I Can't Say "I Love You" | Kuroo Tetsurō

Chapter 17: Blockers

"You seem to be really improving, Lev. I'm impressed." Mirai complimented as she handed the silver haired player a water bottle.

They were currently in the Saitama Prefecture where Shinzen high school was located. According to Kenma and the others, they had always held their training camps here for some reason. The only complaint the pudding head could think of was the amount of insects in the area.

There were several gyms surrounded by grassy terrain and the dormitories where the teams would be residing for the rest of summer. It had a very quiet atmosphere about it, unlike the loud city of Tokyo.

Mirai felt as if she was back home during her middle school years. This particular area in Saitama was much like the countryside of Miyagi and she missed the smell of the fresh air.

"Alright, let's go!"

The Nekoma manager turned her head curiously to the sound of running footsteps.

Karasuno was running up the side of a small hill as a penalty for losing their match. Her eyes unconsciously started trailing after Tsukishima, who was lagging behind the others and looking very annoyed with the heat.

"Ki~tten," a deep voice blew at her ear and she jumped at the feeling of hot air against her skin.

"K-Kuroo-senpai, please refrain yourself from doing that!" She scolded the Nekoma captain as he laughed.

"You should have seen your reaction, kitten. It was too cute!" He snickered.

Mirai's cheeks turned pink from embarrassment. It wasn't very fair that Kuroo could tease her so easily like that. She would try to get back at him for it but the thought of doing something so daring could only result in the scheming captain's favor.

Karasuno returned from their running penalty and started filing in the gym with tired expressions; the short one with orange hair looked like he still had some energy left to go for a couple more laps though. Another short player with coffee brown eyes and dark spiky hair started screaming to pump himself up.

It would make sense if Mirai started looking at them since they were the ones who were making a lot of noise - minus their captain who was yelling at them to shut up and their setter who was yelling at the tangerine to stop being a dumbass.

Mirai should have been looking at them, but she wasn't. She was looking at Tsukishima Kei, and Kuroo didn't like the way she was staring at him so longingly.

Gripping her chin and turning her face away from her current distraction, he placed on a disapproving frown as she gazed at him inquisitively. Mirai was startled when he suddenly pulled her attention away from Tsukishima and back towards him.

"Kuroo-senpai..?" She questioned, hoping that she didn't do anything wrong.

She knew Kuroo usually paid no mind about her dislike of invading her personal bubble, but this was definitely a first. Kuroo glanced at Tsukishima from the corner of his eye and she could almost hear the gears in his head turning.

"Kuroo, we need to start on the next match. What the hell are you doing staring at Karasuno's middle blocker like some old creep?" Yaku stated rather bluntly and raised a brow at the now irritated captain.

"Now, now. There's no need to be so short-tempered, Yakkun." He shot back, letting go of Mirai's face and jogging back to the group.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Yaku angrily yelled and ran after Kuroo to jumpkick him.

Mirai watched her captain, wondering what sort of plan the schemer had in store. It was no secret that he was planning something, for he almost always was. The real mystery is what the plan itself was about.

She took a step forward - glancing over her shoulder to peek at Tsukishima one last time - before heading over to help the Nekoma coaches. Whatever happened in their past was going to stay there. Things were much simpler that way.

Unbeknownst to her, Tsukishima was watching her whenever she wasn't looking at him. Yamaguchi was the first who took notice of his friend's frequent glances at the Nekoma manager. He cocked his head slightly to one side, eyebrows furrowing as he frowned at the blond.

"Tsukki, is something wrong?" He asked quietly.

Tsukishima flinched and whirled his head around to find Yamaguchi staring at him. His usual frown and bored expression instantly masked whatever emotion he was previously displaying.

"Nothing," he replied apathetically.

"...Okay, Tsukki." The freckled boy nodded, though unconvinced.

Throughout the entire day, Karasuno kept losing match after match with one or two points away from actually winning. The other teams were continuously amazed with their playing style. Mirai even heard from the other managers that their captains found the newcomers difficult to play against.

Everything was going smoothly for a while. Mirai left with Kiyoko and Yachi to help prepare dinner while everyone was still practicing. She knew Kuroo went somewhere with Bokuto a little while ago so she didn't feel the need to worry about him causing mischief.

That was definitely not the case.

As Tsukishima finished and left the gym to go take a shower, he was caught by the two idiot captains along the way.

"Oh, hey, you. Karasuno! Uhh, you with the glasses!"

The blond stopped walking after realizing that he was being called by someone. He looked towards the entrance of one of the gyms and found Kuroo waving him over.

"Would you jump some blocks for us?" The Nekoma middle blocker asked.

Tsukishima looked between him and Fukurodani's ace, before bowing his head and smiling. "Ah, I'm actually done for today. If you'll excuse me." He said.

"What!?" The two captains jumped, not expecting the first year to decline them so easily.

"Come on! I can't practice my spikes without a blocker!" Bokuto complained.

"And I'm too busy whipping this guy into shape," Kuroo pointed towards an exhausted Lev on the floor.

The half-Russian giant looked up to his captain and complained about wanting to jump for blocks instead of practicing his receives. Kuroo simply told him to shut up and reminded him that as a Nekoma player he needed to be able to constantly receive the ball. He turned back to Tsukishima and gestured towards Bokuto.

"This guy may not look like it but he's actually one of the top 4 players in the country," he mentioned.

Bokuto glanced at Kuroo, then looked back to Tsukishima with a proud smile at the honest praise. Akaashi stood next to the two captains with a hand on his hip.

"So he somehow didn't make it to the top three, huh?" The setter bluntly commented, making Bokuto frown at the remark.

"Don't mind," Kuroo lightly patted the ace on the back.

Bokuto shoved the middle blocker's arm away and pouted angrily. "PLEASE DON'T BRING MY SPIRITS UP JUST TO SHATTER THEM!" He scolded his friends.

Tsukishima sighed, he really didn't want to do any more practicing than he had to endure. He thought of some sort of excuse so the upperclassmen would leave him alone, but Kuroo's next words changed his mind.

"Besides, if you're a middle blocker, then you should try practicing your blocks more." The Nekoma captain goaded with a wide smirk.

That was all it took for the stubborn first year to walk through the gym doors. Bokuto gave Kuroo a thumbs up for his impressive provocation skills. However, it wasn't until later on that Kuroo realized that he had gone too far with it.

Apparently Tsukishima seemed to have a sensitive subject when it came to volleyball and that was his feeling of inferiority towards the tiny middle blocker from his own team. When Kuroo tried to provoke the blond into trying harder with his blocks, he ended up slightly offending him instead.

Tsukishima left after that, making the scheming captain feel bad as his Fukurodani friends bluntly guilt-tripped him for his actions.