I Don't Think I Regret it

The Peaceful Days are Over

Things changed after that night. Ai woke up early, and though she grumbled a bit about Kuroo being so obnoxious in the mornings, she wasn't bothered. Kenma seemed content with the way things were. Kuroo and Ai had sat him down in a café and told him they were a couple.The way they explained it to him was like a parent explaining to their child that they were dating someone who wasn't their mother.

It was ridiculous.

Otherwise, things were relatively normal. Ai would make dinner and they would watch a movie on nights they had little homework. Ai would watch practices and walk to school with them. Kuroo would force her and Bokuto to  watch horror movies. Ai didn't have the heart to tell him she hated them quite yet. Akaashi was pleasant to talk to. When they would hang out, the four of them, it was like Ai and Akaashi were two parents sitting on a bench at the park watching their giant man-children play with some of the actual children, pushing them on the swings and such.

Their "double dates" normally consisted of movies or karaoke. Which was great because Ai was tone deaf and it turns out Bokuto was too. Not that she couldn't sing. She hit all of the notes, but they were flat and she put little to no effort in trying to make her voice match the song. Kuroo teased her about this relentlessly. Ai would counter with a recording she made of Kuroo's laugh.

Ai's life was fun and full of exciting normal events that youth had promised her. She forgot about how empty and confused she had felt with losing a boyfriend and breaking someone's heart. What happened with her father was all in the past and momentarily forgotten. Everything was looking up for Ai. Though Autumn was approaching, she was in spring.  She wasn't the only one who was in the springtime of their youth.

Ai was going to Kenma's classroom to get him to test the dutch apple pie she had tried making the night before. She ran into Reo, quite literally, and his girlfriend as well. She was a small first-year with short, dark brown hair and huge tawny eyes. She wore cute makeup that Ai had seen popular with Korean K-pop idols. She looked soft and fluffy and innocent. She was perfect and Ai couldn't help but swoon.

"Ah, Ashikaga-san," Ai said unsurely. His family name felt heavy and awkward on her tongue.

"Ai-sa- Ohno-san," Reo caught himself.

"Sorry for running into you." Ai smiled and then looked over at the girlfriend. She seemed both bewildered and eager. "Is this your girlfriend?' She asked pleasantly.

"Uh," Reo looked at the girl next to him and then back at Ai before apprehensively nodding his head, "yeah." She looked her up and down and nodded in satisfaction.

Ai bowed her head slightly, "please take care of Ashikaga-san, he's a very good person."

The girl, looking very confused replied with a muted "okay."

Ai went on her way to Kenma's classroom. She knew he wouldn't like a scene, so she didn't call out for him. He was eating lunch while playing his game, which wasn't very efficient of him. However, she knew if she set this delicious slice of pie in front of Kenma, he would either put down the console or save it for later. Only then would she know how good her pie was.

Kenma didn't look up when he greeted her. Though he took in a few sniffs and broke his gaze from his gaming console. Ai flashed him a toothy grin. "I made a different type of apple pie." She wafted the scent of the sweet, cinnamon scented apples towards him. Kenma licked his lips and paused his game. Ai had an evil glint in her eyes as Kenma reached out for the fork. "So it's a success?" She asked, more to herself than to him. Kenma hadn't even taken a bite but he sent her a questioning look. "Oh it's nothing," she waved her hand dismissively, "but I have a theory that my pies are the best when you're willing to put your game down." She said it confidently, as if she had Kenma all figured out.

"Oh," Kenma said quietly, "well, I suppose... that might make some sort of sense to you. "

"It makes me really happy when Kenma enjoys my pies."  She propped her head up on her hand. "You're the best critic."

Kenma ate his pie quietly replying with "thank you?"

She grinned at him in a way that probably came across as creepy, but Kenma just accepted that as part of who Ai was. She was always caring and affectionate in the strangest of  ways. If he spent all of his time worrying about trying to figure out Ai, he would never have time to focus on his games. He let out a sigh as Ai collected her container and fork. "It was good."

She beamed at him and ruffled his hair. "I'll see you after practice, Kenma." She skipped out of the room and made her way back to her own classroom, pleased with herself.

The rest of her school day went like clockwork and ended when volleyball practice was over. She walked home with Kenma and Kuroo, Kenma wasn't playing his game as usual though. He was texting "Shoyou", some interesting person that Ai hadn't met yet. If he was someone that was able to tear Kenma away from his video games, Ai had a feeling she would get along swimmingly with him.

She and Kuroo made dinner together. She made miso-marinated salmon because Kuroo always preached about all of the chemicals in it and how good they were for the brain. Most of that information went in one ear and out the other with her, but she still thought he would appreciate it if she remembered that he was fond of fish.

Her mother arrived home and wasn't the least bit shocked that Ai and Kuroo were in the kitchen. Kuroo was setting the table and Ai was cooking. "What a cute little domestic scene, never thought my Ai-chan would adapt so well to a homemaker's life style." Her mother gushed, hugging her daughter from behind and then hanging off of her. It was times like this that made Ai wonder who exactly was the parent in the relationship.

Kuroo would eat and help clean up. He knew where all of the dishes were to be put away and he knew his way around the house fairly well by then. Kuroo was becoming a common fixture in the Ohno household.

The life she was making in Tokyo was unspoiled and more than she had ever asked for. Though her mother worked a lot, Ai and her mother had never been closer. The time they spent together was mainly talking instead of the silent zombified gaze at the television for hours on end. Yes, things were looking up for Ai, and she felt like it would last forever.

Oh, how wrong she was.