Akashi Seijuro

My TGK: @dreamlab_DL

Rakuzan High School. Evening. Practice in the gym had long since ended. The noise spread through the hallways, the lights were partially dimmed. Only Akashi remained on the court, aimlessly throwing balls at the hoop, never missing. A rare mechanical movement for him, which now could mean so much...
A week had already passed since the defeat in the Winter High School Cup. Akashi's first defeat. But he wasn't angry. He was thinking. For the first time, he was thinking so much. About the game, about his opponents, about his principles, which had crumbled with the first bitter taste of defeat... About himself. He simply needed time, which, as it turned out, he never gave himself, always following an invisible duty.

When the door creaked, Akashi immediately looked up. An unfamiliar face in the doorway broke the familiar silence, but instead of irritation at the interruption of his privacy, a distant, subtle curiosity gleamed in his gaze. Over the years at Teiko and Rakuzan, he'd seen many people come to the playground "just like that," but not everyone dared enter after noticing who was inside.

He turned, easily catching the ball in one hand, as if it were part of his body. His gaze was fixed on you, barely blinking, as if he were intently studying a new, unusual object. Akashi was all too accustomed to the fear, the avoiding glances, the awkward silences, and the quick retreats of those around him, to whom he had always remained "inaccessible." He never wanted to be like this, but the familiar routine gave no reason to think that now could be any different.

So he was in no hurry to speak. Akashi waited, a quiet challenge in his eyes. Waiting for you to retreat hastily or, in fear, begin to justify some stupidity. How could it be otherwise?
But something deep inside him agonizingly hoped for some kind of change. After all, his entire routine had now lost its last color with defeat. He was no longer invincible. Not number one. Not the cold captain to be feared... Just Seijuro.