Hours went by after that conversation and Cassie assured Murasakibaea that she would be alright to be alone.
He was slightly hesitant to leave, but he did and as Cassie stood in the steamy bathroom, she stared off, distracted with her thoughts.
It didn't seem to add up that someone wanted to help her, and especially with something so... miniscule.
She shook her head and opened the bathroom door only to be met with Kagami who was reaching for the knob. "What are you doing?"
"I was going to check up on you. You've been in there forever."
While she hadn't realized how much time had gone by, the amount of steam leaving the bathroom was a clear indication.
"Sorry... I'm a little exhausted."
Kagami raised his brow. "That's all?" Cassie gave a shy shrug. "Well, just be sure you don't pass out or something okay? I know your parents would kill me if they knew I let that happen."
Cassie smirked. "I think that's your way of saying you were just worried about me."
"That's not what it is." Kagami walked off past her and back to the living room.
She let out a small giggle and they both went to the main room where Cassie walked to the kitchen and Kagami returned to his spot on the couch watching TV.
"By the way," Kagami said, "your phone's been vibrating for a while. I think you even missed a call."
Cassie knew it could be no one but Murasakibara. Having no other friends—or even family members who spoke to her often—no one else would be texting her.
Cassie quickly retrieved her phone and checked the messages, seeing several texts and two missed calls. She bit her nail while reading through them seeing an escalation of annoyance.
Murasakibara had been texting her, but he was asking her about what foods she liked. After not receiving any response for thirty minutes, she saw several messages of him growing more annoyed at the lack of response.
"Jeez..." She quickly replied to him having no idea why he was asking her such a random question. Once it was sent, she got some water and headed back down the hallway to head off to bed. "Night Kagami."
He gave her a half aware response back, and Cassie was quick to go to her room and fall back on her bed.
No matter what happened, Cassie didn't want to think about it and tried to get ready for the next day. Things would go back to normal and she had to be ready to live life like she was used to.
Those hours in the night went by as they always did, nothing seemed out of ordinary and she was up at the crack of dawn, making her way to Yosen. She stood on the train as she always did, thinking about everyone on the team and how she was going to interact with them.
She remembered that she'd have to spot Himuro again before practice was over, and she had to remember to let Wei know when she was available next; the last thing was just to report this information to Masako.
She let out a sigh as the voice overhead said the name of her stop.
The streets were usually empty in this area, so Cassie didn't have to worry much about getting any looks from people; she often stopped by the convenience store, however, to get some breakfast since she never ate at home—a habit she wanted to break. Seeing her regular stop, she turned to head inside and greeted Minsu who happily waved back to her.
Heading around the back, someone stepped into the aisle and knocking her back.
"Ow..." She stumbled, but looked and saw only the chest of this person. Knowing who this belonged to, she stepped back and looked up at Murasakibara.
"Ah, there you are. Why didn't you text me back?"
Her eyes narrowed. "I did text you back."
"No you didn't, the last thing you sent me was last night, I'm talking about this morning."
Cassie didn't even need to take out her phone, she knew it was off in her bag. "I didn't think you'd text me."
"Well I did. I wanted to meet you at the train stop."
"Why?"
"Because of this." From his side, he pulled out a plastic bag full of snacks and other candies by what Cassie could see. "You said you like chocolate and chips, so I got some stuff you should like."
Cassie stared at the bag before she looked up to Murasakibara. "Why did you get this?"
He pouted a bit. "Aren't you supposed to thank me?"
"Sure, thanks, but why did you get this?"
"To apologize." He paused. "I never really did before so... sorry about saying you were boring."
Cassie's mouth remained shut, unsure of what to say. She looked back to the bag and saw all the food he got for her; she grew slightly embarrassed and turned her back to him.
"Thank you..."
"Haa, you already thanked me."
She quickly turned back. "And it's not a bad thing to say it again." She took a small breath. "Let's just go to practice, we should be one of the first ones there if we go now."
As she talked, she sprinted out of the store not looking back. Murasakibara was quick to catch up to her, but Cassie was still walking even when they got outside.
While he did think it was strange how she was acting, he assumed it wasn't anything too serious and caught up with her as they walked down the sidewalk.
...
When they got to the school, it was a usual practice for them and when they got a break, Cassie chose to continue her notetaking. She sat alone, buried in work she gave herself when Himuro approached her.
"That's a first." She looked up. "You're not taking a break?"
"Uh... no. I kind of wanted to be sure I got Murasaki's records together in case he wanted to see them."
"I see... well, I'll leave you to it, but don't work too hard, okay?"
She smiled. "Yeah, thanks."
Himuro walked off, going back to resting. While Cassie wanted to ask him why he made Murasakibara apologize to her, she figured he wanted to keep it between them. She was about to return to her work, but there was a shadow that grew over her.
"Cas-chin?" The whine of a voice graced her ears.
"Yes, Murasaki?"
"Do you have a hair tie?"
"Um, I should, do you need one?"
He nodded. "And I need you to help me tie my hair up."
"What? Can't you do that yourself?"
"Yeah, but it always slips out when I do it. You have a lot of hair and I never see yours slipping out."
"Okay, seriously, is this that big of an issue?"
"Yes it is."
Cassie looked at him seeing the frown he was developing. Cassie's eyes narrowed and she sat down her pencil before heading over to her bag.
"Before that, can I at least ask why you're only asking me now? You've been practicing this whole time and it's bothering you now?"
"I wasn't really trying, but everyone said they wanted to have a practice match. I'm gonna try and get some shots in."
Cassie was amazed as she turned back to him. "Oh really? You're not just saying that?" His head shook. Cassie smiled and put her hands on her hips. "Well, as some encouragement how about I-"
"No." He cut her off. "I don't need anything, but can you keep track of how many shots I do make?"
Hearing his rejection of her offer, she was shocked to say the least. Murasakibara didn't seem as if he was going to change his mind so Cassie just slowly nodded.
"Yeah, I'll do that... for sure."
Murasakibara then let out a yawn as he sat down on the floor. She was better able to reach his head and she started to grab his hair.
While she did so, Murasakibara spoke. "You only had your hair down once, it looked really fluffy, like cotton candy."
"I guess that means I shouldn't wear it down then."
"Ha~ why?"
"You might actually think it's food and eat it." She laughed.
"I won't. I like looking at it though."
Cassie felt embarrassed slightly at the comment and she focused her effort on his hair.
"You're good at that too."
"Well, your hair's easier to manage than mine." She wrapped the hair tie three times before seeing that the ponytail was tightly bound. "Okay, you should be good now."
Murasakibara got to his feet and faced her without saying anything. At his staring, Cassie smiled.
"Okay, is there something else you need?"
Murasakibara didn't seem as if he were going to respond, but he eventually did all the while his eyes avoided hers.
"What were you and Muro-chin talking about?"
Cassie's brows furrowed. "What do you wanna know that for?" He didn't answer her and with him looking off, it didn't seem like he was going to either. "Well, he just wanted to be sure I didn't overwork myself."
Murasakibara looked back at her once she answered. "Ah... okay."
With that as his last word, Murasakibara walked off.
As she was left confused by the conversation, Cassie just shook her head assuming it to just be a typical interaction of his. She sat back down and tapped her pencil against her notebook and tried to focus on her work.