"I need help with the table utensils!"

"Can someone fetch that brush for me?"

"Oi, you guys! Is the café sign finished yet…?!"

The entire classroom was abuzz with a flurry of activity that Friday, 3 days before the school festival.

In the past few days of hard work, the classroom had been slowly transforming into an adorable café. The class had decided that the theme was to be done in a homey style—color scheme mainly focusing on pastel colors.

At that moment, Kumiko and Chiharu were helping out with the table skirting—Chiharu passing the pins to the brunette as she designed the tables. Kageyama was out with the other guys, probably off to get some more tables for the classroom.

"Here you go, Kumi-chan." Chiharu hands out a thumbtack to the brunette who reaches out to grab it.

"Thanks, Chi-chan…" Kumiko mumbles. Biting her lower lip as she concentrated hard, she swiftly pinned the pastel blue cloth to the table. "This makes 5 done…"

Standing up, Kumiko stretched her arms up and gazed at the redhead. "How many more tables do we need to decorate, Chi-chan?"

The redhead tilts her head. "Hmm…Yamada said that the guys were off to fetch more tables, so I guess there's more to come."

Most of the girls volunteered to be in charge of the costumes—a job that required sewing, which Kumiko was not fond of—while a group of guys were in charge of the lifting and other heavier work. The food was taken care by another group while the artists in class worked on the decorations and the café sign.

"Excuse me~ Is Takigawa in here~~?"

The sudden sound of a male's voice calling out from the class doorway. A redhead appears and the familiar figure of Suzuki Takechiro pokes out from the entrance.

"She's here—geh!" Chiharu turns to retort, and upon seeing the face of her older brother, she frowns. "It's you, baka-aniki!"

"Oi! Show more respect to your elders, sheesh!" Takechiro pouts, feigning a hurt expression. "My little sister is totally not cute at all~"

"Psht. Whatever." Chiharu rolls her eyes at her brother, resisting the urge to gag. A few seconds later, Kumiko trotted to their direction, glancing questionably at the sudden appearance of her newspaper club upperclassman.

"Suzuki-senpai?" The brunette acknowledges the presence of the male. "Why are you here? Did you need something?"

"Oh, you're here, good!" Takechiro grins before reaching out to pull Kumiko's right arm to go out of the classroom. "Could you step out for a bit? We need to talk."

Left with no choice, Kumiko only shrugged. "Alright. Only for a little while, okay?" She turns around to gesture at the busy state of the class. "I still need to help out with the café."

"Roger!" Takechiro salutes and Kumiko steps out of the classroom to follow him out.


"How's the volleyball article going?"

Takechiro fires this question as he and Kumiko stepped out of the school building. They were now at the school's botanical garden, memo pads and pens out as he inquired of the brunette's progress.

"It's not done yet, but it's gradually coming together, senpai." Flicking through the pages of her notes, Kumiko's eyes scanned over her articles. "I'll turn it in soon."

Takechiro sighs and nods in understanding. "I see." Glancing at the brunette, he only smiled at his underclassmen. "You know, Takigawa. There's something different about you now."

"Huh?" Confusion swimming in her brown eyes, Kumiko fixes a glance at the grinning Takechiro. "What do you mean?"

"Well, how to put it…" Takechiro places a hand under his chin. "Somehow…There's a sparkle of inspiration in your eyes ever since you took on this writing assignment."

"Eh?" Kumiko became more confused as ever. "I-I'm sorry…I'm not sure I'm following what you mean…"

"Never mind~!" Takechiro lets out a derisive snort of laughter before ruffling the brunette's hair affectionately. "It seems that spring has finally come for you, at last…"

He then turned his figure back, raising a hand to indicate dismissal. "That's all for now! I need to go back and help out my classmates so see you, Takigawa!"

Bewildered, Kumiko could only nod helplessly as she gazes at Takechiro's retreating back.

"It seems that spring has finally come for you, at last…"

Takechiro's words were left ringing in her mind, and she couldn't help but ponder.

What the hell did Suzuki-senpai mean…?


"I'm back…"

"Kumi-chan, I need to ask you for a favor!"

As soon as she went back to the classroom, Chiharu ran to the brunette. Kumiko could only look as her best friend whips out a piece of paper from her skirt. Chiharu extends it to Kumiko's direction and the brunette took it.

"A shopping list?" Kumiko glanced at the messy scrawl and looked back at Chiharu. "What do I do with this?"

"Could you make a run to the town for this stuff? The class rep asked me to and I'd do it myself but I need to help out with the soccer team after this." Chiharu claps her hands together and bows. "Please?"

Glancing at the wall clock in the classroom—4 o'clock in the afternoon, it reads—Kumiko pockets the list in her blazer before giving her friend a smile. "Fine. I'll go, I don't have any more activities anyway."

"Thanks! Ah, but you need someone to go with you. Those may be heavy…" Chiharu adds.

"But almost everyone left for their clubs already, and the remaining people are in charge of the interior, so who?" Kumiko asks.

Chiharu glances around the classroom for a while. Her sharp eyes took note of the particular figure of a raven-haired setter packing up his things in the corner of the room.

The redhead grinned deviously. "Leave that to me."

"Oiiii Kageyama!"

Kageyama raises his head up, only to be met with the grinning Chiharu. His eyes flick to the redhead's to see Kumiko following meekly from behind.

"Can you accompany Kumi-chan with shopping?" Chiharu asks, and smiles amusedly as the tips of Kageyama's ears turn red.

"HAH?! Why me?!" The raven-haired boy barks back rather loudly, Kumiko flinching at the tone of his voice. "I still have volleyball club practice—"

"Eyy, don't be an ass and do as I say, man." Chiharu drawled out, silently enjoying the male's flustered state.

"Uh…if Tobio-kun doesn't want to…then it's fine with me." Kumiko voices out meekly, fixing a sad smile at him. "I mean it's okay…"

Seeing her make such a face tugged at Kageyama's chest and he silently cursed. Running a hand through his hair, he turns his face to the side—a small blush making its way up his cheeks.

"Tch!" He clicks his tongue in annoyance before voicing out the next words quietly. "…fine. I'll come along."

"Eh?" Kumiko asks, failing to catch what Kageyama said. "Did you say something, Tobio-kun?"

"I said I'll go, you dumbass!" He exclaims before walking past her in long strides. "Stop spacing out and let's go."

Blinking at the male's response, Kumiko stuttered out a reply. "O-okay…ah, wait up Tobio-kun! You walk too fast…."

Chiharu could only look on, fangirling internally as the two went out. The truth is, she didn't have any more club activities for that day and just used it as an excuse to trigger a staple love-event between the two.

Such a sly, sly, girl.


"Spray-paints…pins…decorative tape…..crepe paper…" Kumiko ticks off the items on the shopping list Chiharu gave her and nods approvingly. "I think we got the last items covered."

"Fucking finally…" Kageyama breathes out. His hands held two grocery bags full of ingredients while Kumiko was holding one bag filled with school supplies. "I'm tired running around town."

"Well, we need to go back to school to leave these in the classroom…" Kumiko replies and her male companion only grunts in agreement.

The two started to go back, walking side by side. A comfortable silence had washed over the two of them, the only sound was their shoes on the pavement.

Kumiko, out of the corner of her eye, started to eye the boy walking beside her. Kageyama was staring ahead, his midnight-blue eyes calm as he walked.

This somehow feels nice…the two of us, walking together side by side… Kumiko thoughts but then suddenly stops. Wait…doesn't this feel like a…like a date…?!

A fierce blush was making its way across her cheeks and she shook her head rapidly, clearing her thoughts. No, no, no… this is just running an errand…yeah! Nothing really special-

"Oi, Kumiko. Are you okay? You're spacing out." Kageyama's voice suddenly breaks her train of thought.

Kumiko realizes this and turns to face him, only to jump back as his face was suddenly close. Shaking her hand, she nods vigorously. "Y-ye-yes! I'm okay—"

Grghhkkkkkkkk!

A growl from her stomach suddenly interrupts her explanation, surprising the two of them.

Kumiko's face heats up in more embarrassment and she bows her head, keeping her eyes low to the ground. "I'm really sorry—"

"Do you want to grab a bite?"

Kageyama gently interrupts her flurry of apologies, and as Kumiko looked up, the rarest of smiles were gracing his face. At the sight of Kageyama's smile, her face heats up more and her heartbeat started thumping wildly against her chest.

It was so unfair that a few words or actions from him could send her to this state.

A few moments later, the two emerged from a taiyaki shop. Kumiko was happily munching on the pastry, savoring the sweet cream filling.

"This tastes so good…!" The brunette gushes out, a satisfied smile on her lips. "So yummy~~"

Kageyama only stares, amused, as the brunette continued scarfing down the treat. "You really eat like a kid, don't you know that?"

"Oh, shut up." Kumiko retorts back, continuing on eating. "I'm hungry!"

"Fine, fine." Kageyama mutters. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches as the girl happiky scarfs down the remainder of the pastry down her throat. Crumbs scattered around her mouth, and some leftover cream was smudged near her lips.

"You really eat like a kid." Kageyama repeats and Kumiko turns to him, glaring playfully at the male. She was about to open her mouth to retort, but stops when the male suddenly comes closer, close enough so their faces were only inches apart.

"Ka—what—"

Waah…he's so close…what do I do… waaah waahhh…

Kumiko panicked inside her head as she felt her cheeks warm up again for the nth time that day.

"You have crumbs on your face, dumbass." Kageyama retorts, eyebrows furrowing. "And leftover cream near your lips, too. Sheesh." His hand reaches up to her face, thumbs brushing the cream away.

Suddenly he stops, as if realizing their position. Kageyama's eyes dart to her lips on impulse.

They looked soft, plump, and pink—looking as if they were begging to be kissed.

Blushing furiously, he realize what he just thought and forcefully shoves that thought at the back of his mind and steps back.

"S-sorry about that-"

Kracka-boom!

The sound of thunder interrupts Kageyama and Kumiko, surprising the hell out of them. The girl looked up, seeing the skies darken, a sign of impending rain.

"We should hurry up before the rain pours…" She remarks, and Kageyama nods.

"Then let's go—"

Fsshhhhhhhhhhhh!

Before he could finish his statement, however, rain suddenly pours down, drenching the two.

"Great timing, thanks." Kumiko mutters sarcastically, the rain dousing her completely. Kageyama stops for a while, thinking. An idea sparks into his mind, and he calls out to the soaked girl.

"Hey! My house is pretty near. Wanna come?"