Dark Places | S. Tendou

I HAD A DREAM, I GOT EVERYTHING I WANTED

Today was the day of Shiratorizawa's final match against Karasuno to determine who would advance to the national tournament.

There was an air of certainty that Shiratorizawa would win. They were the undefeated champions of their prefecture.

It brought a smile to Maeko's face, thinking about how lucky she was to have gotten close to one of the team's representatives. She was invited here today to watch him play, and to support him from above in the bleachers.

Was she invited as a girlfriend?

They didn't actually discuss what their status was following the kiss. It was, admittedly, a little awkward, even though Maeko was hopeful that they'd be doing it again sometime soon. She ultimately decided to relax, breathe, and save the overthinking for another time. All that mattered right now was showing up for him.

When she walked through the front doors of Shiratorizawa, she did it with her head held high, matching any looks that she received from other people at school, whether they were there for the game or other after-school activities of their own.

People were whispering as she walked by. She could only catch snippets of their conversations here and there.

Who's that?

Does she go here?

She's hot. You think she'd say yes if I asked for her phone number?

No way, dude!

Of course nobody recognized her. This was not the same Maeko who had been miserably shuffling through the halls with her head down.

She cut off her blonde ponytail. Now, her hair was about chin-length, falling around her face in dark blue layers that made her green eyes pop.

Usually she wore modest clothing. Her school uniform was always buttoned to the top and fastened with a neat bow; outside of school, she wore baggy clothes that hid her figure, sinking into oversized hoodies and jeans. Today, however, she was wearing a white button-up shirt with two buttons undone, the collar folded outwards. She stayed true to her baggier style a little with an oversized dark grey cardigan, but she let it hang loosely around her shoulders rather than holding it snug to her body.

She approached her locker with newfound confidence. Some of the whispers accommodated this identifying moment.

Doesn't the girl with that locker have blonde hair?

I think she hangs out with Ayume.

For once, Maeko didn't care about having eyes on her or people whispering behind her back. She might've cared a little if anything she overheard was rude but, as far as she could tell, nobody had anything mean to say about her change in appearance. Owning your look and walking with confidence truly made a difference. As long as she was happy with herself, and other people could obviously see that, then there was nothing more to be said about it. Ayume's advice back then, when she dyed a strip of her hair blue and then tried to hide it from everybody, had been right after all.

"Hey, Maeko, about the other day. I—"

Ayume's mouth clicked shut as soon as Maeko closed her locker door and then face her friend. Surprise was evident all over Ayume's facial expression. She stuttered over her words while processing the immense change in Maeko's appearance.

"You dyed your hair?" Ayume asked even though it was obvious, reaching forward to wrap one of the blue strands around her finger as if to test that it was real.

"And bought new clothes? I don't recognize this cardigan." Next, her fingers moved to the fabric of the cardigan, tugging on it. She gasped a little when it easily fell off Maeko's shoulder and then motioned to fix it, but she stopped when Maeko didn't seem to react to it at all. That was when Ayume's eyes latched onto the unfastened buttons.