Shigeru Yahaba slumped bato his seat, sulking quietly.

  What was there to even think about? This was fine as it was. Whether it was a wild dog or a puppy, dealing with it was too much of a hassle for him.

  Anyone would think it was a hot potato.

  Besides, Kyōtaarō wasn't a child. Surely, he could handle something this trivial on his own. And even if he couldn't, it wasn't Shigeru's fault.

  That's what Shigeru tried to vince himself.

  Yet, a restless frustration welled up in his chest, gnawing at him like a tiny thorn lodged in his throat.

  "Ugh, this is so annoying!"

  Finally, Shigeru couldn't hold baymore. He got up and ran off in the dire Kyōtani had left.

  Kyōtani hadn't gone far. He was sitting by the roadside, hugging the cardboard box with the puppy inside. If it had been a child instead of a puppy, a passerby might have called the police.

  That thought crossed Shigeru's mind as he plopped down beside Kyōtani.

  "For now, let's ask if there's anyone nearby who looks kind enough to adopt it," Shigeru suggested.

  Kyōtani stayed silent for a long moment before noddiantly.

  It was that time of evening when people had finished dinner and were out for a stroll, and quite a few dog owners were walking their pets. Surely, among them, there might be one or touldn't mind taking in an, right?

  Shigeru approached several people, but none were willing to adopt the puppy. As it turned out, owning one dog and owning two wasn't as intergeable as he had initially assumed…

  Just as the pair were beginning to feel disheartened, Shigeru's phone suddenly rang. The caller was someoirely ued.

  "Hello? Watanabe? What's up?"

  Shigeru answered the call, puzzled.

  Watanabe Jinji ractically invisible in the Aoba Johsai volleyball club—a reliable yet quiet pyer. Whenever anyone was asked for their opinion of him, the response was always the same: "He's a nice guy."

  Shigeru had called him earlier to ask if he'd take the puppy, but Watanabe's reply had been a curt "No." The versation had ended in silence, so Shigeru hadn't anticipated this follow-up call.

  "Has the puppy found a home yet?" Watanabe asked, his tone calm and steady.

  "No, not yet. Why?" Shigeru replied, intrigued.

  "My cousin bae adopt it," Watanabe said, as posed as ever. His words, however, were like a gentle breeze, dispelling the dark clouds that had hung over them.

  "Wait a sed—did you go and ask all your retives about this?!" Shigeru suddenly realized.

  "Yeah. You both seemed pretty desperate," Watanabe replied simply. Beh his pin words was an unmistakable warmth.

  "Watanabe! You're a saint!" Shigeru's voice trembled slightly. He thought to himself that if Watanabe were standing in front of him right now, he might actually break down in tears.

  "Shigeru!"

  The voice didn't e from the pho frht behind him.

  Shigeru turned around. Watanabe was standing there, smilily. His expression was like the soft sunlight of a spring day—warm but unobtrusive.

  Shigeru froze.

  "I figured you'd be around here, so I came over," Watanabe said naturally. "My cousin will be heading bae after the holidays. We send the puppy with them tonight."

  Shigeru's emotions swirled into a plicated mix—gratitude, relief, and an ued fondness he couldn't quite name.

  Kyōtaarō, having heard the whole story, didn't even bother putting on his usual fierce expression when fag Watanabe Jinji.

  Watanabe gently took the cardboard box with the puppy from Kyōtani's hands. As Kyōta go, the puppy whimpered softly and licked his hand.

  "If you want to see it iure, you're wele to visit my hometown," Watanabe offered.

  Without wasting words, Watanabe prepared to leave, eager to hand the puppy over to his cousin. He quickly said his goodbyes a, leaving Kyōtani and Shigeru behind.

  Shigeru Yahaba was still lost in a faint mencholy. In ses like this, he had always imagihe other lead would be a beautiful girl—someone like Karasuno's manager, for instance.

  Though her personality might not quite fit the vibe, it would have been a ouch…

  Kyōtaarō didn't move either. He stood there, dazed, as if today's events were somethiraordinary for him.

  "Hey, during practice, make sure you get along with everyone, alright?" Shigeru called out as he started pag up to head home. For some reasoe there being no practice today, he felt inexplicably tired.

  "…Yeah."

  Kyōtani's response was so soft that Shigeru wasn't sure he even heard it.

  As fate would have it, the two ended up walking home in the same dire. Of course, that expined why Shigeru had run into him earlier. Shigeru gnced over at Kyōtani, and after a while, a familiar irritation bubbled up inside him.

  "Hey, you smell like dog!"

  "You stink! Not me!"

  The walk home alternated between stretches of silend bickering over trivial nonsehough their arguments tihere was something subtly different about their retionship now—a sense of friendship that hadn't been there before.

  As they walked, Shigeru suddenly paused, feeling a strange sense of unease. He thought he heard a faint sound somewhere nearby. He gnced around and spotted a brand-new cardboard box a few steps ahead.

  "What….is this?"

  The box wobbled slightly. Both of them stopped iracks, staring at it. Suddenly, a tiny kitten's head popped out.

  "Meow."

  "It's… a cat," Kyōtani said, staring bnkly.

  "Don't look at it! Just pretend we didn't see anything!" Shigeru snapped, grabbing Kyōtani's arm to pull him away.

  Before they could leave, the kitten grabbed onto Kyōtani's sants with its cws and skillfully climbed up. In the blink of a perched on his broad shoulder, letting out a soft 'meow' before lig his cheek.

  "Seriously?! How do you always end up getting attached to these things?"

  "It's not my fault!"

  "That attitude of yours, like animals just naturally flock to you, is so annoying!"

  "Shut up!"

  And just like that, Shigeru and Kyōtani's Monday wasn't quite over yet.

  ------

  "Hey, your set was too low," Kyōtani grumbled at Shigeru during practice.

  "Then figure out how to hit it! I'm not Oikawa-senpai—I 't make every set perfect!" Shigeru shot back, but still raised the ball slightly higher.

  "Hey, don't you think the Mad Dog-'s been a lot more obedient tely?" Oikawa Tōru whispered spiratorially to Iwaizumi Hajime on the sidelines.

  "Even Kyōtani-senpai isn't stealing my spikes anymore!" added Kindaichi Yūtarō, nodding eagerly.

  He robably the only one ieam who respectfully referred to Kyōtani as Kyōtani-senpai. Kawahara Taichi called him Mad Dog-senpai, while Kunimi Akira simply avoided iing with him whenever possible.

  "Something must've happehat Monday," Iwaizumi mused. "Wasn't that the day they called about trying to find someoo adopt a puppy?"

  "Wait, that happened?!" Oikawa asked, pletely out of the loop.

  "You're hopeless, Oikawa…"

  "Well, whatever it was, it looks like everything worked out perfectly. I wonder who was kind enough to help them?"

  Sitting nearby, Watanabe Jinji's ears twitched slightly, but his face remained calm, adorned with that same spring-like smile.

  Aoba Johsai eaceful as ever today.

  _________

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