After School (Kuroko no Basket Fanfic)

Open Eyes | Chapter 2 | Furihata

"What are you doing out here all alone?" I ask him, confused as to why such a prominent noble would be in this sort of neighborhood so late at night by himself.

Akashi looks at the watch on his right hand, seeming surprised at the time. "As it turns out my train arrived at the wrong station, and all of the trains are currently stopped for the rest of the night."

What a bad streak of luck. "I see... That's too bad..."

"Yes." He seems much different now than I remembered. He's calm now, and not the least bit intimidating. However, that doesn't keep my hands from shaking as I remember our last confrontation. It feels like forever ago, and yet I still remember it so vividly. "I'm not accustomed to this area, so I decided on taking a midnight stroll until I found someone who could point me in some sort of direction."

I gave him a confused look again. "Couldn't you have used your phone to pinpoint your location?"

He pulls out his cell phone, showing the screen to me. "No service."

"Ah..." It was all sort of starting to click. However, I didn't expect Akashi to be the sort of person who was plagued with such bad luck. The horoscopes must be against his sign today, or something. Not that I believe in such things. "I see... But why didn't you just wait somewhere instead of wandering around aimlessly?"

He gently tucks his phone back into his pocket, however it's too dark to tell just what sort of attire he's wearing. "There is a much higher chance of finding a person by scouting the area than by standing still on empty streets."

It didn't know enough about the subject to argue with his statistics, but that didn't mean I agreed with that sort of method. "Still... Wandering empty, unknown streets in the middle of the night is dangerous..."

He seems very calm about his situation, and I can definitely tell he's the kind of person who always has some sort of plan, and he doesn't seem to give up hope, or give up his calm demeanor, very easily. "It's not as if I can't handle myself. I was thoroughly trained to deal with shady people of all sorts."

I couldn't argue with that. Honestly, I'm more scared for the person who confronts Akashi, because I know just how terrifying Akashi can be. It makes sense, too, that Akashi was trained since he was such a rich noble. I'm sure he knows all sorts of things that I could never dream of knowing. "Well, at any rate, you should find a place to stay the night. You're not going to do much good traveling this late at night."

At this, Akashi goes silent. Right, he wasn't used to this area, so of course he wouldn't know where anybody lived, and it's not as if there's any sort of hotels nearby. The only people he knew that were relatively in this area were Kuroko and Kagami, however their houses were quite a walk from mine, especially in the dark.

"Well..." I scratch the back of my head. It's not as if I have any other choice. "I guess you could stay at my house?"

His eyes seem to light up at the suggestion. He surely wasn't expecting such an invitation from me. "Are you certain?"

"Well, I mean, you can't be wandering these streets at night by yourself... and I live closest, so..." I pause. "I know we don't know each other well, but I really don't mind. It's not a big deal at all."

Apparently he came to the same conclusion I did, for he made no moves of declining my offer. Instead, he bowed his head in thanks. "Thank you." When his head rose a small smile had formed his lips, and it kind of scared me a little. I wasn't used to him showing any form of emotion. "You're quite kind, Furihata Kouki."

"Whatever, it's no big deal." I scoff, continuing to walk down the path to my house. "And stop saying my full name like that. It's weird..."

"Oh?" He began to walk beside me, carrying a small bag of belongings over his shoulder. "Then what should I call you?"