chapter forty-six!
GAUCHE
TWO WEEKS AFTER the Miyagi Playoffs, the love and energy that the townsfolk had shown the Karasuno players have started to simmer down a bit. There's still the occasional conversations, the whistles and claps of the students when they pass by some of the Volleyball members, or maybe the sudden change in how they see them— like Kageyama or Hinata who are now seen under a different light. For the former, girls who fancied him in secret would now leave notes or cookies on his desk or inside of his shoe cubby. It's definitely not on par with Oikawa's amounts but it would be a lie to say that Kageyama wasn't growing a soft spot amongst the female population.
"Wow, it's kinda crazy to think about it," Hinata gapes, small puffs of smoke escapes his lips as he looks up at the banner that's plastered in front of the school.
Congratulations! Spring InterHigh Volleyball Tournament Participation Boys Volleyball Club!
"Though that's the reality staring at our face!" He grins and turns to Kageyama who was busy grabbing a drink from a vending machine. "Are you even listening to me?"
Kageyama pays him no mind and focuses on the drink before walking away, leaving the ginger haired male upset. Despite his ill-feelings to the setter, Hinata doesn't stop to ramble on about many things, like having a music club come cheer for them like the other schools do. He rambles while the raven haired male passively listens and drinks, opening his shoe cubby to find another bag of cookies stashed inside. There's also a note that says congratulations! without a name added to it. Hinata pauses from his chatter and peeks as well.
"Wha— another one!" Hinata cries out. "You sure are getting popular, Kageyama! Even though you frown so much and have a short temper..." He mumbles out the last part, thankfully low enough that his teammate couldn't hear.
It's not often that he's showered with gestures like this so Kageyama's a little lost on how to respond. He's seen Oikawa handle them quite professionally, thanking the girls with his sweet smile and words dripping with honey— but that's not him; and there's no way he was going to mirror those same moves. Initially, when he received his first batch of cookies and letters, he got teased by his teammates whom he gave them to. The cookies, his teammates did eat but the letters? They read it as a team (more so Tanaka being snoopy and reading it out loud to everyone) but they've been left in the club room where it's nothing more than a piece of decoration to the room.
Sugawara, who's more known to have sense and understands a girl's delicate heart, gave him a piece of advice; and that was to tell Mina about the letters and gifts he had been receiving from the girls. He gave Kageyama a huge lecture on miscommunication and how it could easily affect their relationship if not dealt with immediately. Knowing the kind of girl Mina is, she wouldn't throw a huge fit but it's better late than never.
And that's what Kageyama did. One day after school, he approached Mina and explained to her about what's been happening— step by step, clumsy and nervous like a child that's explaining their wrongdoing to their parent. He didn't want her to be upset about it and the silence and her unreadable expression made it even worse for him. Though as he finishes, that's when a small smile breaks from her lips.
Mina chuckles and tells him, "It's okay. Thank you for telling me."
That was that. No extra fuss, not a single frown or any change to her tone or expression that could be perceived as displease. The brunette simply ushered him so they could leave the school grounds. He didn't know if that was a good thing or not, but Mina looked quite genuine when she said that, so he took her word for it. Though when he did tell Sugawara about it, his senior shook his head and told him that 'girls say that all the time' and that 'they need the extra reassurance'.
Hence, the answer to that statement comes to a date.
Just the thought of Sugawara's run-down of the know-how's makes Kageyama's hands sweat because he knows he's going to fumble it at some point. He's never had to learn and utilize any of those romancing stuff his sister enjoys due to his full investment in sports, but now that Mina came into his life, it was suddenly as if he was a toddler again who needed to learn his numbers and alphabets.
"You two!" Shimizu pops up from the corner and waves to them as she approaches. "I forgot to mention this earlier but we're gonna do the 'measurements' for the pamphlet today, so please come up as quickly as possible after you finish class today. Please let Tsukishima and everyone else know, as well!"
Before the two can respond, the girl is now jogging away to possibly attend other stuff. And during that moment, Kageyama was momentarily relieved from his worried thoughts as he now turns to Hinata with a challenging look in his eyes.
"Hey," He calls out. "We're gonna have a showdown... for the maximum vertical reach."
Not backing down, the ginger haired male even looked confident. "You're on. How about a friendly little wager?"
"Three curry buns." Kageyama states, no room for arguments.
Though, Hinata didn't seem particularly bothered since the fire in his eyes grew brighter hearing this.
"Bring it!"
"And I get one curry bun too?"
They're surprised at the sudden voice who piped up, but even more so for the raven haired male who stiffened up, knowing who it was. He turns around while his teammate follows suit and, lo and behold, it was Mina who waved at them with a small smile growing on her lips. She walks up to them and stands beside Kageyama, greeting him with a good morning before saying the same to Hinata as well. Due to their daily walks in the morning, it was now ingrained in Kageyama's routine to carry whatever was on Mina's arms, whether it be the books or just her water bottle even. So, he reaches for books and holds them under his left arm while the girl looped her arm with his free one.
Of course, he was hesitant and a nervous wreck when she first did this but now, it all comes natural to him that he would even stretch his arm out first for her to take.
"Lee-san!" Hinata grins. "Did you see the banner that was set for us? It's so cool!"
"I did, it looks very nice!" She replies while they walk the halls. "Oh, but you did not answer. I get curry bun too if someone win?"
The ginger haired male frowns at that. "But you can't cheer for this guy! It has to be fair and square, alright?"
"Why do you get to decide that?" Now it was Kageyama's turn to frown.
"Okay, okay," Mina chuckles. "No cheering for you two."
While the two talked, Kageyama was already rehearsing his lines in his mind. Sugawara reminded him to keep his composure, to remove all the possible distractions that would destroy the mood, and then to throw the question out. So, the raven haired male puffs his cheeks out of stress and blows the air out softly, turning to his teammate with a look that told him to 'go away'. At first, Hinata looked nervous that he might have set off their setter's bad mood again but the more glares and the silent mouthful of words (he couldn't understand) he received, it quite confirmed that he did piss the setter off.
That was not the case, but Kageyama will take it.
"I-I'm gonna go ahead," Hinata nervously scratches the nape of his neck. "See you later, Lee-san!"
The couple watches as the ginger haired male runs off to greet some other people. Mina's a little confused but she hums anyways, now focusing her attention to the male who hasn't said a word to her since she's been stuck to his side. There's a crinkling noise of a plastic that catches her attention and she turns, seeing something inside the bag that's been slung to his back.
"What's that?" Mina refers to the item that's been poking out from the inside.
At her question, Kageyama turns to where she was looking at, only to see that she was pointing at the cookies that was inside his shoe cubby earlier. He grimaces a little before slowing down to take it out of his bag, handing the item over to her along with the note it came with. It's a little nerve-wracking, seeing his girlfriend take a good look at the note with brows furrowed, but she soon smiles and hands the note back to him.
"Heol, Tobio-kun is so famous now," Mina feigns a sad expression before she bursts out laughing, seeing the tense expression on his face. "You look like this last time too. I am not mad, okay? I am very, very happy because Tobio-kun's hard work is showing to people!"
His eyes trail over her eyes, lips— features that could otherwise say that she's unhappy. Though, of course, Mina's eyes remain bright and genuine as she smiles and laughs at the way he's acting again. She finds amusement in the little things that he does, even at this moment when she technically should respond to him in a more serious manner.
"...You sure?" He mumbles.
"Of course," Mina's eyes soften as she holds his arm and gently squeezes it, telling him that she truly was happy for him. "Even if many girls like you, I still know that you like me and only me. So, I am not scared."
She's right— she's always right, who was he kidding? This was Lee Mina he was talking about. There was no need for him to be constantly drowning in his worried thoughts because she knows. Despite his concerns at times, she's grown to push herself out of her bubble and reassure him because he does the same for her. Their constant growth and the little things that they learn along the way has strengthened their bond, inch by inch. It shouldn't be shaken by pebbles of concerns.
A ghost of a smile crosses his face and he nods, relief flowing through his body. "...You're right. It's only you and no one else."
Mina grins and she raises the bag of cookies. "And I can eat this too?"
The raven haired male nods which caused the girl's smile to grow even wider. She opens it now and takes a bite out of one before offering it to the latter as well who accepted it without any issues.
"Would you like to go on a date?"
Kageyama didn't know if it was the reassurance that caused for him to cleanly voice out his question, but his nerves were soothed right now. His concerns from earlier soon dissipates and he's left in this state where he felt... calm, per se. He no longer felt worried about fumbling it all up and even if he did, it's never going to be as bad as his previous cases.
And once he sees that her cheeks have gone a soft shade of red, a stunned surprise on her expression, he couldn't help but let out a quiet chuckle. One could feel the waves of elation rolling off of her.
She's definitely going to say—
"Y-Yes."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
hey guys! i know it's a short chapter
but i wanted to keep their date on a separate
chapter. i'm excited for the upcoming
chapters because of kageyama's training camp
and christmas, and all the
rollercoaster of emotions that's gonna go
in between. anyways, here's this short chapter
for now and i will see you guys soon again!
thank you for your constant love and support
on this book! see you guys on the next
update!