GAUCHE, kageyama

十七

chapter seventeen!

GAUCHE

"THANK YOU, PLEASE COME AGAIN!"

The old lady smiled as she slowly waddled outside with her small bag of apples. Mina's hands were clasped behind her back while she bowed politely. Often times now that she got a gist of how Ukai works the register, the brunette offered to watch the counter occasionally— and today was one of those days. Working in their family's store was nothing too taxing, mostly just her stocking up and sitting down with a textbook laid out on the table.

That's basically the routine she sticked with every single time.

She heaved a slight sigh once she sat down once again, picking up the pencil to settle herself down back on the work but the doors chimed open again. Loud chatters circulated from the outside but once the door opened, a familiar group of students trailed inside. The Karasuno Volleyball team came in, all together unlike the last few times she saw them. Mina couldn't help but purse her lips once she looked down at the textbook she knew she wasn't going to finish before closing it.

"Oh, Lee-san!" Hinata greeted her first, waving his hand enthusiastically while he bounced up and down. "Good evening!"

Daichi approached her with a sheepish look to say that he was slightly embarrassed he couldn't contain their obnoxiousness. "Sorry about this, Lee-san. We didn't know any other place that could take us all in due to how loud they are."

Well, Mina couldn't exactly send them away. Plus, she made a promise to the duo that she would help as much as her ability could do. A noiseless chuckle escaped from her lips as she watched the boys huddle up to fit themselves around the desk.

"Go ahead," She gestured for them to freely stay. "Ukai Jii-san would not mind."

The boy smiled at her before he regrouped with his team. She noticed how Nishinoya and Tanaka gave her occasional glances, whispering to one another and sometimes grinning to each other. Mina didn't know what to say about it, hoping they weren't passing on bad rumours about her. Then she saw Sugawara making his way to her with a packet of gum in hand, a saintly smile staining his visage.

"Pardon our intrusion, Lee-san. I hope we didn't bother you too much with how loud we can be," He slid the item onto the counter with coins for the payment and noticed how her textbook was set aside on the corner. "Oh, were you studying too?"

"Ah, yes," Mina glanced downwards before taking in the payment, handing him back some change. "I need to review— Japanese Literature is hard."

"Isn't it? It gives me a headache too," Sugawara heaved a sigh. "But I think our team crisis is a bigger problem. I'm just hoping that those four can pass without any hitches."

Right, she realized that Nishinoya, Tanaka, Hinata and even Kageyama himself were failing their classes. Mina only recently knew from how the ginger haired boy blurted out how bad their grades were and then the raven haired male scowling out of anger for the sudden exposure. Maybe it was a little mean to say, but she wouldn't say she didn't expect that from them. They did seem like the type of people to be solely focused on one thing and one thing only.

"Lee-san! Please help us out!" Hinata cried out once he was getting lectured on his answers by his teammates, some even sighing and snickering on his demise.

Yamaguchi glanced at the girl before frowning a little bit out of confusion. "How could Lee-san help, though..? I don't think she could— I mean, she can! But, she might not... you know, know how to teach—"

Kageyama frowned a little. Was he dissing Mina?

"She's more likely to outsmart half of us," Tsukishima stated, pushing his glasses with a small sigh escaping his lips. He was more than ready to hit the hay at this point. But here he was, congregated with a bunch of teenage boys and one girl. And his words did stand by true— he knew first hand about the Korean girl's skills, being in the same class. "Funnily enough."

Mina didn't know if that was a praise or not. But then again, she knew she had a hard time speaking and writing the language but that didn't mean she was educationally incompetent with a language barrier. Most of these subjects are universal, needing only to explain the basics of the basics in order to form a mutual understanding between a tutor and a tutee—she didn't need to use big words; gestures are available anyways and if that didn't work, a little bit of internet translation didn't hurt anyone.

"Well, shall we all start?" Daichi clapped his hands as a way to gather all of their attention again. "And thanks again for this, Lee-san. We can't thank you enough for helping us. Please take care of us!"

In pursuit of their team captain, they all bowed in unison as well to give their best along with the Korean girl. "Please take care of us!"

"P-Please take care of me, as well," Slightly surprised, she fumbled in the process of lowering her head as she did not expect such a gesture to happen. She found it quite nice, although, seeing how they were investing their hopes that she could also give their knucklehead players a good chance at passing the exams.

She grabbed her items off the desk and sauntered towards where the boys were before eventually sitting herself in between Kageyama and Hinata, the latter grinning and patting the seat to make her sit in it— not like she had a choice when he was beaming brightly. Mina eased herself into the spot when she turned to Kageyama who had not spoke a single word towards her. He was staring heavily into his now open notebook, lips pursed.

"Hey, Kageyama-kun," She tilted her head as to face him, a small smile etched on her expression. "Are you ready to study?"

The boy turned to her as his expression slowly starts to crumple.

"I'll do my best..." He simply grumbled, scratching his head at the sight of his messy notes. His ears had a faint hue of red.

"You can do this! Fighting!" She whispered in between them with a fist raised slightly, cheering him on despite the loud chatters the Karasuno boys shared in the small convenience store's space.

Kageyama blinked before a ghost of a smile broke on his harsh expression, one that only could be meant for the girl he was staring at. The expression was quick, subtle, and warm but couldn't be seen easily with the naked eye. But Mina could tell a little, by the way his features softened up by a small notch and the ends of his lips curling in the faintest manner. She always thought he looked good in that way— a small spark of attraction when she saw it.

Despite the normality of a smile, it always seemed beyond comparison when the raven haired male did it.

Mina's lips unconsciously curved.

The callous boy looked better with a smile on.