Nishinoya was still silently staring at their joined hands, Hitomi in front of him and dragging him to wherever the library in her home was.
The faint blush on his cheeks was very much still present as his eyes flipped up to see the back of her and then back down to their hands. His gaze continued to go back and forth in this dance, the stuttering of his heart accompanying the motion.
Her hand was smooth, her fingers slender. They seemed so elegant, but her assured grip belied their delicateness. Her fingers were a bit cold. Probably from the central air conditioning sheltering the house's inhabitants from the heat outside.
Despite that, Nishinoya felt so warm.
Warmth in his chest. Warmth in his cheeks. He was beginning to worry that his palms might start getting clammy, causing her to let go of his hand sooner than she needed to.
Unfortunately for him, they had reached the library, causing her to let go of his hand anyways. He almost sighed if it weren't for his attention being drawn to a butler opening and holding the door for them to enter.
Hitomi quietly thanked the man, Nishinoya quickly following suit. As the door gently shut behind them, he looked up and around in awe. The personal library of the Fukumoto family estate nearly rivaled that of the large public library that they went to before.
The girl beside him went ahead to begin setting up at one of the tables, but she glanced back at him occasionally, noting the gleam of fascination in his eyes. "Wow! There are so many books here! Have you read them all, Hitomi-chan?" Nishinoya asked.
She hummed in thought. "I'd say I've probably read most, but I have dropped quite a few when they bored me." She sat down, waving her hand over to offer him the seat across from her.
"It's no wonder you're so smart then! You read so much, and you study so hard! I hate reading! Oh, but manga is totally ok!" The libero shared as he took a seat, digging through his bag to pull out various notebooks and worksheets.
Hitomi stared him, his words floating in her head. She'd been paid compliments a superfluous amount of times. Almost all of which were fake, backhanded, or said with the sole purpose of hoping to gain something from her.
She'd gotten tons of compliments about her looks. About how beautiful she was. Beautiful enough to professionally model or to have any man wrapped around her finger. With those compliments always came the jealousy and seething remarks of skepticism.
Doubt about how genuine her beauty was. With how dazzling a pair her parents made, their daughter was of course expected to be just as pleasing to the eye. It was just those very same expectations though that caused the envious to breathe words of doubt.
She couldn't have possibly won the genetic lottery so much. Surely there was something else. A family of their caliber could easily afford surgery. Or perhaps it was an obscene amount of well used makeup.
Those suspicious eyes didn't stop there though. Hitomi's academics were always in question. A girl blessed with beauty and brains? Her family had to have donated lots of money to the school, such that all of her teachers treated her favorably. It couldn't possibly be because she studied or worked hard on her own. If anything, her parents must have hired the most expensive and greatest home tutor. How was that fair to any of the other students?
At first, that only made Hitomi work harder. To prove that not everything was just given to her. That she could hold her own without the need for money.
After years of futility though, Hitomi stopped letting herself react to such petty words. It's why she always gave up doing any sport halfway through. That's how it always was after that.
Always doing enough not to disappoint her parents or to shame the family name, but not doing too much so as to draw any kind of attention to herself.
She knew everything people said was wholly untrue, and she stopped pushing herself to spite them because she realized she didn't need any validation. She knew who she was, and she didn't need other people to tell her otherwise.
Even so, Nishinoya's words somehow struck at her heartstrings.
How long had it been since somebody complimented her with complete sincerity? Since someone had done so without any backhandedness? Without any hidden objective?
Since someone acknowledged her for her. For her own efforts first and not just automatically assuming it was her family.
Hitomi smiled fondly at Nishinoya. "You hate reading? Well, that would explain why modern literature is your worst subject." She teased, hoping to cover up her inner sentimental moment.
The boy flinched, sheepishly shrinking into the chair. "But at least I passed my exams! Thanks to you, Hitomi-chan!" He tried deflecting.
"Yeah, yeah, I already said I don't want credit for your barely passing grades. Let's finish your summer homework already." Hitomi joked, plucking the worksheets out from his hands. Her eyes skimmed it over, noticing all the erasures indicating that he did actually try completing it himself. "So, what part did you forget how to do?" She asked.
"…" The libero nervously shifted his gaze away from hers, a bit of sweat dropping down his temple despite the air conditioning.
Hitomi slowly lowered the worksheets, beginning to stare him down. "…Nishinoya-kun…?" She prodded after he continued avoiding eye contact.
"A-…All of it…" He mumbled in shame, not wanting to disappoint her.
Luckily, or perhaps unluckily for him, Hitomi wasn't entirely surprised at his response. "Then I guess we're starting from the beginning again." She sighed, followed by a small laugh.
She flipped the worksheet back around to face him, sliding it over to his side. Taking a pencil, she leaned in to circle and underline key words in the passage. As she looked down at the page, her hair fell forward and her slender fingers elegantly tucked the strands behind her ear.
It was just like the first time she explained it to him when they were at the front of the convenience store. She was so close to him, letting him admire her in all of her beauty.
Nishinoya smelt the same scent of her shampoo. Or was it her conditioner? With how smooth and healthy her hair looked, she definitely used some.
His blush deepened as she leaned in closer to circle something at the bottom of the page. Suddenly, she looked back up at him to see him staring right at her instead of paying attention to the lesson.
Uh-oh. Caught red-handed. She was surely going to reprimand him like last time and threaten to abandon tutoring him!
To his delightful surprise, Hitomi quickly looked away from him. There was a light dusting of pink on her own cheeks. "W-What are you doing!? I'm not going to help you if you don't start paying attention. Can you afford to do that?" She disguised her brief embarrassment at his staring with seemingly harsh words.
Nishinoya furiously shook his head. "No! I'm sorry, Hitomi-sensei! Please keep teaching me! I'll listen properly this time!" He begged, clapping his hands together and bowing his head in apology.
She smiled at his eagerness and forgave him. Although, she was never really mad in the first place.
After some time, the boy managed to get the hang of things. Enough to be able to handle the worksheets himself with a few questions here and there.
Currently, he was stuck on one question but didn't want to ask Hitomi for help because he had just done so for the last one. His eyebrows scrunched together in frustration as his tongue partially stuck out in concentration. He used the back of his pencil to scratch at his head, intensely focusing.
Hitomi watched him, her chin laying in the palm of her hand as her arm leisurely propped up her head. Of course, she didn't normally like watching people struggle, but there was just something about Nishinoya's antics while he tried so hard to figure out this one problem that was so adorable to her. She smiled into her palm, silently gushing over him.
They both jumped when there was a knock on the door. Chiyo promptly walked through it, pushing a kitchen trolley cart with a tea set and snacks neatly placed on top. "Pardon my intrusion, Hitomi-sama, but I thought you and your guest would appreciate a little break with some tea." The maid professionally offered.
"Oh, thank you Chiyo-san." The younger girl nodded in acknowledgement. Chiyo proceeded to gracefully pour them both a cup of tea.
Taking a look at the array of snacks laid out, Nishinoya gasped in excitement. "Soy sauce Kit Kats!" He exclaimed, taking one and unwrapping it instantly. "Thank you!"
The maid smiled back at him, although there was a hint of confusion in her eyes. The first time Hitomi had brought the strange sweet back, she had questioned the girl's acquired taste. Now with this young man expressing the same enthusiasm for the odd flavor, she wondered if it was some sort of new fad with youngsters.
After pouring the tea, Chiyo excused herself, glancing back once to marvel at the scene of her charge enjoying herself in this boy's company.
"You were right, Hitomi-chan! It really does go well with tea!" Nishinoya said with his mouth full.
The girl chuckled, taking a sip of her tea. "Please chew your food first, and make sure not to eat too many snacks or you'll spoil your dinner." She advised, taking a single soy sauce Kit Kat for herself. The boy obediently nodded, taking a large gulp and refocusing on the problem he was previously stuck on.
Nishinoya anxiously stared at Hitomi as she was looking over his last worksheet. He was jiggling his leg out of nerves, as if he were actually waiting for his teacher to announce his test scores. The girl silently lowered the paper, revealing a straight face. Nishinoya froze, holding his breath. Hitomi's act broke, her smile seeping out. "They're all right!" She announced.
The libero instantly beamed at her. "Really!? Yes! It's all thanks to you, Hitomi-chan!" He took the paper back, admiring it.
She gently shook her head. "Not all of it. You worked hard too." She commended him and then checked the time on her phone. "Hmm. There's still some time until dinner. Why don't we play a game or something?"
"Okay!" Nishinoya happily agreed, slinging his bag over his head and onto his shoulder. She led him over to another large room. As another butler opened the door for him, Nishinoya was in even more awe than when they went to the library.
The entire room was decked out with state-of-the-art televisions and gaming consoles, new and old. There were entire shelves filled with games of all kinds. The room was decorated with bean bags and gaming chairs. There were even some classic arcade machines littered throughout the room. It was a gamer's paradise!
Hitomi laughed behind her hand, seeing the sparkles in his eyes and the glowing aura around him. "I can play any of these later and you're the guest, so choose whichever you like."
At that moment, Nishinoya really looked just like a child. Like he was a kid in a game store or a candy store and his mom just told him he could pick out whatever he wanted. He bounced all around the room, becoming fascinated with everything. "Uooohh! This is that super popular, new fighting game that came out last month! Let's play this one, Hitomi-chan!"
Chiyo walked in to see Nishinoya as pale as snow, his mouth hanging open in shock. A massively gloomy aura surrounded him. Hitomi's shoulders were shaking as she covered her mouth, desperately trying to hold back her laughter. She had beaten him in every single round, basically with ease.
After seeing his match yesterday, she knew how good of a libero he was. However, she didn't know somebody could receive every attack so perfectly in this game like that! It should have been a skill at that point.
As her giggling subsided, her eyes showed slight guilt. Maybe she should have gone a little bit easy on him. "It's okay, Nishinoya-kun. I played this a lot already because I had so much time during this summer break, and this is your first time." She tried comforting him.
He instantly snapped out of it. "One more time!" He requested, determined.
Hitomi chuckled again but motioned to Chiyo who was patiently waiting by the door, perfectly content to continue watching them. "I'd love to, but it's already time for dinner. Next time." She said, setting down her controller, shutting off the game console, and standing up to stretch.
She walked towards the maid but stopped when she noticed that Nishinoya still hadn't moved. Turning back around, she saw him gazing up at her with pink cheeks. She tilted her head at him in confusion.
The boy leapt up, the smile he gave her brighter than the sun. "Next time!" He repeated, his grin showing off his pearly whites and his eyes closed in utter joy.
Suddenly, Hitomi realized what she had said and why he seemed so happy about it. She blushed, looking away with a small smile of her own.
Next time.
The words were an inadvertent promise of a future, similar encounter…and she strangely didn't mind the idea.
Chiyo fondly watched them as she led them to the dining hall.
When they arrived, Nishinoya shouted in amazement. The long table was filled, edge to edge, with extravagant dishes. Almost none of the pristine, white tablecloth underneath was visible. It was as if they were holding a banquet fit for royalty.
Nishinoya rushed up, excitedly running along the length of the table to examine all of the delicacies. As he did so, Hitomi turned to Chiyo with an incredulous face. "Chiyo-san! I thought I said the head chef only had to worry about two certain dishes!" She quickly whispered.
The maid looked at her sheepishly, her eyes apologetic as she whispered back. "Why, yes, Hitomi-sama. I relayed your message to the kitchen, but it seems the head chef was so delighted that he took it upon himself to create other dishes to compliment your choices. After all, you have been eating more of your meals lately and you even invited a guest over today. You know how happy he is to know you enjoy his cooking enough to share it with others."
The younger girl sighed, her palm coming up to her face in disbelief. "Be that as it may, this is far too much food for anybody!"
Their low conversation was interrupted by Nishinoya's shouts. "This is so much food, Hitomi-chan! Are we eating with everyone?" He asked, looking around to see several servants stationed around the dining hall.
Hitomi grimaced. "Uh…Well…It seems like the chef came up with a lot of new dishes and wanted some new opinions since he often doesn't get to have that many other people try his food."
Nishinoya stared down at all the food, and she could see the drool almost coming out from his mouth. "It all looks so good though! I don't know if we'll be able to finish everything!"
They both sat down as servants pulled out their seats for them. "You don't have to worry about that. We can always just save the leftovers. Feel free to eat whatever you want." Hitomi assured him.
As the servants started serving them food, Nishinoya's eyes sparkled with recognition. "Hey! That looks like that crawfish dish you sent me in a picture before!" His eyes then moved onto another dish. "And are those…snails?!"
"When we went to catch crawfish, you asked me if French people really eat snails after I brought up that I mostly eat French cuisine. I figured you'd like to try it. It's called escargot and it's usually eaten as an appetizer, so we should eat it first." Hitomi explained, smiling. His excited anticipation was contagious.
"Wow! You're so thoughtful, Hitomi-chan! Thank you!" He expressed his gratitude, the swelling of his heart growing.
She looked down in embarrassment, picking up her utensils and wiping them with a napkin to distract herself from his sweet smile. "You can thank the chefs in the kitchen, not me."
Nishinoya only laughed as they both gave thanks for the luxurious meal before them. Hitomi watched his reaction after he tried his first snail. His look was pensive at first, as if he wasn't sure what to make of it. She followed the movements of his chewing as he nodded to himself in thought.
"That's actually really good!" He exclaimed, causing her to quietly sigh in relief. "I thought it'd be slimier like onions, and I was afraid I wouldn't like it because of that! But it's meatier than I expected."
"That's good then. I asked the head chef to not use onions in anything, just in case." Hitomi smiled, taking a bite of her own food.
Nishinoya tilted his head and blinked at her. "Eh? How did you know I don't like onions, Hitomi-chan?"
The girl paused, the fork still in her mouth. "Oh…I think you mentioned it in passing one time…" She managed to come up with something, her eyes avoiding him.
The boy looked up, his brows furrowing as he tried to recall the memory. "I did?"
He didn't.
The only reason why Hitomi knew he didn't like onions was because of that time he fell asleep in front of the convenience store while waiting for her. He was 'sleep-eating' then. Deciding to play a small prank on him, Hitomi had whispered various foods to try to see if he'd frown at a food he didn't like. Onions were the only 'bad' food he reacted so negatively to, but she didn't want to tell him she did all that.
"You're such a good listener, Hitomi-chan! I didn't even remember I told you that!" He laughed at himself.
She gestured to the crawfish dish, changing the topic. "Try this. It's crawfish etouffee, and it's made from the same crawfish we caught the other day."
Nishinoya blissfully shoveled down everything Hitomi and the servants offered him. It seemed like he was a bottomless pit, eating all of it with such gusto.
His table etiquette was so completely unrefined and absolutely unacceptable in her society…but Hitomi didn't mind one bit as she happily ate alongside him.