Haikyuu!! Tobio's Girl Chapter 18

Reina anxiously went up the stairs to the platform. When she saw Kageyama standing there, she felt so relieved and happy that she almost skipped to him.

'You're here... early," she said and smiled.

"Osu. Hello. You look... beautiful. As always," Kageyama said awkwardly as if he had the line prepared and rehearsed.

"Thank you. You look good too. So different. Festive almost." Reina answered.

"You think so?" he asked. He was wearing some jeans and a black polo t-shirt. It was the least dressy outfit he managed to dig up out of a pile of weird clothes that Miwa and his mom had bought him of their own volition.

"Well, I only ever see you in your uniform or a tracksuit, so... I'm easy to impress," Reina said, giggling.

"Shall we go then?" Tobio said, took her hand, and led her to the arriving train.

Is there anything you want to do?" she asked Kageyama when they went out to a trendy street downtown. She didn't plan a perfect date this time. Instead of chasing couple goals, she decided to just go with the flow.

"Right... Just give me a moment." Tobio said while sneakily looking at a piece of paper he took out from his pocket.

"What do you have there?" Reina asked curiously.

"Nothing..." he said, hiding it in his hand.

"Show me" She tried to take it away from him, but he swiftly put his hand up high. Of course, she couldn't reach. "Tobio, it's getting annoying. What are you hiding?"

"Okay, don't get mad. I'll confess," he said, looking a little embarrassed. "I wanted to do it right, so I asked my sister for some pointers. She's the only person with dating experience that I know."

Reina burst out laughing. Tobio looked a little hurt.

"Oh sorry, it's just... that was unexpected but so sweet of you. I can't wait. What do you propose?" she said.

"Mmm..." He looked at his notes again. "Do you want to go see a movie?"

"Definitely not," Reina answered.

"Why not? Isn't it the most date-like thing to do?"

"I won't spend my rare, precious date letting you sleep for 2 hours. We've met late as it is."

"What makes you think that I would fall asleep?"

"When was the last time you watched something longer than 15 minutes that wasn't a volleyball match?"

"I guess you have a point there. Another idea..." he said, going back to his cheat sheet.

"Have you eaten yet? We met so soon after practice," she asked.

"Well, not a whole meal. I just grabbed some nikuman from Sakanoshita on the way home. I was in a hurry."

"Then maybe we should go eat first."

"Right... do you want to go to this café?" He showed her an address on his phone. "Supposedly, it's a fancy and popular place."

"Well, I can't say I'm not tempted. I mean... to see you try to fill your stomach with fancy, overpriced, tiny desserts they served there. It would be quite entertaining. Didn't you say you don't like sweets?"

"Never mind me, I can manage. You're supposed to go to a fancy place for a date, right? Oh..." Tobio's eyes noticed something behind her shoulder that made them sparkle with excitement.

"What is it?" She asked

"Oh, it's nothing," he said, trying to focus his gaze back on her.

She turned around to see flags and balloons promoting a new restaurant opening. A clerk standing in front of it eagerly came over to them.

"Welcome. Would you like to step in? We served all kinds of curry. Spicy curry, mild curry, green curry, red curry. We even have a rainbow curry! This is our first branch in Miyagi, but I humbly say our chain met with great success in Tokyo. And if such a hip, attractive couple as you two would grace us a visit, we can promise you a discount."

"Oh, sorry. We're not interested--" Kagayama started to refuse against his will.

"What are you saying? Let's go in." Reina went after the clerk. Kageyama followed. They sat down in a brand new but definitely not fancy interior.

"Are you sure you're ok with this? I mean, I love curry, but..." Kageyama asked.

"Are you kidding? They got me with 'hip, attractive couple'." She smiled at him.

Soon they were served a gigantic dish with different types of curry that Kageyama had ordered.

"Well, I couldn't just choose one, could I?" he said while gulping with excitement. Immediately, he proceeded to taste the dishes with an air of an expert, taking Raina along for the ride.

"Nothing beats a simple curry over rice, but this green one is like... bringing a whole new dimension of taste...just try" he encouraged Reina to take a spoonful. She barely managed to swallow it through her chuckling. "But well, the difference in homemade curry and that made by true professionals is often not determined by spice, but the preparation of other ingredients. Just taste this meat. It's hard to get that softness and richness of flavor at home."

"I don't know how your volleyball career is going to go, but you could definitely become a spokesperson for curry." Reina commented.

"This was so good," Tobio said when they went out again.

"I'm glad you liked it. So what do your secret notes propose to do now?" Reina asked playfully.

"Right..." Kageyama rechecked his list. "Do you want to go shopping? Like to the mall?"

"I wonder if Miwa-nee-san wanted to help you or to troll you. Why would you want to go shopping with me? You'd probably get bored there. Well... unless... if I'm ever going to need to buy sports shoes, I'll definitely take you with me."

"Huh?"

"Last time you were to buy volleyball shoes, it was all you talked about for 2 weeks. I guess you know your stuff when it comes to sportswear. But I don't need to buy anything today. Besides, I spend more time at the mall with Eri than I'm proud to admit," she said.

"But... there's something that I wanted to buy..." he said.

"What is it?"

"You know, about your White Day gift, I wanted to make it up to you. But I don't know what you would like, so I thought I'd let you choose... Oh, do you want me to buy you some sportswear as a gift?" he said as if he thought it was a great idea.

"Let's just forget about it. It's in the past now," she said while trying to maintain a cheerful face, but a shadow of sadness was cast over it.

"But I... just want to make it right," he said, worried.

"If you want to make it right, make sure to buy me one next year." She reflected immediately it was presumptuous of her to think he would still like her a year from now. Even if she wished for it.

"Right. I better write it down this time," he said seriously and took out his phone. Reina's heart squeezed when she saw him write 'buy Reina a White Day gift' in his calendar.

"Hey, why are you setting it as a recurring event?!" she asked.

"It does happen every year, right?" Tobio said.

Reina thought that his lack of doubt about whether they would be together for years to come was a better gift than anything he could buy.

"So is something sport-connected okay?" he asked once again.

"Oh, that would be splendid," she said.

"Okay. What else can we do?" Tobio looked at his cheat sheet once more, "amusement park... but she said that will work only when we would have a whole day. Hiking... well, it would be easier to do closer home actually... and this is..." Tobio suddenly got red in the face," let's just omit this one... last resort... arcade... isn't that a place where you play games and such?" he said.

"You're correct."

"That sounds fun. I never had a chance to try that. Let's find one."

"Let's do that." She also thought that it would be something that a competitive person like Kageyama would enjoy.

However, after playing games for half an hour, she didn't know why he was so enthusiastic about this idea.

"Dammit, why can't I win with you?!" he said, frustrated after another devastating loss.

"I don't know. Actually, I'm surprised as well," she said while trying not to look too amused. "I mean, you have quick reflexes and all, being a volleyball player. I thought you'd be good at this."

"It isn't volleyball that we're playing. I have no experience with video games. But why are you so good?"

"I guess I excel at all sedentary entertainments. I couldn't go and play outside as a kid. When you think of it, we led very different lives." Reina said.

"It doesn't matter how good you are. I'll accept any challenge. Do you want to play again?" he said with a determined face. At least his competitiveness kept him engaged. But she had enough of making him miserable.

"Let's do something different... Look, they have a purikura. I want a couple picture!" she said and dragged him away from the games.

"So, how do we do this?" he asked inside the booth.

"What do you mean how? Just strike a pose and..."

There was a flash, and the first one was made.

"Oh, my... you're so bad at posing. You look so serious. Why don't you try to loosen up a bit?" Reina said.

"Huh?" he asked, confused.

Flash.

"Hahaha, your face looks so weird. I almost want to keep this one, but can we do something more couple-like?" she asked, hoping for Tobio to show some cute, embarrassing pose.

"Couple-like?... Osu. I understand," he said and kissed her. She was so surprised, and it felt so good, that it took her a moment to stop him.

"Tobio, stop! We're not supposed to do something like this in here!"

"But you wanted to do something couple-like. I just complied," he said, apparently pleased with himself.

The machine made one last picture and became silent.

"Oh, no. We've run out of pictures. I hope there is at least one decent." She said, looking at the screen.

"I like the last one. You look so cute when you're blushing. And I love your expression when you look into my eyes," Tobio said. It made her even more flustered.

"Well, I'm definitely deleting the ones with us kissing," she said, angrily hitting the screen with her finger. "They all look so weird and awkward. Oh..." She stopped suddenly. "Actually, this one's not bad. I think I'm going to keep it." She tried to hide how stirred she was when she saw how hot Tobio looked while kissing her in one of the pictures. Just like a movie shot. I'm not going to show it to anyone, but I'm keeping it forever.

"You're right. Print that one for me as well," Tobio said.

"Hmm, I wonder if I should."

"Why not?"

"What if you show it to the guys?"

"Of course not. Why would I do something like that?"

"I don't know, Mr. 'send me your picture because I want to brag to people'."

"That was one time! And you're so stingy. You have my pictures plastered all over your room. You know what? Send me all pictures of us that you have on your phone. I want them too. It's not fair only you have them," Tobio demanded.

"Okay. You win. I will." She said, smiling widely. She couldn't enjoy herself more, this date was getting better and better.

"So... where do you want to go? What exciting activity you want to do now?" he said when they were back on the street. At the same time, he effortlessly took her hand. Her heart fluttered. She thought nothing could be more exciting than just being next to him.

"Why don't we just go for a walk somewhere?" she asked.

"It's ok with me. The weather is nice. But are you sure? We didn't need to come to the city for a walk."

"But there is that famous park nearby. I always wanted to see it."

They reach the park in a few minutes.

"Wow, sakura is still blooming," she said.

"That's why there are so many people here," Tobio responded while making way for them through the crowd.

"I like it anyway. It's the only second time ever I've been to Hanami."

" Do you want to sit somewhere?"

"Mmm. It would be hard to find a nice spot. Let's just go for a stroll."

Tobio looked around.

"Actually, I have a better idea." He led her to a boat rental he saw near the pond.

Soon they were on a boat. Reina thought the view was indeed much nicer here, with the trees' reflections on the water surface, but...

"Tobio, aren't you overdoing it a bit? Can you please stop rowing? We went around the pond twice already."

"Oh, sorry. I got too much into it. It's a great upper body exercise."

"Is it because I made you skip your regular conditioning for this one day?" she said and took his hand, which finally stopped rowing.

"Don't worry about it. Rest is an important part of training too. And it sometimes feels that I cannot stop moving even when I should. But when I'm with you, I feel that I can let go a bit," he said while leisurely playing with her fingers.

"Good, I would hate to jeopardize your volleyball playing. It would feel like sacrilege."

"That is the single, most touching thing you could say as my girlfriend," he said and looked with awe at her. Then, suddenly, he grabbed oars and looked around impatiently.

"What's going on?" Reina asked.

"I was wondering if there are any rushes around that we can hide in."

"Why?"

"Because there are things I'd like to do that are frowned upon in public spaces."

Reina started to laugh sincerely.

"You smile a lot today. I like that," Tobio said and smiled back at her.