Reason 2: He listens…

Sitting in a lopsided circle on the roof of the school, Seirin's basketball team—along with their coach and [Name]—were having a nice lunch together for once. The sun was shining brightly and a few light clouds were drifting by in the wind, every so often casting a welcomed shadow onto the group below. They were all chatting with each other, grateful for the rare time they could all spend together without having to practice or strategize. Every so often someone—namely Izuki—would make a joke and the rest of them would either shake their heads in disappointment or laugh along in mirth. It really was a great day.

"So then I told her that she couldn't have my stationary and you know what she did? She tore it up. Can you believe that? I paid for it with my own money and she just up and thinks she can have some of it without asking. I swear, if she weren't my sister I would have been so angry, but she's still young, you know?" [Name] paused in her rambling, looking over to her boyfriend for any sort of sign that he was paying attention to her words.

Giving a slight nod of his head and a barely audible grunt, Hyuuga reached for another piece of meat in his bento with his chopsticks, his eyes focused on the food in front of him. He continued to keep watch of his food, every so often nodding or making small noises of comprehension as [Name] continued rambling about her sister. The second year female had grown quite accustomed to Hyuuga's passive answers and took no offense to his short responses; however, the same could not be said for a certain brunette coach.

"Hyuuga, I'm going to borrow [Name] for a second," Riko sang as she plastered on one of her famous forced smiles. Taking hold of her friend's arm, Riko dragged her away from the prying eyes and ears of the basketball team. "What was all that about?"

[Name] tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Riko slapped a hand to her face, sighing heavily as she did so. "Aren't boyfriends supposed to be active listeners? He seems more interested in stuffing his face than anything else." Riko pointed over to the boys, her eyes picking out the captain as he continued to munch on his food. Every so often he would stop to reply or yell at some of his teammates, speaking more words to them than he did his own girlfriend. "He's not doing a very good job proving he's a good boyfriend."

[Name] frowned, shaking her head in disagreement as she, too, stared at Hyuuga. "He's listening to me," she replied. A small smile made its way to her lips as she continued to stare at him. Hyuuga happened to look up at that moment, sending [Name] a questioning look with his brow raised before returning to the conversation Koganei had started with him. "I know he is."

"If you say so," Riko shrugged and the pair walked back to their circle of friends, sitting back down in their seats.

Settling herself back into her usual spot next to her boyfriend, [Name] decided she was content with listening in on conversations as she nibbled on the contents of her bento. She reached in with her chopsticks, every so often dropping a piece of food back down into it before reaching for something else to chew on. After a few minutes of doing this, she had started to compile a small mountain of sugar snap peas in the corner of her bento.

"How come you're not eating those, [Name]?" Riko pointed at the pile of sugar snap peas with the ends of her chopsticks, causing [Name] to push them around a bit as she gave them a distasteful glare.

"They're raw," she replied. Receiving a questioning look, [Name] elaborated her answer as she pushed the rest of her bento away towards Hyuuga. The male, noticing that more food was placed in front of him, immediately started to eat it as well. "I haven't had time in the morning to make my own food, so my mom's been doing it. She likes her sugar snap peas raw; I don't. Raw snap peas are just plain disgusting."

[Name] stuck her tongue out in disgust, scrunching her nose as she thought about the awful flavor she would rather not taste. Riko nodded and the pair continued on with the rest of their lunch, happily chatting with the boys about future events to come.


The next day, Riko was surprised to find [Name] sulking at her desk, head laid flat on the wooden surface as her hand idly drew invisible circles. She was mumbling to herself and Riko had a hard time hearing the girl's complaints. Taking the seat next to her friend, Riko hesitantly poked [Name]'s arm to gain the moping girl's attention.

"[Name], what's wrong?"

"My mom couldn't make me lunch today," [Name] replied with a sad mumble, her lips forming into a pout. "And I don't have enough money to buy myself lunch and replace my ruined stationary." Suddenly sitting up straight in her desk, [Name] looked at Riko with slightly panicked eyes as she grabbed hold of the brunette's arms, shaking her in slight hysterics. "I needed that stationary for an assignment I'm doing tomorrow, so obviously that's more important, right? But I'm really hungry and starving myself wouldn't be good either, right? I texted Junpei earlier asking him what I should do, but he hasn't answered back yet. Riko, I don't know what to do!"

Riko pried her friend's hands off her arms, trying her best to calm the girl down. She patted her head in a comforting way, ruffling [Name]'s hair a bit. "Now, now, you're overreacting. I can share my lunch with you today!"

If possible, [Name]'s eyes widened even further as a look of pure horror overcame her. She shook her head quickly from side to side, backing away from Riko. "No way! I'll die!"

Riko glared at her panicked friend, feeling highly offended. "Fine, starve today for all I care," she scoffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Either that, or go ahead and fail at your project tomorrow because I—"

"Oi, [Name]."

A gruff voice interrupted the female duo and they each looked towards the doorway, noticing a familiar glasses wearing captain approaching them. Hyuuga quickly strode over towards the girls, stopping just in front of his girlfriend's desk as he nodded to both of them in a greeting. His hand held a small plastic bag, the handles being gripped between his long fingers. Holding it out towards [Name], he roughly dropped it onto her desk, causing it to land with a rather loud thump.

"What's that?" [Name] stared at the package, her eyes fixated on it as if she could gouge holes into it by simply looking.

Coughing slightly, Hyuuga reached a hand up to scratch at his cheek. Looking closely, one could see that his face was tinted a very light shade of pink as he tried hard to gather coherent words in his mind. "I got you lunch," he admitted, gesturing flippantly to the plastic bag.

Surprised, [Name] quickly reached for the bag and opened it, revealing a plastic container that she recognized to be one of the many containers Hyuuga's mother kept in their household. It was filled to the brim with most of her favorite foods, all of them separated by paper liners so they wouldn't mix and tamper with each other's flavors. Just staring at the bento made [Name]'s mouth water.

"Junpei, you didn't have to," [Name] gushed, giving him a thankful smile.

Hyuuga merely shrugged, patting her head a bit and ruffling up her already messy hair. "Don't go thinking I did something girly and made it for you," he admitted, retreating his hand back to his side. "I asked my mom to make it before I left today."

"That's okay, it's the thought that counts." [Name] smiled at the thought of her boyfriend begging his mom to make an extra bento for the day. "And now I can use my money to buy the stationary I need for class."

Standing up to give her boyfriend a brief hug, [Name] thanked him once more with a kiss to his cheek. Hyuuga returned the favor, the pink on his cheeks darkening a bit when he noticed Riko's suggestive smirk as she watched her two friends in their loving embrace. Coughing once more into his closed fist, Hyuuga escaped [Name]'s arms before turning to leave. He made his way towards the classroom's exit so that he could return to his own, hesitating a bit once he reached the door frame. Looking back towards the girls, who were already giggling and gossiping with each other, he opened his mouth to say one last thing.

"You were right, those raw snap peas were disgusting," Hyuuga announced, referring to [Name]'s complaints from the previous day. "I told my mom to steam the ones she put in there, so you better eat them."

Riko watched in slight awe as Hyuuga turned on his heel to leave, mumbling to himself about how if [Name] didn't eat the food then he would. She turned her gaze towards her friend, finding that the female had a smug grin plastered onto her face. Sitting back down in her seat, [Name] crossed one leg over the other as she leaned in towards Riko in a mocking manner.

"See? I told you he listens to what I say."

Raising her hands in defeat, Riko gave a small smile. "Alright, chalk another one up for four eyes. At this rate, he's going to prove me wrong by actually being a decent boyfriend."

The girls laughed together, chatting happily as time slowly ticked on by. When it came time for class to begin, the pair returned to their assigned seats to begin the day's lesson. [Name] tucked the bento Hyuuga had given her under her chair. She couldn't wait to try it.

…And remembers.