Moonlight

Chapter 19

"Please, Tsukishima!" Hinata bowed at the cold blocker who did not want anything done but be back in his own world.

'Seriously, it's not my responsibility to teach them.' He thought, 'I'm not even paid for anything!'

"Come back during business hours." He said in an I-don't-care voice and put on his headphones.

Suddenly, he felt a thud on his table. He looked up from the notebooks neatly stacked on his table and to the owner: Akane. She grabbed a chair and smiled at Tsukishima like nothing happened.

"English 101!" She declared and started opening her notebooks. She motioned Kageyama and Hinata to grab their own chairs.

Annoyance flicked in Tsukishima's head and was about to scold the trio when Akane cut him off, "You don't have to do anything. I'll do the tutoring and you can just listen. If I made a mistake, you can speak if you want."

Tsukishima's mouth closed and he coldly replied, "Suit yourself."

"And I will!" Akane gave him a thumbs up. "Now Hinata..."

Tsukishima drowned them out by increasing the volume of his music. The two simpletons were miraculously behaved as he didn't feel any obnoxious movement from his table. 

"No, Kageyama. The right answer is an idiom. Once again, these have different meanings than their literal ones."

Feeling curious on her teachings, Tsukishima turned down his music and listened to the study session in front of him. His eyes were closed but he could imagine Akane smiling and shaking her head at every wrong answer.

"Hinata, you cannot take it literally. I just said it to Kageyama, right? Read it again and try to understand between the lines."

With a sigh, Tsukishima opened his eyes and fixed his glasses. He sat properly before opening his notebook. 

"Hinata, come here. I'll tutor you." 

Hinata looked back at Tsukishima. He's been enjoying being taught by Akane and did not really want to be tutored by someone cold.

"It's alright, Tsukishima. Akane is-" Hinata tried to worm out.

"-Tired of your foolishness. All you think about is volleyball and leave out your education. How can you be smart players from that?" Tsukishima looked down on him. Hinata fumed but scooted his chair away from Kageyama.

Akane looked at him blankly, processing his words, "You could try to go a little slow, Tsukishima. They're not quite as capable as you are."

Tsukishima flinched at her straight message. She was smart as well. Hearing her teach Hinata and Kageyama, he could say that she knows what she's talking about. She is good in communicating out her teachings, too.

The four of them engaged in a study session with Yamaguchi joining later on. 

"I... I could understand it better now." Kageyama said, staring at his notebook which was full of Akane's scribbles.

"Yes, me too! Who would've thought I could understand being taught Saltyshima, right Kageyama?" Hinata excitedly reported to his friend.

A vein popped in Tsukishima's forehead at the nickname, "What did you just call me?"

Sensing the incoming storm, Akane and Yamaguchi stepped in. Yamaguchi shooed away the boys and Akane tried to get Tsukishima's attention.

"Actually, Tsukishima... I came here to ask for your help too." Akane said, her voice gradually getting smaller. An evidence that she was being shy.

"Hm?" Tsukishima slightly softened at her voice. He let go of the Hinata's Saltyshima and focused on what she wanted help with.

"I'm not really understanding Math very well..." She replied, taking fleeting glances up at him, "Yachi has also been starting to get busy. She says she has this project proposed to Takeda-sensei so I can't bother her much..."

Yamaguchi came back, "Oh! Yes, she proposed making a poster for possible donors to the team. We're apparently running low on budget... Or we never had one in the first place..."

"Yachi is amazing, isn't she?" Akane sat straighter in awe at her friend, "You seem to know Yachi better now, Yamaguchi-san."

A blush smacked Yamaguchi at the face upon hearing the honorific in his name. Akane has started to get in the habit of attaching -san in their names when she's directly teasing them.

"W-well- Anyway, you mentioned Math? Tsuki is good with Math too! Aren't you, Tsuki?"

The bell rang signaling dismissal. Tsukishima kept his things and stood up, "Don't use me as your scapegoat, Tadashi."

Akane laughed at the drop. Yamaguchi turned a shade darker to pink as he held back his embarrassment. 

"Stupid. What a friend you are." He muttered and proceeded to keep his things.

Tsukishima turned to Akane who was also rushing with her things, "Tomorrow is Saturday. When do you want to have Math with me?"

Akane looked up and away thoughtfully, "Hmm. I guess if you're free tomorrow, we can do tomorrow. Uncle will be at home so someone can watch over the store."

Tsukishima nodded  and walked away with Yamaguchi hastily following. 

"Tomorrow, eh?" Yamaguchi wriggled his brows at Tsukishima.

"Yachi, eh?" Tsukishima replied back with a smirk. Yamaguchi's face drop to a frown as he lost against his friend again.