Chapter 4: My Little Kitten
"Don't you ever feel bored playing at the same level over and over and again?" Kuroo asked, while walking with his pudding hair colored childhood friend from the convenience store, "and who's Kuroreceiver2?"
"That's my username and this isn't the same game as yesterday. A classmate introduced me to this new virtual reality game, Cometix" Kenma said in a justified tone.
"A game is a game," Kuroo retorted, "This is why you still suck at volleyball."
"Well, I'm not as passionate and fired up as you are. Oh, Hinata texted last night and wanted the team to know that Karasuno won't lose again in the Battle at the Garbage Dump," Kenma said.
"Well, tell him 'We look forward to another win on our end.'" Kuroo said with a wide smirk on his face. "Wait don't change the subject on me, this is about you we're talking about! What's Cometix anyway?"
A faint smile appeared on Kenma's face as the two headed off on their usual route towards home.
"Senpai~!" came a loud high-pitched cry. Haiba Lev stormed straight for them, holding what looked like a petrified tabby cat in his arms. "Senpai, senpai look at this little guy. I just caught him and he was tailing right behind you and so I thought 'Why not say hi' and I did. Say do you think my plays have gotten better? Do ya? Do ya? Do ya?"
He got a huge sucker punch to the face, Kuroo's face showing every negative emotion that can be described.
"Brag about your plays when you ACTUALLY learn to receive the ball properly," Kuroo says while pinching Lev's cheeks, Lev wailing his heart out so the whole street can hear him.
"I'm going on ahead," Kenma says and he walks away, disregarding the cries for help from the distressed first year.
"Hey, don't play all night like you usually do. We have practice in the morning! I'll come over to pick you up like usual. You better be up by then!" Kuroo called out, only to receive a backhanded wave going "yeah, yeah," from the small receding figure.
Half way home and Cometix is his only fixation. A notice pops up on center of the screen: "New player wants to chat. Accept? Ignore?" Not seeing the harm in accepting the virtual request, Kenma chooses accept.
"I'll leave if it gets weird," Kenma thought and the conversation began.
Username Catlover01 is typing…
"hello. im glad you accepted. it feels gr8 having someone to talk to."
Username Kuroreceiver2 is typing…
"it's my first time playing. any tips on how to win lvl. 9?"
Catlover01: "Straightforward much…Yeah, use ROYGBIV. Connect the reds, blues, etc. i think you get the idea."
Kuroreceiver2: "thnx…how did you get to level 32 already? This game has only been out for 3 days and I've only started yesterday…"
Catlover01: i guess im just that gud.
Kuroreceiver2: sure…
Catlover01: hey u wanna come over? my house ain't far from where you are, we can play 2gether?
Starting to feel like this guy is being a little creepy, Kenma hesitantly replies, "um, no thanks, I've got club meeting tomorrow," and proceeded to log off before another message popped up.
Catlover01: "that's too bad, i looked forward to finally meetin u in person…"
"Look behind you."
Feeling scared, Kenma turned the console off and started running, without looking back. When he finally got to a busy sidewalk he slowed down. While catching his breath, regret starts to set in. "I never should've accepted. It was stupid. What was I thinking?" Kenma's thoughts rambled on.
Finding an open bench, he turned his console back on and went to his settings. While scrolling through the notifications tab and blocking Catlover01, he got one new message, and went pale.
Loved(?): "I found you, little kitten."
To Be Continued…
