The scratching of pencil against paper was the only thing audible in the living room of the home of Senju Luna. Akashi Seijuro had arrived an hour ago but the owner of the home had yet to make an appearance.
An hour earlier
Midorima had met Akashi at the entrance of the complex and on the way explained to him that Luna had a slight fever and probably wouldn't be joining them for the work, but to not worry as she had provided her fair share of research and they were in charge of putting it together, adding the visual elements and filling in any gaps.
Changing into slippers, Seijoru walked through the short entrance hallway and stepped into Lunas' apartment. The layout of the apartment was simple, from where he stood, to his left was one simple white couch against the wall, a white circular rug where a coffee table rested, and a long dark hallway, where shadows of doors could be seen. To his right, a flat screen t.v. mounted onto the wall, a few feet away from it a dining table, situated by a window, and the kitchen being on the opposite side of the wall. And lastly, a sliding door, that led onto the balcony, further in front of him. The window and glass sliding doors allowed more than enough natural light to come through, so no lights were currently on. But, the detail that had gained his attention the most were the bare white walls; no pictures, no paintings, no decorations, in simpler terms; no personality whatsoever was hinted at. Even his own home had a few pieces of decoration that could give insight in their lives.
"Luna doesn't like to have anything on the coffee table, so we can do our work on the dining table or we can use a spare study room."
Akashi slightly furrowed his eyebrows, "Her apartment doesn't look like it could have more than two rooms."
"Oh, I forgot to mention that the whole floor is basically her apartment. But you could say this is the main area." Midorima said, as he went into the kitchen to grab drinks and snacks.
Akashi nodded his head, "That makes sense."
So basically all the 'apartments' on the floor had been connected in order to form one apartment, with only one short hallway in the middle, it all connected as a U, and of course the floor was off limits. Added onto the fact that the floor above was also hers' but for the sole reason that she didn't want to deal with any type of noise and the floor below her was for Ayumi and the rest of the staff in charge of taking care of her. (The life of the rich)
Putting the drinks and snacks down on the dining table, Midorima turned to Akashi for his preference.
"The dining table is fine. Also here," he said as he handed a small basket of sweets to Midorima, "My father told me this is the only thing she will take as a gift for the intrusion."
Midorima gave a silent sigh, "Yeah, sadly he isn't wrong." He took the basket with a heavy sigh and made his way into the kitchen in order to hide it.
As Akashi set his things down, he noticed the kitchen was a lot smaller than he had originally imagined, and the biggest object was the fridge. He saw Midorima put the candy away on a high shelf, way out of Lunas' reach. They both sat down and began taking out their papers and books.
"These are the notes Luna made, they're bullet points of facts, supporting evidence, and citations. We can do a written rough draft and type it up on another day when Luna feels better." Midorima proposed.
Looking over the notes quickly, he gave a slight nod towards Midorima's proposal.
"Her notes are well written, she must have spent a lot of time on them." Akashi commented.
"Not necessarily, those are old notes she had from before. She hires historians to tell her about the history of the world, history is one of the few things she doesn't find too boring."
Akashi nodded his head, glad to be learning a little more of Luna.
"She seemed perfectly healthy yesterday, how did she get sick?" Akashi asked, the question had been weighing at the back of his mind since Midorima told him she had a fever.
"Luna has a weak immune system against the cold. A cold day or a cold shower is sometimes enough to give her a slight fever."
"That must be a great inconvenience for her." Akashi said, with furrowed eyebrows, wondering how she managed on snowy cold days.
"It's actually quite the opposite", Midorima replied dryly, "She knows perfectly well how to use it for her convenience. Why do you think she hasn't had her official social debut or why she isn't present at important events?"
Akashi's eyes flashed with understanding, "I see. She must really hate them then, to willingly become sick."
"You'll be attending the meet in August right?" Midorima asked, switching topics smoothly.
"Yeah, if no issues surface, I'll be there with my father for the four days." Akashi replied.
Midorima gave a slight nod, "I'm not sure how much you know but this year's get-together will be a bit messy." Midorima looked straight at Akashi.
"I'm aware", Akashi replied slowly, "Lady Sayuri will be dismissing a family. But I'm unaware of the reason behind it, from what I've seen, aren't they fairly loyal?"
Midorima looked down at his papers, moving them around as he replied, "Yeah, but none of that matters to Lady Sayuri, because their only son and heir, pushed Luna into a semi frozen lake where she almost drowned 7 years ago."
Akashi's eyes widened at the information revealed, unable to give any commentary he stayed quiet.
"It's best to keep our distance from him", Miordima continued, "his family believes they've been invited to sign a new and better deal."
"You seem to know their inside politics well, Midorima."
"You've met Lady Sayuri in formal passing, but I'm sure you got the gist of her personality. But, I will share this with you." Midorima said seriously looking at Akashi again. Akashi listened carefully to his next words.
Back to the present
Putting his pencil down first, Akashi waited patiently a few more minutes as Midorima finished up. As Midorima wrapped up and reorganized his papers, his phone went off, looking at the caller id, he had an urge to decline but decided against it, excusing himself he took the call. With Miroimas faint voice in the background, Akashi took the chance to reanalysis Lunas apartment, but no matter how much he tried to scrutinize the place, he drew the same conclusion; no personality.
"I'll be down in a minute."
Pause
"Yes. Thank you."
Coming back to the dining table, Midorima explained to Akashi that he needed to pick Lunas medicinal decoction from downstairs but he wouldn't be long.
With the front door closing, Akashi was officially left alone at the dining table. Deciding against his better judgment, he made his way towards the sliding doors. Undoing the locks easily he slid the door open and stepped on to the balcony. Looking to his left, he saw that the balcony stretched onward and around the end, and most likely onto the other side as well. Only the front of the building was free from it.
'Like a U as well.' Akashi thought silently. 'And like the inside, there's nothing.'
And it was the plain truth. Although the balcony was wide enough to hold plants or chairs, even a small table, it was empty. Just a bare balcony with a safety rail that came up to his chest.
Looking up at the blue sky, he was able to catch a glance of the moon before it got covered up by a cloud. Turning around to go back inside, he took a quick step back startled, in front of him stood a slightly feverish looking Luna. How she managed to come up behind him so silently, would always remain a mystery to him.
"Senju-San how are y-"
"Don't call me by my surname." Luna interrupted, as she made her way towards where Midorima had been sitting. "Luna is fine." She added on.
Akashi followed after her, taking his original spot, opposite of her now. "How are you feeling, Luna?" He asked completely this time.
"Fine." She said, laying her head down on the table with her eyes closed, leaving her hands hanging by her side.
Akashi decided to take this moment as an opportunity to get to know Luna better, advise (more like an order) from his father who had stated that they would more than likely be interacting (and maybe even working together) a lot more moving onward. Deciding to start with the basics, Akashi begun his questioning.
"Luna, why did you decide to attend Teiko?"
"For Shin-chan." Akashi had figured as much.
"You haven't joined a club right? What are you going to do, it's mandatory after all."
"Doesn't matter." Akashi furrowed his eyebrows at the lack motivation in her voice, but he excused it as her not feeling too well.
"Can I ask why you live alone?"
"Looking for peace," she answered somberly.
At this, Akashi raised his eyebrow,, "Are you not satisfied with what you possess?"
"No." Came her soft reply.
Akashi, could to some extent, understand her dilemma, but even so.
"You can't spend your time languidly. You have a role to fulfill and a responsibility to carry. We both do."
And although Akashi was unable to see it, Luna had slightly opened her eyes, staring ahead of her, at the plain wall, as she listened to those damned words but deciding that it would be too much energy in fighting it, she closed her eyes once again. And having received no answer, Akashi decided to bring back the topic of school.
"You know, you can be a manager for the basketball team. You'll be able to see Midorima more that way too."
"Pass." She said lazily.
"Is there a sport you like to play then?"
There was a slight pause before her answer came.
"No."
Akashi raised his eyebrow slightly at the delayed response.
"Then, do you have any hobbies?"
"No."
"Well, is there anything you like to do?"
"Eat and sleep."
Akashi stared at her, he didn't know if he should continue asking her questions, seeing as her answering consisted of three words or less.
"Since it seems like you've run out of questions, then let me ask you one." Luna said, removing her head from the table, sitting up slowly, her golden green eyes meeting his crimson ones, she continued, "Akashi Seijuro, would you like to marry me?"