❝The countdown won't stop.❞
【Falling In Love Now, Honeyworks】
「Chapter 5」
【春】-「1年生」
A week has passed since that night, and Tsukishima has been doing his hardest to avoid Ayano, but would always fail. He tried to ignore her when ever her heard her voice in the halls, but he would unconsciously listen to her voice. It annoyed him to no end that he was in so deep in love. Tsukishima hadn't been getting sleep recently as his mind had always drifted back to her no matter much he tried to ignore her. He was also hung up on the idea of her crush that he had yet to find out. He was currently in class, where the class representative was deciding what the class would do for the upcoming Golden Week cultural festival.
"Anyone have any ideas?" He asked, no one answered causing the class rep to sigh, "C'mon everyone...we have to pick something or else our class will be on cleaning duty for the rest of the festival..." He said, hoping it would motivate them for some ideas.
"What are the other classes doing?" A student asked.
"Hm...well..." The class rep trailed off and looked at the notebook in his hand, "Class 1-1 is doing a café, typical..." He muttered, "Class 1-2 is doing fortune telling, Class 1-3 is doing a hunted house theme," He listed, "Classes 2-1 and 2-2 are having a collaborative costume cafe, and Class 2-3 and 2-4 are putting on a play." Hearing Ayano's class, Tsukishima's mood worsened as he continued to gaze out the window, blocking out the rest of the conversation. Soon the bell rung, signaling that it was lunch. He stood up and was about to head out when he saw Ayano and Kazuya walk past his class.
"Kazuya-kun, are you going to participate in the stamp rally Kashi-senpai's class is hosting?" Ayano asked.
"Hm...I don't know yet..." Kazuya muttered.
"I'm thinking of participating, but you have to register with partners..." She said.
"Hm...partners, huh?" Kazuya said, "If you need one I'll be your partner."
"E-eh?! Really?" She asked.
"Yeah, isn't that what's best friends are for?" He smiled at her, Ayano's cheeks turned slightly pink before she smiled back at him.
"Okay!" As they two continued to where they were heading, Tsukishima held a scowl on his face, he didn't understand what was so good about that kid she's always with. When he thinks about the two were always together at school, along with Nishikawa and that black haired girl, kind of like him and Yamaguchi. He watched to two 2nd years as the two laughed before walking in the opposite direction.
A few days later, the Golden week cultural festival had arrived. Everything and everyone seemed livelier than usual and Tsukishima seemed more annoyed than usual. His class had ended up doing a café, which he didn't mind (the boy can buy Strawberry Shortcakes for himself there), it was just that the people who had been buying the cakes were mostly couples. And just seeing them act all lovey dovey made his stomach churned so much that he couldn't even eat his shortcake in peace. He thought if he had put his headphones on, he would be able to ignore them. It worked...only for a while...it didn't help because he could still see the couples. He would have taken his glasses off so he wouldn't see them but he would then not see where his cake was either... He internally sighed and continued eating his cake until he heard his name.
"Tsukki!" "Tsukicchi~!" He looked up to see both Yamaguchi and Nishikawa, he cringed at both nicknames, even though Yamaguchi's nickname wasn't as gross as Nishikawa's, it was just as embarrassing.
"Tsukicchi~! You should come see Amacchi's class the girls look so cute in their costumes~!" Nishikawa cooed.
"No."
"Eh?" Nishikawa said, "B-but don't you want to see them?" He asked, Tsukishima scowled as the 3rd year was starting to get on his nerves.
"No."
"Eeh..." Nishikawa stared at the blonde 1st year before an idea popped in his mind, "Okay, I see how it is..." He started, "You're scared aren't you?"
"...What?" Tsukishima said, gazing back up at the nosy 3rd year.
"You heard me~! You're just a big ol' scaredy crow aren't you~?" He said, grinning at the blonde.
"What are talking about? I just don't wanna go that's all..." Tsukishima said, coolly.
"Lies~!" Nishikawa said, Tsukishima grumbled to himself and sat in his seat. Nishikawa smiled as he walked up to the blonde, Yamaguchi saw this and had a bad feeling in his gut, "Alright, since you're being a tsuntsun~!" Nishikawa then grabbed his headphones and dashed out the door, "Success!" He cried, making his escape through the halls.
"O-oi!" Tsukishima stood up and ran after the 3rd year student.
"Ah! Tsukki!" Yamaguchi called out and followed shortly behind.
"Dammit! Where did he go?" Tsukishima asked himself. He walked a bit further, trying to find Nishikawa, but somehow the blonde had lost him among the crowd. Tsukishima sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Shit..."
"Ah, Tsukishima-kun!" He heard Ayano's voice, he internally sighed as he closed his eyes.
"Hm, what is it, senpa-?!" When he opened his eyes, he froze instantly as he saw a girl dressed in a white, flowy, long sleeved silk dress with pink ribbons attached it. Long brown hair tied into a French braid. Tsukishima felt his instantly flush red at the sight of her.
"Ah, Tsukishima-kun! There you are!" She said.
"S-senpai?"He asked, still red.
"Eh? Tsukishima-kun! You're red! Are you alright?!" She asked.
"I-it's nothing!" He stuttered.
"Are you sure? You're awfully red!"
"I-I said it's nothing!" He said, "W-What are you wearing?"
"Oh, this?" Ayano said, "It's my costume for my class's café, my class borrowed the dresses from the Theater club and a classmate of mine used some extensions for the hair," She said, "The theme for our cafe today was fantasy, so thus we had to wear stuff like this."
"Oh..." Was all he could say as he was still flustered. Nearby, a snickering Nishikawa listened in on the two's conversation behind the wall nearby.
"But, I think it's not really something amazing, all the other the other girls in my class look better," She said, sheepishly.
"...ute..." He muttered, feeling his cheeks burn. Ayano tilted her head, wondering what he said.
"Eh? I didn't hear that..." She said. Tsukishima frowned slightly as his cheeks flushed even redder (if that was even possible).
"I-I said you look cute..." He muttered. Ayano smiled at him sheepishly.
"Eh, really? That's really nice of you Tsukishima-kun," She said, "Tsukishima-kun, you should drop by our cafe sometime!" She quipped.
"No thanks..." He turned down.
"Eh, oh, alright then, I'm pretty sure you have to help your class too, am I right?" She said.
"No, it's not that..." He muttered, You look too cute... He thought, "I have to look for my headphones..." He said, which was partly true.
"Really? What happened to them?" She asked.
"Tch, that annoying, nickname giving, copper haired senpai ran off with them..." He said, clicking his tongue.
"Oh, Kashi-senpai? He ran into my class a few minutes before I saw you," Ayano said, making him look back at her.
"Eh? Where is he?!" He asked.
"I don't know for sure, he just came and dropped something off before running out..." She replied, "Oh, I think they were your headphones, Tsukishima-kun!" She said, remembering now. She then grabbed his hand, the notion made him jump slightly and blush a bit, and led him back to her class. Inside, the 2nd years were all dressed up and everything fantasy like. Ayano walked inside and into the back room. A few seconds later, she came back with headphones in her hands, "Is this it, Tsukishima-kun?"
"Yeah, thanks..." He muttered. Near by, Nishikawa was observing the two kouhais.
"There it is!" He whispered to himself, "Come on, Tsukicchi!" He said. His thoughts were interrupted when he looked in the corner of his eye and saw familiar black hair. In the corner was Eruna, dressed in a frilly dress with her hair down, "EH?! ERUCCHI?!" He exclaimed, but luckily no one heard him.
"Tch, why is I have to wear this thing?!" Eruna scowled, feeling uncomfortable in the dress she was in.
"It's part of theme..."Kazuya said, dressed up in all black and had a foam sword hanging behind him.
"Ugh...why do we even have to dress up, we're not even the ones serving..." She blanched. The older blonde shrugged as he took a seat. A loud clatter was resounded throughout the whole room. All eyes turned to see Nishinoya, frozen in his spot.
"Hm? Oi, Noya-san, what's wrong?" Tanaka asked, noticing that his friend was frozen.
"A-A-A-" The shorter 2nd year stuttered.
"Huh? What is?!" The shaved one asked.
"A-A GODDESS AS APPEARED!" His jaw dropped and proceeded to blush furiously upon seeing the dark haired girl. He immediately made his way to Eruna, grasping her hands. Since she was slightly taller than him, he looked up at, but the sparkling gleam in his eyes show that he wasn't caring about height at the moment.
"Eh?!" "Hah?!" Both Tanaka and Eruna said, staring at the shorter boy.
"Seems, like you've gotten yourself an admirer..." Kazuya snickered, Eruna blushed slightly and gave the blonde a glare.
"Sh-shut up!" She fumed.
"Goddess, please marry me!" Nishinoya comically proposed to her.
"EH?! M-MARRY?!" Eruna cried.
"It's love at first sight~!" Nishikawa gushed as he watched them,"Ah, children grow up so fast~!" Nishikawa cooed, wiping a tear from his eyes,"I'll have to make a note to observe them too..." He told himself.
"Oi! Ge-get off!" Eruna exclaimed as Nishinoya was hugging her by the waist while she was trying to kick him off of her.
"Goddess!"
"He's in too deep..." Kazuya said, though he had a cheeky grin on his face as Tanaka nodded beside him.
"Oi, what are you all doing?" Tsukishima asked, watching the whole scene before him play out.
"Oh, did something happen between Eruna-chan and Nishinoya-san?" Ayano asked, seeing how the short libero was clinging to her friend.
"Yeah, apparently Nishinoya proposed to her," Kazuya grinned. Tsukishima let out a small snicker at the thought of his small senpai proposing. It defiantly likely that he would do that.
"Really? How cute!" Ayano smiled, she was defiantly resembling a easy-going mother at the moment.
"Yeah, Noya-san, it's really cute~!" Tanaka joined in to tease his friend.
"Really, really cute~!" Kazuya added.
"Absolutely adorable, Nishinoya-san," Tsukishima snickered. The smaller boy blushed furiously from all the teasing and let go from hugging Eruna's waist and stood up.
"Oi! Ryuu! Tsukishima! Kazu! Sh-shut up!" He fumed, "Not in front of the goddess!" Is he seriously going to call her Goddess the whole time? The three boys thought, all grinning at the small libero.
"Oi, stop calling me that..." Eruna sighed, rubbing her head.
"Eh? Then how about Queen? Or Angel?" He asked.
"Ahaha! How about none?" She asked with a mock smile, "Just call me by name, no nicknames or anything..." She said.
"Yes!" He said, eyes sparkling, if you took a closer look, the boy represented a small love sick puppy wagging his tail. Eruna sighed as she went into the backroom with Nishinoya following her.
"Ah, young love~!" Nishikawa cooed as he leaned on Kazuya's shoulder.
"Get off!" The older blonde said, slapping the copper haired 3rd year.
"SO CRUEL!"
Haha, I felt the need to add some slight Noya/OC moment, I have a story line planned for the two. I think I'l add more moments like this so I can slowly introduce them when I do their own stories later on. For Ayano's dress, I imagined it to be something like Misaki's dress in the last episode of Kaichou wa Maid-sama, hope you all like this chapter. I still feel like I made them OOC though...