The next time Hitomi arrived at the convenience store, she saw Nishinoya outside like usual.

Except, this time, he appeared to be talking to himself?

Hitomi couldn't exactly see too well from a distance, but he appeared to be holding something with both hands. He was facing the street, speaking into the air. He bowed his head and his body slightly, like how somebody would introduce themselves while handing out their business card.

"What are you doing?" The girl asked as she walked up. The libero shouted in surprise, quickly hiding whatever he was holding behind his back. He faced Hitomi with an awkward smile, a few droplets of cold sweat appearing on his forehead. She raised an eyebrow at him in question.

"I-It's so wonderful to see you, Hitomi-chan! How are you today!" He was always a cheerful and overly energetic person, but his voice was extra loud now. It was as if he thought the volume of his voice would mask his nervousness and the fact that he had something to hide.

Hitomi mentally chuckled to herself, thinking that he might be terrible at keeping secrets. He didn't seem like the type to love gossip, but just seemed like he would make it obvious that he knew something. She decided not to push him because it was clear that he didn't want to reveal anything. "I'm doing fine, and you?" She asked in return.

"Better now that you're here!" He instantly responded, his shoulders being relieved of the tension. His voice returned to its usual, slightly too loud volume as his smile and eyes sparkled at Hitomi. She rolled her eyes at yet another one of his cheesy lines.

Normally, she would have been disgusted at one of those lines because they were always being said by some sleazy guy hoping to curry her favor. With Nishinoya, she could tell that he was being completely genuine.

For other guys, saying such lines were natural because they had probably used them on hundreds of other girls before. With Nishinoya, it seemed more like he just blurted out the first thought that came to his head. He always paired it with that stupidly bright smile of his.

Those cheesy lines may have sounded better and more genuine coming from him, but that didn't exactly mean Hitomi liked it. She sighed, seeing him shove whatever he was hiding into his back pockets as they walked into the store.

The cashier today was just some other female part-timer who greeted the two as they entered. Hitomi bowed her head in acknowledgement as she picked up a shopping basket. As always, she went to the candy and chocolates aisle first.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise when, instead of blindly following her around like a puppy, Nishinoya walked ahead of her down the aisle. The girl shrugged her shoulders, thinking that he probably wanted to buy something for himself for once. Better for her. Less of an annoyance that way.

After throwing a couple snacks into the shopping basket, she turned to walk further down the aisle. She stopped two steps in when Nishinoya met her, arms full of soy sauce flavored Kit Kats. They were nearly overflowing, on the verge of spilling from his arms. "I hope you're not planning on eating all of those." She joked.

"They're for you! You like them, right?" His eyes gleamed. She blinked at him, wondering if he was serious in thinking that she'd buy that many.

"They're good, but they're not that good." She explained while she picked out a couple, throwing them into the basket. That appeared to be good enough for Nishinoya, his eyes brightening up even more somehow. He carefully put back the rest of the Kit Kats as Hitomi went to the drinks aisle next.

She looked up and down the aisle, tapping the middle of her bottom lip with her index finger as she thought about what she wanted. Once again, she noticed that Nishinoya had walked ahead of her down the aisle but she thought nothing of it. After a few moments, she saw him come up to her in the corner of her eye.

As she turned to him, he held up both hands with a bottle in each of them. There were several bottles on the floor as well. In his right hand was Mitsuya Cider, and in his left was Calpis. She realized that he was patiently waiting for her to respond with which one she wanted. "Uh…I guess I'll have Mitsuya Cider…" She answered with a bit of confusion in her tone.

The libero bent down, replacing the bottle of Calpis in his left hand with another bottle of Mitsuya Cider. Now, his right hand had the same original flavor of Mitsuya Cider, and his left hand had the lemon flavor. He once again looked up at Hitomi expectantly. "…Original…?" She answered hesitantly again.

Nishinoya bent down again, placing the lemon flavor of Mitsuya Cider back down on the floor. He then picked up all of the original flavor, struggling to keep all of the bottles in his arms like he did for the soy sauce Kit Kats. Hitomi took three from him, placing them in the shopping basket. Once she was done, he rushed to put all of the other bottles back where he found them.

Hitomi almost laughed at the situation. She was no stranger to people trying to do things for her. Many boys before had always attempted to give her gifts, thinking they knew exactly what she wanted. That, and with her servants constantly following her every order, she should have been used to people trying to please her.

It was strange though. She hadn't ordered or told Nishinoya what she wanted. He just decided that he felt like doing this today. Unlike all the other boys before who got her things that they expected girls to like, the boy was carefully picking out all of her usual snacks and drinks.

Hitomi thought back to that time he had gotten her a bag of all of her preferred snacks with the soy sauce Kit Kats. He had remembered all the brands she usually bought from, but she had teased him for picking out such ridiculous flavors.

Now, he was doing the same in that he was picking out all of her favorites. This time, he was even getting various flavors and waiting for her approval.

He was aiming to please her like the others, but he was still taking her words into account. Like he was learning from his past mistakes. Still, this was a bit ridiculous, how he was trying so hard. She smiled to herself, watching as he tried to remember where he got this one particular flavor of Calpis, looking all around for that section of the shelf.

When he finally finished putting everything back, he walked with her to the ice cream freezers. Hitomi decided to have a little bit of fun "Hmm…I'm thinking about having spaghetti flavored Garigari-kun tonight…" She nonchalantly breathed out, looking up in thought as her finger tapped her chin.

Nishinoya's eyes flashed, going straight for the Garigari-kun ice cream freezer. He pressed his face up against the glass, searching for the aforementioned flavor. His brows furrowed deeper and deeper as he couldn't find it even after looking so many times.

Hitomi covered her mouth with a hand, holding back her laughter. The boy hadn't even questioned such a strange flavor for a popsicle. The second he heard the words out of Hitomi's mouth, he instantly tried finding it for her. The girl couldn't hold in her laughter for much longer, seeing his face contort as he couldn't find the flavor she asked for.

Nishinoya turned to her when her giggles were released. His face was cold earlier from pressing it up against the glass of the ice cream freezer, but now he felt warmth flooding them again after seeing Hitomi's beautiful laughing face.

The girl kept laughing softly, her hand somewhat covering her mouth. "There's no spaghetti flavored Garigari-kun. Do you know how disgusting that sounds!?" After she calmed down, she reached into the freezer herself, pulling out two soda flavored Garigari-kun popsicles. "Actually, they did have that for a little bit, but it obviously didn't do well and it's now out of production. You can get me to try soy sauce Kit Kats, but definitely not spaghetti popsicles." She gently placed the two popsicles in her basket, checking the other snacks she got.

Nodding in satisfaction at the selection, she went to the register to pay. Nishinoya didn't follow her immediately, just gazing longingly at her. A small blush splayed over his cheeks as his heart thumped against his chest.

"Thank you for your patronage." The libero snapped out of it when he heard the standard line being said lazily by the cashier. He rushed to follow Hitomi out of the store. She had turned to say goodbye to him but stopped when she saw him fidgeting. She raised an eyebrow again, unsure of what to make of this situation.

"After final exams, my team is going on a summer training camp. First at Fukurodani Academy and then a week at Shinzen Private High School later in the summer, but we're gonna keep having practice in between…" He started off, reaching into his back pockets for the thing he was hiding before.

Hitomi's brows furrowed a bit as she tried figuring out how any of that had anything to do with her. When Nishinoya was done fishing through his pockets, his hands remained behind him as he continued fidgeting in place.

"I won't be able to see you for a while…maybe even a whole month!" He explained, thrusting his hands out towards her, a small piece of paper and a pen in them. "P-Please give me your number!" He shouted, tightly shutting his eyes and bowing his head.

Oh, so that's what this was.

It was just a way to get her phone number.

Hitomi scowled. "Is that why you were acting like that earlier? Because you thought being nice to me would make me give you my number? What, you don't think other boys haven't tried that before?"

Nishinoya's head jerked back up, his eyes wide. "E-Eh? N-No! I was jus—"

She cut him off with a scoff as she turned her head away. "You're just like everyone else, aren't you? The only reason why we even keep meeting up here is because you're so insistent on barging into my life even after me repeatedly telling you to leave me alone. We're acquaintances at best, and only because you keep trying to—" She cut herself off when she turned to look at him again.

The small paper in his hands had been crumpled up, his grip tightening on it as his hands shook slightly. He was biting the inside of his cheek in frustration. Not frustration in her, but frustration with himself for seemingly having caused her discomfort. There were clear signs of disappointment in his eyes as he looked down, a gloomy aura surrounding him.

Wow. That was way harsher than she meant it to be…but, why was it? It's what she would have said to anyone else. In fact, she's most certainly said even worse things to other guys. So, why was she feeling guilty now? Why did that face he was making cause her heart to plummet like this? "Nishinoya-kun, I—"

The boy quickly balled up the paper in his hands, the loud crumpling sound cutting her off. He shoved it back into his pockets. He looked back up at Hitomi with a smile, but she could easily tell it was one filled with pain.

"It's okay, Hitomi-chan! I understand! You don't have to give me your number! I don't want to be like that creepy manager guy we met before in the store!" He tried reassuring her. He was speaking extra loud again. This time, trying to mask his sadness.

"I'm sorry!" He bowed deeply to her. "I'll head back now. Get home safely!" He shouted, his cheery façade fading instantly once he turned around. He wasn't even waiting to see her off first this time.

"Nishinoya-kun!" The boy turned back around with innocent eyes. Hitomi's own eyes were wide, her hand hovering over her slightly agape mouth. As if she couldn't believe that she had called out to him.

Her hand lowered as she closed her mouth, her lips forming a thin line. Her hands tightened on the handles of the plastic bag as her eyes shifted around with uncertainty. Nishinoya waited patiently for her.

Finally, Hitomi sighed softly, revealing her eleven-digit number.

For a moment, Nishinoya didn't react. Once he realized what had just happened, his eyes slowly widened and his jaw dropped. "W-W-Wait! Can you repeat that! I wasn't ready! Please!" His face had completely brightened up as he dug into his pockets for the paper and pen again.

Hitomi turned around. "I'm not repeating it. It's not my fault you weren't listening properly the first time." She refused adamantly.

"Nooo!" Nishinoya shouted in despair, his hands rubbing furiously at his hair. He laid the paper onto his palm, writing down the numbers he remembered. "Was it this…Or this…No, no wait…Maybe it was this?" He mumbled to himself, trying his hardest to recall the numbers and scribbling them down frantically.

The girl peeked over her shoulder at him. He started hitting his head, as if it would somehow jog his memory. "Come on! If I can't even remember something as important as Hitomi-chan's number, how am I even gonna remember any of the stuff I need to pass the final exams?!" He berated himself.

Hitomi smiled gently, chuckling at his antics. She left him to it, returning home.

Once she arrived, she was greeted as usual by her servants. She gave the bag of snacks to Chiyo, taking a few for her study session tonight. She secluded herself in her study, looking over her notes in preparation for the final exams. Just as she was about to head to bed, her cell phone rang.

It was an unknown number. "Hello?" She answered hesitantly.

"AH! Hitomi-chaaaaan! Finally! I got it! I had to call a bunch of different numbers because I couldn't remember it correctly, but I finally got it right!" Nishinoya exclaimed joyously.

Hitomi almost laughed, mentally apologizing to the people he might have disturbed tonight. "Good for you. If that's all, I'm about to go to sleep." She replied with false coldness.

"Okay! Sweet dreams, Hitomi-chan! I'll definitely be dreaming about you!" He responded. Hitomi ended the call without even saying goodbye. She rolled her eyes and sighed at his cheesy line.

She got underneath the covers as she tapped a few times on her phone's screen.

Weirdo

Would you like to save this name in your contacts?

Yes No

Hitomi chuckled as she pressed the 'Yes' button. She set her phone down on the nightstand next to her, eventually falling asleep unknowingly with a little smile.