chapter twenty-four: to miyagi
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reminder: in a flashback scene, an ellipsis (…) would serve as the borders and the entire flashback scene is written in italic.
"you have to eat."
"no, throw it away."
"don't be stubborn. you still have a match later on."
"no!"
kiiro sighed, closing her eyes to maintain her composure. "tora-san, you're upset, and i get it, but food comes first."
taketora whipped his head in the opposite direction with his arms folded and lips pursed. "i'm good. i'm stron— mmph."
"less talking, more eating," kiiro mumbled, taking another spoon of his lunch and feeding the stubborn boy to eat.
at first, he kept up with his adamancy, but eventually enjoyed getting fed by their manager. for taketora, a boy who's likely to fall in love with pretty girls at first sight, being taken care of by one of the prettiest girls in their school.
"i'm so full now, kiiro. your beauty totally made my lunch extra deli—" taketora was once again interrupted when the female wiped his mouth with a tissue and gave him his bottle of water before leaving to tend to the other members.
"in thirty minutes, get inside the court and start stretching."
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"nekoma got qualified for the spring high!" hinata announced, earning his teammates' attention.
"mhm, we already know," the vice captain responded with a smile. "it's no doubt that they got in anyway."
the orange-haired boy hummed and immediately typed down his response to his friend in tokyo, kenma. once his email was sent, something dawned on him, which made his entire face contort in confusion.
"how come you already know, senpai?" hinata questioned.
the said male turned to him and was about to respond when the libero beat him to it. "kiiro told me, then i told y'll!" nishinoya smugly said.
his statement piqued the attention of two certain boys, as tsukishima and kageyama whipped their heads to their senpai with wide eyes. it was their least expectation that the girl they're close with has a connection with one of their teammates.
"so, nishinoya-san was the one kuroo-san referring to."
"how come nishinoya senpai got her contact and i didn't?"
"since when did you guys start emailing one another?" asahi asked in curiosity.
nishinoya grinned and folded his arms, "since the training camp. i asked for her email, and she gave it to me. later that day, she sent me the cutest hello ever!"
"sugoi, senpai!" hinata stated, feeding the latter's pride even more. "but honestly, i don't take kiiro-san as the type of person who initiates the first move."
"because she really isn't," kageyama thought. a frown painting his stoic face as he mumbles incoherent words to himself, as he could still remember back in their middle school days that he used to be the one to strike up a conversation with the girl even when their friendship had already formed.
"so, that's why you're always googling on your phone during breaks? i see, i see." the captain, daichi, joined the conversation.
nishinoya's eyes widened as he intensely shook his head. "n-no! i-i was just…" his stammering caused everyone to burst out laughing, which made the poor nishinoya turn into a tomato.
"a-ah tsukishima, wait up!" yamaguchi rushed towards the door of their clubroom to catch up with the blond, who walked out of the room with a scowl.
"why does tsukishima look pissed, though?" hinata whispered through the air, and just then, kageyama went out with the same look as the blond awhile ago.
"oi, matte! daichi-san said that he'll treat us meat buns!" hinata yelled, following after the setter with the other boys.
heading to the convenience store nearby their school campus is already a routine for the karasuno volleyball team. getting meat buns is the usual thing they eat after class, and sometimes daichi and the other seniors treat the team.
"are, where are the buns?" ennoshita looked around to search for the paper bag filled with the meat buns.
"where's hinata as well?" tanaka questioned as his eyes met with ennoshita's.
if the meat buns are gone and so is hinata, then…
"oi, that's your third bun already!"
kageyama's voice from outside the store alerted the rest inside.
everyone rushed outside to see the freshmen pair, one eating a bun while holding the paper bag and the other clenching onto hinata's shirt. on the other hand, tanaka was the first one who walked up to them and also grabbed hinata by his collar.
"that's why the meat buns went missing." sugawara chuckled in disbelief, sitting by the sides with the other team members.
their loud voices to one another, arguing over the food bought by their captain. it is and would never be a good idea to put kageyama, hinata, and tanaka together because chaos will surely erupt, yet the trio always finds a way to create a harmonious mess. their petty argument went on for minutes, with hinata's mouth stuffed with a bun as he was raised by his collar by kageyama and tanaka scowling at him.
"i regret coming here already," said by a feminine voice.
everyone turned their heads toward the direction of the voice, and seeing nekoma's manager standing before their eyes was baffling as none of them expected that the girl would be stepping foot on miyagi.
nishinoya was shocked. extremely shocked. he could feel his heart pounding, his lips trembling, and his eyes sparkling like the stars just by staring at his beauty crush.
"k-kiiro?" nishinoya greeted in a lively voice.
those golden eyes…
her eyes flickered to meet his, "yo, yū-kun." kiiro greeted him with a small wave, and that simple action brought butterflies to the latter's stomach as his cheeks went burning red.
meanwhile, the tight grasp on hinata's collar went loose, and the orange-haired boy fell down on the pavement with a loud thud.
nishinoya couldn't believe it.
kageyama couldn't believe it.
hinata couldn't believe it.
tanaka couldn't believe it.
no one couldn't believe it.
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"w-what are you d-doing here, k-kiiro?" nishinoya rubbed his nape as he looked down at his shoes.
after kiiro's appearance, the entire team offered to walk her to the place she'll be staying at. though not everyone offered to do so, one of them, like tsukishima was forced to tag along. the blond remained at the very back beside yamaguchi while he intensely stared at the pair upfront.
kiiro glanced towards the libero, "i called you last time and told you about the training this week, didn't i?"
nishinoya blinks multiple times, slowly remembering their conversation from days ago.
…
"kii!" nishinoya answered the call with a rather loud voice, making the other person in line wince and sigh.
"ohayō, yū-kun."
nishinoya grinned so widely after hearing her voice, and he could feel his cheeks straining. "why did you call, kiiro?" he asked.
"i'm just letting you know that i'll be out of town after the qualifiers to handle some training."
"eh? to where?"
"to miyagi."
…
"soka! you did mention that!" nishinoya said and looked at her with a curiousity. "what kind of training you'll be handling though?" he asked.
kiiro sighed, "a volleyball training for the elementary and middle schoolers."
"wow, that's cool, kiiro-san!" sugawara popped up beside the girl with a warm smile, while also maintaining a safe distance from her to respect her space.
the raven-haired girl slightly bowed to acknowledge his statement and looked away from him immediately. "he's respectful and polite, and his smile is so cute too." she also smiled, but mentally.
their walk didn't take any longer as they finally arrived at an apartment block. kiiro turned to face the group of boys before respectfully bowing to them and giving them a small wave. "thank you for accompanying me," she said right after.
a beauty.
a former athlete.
a clever person.
and a polite one.
just how perfect she could be…
"no worries, kiiro-san! we wish you all the best in the training!" daichi responded.
as they went to leave, kiiro remained in her spot, watching their figures until none of them were longer within her sight. her golden orbs then glanced to the side and she sighed to herself.
"what are you still doing here, bitchshima?"
the said blond went up to her with his usual stoic face, but kiiro knew better — that this boy in front of her is somehow pissed off for who knows what. she was about to speak up once again when the male held out his phone towards her.
kiiro glanced down at his phone with scrunched eyebrows before looking up at him. "what do you want me to do with that?" she questioned.
tsukishima clicked his tongue in annoyance, not liking how the latter doesn't get what he was trying to imply. "your number," was his response.
her eyes widened by a fraction, and her cheeks suddenly felt warm for a second. "w-what would you do with my number?" she mumbled.
tsukishima then stared down at her, smirking as he witnessed how quickly she broke their eye contact. "just in case you get lost or whatever. you're in miyagi, in an unknown place to you, so…"
kiiro almost choked on her own saliva as she wasn't expecting to hear that kind of thing from the rudest guy she ever met. however, his statement was somewhat familiar to her.
i think i heard that before… or was i the one who said it? but when? to whom? why? how?
"whatever you say," she grumbled and took the phone to type down her number. "there," and handed it back to him.
tsukishima mumbled 'thanks' to which the latter acknowledged with a hum. kiiro looked at her wrist watch and said, "it's getting late. go home already."
the blond only nodded, but his next action stunned kiiro. his hand rested on her head before gently patting it twice before taking a step back from her.
"see you around." tsukishima softly smiled to her, then fled the scene without sparing another glance at the frozen kiiro, alone with her thoughts going on rampage.
what...