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Seirin was silent. It wasn’t a surprise; after all, one of the most despairing news had come upon them. Kuroko’s pass has been broken.
Akashi stood there, sharp and alert as always. A disappointed sigh escaped his lips as he walked towards his former teammate, frozen with confusion and shock.
“When you found your own way of basketball in Teiko, I told you to train only your passing and not learn any shooting or other skills,” His heterochromatic eyes pierced through baby blue ones. “Do you know why?”
Kuroko couldn’t answer; despair had started to sink in. He felt numb. His stomach had dropped to his knees, and a weight had been placed on to his chest. Instead of breathing heavily from exhaustion, he hardly took a breath.
“That’s because I knew if I let you learn them, your special ability, you’re lack of presence to be specific, would totally fade away in the future,” Despite seeing how vulnerable the cerulean boy was at the moment, the redhead was relentless. “Vanishing drive, phantom shot… How could you not get any attention from those fancy techniques?”
“The buzzer beater you scored in semi-finals was also the killing shot,” Another dissatisfying sigh escaped. His eyes narrowed before continuing. “Only because you emitted a dim ray of light, you will never again be able to become a shadow.”
At this point, Kuroko was involuntarily shivering with eyes wide and glistening with tears. His heart was beating to hard, too fast, as if at any given moment it would burst into tiny pieces. Everything dulled into a low buzzing, while his mind throbbed violently. Seirin was obviously worried for their phantom player. Even Rakuzan’s team felt pity towards the boy, yet Akashi wasn’t finished.
“It’s an act of folly that’s unbearable to watch. Personally relenting your greatest advantage, that is,” He started walking towards the other side of the court. “Now that you’re no longer the sixth phantom man, you are merely an average player with no value whatsoever.”
The cerulean boy froze, stiffening from the thought of what his former captain would say next. No, this wasn’t what he wanted to hear. This wasn’t what he wanted to hear at all: Especially not from him, not from someone he had more than respect for. Please don’t do this, he mentally cried.
“To think that this had escaped had all escaped your notice until now…”
No, please…
“I’m disappointed in you, Tetsuya.”
Something had shattered inside the bluenette. The barrier that had kept all of his despair had broke, and his tears were proof of his broken state. But, there was no way that the cerulean boy would just leave it alone. Kuroko was running, running towards the redhead figure. He had no idea what his body was doing, but it was too late to stop himself. Although Akashi was a formidable strategian, even he did not foresee Kuroko’s sudden action.
In less than a few seconds, the bluenette had tackled the redhead to the floor, surprising everyone including themselves. Akashi had slightly recovered from the sudden impact, but with Kuroko on his abdomen, he was only able to lift his upper body from the floor. Before the cerulean boy could stop himself, he whispered, “I had to endure everything you did to me for years, Akashi-kun…”
This was one of the few times that the redhead was actually bewildered. Akashi stared up at Kuroko, and guilt suddenly struck his mind. Everyone knew that the bluenette was not expressive, yet he had managed to make him cry.
“Because of you, Akashi-kun…” He straight into crimson and golden eyes, before shouting, “You broke my friendship and made me miserable ever since our last year in Teiko!”
Heterochromatic eyes widened. This was new. This was something that he was never aware of. This was something he did not mean to do. It wasn’t a part of his calculations. But now that he was conscious of this, it was too late.
“But…” Tears started pouring down his face, before he continued in a whisper. “… I am grateful for you too… for discovering me… and for giving me a position… and for teaching me so much… and for believing in me before everything happened….”
He tried to swallow the oncoming sobs, but it was useless. Kuroko continued, his sobs breaking up his sentence into fragments. “… You did so much… for someone like me… so why…why are you… so mean now?”
Akashi was dazed with everything that Kuroko had to say to him. He was only able to manage to mumble out, “Tetsuya…”
The moment the redhead had mentioned the bluenette’s name, he had started to sob uncontrollably. Shaking violently, Kuroko held onto Akashi’s waist and emptied out his feelings. And in response, Akashi embraced the boy firmly.
The two boys were in their own world. Unable to notice Seirin’s disbelieving gaze. They had all thought in common: Was Kuroko seriously breaking down in the middle of Wintercup Finals? Rakuzan, on the other hand, was praying for the bluenette’s survival.
“Tetsuya…” Akashi tried to call out to the bluenette, but Kuroko was unable to hear him over his crying. It did not seem that the bluenette would stop anytime soon, so the redhead decided to do something bold.
Gently pushing the cerulean boy away from him, Akashi lifted Kuroko’s chin upward to witness his tearstained face. Then he leaned in and kissed pink soft lips. Baby blue eyes widen in surprise, and everyone gasped at what their eyes had feasted upon. Smirking, Akashi ended the chaste kiss; he was successful in stopping the bluenette’s cries.
Kuroko blinked in puzzlement before his face flushed red. “Akashi-kun… did you just…”
The smirk plastered onto Akashi’s face only grew at the bluenette’s confusion. His expression softened once he began to speak. “Tetsuya, I’m sorry.”
“… Huh?” The phantom wasn’t the only one to be shocked at the fearsome captain’s apology. Seirin, Rakuzan, and the rest of the Generation of Miracles were wide eyed and praying for the world to not end.
“I am sorry, Tetsuya. I didn’t mean for you to be so pained when I said those things.”
“…Eh?” Whatever Akashi was saying was not sinking in. He was acting very different compared to before.
“I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me, but I honestly thought that it would help you improve. Though, it only made you sad, didn’t it?” Gently placing his hand onto the phantom’s smooth face, Akashi wiped away the remaining tears. “I am so sorry for all of the pain you’ve gone through, Tetsuya…. Would you forgive me?”
The atmosphere was tense with anticipation, mainly from audience who thought the scene was adorable. Seirin, Rakuzan, and the rest of the Generation of Miracles were less than thrilled. Kuroko was stunned into silence, but after a few moments, he blushed and diverted his eyes away. Shyly, he nodded to Akashi before whispering, “… Okay, Akashi-kun… I forgive you…”
Rakuzan’s captain smiled, before innocently stating, “I love you, Tetsuya.”
This caused Seirin, Rakuzan, Aomine, and Kise to screech in appallment. Midorima’s glasses cracked, and Murasakibara stopped chewing only for a moment, before resuming. The audience, however, were very supportive based on the amount of squealing fujoshis in the crowd.
“…. Really?” Kuroko asked suspiciously. Although he knew Akashi wasn’t one to lie, it was very difficult for him to believe that his unrequited love for the past four years would return his feelings. Akashi just smiled, indicating that what he said earlier was true. “…..Then…I love you too, Akashi-kun.”
Piercing yells echoed through the audience as they shrieked with joy. Seirin, Rakuzan, Aomine, and Kise were just shocked into silence; there was just too much to process.
Seeing the reactions of their teammates, Akashi’s devious side emerged. After Akashi and Kuroko were once again standing, the redhead offered his hand to the bluenette. “Come now. Let’s go get married, shall we?”
Kuroko was flushed red but accepted Akashi’s hand. “Okay…”
The fujoshis in the crowd created a deafening scream. Someone had called a choir to come and sing wedding songs at the basketball court.
It was a shame that their teammates had such a different reaction. Seirin, Rakuzan and the Generation of Miracles all thought: OIII! THAT’S WAY TOO FAST! PLUS WE’RE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER CUP FINALS!