Oikawa and I are seated on the swings again as Takeru continues to play with the other children. We talk about how school is going and our classes. He asks how my grades have been. This goes on for a bit, but I can tell there's one topic that he's avoiding.

"Oikawa?" I ask him and he hums in response. "How have you really been doing?"

"What do you mean?" Oikawa avoids my eyes as he answers me. "I'm fine, as usual."

"I-I um..." I start, still debating whether I should bring up the sensitive topic. I take a deep breath and continue. "I heard about the game. I'm sorry. Even though I wasn't there and you destroyed my brother's chances at going to the finals, I was really rooting for you during the finals. I almost got in trouble for watching the livestream on my phone during class," I say with a slight laugh, trying to keep the mood light for his benefit.

"Thank you. That means a lot," he says, softly. "I'm okay though. I just have to work harder, just like you've been doing with your studies. I plan on making it to nationals this next tournament."

I nod, my swing squeaking as I shift uncomfortably. "I kinda wish I could still be in the club like Asahi and the other guys," I say, knowing he doesn't want to talk about the game anymore. "It actually was a good break and stress relief for school."

"All the third year guys are still in the club?" He asked, surprised.

"Yeah, they're pretty determined about making it to nationals this time around," I tell him. "And, I don't know. I feel like they can do it."

"I guess I'm not getting your support then," he pouts, noticeably in higher spirits now that we weren't talking about the finals.

"Well, I gotta support my brother and school, sorry," I say with a cheeky grin.

"But I'm so much more handsome than them," he argues. "Just look at me! How can you not support this face?" He leans closer to me, pointing at himself with a boyish smile. I look at his charming face, his pretty brown eyes sparkling with amusement. His brown hair has a disheveled but sexy look to it, but I'm guessing he spent time in front of the mirror making it look like that.

I mean, even though that was a very egotistical thing to say, he's not wrong.

"Nope. No amount of charm from a pretty face is going to make me betray my brother," I tease.

"Aw, Asu-chan! You think I'm pretty?" Oikawa teases me back, making me blush thinking back to the statement I just said.

I compose myself and settle for rolling my eyes at him. "Can your head get any bigger, you numbskull?" I joke.

"So mean," he replies with his cute pout again. I just laugh at him as Takeru runs up to us.

"Can Azumane-san come with us every Monday that we don't have volleyball lessons?" The young boy's eyes are wide and pleading in his uncle's direction.

Oikawa already explained to me that since he has no practice on Monday's he picks up his nephew from school until his parents get home from work. Every other Monday is volleyball lessons where Oikawa teaches him and a group of other kids how to play, and the other Mondays are spent either at the park, at Oikawa's house, or another place for kids.

"I'm definitely not opposed to the idea as long as Asu-chan agrees," Oikawa says and the boys both look at me. "I know you're busy studying, but you have a lot more free time due to not playing volleyball anymore. Also speaking of which. It's kinda hard to handle a group of hyper elementary school kids to teach them volleyball by yourself. Since you said yourself you wish you could still play, do you want to help me out?"

"Well-" I start.

"Yes!" Takeru exclaims running up to me and grabbing my hands in his small ones. "Please, can you teach me how to play too? It'll be so much fun!"

I look over to Oikawa. "You can say no of you don't want to," he tells me. "I don't want to force you to do something you don't want to do since I know you want to study more, but I will tell you that it will look good on college applications."

I think about the situation logically. I need to get my grades back up and so that means studying. There's also chores back at home to do since Mom is busy at work as well and can't do everything around the house. On the other hand, I do have a lot more free time due to volleyball ending, and it's only Mondays for probably about two to three hours. Plus Oikawa made the argument that it will look good on my college applications.

I look to Oikawa again. I know he wanted to give me complete, unbiased choices, but the look in his big, brown, puppy dog eyes tells me he really wants me to say yes.

"I mean, it's only on Mondays," I say. "I still have a lot of time to study. If you need the help, I'll help you out when I can. Although, I don't know how I'll make as a teacher. Yui was always the more patient one when it came to teaching the underclassmen."

"Seeing how you handled those kids today, I think you'll do just fine," Oikawa tells me with a big smile stretching across his face.

"Yay!" Takeru shouts with joy. "I get to see Azumane-san every week now!" He skips around and runs back to the jungle gym.

"He's in high spirits," I comment with a smile as I watch Takeru climb up a ladder and slide down a slide.

"It's because a pretty girl is gonna help teach him volleyball instead of his weird uncle," Oikawa responds, knowingly.

"What pretty girl?" I say in a sarcastic tone with a laugh.

He laughs at me. "Don't be like that. You're beautiful," he tells me with a brilliant smile.

My eyes widen at his bold statement. I look away from him as I feel my face burning. My stomach churns at his words and I feel my palms getting sweaty as I grip the chains on the swing. "I keep forgetting you're such a ladies' man, Oikawa," I say, still not looking at him, but a can't get the smile off my face.

***