Original Art by Nairuru

"Because I like you."

"What?" I whispered.

The words echoed in my ears.

"Because I like you."

"WHAAAT?!" I shouted.

Those words finally sunk in.

This can't be true, right?

My mind was running around in circles. There's no way he meant that.

That's right. He has Ishihara Sumiko, one of the most beautiful girls in school. There's no way he'd like someone like me. This is a joke. He's teasing me again.

But even after knowing this, I couldn't calm the pounding in my chest nor the blood rushing to my face.

Ah, he always makes me feel this way.

I looked at his reddened face.

He must be so embarrassed. I wonder who dared him into this fake confession?

I clenched my fists as I stared at him directly into his eyes.

"I cannot accept your feelings," I said resolutely.

He might be embarrassed, but nothing is more humiliating than being the butt of a joke!

"Ah, I figured you'd say that," he let out a faint smile.

I knew he didn't mean those words. I knew he was just teasing me. But why did he have such a sad look on his face?

"Can I ask why though?" He asked while sitting on top of the teacher's desk behind him.

Seeing him like this made my heart waver.

Was I wrong about him? No way.

Whatever confidence I had earlier all dissipated.

I meekly looked up at him. "You want to know why I don't like you?"

It was an odd request.

"Can't you humor an old man like me?"

He chuckled but it sounded so forced.

I held my shaking hands up to my chest. I never had to confront someone with my feelings before.

I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes as I lowered my head. I couldn't bear to look at him when I say these next words.

"Whenever I'm with you, I get so angry that my chest hurts and my face becomes flushed!"

There, I said it!

Kuroo remained silent.

I wonder what he's thinking. Was I too harsh?

I opened an eye to take a peek at his expression.

Kuroo was sitting there with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face.

"Is that how you really feel about me?" He stood up straight, closing the gap between us.

He lifted his hand and brushed the hair off my face, twirling my locks around his finger.

"Am I making you angry now?"

I stared into his eyes. My words were stuck in my throat.

I never realized that his eyes were hazel. Or how the golds and the greens in his eyes mixed beautifully together.

The swelling in my chest came back again and I could feel my face heat up.

"How about now?" He asked as he leaned his face closer to mine.

"Y-yes," I managed to respond.

He finally pulled his hand away. The warmth of his hand lingered on my skin.

"HAHAHAHA!" He held his sides as he went into a fit of laughter. "I really thought you hated me!"

My eyes twitched. I couldn't comprehend the sudden change in his mood.

"Huh? Did you not hear me say how angry you make me feel?!" I yelled defensively.

Did my words not get through to his thick skull? Was I not harsh enough?

"Let me ask you this. Have you ever liked a person before?" He questioned me as he wiped a tear from his eyes.

"Of course I have! Just recently I had an online crush with-!" I instantly slapped my hand over my mouth.

-you.

I stared at him wide eyed.

He didn't hear me, did he?

It was too late. He already had a beaming smile on his face.

DON

Kuroo smacked his hand onto the wall behind me, startling me. I took a step back but was stopped by the chalkboard behind me.

Why is there always a wall behind me when he does this?!

He leaned his face closer to mine.

Maybe I had gotten used to this behavior, or maybe I was entranced by his eyes. But whatever the reason, I was unable to pull my head away.

"I'll make you realize your feelings for me," he whispered into my ear.

I quickly pushed him away.

"W-WE NEED TO HU-HURRY UP AND CLEAN THE CLASSROOM OR ELSE W-WE'LL BOTH BE LATE TO P-PRACTICE!" I stammered..

I held my face in my hands. My face was burning more so than usual.

Stupid Kuroo! He always does things to aggravate me! How could I ever think he was a nice person?

⟣ ⟡ ⟢

Last night, I barely slept at all. It didn't make sense, nothing made sense.

"-kurai-san."

Why did Kuroo confess to me when he had someone like Ishihara? It didn't seem like someone dared him to do it. But if he decided to tease me like that on his own accord, he'd be too cruel.

"Sakurai-san!"

"Huh?" I looked up at Nakamura who was standing beside my desk.

"Let's get lunch together!" he suggested.

"S-sure!" I happily agreed.

This was the first time someone invited me to eat lunch with them. Was it obvious that I couldn't contain my excitement?

I grabbed my lunch box and followed him out to the cafeteria.

"Not so fast! Where do you think you're going?" Kuroo asked, grabbing my wrist.

"Kuroo-kun? What are you doing?" I struggled to free myself from his grasp.

"Did you forget that you said you'd eat with me and Kenma today?"

"What? When was thi-"

"Sorry, Nakamura! I gotta steal Aya from you again." Kuroo winked at Nakamura then dragged me down the hallway.

"Kuroo-kun, where are you taking me?"

Ignore.

"Kuroo-kun, can you let go of my wrist? People are staring."

Ignore.

"Kuroo-kun-"

"Can you drop the formalities already?" he snapped while letting go of my hand. "I call you Aya. Can't you call me Tetsurou?"

His voice trailed off; it suddenly sounded so gentle. It was the opposite of his loud taunting voice.

Like clockwork, my face started to heat up.

There's no way I can call him that! This man is ridiculous!

"Kuroo....Where are we going?" I stubbornly called his name without any honorifics.

"Eh, I tried," he resigned. "We're going to see Kenma."

"R-really?!" I, once again, couldn't hold in my excitement.

The last time I hung out with Kenma was when we first met. I missed him so much! Granted, we still played games together almost everyday, but it's different talking to each other online and in person!

Kuroo led me to one of the second year classrooms.

"Oi, Kenma! Look who I brought!" Kuroo shouted.

The classroom went silent as they stared at us. The stares reminded me of the looks I got yesterday from my own classmates.

They must be wondering why third years are in their class.

I scanned the classroom for Kenma.

I found him in the middle of the class sitting with two other guys, one had short black hair and the other had a blond mohawk.

I've seen them before. Are they also on the volleyball team?

Kuroo grabbed a chair and sat beside them and I followed suit.

I sat beside the guy with the mohawk. At first, I was intimidated by his looks because he looked like a yankee, but once I sat next to him, he became frozen stiff.

I wonder if he's scared of me because I'm a third year.

"Hello," I greeted him with a polite smile.

"C-captain! Who is this angel?!" He shouted while distancing himself from me.

Huh? I.... ANGEL?!

My jaw dropped lower than the depths of hell.

No one has ever complimented me with such a name. I looked at Kuroo then at Kenma but they both seemed unphased.

Was I overreacting? Maybe this guy says this to every girl he sees?

I'm not used to getting compliments so maybe I'm overthinking his words.

"Calm down. Guys this is Aya, Aya this is guys," Kuroo gave us an extremely brief introduction.

"Umm, hi. My name is Sakurai Ayase. It's a pleasure meeting you," I gave the two an awkward smile.

"My name is Fukunaga Shouhei," the quiet boy introduced himself.

"HI! MY NAME IS YAMAMOTO TAKETORA!" The yankee-looking boy shouted, unable to control the volume of his voice.

I giggled.

What a lively bunch of friends.

"Aya, do you want to play D&D with me?" Kenma asked, looking up from his game.

I looked around the full classroom.

He wants to play games in front of everyone? Won't they think we're weird?

"I- umm," I hesitated to answer him.

I do want to play but I don't want anyone to think I'm weird. I'm already an outcast as is. If people find out I'm an otaku I might actually get bullied!

"Come on, Kenma. This is Aya's first time hanging out with us at school, can't you put your games away?" Kuroo requested.

"Fine," Kenma sighed, setting down his phone.

Did Kuroo realize how uncomfortable I felt? There's no way.

The rest of lunch went on with us talking. I got to learn more about the members of the Nekoma volleyball team.

It was fun watching how the four of them all had varying personalities yet they got along so well.

⟣ ⟡ ⟢

Dinggg dong ding donggg. Dingg dong ding donggg.

I slouched over the moment the bell rang. I've been exhausted the whole day.

I closed my eyes and massaged my temples.

This feels good.

I didn't usually wear contacts for long periods of time, so my eyes were not used to how dry they could get.

"Sakurai-san! Do you want to walk home together?"

"How about we grab some food instead?"

Nakamura and Saito enthusiastically rushed to my desk.

"Sorry, I wanted to study a little bit more." I rejected them with a smile.

Those two have been hanging around me a lot since yesterday. It's nice that they want to get to know me, but I couldn't let them get in the way of my studies.

Suddenly the students around me started to noisily chatter.

"Oh my god, who is that?"

"He's so hot!"

"Isn't that Fukuroudani's school uniform?"

"I wonder if he's looking for someone?"

I looked out the window and saw Bokuto waiting outside at the front gate.

What is he doing here?!

I immediately got up and rushed to the window.

"Tch. Why is that Horned Owl Bastard here?" Kuroo muttered under his breath from beside me.

More and more students started to gather around the window.

Bokuto was examining each student that walked by him, as if looking for someone. He then looked up at the building and noticed me.

He started jumping up and down with both arms waving in the air.

"HEY HEY HEY! AYA IT'S ME!" He shouted. His loud voice was even able to reach me from the second floor.

I nervously smiled and waved at him, trying to ignore the glares I was getting.

"No way, is that her boyfriend?"

He's not.

"It must be nice to become pretty all of a sudden."

Pretty? Me? What are they talking about?

"COME DOWN HERE!" Bokuto yelled. One hand was by his mouth to project his voice, the other never stopped waving.

The whole classroom stared at me to watch my next move.

Bokuto's actions were embarrassing, but I was touched that he came to visit me.

I quickly turned around and rushed to the front gate.

Kuroo followed closely behind me. "You're not actually going out to see him, are you?"

I looked at Kuroo with a bashful smile on my face.

"Of course, I am. He came all this way to see me."

⟣ ⟡ ⟢