I Can't Say "I Love You" | Kuroo Tetsurō

Chapter 5: Lunch

Mirai stared in horror and bewilderment at the third year volleyball captain standing in the doorway of her classroom. The bell had signalled for their lunch break not too long ago, and she was in the middle of grabbing her lunch from her bag, when she noticed a group of her female classmates gawking at the door.

Of all the things she had expected to appear at that doorway, it certainly wasn't her senpai.

Mirai blinked. Kuroo was still there. She blinked again. Nope, still there. She rubbed her eyes to triple check and hE WAS STILL THERE!

Was she imagining things? Was she dreaming right now? Was the guy who was determined to make her fall in love with him, Kuroo (sexy) Tetsurō, really standing there with a bento in hand and his best friend right beside him?

Whispers and murmurs filled the room as the third year waved her over. She groaned, not wanting to go... but if she didn't then there was always that possibility that he would go inside the room himself to talk to her. Mirai didn't want that either.

"I'll go see what he wants..." She informed Lev, who was busy eating his lunch to pay any mind to what was going on around him.

"Mm-hmm!" He replied.

When she approached the door, nervously glancing around at everyone looking at her, she whispered out what was on her mind. "What are you doing here, senpai?" She asked him.

Kuroo flashed his signature lazy smirk and placed his free hand on top of her head. "We're going to eat lunch together." He said. Mirai widened her eyes at the random declaration.

"W...What?? Why are we going to do that?" She interrogated further, crossing her arms.

"Why not?" He countered.

Oh how she hated him for that.

Using the hand that was already on her head, he spun her around and gently pushed her towards her seat. "Go get your bento." He urged, not allowing her any second to refuse. "We're going up to the roof."

Mirai paled as she trudged her way to her seat. She could feel the jealous glares of the entire Nekoma High female population against her. Lev studied her with concern as he finished putting away his own lunchbox.

"Mirai-san, are you okay? You look pale." He pointed out bluntly.

Mirai looked at him like she was going to cry. Lev widened his eyes in slight panic.

"L-Lev... Kuroo-senpai wants me to eat lunch with him on the roof..." She sniffled and pouted.

"Ah, I see..." The tall first year hummed thoughtfully and nodded. Then, he suddenly grinned and patted her on the shoulder. "Okay! Good luck, Mirai-san!"

A quick blow to the head was enough to knock him out.

Mirai grumbled and snatched her bento from her desk. "Lev, you dummy!" She huffed and marched out of the classroom with Kuroo and Kenma following behind. The setter could hear his kohai's pained groans as they left.

"She's tough..." Kenma observed quietly and, somewhat, a bit fearfully.

He looked towards Kuroo who was simply humming a tune and smiling like the girl didn't just knock out cold their 6'4" half-Russian teammate. Kenma felt conflicted with the situation. This felt like he was in a quest in one of his games... with a certain twist of events.

There was Kuroo - the knight in shining armor, the hero of the story - on his way to vanquish the villain. But somewhere along the way the hero suddenly fell in love with the villain. And the villain was really short. And female. With ridiculous amount of attack power.

He could almost imagine the scene like something out of a game; Kuroo attacking her with limitless amounts of flirting and she just seems to be dodging every hit and retaliating with snarky comments.

Kenma was just the side character that accompanied the hero on his journey.

Then he turned his eyes to Mirai.

In her case, this was probably the same scenario with the roles completely reversed because she would be the heroine trying to beat the villain. And that villain was Kuroo himself.

"Seems pretty accurate." Kenma remarked as he imagined his best friend with devil horns and sharp teeth. "Maybe a little too accurate. Seriously... What is he thinking? It's not like Kuro has feelings for her. This is a really dangerous game he's playing."

He sighed quietly and glanced between the two. Mirai obviously made it clear that she wasn't going to be falling for him any time soon, but Kuroo was not the type to give up so easily once he had his mind set on it.

Hoshizora Mirai. Attack: 9999, Defense: ???

Kuroo Tetsurō. Attack: 870, Defense: 9999

"They're both evenly matched in a way..." Kenma muttered to himself.

"Hm? What was that, Kenma?" Kuroo looked back at him.

"Nothing..."

They were already at the roof and setting down their lunches. Mirai reluctantly took a seat and allowed Kuroo to sit next to her. Kenma sat down in front of them and continued to observe silently.

The breeze was nice and the weather was perfect. There wasn't any conversation between the three of them and this gave the keen observer the time to reflect.

Thinking back to their previous encounters, Kenma began to wonder if Mirai was as tense as she was with Kuroo towards anybody else. She seemed to get along fine with their idiot rookie, but he had to admit that in terms of personality, Lev was much more approachable than Kuroo.

"Mirai?" He spoke up after a short while, startling her a bit since he hasn't said a word the entire time. "Does Kuro bother you that much...or do you act the same towards every boy?"

"Huh..? Oh. Well, I- Uhh..." Mirai's eyes darted around nervously. Kenma could tell that she wanted to say something but at the same time she didn't want to say it. "It's...a bit complicated?" She finally replied and forced out a smile.

"I see..." He nodded and went back to eating.

Kuroo chewed his food quietly as he thought about Kenma's question. He peeked at the short girl from his peripheral vision and noticed her mood changed drastically, like she was depressed all of a sudden.

"Mi-rai-chan~"

The way his voice drawled out her name sent a chill down her spine and made the hairs on her arms stand up. She was never going to get used to that.

"W-What?" She replied, not daring to look at him.

"Say 'Ahh'..."

Mirai arched an eyebrow and looked up.

"Ah?" She blinked at the eggroll that was in front of her eyes.

Catching sight of an opening, Kuroo placed the food in her open mouth before she had the chance to realize what was happening. Kenma saw them and choked on his own lunch.

"E-EH, Y-Y-YOU JUST- TH-THE CHOPSTICKS-" Was that steam coming out of her head?

Kuroo looked down at his chopsticks when she frantically pointed at them. "Hm? What?" He smirked and held the utensil up to his lips.

Mirai felt her cheeks explode into a crimson red blush as she watched the mischievous captain lick the tip of the chopsticks where her lips had touched just seconds ago.

3... 2... 1...

Thud!

"Geh?! M-MIRAI!"

"Kuro, you killed her..."

"O-OI, MIRAI, WAKE UP!"

"Round one victor: Kuroo Tetsurō."

"Kenma, now isn't the time for game references!!!"