The Desperate Tales of Oikawa and The Bus

| xxvii |

"Kyoshi, can I ask you something? And I want you to be honest."

Fudo was laying on her bed, a physics book open while the girl worked on some math problems on the floor of her room.

Though the early September weather was less warm than the hellish summer they'd had, the AC was still necessary to their survival.

"Sure." Kyoshi hummed in response.

Though it wasn't like Fudo to ask questions directly, as he usually just manipulated her into admitting what he wanted, she wasn't too worried.

She'd been in an awfully good mood for two weeks now. And though she didn't necessarily want to admit it, she knew it had to do with Tooru.

Stupid Tooru, with his stupid crooked smile and his stupid perfect gift.

Her eyes quickly travelled to the ring sitting on her finger. Ever since she'd opened the gift, the ring never left her hand. She only ever took it off when she needed to shower or to sleep, to make sure she wouldn't ruin it.

She wasn't sure if Tooru had noticed she was wearing it. Sometimes she felt as if his stare lingered on her hand for a second too long, but he'd never asked any questions.

"The ring is Oikawa's birthday gift, right?"

Kyoshi froze. Damn Fudo, always getting straight to the point.

Though Kyoshi sometimes hated how Fudo could see right through her, she also knew it was a blessing in disguise. If it wasn't for Fudo, she'd be completely closed off to the world.

"Y-yeah." She cursed herself as she slightly stuttered.

She wasn't facing Fudo, but she could still feel the small smirk that had appeared on his face.

"How come you're wearing it every day?" He fired again, causing Kyoshi's cheeks to turn bright red.

"I like it." She finally whispered, a pout appearing on her face.

"What, the ring or the boy who gave it to you?" Fudo delivered the final blow as Kyoshi's head shot up from her book, quickly turning around to stare into his eyes.

"Eh? No, I don't... I don't..." Kyoshi tried to retort, in vain. She couldn't say it.

"Of course, of course; you don't." Fudo replied, voice laced with sarcasm. "That's also why you still take the bus even though I've fixed your bike?"

Kyoshi froze. She thought she'd been subtle enough. She'd been too embarrassed to tell Fudo of her decision, so she'd simply decided no to. Every day, instead of taking her bike home, she'd park it at school and walk to the bus stop.

But of course, Fudo had noticed.

What a sneaky fucker. She thought as she shook her head.

"This is all your fault." She mumbled, eyebrows furrowed and mind quickly working through her equation.

"Pray, tell, how would this be my fault exactly?"

"If you'd fixed my bike sooner, this would have never happened." She declared, closing her book shut and facing Fudo again.

As expected, the boy was smiling widely.

"So? Can we finally admit you like the boy?" He asked, raising a brow and smirking at the girl.

Kyoshi turned red once again and looked away. "Maybe."

----------------------

Kyoshi stared as Oikawa hung his head to the side as he worked on solving his chess problem. She felt the heat rushing up to her face as she couldn't stop herself from thinking he looked so damn cute when he did this.

When had things even come to this? She wasn't sure. She was sure Fudo had planned all this and that she'd played right in his hand.

Despite wanting to bed mad at Fudo, she simply couldn't. She couldn't because she actually liked the unfamiliar feeling.

It was odd, but Oikawa had actually turned out to be a different person than she'd expected.

He'd first come off as an arrogant, flirty idiot. Kyoshi had met that type of boy many times, and she knew she didn't want anything to do with them.

But he'd been persistent. Awfully persistent. And that was just an understatement of how he'd been.

Nonetheless, it had given her the opportunity to get to know him. The real him.

And as it turned out, she actually liked that part of him quite a lot.

"Kyoshi, you're red." Oikawa pointed out, the girl's eyes widening as she tried to calm her cheeks down.

"A-ah, must be the heat..." she weakly mumbled.

Oikawa simply nodded, not daring to suggest anything else. His eyes subtly glanced at her hand. She was still wearing the ring. That was a good sign.

Oikawa still hadn't worked up the courage to ask her about it, or even mention it in a conversation. His mind still hadn't properly processed the fact.

He looked outside. The bus was approaching her stop, but the sky was considerably darker than usual. Oikawa knew that as fall and winter approached, it would only get darker. And more dangerous.

"Kyoshi, I'm walking you home." He finally declared, starting to put the chess board away.

"Eh? What?" Confusion was written on the girl's face as she blushed ever so slightly.

"It's getting dark. It's dangerous outside and I don't want anything happening to you." Oikawa continued as he put everything back in his bag.

"Tooru... I go to a military school. I think I can take care of myself."

"I don't care, I'm taking you home." He refused to budge on this, no matter how much convincing it would take for her to agree to the idea.

Luckily for him, Kyoshi didn't complain much. The idea didn't sound so terrible to her after all.

The bus stopped at her stop. Without wasting a moment, Oikawa grabbed Kyoshi's hand, bid Koto goodbye, and dragged her off the bus.

He was walking slightly in front of her, not daring to let her hand go. He was ready to be karate chopped any second for being so bold, but it never came.

If he'd payed enough attention, he would have noticed Kyoshi blushing furiously behind him.