interesting. Big kids are strange. But I believe I have a plan. I'll need another favor from you."

"Okay, but wouldn't it be easier to start with the first graders?" Kuroko asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Easier, maybe, but less effective. If you can win over the fifth graders you can win over anyone." Akashi reasoned before explaining his plan to Tetsuya. After that, they played basketball against Kise, Aomine, and Murasakibara. Midorima had joined Akashi and Kuroko's team. Momoi had even started trying to help all of them from the side lines where she was jumping rope. "I think you guys should move your teams around a bit." She told them after a few pointers on how they could do better against each other.

"Why?" Akashi asked her curiously. Everything else she had said had seemed accurate so far, and he was all for improving. Who knew, if they got better maybe they could join a basketball club when they went to middle school. He would have to be captain, of course. He would never lower himself to taking orders from others. But he was willing to take advice, and Momoi's was ususally good.

"Tetsu-kun and Dai-chan would work better together. Akashi-kun, you use the fact that people don't notice Tetsu-kun, but I think that would work better with Dai-chan. He draws attention to himself by trying fancy tricks and having a big mouth." She ignored her best friend's indignant look at that. "Tetsu-kun is hardest to read when he's near Dai-chan. And you're better at being close to people, but Mido-chan is best at playing far away. You balance. Ki-chan and Mura-chan are both good all around and can really be on any team." She explained.

"I wanna be on Kurokocchi's team!"

"Hush, Ryouta. I'm thinking." Akashi said, absentmindedly waving off the blond's comment.

"Let's try it. Ryouta, you can be on Tetsuya's team, if you promise not to tackle him." He added the last part when it looked like Kise was going to do just that.

They switched up teams, and it was a bit fumbled at first since they weren't used to it, but as Momoi started to look ready to stop jumping and recess was almost over Akashi could see the potential.

The next morning Akashi was still the first student to show up, but he didn't immediately go to class like he usually did. Midormia was second to show up, carting an empty box with him with the shoelace around his neck, and Akashi sent him to make sure that everything remained fine in the classroom while he and Tetsuya handled the fifth graders.

Other students started to trickle into the building, Tetsuya showing up with the biggest wave of them, almost blending in. Akashi might have missed him had he not walked over to the bench Akashi was sitting on. "I got it." He said, holding up the key Akashi had asked him for the previous day.

"Good job, Tetsuya. Now, let's get rid of it."

They approached a group of fifth graders. There were four of them. Two girls and two boys. Kuroko had pointed them out as the ones to go for.

"Excuse me. May I have a moment of your time?" Akashi asked them politely after waiting for a loll in their conversation about how their teacher was a word that Akashi had been forbidden to use. Akashi was a little surprised to hear them say it since every adult he'd ever met said not to. Maybe that's why they were saying it. He made a mental note to not let Aomine meet them in case he started getting new ideas about how to disrespect authority.

"Sure. What do you need?" The girl with curly hair asked, smiling down at Akashi.

"I don't need anything. It's actually about what you need and how I can help."

"I don't think we need any help from a second grader." One of the boys scoffed.

"Don't be mean to him!" The other girl said, elbowing the boy.

"I'm in kindergarten, actually, but thank you for thinking that I am older." Akashi told him. "Now, if you could shut up and let me talk instead of acting like my age makes me useless, you might actually still get my help." He said coldly to the boy, before turning his attention back to the rest of the group, voice returning to normal as he flashed a charming smile. "You see, it was brought to my attention that a few kids angered your teacher, and that as a result your test was moved up. You were supposed to have today as a review day, but now you've got a test that you're not ready for. Well, it just so happens that I have a key to the copy room." He held up the key Tetsuya had given him. "It would be a shame if something were to happen to the copy machine, preventing your teacher from having a test to give you today." Akashi added, holding the key out for them to take.

"Where did you get this?" One of the girls asked, picking up the key and looking at it like it held the answers to the universe.

"Look at Tetsuya. He's adorable. Would you ever suspect him of stealing?" Akashi replied, gesturing to Kuroko. All four of the fifth graders jumped a little at noticing Kuroko there, which certainly did attribute to his ability to get the key, but there was no need to share everything about how things got done with the big kids.

"What do you want for this?" The boy who had been quite the whole time asked.

"Nothing. I just want to help." Akashi said with a shrug. "But do try to get that key back to me during lunch. I would like to get it back where it belongs before someone notices it is missing. My name is Akashi if that helps in getting it back to me."

And then he walked away with Kuroko following behind him, making it to class in time to see Midormia putting Daiki into his box as some odd form of time out. For what, Akashi wasn't sure, but he could almost guarantee that Aomine probably deserved it. He made the executive decision to just let it happen.

At lunch the key made its way back to him exactly how he thought it would. The tables in the lunch room were ordered by grade, meaning the fifth graders were furthest away. It would look odd for one of them to walk across the lunch room to talk to the kindergarteners, so they simply passed it from table to table. By the end of lunch, every grade level knew that Akashi was the reason they were having movie days since their teachers couldn't print work sheets. If he ever wanted something from them, they would do it because he was the guy who had gotten them out of doing work for a day.

That wasn't quite enough though. When the day was over and everyone who didn't get home by bus waited for their parents Akashi found a fourth grade girl with a cellphone.

"Do you mind if I borrow your phone? I need to make a quick call." Akashi said to her with his most charming smile. He was quickly granted access to the phone after the girl recognized that he was the reason she got a movie day.

He'd done his research and he quickly dialed in the number he wanted. "Yes, hello, you've received a call from Tenoko elementary school today, correct? About fixing their copy machine?" He waited for the answer, noticing the curious looks he was getting from the students around him. "Yes well, this is Akashi Seijuuruo. I'm sure you've heard of my father. I would like to pay you to not show up tomorrow to fix the copier. You will not tell them that you are not showing up until tomorrow when they call wondering where you are, and when they do you say you never got their call for help. You may fix the copier over the weekend." There was a long pause before laughter was heard. The number Akashi gave as a price followed by a credit card number stopped that laughter. After a few minutes of conversation he handed the phone back, pretending not to notice the looks the other students were giving him. "Thank you very much for allowing me to use your phone." He said, and then walked back over to his group, or what was left of them. Most had left for home already.

Sure enough, the next day the copier still wasn't fixed, and everyone who wasn't going to tell the teachers knew that Akashi was responsible for the two days of watching movies. If they weren't sure of his power before, they certainly were now. He was pretty sure his own teacher suspected him, but she wouldn't have any proof if she tried to say something about it. She didn't matter. All that mattered was that he had won over the entire school. He had complete power. Certainly more than anyone else in the school.