A Purr-fect Love Story (Haikyuu Fanfiction Series!!!)

22. One Step Forward

Akane POV
(That following night ~ In Yoshina Household)

Once I finish helping clean up dinner, I pour the cat food and water into each of the cats' bowls then head upstairs to get ready to take a nice, warm shower after a long day. Yet the moment I reach to the top of the stairs, I catch eye contact with Aoi as he stands in the hallway waiting for me.

I press my lips, not knowing how to respond. When Aoi makes a conflicted face like that, I know he wants to talk about something important.

...

Something really important.

It's not just now, Aoi has been like that ever since he came to pick me up from boys volleyball practice today. Yet even though he wanted to talk to me, he never got the chance to on the way home because Kenma tagged along with us.

I don't know the exact details why they joined us but based off what Aoi told me, he owed Kenma a favor and told him that he could buy a video game for him.

I still remember Aoi's reaction to all the zeroes on the receipt. He was frozen stiff in disbelief of the price for the game. Meanwhile Kenma eagerly peeked over his shoulder with a satisfied look on his face as Aoi reluctantly took out his wallet to pay.

As a bystander, I watched the strange scene unfold. I don't know what that favor was but I knew it must've been important for him to be willing to do that.

"Akane," Aoi calls out to me as he walks over to my side. "We need to talk."

"About what?" I ask, pretending not to know but Aoi doesn't fall for it.

"You already know what Akane, don't act like you don't know," Aoi says and I purse my lips after seeing the serious expression on his face.

He's right. I already know exactly what he wants to talk about... the training camp.

I admit that I gave him some pretty vague responses to how the training camp was. Knowing Aoi, he must've caught on that something might've happened and seeing the way that I've been acting, it must've raised his suspicions.

"Did Kenma tell you?" I ask as I look him in the eye to make sure he wasn't hiding anything from me.

"No he didn't," Aoi answers and narrows his eyes. "Kuroo did. He told me what happened and talking with Kenma after confirmed it."

"I see..." I mumble and clench my fists.

So much hiding it from Aoi. What is he going to do now? Scold me?

"It's not just that. Kenma told me that you revealed to him the fact that you're deaf," he says and my eyes dilate. "Akane, I know you don't want to tell anyone and I'm glad you told Kenma at the very least but you need to tell the team. On that day if it wasn't for Kenma you might have been—-"

I grab his shoulders. "He didn't tell anyone else right?!" I shout.

Aoi's eyes widen and he shakes his head. "I'm sure he didn't. He told me because we already talk about this beforehand."

"Wait he told you that he knew I was deaf?! For how long did he know?" I shout, demanding an answer from Aoi.

"I'm not sure but he told me that he didn't say anything because he didn't think it mattered if you were deaf or not," Aoi explains. "After he told me that, I asked him to watch over you in case anything happened so you would stay safe—"

"W-Was I that bad at hiding it?" I question as my mind starts to scatter into a frantic.

Did anyone else realize just from my actions?! What will people think if—-