It was 11:30. He managed to get there a little earlier than he had mentioned. He luckily rode an earlier bus to her house and was able to easily ditch Kuroo.

He had told his friend that he was going to Akihabara to buy a new game. At the mention of a new game his friend overlooked his haste exit as something not strange. Kuroo knew how excited he'd get for new releases.

The reason why he was rushing to her place was due to last night. Kenma had received a couple of texts from Kagome. Judging by her questions he could tell that she had gone ahead of where they left off yesterday.

"Kagome, Kenma is here!" Mrs. Higurashi knocked several times on her bedroom door.

There wasn't an answer.

"Kenma dear, just go inside. I'll be back in a bit with some snacks."

"Ah, ok."

At her mother's retreating steps he knocked on her door again. This time she answered.

"K-Kozome-san!" Her voice sounded panicky. "J-just give me a minute!"

He could hear some scuffles on the floor meaning, she was quickly pacing around her room doing something before he heard a thud. Several seconds later the door opened.

"Make yourself comfortable!" She chuckled nervously.

She wore a cream colored cardigan over a light blue dress. Only the top button was buttoned making her look graceful with how her clothes loosely flowed. The bottom of the fabric of her dress even seemed to dance with the way it twirled with each step she took.

It was the first time he saw her without her uniform.

It was…different.

"Ah, hold on! I'll be right back!"

Not giving him a chance to protest, he was left alone in her room.

The room itself was pretty standard, having the essential furniture. However, other items in the room such as a twin bed with pink sheets, pink curtains and a pink carpet that matched it, told him that he was indeed in a girl's room.

If Kuroo found out…

Ah, he couldn't bear the thought of it!

With nothing else to do his eyes continued to roam around the room until it landed on her trash bin tucked far underneath her desk, as if to hide something. On further inspection he could see there were several crumbled pieces on the floor since they couldn't fit inside the overfilled bin.

She must have been studying studiously.

"Ah, Kozome-san! You should have sat down." Kagome said after seeing he had still been standing.

He didn't know where it was appropriate for him to sit. Judging by the low table in her arms it would be the floor.

Kagome's mother soon appeared and placed some homemade iced tea and several convenience store snacks on the table for them to enjoy.

He looked at her again.

Her cheeks were lacking the usual rosy tint. There were also shadows underneath her eyes which was evidence that she had stayed up till late. Her overall complexion seemed dull as if she lacked vitality.

Her mother was about to leave until he took this moment to mention something.

"Higurashi-san, you're overdoing it. Remember, breaks are important."

His eyes trailed to her desk although free from scrapped paper was a mess till it arrived towards the trash bin.

The mother and daughter duo both followed his line of sight.

Keiko Higurashi placed a hand over her mouth. "Oh my." Her eyes widened as she remembered something. "Now that I think about it...I don't recall seeing Kagome leaving her room for lunch…"

"Kagome dear, did you eat yet?"

Kenma knew from that question it was too late for the girl. She had fallen under Mrs. Higurashi's radar.

"Not yet...but mama, I still need to-"

Kagome's excuse went unheard. She had already pulled her mother's AGGRO.

"No, buts! You're coming downstairs right now to eat then, you can study!"

Knowing that she had no way to decline she quickly got up to leave for the kitchen.

With this his plan was successful. If he had told her to take a break she would have refused and it would have taken a while to convince her to take one.

"Gurrrgh~"

'Oh no…' He thought.

At the rumbling of his tummy, Kagome's lips started to upturn into a wicked devilish smirk.

Unlike her daughter, Mrs. Higurashi had a concerned look on her face. "Oh my! Kenma, did you not eat anything also?"

"No, I did!"

In truth, he also hadn't really eaten lunch either. All he had was a meat bun from the closest convenience store before catching the bus to her place.

At the way Kagome stared at him, with half crested moons that smiled, they both knew he had also fallen under mama Higurashi's radar.

He also found himself unable to decline by the way she smiled at him.

"Sorry for the trouble." He mumbled.

"It isn't a bother at all dear!" Keiko beamed. "Besides, Kagome is also eating."

As a gamer it was a shame he had forgotten an important thing. Party members besides the tanker (Kagome) could also unintentionally pull a mob's AGGRO.

Lunch was...okay. The food itself was delicious despite being a simple spread. He had even helped himself to another serving upon Mrs. Higurashi's encouragement. She saw how quickly he emptied his plate. It was probably due to the extra practice that he was hungrier than usual.

At the encouragement for a 3rd helping he had to politely decline. No matter how much Mrs. Higurashi looked at him warmly, he wouldn't be able to eat more.

Across from him, Kagome had been laughing at his predicament which caused her mother to divert her attention to her instead.

It was only until after several convincing words from the both of them, they were able to go back upstairs to study. That is, not without some cut up fruits for their dessert from Mrs. Higurashi's insistence.

He was currently looking over her workbook at the questions she had managed to do without him.

'Right, wrong, right, right, wrong and right?'

The last one she had somehow managed to get the right answer despite, the problem solving process being completely wrong.

How?!

Never mind it that! What was in front of him was something more troublesome.

Kagome Higurashi looked up at him in anticipation with clear doe-eyes.

A game-like screen appeared in front of him while he tried to process his thoughts. It looked similar to that of a dating simulator game.

He came face-to-face with 3 options:

—

*Pretend to not notice

*Bring up another topic

*Praise her

—

*Pretend to not notice

For a while he pretended that he was still looking through her workbook.

Yet, she still looked at him as if waiting for something.

Then….

*Bring up another topic

"How are you feeling today?"

"Fine." She answered in a deadpanned voice.

Then…

*Praise her

"G-good ju-job..." He could feel his face heat up from his awkward phrasing.

She just stared at him.

Was that choice also wrong?

Or did she not believe in his words based on how he worded them earlier.

He tried again but ended up with similar results. "G-good ju-job…"

Her head hung low, unresponsive. He couldn't see her expression from the way her bangs hid her face.

Crap, did he say anything wrong?

Ah, this was why he didn't really interact with other people. Saying even one thing wrong could upset the air in the room.

"Sor-"

"Thank you." Her words overlapped with his, making her unable to hear his words.

'Thank you?'

At his confused stare she began to mull over her words."Well, you see… Nobody really tells me that lately. Instead, if I do anything that would be worthy of merit, it would usually be overlooked. Like, it's expected of me to perform that way."

He could relate to what she was saying. Her words reminded him of his current situation with the volleyball club.

'Hey, how is he even a starter?"

He wasn't what many would call the strongest player on the team. Heck, he was usually dead last whenever they did drills.

It was one of the reasons why he didn't hear that many praises from his teammates. Instead, they would ridicule him. He was lucky he had Kuro to constantly remind him of his value.

However, from her words, who was she referring to?

It seemed unlikely it would be anyone in her family. Mrs. Higurashi seemed like the type of mother that would be fully supportive of whatever her children did.

From the way her friends were ready to pounce on him, he'd ruled them out since they seemed very much loyal to her.

So, who was she referring to?

From the way she stared at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. He knew she was still thinking about that person right now.

Unexpectedly to even himself, Kenma unconsciously took a page from Kuroo's book.

"They'll see that you're a big asset to the team."

He would always remember those words Kuroo had told him.

Like a spell they were magical words that he'd replay whenever he had second doubts on quitting.

"You're-" He reached towards her with his hand hovering over her head, hesitant. Then he patted her on the head, as if it was a natural thing to do.

He repeated the words again, more clearer this time. "You're doing a good job, Higurashi-san."

Usually he wouldn't like it if Kuroo patted him on the head but something told him it was the right moment to do it.

Both his words and actions would get his message across right?

"..."

Even if his words sounded superficial, hopefully they would make her feel better even a little.

Her eyes seemed to glisten from the way they welled yet, no tears fell. Not even when they were half closed because, of the big smile on her face.

"Yeah, thanks Kozume-san." Her cheeks were reddening to a shade closer to her usual tone.

She took to his words warmly.

Whenever they met, Kagome Higurashi had proven she was greatly different from his initial 2-D impression of her. Each time he'd learn something new about her.

Her kindness wasn't a fake persona. She was kind to everyone: those she were close to and to those she weren't.

She was loyal to her friends but not afraid to set them straight.

When she was frustrated a wrinkle would form in the middle of her forehead.

Although she was absent a lot, she was trying her best.

He had been looking at her like how some would, at an iceberg. Only the tip, a small part of her. In reality, she was actually a complex being that he couldn't figure out completely.

By looking underwater one could see an iceberg was far larger than the visible top surface. The same was true with her. By getting to know Kagome Higurashi on a personal level, he was getting a clearer idea to what kind of person she was.

"..."

Now, how would he break it down to her that some of the questions she did on her own were wrong.

Thanks to everyone who has read, review, follow, and favorite this story.