And I've got all that I need
Right here in the passenger seat
Oh and I can't keep my eyes on the road
Knowing that she's inches from me
~ Stephen Speaks (Passenger Seat)
~CHAPTER 2~
Tetsumi knocked at the teacher's room and opened it to take a peek. When she saw her homeroom teacher-adviser looking at her expectantly, she silently sighed and opened the door fully, revealing herself.
"Good morning, Shizuka-sensei."
Shizuka Yukino nodded from her cubicle. "Please come in, Kuroko-kun." She sighed tiredly. "Been waiting for you. When you opened the door I thought it was a ghost, but knowing you…" She trailed off and Tetsumi understood.
"Yes, sorry about that and for being late." She said when she finally stood before her teacher.
"Okay, I'll go straight to the point." Shizuka said, her face confused but at the same time serious. "Your parents called me and they told me that you're going to take half-day today because of a family reunion in Kyoto. Is it true?"
Kyoto? Tetsumi thought. What Kyoto? Family reunion? No one had gone for so long and arrived anyway, so why family reunion?
She suddenly remembered the sad voice of her mother saying something (she never knew why it is sad).
"Someone will fetch you later. He'll call you and take you to Kyoto. I'm sorry for doing this, Tetsumi."
"Kuroko-kun?"
Her teacher snapped out of her thoughts. "About that… y-yes, I do remember about them saying that."
"Oh, okay." Shizuka immediately wrote something on a paper and gave it to Tetsumi. "Here. Give it to the guard and he'll let you go out. Enjoy your reunion, Kuroko-kun."
The latter nodded and accepted the paper. "Yes, thank you Shizuka-sensei. Bye." She said before bowing.
Tetsumi did not notice the slight nod of her teacher and got back to her previous work as she slowly walked outside of the teacher's room with the paper on her hand.
What's the meaning of this? Tetsumi thought, but she never got any answer at all. All that she could do now is to sigh and put the paper in her pocket.
"…borrowed her phone to text Tatsuya about something because my load expired and the battery of my phone went empty, that's why her phone's with me."
She saw Kagami explain in her phone, so she decided to show up. "Speaking of, here she is." Kagami said while looking at her and pointing at the phone.
"Taiga-kun, who's that?" Tetsumi said while frowning.
"It's Akashi." Kagami answered.
Her frown deepened, her mind became more confused. "Akashi-kun?" Why would he call? She thought as she got the phone from Kagami's hands. "Hello Akashi-kun? Is there anything you need?"
"Are you taking the half day today?"
What's with the world today? Tetsumi's mind wanted to explode right here, right now. "H-how did you know about that?"
"You don't need to know." Akashi answered. "So I want you to be ready, because I had to take you to Kyoto."
Does that mean Akashi-kun is the 'he' that mom's talking about? The one who'll fetch me and take me to Kyoto? Tetsumi thought. "But why?"
"I refuse to answer."
She sighed inwardly. So even the great Akashi Seijuurou does not know the answer.
"So be ready, I'll fetch you within an hour. Bye." He continued with his authorative but elegant voice.
Tetsumi took a deep breath. "Y-yeah, bye." As soon as she ended the call, she met the confused expression of Kagami. "What now, Taiga-kun."
"What did he told you?"
"Akashi-kun will be here in an hour." Tetsumi answered. "Maybe he'll do something in his school in the span of 10 minutes, because as long as I remember the train ride would be 40 minutes, but I suspect he'll go here by chaffeur, so 50 minutes since it's not rush hour right now."
"And why would he go here?"
Tetsumi sighed silently again. She knew her boyfriend was jealous, but then again, she knew Kagami knew that Akashi was her first love and heartbreak. "I think my parents sent him to fetch me. I mean, Shizuka-sensei called me because my parents called her that I'm taking half day today because I'm going to Kyoto."
"So where's the connection?"
Her boyfriend is so slow, slower than the turtle, sorry about that. "Taiga-kun, Akashi-kun knew I'm taking half day today, and he said I'm gonna get ready because he'll fetch me and take me to Kyoto, got it?"
"Oh… okay…" Kagami said. "So… you're going to be absent this afternoon, I'm gonna go to the next subject since I won't be." Kagami took a peck on Tetsumi's lips. "Bye Tetsumi. I love you."
Tetsumi slightly smiled even though there's a slight pain that she felt in her heart. "Yeah, I love you too Taiga-kun."
More or less than an hour later, Akashi finally arrived in front of Seirin High gates. As soon as he stepped out of the car, everyone immediately recognized him.
"Hey, that's Akashi Seijuurou, right?"
"Yeah, the heir of Akashi conglomerate!"
"Really? So he's also one of the Generation of Miracles?"
"A captain at that!"
"That means he's so powerful."
"Not just that, he's also a singer!"
"Wait, did you just say he's also an actor?"
"Yeah, he's also a model!"
"Waaah! The man of my dreams!"
"Akashi-sama! I love you!"
"Can I have your babies?"
Akashi fought the urge to shake his head. It's not his choice to be a model, but since the Generation of Miracles were chosen to be the models of National Sports Magazine when they were in the middle school, opportunities flocked in his doorstep not just to be a model but also an actor. His father approved of that as long as it does not affect his education. He works as a part-time actor, but he only accepts projects that won't hassle his schedule. He was also forced to be a singer when one of his co-workers heard his voice, a singer on the top of that. He does not have established love team, but it means more fans to dream of him.
So instead of driving away his fans, all he did was to lean on his car, making his fans nosebleed or fantasize him or be jealous (in case of boys and boys at heart) or… think what you want to think.
But there's three avid fans who were brave enough to approach him. "Uhmm, Akashi-sama… can you-"
"Am I late?"
Akashi turned to see his fans' salvation, Kuroko Tetsumi, with an apologetic expression on her eyes.
The three fans looked at Tetsumi with an I-want-to-kill-her-for-disrupting-us expression.
Akashi flashed a slight smile. "No, Kuroko. I just arrived."
People gasped…
"Did Akashi just fetch someone in our school?"
"Wait, I don't remember her at all!"
"Lucky girl…"
…but the two just ignored them.
Tetsumi nodded in understanding, ignoring the fact that the pain in her heart whenever she's with Kagami vanished when he saw the familiar hair color of Akashi. "So… let's go now?"
"Of course." He answered and opened the seat beside driver's seat. When Tetsumi got in, he closed it and went to the driver's seat before driving off.
"This is so like you."
Akashi glanced at the person beside him who wore a distant smile before looking back on the road. "What do you mean?"
"Wanting to drive the car on your own than your drivers."
He shrugged. "You cannot really enjoy the view outside the car if you're not the one driving it. Besides, our drivers are either sick or busy so I'm free to drive this." He said with a proud smile. "Why? Is the other one… not fond of driving?"
Tetsumi sighed for the nth time that day. "No. He said 'I don't want to tire my hands on a measly steering wheel'."
Both of them laughed. "Well, we're opposites. You could say that I and the other Akashi Seijuurou are north and south."
"North and south?" Tetsumi's smile grew wider. "Who's the north?"
"I am." Akashi immediately answered.
"Oh come on." Tetsumi reacted. "You know as much as I know that the other one won't agree with you. He'll counterreact that-"
"-he's the north." Akashi finished with a smile. "As if he's the north Kuroko. If we're a BL ship, I'm sure he's the uke."
"Uh uh, I beg to differ. I always think you're the uke Akashi-kun." Tetsumi replied. "He's the dominant type."
Akashi gave her a stink eye as they stopped at red light. "You know that I am also the dominant type."
"Okay, he's more dominant."
"No, I am more dominant than him."
"He is."
"No, he's not."
"He is."
"I am."
"He is."
"Give it up, I am."
"No, he is."
"I. Am."
"He. Is."
They looked at each other for more or less than a minute before laughing their ass off. They felt at home with each other, and it was like they had gone back to their middle school. The time that they are still close with each, the time that they still understand each other…
The time that they are in love with each other.
Tetsumi was the one who first refrained from laughing. "You know… I missed you."
Akashi glanced at her for a moment before driving off again when the traffic lights turned green. "Really?"
"Yeah, and I also missed the times like this." Tetsumi replied. "This is so nostalgic. I hope we could be like this again even if we're not schoolmates anymore."
The red-head flashed a smile. "Of course. I miss those times too."
The both of them were surprised when the radio suddenly turned on.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that, it seems that our driver forgot to turn off the automatic radio power-on alarm." Akashi gestured to turn off the radio, but Tetsumi's hand stopped him.
The teal-head girl shook her head. "No. Don't you recognize the song?"
Both Akashi and Tetsumi went silent for less than a minute before they looked at each other and said something together.
"All of Me, JM de Guzman version."
They laughed again.
"That's the only thing that we agreed on songs' new versions." Akashi said when they already stopped laughing.
Tetsumi hummed in agreement. "Well, JM de Guzman's version of All of Me is much better than John Legend's or any other versions."
They did not realize that while they are having a good time, what's waiting ahead of them is a bad news that will change their lives.
"Thank you very much!" The Maji Burger's cashier said happily while the other customers looked at Kagami, and/or his tray with a mountain of burgers, and/or the bandage in his hand, incredulously. Sighing, he sat down in his usual seat, unwrapped a burger and started eating it while looking out of the transparent glass wall.
On a side note, he ditched from his classes.
His thoughts were on what happened earlier.
Kagami silently looked from the window at the flocking girls and boys near the gate. Looking closer, he realized that the reason for the noisy crowd is none other than Akashi Seijuurou.
Not just that, he even had more fans than Kise has!
A moment later, he saw Tetsumi (already used about Tetsumi's misdirection since he's already her boyfriend, although he knew he should practice more) approaching the red-head, talked for a moment before proceeding to get into the car.
But he did not miss the slight happy smile that Tetsumi wore.
She won't smile up until her eyes even if she's with Kagami.
The latter did nothing but to walk to the men's room, lock it, and punch the mirror in front of him when his heart refused to calm down. When he saw his knuckles bleeding, he decided to go to the infirmary and let the nurse dress his wounds before finally ditching his next class.
He snapped out of his thoughts when he felt presence beside him. Turning to the other side he saw Aomine who already ate the hamburger he stole from Kagami's tray, and Kise who looked apologetic.
"Aominecchi, don't just get food from others like that!"
Unfortunately, the indigo-haired teen ignored his companion. "Oi Kagami, what's with the sad face?" Aomine said as Kise sat across Kagami's table. The GoM's ace then followed the copycat and sat beside him.
"Yeah, I thought you're already together with Kurokocchi, so I don't get why-" He was stopped when Aomine accidentally spat the hamburger in front of him. "Ewww, Aominecchi!"
"What the fuck did you just say?! That this Bakagami's already Tetsu's boyfriend?!"
"Wait, did you call me Bakagami, Ahomine?!"
"Want a taste of hell?!"
They met an angry backpack of Kise. "Will you please stop? And yes, Aominecchi, they're already together for Pluto's sake!" Kise confirmed.
"You…" Aomine fumed, but forced himself to calm down (while Kise wiped himself with 'eww' and 'yuck' SFX). After some moments, he continued. "Look Kagami, if you hurt Tetsu, you're going to pay to not just only me, but also to every other Generation of Miracles, not to mention Seirin."
"Especially Akashicchi." Kise added. "And Momoicchi."
"Yeah, we're that overprotective of our phantom sixth man, or woman." Aomine said. "But still, I can't believe you two are already in a relationship."
Kagami sighed as he opened another hamburger, his face projected sadness when he remembered what happened earlier… again. "Yeah, we're together, but maybe her heart still belongs to someone else."
The two GoM members looked at each other for a second. The both of them knew who Kagami was talking about.
"W-why Kagamicchi? Why did you think that?"
Kagami told the both of them what happened earlier, and what he saw in the gates.
But the answer he got was a punch in a head from Aomine.
"You're really an idiot, aren't you?" Aomine said when Kagami was about to retort. "You're her boyfriend and all but you still don't get it! You're one helluva useless boyfriend if that happens!"
But surprisingly Aomine received the punch he gave from Kagami earlier, this time it was from the pinkette who ditched her class just to find the indigo-head. "You're the useless one, Dai-chan!" Momoi exclaimed. "Do you know that I've been searching you for hours now?!"
"Satsuki! What are you doing here?"
"Fetch you, what else?!" Momoi said, but her mood drastically changed when she saw Kise and Kagami. "Oh, hey there Ki-chan, Kagamin! What's with the long face?"
"Kise, explain." Aomine said.
The latter showed anime-like/crocodile tears. "Eh?! But why me?"
"Just explain, Ki-chan! Did you make Kagamin cry?"
"Oi!"
"Hey no! That's not his problem, Momoicchi!" Kise abruptly explained. "But first things first, do you know that Kagamicchi and Kurokocchi are already together?"
"Yeah, I know about that already and my heart's broken-
"You're both girls, Satsuki-"
"-yes-
"-for fuck's sake!"
"-shut up Dai-chan, so now why is Kagamin the one who's problematic?"
"It's just that Akashicchi called Kurokocchi and told her to be ready because he's going to fetch her since they're going to Kyoto. Later when Akashicchi arrived, Kurokocchi hurriedly walked to the gates and talked to him with a smile on her face that reached her eyes." Kise explained. "Kagami's words, not mine."
After some minutes of contemplation, Momoi spoke. "I think Dai-chan's correct. You're stupid and that is a check for being useless boyfriend."
"See?" Aomine said with a smirk.
"Hey, what did I do?!"
Momoi sighed. "Kagamin, you just misunderstood your girlfriend, like how everyone else always misunderstood Tetsu-kun's actions. Akashi-kun was Tetsu-kun's first love, but right now you're the one she loves and not Akashi-kun."
Kise and Aomine made some teasing faces and gestures to Kagami behind Momoi, to which the latter go unnoticed and goes on explaining, ignoring Kagami's anger to the people behind her.
"Akashi-kun and Tetsu-kun, as you knew, were very, very close when we were still at Teiko, more or less than the friendship of Dai-chan and Tetsu-kun." Momoi continued to explain. "So when Akashi-kun changed, Tetsu-kun was the first one affected."
Aomine dropped the teasing expression and tried hard not to laugh at Kagami's expense. "In other words, T-Tetsu was just happy because the… o-original Akashi came back." He covered his mouth and stomach and prevented himself from laughing. Kise did so too, unfortunately this time Momoi noticed them and banged the two heads to each other…
"Ouch!"
…making Kagami laugh at their expense.
"I finally got my revenge."
"Kagami!"
Kise cried crocodile-tears. "Waaah! Momoicchi so mean! I just laughed because Aominecchi knew such a thing!"
"Kise you motherfucker! I'll kill you together with that woman! Satsuki you-"
Momoi ignored the two of them and smiled silently. At least I made Kagamin smile. I'm sure Tetsu-kun would love this news! I finally made another move! She thought and then faced Aomine. "Me what, Dai-chan?"
"You're-"
"I didn't hear anything."
"Satsuki!"
"Of course I am Satsuki. Now…" Momoi kicked the left shin of Aomine. "…let's go because we might miss the practice! I will definitely kill you if that happens!" She said and walked out of the fastfood resto.
While caressing his pained shin, he left out a 'tsk, tsk, tsk'. "Satsuki's such a pain in the ass, really." He stood up and faced Kagami. "Oi Bakagami, remember what we told you. And get stronger, I want to face you and Seirin in the InterHigh. I don't want you to lose until Seirin faces Touou. Got it?"
Kagami showed a proud smile. "Of course. We'll definitely beat you again and again."
"Keh. The only one who could beat me is me."
"Liar. We already defeated you."
"Because you had Tetsu and Zone." Aomine reasoned out. "This time, show me you're already strong enough to beat me even without Tetsu, or the Zone."
Kagami's proud smile got even wider. "Sure, I'll give you what you want."
"If that's the case then…" Aomine slung his back pack in his shoulders. "…see you Kise, Kagami."
"Yeah, shoo, shoo." Kagami said. The Touou's ace wanted to retort but let it slide when he heard Momoi calling him. When Aomine already disappeared Kagami looked at Kise…
…only to find him eating Kagami's hamburgers, his mouth obviously full.
"So that's why the loudmouth Kise is unusually quiet."
Kise paused in eating midway and looked at the person across the table. "What? 'M 'ungry."
Kagami sighed. This is such a long day, he thought as he resumed eating and talked about other things with Kise.
But he couldn't help thinking what his girlfriend and her companion are doing right now.
Jewel: I think Shiro wanted to add more since she loves you obviously but that's already favoritism so I transferred the last part to Chapter 3. But I'm glad she added some AkaKuro moment there.
Shiro: Jusko dai Jewel! Nganung gihimo man to nimo?! TT_TT
Jewel: …un…sa? Hindi ko maintindihan masyado.
Shiro: *sighs* Bat mo yun ginawa?!
Jewel: Kasi pinakialaman mo naman ang FB account ko.
Shiro: Waaahh! Pasensya na! TT_TT May tinignan lang kasi ako eh! :3
Kuroko: Uhmm, translator please?
Akashi: Shiro's asking to Jewel why did the latter transferred the Chapter 2's last part to Chapter 3. Jewel did that because Shiro used Jewel's FB account again.
Kagami: What language did they use?
Akashi: Filipino and Visayan languages. Those languages are commonly spoken in Philippines.
Kagami: Ooohh…
Kuroko: By the way, is this a bit long for Chapter 2?
Shiro: I haven't really got out of AU writing so sarreh. And *gasps* I finished this in 12:13 AM?!
Jewel: Not surprising since you always finish a chapter in mornight times.
Shiro: Fine, so I gotta sleep now. More Reviews = Fast Updates. Feel free to drop some reviews, okay? I won't push you. I would still update, however slower (if the ghost/silent readers won't let me hear their voices!). Don't worry, we'll answer your reviews and questions again. Shee yah! *signs out*
Jewel: Got to sleep too *signs out, the other three follows*
Kise: *signs in* Hey! Is anybody there?!
(I hope somebody out there reads my convo omake and likes it. And no, I'm not sorry for Kise xD)