& I BLEED.

❝     Then I guess I shouldn’t tell you anything huh?    ❞ Rin didn’t stop himself from expressing his amusement by Shima’s reaction to the ladybug on his neck. Not wanting the bug to be hurt Rin used his finger to gently transfer the ladybug to him then brought it towards Shima’s visual so he can see what he feared, ❝     Yeah this is soooo scary huh?    ❞

SHIMA MIGHT ACTUALLY SCREAM.   his face seems to lose all its color, turning into a sickly shade that seems telling enough. it’s horrifying -- with its dirty little feet clamoring all over his skin, probably thinking about biting him or sucking his blood out, our worse: pooping on him. he can’t hide the fear, and sweats drips madly from his forehead when he tries to get out his next words.

in a somewhat similar vein, kuroo likes to think he’s not easily swayed by ads. growing up in tokyo means he was subject to ads in all forms pretty much constantly, and at some point you just build up an immunity to it. most of the ads he saw weren’t that interesting anyways (mostly toothpaste or clothing commercials, with toy ads sprinkled in few and far between ).

not only were ads misleading at the best of times, but a lot of them were just… wrong. especially when they had english phrases in them, which often times were missing words or just grammatically incorrect all together. kuroo wonders if the people who created these ads passed english in high school, or if they just didn’t care. as iwaizumi brings attention to the ad, kuroo couldn’t help but scoff at the misspelling of it.

❝ … it’s supposed to but it isn’t, i think it’s supposed to be a complex sentence but it’s missing some stuff. ❞

OF COURSE, TOKYO MUST BE EVEN WORSE.   hajime had only been a few times when he was younger, but even thinking of it gave him a headache. everything was meant to be IN YOUR FACE, splaying bright colors & an energy that seemed inhuman. the ads felt just as tight & impersonal as the people did, but it might just be the culture of tokyo. in all other aspects it was an upbeat, “forward” city with much more offerings than sendai. 

but they should both have some semblance of class. what little he knew about advertising was enough to make him think they should have looked over their work, like anyone would when embracing a large project. even as a high school student, hajime read over his own writing. it seemed like common sense to review & revise. at least, if they had done that, whatever they were trying to accomplish -- to sound cool or draw in foreign customers -- could have happened.

HAJIME ISN’T THE BEST STUDENT THERE IS, & HE KNOWS SO.   however, he’s a diligent worker, and when he finally sits himself down at the public library to focus on his school work & begin prepping for an exam, HE MEANS IT. after hearing it enough from teachers & classmates, he learned to study well, even if it wouldn’t always translate on paper when it came to take the test. he would turn off his phone & train his attention solely to the notes in front of him, absorbing everything with a keenly trained eye. 

distractions should be minimal in a setting like this. one might think that the library of all places would demand focus & direction. so when he hears the chair beside him let out a painful creak as the weight in it seems to shift, he turns his head & gives a scowl. 

HAJIME IS COMPLETELY SERIOUS THIS TIME.   on a good day ( & even on an off-day ), he doesn’t care to choose what to eat. oikawa is always BRATTY about the choice, which means it’s pointless to argue, & he has good taste regardless. the choice is always fine --- something tasty, but still healthy & appropriate for an athlete’s diet. hajime is content to let others decide first, with the opinion that being too picky causes bad character ( at least ... it’s something he’d been told as a child ). it’s never been bad before to go along with things. he really doesn’t care, most of the time, as long as he has something to tide him over.

but the deep-seated HUNGER that catches him on a particularly bad day cannot be ignored. even if he were to accept the recommendation of another teammate, it wouldn’t feel right. it’s why he begins to fall behind the group while walking, a few steps back --- FOCUSED on his thoughts --- before he stops & clenches his fist tightly. it’s a signal that he won’t back down; he really needs to eat this. 

HE’LL ADMIT TO BEING EASILY SWAYED BY ADS   when he was younger. hajime was an avid television watcher when he was in elementary school. with very little homework then, of course he’d find solace in the next most exciting thing --- TV. when the weather was poor & he wasn’t able to play outdoors or participate in sports, the television set provided a sizable distraction for him.

& of course, the commercial advertisements it aired were no different. he regrets it now, but as a child hajime had spent a lot of his allowance on toys he’d seen on TV. somehow, the way they filmed the commercials made the toys seem more exciting & powerful than they actually were. this might have been the reason why now, he’s frugal & distrusts advertisements. that, & things like this: when the sign in front of him tries to look IMPRESSIVE by adding english that doesn’t make any sense. anyone with the high school-level english he has now would know as much --- “ HAVING GOOD TIME IS NECESSARY FOR YOUR LIFE ” is just awkward.

SPRINGTIME IS ONE OF HAJIME’S FAVOURITE SEASONS.   the temperature is just right, & the scenery begins to pick up from its once cold & gray wintry look. it’s days like this, where the weather is just nice enough to make him THINK that spring has started, that he likes in particular. sitting on a bench at a park nearby, he takes a moment to cool off from his run; the runner’s high that he had hit on his third mile was nice, but CALMLY LOOKING AROUND was also nice, he thought. 

IT’S LITTLE MORE THAN   a tickle against his neck --- the same kind of feeling as stray hairs falling during a haircut --- but something about this is more UNSETTLING. shima finds his stomach twisting in on itself, worsening the more he PONDERS. ( oh god oh god oh god please don’t be a bug ). he might just puke if it is ...