Chapter Text
Akashi Seijuurou was perfect.
His grades and achievements left other students in the dust. He was always the top-scorer in his year, despite having to divide his studies with student council work and learning the ropes at his father’s company. Akashi Group was a multinational giant that practically ruled the current Japanese economy. Seijuurou’s father trusted no outsider to be the decision-maker in their empire. The Akashis—and only the Akashis—were absolute. Seijuurou followed the family legacy perfectly on that front. He easily juggled school and business in a way that would’ve made others break down and cry. The student body both admired and feared him. He was their god. Their leader. Untouched by any imperfection.
“Aka-chin, I’m hungry.”
Seijuurou sighed. He resisted the urge to massage the bridge of his nose. Although only Atsushi and Shintarou were in the student council room at the moment, he still couldn’t let them see him down. The members of the student council were all high-grade students Seijuurou had hand-picked and recruited himself. They were the best of the best. All four other members had certain areas they specialized in, and they excelled so much that they had even created a name for themselves. The Generation of Miracles comprised of geniuses worthy of Seijuurou trust. But they were still beasts he had to tame. One crack in his perfect exterior and Seijuurou knew he would lose their respect.
It was tiring, but such was the fate of an Akashi. He was never allowed to lose.
“You can eat once you’re done with that stack of paperwork, Atsushi.”
“Eh. But the papers can wait. My stomach can’t.”
“The stack only got so tall because you’ve let them wait for too long already.”
Atsushi’s head fell from the lazy hold of his palm and smacked loudly against the table, sending several papers fluttering to the floor. It didn’t seem like he felt any pain, though. He just rolled his thick-skulled purple head around, mumbling, “Don’t have the energy to do it.”
“Atsushi,” Seijuurou said dangerously, “are you questioning my authority?”
That always worked like a charm.
Shintarou snorted and muttered, “Idiot.” under his breath as Atsushi promptly straightened his back and started working through the stack. Seriously. It sometimes felt like Seijuurou was managing a group of kindergarteners as opposed to talented high school students.
“Akashi,” Shintarou called, “about the basketball club’s request for extra funding—”
“Rejected,” Seijuurou responded without looking up from his paper. He wrote off Class 2-E’s idiotic idea of starting a cross-dressing café then quickly moved on to the next project. The culture festival was in three months, and the student council was short on time and funding as it was. “Regretfully, our school’s basketball club doesn’t show enough promise. They’ve won some friendly matches, but overall, they’re mediocre. I’d much rather give the funds to our swim team or tennis club.”
“I agree.” Shintarou fixed his glasses as he squinted at some minuscule details on the request paper. “However, supposedly, they’ve just acquired a new member that shows an amazing potential. Kagami Taiga, a second-year transfer student from America. They believe he can lead them to the nationals.”
“Oh?” Seijuurou cracked his neck. He threw a glance at the clock. He was mostly done with his quota of student council work for the day, and he had three hours to burn before he would have to attend a meeting with the Board of Directors. He needed a good exercise anyway—his body was all stiff. “All right, then. I’ll go check this ‘Kagami Taiga’ out myself.”
In response to that, Shintarou clucked his tongue. Atsushi blew his fringe out of his eyes in apparent exasperation, although his expression didn’t change. “Well, there goes their ace.”
Seijuurou decided to let their insolence slip this time and simply gathered up his things before leaving through the doorway. He didn’t forget to throw back a quick, “I want those papers on my desk tomorrow. Eight o’clock sharp, Atsushi.”
A groan, followed by another sound of Atsushi’s heavy head slamming against the table.
#
Kagami Taiga certainly had an imposing physique.
He towered over Seijuurou in height. The power he put into his jumps and dunks were nothing to scoff at either. None of the other basketball team members even came close. He would certainly be a good addition to the team.
But if he wanted that extra funding for the club, he had to work for it.
“Kagami Taiga, I request a one-on-one.”
Seijuurou hadn’t shouted his challenge or even raised his voice, but the basketball court that had been bustling with the sounds of shoes squeaking against the floor and shouting members fell deathly silent in an instant. Kagami Taiga broke the silence by letting go of the basketball hoop he’d been hanging from and dropping heavily in a crouch.
“Ah?” He cracked his knuckles. “Who’re you?”
“Akashi Seijuurou, president of the student council. Show me what you can do if you want me to approve of that extra funding for your team, Taiga.”
“Who said you could call me by my first name, shorty?”
“Kagami-kun!” Aida Riko, the coach of the basketball team, and the one who likely had submitted the request for extra funding, smacked Kagami Taiga over the head and dragged him away. She whispered urgently into his ears while shooting fearful glances over her shoulder at Seijuurou.
“Interesting!” Kagami Taiga roared. He turned and pointed a finger in challenge. “You think you can beat me? Come at me, then!”
Kagami Taiga charged with all the finesse of a blind boar. He picked up the basketball off of the floor and threw it towards Seijuurou. “Game start!”
Seijuurou dodged the ball without blinking. It smacked against the wall and bounced into the hands of a bespectacled club member, who dropped it in surprise. The ball bounced away with no one to catch it. No one dared to catch it. They were all frozen, watching Seijuurou’s reaction as if he were the predator and they were the prey, as if the slightest move would send him pouncing.
“Just let me get changed first,” Seijuurou said shortly as he walked in the direction of the changing room. He had a meeting after this, and he didn’t want his school uniform to get dirty. Seijuurou didn’t need to turn around to know that Kagami Taiga was making a ruckus, thinking he had been made fun of, and that the other club members were holding him back. Seijuurou was already starting to regret his decision. Coming to the basketball court seemed like it was going to be a waste of time.
If the team counted on Kagami Taiga alone, they were in for a disappointment. He had the potential and the strength, but lacked the brain power needed to calmly analyze the situation and make necessary decisions. Aida Riko could be his guide, but he needed someone close by. Someone that could stand by him on the basketball court. Someone calm and collected. Someone who could play a supportive role.
A shadow.
There was a shadow in the far end of the changing room. It turned at the corner and slipped from Seijuurou’s sharp eyes. Seijuurou quickly pulled his T-shirt over his head and gave a chase. He intercepted the path where the shadow had been heading down. Something smacked into his chest. Seijuurou barely felt the impact, but the opposing figure fell down from the force.
Powder-blue eyes and hair greeted Seijuurou. Someone with such unusual coloring should’ve caught his attention as soon as he entered the changing room, but Seijuurou had only noticed his presence because he’d moved in a conspicuous way. Seijuurou narrowed his eyes.
“How long have you been here?”
The boy made no move to answer him. It didn’t even seem like he’d heard him. He just picked himself off of the floor, mumbling intelligibly to himself. The floor was apparently much more interesting than Seijuurou, because the boy continued to stare dazedly at it. Then, he started biting his nails.
Seijuurou should feel insulted. With any other person, he would’ve reached for his trusty scissors and shown them their place. But the boy didn’t look like he was doing it to insult Seijuurou. And for some reason, Seijuurou didn’t feel angry.
He was curious.
“What’s your name?”
“Kuroko Tetsuya,” the boy responded quickly, almost automatically. His voice was soft and toneless. He still wouldn’t raise his eyes, and had responded to Seijuurou’s question in-between nail-biting.
“Tetsuya,” Seijuurou tested the name on his tongue. “Are you a member of the basketball team?”
At the word “basket,” Tetsuya perked up. As if a switch had been flicked, he started doing weird motions with his hand. Seijuurou realized with a start that he was playing basketball. He was making passes. Only, he was doing it without any ball in hand. Seijuurou started noticing other things as well—like the fact that he’d just asked a stupid question, something Akashi Seijuurou had never done before—because Tetsuya was actually wearing the basketball club’s uniform, though it was on backwards.
Interesting. Seijuurou was intrigued, and that didn’t happen often. He wasn’t going to let this one slip by.
“Tetsuya, go to the court and sit on the bench. Wait for me there. When I’m done, we’ll go home together.”
Tetsuya didn’t show any sign that he had heard Seijuurou. He just kept making passes, with nobody to receive them. Seijuurou would love to take the time to piece together this peculiar puzzle. Unfortunately, it would have to wait.
He had a basketball ace to take on.
#
Seijuurou had expected Kagami Taiga to last for ten minutes.
He hadn’t lasted for five.
To be fair, Seijuurou had been merciless. He’d played more seriously than he had intended to. Three stolen balls, two three-pointers, and one ankle break later, Kagami Taiga realized the abyss-wide distance between their skills. Still, he did not give up. In fact, he seemed more fired up than ever. That persistence and shamelessness earned him one point of acknowledgement from Seijuurou. But that was it.
“I want a rematch!”
Seijuurou opened his mouth to decline for the third time. He’d seen what Kagami Taiga could do, and he wasn’t impressed. Seijuurou had bigger fish to fry and more interesting puzzles to figure out. He was just about to shoot off a dismissive comment when he caught something from the corner of his eye.
Seijuurou had honed his people-analyzing skills because they were necessary when conducting business, but they proved to be really useful in daily lives also. He could always tell when Daiki skipped student council meetings for a nap on the rooftop, or when a conflict was going on between two of the members. Right then, something strange was definitely going on.
None of the other club members paid Tetsuya any attention.
Tetsuya hadn’t followed Seijuurou’s orders. He’d come into the court all right, but he didn’t sit on the bench or wait for Seijuurou. He stood alone in the far corner of the massive room, practicing passes without the ball. The other club members were gathered around Seiijurou and Kagami Taiga, watching the game with rapt attention without realizing that one of them was being left out, as if this was a normal occurrence, as if they just didn’t care.
For some reason, this irked Seijuurou much more than having his orders disobeyed by Tetsuya.
“All right, we’ll have a rematch.” Kagami Taiga’s face brightened like Christmas had come early. “But on one condition.”
Seijuurou marched purposefully towards Tetsuya. He could feel the club members’ eyes following him. Whispers of confusion broke out. Seijuurou paid them no attention. He grabbed Tetsuya by the arm and pulled him into the limelight.
“Kagami Taiga, you’ll be teaming up with Tetsuya.”
Kagami Taiga blinked. He was staring at Tetsuya as if he’d never seen him before. Aida Riko, however, showed a completely different reaction. She gasped and blurted out, “But that’s unfair! Kuroko’s only going to drag Kagami-kun down!”
“Oh? And what makes you say that?”
“He’s…” Aida Riko trailed off, hesitance clear on her face.
“Autistic.” The bespectacled team member who’d caught Kagami’s ball moved to stand in front of Aida Riko, protecting her from Seijuurou’s piercing gaze.
Seijuurou’d guessed as much from the way Tetsuya acted. Still, “I don’t see a problem with that.”
Aida Riko bit her lip as if there was something bad-tasting she really needed to spit out of her mouth, but held back because the action would be seen as distasteful. Once again, the bespectacled member came to her rescue.
“I’m Hyuuga Junpei, captain of this club,” he said. “I don’t believe Kuroko is ready to be on the court. He’s…unstable. He is incapable of following simple commands, and cannot cooperate with the other team members. Moreover, he’s never been in an actual match before. If you need someone to be Kagami’s partner, there are better options.”
“You say he’s never been in a match,” Seijuurou drawled. “How long has he been a member of this club, exactly?”
Hyuuga Junpei fell silent, and that in itself was answer enough for Seijuurou. Kuroko Tetsuya was a second year, and he’d been a member since his first year. He’d been practicing alone in that forgotten corner for one and a half year, repeating the same motion over and over again, with his teammates never even bothering to take notice of his presence.
“You don’t understand. He’s—”
Seijuurou shot Hyuuga Junpei a murderous look. “If you think that just because he’s different he deserves to be pushed aside and forgotten, then perhaps I need to make adjustments to your position as the team captain.”
That quickly shut him up.
Seijuurou turned around, and to his surprise, he was greeted by the sight of wide blue eyes. Tetsuya quickly averted his gaze again, but that was the first actual sign of recognition Seijuurou had received from him, and it felt profoundly meaningful. Seijuurou allowed a small smile to curve his lips.
“Change of plans. Tetsuya and I will be playing against you,” Seijuurou announced. His gaze shifted from one member to the other, relishing in the way they squirm. “All of you.”
Seijuurou saw something in Tetsuya—a limitless potential that promised to become something amazing if honed the right way. He was absolute. He was never wrong.
This match was going to be interesting.
Seijuurou hurriedly shook off his hold on Tetsuya’s arm when Tetsuya reached for his hand and started biting his nails.