- Chapter 8 -

"Permitted! We've been permitted!" A couple of girls quickly ran towards the class, coming back with news. "We have been permitted!"

"Urusai, Hiru-chan." Another student blurted out.

The girl Hiruhime ignored the comment and scrambled between tables. "We are making a class T-shirt! Masami-sensei has approved it! Suzuki-chan, ano, c-can you come here for a bit?"

"Hai hai." Suzuki got up from Tsukishima's chair and went over to the group of girls.

Tsukishima moved back to his chair. "Yamaguchi, have you done essay five?"

"Number five? No. I skipped that."

The blonde-haired looked down briefly at her book. "Hm, she hasn't either. Let's move on to other questions, then. She has filled in some, apparently." He said and began reading her answer. "I've done number seven. But my answer and hers are different."

"Heh! All of our answers are different, apparently. We'll ask her about it." Yamaguchi eventually mimicked him.

Not long, the two boys heard a loud cough in the middle of the class. "Sumimasen!" They, along with other students, turned their heads to the front of the class. Hiruhime stood by the teacher's table, the other girls nearby. Suzuki casually leaning by the chalkboard.

Hiru briefly turned to the Head Class. "Wait, Suzuki, where do I start?"

"Well, umm, you can tell the things you told me yesterday to the rest of class." Suzuki nodded.

"Oh, hai. C-can I start?" Hiru gestured to the front of the class.

Suzuki shook her head. "Sure, go ahead."

The idea of class t-shirts had been going on about a few weeks back when Hiruhime first proposed it to Suzuki, which she didn't mind at all. Class uniform was one of customary in high-school, a way to bond the class as they went through the school years together, be it boring studies or sports events. With the approval from the teacher done, the contest of design picking and size collection had begun, handled by Hiru and a couple of other girls; The T-shirt Task Force, Suzuki liked to call them.

"…we could start with the design. Since the last vote won us the color blue and black, the theme would be around that spectrum." Hiru told all of them. "And also we need to decide if we want any numberings or words on the back too. Based on Borin's design, thank you Borin-kun, we have two options. I have some design sheets here. But I don't print a lot, s-so if you could share with others too, please."

Suzuki had strolled over back to where her tutelage was, handing over some papers of presentation for them. Tsukishima noticed and was about to get up to give back her seat, but she held her hand out against his shoulder and went around to lean against the window instead.

"What do you think?" She said, nodding to the paper.

"I like this one. This one reminds me of the National Soccer Team. Heh, I just watched them last night." Yamaguchi tapped a specific blue design with a red accent. "Will it come out as dark blue like the team?"

"That's the idea for the design. But we'll have a lighter blue combination, I think. And of course, minus the logos. Maybe a school logo to replace that."

"Do we even have a school logo?" Tsukishima asked.

"I dunno. A crow?"

"Touché."

Suzuki snorted at the short and witty remark.

A quick vote was done; the soccer jersey lookalike won the survey. The discussion then continued with a brief listing process of sizes, also numbering and letterings of student choosing.

"14? What's the meaning of 14?" Yamaguchi randomly asked when he learned that Suzuki had listed that particular number.

"14 reasons why Suzuki is stupid." The other boy quipped.

"Hey! 14 is my lucky number." Suzuki instinctively smacked Tsukishima with her book. "It doesn't mean anything really. It's just my birthdate."

"How creative." the blonde snickered.

"I will admit that I am not." Suzuki thought out loud. "But I am creative on names for you, Lemonhead!"

"Shut it."

While the two shared a bicker between each other, Yamaguchi watched and listened to their interaction. At this point, Yamaguchi had already known about Tsukishima's interest towards the girl, even though he was never willing to admit it. Yamaguchi had known him long enough to see what lies behind his hard face and cold stare. Though he was never worried. There would be a time when he would finally see the truth behind his own reluctance, sooner or later.

What Yamaguchi didn't put into consideration was the girl, herself, Suzuki Taomi.

He remembered the first days of introduction, Suzuki looked like one of those schoolgirls who always separated herself from the classroom. Her height was already a distinctive factor but along with hair in a messy high bun, sleeves rolled up, slouching and chewing a gum, eyeing every student with that uninterested and curious look in between. Yamaguchi once concluded that she was a lone wolf eyeing her surroundings. There was no one sharing the same junior high school with her so she rarely talked to anyone, might be because at some point no one actually came to her. And when she did have a conversation, her answers were most likely to be quick and to the point.

When he was selected to help her with class-related stuff, he began to learn her personality and behavior. It came out as a surprise when he learned that Suzuki was very active with her responsibilities as Head Class, regardless of her lazy nature – no, not lazy, more like impassive and indifferent towards anything. That, then, reminded him so much of his good ol' friend, Tsukishima Kei, the Head of Class during the third-year of their junior high school.

Perhaps because they were after all similar beans in a pod, Yamaguchi noticed the easy conversation and sometimes bickering. In addition, they shared the same road walking home; occasionally Yamaguchi spied on them until they went out of sight. And they came back to the school with stronger jokes between them. The more he watched them, the more he could conclude that; she was starting to become comfortable around him.

Just then he heard another smack of paper. Suzuki had slapped Tsukishima's arm after he mocked about, well, something only they understood apparently. Compared to her action towards Tsukishima, Suzuki never hit Yamaguchi in the arm, or shoulder or anything. She hit Enma a couple of times, hard, but it was to tame the wild boy rather than a goofy physical contact. What Yamaguchi found funny was that, yes she was riled up by his staggering comments, yet she sat back down and continued on with whatever she or Tsukishima was talking about. That showed a lot that she was indeed really, really comfortable with Tsukishima.

and vice versa.

"Alright, now that math is done. I need to get going before Mirai finds me and drag my ass out of here." Suzuki said, already packing her book and pencil. "Thanks again! Hai, ja mata!"

Yamaguchi waved, watching the girl now had scurried away out of the class. "Wait! 14? Her birthday is the 14th of June, then." And he just remembered. "That's tomorrow!"

Tsukishima looked up to him. "How do you know?"

"Yeah, right? Her birthday is in June. She told me once, but I didn't know the date yet. Right? Right, Tsukki? Wait–" Yamaguchi blinked at him. "Tsukki, you knew?"

Tsukishima pursed his lips and went back to his book. "Yes. Her birthday is tomorrow."

Yamaguchi's face slowly shifted from realization to a satisfied smile. He leaned forward to the table. "Do you plan on buying her a present?"

"Uh," Tsukishima paused. "Well…"

"Oh! Don't tell me…"

"Huh?"

"Flowers. You're going to buy her flowers!" He suggested. "And then ask her out to be your girlfriend."

"Yamaguchi you moron! Shut up!"

He dodged the incoming palm of the hand. The dark-haired boy let out a wailing laugh. "What? I heard girls like flowers."

"You–" Tsukishima clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Whatever. Don't talk to me."

"Yeah, go ahead and talk to Suzuki instead." Another click of his tongue; Yamaguchi chuckled.

Tsukishima merely rolled his eyes, already too annoyed to respond further. Instead, he occupied himself with cleaning up his own table. Yamaguchi shrugged him off and took care of his belongings as well.

One thing Yamaguchi just realized while walking down the stairs, following Tsukishima quickly hopping down the steps, that not once he had denied the girlfriend joke. The idea of Tsukishima having a girlfriend didn't sound bad at all. Could it be that he was thinking about it? Smiling wide, he happily skipped ahead to catch up on him.

- Chapter 8 -

The first time she had learned how to dribble and make a lay-up, she missed her timing and the ball bounced off the board into her face instead. Her brother told her to sit down and lay back, breathing slowly through the mouth while the nose was clogged with cottons. At that time she found it very difficult to breathe because she hiccupped through the tears. She was only eight or nine at that time.

Other times she got her face smacked when someone had tried to block a ball. The person's hand slammed the ball off a player's hand and it went off to her face instead. It didn't hurt much, but the discomfort around the nose started to bother her. Also it bothered her because she was quickly being pulled off the court due to that. During the nurse check, all she did was huff and puff, and complained to the nurse that she was fine. Of course, the nurse didn't listen. And she found it hard to groan with nose clogged in. That was one of her junior high school matches.

Now, Suzuki sighed uncomfortably through her mouth.

"Is that why your jersey is red now? So you can bleed more?"

Without even looking at the person making the snarky comment, she casually replied. "The same as yours is black. Probably to cover up all the crap you have. Just don't forget to wipe."

"That's gross." Tsukishima rolled his eyes and slid down to sit next to her.

Quickly though, she leaned away, gasping. "Have you wiped yet?"

"Shut up, that's enough of dirty jokes."

"Don't blame me. You started it." She just shrugged and sat back down. "What're you doing here?"

"Looking for a short escape." He gazed at her confusion. He went on. "I was tutoring Kageyama and Hinata in the club room. But they are getting relentlessly stupid. So I bailed and left them with Yamaguchi."

"Poor kids. I bet Yamaguchi is frantic." she chuckled, but strained by the clogged airflow. She coughed instead.

"Geh, you shouldn't talk much with that thing on your nose." He sneered. "What happened? Did you get hit by a ball?"

She stole a glare. "You said no talking. How am I supposed to answer that then?"

"Hm, true."

"You idiot." She heard a snort coming out of him. Reluctantly she decided to pull out the tissue from her nose, to see the bleeding had somewhat lessened. She wrapped it with another tissue paper and held it close. Decided not to stuff her nose again, she told him. "And no, it was not a ball. It was in fact, an elbow to the face."

"Elbow? Were you fighting, Hoodlum?"

"Hey, no!" Despite that, and ironically, she proceeded to elbow his shoulder, playfully though as it only came out a hard push. "Me and another player jumped at the same time. She swung around to catch the ball but her elbow hit my face. So there you go."

"I see – uh, you're bleeding again."

Suzuki's eyes widened and quickly she wiped the substance out of her face. She let out a heavy sigh before stuffing back some tissue into her nose again.

"Are you sure it's not broken or anything?"

"No. It's just bruised. The bleeding will pass, eventually."

Tsukishima pursed his lips tight and watched as the brown-haired was toying with the tissue on her nose, obviously getting uncomfortable with it. "Stop playing with it. Lean your head back."

"Huh? Why?"

He rolled his eyes and he brought his hand to the top of her head, grabbing it and pushed it back. Before she could react, he cut her off. "And then you pinch your bridge."

"Where?"

"Your bridge–do you not know your own nose?" He muttered loudly. Though she saw his hand shadowed above her face again. He pointed lightly to the specific area. "Here."

This new position was rather awkward, with her head leaned back with little support from the wall and her arm just dangled while she held her nose. She moved her eyes to him. "How long should I stay like this?"

"Until your bleeding stops."

"Does this even work?"

"I dunno, honestly."

At this statement, she just gave up and entirely dropped her arm off to the side again. She still leaned her head back and she slid down even more to have better support for her neck. She heard he muttered something inaudible, probably a mock.

Tsukishima actually had watched the collision between the other player from the sidelines, but he wasn't sure who hit what. He did see the players all surrounding the scene, and then Suzuki was being held up by her side out of the court and into the backstage room where a medic was waiting, Hiruzen-sensei catching up. The match ended shortly after but he didn't see the scoreboard nor the teams. His eyes fixed to the opened door where Suzuki walked out from. Aside from the stuffed nose, she looked fine, actually. But the moment she was seated while the team had gathered for the closing line-up, he knew she wasn't. That was why he did not go back to the club room just yet.

He felt a movement from the person next to him. Suzuki had somehow dozed off and her head lunged forward due the lack of surface. But his chain of reaction was always quick. And as if blocking a ball, he had outstretched his hand and touched her by the cheek to secure her head. But when blocking, he only hit the ball, not hold. So holding her cheek was something he instinctively shouldn't do.

She woke up due to the sudden movement, jerking her head back up. She blinked, gathering her senses. "Was I just knocked out?"

"You look dead, frankly." Tsukishima muttered. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, maybe. I just need a rest, that's all."

You should go to a doctor or something. Like, an actual hospital." He reasoned.

She just shrugged and went back to the previous position, her eyes wandered freely to the roof of the gym. For long, the two classmates just sat there, watching as the court was being cleaned up by the team. According to her memory, this would be the fifth time in her life she had a nosebleed during a game. It seemed that having a head-injury had its own perks for being excused not to do all the heavy work. Well, she did feel a bit of a headache after the hit. And now she felt a bit lightheaded.

"Tsukishima?"

"Huh?"

"Can you help me up?"

Tsukishima had already stood up and she caught the extended arm and propelled herself to stand. The sudden movement made her dizzy and closing her eyes only made it worse. "Oh shit."

"That's the second time ever I've heard you cursing. That bad, huh?"

"Maybe."

"You're so stubborn, y'know." Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at her. "And could you let go of my hand now? You're starting to kill it."

Suzuki was so dazed that she didn't realize she had been holding his hand, or rather gripping him. "Oh, sorry." she muttered, letting go. But there was a tug right before their hands separated, or maybe it was her and her headache, she thought she felt a squeeze.

"Maybe I do need to go to a doctor."

"Good thing you finally come into your sense." Tsukishima snorted. "Do you need help going to the hospital?"

Suzuki rose an eyebrow at him. "You would help?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "The more reason to escape the club room."

"Hmm… lucky for you, they are coming." Suzuki suddenly said, pointing to the door.

Tsukishima didn't hold back any annoyance when a sight of the idiot King and his ginger slave came into view, Yamaguchi tailing behind.

"Suzuki!" Hinata's voice was loud and clear.

"Oh God."

"Suzuki—oh, are you alright?"

"Now I am not." Her mumbles didn't escape Tsukishima and he snorted at the obvious response. "Hello boys."

The greeting was short when Hiruzen-sensei had caught up to her. True to her words, they did finally go to the hospital. Tsukishima only watched as they went around the gym and disappeared in the parking lot.

"So this is where you've been hiding, Tsukki." Yamaguchi commented. The blonde next to him only snickered but to words. He chuckled and went on. "Did you realize you've been gone for almost half an hour?"

"Even that's not enough."

"To hide from us? Or to watch her?"

Tsukishima didn't reply right away and walked up the stairs to the club room. By the railing, he glanced at the now empty parking lot. Sighing, he went in and went back with the books. And the idea of holding her up by the cheek, however weird, was not entirely uncomfortable. His hand kind of tingled every now and then as if he was doing it again.

It was almost seven when Tsukishima truly gave up teaching and so were the King and the Shrimp. Their tutoring was starting to revolve around name calling and arguments and the seniors had gotten tired of them; they all had decided to call it a day.

Guess what? I am really hospitalized. She had texted him not long ago.

Tsukishima replied quickly. Concussion?

She replied soon enough. Yeah. Mild. But weirdly I don't feel anything worse. I still think the doctor exaggerates things.

You are already checked in yet you keep complaining. I told you, complaining doesn't suit you. He mentally sneered. Just shut up and get some rest, Suzuki

Whatever. She replied with her usual annoyed face emoji. Another ding and additional bubble chat appeared. Mother hen! with a chicken emoji.

Tsukishima let out a loud chuckle, she was fine after all.

But he stopped when he realized he just laughed in the middle of the club room, filled with curious eyes staring at him from the weird noise he made. Clearing out his throat, he slipped his phone in pocket and continued packing his books as if nothing happened. Thankfully, no one cared enough to bother him.

- Chapter 8 -

Suzuki was unsure whether she had to be pleased or ungrateful. A night in the hospital was one thing and she was grateful because she had a valid reason to skip school. Two nights meant she couldn't come home right away, and the hospital room was starting to get into her nerves.

Suzuki was checked in into a five-bed ward, three of which were occupied including her. Her neighbouring bed was a grumpy aunty who just came in for a regular arthritis therapy, complaining about pretty much everything. Across her bed, she knew he was a middle aged man but that was it. He rarely opened the curtain, and was less likely to converse. At least his son who visited often was nice though. He bought extra onigiri for her.

Speaking of food… hospital food was the worst. Last night she was served with a very basic fried rice and egg, which actually was decent. But this morning she ate a very bland porridge and a very bland chocolate pudding. Come on, dessert was supposed to be sweet and this tasted like paper. Sighing, she only finished half of the bowl and the pudding only marked with one scoop of not even a spoonful. The only thing she ate fully was an apple and a banana which the middle-aged man didn't eat (that was the only conversation she engaged with him, when he offered the fruit). Additionally, she secretly ate a ramen cup her brother snuck in, enough to fill up the morning and a sandwich from the nice son.

Not to mention the limited entertainment she had; a TV which that aunty had already claimed the remote for herself and she didn't have her laptop with her. Her source of distraction was her phone with games and social media. But her friends would still be at school and her phone games already wore her out. The last thing she did was to have a nap. But even that she was already tired of. Overall, Suzuki was bored as hell.

Early in the evening, Mirai texted her a 'get well soon' message and a picture of her and Aoki having dinner together in some place that looked like the interior of Sakanoshita Store. She replied, taking a selfie in bed. Mirai texted back a new picture; Yamaguchi holding up peace fingers and in the background, Tsukishima was staring blankly at the camera. The corner of Suzuki's mouth twitched into a smirk. She saved the picture and cropped a specific portion and then shared it for another text to another number.

Delete that! The reply was an instant.

Nope. She sent him a tongue-out emoji.

You moron. Now.

This should be your yearbook photo.

In return, she received a middle finger emoji which she laughed off. She was about to click on an emoji to retort back but being her, the carelessness of her accidentally touched the call. That said, she didn't hang up right away until a few rings. Obviously she knew he wouldn't answer with their friends around. She did however think of calling him when he was not busy. That was her idea to distract her from the hospital nuance.

Can I call? When you're already home. She added. If you're not busy. I'm bored.

Sure. Tsukishima's reply was short, but it was enough to put a relieved smile on her lips.

When Suzuki returned to her bed from the bathroom, she noticed two recent missed calls and a text message from Tsukishima. Are you asleep already?

No. I just—her typing was interrupted when she received an abrupt call from him.

"Hello?"

"Have you deleted the picture?"

"Ehe, no."

He hung up the phone and she snickered. He was so childish sometimes. "We'll see if you can win your own game." She thought out loud. Decided not to give in, she didn't call back and waited for a bit. She guessed it; he was the one making the call. Aha! "What?"

"I'll make you delete that sooner or later."

"Why don't you come here and do it yourself, then?" She challenged him.

"Alright, I'll delete that one way or another. You just wait." There was a smugness behind his voice that she already knew. He then said, "How are you doing?"

"I met the doctor again this morning. He said I'll be returning home tomorrow after lunch."

"So you're fine?"

"I told you I've been fine since the accident. Just need a rest, that's all. Although resting here is never good."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a hospital, Tsukishima. No one wants to be stuck in a hospital." Suzuki exclaimed. She paused when she got a shush from the other patient, being the aunty. "I can't wait to go home tomorrow."

"So you should. Science homework is waiting."

"Damn it." She cursed. "Hm yeah whatever. I can just copy your answers anyways. Oh, what were you doing with Mirai and Aoki? Did you run into them?"

"Kind of. When they learned that I was tutoring the two dimwits after practice, they wanted to join. So we moved to Sakanoshita to study together."

"With Kageyama and Hinata? I didn't see them in the picture though."

"They were buying some food, I think." Tsukishima told her. "Hey, Suzuki."

"Yeah?"

"What number is your ward?"

"Six AA—wait, why?—"

The door of the room swung open revealing a nurse with trays of dinner for patients. The nurse prepped her dinner on the tables and then excused herself out. The door was just about to close when a hand slipped in and pushed it open. Suddenly, Suzuki felt her cheeks starting to heat up.

"I… I thought the visiting hours were over." She stammered, unmoving.

Tsukishima ignored her completely and reached out for her phone. Few taps and he returned it to her hand. "Mission completed."

She only just registered what just happened. Quickly she scrolled through her gallery to find his blank stare was missing. The picture on Mirai's chat was also gone. She shook her head in disbelief. "You know I can just ask Mirai to re-send it."

"No you can't. I have deleted it on Mirai's phone too."

"Was that really necessary?"

"Yes."

"Did you come all the way from school to here just to do that?"

He rolled his eyes. "Do you think I'm an idiot? Of course not." He jabbed back, and grabbed something from his school bag. Lazily he pulled it out and offered it on her lap. "I meant to give it to you yesterday but well you were all bleeding and knocked out. So, uh… happy late birthday, I guess."

Suspiciously, Suzuki examined the box. It wasn't wrapped or anything but it didn't have any labels or branding. It didn't even have any ribbons or accessories. It was only a simple chocolate carton box. The size reminded her of a tissue box. But it wouldn't be tissue paper because it was too thin and just a bit smaller. She tried to shake it so she could get familiar with any sound but it didn't make any. She decided to take a peek from the lid.

"You're ridiculous. It's nothing dangerous." Tsukishima muttered. "If you wanna open it, just open it like a normal person would."

"Can I open it now?"

"It's up to you. It's your present after all." He said, already leaning against her bed.

Suzuki's hand ripped the protection sticker and flopped the lid open, her eyes still on him, this time with curiosity. She only glanced down when she touched what felt like fabric. She unfolded it, revealing a set of black arm sleeves with a little of white accent.

He purposely went on. "You told me you lost your sleeve in an away game. So, I hope these ones fit."

"You remember? That was almost two months ago."

"Well yeah, and I figure you haven't had new ones since you rarely wore them again." Tsukishima casually said. "So?"

Suzuki inspected the arm sleeves, and actually tried to slide it on into her left arm. At first it looked a bit small, and there was a size label to compare. It surprised her that it fitted comfortably. It surprised her even more that Tsukishima remembered, even when she didn't. He was not all wrong. Indeed she had forgotten her arm sleeves after a match at another high school and ever since she had the intention to purchase a new one. But she just never got the time to visit the sports store and her brothers didn't have any spares. She made a deadline for that before the start of National Preliminaries but now she was wearing one.

"You can also flip it inside out. Uh, so you have another different colour." Tsukishima watched the girl examining the sleeves, moving and rotating her arm and elbow to check for any discomfort. For a moment she didn't say a word and he was actually worried that she didn't like it. He cleared his throat. "So? Does it fit?"

"Like a glove!" She looked up and this would be the first time Tsukishima saw a very distinct twinkle in face. Her brown eyes shone lighter and the apple of her cheek became much more pronounced due to the very beautiful grin. "Thank you, Tsukishima. I really really like this."

He offered a smile both welcoming and relieved. "Actually, one more thing."

"Huh?"

Tsukishima reached again into his pocket and pulled out something that she was already laughing about. "Don't tell me—pfft, you idiot. I knew it. I should've seen it coming." She looked down and two stripes of blackberry bubble gum packs flopped on the bed, chuckling. She took one piece from the pack and ate it. "Thank you though."

He let out a snorting laughed along. "Sure—"

"N-no, I mean." Suzuki looked up to him and for a moment there was a feeling of comfort and relief rushing in from those lazy eyes of his(/hers). "Thank you, for the present, for visiting me, for everything. I mean it, thank you, Tsukishima."

His lips twitched and for the first time ever she saw the most profound reaction from him. Not a smirk nor a grunt of approval - a deep, bright, heartfelt smile from him. "You're very welcome, Suzuki."