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Kenma was separated from the Nekoma team almost as soon as they got off the shinkansen. Pulling his duffle bag higher onto his shoulder, he shoved his phone into his pocket to observe his surroundings. There was no sign of Nekoma’s bright red jackets anywhere in front of Sendai Station.
The team was supposed to meet in front of the station in a couple of hours to board a bus to the suburbs and try to fit in an evening practice before their first game against a local high school. It all sounded like a lot of work to Kenma.
He checked his phone again, surprised that Kuroo hadn’t texted him. While crossing an intersection, a flash of red and gold caught his attention. It was the logo of his favorite used video game store.
Following the signs deeper into one of the side alleys, Kenma walked up the stairs to the second floor of the shopping complex, where the store was hidden. He nodded hello to the cashier behind the counter, before wandering over to a bin of clearance games. There wasn’t much in the bin that was interesting, except for an old educational game that looked just bad enough for Kuroo to absolutely love. He grabbed the cartridge to hold onto and headed over to look at the vintage games.
The selection of vintage games was a bit better, and the store even had a couple of rare cartridges that he’d only seen in person a couple of times. He cursed when he saw a game that took him three months to track down marked almost 1200 yen cheaper. Shaking his head, he moved the game out of his view so he wasn’t reminded of the extra money he had spent. At least they had a couple of other titles that he wanted — the sequel to a game he loved and an original game that he’d only played the 3D remake of. Adding the two to the clearance game, he ventured further into the store, where the more recent games were displayed.
He eyed the games that were kept in the glass display case under the counter, but they were all way out of his price range. There were quite a few that would be the crown jewel of his game collection that he could only imagine owning someday. Admiring the games for a few more seconds, he eventually moved on to look at the newer console games.
There was an entire shelf of new releases, but they were still priced at retail value. If he waited a few more months, he was sure that he could snag a good deal for them online. An older release that he’d had his eye on was on the shelf across from him, but another customer was standing in front of it. Pretending he was still looking at the new releases, he waited for the person to move on to another part of the store.
Yet, the boy doesn’t move.
Kenma continued to watch him out of the corner of his eye, picking up the same copy of the newest party game, but a full five minutes later and the other customer was still staring at the same shelf of games. He moved away from the new releases shelf, and moved to do a loop around the store while he was waiting for the boy to move.
After two circuits around the place, he finally realized that if he wanted to look at the shelf, he was going to have to confront the other customer. Taking a deep breath, he mentally readied himself to talk, and walked up behind him.
“Excuse me?” Kenma asked, sort of half-waving in the general direction of the shelf. “Sorry, I just wanted to check out one of those games.”
“Oh,” the boy ran a hand through his hair, flashing a bright smile. “No, it’s my fault! I’ve been standing here forever. You’ve probably been waiting for me to move.” Kenma had a feeling that the other boy had seen him doing circuits while waiting. It was, frankly, a bit unnerving.
“Yeah… Uh…” He stuck the game onto the top of his pile, not even looking at the price. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” Kenma nodded again at the other boy and started to turn away, heading toward the cashier. “Wait!”
“Yeah? Did you want this game?” He asked, turning back around.
“No, no. Nothing like that.” The boy seemed almost nervous. “You just seem to know more about video games than I do? Do you have any recommendations?”
Kenma resisted the urge to walk away, not ready for this level of social interaction today. “Uh, what kind of game are you looking for?”
The boy brightened considerably. “It’s for my best friend’s birthday. He really likes those fighting games.” He rolled his eyes. “He makes me play them all the time when I come over, but I always lose. Ugh… it’s terrible.”
“Uh… well…” Kenma glanced over to the games in front of them, pointing to one at the far end. “This game got pretty good reviews, and people like that you’re able to fight as giant cryptids. My friend and I play it a lot after volleyball practice.”
“You play volleyball?” His gaze sharpened into an appraising look. “What position?”
Kenma swallowed, eyes flashing toward the cashier. “Um…”
“Sorry~” The boy doesn’t look one bit ashamed. “I should have introduced myself first.” He swept his hand through his hair again. “I’m Oikawa Tooru. I’m the third-year setter at Seijoh. You may have heard of us. We’re one of the best in the prefecture.”
“I’ve never heard of it. Sorry,” he shrugged, not really sorry at all.
Oikawa squinted his eyes, and whispered “Rude,” under his breath, before flashing a fake looking smile. “What did you say your name was?”
“Kozume,” he shrugged, uncomfortable with the formality, “I prefer Kenma, though.”
“And you play volleyball?” Oikawa looked especially gleeful at this prospect.
“Yeah.” He adjusted the shoulder strap of his duffle bag. “I’m a second-year at Nekoma in Tokyo. I’m a setter, too.”
“It’s so nice to meet you, Ken-chan!” he said, swinging an arm around his shoulders. “Feel free to call me senpai.”
“Uh, no thanks.”
“Come on, don’t you want to trade tips?” He laughed to himself, “Or, talk about your bull-headed wing spikers who are always trying to get you to stop practicing, and saying they have your best interests, which is impossible because my best interest is beating Ushiwaka!”
“That sounds like a You problem.”
“Don’t be like that, Ken-chan.” OIkawa made pouty lips, “You’ve got to be pretty good if you're the team’s setter as a second-year.”
“I only decided to play so my best friend wouldn’t be alone.” Kenma hugged his pile of games closer to his chest, side-eyeing Oikawa. “Don’t tell anyone I told you that.”
“Ooh…” His eyes twinkled with mischief. “Is there something between the two of you, Ken-chan?”
“Coming from the person who spent the last 15 minutes trying to find a video game for his best friend, I’m not sure that you’re the one that should be talking.”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He crossed his arms in front of him, a faint blush on his cheeks. “Iwa-chan’s been my best friend for years,” he pouted, “I have to get the perfect gift for him.”
“Again, sounds like a You problem.”
“Shut up, Ken-chan,” he huffed. “Best friends are just like that, I guess.” Oikawa shook off the conversation, quickly veering back to volleyball. “Is your volleyball team any good?”
Kenma rocked his head back and forth in thought. “Some people say we’re pretty good. I think we’ve got a pretty good chance at getting to Nationals this year.”
“Well, you’ll have to beat my team to win.” Oikawa declared, hands on his hips.
“Your team is good then?” Kenma tilted his head with an inquisitive look. “Have you gone to Nationals before?”
“Well, no,” he sputtered, “But I swear we’re going to beat Ushiwaka this year!”
“You sound pretty confident.”
“Of course I am.” Oikawa had regained his sure-of-himself aura. “I’m the best setter in the prefecture.”
“And you enjoy being the setter?” Kenma shifted his feet and tilted his head with a faint smirk on his lips.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked with a pout.
“You just seem like the kind of guy that would like the glory of being the Ace,” he added with a shrug.
Oikawa snorted. “Nah, I’ll leave that to Iwa-chan. There’s nothing like winning a game and knowing that you were the one responsible for most of the points, the one that kept the team together, and led it to victory.”
“Yeah,” Kenma let out a genuine smile. “I guess there isn’t.”
“There you are!” Kuroo strolled through the door, hands in his pockets like he owned the place. “The entire team’s been looking for you.”
Oikawa swung an arm around Kenma’s shoulder’s, jostling the games in his arms and spinning them around to face away from the shelf. “And, who is this Ken-chan?”
“Uh. Excuse me?” Kuroo flicked his hair, a look of derision on his face. “I’m his best friend. Who do you think you are?”
“Oh.” Oikawa paused. “ You’re the best friend.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Kuroo turned toward him. “Kenma, who is this?”
He ducked, freeing himself from Oikawa’s arm. “This is Oikawa. He’s…” Kenma paused, “...a setter, I guess. He’s from one of the local high schools.”
“You made a friend?” Kuroo asked, voice high in disbelief.
“I wouldn’t call us friends.”
“You wound me, Ken-chan.” Oikawa dramatically tilted his head back, hand over his heart.
“I’m not sure if I’m proud that you made a friend or appalled at your tastes,” Kuroo added, with a little shake of his head.
“And, what does that say about you, Kuroo?” Kenma asked, a smirk on his lips.
“Rude!” He checked his phone and sighed. “We have to go. Yaku is stalling for us. If we don’t get back to the team soon, they’re going to send a search party.” Kuroo waved to Oikawa, while pushing Kenma toward the cashier. “It was… nice to meet you, but we really have to go now,”
Kenma turned back to look at Oikawa who pointed at Kuroo and gave a thumbs up with an exaggerated wink. He just rolled his eyes in response.
“See you at Nationals, Ken-chan.”