Queen Of Cards || Akashi Seijuro x OC

Chapter 19

"Ri-chan. There you are!" Eikichi unfortunately managed to land a hearty smack on her back. Reo and him immediately started arguing and fighting about he was abusing 'their child' or something to that accord.

"Sorry I'm late." Standing against the support pillar, she stared at the scoreboard in slight disbelief. Seirin was typically the slow starter, but she didn't think they would be completely shut out like this.

18-0, Yosen's favour.

"It's fine. Everyone's going anyways. I'm hungry!"

"Eikichi-senpai, you're always hungry." Airi said pointedly.

"Sorry Ai-chan. These guys wont shut up until we get dinner. We'll see you back at the hotel." Reo waved her goodbye before the team left.

Except Akashi.

He stood silently next to her, watching the game with his arms crossed and an neutral expression on his face. She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing.

As much as she wanted Kuroko and Kagami to win, she wasn't exactly sure how they could. Murasakibara was extremely tall and had extremely long arms and legs and he was just the defensive half. Himuro Tatsuya was the one she was worried they couldn't overcome.

The second quarter started, and Airi noticed Seirin were having an extremely hard time even getting up to the 3 point line. Yosen was trying to completely eliminate them. Izuki Shun managed to make a pass to Kiyoshi Teppei but there was no way he could win a 1v1 against Murasakibara. He tried to do a mini alley-oop but of course, Murasakibara's fast reflexes managed to get his hands on the ball-

Airi abruptly leaned over the railing.

Pulling out her notebook, she tried to recall what she had just seen. How did that shot work? First, his form was extremely weird. Second, the ball magically disappeared from Murasakibara's line of sight. She could tell by the look of shock and confusion on Murasakibara's face.

The massive height difference alone should have been enough to stop Kuroko's shot...

The massive height difference.

Oh.

Mustering up the courage and breathing in deeply, she turned to Akashi who was smiling cunningly at the court head resting on one hand.

"Akashi-kun. Can Kuroko-kun shoot normally?"

His eyes snapped towards Airi, raising an eyebrow at her and piercing her dark pink eyes with his gold and red ones.

"You should know."

You can figure out how the shot works by yourself.

Damn it. Letting out a little sigh, she rethought about Kuroko's vanishing shot again. After watching happen once more, she finally understood.

~

"With a score of 73 to 72, Seirin High wins!"

Unsure of what to do next, she looked over at Akashi and was about to ask him if he was going to watch the next game when she saw him staring at someone in the crowd. Following his line of sight, she saw something that resembled a carrot...

No no. That was wrong. It was Midorima Shintaro.

Looking back at Akashi, she nearly flinched when she saw the terrifyingly cold expression on his face. Tapping Akashi lightly on his arm, she nearly cowered away when he turned to her with a glare.

"Are we watching Kaijo's game? Shall I buy dinner and bring it here?"

"Do whatever you please. I'm staying."

Bastard. Cold blooded, thick skinned bastard. Keeping her cool, she nodded and began her walk. She was planning on buying some Maji burger, but realised that Akashi probably didn't eat those kinds of foods.

Googling nearby restaurants, she found a good sushi restaurant across the back of the gymnasium and ordered a variety of makizushi before making her way back once again. On the way there, she saw... Kagami?

She watched as he shouted the same guy with the cornrows that she saw earlier. Tatsuya looked pretty beat up too. A beautiful blonde was being held by her neck by the tall Fukuda player.

Rushing over with her bag of sushi in hand, she shouted, "hey! Let her go!"

In retrospect, it was a stupid thing to do. That guy was at least 2 heads taller than her. In the momentary distraction Airi caused, the blonde performed a violent kick which made the guy drop her.

Kagami was about to run at the guy and she pulled on his jacket. Tatsuya also warned him not to engage in a fight with him.

"Hey pretty girl, you might just barely be hotter than that blonde. Wanna go out?" He gave her a menacing smile and she had to hold in her vomit at the vile look he was giving her.

"Hard pass," she snapped.

Without warning he grabbed her by her neck, punching her in the face. Airi had good reflexes from dodging the close calls she had when Akashi got angry at her classmates. Instead of getting a broken nose, she managed to dodge and he punched her in the eye.

By the looks of it, he would have continued if not for the random basketball that flew at him. Airi saw it out of the corner of her eye and immediately used that opportunity to pry his hand off her and stumbled back next to Kagami, the woman, and Tatsuya. The pretty blonde encased her in a warm hug and shielded her from his vision.

Kagami was basically in flames, but was still holding back due to Tatsuya. His body stood protectively in front of the 3 of them.

"Ryota," the cornrow man spat.

Turning her head still seeing stars, she spotted the famous Kise Ryota in his jersey and glaring angrily at the guy. She couldn't register what was going on properly, only getting bits and pieces of information.

"His name... Haizaki Shogo...Akashi forced him to quit the team..."

"Never beat me once..."

Akashi forced this guy to quit? Who even was he? Ryota never beat this guy at basketball when he was in Teiko. Heck, he was even a starter until Ryota joined. Trying to recall the information she was getting, her head started to pound even more.

She listened more, leaning against the blonde for support, her sushi abandoned and on the floor in a giant mess. She managed to hear them arguing over the title of the Generation of Miracles before the guy descended down the stairs and left.

"Hey... hey... Yunabami-chan?"

Looking up at Kagami, she offered a weak smile.

"Hey. Nice to see you too."

"Taiga, I'll take her and Tatsuya to the medical wing in the gymnasium. I'm sure your team is waiting for you."

"Cheers, Alex. Feel better, Yunabami-chan. See you at finals."

Giving him a thumbs up, she watched his figure disappear down the stairs, along with Ryota. Attempting to stand on her own, she let go of the blonde slowly and shakily, giving Tatsuya and the woman, alex, a bow.

"Hello. My name is Yunabami Airi. Please take care of me..."

That was all she could say before her world started spinning and turning dark.