Multicolored Hearts

Tea (Riko x Akashi)

For a small little shop, the building was almost always packed with customers, waiting in lines that stretched all the way out the door and onto the street. This little shop supposedly has the "best coffee and tea" in all of Tokyo. But today, and only today, was the shop nearly empty, with only a few customers coming in and out of the shop.

One of the customers pulled up in a large black limousine, but the limousine was parked farther down the road behind the shop. A man in a suit walked stepped out and opened the passenger's doors open. A short but very unique teen stepped out. His suit contained no flaws, his red hair stylishly matched his eyes, and his shoes were so polished that he could blind people with the shine of his shoe. The teen bowed slightly, and began to walk towards the shop.

Meanwhile inside, the short brunette was busy scribbling out notes on the table while taking small sips of her coffee every so often. Being the coach of the Seirin basketball team took up most of her free time now, and ever since they've won the Winter Cup, she has been busy as ever; always writing training regimes and creating exercise routines for her team.

The red headed teen walked into the shop and, to his surprise, there was no line, walked to the front counter and ordered himself a drink. He gave the cashier woman his name so she could call it out when she's finished creating his beverage. The red head walked around the tables until he spotted the brunette girl scribbling like mad in her notebook. She would stop and think, perhaps take a sip of her coffee, then crossed some words and numbers out and wrote more. This caught the attention of the red head, and he walked over and peered over her shoulder, analyzing the notes she had written down.

"I admire the way you think, Aida-San, but perhaps if you made your ace practice a routine here, it would only help his stamina increase."

Riko jumped and snapped her back to the sudden voice next to her ear. Breathing became hard as she realized that she was staring into the eyes of Rakuzan's captain, Akashi Seijuro.

". . . Akashi? How long have you been standing there?" the brunette was shocked, leaning back as far as she could in her seat to avoid being so close to him.

"Just a few moments. I was able to look at your notes and analyze them myself." Akashi said, sitting down in the seat across from her

He's actually sitting here, with me? she thought.

"Tetsuya's coach, Riko Aida, it's such a pleasure to finally meet the woman who coached her team well enough to defeat me." Akashi said, placing his elbows on the table and folding his fingers together.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you too, Akashi Seijuro. You're not that menacing now really." Riko said. sipping her coffee.

"Menacing? That's a peculiar use of word to describe me. What do I look like to you now?"

"Well you kind of remind me of Kagami. Yes, you are incredible on the court but off the court, you're just a normal teen. In this case, a normal teen who's just smarter than most people." Riko smirked.

"Well I have to say you're rather intelligent yourself if you were able to coach your team up the current ability they're at, and yet, they're still growing."

"Oh, thank you Akashi-Kun. Well, I did give it all I had." Riko said, drawing circles on her notes.

"Aida-San, I wasn't really expecting to see anyone I knew here. This visit was going to be short but now I'm actually glad I came here." Akashi said, a smile creeping up his lips.

"What are you trying to say-"

"Order for Seijuro!" the employee said, behind the counter and holding a cup in her hand.

"Pardon me." Akashi said as he stood up to retrieve his cup. He slowly walked back and took his seat.

"What I'm trying to say," Akashi answered her question, even though Riko didn't have a chance to finish it, "is that I would like to get to know you more and familiarize myself with your mind."

Riko blinked several times. Is the great Akashi Seijuro asking her to hang out with him? To associate with him?

"So you wish to know how I think then?" Riko said, the circles on her notes becoming squiggly, dark ovals. Akashi took a sip of his drink. From the look of the green fluid inside, Akashi was drinking green tea.

"How about this weekend, here. I'll even purchase tea for us both, or," he stole a glance at her coffee, "coffee for you if you want."

"Wait, this weekend?" Riko asked confusingly.

"A Saturday evening should work, perhaps around seven?"

"Seven?"

"This Saturday at seven though, here. Unless you have somewhere else in mind that serves good tasting tea." Akashi said, taking another sip from his cup.

"Well this is the only place I've heard that serves great tasting drinks." Riko said. looking down at her coffee.

"Excellent, so this Saturday at seven at this exact location. Thank you for your time Aida-San." Akashi said, standing up, bringing his cup with him. Riko stood up as well and Akashi held out his hand in which Riko shook.

As Akashi was leaving. Riko stopped him.

"Akashi, wait a minute."

He turned around and looked at her with his glaring red eyes. This made Riko nervous. The nervousness she felt right now matched the nervousness her players felt when they faced Rakuzan in the Winter Cup, except for Kagami and Kuroko of course, they were all in for facing them. Riko didn't want to feel nervous, she wanted to feel in power. She straighten her back and looked at him right in the eyes.

"Did you technically ask me on a date this Saturday?"

"If you put it that way, yes. I did."

"Even thought I didn't give you a direct answer?"

"I knew you would say yes, I can see the future Aida-San, remember?"

Riko swallowed. And with that, Akashi left and disappeared from her view. Riko lost her appetite for her coffee but was still thirsty. She clenched her first and stood up, walking to the counter.

Might as well get used to the taste of green tea, if that's what Akashi's going to buy this Saturday.