Chapter Text
“Tetsuya!” Kouki shrieks.
Tetsuya blinks blankly at him through his phone.
“You’re lucky you’re getting any sort of warning at all, Kouki-kun,” he says, “I wasn’t planning on telling you in advance, but Taiga-kun convinced me to.”
“I know and I’m extremely grateful to Taiga; I just don’t understand why you think I need a 30th birthday party. Like…at all.”
“It’s because you deserve one, Kouki-kun. Everyone does.”
“You didn’t plan one for any of our senpais. What about them?” Tetsuya goes quiet at that. “Or any of the other Miracles. Don’t they deserve one?”
“Just accept the birthday party,” Tetsuya says instead of giving a proper answer. “It’s too late to cancel; everyone has already made the time to come and celebrate with you tomorrow.”
Kouki groans, rubbing his forehead with his free hand. “Fine! We’ll have the party! No presents or I swear Tetsuya—”
“—oh, sorry, Kouki-kun. Taiga-kun and Hotaru-kun are calling me about your birthday cake—”
“—Akashi-san has asked me to come to the office for a little bit tomorrow so I might be a little late—”
“—we’ll see you tomorrow, Kouki-kun.” Tetsuya ends the call, and Kouki tosses his phone onto his bed beside him.
He takes a deep breath in. 30, wow. Kouki’s 30th birthday is two days from now, this Sunday. 8 November, 2026. Back in high school, Kouki never saw his life heading in the direction it has.
Kouki remembers how terrified he was when he first met both of Akashi’s main fronting personalities. And now I work directly under him as his secretary.
Staring up at his ceiling, Kouki sighs, a tiny smile on his face. Life sure is insane.
“Kouki-kun!” Wakamatsu (formerly Momoi) Satsuki greets him with a warm smile.
Kouki can’t help but smile back at her. “Did Akashi-san ask you to come in today too?” He asks her, not expecting to see anyone besides his boss today.
Satsuki, much like Kouki, works directly under Akashi, but unlike Kouki, she works as his Lead Data Analyst.
Many were unhappy when Akashi promoted her as he rose through the ranks within his father’s company. Kouki can’t say for sure what the exact reasons were; whether her gender, her young age or the fact that people didn’t believe in Akashi’s judgement, though he suspects it’s likely a combination of all three. Satsuki has more than proved her worth to Akashi Corporation, Akashi Masaomi himself praising her work in multiple meetings.
“No, he told me he would be in today so I decided to drop this off for him,” she says, holding up a tan envelope.
“I can pass that over to him, if you’d like.”
“Would you? That’s so sweet, Kouki-kun.” She hands it over to him, and her eyes brighten as she remembers something.“Tetsu-kun mentioned he told you about your party today!”
“Yeah, he was rather reluctant though…said Taiga forced him to.”
“Well, you know Tetsu-kun; he loves surprising people. He probably misses seeing you shocked by his sudden presence.”
Kouki shakes his head, feeling fond of his friend. “I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s probably upset that he can't use his misdirection on me anymore.”
“I don’t understand how you and Kagamin are able to do that…” she pauses, huffing fondly. “…but seriously, thank you so much, Kouki-kun. Kou-kun and Yuu-chan are waiting outside for me right now and I don’t want to keep them waiting too long. We’ll see you later tonight!”
“Bye, Satsuki! Tell Wakamatsu I say ‘hi.’” He waves at her, and watches her leave through the elevator.
“—and Wakamatsu-san dropped these off for you. Do you have any questions, Akashi-san?” Furihata places the documents on Akashi’s desk.
“No, I believe not—“ Akashi smiles, “—thank you so much, Furihata. Both for the updates and for bringing these.”
Ever since getting over his initial fear of Akashi, Kouki has since thought of this smile as a rather nice one. The corner of his lips turned up just slightly, the slightest hint of his pearly whites and the gentleness in his ruby coloured eyes.
Akashi’s eyes sparkle a little as his gaze lowers from Kouki’s eyes. “I must say, I really like your tie clip, Furihata.”
He looks down to see what the other man is looking at. His tie is a normal dark blue, nothing out of the ordinary. Lowering his gaze just a little bit more, it lands on said tie clip.
“It’s so cool, isn’t it? Kenshin and Masuyu gifted it to me on Railway Day.”
Kouki lifts the end of the tie up so Akashi can get a closer look at it. The clip is silver, and is modeled after the E5 and H5 series currently running on the Tōhoku Shinkansen and the Hokkaido Shinkansen. In fact, this same series is meant to be in use on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor, which will be the first high-speed rail in India after completion of the Surat to Vapi section in—
“—my, Kouki, you sure do know your trains,” Akashi’s voice says.
Kouki looks up, surprised by both the words and closeness of the voice. Looking at his eyes, he sees a familiar orange-ish tint to his left eye.
“Hello, Seiji-san,” he greets and the grin grows on his face.
Akashi’s other personality, his younger brother, as Kouki’s boss refers to him, is semi-fronting with Akashi. Though Seiji appears to be mostly in control if the use of Kouki’s given name is any indication.
After getting to know Akashi and Seiji by working under him for so long, Kouki can confidently say that he is no longer terrified of them. Seiji’s golden eye no longer haunts his occasional nightmare nor does the infamous pair of scissors he cut Taiga with.
Instead, when Seiji is forward and playful and interested, Kouki can’t help but feel his face warm. He has no idea why Seiji has changed his behaviour to Kouki so much over the last decade or so of working under him. Is it the amount of time we spend together? He knows me and doesn’t feel pressure from his father anymore to be at his absolute best?
“…did I say all that out loud?”
“Yes, but you don’t need to worry, Kouki,” he whispers, left eye flickering in between its normal red and signature gold. “Speaking of gifts, Ko-Furihata—” Akashi regains control and composes himself, “—I look forward to seeing you later tonight. I’m terribly sorry for asking you to come in when Kuroko was so generous in hosting your birthday party.”
Kouki can barely hold back a scream of embarrassment.