one step further // haikyuu x OC

tsukishima's way of caring is confusing // 33

By the time two days had passed, I was surprised that Kojima and Fukuhara never snitched on me to the school. I mean, if they really wanted to they could've gotten me into big trouble for hitting him - whether he deserved it or not. But it seemed like I had proved a point, he made it obvious to look the other way whenever I passed by. And he always rubbed the subtle bruise left on his cheek.

Hah, serves him right. Asshole.

Fukuhara would avoid looking at me too, though I swore I caught her in a few passing glances. This day in particular her sneaky stares seemed more hostile than usual. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were quiet and distant, despite being my desk neighbors. By homeroom I was so bored of the silence I decided to take a walk. I had to use the bathroom anyway. My mind wandered as I strolled back to class. Not in any particular rush to go back.

It's days like this where I really miss being in class with Shouyou. And if I wasn't forced to switch classes I wouldn't have had to go through what I did with Kojima and Fukuhara. Maybe if I had stayed in class 1-1 Tsukishima and I would still-...

My thoughts abruptly disappeared when I walked straight into somebody in the hallway. Before apologizing, their breath tickled my face. A sigh of relief. Looking into their eyes I saw none other than Kei himself. I couldn't hold back my pettiness.

"Tsukishima? What are you-?" Not letting me finish he quickly grabbed me by my shoulders and moved me around the corner of a wall, then placed his hands on either side of my head - trapping me underneath him. Fragments of words dribbled out of my mouth in confusion and obvious embarrassment until I could finally get one coherent question out.

"What the hell are you doing-?" In an instant, he had his fingers over my mouth, gently silencing me with his soft touch. Despite the fact that he was deliberately not looking at me, I could see some blush coloring his cheeks. From my spot I was able to peek around him the slightest bit, I saw Fukuhara stomp around the corner. She was dragging Kojima along and her posey were in tow. 'Where the hell did she go?' she was saying. But quickly quieted her talking and hurried away once making eye contact with my blond protector, failing to notice me. After ensuring the coast was clear he straightened out enough for me to slip from underneath his form. I looked at him in disbelief.

"You mind telling me what the hell that was?" I spoke firmly. He met me with an indifferent attitude.

"I heard them talking shit. Saying something about going to look for you, but I found you first."

"Okay... but why did you have to do that?" I mocked covering my mouth as my exaggerated nature made my arms flail about more as I spoke.

"Well, I had already tried to tell you to quiet down but you weren't listening to me."

"Ah- I... I see." We stood there in a short moment of silence, before more question arose from the fire in my gut. "So what is this then? Why are you doing this? Are you suddenly my friend again?"

I could tell my question caught him off guard, and by this point I still knew him well enough to know that his answers were bullshit. He was even more shocked when I called him out on his lame excuses. "Look Tsukishima," I was irritated. "I appreciate you coming out here to hide me from them. But you can't lie to me. And you can't just decide when you want to be my friend and when not to be... I'm going back to class."

xxx

"What's his deal, anyway?!" My hands flailed as I tried to gain some insight from the one person who knew Tsukishima best - Tadashi. I hoped that maybe he could shed some light on his friend's stupid behavior. "He's the one who said we shouldn't be friends... so what the hell is he doing, Yama?"

"Yama?"

"Sorry, too weird?"

"Nah, it's cool. Your nicknames are fun." He offered an apologetic smile as he rubbed the back of his neck, mulling over my questions. "To be honest with you... Tsukki isn't the greatest at communicating what he wants. I think even he doesn't realize what he's doing but..."

"But what?" I prodded. Any details to understand the confusion was better than nothing.

"But... it seems to me that he likes you. And he's being stupid because he doesn't understand those feelings very well. That's what I think, anyway."

My jaw dropped halfway to the floor. His hypothesis was so sudden! Tsukishima?? Liking somebody?? Liking me??

"What... no- I- no. Someone doesn't... do stuff like this when they like somebody..." I could feel color crawling onto my face in embarrassment. The thought of Tsukishima having a crush on me... was it true? Tadashi sighed and leaned closer to me over the desk.

"Listen, it's just my guess, but... geez. Okay- he told me not to tell you this. But I think you need to hear it so you don't think he hates you or something because he really doesn't. He's just... stupid."

"What do you mean...?"

"The day you went on that date, Tsukki didn't come to your house to see you."

"Yeah, I know that..."

"Well that's because he went to someone else's house. Kojima's house. He threatened him to never mess with you again. I mean, you had to have noticed how skittish Kojima's been since then right? Tsukki is the reason... and I think that's his way of doing something for somebody he cares about."

xxx

brrrrr.... brrrrrr....brrrrr....

My leg bounced endlessly as I listened to the dial tone, waiting for Angie to answer. We had barely talked since I moved to Japan - and I mean barely. Like, one phone call... but I didn't blame her. The time difference made it difficult. But that day I was expecting an answer, I skipped the boys' practice to be home at a better time. That and I was especially sad about not being able to play. Sudou, who had been appointed the new captain, still wasn't able to manage enough girls for a full team yet. I just needed a voice of reason, I needed to vent, I needed my aunt.

click! My heart leapt at the sound.

**"Hello?" She picked up! And she didn't sound groggy so I caught her before she was asleep!

"Angie! It's TJ!"

"Oh... hey sweetie... how are you?" She sounded unenthusiastic, maybe she was tired. Nevertheless it gave me a knot in my gut when she didn't match my energy. It made me hesitate to open up and rant to her.

"Um... I'm good. How are you-?"

"Fine. Did you need something, Toshiko?"

"... Toshiko?" My heart shriveled up hearing her use my first name. Angie never did that. Not even when I was in trouble. Something was horribly off about this call. I swallowed down my feelings and tried not to overthink it. "I didn't need anything, really. Just wanted to call because we haven't talked in a while."

A long sigh from the phone did nothing to ease my paranoid thoughts. "Sorry, TJ, but I'm busy right now. We'll talk some other time, okay?"

You said that last time and never called me back...

It was getting harder to choke down anxiety and sadness. "Oh- okay. Yeah... some other time."

"Mmkay, bye dear."**

click!

Silence.

Emptiness.

Loneliness.

The room started swaying, I tucked my knees to my chest and rested my forehead in attempts to alleviate the spinning.

Did I do something wrong? Why does she never want to talk? Can't she see I miss home?

Tears threatened to spill as I sat there brewing in my own anxiousness and sadness. So distraught in fact, that I did something I never thought I would do. My mind felt foggy as I dialed a number into the keypad and waited for the ringing to wear out. Just as I was about to accept my expectations and give up, a click and familiar voice cleared my brain fog.

"Toshiko?"

"D-dad..! You answered!"