Chapter 7: What Should I Do for My Independent Research?

The passion for becoming a Libero faded quickly.

After leaving the gym that day, Yoriko Arisu sighed, her tone full of melancholy.

“It really hurts when the volleyball hits your hands.”

If you’re the Libero, you have to receive even more balls. She’d seen some people serve with a loud bang, the sound of the ball slamming onto the floor like a cannonball—it even made her heart tremble. Super scary!

“If only Kuro liked basketball or soccer instead. Those don’t hurt as much.”

Kenma Kotsume replied, “I think they’re all pretty much the same.”

They’re all sports, and you’ll sweat no matter what.

So tiring.

Tetsurou Kuroo widened his eyes at her.

“But Arisu, you received the most balls! That’s amazing!”

Yoriko Arisu’s ears twitched, suspicious.

“Really?”

“Of course! Even though you’re a beginner, you picked it up so fast. You’ve received more balls than I have! That’s what they call a genius!”

Yoriko Arisu curled her lips.

“Well, if you put it that way… I guess I’ll stick with it a bit longer.”

Kenma Kotsume: “……”

So easy to coax.

Tetsurou Kuroo was fair and didn’t play favorites.

He quickly turned to Kenma Kotsume and said, “Kenma too! Coach keeps praising your sets, you’re improving so fast—totally a natural Setter! The three of us together are unbeatable!”

The black-haired catboy’s ears turned red. He buried his face in his collar and mumbled, “Well, I’m just so-so. You’re exaggerating.”

The two of them were so flattered by Kuroo that they felt dizzy and floated up on cloud nine.

And so, they played volleyball for half a month.

“By the way, half of Summer Vacation is over. Kenma, have you done your Homework?”

Yoriko Arisu suddenly remembered to ask as they were getting ready to go out.

Kenma Kotsume: “Mm, of course I did. My mom checks it. If I don’t, she’ll confiscate my Game Controller.”

The rest were fine, but the Summer Vacation Diary was the hardest. Luckily, he could write about playing volleyball for the past couple of days.

Otherwise, since he’d only been playing games before, he wouldn’t have known what to write.

“Did you do your Free Research assignment too? What topic did you pick?”

Kenma Kotsume paused, looking a little lost.

“There’s that assignment?”

Yoriko Arisu stared at him, shocked.

“Of course there is!”

Volleyball is on hold—Homework is urgent!

The two of them launched an emergency blitz, and the three gathered in a circle for a mini-meeting.

Tetsurou Kuroo, having just moved and about to change schools, didn’t have to do his previous school’s assignments—so no Summer Homework for him.

He watched from the sidelines and pitched in ideas.

Yoriko Arisu was so jealous she could practically see little sour bubbles rising.

“So lucky, Kuro, you don’t have to do Homework.”

The black-haired girl sighed wistfully.

“Haha…”

Tetsurou Kuroo scratched his head.

“E-even though I don’t have Homework, I can help you guys!”

Kenma Kotsume: “Kuro, are you going to do my Homework for me?”

“No way! I mean help you think of ideas! Just ideas!”

The other two stared at him without saying a word.

“What’s wrong?”

Tetsurou Kuroo blinked in confusion.

Kenma Kotsume said slowly, “Feels like Kuro’s gotten a lot livelier.”

He talks more, and he smiles more.

Though his hairstyle is still weird.

Yoriko Arisu suggested, “Why don’t we just observe Kuro?”

Watching a new friend go from stranger to familiar—it sounded fun.

Tetsurou Kuroo was shocked.

“Eh—That’s way too embarrassing! I don’t want that!”

Yoriko Arisu had already pulled out her notebook.

“When you first got here, you were so shy, hiding behind the adults… Ah, I’ll need to draw pictures, too.”

She looked up and stared at Tetsurou Kuroo. He got flustered under her gaze and bolted.

“Don’t run! Kenma, stop him!”

“Sigh…”

Under Tetsurou Kuroo’s fierce protests, Yoriko Arisu reluctantly gave up on the “Observe Kuro” plan.

She flopped onto the floor, limbs splayed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

The light was so bright, it made her a little dizzy.

She quietly closed her eyes.

Then she heard Kenma Kotsume uncapping his pen.

“Kenma, do you already have an idea?”

“Mm, I think I’ve got a plan.”

Kenma Kotsume’s voice was calm.

Yoriko Arisu heard the quiet rustle of paper, followed by Tetsurou Kuroo’s soft gasp.

“Whoa! You’re going to draw that? Arisu will get mad, won’t she?”

Yoriko Arisu, who was about to fall asleep, was yanked back to consciousness.

She had a bad feeling.

Yoriko Arisu forced herself to shake off her sleepiness, struggled to her feet, and silently crept up behind the two to peek at Kenma Kotsume’s paper.

It was her, sprawled out napping just now.

She said in a gloomy voice, “Kenma…”

Tetsurou Kuroo: “Whoa!”

“Why are you the one who’s scared?”

Yoriko Arisu muttered, then threatened, “If Kenma writes about me, then I’ll write a Kenma Research Diary too!”

Kenma Kotsume froze, then quietly picked up an eraser and rubbed out the drawing on his paper.

Progress reset to zero.

Yoriko Arisu crossed her arms, still puffed up.

“Why do you want to observe me? And you made me look so ugly!”

Kenma Kotsume stared with his big, expressionless cat eyes.

“Your sleeping pose is always different. It’s interesting to observe.”

“That’s still not allowed!”

Tetsurou Kuroo glanced left, then right, and suggested, “Why not research volleyball?”

He clenched his fists.

“That way you can finish your assignment and play volleyball at the same time! It’s perfect!”

The other two looked completely uninterested.

“Kuro, you volleyball idiot.”

“So boring, pass.”

“Eh, why not?!”

In the end, they couldn’t come up with any good ideas, and then Mom brought up some fruit.

The three kids’ attention scattered instantly.

Kenma Kotsume went to turn on the TV, which was playing a Pokémon cartoon.

When Litten appeared, Yoriko Arisu exclaimed, “Ah, that’s Kuro!”

Tetsurou Kuroo, munching on watermelon: “Eh? Why me?”

Yoriko Arisu pointed at his red shirt. “Red.”

Then pointed at his black hair. “Black.”

Finally, she pointed at Litten hiding in the corner on the TV.

“Shy.”

Tetsurou Kuroo realized he couldn’t argue!

“Then what about you two? What are you?”

Yoriko Arisu looked at Kenma, deep in thought.

“There isn’t a Pokémon that likes to play games…”

Yoriko Arisu: “I give up.”

Tetsurou Kuroo: “That was fast!”

Kenma Kotsume: “Arisu is Snorlax.”

Yoriko Arisu protested, “I’m not that fat!”

“Then Munchlax.”

Yoriko Arisu thought for a moment, then nodded.

“That works.”

Tetsurou Kuroo wasn’t very familiar with this stuff and asked curiously, “What’s Munchlax like?”

Kenma Kotsume replied coolly, “Likes eating, likes sleeping.”

Tetsurou Kuroo: “……”

Yoriko Arisu eagerly added, “And it’s super cute!”

After that, in order to find a Pokémon that matched Kenma Kotsume, the three of them pulled out the Pokedex.

Yoriko Arisu: “How about Emolga? It likes eating apples—Kenma likes apples, too.”

Kenma Kotsume: “I like apple pie, and most Pokémon like apples anyway.”

“How about this one?”

Tetsurou Kuroo pointed at a picture of Umbreon.

“It looks really cool.”

Yoriko Arisu: “But I want to find a cat Pokémon.”

Kenma Kotsume: “Emolga isn’t a cat.”

Tetsurou Kuroo: “Why does it have to be a cat?”

Yoriko Arisu: “I don’t know, Kenma just feels like a cat. Maybe it’s the eyes?”

Kenma Kotsume: “I’m a person.”

Yoriko Arisu: “But Umbreon is good too. It’s all black, and it’s got a moon on it—just like Kenma sneaking up at night to play games.”

Tetsurou Kuroo: “Eh? Kenma, you’ve done that?”

Yoriko Arisu: “Yeah! And his mom caught him—boohoohoo.”

Kenma Kotsume stuffed a slice of watermelon in her mouth, deadpan.

“Even eating can’t shut you up.”

Yoriko Arisu chewed and said, “Kenma, you don’t eat enough, that’s why you’re not growing.”

She gestured with her hand to compare their heights.

“So tiny.”

Kenma Kotsume stayed expressionless.

“Doesn’t matter, you’re not much taller than me.”

“But I’m still taller.”

“Annoying. I’m mad now.”

“Eh? Sorry, my bad!”

Tetsurou Kuroo looked at the watermelon rinds: one in front of Kenma Kotsume, two in front of himself, and five in front of Yoriko Arisu, and thought deeply.

Arisu really eats a lot.

No wonder she’s so tall!

After finishing the watermelon, Yoriko Arisu rubbed her belly and yawned. “Sleepy.”

She flopped straight onto Kenma Kotsume’s bed, pulled up the covers, closed her eyes—her smooth moves left Tetsurou Kuroo staring in awe.

Tetsurou Kuroo worriedly asked, “Is it bad for Arisu to sleep so much?”

Kenma Kotsume had already switched the TV to the game console.

He picked up the Game Controller, unfazed.

“The doctor said it’s fine.”

Kids are supposed to sleep a lot anyway.

Although Yoriko Arisu did sleep a bit more than average, it was still within the normal range.

Tetsurou Kuroo nodded, half-understanding.

At that moment, Yoriko Arisu suddenly sat up, startling Tetsurou Kuroo.

Yoriko Arisu patted the spot beside her and said to Tetsurou Kuroo, “Kuro, get up here!”

Tetsurou Kuroo: “Huh?”

Yoriko Arisu’s expression was serious.

“I have to show you how wonderful it is to sleep under a blanket in an air-conditioned room.”

And so, Tetsurou Kuroo ended up on the bed, completely bewildered.

Once the blanket was on, Tetsurou Kuroo felt how close they were, and his face turned a bit red.

Aside from his mom and sister, he’d never been this close to a girl before.

With his cheeks flushed, Tetsurou Kuroo looked for help.

“Kenma, aren’t you joining?”

Kenma Kotsume gave him a look like he’d seen it all before.

“I’ll pass. Good luck, Kuro.”

Tetsurou Kuroo: Why does Kenma sound so weird?

Unable to figure it out, Tetsurou Kuroo closed his eyes, and soon sleepiness washed over him.

It’s nice to enjoy this kind of lazy atmosphere once in a while, he thought drowsily.

Tetsurou Kuroo had a dream.

In the dream, he was being chased by a huge black bear. He ran and ran, but no matter how fast he went, he couldn’t escape.

In the end, he tripped, and the black bear pounced right on top of him.

Tetsurou Kuroo woke up in fright.

He felt something heavy on him. It took him a while to realize that Yoriko Arisu had somehow rolled on top of him.

So the black bear was Arisu.

At that moment, Kenma’s words echoed in his mind.

[Arisu’s sleeping posture is terrible. If you sleep with her, you’ll have nightmares.]

[Arisu is Snorlax.]

Tetsurou Kuroo understood.

No wonder she’s Snorlax! Isn’t this just like being crushed by a mountain?