XVI.

I've been pacing back and forth onto my living room for almost half an hour as I contemplated whether I should dial the telephone or not. Is it really a good idea for me to ask for her help? She might misinterpret this but she is the only person I thought that could help me so I guess...

I gulped what seemed like the lump in my throat then picked up the phone and dialed the number. With my shaking hand, I hovered the telephone on my right ear as I listen to the continuous beeping sound until a male voice came after that.

"Hello?"

I half-expected that he would be the one to pick up the call but what the hell... I wasn't prepared for this. And although it was only one word and it had a nonchalant tone to it, I immediately recognized whom that voice belonged to. As if instinct took over me, my finger immediately pressed the end call button and I slammed the telephone on the table. It was just then that I realized what I had just done.

I screeched and messed up my brown locks in frustration and annoyance. "What the hell are you doing, Kinomi?!" I yelled at myself and felt the urge to hit my head against the wall.

Calm down, it's not him who you need to talk to, it's his mother. Calm down and pick the fucking telephone again.

After a few moments of battling with myself, I finally picked up the telephone and pressed the same numbers I dialed earlier.

"Who is this?" There was a hint of mild irritation on his voice and he didn't bother to hide it. I clutched tight onto the telephone as I open my mouth to state my business.

"Is this the Tsukishima household?" I asked slowly and I prayed to all of the gods existing that he wouldn't recognize my voice.

"Yeah,"

"I need to speak to Kina-san, please."

"Okay, hold on." Silence embraced the other line and I waited a few moments until a female voice replaced it.

"Hello, Kinomi-chan! I'm so happy you called! How are you? Are you feeling fine now?"

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Ho-how did you know that..." I trailed off, getting a hunch that my mind wouldn't permit to finish.

"Kei told me that you needed to talk to me-"

"What? Tsukishima knew that it was me who called?" I exclaimed then draped a hand over my mouth in absolute bewilderment but that was soon replaced by the urge to find a rock and live under it for the rest of my life.

"Of course, it's not that hard to recognize the voice of your other half, you know~" She teased and it followed by her childish giggle.

I face palmed myself. "Kina-san..."

I could imagine an excited grin plastered on her face. "Why do teenagers take everything seriously these days?" She asked to nobody in particular.

I sweat dropped. "Um, I hope I didn't disturb you at any way..."

"Not at all, so what do you need to talk to me about?"

"You see..." I trailed off, thinking of the right words to say. I tapped my finger on the table, pursing my lips in a thin line as I braced myself for her reply at my statement. "I kind of... need your help." I didn't know why I abruptly shut my eyes.

"Oh really?" She asked with mild bewilderment but later on I sensed the smile on her voice. "I'd love to help, Kinomi-chan. What is it about?"

"It's about your son..." I managed to squeak out as I felt my face heat up in embarrassment.

"Which one? I have two sons, you know." She giggled teasingly and it made me pout in dismay. Does she really want me to spell it out for her?

"Kina-san..." I whined.

"Okay, okay, I'm just joking, I know who you're referring to." She chuckled in delight. "So what do you need help with regarding Kei?" She asked in a loud voice, obviously attempting to make the boy being talked about hear us.

"Shh! Please be quiet, Kina-san!" I whisper-shouted to her and I couldn't deny my face overheating at this very moment.

"I'm sorry, you're so cute I just couldn't resist teasing you! But don't worry, I'm sure he's just in his room reading a book while listening to music, anyway."

I sighed in relief. I'm honestly starting to regret asking her for help... "Um, you see... he took the trouble of taking care of me all night long when I was sick and... I was... you know... kind of feel like I have to get back at him..."

My eyes lowered to the ground as I forced myself to finish that sentence. Even though I couldn't remember a single memory of him taking care of me, I can still imagine a few scenarios where he draped an ice cold towel over my burning forehead.

"Oh so, you wanted to ask me for an advice on what to give to him as a way of thanking him?" She concluded with a casual tone. I nodded even though she didn't see it. She was quiet for a while as if she was pondering about something, enough time for my heart to beat wildly like a drum as I was anticipating for her answer. "Well, you could give him a treat. I meant by dessert, he likes strawberry shortcake, Kinomi-chan."

This is the reason as to why I called her... because strawberry shortcake is already so redundant.

"Yes, I think I know that for a fact. He always ordered that whenever he drops by at the café and I already baked a whole cake for him before-"

"Hold that sentence! You did? Wait a minute!" I heard an ear-piercing squeal on the other line and I just had to put the telephone a few distance away from my ear because I feel like it's going to bleed. "A way to a man's heart is through his stomach! That's exactly what I did to Aki, Kinomi-chan!"

"Huh?" I asked, perplexed.

"You have asked the right person for help! Okay, so here's the plan..."

Kei.

"I'm sorry, Kei! I completely forgot to make you a bento last night..." Mom exaggeratedly exclaimed as she had both of her hands covering her mouth in shock.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion because Dad and Nii-san has a bento for their work but she had forgotten about mine... which I found kind of weird.

"Okay? I'll just-"

"No, no! You'll be in for a surprise later at training, my dear. Make sure your stomach is completely empty, okay?" She giggled like a school girl, like she has seen her crush. She even hummed a happy tune as she cleaned the kitchen.

I was listening to music as I wore a sour expression on the way to school for volleyball training. I can't help but feel like Mom is up to something. Did Mikazuki-san said something to her? My thought was arrested when I heard Yamaguchi emerged from the other street and walked side by side with me.

I removed my headphones as he greeted me. "Good morning, Tsukki!"

"Morning."

"Are you alright? You look kind of bothered."

"Not really." I replied nonchalantly.

We walked in comfortable silence, like we usually do.

~*~

After a few hours of training, lunch break came. I could already feel my insides churning because of hunger. I sighed as I took a sip of water, wiping the sweat off my face as I did so.

"OH! It's Mikazuki-san!" I heard the Shrimp exclaim which caught my attention.

"Osu, Kinomi-san!" Nishinoya-san exclaimed with a bright smile.

"Hey," Sawamura-san greeted with a small smile. "Do you need something?"

She nodded then turned her eyes to me, which made the team follow her gaze on me. She began to walk towards me and I turned to look at her with my eyebrows arched.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked her.

But instead of answering, she simply shoved a bento bag against my chest. "Here," She muttered with her head down.

My hands instinctively took the bag from her small hands and we snapped out of our little world when I heard a yell from the team.

"Tsukishima, you bastard! Why are you so lucky?!" Tanaka-san yelled. He and Nishinoya-san shifted their gaze on Shimizu-san. "We shall get Kiyoko-san make a bento for us." They said in unison, determined which made me roll my eyes then turned my gaze on the girl in front of me.

"See you later." She just said with a small smile, turned on her heels and walked away.

"Hey!" She didn't even stop or turn around to acknowledge me calling out.

"What was that all about?" Yamaguchi asked after a while.

I took the time to examine the bag and Yamaguchi, Tanaka-san and Nishinoya-san even took a peek as I open it just to see at least four bento boxes. "What is this?" I asked in disbelief.

"It's a bento, Tsukki." Yamaguchi answered for me which made me roll my eyes.

"Yeah? Duh."

"That's a lot, Tsukishima." Tanaka-san remarked, "You can give us one, though." He smirked.

I gave him a bland stare. "How about a no?"

"Selfish! Tsukishima, you're selfish!" Tanaka-san and Nishinoya-san cried out.

~*~

After training, I marched to Moon of the Third Night because I needed to talk to her.

"Kinomi-chan? She's not here." Her friend from Seijoh informed me as she was busy wiping the table.

"I wonder if she's home..." I mumbled to myself but the girl didn't miss it and sure got her attention.

She turned to look at me, giving me a meaningful look. "Don't you know? Today is the monthsary of her father and brother's death and Tora-san gives her a break every eleventh of the month so that she can visit them at the cemetery." She let out a simper and sighed. "You know, I offered to come with her since her aunt left for Tokyo because of errands but she wouldn't hear of it... she just gave me a dismissive wave of her hand, told me that she'll be fine and I should just go to work. But what about her? This is all still new for her. Do you really think she's fine out there alone? Who is going to be with her and tell her that everything's going to be alright?"

I looked at her intently in the eyes and I saw a small smile evident on her face, as if she was encouraging me to do something I was oblivious about. I didn't know what force pushed me to go and here I was, walking until I realized that I was already running my way to the cemetery.

"Oh from this moment on
I'm changing the way I feel, yeah
From this moment on
It's time to get a real"

I heard a faint voice singing and I followed it until I saw her sitting on the green grass, facing two gravestones with bouquets of flowers around it, her back facing me. She was singing to her father and brother.

"Cause I still don't know how to act
Don't know what to say
Still wear the scars like it was yesterday
But you're long gone and moved on
Cause you're long gone
But I still don't know where to start, still finding my way
Still talk about you like it was yesterday
But you're long gone and moved on
But you're long gone, you moved on"

As if she sensed a presence behind her, she slowly craned her neck to the side and looked up, her eyes surrounded by tears as her mouth was ajar in shock of seeing me.

"Tsukishima..." She mumbled, wiped her tears away and immediately stood up. "Wh-what are you doing in here?"

But like she did to me, I didn't answer. Instead, I sat on the grass, in front of the gravestones and offered a small prayer for her family's souls. She also sat beside me, looking at their graves and she let out a sigh.

"How long have you been here?" I asked her.

"I don't know... three hours or so?"

"Were you singing?"

"Nii-san loved that song so I sang that to him... even though he begged me before to never sing around him again." She chuckled lowly.

"I can pretty much agree." She gave me a small glare.

"Did you like the bento I made for you?" She asked after a while.

"I couldn't seriously eat that much, though."

She chuckled. "You need to eat more, you know. You're so thin, Tsukishima." She pinched my arm which made me swat her hand in response.

"I don't want to hear that from you."

She laughed, and god, that was the most genuine one I heard from her.

"Sorry, Dad, Nii-san... they're getting kind of out of place now... this is my classmate, Tsukishima Kei."

"Nice to meet you," I muttered.

She brought her knees to her chest and hugged herself as the wind blew, her hair following the motion and it was just then that I got a good view of her face... imperfect yet so beautiful.

Her scars came rushing back to my mind, her tears, her broken smile... I didn't want to remember those anymore. I didn't want to see her cry ever again... even though I wasn't supposed to be the one to pick up all of her broken pieces... even though she didn't want it to be me... I'm willing to share all of the pain and burden she carries.

"Ne, Tsukishima... did you know...?"

As those thoughts were going through my head, my breathing went still. I looked at Mikazuki-san then at the gravestones, trying my best to keep my composure, then back at her again.

"They say I'm difficult to love."

She smiled at me and I smiled at her.

"They are right. But... it's harder not to."

...and all I could do was wonder how I'd ever fallen in love with a girl like Mikazuki Kinomi.