Author's Note: This is actually the last chapter of this short series - I have a Sousuke and Tsukishima fic that I am getting ready to post shortly so I didn't want to drag this one out. Maybe eventually I could write a sequel - I make no promises! Thank you to everyone who stuck around to read the story!

Tsuru Maiden - I understand it being redundant; especially if the chapters are fairly short, as mine tend to be, there's not always a lot you can find to comment on. I try my best to answer questions I see, although sometimes I may forget - and I try to respond if there's something to respond to review-wise! I get what you mean, it sucks when you're excited about a series or really like an author and you write a long review and you get no reaction. But really, thank you for all your reviews and feedback on this story!

Five

"Good morning."

It was the first time she had ever received a greeting from someone in the morning, and rather than reciprocate, she froze as she was digging her shoes out of the box in front of her. Her cheeks heated up involuntarily and she belatedly mumbled, "Morning."

Himuro seemed to purposefully loiter, biding his time until she had slipped her inside shoes on. "Exams are coming up," he mentioned, falling into stride beside her.

She peered up at him uneasily, forced to tilt her head because of the height difference. "Yeah... they are."

"A friend of mine is struggling with English, so we are going to have a study group."

"I see."

His elbow nudged her in the arm, and she regarded him quizzically—completely unaware of why he was prodding at her. "That was a subtle invitation. Are you going to come?"

"Subtle?" Her lips twitched. "I don't like beating around the bush. How many people are going?"

The fact that she always asked about the number seemed to indicate that she disliked crowds, but Himuro was quick to assuage her fear. "There will only be four of us, including me. One of them is Atsushi."

"Ah, the purple-haired one. He's my favorite."

That sudden remark seemed to catch Himuro by surprise. "Your favorite player? I thought you didn't like basketball."

She shrugged. "I don't like it, but if I had to pick a player then it he would be my favorite."

There was a complicated expression on Himuro's face as he digested that information. He probably didn't know what to make of it, given that she showed complete disinterest in everything. For her to even comment on Murasakibara seemed out of the ordinary.

Feeling a little satisfied that she had managed to stump him for once, Kanon gave a small mischievous grin. "I lied."

The fact that she was teasing him seemed like a curveball from out of nowhere, but Himuro recovered quickly, moussing her hair before she could duck away. "I should have guessed it."

"I guess I can go to your study group," she said as she opened the door to the classroom. "Just let me know when it is."

"Actually... I'm also having lunch with them today."

"Are you doing that subtle thing again?" she asked, stopping at the end of the row that led to her seat—completely in the opposite direction of Himuro's.

He smiled. "Yes."

"Oh. Then I guess I can go to that too."

She settled in her seat afterward and once class began, the most the two of them could do was exchange occasional glances. It occurred to Kanon that something was changing—within her and between them. Ever since the end of the Winter Cup, the two of them seemed to be spending more time together.

That was probably thanks to Himuro's persistence more than any effort on her part, though she did reply to his occasional text message. Her responses were probably considerably lackluster because they did little to elicit more conversation.

When the bell for lunch rang, she lifted herself out of her chair. She caught sight in her periphery of Himuro waiting by the door, and she caught up with him quickly. In her hand, Kanon was carrying her homemade lunch box.

"Did you make that yourself?" he asked as they walked together down the hallway.

She wondered where they were headed. Before it seemed he was eating lunch on the rooftop, but as the seasons were transitioning to winter, it seemed impossible to go up there without being thoroughly chilled.

"No. My dad made it."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah, my mom is a career woman, and my dad just works at an office. He has more time than she does. Well, not just that, he was an aspiring chef when he was younger."

The conversation seemed to interest Himuro, and he continued to steer it with question after question about her family life until they eventually arrived at a classroom. Kanon was puzzled by how he whisked open the door and invited her in like it was nothing—she was fairly certain that they weren't supposed to intrude on rooms during the lunch hour without permission.

When she entered she first spotted the purple-headed giant seated on a stool at a table. He was stuffing his face with potato chips when the two came in. Alerted by the sound, he languidly gazed over at them. The only acknowledgement that she received from him was a slight inclination of the head.

Hidden behind him apparently was a woman with bleached hair, her appearance almost stereotypical of a yankee. Kanon wanted to ask if Himuro had brought her to sit with a group of delinquents.

"Hitomi isn't here?"

"Previous engagement," the girl answered as she swallowed part of her lunch before redirecting her gaze to Kanon. "Who is this?"

"Classmate," Himuro answered vaguely. "Kanon, this is Murasakibara Atsushi and his girlfriend, Ogawa Reira."

Kanon stared blankly at the delinquent and her enormous companion. The two were both extraordinarily tall. She gave them a nod. "Hirose Kanon," she greeted with her name, skipping the option to supplement her year or class. It seemed unnecessary information—they could infer it because Himuro had already said they were classmates.

"Come and sit," the delinquent woman encouraged. Kanon had trouble remembering her name already.

She debated asking whether or not this was against school regulations to be eating in this deserted room, but she decided to feign ignorance. Whether it was or not mattered little to her, and so she climbed up onto a stool and set her lunch out in front of her.

"I've heard a bit about you, Hirose-senpai."

It felt strange to hear the word 'senpai' next to her name. She listened quietly while unwrapping the cloth that secured the two tiers of her lunch box before looking up. "Is that so?" It sounded less like a question and more like a disinterested filler sentence offered as truce to keep up the conversation.

"You're with the school newspaper, right?"

"So I'm told."

While Kanon started scooping rice into her mouth, she felt a heavy hand settle on the top of her head. "Don't mind her, Reira," Himuro said. "She isn't the most talkative."

The blonde-haired woman watched Kanon with a curious gaze, a slight smile on her lips. She didn't seem the least bit bothered by the fact that the other girl was largely unreceptive. "It's not much different from talking to Atsushi-kun."

Kanon glanced over at the giant who was now digging into his girlfriend's lunch box while she swatted at him to try to keep him back. It was a comparison she couldn't quite puzzle together. They were similar? She peered over at Himuro for confirmation.

He chuckled. "They are a bit similar. Talking to them gives you this calm, secure feeling."

"He has a girlfriend," Kanon remarked as she swallowed part of her omelet. "So you mean there is hope for people like me."

"Huh?" Reira seemed surprised.

"Are you cracking a joke?"

"Yes."

Himuro laughed heartily, patting her on the head. "You sounded so deadpan, no one would have known. Your delivery needs some work."

"Am I supposed to laugh when I say it?"

He tilted his head back and forth, contemplating it. Then finally he reached over with both hands and gripped either cheek, pulling the edges of her lips up. "If you smile then it will be better received."

"That hurts," she mumbled through gritted teeth.

Himuro promptly released her cheeks, listening to her complaint.

Watching the two through hooded eyes as she ate, Reira smiled as she finished the last of her meal—despite the fact that she had been forced to battle with the oaf beside her for it. "You suit each other."

Despite being socially inept for the most part, Kanon wasn't entirely unaware of the meaning behind those words. She traded glances with Himuro, who wore an ambiguous expression and soon looked away as if he was ignoring the remark. Instead of confirming or deny it, she decided on the simple statement, "I see."

"Ahh, I need to go to the bathroom," Himuro said suddenly, peeling away from his seat and leaving his half-eaten sandwich behind. He retreated out of the room, dodging the now awkward atmosphere that had settled over them in the wake of Reira's remark.

"Did I embarrass him?" Reira wondered out loud, looking to her boyfriend for confirmation.

"Never seen Muro-chin embarrassed."

Kanon tilted her head as she watched the two interact. "It's probably awkward for him to hear things like that," she said. "He seemed concerned about it before, too. I already told him I won't fall for him, so it's fine."

The fact that she voluntarily offered such a long comment on her own seemed to startle Reira, but she quickly recovered and exclaimed in surprise, "You said what to him?!"

"I told him—"

"No, I caught that part," she said with exasperation in her voice. "It's probably because you're like Atsushi-kun that you don't notice it. But I don't think he's worried about it for the reasons you said."

"I don't understand."

Reira leaned back and started counting off the reasons, finger by finger. "He mentioned you briefly weeks ago. He mentioned you might come to eat lunch with us. He mentioned you went to the Winter Cup and watched him compete and helped him."

Kanon blinked. "He talks about those things?"

"Maybe not in so many words. He's not that obvious, but..."

"Ah." A sudden look of vague realization seemed to cross the giant's face and he turned his gaze to Kanon. "Muro-chin likes her."

Seeming alarmed by the fact that he had blurted it out, Reira glowered at her boyfriend. "You weren't supposed to say it like that—not so bluntly."

"Oh."

The door to the room abruptly opened before their conversation could reach a conclusion, and Himuro seemed completely oblivious of the tension in the air as he returned to his seat. "Did you guys talk about anything while I was gone?" he asked as he peered around at the others at the table.

Murasakibara opened his mouth, perhaps to rat them out, but Reira quickly slapped a hand across his lips to keep him from blurting anything unnecessary out. Then she cleared her throat and spoke up. "We were just asking Senpai about her hobbies." She hesitated for a moment, giving her boyfriend a look before saying, "Uh, we're just... going to go get some drinks from the vending machine. We'll be back."

"Alright."

Kanon watched the two as they were leaving, with Reira hot on her boyfriend's heels as he protested in complaint and she shoved him forward with threats muttered under her breath. The two were acting too awkward for anything to be natural, and once they were gone, Kanon gave Himuro a questioning look.

He only smiled as he shrugged his shoulders, happily taking a bite out of his sandwich.

After taking a few moments to process the previous conversation, Kanon finally made a decision and turned toward Himuro with a serious look on her face. "I have never had a boyfriend."

He stopped chewing and stared back at her.

"Did I do the subtle thing wrong?" she wondered out loud thoughtfully.

He struggled to swallow as he laughed. "What are you trying to be subtle about? I don't even understand." Although he was supposedly confused, he had tears in his eyes that he was struggling to wipe away because he was so amused by her question.

"This is why I don't like beating around the bush," she said with a sigh. "I think you like me."

Without missing a beat he replied, "Mm. I do like you."

The fact that he confessed it without any hesitation or any surprise made her feel a little awkward. This was not how she had projected the conversation going. "Well, then... I..." Kanon tilted her head, completely bewildered.

"Do you like me?"

"Yes. I think so."

"You think so?"

She made a face at him, scrunching her nose up. "I've never had a boyfriend. I don't know what it's like to like someone. But being around Himuro is different than being around anyone else. So I think so."

"Tatsuya," he corrected. "You can call me Tatsuya."

Kanon held up a hand. "I refuse."

"Why?"

"Thinking about it makes my heart race. I don't want to."

Just as she thought he was about to laugh at her again, he simply smiled and patted her on the head. "Then I will take it as you like me. Can I consider you my girlfriend?"

"As long as I can keep calling you Himuro."

"Someday you will have to call me Tatsuya or it will be weird."

"I refuse."