"S-Sei-chan…no more…please…"
"we can't take it anymore, Akashi—"
"yea. Even someone like us needs to-"
"no complaining. Continue."
"S-Shizu-chan…do something…"
"even I can't do anything about this, senpai…"
"I blame you, freshman…"
"sorry, senpai…"
.
.
.
.
.
Let's head back to a few hours before this. The Rakuzan Basketball club were doing their trainings like normal when a some freshmen decided that they were tired of training and went out to…slack. Even though they wanted to skip practice, they didn't have the guts to exit the gym area so the group stayed in the locker room reading manga, unnoticed by the other members.
Akashi, unlike usual, wasn't there to observe their training because of the student council meeting so it was a lucky thing for the freshmen. Matsubara, the leader of the slacking kids, snickered to himself at the success of escaping training. He heard from the seniors that no one has been able to do what they had accomplished so he was feeling very proud. The small group stayed in the locker room for a very long time until Mibuchi entered the place and found him.
"First-years, what are you doing here? you should be training now."
"hm. Akashi isn't here so thought we'd stay here and read manga" Matsubara smugly said.
"y'know…if Sei-chan found out, he'll be mad"
"who cares. Akashi is just another first-year like us. He's also shorter than me so why should I be afraid of—"
"who did you say is short, Matsubara?"
Mibuchi instantly backed up from red oni who was standing in front of the locker room entrance with deadly, dark aura surrounding him. Sure he had a smile on his face but it was that of a demon lord who is ready to devour his prey. He came over after the meeting to the gym and happened to hear what Matsubara said by pure coincidence.
"A-Akashi!?"
"answer the question."
"n-no one, really.."
"oh?" The redhead smirked and turned to leave but not before saying a few words that made the slacking first-years curse their fate. "your training will be tripled." He shut the door behind him, ignoring the shouts of despair let out by the first-years. The captain went to the place the others were 'training' just to find them fooling around and Shizune trying to make them resume to practice.
"senpai, if you don't continue practice, Akashi will— Akashi!?"
Everyone froze on the spot when they heard her shout the mini captain's name.
"…I leave all of you to go to the meeting and I come back to see this…"
"A-Akashi, w-we can explain—"
"there is no need to explain. I perfectly understand."
"r-real—" Nebuya ceased his words when he saw the sickeningly sweet smile on Akashi's face and the aura eerie enough to scare of the devil himself.
The female manager stayed put on the bench gripping a clipboard, her face in a weird expression feeling utter pity for the boys who were literally dying in front of her. Akashi, of course, kept his promise on tripling the training and his menu— which was already dubbed as training from hell —felt like an endless torture to the members, even the Uncrowned Kings.
"S-Sei-chan…no more…please…"
"we can't take it anymore, Akashi—"
"yea. Even someone like us needs to-"
"no complaining. Continue."
"S-Shizu-chan…do something…"
"even I can't do anything about this, senpai…"
"I blame you, freshman…"
"sorry, senpai…"
After the hellish practice, the basketball club members dragged themselves home and the situation repeated— though by some pleads Akashi reduce the training menu slightly—until the day before the Winter Cup was held had came. Rakuzan High Basketball Club headed over to Tokyo for the second time of the year and went to the dormitory they were going to stay until the tournament ends.
"Mayuzumi-senpai, could you help me with this?"
"..okay."
"the beds are really soft like hell!"
"Eikichi, don't use such words-"
"woa~ look, look, Reo-nee! The stadium's so big!"
Hayama chirped excitingly while pointing at the stadium where the Winter Cup was going to be held. It was in quite close range with the place they're staying so the view was splendid. Mibuchi chuckled fondly and agreed with what his companion said.
"but still, to get such a pleasant place to stay while in Tokyo, we sure are blessed" The raven haired male hummed happily as he admired the room he's expected to share with Mayuzumi, Akashi, Hayama & Nebuya then turned to the girl who was helping with the unpacking and organizing stuff. Coach's orders. "where is Shizu-chan's room?"
"oh I'm not staying here, senpai"
"eeh? Why not?~"
"I'm gonna stay at my old house in Beika"
"ah, you did come from Tokyo..~"
"yup" and I don't want to stay another moment with Akashi..I can't think straight with him around…
"you can't."
The senior-junior pair turned to face Akashi who sat at the edge of the bed and crossed his arms. "you can't go back to your house in Beika" he repeated coldly.
"why not?"
"coach said it would be much more convenient if there are things to discuss with the manager close by."
"..kay then..." she sighed heavily. Her chance to have a peace of mind was gone just like that. Coaches order were absolute. Second to Akashi's though. After everything was sorted out, the students went to their assigned rooms and slept soundly, not worrying about the big day.
"woa…look at the crowd…" The brunette's mouth gapped open at the thousands of people who came from all around Japan just to see the matched in the Winter Cup. The crowd was bigger than those in soccer matches she always goes to watch.
"the opening ceremony is going to start. Let's hurry"
"the Winter Cup national high school basketball tournament will now commence."
After the man made the announcement, the schools either started to get ready for their match or train for their upcoming ones. Rakuzan's match was not until a few days later so the members except Akashi & Shizune left with the coach to train.
Tōou Academy VS Seirin High.
The girl couldn't afford to miss a match between the two schools who had gotten their hands on the Generation of Miracles. She got all excited thinking about the match and it's outcome but, at this time she had another quite important matter to think about.
She's lost.
Shizune suddenly and unfortunately lost sight of Akashi when she looked away (sounds familiar?) and during her search for him, she got lost in the enormous stadium. Even though her sense of direction was better than that of Ren's, the place was too big and nothing looks familiar. Dammit…a girl my age shouldn't be getting lost…now then. Who can I—
"Damn it! What is that Bakagami doing!? The opening ceremony is already over!"
A short caramel haired girl wearing her school uniform was turning into an oni with fire surrounding her as she scolded someone called "Bakagami". A boy wearing their team's jersey turned to another boy wearing glasses and nervously said to him,
"apparently he forgot about the time difference…he'll be here soon"
The glasses-wearing-male hung his head and muttered annoyingly, "unbelievable…"
Wonder what happened…wait a sec. isn't that Seirin?
She watched with interest, forgetting that she's currently lost, as two of the team members started getting nervous and glasses guy hit their head telling them to calm down when he were actually nervous himself. The brunette smiled fondly thinking that the team was more than just a team. They were acting more like family. Although she's well known by people through her detective business, there are very few people she could call friends let alone family so she slightly envied Seirin.
"sorry, but could I step out for a bit?"
A sky blue male who she recognized as Kuroko asked the others who she assumed were his seniors. The only female there walked up to him with a sweet smile and put a paper fan she took from who knows where on her shoulder before answering the male's question with an angry tone in her voice which made him back up.
"I told you not to wander off."
"yes, but…I've been summoned."
"summoned?"
An air-head looking guy with thick eyebrows repeated.
"I'm going to see Akashi-kun."
The male with the glasses gave the same reaction as Shizune— who was silently watching them —when he heard the name. Another guy behind him commented "the Generation of Miracles' captain…" before the caramel haired girl gave him permission to leave in condition of returning before afternoon. She also asked a boy named "Furihata" to follow him. Snapped from her little shock, Shizune rushed off to follow the blue haired male.
"you've got a babysitter, Tetsu?"
"Mine-chin, you've got Sa-chin."
"Satsuki's got nothing to do with this."
"Midorimacchi, why do you have scissors?"
"it's obviously my lucky item, you idiot."
"it's dangerous, though. I wish you wouldn't walk around with them out like that"
"sorry to keep you waiting."
Green. Yellow. Dark Blue. Sky Blue. Purple.
The detective watched the multi-hair coloured humans from behind a pillar with "the hell" written on her face. She was looking for Akashi but found the Generation of Miracles instead. Sure she was happy to see them with her own eyes but she sensed that somehow the air around them felt very heavy even though they were speaking normally. Furihata noticed it too, it seems, since he was sweating bullets.
"I apologize I've kept you waiting."
She moved her gaze from Furihata to the source of the voice which was Akashi Seijuro who called out to them from on top of the steps they were assembled at. Akashi started to say how glad he was to see them and how he was deeply moved that they were all able to meet like how they are currently. Then, he mentioned that there's someone who doesn't belong there and requested him to leave. Though he would love to return to the calming atmosphere of the Seirin team, the poor boy's body wouldn't move probably because he was too intimidated by the guys present.
Kuroko was about to ask Furihata to leave when a tall guy with two toned red hair and noticeable split eyebrows came up from behind them wearing a confident smirk on his face.
"well, you're no fun. Don't exclude us"
"Kagami!"
"I'm back. We can talk later. First…you're Akashi, huh? Glad to meet you"
Akashi looked down at him in silence before asking if he could borrow "Shintarou's" scissors because his hair was bothering him and he wanted to trim it.
"first…you're Kagami-kun, aren't you?"
Right after he said that, Akashi swung the scissors towards Kagami which he barely dodged resulting a scratch on his cheek. Kuroko shouted his name in worry and Furihata's trembling got worse. Shizune eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she saw the scene unfold. It was the first time she saw the male do such a violent action so the shock was great.
The emperor smirked in total amusement. "my, my. I'm surprised you were able to dodge that. In light of that display of grace, I'll forgive you this time. However there will be no second chance. When I tell you to leave, leave." He started to slowly trim his long bangs while continuing his words in a very cold and intimidating tone of voice. "In this world, winning is everything. Winners are affirmed completely, and losers are denied completely. I've never lost at anything before, and I never will. Because I always win, I am always right. Those who oppose me, even my parents…"
"I will kill them."
uwaa...I'm suddenly in love with this chapter-
maybe because of the oyakoro- xD
the scene where Kuroko meets the GoM is from the anime + manga-
the next chapter might have spoilers for those who don't read the manga so...
I'm gonna be slow on updates coz school has already started and it really exhausts me more than usual..."OTL
anyway, thanks for reading!