A Foreign Life (Tsukishima x y/n)

CHAPTER EIGHT

                                                                (Y/n's POV)

I yawned as I walked into the gym, covering my mouth with my hand, tears appearing on the sides of my eyes. I had gotten maybe two hours of sleep last night. I was exhausted.

I was in a pair of exercise shorts, wearing a tank top underneath my brother's hoodie. I could finally wear actual exercise clothes to practice, instead of a stupid skirt. And while I was here I could maybe get in a little bit more of a workout than usual.

I heard a snort, and I turned to see Tanaka looking at my hand and then to Noya. "You said you guys didn't do anything?" He laughed loudly, and I tilted my head, confused. I brought my hand down from my mouth and looked at my wrist. Oh. It was badly bruised from when Akito had grabbed onto me last night.

I somehow managed to blush and scowl at the same time. One look at my face shut Tanaka up, and I yanked my sleeve down, marching over to the side of the gym and sitting down, pulling on a different pair of shoes. I should've known that I would have bruises. He had grabbed me hard.

I looked over at Tanaka and Noya again, and I saw a look of hurt on Noya's face. Oh. He thought I had done something with somebody else. How did I tell him that that wasn't it without telling him the truth?

I stretched while all the boy's filed in, and when they were stretching Kiyoko and I got out all of their equipment, setting up the net and getting the balls out.

Daichi announced that they were going to go for a run to start off the day, and even though it was super embarrassing, I spoke up and asked if I could go as well. Everybody stared at me. He gave me a quizzical look. "I guess you can. We go fast and far though, I don't know if you want to tag along with us."

I raised my eyebrows. He didn't think I could keep up with them? "How far?" I asked.

"About three miles." What? I thought they measured in kilometers here. That was nice of him to change metrics for me.

I grinned. "That's easy. I can keep up. Thanks for letting me come." I took my stolen hoodie off, tossing it to the side. I couldn't help but notice that everyone's attention was on me. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Boys.

I lined up behind them. They ran in twos and everybody was already paired up so I was alone behind the last pair. It was Noya and man bun.

I saw Daichi leaning around Suga to stare at me, giving me another look. This one said I was crazy.

They set off at a quick pace. I relished the feeling of my feet hitting the ground, missing the exercise. I wasn't really a fan of running, but it was a good way of exercise so it was worth it.

While we ran a few of the boys migrated to the back of the group and others migrated to the front, like Hinata and Kageyama, who seemed to be in some type of competition.

I passed everybody but Hinata and Kageyama, who were in the very front. A couple of the boys sped up when I passed them, trying to not let me get too far ahead, but I was too quick. Tsukishima had given me a look when I passed him, and I shrugged my shoulders at him, conveying the same question I had asked earlier: 'What's your deal?'

I thought about trying to pass the two speed demons in the front, but they were going really fast and I didn't know the way, so I opted to just keep them in sight.

We all spread out as we ran, and the nearest people to me were about five meters away. I soaked in the cool morning, inhaling the fresh air. This was what I lived for.

The repetitive feeling of my feet thumping into the ground chased out my thoughts of last night. Sweat dripped down my forehead and would've stained the underarms of my tank top if it wasn't black.

The three miles seemed to be over fairly quickly.

We got back to the gym after running through the town, and I came in second behind Hinata and Kageyama. It was nice to prove Daichi wrong.

Everybody was breathing hard, and I was no exception. It wasn't until I was in the gym putting my hands on my head so my breathing would be easier, that I realized I hadn't brought a water bottle. I had been too tired to think this morning. Plus I had left as quickly as I could.

I thought about trying to sneak into the school to get to the water fountains, but it was probably locked. Suddenly Noya materialized by my side, holding out his water bottle. I looked at him, and he nudged it into my hand. He must've seen that I was without water. I nodded my thanks, still breathing hard, greedily tilting my head back and sucking down the water. I wanted to empty the bottle, but that would be a jerk move, especially since Noya still had hours left of practice, so I only took the bare minimum.

I handed it back to him, wiping the back of my sweaty hand across my mouth.

He tilted his head back, downing the water as well. "Uh, Noya?" I asked.

He put the bottle down, looking at me, showing I had his attention. "Um, I just wanted to tell you that this isn't what it looks like..." I trailed off awkwardly, holding up my wrists. His eyes seemed strangely steely.

"Ok sure. It's not really any of my business anyway, we hardly know each other." He turned and walked off.

Ouch. That hurt a bit. But he didn't believe me? How could I convince him? It seemed like he was hurt, but mad at himself for being so hurt because we just met each other. He didn't want to seem over the top.

I jumped forward, stopping him, grabbing onto his arm. "Wait, please Noya." He stopped, not turning around.

"Look, I can't tell you what happened, but you have to believe me that it isn't what it looks like, ok? I don't lie. I promise."

He turned. "Why can't you tell me? Just tell me, and I'll believe you."

I hung my head. "I-I can't. I'm sorry." I felt horrible.

He sighed. "Ok. Fine." He paused. "Don't make my trust in you go to waste."

I looked up, determined. "I promise. You can count on me." Was not telling him betraying his trust? I thrust the thought out. "Oh, and thanks for the water. I kind of spaced out bringing some this morning."

"Yeah, no worries." He offered a very small, very hesitant smile, walking off again. I could tell he was still trying to convince himself all was fine, and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I really liked him, and I didn't want him to not trust me.