A/N:

Hiiiii!

To lovelyhatter, thanks for all your kind reviews! Omg you don't know how happy I am. The past weeks were really stressful and reading your flattering comments (especially the characters being in character and their interactions with Tsumiko) just made me giddy (lol). I'm really glad that you are enjoying this story and WOW thank you for appreciating my writing skills! I'm now more inspired to write and be even better T_T

To all the new faves and follows, welcome to this fic and thank you too! ;A; Hoping to hear more from you :) Here it is ~


It amazed Tsumiko how Momoi shifted from an excited tone, as she shared her opinions after learning what happened during the party last Saturday, to a flat one – simultaneously as the young coach easily exchanged her school blazer to the basketball team jacket in the changing rooms – as she declared after being inquired about her mysterious crush, "I don't like him anymore, Iro-chan."

"What happened?", the shorter of the two asked after keeping her things at her locker.

"That's the thing. Nothing happened. I still don't know him."

'Ah', her mouth formed, as if she just heard some genius statement. It was only when they were inside the gym that she recalled something, "But I thought you believe that 'fate would let you meet again.' What if you actually meet him?"

The taller girl shrugged, "Then, I'll decide whether I like him or not after learning more about him. I realized I was really being shallow and stupid about the popsicle stick thing. Besides, liking someone or being in love is a hassle. You tend to stress about the little things and overthink", then bumped the other's shoulder, "No offense, though."

In response, Tsumiko pouted, "Ah, you're right. Both you and Mizuki-chan said that he got jealous, whereas Chitose-chan said that I shouldn't get my hopes up. And I still haven't talked to Sena-chan."

Dark eyes roamed around the gym until they landed on her subject, who – with knit brows – was studying Coach Sanada's clipboard while the coach explained, "Mou, I should focus on practice now."

"See you tomorrow, Haizaki", a feminine voice said at the same time, causing the two girls to glance back at the entrance, and there stood mentioned boy and a tall girl – or maybe lady was a better term given her well-endowed chest – whose raven head reached his nose and who was already letting go of his hand.

"Here's someone who seems to be successful in romance", Momoi commented, while they watched her walk away. Tsumiko, on the other hand, stayed silent, recalling where she had seen the familiar lady until she finally did, "Oh, the drama club's president?"

"Eh, really?"

Haizaki turned around only for his face go from pleased to shock to irritated, "The hell are you two lookin' at?"

Having remembered Chitose introducing the third-year to her one time she dropped by the drama club room, Tsumiko ignored his grimace, "Haizaki-san, could it be that you and Hashimoto-senpai are dating?"

When he raised one corner of his mouth smugly, pink and white irises lit up – causing him to move past them, while irritably saying that it's 'none of their business.' That would've been rude and arrogant, if not for the faint color on his cheeks. At the boy's apparent embarrassment, the two girls gushed and giggled.

In the end, he didn't really give them a clear answer, so Tsumiko, during homeroom period, asked her friend, who was in the drama club.

"Uh, yeah, just recently."

At Chitose's confirmation, widened dark orbs demanded details.

"Well, from what I was told, they met last May, Hashimoto-senpai was still together with her boyfriend from another school back then. Around June, they broke up." Brown orbs then fell to the notebook, as the owner repeatedly clicked on her mechanical pencil, "So, over the summer break, after you guys won the Nationals and your camp, he asked her out again, but she said that she needed time. I think she finally accepted last week."

Silver head slowly bobbed in understanding, watching her chestnut-haired classmate sketch possible designs for their classroom, which will be transformed into a movie house for the cultural festival in a few weeks.

"Are you finished gossiping? Can we now proceed with the agenda, Irosuzuka?"

With this deep voice, she turned to her right and she was reminded of the task of organizing the schedule of the selected movies, along with her bespectacled classmate. He was hovering his mechanical pencil over his own notebook, which was beside a cardboard cutout of a printed white fluffy cloud, with streaks and blotches of gray, which were obviously messily-colored by a gray crayon.

She was about to speak when the girl on her left beat her to it, "Midorima, I hope you won't tell people that you've learned those stuff from me. And did you color that cloud yourself?"

The boy huffed, "Nonsense, Chitose. I wasn't even interested to listen to whatever unnecessary things that you were talking about."

The girls shared a look. He totally heard everything.

"Furthermore, no...my sister colored it", he resumed after some seconds of hesitation, and without missing a beat, he added – rather defensively, "She's a Capricorn, which is ranked first today."

Chitose's eyebrows raised at him, "You have a sister? How young?"

"She's four."

"Hmm, Capricorn really is first today, huh. Never thought that I would be lucky enough to see a day I hear about Midorima having a little sister and that Midorima oniichan allowed his little sister to touch and decorate his precious item."

This cheeky remark from her Capricorn classmate successfully got to the green-haired teen, and Tsumiko wasn't gonna deny that seeing both the cocky Haizaki and the proud Midorima being flustered within less than a day was adorably entertaining.


Occupied with the preparations, coupled with the continuous basketball training, three weeks had gone in a flash, and busy with their class' movie house, the first day of the festival swiftly came to an end. The second day of the festival focused more on the various clubs of the school. For the basketball club, they only sold basketball team merchandise. During the afternoon, Tsumiko excused herself to watch the afternoon show of the drama club's play, only to find out that Nijimura, Sekiguchi and Kubota, and some more second-years were going to watch, as well, due to Sekiguchi inviting them. Apparently, Sekiguchi's girlfriend is one of the leads in the play.

There were still plenty of seats left, when they had arrived at their school's theater. Spotting Mizuki, who was beside Kogure, Tsumiko took the seat on her other side. The sophomores occupied the seats behind them, whereas the blond-haired sophomore, headed straight to the backstage.

While the second-stringer, Kogure, chatted with the first-stringers, Mizuki whispered towards her, "That's a lot of dates you have there, Irosuzuka-chan", to which she countered with, "Except they're not my dates. You two are the ones on a date."

Un-bothered, the other flipped her black hair, "We just bumped into each other on the way here", but Tsumiko could see her friend twinkle, so she just playfully rolled her eyes, "Sure."

Just as the venue was being filled, Sekiguchi returned from the backstage, with a not-exactly-pleased mop of ash trailing behind him. Haizaki slumped next to his classmate, Kogure, while the second-years started teasing the former about his third-year girlfriend.

Hashimoto-senpai's role was the main antagonist, and Tsumiko could see how good she really was in acting. On the other hand, Chitose was primarily on the costume and props team, so whenever she pops up in the stage as part of the ensemble, Mizuki and Tsumiko couldn't help but cheer for their friend.


When the show ended, the young coach moved on to go back to the gym, along with the others, until a hand rested on her shoulder, "The others can handle it. I'm itchin' to play some table tennis for a change."

Once she faced the owner of the hand, a brochure met her sight. Written in it were the table tennis club's activities for the festival. They offered sets of challenges and the main one was that whoever defeats five table tennis regulars, will get a special prize in cash. It was a tempting offer, honestly – that is if you are certainly skilled in the said sports, which she, by the way, wasn't.

"Nijimura-senpai, how confident are you?"

He smirked, "Well, let's just say that their ace is an old pal of mine and I play table tennis with him from time to time."

She had trusted his words, and alas, she was so surprised and proud of him. He was truly good and experienced, to the point that the members were chummy with him – as if he was a fellow member. Although he defeated only two regulars, they still awarded him a consolation prize.

The sun was already setting when they were done with the games and finally gave him his reward. Everyone, then began packing up, and prepared for the night festivities.

On their way back to the gym, she just couldn't help herself be blown away at the teen next to her. His matches with the table tennis regulars drew in a lot of crowd, definitely making him even more known around the school. It was already an established fact that he was popular, being the adored captain of the largest club in Teikou. Moreover, among the school's sports teams, he was the youngest captain, with him being only in his second-year. Nonetheless, he was well-respected. Not to mention, his athletic built, good looks, boyish charm, and even his delinquent past gained him lots of fans. Due to the default pout on his face, though, she heard that only little of these so-called fans dared to let him know of their feelings. While she does admit being one of his admirers, she was proud to say that she had seen him do other expressions, aside from his signature frown, and one of these was the flattered (and probably even embarrassed) expression he had when she had complimented his get-up during the party. She must've been blessed by the gods of fortune or something, to witness something as cute as such.

This train of thoughts were immediately taken down as soon as they arrived at the gym. Inside, they saw some managers and few members counting the merchandises that were sold or not, and doing financial work. A little guilty because of leaving them for a few hours, the captain and young coach asked them to go ahead and volunteered to wrap things up.

After finishing up inventory checking and sales calculation, they put the rest of the items inside the storage room. That was when they heard the loud and excited screams of people outside and the sounds of fireworks.

"Ah, it's starting! The bonfire's probably lit already", she exclaimed.

"Shit." Nijimura swiftly locked the door of the storage room, and smoothly grabbed her hand, "Let's go!", before running towards the gym's exit.

Once they got outside of the gym, the older teen halted. She took this as a chance to catch her breath. Quite a distance from the gym, she saw the Teikou students huddled around a bonfire, noisily cheering while they watched the fireworks.

"Oh the view here's actually okay", her companion spoke, causing her to look at her left and see his head tilted up, making no intention to move from their spot nor to release her hand. Her gaze landed on their connection, and a blush began forming on her cheeks. Getting a little braver, she fixed her vision on his face and was thoroughly captivated by his striking side profile. The darkness of the night and the slight glow from the the fire and fireworks made his features appear soft and serene.

"Or do you wanna go closer?"

His voice almost made her heart explode.

She wasn't sure if he referred being closer to him or the bonfire. Regardless of what he meant, she just mirrored him, by snapping her head up and enjoying the fireworks display, as she hummed a small 'it's fine.'

'What is this?'

She could still feel his hand on hers. His was slightly calloused, yet still soft, and it enveloped hers warmly. A small part of her was tempted to squeeze his, but a larger part of her was scared of what would happen after. He might squeeze back, but worst, he would let go of her, and everything would just be awkward. Not wanting to take a risk and shatter the glass crystallized between their interlocked hands, she kept her hold still.

'What could this mean?'

Despite having rested for a while after their sprint to reach here, her heart was still racing and she could hear her heart beat, seemingly as loud as the booming sounds of the pyrotechnics.

'Is this the right time to confess?'

Right now, they were isolated from the rest of the student body, the mood could be considered as romantic, given the scenery, and the heat being shared between their hands against the cold autumn breeze.

'Should I?'

But, there was a complete possibility that her feelings might be one-sided and he might be placed in an uncomfortable situation. He could reject her or worse, he might pretend not to hear her and act normal. Either way, as a young coach and him as a captain, they had to maintain professionalism to not compromise the team - and that would just be sad and difficult.

'But, what if?'

Then again, she didn't want to take chances and ruin this serenity that is this precious moment.

'Maybe not.'

Focusing on the pyrotechnic display, she took in the variety of colors and shapes, which were indeed spectacular. However, the fireworks that reflected in his dark orbs, she recalled, were even more astonishing. Thus, she slowly angled her head to get another glimpse of such scene.

Different colors brightened his dim irises.

'Rainbow.'

That rainbow, unfortunately, vanished when his dark ones reflected her own.

'Oh no!'

He caught her staring.

On impulse, she broke contact and looked up the sky, once more. A part of her wondered if her own eyes had reflected the fireworks, as well, and if they looked as beautiful as his were. A larger part of her, on the contrary, was afraid that she had just broken the glass.

It didn't.

From her periphery, it seemed like he did the same as her, with his head angled up to the sky again and with his hand remaining on hers – still and steady – and she could only hope that it is as if he treasured the thin glass, as well.

As if being careful, he softly muttered, "Such pretty fireworks."

...

"You look pretty."

...

His words from the party echoed in her mind.

'Did he really mean the fireworks? Or was he being indirect?'

Before any more ideas come to her and before she could even crack this crystal-like moment, the sky got dark again, signifying the end of the display. Not long after, her hand met the chilly air, whereas his hand found the comforts of his pocket. Curling her hand into a ball, she walked beside him towards the bonfire.

Ugh. She's probably overthinking again.


To further confirm her overthinking, during the following week, he acted just like how he normally does during practice. Feeling silly, she didn't even dare tell her friends about it. Instead, she filed the memory in her brain for possible future use, and decided to focus on matters on hand.

Indeed, nothing has changed during practice, except for Haizaki skipping an afternoon practice and being late for two consecutive days. She asked Chitose about it, and that's how she learned that Hashimoto-senpai broke up with Haizaki days after the festival. Sadly, they didn't even last for a month. The next day, she had asked him about it after morning practice, but he shrugged her off and was absent during the afternoon session. She was so concerned and bothered, therefore, when practice ended, she consulted the person who could probably understand Haizaki the most among the team – the former rebel turned captain.

"Maybe, that moron got heartbroken or something. I'll make sure he gets over it soon and welcome him to hell once he comes back. You worry too much."

In spite of chuckling at him, she still had trusted him with those words.

So, how did things end up like this?

Just a few minutes after he had assured her, they happen to find the subject of their conversation at a children's playground few blocks away from Teikou, caught up in a fight with three boys wearing a different uniform, which led to the current scenery before her lens.

A disheveled Haizaki was sitting and leaning against a slide's stairs and catching his breath. Nijimura's gentle and relaxed face from the night of the festival – that was etched into her mind – had turned into a kind that was deadlier than his usual scowl, as two punks lunge at him.

It has only been around a week after the festival, and she had already learned two more things about the subject of her affections.

First, was him being skilled in fighting and him being trained in what she recognized as Karate – as demonstrated by how he had thrown a punch at a teen, and had blocked a kick from another teen and countered with a roundhouse kick, effectively sending both teens respectively on the ground.

Second was a new expression on his face, she couldn't really decipher – something like a mixture of shock, anger, worry, and fear. It was directed to her, when a voice cracked near her ears, crying out, "Don't move or I'mma cut this little girl!", while a cold sharp tip of metal touched her neck.