𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 | 𝒂𝒕𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒖 & 𝒌𝒆𝒊𝒋𝒊

𝒊 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆

Back in High School

"Ai-chan! Let's go into the cafeteria to buy some lunch!" her friends sang and tried to pull her along.

"I-I'm fine; I'm not that hungry, guys!" Hikari held up her hands in defense and shook her head.

"Huh??"

"You're not hungry?"

"That's why you're so skinny!" They exclaimed as Hikari sweat dropped.

"I ate a big breakfast this morning! I'll just wait in here until you all come back," Hikari explained and smiled at her friends.

"Fine, we'll be quick, Ai-chan," they sang and waved as Hikari waved back.

Once they disappeared from the classroom, Hikari sighed and rested her head on the desk while her hands touched her stomach.

'I'm so hungry,' she thought and sadly looked out the window. At the time, her family couldn't afford every day meals for Hikari; so she had to suffer being hungry for the entire school day until dinner came around.

Suddenly, the classroom door slid open, shocking Hikari. Immediately, she lifted up her head to look and her eyes met turquoise ones. Awkwardly, the two first years averted eye contact. The classroom was silent with the two only present. The boy walked in and headed towards his desk to grab his phone he had forgotten in his backpack. When he was about to leave, he looked back to observe Hikari who was staring out the window.

"Are you not going to eat lunch?" he suddenly asked.

Hikari whipped her head towards his direction and smiled.

"I already ate, Akaashi-san. No worries," she lied.

He nodded his head and was about to leave when he heard her stomach growl. Hikari instantly blushed scarlet. Embarrassed, she looked down at her lap and played with strands of her hair.

Silently, Akaashi left the classroom to leave Hikari alone. She let out a loud sigh in defeat and cupped her cheeks.

"I can't believe you betrayed me, tummy! That was so embarrassing!!" she cried and pouted to herself while angrily kicking her legs back and forth.

As she was scolding herself, the door opened again revealing Akaashi.

"H-huh? Did you forget something, Akaashi-san?" she asked.

In his hands, he was carrying his bento box and headed towards her desk. With no words, he nicely placed the bento in front of Hikari with his chopstick box.

"I wasn't able to finish it; so you can have the leftovers," he emotionlessly said and was about to turn to leave when Hikari grabbed onto his sleeve.

"T-thank you, Akaashi-san!" she exclaimed as her eyes slightly water.

Akaashi observed her features before giving Hikari a small nod and smile that could light up a whole city. Releasing her hold on his blazer, he walked out of the classroom leaving a star stucked Hikari.

Gradually, her feelings for Akaashi grew as they became good acquaintances. Yuki, who was attending Nekoma High at the time, had encouraged her best friend at Fukurodani Academy to get closer with the pretty setter. Slowly, VERY slowly, Hikari started getting closer to Akaashi but it was never enough. He clearly wasn't interested and she was too shy. On their graduation day, Hikari had planned to confess her affection for Akaashi but had miserably failed. When she was approaching Akaashi to confess and congratulate him for their graduation, he gave her one of his rare smiles that never failed to make her heart flutter.

"Ai-san, Bokuto-san and the others who graduated came today to celebrate with us," he happily explained. "Thank you for being our manager for all three years of high school. It was reassuring to have a manager like you to take care of us."

The opportunity was perfect for a confession.

"A-Akaashi-kun!" she called. "F-for all three years of knowing you, I have always been grateful to know you and have you besides me. You've helped me so much. I-I li-like--"

"Agaashiiiiiii, Hikariiiiii-channnnnnnn!" a loud voice interrupted Hikari's soft one.

"Bokuto-san!" Akaashi happily said and turned his attention towards his best friend.

"Congratulations to you two!!" Bokuto exclaimed and wrapped his beefy arms around the two graduates. "Now, let's go celebrate with barbeque! It's on Konoha!"

"Y-YAH!!! I never said that!!" Konoha yelled.

Nervously, Hikari looked down and messed with her favorite strand of hair to play with. Akaashi noticed this and thought Bokuto was making her feel uncomfortable.

"Bokuto-san, you're making Ai-san feel uncomfortable," he scolded.

"Oh! Gomen, Hikari-chan!" Bokuto giggled and released Hikari from his tight hug. "Now, let's go eat!!"

Of course, Akaashi had totally forgotten that Hikari was trying to confess earlier and she couldn't build the courage to bring it up again. When she observed him, her heart didn't want to ruin his mood in any way. He hardly looked that happy and all Hikari had wanted was for Akaashi to always be that happy.

'We'll be attending the same college; so I guess the confession can wait,' she thought as she gladly admired her lover's smile that evening.

Five years eventually passed and Hikari hardly kept in contact with Akaashi. Even though they attended the same university and lived in the same city, Akaashi became too busy with other things such as school or hanging out with Bokuto and the boys here and there. On the other hand, Hikari would often spend time with Yuki and the Nekoma graduates. Even though she had attended Fukurodani Academy, she was much closer to Nekoma's team since she had attended middle school with Kuroo and Kenma. Eventually, Hikari had believed that her feelings for Akaashi had gone away but she was terribly wrong. When the boys suddenly called for a hang out between the graduates who attended that one year of intense training camp, Hikari and Yuki came along and she was once again faced with Akaashi. All of the feelings she once had came back and she was still able to see his little habits he had.

A year later, their parents were hanging out with each other and complaining about their children who were going to be lonely forever. With Akaashi having his head stuck in books all day and Hikari being a total klutz who couldn't ever talk to a man without stuttering, the parents decided it was a good idea to have an arranged marriage for the two. Hence, the two good children got married at 23 years old and shocked all of their friends.

"I can't believe you got married before Yuki and I did!" Kuroo would say and sniff as Hikari would embarrassedly slap his arm.

"I can't believe it either," she would sadly say.

However, she eventually learned to accept the fact that she was never able to properly confess her love for him and--instead--jump right into marriage. The reason was because she could now appreciate and admire him even more than before. He was still the same exact person as when they had first met and she loved that about him: Akaashi always being true to himself.

Date: 7 October 2020