Hi, I'm back! Tests are over until September!

I had so many plans, things I was going to do. But then I twisted my ankle, pretty bad. So now I'm only capable of walking with the aid of crutches.

I don't even have a cool story to tell you on how it happened. That's probably the worst part. I was just strolling around the neighborhood, minding my own business. There was one tile of the pavement that was sticking up a bit. I stepped on it the wrong way and then boom! Goodbye outdoor activities, hello couch!

Anyways, here's the next installment of Partners in crime! Just a little practical note: Suzumi is talking about tonkatsu during this chapter. It's a Japanese dish that includes deep fried pork cutlets with side dishes like rice, miso soup and cabbage. I didn't know if everyone knew what it was, so I just wanted to tell you beforehand.

Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu.

A little misery never hurt anyone

Suzumi Pov

Subjectively speaking, today had been a good day. Oikawa and I had come to an agreement about what we would reply to those pesky rumors. We'd say we had been dating and broke up. Simple explanations were usually better. Oikawa wouldn't lose face and I might finally be able to actually make some friends. I wish I could say we'd talked face to face, but I didn't have the guts to do it and resorted to texting instead.

I hadn't seen the setter at all after our fight. It wasn't like I'd been avoiding him. In reality, I really wanted to see him so I had been purposefully walking through certain hallways I knew Oikawa frequented. I caught tiny glimpses of him every now and again, surrounded by a swarm of girls. I guess they are all aiming for that spot at the grand king's side after I'd ungraciously dethroned myself.

As for the friend-making part, I was doing pretty well. The amount of female classmates that come up to talk to me in a day had tripled. But well, given that that number was previously at like two, it wasn't really that much on an increase. Most of them only wanted the juicy details on my 'relationship' anyway. I'd much rather spend my time with my little group of idiots. That wasn't happening though. I didn't want them to pick a side or something like that, so I had basically spend the whole day by myself. It was quite lonely, which just made me feel glum.

The weather was kind enough to match my mood with a slow, depressing drizzle. Thankfully, I'd actually brought my umbrella with me this time. The thought only made me feel worse as the subject of umbrellas was closely linked to the cozy walk home I'd had with Oikawa just a few weeks prior. He wasn't with me today though. Fridays meant practice matches. I briefly wondered how they were doing. Normally I'd be there to watch, to cheer for them. Today I wasn't and that fact made me feel bad.

On the plus side, I was finally going to be home before dinner on a Friday. That hadn't happened in a while. Mom's tonkatsu was on the menu tonight, my favorite. I could use the time before dinner to study for those dreaded tests that were coming up. Tomorrow as well. I could also read that book I'd been meaning to read for a while. I tried to find more reasons as to why my current situation wasn't that bad, but this was about it. More time to study and to be by myself… hurrah.

I opened the front door and stepped inside, 'I'm home.'

Mom popped out of the kitchen with a warm smile, 'Welcome home sweetie.'

'How was your day?' She asked as I hung up my jacket.

I hummed noncommittally, 'It was okay I guess.'

Mom didn't know about the whole mess I'd found myself in, which I suppose was for the best. My unenthusiastic reply wasn't going to cut it, so scoured my brain for a positive thing that happened today.

'Actually,' I said, 'I managed to become friends with a few girls today. They gave me their phone number so we could hang out some time.'

They weren't really my friends and it was more like they were going to interrogate me about the stuff I did while I 'dated' Oikawa, but close enough. Mom beamed at me, which made me feel a bit guilty.

'That's wonderful.'

The sound of the rice cooker going off in the background drew the two of us to the kitchen. As mom busied herself with the rice and the pork cutlets, she spoke up again.

'Right, I got you and Oikawa-kun some more milk bread. It's in the left cupboard. There was no more room in the snack drawer.'

'Oh thanks, but, uh, Oikawa isn't coming tomorrow.'

'Oh? That's unusual.'

'Yeah, we've got a lot of tests coming up. So we're both going to study tomorrow.'

'How responsible.' She said, 'Are you that's all it is? Because I feel like it isn't.'

I flinched, 'You could tell?'

She chuckled, 'You're going to have to wait about thirty years before you can start considering hiding things from me.'

'I guess so.' I kept quiet for a while, listening to the sizzling of the cutlets in the frying pan. 'Oikawa and I had a bit of a fight. I said some stuff I regret saying.'

'Is that so?'

'Yeah, I basically ended our friendship in the spur of the moment.'

'That's quite the decision.' Mom said as she stirred the miso soup. 'What are you going to do about all this?'

'I- I don't know. Maybe I should just let him be for a while.'

'Are you sure you have the patience for that? I know you well enough to know that you're not exactly the waiting-around type.'

'I know. I just have no idea how to go about this.'

'Want to tell what the fight was about?'

I hesitated, 'Sorry,' I said, 'I think I'll keep that to myself for now.'

'That's okay. Be sure to tell me when you've made up.'

'I will.' I said with a smile.

'Oh also, make up before the milk bread expires. Oikawa-kun is the only one who eats that stuff.'

I had forgotten how boring weekends could be. I'd spend the entirety of the Friday evening doing basically nothing. I'd attempted to study, but that just wasn't happening for me. In the end, I'd joined my parents at the kitchen table, trying to solve crossword puzzles. We ended up solving none, as per usual. Some things in life just stay the same, which was a comforting thought.

Even now, a day later, I still wasn't making a lot of progress on the studying front. Deciding that I might as well do something else, I got up from my desk and padded over to my right most bookshelf. Mom and dad were out on their weekly date, this time to the cinema. No one could get mad at me for taking a break. A break that would probably last the whole day.

As I stood before the shelf, my eye fell on a navy colored spine. Right, our deathnote. I grabbed it, strolled back to my desk and sat back down on the wooden chair. While flipping through the pages we'd filled in, I reminisced all the stuff we'd done. It was quite a lot. Most of it was pretty stupid. Still, I wanted the stupid back in my life, preferably by Monday. Like mom said, the patience thing wasn't really my strong suit.

The wheels in my head started turning. What could I do to mend my friendship with Oikawa? In a true eureka style moment I remembered the silly book cover we were making before the, uh, incident. I stubbornly pushed the memory away, not wanting to remember how stupidly soft Oikawa's lips had been.

Right, the cover. I could make it as a means of an apology. To show him I still wanted to be his partner in crime.

'It might just work.' I mumbled.

I put the notebook to the side and grabbed my laptop, opening Paint. Why did we decide to use Paint you ask? Literally the worst way to do this? The answer is quite simple. Oikawa liked the icon for it. He found it very artsy.

For the next few hours, yes hours, I painstakingly created the most beautiful book cover the world ever saw. I printed it out and almost cried of joy as I stretched my hand, which had been holding my mouse in a vice-like grip for almost three hours straight. It was magnificent.

Next came the apologizing part. Oikawa was clearly avoiding me. Honestly couldn't blame him. This did mean I'd have to be a bit creative in getting the two of us alone. While making the cover, I had let my mind run free and had come up with a few ideas. There was one in particular that I liked most. I was going to repurpose an idea from the notebook that Oikawa and I never used. The problem with that was that I needed some help executing it. I didn't want to drag any of our friends into our fight, I really didn't, but I couldn't do this otherwise.

Accepting that fact, I sighed, grabbed my phone and opened my chat with Chi-chan.

H: Chi-chan?

H: I need your help with something…

C: Something?

H: I wanna tell Oikawa I'm sorry

H: I need some help to make it happen

C: Thank the lord.

C: Say no more

C: I'm in

That's a wrap for this week!

The apology is coming next week guys, I promise. I'll make it all better. Maybe I'll make it even more spicey… Who knows? *Subtly and gently lays hint at your feet*

While writing this I noticed that this is officially the thirtieth chapter of the story! I also saw we just breached 4000 views! That's actually insane. If you're reading this thank you so much for reading up to this point!

I hope you have a great week! See you next Sunday~