A/N:
Hey hey hey! *in Kimura Ryouhei's voice* (oops wrong anime lol)
First off, thank you to the faves, follows and reviews! Next, to the guest who asked about Niji's sis...sorry, I can't tell you everything yet, but I can assure you that his sister's fine! ;)
And to answer the other review about a certain Coldplay song, well here is the chapter~ *'and it was all yellow'* ;)
"Wait, Haizaki-san!"
Tsumiko called out to the ash-haired boy, who had just gathered his things – ready to head towards the first-string gym doors.
The said boy paused in his heels and quirked an eyebrow to the girl, "Ha? What is it?"
Taking few steps towards him, she mentioned her observation, "You didn't seem to have a hard time in doing the new drill earlier."
"It's pretty easy", he shrugged.
It wasn't that easy.
Tsumiko had seen some of the regulars, including some of the first years, namely Murasakibara and Midorima, struggle a bit in learning the new drill. Haizaki, on the other hand, was a very fast learner – something she had noticed after being a coach-in-training of the first string for a few days.
With this, she made a proposition, "I was just thinking that maybe we should add more of that drill to your training regime."
The indifferent expression on his face changed to a slightly agitated one, "Oi!" He pointed a finger at her as he accused, "You're doing this on purpose. That's playing dirty."
She defensively raised both of her hands, "No, I'm not. I just noticed that you learn fast", and sincerely said, "I think it's amazing, Haizaki-san."
At her statement, she watched him snort, "Well, I can't help it."
Normally, Tsumiko would've merely dismissed it as Haizaki being his usual arrogant self. This time, however, she had caught a brief surprised and embarrassed look on his face as she complimented him.
She resisted the urge to tease him, "I'll be suggesting this to the other coaches."
Giving her a small wave, he grumbled, "Yeah, whatever" , before almost bumping onto a raven-heard captain, who was approaching the white-haired girl.
"If only that kid could be a little less impolite", Nijimura voiced out when he got near Tsumiko.
She switched her focus from the back of the said kid towards the second-year, "But he really is good, isn't he?"
In response, he placed his hands on her shoulders, "Mind adding some manners in his training regime?"
A light giggle escaped her lips, "I guess you could ask the other coaches"
Still holding onto her shoulders, he very, very, slightly tilted his head to the side.
"Am I not asking one already?"
.
.
.
Tsumiko blinked.
'What.'
She had been trying hard to resist the blood that had been rushing to her face ever since she felt his hands on her shoulders, but, the sight of him tilting his head – very, very slightly – and his flattering tone, were too much at the moment. She just-
"Excuse me, captain?"
The said captain immediately removed his hands from her shoulders.
The two of them then faced the person who spoke. After seeing the person, Tsumiko released the breath she was holding – letting the blush subside.
"Akashi. What is it?", the older boy calmly asked.
The vice-captain responded, "I just wanted to know if there is anything else that I can help you with?"
With a brief survey at his surroundings, he concluded, "Ah, nothing really. You can go and change now. Thanks, anyways."
"I shall be taking my leave, then."
Once Akashi left, Nijimura faced her, with his usual expression, like everything was just normal, "We should be going too."
But, maybe it was normal for him.
She could only nod at him, in return.
"Akashi-san!"
Tsumiko called out after she got out of the changing rooms and saw the back of the red-haired boy, who was already walking away from the changing rooms.
The boy paused and turned around, "Irosuzuka."
The girl jogged towards his side and politely asked, "Do you mind?"
He just shook his head before starting to walk again, "You're not walking with anyone else today?"
Following his pace, she answered, "Momoi-san wasn't in the practice earlier."
He hummed a little, "I am aware of that", while casting a playful glance at the shorter girl.
"Akashi-san, I believe I don't understand what you mean."
Oh, she did understand.
Akashi was definitely implying Nijimura.
"Ah, I believe I need to apologize. I could possibly have rudely interrupted you and the captain earlier."
He knew, as expected.
"A-akashi-san, I - uh -", maintaining her composure, she spoke a little more confidently, "There's nothing to apologize for."
"If that's what you say."
There was no teasing tone in the way he had said that, but Tsumiko knew, by the way his ruby eyes glimmered. She was about to retort back, when she saw the familiar back of a green-haired boy, standing somewhere in the middle of the hallway.
"Midorima-san?," she called out to someone for the third time today.
The said boy flinched before turning around to face the white-haired girl and the red-haired boy.
"You seem to be frozen on this spot. What's the matter, Midorima?", Akashi questioned.
"Nothing." he firmly affirmed.
Tsumiko gazed at Midorima's left hand, which was tightly gripping a magazine. He caught her staring, so he immediately said, "Let's go."
As the three walked towards their classroom, Tsumiko observed a group of girls squealing over a magazine, that suspiciously seemed very similar to the one Midorima's currently clutching – a little fiercely, if she may add. That's when she connected the dots and realized the reason why the green-haired boy beside her suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway and why he was very tense.
She glanced at the red head and saw that he had a knowing expression. He probably knew already.
Of course, he was Akashi Seijuurou.
Seriously, what did he not know?
During lunch break, Tsumiko joined her friends. While eating, they talked about anything, like usual. It was when they were few bites before finishing their lunches that Mizuki remembered something.
"Hey, hey, have you heard? There's a model in our batch", the dark-haired girl shared.
Tsumiko's ears perked up to the news, "Really? Who could that be?"
In contrast, Chitose nonchalantly remarked, "Ah, that Zunon boy? I saw some of my fellow drama club members gathered around a magazine this morning."
"Kise Ryouta of Class 1-E. I heard he's actually a rookie. Apparently, he just had his first photoshoot and it came out yesterday on this month's issue of Zunon boy" Mizuki supplied.
Watching Mizuki fix her ribbon and her black tresses, the silver-haired girl asked, "Oh, have you seen him already?"
"Yeah, some girls already talk about him even before he became a model"
"Hmm, is he your type, then?", Chitose teased.
Mizuki rolled her eyes at the girl with a brown bob, "Not really. Yeah, he's cute and all, but I'm not really fond of blonde guys"
'Blonde?' Tsumiko thought.
A certain blonde boy from the first day of school came to her mind. She also recalled catching sight of yellow down the hallway during the midterms.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw a certain green-head entering the classroom swiftly. She then finished her lunch before excusing herself and going back to her seat.
"Midorima-san."
He looked up at the silver-haired girl, who was standing in front of his desk, "Yes?"
She pointed to the magazine that was faced down the table – probably to hide the magazine's cover, "Is that your lucky item for today?"
"Obviously, yes."
Ignoring the sass in the boy's voice, she questioned, "Do you mind if I borrow it?"
"No."
He didn't even hesitate a bit.
Although immediately after not hesitating a bit, he hesitated and regretted a bit, thinking that the girl might take it as him being possessive over some stupid magazine, which girls seem to love – something he had fearfully learned this morning.
'It's not just a stupid magazine. It's my lucky item', he defended to himself.
"Do you mind if I just look a little?" She raised her right hand, "It will be very quick, I promise."
He narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before sighing, "Fine. But don't leave this desk", then holding out the magazine to her.
After thanking him, she searched the cover, and saw a text 'Zunon boy juniors- super rookies!' and a page number under it. She went to the specified page and flipped some more pages until she saw the familiar blonde, who had the name 'Kise Ryouta' beside his picture.
Contrary to the very bright smile of Kise Ryouta, the aura of Tsumiko darkened, as she recalled the first day of school and as she tried to absorb the fact that the cause of that shame was now a model. Now, she doesn't have problems with models, she actually adored them. Although, sometimes she does feel envious on how anything looks good on them.
She forced out a smile, "Thank you, Midorima-san."
Noticing this, he simply uttered, "Uh, sure."
As he watched the girl take her seat, he thought, with slight relief, 'I guess not all girls love this magazine.'
Class had officially ended and Tsumiko found herself walking towards Class 1-E. She wanted to talk to the blonde rookie model about – well, she really didn't know what she wanted to talk about. Right now, she was mostly curious – enough to keep her feet moving towards the classroom. She convinced herself by recalling how she did vow to get revenge on 'blondie', though, the closer she was to the classroom, the more she questioned herself and found this to be petty and ridiculous.
Questions like 'What if he doesn't even remember me?', 'Wait, why do I even care?' were running inside her mind but there was one question that caught her attention. It was a question outside her mind.
"Where could Kise-kun be?"
It was from a girl, who was walking away from Class 1-E.
"They said he left a while ago. Let's just ask the others", her companion said.
Tsumiko halted in her steps and contemplated whether she would follow the two girls or not.
'Definitely not' she firmly decided, before turning around and following the two girls.
Don't get her wrong.
When the two girls stopped to talk to other girls, Tsumiko continued to walk. She was needed in the first-string practice, after all.
The white-haired girl was already done descending the last flight of stairs when something yellow collided onto her from her right side.
Ah, déjà vu.
She managed to fall on her butt, instead on her left arm, but that didn't mean that it hurt any less.
"Ouch", a voice, most definitely not Tsumiko's, was heard.
She looked at the person and saw a very familiar blond-haired boy, who was rubbing his arm and was sitting on the ground.
.
.
.
'Kise Ryouta?!'
As he locked eyes on her, yellow ones versus dark ones, he paused for a bit.
'He recognized me?' was her thought.
He then stood up and gave her a somewhat apologetic smile – along with sparkles – and said, "Ah, I'm sorry", while walking towards Tsumiko – a little too quickly for Tsumiko to finally realize his intentions.
He was going to escape and leave her there. Again.
Tsumiko had three embarrassing falls because of this guy. Now, she refused to fall victim to his half-hearted apology and who-knows-where-it-came-from sparkles. All her previous hesitations and her weak conviction of getting a revenge were all thrown to the bin.
Nothing was petty and ridiculous anymore.
She finally made her resolve. She was going to teach him a lesson – in an elegant way, of course.
Kise was still observing the girl, but when she didn't react at his apology, he decided to sprint away. He needed to get away as soon as possible, because even if these halls were currently empty, his new fanclub would probably catch up to him. Gathering all the momentum, he was about to sprint when his feet caught onto something.
He tripped.
He fell to the ground. Again.
He looked at the girl, who suspiciously had her legs stretched out and was that a slightly satisfied expression on her face?
Don't blame her that much.
In her defense, she initially thought to be as elegant as possible, though, she had recalled that she did change her plans even way back to the first day of school and decided to do things in a not-so-elegant manner. Besides, she's just 12, right?
Not really caring about being childish – only as of this moment – Tsumiko planned to make him fall to the ground face-first. What happened instead was that she had been given a sight of his almost notable reflexes.
"Ah, I'm sorry", she said, while trying to copy him as much as possible. It might not be a perfect copy, but it was sufficient enough to draw a reaction from him.
"Y-you! You did this on purpose! What's wrong with you?", he accused, while pointing a finger at her.
Ah, déjà vu, indeed.
However, unlike this morning, she didn't even try to deny the accusation. She just raised herself up and dusted off her clothes, before looking down to the boy, "I see that you don't remember our first meeting, Kise Ryouta-san."
While he was trying to remember, she continued ,"I do admit that I did a childish thing, but we are children, aren't we? Still, this fact does not justify my actions, so, I apologize." Then, she gave him a polite smile and held out a hand to him.
He faltered a bit before taking her hand and standing up – revealing how much taller he was compared to her. He let go of her hand and fixed his clothes.
"Now, that, Kise-san, is what you should do when you bump into someone. You don't simply mutter a half-hearted apology and run away. Most especially, you must always be mindful, so you won't get to collide into someone twice", she lectured.
With that, Kise had finally remembered, "Ah! You! From the first day of class?"
"Yes, and I prefer if you refrain from calling me 'you'. My name is Irosuzuka Tsumiko from Class 1-A", she confidently stated.
He snorted.
Her eyes widened.
"Okay, uhh, Irosuzuka-san, I guess I'm sorry about the first day of school, oh and earlier too", he said with the same smile – oh and sparkles.
Despite this, Tsumiko was not convinced at his usual half-hearted apology. Obviously offended, she fiercely asked, "Is that it? That's how you're going to apologize?"
He tilted his head, "It's not enough? Well, what else do you want?"
Unlike Nijimura's, Kise's wasn't cute at all – at least for Tsumiko. Kise was just acting cute, she was sure of this.
"Ah! Of course! An autograph, right? A picture, maybe?", he beamed, but she saw how his eyes were mocking.
"I'm not a fan!"
Her voice echoed through the empty hallway. However, immediately after, somewhere down the initially-empty hallway, footsteps and feminine voices were heard.
They both froze at this, but like earlier, the boy reacted faster and was about to bolt, when the girl reacted and tugged his uniform to stop him.
"You're running away again!", she hissed.
"From them! Not you. Okay from you too, but maybe some other time? Just let me go!", he demanded.
"No. We're not done yet!" she insisted, tightening her grip on his uniform.
"Fine. Get ready to run."
He proceeded to grip her hand – that was, to be fair, gripping his uniform – and dragged her as he dashed.
"Wait! What- Hey, my bag!", she cried as she looked back to her bag, abandoned at the spot where they collided.
They ran for a short distance but due to the speed, they were both tired – well, mostly Tsumiko.
Silver and gold were now decorating an empty room, as they squatted on the floor near the door.
"I'm going to get my bag", the girl declared, as she rose from the floor – only to be pulled back down.
"No, you're not", the boy firmly said, while also firmly holding her hand for the third time today.
Feeling frustrated, Tsumiko asked him a series of questions ,"Why not? Why do I even have to run and hide? Wait, why are you even running away and hiding from your fans anyway? Shouldn't you be acting friendly, like you always do?", immediately regretting the last one as she saw how the boy's expression changed into a darker one.
"Ah, I've been caught, haven't I?"
Guilty for judging him quickly, she slightly lowered her head, "I'm sorry."
Seeing how she suddenly felt ashamed and sorry – as if she wasn't being aggressive earlier, he replied, "No, it's okay." With a more relaxed expression, he remarked, "You seem to be very observant, Irosuzuka-san."
Confirming to himself that she wasn't a fan, he continued to answer her truthfully, "Anyway, I guess you could say I'm not used to it yet. I didn't really expect this attention since I'm still a rookie and it's only my first photoshoot."
After pausing to see her reaction, he went on, when she didn't say anything, "I mean, yes, some girls were already flocking around me before I even became a model, but it still feels weird when they ask for signatures and pictures. Also, since I'm now a model, I can't really brush them off easily anymore."
As the guilt she felt dwindled, she could only scoff, "Wow, could there be any possibility that you could have phrased that in a slightly humbler way, Kise-san?"
"I really tried", he shrugged.
Her eyebrows crinkled a little as she requested, "Oh and can you please let go of my hand now, I believe I can't leave yet, anyway"
Taken aback, he released his hold on her hand and said, "Ah, I'm sorry", without his practiced apologetic smile and sparkles. Instead, he had a genuine and sheepish smile, to which Tsumiko returned with a friendlier smile.
Their smiles faded as they heard footsteps from the hallway and the same feminine voices. When the voices somehow died down, Tsumiko asked, in the quietest way she can, "So, how's being a model? Do you get to try a lot of clothes? Do you get to pick your clothes?", stopping herself from rambling more questions.
His eyebrows cheekily raised at this, "Ah, I see. You seem to be interested in modeling?"
"N-not really." Not wanting him to misunderstand, she admitted, "I'm interested in fashion in general."
He nodded in understanding, "That makes more sense, since you don't seem to be very model-like."
"Wha-" before she could even burst out – obviously offended by his remark – he shushed her.
They heard footsteps again, along with a very faint sound of a phone ringing. Panicking a little, Tsumiko held her breath and instinctively shuffled a little closer to the boy, as if doing that would hide her – especially not when she was, sadly, nearer to the door.
The footsteps grew faint and she almost jumped away from the boy, when she realized how close they were. Fortunately, Kise had held her to prevent her from jumping and making some noise, that could blow their hiding spot. Unfortunately, as Kise became aware of their proximity, an idea came to his mind.
With golden eyes staring straight into dark eyes, he popped a question.
.
.
.
"Can you be my girlfriend?"
