The Desperate Tales of Oikawa and The Bus

| xix |

"Happy birthday, Kyoshi-chan!"

The words were still ringing in the girl's ears as Oikawa took his usual seat next to her.

She'd completely forgotten about her birthday. Partly because she'd been so busy with school work. She'd used that excuse to completely block out the thought of her birthday.

What she wasn't expecting was Tooru to show up and remind her. Of course, she should have seen it coming. It was in his nature after all to try to impress her by any means possible.

"What's the matter, Kyoshi?" Oikawa asked after a while. She'd frozen as soon as he'd wished her a happy birthday and she seemed completely lost in thoughts.

"Ah, it's nothing." She suddenly snapped out of her trance, shakingly placing the pieces on the chess board. "Thank you, Tooru, but... I don't really celebrate my birthday."

Oikawa's eyes widened as the girl pressed her lips, trying to keep her emotionless facade up. If she didn't manage to do so, she could feel she would break down in tears.

"Eh? What? Why? Birthdays are amazing!" He replied, voice coated with confusion. He genuinely could not understand the girl.

Kyoshi just stared at him. She knew exactly why she tried to forget her birthday every year. But she wasn't ready to have that conversation with him just yet.

The "just yet" her thought had ended with scared her. Did that mean she was planning on telling him one day?

Kyoshi's felt a knot forming in her stomach as she stared in Tooru's chocolate brown eyes. She'd gotten far closer to him than she'd originally planned. This was not her plan, and she didn't know what to do.

"I... I just don't." She finally exhaled sharply. "Let's just play, ok?"

Oikawa could see the girl's eyebrows furrow in an emotion he'd never seen on her face before. Sadness.

What was he supposed to do now? As always, he'd completely blown it. It was clear to him that she did not want to remember her birthday, and he'd brought it right up like a complete moron.

The setter sighed, then went for the little gift bag in his own bag anyway. The damage had already been done, he might as well go on with it.

"Kyoshi." He rested his hand on the girl's hands, that were on the board fumbling with the pieces.

The girl froze, heart in her throat, not daring to look up.

Her breathing had gotten shaky and she could feel her heart thumping loudly in her chest. For some reason, her cheeks were heating up.

When she finally looked up, she was met with Oikawa's genuine smile, as he held out a small bag to her.

"Happy birthday, Kyoshi-chan." He whispered, handing her the bag.

Kyoshi had given up trying to hide her confusion. Her eyes were wide as her delicate fingers met the bag's soft paper.

She just stared at it, alarms ringing in her head as she realised just how close she'd gotten to the setter without meaning to.

"Tooru... Tooru, I-I can't accept this." She bit the inside of her cheek. She couldn't think straight anymore, her head was throbbing and her heart was thumping weirdly loudly.

"Yes, you can." Oikawa simply replied, his brown eyes staring deeply in her green.

"No, I really-" she tried retorting, in vain.

"Yes, you can. And you are." He shook his head. "You don't have to open it if you don't want to. But it's yours."

Not one word that had just left Oikawa's mouth had been planned. He didn't even know why he'd just said all that. But for some strange reason, he'd finally started understanding how Kyoshi worked.