At the Karasuno High School Gym...

They wanted to all think that it was all in their imagination-it wasn't though. It seems that Tsukishima and Aoi were closer than what they had suspected. Nishinoya didn't seem to mind, but witnessing Tsukishima walk towards her and say "please come to our house later" was when all hell broke loose.

"Why would she come at your house?" Nishinoya slightly snarled, baring his fangs like he's some kind of wild beast protecting Aoi.

"Why wouldn't she? She has something to take care of there." Then he eyed Aoi and smirked. "Right, Akihana-san?"

It was for a few seconds but the girl shyly nodded. Nishinoya blinked for a few seconds before realizing that she looked like she was anticipating her return there.

Nishinoya turned to Tsukishima, slightly annoyed and confused. "Oi! What have you done to Manju?"

The tall middle blocker shrugged. "Akihana-san owes me a favor of a lifetime. If she doesn't come to our house tomorrow, then she should just forget it."

Forget what?

"I-I-I w-will go, Tsukishima-kun," she announced then added, "You don't have to worry about it."

"Yeah sure," he deadpanned.

Tsukishima walked towards Yachi and Yamaguchi. The two of them were left alone but Aoi could clearly hint that Nishinoya was sulking.

"Yuu-kun, please don't be mad," Aoi assured him. "It's really nothing to get so worked up for."

Nishinoya just huffed in response. "Nothing, huh? If it's nothing, then tell me about it."

"I-I can't! It's Tsukishima-kun and I's secret!"

A vein popped on his head. "So you keeping secrets with him now?"

"Y-Yuu-kun..." He's so scary when he gets jealous.

Nishinoya drank from his water bottle. "Whatever. I'm going to continue my practice. If you're busy with something then go ahead."

Then he joined Tanaka and the other second years, leaving Aoi slightly guilty for her connivance with Tsukishima.

After practice...

Nishinoya might've been the angry one, but Tanaka knew that he's also one to easily give in. Aoi quickly left to work at the manju shop with Nishinoya taking the practice way too seriously that he berated Asahi to crush and defeat Tsukishima, calling him 'girlfriend stealer'.

When the shop's door slid open, Aoi stepped out with a box of cake in her hands.

"A cake? Is Aki-chan now making cakes?" Tanaka questioned.

Nishinoya narrowed his eyes. "I dunno."

And they followed her until they reached Tsukishima's house. After ringing the bell, the door opened to reveal Tsukishima's older brother who was merrily chatting with her.

"Akihana-chan, do you want to come in and have dinner? Mother cooked some," Akiteru politely offered.

Aoi shook her head in negation. "It's okay, Akiteru-san. I have to go back to the shop and deliver some manjus."

"Is that so? Then I'll pay now." He reached for the money in his pockets but it seemed that there's none. "Wait a sec, Aoi," then he leaned back, "Kei, where's the payment for your favorite strawberry shortcake?"

Suddenly, Tsukishima slammed the bills on Akiteru's head with some of the coins falling on him. "You left it on the table, aniki."

Akiteru slightly laughed as he gathered the money. "Oh, my bad. My bad."

Tsukishima sighed in annoyance as he took the box of cake with Akiteru paying Aoi.

"Well, I'll be off." She bowed slightly. "Thank you for the payment."

"Likewise."

Then she left the Tsukishima residence and went straight to the Foothill Store instead of going back to the shop. When she went out, she was humming the familiar happy tune again with a plastic bag in her hands.

"Noya, is it just me or did she buy the last limited box edition of Gari Gari Kun?" Tanaka asked suspiciously, making out the brand name from the bag.

"It seems like it," Nishinoya agreed.

And the next day, Aoi gave the limited box edition of Gari Gari Kun to Nishinoya as an apology gift for making him jealous all of the time.

"You also mentioned that you've always wanted to buy this," she added.

He was glaring at her but there was a blush on his cheeks so it would do for now.

"J-Just don't make me jealous next time or I'll really get angry and ignore you."

She nodded.

BONUS:

Yamaguchi asked during lunchtime, "Why did Akihana-san baked you a cake though?"

"I saw something I shouldn't have seen..."

Tsukishima saw Aoi counting paper bills in the garden while holding a flyer of Gari Gari Kun.

"And then she found out something troublesome."

Then Aoi suddenly found out that he likes strawberry shortcake when a coupon for a free strawberry shortcake fell from his pocket due to him taking out his mp3 player.

Yamaguchi didn't know what to say so he just nodded.