Monochromatic: Haikyuu Fanfic

Chapter 65: Ivies

Fukui woke up to a good morning message for the past few days.

With Oikawa far away, he made sure to smother her with affection in the tiniest of ways. He texts and calls Fukui often, just chatting about the usual random nonsense like they used to, only except this time Oikawa slips a "you're so cute" comment or "i can't wait to see you ♥️♥️" every once in a while. It never failed to make Fukui's face heat up a little, having to put her phone down in order to cool herself off.

He sent so much heart emojis, perhaps if she can trade it for yen somewhere, she can pay off her college tuition.

But for her to trade his love for money? That's as likely as witnessing rabbits floating in space.

Her shifts at the floral boutique became less boring because of his occasional texts. With the slowness of the usual business day, she finds herself on her phone - and Makino catches her smile sometimes, or color slightly, much to her amusement.

[btw umeko, what kind of flowers do you like the most? (*˘︶˘*).｡.:*♡]

[not picky, but hydrangeas are pretty fun to sketch.]

[ooooh...how about your favorite flower to receive?]

[never gave much thought on that.. maybe ivies?]

Small talks like that made her shifts a lot more bearable. Fukui puts her phone down to stretch her arms. Meanwhile, Makino leans on the counter with bored a bored expression, though somewhat musing and thoughtful.

"Fukui-chan, I really am gonna miss you once you move to Tokyo,"

Fukui looks up with a mildly surprised expression. "Makino-san..."

"Your last day is next Thursday, right? I don't think I'll ever find an employee as good as you." She says, and she reaches over the counter to give Fukui a warm hug, burying her face on her shoulder.

Upon looking up, however, Makino sees something . "What the -"

Confused, Fukui lets go and turns around - the glass display case at the front of the shop looks as normal as ever, and she shoots Makino a curious look.

And Makino laughs weakly, scratching the back of her neck. "I think it was just a rat, sorry."

Fukui frowns, the grabs the empty tip jar on the counter and asks her boss, "I'll catch it. Do you have any peanut butter?"

"No no no no no no no - it's okay," Makino sounded jittery, almost guilty of an unspoken crime, and Fukui did not look convinced one bit. However, Fukui, being Fukui, decides not to prod further and sets the jar down.

"I - ah - by the way, can you get me a new roll of purple ribbon at the basement real quick?" Makino asks her uneasily, nudging her to the door to the back of the shop. Fukui looks lost at her sudden change of behavior (somewhat like in a hurry? Impatient perhaps?) but follows nevertheless.

The basement is dimly lit, and Fukui had difficulty in searching for the ribbon. It should be with the boxes along with the other colors, but all that is there are green, pink, blue, and yellow - no purple. She searched everywhere, eyes squinting around her.

And then she hears squeaking from the wooden floorboards behind her.

"Ivies?" She hears her boss asks quietly - sounds leaking from above. The next whisper from the other is undecipherable.