As she got closer and closer to the convenience store, Hitomi kept pulling out her phone to use the camera and check that her hair was still okay. Her fingers threaded through her hair to comb it, checking it for the umpteenth time.

It wasn't the least bit windy and she was walking at a leisurely pace, but she kept checking nonetheless.

With every step, her actions became a sort of ritual. She'd take out her phone, use the camera to make sure she looked just as presentable as when she left, put it away, smooth down the wrinkles in her dress, push up her sunglasses, and so on. Rinse and repeat.

It was strange. She'd never worried about her appearance in this way so much before. Making sure she wouldn't bring shame to her family at business meetings and such was the furthest extent of her worries. If a few small things were out of place, she wouldn't have minded at all. In fact, it might help to deter her suitors but would not completely jeopardize business deals.

That's how it always was. Doing just enough so as not to be rude and doing the minimum so as not to attract too much attention. Even when she put minimal effort, it didn't stop people from fawning over her beauty.

Even though she didn't need to care as much about her appearance, it was exhausting. Always having to keep herself in check. To constantly consider her words with the utmost care. To observe and analyze everyone's actions in order to appropriately respond. To find the critical point where everything was 'just enough, but not too much.'

So, having to worry so much about how she looked for today was so strange. Despite that, she didn't feel the same exhaustion she always felt. It was actually quite invigorating. There was a sense of excitement she never felt before.

She gently placed her hand over her heart, feeling it pulsing.

When Nishinoya's form gradually came to sight, Hitomi felt a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

He was bent over slightly, his face nearly pressed up against the store's glass. His fingers messed with his little tuft of dyed hair, seemingly unsatisfied with the way it fell over his forehead.

Hitomi chuckled to herself, subtly ignoring the beat of her heart. It seemed that the both of them were constantly checking their hair, worried that a single strand would be out of place and it would somehow make them unpresentable.

The libero was so focused on 'fixing' his hair, that he still hadn't noticed her arrival. Hitomi's smile grew when she saw his small frown of annoyance and the furrow of his brows as he continued to fiddle with the dyed strands.

She cleared her throat to get his attention. "Good morning, Nishinoya-kun." She greeted, looking down to see a rather large cardboard box at his feet.

The boy nearly jumped at her melodic voice, immediately spinning around to greet her back. "Good morning, Hitomi-cha—!" He stopped short when his eyes laid upon her.

With the amount of times that his heart skipped a beat around her and how often his breath got caught in his throat, he was beginning to think that this wasn't good for his health. He'd be damned if he ever stopped seeing her though.

Hitomi continued looking at the large cardboard box on the ground, curious of its contents and oblivious to Nishinoya's awestruck reaction.

Along with the rapid beating of his heart, he felt the pumping blood rush to his face, coloring it a deep red. The color resembled that of Hinata's face the first few times the spiker met Kiyoko. Nishinoya's face may have been even darker than that.

Hitomi had asked what was in the box, but she received no answer. At the silence, she looked back at him to witness a deep red coloring his entire face. Her eyes widened in surprise. She'd seen him blush before, but not like this! It was almost as if he was sunburnt! "Nishinoya-kun…?" She prodded.

"S-Su—!" He managed to barely stutter out with his flaming face. "…Su…?" Hitomi repeated with confusion, tilting her head innocently at him. Somehow, that made him blush even harder. She didn't even know a shade of red that deep could exist on a human being. Was it possible to get a fever like that?

"Su-Su-Sundress! P-PRETTY!" Nishinoya finally blurted out, like he was some sort of caveman with almost no knowledge of human language. At this point, Hitomi could even see the steam blowing out from his ears.

Oddly enough, she started feeling a faint heat in her own cheeks.

This wasn't the reaction that she was expecting. Of course, he had looked on in awe at her beauty before but he'd never turned beet red all over like that. He always spouted some cheesy nonsense about how beautiful she was, but he was never so lost for words before. She thought he was going to say something about how she was shining so brightly that he was being blinded.

His sudden and unexpected bashfulness was giving her second-hand embarrassment, causing her to blush herself. "W-What's wrong with you!? It's just a dress!" Hitomi shouted back, trying to conceal her feelings.

It wasn't just a dress to Nishinoya though. He'd seen her in a skirt when he saw her in her school's uniform, but that couldn't possibly compare to her now in that flowing, baby blue, sundress.

Even their last study date had her in more casual clothes. Of course, she was pretty then too, but a sundress!? His heart was pounding against his chest. As if it were begging to be let out and given to the girl of his dreams.

Nishinoya's blushing still hadn't subsided, and he continued staring at Hitomi. His mouth gaping like a fish, trying to find anything to say. The girl couldn't meet his eyes in embarrassment. Luckily, he wouldn't be able to notice them behind her sunglasses. "Well…thanks…I guess…" She expressed coyly, a contrast to her harshness just earlier. The boy nodded his head furiously in acknowledgement, unable to pull himself together to speak any more.

Hitomi softly laughed into her hand, imagining what they must look like to an outsider. It must have been such an odd situation. "So, what's in the box?" She asked again, trying to change the subject.

"I-It's a surprise!" Nishinoya exclaimed. He bent down to lift it up. As he did so, he noticed the straw tote bag dangling from Hitomi's hands. "Hitomi-chan! I have everything prepared! You didn't need to bring anything!"

The girl gently shook her head. "I know, it's just that this dress doesn't have pockets. I didn't bring much. Just my phone and some sunscreen." She decided not to mention that she also brought her wallet, having a feeling that he would strongly object to her paying for anything today if the topic ever came up.

Nishinoya stopped abruptly, blanching at her words. "Sunscreen! I didn't think about that! I'm sorry, Hitomi-chan! I lied about having prepared everything!" He bowed to her for good measure, causing her to smile.

"It's fine, it's fine." She brushed it off with a wave of her hand, just barely containing her laughter.

The libero shook his head. "Let me carry your bag for you!" He offered as compensation, making her laugh again.

"I said it's fine! It's not heavy at all with so few things in it anyways. Besides, you already have that big box to carry."

He shook his head again, a fire ignited in his eyes. "This is nothing! I wouldn't be a man at all if I let a lady carry her bags herself!" He urged, staring right at her.

Hitomi sighed, less from exasperation and more from simple amusement. "While that's very chivalrous of you, I think we're just going to go in circles about this." She pulled out her phone, making a show of checking the time. "I don't know what you have planned for today, but do we have the time to be doing this?"

Nishinoya gasped loudly. "You're right! We need to get going! We don't want to get there too late! Let's go, Hitomi-chan!" He shouted, quickly walking towards a destination unknown to her.

She easily fell into step beside him, silently watching him with those sparkles of excitement in his eyes. She found herself smiling because of him once again.

How many times was that now? The day had barely started and she couldn't even remember or realize how often she was smiling today.

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.

.

It was natural for Hitomi to be curious about where they were going. He mentioned that they didn't want to get there 'too late,' so did he make a reservation somewhere? What was in the box?

There were a multitude of things Hitomi could think of, but never in her life would she have guessed that he would bring her to a river…

…to catch crawfish.

She blinked absentmindedly a few times as she watched Nishinoya set down the box and unpack it, revealing several buckets, nets, and other tools.

Hitomi had been on many 'dates' before. Most of them were disguised as one-on-one business meetings with the ulterior motive of trying to get closer to her and gain her favor. There were no lengths those men didn't go to in order to win her over, big or small.

Golfing. Helicopter rides. Three-Michelin-starred restaurant dinners. A movie theater completely rented out for a premiere showing. Fancy car rides. Opera houses. You name it.

Hitomi thought she had seen it all.

But never, in her sixteen years of life, had Fukumoto Hitomi ever been asked on a date to catch crawfish.

Well…This wasn't exactly a date though…right?

"We came early enough so there's not a lot of people still! Lucky! This spot is great, you'll see! I found a lot of crawfish the other day, and even the little kids haven't found it yet!" Nishinoya excitedly declared, eagerly fanning out a blanket to lay on the ground.

It wasn't like she was expecting anything grandiose in the first place, but…crawfish hunting? It was like his proposal with the popsicle stick all over again! The very idea had her bursting with laughter, the angelic sound flitting through Nishinoya's ears.

His head jerked towards the sound, his eyes witnessing yet another beautiful sight. Her eyes were shut tight with glee, one hand hovering over her mouth and the other clutching at her stomach.

He wasn't sure what she was laughing at, but if he could let her be like that all the time, he'd take her out to catch crawfish any time of the year.

"Only you could come up with something like this, Nishinoya-kun!" She announced between her laughs, a finger rubbing at the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "I think this will be interesting." She said after calming down.

The idea was almost absurd, but she was already having way more fun than she'd ever had with any of those other men.

"AH!" Hitomi flinched at Nishinoya's sudden shout. "I messed up again! I'm sorry, Hitomi-chan!" He bowed.

The girl tilted her head at him, raising an eyebrow in question. "M-Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…" He explained, looking down in shame. "I wouldn't want your dress to get dirty, especially when you look so nice…"

Hitomi gave a chortle. "It's fine! Like I said, it's just a dress, so don't worry about it." She knelt down on the blanket, sifting through the box and getting out a bucket for herself. "Besides, I've never caught crawfish before. I'd like to try it." She gave him a soft smile.

Nishinoya's eyes twinkled with delight. "Never!?" He asked in disbelief. She shook her head. "Not even once!?" She shook her head again. "Not even when you were a kid!?" She shook her head a third time.

The boy puffed out his chest. "Don't worry, Hitomi-chan! I'll show you the ropes and teach you all the tricks! Leave it to me!" He proudly proclaimed, immediately setting everything up with even more vigor.

Catching crawfish…It seemed like such a normal thing to do. Maybe not at their age, but it was common for young children. Hitomi had never gotten the chance to experience such things though.

Looking on at his profile—seeing his eagerness and excitement—Hitomi's smile grew. This was nice. To be treated like any other person. This was unorthodox in her world, but she didn't seem to mind at all.

True to his word, Nishinoya really did teach her everything from the beginning. His explanations weren't exactly the best due to his limited vocabulary and his excessive use of onomatopoeias, but she got the gist of it after watching him a few times.

He certainly seemed to be a pro at it, catching far more crawfish in the time that it took Hitomi to catch just one.

After a while, Hitomi sighed in exhaustion. This wasn't like any sport she's done before. Not like fencing or horseback riding in the slightest. It wasn't that she had no athleticism at all, but catching crawfish was much more tiring than she expected. It required the use of the whole body, constantly bending down and getting back up, trekking through the river. With the addition of her dress, she had to be extra careful not to get it too dirty.

Seeing her sigh, Nishinoya immediately became attentive. "Are you okay, Hitomi-chan!? You can rest if you're tired! I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner!" He stood close in front of her, looking up at her with concern in his eyes.

"I'm fine. It's normal to be a little tired." She tried pacifying his worries.

"We can take a break! My mom packed us lunch!" He led her back to the blanket, pulling out a few bento boxes from his bag. Like the gentlemen he is, he served her first. Opening up a bento box, laying down a pair of chopsticks on a handkerchief for her, and pouring her some tea from a thermos.

Hitomi bowed her head in thanks, softly clapping her hands together and saying, "Thank you for the food." She tentatively took her first bite of the standard Japanese lunch, eyes widening. "It's delicious…"

Nishinoya laughed joyously. "You look like you've never had tamagoyaki before, Hitomi-chan! My mom's cooking is definitely the best!" He shoved his face with food, as if to prove his statement.

The girl smiled back, finding the gusto with which he ate to be a little endearing. "To be honest, I don't usually get to eat typical Japanese cuisine…" She trailed off, unsure if she should have revealed that information.

The libero's eyes widened in realization, remembering something. "That's right! When we text each other pictures of what we're eating, I almost never know what you're eating! What kind of food do you usually eat?" He asked, leaning closer in interest.

"Mostly French cuisine." She responded, eliciting a sound of awe from him.

"Wow! That's amazing! It's so cool that your family can cook French food! It always looks so good!" He replied, mouth full of food again.

Hitomi would have laughed at how much he resembled a chipmunk with its cheeks stuffed if she weren't so occupied with her thoughts. She wouldn't have really considered the cooks in the manor to be family, but it was far easier to let him come to these conclusions and make his own assumptions than to unintentionally flaunt her wealth.

After all, there were more than enough people who had come to 'suddenly' like her once they found out about her background.

Thinking on this, the girl's mood dampened. It was always exhausting, having to deal with the people from her world. Having to always be careful with her words and mannerisms.

With Nishinoya, she was beginning to forget about that. At first, she berated herself for slipping up so much around him, but it was actually such a relief. Even just this morning, she thought about how invigorating it was to worry about her appearance for different reasons than not wanting to attract too much attention.

And now, she realized she had to hide again. To go through the exhaustion of having to pick and choose her words at every moment.

While she would have liked to give Nishinoya the benefit of the doubt—To believe that she needn't be so guarded around him—She couldn't. Not after knowing of all the disgusting deeds that occur in her world. It was just safer this way.

Hitomi was snapped out of it when she heard, "Hey, is it true that French people really eat snails?!"

Nishinoya was staring at her, waiting for a response with eyes sparkling with fascinated curiosity. Her lips slowly tilted up, a breath of laughter seeping out. Her hand came up to her mouth to suppress her giggling. Nishinoya blinked his eyes innocently at her, wondering what made her laugh.

Maybe…Maybe she didn't need to play it so safe with him.

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They were on their way back to the convenience store, but both of them were unknowingly walking extra slow. Secretly wanting to spend more time with the other.

Nishinoya peeked at her from the corner of his eye. He gasped, seeing how dirtied her dress was. "Hitomi-chan! Your dress! I knew this was a bad idea! I'm so sorry! How can I ever repay you?!"

The girl looked down, noticing for the first time how much mud was near the hem of her dress. She waved it off. "It's not a big deal. It just needs to be cleaned is all."

The libero furiously shook his head. "Let me buy you a new one!" He insisted.

She sighed, knowing that they were going through another one of these conversations. "You really don't need to do that, and I'm not going to let you either." She chuckled. "Nishinoya-kun, you seem so energetic and carefree most of the time, but you're actually somewhat of a worry wart."

The girl lifted up a finger each time she recounted a memory. "You worried about not having sunscreen for me, about my dress getting dirty, when we were kicked out of the library, and out of the movie theaters, and lots of other things."

The boy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I can't help it! Most of those things were my fault too…" He said, clearly ashamed of himself.

They stopped in front of the convenience store, facing each other. "While I don't think it's a bad quality of yours, you don't need to worry so much. If I was upset about anything, I would just tell you outright." Hitomi explained. "Anyways, this is where we part ways." She noticed that there was just barely an unusual tone of reluctance in her voice.

Hitomi reached into the box, pulling out one of the buckets of crawfish that they harvested. Nishinoya's eyebrows raised. "Wait! Hitomi-chan, take the other one! It has more crawfish."

She simply smiled at him. "Don't bother. Not only did you catch most of these, you eat far more than I do. I'd rather you take more of them."

"Hitomi-chaaaan!" The libero started comically crying at her kindness and generosity.

She chuckled. "Enough, enough! I'll be on my way now."

He nodded, but his legs didn't move a centimeter, fully intent on watching her go until he could no longer see her. "Get back safely!" He wished her off.

Hitomi took a few steps before stopping and slightly turning her body back around. Nishinoya tilted his head at her, innocent questioning in his eyes. She looked down, thinking on what to say.

"Nishinoya-kun…" He leaned forward eagerly at his name. "Thank you for today. I had fun. Let's do it again sometime." She suggested with a tender smile that nearly melted him.

"Of course! We can go to that café again, and you can finally try their shaved ice!" The boy's smile was so wide, she thought his cheeks might be hurting at this point.

Hitomi nodded with a small smile. "I'd like that. See you next time." As she walked off, she peeked back a few times to see him still standing in the same place. A bright closed-eye smile with pink cheeks, one hand precariously balancing the large cardboard box and the other enthusiastically waving goodbye to her.

Her smile didn't dim even when she reached her home. Buzzing in, the gates automatically opened and closed. The front doors swung open for her as she reached them, revealing Chiyo and a few other maids. "Welcome back, Hitomi-sa—! Hitomi-sama!? What happened!? Your dress has been so dirtied!" Chiyo cried out.

"It's just a bit of mud, Chiyo. You don't need to worry so much." The young girl explained, but that didn't stop the maid from rushing to give orders on preparing her bath.

"We must get you cleaned up immediately! Let me take that, milady." Chiyo took the bucket from her, looking inside as she did so. "Crawfish!?" She shouted out, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her today.

Hitomi simply walked past her and started going up the stairs. "Tell the chef that I'd like a dish that makes good use of crawfish for dinner tonight."

"O-Of course…" Chiyo responded, but her eyes were beholding yet another unbelievable sight.

With a pep in her step, Hitomi walked off with an incredibly serene smile that brightened up the whole room.