Girlfriend For Hire | Haikyuu Various , Reverse Harem

54 | three more days

the boy looked back at her, an equally surprised expression on her face. "seinaru-san."

she looked at his clothes. he was in a rather casual get-up. he was wearing a gray shirt, a pair of black sweatpants, black iconic socks, and a pair black slides.

"you.." she trailed off, meeting his eyes again after blatantly checking him out. "you're not getting ready for the finals?"

the boy blinked. "oh, i am. but the game's this afternoon, as you know."

she nodded, "ah i see. taking some time off for a bit then?"

the boy hummed in agreement, his eyes flitting back to their hands that were somewhat intertwined.

seinaru followed his gaze and automatically retracted her hand upon realizing her mistake. "oh, sorry again."

"it's fine." he said, hiding the faint blush on his cheeks as he averted his eyes away from the girl. tingles from where her palm went over his hand earlier were still rocketing through his system.

"do you come here often?" she asked the boy.

he nodded. "yeah, i always read here."

he took out the book that they simultaneously reached out for earlier. he read over the vintage cover.

" 'when polaris fades' by isesaki." he looked at seinaru who was looking at the book with interest.

"were you gonna read this one?"

the girl blinked up at him and shook her head, a polite smile flitting on her lips, "you got to it first, i'll just look for something else."

his brows furrowed as he looked over the book once more. he went here to read the book again. he'd first found it when he discovered this place not too long ago. coincidentally, he read this book the morning before he met with bokuto's girlfriend, who turned out to be seinaru. that's where he got the idea of bringing the girl to watch the stars with him.

"we can read it together." he offered, surprising both himself and the girl.

seinaru thought over it for a moment before she nodded. she hooked her arm onto his and gave him a warm smile that made the temperature in the room rise. "alright then, 'kaashi."

she led him to a vacant booth at the back of the café. she sat beside him and both their orders arrived minutes later.

"any particular reason you chose this book?" akaashi asked the girl as he flipped the cover open.

the girl sipped on her coffee and leaned over to read the epigraph of the book. "it just caught my eye."

"hmm." akaashi hummed.

"you've read this before?" she asked.

"yeah."

"oh." she nodded. "can you tell me about it?"

"that would spoil the book." akaashi informed her.

she shrugged. "i always read the ending before i read the book itself."

"really?"

"yeah." seinaru shrugged. "it spares me the trouble of being pulled into plot twists."

"you don't like the unexpected?"

"no. i prefer knowing what's gonna happen before it does." her eyes glazed over when she said that, as if remembering a sour memory from their conversation.

akaashi nodded in understanding. "i see."

"well then, this book.." he trailed off his thumb lightly caressing the spine as seinaru listened intently.