Chapter 10: Kozume Kenma

Hitori kept squirming on her seat. She couldn't stand seeing Karasuno losing, where are Hinata and Kageyama when you need them? "Gah, they're losing!" She commented, Yachi agrees covering her face except the eyes.

"Huh? Where's Shouyou and the other one?" Kenma asks, beads of sweat falling from his forehead down to his chin and cheeks. He was panting a bit, very tired from their last match.

"They said they got supplementary classes." Yamamoto answered.

"Oh," The pudding head informs his fellow teammate about taking a rest. He sits right next to Hitori coincidentally and takes out his phone, ready to play a game.

Hitori ruffled her hair in frustration, "Ugh! I hate seeing them like this," She watches Karasuno do the flying laps for the eight time. "I'm gonna play games for a while." She told the two managers and took out her phone. Once she's on her phone, she won't care about her surroundings. As she turns on her phone, she noticed a message she didn't read, it was sent to her hours ago.

"How's Tokyo?" -applepi

Hitori immediately replied. No matter how late the message was, once they receive a message from each other, they reply as soon as possible as long as they're free."Man, sorry for the late reply. Tokyo's amazing. It's different in my place."

Kenma's phone vibrated and saw Hitori's message. He ignored it since he's in a really hard level right now. Hitori, who was right next to her waited for a reply from him. About a minute or two, she still didn't get one and concluded that he is in game. The two who were obliviously chatting each other does not know that they already met and are sitting right next to each other.

Suddenly, the doors burst open, showing the oddball duo. Karasuno's eyes widened. Nishinoya and Tanaka cheered. "Hinata! Kageyama!"

Kuroo shot an annoyed smirk, "The leading actors making a late entrance, huh? Kinda pisses me off."

Kenma turns his phone off. "Shouyou."

Hitori stares at the pudding head sitting next to her. What the heck is with this dude all Shouyou this, Shouyou there...She thought as she noticed him asking for Hinata a while ago. She noticed the boy's head and remembered he was Kozume Kenma, the setter she admired in Nekoma.

"Kenma, time for the next match." Kuroo calls his friend and teammate.

"But I'm still tired." Kenma complains.

"No buts and stand up lazy ass." Kuroo said as he pulls Kenma to the other court, Kenma who saw this coming, lazily let him be dragged by his friend.

I didn't know he was a lazy player... Hitori sweatdropped. But I did notice that he plays games, is he a gamer?

•/•

Hitori's eyes wandered on the different courts being used in the Nekoma gymnasium. All of them were having a really good match. The squeaking of the shoes, the spikes, the receives, the tosses were amazing. She admired at how professional the players play. Then again, they are the Tokyo powerhouse teams.

"Ah! They won!" Yachi exclaimed pointing Karasuno. Hinata landed safely after a good quick spike, earning them the win.

Karasuno sighed in relief at finally winning a match after nine matches in total. Kageyama and Hinata stood up with proud faces being the reason of their win. "The hell you're posing like that for... Don't try to look cool, Tardy Failing-grade Duo." Tanaka scolds creepily behind them. The oddball duo spines shiver.

"So that concludes the day." Shimizu announces and stands up. "Let's go make dinner, Yachi." Yachi nods and follows Shimizu. "Are you coming, Hitori?" She asked the female who was holding a PSP. Hitori twitched and almost released the gadget from her hands.

"Nope, nope, nope. Sorry, if you don't want all of us to die, don't make me come inside the kitchen." Said Hitori. Yachi was supposed to tell her that it might not be that bad but Tsukishima joined in the conversation and stopped her.

"She's serious. Don't make her cook if you want to live." He said and pulled Hitori's hand. "This girl has almost burnt the whole kitchen in school back in middle school."

Shimizu and Yachi blinked their eyes for a second, they couldn't believe that was possible. "O-okay then, we'll call all of you when the food is ready." Shimizu said and finally left with Yachi.

"I'll be going to sleep, you should too." Said Tsukishima and waved to her a goodbye before disappearing in Hitori's sight. She went to where they were going to stay in and turned on her PSP to play a quick game.

•/•

"Lol, Nekoma has wifi." Hitori said to herself when she turned on the wifi on her phone. "And it's free!" She felt her phone vibrate, applepi has messaged her again.

"Tiring, practice was… Sorry I couldn't reply." – applepi

"Practice? What are you practicing for?" – BlueShadowGirl

"A sport I play. Volleyball." – applepi

"COOOOOL! I PLAY VOLLEYBALL TOO!" – BlueShadowGirl

Hitori wishes that applepi was here, in Nekoma, where she is currently in. But then again, she's scared of meeting him. Same as what Kenma is feeling when meeting BlueShadowGirl occurs in his head.

Speaking of Kenma, Hitori sees him walking in the hallways. She didn't know why, but she called for him. "Ko-Kozume-san!"

Kenma twitches and turns around with an annoyed face, he was disturb with his gaming. "Yes?"

"Gaming? Sorry." Hitori apologized immediately, she knows the feeling of being disturb and apologizes for what she has done. "You may continue with your game. I'm weird anyway so excuse me~"

"I lost… I'm okay to talk to now." He said. "Excuse my face… earlier…"

Excitement filled Hitori's face, she's met a fellow gamer. "I just felt all excited when I knew you play games too." Her smile was up to her ears. Kenma was just nodding. "I'm Tsubasaki Hitori. Um, I'm from Karasuno but not part of the volleyball club Sawamura-senpai and the other are in. I just tagged along because I want to." She scratched her head and smiled sheepishly feeling all embarrassed, she even couldn't believe she could talk to Kenma that long. Hitori is usually shy.

"Isn't it embarrassing? Tagging along when you're not part of it." He asked, Hitori giggled.

"A person I know asked the exact same thing."

Kenma felt like she knew Hitori all of a sudden. But that's impossible, she CAN'T be Shadow. Maybe it's just a coincidence. It's impossible, but she's also a gamer… But it's still impossible. As Kenma was thinking, he kept shaking his head. Hitori watches him with a sweatdrop.

"You're a setter, right?" Hitori asked. Kenma nodded. "I'm a libero in my team. I used to be a wing spiker back at middle school. But then I became a libero after a while because they said I was too small for the wing spiker. I didn't mind though, as long as I can still play." She explained with a smile. She doesn't know why she feels so comfortable talking to Kenma. "Though I really envy Hinata-kun since he's a middle blocker even though he's too short for it." She let out a pout. Kenma couldn't help but stare at her, she just sounds so familiar to him but a part of him is denying it.

Kenma shrugged, "This and that are different." Hitori sadly nodded, agreeing.

Awkward silence. The two stare at each other intently as if playing a staring contest. They didn't even ask why they were staring one another. Then they both talked and said the same thing.

"You remind me of—" But they were cut by Kuroo calling for Kenma.

"Kenma, dinner time." Kenma nodded and approached Kuroo. Hitori sighed and muttered to herself that it's impossible, he can't be applepi.

Kenma looked back to get one last look at Hitori. "It can't be her…" He muttered.

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing."