『 5 』

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Original Art by zen0006 on Twitter

"Hey there, A-YA-PI," Kuroo sang.

His evil grin and devilish eyes pierced my heart. Kuroo Tetsurou is Kurokami?!

This can't be...

As unbelievable as it seemed, the puzzle pieces all came together. The clues were all there.

Kurokami went to the same high school as Kenma, he's a year older, and he's in the volleyball team. And after finding out his username 96kami translated to black hair, it should have all made sense.

Kuroo walked closer to us. I buried my face into the back of Kenma's jacket.

I still can't believe Kurokami is Kuroo! I can't believe the guy I like has been sitting in front of me this whole time! Does he recognize me? Does he know who I really am?

"You're scaring Aya. She really thought you were going to murder us or something," the blond informed the raven-haired boy, hands in his pocket.

"That's not true!" I spoke up.

For a split second, my eyes met with his.

"Eep!" I squeaked and buried my head back into Kenma's jacket.

He definitely knows who I am!

"C-calm down, Aya-pi. I'm harmless!" Kuroo raised both arms up. "Actually, I'm classmates with one of your club members, Sakurai-san. My name is Kuroo Tetsurou."

I looked up at him from Kenma's shoulder.

He...doesn't recognize me?

I let go of Kenma's jacket and stepped to the side, revealing myself.

"Sorry for my rudeness," I apologized to both Kenma and Kuroo.

"It's alright. I don't think Kenma has ever had that much action his whole life," Kuroo teased, referring to me holding onto Kenma earlier.

"W-what?!" I shouted, heat rising to my face.

I glanced at Kenma but he was looking the other way.

Stupid Kuroo! He always says something to make my blood boil! I can't believe he's Kurokami!

And just like that, the illusion of my knight in shining armor, Kurokami, shattered.

⟣ ⟡ ⟢

The three of us were on the train heading back home. We agreed to hang out in a more familiar setting.

We ended up on the train during rush hour though. Everytime the doors opened, the bodies in the train increased. Kenma and I were stuck, side-by-side, in the corner of the train cart. Kuroo was in front of us, hunched over with his arm leaning against the wall behind me for support. He was shielding us from the inpour of people filling the train.

His gesture was very admirable but...

WHY DOES KUROO HAVE TO BE SO CLOSE TO ME?!

I could feel Kuroo's warm breath on my face. I looked up, his face was just inches away from mine.

"Don't fall in love with me," he goaded, his smirk the same as usual.

"Hmph!" I puffed my cheeks and looked away.

More people came in, pushing Kuroo closer to me.

"Damn it," he gritted his teeth.

I could smell the sweet aroma of his deodorant wafting from his sweater. The intoxicating scent made my heart race.

Kenma seemed to be unphased by all of this as he continued to play another mobile game.

"Oh, an SSR drop," Kenma commented.

"What? Another one?! You really are blessed by RNJesus!" I looked at his game in awe, not realizing that my cheek brushed his.

"Oi, the next stop is us," Kuroo reminded us, snapping me back to reality.

I looked past him to the dense cluster of passengers. I gulped, preparing myself to fight my way through them.

"Next stop is Nerima Station. Nerima Station. Please exit on your right."

Soon after the announcement, the doors opened.

Kuroo tightly grasped my wrist and pulled me out, "Let's go."

"W-Wait!" I cried out.

I just barely grabbed onto Kenma's arm and pulled him out of the train with us.

"Man, it's like a war zone in there!" Kuroo started doing back exercises like an old man. "C'mon, I'm hungry!"

Kuroo led the way like a true captain.

"Hey, where are we going?" I whispered to Kenma.

"Beats me," he shrugged.

We ended up in front of a barbeque house near the station. Kuroo opened the door, ushering for us to go inside.

"U-umm....I-I don't think I can afford this," I panicked.

"Don't be shy," he smiled, pushing me inside the restaurant.

How is he always this casual and carefree? I'm going to have to spend a month's allowance on this!

The waitress sat us down and handed us the menus. Kuroo and Kenma sat next to each other and I sat across from them. I glanced at the prices of the items.

I can buy one bowl of rice and a plate of brisket. That'll cost ¥2,300. I can go to the convenience store afterwards if I'm still hungry and buy some snacks so I'll only be spending roughly ¥3,000 on dinner. I already spent ¥2,000 for transportation and food in Harajuku, which means I'd have spent ¥5,000 for today's festivities.

I started doing math in my head.

Hanging out with friends is expensive! This is why I'd rather stay home and study. I'm going to have to pick up some shifts at the flower shop to make more money.

The waitress stopped by our table, "are you ready to order?"

"Yeah, we'll share the C Set," Kuroo pointed to his menu.

C Set?

I glanced all over the menu to find the price for the C Set. When I saw the Set Menu, I read down the list.

¥12,000?! That's ¥4,000 split amongst us!

I felt my soul leave my body as my body went limp in my chair.

"Got it!" the waitress wrote down our order and left.

"So how was your date today, you two?" Kuroo pried, his head resting on his interlaced hands.

"I-It wasn't a date!" I shot back up.

"Oh? A boy and a girl going to the shrine together sounds like a date to me," he prodded.

"Aya-pi wanted to pray to the gods for a 5 star character. It wasn't a date," Kenma explained, eyes glued to his smartphone.

"W-wait Kenma-kun! Don't go announcing that to the world," I said in dismay.

"WAIT! THAT'S WHY YOU WANTED TO GO TO THE SHRINE?! BWAHAHA!" Kuroo hunched over laughing, his fist pounded the table as he did so.

My face flushed.

This is so embarrassing. Of course a jock like Kuroo wouldn't understand.

"So? How'd you like my gift?"

I remembered the cute cat keychain he gifted me and my mood instantly shifted.

"Huh? Oh, it's very cute. Thank you so much," I smiled at him.

"I'm glad you liked it, My Kitten," he purred.

"M-MY KITTEN?!" my face reddened even more.

W-WHAT DID HE JUST CALL ME?!

"Yeah, the keychain is of my kitten. Want to see pictures of him?" he pulled out his cellphone, showing me his lockscreen of his kitten. "What? Did you think I was calling you 'My Kitten'?"

He chuckled as my blood boiled again.

Kuroo is so unbearable! Now he's just playing with me!

The waitress came back with our plates of raw meat. I added the meat to the hot grill, the fats and oil sputtered everywhere burning my hand.

"Ow!" I jerked my hand away.

"Are you okay?" Kuroo immediately pulled my hand to inspect it.

"You okay?" Kenma peered over to see the damage.

"I-I'm fine! It barely even hurts!" I stuttered, pulling my hand back.

Why does Kuroo always do things to make my blood pressure rise?

"Good thing we're eating all this protein! The burns will heal quickly," I awkwardly laughed.

"Yeah..." Kuroo's voice trailed off, his eyes still piercing straight at me.

"Nerd," Kenma coughed as he got back to his games.

"I'm not a nerd! That's common knowledge!"

The rest of dinner went by smoothly. Kuroo and I surprisingly had a lot in common. We had the same favorite game, anime, and manga. For a jock, he's pretty geeky.

"Hey, Aya-pi. I was wondering why you were in the archery club? You don't look like someone who plays archery," Kuroo pondered.

"It's because," I blushed while looking down at my plate of food, "I really enjoy playing the archer class in video games, so I wanted to try it out in real life."

"BWAHAHAHA," Kuroo burst into laughter, banging on the table again.

Kenma tried to stifle his laughter but even that broke loose.

"Hey! That's not funny!" I cried, my face started burning up, but not from the hot grill in front of me..

"You do always play as an archer in our games," Kenma commented.

"You're full of surprises, Aya-pi," Kuroo noted, wiping away a tear.

I puffed my cheeks, taking in his compliment.

At the end of the dinner, the bill came out to be ¥13,230. Split amongst the three of us, it's ¥4,410 each. I felt a pang in my heart as I almost emptied out my wallet.

"Here's my portion for the meal," I handed the money to Kuroo, who was now holding the receipt.

He looked around a bit then pushed my hand away.

"Don't worry, it's my treat," he flashed his devilish grin to me.

I pushed the money back to him, "I can pay for myself."

"Think of it as making it up to you for crashing your date," he pushed the money back.

Kuroo and his antics again.

"Like I said before, it's fine!" I shoved the money in his face.

"If you don't want your money, I'll gladly take it to buy a new game," Kenma cut in.

I immediately backed down.

"Fine...t-thank you for the meal," I muttered.

"Don't worry about it," Kuroo smiled.

He looked so sincere and kind. I've never seen this side of Kuroo before.

My chest started to hurt.

Maybe my arteries are getting clogged from all this fatty meat.

⟣ ⟡ ⟢

"This is my stop," I said, standing up to get ready to get off the bus.

The two boys stood up as well.

"Umm, you don't have to walk me home," I told them. "After all, we are still strangers from the internet."

"What do you mean? This is our stop too," Kuroo took this opportunity to tease me, "Wait, did you think we were going to walk you home?"

My face heated up in embarrassment. I did assume that they wanted to walk me home and Kuroo had just called me out on it.

"W-wha?! U-umm," I managed to make some sounds while trying to think up a comeback.

"It's dangerous for a girl to walk home alone at night," Kenma interrupted, coming to my rescue.

"Ah, I'll be fine! I don't live too far from here," I reassured him.

I sighed in relief. I wouldn't have to deal with Kuroo anymore after tonight.

The three of us got off the bus.

"Well, I'm going this way," I pointed down the street.

"What a coincidence, so are we," Kuroo said smugly.

I couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or not. We walked down the road for a few minutes until we hit a corner convenience store.

"Don't tell me you guys are also turning left right here?" I gulped.

"Yeah," Kenma answered.

Don't tell me we're neighbors!

"You guys stay right here," I commanded them.

"What do you mean stay right here?! I want to go home!" Kuroo protested.

"No way! I don't want you guys finding out where I live!" I shot back.

"We already go to the same school! What difference does it make knowing where you live?" Kuroo retorted.

Kenma stood there silently, watching us bicker.

"Those are two completely different things!" I snapped back.

Kuroo really knew how to get my blood to boil.

"Hey guys," Kenma interrupted.

"What?!" Kuroo and I snapped at him, still heated from our argument.

"We'll just stay here until you get home. After you message us that you got home safely, we'll head home too," Kenma explained.

"That's the brains of our team! Always thinking of solutions!" Kuroo hooked an arm around Kenma's shoulder.

"That's basically what i just said!" I told them, annoyed.

"Basically. But that's not what you actually said," Kuroo put his free hand on his hip.

"Whatever. I'm going home now. What's your emails? I'll message you when I get home."

"What?" Kuroo gasped, "You want to know my contact? How bold of you!"

I, getting used to Kuroo's teasing, ignored his antics and turned to Kenma to exchange contacts with him.

"W-wait! I was just kidding! Here's my email," Kuroo apologized, trying to get in on Kenma and mine conversation.

After exchanging contact information, I finally left the two boys at the corner convenience store.

Today was kind of fun.

⟣ ⟡ ⟢

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