Strategize: Haikyuu Fanfic

Chapter 81: Spicy

"Nice spike, Hinata!"

The familliar sound of shoes squeaking, yelling, and the slapping sound of volleyball hitting skin... It resounded through the gym - a typical day of practice. Those ordinary noises sounded like a melodic tune in the ears of Ayame Yamamoto. However, she seems to be gloomy, grim eyes glued to the empty pages of her notebook.

"I...I missed three weeks worth of data..." She murmured, "three weeks, Yachi. This is gonna mess up the steady progress I've collected so far..."

"It's okay... Don't stress out so much. It's your first time back after a while after all!" Yachi condoled, patting her back. "Oh I know how to cheer you up! We can stop by that new candy store near the square!"

Her ears perked up, but only briefly because Shimizu pointed out, "no. She can't. She has to unpack her stuff and..." The manager turned her head slightly to gesture at Tsukishima who stood in a distance, wearing a small scowl as he continued to stretch his arms.

"They need some time alone after a long separation." Shimizu reasoned.

"But... But candy store." She protested weakly.

"No buts. By the way, don't forget to dye your hair back before you go out in public. People will easily recognize you otherwise."

The girl lets out a defeated sigh. "Yes, Shimizu-senpai."

Apparently, Shimizu was the only one who can read people's thoughts clearly. You see, Tsukishima hasn't seen her for three weeks, and with his failed attempt to spend time with her during the plane ride home, he's growing impatient. Now, he has to wait five whole hours of this damn practice before he gets her all to himself. Five hours. That's a lot for our impatient Tsukishima to handle, thus explains the scowl he wore on his face.

It's not like this urge to spend time together wasn't reciprocated. Ayame wanted to spend time too, however, she's too caught up with many other responsibilities to pay attention to her own emotions. Typical. She needs to get her data updated, unpack her belongings, fix the furnitures where they belong, and summer assignments... An endless list. To be frank, she just wanted to give even the tiniest chaste peck on his cheek before practice, but God forbid public displays of affection on Tsukishima Kei. Oh, and she can't do so even if she tried due to the overwhelming height difference between the two.

Little did she know that was one of the only rare times Tsukishima won't push her off if she did kiss him. At that point of impatience, he wont mind at all.

Ayame rested her chin against the palm of her hand, eyeing each player carefully as they practiced. There were definitely improvements that she missed. Cleaner tosses, stronger spikes, higher jumping, sharper eyes-

"Did you see that?! We were going bam! Gwah! Pyah!" Hinata yelled as the duo snapped her off her trance. She strained her neck up, which was now sore after not doing so in three weeks. There it is... The daily report. Kageyama was certainly pleased to hear statistics and feedback of his improvement once again. However, his face remained grumpy, as always.

"How did we do?"

Without flipping through the pages of her notebook, she replied knowingly. "95 percent toss accuracy. That's a lot of improvement since last time. Good job, you two."

The duo pulled on those toothy, celebratory gins that made them look ten times more dorky than they are already. It was then the girl recalled something, digging in her backpack to fish out a tupperware and plopped in on the setter's hands. "Kageyama. I still owed you that pork curry, so here."

Tobio's grin only grew wider, looking quite malicious that sent down shivers down her spine. He couldn't care less whether its his mom's or Ayame's pork curry. Pork curry is still pork curry.

"'Ah! Ayame! By the way, why do you call him Kageyama instead of King?" Hinata realized, pointing at Kageyama who wore a scowl once more. He was actually quite relieved that even after the established relationship between her a Tsukishima, she did not add onto the insults he already makes. "Tsukishima does it. Why won't you?"

"Hm... I mean I can..." She considered teasingly with a smirk, Kageyama's scowling only grew stronger. "But. I find the nickname bland. I have other ways of getting to it." She said, tapping on the lid of the tupperware on Kageyama's hands. "Remember how you like it with egg on top? I put it in the bottom."

Who the hell puts egg on the bottom?! Once you eat all of the pork curry, you'll be left with the egg. It's supposed to be eaten together! Certainly, she did this to piss of Kageyama. And it oh how it worked.

Kageyama lifted the lid off the tupperware to see just how buried the egg was under the all the rice and curry. However, much to his surprise, the scrambled egg was placed on the top.

"Just kidding. See? Much better than calling him king."

The setter grumbled in response.

The three continued to chat merrily, while another boy eyed them from a distance. One thing is Tsukishima having to wait five hours to have her, but another is to see her smile widely - as if to mock him. Sometimes, he can't believe that she talks to the King more than to her own boyfriend. His tastebuds grew bitter as he made his way out of the gym to cool down, passing by the lot of first years as he did so.

"Kei, do you need to buy a drink? I can get it for you, you know." Ayame offered, stopping the conversation between the duo and her. Tsukishima scoffed with an irritated smile.

"Ha? Aren't you too busy entertaining the King? I'll do it myself." He said bitterly before heading out the door.

"What's up with him?" Kageyama asked in a genuinely confused tone. It was not his intention to provoke Tsukishima in any way. As much as he loathed him, he wouldn't possibly show any interest in the girl. Heck, if you say 'love' in his presence, the only thing that will pop in his mind are volleyball and pork curry.

His question only received a clueless shrug from Ayame.

"Do you...Do you even know what you two did?" Sugawara asked uneasily with a smile. The two only shook their head blankly, getting a shocked look from the rest of the members, all with the same thought:

She's just as hopeless as Kageyama...!

"Aren't you going to go after him?" Sugawara asked in concern. Seeing Ayame still remain composed only made him worry about the shape of their relationship.

"Hm? No. Kei's not the type that gets comforted by talking to people. He tends to say rash things while he's mad." Sugawara nodded to this (speaking from past experience during her absence.) "He told me to stay away while he cools off whenever he gets like this."

"Just...Just remember that communication is key. Voice out your feelings." Shimizu muttered under her breath the next phrase, "even though your boyfriend should follow this also."

...

Blessedly, practice finally ended, and the three first years walked home in silence. The sun hid behind the horizon, barely peeking out as the stars slowly emerged from the skies. This sight - these are the stars that Ayame longed for. Glowing brightly against the gradient of orange to dark blue. Oh how she missed that sight.

A pair of feet halted from making any more noise, making the couple turn their heads to Yamaguchi, who pointed at the forked street with his thumb. "I'm going to Shimada's for the serve. See you both tomorrow!"

Tsukishima nodded curtly, while the girl waved back. "Bye."

Once Yamaguchi was out of sight, Ayame held out her hand with that endearing smile of hers. Tsukishima looked around before grabbing ahold of her hand with a gentle grasp. A relaxed sigh escaped her lips before she broke the silence.

"...Kei, did you know that we're spicy?"

"What?" Tsukishima scoffed, giving her hand a squeeze. That was completely out of the blue. Spicy...?

"One of the maids told me that we're spicy." She repeated. "Speaking of spicy, can you stay for dinner? I made too much spicy udon."

"Hm... Your cooking is not the best though." He said teasingly, earning a frown from Ayame.

"Oh shut up and just eat the noodles."

This boy knows just how to push her buttons. "Forcing your boyfriend to eat your mediocre cooking? How charming."