"We're not even in school anymore, but finals week is still a bitch, huh?"
Seated on the front steps to the girls' gym, Nagisa looked up from her revised game plan—AKA all of the plans that didn't involve Kano—and found Keishin Ukai standing in front of her with an unlit cigarette dangling from his smirky lips. Nagisa frowned at him. "What the fuck do you want?"
"Haha, ouch," he chuckled, feigning a wound to the chest. "What did I do to deserve such a warm welcome?" He pulled out his lighter and flicked it a few times before it caught, lighting the tip of his cigarette and inhaling deeply.
"You haven't proven to deserve otherwise," she hissed, turning back to her binder and flipping through her plans.
Keishin exhaled, a cloud of noxious smoke spewing from his teeth. "One of those types, huh? No gesture of good faith? No 'innocent until proven guilty'? Well, I'm here to offer a... damn, what do you call it...? A truce?"
Nagisa raised a brow, but said nothing. Sounded sketchy.
"A scrimmage was what I was thinkin'... to take the kids' minds off of finals, maybe let 'em blow off some steam," Keishin explained, taking another draw from his cigarette before continuing, smoke spilling from his lips as he spoke. "We could take notes on each other's players. Y'know, for training before the next competition? Maybe treat 'em to some ice cream afterwards?"
His plan sounded suspiciously helpful, and Nagisa squinted up at him through the summer sun. "You know... that's not half bad," she admitted.
"I aim to please," Keishin smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.
Nagisa grimaced at him and stood. "No, no, no, don't do that."
"Do what, princess?"
"Don't call me that, for one. For two, don't make that face at me. Three, I just broke up with my girlfriend, like, a month ago. So I don't want anything serious or otherwise right now."
Keishin cocked his head to the side. He carefully said nothing about that word: girlfriend. "I didn't say a thing about your ex or your dating life, just asked a question. Didn't know that was against the law now."
"It is, and I'm calling the cops," Nagisa spat, clutching her playbook to her chest. She frantically gripped her keys, trying to unlock the gym, but the key ring was stacked full with useless ones, broken or unlabeled or to doors that didn't even exist on campus anymore.
Keishin chuckled at her obvious attempt at fleeing, and the sound made Nagisa lose her nerve. She dropped the keys. Her body quickly heated with embarrassment.
He opened his mouth to tease her, but she held up a single finger.
"Not a word," Nagisa hissed between clenched teeth. "Not a word."
When she found the mental strength to look up, he was gone.
It was just her and her fumbled keys.
❀
The rest of the week flew by in a whirlwind of stress and caffeine.
Kano and Ryu rarely had a second to themselves, nevertheless to see each other. Between volleyball and studying and final projects and family and her mom, Kano felt on the verge of collapse the entire time, and Ryu didn't fare any better with his own bullshit.
A scrimmage between the guys and girls was the last thing they needed.
But still, they plodded on. Every so often, Kano and Ryu managed to sneak a smile between classes, or pass a note without an eagle-eyed teacher noticing. Ryu left Kano a steaming hot cup of coffee in her shoe locker one morning, and Kano returned the favor with his favorite brand of melonpan the next day. But their little moments were few and far between.
The last day of the semester landed on a Friday, and the scrimmage was scheduled for that afternoon. All of their exams and projects would be finished, the summer break lay just a few hours away, and the idea was for people to blow off steam before they went home to relax. But Ryu was more excited to find out his test results for Japanese Lit, receive his final grades, and see Kano than anything else.
"Something's wrong with your girl, man."
Ryu flushed from head to toe at Noya's casual-but-heated words, heart stuttering in his chest as he fumbled with his school shoes. "What the fuck makes you say that?" He managed, sweeping his dropped shoe into his palm as he hid his reddened cheeks from his best friend.
Nishinoya frowned and leaned against the locker beside Ryu's. "I was just trying to give her a compliment earlier when I saw her leaving the library... but she punched me in the dick, dude."
"Pffft," Tanaka sputtered, stifling his laughter as he yanked his shoes on, "You probably deserved it, you moron. What'd you say, Noya?"
"Ask her yourself. I didn't do anything wrong. Someone obviously shit in her cereal this morning." Nishinoya grunted, pushing off from the lockers and walking away with a little pout. "Whatever, I'll see you at the scrimmage." He waved without looking as he disappeared into the fray, backpack over one shoulder.
Tanaka closed his locker and made his way toward the college prep rooms, mind racing. Surely Kano was fine. Yeah, the week sucked without her perfect face and her long legs and her goofy laugh, but surely she survived without him for a few days.
"Ryu!"
He hadn't noticed himself staring at the linoleum while he zoned out, but he whipped his head up and a flash of turquoise and black was all he saw before he was tackled to the ground. The wind rushed from his lungs as his back hit the tile, and, yeah, Ryu choked on his breath, but when he found Kano grinning on top of him, all of his stress and pain faded away.
Kano folded her hands on his chest and rested her chin on her knuckles, smirking. "Hi. I missed you this week."
"I missed you too," Ryu answered automatically, chuckling as his lungs caught back up to his heart. "Also... ow."
"Fuck, sorry."
The two of them untangled and helped one another to their feet, collapsing together into a weird, exhausted hug. Kano ended up with her head on his chest, so similarly but so different from just a minute prior. She listened to the thump of his heartbeat, finding it soothing.
"So you missed me, huh?" Ryu asked softly, unsure of where to put his hands. Eventually, he settled on wrapping his arms around her waist.
Kano smiled against his shirt, tightening her arms around his neck, and mumbled, "I will neither confirm nor deny. That's confidential."
Chuckling, Ryu rested his cheek on Kano's hair. "I missed you too, you... ragamuffin."
"Ragamuffin?"
"It was the first word I thought of, shut up," he laughed.
In unison, their phones buzzed in their pockets, both receiving a text from Nishinoya telling them to stop making out and get to the scrimmage pronto.
"We've been summoned," Kano said with a sigh.
"Milady," Ryu bowed, extending his elbow. "May I escort you?"
"Indeed, good sir," she smiled, wrapping her elbow in his just before Ryu took off at Mach speeds, tugging a giggling Kano along after him.
❀
"BABE, DID YOU SEE THAT?!" Ryu screeched and tore off his shirt, racing across the gym to pick up his almost-girlfriend and swing her around in his arms.
Kano, deadpan as she worked on the sidelines, clenched her clipboard to her chest and said, "Put me down this instant. You're all sweaty."
"Got it, babe!" Ryu didn't lose his excitement, but still acquiesced and set Kano back down like a good boy. He knew her attitude wasn't directed toward him, really; Kano didn't like PDA, and he already knew she didn't like attention, so it was really his own fault for acting like a goof. Ryu grabbed Kano's shoulders and shook them. "But did you see me? Did you see that jump serve I just did?! It was a service ace! Didya see?!"
"I did," Kano said, patting his short hair like a dog. "Good job, Ryu."
Of course, as they had this conversation, the entire game was at a standstill, and both teams watched on in a mixture of curiosity and apathy. "Can they stop making out for like, two seconds so we can play the game?" Hinata whined. "C'mooon!"
"They haven't made out at all, shortstop. You're just jealous," Kageyama goaded.
Hinata scrunched up his face and yelled back, "Shut up, Crappy-yama!"
"Okay, okay, back to the game, Tanaka," Ukai chided, cupping his hands near his mouth to amplify his voice across to the girl's side of the net. "We've got a scrimmage to win, kid, so get back over here!"
"Don't listen to him, ladies!" Coach Nagisa yelled to the girls. "We're gonna win this scrimmage, and show the boys once and for all that we aren't to be messed with!"
The coaches made tense eye contact, and the teams could practically see the daggers they glared at each other, sparks flying where they clashed.
"Is it just me," Ryu said with his cheek pressed to Kano's, "Or does your aunt have the hots for Coach Ukai?"
Kano feigned throwing up. "Don't say that, you're going to give me a hernia from imagining calling him Uncle Ukai. Now go show off some more. And put your shirt back on, you idiot."
"Anything for you, babe!" he beamed, jogging to the boys' side of the court, where he scooped his shirt off the ground and threw it on over his head.
Shaking her head and turning back to her clipboard, Kano hid her flushed cheeks behind the curtain of her hair, down because she didn't actually get to play in the scrimmage due to her busted finger.
"Hanging in there, kiddo?" Aunt Nagisa said, watching the court as Ryu served again, his jump serve sending the ball way out of bounds. Nagisa chuckled and looped her arm around Kano's shoulders. "I gotta hand it to him, the kid's got heart. Spunk, too. He's... fun."
Kano's cheeks flared impossibly hotter. "Mmhmm."
"I'm happy for you, Baby Bundt," Nagisa smiled, pressing a quick kiss to her niece's hair. "But if he breaks your heart, I'm breaking his legs."
Laughing, Kano dug into her aunt's embrace. She watched as Ryu served another service ace, her heart fluttering in her ribcage when he looked over and beamed at her, and muttered, "I don't think you have to worry about that."
❀
That night, as Kano laid in bed and doodled in her sketchbook, trying to take her mind off of the girls' loss against the boys, a text came through.
What time can I pick you up tomorrow? From Ryu.
Kano bit her lip to hide her smile. For what?
Our first date, baby! He answered with a photo of his screenshotted grades. In the photo, he pointed at the Japanese Lit final exam grade in particular, a wide, proud grin on his face in the background.
He earned an A on it, 91%.
Smiling and shaking her head, Kano answered: Ten AM work okay?
I'll be there, Ryu answered instantly. Oh, and uh... what did Noya say to you earlier? I heard you punched him in the junk?
Lol yeah I did. He asked why I made you work for the date.
And you said?
Because it's none of his business. Then I punched him.
Damn that's hot. Marry me?
I'm sorry, what was that? I'm already sleeping. And a teenager.
Ah, the sleep-texting defense. Classic.
Honk shoo, honk shoo (:
Snonk mimimimimi... snonk mimimimimi (:
See you tomorrow, dork.
I'll be there, hot stuff.