milk pudding « kozume kenma

chapter thirteen || potato chips

chapter thirteen: POTATO CHIPS

Happy, instrumental music played from the radio softly as a peach haired girl manned the pet store counter with a science textbook in front of her. She clicked the top of her pen and wrote down the last few points on her flashcard with a sigh of relief.

Exams are gonna be tough, aren't they? she thought, closing her textbook.

She gathered the pastel colour cards and stacked them up neatly beside her, throwing her multicoloured pens into her pencil case without a care. The sound of her brother's co-worker arranging the pet beds and the music were the only sounds to be heard.

"Miru, I'm off on break now," called out Haruta Kagerou, her brother's best friend with scarlet hair. "Tell your brother that we'll meet up at the coffee shop in Harajuku. What was it called again?"

"You're either talking about Little Nap Stand or Streamer," the girl answered, jotting it down on to the notepad lazily in a pink pen. "I'll take it down here so I won't forget."

"Ah! It's Streamer," Kagerou exclaimed, her head with a sweet smile. "I'd never be able to live without you, Miru." He tossed a DS game card to her and she caught it immediately. "I've cleared those levels for you, by the way!"

"Thanks, Rou-nii!" she sang, looking at the pet store door close and the bell ring, the man putting on his headphones with a salute at the glass door mouthing his goodbyes. Miruka saluted back, continuing back to studying - well, maybe playing that game again.

Stuffing some potato chips in her mouth, she quickly scavenged for her DS in her messenger bag and slot the game card in quickly. It loaded fast and she began to play, not knowing of the people who had just come inside.

"Oh Milk-sama ~ !" a particular bed-head drew out, chills running down Miruka's spine.

She paused the game and gulped. It can't be!

"Hey, Miruka-chan! What's up?" greeted a low and excited voice, similar to one of a boy with a blonde mohawk.

You're kidding me.

Hesitantly, she looked up and her jaw dropped at the sight.

The whole damn team's here!

The Nekoma volleyball team entered the pet store loudly, immediately messing and poking around aimlessly with a chatter. Her eye twitched, standing up and not caring about the defeaning screech that came from the chair. At lightning speed, she herded the boys into a circle and taking away whatever shop product was in their hands.

"Wha - What are you all doing here?!" she bellowed, putting back everything in their places. "How the hell did you find this place in Shibuya of all places? Everything's so busy around here."

The messy-haired volleyball captain snorted. "That's for us to know and you - "

"GPS," Yaku interrupted, crushing Kuroo's hopes of sounding cool. "Besides, we saw that guy call out your name before leaving."

Miruka perked up at the 'guy'. "Oh, that's my nii-chan's friend and our co-worker, Kagerou," she explained. "My brother and his wife have gone to visit her parents for the next week. Rou-nii's taking care of the shop while I'm at school."

A loud squawk pierced through the store, making everybody flinch. All eyes moved towards the grey-haired middle blocker with his forefinger pointing at Piccolo, the bird, post-poke. A vein popped out of the girl's head and she stomped over to the first year with furiousness.

"Lev, don't disturb Piccolo-chan!" Miruka spat, combing her hands through the pretty white feather's of the bird. He bowed and apologised a few times and turned to go sulk by the aquariums. "Hah ~ ! What are you all here for anyways?"

"We're here to celebrate you being our manager, Miruka-senpai," Inuoka Sou, a first year with warm brown eyes. "So we're taking you out to celebrate!"

Miruka glanced down, pulling up a stool and fixing up a shelf. "There's no need for that, Sou-kun," she muttered with a pout. "Besides, it's way too embarrassing!"

Suddenly, she felt like she was floating as she held on to the pet bowl. Glancing down, she screamed, Lev carrying her on his shoulders. Miruka flailed aimlessly, slapping his cheeks with him squeaking with pain.

"Who cares, am I right?" laughed Lev, receiving another harsh slap. "Ow! Miruka you should be a wing spiker, your hit is so - ow - strong!" Snickers came from everyone's mouth, watching the girl scold the dense boy while he ran around the store.

A boy simply stood in the corner, his mood somewhat dampening at the scene. An unknown feeling sprouted in his chest and he pushed it back down as far as he could, but with no avail.

Am I feeling -

"Please just put me down, Lev," Miruka whined, giving up with her screaming. Kenma watched her tired face and Lev placing her on to the floor. "I - I've escaped!"

Miruka ran over to the volleyball player with half-dyed hair and hugged him as she hid behind him. "Kenma, protect me from the titan!"

An unmistakable red spread across the setter's cheeks from the tight hug and her order. Physical contact was not his thing, so why did he want her to hold him for a bit longer?

The team just looked at them with a smug grin on their faces, while the oblivious middle blocker couldn't catch what was going on.

Agh, this is embarassing. Kenma thought, pivoting his head downwards. Miruka then let go, seeing a rosy colour on the tips of her friend's ears.

"Gomen, Kenma," she whispered, taking his hand in hers. She bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle. "I was too close. But are we not going out yet? Besides, I can ask Kagerou-nii to fill in."

The team yelled out in agreement, the noise almost bringing Miruka and the gamer down. After a quick phone call and a huge serving - given by Lev - of bird seed to Piccolo, they set off, gathering around her like body guards out of the pet store.

"First stop, Ebisu!" Kuroo cried, leading the disorganised group to the train station as he ruffled the only female's head. "To the arcade we go, Milk-sama!"

Miruka screeched and jumped on to his back with a snarl.

"Get a life bedhead!"

• • •

YOSH! how's that for a double update?

haha hi guys! i hope that you're all doing well and stuff. i wanted to first say that this chapter is gonna be one of my favourites as well as the ones coming next.

therE'S ALSO GONNA BE SOME AN -

//slapped

hahahahahaha you'll never know what's coming next unless you come into the future and i should stop immediately.

this chapter was originally going to be this big long thing about the celebration so i split it up into different parts to torture you all. JK JK J K

i just thought it would be incredibly long and tedious to read so sorry if no REAL TRUE PLOT that moves things along has happened but i really feel like once everyone gets together then BOOM SHACKA LACKA PLOT HAPPENS

and and and i published a NEW story called 'the caffeine chronicles' where i update things about my life and rant about reality and just pure madness composed into words

btw THANK YOU FOR OVER 200 VOTES AND 1.7K ALREADY LIKE HONESTLY IS THERE ANYTHING MORE I CAN ASK FOR AAAAAHHHHHHHHH

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND CONTINUE TO SEND FEEDBACK AND VOTE LIKE WE ARE ALMOST SECOND PLACE IN THE KENMA CATEGORY AND I AM SO EXCITED AND HAPPY AND I REALLY ADORE EACH ONE OF YOU AND YEAH

BYE

- michaela