Maya loves the winter even when she gets cold easily. She loves walking in the snow, making snowballs and snow angels and snow castles and whatever her not-so-artsy hands could sculpt using the snow.

Now that the winter break has ended and all snow has melted, she gets back to her work at the lab. Out of all the clubs she's a member to, astronomy club, journalism club, (formerly chess club), chemistry club is what she loves the most. It is the most quiet too having only 4 members. She cannot head a club yet since she's a freshman but the chief gave her a key so she could stay as late as 10 pm. She has done so a couple of times, working on experiments, her homework and her part-time job as a freelance writer (which no one could know).

On the night before her birthday, she stayed late late at Chemistry Lab doing her homework and working on an essay about the importance of democracy and the right to vote.

It was 9:30 pm when an earthquake strike. Maya hid under one of the tables. One of the cabinets got forcefully opened and a lot of test tubes and glass cylinders broke on the floor. The whole building shook so intensely which terrified Maya since she knows she's alone in the building tonight. As she wait for the shaking to stop, she prayed just as intensely be spared from this fear and asked for forgiveness for all her sins and if she is to die tonight, she prayed that she be able to face it with grace and courage. She asked for her family's safety. The shaking lasted for 2 and a half excruciating minutes. The power suddenly went out and all became so dark. She reached for her pockets to get her phone for a flashlight but then she remembered she left it charging on the other side of the room.

She knows too may shattered glasses are on the floor. She gets out from under the table and walked slowly. Still, she failed to calculate how much the chairs also moved causing her to fall and land her left wrist directly on a huge chunk broken cylinder.

"Shit shit shit!" she screamed in pain. She cant see anything but she can feel how much she's bleeding and that's enough to make her feel lightheaded like she's about to faint. She sat on the chair she stumbled upon. She wrapped her handkerchief in her pocket around her bleeding wrist. It was pitch black all around and she lost all sense of direction with the throbbing pain in her hands and blood loss.

She stopped for a moment feeling defeated Please, just a little light. Please. And after the longest 5 minutes of her life, she saw a glimpse of light on her left where the door was.

The Rakuzen Team had a scheduled meeting and practice on the first school day after the winter break. They finished at around 8 pm but Akashi decided to stay. He lives alone anyway so he does his homework at his office (yes, he has an office as the captain of the basketball team) and reviews their game and plays go alone.

He was preparing to leave when suddenly, the floor starts shaking. Akashi is not one to panic so he calmly covered his head and hid under his table.

The shaking stopped and lights went out. Luckily, he already had his bag with him so he took his phone out to use its flashlight. Suddenly, he heard glasses breaking from the 3rd floor of the building. The room he had many times see as the last room besides the basketball court to be empty. He knows for a fact that someone stays up late there sometimes. One time, that someone stayed even later than him. It might be silly to consider it a competition, but he hated that it felt like defeat when he went home earlier than that person.

He went out and asked the school guard if he saw someone went out from buildung already. He said no.

"I think someone's still there"

"Can you go and check it? I'll check the generator and see why is it not working yet."

"Okay."

It was indeed very dark inside the school building. Akashi went straight to the third floor to the room that still had it's lights on just minutes ago before the power outage, but with this darkness it was hard to find the exact room.

"Is anyone still here?" Akashi shouted.

"Yes! I'm still here. I couldn't see a thing and hurt my hand!"

Relief filled Maya as the light from the hall gets brighter as it gets closer.

The light came closer and closer until it was on the door and atlas, the wielder of the light she begged for was revealed.

"Maya?" Akashi confirmed pointing the flashlight on her.

She stood up immediately. "I figured it would be you since you stay late at the court. I'm sorry to be an inconvenience but I really couldn't see a thing."

"Are you okay?"

"I am, I just hurt my hand a little on a piece of broken glass."

Akashi saw her holding her left wrist with her right hand over red handkerchief tied-up messily around it.

"Are you hurt anywhere else? Can you walk?"

"No, just my hand."

"Then let's go."

They walked through the dark hallway and Maya was on Akashi's tails. Feeling lightheaded due to the walking in the dark and from blood loss, Maya held on lightly to Akashi's jacket from the back. As they went down the stairs, Akashi felt the tugging on his clothes and got a little irritated when he almost lost balance due to the tugging. He turned around and without a word held Maya's right hand. "You are scared. Stop pretending you're not." Then he felt her hand was wet but doesnt feel like sweat. He wanted to look at it but decided not to let go immediately after he took it, lest Maya get offended.

Finally they were out of the building. Akashi's butler was already waiting outside.

"Sir, I came as fast as I could. Were you hurt?"

"I'm not. But she cut her hand."

The butler pointed a light towards Maya and that's when Akashi saw it. She did not hurt just her hand, it was her wrist. And the handkerchief she wrapped around it, was not really red, but was bloodsoaked. He looked at his hand in light and saw that it was also covered by her blood.

"Sir, we need to take her to the hospital immediately. She could lose a lot blood."

"I'm fine, I- I just need to sit for while." Maya plopped down the stairs.

"Let's go."

Without a word Akashi carried her to the car and the butler opened it.

Maya would not have allowed anyone to carry her like this but she was too weak to fight.

She knows she's losing conciousness soon so she told Akashi handling him her phone, "Please call my parents, tell them I'm fine and on the way to the hospital".

She's already unlocked her phone. There are 20 missed calls and as Akashi scanned through her phonebook, he saw her already asleep.

"Put pressure on her wound!" the butler shouted, for the first time since serving Akashi.

Akashi replaced Maya's sleeping right hand over the wound's make shift dressing. With his other hand, he found the contact name 'Mom' and it was immediately answered. "Maya?! Are you okay? Are you still at school? We're on our way there. Maya? Maya?!"

"Uhm, Ma'am."

"Who are youuu? Where is Maya?"

"She's alright. I'm her -", Akashi stopped for a second. "acquiantance from school. She got hurt a little and we're on the way to the hospital"

"What do you mean got hurt a little? Where is she?"

"She can't talk right now."

"Why? Is she okay?"

"She's okay." Akashi quietly prayed 'please be okay'. "...but she.. fainted"

"Fainted?! Why?"

"She hurt her hand during the earthquake."

He could hear them panic in the background

"We're going to the hospital now. Don't hang up. Continue updating us"

Akashi went on to update them every 5 seconds where they are and how is she, which is not different from what he told them the first time. When they were near the hospital, lights went on all around meaning that electricity was back. Soon, they reached the ER. A doctor immediately attended to her. She was being treated when her mom and dad came rushing.

"Maya! Maya!"

Her mother came rushing screaming her name. "Where is she?"

"She's inside. Being treated. She hurt her hand on a broken glass. She was at the lab when the earthquake happened."

After half an hour, the doctor went out and told Maya's mother she fainted not from loss of blood but possibly from fear of blood or panic attack.

"She hasn't waken up yet but we've finished her stiches and her tetanus shots. She's okay. Anesthesia hasnt worn off yet so maybe she'll sleep through the night. I suggest you all get some rest."

"Thank you." she told the doctor. "And thank you." facing Akashi. "I told her not to stay late at school. That stubborn girl." Then she faced Akashi.

"I'm Akashi Seijuro, a freshman like her in Rakuzan." Akashi said with a respectful bow.

"I'm Maya's mother. Were you with Maya when it happened?"

"No, I was at the basketball court when I heard glasses breaking. So I went to check. I saw her at the chemistry lab on the 4th floor. I think after the lights went out, she stumbled on something and hurt her wrist on broken glass."

"Thank you for saving her" her mother hugged him which caught Akashi off guard, but he did not pull away immediately.

"She has some phobia with blood. Last time she also almost fainted when she hurt her hand while washing the dishes."

When Akashi does not respond, her mother continued, "Why did you say you're an acquintance. Are two of you not friends?" pointing back and forth from sleeping Maya to him.

Akashi thought for a moment.

"Oh. It's just. We're from different classes so we don't really talk at school."

"I see."

He felt like that answer disappointed her mom for no reason so he added, "But unknowlingly, maybe we are friends. I always wondered who stays up late there in the Chemistry lab. I also always stay late at the basketball court. As the last two people in the school, we've kept each other company many times."

"That's good to know that she was not alone afterall when she stays late. I already reprimanded her but she won't stop. Said she can't study in the room she shared with her sister."

"Sir, your father's on the line." Akashi's butler suddenly said.

"Hello. I'm fine. Are you okay? Okay. Good night, father."

"Well, thank you for all your help. It's her tomorrow. I told her to bring friends since it's her 16th birthday. You should come too if you're free."

So she's born in winter, like him and Kuroko."Thank you for the invitation. However, that would be presumptuous of me to accept it as she might bring along her close friends"

"I'm sure she wouldnt mind. You saved her life tonight."

'Did I?' Akashi thought.

"So she can also thank you properly."

"That's not necessary. But thank you, I'll be going now."

Akashi went home but not before Maya's mother gave directions to their house. He checked the news to see how much damage it did. Surprisingly, it says on the news that the earthquake was not as strong as he thought it was and classes need not be suspended for the following week. Feeling exhausted already, he did not do his usual night routine but fell asleep thinking what to do about Maya's mother's invitation.