NINETY-FIVE. GF-FORHIRE
━━━━┅━━━┅━━━━
THE SOFT MURMUR of the wind tickled the leaves as they were swept along its current. The sun was barely out, given that it was only about quarter to five in the morning. The backyard of the Olympic house was quite peaceful.
Amur Hanuka was fidgeting with her phone, speaking quietly through the microphone, as though a single word spoken with a normal volume would disrupt the slumber her teammates and the boys were having.
"I'm doing well here, Mom." She murmured, twirling a stray pink hair in her finger, a habit she had when she was anxious.
Her mother, Kyouka Hanuka's sigh of relief could be heard from the other end of the phone call. "That's good to hear. You haven't been updating us much so your dad and I got a bit worried."
"Don't worry about me, mom." She hummed, smiling at the thought of her father making a fuss out of her not calling them, which was probably the reason why her mom decided to ring her phone this early.
"I can't help but worry, though.." Her mother sighed. "I saw your Starstagram story— you're housed with both male and female teams?"
Hanuka tensed, wondering how on earth her mother must've seen it— and then remembering that she wasn't able to click the "Hide story from: @hanukakyouka and @hanukadenki" before posting that story of her wacky selfie with Kuroko, Kagami, and Kise last night when they got back.
"Hmm, I see." Her mom hummed. "Be careful, okay?"
There it is.
She assumed her mom was saying that because of the males being present within the same house.
She isn't out of the closet yet.
Amur Hanuka, secretary of the student council, top 1 in her class, member of the mathletes, power forward of the Niiyama basketball team, and member of the Nippon team.
Amur Hanuka, adopted daughter of Kyouka Hanuka and Denki Hanuka of the Hanuka corporation, the leading oil supplier of Miyagi.
Amur Hanuka, straight.
Amur Hanuka, supposedly straight.
Amur hanuka, in the closet— she can't come out.
She won't come out to her parents.
"I owe them at least that." She mutters to herself each time she gets the urge to confess her true identity. "I owe them my life."
"I shouldn't." She denies her own identity. "I won't."
She fights her own identity but— "I can't."
Amur Hanuka, the flirtiest one around wasn't out of the closet yet.
She was afraid of how her family, who gave her everything, would react.
She thinks they would cast her away, exile her— reject her, the same way her biological parents rejected her when they decided to leave her at the miyagi orphanage's doorstep at 2 years old.
"Love.." Her mother's voice calling her nickname brought her back to reality.
"Yes mom?" She hummed, albeit tense from her reverie.
"I have to go, we have an early start at the office." Kyouka said.
Hanuka nodded, but then she remembered her mom couldn't see her, so she let out a soft hum.
"Good luck with your games, alright? Your father and I will be cheering you on." Her mother lovingly said.
"Thanks mom." Hanuka finally smiled, glancing at the sun that was rising. "Tell dad I said hi."
"I'll let him know." Kyouka hummed. "I love you, love."
"Love you too, mom." She greeted her adopted mother.
"Oh and by the way.." Before the call ended, her mother let out a teasing hum. "Don't do anything I won't do."
Hanuka's spine went stiff as the call finally ended. She still thinks her mom said that because there were males present in the house, and that she may be interested in one of them or something.
"Was that your mom?"
Unbeknownst to her, a certain magentanette was standing behind the back porch. Kasai went back here to do her early morning pilates workout when she accidentally overheard Hanuka talking to her mom.
Hanuka jumped, calming down when she saw that it was just Kasai. "Oh.. yeah."
"Hmm." Kasai hummed as she started her pilates. "You seem tense, relax a bit, okay?"
"Hai.." The pink haired power forward nodded, bowing lightly as she walked past Kasai and inside the house again.
She went to the kitchen to make herself a sandwich, while Seinaru still wasn't awake to cook breakfast.
"Oh, hi." Someone greeted her, making her nearly jump out of her own skin again.
"Kuroko..?" She blinked, realizing who it was.
He blinked up at her and nodded in greeting, "Hanuka-san."
"Do you want a sandwich?" Hanuka asked as she took the pack of bread from the pantry.
"Yes please." The boy emotionlessly said, making Hanuka sweatdrop.
"You're up early." She noted as the boy took a seat on the breakfast nook while she made the sandwiches.
"Oh, yes.." Kuroko nodded. "It was because the doorbell was very loud."
He had a dark look on his face. "It was annoying."
"Huh?" She blinked, looking up from the sandwich.
She didn't hear the doorbell earlier. Maybe she was too invested in her conversation with her mom that sefailed to have spatial awareness.
"Did they need anything?" She asked.
"I don't know, I shut the door in his face." Kuroko deadpanned.
He got quite a scolding from Riko last night, saying that he shouldn't have opened the door for a stranger just because he was looking for Seinaru yesterday. Shivering lightly at the idea of getting into a Boston crab hold by the assistant coach again— he didn't want to make the same mistake twice.
Hanuka's eyes glinted in curiosity at the pronoun 'he'. "Do you have any idea who it was?"
"Someone who said his name was Ushijima." He had a sour look on his face as he recalled the Boston crab hold he got from Riko last night.
Hanuka gasped, dropping the knife onto the table. "That's cap's guest!"
Kuroko tilted his head to the side as he watched the girl run to the door. "... Cap..?"
Hanuka threw the door open and her eyes widened in relief when she saw the olive haired boy outside looking as stoic as ever.
"Ushijima!" She panted.
Running from the kitchen takes a toll on your stamina— you know why? It takes a whole lot of physical effort to intentionally run away from food heaven.
The boy looked down at her and nodded at the familiar girl, "Hanuka."
"I got the door slammed in my face earlier." He grunted out. "I wasn't aware your team was staying with men."
Hanuka blinked, "Oh, yeah. We got housed together, but we got separate rooms and stuff anyway."
She looked at his appearance— he was in a rather smart casual outfit. A black turtle neck, black pants with thin gray stripes, a thick belt with small chains near the sides, a pair of black dress shoes, and to top it off, a black blazer.
She lowly whistled. "What's got you coming here this early?"
"I have an important errand to run later in the day so I won't be able to see Seinaru during the game." He told her.
"I see." She hummed, then her eyes caught sight of something behind the boy.
Her jaw dropped open. "Holy crap!"
She looked at Ushijima with excited wide eyes, "I'm calling cap right now!"
The boy just nodded at her, but deep inside, he was kinda anxious and giddy at what Seinaru's reaction would be.
Would it be the same as Hanuka?
A few minutes later, footsteps were heard parading down the stairs, while Hanuka squealed so loud, she nearly woke up the whole house.
"Toshi?" A sleepy Seinaru rubbed her eyes as she glanced at the boy near eye-level.
She blinked, suddenly being shaken awake by the boy's charming appearance.
'He looks straight out of a Korean idol magazine.' She thought to herself, remembering the magazine that Jordan and the others were fawning over the other day— the purple haired girl treated the men's idol magazine as a 'boys-I'd-like-to-adopt' book and asked the others for input, go figure.
She looked at the clock inside the lounge room. "It's barely fifteen minutes past five."
"I can't watch later so I figured I'd see you this early." He said, his eyes tracing over her figure, and finding himself blushing lightly at the sight of the girl in her pj's.
Ushijima cleared his throat. "I also brought you something."
"I hope you do not find it off-putting." He moved away from the doorframe to reveal the sight his broad, muscled back had hidden from her periphery earlier.
Seinaru blinked at him, before moving her eyes to where he was motioning at.
(a/n: that, but without the men carrying it)
Her jaw dropped, letting out a soft gasp as she did so. "Wow.."
Her cheeks abruptly heated up, making her scrunch her brows a bit in confusion— was she experiencing some sort of facial skin cell malfunction? If so, she must get it checked by her dermatologist.
He offered her his left hand, like a prince would, which she gladly took. He intertwined their hands as the two of them went towards Ushijima's surprise together.
Parked a few meters away from his car was a large truck holding what looked like a bouquet of one thousand flowers. There was a metal frame supporting the sides of the bouquet that was wrapped with white and silver foil with intricate designs. At first, Ymari thought they were roses, or something that people would think of right off the bat the moment they thought of flowers.
However..
Once she got closer, she realized what flowers they were, making her eyes dilate in admiration for the little details he considered in this surprise.
"White and red carnations." Ushiwaka said from behind her.
She didn't even realize that their hands were no longer intertwined as she felt his minty breath say those words near her ear, the volume barely above a whisper.
"White for purity and luck.." He went to hug her from behind— his olive green eyes looked at her, as if asking for permission, to which she nodded lightly.
He pressed her back onto his chest lightly as he interlaced their fingers together while he hugged her from behind. He laid his chin on her left shoulder as he continued his spiel.
"Dark red for love and affection." He whispered as the two of them looked at the large bouquet of a thousand carnations.
She could feel his steady heartbeat as he leaned forward, looking at the pendant lying near the middle of her two collarbones.
'She wears it even in her sleep..' He smiled lightly at the sight, eyes glimmering with admiration as he glanced upwards to meet her eyes.
"I'm not entirely sure if you got the message the evening I gave you that necklace." He said. "So I'll say it once more.."
His left hand left her other hand alone, her suddenly missing the warmth, before he held her chin from behind, and softly guided it to glance at the moon that was slowly fading out of sight due to the sun rising.
"The proper reply you were looking for on the day we discussed chapter eight." He whispered in her ear, his words echoing in her head like a mantra.
Her eyes fluttered close as his warm breath hit her cheeks faintly as he spoke four words that sent her heart into a frenzy.
"I could die happy."
-
Ichigo, who was violently awoken by Hanuka's squealing, grouchily rubbed her eyes as the pink-haired power forward dragged her to the doorstep of the house, along with a sleepy Takemichi, a groaning Ryuguji, a preppy Jordan— who, by the way, was already showered and ready for the day, a sweaty Kasai, and Saito who was drinking coffee that Jordan made in the kitchen a few seconds ago.
"Look! Look! Look!" Hanuka squealed, now violently shaking Ichigo due to her giddiness.
Suddenly, the room was so silent, you could hear a pin drop.
Even Hanuka became as quiet as a mute mouse.
"What are we looking at?" Ryuguji groaned, now just deciding to open her eyes begrudgingly.
Her green eyes searched the vicinity, before nearly popping out of their sockets in shock.
An olive green haired boy was hugging Seinaru from behind, and it seems as if.. THE GIRL IS OKAY WITH IT—?!
"HOLY FU—" Jordan put her hand on the taller girl's mouth, her cheeks red in excitement.
Ryuguji's words were muffled by the purple haired girl's hand as she continued her obnoxious cursing.
"Oh my God!" Takemichi silently panicked as her eyes darted from the sight to an equally shocked Kasai and Saito.
"It happened! It really happened!" The blonde breathed out in panic. "She's dating Miya-san though, he'll get mad as fu—"
"Nonsense." Kasai smirked, laughing lightly. "All is fair in love and war."
Yes, the gossip of the girls about the guys who could potentially steal Seinaru's heart from Atsumu Miya eventually got to the girls who were playing during the time of their gossip session.
And let me tell you..
The tea is piping hot.
Saito sipped on her coffee as she watched her cousin who was with Seinaru in amusement, "I didn't know Itoko could be such a casanova."
"HE'S YOUR COUSIN?!" The girls, all except Kasai blinked in surprise.
"Holy crap." Hanuka breathed out a laugh as she hit the back of Ichigo's back.
"You know we were sent to Shiratorizawa during our one day break from training here in Tokyo to give Ushijima a package and Ichigo here had to pretend to be his cousin to get access inside the dorms to meet him."
Ichigo just coughed in shame.
"A package, you say?" Saito quirked an eyebrow as she chuckled. "That must be why Wakatoshi was so excited that day.."
"Hey, why are you girls so loud at five in the—" Kise halted in his steps in between the doorframe when he saw the scene by the truck with the gigantic bouquet.
He cried anime tears as Hanuka and Ichigo held him back from causing a scandal. "SEINARUCCHI?!"
Seinaru, who didn't hear his turmoil just sneezed lightly, excusing herself, while Ushijima mumbled a quick. "Bless you."
━
━━━┅━━━┅━━━━