Chapter 27
"Now, why's my favorite niece looking so glum today?" Ono Jintaro, co-owner of Mamoru Appliances and self-proclaimed future member of Akashi Group's Board of Directors, asked his niece, who was curled up by the window and sighing to herself. Because her parents opted to work and to live abroad, they had chosen to leave her in his care. He was hesitant at first, but she was his niece and to him, blood mattered as far as the Ono-Saito clan was concerned.
"Oji-san, am I ugly?" a sullen Mika asked him.
"You take after my sister. Of course, you're far from ugly! Now, if you had taken after your father…" he tried joking, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears.
"Oh… is that so?" the girl continued to seem down, and it piqued his curiosity because she was usually such a bubbly girl who squealed and fangirled over the most random things.
"What's wrong, Mika? Is it a boy? You know what I always tell you about boys. Boys, especially those like your father, are—"
"Immature, I know," Mika finally chuckled before frowning. "It's just… I really like this boy, but he seems to prefer someone else."
"What girl could possibly be better than my niece?"
"Tch, some girl named Akashi Seijuuro."
Oh.
Oh.
At that, Ono's face hardened, unnoticed by Mika. Akashi Seijuuro, a girl he detested from the bottom of his heart. Ever since her stint during that meeting, it had been a struggle to clear up the issue of his project proposal, as she had planted seeds of doubt in the minds of his team and colleagues. What was a small portion of money from a large-scale project that would generate mountains' worth of revenue? She truly was a selfish girl.
But, he could have excused that, really. Business was business, and it was his fault for getting caught in trying to get his company to be the project's beneficiary. Her preparedness was something he had underestimated.
No, the issue of today's matter was that Akashi Seijuuro was making his niece doubt herself, and so, it became personal.
"Akashi Seijuuro, you say…" Ono hummed. "What would you do to her if you had the choice?"
"Make her disappear," she said after a few moments of thinking. "I just want his attention all to myself. She's always getting in the way, and she made my new friend wary of me, too! Who does she think she is? Just because she has all that money…"
"Who, indeed?" Ono rubbed his chin, deep in thought. It would be a hassle for the company if their heiress suddenly vanished out of thin hair, and he didn't want to be troubled by that. Still, other things could be arranged.
He looked at Mika, who was hunched over herself and twirling her hair absentmindedly.
Yes, he would make sure of it.
. . .
Meanwhile, at the main Akashi Group building…
"So, you're telling me Manami wasn't the first intern he's taken pay from?" Seijuuro let out a frustrated sigh as she and Kita Yusuke browsed through the sheets of paper lying on his desk. Six pages documented Ono Jintaro's unfair treatment of interns, telling them during the selection process that the internship was unpaid even when they were supposed to be registered as having a very competitive salary. She wouldn't go around accusing anyone else just yet for not noticing, but these documents not only went through the Human Resources Group, but also the Finance Department. Something wasn't right about the whole process.
"Apparently not," Kita sighed in frustration. "I'm sorry I never noticed, or bothered double checking. This is a grave error on my part."
"Don't be," Seijuuro shook her head. "The signatories on the paper are of those who have been here for years, and neither of those employees have ever faced a serious case, or conducted misconduct. In fact, they've been consecutive winners of awards for their performance. I would've trusted them to do their jobs, too."
Seijuuro shuffled the papers around, tracing her finger over the employees' signatures. "Did the investigator check if the signatures were valid?"
Kita nodded. "The signatures matched with what was in our database."
Seijuuro inhaled sharply in frustration. "Still, this is something we should be able to address. Nonetheless, if anyone is truly at fault, it would be Ono Jintaro. I'm hoping we can find more concrete evidence to expose him."
"I'm nearly done compiling the salary statements of the interns who have been here, and personally cross-checking with them if they even received any of it."
"Good, thanks, Yusuke-san," Seijuuro said before uncharacteristically slumping back on the seat she was on. "What a mess."
"I agree," Kita grimaced. "What are your next steps?"
"Destroy Ono's career here, of course. We can't have someone like this in a position of power. How in the world is he one of our Business Development heads?" Seijuuro sighed as she placed the papers in a folder, which she shoved into her black laptop bag afterwards. "What's important to do first, though, is to reimburse the interns. Once we have solid proof that he caused this, I'll make a press statement about it, and Grandfather will have no choice but to fire him. One man against the reputation of your empire? We all know the sure winner."
"Crafty," Kita mimed toasting to her. "When do you plan to make your move?"
"In a few days. I have practice to worry about first. Then—"
"Kita-san! I finished the—" Manami Sakura burst into his office, fully focused on the stack of papers in her hand, before she looked up and squeaked at the sight of the other person in the room. "A-A-Akashi-san! I didn't see you there! I'm sorry, I'll come back! It won't happen again."
"Relax, Manami-san," Seijuuro told her, halting the embarrassed girl in her tracks. She stood up from her seat and nodded at Kita meaningfully. "We just concluded our business, anyways. Kita-san, I'll await your update."
"It'll be my top priority."
She had never really experienced this before, had she? At least, not in this kind of setting. She was used to getting attention because of the prestige of her family name, or the fact that she was the only girl in the boys' team, but this was probably, at least to her knowledge, the first time a guy from another school had the guts to ask her out.
They had just finished a match with a not-so-popular school, thus cementing their win for their bracket. Now, they would be in the semifinals for the tournament.
After the match, Seijuuro and the others were doing cooldowns on one side of the court. She ended up finishing her stretches earlier than the others, and she quickly wiped the sweat from her face with one of the clean towels on the bench next to her. Using the bench to steady herself, she stood up from her place on the floor and looked around to find any sign of pink hair, because if anyone knew where the water bottles were placed, it was Satsuki.
Her line of sight, however, soon became blocked by a tall boy with honey brown eyes. He had been the center of the opposing team, and while his height may have contributed to their school's victory over other teams, the Teiko players had all practiced against Murasakibara so maneuvering against this boy wasn't a challenge at all.
Said boy fidgeted nervously in front of her for a while before saying, "Hey, I'm Takeda Enji. I saw your first ever match last year and I was really amazed by how talented you were and are. I— I find you really interesting and pretty, and I'd love to get to know you more. Would you exchange numbers with me?"
Behind him, his teammates attempted to discreetly watch the conversation unfold, all eagerly awaiting her response.
Seijuuro was flattered, really, but she wasn't particularly interested. There wasn't even anything wrong with the boy. In fact, if she didn't already have a crush on someone, she might have considered saying yes. Objectively speaking, Takeda Enji was gorgeous and defined, but her heart and efforts were already invested elsewhere.
Fortunately, she didn't even need to come up with a polite rejection because a toned arm wrapped around her shoulders. She gazed up to see Shuuzo standing beside her, eyes narrowed at Takeda.
"She's not interested."
"O-oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know she was taken. You're very lucky to have a brilliant and beautiful girlfriend," Takeda said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly before returning to his snickering but sympathetic teammates.
Girlfriend?
"You okay?" Shuuzo asked her, but her mind had stopped on the word 'girlfriend'. Did it really seem that way?
?
Repeat that one more time and I'm going to lose it, I swear to Kami.
Do I really seem like it… with Shuuzo…
Yes. Seriously. I'm sick of this. If you don't get your acts together anytime soon, I will continuously scream at you. And you won't get a good night's sleep. Ever.
The voice's threats didn't even register as her mind suddenly bombarded her with scenes of her and Shuuzo as… a couple. Holding hands, hugging, being very affectionate with each other… Her cheeks reddened against her will, causing Shuuzo to look at her worriedly.
"Sei, are you sick? Do you need me to do anything?"
"I'm fine," she said with a slight stutter, cursing herself in her head as she did so. "Thanks for the save. I wasn't sure how to say 'no' to him nicely."
"No problem, and no need to be nice about it," he said as he led her back to their bench. "Just tell them to back off."
She desperately tried to ignore the fact that his arm was still around her shoulders, and that it felt ever so warm.
. . .
"Who was he?" Kise, ever the gossip, asked curiously as he leaned towards her from his seat.
"Sit properly," she hissed slightly as she leaned back against her own seat. "You'll fall off at a sudden brake."
In their private, Teiko-sponsored bus, Satsuki had snagged Kuroko to sit next to her, in the hopes that he would serve as her pillow should she end up falling asleep on the ride back to Teiko. Shougo sat next to Kise, and on the seats across them sat Aomine and Murasakibara. Midorima opted for the solo seat towards the front, while Shuuzo sat next to Seijuuro.
"I'll be fine, Akashicchi!" Kise whined but held on to the seat nonetheless. He was kneeling on his seat to properly look at Seijuuro, the need for his curiosity to be satisfied easily overpowering any sense of concern for his safety. "Now, spill!"
"He was the center of the team we played against. He was just asking for my number," she grumbled as the motion sickness was starting to take over. She didn't always have it, but there were days like this where she just wanted to nap on the way back from away games. The bumpy road and hot afternoon didn't help at all, and it made her somewhat nauseous.
"Did you give it?" Shougo gasped dramatically, turning and kneeling on his seat, as well.
"What? Of course not."
"So that's why Captain went to you to scare him off," Kise nodded sagely. Shuuzo ignored the blonde and happily blasted the music playing through his headset to drown out the conversation.
"Shuuzo helped, yes."
"It's okay, Akashicchi. Anyone who tries to date you or ask you out will have to answer not only to me, but to everyone else. The only one I'm okay with you dating is—" Kise rambled before shrieking as Shougo jabbed at his side.
Seijuuro rolled her eyes at their antics. "I don't have plans on dating anyone, anyways." Not when she still had the betrothal hanging over head, and definitely not while Akashi Hirohito still had control over her life. She'd just have to deal with these obstacles for now, though. Her plan was set for the long-term. She could still wait a few years.
"So, I'll win the bet?" Shougo whispered loudly to Kise.
"What bet?" Seijuuro asked with mild confusion as Kise hissed a 'Hypocrite!' to Shougo before jabbing his side, as well, leading to a jabbing war.
Seijuuro blinked at them before shrugging and closing her eyes to get some rest.
Later on, Shuuzo would feel a weight on his shoulder, and he would glance down to see Seijuuro leaning on him as she slept, a few loose strands of red hair covering part of her face. Slowly, he would use his free hand to gently adjust her head to make it more comfortable for her, and he would tuck the loose strands behind her ear, before he, too, would close his eyes and resume his nap, the music from his headset lulling him back to sleep and prevent him from hearing the shutter from a phone's camera.
("You're not on silent mode, you idiot!" Kise would hiss again.
"It's your phone! You should've warned me, blondie!" Shougo would huff.
From up front, Midorima would turn around and glare at them due to the noise they were making, effectively shutting them up for the rest of the ride.)
Aomine's improvement earned the awe of the coaches, who had also praised Shuuzo, Seijuuro, and Satsuki for what they had done to help him improve. The trio were mildly confused, though, because Aomine's projected progress was surpassed by his current state, but Seijuuro knew better. Maybe the training menus did help, but Aomine had had that potential in him all along, and it was meant to come out one way or another.
Luckily, the others weren't at states where they could experience the same leaps in progress, so Seijuuro was happy to only have to focus on keeping Aomine hooked to the game, and when he finally got bored with it, give him a reason to stay with the team. His situation was manageable right now, and if all else failed, she'd just have to help him adjust.
A welcome distraction to this was their class' upcoming beach trip. One of her classmates owned a beach resort, so that was where they would be staying. Food and lodging would be provided to them for free, but any extra meals or purchases would have to come from their own pockets, which the whole class was amenable to.
She told the other boys as much during lunch.
"I want to go to the beach, too!" Aomine whined. "I don't know what they're planning for us, but I doubt it'd be as fun."
"Think I could fit inside your suitcase?" Shougo asked.
Seijuuro shook her head. "That would be impossible, and I won't even pack much for an overnight trip, nor do I plan on swimming in the first place. I'll probably just dip my feet in the water for a bit."
"Then, what's the point of going to a beach?" Kise looked scandalized.
Midorima rolled his eyes.
"Seriously, Sei, a beach isn't just fresh air, think of the cold water, the ghost stories at night, and—" an equally scandalized Shougo rambled.
"Just make sure you bring a water jug with you," Shuuzo interjected from beside her. "It's been relatively hotter lately, and you get dehydrated easily. Midorima, if she doesn't drink at least half a liter of water every hour, feel free to nag her. Or, remind her that I can increase her training menus when she gets back."
"Hn."
"I'm right here," the girl in question drawled, pretending to be annoyed but she was honestly surprised he remembered. The last time they were at the beach with Shougo, Kuga, and their mother — and what a tense day that had been — she had fallen asleep from being too dehydrated, and woke up hours later, burning up. It had caused him and Shougo to panic, but Hana, Shougo's mother, had informed them that she just needed to drink water more frequently, "but, yes, kaa-san, I will."
"Good."
"You're going, right?" Seijuuro asked Midorima, who nodded.
"My weekend was free. Swimming could also be an additional exercise."
"At least someone's thinking straight," Kise teased. "Seriously, Akashicchi, that's the point of going to a beach."
"I wouldn't be allowed to, anyways," she admitted quietly, and the boys at the table, save for a now scowling Shougo and a blank-faced Shuuzo, looked thoughtful. They were aware of her standing as the Akashi heiress, but she had never delved too much on her family life with them. Then again, almost none of them really talked about their families.
"If I may ask, Akashi-kun…" Kuroko said almost hesitantly, and it was this sentence that reminded everyone of the quiet boy's presence, "is your family very strict with you?"
Shiori hadn't been, not by a long shot. Masaomi was, but he at least allowed her some breathing room. Now, Hirohito… the geezer would blow a gasket if she went to the beach in a swimsuit or even a rash guard. He had said so himself.
"A beach?" the man wrinkled his nose as he looked at her with thinly veiled disgust.
"It's a class trip," she chose to reiterate, "and it would be at a private resort."
"Are you slacking on your duties to the company? You'll be gone for two days."
"I've finished the paperwork for the week, so I can already get a headstart of the ones for the following week. The presentation for the meeting with the luxury cruise who reached out to us has also been completed. With this, I'll be ahead enough of my workload that I can afford a day or two of no work."
"I was under the impression you had a meeting with some of the finance heads."
"Rescheduled to an earlier date. Their concerns were pressing, so they were very amenable to meeting me before the original date."
For every 'concern' Hirohito mentioned, Seijuuro was happy to have a comeback. It took everything in her to not let out a smug smirk at being able to outmaneuver him.
He crossed his arms, gritting out his next few words. "Very well, but you won't be joining any water activities. No surfing, no swimming, and let's add no sunbathing to the list. You will also not be exposed, so no swimsuits of any kind."
She hadn't been planning on swimming anyways — definitely not because she may or may not have had a tiny, miniscule, potentially irrational fear of what lay beneath the open water — but to hear the restrictions spewing from his mouth annoyed her greatly. And yet, she could do nothing because she knew she would be under surveillance somehow. She wouldn't put it past him because if she disobeyed one of his rules, he would hold it against her, and he would have proof that she had done so.
It was suffocating to practically have him as her guardian. Where the hell was her father, anyways? She didn't really need him, but his presence could have warded off his father.
How annoying.
"You could say that," she gave a slightly forced smile before digging into her meal.
Shuuzo and Shougo exchanged meaningful glances that had Kise, who had been watchin the trio carefully, curious.
"Anyways," Seijuuro continued, "what are your classes planning to do?"
"I told them the amusement park would be a good idea," Kise pouted, "but no, of course, they wanted the most boring—"
Class trips were meant to encourage bonding between classmates, but upon reaching the beach, their class quickly broke up into their friend groups and did their own thing. One quick glance at the nervous-looking Akiyama Nagi, who had the misfortune of being their class representative, told Seijuuro that the girl probably didn't account for this to happen.
"Will you be conducting the program you had in mind tonight, Akiyama-san?" Seijuuro asked her.
"Yes, definitely!" The girl seemed a bit happier. "I won't spoil you, but it's tailored perfectly for those who want a bit of a thrill."
This response caught the attention of nearby classmates, who wanted to hear more. Akiyama was definitely smiling now, so Seijuuro figured her work was done. She dropped off her things in her room on the second floor, a room she happily shared with no one. (The small blessings of having an odd number of girls meant one of them had the option of being alone, so Seijuuro quickly called dibs on it. No one contested her, anyways.) She then changed into a thin, white hoodie, a black spaghetti strap shirt, and black shorts, before heading down to meet Midorima.
The green-haired boy seemed to have the same thing in mind as he donned a dark gray t-shirt and black shorts with green accents.
"I thought you'd be swimming?"
"Perhaps later," he said as they settled down by a smooth, large rock. Despite the heat of the sun, the rock itself was very cool to the touch, so Seijuuro had no qualms about sitting on it with Midorima.
Several of their classmates were submerged in the water, laughing as they splashed water at each other. The others were either sunbathing or playing volleyball on the sandy shore.
Seijuuro took a breath and glanced at her surroundings. After having a hectic schedule, and many responsibilities to address, doing nothing like this made her feel relaxed and anxious at the same time. It was nice to get some breathing room, especially now that she was breathing in the fresh, sea air, but she also felt twitchy. Shouldn't she be productive right now?
In an effort to distract herself from her desire to work, she spoke to her equally silent green-haired friend. "I realized I don't actually know much about you outside of school and basketball. What's your favorite color?"
"21 questions?"
"Do you have anything better to do right now?"
"Hn, it's blue."
"I didn't expect that. I'm actually partial to cerulean blue at the moment, but it'll probably change soon."
"I didn't expect that either. Haizaki was insisting gray was your favorite," Midorima muttered before asking, "Favorite pastry?"
"Chocolate eclairs. Or, tiramisu crepe cake. I can't seem to pick."
"Carrot cake is a classic."
They continued bouncing off questions to each other until the sun began to set and their classmates were packing up to return to the beach house.
After they all tidied themselves up, Akiyama decided it was time for a bonding activity. "Right! So, apparently the caves nearby are said to be particularly spooky at night. Rintaro-kun and I already checked it out prior, so we'll be doing a friendship test in one of the smaller caves. We'll split up into randomized pairs and navigate our way through the cave's dead end before heading back. I prepared some maps so it's easier to navigate. Each pair also gets a flashlight and a set of extra batteries, so don't worry about getting lost— unless neither of you can actually read a map, and in that case, tell me after getting paired up so I can pair you with someone with experience."
After explaining more about the activity, and answering a few additional questions from the class, Akiyama had the boys pick out the girls' names from the slips of paper in a plastic bowl. Seijuuro was thankful she was paired with Midorima, who insisted her luck was due to Sagittarius being ranked first today. They waited for the rest of their classmates as one-by-one, pairs entered and exited the caves.
"Do you think it's haunted?"
"Cancer is ranked third today, and the lucky item is a gray t-shirt, which I am wearing. Sagittarius called for a white hoodie, which you currently possess. You'll be fine."
"Good to know."
"...Are you scared?" Midorima looked at her curiously, causing her to quickly shake her head.
"No…"
"Really…"
Seijuuro pouted slightly before grabbing the water bottle next to her and drinking half of its contents. True to his word, Midorima did indeed remind her on an hourly basis to hydrate. She could see the beginnings of his future career as a doctor already.
"Midorima, Akashi, you're next!" one classmate announced, causing the pair to stand up. One of the requirements of the activity was to 'move as a unit', so a piece of cloth was wrapped around Midorima's right wrist and Seijuuro's left wrist to keep them connected.
At their classmate's signal, they entered the cave. It was dark and cold, but it wasn't truly as creepy as the other classmates made it out to be. With a gentle draft of wind breezing through, and the soft squeaking of bats, it was actually quite charming in its own way.
Their feet didn't make much sound as they walked and navigated through the uneven path. Midorima's grip on the flashlight was steady, and Seijuuro was free to follow the simple map as best as he could.
"We should be turning right at this corner," she said, and Midorima hummed, following her lead.
Soon enough, they seemed to reach the dead end Akiyama had been talking about, and that was when the fear began to set in. She wasn't sure if it was staged, but at the dead end were several spiky stalactites and stalagmites, and what eerily seemed like dried blood splattered on the cave.
Suddenly, the wind that accompanied them began to sound like multiple whispers, and Seijuuro began to feel uneasy. She tugged on Midorima's hand. "Let's go back now."
"Scared?"
"Yes."
Her somewhat high-pitched admission surprised him for a second, but he nodded and gently tugged her hand with his as they made the trek back. He glanced at her and noticed how stiff her back was, the hand he was holding shaking slightly. He tightened his grasp on her hand as he led her out of the cave. He personally didn't mind the dark, or the cold, or the bats, or whatever scary stories his classmates had insisted were real about the cave, but something was unsettling his… friend?
"My imagination tends to run wild," she told him quietly as they finally exited the cave, and she felt like she could breathe a little better. "Only in places like this, though. I must have watched too many thrillers and horror movies."
"I didn't think you were the type to watch those."
"I never really minded. Movies can prove to be entertaining. It all seemed stupid and funny to me until I was actually there to experience it."
"Hm."
"I just wish I never watched the horror ones recently. It was fine when I was home, but out here?" she took a shaky breath. "Too many variables."
"We're almost back to the beach house," Midorima assured her. "Now, what's with you and the captain?"
"What?" Her fear quickly melted away as a blush adorned her cheeks, all thoughts of people lurking in the dark disappearing from her mind. "What of it?"
"So you don't deny anything?"
"What's there to deny at this point?" she said, "But, it does need to stay hidden. Only you and Tatsuya are aware of this, so I'd like to ask you to keep it to yourself first."
"Of course."
"I don't know what's going on between us," Seijuuro admitted. "Some days I think he might like me like that, but others, it seems he just treats me the same as the boys, or as his siblings. Then, other times I wonder why I even ponder this."
"Why is that?"
"I mean, Shuuzo liking me back is one thing, but there's…" she grimaced, thinking of Masaomi, Hirohito, the company, Student Council work, basketball, and other things. "...a lot on my plate right now. Is it even worth thinking about right now?"
Midorima said nothing, continuing to tug her hand gently as he led her back to the beach house.
Seijuuro released a sigh of relief as she saw the lights and the small crowds of classmates playing around or talking about their cave experience. She continued walking forward, but stopped when Midorima remained still. "What's wrong?"
Midorima turned around to look at her, green eyes meeting red. "You have a lot of responsibilities right now. Don't you think you should let yourself catch a break?"
Seijuuro was stunned. "A break? What do you mean?"
"Resting. Doing nothing."
"That's…. I can't do that. There's too many things for me to do."
"Captain can be your break," Midorima said, ears beginning to turn red in embarrassment, because was he actually having this kind of conversation right now? "Don't reject what's happening. Go with the flow. Sometimes that kind of thing can help."
"...What brought this on?"
Midorima clicked his tongue, pointing at his eyes. "Your eyes are tired."
"I didn't notice…"
"You're used to functioning like a robot, but you forget that even machines can overheat."
"But doing nothing is… it feels wrong. I have to be doing something."
"Then, that's where Captain comes in. He's not… work, or something that makes you want to be productive. You're happy because he's there. Let it happen."
"I'm happy with my friends, too, you know," Seijuuro protested weakly.
"You treat us like a responsibility, too. I don't mean to offend with this statement," Midorima shrugged, "but you make sure to watch over us. With Captain, you don't need to worry about things like that."
Seijuuro didn't know what to say to that, but… Midorima had a point.
You treat them as if they're children.
I didn't mean to do it like that.
It's like what he said — it's not offending him, at all, but it is a fact that you still expend energy ensuring they're okay. With Shuuzo, you shut your brain off. It's what you need.
While Seijuuro considered everything she had learned, Midorima took that time to unwrap the cloth from their wrists. With a free hand, he gently held Seijuuro's wrist and walked her back to the beach house.
A/N: I am very (x100) so sorry for the delay. In a nutshell, the pandemic was just really an absolute blur and it was really taxing keeping up with school work and now adulting, and now that I think I've adjusted, and been able to sort of get back into writing, I thought I could try typing for this fanfic again, and well, here we are! Please don't hate me too much for disappearing akbfaklbjflkasbflka
Realizing also some minor inconsistencies with the chapters, but I'll work on fixing those after completing this fic because, on a sidenote, NaNoWriMo is approaching, and I was thinking I'd use this fanfic for it. I really, really want to be able to finish this fanfic (will be wrapping up Teiko Arc, then let's see how Winter Cup will go) by the 1st Quarter of 2025, so I'm hoping I can churn out chapters and make up for my long absence.
Some questions / stuff that popped up in the reviews (thank you so much to those who reviewed, by the way! Really REALLY appreciate your feedback, and it helps motivate me to keep writing):
[ 1 ] On Furihata: definitely will be seeing more of this cinnamon roll
[ 2 ] Akashi Masaomi: yes, he is indeed a useless father (at the moment, perhaps?), but let's let him cook
[ 3 ] GOM development moving forward: will now be writing about how their skills are blooming, so whether or not they remain friends, we will have to wait and see
[ 4 ] Why Sei can't just say f-you to Akashi Hirohito: well, regardless of how she does 5D mind games with her peers and others, she is still, nonetheless, just a kid in middle school. Right now, she feels it's hard to actually take initiative, or to outright defy him. Masaomi pls help your child
[ 5 ] How the heck is Sei balancing so many things right now: she's not… and we're starting to see the cracks good ol' Midorima
[ 6 ] The Sei/Shuuzo pairing: with everything that's going on right now, it was the furthest thing from Sei's mind, but after today's heart-to-heart with Midorima, she will now be fully accepting her feelings, so make of that what you will teehee
[ 7 ] Omakes: I'm flattered you guys enjoy them, especially the Harry Potter one that was literally just a 4 AM thought KDSHFBHKDSF Might continue it soon xD we'll see, and yes, will consider the Free x KNB crossover at some point
[ 8 ] Yukimaru: I really didn't read much on ponies when I wrote that chapter so I'll probs fact check it at some point FDJBSJKBFDS
[ 9 ] Saito Mika: her arc will be ending soon . . . stay tuned
See you in the next chapter (begging myself for it to be soon)!
