Tobio and Hiromi loathed going to the mall and dress shopping, especially accompanying their mothers. Mothers, though the most marvellous people on earth, could become the most terrifying if they wanted. They were forced to tag along because apparently, they 'needed new clothes'. Though it was clear that it was their mothers who would do all the shopping, they were being dragged along just to be used as shopping bag holders.
It took them very little time to get their shopping done, their items only consisted of sportswear. On the other hand, their mothers took forever to shop. After they were done, the mothers left their children at the food court and went off to get a one hour massage and treatment for a fifty per cent discount at the new spa, then they planned to go for a movie.
"Ugh, I can't believe they keep using us like this," Hiromi grumbled to which he nodded in agreement, too irritated to say anything. He tossed the bags that were assigned to him onto the chair next to him as she did the same.
They both sat for some time to take a rest after a torturously long and exhausting shopping session. It's funny how they are so full of stamina and always go beyond their limit, especially when it comes to playing their beloved sports but when it comes to shopping they get worn out so easily.
"Y'know, they did leave a credit card with us. Since we are here anyways, we should take advantage of it," she suggested with an evil grin.
"I like your thinking. Let's go all out." He smirked just as evilly.
"What do you think we should do?"
"They keep pestering us to buy 'nice or formal clothes'. So, let's do it, those clothes are costly. An effective way of wasting money, don't you think?" he said, surprising her with his genius plan.
"OH. MY. GOD. I should capture this moment," she said, quickly snapping a picture of his resting moody face. "So you can be smart sometimes, maybe I'm rubbing off on you."
"Shut up. I'm always smart." He flicked her forehead.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." She rolled her eyes at him.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Why are you asking me? Aren't you smart enough to figure it out yourself?"
"Ugh, just... just shut the hell up, dumbass. Let's go." He stood up, picking up his bags.
"I won this argument." She laughed getting ready to leave too.
"Good for you," he said in a highly sarcastic tone which made her even more amused.
Once in the store, they separated to look for clothes and decided to meet up in front of a mannequin dressed in yellow clothing after they were done. When they returned to their meet up place, they had quite a few clothes in hand.
"You should try yours first since this was your idea." She made it sound like she was disinterested but in reality, she couldn't wait to see Tobio in those new clothes.
He shrugged and went ahead to try them out while she waited outside the male's changing rooms. Every outfit that he tried on and showed her, made her blush so much that she had to cover her cheeks with her hands. The guy could pull off anything. Curse this adorable dense fool for being so effortlessly gorgeous. My heart can't take this! AHHHHHHHH! She hoped he didn't notice the huge smile that she was trying to fight off her face.
"So, which ones should I get?" he asked, suddenly appearing beside her, startling her out of her daydreams.
"Ah... umm... sorry, I uh... got lost in my head. What did you say?"
He scoffed then whacked her head lightly. "Are your head out of the clouds now?"
"Yeah!" She smiled, closing her eyes and rubbing her head sheepishly.
"And to think you keep pestering me about zoning out when you always do it. Anyway, I was asking you to help me choose."
"You zone out in class and for other important things, I zone out when I'm jobless, the two are different." She whacked his head right back. Taking a deep breath and forcing down all the giddy and nervous feelings she continued, "You looked good in all of them but I think you should get the black shirt and grey pants and the light blue shirt and black pants combo." After she managed to get that out of her mouth without stuttering, she quickly turned around to face the other way.
"Ok. Fashion isn't my thing, so.... uh... thanks," he said in a careless tone. But in reality, he felt a bit too happy about the fact that she thought he 'looked good in all of them.
"You're welcome! By the way, my fashion sense sucks too, so I'll leave the choice to you," she said with her back still turned to him. The moment she heard him hum in response, she fled to the women's changing rooms. He followed closely behind her, wondering if she was ok.
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She sighed in relief after she reached the safety of the changing rooms where her crush wouldn't see her getting flustered. Sadly, her relief didn't last long for she came face to face with the last person she wanted or expected to see. Arai stood in front of her with eyes as wide as her own. They both just stared at each other not knowing what to do.
Hiromi decided to break the silence. "It's been a while...."
"It has..." The other girl looked guilty.
Again there was silence. This was starting to make Hiromi extremely uncomfortable. She didn't want to be anywhere near the girl but here she was, in a changing room of all places. Ok, relax.... She is just a spoilt, prissy elf She took a deep breath in, then let it out. Maybe we were supposed to meet, to clear up all the things that happened before. That kind of nice. I'll finally get closure. This is weird but it's best to get this over with. I can do this... I hope...
With that thought in mind and after mentally preparing and convincing herself, she grabbed Arai's hand and pulled her into one of the rooms and shut the door. At this point, she didn't care if it was a bad decision or not.
They both leaned on the opposite sides of the room. "Umm... are you going to kill me? If you do.... I'll understand," Arai said.
"Hah! It would be more likely for you to kill me. I mean, you already kind of did that last year." Hiromi got straight to the point.
"Oh... You wanted to talk about that?" she asked nervously.
"Yeah, no shit."
"Look, I- I'm really s-"
"Please do not say sorry, it's not going to fix anything." She cut her off.
"....I didn't think you'd get such a severe injury....."
"So? You shouldn't have done that anyway, it was low as hell."
The other girl nodded her head in shame.
"I don't want your apology but... I... forgive you... Only because I don't want to waste my time and energy being upset over someone irrelevant. I don't like holding grudges, it holds me back. It means that the person who wronged me did some real damage. I don't want to give people that kind of power over me. So, I'm glad to do this, I can finally leave behind what happened to me. I'm forgiving you for my sake. Also, being the better person is so gratifying." She finally let it all out of her chest.
"I understand.... I know you didn't ask but I feel like I need to tell you. I know you won't believe me but... I have changed, really. I had to," Arai said, hesitantly.
"Yeah, I can see that. I mean, you were going to apologize. By the way, you can stop being all timid now, it's gonna make me puke." Hiromi smirked.
Arai smirked back. "I know you hate that video that made you famous, I should know, I hate it too. I also know you don't care about what I think but you were seriously cool in that. I mean, getting up even after falling? Damn...."
"Of course, you'd talk about something I hate. Glad you're back. And my favourite part of the video is how you got caught in the act by the entire world. Everyone got to know what terrible person you were." She grinned slyly.
It was supposed to be insulting but it made Arai smile gratefully. Her usage of 'were' showed that she really was forgiven. "Yeah, it totally ruined my social life. But hey, I deserve it! You forgave me, that's more than I can ask for."
"Oh... Well, everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to improve yourself and move on, which you are doing. So don't worry, from what I know, you'll find a way to become popular even if it means doing something bad."
Arai rolled her eyes. "How can you insult and console at the same time?"
"It's a talent not too many people possess."
"Whatever. So, are we done?"
"Oh yes, please get out."
Arai opened the door but before leaving she turned around. "Since you're so hell-bent on running that even a horrible injury can't stop you, then as your ex-enemy, I wish you all the best. When you become a pro and win your races, remember to rub it in my face by showing off those gold medals on the TV screen. And... thanks..."
"Hell yeah, I'll be the best! Oh and one more thing." This caused her to raise an eyebrow and she immediately received a tight slap from Hiromi.
"OUCH! What the hell?!" Arai's eyes were wide with shock.
"I know we were being mature but I just had to, you deserved it. And damn, that was so satisfying," Hiromi couldn't help but laugh.
"Whatever, let's try not to meet too often," she said, holding her stinging cheek.
"Sounds like a plan. Goodbye~!"
Arai grumbled and then left. Her cheek hurt but she was happy because it was a gift of a second chance.
Soon after, Hiromi went out of the changing rooms to tell Tobio why she was in there for so long and still had not tried out even a single outfit.
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"DUMBASS! WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN DOING IN THERE?! I THOUGHT YOU DIED OR SOMETHING AND I JUST STOOD HERE NOT KNOWING WHAT THE HELL I SHOULD DO. I ALMOST CALLED THE POLICE! AND I SAW ARAI. DID SHE DO SOMETHING TO YOU?! I SWEAR-"
"Tobio-chan," she said, holding his face. "Calm down, people are starting to stare. I'm fine, actually, I'm feeling extremely happy and free."
He gave her a confused look. She laughed at his cuteness and explained everything to him. After she was done, he asked in a gentler voice, "So you're finally done with it?"
"Yes, I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders."
He sighed in relief and ruffled her hair affectionately. "That's good." Then he smacked her head. "Now go and try on the damn dresses already. I want to get out and eat."
"You're right, I'm hungry too. I'll make this quick."
So she hastily tried on the dresses and modelled for him. He thought she looked perfect in everything she wore. He never really cared for superficial things like 'good looks' but either way, to him she was always beautiful, on the inside and out. She looks.... so cute like a fairy. His eyes widened, what am I thinking? He shook his head and decided that the moment he got home, he'd play volleyball, the best way to clear his head and solve his problems.
He was glad when Hiromi was done because he could distract himself from his thoughts.
"So, what should I get?"
"Cute," he blurted out. Shit. Why would I say that? Now she'll think I am weird.
"....Eh?"
"Uh... get the dark blue dress and the dark green one," he said without thinking. He was just relieved that she didn't hear what he had let slip earlier and wondered if he was going crazy.
"Oh ok! They were my favourite too! I'll get them with the black stockings."
They were finally done shopping and headed toward the food court. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched.
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"Iwa-chan, the targets are on the move, I repeat, the targets are on the move. Let's go!" Oikawa tried to haul his best friend with him but of course, it wouldn't be that easy.
"Why the hell did you drag me into spying with you, Shittykawa? You can be a creep all you want but leave me out of this. Besides, I thought we came here to buy clothes so that you can 'impress' your fans." Iwaizumi furiously wrenched himself away from him.
"Silly Iwa-chan, we also came here to buy clothes for you, all the ones you have suck." This earned him a painful punch to the head.
"Say that again, I dare you." Iwaizumi glared daggers at the guy.
"OUCH! A bit harsh don't you think? Anyway, I know you ship them too, so stop complaining."
Iwaizumi just crossed his arms and grunted in response.
"Hah! You didn't deny it! And we aren't 'spying', we are entertaining ourselves by watching our idiotic kouhais pine for each."
"You really are a piece of shit," he said and got distracted as he started lecturing even further. Oikawa took this opportunity and dragged his scary spying partner with him to the food court.
They sat in a corner as they watched Hiromi and Tobio switch back and forth between talking normally, bantering and getting flustered.
"Ugh, watching them is giving me a migraine." Oikawa massaged his temples.
"I agree. Watching them together is more frustrating than your presence and that's saying something, your presence is the most irritating thing ever."
"So mean!"
He shrugged. "I agreed with you so I had to restore the balance of the universe by saying that."
"Iwa-chan!" He whined. "Ugh, whatever, I'll get upset later. I'm going in, they clearly need help and I'm the best person for these things!"
Before Iwaizumi could stop him, he ran off.
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"Yoohoo! Tobio-chan, Hiromi-chan, long time no see!"
The pair turned around to see their seniors approaching them. They both grumbled a quick greeting. They were happy to see Iwaizumi. It was Oikawa who was making them weary. Tobio would rather not have his pleasant Sunday afternoon get interrupted by his shitty, attention-seeking senior who enjoyed provoking him. On the other hand, even though Hiromi didn't dislike Oikawa, she immediately knew just by his tone that he was up to no good. He was probably here to anger her best friend.
"What's with that lame response?" Oikawa was taken aback by their lack of enthusiasm.
"What do you want?" Tobio looked at him with distaste.
"Shut up! I'm not talking to you," Oikawa snapped.
"You just did," Tobio shot back.
"They obviously wish you weren't here and I don't blame them. Let's go," Iwaizumi said.
"Don't be rude! Anyway, I'm here to steal Hiromi-chan. She is cute and sweet, totally my type," Oikawa said with a smug smile on his face.
"Excuse you. I can be mean if I want and who said you can 'steal me'? If you're here to cause trouble, please leave and let us talk to Iwaizumi-kun," Hiromi scoffed, crossing her hands.
"Oh no, you have been spending too much time with Tobio-chan and Iwa-chan. You're absorbing their unpleasantness. I must save you." Oikawa dragged her away completely ignoring everyone's protests and her attempts to wrench herself away from him didn't work.
After taking her away from the other two to the opposite side of the food court, he sat down. Not knowing what in the world was going on, she sat down next to him and stared at him for a good two minutes in confusion. "....Care to explain?"
"Oh don't worry Hiromi-chan, this is for your own good." If anything, what he said puzzled her even more than before. Her head was starting to hurt trying to gauge the truth behind the situation so she let it slide. Oikawa easily managed to strike up a conversation with her, as if everything was totally normal. Occasionally he looked in the direction of the other two boys that he had left behind.
Tobio would kill to talk and get tips from a skilled and experienced senior volleyball player like Iwaizumi. So, he was glad to be doing exactly that right now and Oikawa was too busy flirting with Hiromi to interrupt him. Everything was perfect, right? This is just what he wanted... Right?
He was speaking to the ace but his thoughts kept wandering elsewhere. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop himself from glancing at her. The sight of the ladies' man being all charming and her not even realizing it, irritated him to no end. Every time Oikawa caught Tobio staring, he sent him an evil smirk which almost made steam come out of his ears.
Will he steal her? Are they.... going to become a c-cou- He couldn't bring himself to think that. What if she leaves me for him? He felt a pang in his chest but suddenly, one thought erased all those fears. We're best friends. She will never leave me.
It seemed like he solved it like how he'd solve a difficult situation in a volleyball match and he finally gave his full attention to the conversation at hand, feeling less agitated. However, he was still pissed off and the most frustrating part was that he didn't understand why.
Iwaizumi hid a smile. Seeing the younger boy's face getting sourer than it already was, amused him. Looks like Shittykawa knows what he's doing.
Oikawa finally decided to leave them alone. He was satisfied with how much he had tormented Tobio. Plus, Hiromi had been dying to go back to her 'not-a-date' judging by how she hadn't been paying attention to their conversation at all. She kept stealing glances at Tobio, thinking it went unnoticed.
Before going, Oikawa made sure to say, "Sorry for interrupting your date~!"
"IT'S NOT A DATE!" The younger two shouted in unison. This invited some looks from the people around them for being so loud. They both gave a quick, awkward apology, all the while glaring at the person who was the root cause of this.
"Aww, you both even do everything the same way and at the same time~!"
Before they could argue any further, Oikawa pointed at Tobio. "Hurry up because you aren't the only one. There are many others. You should know that by now." And with that, the captain and the vice-captain of Seijoh's volleyball team left.
Hiromi raised an eyebrow What was that about? Tobio shrugged in response I'm just as confused as you are.
"You always asked him to give you advice and the one time he did, he said something so vague," she said.
"Yeah, if you don't know what he meant then he was probably saying some crap," he agreed.
"Tch, I hate him." She huffed in annoyance.
"That makes two of us... Well, let's eat."
"Yes, finally!"
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"Next time, I'll do something even more fun!"
"What now?"
"I'll ask her out!"
"What the hell you piece of shit?!"
"Don't worry she'll say no before I can even ask. Then she'll tell him about what happened and it will irritate him even more than today."
"Whatever, just don't ruin their chances of becoming a couple. If you do, I'll ruin your chances of survival." The vice-captain of Aoba Johsai grabbed the captain's collar and held up his fist for emphasis.
"R-roger that." The captain saluted.
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(A/N): I can relate, I hate going shopping with my mum and sis. UGH, IT IS THE WORST.
Date: 21/03/2022