CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
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"why am i even here?" tsukishima mumbled and sighed, glaring at the two dorks bickering back-and-forth upfront.
"are those tanghulu?" hinata exclaimed, pointing at the tanghulu stand before sprinting off to buy.
"i— where are you going, boke!" kageyama immediately followed him, leaving the tall blond in the middle of the crowd.
tsukishima sighed, scrunching his eyebrows as he turned away to find a less crowded spot in the tokyo metro subway. all he wanted tonight was to lay on his futon and play games, but their seniors decided to have him run errands with his fellow freshmen.
him and the freezing air of tokyo really do not go well together. in which is also the same thing for another one who has a love-hate relationship with winter...
"kei?"
he knew that voice, and it made him whip his head in that direction, but only to look down and meet a pair of golden cat eyes staring right back at him.
"miss manager..."
he breathed out as a response. the two of them stared at each other before tsukishima decided to break the silence.
"what are you doing out here?" the way he emphasized his last word came off differently for kiiro.
her eyes observing him carefully—the way his body snuggles deep into his coat and takes a few steps closer to her, even the way his eyes flicker back-and-forth to the crowd and to her, but he does not dare to make any eye contact at all.
"ah... just an errand. how about you?" kiiro replied.
tsukishima let out another sigh, peering over his two teammates over the tanghulu stall. "accompanying those two idiots," as he said.
kiiro snickered at the sight, which captured the latter's attention with furrowed eyebrows. "what?" he muttered in annoyance.
meanwhile, kiiro looked over to him with a teasing grin. "what?" repeating the same word with a bit of exaggeration in the tone in hopes of annoying him further.
tsukishima clicked his tongue and looked away. knowing her antics since the beginning and their mini tom and jerry moments, he is better off giving her attention.
"what now, bitchshima? don't tell me that you're already pissed off by that, huh?" kiiro continued to blabber, constantly poking his shoulder for a while until the blond had enough.
with his hand on her head, he pushed her a foot away from him with a bit of force to not hurt her. his eyes glared down at her before sighing again.
"can't you just stop acting like a child? thought you're the miss manager of nekoma."
that simple statement and the way his lips tugged upwards immediately icked her off before trying... again—trying to attack him with all her best.
"you're literally such a bitch!" kiiro said, still at her best.
tsukishima hummed and watched her struggle to get to him, which is in fact an unexplainable joy to him and even irks her more.
"you got the urge to even smirk over there!"
"huh? what was that? can't hear you from down there?"
"bitch! don't let me reach you or— oomf!"
her body harshly collided with tsukishima but he was able to hold her in his arms while maintaining his balance and keeping her up at the same time. as if on instinct, the moment he let her stand on her own, his eyes immediately searched kiiro to see if she had gotten any injuries or even the tiniest scratches.
"are you okay? are you hurt?"
and damn, that made her heart flutter for a moment. her golden eyes looked up at him, and at that, she seemed to have forgotten how to even speak.
"y-yeah... it was just..." words would not even form properly from her mouth. watching the tall blond check her all over, up and down, to ensure her safety.
tsukishima internally sighed after making sure before looking up at the man who bumped to her in the first place but was already far away from them.
good thing he's far away already. tsk, didn't even apologize.
and as he was about to speak up again, another person popped off randomly from their side.
"ro-chan, there 'ya are! i was looking for 'ya 'verywhere 'ya know and— who's tis?"
"taro.." kiiro glanced at him. the way she called his name... his nickname suddenly irked something within tsukishima. and to say, he does not like what he is feeling at the moment.
suna scrutinized tsukishima up and down. his face souring at the sight, which made the latter smirk even more to annoy the brunet further.
and the battle of saltiness begins...
kiiro stood there in between, watching the two have a silent eye contact battle for quite some time. honestly, she would have done something if she did not find the situation awkward for her despite being very close with the two boys.
"tsukishima~ we also bought you— oh, kii-chan! and oh, from inarizaki!"
"thank heavens!" kiiro silently prayed in her mind the moment she saw hinata and kageyama approach them.
"what y'll doing here?" hinata further inquired of the blond and brunet while happily munching on his strawberry tanghulu.
tsukishika cleared his throat and looked away, then suna looked away as well and stuffed his hands deep in his coat's pocket.
"me and ro-chan happened 'ta bumped 'ta 'tis..." his brown eyes glaring at tsukishima. "blond guy from 'yer team."
hinata 'ooh-ed' and nods before asking again. "so, you and kii-chan are on a date then?"
kageyama choked on his blueberry tanghulu.
tsukishima felt the entire world stop.
suna went tomato red and stammering.
and... kiiro is defeated.
"tobi-chan! here, water!" kiiro immediately offered her water bottle to him, in which he gladly took a big gulp.
"w-we aren't on a date, 'ya know?" suna let out a shaky chuckle, looking anywhere but hinata.
"hah, as if," tsukishima mumbled, but it was completely audible for suna.
"what did 'ya say, lanky blond?" suna said and raised an eyebrow at him, earning the same reaction from the latter.
"what? you deaf of sorts?" tsukishima retorted.
and just before anything could escalate any further, kiiro stepped in between and took suna by his hand before bidding farewell to the karasuno boys.
"it was nice meeting you guys again, but we have to go. have a great night!" kiiro waved to them as she pulled suna through the crowd, leaving the other three watching them urgently leave the area.
"well... that was something," hinata commented, looking over his two teammates, and he wishes that he should not have done that.
"damn, it reeks jealousy here," he mumbled this time, stepping away from kageyama and tsukishima as their eyes linger towards the direction where the pair left seconds ago.
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hello, darlings! ik it has been a long time since the last update, but tada i'm back from the dead. with this book nearly coming to an end with approximately of 45 chapters, i'll be finishing my another on-going book and even publish the prequel or sequel of exceptional.
what do y'll think i should do next? prequel or sequel?