Chapter 21: Realize

applepi sent a photo

"Nice picture, Tsubasaki. Look at that roll. :P" –applepi

"HOLY—WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT." –BlueShadowGirl

"Shouyou." –applepi

"Curse that ball of sunshine… How are you doing, Kozume-kun?" –BlueShadowGirl

"Fine… I'm doing fine." –applpi

"You wrote fine two times." –BlueShadowGirl

"Who cares?" Kenma commented and started typing.

"You went an all nighter for three days, didn't you? You know you should stop that especially when your match is less than one week. You'll get sick." –BlueShadowGirl

"I'm perfectly fine. Nobody can stop me with playing the game you gave me as a birthday gift." –applpi

"I'm just worried about you. You can't always be addicted to games, Kozume." – BlueShadowGirl

"Worried? Why would she be worried? She should worry about her boyfriend before worrying about some other guy like me." He muttered.

"Well, maybe you can but… Hey it's bad for your health and you hate getting tired right? Why is it you hate getting tired but you don't even bother sleeping when it's about playing games?" –BlueShadowGirl

"Don't worry about me, worry about your boyfriend who might get stolen by other girls." –applepi

Kenma rolled his eyes while typing that.

"Kei's not my boyfriend… Yet? I don't know, but just take care of yourself, okay? At least until the Spring High ends. I want to see you at the Nationals. Good luck, Kozume." –BlueShadowGirl

"You called me Kozume for two times now. I don't mind that." –applepi

"Then Hitori's fine also. :D Bye!" –BlueShadowGirl

Kenma turned his phone off and turned it on quickly seeing a picture of him and Hitori as a lock screen. He remembered perfectly how it got taken…

"One… Picture?"

The female nodded while holding his phone. "Wait, if it's a picture then why are you holding out MY phone?" Kenma said, eyebrows meeting. He's not very comfortable with someone holding his phone.

"My phone died out, just one picture and send it to me, then you can delete it. Simple as that." She said waving his phone in front of him.

After a few more minutes of persuasion, Kenma finally agreed. Hitori positioned his phone where they could see each other in the screen. She quickly counted up to three and immediately tapped the snap button in which Kenma wasn't able to get ready. "Wah~ You look cute, Kozume-kun!" Hitori commented showing the pudding head their picture.

"Why do you want a picture with me anyway?"

Hitori stared at their picture while she answered, "I don't make a lot of friends. You were one of the best internet friends I had, and top it all off I met you in person!" She smiled. "I don't want to forget this day. I'm just, really happy that I met you, Kozume-kun!"

Kenma could feel his cheeks hot. She handed him her phone. "But seriously, you looked like a cat in the picture, it's so cute!" She commented with a giggle. Kenma rolled his eyes. "I'll be charging my phone since we're about to leave tomorrow, see ya tomorrow!"

With that, she waved goodbye and went to the room the girls were occupying.

He stared at the picture… He was staring at the camera while Hitori who was holding the phone did a peace sign on her free hand and smiled.

He stared at the picture, specifically Hitori. He remembered how close together they were in that picture just so they could fit. He remembered the way she smelled at that time, fresh strawberries—must be her favorite shampoo scent. He remembered how his heart skipped a beat when he saw that big smile of hers. "Cute…" He muttered tapping his finger on Hitori's face for unknown reasons. He found himself drawn in the female's smile.

"I want to see you."

Swiping the phone, he went to the calendar and saw a certain date marked as a reminder. He tapped it and saw that it was a reminder for him that Hitori's birthday is on the 26th of May.

"My favorite color is blue, I like to eat tons of food so don't ask for a favorite because I really don't know, I'm five foot three, I almost blew up a kitchen, I think I'm going to be a horrible wife in the future…" Hitori went on and on talking about herself to Kenma once he asked to get to know each other.

By the time Kenma was tired of listening, he cut her off by asking when her birthday was. "May 26th. 5:37 PM."

"I… Didn't need to know the time you were born…" He sweat dropped.

"Talkative, determined, positive, somewhat annoying… But then she can also be quiet, mean, basically a moody person." He purposely hit his head on the table. "What the hell are you talking about, Kenma? Stop thinking about that Hitori—" He covered his mouth when he realized he just called Hitori by her first name.

"Then Hitori's fine also."

He tapped to his photos again and started scrolling down to his past pictures and then realized… Since when did he have a ton of Hitori's pictures? He kept scrolling and scrolling and noticed that all of his pictures were full of her smiling, top it all off they were stolen and candid shots.

He remembered. Whenever Hitori laughs or smiles, he would snap it without anyone noticing he did. Just how drawn is he to her smile? Instead of deleting it, he stared at them one by one and imagined her calling his name with those smiles. "Kenma!"

A loud thud! Was heard which surprised her mother who was washing the dishes downstairs. It Kenma slammed his head on the wall. "Stop. Thinking. About. Her." He said in between the slamming he has done.

"It's no use… I think I like her." He muttered to himself holding his now red forehead. He closed his eyes and sighed but all that showed up in her head was Hitori once again making him bang his head again. How hard is this boy's head for it not to bleed?

The door slowly opened showing Kuroo in the doorway. "Oi, Kenma." He greeted. His eyes then widened when he realized his best friend has a red forehead. "K-Kenma, what the hell are you doing? If you're trying to kill yourself, resort to drinking poison."

"What the hell are you talking about?" The pudding head said, rubbing his forehead. "I was just… Um… Slamming my head on the wall."

"W-why would you do that?"

Kenma looked down with his cheeks burning. He kept silent not to let Kuroo know. Is it even a good thing for the male to know? Kuroo expected him not to reply and glanced to his phone on the table which was on, showing a candid picture of Hitori smiling while talking to Nishinoya with exaggerated gestures. He smirked and let himself in closing the door. "So, let's talk about Tsubasaki Hitori." He said.

"No." Kenma averted his eyes to the left.

"I'm stating this to you again. You like Tsubasaki." Kuroo said with a tone as if he was stating the obvious.

"… I don't."

Kuroo pointed Kenma as if he did something opposite to what he said. "Ha, you replied five seconds late meaning that's not what you meant." The bedhead captain sighed and walked up to Kenma. "I can see it, Kenma. Your eyes… Are telling me that you do."

Kenma rolled his eyes. "As if you really know something like that. Stop making things up."

"I'm not. You're scared, aren't you?"

Kenma felt his heart beat fast. He didn't know if it was because he was telling the truth that he does like Hitori or that he's nervous about what Kuroo was going to say next. He hated this feeling, he didn't want to think about things like love or Hitori. If this goes on any longer he might even fall harder. "You're in love."

"I'm no—"

"Kenma." Kuroo's voice was authoritative enough for Kenma to shut up. "For once, be honest about your feelings."

The pudding head sat on the floor looking down with the feeling of hurt plastered on his face. "I… Fell in love… Without realizing it."

Kuroo sat on the floor with him and smiled softly, although it still looked like a smirk. He patted his best friend's head to help him calm down. "To the point that… It'd just hurt me." He continued, thinking about the message Hitori sent a few days ago about her date with Tsukishima.

"That's what love is anyway. You're sooo slow, Kenma." Kuroo commented patting the pudding head's head once more.

"Kuroo. I hate this feeling but I can't hate Hitori."

"How…Can I make it…Go away?"

Kenma heard his phone and quickly took it from the table and turned it on.

BlueShadowGirl sent a photo

"HAHAHA LOOK AT HOW STUPID KEI IS WHILE SLEEPING. OOPS, don't mind my nose ;-;" –BlueShadowGirl

Kenma sat down hugging his knees. "Fuck my life." Kuroo crawled closer to the pudding head and took his phone in which he didn't mind.

"Oh, she does talk about everything to you. And damn her nose looks funny!" Kuroo laughed and gave the phone back to Kenma who stood up and banged his head again on the wall. "Jealous Kenma is… Violent."

"Shut up, I hate my life."

"Are you gonna keep banging your head or are you gonna make a move?" Kuroo said, stopping Kenma for another bang. "Basically those two are just best friends and they aren't together yet so stop killing yourse—" Kuroo was cut and his eyes widened when he saw Kenma's golden eyes were emitting tears.

"… Kenma… You're crying."

Kenma wiped his tears away with his arm but a few more fell. "… I'm not…"

"… It hurts, Kuroo." Kuroo couldn't help but pull Kenma into a hug.

"Stop crying, stupid. They're not together yet. You sound like a five year old who took his PSP away."

Author's Note: KILL ME NOW. KUROKEN. KUROKEN. KILL ME NOW OMG OMG. WHAT DID I DO? OOC KENMA I'M SORRY FORGIVE ME. THEY'RE JUST MY HEADCANONS XD