Chapter 26:
A day had passed since her and the boys' team returned from Tokyo. Mizuki and her friends had just finished with their volleyball practice and their new captain (as Michimiya had retired), as well as their new coach (who happened to be Coach Ukai's ex-girlfriend from high school), appointed them as regulars on the team.
Mizuki, Rina, Mina, and Yachi were currently eating at the sushi restaurant where Iwaizumi from Seijoh worked. Yachi instantly became friends with the twins due to their shared love of sweets and music. Although Mizuki wanted to enjoy her time with her friends, she found it difficult to because of what was happening at that very moment.
Kei was spending the whole day with the girl who won him as a prize during the school festival. She was secretly hoping that this day would never come, but here it was, and she didn't like it one bit. She sighed deeply, poking at her untouched salmon sashimi. Her friends stared at her and wondered what was wrong.
"What's with the sigh?" Rina frowned, "Is it the sushi? Because we can sue them if-"
"It's not the sushi," Mina interrupted her sister, "It's because of Tsukishima."
"What about him?" Yachi's eyes widened in curiosity.
Mizuki drank her water slowly, unsure of what to say. She didn't have any place to complain or be jealous because they weren't dating.
"He's with a girl right now." Mina chimed in, looking at Mizuki.
"Oh..." Yachi nodded as she pursed her lips together, "And Toma-san, you don't like that?"
"It's not like that..." Mizuki mumbled, checking her phone to see if he had texted her. Nope.
Rina jumped up as she took one last bite of her sushi. This caused everyone in the restaurant to stare at them, including Iwaizumi who was serving other customers.
"Let's go and find them," Rina smirked deviously, "It would be interesting to see how Tsukishima behaves on a date."
"Like a gentleman," Mizuki whispered softly, "And we can't. That would be stalking."
"Oh please," She scoffed, "Would you call hiring a person to follow someone else stalking?"
"Yes. That's literally the definition of stalking." Mina answered immediately. Rina grabbed her sister's phone and dialed Yamaguchi. Mina rolled her eyes as she sat there, eating her wakame salad.
"Hey, Yama-kun! It's Rina!" She grinned excitedly as Yachi urged for her to sit down, "Do you know where Tsukishima is right now?"
Mizuki watched her friend respond to Yamaguchi before she hung up.
"He's not that far from here," Rina stated triumphantly, "He's at a nearby coffee shop."
"We're not going to stalk-" Mina tried to protest against her sister's wishes but was interrupted by Mizuki.
"I just want to see him for a minute." Mizuki blurted out, her face feeling hot. She didn't know why she was so adamant about seeing him.
"See?" Rina smirked superiorly, "Let's do it!"
"As much as I would love to join you in your ridiculous adventures, I think Yachi-san and I would rather stay here and shop," Mina responded as Yachi eagerly nodded.
As they finished their meals, the group parted ways. Mizuki and Rina began walking outside the shopping mall towards the coffee shop. Mizuki was anxious but she needed to satisfy her gnawing curiosity about Kei and the girl. He didn't even say much to her when they rode the bus back to Miyagi.
"So, let's talk about what's really going on here," Rina wrapped her arms around her friend, "You're jealous."
"No, I'm not," Mizuki quickly responded, "I just want to know what he's doing."
"So... jealous!" She repeated, earning a small smile from her.
"I'm just worried that if he actually begins to like that girl, that..." Mizuki trailed off, afraid to finish her sentence.
"He'd forget you? Ignore you? Hate you?" Rina suggested teasingly.
"That doesn't make me feel better." Mizuki pouted.
"Listen, Mizuki, there's no way he would ever do those things." Her friend laughed reassuringly.
"How do you know?" She mumbled softly.
"Are you kidding me?" Rina pursed her lips together, "He adores you."
"Seriously?" Mizuki crossed her arms.
"Yes! So, even if he does decide to date this girl officially, he wouldn't do any of those things to you." She reassured, squeezing her tightly.
"How do you know that?" Mizuki sighed, hugging her friend back.
"Even though I don't like Tsukishima, he seems like a genuinely nice guy..." Rina paused for a second before continuing, "Hidden behind a wall of mean and sarcastic comments."
Mizuki and Rina laughed in unison as they approached the packed coffee shop where Kei allegedly was. They slowly and carefully peeked into the glass window and sure enough, he was sitting there with a bored expression on his face with the girl. Kei was wearing dark grey jeans with a black and white striped sweater. He had his signature headphones placed around his neck as he twirled the spoon in his drink. The girl seemed to be talking passionately about something but he didn't seem interested in what she had to say.
"He looks so bored," Rina snickered, "It's hilarious seeing him like that."
Mizuki moved closer to the window so that she could get a better view. Unfortunately, because she was so focused on Kei, she didn't see the plastic bottle that was on the ground. She yelped as she tripped and hit the ground face first. This caused bystanders and some people in the coffee shop to look at her.
"Hey! Are you okay?" Rina panicked, helping her friend up.
"Yeah, I think so..." Mizuki touched her forehead which stung a little.
She stood up slowly and realized that she had attracted unwanted attention to herself. Mizuki quickly pulled Rina away from the window.
"Do you think Kei saw us?" Mizuki freaked out, "If he saw us, he'll think we're following him! He'll keep teasing me about this!"
"Calm down!" Rina patted her friend's back, peeking into the coffee shop once more, "I don't think he saw us. He's talking to that girl."
Mizuki sighed, relieved, but somewhat disappointed that he didn't see her.
"Wait..." Rina gasped alarmingly, "They're leaving! Move! Move!"
The two scurried behind a red car as Kei and his date exited the coffee shop. Rina and Mizuki followed behind them, careful not to get spotted. It seemed like they were headed towards a jewelry store.
"Why are they going in there?" Rina asked suspiciously. The two hid behind a blue car this time.
Mizuki watched from the distance as Kei browsed the store with his date. He didn't tell her anything about going to a jewelry store. Was he going to buy his date a ring? A bracelet?
She softly touched the necklace that Kei got for her as a gift when they were kids.
A necklace?
"Uh... Suzuki-san..." A voice called out from behind them. The two spun around and noticed Kunimi and Kindaichi looking at them strangely.
"Oh! Kunimi!" Rina greeted warmly, "Onion head! How are you?"
"We're good..." Kunimi answered slowly, "What are you doing hiding behind this car?"
"Long story," She giggled, "Where are you two headed?"
"We're going to the sushi place where Iwaizumi-san works. The whole team is surprising him." Kindaichi explained thoroughly.
"Oh, we were just there..." Mizuki added, observing Kunimi's reaction whenever Rina talked. It was very subtle, but every time she was talking, he would stare at her and smile ever so slightly.
"Yeah!" Rina nodded enthusiastically before noticing how Kei and his date were exiting the store.
"Mizuki! We have to go!" She pointed at Kei who was crossing the street, "It was nice seeing you Kunimi! We should hang out sometime!"
She waved goodbye and grabbed Mizuki as Kunimi stood there, speechless.
"Do you see the way Kunimi looks at you?" Mizuki asked her quizzically.
"What are you talking about?" Rina raised an eyebrow as the two jogged to catch up to Kei.
"I guess not..." She giggled to herself.
"Focus! Mizuki!" Rina snapped as the two followed them towards the bus station.
Kei and his date boarded the bus while the two hid behind a black car. Mizuki squinted and noticed how the girl was casually resting her head on Kei's shoulder. What's worse was that he didn't seem to mind it. Mizuki's shoulders tensed as she watched the bus depart. A terrible idea formed in her head.
"Well," Rina sighed defeatedly, "There they go."
"Rina," Mizuki murmured, staring directly at her friend, "Can we call your driver?"
Rina widened her eyes in surprise but wasted no time in calling her driver. Within ten minutes, he arrived to pick them up.
"Where to?" He asked welcomingly.
Rina stared at her friend as Mizuki dialed Kei's number. He picked up almost instantly which caused her to panic a little.
"Hey! Kei!" Mizuki cleared her throat, "I... uh..."
"Are you free after this?" Kei asked suddenly.
"Well... I'm with Rina right now but I should be after." She responded as calmly as she could.
She took a deep breath and asked, "By the way, where are you right now?"
"I'm in a bus on the way home," He answered nonchalantly, "I gotta go."
He hung up and Mizuki shook her head disappointedly. What was she doing? At this point, she really should be considered as a stalker.
"Take us to Mizuki's house please!" Rina chimed in.
Within twenty minutes, they arrived at her neighborhood. As if fate was on their side, Mizuki spotted Kei on the other side of the street, walking hand in hand with the girl.
They were holding hands.
Her face flushed with confusion as she tried to process what she had seen. Her muscles tensed and her mouth became dry at the sight of them. The girl undoubtedly had a crush on Kei, but did he feel the same towards her?
Rina watched her friend stare at Kei and his date. She then realized the true purpose of why they were following him. She couldn't help but feel partially responsible for her friend's obvious troubled expression.
"I think we should stop following them," Mizuki mumbled quietly.
Rina nodded in agreement but before she could tell her driver to go somewhere else, Kei and the girl stopped walking. It seemed like they were in front of the girl's house. He walked her towards the door and Mizuki couldn't help but stare at them even though she didn't want to.
Kei gently touched the girl's face and inched closer to her.
Mizuki felt like throwing up. Her vision began to blur as she felt the tears flow down her face. Why was she crying? She hurriedly wiped the tears that had formed and forced herself to look away. Rina noticed this and told her driver to take Mizuki home.
"I-I don't know why..." Mizuki trailed off, unable to decipher the mix of emotions that she felt.
Rina wrapped her arms around and hugged her friend comfortingly. As they approached her house, Mizuki tried to forget what she had seen. Everything in her head was jumbled up. Her stomach churned at the thought of him kissing that girl.
"Are you okay?" Rina asked softly, walking her towards her house.
"Yeah," She lied, "I'm just tired."
After a few minutes of soothing words from Rina, Mizuki hugged her friend goodbye and gently shut the door. Rina sighed deeply, crossing her arms. If she knew that Mizuki would react like that, she wouldn't have pushed so hard to follow them. She sat in her car and wondered what she should do. Suddenly, she heard a loud tap on the car window. She rolled it down and found Kei staring at her.
"Tsukishima!" Rina exclaimed.
"Where's Mizuki?" He asked instantly.
"Inside," She responded slowly, "But... I don't think she wants to see you right now."
He stared at her quizzically before staring up at the night sky, "I know you guys were following me."
Rina blinked in embarrassment and smiled bashfully, "Oops..."
Then, she gasped in frustration, "If you knew we were following you, then you knew that Mizuki was watching you the whole time."
Kei nodded guiltily, "Yeah."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Rina abruptly opened the car door and hit him with the various shopping bags as she shouted, "Then, what did you do that for, idiot?!"
"I wanted to see how she would react," He admitted truthfully, "Is she angry with me?"
"I honestly don't know," Rina sighed exasperatedly, "But she wasn't happy."
Kei turned around and began walking towards Mizuki's house.
"What are you going to do if she doesn't want to talk to you?" Rina called out.
"None of your business. Go home, Suzuki-san." He replied back.
She scoffed and entered her car - as if she was going to miss the confrontation of the century.
Kei knocked on her door and her mother answered warmly. She allowed him in and he entered her house attentively. Mizuki's mother said that she was upstairs getting ready for bed so he shouldn't stay for too long. Kei knocked and heard her say to come in. He opened the door slowly and noticed her sitting and tidying her books that were scattered all over the floor. Mizuki didn't say anything at first as she watched him come in. She didn't know what to say.
"Suzuki-san is outside of your house," Kei stated as he sat beside her.
She gulped nervously as she noticed him clutching onto a light blue bag, presumably from the jewelry store he was at earlier.
"How was your day?" She mumbled, avoiding his gaze.
"A little uneventful," He shrugged, leaning back against her bed, "Yours?"
"Same." She croaked, trying her best to answer him.
Kei raised an eyebrow and watched her try to hide the disappointed expression on her face. Her eyebrows were furrowed tensely and it looked like she had been crying judging from her puffy face. He screwed up.
"I didn't kiss her," Kei confessed quietly, "If you were wondering."
Mizuki gazed up at him, tears forming from her eyes, "You knew we were there...?"
"Yeah." He answered, moving closer to her. He wiped the tears that had formed on her face with the sleeve of his sweater.
"I'm sorry," He murmured, tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear gently, "I was selfish."
"Selfish?" Mizuki sniffled.
"I wanted to see how you would react." Kei revealed remorsefully, "At first it was amusing, seeing you hide behind cars."
He gazed at her as he grimaced, "I didn't know you would get hurt. If I had known, I would've never acted like that."
"You were acting?" Mizuki repeated aloud.
He nodded and explained, "I didn't want to spend the whole day with her but since I promised you that I would be a prize during the school festival, I went because I didn't want to disappoint you."
Mizuki stared at him and noticed how genuine his words seemed to be.
"Can I ask you something?" Kei asked in a hushed tone.
"What is it?" She mumbled, feeling slightly light-headed.
"Why did you become so upset after seeing me with that girl?" He tried his best to act as cool as possible but inside, he felt like his insides were convulsing.
She debated whether or not to tell him the truth but she knew that he would be able to tell if she was lying.
Mizuki shut her eyes tightly and said, "I... I was scared that if you started dating her that you'd forget about me. Or ignore me. Or hate me."
Kei was stunned as she confessed to him her reasoning. He didn't know why she thought that but never in a million years could he ever hate her. She was too special to him.
"I guess I was being selfish too." She admitted breathlessly.
Their eyes met and locked as everything else seemed to vanish around them. A certain, palpable tension filled the room.
"You're being ridiculous." Kei chuckled, smiling softly.
"Me?" Mizuki scoffed, becoming more agitated as she glared at him.
"You were the one that acted like you wanted to date that girl. I mean, letting her rest her head on your shoulder, holding hands, and almost kissing?!" She ranted, her face flushing a bright rose color, "And you know what, you're not a very good actor! You shouldn't pursue a career in acting because you suck at it!"
Kei smirked and placed his hand on his forehead as he was overcome with delight, "I'll take that into consideration. Thank you."
"You're welcome!" She nodded fiercely. Mizuki pouted and crossed her arms in protest against him.
"Maybe I should go on dates more often." He gazed at her, his pulse racing wildly.
"Why?" She grimaced, avoiding his mocking stare.
"Seeing you pout like that..." He laughed, "It's cute."
Mizuki became flustered hearing him describe her like that. She stared at the floor intensely and felt the palms of her hand sweat as she bit her lip apprehensively.
"Oh yeah?" She challenged, glaring at his smug face, "Well, don't think I forgot how dazed you were when I kissed you on the cheek!"
"How is that related?" He sneered, watching her twitch in irritation.
"I don't know!" She scowled and huffed in frustration.
"So you forgive me?" Kei grinned, moving his face closer to hers.
"No!" Mizuki pushed his face away with her hand, "In fact, I declare that I am officially angry at you."
She shuffled her whole body around so that she was facing away from him and his stupid, annoying expressions. She knew that he enjoyed teasing her and she was not going to let him win this time.
"I said I was sorry already..." Kei whined, inching towards her, "Please forgive me..."
He rested his chin on her shoulder and noticed how good she smelled so close to him. She smelled like strawberries, his favorite fruit. Meanwhile, Mizuki tensed up as she felt the warmth radiating off his body.
"N-no!" She shouted loudly.
"Would a kiss make you forgive me?" He gazed up innocently which caused her to turn various shades of pink. Her whole body felt as if it was on fire as she couldn't believe what he just suggested.
"You- I- Kei!" Mizuki stammered, aggressively pushing his resting head off her shoulder.
"I'm sorry! I'm kidding!" Kei howled gaudily, clutching his stomach tightly. In his defense, he really was joking, but on the other hand...
Mizuki shot him a dirty look as she stood up quickly, "Because of that question, you are no longer my best friend!"
Kei jumped up enthusiastically as he had one more trick up his sleeve. He was enjoying her frustration so much. He stepped closer towards her, a smirk slowly forming from his lips.
"So, can I be your boyfriend now if we're not technically best friends?" He smiled slyly.
Mizuki froze in panic, unable to form coherent words together, "Kei! What- why-"
Her stomach fluttered as she stared at his pompous face. She knew that he was enjoying this way too much and he needed to be taken down. She felt her skin tingling as she clenched her fists tightly. She needed to think of something - anything - to stop him from constantly teasing her.
"I'm kidding!" He snickered, his golden eyes twinkling in mischief, "It's hilarious teasing you and seeing you so flustered."
Mizuki took a deep breath and mustered up the courage necessary for what she was about to do. There was no going back from here. She was not going to let him treat her like this. She furrowed her eyebrows, determined to defeat him in his own game. Suddenly, she lunged forward, and swiftly brushed her lips against his. Meanwhile, Kei was caught off-guard as he barely registered what had happened before she pulled away in celebration.
"Ha! Who's the flustered one now!" She smirked, crossing her arms triumphantly while she observed her friend's reaction.
Kei froze stiffly, overwhelmed by Mizuki's unforeseen actions. He gazed at her breathlessly, unable to move or even function mentally. He desperately wanted to lean in and kiss her, properly, but if he did, everything would change.
"Mizuki..." He managed to say weakly, reaching out for her hand.
"What?" She grinned mockingly, "You didn't expect that, did you!"
Kei realized what he had to do, and he had to do it now.