CHAPTER 4:
A month into the school year, Shirokawa Sayuri realized a rather disturbing fact: her grades were slipping.
And they weren't minimal variations either, they were great, big jumps from 90% averages to 75%. Sayuri, being the doofus she was, wouldn't have noticed those gaps if it weren't for Nidori-sensei, he physics teacher. The latter had discreetly requested to talk to Sayuri about her grades, which the busy girl complied to. But she had to admit, between balancing school work, track meets, and namely those kids that were basketball prodigies (except maybe Akashi and Midorima); a lot of her studying time had been cut off.
Ruffling up her raven hair, the frustrated girl groaned loudly once again.
Of course, this wasn't the end of Sayuri's worries. The girl barely contained her rage when Izumi sensei approached her and kindly suggested she find a tutor, handing her a list of A+ students. Although she grumbled quite a bit, Sayuri willingly accepted the list. Obviously she needed it.
Said girl currently sat in the library, mulling over the various names. None of them appealed to her though, and she rapidly crossed them out.
Come on, Sayuri moaned internally, can the name of someone I know show up?
When she reached the «S» section, Sayuri was just about considering giving up on finding a tutor and just asking Tsuyoshi to tutor her instead. That is, until her eyes landed on a rather interesting name.
Two words were written.
Right there.
In bold.
AKASHI Seijuro
A Cheshire cat grin lit up on Sayuri's face as her she removed the glasses perched on top of her nose. Circling the name is red marker; the girl rose up from her chair, snapping her book shut.
Only one thought lingered in her head.
Found you.
As fearless as she may have seemed earlier, there was no better word to describe Sayuri now other than "whimpering Chihuahua".
Yes, the plan to convince Akashi to tutor her seemed more or less flawless until the time to actually execute it came.
The hesitating girl pondered whether or not she should enter the classroom until, fueled by pure exasperation, Sayuri just decided to swallow down her pride and ask. For the sake of my grades!
Akashi was in a rather good mood this morning.
He had finally managed to win a Shogi match against his father after years of polishing his skills.
The good mood, however, dissipated as fast as it came when the redheaded captain's gaze fell onto a shadow behind the classroom door. It was a girl's shadow. A rather familiar looking girl, to be precise.
Akashi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
After knowing Shirokawa Sayuri for a few months, Akashi had come to a conclusion that no matter how many threats were thrown her way, the girl simply wouldn't budge and would still insist on sticking with the Generation of Miracles. She also seems to be getting along quite well with Ryouta and Murasakibara…
A sadistic grin crept onto the captain's face. Should he make sure they get even closer, then use Sayuri's safety as an excuse to triple or even better, quadruple their training?
It was true, nevertheless, that ever since the girl's sudden bonding with the miracles they have been spending way too much time together. For a commoner to achieve such a feat, I must say I am quite impressed.
The classroom door slid open and Sayuri's form peeked out from behind, her hair dangling over her shoulders.
"Ano…is Akashi-kun he-"
Deciding to spare her the action of asking, Akashi coughed discreetly, directing the girl's amber eyes onto him. Almost instantly, she bounded over, nonchalantly ignoring the weird looks the redhead's classmates shot her. She grinned brightly.
"Hel-lo!"
Akashi narrowed his eyes, "What is your business here."
The sentence formulated by the redhead was not a question, more like an absolute statement. The girl held up a list to his face. Circled in red, was his name. Looking thoroughly unimpressed, Akashi brought his unwavering gaze back to Sayuri's face. His voice came out even more monotone than he intended it to sound.
"So," he stated in a deadpan voice, "I see you've familiarized yourself with recognizing names."
The girl's bright smile barely twitched at the snarky remark as she carried on like nothing happened. "You," she pointed at him, "are going to tutor me!"
Akashi blinked.
Sayuri waited.
Classmates listened.
Yes, unbeknownst to the two (as they were quite engrossed in the conversation), the whole class had been eavesdropping, hoping to catch a few facts on this poker-faced redhead they called their classmate. After all, he was Akashi Seijuro. One couldn't hope to read him even the slightest bit without losing a limb or two in the process. Who knew, really.
This is why when Akashi opened his mouth to reply, the whole class was straining to hear him, so much that their desks nearly tipped over as they leaned towards the scene. The raven haired girl couldn't help but lean in closer as well, senses tingling. Her hands were so tightly wrung on her skirt fabric that it was a miracle that it hadn't given out yet.
"I refuse."
Akashi's voice held such an air of finality that even Sayuri didn't bother trying to convince him any further. It was quite a pity though, since the red head did intrigue her. A ridiculous thought appeared in her mind. It almost feels like I'm being rejected somehow.
Setting her lips in a thin line, Sayuri spun around and stalked out the door, breathing a sigh of relief as she did so. Akashi's presence did add an extra stress, especially when those mismatched eyes of his were burning holes into her back, radiating negative energy.
The door slid shut behind her.
Alright, Sayuri thought gleefully, I guess Tsuyoshi just landed himself a tutoring job.
"Ne, Shirocchi, we have sports next." Kise announced, leaning against the trunk of a tree.
Under the shade, Sayuri grinned half-heartedly. Sports class, outside, in this weather was basically torture. Being late to class wasn't that great of a deal anyways, so she figured she could take her time. She didn't want to move and her body reciprocated the feeling.
"You can go ahead, Kise." Sayuri rubbed her eyes sleepily, "I'll stay here for a bit."
Kise stuck his hand in his pockets, "You sure? Class is starting like," he took a look at his watch, "…right now actually."
He peered at his friend skeptically. The latter just gave a slight shrug and shifted onto her side, slowly nodding off. A gust of wind suddenly blew past under Sayuri's skirt, causing her to come back to her senses and instinctively try to cover herself. Her half-closed eyes snapped open when she realized that the ground, yes, the mother fudging ground, was moving below her.
Her hair dangled under her.
Her chest was resting on a shoulder.
Sayuri tried to say something but her worlds stuck in her throat, unwilling to make any type of sound. It took her a few seconds to get over her muteness and settling for much more physical methods.
The rabid girl wiggled her waist and pounded on Kise's back repeatedly with her fists, "Let me go you…you noodle!"
The blond looked over his shoulder to see a face slightly (completely) contorted in anger (barbaric fury) and turned back around, "No can do, Shirocchi. If I did, you would run off to god knows where," Kise clucked his tongue, "and 'noodle'? What sort of insult is that?"
Sayuri felt her cheeks heating up.
"…I prefer to avoid verbal vulgarity." she mumbled under her breath, ceasing her violent pounding for a moment before resuming with even more fervor, "Let me down!"
Kise looked seemingly unfazed by the rapid hits he was receiving. However, inside, he was still getting over the fact that he hadn't been pummeled to death already. He winced as Sayuri landed a particularly heavy hit. The latter grinned proudly and brought down her fist again with all her might.
Kami-sama, please don't let there be bruises tomorrow…
A/N:
After I-don't-even-know-how-long-anymore, I am finally back.
I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry. (/)*_*(\)
I'll have the next chapter up soon OK? OK.
And if you have any suggestions that might help improve my writing (forgive me, English is not my native language...) I'm all ears!