GAUCHE, kageyama

五十二

"I think I will change before we cook, Tobio-kun," Mina places the bag of snacks on the table. "Can you give me five minutes?"

When he nods, the girl smiles and walks away, only to disappear as she turns the corner. Kageyama listens for her footsteps receding in the distance and when he thinks it's far enough, he pulls a chair out and collapses on it, heaving a massive sigh before he leans on the table and massages his temples. Mina might not have felt it but there's been this stupid tension in the air he's been trying to ignore the whole time. The raven haired male curses under his breath, mumbling about how stupid he is and how he's acting the typical way his peers would around girls. He takes another deep breath before he pulls out his phone.

It was a short message composed for his mother, letting her know that he's over at Mina's for dinner. Of course, he didn't add in the detail that it's only them alone in the home without the girl's host family, otherwise he wouldn't hear the end of it. Once he sends it, he puts the device down and takes another deep breath. Kageyama forces himself to think about his games, what he has learned in the training camp, the skillsets of the other players, how he could better himself... and it works for however long there was left because he hears footsteps coming closer to him.

"I am so excited to cook Samgyetang for you, Tobio-kun," Kageyama turns around to see Mina in a more comfortable look. She's in a plain white shirt, plaid pyjamas and her hair messily tied up in a ponytail. It's the simplest thing but he feels like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. "I think you will like it a lot!"

He doesn't say anything in fear that something stupid might slip out of his mouth, but it doesn't seem like Mina's taken any notice just yet. She busily scours the kitchen for the ingredients and materials, busily explaining concepts to him but it was just going from one ear and out the other at this point.

"Have you cooked before?" She pulls out a pot from a cabinet, sending fleeting glances at the raven haired male.

"Not that I remember..." He grimaced a little when he said that, now standing up to approach her. The embarrassment of not knowing what goes on in the kitchen might have rationalized his thoughts enough to remove what was in his mind before. "I don't really know what to do but if you want, I can, uh, help."

"Oh, good! Tobio-kun will be my helper for dinner," Mina's eyes gleam in anticipation. "So first, you will clean the chicken, okay? I will tell you what to do with it."

And so she does. The brunette tells him what to do but of course, Kageyama's a little confused with the instructions and she demonstrates for him instead before allowing him to finish it up. For the most part, it was Mina who handled the knife and he did the dirty labour, stuffing the chicken with rice, ginseng, jujube and cloves of garlic. It was a little messy and for some reason the chicken looks like it got mangled along the way, but he's received a praise from Mina for his work which was enough to boost his morale.

"We let this cook for thirty minutes and then check," After she places the chicken in the pot with cold water and places a lid on it, Mina wipes her hands and turns to Kageyama with a smile. "Thank you for helping, Tobio-kun. You did so good!"

The compliment makes his cheeks warm up a little. "I was just following what you're saying, it's nothing."

"But still, listening properly is important," A soft chuckle escapes her lips. "Would you like something to drink?"

He tells her that he'll get the same thing as her and so she serves him a cup of warm milk, setting it down on the table before she sits down and he follows suit.

"I am a little sad that we are eating Samgyetang so late," The girl hums, hands wrapped around the cup. "Usually, we eat this during summer because we say 이열치열, which means you fight fire with fire. A little sad that you don't get the right experience, Tobio-kun."