"(Y/N)... please be with me."
The expression on my face changes to one of pure surprise, hearing those words come from him. My heartbeat races at an unthinkable speed and all I can do is shut my eyes tightly and strengthen my grasp on him. I just want to stay in this moment forever, but I prepare to say something in case that's what he's waiting for.
"I will, of course," I say quietly, and only then do I realize how rigid his positioning is against me. Saying those words, I start to feel his weight fall slowly onto me, and I feel like I'm supporting him.
Still reeling at the unexpectedness of his words, I start to wonder if it took Daichi's and Sugawara's influences to draw it out of him.
"Thank goodness," He sighs quietly in response, and I hear the slight tremble in his voice.
I start to smile, and I'm not sure if he can feel my facial movements next to his neck. At this point, I'm not sure how long our contact has ensued, but I don't care. Only as students start to approach the school grounds do I start to think about breaking contact. I take in one last breath, shutting my eyes tightly as if to lock in this memory.
As I pull away, he looks surprised, and for the first time, I see his face again, intensely red.
"People are starting to come in," I say, scanning the area.
"Oh," he says, taking a slight step back to put some distance between us.
"No, no, it's not that I'm embarrassed or anything! it's just because of my school." I sigh with sadness in my voice as I glance at the building ahead of us. "They just have some rules about dating. It's really weird."
"Oh! Well, that's okay. I guess some schools will have those rules... um, about dating." He laughs shyly, turning his gaze towards the ground.
"Yeah," I say, looking at the same spot as him, to hide the pink on my face. "Maybe I should go inside? A lot of people seem to be going, plus I might meet with Anika before class."
"Oh, sure. I'll come by after school—" Asahi starts to reply, stopping himself. Watching my confused expression, he continues. "I forgot that I have to practice again today. I'm sorry, I wanted to walk home with you today."
I give him a thoughtful smile before taking his hand in mine, and he doesn't flinch or look surprised, but rather squeezes my hand back in an instant. I let out a small laugh in reaction, and suddenly his familiar look of surprise appears again.
"I'm sorry, I..." I start, finding the words. "I'm just surprised that you don't seem so panicked anymore."
"Ah," He replies, laughing slightly. "Well, Suga and Daichi helped a lot when they came to see me. I realized that I just don't want to hide anything I feel for you."
Hearing this brings an intense warmth to my face. There's nothing else I want more than to go back to our previous state, holding each other tightly.
"Me neither," I say, to which he returns a gentle smile.
The sounds of chattering start to become more prevalent in the ambience, and it seems like a bigger influx of students is starting to arrive.
"I think I should head to school now," Asahi says finally, and I nod in response.
"Do your best at practice, okay Asahi?" I respond, and he grins.
"Of course... for you," He responds, just before taking a few paces away from me. Our hands still in each other's grasp, they slowly fall away from each other the farther away he gets. We both drop our arms at our sides, and before turning away, he gives me a light wave with the same gentle smile he usually wears.
Returning a wave, I start to head off on my own, taking the side path towards the entrance of my school.
⋆⋆⋆
"Anika? Anika, can you get up from the grass, please? You're getting your back all wet!" I say panicked, looking backwards to see if anyone was paying attention. To no surprise, all of the other students walking past us are peering at her body lying in the dewy grass.
"No, I'm staying here," she says calmly, eyes closed.
"Come on, we can talk about it! You just have to get up!" I respond with exasperation in my voice, thinking that I'll have to resort to pulling her up on my own.
"You're so embarrassing," I say as I act on my thought.
She doesn't come up right away as I tug forcefully on her arm. Eventually, after the third tug, she gets up on her own. "I was going to get up at some point," She responds, and I roll my eyes.
"I'm sorry," I say, and she sighs loudly.
"What do you have to apologize for? Oh, right, you had a fight with Asahi last week, and then you make up with him today, and then he asks you out, and you didn't tell me about any of it?!" Anika responds without taking a breath.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I mean, yeah, some of it happened so fast, like just this morning! You're the first to know that he asked me out." I note, and she seems to take it into consideration for a moment.
"We were just talking about him asking you out a while ago, I didn't think he'd act that fast. Especially right after you guys had a fight."
"Well, I feel like Suga must have said something to him. He and Daichi went to his house on Friday night." I respond.
In an instant, Anika stops in her tracks.
"... What?" I ask tentatively.
"... Even Koushi knew about this before me?! I'm gonna kill him." She says, beginning to march down the pathway, and as we leave the school grounds, turning right on the sidewalk.
"Uh, are you going home now?" I say, following her.
"No, we're going to Karasuno."
"Why?! A-and they have practice, so it's not like we'll have time to talk to them!"
"Okay, then let's make time and run!" Anika says, getting into a sprinting position. Before I can object, she's already on her way, her backpack smacking against her repeatedly with every stride. I sigh, knowing that I'll have to catch up with her. Keeping her in my line of sight, I start to laugh and struggle to keep up, noticing the intense grass stains gleaming brightly on her cream-coloured backpack.
⋆⋆⋆
"I'm gonna find him, and then... I don't kno-o-o-ow!" Anika exclaims as we reach the outer school grounds of Karasuno. Students in black uniforms are still filing out of the main entrance, and Anika rushes past them and enters through the open gate.
I call out at her, noticing all of the confused stares on the Karasuno students' faces. Unfortunately, I have no choice but to follow her inside, not wanting to look back at anyone else.
Remembering the club building's location, I direct my path towards it. As soon as I reach it, and before I can even see anyone, I can already hear Anika's intense voice clashing with Sugawara's more gentle tone. I make more of an effort to reach them, and as soon as I do, I notice that there are more people than just those two gathered together.
"How come you didn't invite me?!" Anika says as Sugawara raises his hands slightly in defence.
"W-what? Uh, Anika, it's okay..." He trails off, remaining calm as she continues to speak.
In the background of this interaction, two familiar faces watch quietly and intently, their eyes ping-ponging back and forth between either person. Only as one of their pairs of eyes shifts towards me does it prompt them to speak.
"Hey, it's (Y/N)!" Nishinoya says, and he and Tanaka rush over.
"Where have you been?!"Tanaka says as he approaches.
"I know, it's been a while! I'm happy to see you both!" I respond, and it's hard to focus on having a conversation when another louder, more intense one carries on next to us.
In sync, we turn our heads slowly towards Anika and Sugawara. At the top level of the club building, other members of the Karasuno volleyball team are filtering out. Seeing the interaction down below, they either rush to the gym with unease or walk leisurely to the gym paying no attention to what's down below.
The last two people to exit the room are familiar faces, Daichi and Asahi. They too, appear shocked at what they see down below them, both leaning over the side rail to observe.
"(Y/N)'s my best friend, I could've helped somehow too!" Anika continues, and I shake my head in embarrassment, knowing she'll end up regretting that she yelled at Sugawara in front of everyone.
"I know you two are best friends, but it was more of an impulse decision!" Sugawara responds, but it doesn't seem to calm Anika down completely.
"I don't believe that," Anika huffs, "you always have some kind of plan."
In that regard, I do have to agree with Anika. Last Friday with Daichi and Sugawara, I'm sure he was already starting to construct his plan as soon as I went to meet with Anika.
She continues her speech with a long-winded breath. "And I'm sure it was also part of your plan that he'd ask her out today too, wasn't it?!"
Where I previously heard side-conversations covering the situation in front of us, they now ceased. Even Sugawara doesn't have anything to say in response, and scanning over the rest of the boys' faces, they all stare in quiet shock at Asahi, who carries a wary look on his face.
"... Hu-u-u-u-uh?!" They all say in unison, and the two second-years next to me sprint towards the club room building. Daichi lightly smacks at Asahi's arm before starting to descend the stairs, and Sugawara finally gets to turn his attention elsewhere, choosing to look at me in surprise. I take a few paces closer to him and Anika, starting to think that maybe asking me out hadn't been part of Sugawara's plan.
"You really did it, huh?!"
"How did you do it, how did you get her to say yes?!"
"Ah, Asahi-i-i-i-i... you're a man now... I'm going to cry, I'm really going to cry!"
The sounds of Nishinoya's and Tanaka's overlapping speech permeate in the air as they shake Asahi by his arms on either side. Looking up at them, I start to laugh, watching Nishinoya's eyes fill with tears and Tanaka's expression grow intense with curiosity.
"I didn't expect that," Daichi says as he approaches the three of us.
"Yeah, without our help, too," Sugawara adds.
"You two really didn't say anything to him about asking me out?" I respond, and the two of them shake their heads. "What did you two really say to him that night? I'm really curious."
"Ah, nothing that he didn't already know. Just had to get him to remember things." Sugawara replies, waving a hand as if to gesture that it was a small feat.
"No, but... thank you, Suga. Thank you, Daichi. Really, I mean, things changed so fast, but I'm really happy with how things are again." I say, and the two of them smile at me contently.
Before long, the three boys at the top of the stairs all descend together. Nishinoya wipes away at his eyes while Tanaka continues to dog Asahi for advice on asking out girls. I turn to look at Anika, who seems to have calmed down at this point, likely due to the clear admission that she was the first to know what Asahi did.
"I wish I had a girlfriend who could cheer me on during matches," Tanaka speaks first, looking downcast. "Especially for the Shiratorizawa match! I want to look cool."
"Me too," Nishinoya adds, and everyone seems to notice his unending gaze towards Anika. Sugawara is the first to act on this, slapping the back of Nishinoya's head.
"You two will be fine without girlfriends to cheer you on," Sugawara responds firmly, and the two of them carry their heads low as they retreat towards the gym. "Ah, that reminds me, (Y/N), Anika, will you two be coming to watch the match?"
Anika and I look at each other, and I know that neither of us has a response.
"I'm not sure," I say, and Sugawara's face starts to fall. "I'm sorry, I just don't know how we can get out of school."
"Hm. I'm sure that there'll be a way for you two to get there! No worries." Sugawara responds finally.
We all stand in silence momentarily, and I sneak a look at Asahi, who gives me a discreet smile.
"I think it might be time to go inside soon, actually," Daichi says, and as he leaves, he gives Anika and me one short wave goodbye.
We both nod in response, waving back. Sugawara follows him, and soon enough, only Asahi, Anika, and I are left standing with each other.
It's only quiet for a moment before Anika speaks again. "Well, I'm going home now, so you two can do whatever couples do to say bye," she says with a look of disgust evident on her face, and I start to laugh.
"Hey," she continues, stabbing a finger into Asahi's chest. "Treat (Y/N) right. Otherwise, I'm gonna kill you, and no one will be able to find out who did it."
Asahi's face shows nothing less than intense fear, even after she removes her finger and starts to walk away. With her back towards us, she waves as she continues on. Looking back at Asahi, I can tell that her absence doesn't wipe the expression off of his face.
"Uh... it's okay, she just says that a lot," I assure, and he gives me a nervous smile.
I look towards the gym, where one of the doors is still swung open, and figure that it's time for him to leave. Turning my attention back to him, I notice his gaze is already on me, but this time, I'm the one who reaches for contact first.
I slide my arms around his sides, pulling myself closer to him and burying my head deep into his chest. He's quick to respond, copying my motions and resting his head on top of mine. I take in a deep breath, squeezing tightly.
"I'll talk to you later?" I say, my voice muffled into the cotton of his shirt.
"Of course," he responds, and we pull away from each other.
Right on time, a loud voice is heard coming from the gym.
"Hey, you! Get in here!" Someone yells, and looking at the gym, an older man stands in the doorway, his gaze directed at Asahi. Attributing his demeanour and physical features to stories that Asahi has told in the past, it only makes sense that that's the coach yelling at him. Seeing the rage in his coach's eyes, Asahi gives me a short apologetic look wrapped in panic as he runs over to the gym.
"I'm sorry!" I yell out at Asahi, who has already reached the gym doors and appears to be apologizing profusely.
I sigh as I wait for him to head inside, and once he's out of sight, I begin my walk home.