Hi! Please forgive me for disappearing. School is killing me but I promise to update as soon as possible. Next chapter is almost ready. Welcome new readers :)

Chapter 5

"Umm… yeah?"

The brunette blinked at her unsure answer. Ruka decided to play nice.

"I mean, yeah. Hehe…" The blonde amended with a tight smile. Kyoko beamed at her.

"Great! Then can you come with me to the newly opened café after class? I have something I wanted to tell you."

Something to tell me?

"O…okay." Ruka answered softly. Kyoko beamed at her.

"Really? I'll see you later then!" She waved and run out of the classroom.

Its fifteen minutes to class. Wonder where she's off to…

Just as Kyoko's figure disappeared, Takao materialized on the doorway. He immediately waved at her and Ruka gave him a smile. Midorima appeared a second later and her smile dropped, replaced with the usual churning of her stomach.

The blonde could only sigh. That was a normal reaction, and all Midorima did was show his face.

Life's not fair…

She was distracted from her thoughts when Takao walked up towards her, whistling loudly. He plopped to Kyoko's chair and faced her direction. Midorima went to his seat and tipped his glasses.

"Did you know that Shin-chan's lucky item for today was a square stone?" The dark-haired blurted out of the blue. The green-haired male stiffened and Ruka choked a laugh. She knew about the lucky items he carried every day. It's hard not to when the said items varied in different sizes. He once carried a stuffed unicorn half his size to the class and everyone burst out laughing.

Including her. She couldn't help it. He's too adorable, all serious like that.

"Takao!" Midorima chastised.

"What, Shin-chan? We almost died hunting for that. We may as well share our prize." Takao reasoned with a grin. She glanced to Midorima curiously then looked away when he met her gaze. "Come on, Shin-chan. Show her the stone. It was actually pretty."

With a grunt, the tall male reached into his pocket and brought out a white handkerchief. He peeled the first layer cautiously and then the next one.

"Woah…" Ruka muttered soflty. It was really pretty. She kinda expected a plain-looking stone with jagged ends. Instead, it was smooth and marble-like, only square. Takao picked it up carelessly.

"Be careful, nanodayo!"

"Yes, yes. Or else bad luck will come Shin-chan's way." The dark-haired said lightly. He held it up close to the blonde's face. "See? It's pretty. We found it at someone else's garden."

Someone else's garden..?

"Yeah. It's pretty…"

Midorima grunted and Takao placed it back to the safety of the white handkerchief. Which reminded Ruka of someone else's handkerchief. She dug through her pocket.

"Oh, Takao-kun. Here." She presented it to him.

"Ah, right. Thank you." The dark-haired pronounced the thank you as 'sankyu' and stuffed said handkerchief to his pocket.

The two continued exchanging words and unbeknownst to them, the green-haired male was actually studying their interaction. It was quite unusual for Midorima's basketball partner, Takao, to be this friendly with someone, much less a girl. He has many friends but he doesn't stick around them.

(He's always with Midorima, after all.)

Even though the shorter male was overly-friendly and overly-talkative, he doesn't really make so much effort to engage in nonsense conversations with someone, especially if it doesn't involve basketball. And it's not like he avoids girls but he's quite careful around them. After all, Takao was pretty popular with the female population. He is in the basketball team (it really boozes up your popularity poll within the campus, much to the green-haired's annoyance. It's not like those things would help us in the games, nanodayo.) and is actually a starter (point guard position) despite being just a freshman. He and Midorima are the only first year starters in the team.

So when Midorima found them in such an ill-mannered position earlier in the hallway, his curiosity piqued (although he will never admit that nanodayo). Not only that, but they were actually texting during lunch (why text when you're classmates? And didn't they saw each other not less than an hour ago? What was so important that they have to text it? Midorima will never understand).

And now, he was the one to start conversation with Maihara. The tall player couldn't recall a single time that these two were conversing before today.

Interesting.

The bell rang three minutes later.

"See you tomorrow, Mai-chan!" Takao waved cheerfully as he and Midorima sauntered off the room. Ruka waved back hesitantly at the energetic teenager. Someway somehow, Maihara-san turned to Maihara-chan then evolved to Mai-chan. When she asked the male about it, he answered that her name is too long.

When the two disappeared into the hallway, her gaze drifted to Kyoko, remembering her promise to accompany the brunette to a café. The latter was staring into the door, a deep look on her face. Seconds ticked by and the blonde decided to get her attention.

"Kyoko-chan!" She called cheerfully but the brunette didn't turn her way. Ruka frowned. "Kyoko-chan?" No answer. "Kyoko-chan!" A little louder this time. This certainly caught Kyoko's attention.

"Oh, Ruka-chan!" The brunette acknowledge with an apologetic smile.

Ruka gave her an impish grin.

"Are we still on in visiting the new café?"

Kyoko blinked a few times before recognition dawned in her face. A huge (but quite strained) smile followed.

"Uhm!" The brunette affirmed.

Ruka smiled to herself. She was glad that they're still going to the café. She badly needed a distraction from mentally praising Takao for letting her talk (no matter how short it is) with Midorima. Her insides are having a party since their afternoon classes had started and a huge smile was permanently plastered to her face.

"Are you two going out?" Kyoko had blurted out of nowhere, choking Ruka with the milkshake she's sipping. "Oh my..! I'm so sorry! Here." She handed the poor girl a glass of water in which the latter accepted, chugging it down until the glass is empty.

The blonde breathed deeply, the corner of her eyes watering and her face still red from coughing.

"I'm so, so sorry, Ruka-chan! That was rude of me!" Kyoko apologized again, bowing her head low, dark hair flipping through the air.

"It's okay, Kyoko-chan. I was just surprised…" She said with a nervous giggle. The question caught her off guard. They were just talking about how good the milkshake is before the question was addressed.

Her heart was beating fast inside her chest, afraid who Kyoko meant when she said 'you two'. Did someone (other than Takao) notice the way she looked at Midorima or how about that damn piece of paper that was pingponged across the room? It was Kyoko who picked it up and showed it to the rest of the class. Did she know from that day on? How? Was she really so damn obvious?

What is she going to do?!

"I'm sorry…" The brunette apologized again and Ruka immediately dismissed it.

"What do you mean by your question earlier? Who are you talking about?" She asked instead, her lower lip caught between her teeth.

Please don't let it be Midorima-kun! Please don't let it be…

But she honestly couldn't think of any other boy she meant other than the green-haired although she was wondering how the two of them look as if they're dating.

Kyoko didn't answer and didn't meet her gaze either. She suddenly seemed to be so interested with her straw. Ruka realized that this must be what the former wanted to tell her when she asked her earlier on the day.

Does she like Midorima-kun, too?

Oh no…

"Takao-kun."

Kyoko's voice was so small that the blonde barely heard it. With furrowed brows, she leaned in from across the table.

"What?"

"Ta… Takao-kun…"

Leaning back on her chair, Ruka was confused what her dark-haired classmate has got to do with this. She looked around the place, wondering if the said classmate is present and Kyoko merely spotted him. But he wasn't around. When she looked back at the brunette, their eyes met and Ruka saw determination written all over the girl's face. But her eyes were bracing herself, as if preparing for the worst. And then she opened her mouth.

"Are you and Takao-kun dating?"

…

If the previous question made her nervous, this one certainly blew her away.

Ruka erupted into fits of laughter, doubling over and clutching her stomach.