Losing is Winning

Chapter 12

Tobio swallowed at hearing Sugawara's accusing voice. Daichi was standing behind him, one hand around Tanaka's arm, one hand around Nishinoya's. Despite the obvious predicament they had gotten themselves into once again, they didn't seem particularly down, chatting animatedly. Daichi, on the other hand, looked like he was holding back from banging their heads against each other, Tobio thought with an adequate amount of concern.

The next collision of the dodgems caught him by surprise, and the two guys managed to squeeze their bumper car between Hinata and Tobio's own and the wall before they could do something against it. "Freaking weirdos," the longhaired guy muttered, and Hinata glared at them.

"We weren't the ones who got themselves trapped in a corner, jerks," he bit out.

The blonde snorted and pressed down on the gas pedal. He got maybe six feet far when the bumper cars collectively slowed down and the music switched back to a slightly calmer melody. A voice sounded from the speakers, telling them to leave the dodgems.

When Tobio climbed out, he couldn't suppress the little smirk at the thought of those guys having such a lame withdrawal. It vanished, though, when Sugawara stomped towards them. "What was that about? Can't we let you wander through an amusement park on your own without you causing chaos at every given opportunity?"

"They started it," Tobio defended and Hinata nodded.

"They were super mean to us, we just got even."

Sighing, Sugawara shook his head and walked back to Dachi and the rest of the team. "Can't you stay out of trouble for just one single time?" he asked.

"We should have known better," Daichi moaned as he gestured for Tanaka and Nishinoya to go on. "Dividing into smaller groups was doomed to end in a disaster. Only group activities from here on, guys!"

"Amusement Parks are meant to be fun. Why do you have a problem with us having fun?" Nishinoya complained.

Daichi looked like he was slowly going insane. "Because this is supposed to be fun for everyone. And tugging Asahi into every scary attraction there is in this park is only fun for you, not for him." He glared at Nishinoya, and Tobio wondered how he managed to look not even a little bit intimidated.

"Oh, did you try out the haunted house as well?" Hinata asked animatedly.

"The what?" Nishinoya cried out. "There is a haunted house here? How did we miss that, Ryuu?" Tanaka looked just as devastated. "Can we please go do that real quick, Daichi?" he pleaded. "Please!"

"No."

"But Daichi!"

"No," he repeated. "Anyhow, it's late, so to give this evening at least some kind of nice team moment, we'll do something together." His gaze fell onto Tanaka and Nishinoya. "Something calm. That everyone can enjoy," he stressed.

"But the haunted house—"

"I don't wanna hear it, Noya," Daichi cut him off. "We will enjoy the calm view from the ferris wheel and after that, we're done here—I am done. In general."

"I would feel bad for you, but we pretty much knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into when we had that idea," Tobio heard Sugawara laugh quietly next to Daichi as the team moved away from the dodgem arena.

"He's right," Kiyoko agreed in her usual calmness. "You shouldn't act like the outcome of this is a surprise to anyone." The only response they received was a long, tired groan.

Hinata was chatting with Nishinoya about the haunted house, and Tobio caught up to him. When he fell into step next to him, Hinata's brown eyes flicked up at him, and for a moment, Tobio felt like he was freezing in his step. Not because he looked at him with any particular expression, but something about his gaze was sucking him in. The second Hinata turned back to Nishinoya, the feeling was gone again.