His Warrior Queen: A Haikyuu!! Novel (Tsukishima x OC)

Chapter 107: Special

Nakano laughed as she watched her best friend getting harassed by ducks.

Several weeks had gone by, and spring was slowly beginning to make itself known.  It was barely March, but already the days were beginning to feel a little bit warmer, and they were definitely getting longer.  The sakura trees were still a solid month and a half from being in full bloom, but it was also most decidedly no longer wintertime.  It was a bit too early for eating outside during best friend lunch, but not too early for Kageyama to ask his best friend to join him for a day out and about over the weekend.

And so the two had decided to get together on the first Saturday in March for a little best friend bonding.  Kageyama had insisted on coming over to Nakano's place to collect her, excitedly announcing that he wanted to take her to the movies as the latest film in his favorite shonen series had just opened.  The girl had agreed, but only after insisting that he let her buy the snacks.  They'd walked together into town, chatting about nothing of any particularly great import and just enjoying the day.

The movie had been fun, and Nakano had bought all of their favorite snacks and drinks.  As they left the theater, the strawberry blonde had figured her old friend would head towards his own house, where she rather expected their talk to turn to more serious matters.  However, Kageyama had steered them back towards Nakano's neighborhood, veering off and heading towards the park not too far from Nakano's house as they excitedly discussed the merits of the film they'd just seen.

The girl could not help but notice that the subject of Hinata had not come up once all day, and that her best friend seemed to want to avoid being at his house entirely, since whenever the two setters got together, Hinata always seemed to be nearby.

And so she'd simply gone along with him, letting her blue-eyed friend do as he pleased.  Kageyama had led them on into the park, plunking himself down on the grass not far from a large pond and proceeding to pull a bag of mixed corn, oats, rice, and peas out of his pocket.  Nakano sat nearby, watching as the ducks began to cautiously approach the setter as he scattered his treats around him.  Soon, the birds became bold, coming right up to him and poking at him, demanding more food.  The girl couldn't help but chuckle as the feisty waterfowl had quickly gotten from him all the snacks the raven-haired boy had brought, and after a few more exploratory pokes, had given up and wandered away.

All but one persistent and loud little duck.

The determined bird simply refused to give up, moving on from gently poking Kageyama with his bill to squawking loudly at him, and then finally, to trying to bite the boy's pants.

"Cut it out, dumbass," Kageyama said, trying to shoo the bird off him, "you've already gotten everything you're gonna get out of me, so just quit it!"

Despite the setter's complaining, the duck simply refused to leave him be.

Nakano laughed brightly.  "Maybe you should name him Hinata," she said amidst continued giggles.

Kageyama suddenly glared at her, his face turning a bright red.

"You ready to talk about it yet?"

He looked away.  "Talk about what?"

The girl scooted closer to him as his duck friend finally gave him one last nibble and wandered off.  "The gift you gave Hinata for Valentine's Day."

The boy's eyes bugged out of his head as he looked up at his best friend.  "How did you..."

"Come on, Tobio-chan, it was obvious.  At least, to me, anyway."  Nakano decided not to mention that both Kei and Suga had definitely deduced the same thing.