Setting for Love | Kozume Kenma

Level 6: Game Bugs

Sometimes, a game has bugs that can make it unplayable.

It may take a while, but the bugs will usually be fixed in an update to the game.

~~~

Kenma trudged back to the gym, a heavy feeling in his heart from hearing the comments of Chiyuri's team. By the time Kenma had turned around and turned the corner, Chiyuri was gone. He could only assume that she had gone back to the main gym. When he slid the door open, he was a bit shocked to find out that she hadn't come back yet.

"Kenma?" Kuroo voiced, pausing mid step as he pushed the mop around. "I thought you were going with Tsukishima-San?"

"I was. I thought she already came back..." Kenma frowned. He went to go back out to find her, but she walked in right at that moment. Her gaze was locked on the ground as she walked, only glancing up when she felt Kenma and Kuroo's eyes on her. Her eyes were still a bit blank, but she offered them a wave.

"Kuroo-Senpai, my coach gave me permission, so if you'd take me, I can go on the trip to Miyagi."

"We'd be glad to have you," Kuroo grinned. She nodded, lowering her head again as she moved to go help clean up the gym. Kuroo raised an eyebrow, looking back to Kenma.

"Chiyuri heard some things..." Kenma said before Kuroo could ask. Kuroo turned his head to watch the girl slip between the team members scattered about and pick up a mop. "Ne, Kuroo. If she quits the girls' team, can she become our manager?"

Kuroo snapped his head back to Kenma in shock.

"Even you too? Yamamoto is already annoying with his constant complaints about us not having a manager. Plus, why would she quit the team just to become our manager? She's a wing spiker. I think she'd miss being on the court."

"Let's just say hypothetically, Kuroo." Kenma sighed.

"Well, of course she's welcome to join us. Who better than a volleyball player herself to become our manager?" Kenma nodded, but didn't say anything else. Kuroo stared in confusion. "What's this about, Kenma?"

Kenma didn't reply, slipping away from Kuroo to grab the cart of balls and push it to storage. Kuroo clicked his tongue, but went back to mopping the gym floor. When Kenma didn't want to say anything, he wouldn't.

~~~

Kenma glanced over at Chiyuri out of the corner of his eye as he walked with her. She had been dragging her feet and staring at the ground the whole way home. Not once had she pulled out her phone and asked him for the best way to clear a level. Instead, she had been absentmindedly twirling a strand of her long black hair between her fingers.

"Yuri..." Kenma gently stuffed his PSP into his pocket as they reached her gate. Chiyuri just kept walking until she noticed that Kenma had stopped. She glanced up at him, giving him a small, fake smile as she backtracked to where Kenma was waiting.

"Sorry. I was just thinking too hard about something..." Chiyuri took a deep breath, lifting her head up as she exhaled. "I was playing that FPS game you introduced to me and you won't believe the nerve of some of these people! Just because I'm a girl, they were trying to give me tips on how to play and someone even told me to hang back. I shut them all up with an ace and -"

"Yuri, you don't have to act like everything's okay right now, you know?"

Kenma saw that her hands were balled tightly into fists, her perfectly maintained nails digging into her palm. He gently reached over, prying her hand open sadly. He couldn't begin to understand how she felt hearing those words from her own teammates. He had a rough time the first year, but it never ended in him hearing his own teammates talk trash like hers did. Chiyuri allowed her hand to limply sit on Kenma's palm as she gave him another smile.