Chapter Text
The students of Rakuzan high were surprised to say the least when their new student council president turned out to be some first-year girl from Tokyo, it was usually a 3rd year that got elected. But when she first came walking onto that stage to give her speech, they suddenly understood why this girl had been chosen for the job.
Akashi Seiju was beautiful and unique looking, that fact was hard to miss. Her hair was vibrant red, but with the way the light fell in, it appeared to have a pink glow. It was long and almost unnaturally straight, her bangs fell over most of her forehead, ending just a little above her perfectly arched eyebrows; they were the same shade as her hair and thin and elegant. Her right eye was the same shade as her hair, but it appeared to be a little lighter in color. Strangely, her left eye was golden. Both eyes possessed split pupils, a true rarity. Her eyes were filled with wisdom, talent and leadership, as if she was born for the role as student council president. She was pretty tall too, but nothing extreme, she was around the same height as the average boy. Her body wasn’t exactly thin; she seemed to be pretty buff instead. This little detail gave away her identity as a sportsman.
Her voice was soft yet strong, whatever she said, you couldn’t do much else than believe and obey. She seemed to be the natural top-student of the school, despite only just having entered a few weeks ago.
She was also known for being the captain of the boy’s basketball team and for some reason no one objected. Of course, it was hard for those that hadn’t seen her play to know just how strong this girl was. It wasn’t her physical strength per-say, (although Akashi did lift weights everyday) but it was her presence, her personality. Whenever she looked you in the eye, the natural reflex was to bow your head for her. Akashi knew how to utilize this strength on the court. Because combined with her extremely high intelligence, which made her practically able to see short moments into the future, that stare was a deadly weapon.
“Ankle break”. A renown move in basketball, performed by various professionals in the NBA, but the way Akashi performed it just seemed to be different. It wasn’t just tripping over your feet; it was literally just kneeling down before someone superior to yourself.
On top of that nasty little trick, Akashi was ridiculously fast and agile. She had a perfectly harmonized mind and body, allowing her to execute perfect passes at perfect timings. Akashi could use basically every single part of her body to do this, from her hands to her elbow or even her shoulder. She could use all of these to pass. She made the perfect point-guard; a true pillar to support her team. She always wore her team jacket hanging loosely over her strong shoulders, walking in the front while the rest of her team followed her obediently; showing once again how strong she really was, considering how she kept all those giant men in tow.
She was popular with boys and girls alike, she got many confession-letters each day, she often entrusted Mibuchi to read them to her while she tied her shoes or did business related to the school council. Ever-so often, she’d smile at the contents of a particular letter, but whenever the vice-captain asked her if she’d like to him to relay a message to the sender for her, Akashi always said that there was no need for elaborate measures; he could just go tell them her apologies and that she did not have time for romance. He was the only one on the team she trusted enough to handle these kind of jobs.
The truth was, he reminded her of her former best friend and vice-captain, Midorima Shinoko. Back in middle school, the green haired shooting guard had always been the one to fulfill these kinds of requests from her. Aside from that, they were quite similar in person; the both occupied the same position on the field and they always followed the team around as if they were their mother. They’d scold bad behavior and act disgusted with everything improper.
Akashi had noticed it in an instant; all regulars of Rakuzan reminded her of her old team in certain ways and with the newly added sixth-man Mayuzumi Chihiro, this picture was completed. Back in the Teiko days, Akashi had struggled and failed to keep her team together, one by one the friends she loved had slipped out of her hand. She had tried to bend her fingers to make a fist again, but in the end they’d seeped through her fingers like sand. They were only her foes now; these new team-members would be her new friends; she wouldn’t fail them.
Deep down she was well-aware that her old teammates were irreplaceable. No-one she had ever encountered was as strong as they were and they were all girls; just like her. It was something she missed. Even if Aomine and Kise had been rowdy and loud, Kuroko was kind-of appearing and disappearing everywhere, Midorima was prudish and uptight and Murasakibara was barely even a real person; they were still girls, so they could understand her feelings better.
The friendship they’d had in the first year-and-a-half of their time at Teiko had been unbreakable. They were always together, on the court, during breaks and sometimes after school too. Kise would host sleepovers at her house; Midorima would always refuse to come at first, but they always managed to persuade her into coming over in the end.
Akashi remembered how she always went food-shopping with Murasakibara in advance and how they’d all end up huddled together with blankets on their shoulders, seated on pillows and mattresses on the floor of Kise’s spacious bedroom. They’d watch stupid movies, or basketball games.
Sometimes they’d fall asleep just like that, while other times they’d share secrets and have pillow-fights. It was always a delight seeing Midorima and Murasakibara to come out of their shells; even if only a little. They’d keep themselves distant from the party at first, quietly sitting together in one of the corners of the room side-eyeing everyone else from a safe distance. Until someone asked them about something they were passionate about and they’d join in with everyone else. They didn’t really mind listening to Midorima’s long stories about horoscopes and fortune-telling; nor did they mind Murasakibara giving them elaborate explanations on which snacks or foods tasted the best, because parties were always the most fun when everyone was involved.
Kise would always give them near-professional makeovers, experimenting with looks and styles. Akashi still had to suppress her giggles whenever she remembered that time when Kise had given Midorima an extreme gothic makeover; while she had given Aomine a Lolita look. They had all laughed so much, even Midorima, who had pretended to be mad at first. It really had been funny; Akashi thought.
When the lights finally went out and they all laid down on their futons, Kuroko would pretend to be a ghost; Aomine lost her shit each and every time despite knowing that it was going to happen sooner or later and that the ghost in question was always just her best friend being a little shit.
The next morning they’d all get a million messages from Kise with pictures and text saying how much fun they had. They were always very annoying, but Akashi missed them now that they were no longer coming.
Those were the golden days and Akashi Seiju wanted them back. She wanted her new team to become what her old team once was. Something (or more accurately; someone) inside her always told her that this was impossible. No matter how hard she tried, the Rakuzan bunch would never become the Generation of Miracles.
None of these boys would give her nails a makeover (okay, Mibuchi might just do that if she asked), none of them would tell her to always follow horoscopes, none of them would ever ask her to play a one-on-one at 2 am, none of them would come to her with tears in their eyes to confess that they’d been in love with one of their teammates and didn’t know how to say this and that they needed Akashi’s advice, none of them would ever dare to randomly pick her off the ground and imitate the lion-king.
Akashi knew that she was mostly to blame; it was her poor behavior and mental state that had lead to this downfall of miracles and to them eventually splitting ways without remaining in contact at all.
She missed those golden days and she was going to get them back. She’d work hard to turn her new team into the ex-friends that were now nothing but her foes. She’d do it and the miracles would bow down before her once more after she’d beaten them all with her new team.
She would prove to everyone in Japan that she, Akashi Seiju, first and only heir to the wealthy Akashi-family, was the absolute.