Hello and hi to all of you who are still reading and those who are new to this story! I've noticed a lot of interest since the new Haikyuu anime came out and it's making me giddy! I hope you lot will keep enjoying all the drama I make xD For all those who are new, also, if you want to check out the first story I wrote about TetsuHaru, they're the drabbles called 12 ways, in case you didn't know that they exist :P

On the other note, I hope you're all safe during this pandemic! Please, be responsible and don't get sick. Lots of love!

Big thanks to everyone who's reviewed and pushed me to update, and especially to AmIValid2 for keeping my head in the game xD Also, if you're looking for yet another Kuroo/OC, be sure to check out her story Frown, it's super sweet! Unlike mine which is full of teenage angst xD

One question for you lot: It's been brought to my attention that my chapters are too long for readers, so, I'll be reassessing length and switching it according to the poll results, it's on my profile, so be sure to vote!

Without further ado,

Chapter 29: This is why we can't have anything nice…

Tetsurō woke up to his alarm, as always, turning in bed and attempting to snooze the damn thing with one arm before he was completely out of the land of dreams. He managed to maneuver his fingers and press something which stopped the blaring, snuggling back into his pillows. Then, a thought came to him and he was instantly awake.

He turned to his side, staring at his chair-of-not-so-dirty-clothes for a moment. Then, a wide grin spread across his face and a certain giddiness he was unable to explain or snuff came up in his chest, making him chuckle to himself. The volleyball captain jumped up and off his bed, heading for the shower eagerly.

Tetsurō was always quick to go through his morning routine, something about years of sharing the showers with a team at the local gym, and he was ready in record time. As he was tying the tie of his high school uniform, his alarm decided to give him yet another notification that he should be getting up. Tetsurō grabbed the phone, turned the buzzing menace off and checked the time. He still had just enough to grab Kenma and head for Haru's stop to meet the girl, as had become their usual routine since she'd joined the team as their manager.

The teen rushed downstairs, his book bag packed and the summer blazer of his uniform over his arm. He tossed them both on a chair in the kitchen, rushing to make the coffee for his mother and get started on breakfast. Though, when he opened the fridge, he found the leftovers from the meal he and Haru had prepared the previous night at her place. Eggs with sofrito, black beans, and rice. It wasn't what he would usually eat for breakfast, but it was delicious, when one used spice in moderation, like the girl had obliged for the sake of his tongue. He heated it up in the microwave and served on two plates, just in time.

"Is there any coffee?" his mother entered the kitchen in her nightgown and a silk robe, black hair as messy as his usually was.

"In the coffee maker," Tetsurō told her, then slid a plate down the table to her usual seat. "And here's some breakfast." As he was digging into his meal, the woman joined him at the table with a huge mug of hot coffee, black, no sugar.

"When'd you become a chef?" she asked curiously, poking the meal with her chopsticks.

"Haru and I were cooking last night," Tetsurō shrugged through his food. "I don't know why, but she always cooks."

"She's domesticating you, I like it," Junko gave him a sly smile, very similar to the one he had on his face while thinking up some tasteful meddling.

"Please," Tetsurō groaned, finishing the food and getting up. "She likes to cook, not me," he added.

"Sure, you tell yourself that," Junko giggled. "Next thing you know, you'll be dancing salsa and talking Spanish, too." Tetsurō blushed furiously, swearing to himself that he'd never, ever let his mother find out that he was, in fact, already dancing salsa.

"I'll study for exams after school, so I'm not sure when I'll get home," he told the woman instead, putting on the top of his uniform and grabbing his book bag.

"Just text me so I know you're safe and alive," the woman waved him off, and Tetsurō was out of the door, rushing three houses down to grab his, undoubtedly still asleep, friend.

The train ride to school was as boring as usual, the normal mundane routine for Tetsurō. Though, he couldn't stop the giddiness in his chest when the specific stop was called out. Some people left the train, others boarded, among them a certain dark-haired girl.

"Morning," he greeted her immediately, getting her attention. Haru walked over, a little sleepy-looking, but much more functional than Kenma. The pudding-head was fast asleep on Tetsurō's shoulder, after all.

"Hey," she said, plopping down in the free seat on Kenma's other side, leaning onto the boy for some much-needed rest.

"Long night?" Tetsurō asked with a smirk, to which the girl simply grunted, not up for talking yet. "Couldn't sleep cause you were thinking of me?"

"As if she'd be thinking about you," Kenma's sleepy voice commented, before Haru could. The girl just chuckled, snuggling deeper into the setter's shoulder. For once, Tetsurō wished that he didn't have to take his friend to school and that he could spend that time, a mere thirty minutes, alone with his girlfriend. Yes, his girlfriend. Because he now had one. He was Haru's boyfriend. And she was his girlfriend. They were in a relationship. A silly smile stretched across his face before he could help it.

"What do you mean dungeon three can give you epic items?" Apparently, he'd been in his head for a moment too long. "I thought it could only give you magical?"

"No, but you need to use specific gear," Kenma replied, now off of his friend's shoulder and with his cellphone in hand. Haru bent over closer to the boy, watching the screen as he demonstrated. "If you use the Tears of Light and equip the Forest's Blessing, you can get epics. It's because this is a Nature dungeon."

"Oh, I get it!" Haru nodded, taking out her own cellphone. "I skimmed through the talking section when they mentioned that, I guess. It's to do with the area, right?" Kenma nodded and Tetsurō couldn't help but watch them with wide eyes.

"More importantly," the captain piped up, attempting to get attention from the two. "Did you think of a way to improve Lev's cross?" he asked the girl directly, hoping that she would turn off the damned game and look at him.

"Mhm, I'll show you when we get to the gym and everyone's there," Haru told him, but her eyes didn't rise from the game. "Wait, how do you get past this boss? I can't beat the floor and I've been trying for a week."

"You just need to-" Tetsurō tuned out Kenma's reply, finally succumbing to his instinct to sulk in his seat. This was definitely not how he'd planned to spend his morning with his girlfriend.

"Akari, come here," Haru grabbed her friend's hand, pulling her away from classroom 2-3 and down the corridor of the high school.

"Wha- but, Harucchi!" Akari whined, trudging behind the taller girl with a pout, her lunch in hand. "I wanted to eat with Kenma today." Haru didn't look back, though. She knew that if she did, Akari's infamous puppy dog eyes would ruin her resolve.

"Look, you can go be Kenma's girlfriend later," she said, taking the route straight to the roof, looking warily around each corner before dashing the longer lengths of the corridor. "Now, I need my best friend."

"Fine," Akari grumbled, giving up. The two girls reached the roof quickly, opening the door from the inside and jamming it with the piece of wood that the seniors had brought last year, when vice-principal Kinoshita had decided to make that entrance self-lockable. "Scram!" Akari waved at the couple of first-year girls who were giggling by the railing, making them rush out the door, leaving the roof empty for the two friends. "So, what's the issue?" she asked, plopping down to the floor with a huff, not bothering to smooth her skirt before she did it.

"Sec," Haru said, texting quickly, and then also sat down, opening her lunch. She placed her phone facedown next to the bento, putting it on silent. "I told Ikki where we are, in case he wants to join." Akari gave her friend a pointed look and Haru sighed, nodding to herself, as if gathering courage. "It's awkward," she finally said.

"What is?" Akari shot back, already halfway through her rice.

"Me, Kuroo, me and Kuroo, Kuro and I," Haru's hands were all over the place while she was talking. "We're awkward. I'm awkward. He's awkward. It's weird. This is weird. It's a mess." The girl finally managed to halt her word-vomit, looking up from her lap to find Akari mid-bite, frozen, with a raised eyebrow. Slowly, the girl placed down her food with a sigh.

"I always knew, you know," she said, shaking her head.

"Knew what?" Haru's eyebrows were furrowed. She was hoping for some kind of divine wisdom.

"You are one of those girls," Akari nodded sagely.

"What girls?"

"Those who don't have a honeymoon phase."

"The what?"

"Honeymoon phase," Akari nodded, pushing her lunch aside and scooching closer to her friend, gently grasping her hands. "You know, the first like month or so in a relationship, where everything is ideal. I'm currently in my honeymoon phase of a relationship. And, I'm enjoying it to the fullest before the shit hits the fan," Akari shrugged joyously. "You, my dear Harucchi, you're too paranoid for a honeymoon phase."

"E-eh?"

"Oh, yeah," Akari nodded.

"B-but how?" Haru's head dropped down, the girl looking positively miserable. "I don't think I'm paranoid."

"And yet, you are," Akari shrugged. "I mean, most of the time, it's fine. I'm paranoid, too. It's like an essential quality in us girls. Self-preservation comes first, you know?" the girl shrugged, then squeezed her friend's hands gently. "But, you've got the unfortunate thing of being paranoid in the wrong area of your life."

"You mean romantic relationships?" Haru tilted her head to the side.

"Relationships, in general, is more like," Akari winced as she said it, then patted the back of Haru's hands, before letting go of the girl and grabbing her lunch again. "You know how in those American TV shows there's always that one girl who gets super paranoid about her boyfriend, our total OTP one, cheating on her and makes a mess out of nothing, because he, in fact, wasn't cheating at all?" Haru was honestly impressed that Akari had managed to push all that out in one breath through her food, all the while waving her chopsticks about.

"Mhm."

"Well, you're that girl," Akari's chopsticks pointed straight in between Haru's eyes, making the girl go cross-eyed to follow the sharp tip. "Now listen to my advice, woman: Don't be that girl." Haru frowned, following the chopsticks as they went back to Akari's food.

"But, but, Akari, how?"

"Push through it," Akari shrugged. "Fight your instincts. Kuroo-sempai isn't a bad guy. He really likes you, too, from what I've seen. So, now it's up to you not to fuck it all up." And Akari went back to eating her food, letting Haru explode all alone inside her head once more.

"Are we eating food on the roof now?" Ikki asked, joining the two girls on the floor. He ripped open the first of many anpan bags and dug in with gusto. When Haru didn't reply, he turned to Akari, pointing at their mutual friend. "She okay?"

"She's working on not being paranoid and destroying her relationship," Akari shrugged casually. "Dunno if we're doomed to the roof. I'm hoping to eat lunch with Kenma tomorrow," the teen pointedly told to the other girl, but Haru didn't reply.

"Sooo, why should she not be paranoid?" Ikki asked through a mouthful, food flying everywhere.

"God, would you chew?" Akari complained, brushing off some of the wet crumbs from her uniform and tossing him a napkin. "Don't know what she did, but obviously she did something. She's in panic mode."

"I'm not," Haru finally spoke up in a low, defeated tone.

"What did you do?" Ikki asked.

"Ignored Kuroo on the ride to school and during practice," the girl replied, sounding more and more miserable with each word.

"Ouch," the basketball player winced. "What for?" Haru shrugged. "You don't like him anymore? I can not like him with you?" he politely offered. Haru shook her head, still not touching her lunch. "Want me to talk to him? Wait, did he pressure you into doing something you're not comfortable with?" Akari scoffed at that. "What, it's a valid question?"

"Please, Ikki, no offense to Kuroo-sempai, but he's a total cherry boy," the girl commented with a smirk.

"He's nice," Haru added. "It's me that's messed up."

"Oh, we're self-hating," Ikki nodded. "Do you need to be all dark and twisty now? I can be your darkness sister. We can go goth." Finally, Haru let out a small laugh. "I think I'd look fabulous with some black eyeliner and nail polish, come on."

"Please, don't enable her," Akari scolded, making Haru smile.

"Thanks, both of you," the girl said, picking up her lunch. "I'll do my best not to be all dark and twisty and buck up."

"That's the spirit!" Akari nodded, waving her chopsticks about yet again. "Oh, and by the way, I found a great yukata for the fireworks festival, so you lot had better not bail on me. I talked to Kenma about it, too, he's coming, as well." Haru was glad when Ikki picked up the topic easily, talking about how his mother had found him a kimono, as well, a grey one. Soon, they were talking about the perfect way they could meet up, to get dressed together, and then head out for the festival.

"Haru!" The very loud voice of Yamamoto Taketora made the crowd of the second-year corridor disperse in front of his form, opening like the Red Sea before Moses. Both of his arms were up in the air, pointing his index fingers at the bewildered half-half girl who stood in between her two friends, chatting. "I'm pretty sure the floor is lava!"

"Oh, crap!" Haru hissed, quickly looking right and left in panic as Yamamoto began counting down from five. "Ikki!" And Haru jumped on the tall boy's back without warning, making him scramble to grab her thighs and hold her up.

"Woah, what the-" Ikki exclaimed, stumbling.

"One!" Yamamoto yelled out, finally bursting into laughter. "Damn, girl, nice save! You're safe, the floor isn't lava anymore." Haru dropped from Ikki's back with a laugh, shaking her head.

"Sorry, Ikki," she told the boy, Yamamoto walking over to her and Akari. "We've been playing the 'floor is lava' challenge game since camp."

"Remember when Yaku jumped on a car?" Yamamoto asked, bursting out into laughter. Akari shook her head at them, walking away, hands in the air.

"You're all juvenile."

"Miss tight pants too chicken to play?" Yamamoto challenged, making her stop in her tracks.

"Excuse you?"

"I said, are you too chicken to play?"

"I'm not."

"Alright, Akari-chan is playing, too!" Yamamoto shamelessly smirked at the girl, who only then realized that she'd been easily baited.

"If you both jump on me, I'm gonna drop you," Ikki told the girls, laughing as Akari pouted.

Haru got home after a long day. And, she did mean long. Morning practice, then school, then work and finally, home. She was tired and simply wanted to go to bed. Satoshi had given her a new assignment to work on, along with a letter that had come for her at the studio address. Haru had determined that it was probably another request for her as a personal photographer and tossed it on the pile of schoolwork she would do later or tomorrow morning, opting to instead chill in front of the TV for a while.

Luckily, her time with Kuroo had been rather limited after her conversation with Akari and Ikki. When she'd had time to think about it, she'd realized that they had been right. Haru definitely had intimacy issues. From her bother who she used to be very close to barely being around to her sister being a total pain in her arse, and finally, to her parents who were almost never home, the girl was messed up. Abandonment issues, Akari had called them once or twice. But, that wasn't all. Haru was insecure. Majorly insecure.

In a world where being tiny, slim and very Japanese was the ideal beauty of a young woman, she was a half Cuban. She stood out in every way possible, from her eyes and hair to her figure. There was nothing 'normal' about her looks, and she was very aware of it. After all, she spent her time looking at Akari and Nana, and she'd spent her childhood being compared to the lovely Chihiro. It wasn't really odd that she'd developed some complexes.

But, her paranoia, as Akari called it, came from her inexperience, in her own opinion. When she'd had time to process the fact that she was now, once it was official that she was in a relationship, uncomfortable with Kuroo, with whom she'd always felt rather at ease, it had to be that. She simply didn't know how to behave as his girlfriend. She knew what to do with a boy when it came to friendship. After all, she had Ikki. She'd had Ikki for a long time. But, this was different.

So, Haru decided to deal with it the only way she knew how – with research. As one of her favorite American TV shows played in the background, the girl shamelessly Googled how to be a good girlfriend. She needed to know what was expected of this new position. She needed some lines as to what the job description entitled and what she should do.

When she was done researching, Haru relaxed a bit, eating some leftovers while watching TV. Indeed, she mused as she followed Meredith Grey's love life on the screen, she'd fallen back into her old routine. While at camp, she'd had those feelings again. It was like when she was out of her home, she became a different, more adventurous person. She took more risks and behaved instinctively. But, once she returned to her usual routine, she fell back into old habits. Practice, school, practice or work, study, sleep. There was little time for relationships. There was little time for feelings outside of her normal routine ones. The joy with Akari and Ikki. The excitement with the team. The loneliness at home. It was all a routine. And, somehow, her relationship with Kuroo had suffered because of that routine. So, she would do better. She could do better.

So, when Haru turned off the TV, cleaned up, and went to change in her room, she kept looking at her phone. When she was finally in her PJs, loose hair and ready for bed, the girl grabbed the gadget and typed a quick message, sending it to Kuroo. With a lighter heart, Haru went to sleep, a smile on her face.

Haru woke up early and grabbed her phone almost instantly, texting a good morning with perhaps one too many emojis to Kuroo. Then, she walked down the stairs for breakfast. What she wasn't expecting was to find her father in the kitchen.

"Hey, spawn," Dari greeted with a grin, sipping his coffee.

"Morning," Haru greeted with a curious tilt of her head. "Do you have time off or are you just here for a change of clothes?" The girl grabbed herself some breakfast and sat down at the table, on the opposite side of her father.

"I've got a day, we're repacking before we go to Germany," he told her, flipping the newspaper. "Do you have anything planned for after school today?"

"Practice, but that's all," Haru replied, taking a break to drink some juice in between bites.

"Maybe I'll get to see you a bit, then," Dari grinned at her. "How's that boy treating you?" Haru promptly blushed.

"He's really good to me," she told her father. "Kuroo-sempai is really nice."

"Kuroo-sempai?" Dari asked, dropping the newspaper. "Why aren't you calling him by his first name?" Haru shrugged at that, blushing even more.

"It's weird," she said. "I'm used to calling him Kuroo-sempai. Besides, everyone else also calls him Kuroo."

"Oh, I see," Dari slowly picked up the newspaper again. "Well, then, I'll see you after practice?"

"Sure," Haru promised, jumping to her feet and putting her dishes in the sink. "I'm gonna go get ready for school."

"Yaku, the floor is lava!" Haru laughed when she saw the libero scramble to jump up something while Kai cackled in the background. Finally, the libero ended up climbing midway up one of the net poles, hanging onto it like a monkey.

"I'm safe, aren't I?" Yaku asked, his voice tight from the effort to hang onto the pole. But, all that Kai did was smirk and walk away. "Wait, tell me I'm safe! Kai! Come back!"

"The floor isn't lava anymore, you're safe," Haru shook her head with a smile, coming over to help the libero finish setting up the gym for volleyball practice.

"Thanks," Yaku landed on his feet, grabbing the net which he'd dropped in a rush to climb to safety. "That was just mean, I'm going to remember it," he growled, an evil spark in his eye. If there was one thing which this game had sparked in the team, it was competitiveness to come up with almost impossible places to present the challenge of lava floor. And, so far, it was working rather well.

"If it's any consolation, Taketora got me to climb onto Ikki's back yesterday," Haru laughed as they were setting up the net.

"On his back?" Yaku looked at her incredulously, pulling the net tighter on his side.

"Mhm, nowhere else to jump off the floor," Haru told him.

"Yamamoto is bringing up the serious game, now," the libero laughed. "You got that side?"

"All set here," the girl nodded, going for the bench to prepare the water bottles. Yaku followed her, plopping down to re-tie his sneakers.

"How are we looking for the Spring InterHigh?" the libero asked, not looking up from his task. Haru bit her lip, stacking towels and pairing them each up with a bottle of water.

"Lev needs to fix his spikes and Kenma needs to run more," she told him honestly.

"No way," Kenma tossed back as he passed, pushing a cart of balls. Yaku and Haru shared a look, laughing afterwards. As the practice started, Haru realized, though, that they may need more than just for Lev and Kenma to work harder. They needed something extra. That little spark to spice up their solid defense. With a frown, the girl bit her lip, thinking up how she could provide that fire.

Haru slipped off her outside shoes as she walked into her house, forgoing her slippers and instead walking into the living room barefoot. There, she found Dari lounging and watching an old match of his team on the TV. He had a notepad and a pen in his lap, as he usually did when he took notes on what could be improved in the future.

"Papa," Haru called out, getting him to pause the match and give her his full attention.

"Little spitfire," the large man spread out his massive arms, welcoming the girl to come and cuddle. Though, when he saw her expression, he let them fall down and sat up on the couch. "Is everything alright?"

"Papa, I want you to teach me how to be a better manager to the team," Haru said in a determined tone. Dari paused, then looked up at his daughter, his expression changing to a serious one.

"You haven't come to ask me that half-heartedly, have you?"

"No."

"My team leaves tonight for Germany," Dari said, leaning back deeper into the couch. He fixed his daughter with his eyes. "Come with us, if you want to learn." He gave her a second to digest the information, and then continued. "It's a week and a half for all the games we have scheduled. I can't promise it will be easy learning from me, but I'll pound all the knowledge I can into that thick skull of yours." Haru didn't reply, standing there in the dimly-lit room, the cogs in her brain spinning wildly. Then, she turned, ready to walk away. "Is that a no?"

"I'll come," she said, nodding with determination as she spun back to see her father well. "I'll call Akari so that she can take notes for me in school. And, I'll need you to send a note for me to be excused from classes during that period of time," the girl said.

"Alright," Dari nodded.

"Alright," Haru repeated, as if to convince herself that she was actually going. "I'll go pack a suitcase." She turned again to leave the room, before stopping and tossing one final question at her father. "When do we leave?"

"We leave at three in the morning, to catch the plane," he replied, turning to look at her. "I'll book you a seat."

"Okay," Haru nodded again, leaving the room. Halfway up the stairs, she stopped, then continued on her way to get ready. She would need to call Kuroo, as well.

I hope you all enjoyed!

I just wanted to say that there was once a person who said how authors of certain ethnicity prefer to make OCs in their own image, and this is one of the reasons why Haru is half Asian and half Cuban, unlike me, who's all white. Do you guys think I'm doing alright with a PoC character? I totally wanna prove that statistic wrong for some reason!

Reviews:

MarvelDweeb:
Thank you very much for the lovely review and welcome to the family!
What can I say, I love unlikely pairings? KenAri is such a weird ship, but so easy to sail with hahhaha
Best!

Fahdza:
Happy to make you cackle :D I wrote the first chapter as a kind of a laugh, but then continued a tad more seriously :P
I hope you're having fun reading :D Welcome to the TetsuHaru family :D

Godavariflowsby:
Hey there, thanks so much for the review, and especially on the criticism! I love getting gentle criticism :D
I promise to expand more on Haru and Hiro and why they're so messed up together. When I was writing those chapters I kind of wanted to give a little bit, but not too much, and leave it for later :) More to come on that drama front hehehehe
I hope you enjoyed the update and thanks so much for calling me a good writer T_T That makes me cry tears of joy!

Coolfire30:
Awwww welcome back and no worries! You read and review when you feel like it, I'll accept the love and criticism anytime!
I'm happy to have you pacing and laughing and screaming, but please don't have an aneurysm! No brain damage, please xD
Hope you enjoyed the new chapter!

YamamotoIsLife:
Hi! Thanks for yet another lovely review :D
I aim for pure gold with humor and I'm glad to be able to achieve my goals hehehehehe
I think it's just that guest reviews take longer to post than logged in reviews? No worries, though, you message as many times as you like :D
Haru the dickbreaker is my moment of pure gold xD I was laughing so badly while writing that xD
Hope you enjoyed the update!

Pau-13:
Welcome to the story and thank you so much for the lovely review!
I'm glad that you're enjoying my writing T_T That always helps me have confidence and write more!
Best!

AshleyEvans306715:
Hey there! Thanks so much for the review, we're happy to have you in TetsuHaru :D
What can I say, I aim a little for drama and a lot for relatability hahahha Haru and Kuroo turned out to be such a nice pair together, I'm very glad about that one :) Perfect balance of drama, fluff and smut, just like every relationship :P
KenAri just kind of… developed? I had no say in that one, and I'm not even gonna defend myself xD They're so different and I love them together so much, I just couldn't help it xD There are lots of great fanfics about Kenma out there, I definitely support looking them up :D That boy deserves a lot of love, he's super sweet!
Hope you enjoyed the update :)

Bookdragonslayer:
Hahahahaha fluff is my specialty :P That is, when I'm not writing teenage drama xD I love torturing my OCs a bit too much ahhahhaha
Hope you enjoyed!

Rosto'sGirl:
Glad that you enjoyed the chapter with all the fluff! Kuroo is certainly the helpful type boyfriend xD Gosh, I want one of him, toooooo xD
Hope you enjoyed the update!

Valen Goncalvez:
Hey there! Thanks so much for the review :D I'm glad that you enjoyed Kuroo being sweet :P Now, though, it's time for Haru to go a bit nuts xD

Omake:

Kuroo's phone dinged and he grabbed it, looking at the screen. It was the fifth message he had received from Haru in the past day and a half and he was a little worried. Was invasion of the body snatchers really a thing? Because, he was pretty sure the girl had been taken over by some odd entity that insisted on sending him sweet texts.

Hope you're working hard for exams! Good luck!

The message read, full of cheering and smiling emoji. Kuroo tilted his head to the side, inspecting the note. Truly, it was out of character for her. Even that morning, she'd greeted him with a hug on the train. And then, she'd given him a homemade bento. Something was wrong. Was she freaking out? She was probably freaking out about something.

"Phones away while studying," Kai scolded, looking up from the test he was working on. "Your own rules, Kuroo."

"I know," Kuroo quickly typed a 'thank you' back, stuffing his cellphone into his pocket. "I think Haru's freaking out about something," he told the two other seniors who were all sitting around the low table in Yaku's room.

"Freaking out?" the libero asked, happy to toss down his pen and forego the calculus he'd been struggling with. "How?"

"She was all weird and avoiding me yesterday and now she's sending me all of these encouraging and sweet texts with tons of emoji," Kuroo told them. "She sent me a good night and a good morning text. We've never done that. It's creeping me out."

"Ah, my ex did that after we had that incident," Kai mused.

"You mean after she cheated on you?" Yaku deadpanned. Kuroo winced at the words. Kai shrugged.

"Haru isn't like that, man, you don't have to worry about it," the wing-spiker said. "She wouldn't cheat." Kuroo scoffed.

"Don't even go there," the captain grabbed his pen again, ready to go back to work.

"Just talk to her, Kuroo," Yaku added, not even one bit ready to go back to the rigorous study-course they had arranged for themselves. "Haru tends to be in her head a lot and imagine worst-case scenarios. If you talk to her, I'm sure it'll all work out." Kuroo nodded, then smirked at the libero.

"Back to calculus, demon-paisen," the captain chuckled at the groan the libero gave. "No escaping that one, even if you want to discuss my relationship."

That's all for now folks!