CHAPTER 9：Love, Hate
Sorano sneezed again. Akaashi turned his head to the girl scrubbing the sink with all her might. 'Are you sure you're okay?' he asked. Sorano sniffed and nodded vigorously.
'Thanks for asking. I accidentally slept with the air conditioner on last night. This is just temporary, don't worry.' She replied and raised her head so she'd face the ceiling.
She stayed for a few seconds then got back to work.
'What did you do?' Akaashi found himself unable to resume his work as he watched the girl.
'Letting the mucus flow back in because I can't wipe my nose. Sounds disgusting, I'm sorry.'
'Maybe I should tell Kuroo-san to let you rest for a while—'
Sorano shook her head. 'No, no! I'm fine, really!'
Akaashi frowned then sighed. 'If you say so.'
'Say, Akaashi-san,' she called out and the lad hummed in reply. 'Why did you come to work here?'
'This might sound ridiculous to you but Kanzaki-san was the one who recruited me. As soon as I agreed, he let me into the team and no interviews were done. I wasn't required to send a resume as well.' He retorted.
'How about Bokuto-san? Did you invite him?'
'No, in fact we didn't see each other much a year after he settled in a local university. I guessed Kanzaki-san approached him too. Getting into the same team was a pure coincidence.'
'I see...'
'How about you Sorano-san? Why did you come to work here?' it was his turn to ask.
Sorano tilted her head slightly, thinking. 'Back in high school, I had no friends, my grades were average and I didn't care about anything. My life was boring. When someone offered me a job of being a manager for a model, I learned a lot and it made me realize how fun it was to have something to do.
'Managing Kise alone wasn't enough. I felt like I had to do something else so I signed up as a bartender because it only has night shifts and it won't interfere with my other job or my studies. I like being busy and having things to do.'
'Kise?' Akaashi questioned.
'Kise Ryouta, he's a model.'
Akaashi nodded in understanding. 'You're a hard worker, then?'
'Kind of.' She smiled.
As if on cue, Bokuto barged into the washroom and his face was glowing in excitement. 'Free melon breads!' he exclaimed.
-
Kageyama Tobio sighed. Once again, he was dragged upstairs to the pub to offer everyone melon breads, free at that. Oikawa pushed the door open. 'Everyone, free melon breads!' he beamed.
The girl by the counter, Shino Izumi stood from her seat. 'Again?!' she queried. Oikawa gave her a convincing grin. 'I'll go call Team B!'
'I'll go get Iwa-chan!' he chirped in reply and ran to the kitchen. Kageyama sighed again and took a seat at the bar. He couldn't believe he was in a pub for the second time.
'Kageyama,' a voice called out and the said person turned his head towards the kitchen door. 'Were you dragged upstairs again?' it was Iwaizumi Hajime, his mentor's best friend.
Oikawa was beside him, pouting furiously. High chance that he was scolded for barging in like that. Kageyama nodded once. Iwaizumi gritted his teeth and glared at Oikawa, who avoided his gaze.
'Free melon breads!' Bokuto and Kuroo rushed to the counter from the Karaoke section.
'Izumi!' Iwaizumi chided. His girlfriend giggled and ignored him. He sighed. 'Lucky we don't have any customers right now.'
Soon, Team A and Team B were busy eating melon breads at the bar. Oikawa saw Sorano and approached her. 'Sorano-chan!' he waved and Sorano waved back shortly. 'What time does your shift end?'
'3am, why?'
'Let's go watch the stars again.' He grinned.
'Sure.'
And then they ended up staring at each other, awkward, unable to find anything to say. Suddenly it came. Sorano frowned and faced down. Oikawa touched her shoulder, worried. 'S-Sorano-chan?!'
Sorano held up one hand, the sense coming. Beside her was Akaashi, watching as Oikawa panicked. Since he knew what was wrong with her back in the washroom, Akaashi quickly grabbed a tissue and handed it to her. On cue, Sorano sneezed loudly.
Oikawa flinched and blinked. Sorano sneezed again... And again... Then silence. He was about to ask if she was okay but she showed him her forefinger. 'One mo—' she sneezed again.
'Thanks Akaashi-san.' She said after wiping her nose properly. Turning her head to Oikawa, she bowed her head slightly. 'Sorry, Oikawa-san!'
'Are you sick?' he asked.
'Nope. Just a temporary flu, I'll be fine by tomorrow!' she assured him. Oikawa nodded awkwardly.
∞
'You what?!' Izumi screeched.
The customer sitting two seats away from Oikawa glanced at the girl but quickly resumed his business as Oikawa put up one hand at him, waving slightly. He turned to Izumi.
Iwaizumi who was just done with a customer came to Izumi and she clutched his arms tightly. 'Oikawa saw Akayuki in her un—' Izumi was shouting but Iwaizumi cut her off by covering her mouth with his hand.
Izumi blinked at him.
'You're too loud, talk to me normally.' He reminded and Izumi blushed, embarrassed. Oikawa inflated his cheeks, trying to hold back a laugh and he was lucky the two didn't notice his reaction.
As Iwaizumi removed his hand, Izumi immediately spouted what Oikawa had told her. 'Oikawa saw Akayuki in her underwear!' she said urgently. Iwaizumi stared at the girl, unmoving.
2 minutes passed and he looked at Oikawa. Oikawa flinched and blinked nervously. 'So... how did it go?' Iwaizumi mumbled. Izumi frowned, as if knowing what Iwaizumi was indicating.
Oikawa got it quick. 'Nice.' He gave him a V-sign. Izumi swung her hand and hit her boyfriend's back as strong as she could. Iwaizumi winced and put up one hand. Izumi pouted angrily at him.
'I was just joking,' he said calmly, trying not to hit his girlfriend back, and then faced Oikawa who had a stupid look on his face when he saw how hard Izumi hit Iwaizumi. 'What happened actually?'
Oikawa opened his mouth to answer but something more important came to his mind. '... I-Iwa... Iwa-chan, are you okay? I think your spine is fractured...' he trailed off when he saw Iwaizumi's eyes looking straight at him. 'I mean... of course, uh, I arrived at her house and heard a scream so I rushed inside to see what was going on. She came into my sight by the kitchen clad in a T-shirt without any pants on.'
'Why did you barge in?' Izumi queried.
'There was smoke coming from the kitchen and a girl screamed!' Oikawa retorted. 'I acted upon instincts and the door was unlocked.'
'Hajime-kun, if you were in Oikawa's place, would you do that?' Izumi turned to Iwaizumi.
'Well,' Iwaizumi shrugged. 'If I come to your house and you scream and there's smoke, I'd barge in.'
'That's not the point—' Izumi gritted her teeth and slapped her own forehead. 'It's normal for you to knock on the door harshly and ask if the person inside is alright!'
Oikawa tilted his head. 'Maybe my instincts were wrong...?'
Izumi sighed. 'So? Did she kick your chest or something?'
He shook his head. 'No, she ran back to her room, we apologized and then acted like nothing happened.'
'Wow...' Izumi and Iwaizumi chorused.
'Do you think she'd hate me?' Oikawa pouted.
'Don't worry, she won't.' Izumi waved her hand.
'How are you so sure?' Oikawa squinted his eyes.
Iwaizumi smirked. 'Akayuki's too busy to hate you. She has a lot of other things to do than worrying about you.'
Izumi nodded, supporting him.
'I invited her to play volleyball with me, though. Is that okay?' Oikawa spoke up.
'You did?!' Izumi shrieked then quickly turned to Iwaizumi who smiled in return.
'A-Ah! Is it not okay after all?!' Oikawa panicked and stood ready to cancel the promise.
'No, no! It's definitely fine!' Izumi interjected before he could shoot off to the Karaoke section.
'It's just that...' Iwaizumi said. 'I think you've grown, Trashykawa.' With that, he reached out his hand to Oikawa's head and ruffled his hair. The brown-haired lad gaped and stared at his friend.
The realization hit him 30 seconds later. Iwaizumi was about to turn to head to the kitchen when Oikawa jumped out of his seat and hugged him. 'Iwa-chan!!!!' he exclaimed.
Iwaizumi flinched and tried to get him off. 'Oi! Get off me! What are you doing?!' he yelled and Izumi laughed.
'Because Iwa-chan that was the first time you ever did something so kind to me!' Oikawa hugged him tighter and Izumi laughed harder. Iwaizumi sighed, regretting his actions.
∞
'Aren't you sleepy?' Sorano asked as she and Oikawa walked together through the "special route". 'It's 3.30am.'
'Not really, I'm looking forward for my bed though.' He giggled.
Sorano smiled at that and they continued to walk in silence, a few more meters until they reach the bridge. She didn't know why but she felt like holding his hand tightly (and tear it off) but she held back the urge because she knew Oikawa would take it the wrong way.
They arrived at the bridge soon and stopped by the railings then gazed up at the sky. 'Oh.' Oikawa blurted out and Sorano felt the disappointment he felt.
The sky was pitch black and empty. There were no sparkling stars. It was like staring up at a clean, dark canvas. The only part visible of the moon was a slight crescent and it illuminated so little light that Sorano felt like the moon was useless at that time. Though, of course she was kidding.
Oikawa let out a disappointed hum. 'The sky is so gloomy.' He stated.
'Yeah.' She agreed.
'Sorano-chan,' Oikawa called her name after a while staring at the empty cloudless sky. 'Do you have anyone you hate?'
Sorano frowned then turned to the lad. 'What kind of question was that?' she stifled a laugh.
'Sorry if it's ridiculous I mean—I was just thinking, you know.'
'Trying to bring up a conversation, is it?' she chuckled then tilted her head. 'Hmm, let's see... I don't really bear any strong hatred towards anyone, but of course there are some hated people in my life.'
'Tell me about it.' Oikawa grinned.
Sorano squinted her eyes at him before glancing at her wristwatch and sighed. 'It was back in middle school. One guy from another class came to like me because we were neighbors since elementary. He was quite good-looking, and a bunch of girls from my class often talked about him.
'They were probably jealous that I was close to him so whenever we had any cleaning duties together, I'd end up doing it alone and the guy would come to help because we have to walk home together, as instructed by his mother. As you can guess, the girls bullied me often and when the guy confessed, they were there.
'Well, I didn't answer him right away but we remained close and nothing changed but I was bullied more often. There wasn't anything like in Shoujo manga; it was just that I always ended up carrying their responsibilities. They talked behind their own friends and I find that disgusting.
'I'm not sure if I can even remember their faces now—I didn't have any time to give it any deeper thoughts,' Sorano laughed. 'I guess I forgave them... but then, that wouldn't answer your question, right?'
Oikawa joined her laugh. 'Iwa-chan was right. You're too busy to hate anyone.'
'True.' She nodded.
'How about... Ah! Have you ever dated anyone before?' he continued to ask.
'Sure,' she replied. 'But we broke up a month later.'
'Wow, what a coincidence.' Oikawa murmured.
'I know you broke up with your girlfriend a month after you dated her. News travel fast especially in high school.' Sorano said. Oikawa grinned and looked down at the flowing river.
'Who dumped who?' he glanced at the girl beside him.
'We dumped each other.'
'Sounds like an interesting story.'
'Can I talk while we walk? Kise has a shoot for an ice-cream advert tomorrow morning.'
'Sure.' And so the two of them continued their journey back home.
The wind wasn't blowing but the night wasn't as hot as Sorano had thought it would be. Her feet were killing her even though she was wearing a pair of sneakers. 'So?' Oikawa began.
'3 weeks after we dated, I felt like he was weird... I decided to follow him around for a week and on one fateful day, I found out he was gay. He was interested in a guy from a Karaoke place.
'He told me he didn't know he was gay until he saw him. We agreed to breakup and I believed that it was the right thing for me... that someone better would come. I didn't date anyone else after that. It was kind of traumatic actually.' She explained.
Oikawa burst out laughing. 'I'm sorry, I know it's sad for you but,' he paused to catch a breath. 'I could imagine the scene in my head, that's why it was so funny!'
Sorano giggled. 'I thought about it one time before and laughed at myself too. It was indeed funny. How about you, Oikawa-san? Did you have another one after the breakup?'
Oikawa shook his head. 'I was too busy with volleyball, entrance exams, and university. After settling in and graduating from the university, I thought about getting a job. My mind never came to think about having a girlfriend so far.'
'Maybe you're gay.' Sorano snorted.
Oikawa chuckled then shrugged. 'You might be right.'
'Ew.' Sorano nudged his elbow, distancing him. Oikawa laughed softly.
∞
'You're already going out, Sorano-chan?' Kiyoko called out from the bed. I was drying my hair a small towel when she woke up. Glancing at her, I nodded.
'Yeah, I need to pick up that yellow prawn in 15 minutes.' I replied.
Kiyoko chuckled. 'Yellow prawn?'
'It's Kise,' I grinned. 'Is today your day off?'
Kiyoko nodded.
I smiled. 'Anywhere you want to go?'
'Nowhere in particular, I might need to buy some things from the grocery store but I feel like sleeping throughout the day.' She answered, burying her head into a pillow.
'Do you want to come with me, Kiyoko-chan?' I queried.
She jerked her head up and her eyes widened. 'I can come?!'
'Sure, just stay with me throughout his shoot.'
'Yeay! Wait for me! I'll be ready in 10 minutes!' she grinned and ran to the bathroom. I giggled.
**** WRAPPED ****
A/N:
This is another boring chapter and I am terribly sorry for that!