chapter seven: VEGGIE CROQUETTE

It was once again lunch time at Nekoma High, and there was no practice for the two volleyball players this Friday, now sitting beside a very down looking girl.

"Heh ~ ! I didn't manage to grab a copy of YumeYume Party in time," whined Miruka, pouting. "Kenma . . . What am I going to do?"

"It's just a game, Milk-sama," a very snappy volleyball captain sniggered. "You're not going to die or anything."

"Shut up, Bedhead!" Miruka snarled, frowning again with no reaction from Kenma.

He continued eating his bento, occasionally looking at his new found friend and his 'BFF' from what Miruka had labeled him.

She had been joining them whenever she could, always enthusiastic to watch them play at practice, so much to the point the rest of the team were begging her to become the 'cute female manager' like the one another school had. She refused, saying that she had to take care of her brother's pet shop.

But of course, a certain half-Russian wasn't going to stop asking his senpai who he basically idolised whenever she brought food to the team.

Kenma sighed to himself, getting tired of the arguing between his friends.

He knew he was going to regret it.

The boy raised his hand, somehow silencing them.

"I have it."

Two very stunned people turned around to the blonde haired setter, his face emotionless yet his cheeks dusted with pink.

"You," began Miruka, disbelieving. "Have YumeYume Party, a boardgame styled game, where you are a cute magical girl and battle against friends to win a magical cake?"

"HA! What kind of game is that?" Kuroo barked, laughing until tears came out of his eyes almost unstoppable.

Kenma blushed more, not expecting for her to explain the whole game in front of his best friend.

He would never hear the end of this now.

He's going to use this as blackmail isn't he?

The black haired boy grinned devilishly back at him as Kenma sighed.

He's going to use this as blackmail.

" . . . You have the game."

Miruka sucked in a breath and grabbed the gamer by his shoulder's, staring at him with all the power she could muster.

"Kenma-kun, would you please lend me it!" she begged, using her puppy eyes. "I really want to play it, no matter how childish it sounds!"

He looked away, contemplating his descision. His eyes glanced back at her face, hopeful yet nervous.

He didn't want his game to be damaged, nor did he want to be exchanging it with her in public whatsover. His teammates would tease him to the ends of the earth, much less Kuro.

And so he compromised.

"Come to my place at six."

"Wha - ?"

"We're playing at my place."

What have I done?

• • •

"Sumimasen!" Miruka called out looking downwards, as the door opened in front of her.

"Oh, um, welcome," Kenma mumbled, not making eye contact with her. "Come in, I guess."

"Arigato gozaimasu!" she exclaimed, removing her shoes and putting on the slippers Kenma had given her. "I, well, I brought some food over from my brother's girlfriend's house!"

She held out a basket covered with a large checkered tea towel covering it. The boy accepted it hesitantly and looked under it.

"Hehe, they're vegetable croquettes!" she giggled. "I thought we could eat them while we played and I made them so I hope they're to your liking. And I can stay overnight if there's any problems since my brother didn't really care when I told him I was coming over. "

He nodded and put them on a coffee table beside a TV.

"Catch."

Miruka threw up her hands and caught a controller in them, her lips turning into one of those rare peaceful smiles.

"Let's battle, Pudding Boy."

• • •

"Legendary . . . " muttered Miruka as Kenma munched on a croquette with no sign of bother as he aced every challenge.

On the other hand, Kenma was getting confused. No one had played at the same level as him, even at the other games they tried out.

Their instincts kicked in, both reaching our for the G-END game in the corner.

"W-Wait, KENMA- !"

"Mi- MIRUKA-SAN - !"

Suddenly, there was a loud crash which ended up with two bodies squashed together and a basketful of croquettes scattered across the soft tatami mats of Kenma's small living room. A very embarrassed boy looked below at the girl with bits of croquette all over her face.

"Miruka-san, you have some - "

"I know."

He let out a small snort, covering his mouth once he noticed, with a laugh bubbling up from Miruka's throat that was nonstop. They sent themselves into a fit of laughter, well, Kenma just chuckled lowly and trying his best to stop himself from going overboard by shutting his lips tight.

Well, not for long.

Kenma promptly fell on top of her with quiet 'eh' noise, only making her cackle with happiness. Miruka smirked, grabbing him by his neck and rolling them around, now on top of him. Her smirk widened and she wiggled her fingers with a demon like aura.

She attacked Kenma, with tickles that is, Miruka only continuing with pleasure. "Oh I see, Kenma-kun . . . You're ticklish here!" The peach haired girl aimed for his stomach, him letting out a very unlikely laugh.

"Yama - Yamade!" he gasped out, covering his mouth and stomach, shaking uncontrollably. Miruka stopped and sat him upwards with her unexpected strength. He sighed, feeling breathless. "Thank god."

"Eh ~ I was having so much fun!" Miruka drawled, placing herself beside him and crossing her legs. "You okay there?"

He scooted away from her slightly and fiddled with a controller, glancing around the room and avoiding eye contact. "Yeah . . ."

Miruka simply shrugged, pushing the video game into the console, her eyes lighting up when the intro for G-END began to play. Kenma looked at his flat-screen TV with a start and then at the starry eyed girl.

It was late at night, almost nine, and here she was, the grand violin piece playing. The room was dark, they both didn't bother with turning on the lights, but only thing that illuminated them was the screen.

"Captain Seiun, are you ready to explore the galaxies and fight injustice in the universe?" Miruka questioned, quoting Areiya with a toothy grin.

"Affirmative, Queen Areiya, it would be my pleasure to fight by your side, for lightyears on and on." Kenma replied without hesitation, speaking clearly and with confidence but ignoring his heart skip a beat.

He pressed 'play' and they were off.

• • •

hey guys! it's michaela! 

so we reached over 400 reads today, which is fantastic! but i have a question, does anyone ever read these author's notes? just asking, haha!

we also reached over 40 votes too, so maybe we could hit 50? haha talk about first goals! although i am far from the amount of votes everyone else has, i am so so happy that i've made it this far! so i want to thank you very much.

i decided to change it up once more and give you a fluffy moment between our leading couple, but don't worry. it's not going to be just them tickle-attacking each other and gaming till midnight.

i have other plans, hehe ~

(be afraid, reader (( well, not really )) )

also! for anyone who's interested in my tsukishima fic called 'the extragalactic tourist' which is soon to be published, here's the summary!

• • •

THE EXTRAGALACTIC TOURIST

Yukimura Saeko loves space. She's the stereotypical airhead, only paying attention to her astronomy club and her parent's pastry shop while she studies to become a scientist.

Tsukishima Kei secretly has a passion for dinosaurs, hiding it especially from a certain duo. With them annoying him constantly, he's left in a bitter state.

So when a certain blonde goes out for a midnight cake run, he finds a starry eyed girl with a pair of binoculars, sparks fly.

The Big Bang could never compare to this.

• • •

sound okay? interested? any criticism for the summary or story? tell me! i love feedback from you all. don't be ghost readers! but i still love you regardless.

thank you so so much and don't forget to vote!

- michaela