level 24;

───────

"this is a new dessert that tendō-san made, a crème brûlée", shirabu said as he fed it to shiori, meanwhile goshiki stood behind shirabu, nervously fidgeting with his thumbs.

     "is that so? he's always got such a talent for making sweet things. makes me wonder if he went to some special school for this", shiori chuckled.

     "actually he was one of the inmates here a few years back", shirabu said.

     "oh? really?", shiori bemused.

"mhm. prisoner #17, one of the earliest ones here. he was imprisoned for assassinating his bullies from his elementary years I believe", shirabu informed.

     "wow, really?! who knew satori had such an interesting story", shiori smiled, enjoying the sweetness melt like honey in her mouth.

     shirabu just nodded, meanwhile shiori glanced up, her red eyes piercing through goshiki's shaking form as a smile formed on her lips.

"can you carry me around the building, tomu? it's been quite boring with omi-omi ignoring me", shiori sighed, to which sakusa had momentarily glanced up and let out a slight huff.

"h-huh?! me? sure!", the bowl-cut boy replied as he shakily extended his arms towards the girl, to which shirabu had quickly slapped it away.

"with those noodle arms of yours, you're going to drop her. I'll call commander ushijima over t—"

"hey! what's that supposed to mean?! I can be just as strong as commander ushijima okay?! watch!!", goshiki huffed as he swiftly swept shiori off the hospital bed, to which the boy had proudly grinned meanwhile shirabu wasn't impressed in the slightest.

     "alright. let's see how long you can last then", the copper-haired boy shrugged as he opened the door for the two to get out first, bidding goodbye to sakusa.

     goshiki kept the proud grin on his face for a while until the three had reached the third floor, to which goshiki was starting to feel his arms give up a bit, though he would not openly admit it.

     sure there were elevators, but shiori insisted on using the stairs, because she wanted to "enjoy the view".

     "say, how about you take me to where all the other officers are? I haven't seen some of them in a while", shiori said.

shirabu checked his watch—that was required of every officer to have—and nodded.

"they should be in the relaxing room right now. it's on the ninth floor", shirabu stated, to which goshiki had internally sobbed as he started trudging towards the stairs.

     shiori then leaned in, about to whisper something, making goshiki think that the girl would suddenly change her mind about the stairs.

     "good luck, tomu~", the girl snickered as goshiki felt his soul swiftly leave his body before shirabu had caught it and stuffed it back into the male's body.

     with goshiki about to pass out from dehydration and over-exhaustion, the three finally arrived in front of a set of doors, to which shirabu had promptly pushed it open as the ones residing in the room looked up in amusement.

     shiori hastily landed on her bare feet as she slightly wobbled over to the couch, where iwaizumi, akaashi, and semi were sitting.

     "I—you can walk?!", goshiki gasped with disbelief, to which shiori had turned around with a perfect smile painted on her pretty face.

     "why of course I can, officer goshiki. when have I said that I can't?", shiori asked, plopping down beside akaashi and iwaizumi.

     the t.v. that was mounted on the wall was playing a random russian movie that was picked by haiba, who was enjoying it until commander kuroo had ordered him to go take care of something.

     "eh? what's this movie about?", shiori asked as she struggled a bit to keep up with the subtitles.

     shirabu promptly took a seat with goshiki beside semi on a separate couch as the bowl-cut male immediately chugged a whole glass of water that was handed to him by akaashi.

"I think haiba-san said that it's called 'I am losing weight'", akaashi said.

"it's about this woman named anya kulikova, who only loves food and her boyfriend—athlete zhenya. however her boyfriend seems unsatisfied with her weight and leaves her, but she's determined to lose weight with the help of this chubby man—kolya barabanov", semi explained, to which everyone had looked over at the male, who slightly flinched at the sudden attention.

"w-what?"

"you seem to know a lot, eita-kun~", shiori teased.

"t-that's only because I've been paying attention to the movie! I mean, it's not like there's anything better to do currently", semi grumbled as he loosened his tie and tossed it onto the coffee table in front of him.

shiori then looked around as she noticed many bags of chips, specifically the shrimp ones that she's always wanted to try but never could.

iwaizumi noticed the girl's gaze as he snatched the bag of chips and opened it, offering it for the girl to take.

"really?"

iwaizumi nodded.

shiori hesitantly took one as she popped it into her mouth, regretting not trying it earlier. the girl then took the entire bag from iwaizumi as she started munching on it, to which shirabu and akaashi had watched in fascination.

"have you never had chips before?", shirabu asked.

"nope, never!", shiori answered as she watched the male that was an athlete break up with the main character at a restaurant, meanwhile a photographer swiftly snapped a picture of them together.

     "why not?", akaashi asked, to which shiori had clicked her tongue in distaste.

     "men ain't shit", shiori darkly muttered, to which a few of the officers around the girl had flinched before shiori had snapped out of the movie.

     "ah...except for you lot of course. sorry, I just get so engrossed into movies since I don't see them often", shiori smiled, licking her fingers as she glanced around for a trashcan, to which iwaizumi had swiftly taken the empty bag and got up from the couch to throw it away.

"and because apparently sugar daddies like their girls dumb and skinny", shiori casually said, to which goshiki had choked on his spit as akaashi and semi started coughing.

     "e-excuse me?", goshiki squeaked out.

     "well where else do you think I got my support from all these years? money takes hard work, tomu".

     goshiki turned his head away as he felt his blood rising up to his cheeks, meanwhile shiori leaned back and continued enjoying the show.

     "well, I think you look fine the way you are, shiori-san", akaashi quietly complimented as he handed the girl another bag of chips, to which the girl had smiled.

     "how sweet of you, keiji".

───────

     author's note: okay, but not me thinking that it was monday so I got ready to work only to realize that it's actually sunday.

     also not me making semi, iwaizumi, shirabu, goshiki, and akaashi ooc b/c idk wtf they're actually like :')