XXXIII.

Kinomi.

I was at the rest room of the school, looking at myself in the mirror. I adjusted my bangs to the side, getting a good view of my dull and dry face. I need to trim my hair. My bangs almost covered my eyes now. I secured my long bangs with a bobby pin.

Also, should I learn make-up?

Then I winced at the thought. It was too much of a hassle. Even though I was a former waitress and most of my co-workers, including my aunt, told me to apply make-up to look presentable, I never really bothered about it because none of my customers ever complained about my face. And I don't know what the jerk face might say about it, too.

After what I had discovered about Tsukishima a week ago, it gave me a different light about him. He was holding back because of what happened with his brother's volleyball career. He's doing it to protect himself. He distances himself from being completely absorbed by volleyball because of the pain he saw his brother went through. But I can see that he does like the sport.

Most people don't like him because of the way he treated them, including me. Heck, I even hated him. But after getting to know him a little longer, I realized that he's nicer than what people give him credit for. Including himself.

I realized that I can't do anything but be there for him like the way he's been there for me. Just because I'm his girlfriend doesn't mean I get to tell him what to do. The only thing for him to change the way he think is—

Ah... I suddenly feel dizzy.

I arrested my thoughts and waited for the mild headache to subside. It's getting even more frequent now. I wonder if it's because of lack of sleep?

I flinched when the door of the rest room burst open and a girl came running inside, covering her mouth. She immediately went straight to a cubicle, not bothering to close it as she opened the seat of a toilet bowl, knelt in front of it then vomited.

I consciously walked over to the girl then contemplated whether to pull back her curly, caramel locks as she continue to vomit. In the end, I still did and that's when I recognized her. It's Masafumi Eira, Tetsurou's... I don't know.

She moaned. "Ah, thank you..."

"Eira-san..." I pronounced, making her teary eyes dart to me. Her eyes widened in horror. "Are you okay?"

"Kinomi...-san..." She pulled the seat down then I helped her up. She took a seat on the toilet bowl. "Yes, I'm okay..." She couldn't look at me in the eyes. I mean... if I were her, I wouldn't be able to considering the last time I saw her with Tetsurou.

"Did you eat something bad?"

"Huh? Uh, yes! I think it was the sushi."

I tilted my head to the side. "Figures. The food at the canteen sucks."

Eira-san let out a somber smile. "I suppose so."

"Do you want me to accompany you to the infirmary?"

Then she looked at me as if I had said something so scary. "No! There's no need!" She smiled, waving both of her hands. "I'm really okay."

"Oh... okay. If you say so."

I prevented the urge to squint my eyes at her. She stood up and marched to the faucet to wash her mouth. I followed her then washed my hands as well, feeling something in my gut. I think she's hiding something. But it's not any of my business. But what she said next made me suspect her even more.

"Thank you for the concern, Kinomi-san. But can you keep this a secret between us?"

I faced her, giving her a bland look. "Is this even worth telling anyone?"

She was taken aback, before looking away with a small smile. "No. I guess not."

After classes, I went to the infirmary to grab some medicine for my headache. Then I went straight to the gymnasium because manager duties. What happened earlier in lunch break couldn't permit my mind to erase. I don't know what's the real score between her and Tetsurou but could it be?

I slid the gymnasium door aside then greeted the volleyball team who were on their water break. The volleyball team has been training extra because of the continuation of training camp in the following week.

"Kinomi-san, osu!" Lev waved with a bright smile.

"Taking your sweet time, aren't you, Kinomi-chan?" Tetsurou said, making me look at him intently. My gaze at him made his smirk slightly falter, noticing that I wasn't in the mood to clash with him today.

"You look like you just woke up." Lev commented, looking over to me with wide curious eyes. I know he doesn't mean anything by it, and it's true, but he's going to get in trouble with being too honest one of these days.

"Yeah? Tell me something I don't know, Lev." I drawled with a sigh.

"Are you feeling sick?" Yaku-san suddenly went in front of me and draped a hand over my forehead. "Your temperature's normal."

"I'm fine, Yaku-san."

"Maybe some yakisoba breads would make you feel better!" Yamamoto-san said.

"I want some, too!" Inuoka-kun added.

"Me, too!" Shibayama-kun beamed.

"Then let's get some after training!"

"Let's also see who gets to eat the most." Inuoka-kun challenged.

"Hey, don't eat too fast, you'll get a stomachache." Yaku-san reminded.

The coach then beckoned them back to the gym, but Tetsurou approached me. "You sure you're okay? You're not salty with me today, that's a first."

"Yeah. I just want to get this over with so that I can get home and get some sleep. Also," Then I thought of Eira-san again, and I looked up at Tetsurou who was looking down upon me. "I need to talk to you about something when we get home."

"Okay." Then he returned to the court with the rest of the team.

I'm not usually the type of person to gossip about what happened about other people, but I can't shake off the feeling that Tetsurou needs to know what happened.

I heaved out a sigh, got a scolding or two from the two coaches for being tardy. I just passed their statements in my left ear then exited in my right. I just wanted to get home so that I can get some sleep.

After training, Kenma-kun, Tetsurou and I went home using the train. I couldn't stop my drowsiness so I fell asleep on Tetsurou's shoulder. He woke me up when we arrived at our stop.

I stretched with a yawn as we walk on the way home, Tetsurou continued to disturb Kenma-kun while he's playing with his PSP. I just remained quiet.

"Kinomi, do you want seconds?" Mom asked as we ate dinner. I wanted to skip dinner and just go straight to sleep but then Mom would pester me.

I shook my head. "I'm already full."

"I want some, Mom." Tetsurou said with a grin as he gave his cup to her. Mom just took it with a smile as she gave him more rice. "Homemade food is really the best."

"You might not know this, Tetsu-kun, but I'm a former chef." Mom laughs, and seeing her smile made me lightly smile, too.

"Oh, seriously?" Tetsurou said, genuinely amazed. He took a bite of his food. He really loved Mom's cooking.

"Kinomi is really good at baking, too." Mom bragged, which made me wince at her.

"Eh? Who would have known?" Tetsurou teased.

"What?" I demanded.

"I thought that you only like salty stuff."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you know, because your boyfriend's salty." The idiot laughed.

"Oh. Maybe I'll get the chance to officially meet him when we go back to Miyagi one of these days?" Mom asked with a smile.

I shrugged. "Maybe."

"Ah, you were a waitress back at Miyagi, right?" Teshi-san asked. I nodded. "You're only fifteen. It's not usually allowed, right?"

"The café belonged to my aunt so I guess I was an exception."

Then Mom went quiet and somber at the same time. She must have remembered why I became a waitress in the first place. I refused her financial assistance after all.

After dinner, I took a hot bath to relieve my aching muscles. It felt really relaxing. A nice long bath at the hot spring sounds good right about now.

Me:

How's your grades going?

Tsukki:

The usual. Yours?

Me:

I think my English teacher doesn't like me for some weird ass reason. That's the only mark I got that was average.

Tsukki:

I'm pretty good at English. Too bad you transferred out, Berry. You're on your own there.

Me:

Yeah, whatever. Maybe you can give me some pointers in the training camp next week?

Tsukki:

Whatever you want.

Me:

How's volleyball training there?

It took a while for him to reply.

Tsukki:

The team has been training more than extra. How's being a manager for Nekoma so far?

How about you? I wanted to ask but then I know that he wouldn't like to talk about that, at least for now.

Me:

They're a good team. There's a lot to learn from them. It's Karasuno's rival, right? They even have the famous battle of the garbage dump thing.

Tsukki:

Eh. You're interested in those kinds of matches too?

Me:

It has a nice ring to it. What are you doing now?

Tsukki:

Studying.

Me:

You're busy.

Tsukki:

Not quite.

Me:

But you're still texting me back.

Tsukki:

Of course. :)

I smiled, then decided not to disturb him any further. I was about to put my phone aside when he texted again.

Tsukki:

Don't think about ditching me.

Me:

Of course not, jerk face.

Tsukki:

Mom misses you by the way. She asked when are you planning to drop by.

I smiled wider at the mention of Kina-san.

Me:

I miss her, too. I think I'm going to visit at the fireworks festival. It's also my aunt's birthday that day.

The fireworks festival is usually held by the start of August in Miyagi. The fireworks festival in Tokyo is a few days early.

Tsukki:

Are you going to wear a yukata? That would be a sight.

Me:

I don't know. It depends. Are you?

Tsukki:

Don't wanna. It's too troublesome.

Me:

Killjoy. It would be my first time seeing you in one.

Tsukki:

No.

Me:

Come onnnnnnn. :(

Tsukki:

No.

Me:

Please?

Tsukki:

Nope.

Me:

I'll bake some strawberry shortcake for you.

Tsukki:

Sly. I'll think about it.

I giggled then laid on my side, smiling very wide. I can't wait to see him again next week. My eyes started dropping but I resisted before replying back to Tsukishima.

Me:

Good. Go on and study. I'm going to bed now.

Tsukki:

Sure. Good night.

I smiled before I put my phone on my nightstand. I was ready to head to bed when Tetsurou called out from outside my door before opening it.

"Geez, don't you know how to knock?" I frowned at him, to which he only rolled his eyes on.

He smirked. "Yeah, like you're one to talk."

I froze as the memory of the last time I opened Tetsurou's door without knocking and it led with the biggest surprise of my life. The day my eyes lost its virginity.

I gawked at him. "What do you want, Tetsurou? If you came here just to piss me off—"

"I thought that you wanted to talk to me about something?" Tetsurou cut me off, arching an eyebrow. "Or it's not that important?"

"I don't know if it's that important." I shrugged, "It's just Eira-san."

Tetsurou crossed his arms across his chest. "What about her?"

"I saw her vomiting in the rest room."

"What?" He was shocked for some reason. Then he touched his chin, deep in thought.

"Well, she did tell me that she just ate something bad. Or maybe she's..." I trailed off, not having the nerve to finish my thought for him. I know he's thinking about the same thing.

Even at this moment, I still don't know the real score between them so I can't judge. And I don't want to come out as the nosy sister. I just know that their relationship is a mess right now. Tetsurou was too absorbed at his own thoughts to talk to me. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm going to have a little talk with her." Tetsurou said after a while.

"Duh. As you should."

"I'm sure she told you to keep this a secret. Why did you tell me?"

"I didn't promise to keep it a secret."

Tetsurou snorted, turning on his heels. "Guess I'm lucky to have you then, Kinomi-chan. Thanks."

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Okay. So my dog died due to kidney failure last week then two days ago my cat was ran over by a car. I don't know why this has to happen to us. How can I move on from this?

Tetsurou and Eira's story is in my list now for pending books. Please bear with the short updates for now. :< My goal is to finish Philophobia before the year ends with chapters not exceeding to sixty. Please also watch the Tsukki amv above because it's very awesome! And oh, I have also started reading the manga because I was too impatient to wait for the next season. :3 Anyway, thank you for reading and for the support! -- Lyn