Monochromatic: Haikyuu Fanfic

Chapter 22: Spirit

Breakfast table. Eight in the morning. The conversation wasn't that much exciting. Just catching up, typical how's-highschool-did-you-make-any-friends type of talk. Fukui finishes her eggs and bacon and stands up from her seat.

"Thank you," she said with a bow, "for taking care of my mother."

"Th- That's no problem, sweetheart...! No need to bow to your Auntie!" Mrs. Tetsurou reassures, "besides, it's not really that much of a burden... She's only here so rarely... Most of the time so early in the morning..."

"Mom, you may have said a bit too much," Tetsurou said, "... if you're trying to make her feel better."

"I - Of course I didn't mean it like that-"

"No, no." Umeko says, "don't apologize, Auntie. When does she usually get home?"

"Usually around three, but if we're lucky she gets out at two or one thirty. She leaves for work at five, I think."

That was all she needed to know.

***

It's nighttime. The nights in the suburbs of Tokyo is oddly quiet, though theres a faint noise of cars passing by, the night is overall heavy with silence.

But Fukui is far from sleeping. In fact, a mug of mellow coffee is in her grasp, blowing a huff of steam off before sipping cautiously. She is in Tetsurou's room, minding her own business while he did the same, working on his homework with boredom in his eyes.

Tetsurou twirls the pencil in his grasp, then lightly scribbles on the notebook's margins. It looks like a cat, he thinks, only if he makes the whiskers a tiny bit longer.

However, at the thought of drawing, he remembers. The sound of scribbling slows to a stop, Tetsurou looks up, "by the way, how's your artsy stuff doing?"

Fukui blinks at him across the table with sleepy eyes. Ah yes, Kuroo is one of the only people who actually asks about her works. Not that any of them are worth telling. She shrugs.

"Alright, I guess."

"That's it? Nothing else?"

Fukui rolls her eyes.

If we're playing twenty questions, then two can play it that game. When the conversation died and Tetsurou's focus is back down on his homework, Fukui asks.

"How's school comin' for you?"

"Everything is fine. Doing well."

"Made any new friends?"

"No, not really."

"How about the volleyball team?"

"Not much to say. They've gotten better."

Fukui frowns, and remembers that Kuroo isn't one to get easily provoked. Not when he's a provocation expert himself. Oddly enough, he's only annoyed of things that are not intentioned to annoy him: Yamamoto's yelling, gum-smacking, and many other things. It's not all that easy to find a way for Tetsurou to lose his composure. He continues to scribble down with his mechanical pencil, undivided attention to his desk.

Fukui gives one last shot:

"Do you have anyone you like?"

Tetsurou's lead snaps in half.

He looks up, and smiles sweetly at his cousin, dripping with sarcasm, "what's it to you?"

This is not a reaction she expected. The tables have turned now, has it? It is Fukui's turn to take the role of the provoker.