I Can't Say "I Love You" | Kuroo Tetsurō

Chapter 13: Arcade Events

"WHOO! GO KENMA!!" Lev cheered loudly as he bounced around the arcade cabinet where Kenma was busy playing.

"Lev, you're being too noisy!" Yaku scolded his underclassman and roundhouse kicked him.

Mirai wasn't entirely sure what happened or how she got there, but it looked like everyone was having a good time. Although they should be at home studying for their exams... Perhaps even Kuroo and Yaku, who were both in class 3-5 which was a college prep class, wanted to let loose and have a bit of fun once in a while.

If any of their teachers found them there then they would be in really big trouble. To her left, Inuoka and Shibayama were playing a zombie shooting game; to her right, Fukunaga and Nobuyuki were playing air hockey.

"AH! Get back here, you bastard!" Yamamoto yelled from the arcade racing machines.

She felt really out of place in the deafening world of gaming. Without having anything to do, she looked around for a place to sit.

"Kitten, over here!"

Kuroo's voice called her from the other side of the arcade and she caught of glimpse of unruly bedhead poking out from near one of the bigger machines. She carefully walked to where he waited for her, making sure not to trip or disturb other gamers on her way over.

"Whoa," one of the boys whistled, catching her attention. "What's a girl like you doing here? Came to play?"

"Oh, uh, sort of?" She replied meekly.

"Oho! The timid gamer type of girl?" The boy's friend elbowed him with a smirk. "Good eye! She's totally cute too!"

"Huh..?"

Before any of them could interrogate her further, a dark shadow loomed over Mirai and she blinked upon seeing the boys flinch. "Hey," A large hand rested gently on her shoulder and she looked up to find Kuroo glaring daggers at the guys trying to make a pass on her. "If you try to make any advances on this kitten..."

"...You'll have to answer to us." Someone else finished.

When she turned her head to her right, she saw the entire team already gathered next to Kuroo. Most of their players were noticeably tall and the one that freaked the two guys out most was probably their lanky first year giant and Mirai's best friend Haiba Lev.

"Eh? You guys were making a pass on our manager?" Lev smiled innocently.

"Hey, hey, hey. What business do you have with our precious manager, huh?" Yamamoto growled as he pulled on one of his intimidating faces, which actually worked against them.

"W-WE'RE SO SORRY! FORGIVE US!" They shrieked and ran away as far as they could.

After everything has calmed down and the two guys were no longer in sight, everyone relaxed and grinned at each other. Mirai let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding.

"Mirai, you should be careful with weirdos like that." Yaku gently chided the oblivious girl.

"Yeah, Mirai, you're really cute so guys like those two are bound to approach you!" Inuoka frowned worriedly.

"But all they asked me was if I was here to play..?" She itched her cheek and stared at everyone confused.

Kuroo shook his head and told everyone to continue whatever they were doing, seeing as the coast was clear and every guy in the arcade who was watching seemed to get the idea. He pulled Mirai over to the dance machines and slipped a few coins into the slot.

"Kuroo-senpai, you seem tensed..." Mirai mumbled nervously and fiddled with her fingers. "Did I do something wrong?"

Sensing the uneasiness she was giving off, he simply plastered on a smile and waved it off.

"Of course not. Just be careful next time, okay?" He told her. "We'd be worried if our precious manager suddenly got kidnapped by lecherous young men."

"L-Lecherous?!" She gasped, eyes widening. "I had no idea! Thank you for rescuing me, Kuroo-senpai!"

She bowed deeply in gratitude. Kuroo sighed.

"You really are oblivious, aren't you?" He smiled fondly and scrolled through the song list on the screen.

"Oblivious to what?" Mirai wondered silently as she watched him.

Kuroo picked out a rather interesting song choice as he stepped unto the platform, he flashed a smirk at her direction and gestured for her to keep her eyes on him. The music started playing and his feet tapped the arrows on the floor without much difficulty.

As the music gradually became faster, Kuroo picked up the pace and his legs began moving swiftly to match the beat. Perfect! Perfect! Perfect! The words flashed across the screen briefly, indicating that Kuroo was pretty much a dancing god of a third year student. It didn't look like he was struggling to keep up at all!

Mirai was impressed, to say the least. She didn't even know he listened to BABYMETAL or even heard of them.

When the song came to an end, his score appeared on screen. Kuroo smirked and glanced over to his little audience. Mirai stood there, clutching his bag to her chest, an awestruck grin on her face.

"Kuroo-senpai really isn't human after all!" She gasped.

"Why does that sound more like an insult than a compliment?" He sweatdropped.

She giggled and walked over to him, returning his bag. "Kuroo-senpai, you're good at a lot of things. It's kind of annoying." She added.

"That doesn't sound like a compliment either..." Kuroo frowned.

The rest of the team headed over to them as soon as they finished playing. When they noticed Kuroo standing next to the dance machine, there was sudden chatter in the air about the bedheaded male's dancing skills. Yamamoto nudged Yaku's side and whispered something to him.

"Oh that thing? Yeah, I've got it here." The libero snickered, pulling out his phone and searching for something.

"Hmm?" Mirai looked at the device curiously.

Yamamoto motioned for her to come closer and pointed at the screen of Yaku's phone, "You gotta see this!"

What the Nekoma ace meant by this was the video they took of Kuroo at the beginning of the school year. He was wearing black fitted clothing and high heels, and from what it looks like on the title of the video, he was dancing to the choreography of Bongyoung Park and the song Wiggle.

Note: This was done because of a bet saying that Kuroo couldn't dance as good with heels on.

"You still have that video?" Kuroo raised his eyebrows as he watched.

"Kuroo-senpai truly is a dancing god..." Mirai clapped, still watching the video. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

It was hard for Kuroo to decide whether to feel annoyed that Mirai didn't seem to gush over his artistic talent like his previous crushes or feel happy that she at least acknowledged them. Their manager is definitely a tough one...