Disclaimer: The Kuroko no Basket manga is the property of its creator, Tadatoshi Fujimaki. The other Kuroko no Basket media is property of their authorised owners. These stories are created by the author. All original settings, characters, etc., remain the property of the author.

Author's Note: I can't believe I'm doing this! So, here it is, for AkaKuro Week 2016. I had this idea of creating a seven-shot - multi-chaptered story with the seven prompts. I will be using them only as words inside each chapter though and won't be able to use high school and middle school prompts - except as words in the specific chapters.

Let me remind that this is a soulmate AU. And unbetaed, because of the time limit.

Enjoy!

What does it look like today?

A Kuroko no Basket fanfiction

by Galliechan

© Copyright 2016

Roads

The big day.

They did it.

Years of dedication, hard work and total belief against what everybody in the business were saying. Today was its fruit.

A stunned silence and then standing ovation in the world's largest technology expo.

Akashi got out of shower and with a mind of its own, his hand grabbed his mobile phone (prototype. Was it waterproof?) next to the sink, as if anything could have happened in the ten minutes he was in the shower.

He felt like giggling. He felt like laughing like a maniac.

Something happened. More pre-orders. A few thousand more phones.

With one eye still on his phone (One new mail. More orders?), he cleaned the fog on the mirror.

His eyes crinkled, he had a stupid smile on his face.

He tried to compose himself - of course he knew they were going to do it. He trusted his team and he was always right. He raised his chin, his stance open and stable, his eyes bright and focused. He imagined he was doing an interview for the success of his new mobile phone.

His voice was confident when he said, "Of course I knew it was going to be a success. For years, me and my team researched what people wanted - "

"Stop bullshitting," he imagined his soulmate saying in his head. Akashi crumbled to the bathroom floor in a fit of giggles.

They did it. They really did. (His phone tinged. New mail. More orders.)

(Look at me. Look at me father. Mother. I did it.)

He jumped up, did a swirl and then jumped a few more times. He laughed at his silliness as he waltzed with his imaginary soulmate in the bathroom in just a towel. Before leaving for bedroom, he glanced to the mirror for his customary check -

Akashi froze.

His soulmate sign wasn't moving. It had stabilised. In a weird bunch of geometric shapes.

It had stabilised. He saw his soulmate or -

His soulmate saw him.

He jumped towards his mobile. 20,4m followers on Twitter. 27,9m followers on Instagram. Three popular scopers with a total of over 100m followers scoped the whole presentation. And, of course, TV. Akashi gave ten interviews, there were twelve cameras at the presentation. The organisers gave the whole video to all local and national TV stations. And newspapers. And magazines, web pages, bloggers. His video could be circling in the evening news at this moment. Finally, the thousands of people watching him live, at the expo.

Akashi sank to his knees. His soulmate could be one of these millions of people.

"Your big day," he imagined his soulmate mourning.

If he had to ruin it, he would. If he had to turn himself into a tabloid figure, he would.

He grabbed his mobile and opened the camera app.

If he had to turn his soulmate sign into the most famous one ever, he would.

He would make sure everybody saw it, be it a follower on social media, technology blogger or evening news audience.

Akashi would make sure to do it, if it meant he would find his soulmate.

—

Kuroko melted into the couch with a groan. He loved his kids. He didn't love their parents. Especially their academic ambitions for their kids who were supposed only play at that age.

Kuroko wanted to erase parents' meeting from his mind.

Actually he wanted to erase today off his mind altogether, with his praise-thirsty co-workers, nervous kids and discussions lengthening to late evening with their success-oriented parents.

He focused on the TV at the familiar sound of his favourite show's opening theme. The only part he wanted to remember from today. This and the ice cream he went all the way to buy.

All the way to the corner shop, that was.

Who knew there was such a thing as cranberry ice cream? And Kuroko would want some the moment his co-worker mentioned it to a parent.

Eyes glued to the screen, Kuroko opened the cup and took his spoon. He glanced at his spoonful of bright red ice cream before opening his mou -

Kuroko froze.

His soulmate sign wasn't moving. It had stabilised. In a weird bunch of asymmetrical patterns.

He saw his soulmate? (Or his soulmate saw him?) Today of all days?

He went to the kindergarten using the same route he used for years. He greeted his neighbours. Made way for the high school kid always running late. He talked to the owner of the corner shop and barista of the small cafe next to it. The rest, he ignored to read his book. He greeted the same people on his way back home.

Kuroko lived in this neighbourhood for years. Kuroko also knew his co-workers for years.

Kuroko knew everybody on his road to work and everybody knew Kuroko back.

Meaning, the only people he met for the first time today: The parents.

Parents of the kids he were teaching.

His soulmate was one of them.

His spoonful of ice cream fell from his suddenly weak fingers. Frustrated tears came to his eyes.

He cracked the remote to turn the TV off, threw the red ice cream to the trash and went to his bedroom.

He really wanted to erase today off his mind altogether.

Along with the fact that his soulmate was married with kids.

Whoever that was.

Kuroko wasn't going to find it out.