Fall | hinata harem

chapter thirty-nine

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Iwaizumi Hajime | 8:54 a.m, Saturday

"So, it was Emoxy's gang that tried to take her, huh? And you handled them, I'm assuming?"

"They overstepped by being douches, and they threatened Shouyou's sister. Of course, we took care of them. Well, Shouyou took one guy out, but-"

Tetsurou was interrupted by Kageyama's shout.

"You let him fight when he's still injured?! Why the fuck would you let him-"

"He did it of his own volition. I couldn't stop him without getting hit in the crossfire, and he knew what he was doing. He didn't get himself hurt, Kenma made sure of that, didn't you?"

We look over to Kenma, who had been texting someone while we had our little meeting in the lounge of Seijoh's base. He looked up in question and shrugged.

"Shouyou didn't seem to mind our help, either."

That seemed to be enough to get Kageyama to kill his overprotectiveness.

"It's resolved, and Shouyou and his family are safe. That's all that matters," Sugawara hums after taking a sip of his creamy black vanilla tea.

"I'm with Koushi on this one," Tooru plays along as he relaxes further on the sofa, "We needed to handle that gang anyway. Better now than never. We'll make plans to invade them and bring them to Sakusa before anything's finalized."

The topic switches at the mention of Atsumu, and how Sakusa had sent Atsumu to their Northern storefront to weed out the perpetrator who tried to blow it up. Just last night, the news came in that Atsumu requested backup.

Sakusa sent out Aran, Ushijima, and Asahi last night.

The conversation about the bomb goes on for a while, yet eventually carries us right back to Shouyou, with Sugawara mentioning, "Maybe I'll show my face around Shouyou's bakery today. It's been a long while since I've had a day off like this. It'd be nice to see his sweet face again."

He stands from the sofa, his cup of tea sitting empty on the table, and begins making his way out of the room.

"I'll see you all later~!"

Those left at the table, myself included, begin to depart steadily as well, though we're not as lucky as Sugawara to have the day off.

Tooru and I prepared our hunting uniforms and boots, and the backpack we'd need for the trip. Tsukishima and Kenma had found the Emoxy gang's location per Daichi's command, and we were meeting up with Tendou and Akaashi at the East warehouse to make the two-day trek through the woods.

These gang members have such big heads on their shoulders, always running around and causing us problems. With everything going sour with the overseas mafias, we hadn't had the time to bother with them, however.

They're a bug in comparison to our weapon distributors turning on us, but, now? They hurt Shouyou and his family, the only light we have in this dark, cruel world, and they need to pay severely for it.

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Sugawara Koushi

Crowds of people admire the murals painted along the walls of this beautifully put-together building. Many were younger people snapping photos of the area and food with their friends, others were older people chatting with their loved ones as well.

The air is vibrant and warm. I make my way to the two cash registers, hoping to find a familiar ginger-haired male, but he's not there. However, two teenagers fill the positions instead.

"What can I get for you today, Sir?" The woman asks me softly, a polite smile resting on her face all the while. "I'll have two of your blueberry cream rolls and an iced mocha coffee, please."

As she rings it up and passes the paper to the kitchen area, I bring myself to ask her the question that had been lingering since I entered the bakery.

"Is Shouyou here today?"

She raises her brow at me while she swips my card.

"He's in the kitchen today. Can I ask why you're looking for him?"

"Oh, he's an old friend of mine. I wanted to say hi. Could you tell him Suga's here for me?"

Reluctantly, as she hands me my card, receipt, and bag of pastries to me, she nods.

"I'll let him know. We'll have your coffee ready here in a moment."

"Perfect, thank you."

Figuring I'd be waiting a while, I sat myself down at one of the tables and began eating while observing everyone else going about their day. It's always been a habit of mine to scout the area.

It was only a few minutes later that I heard a sweet voice calling out to me.

Shouyou, with a coffee in his hand, came rushing over to me. I barely had the time to stand from the chair and prepare myself before he placed the coffee down on the table and fell into my arms.

"Oh, my God!" His sweet voice exclaimed, "I haven't seen you in forever, Suga! Oh, man! I'm so happy to see you!"

The warmth I received just from that sweet smile and those simple loving words was enough to send my heart ablaze.

"You missed me? Then, you can't even begin to imagine how much I've missed you, my precious kouhai~"

My lighthearted teasing made his smile brighten.

"How've you been, Suga?" He watches me slip back into my seat and take the iced coffee into my hand.

"Oh, man, Shouyou. It's nothing but work these days~"

"That sounds really difficult. Try not to push yourself too hard," he comfortingly places a hand on mine. I grow keenly aware of how much I've longed to peer into the light of those beautiful doe eyes.

They're alight with excitement and the fresh autumn leaves falling just outside the window compliment the deep hue of amber in his irises.

I can see how much my sudden presence means to him in those brightly lit eyes.

"How about you? All good things?"

"Everything's been well. Well... It could be worse, that's for sure. The move here was pretty rough, and there have been a lot of changes, but anytime I seem to come across a problem, there's always someone there to help, and... I've made a lot of friends here. It's a nice place. Do you live around here, Suga?"

"I do. I live just half an hour from here. And, Shouyou? Call me Koushi if you'd like. I call you by your first name, too, after all."

Shouyou's fingers find themselves between one another as he straightens his spine in surprise. His pretty eyes catch the warm yellow lights of the bakery all the more when they widen in puzzlement.

"Really? I'd like that, Koushi! I should probably get back to the kitchen- Natsu and Mama went to the therapist, so I'm on my own back there- but I'll give you my number if you'd like!"

He fumbles for his phone in his pocket and hands it to me with a bit of flour coating it. I give him a big grin (and my number, of course) in exchange.

I was semi-hoping to hear about the incident with Natsu and the Emoxy gang yesterday, but it seems Shouyou and I have lost a bit of our familiarity with one another over the years we were out of contact.

I wasn't entirely expecting him to speak of it to me, so when we said our final goodbyes and he turned back toward the kitchen, I wasn't entirely disappointed.

I had finally gotten to see my sweet man again, after all, and he's grown so much from high school. He looks happy, genuinely, unlike the front he had taped to his face all the time in the past.

It's so wonderful to see the one you love flourish in such an outstanding way.

Dreamily, I take a sip from my coffee. Its perfect taste adds to the sweetness of getting to be here.

I just want to soak in his presence for eternity.

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