SOCIALLY AWKWARD

02. The Heart of Nekoma

The Nekoma High volleyball players gathered around their usual table in the cafeteria, lunch trays poised before them as they searched the bustling area for the missing member of the team.

"What if he got kidnapped?" Lev gasped, receiving a smack to the back of his head from Yaku.

"Don't be dumb."

"What? He's always the first to leave class."

"There he is!" Inuoka pointed towards the entrance where Kenma was sighted... with a girl on his arm.

Their jaws collectively hit the floor.

The girl—whom most of them recognized as Kenma's classmate when the couple drew closer—wore the widest beam. Their friend on the other hand looked like he was held at gunpoint to partake in this walk of shame.

"Hey," Ameri greeted cheerfully when she and Kenma reached the thunderstruck group, directly darting her gaze on Yaku with a sweet smile. "Yaku-san, I hope you're not upset I held Kenma back. We kind of lost track of time talking about video games."

"Doesn't look like he had much of a choice."

"What? No," she cried out, playfully patting Kenma's arm and effectively giving Yamamoto a heart attack, "Kenma was more than happy to, right?"

Kenma couldn't help the puzzled crease of his brow. They both knew their conversation had been very one-sided. But a peek at her face was enough for him to read her intentions.

"Well then, I'll give your setter back. I can see why you're all so protective of him; he's so precious," she said before setting Kenma free and skipping to join her girlfriends at a table not far away.

"Kenma!" cried Yamamoto the instant Ameri was out of earshot. "You promised you'd stay single till we got girlfriends together!"

"He only said that so you'd leave him be, dumbass," said Kuroo.

Kenma remained silent, keeping his eyes down as Kuroo pushed a tray his way. Perceiving his discomfort at the prying inquiries to which he seemed to have no answers himself, Yaku took it upon himself to permanently silence his juniors on the subject.

The team's natural and chaotic dynamics were soon restored, with Kuroo keeping a watchful eye on Kenma beside him and Ameri in the distance.

The setter spent the entire meal inwardly praying that whatever had made his too-spirited-and-loud-for-his-liking classmate so fixated on him this morning would have disappeared by the time lunch break ended, but in vain were his hopes.

She sprinted towards him the moment the bell rang to signal the start of the last period, leaving his teammates, once again, in great astonishment as she linked her arm around his and dragged him away.

"He looks like he's suffering. Shouldn't we help him?" asked Inuoka as they watched their retreating forms.

"I think this is just one of her ploys to make Yaku jealous," Kuroo observed.

It was no secret to the team that Ameri had been crushing on Yaku since she'd first come to Nekoma High, over a year ago. None of them knew how it had started exactly, but they recalled vividly how she had been and still was endeavoring to get him to return her affections.

And although Yaku had politely rejected her numerous confessions, some of which had been in person, others through love letters, over and over, stubbornness and persistence seemed to lay the groundwork of her personality.

Knowing Kenma and how uneasy and anxious her careless behavior might make him, Yaku's face contorted in a scowl at the thought of him having to go through this trouble because of him.

Kuroo was quick to reassure him, "Don't worry. I'm sure she'll move on to the next thing by the end of the day."

Much to Kenma's dismay, Ameri accompanied him to practice after classes and insisted on staying to watch.

This was not the first time she would attend one. Her infatuation with Yaku had turned her into a regular at the gym, and her desire to impress him had made her look up and learn the rules by heart.

She likely would not admit to it if asked, but the hours spent watching Nekoma's games had gradually made her develop a liking for the sport.

But, unlike what the boys—who were now deeply engrossed in the game—had initially assumed, their remarkable libero wasn't the only object of her attention.

Contrary to the previous times, today, Ameri unconsciously found herself more and more drawn to the inconspicuous heart of the team.