The Ex-Friend Project - Oikawa

Chapter XIII- Feelings

The next week flew by with the team hard at work. They were determined to beat Shiratorizawa next time.

The day finally came where the experiment would end. Sayuri would finally be able to go home. She could pack up her things and go back to sleeping in her real bed in her real room with her real family. All she had to do was get through today.

Practice seemed to drag on forever, but when it was finally over, Sayuri practically dragged Oikawa back to their home. Three hours until she could take her bracelet off for good.

She was running around like crazy throwing her things into her suitcase. She was ecstatic. Oikawa, on the other hand, looked more depressed than she had ever seen him.

"What's up with you, Grouchy?"

The older boy sighed, placing both of his hands behind his head and leaning down onto his bed. "Does it bother you at all? That after today, everything's going to change? You're going to go back to your normal life and quit being the manager for the volleyball club. You're going to go back to your normal schedule and you'll likely never talk to me again."

"If anything, it excited me." She looked over to the male, a smile growing on her face. "After today, I'll be back on my normal schedule and return to my studies. I'll get to spend time with my brother again. I would have thought that you would be happier about this. I mean, you get more time to focus on volleyball since I won't be around to hold you back."

He looked at the ceiling before muttering under his breath, "But you won't be there."

Sayuri's parents were ecstatic to see her again. They held a big family dinner, to which she ate happily, but something in her chest kept gnawing at her. Afterwards, she decided to turn in early. It was something she was unable to do with Oikawa around.

Her chest dropped at that thought as she fell onto her bed. Her chest began to heave faster and tears slowly slipped from her eyes. She felt wrong being alone in her room. Not once in the past two months had she truly been alone. She was always with him and in that moment, she ached for the sound of his voice. She hated it. She hated the feeling that was tearing her insides apart.

She didn't hear the door open, nor did she hear her brother approach her bed.

He set his hand on her back, lightly rubbing it. "Hey, this is supposed to be a good day. Stop crying, would you?"

"I'm sorry," she blubbered, turning to face him. "I just- I-"

"You don't have to say it. Your partner- he was Oikawa, wasn't he?"

"How-"

"At the practice game. You told me before then that you couldn't be a certain distance away from your partner. I thought that maybe it would have been Iwaizumi at first, but when you weren't at the game, it threw me for a loop. And then you walked in with him. You would never tell me, but it wasn't hard to figure out. You miss him, don't you? Because in the time that you were together, you fell in love with him."

She wiped a tear away, lazily turning to face him. "That's ridiculous. Why would you even think that?"

"Then why are you crying?"

"I don't know!"

"Call me crazy, but I've seen the way you look at him. I don't think you even realized, but the entire time I was on the bench the last time our schools played each other, no matter when I looked at you, your eyes were either down or glued to him. It didn't matter where he ran on the court, your eyes did not leave him."

"That's absurd! I- I-"

He gently took her hands, making direct eye contact with her. "I think maybe you should talk to him."