Lilith and Sakurai were both walking to somewhere. Lilith has been so depressed lately that Sakurai decided to bring her somewhere to refresh her mind. After all, he wasn't used to Lilith being so gloomy. She wasn't ordering him around ever since that day they stalked horoscopes. Sakurai braced himself and tried to show her that he's a man, after all. He took her hand as they walked, trying to prevent himself from shaking. He bought her ice cream and she just thanked him calmly. The sad part was that Lilith was too depressed to notice his actions. Sakurai thought that a man should always try to do his best to comfort a woman. He cleared his throat and slapped his blushing face with his other hand.
"Senpai… why are you so sad? A-Are you still b-bothered by that rainbow thing?" He regretted asking such a stupid question. Why would Lilith suddenly be depressed because of rainbows? He sighed in disappointment. "No, Sakurai. It's just…" Lilith stopped herself before she could talk. Sakurai is her junior! She's not supposed to show him how depressed she was. She's supposed to be the one to guide him and act as his big sister. "I'm really hungry, you see!" She lied, showing off a goofy grin. Sakurai looked at her. He was really worried since he knew that she was lying. He just didn't want to push her to the limit. "I see. Well… how about going into that restaurant there, senpai? I'll t-treat you! If that's okay… I'm sorry." Sakurai gulped. Lilith's eyes widened and she found herself laughing. "You really don't have to. I mean, you're not supposed to waste money on your senior. I'll pay." She told him.
Sakurai wanted to tell her that as a man, he'll treat her and make her happy, but… he was too nervous to. Besides, Lilith would only yell at him and tell him not to give her orders. She was too proud as a senior to back off. "B-But…" Sakurai tried to persuade her. "No way. I'll get extremely angry at you if you pay!" As he thought, Lilith wouldn't allow him to pay. As they reached the restaurant, Lilith suddenly got a craving for takoyaki. "Um… can you go ahead? Order whatever you want! I'll be back in a jiffy." She told him before leaving him dumbfounded in front of the restaurant.
Lilith found a nearby takoyaki stand not too far away from the restaurant. She stared at the takoyaki stand, realizing that she didn't have smaller bills in her wallet. "… You again?" She heard a familiar voice say. She winced and turned her head slowly. "Y-YOU! What are you doing here?" She pointed her finger at Hyuuga. "Are you stupid? This is the territory of Seirin! What are you doing here?" He jumped back and pointed back at her. "I'm here to, umm…" Lilith stuttered for the first time in front of Hyuuga. She was about to say that she'll buy takoyaki, but she remembered that she couldn't. She looked back into her wallet and sighed.
Hyuuga bit his lip and rubbed the back of his head. It was actually the first time he saw Lilith look so disappointed. He breathed in and out and looked away. "… Ah, damn it! Wait there." He told her. He then went toward the takoyaki stand. Lilith watched him curiously, trying to find out what he's trying to do.
After a while, Hyuuga came back with two takoyaki orders. He handed both to her and Lilith just looked at the two orders in surprise. "There! Now wipe off that frown on your face and just… just enjoy the food, damn it." Hyuuga didn't even look at her face. He was looking elsewhere and sheepishly scratching his head. Lilith was too surprised to even say anything. "Aren't you going to buy one for yourself? You gave me two orders…" She asked. Hyuuga finally looked at her and sighed. "You look like you really wanted to eat takoyaki so just take it." He calmly said.
Lilith looked down at her feet. For some reason, she was shaking. "You're too indifferent…" She murmured. Hyuuga tilted his head. "What?" He asked her. "YOU'RE TOO INDIFFERENT! MORON!" Lilith suddenly yelled and quickly popped a takoyaki into her mouth. Suddenly, her eyes were filled with tears and she was blowing off steam from her mouth. "HOT! HOT! HOT!" She complained. Her other hand was shaking Hyuuga's collar out of panic. "Let go! Y-You idiot!" Hyuuga quickly got out a bottle of water from his bag and gave it to her. Lilith snatched the bottle from his hands and started drinking. Suddenly, she started coughing. "… Just how much of a klutz can you be?" Hyuuga massaged his temples before fently rubbing Lilith's back. "You ate a whole takoyaki while it's still hot. What do you expect, idiot? You drank water continuously without breathing, what are you trying to do? Kill yourself?" Hyuuga scolded her.
The blonde glared at him. "Why do you care? You call yourself the captain of Seirin when you don't even know how to treat a wo—" She suddenly cut herself off after realizing that he was actually treating her well today. "Ungrateful woman…" Hyuuga hissed at her. "I'm sorry." Lilith told him. Hyuuga was taken aback, unable to believe what he had just heard. "Huh?" He asked again as if he was in a dream or some fantasy. Lilith suddenly punched his chest. He winced at the pain and glared at her. "I said I'm sorry! Geez, you enjoy embarrassing me, huh? And… thanks for the treat." She repeated, looking away and blushing. The great Lilith was actually apologizing. Miracles can happen.
Hyuuga cleared his throat and turned his back toward her. "Don't mention it." He then started walking away. Lilith watched him and she realized that his back was big and that he was a really tall guy. "He should at least try to be sweeter." She mumbled to herself, not knowing that someone was watching them from the shadows.
Sakurai clenched his fists as he watched the scene in front of him. He then quickly ran back to the restaurant, scared that Lilith might scream at him if she finds him spying on her.
"How come she let him treat her when she never lets me do the same?" He asked himself.
Lia was staring at her phone blankly. It seemed like she was waiting for a text message even though she had nothing to wait for. She dialed a number and pressed the call key, silently hoping that someone would answer. "Hello?" The voice from the other line answered. Lia felt her whole soul rise up as soon as someone answered. She jumped up and down and started flailing her arms. "Rena! Any news?" She asked.
"I haven't seen Gale for days… ever since we…"
"You mean there's still no luck in trying to contact her?"
"Her phone cannot be reached…"
"… Damn it, Rena…"
Lia then hung up. She slumped in her seat and started sulking. She was staring at a Chemistry book she kept on her desk, wondering why she hated the subject she studies the most. She then dialed another number, wishing that someone would at least try to help her. She was desperate. She heard a click from the other line and she felt her heart skip a beat. "A-A-Akashi! I'm so s-sorry I bothered you, I just, well, you know… umm…" She started stuttering and panicking.
"You won my heart, Lia."
She suddenly screamed and hung up. She was now seriously thrashing all over her room. She heard her phone ringing and she checked to see who was calling. It was Akashi. She screamed again and flipped her drafting table over. She pulled her hair and started kicking random stuff on the floor. She then grabbed her phone and answered. "Ah, yes, Akashi?" She calmly said. "Do you need anything?" As soon as she heard his voice, she hung up again and went berserk once more. She was almost close to destroying her own room. "CRAP! What the hell's wrong with me? No! No! He's just tricking me into falling into his trap! No! No! Agh! Die, Akashi! Die, die, die!" She started stabbing random things with her pencil. She heard her phone ringing again and it took her all her courage to answer it. "Sorry about that. I accidentally hit the cancel button." She lied.
"I see." Akashi gently answered. "Um… you see… my friend's been missing for days or so we thought. We just can't contact her… do you think you can help me? I mean, your training camp is near the area where we parted ways…" Lia was trying to punch her own heart from beating too fast. Akashi took long to respond. "I'll see what I can do." He told her. Lia felt her heart sink. Why was he pretending that nothing happened back then in the training camp? Did he forget his words?
"… Thank you." Lia said before hanging up. She was back to sulking again. "Stupid Gale… not contacting us and making us worry and all her stupid shit…" She suddenly started complaining. "Stupid Akashi… giving me the greatest shock in my life and suddenly reverting back to his old, serious self…" She kept on mumbling to herself.
It became normal for them to walk hand-in-hand. Yelena doesn't feel so scared of men anymore, thanks to the very man she admired. "Don't look at me like that." Kuroko suddenly said and Yelena realized that she was already staring at him. She blushed and looked away. "I am sorry." She felt his hand squeeze hers. They finally reached the Seirin gym and the others were already practicing inside. Kuroko let go of Yelena's hand to drop his bag and let Tetsuya Number 2 out. The puppy barked in gratitude.
Yelena found a basketball on the floor and picked it up. She noticed how big it was and how she won't be able to play well with her small stature and small hands. "Ah, Rena. You wanna shoot?" Kagami suddenly asked her as he was wiping a towel over his head. Yelena nodded, even though she looked like she was about to cry after thinking about how useless she was in sports. Kagami then went behind her and supported her hands around the ball. "It's like this." He took the ball from her hands and dribbled across the court, dunking it in the basket. "See? That's how you shoot!" Kagami yelled. "IDIOT!" Hyuuga hit him on the head. "How do you expect her to do the same, you moron?" The Seirin captain scolded him. "Ah, I think she can do it. She'll just have to drink milk." Kiyoshi's statement was completely useless.
Riko sighed at the rowdy sight. She then spotted Kuroko walking toward Yelena and putting his varsity jacket on her shoulders. She saw how Kuroko smiled gently at the Russian girl and Yelena smiled back. "… That's odd… how did I notice him? His presence…" Riko thought to herself, wondering how in the world did she see Kuroko at the corner of her eye so easily even though he had little presence. "Yelena… did she give him light?"