For someone who is bubbly and reckless person like Keiko, it could be a pain to take care of her if you weren't her own family. That was the same case for Hikaru.
"Hika-chan~!" Keiko whined, Hikaru stood her point and refused everything Keiko had said to her face. "But Hika-chan~!" Keiko kept on whining like a child. Hikaru, still, shaking her head and refusing.
Keiko had done something very bad and she needed to be punish. "It was just an accident, Hika-chan!" Keiko pouted. "You almost hit a teacher while cleaning your classroom, Kurihashi!" Hikaru said sternly and looked away. "Did Lev-chan told you about it?!" Keiko gave a stink eye at her. Hikaru sighed and glared. "I saw it with my own two eyes!"
"No melon bread means no melon bread, Kurihashi Keiko!" Hikaru opened the bag, giving Keiko the urge to snatch it. She slowly took it out, Keiko kept on drooling over it. "And also, this is my melon bread." Hikaru smiled and took a bite out of it.
"You're so cruel, Hika-chan!"
"For the love of God, stop!" Hikaru kept on saying that sentence for a hundred times already. Why? Because Keiko kept on drooling real drool out of her mouth as she watched in agony as Hikaru ate the bread.
"Stupid Hika-chan! Stupid teachers!" Keiko grunted as she put the straw inside of her milk box.
"Kurihashi-chan!" She heard that voice before, the same voice that always annoys her. "Damn it." She cursed under her breath and tried to run away but he was already in front of her.
"What do you want?" She tapped her foot on the ground. Like usual, Inuoka would say things about her blocks and how cool they were. To be honest, Keiko was actually enjoying the compliments before but after some time, it started to get obnoxious and simply, unnecessary.
Kring!!
"That's bell!" Inuoka said cheerfully.
'Of course, it is, you nincompoop.' Keiko scowled.
"See you later!" Inuoka waved at her and walked to his classroom.
Keiko watched him as he went inside the building. 'He's weird as hell.'
"Kurihashi-san, you're late for class." The teacher scolded her, again.
Keiko pouted and rested her head on her hand. She watched as the teacher explained the topic and she wasn't too into it.
"Hey, Kurihashi-chan." Someone whispered, she looked beside her and it was Lev!
"What is it?" She whispered back.
"Do you understand what is Matsuoka-sensei is saying?" He asked.
Keiko looked at the blackboard and looked back at Lev. "Nope. But I think we don't need to understand it because..."
The look on Lev's face indicated her, she was in trouble. Keiko looked behind her and found the teacher, looking at her with disappointment.
"You what?!" Akahana screamed. Keiko huffed and buried her head in her arms. "I knew she was going to get in trouble again." Hikaru sighed and shook her head.
"Kurihashi!!" Keiko snapped out of her mind and looked at Akahana, she was in pure horror. "If you keep getting in trouble with the teachers, you'll get suspended from school," Akahana gritted her teeth. Keiko rolled her eyes and pouted again. "Even worse...volleyball practice." With that, Keiko's eyes widened and swore to not get in trouble ever again.
"Also..." Hikaru trailed off and turned to Akahana. "Have you been studying for that upcoming test?"
~~~~~~
"No!! I don't want to!!" Everyone could hear the screams from the trio.
Inuoka was walking peacefully and can't wait to see Shibayama again, his closest friend from the club.
"Move outta the way!"
Someone screamed that made him flinch. After he shook it off and continued walking, he saw a familiar chestnut hair.
Before he knew it, the person crashed into him. "I said get outta the way." It was Keiko.
"Kurihashi! Waaaiiittt!!" Akahana panted and tried her best to chase her down. Hikaru soon followed and couldn't run anymore. "My legs feel like beanpoles!" Hikaru whined.
"What are you two doing?" Inuoka walked up to them. Akahana explained that they tried to make Keiko study but she ran away the second Hikaru pulled out her notes. He laughed at the story, he knew from Lev that Keiko sometimes got bad grades but he didn't expected this.
"What's the point of chasing her down?" Hikaru tilted her head to Akahana's shoulder.
"I could talk to her!" Inuoka beamed with a huge smile on his smile.
The girls were trying to talk him out of it and he shouldn't involve himself with Keiko, especially with their current relationship together. Inuoka didn't mind talking to her since he thought she was amazing at blocking and serving, even got into the team and the only first year.
"It's okay!" He giggled.
"Suits yourself then, let's go." Hikaru pulled Akahana by the sleeve of her blazer. "Let's go get juice."
After some searching, it was only a few minutes before class started again and Inuoka haven't found Keiko anywhere. He got an idea.
"Free melon bread!" Inuoka shook the packet of melon bread.
The sounds of running shoes was coming closer to him, he knew who this was.
"C'mere, sweet mama!!" Keiko jumped and snatched the bread out of his hands.
Keiko was celebrating with the bread in her hands as she sang a little song of her own. "Finally!!" She opened the bread and bit the melon bread, it was a very big bite.
"Do you like it?" Inuoka asked her. Keiko flinched and slowly turned to see him face-to-face. A frown replaced her smile and her eyes were half lidded as she scowl. "Oh...yeah, I like it. Thanks a lot." Keiko walked away.
~~~~~~
Class ended and Keiko ran out of class to go in the gym. The only thing she was excited about school was volleyball practice, she loved it more than anyone in the team and would come in early in the morning just to convince Makoto to toss for her and Aiko to block with her.
With large steps out of the club room, Keiko sang her little song again and hummed the tune. Fumi passed by her and giggled at her childish behavior. Keiko and Fumi always had this weird thing, they seemed to know each other much more than anyone, they were like family.
Finishing the song with a hop and a spin, she crashed into someone. "Oh, hi, Kurihashi-chan!" It was Inuoka again. Keiko clicked her tongue and crossed her arms. "What is it again?" She sarcastically asked.
He told her it was nothing and he just wanted to greet her.
'That guy's weird.' She thought and hopped inside the gym. "Hiya!" She greeted her teammates with a huge smile and her team greeted her with a 'welcome back'.
"You bring your umbrella today?" Naomi asked Hoshiko and sneezed accidentally, "I'll catch a cold if I didn't." She nodded and reassured her she didn't need to worry. When Keiko heard this, she accidentally dropped the ball and it hit her foot. Emika checked up on her if she was alright and it was just a bruise that would go away in days. But the thing that she was shocked was, she forgot her umbrella.
"Himura-san, did you know it's going to have a nasty storm soon?" Akahana stated. Himura shrugged and continued cleaning the gym with others.
While putting back the broom, she found that Inuoka was there too. Now, Himura and Inuoka had a sisterly brotherly friendship, sometimes Inuoka ask her something and she replied with a small to the point explanation. He was like the little brother she never got.
"Himura-san!" He beamed, Himura smiled and waved at him.
They had a small chat until Himura brought up a topic, "Why did you take my melon bread?" Inuoka only giggled and found the answer he was trying to say was pretty funny. "I used it to bait Kurihashi-chan!" It made Himura chuckled with a little snort, it made the conversation even more funny.
Walking out of the room, "Don't forget your umbrella." Himura gave a sweet small smile at Inuoka and he waved goodbye as they went their separate ways.
Finished changing into his uniform, Inuoka forgot something in his classroom and went to get it. "Where are you going?" Lev asked him. "I forgot my pencil!" Inuoka said loudly. The others were confused, even Lev.
"It's just a pencil." Taketora noted.
"Don't question him." Kenma uttered and walked outside afterwards.
Finally he got his pencil and put it back in his bag. When looked outside through the window, it was already raining. The news earlier that morning was right, but they also said it was only for a short period times. He got his umbrella and walked outside his classroom to hear the raging thunder from the clouds, and crying?
It was coming from class 3, Lev's class and Keiko's too. He looked inside to see a girl under a table, sobbing and covering her ears. Inuoka went closer to find out that the girl was Keiko!
Tears were flowing down her face and she looked in pain. 'Is she afraid of thunder?' Inuoka slowly crouch down and looked at her crying.
Keiko let go off of her ears and looked at Inuoka just to squeak and hits her head on the desk. She peeked outside of the desk, "W-what're you..." Keiko tried to finish her words but the thunder came back and she went back under the table.
Inuoka realized that Keiko, a girl who he thought as amazing with volleyball like Lev, had a fear of thunder. "Kurihashi-chan?" He spoke up. Keiko turned to him slightly, still sobbing and saw Inuoka was smiling the same smile she had seen many times before. "I'm going to stay here until the storm is gone!" He declared and sat next to her hunched figure.
"Just go...you don't need to..." Keiko in muffled voice said and buried her face in her arms. "Nope! I'll stay!" He insisted and she couldn't get him out.
Another thunder roared and Keiko was trying to shut the noise out of her head, she looked like in pain. "Kurihashi-chan? Are you okay?" Inuoka asked worryingly. Keiko couldn't hear him because she was too occupied with her own problem.
He got an idea.
"Hey, my mom made me roasted chestnuts!" He opened his lunchbox in front of Keiko. "I haven't finished them yet, I think you'll like it!" He grinned and took one chestnut.
Keiko watched as he chewed on the nut and she calmed down a little. "Want one?" He asked her. She was hesitant and tried to get one but a lightning struck, Keiko immediately duck and sobbed again.
She really doesn't like storms since she was a child, her cousin always tried to comfort her by making funny faces and singing a little song, the same song she sang multiple times whenever she was happy.
After her cousin moved to Miyagi, she always sing that song if there was a storm coming, but now...
The storm was louder for her to hear her own voice.
"Here!" Inuoka grabbed her wrist and put the roasted chestnut in her palm. Keiko stopped crying and ate the nut slowly. "Is it delicious?" Keiko nodded and asked if he got more.
After some time, Keiko calmed down and ate the last chestnut. "Are you fine now?" Inuoka asked her. Keiko nodded and wiped her nose with her sleeve. "My cousin used to sing me a song whenever this happens...I couldn't do it." Keiko said between the chews.
"Inuoka-kun..." He perked up and turned to Keiko. "Why are complimenting my blocks even though you get to block too?" She asked him.
"It's because I switched places with Lev." Inuoka smiled.
Keiko sniffed her nose, "But you're still a middle blocker, right? Like me and Lev-chan." Unfortunately, Inuoka shook his head.
Everything she knew crumbled down, Keiko felt so stupid for pushing him away even though he was just trying to be nice to her and befriending her.
"Oh...what position are you now?" Keiko continued to ask.
"I'm a wing spiker now." Inuoka said and looked at the window, the storm was getting lighter with no thunders and lightnings.
"Alright...don't you feel sad about it?" Keiko turned to him and looked into his brown eyes. "No. Nekomata-san also told me, Kai-san and Himura-san will teach me how to be a proper wing spiker!" He chuckled.
Keiko called him again and apologized for her behavior towards him all these times. Inuoka was confused, she shouldn't apologize, she doesn't know.
"No, it's not. I was bad." Keiko pouted and came out of the desk. "So I'm starting over!" She declared loudly.
"Can we be friends then?" Inuoka asked.
A small smile formed on her face as her heart skipped a beat. "Of course, So-chan!"
Inuoka was surprised by the nickname that Keiko usually give to people she liked or close to, it was confirmation that, they were friends.
I'm making these chapters too long lmao
Keiko-chan's cousin is a canon character and she's in the team with bumbling players.