Blessed Beauty

Chapter 4

Nishinoya Yuu was a strange boy, indeed.

Once again, Hitomi paused a distance from the convenience store when she saw the short boy waiting outside. She weighed her options. This was now the third time seeing him and the second time he had deliberately waited for her.

Before she could decide on what to do, Nishinoya had noticed her. His eyes lit up immediately and his face brightened up with a huge smile. Just like last time, he lifted up both arms to wave energetically at her.

Hitomi noticed that his arms sported several scrapes and dark bruises. Perhaps it was a result of his volleyball practices? Before she could think on it more, the boy dashed up to her. "Hello, Miss Beautiful!!! Here to buy snacks again?" He shouted enthusiastically.

...Miss Beautiful? Well, that was original. Hitomi wondered if he had thought of other ridiculous nicknames for her because he still didn't know her name. It wouldn't be surprising, considering he called himself Karasuno's Guardian Deity.

"Do you actually just stand outside and wait here every night, hoping that I might come by?" Hitomi asked, ignoring his earlier question. She laced her question with a bit of disgust, thinking that it may deter him in the future.

Unfortunately, it didn't have that effect at all. "Yeah?" Nishinoya replied innocently, tilting his head a bit. He still had that bright smile on his face, showing that he found absolutely nothing wrong with any of this.

Hitomi's face now openly showed real disgust. "That's really creepy..." She coldly remarked, causing the libero to flinch. She could almost see her words physically piercing through him.

"Cree—!!! But I don't have a choice! I don't know your name, or your phone number, or what school you go to! This is the only way I could meet you!" His eyes widened, as if a lightbulb had just popped up above his head. "So, why don't you tell me your name today!"

"No, thank you." Hitomi immediately replied, just as she always did. Rather than its usual effect of hurting boys, Nishinoya took it all in stride. He merely laughed it off, not thinking that she might actually dislike him at all.

"Oh, well! I can always just keep calling you Miss Beautiful, because you are!" The boy gasped, thinking for a moment. "Wait...you're not married, right? Because then I'd have to call you Mrs. Beautiful instead of Miss!" He stepped closer, his neck straining back so that he could look up at her.

He was asking this genuinely, real concern on his features. Considering his last comment, however, this concern was not for something Hitomi would have expected. He was more concerned that he was using the wrong honorific rather than the fact that there was a possibility of Hitomi being married, of all things.

"You would hit on a married woman?" Hitomi asked him dubiously, wondering if he truly was only concerned about addressing her with the wrong honorific. Was this boy right in the head? Did he have all of his priorities straight?

Nishinoya clutched his hand into a fist, a fire burning in his eyes. "Nothing can stand in the way of my love!!!"

...Nishinoya Yuu was a strange boy, but he was also a complete idiot.

That was what Fukumoto Hitomi had deduced. She had met many other boys that acted similarly to him. They had bothered her constantly, trying to find out where she would be and when. They had camped out at places she frequented just like Nishinoya did.

The main difference though was that those other boys had much more sinister ulterior motives and alarming intentions. They had been much creepier, many of them being or eventually becoming stalkers. They had persisted on being close to her because of a disturbing form of obsession.