11 Game with the Angel

The next few days the relationship between Haruto and Mahiru returned to what it was before, to being just neighbors. Although they would briefly converse with each other it was nothing more than just small talk.

"Haruto! Please give me your notes for math. Whenever I look at the board those equations just go into my head and then disappear out of nowhere."

"Don't you think it's because your head is nothing but filled with volleyball?"

I sighed and gave my notebook to Hinata and he jumped up in excitement. Well I can't blame him, math is pretty difficult especially when they added letters to the equations. Sometimes those problems have more letters than numbers making me question if I was in language class by accident..

But I was alright with it either way. I looked at Kageyama and saw that he was writing in his notebook and nodded my head. He must be pretty smart since he's able to quickly respond to different scenarios when we are playing on the court. I took a peek at his book and was stunned to find out he was actually drawing a court and a volleyball on the corner of his page.

"You two.. You guys do know that we have a test tomorrow right?" Seeing them flinch they quickly hurried their way to me and begged for help scaring our classmates.

***

After our morning commotion we made our way into the gym for class. We and another class were doing it together as our teacher called in sick and wasn't able to come. To my surprise the other teacher chose volleyball as the sport to play as we have a decent amount of people so he suggested a mini tournament.

Needless to say the two volleyball addicts including myself were happy to play but I told them not to go too hard as it was just a gym class. Kageyama wanted to argue but I told him no one here wants to be hit in the face with your jump serve and he settled with just doing an overhand serve.

The teacher told us to warm up and to get into pairs. Our class had an uneven amount of people and one group had to have 3 people so it was Hinata, Kageyama and I that got together.

We started to do normal pepper but Kageyama stood in the middle while he set to us and we just hit to each other.

After a few minutes the teacher came up to us. "Can one of you guys partner up with someone from the other class since their class also has an uneven amount of people?"

I saw Kageyama turn his head and Hinata hiding behind me as he felt intimidated by the big teacher that suddenly asked him a question. Seeing that these two were a no go I told him I can partner up.

Walking over to the other side of the gym the teacher took me to my partner and saw her golden hair in a ponytail waiting quietly in the corner. She saw someone approaching and her eyes opened slightly seeing who the teacher brought. He left us and we were standing near each other in silence.

"...Just so you know I didn't know it was you who I was told to partner up with."

She looked at me and sighed "You don't have to worry about it. I know that you wouldn't actively try to be my partner seeing our interactions the past few days. Or do you?" calmly saying.

"Plus you don't seem to be very excited to be my partner. Is there something wrong?"

"Well I don't really mind but, you should already be able to tell just by looking around why" Mahiru and I looked around the gym and saw people, the majority being guys who wanted to drill a hole through me with the way they were staring.

They seem to have gotten jealous with how I was able to get partnered up with the Madonna of their class. Phrases such as 'he better not touch a single hair' or 'handsome men should explode' were heard which was honestly kinda creepy.

"oh.. " seeing the situation Mahiru was at a loss for words.

"Being an angel must be tough on you, you have my condolences" I said with a warm tone.

She coldly glared at me "Don't call me that and I can tell by your tone that you're not being sincere with your sympathy" She grabbed the volleyball near me and told me that we should start playing together.

I nodded and began to pass to each other. As we continued to warm up I noticed that she was pretty good with passing and volleying.

"Hey, you're pretty good at volleyball. Have you played on a team before?"

She shook her head "I never really played volleyball except for when we played it in PE."

I was surprised by this as she could easily be one of the top players when it came to passing as I haven't seen her hit yet.

"But you're also good at playing. Are you on the team or are you the same as me?" She asked back. I told her that I was on the team and she had a shocked expression on her face. I saw this and asked why since was it really that surprising that I was on the team.

"No well I was shocked how you are still able to function as an athlete when I saw how you were eating. I checked your fridge when I was cooking and there were only beans, eggs, energy drinks and protein/nutrition bars in there…" she said in an appalled tone.

I turned my head and felt ashamed that my neighbor found out what my fridge looked like. She continued to stare at me but in luck the teacher called us up to make the teams for the tournament. I was happy that I was able to get out of that situation.

***

After making the teams I was with Mahiru as the teacher made three groups of partners to make a team of six. There were six teams and we were one of the first teams to get on as there were only two courts to play one.

As our games progressed our team was solid in all aspects as we had some hitters and I played as a setter. Mahiru was also really good at passing the ball and she was also a decent hitter when she came to the front row. Our chemistry when we played was surprisingly good which got us into the top two teams of the tournament.

The other team was no surprise Kageyama and Hinata and they seemed to be happy to play against me. With the finals I saw the two of them become a bit more serious but I was happy they didn't do the minus tempo during the game.

"Nice pass Shiina" Mahiru passed the ball to me when the opposite side was serving. I went under the ball and saw to my right that it was only Hinata and two other classmates that were at the front. I smiled playfully and quickly turned my head behind and looked. This caused them to run the other way to block behind me but I set the ball towards my outside hitter. He hit the ball and got the point making us reach game point.

I started to laugh really hard seeing the look Hinata was giving me and my team was also smiling and giggling seeing his frustrated face. Kageyama started to bicker with him and their usual fights began to happen again.

We rotated as we got the point, Mahiru was now at the front. The person serving did an overhand serve and it went to the opposite side reaching Hinata. He stumbled for a bit but eventually got to pass the ball to Kageyama. He set the ball to his opposite and I went up to try and block him. Seeing two people go up for a block he tipped it over our arms and our team began to rally.

The rally was going on for a while and the excited voices of the people around us got us fired up and it continued to last for a while. After it a minute ticked by our team got a pass to me and I looked to see who to set to. Ultimately I set it to Mahiru as she seems to be ready to go. I gave her a set and she jumped up to hit it. Two blockers from the opposite side, a guy and a girl went up to try and stop her hit. The ball bounced off the guy's hand and made its way off the court touching the ground and getting us the point.

"""OWHHHHHH"""

The excited screams around us increased indicating the end of the game. I went over to Mahiru excitedly. I raised my hand out of habit due to the nice play but froze realizing what I did. She looked at my raised hand for a second before giving me a highfive and showing a small smile. I was stunned by her actions but snapped out of it when our teammates came to celebrate with us.

We were given a round of applause and the teacher gave us a lunch voucher for a free cake pastry from our cafeteria. I went up to Hinata and Kageyama and bragged to them waving the voucher for them to see. We started to bicker and we started to go back to the changerooms to change.

"Wait Watanabe." I heard a soft voice behind me and it was Mahiru. I asked what was wrong and she asked if I had practice after school today.

"Yeah I do have practice, why do you ask?"

She looked down and began to think and she said it was nothing and turned around and left.

???

***

I was walking home from practice and arrived at my apartment exhausted. I took off my bag and went straight to my cabinet to grab a protein bar to eat. As I was opening it I heard my door ring. Wondering who it was, I opened my door and saw Mahiru in her casual outfit holding a container.

She saw me holding up a protein bar and frowned "Is that all you're going to eat?" I absently nodded my head answering her question.

"Haa I'm surprised your body hasn't collapsed yet with the way you have been eating. Here, have some leftovers that I made." presenting me with a container filled with food.

"..what is this?"

"Can't you see that it's food?"

"No, why are you giving it to me?"

"Well I started to feel pity for you when I found out about your eating habits. On top of knowing the club you are in I just decided to give you some food that was too much for me to eat. Nothing more nothing less." she said with a straight face.

"You can throw it out if you want since it's for you to decide what to do with it." She forcefully handed it to me and turned around. She stopped for a bit and whispered in a voice I couldn't hear

"And take it as a thanks for making that game really fun.." she then walked back to her apartment.

Still not knowing how to process the event that just happened. I took the container and opened it in my living room. In it were some stir fried vegetables, grilled chicken and some mash potatoes. Even though they were simple dishes the smell they omitted was mouth watering. I took a fork and took a bite.

"Her cooking really is heavenly…"

I began to dig in and enjoyed the meal that the angel next door made.

***

I'm craving some food right now too… peaceu!