One week, more or less. A week since their loss, which was only softened by Shiratorizawa's loss the next day. A week since he'd retired from the volleyball team. A week since he'd thrown himself into studying for university entrance exams. A week for Iwaizumi to realize just how much of his free time volleyball had occupied.

"What the hell is the difference?" Iwaizumi muttered as he squinted at two of the many bottles of rice vinegar in front of him.

For years, Iwaizumi's time had been pretty well taken up between classes, volleyball, studying, eating, and sleeping. His only real down time had been the weekly off days from practice. But now every day was an off day and Iwaizumi was going a little stir crazy. He could really only study so much before his eyes felt like they were going to fall out. It might not have been so bad if he'd had Oikawa to keep him company more, but his friend had started volunteering at Takeru's Lil Tykes classes more often with all of their newly found free time.

It seemed that lying on the couch and staring at the same page of notes for an hour had been the last straw for Iwaizumi's mother though. Thus, in an effort to get him out of the house for at least a little while, she'd sent him out with the grocery list, some money, and a happy call of "no rush" as he walked out the door. It was a good thing she hadn't urgently needed anything on the list, he thought. He'd been staring at the stupid rice vinegar selection for at least five solid minutes trying to remember which brand his mom bought. And that was when he wasn't getting distracted by what could possibly make one brand cost twenty yen more than another when they looked like the exact same thing.

'Screw it,' he thought with a shrug as he grabbed a bottle in the middle of the price range that the thought looked at leave vaguely familiar. Worst case scenario, his mom would send him back to the store and he'd kill a little more time.

Snacks weren't officially on the list, but that didn't stop Iwaizumi from taking a detour down the junk aisle. Chips, candy, cookies, things his mother would generally disapprove of. Pulling out his wallet, Iwaizumi counted how much of his own money he had on him before grabbing two bags of chips and a package of some sort of fudge cookies he was sure he'd regret eating later. With a nod of satisfaction, he started up the aisle again only to stop in his tracks a second later.

Iwaizumi had to stop and watch the scene playing out in front of him. Of all people, there was Karasuno's little manager at the end of the aisle, up on her tip-toes and stretching as far as she was able to get something off of the top shelf. When she finally set down her shopping basket so that she could jump for what she wanted, Iwaizumi bit back a grin and started towards her again.

Yachi hopped as high as she could without risking bumping the other shelves and still couldn't quite reach the bag she wanted. Why did they have to put things up so high anyway? She really didn't want to bother an employee just to help her get a snack. What if they got annoyed and banned her from the store? Or worse, what if they banned anyone short? She didn't think she could live with the guilt of forcing an entire group of people to find a new grocery store.

She almost had it, she was sure of it, but before she could jump again, a hand reached over her and easily grabbed the bag that her fingers had brushed on her last two jumps. Worried at first that she'd been in the way of someone else who wanted the cinnamon-sugar rice cakes, Yachi was ready with an apology until the bag was lowered down into her hands.

"That's what you wanted, right?" Iwaizumi asked. When the little manager turned to look at him with wide brown eyes and a few stuttered syllables, he started to think that maybe she was always this nervous. That or it was him that made her nervous. He'd always been told that he had a serious face, but it wasn't like he went out of his way to be intimidating. So, in an effort to put the girl at ease, he tried a small smile.

Not quite able to get her words together, Yachi nodded to answer what her two-time rescuer had asked her. But then he smiled and that caught her more off guard than the scowl she'd gotten used to seeing on him during their few interactions. Before she knew it, Yachi felt a smile starting to pull at her mouth too. How could someone who seemed so scary have such an infectious grin?

"Need anything else?" Iwaizumi pointed towards the higher shelves, willing to stick around and help if she wasn't finished.

Yachi shook her head as she put her bag of snacks in her shopping basket. "No, but thank you," she said with a polite nod.

"Sure thing." Iwaizumi was content to leave it at that and go back to his own shopping, but he paused as he was about to round the corner and leave the aisle. "Oh, and uh, congratulations. You know, on winning and going to nationals."

Yachi's mouth drew into a small line as she looked down at the tiled floor. She knew that she should say thank you, but it felt too awkward. It felt too much like rubbing defeat in this guy's face. She didn't even know his name and he scared her a little, but he didn't seem like a bad or mean person. Settling for a hum and a nod, Yachi looked back up to make eye contact for just a moment before her eyes skittered off to the side again. In a small voice, she told him, "Thank you, and...um, sorry about your loss."

"Yeah," Iwaizumi said with a small sigh and an even smaller smile that he actually managed to force this time. "Thanks. See ya around." A small wave and he was gone around the corner, kicking himself for opening his mouth and making a perfectly normal encounter awkward.

It didn't take long to pick out the last couple of items on his mother's list since they were things he actually recognized from around the kitchen. Shopping really hadn't sounded that exciting when the chore had been handed down to him, and while it wasn't exactly exciting, he had to admit that it was nice to get out of the house. He definitely needed to find new things to do with all of this free time he now had. Heading towards the checkout counter, he wondered if it would be worth it to ask Oikawa about him tagging along to the Lil Tykes classes.

The checkout line was fairly long by the time he fell in place at the back, but he actually let a laugh slip when he looked down and saw who was in front of him. Once again, Karasuno's manager turned around to look up at him, looking just as surprised as he'd been. Glancing over her head at how many people were in front of them, Iwaizumi looked back down and decided that he had enough time. "You know, I've been wondering," he said to grab her attention again. "I don't remember seeing you with Karasuno before the Spring High prelims."

Yachi's grip on her basket handles tightened as she stood up a little straighter. How formal did she need to be? He seemed relaxed speaking to her, but he was older. The didn't go to the same school though, so he wasn't technically her senpai or anything. Would talking to him be considered fraternizing with the enemy? Even if they weren't going to play Seijou again this year?

"Um," Yachi stalled as she tried to sort through her thoughts and catch up to what he'd said. The line moved forward a little and she took a few steps before turning back to answer with a slightly clearer head. "No, I didn't...I didn't join until after the Interhigh preliminaries. I think."

Iwaizumi hummed in response. Well, that would explain why he'd never noticed her around before that day in the hall. "I'm Iwaizumi, by the way," he introduced himself. "Iwaizumi Hajime. Since we keep running into each other."

"Oh! Yes, it's nice to meet you! I'm Yachi Hitoka."

Yachi's attention was drawn away when the line moved forward another couple of steps, and Iwaizumi looked at the people around them in line before looking back down at his newest acquaintance. Without giving his more rational side a chance to think things through or object, his mouth opened to blurt out, "Would you, ah, would you want to get something to eat sometime? With me?"

When Yachi looked back at him with that same wide-eyed look that she seemed to give him more often than not, Iwaizumi felt his face start to burn. Great. A strange guy she doesn't actually know hitting on her in a very public place. She probably didn't think he was much different from the guys he ran off before. He wasn't even completely sure why he asked. Yeah, he thought Yachi was cute, even if she seemed a little high strung, and now that volleyball wasn't consuming most of his time, he actually had time to do things like date. But why now? Maybe because he had no idea when or where he'd run into her again. Yeah, he'd just go with that for now.

"You don't have to say yes if you don't want to," Iwaizumi rushed to reassure her. She usually seemed skittish around him at best, and the last thing he wanted to was to make her feel like she had to accept his offer.

For once, Yachi drew a complete blank. No over-analyzing what Iwaizumi had asked. No thoughts of kidnappers or weird pranks or a dying man's last wish to get married and make his parents happy-though that would explain a lot. Instead, Yachi's mind was just her brain's version of static as she stared up at Iwaizumi trying to figure out if he was serious or not. It wasn't until the man behind Iwaizumi cleared his throat that Yachi realized the line had moved again and she quickly scooted forward.

"I…" She didn't want to wait too long to answer him. She'd never asked anyone out before, but she couldn't imagine that a long stunned silence was very comforting to hear. Still though, she had absolutely no idea what to say. "I...don't know."

Iwaizumi sighed, just relieved that she'd finally said something that wasn't a terrified yes. "Don't worry about it," he tried to smile down at her, despite the awkwardness of being shot down, even on an unplanned offer. "You don't actually know me and this is a little weird. I get it."

"No," Yachi started before backtracking. "I-I mean, yes! I...It is a little weird and we don't know each other. We just met. But I, but I also have practice with the volleyball club. I don't know...when...or if...I could...say...yes."

What. Was. She. Saying? She didn't know this person! Not really. He could be a teenage ax murderer for all she knew. But still, possible ax murdering aside, he'd been nothing but helpful to her in their very few meetings. He seemed like a nice enough guy. And she wasn't actually saying yes to him. Not right now anyway. It was more of a maybe. A tentative maybe.

"Oh." It was Iwaizumi's turn to be surprised this time. He honestly hadn't expected that turnaround. "Well," he tried to get his brain back in gear to catch up with what was happening now. "If you're interested and don't know when you're free or want to talk first or something, we could exchange numbers?"

"Next," the cashier called out and broke the moment between the distracted teens.

Yachi quickly set her basket on the counter with a string of apologies before turning back to keep glancing between Iwaizumi and her purse as she fumbled for her wallet. "I...that sounds...yes! That's, that sounds good. Let's do that."

Once Yachi got all of her groceries bagged and paid for, she stood to the side and waited for Iwaizumi to pay for his mother's groceries and then separately for his own snacks. They walked out of the store together and stood out front as they each pulled out their phones. It didn't take long to send each other their contact information via infrared, and once they made sure that everything was correct and saved, they went their separate ways.

Yachi was glad for once that her mom was working late so that she wouldn't be questioned about her extra nervous behavior or the blush that would randomly creep back up to her cheeks. Iwaizumi wasn't quite so lucky and had to reassure his mother several times that he was not coming down with a fever.