With Love

3: spoiled concepts

"(Name)-chaaaaan," Shouyo drawled out in an agonizing manner, "Do you have any snacks?"

She lightly sighed. It has been nearly two hours and a half, and the sky had turned into a lovely color of lapis. But 'lovely' wasn't a word (Name) would describe the two boys near her. Shouyo and Kageyama sat by the steps leading toward the gymnasium, as far away from each other if they could help it. It was like two like poles of a magnet repelling each other as much as they could.

She sat between them, but even (Name) was aware of how much closer she was next to Shouyo, due to her own apprehension with closing the distance she had with Kageyama.

"Here, it's the last one I have," she procured a snack bar from her pocket, presenting it to Shouyo and the dizzy look he had was immediately wiped out. Instead, he looked guilty.

"Ah... if that's the case, you eat it then!" He sheepishly smiled, "Sorry for eating all of your food, (Name)-chan..."

She shook her head, "It's fine, I'm not hungry. If you still feel empty, go ahead and-"

Before (Name) could finish her words, a sudden low rumble caught her attention. She turned to the source of the noise, where Kageyama were stubbornly staring at the ground before him. But no matter how low he tried to hide his face in the crook of his arms, (Name) had easily caught the flush on the shells of his ears.

"Um... Kageyama, are you hungry?"

"No," he replied, a bit snappish. But he was once again betrayed by his stomach rumbling again. (Name) caught his lips pulled into a deeper scowl, and the blush on his ears had permeated to his face. A low snort escaped Shouyo, and she didn't need to even look at him to know he was trying to hide his amusement.

(Name) decided to ignore her friend's reactions, as she hesitated for a moment, before quickly mustering up all the courage she had to continue the conversation, "If you want it, you can have it. You shouldn't starve yourself."

(Name) presented the snack bar to him, and Kageyama's navy-blue eyes flickered to her hand. With slow and clearly deliberate reluctance, he took it from her as his eyes returned to the ground before them.

"... Thanks."

She slightly smiled, "It's no problem."

Perhaps a few people would've labelled her as a creep, but (Name) watched Kageyama as he unwrapped the snack bar with one swift pull with his long and nimble fingers. He ate it with just a few bites and chews, and (Name) wondered how he had not already choked himself with how careless his style of eating was. But in a way, it was cute.

Still a hazard, though...

(Name) turned to Shouyo, only to see the spot where he once sat devoid of his warm presence. Instead, he was back to looking through the window of the gymnasium, a slight pout pulling at his face.

Then he gasped.

"They're packing up! Kageyama, come on!"

Both he and (Name) immediately stood up, but the latter did not stood by the boys' side as they straightened themselves up to face the door of the gymnasium.

"You two," she called out to them, "Good luck."

Kageyama and Shouyo had turned to her, their reactions different from one another. The former nodded, his face serious while Shouyo grinned warmly at (Name) before giving her a thumbs-up.

I hope it'll go well, (Name) silently prayed to herself, before she turned down the corner of the gymnasium. But she did not left the scene: instead, she leaned down on the wall, waiting and counting the time for the moment to happen.