"N-Noya-chan… come here!"
Hinowa awkwardly called out to her dog as she extended her hands in front of her and her knees on the ground. The blush on her face was priceless yet Aoi and Shimaru didn't see it since they were busy talking in the living room.
"No-cha!" Yu chirped, sitting beside her on the cold cement. His hands up and down with excitement.
"This is kind of embarrassing. Calling your pet using your crush's name." she said, petting the dog named Noya. "But, however you look at him, he's like Nishinoya!"
The dog barked and wagged its tail in excitement. Fortunately, Aoi and Shimaru gave her permission to take care of it as long as she doesn't abandon it half way. She was glad, and Yu seems to take a liking of Noya, too.
"No-cha!" Yu chirped again.
The dog barked and walked closer to Yu. Hinowa stared at her cousin playing with the dog.
"How awkward is that? A boy named Yu and a pet named Noya. How will he react to this if ever he found out?" she asked herself. "If only the original one was also this close to me."
She reached out her hand to her cousin and hugged him.
"If only I can hug the other Yu like this."
"Waa-cha!" Yu chirped hugging her back.
It lasted for a few seconds before she separate herself from her cousin.
"I see that you're infatuated with this boy named Yu, but please try not to think that he and my son is the same person." Aoi interrupted, leaning on the open slide door and a smirk on her beautiful face. "I'll have doubts leaving my son to you."
"W-w-w-wha- Aoi-san! NO! You're wrong! I'm not like that! And I don't imagine Yu and Nishinoya as the same person! Although if you combined their names then it'll be his full name- I mean- wha! No!" She panicked. "I- didn't- umm- it's not like that at all! Oh! Please, just forget what you've seen and heard."
Aoi laughed at her niece's flustered face. She didn't mean what she said and she didn't want to laugh more than she intended to, but seeing Hinowa acting this way, kept her from stopping. After a short while, she calmed down, though Hinowa's face was still deep red.
"You're really funny, Hino-chan." Aoi told her, picking Yu from the ground.
"Let's not call the dog Noya anymore. Let's change his name." she sighed. "It's awkward."
"Suit yourself. You're its owner after all." Aoi chuckled.
"No-cha!" Yu exclaimed.
"Yu-chan, his name is not Noya anymore. Let's call him Kuro." She turned towards the dog. "Right, Kuro?"
The dog barked.
"See? He likes his new name!" She clasped her hands happily.
"No-cha!" Yu insisted.
"No, Yu. It's Kuro."
"No-cha! No-cha! No-cha!"
"Noya!" called Aoi as loud as she can. The dog then wagged its tail and barked at them, as if excited by hearing its name. "Why don't we settle for Noya? He seems to like it and Yu doesn't want to give up that easily either." Aoi smiled at her.
"Th-then, let's cut it short. How about No-chan?" Hinowa persisted.
"Fine. You call him that and I'll call him Noya." Aoi said, ending the argument. Her smile strained seeing Aoi's scary smile and she avoided her eyes.
Well, that settled it. Aoi thought and then, grinned evilly. This should be interesting if she react every time I call the dog Noya. Fufufufu…
"Noya-san!"
Hinowa flinched from her seat hearing his name, her lunch almost fell on the ground. Not far from where she and Saki sat, were Nishinoya and his friends. The shaved head boy named Tanaka, glanced at them but then faced his friends almost immediately when she met his eyes.
Her left eyebrow raised in confusion.
"Hinowa-chan, I have to go to the toilet. I'll be back." Saki stood up and left her. She watched her friend went back inside the main building. Her lunch almost fell on the ground for the second time, when she turned back to her food and saw three teens kneeling before her. The other teen was standing behind them.
"Haruka-san!" Noya exclaimed.
"Y-yes!" she replied straightening her back.
The seriousness in their face made her more nervous. Why were they kneeling in front of her? Have she done something wrong to them? And why were they so deadly serious?
"Thank you for saving Kiyoko-san last time!" Noya bowed, surprising her.
"We only learned until yesterday that you were the person who saved her! In behalf of the volleyball club, we are very thankful to you for saving our beloved manager!" Tanaka continued.
"Thank you very much, senpai!" Hinata and Kageyama exclaimed in unison.
"Uhh- y-you're welcome!" she bowed back to them, face flushed in embarrassment.
"I didn't think you were that kind of person, Haruka-san." He heard Noya.
She looked up to him almost immediately after hearing him said that and saw him smile. The formal kind of smile.
"Hinowa-chan! I'm back! And look who I found!" Saki called, dragging a girl in ponytail with her whilst waving to Hinowa.
"We better go." Tanaka said as he stood up, followed by the other three.
Hinowa stared at their retreating backs. Deep down, she felt disappointed but not sure of the reason. Her gaze fell. If there's one thing she's sure of, that is, her chest hurts.
The sky already turned orange mixed with violet and blue, her brown eyes sought the first star in the sky, failing to see the person ahead. And so, she ran into him.
"I'm so sorry!" she bowed immediately.
"Ah, don't worry! It's my fault for standing in the way." Asahi apologetically smiled at her.
"AH! IT'S KNIGHT-SENPAI!"
"K-knight?" She asked in confusion.
Standing by the foothill store's door, were Hinata and Kageyama eating a dumpling. In front, were the other volleyball club members, but she didn't see Nishinoya anywhere.
"Oi! Hinata, don't call people like that! They have names!" Daichi scolded the boy.
"But I don't know her name…." Hinata pouted.
"Her name's Hinowa!" came a voice behind the two first-years.
"Woooaahh, her name has the same meaning as mine!" Hinata exclaimed before extending his hands to the sky. "The sun!"
"Dumbass, your name means 'place in the sun' not 'sun'. Her name's the one that means 'sun'." Kageyama stated earning an "Eh?" from Hinata.
"Seems like even a girl can one up Hinata, even if she doesn't try."
"Shut up, Tsukishima! It's just in the name!" Hinata shouted at the blonde.
Since Noya was shorter than the two in front of him, only his hair were seen and behind him was Tanaka, smiling creepy at them.
"So, she's the person who saved Shimizu." Sugawara assumed. "Wait, isn't she the girl from before?"
"Just like everyone says, never judge a book by its cover." Daichi quoted smiling to the girls.
As of now, the other members looked at Hinowa in a new light and she felt awkward under their gaze. She was startled when Nishinoya shoved a dumpling in front of her face.
"Here. A thank you gift from us, although it's not enough for what you've done." He told her.
She stared at him for a moment, then turned to the dumpling in his hand before accepting it. She chuckled, much to Noya's confusion.
"This is enough. It's the thought that counts, right?" She grinned, making him blush that goes unnoticed by the others. She saw his cheeks reddened but dismissed it, thinking it was only the reflection of the sunset.
"But seriously, where do you get all the strength with that small body?" Tanaka interjected.
"Do you really think she beat up those guys? Shimizu-senpai didn't say anything about beating someone. All she said that that girl saved her from those pathetic men." Tsukishima argued with his usual poker face.
"Shut up, Tsukishima!" Nishinoya growled.
"No one asked you!" Hinata added.
Tsukishima's eye twitched but he didn't argue, knowing he won't get anything from them.
"Why don't we try?" Tanaka smirked folding his shirt's sleeve.
"EH?" Hinowa's eyes widen at the sudden challenge.
Tanaka let Noya hold his bag and walked further from them, then positioned himself in a fighting style.
"It's not my style to hurt a girl, but–" He paused, eyes closed and clenched his fist. "I don't want to lose to you, you – who had become Kiyoko-san's knight in shining armor!"
The others strained a smile after hearing his reasons. Hinowa didn't know if he's being funny or serious, nonetheless, she let Saki hold her bag for her and positioned herself. Seeing the two in a fighting stance made the others gulped, whether in excitement or nervousness, they didn't know. Both took a deep breath. There was a long silence, before Tanaka launched the first attack. He ran to her, his fist ready to punch her with all his might when all of a sudden, he saw the world upside down and next thing he knew, he was on the ground.
"Eh?" he muttered. "W-what just happened?"
A long pause. Then, everyone shouted a very loud 'whoa' and ran to him.
"Ryu! Are you hurt?!" Noya came first, next to him were Daichi and Sugawara.
He reached for Noya's extended hand and got up.
"Hearing it from Shimizu is unbelievable, but seeing it in person is another story." Suga said.
"Hinowa-senpai! Hinowa-senpai! Please teach me that move!" An excited Hinata requested, jumping up and down, as if like a kid going to an amusement park for the first time.
"You're so cool, senpai!" Kageyama told her as he stared straight to her very soul.
She kept her strained smile before turning to Tanaka.
"That surprised me! But as expected, you live up to your title!" Tanaka laughed patting her shoulder.
The knight in shining armor title, huh? She thought.
"You're so cool, Hinowa!" Noya exclaimed, as he joined Tanaka patting her shoulder.
I don't know if I should be happy or sad about that.
"OI! SHUT UP YOU BRATS! YOU'RE DISTURBING THE NEIGHBORS! GO HOME ALREADY!" came a shout from the Foothill Store's door.
They instantly scrammed away in no time.
Later that night, Hinowa laid on her bed thinking of the things that happened today. She couldn't help but smile as she remembered Nishinoya calling her by her name. It tickles her heart and her blush only deepened. She hugged her pillow and then, slowly closed her eyes.
"Oh! Another love letter!"
She instantly slammed her locker close after hearing him from behind.
"Nishinoya-san, good morning!" she greeted him, hiding the surprise in her voice as much as possible.
"Good morning!" he greeted back, showing a toothy grin so early in the morning. "I see that your admirer's still not giving up despite the fact that he didn't show up the first time!"
"Y-yeah." She scratched her cheek.
"Good luck with that!" he said as he left.
She watched him until he faded from her view, and she let out a deep sigh.
"Whatever." She mumbled and followed Nishinoya to their classroom.
The morning class was boring as usual, but she didn't show it and attentively listened to their teacher at the same time taking down notes. It was in the middle of class when her mind drifted off somewhere else, also means, she gave up listening to class half way. Her thoughts went to the love-threat-letters, as she likes to call it, and wandered who the sender could be. This mysterious sender's very thoughtful though, never failing to give her a letter every day.
But doesn't he gets tired of it? It will be almost one month since he started giving me letters with the same content. And he never shows up when I tried meeting him. He must be enjoying watching me falling for his pranks. Does he think that I'm the kind of girl that would fall for him just because he's being mysterious and I have this one-sided love? That'll only happen in shoujo mangas. Or am I just over thinking? I don't know what his reasons for doing this to me but-
"This is stupid." She muttered.
"What was that Haruka-san?" the teacher turned to her.
She flinched at the teacher's call.
"What part of my lecture is stupid, Haruka-san?" the teacher repeated.
The teacher's words slowly processed in her mind, until she fully realized what she meant. Her whole face turned red from embarrassment.
"I didn't mean it like that, sensei! I'm so sorry!" she bowed to her. The teacher's brow raised and gave her a warning before going back to their lecture.
-Lunch-
They were at their usual place again, but this time, two people joined them. They were grateful that Ami and her boyfriend decided to join, but somehow regretted a little, when all the couple did was to flirt with each other in front of them.
"I can see very clearly that the two of you are so in love with each other." Saki said in a sarcastic manner. "Isn't that sweet?"
"Oh! Don't be jealous, Saki-chan! Someone will come for you too if you just keep that sharp tongue of yours in check and live up to your cute face." Ami countered.
"You're one to talk, Ami-chan. And don't tell me what to do 'coz I'm already living up well with my very cute face." Saki retaliated with a smile.
Oh, boy! There they go again. Hinowa thought, eating her lunch quietly beside her friends. Although they always verbally abuse each other, they're still good friends. She reached for her drink and noticed that it was empty. Since she already finished her food, she excused herself from the group and left to buy drinks.
She hummed to herself as she walk towards the vending machine. Her pace becoming slower until she stop her tracks and watched the scene before her. Near the vending machine, were Kageyama and Hinata from volleyball club, arguing whom gets to buy first.
"Stupid Kageyama! I arrived here first! You wait for your turn!" the shorter boy complained.
"Dumbass! I'm the one who got here first!" Kageyama argued.
And they argue more and more. Seeing that she won't be able to buy if she just stood there and not do anything, she came closer and inserted the coin inside the machine. This made the two stop with their quarrel and stared at her with disbelief in their eyes. Once she got her drink, she left them without saying anything and a few seconds later, she heard them argue with each other again but then heard someone else's voice joining the fight. A very familiar voice, that is.
"OOOOOOI! SHOUYO! KAGEYAMA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? THAT WAS MY MONEY – O-OI! WHAT THE HELL?! STOP SCREWING YOU TWO!"
And a loud scream followed.