Crimson & Clover//AkashiSeijuroXReader

Confession

The afternoon was an unpleasant one. You found yourself in an unfamiliar room. It was Sasaki's house, you were there with two other girls for a group project. Sasaki and you hardly spoke so it was surprising when she picked you over Quinn to be in her group. Most groups were doing their project in cafes or libraries, but she insisted everyone came to her place. Her house was in shades of beige and white. There was nothing homely about her home, she had a couple of maids and her grandmother at home. Her parents were out and it seemed like she was a single child. Her grandmother was cold not just to y'all but to Sasaki too when you all greeted the old hag, she didn't say a word and just stared at everyone from head to toe. Sasaki ignored the hag and went straight to the kitchen. Three of you all followed her around like ducklings. She showed y'all to her living room and brought everyone strawberry shortcakes and iced coffee.

"I hope everyone here loves strawberries," Sasaki asked. Her kind expression managed to fluster everyone.

"Of course we love strawberries"

"Yeah you have to be crazy not to like it"

The two girls quickly assured Sasaki. She looked your way hoping for a reply

"I like them too," you reassured.

The four of you all got down to business. Sasaki was only free today this week and next week was the presentation, so naturally, everything was to be done by today itself. It was an easy project you even volunteered to do everything on your own for the group, but Sasaki was against it, she thought it was highly unfair. The topic your group was given was nuclear disasters. Sasaki picked the Fukushima nuclear accident to present.

Every now and then you would fall back into deep thought, gazing out the window and getting no work done. On the day you return to school after one week of suspension, you find out that Akashi has left for training camp. The club would stay there during all the preliminary matches and would only return for exams when the prelims were over then leave for Tokyo soon after the exams. By now they have already won three out of four of their preliminary matches. The prelims final is next weekend. You haven't been to even one of his games. You didn't contact him after returning to school. It made you furious that he left without a word. You made cookies for him that day, only to find out he has disappeared from the face of the earth. You didn't want to argue and upset him during his tournament thus you kept your distance. But the distance was overbearing.

"Are you girls going to the finale next week?" Sasaki dropped this question out of nowhere causing a nuclear disaster in you.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world"

"Me neither, it will be the big comeback of Rakuzan from last year's defeat"

"I don't think I'll make it," you informed before anyone could make any assumption "I have to visit my grandparents over the weekend." It was an obvious lie.

"That's a bummer, everyone would be there"

"Yeah" Sasaki signed. She looked upset, you almost felt bad lying to her.

"But aren't you good friends with Akashi?"

"Yes, but he won't mind my absence." A part of you broke, admitting it out loud made it much more real than just repeating it in your head.

Everyone went back to work. You felt Sasaki's eyes following you but every time you looked up she was busy doing something. You were probably being paranoid. The project was going quicker than you imagined. The two girls were efficient in their work, they were in charge of the power point and Sasaki and you were doing the research. Sasaki would start small talk, she probably thought the silence was uncomfortable. But the two girls did not mind it at all. You didn't know their given names but thanks to Sasaki's small talk, you knew what their favourite show was, who their favourite actor was, what kinda music they listened to, if they read or not and what their favourite midnight snack was. Your brain is good at retaining useless information.