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

Chapter 22: First Name Basis

Kuroo yawned as he walked around in search of a certain brown haired manager. He hadn't seen Mirai the entire day - though it was partially his fault for avoiding her - and decided to look for her in the dining hall. The first ones to greet him when he entered were Hinata and Karasuno's timid first year manager. With a wave of his hand, he flashed them a friendly smile.

"Good work today."

He scanned the room and frowned when he realized that the girl he was searching for wasn't in sight, however, a head of green hair caught his attention instead. "Oho?" He smirked.

Sitting across Karasuno's genius setter was a freckled face he recognized. Kuroo immediately recalled that Mirai was close with him and so he quickly approached the trembling first year.

"Hey, have you seen Mirai?" He asked.

Yamaguchi wanted to evaporate into thin air as the intimidating Nekoma captain stared at him with a scrutinizing gaze. It was hard not to notice the way he acted during their matches after seeing Yamaguchi held hands with their manager.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Kuroo was interested in Mirai. Yamaguchi would know the feeling, seeing as he experienced it himself. But that was in the past!

"A-Ah, um, she's actually..." He hesitated, averting his gaze.

Yamaguchi had sent Mirai a little while ago to follow after his best friend in hopes of them rekindling their broken friendship. But there was no way he could tell the bedheaded middle blocker that. If the guy found out about it, and that he was the one who sent her after Tsukishima, things might not end well.

On the other hand, a certain volleyball idiot was too dense to figure out what was going on, and looked up at Kuroo with a straight face. "I saw her go after Tsukishima a little while ago." He told him.

"Eh?" Yamaguchi and Kuroo both looked at him with wide eyes.

Kageyama nodded, pointing towards the door that led back outside. "Tsukishima wanted to talk to our captain about something and she left to follow him."

Everyone in the room except Kageyama could feel the dark aura seeping out of the Nekoma captain once he heard this. His eyes glazed over intimidatingly and his smile was so wide that it reminded them of a mad cheshire cat.

"I see," Kuroo hummed, turning to leave. "Thank you for that information."

An eerie silence followed as no one dared to stop him from walking out. Once the danger had passed them and the door slammed shut, Yamaguchi began screaming in horror. His best friend was a dead man.

"N-NOOO! TSUKKI!!" He cried.

Kageyama looked confused as the other two approached the table with worried faces. Yachi went to comfort a terrified Yamaguchi while Hinata confronted the genius but idiot setter.

"Kageyama... You're not very smart, are you?" His partner blatantly commented.

"Hah?! What'd you say?!" The hotheaded first year yelled angrily.

Kuroo's expression was in a deep frown ever since he left the dining hall. He wasn't trying to restrict Mirai from bonding with other guys. No, no, no. He was simply concerned. Yes, that's the word.

Concerned.

When he heard the blond's voice arguing with someone, he immediately followed the direction of the sound, and found a small group standing in the middle of the corridor. He was grateful that she wasn't alone with Tsukishima, at least.

There were the Karasuno third years with towels around their necks like they had just come from the bath, the Fukurodani duo still in their sweaty shirts, and an annoyed beanpole with an awkward kitten.

"What's going on?" Kuroo asked as he stepped out of the shadows.

Everyone turned to see who the newcomer was and Kuroo could have sworn he saw Mirai sigh in relief. What exactly were they arguing about that had her worried?

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at the Nekoma captain as he wrapped his arms around Mirai in a sort of possessive way. Kuroo glanced at the blond to see his reaction, but Tsukishima just rolled his eyes.

"Kuroo! We need to hold another meeting!" Bokuto told his friend, completely ignoring how clingy he was being in front of them.

"What are we meeting about? Haven't we decided already?" Kuroo drawled out, his chin resting on top of Mirai's head.

Bokuto, Akaashi, and Tsukishima didn't seem to mind the Nekoma captain's possessiveness towards his manager. But the Karasuno third years looked at each other with perplexed and questioning expressions.

As they discussed about holding another meeting to decide on which team will be going to the volleyball festival, Mirai stayed still as her captain used her like a human arm rest. Once they all agreed to meet up after dinner, Kuroo pulled Mirai away from the Karasuno first year and walked her back to the dining hall.

Neither of them exchanged a single word as they padded along the corridor. The atmosphere held the signs of awkward and Mirai couldn't find the courage to even look at her captain. She had a feeling that the Nekoma middle blocker might be a little annoyed.

A strange unknown aura radiated from Kuroo, his hand gripping hers as they walked together. She wondered if she should ask him what his problem was, but decided against it. It was possible that questioning him about it might make the situation worse instead.

She sighed and didn't bother resisting from his hold, hoping that the physical contact would at least ease him a bit. He was always in a better mood when he got to hold her hand.

"Mirai?" Kuroo called, his hand tightening around hers.

"What is it, senpai?" She responded almost immediately.

Was now a right time to bring up the subject? Why was he worrying so much about it?

"Do you happen to have feelings for Tsukki?" He finally asked, holding his breath as he awaited her answer.

Mirai felt the blush creeping up her cheeks as the memories of her middle school years began to resurface. She did have strong feelings for the blond at one point. But...

"No," she replied. "I don't have any feelings for him."

Kuroo relaxed after hearing what he wanted to hear and Mirai realized at that moment that he was nervous about her response. She became interested to know why he suddenly brought up the topic in the first place. "Kuroo-senpai, why-"

"It's Tetsurō." Kuroo interrupted.

"Eh?" She slowed to a stop and gawked at him, her glasses slipping down the bridge of her nose just a little.

Kuroo couldn't look her in the eyes as he was also embarrassed, his own cheeks flaring with the same shade of pink as hers. This shouldn't be a big deal, right? She called everyone else using their first names.

He just wanted to be included.

"I noticed I was the only one you called by last name." He said. "I want you to call me by my first name too."

"Oh. Okay..." Mirai nodded and shyly averted her gaze. "T-Te...Tetsu...Tetsurō..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You're so cute." Kuroo smirked, ruining the moment.

"Sh-Shut up! I'm not cute!" The Nekoma manager yelled, pulling her hand away and storming off in a huff.