LET ME DOWN SLOWLY ⸻ sakusa kiyoomi.

𝐬𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 | the catch

▛▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝▝ ▜

THE CATCH !!

▙ ▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▖▟

THE CATCH?

"Ah... hello, Germaphobe, Komori-san," an onyx-haired girl with her straight locks of hair tied back into a low ponytail squinted her golden, lamplight eyes up at the taller ace, the shorter girl's idol-like features twisted in a show of distaste as she lifted an arm to hold onto the handrails of the train. "So I see that we're going to the same place."

Standing beside the familiar face of the honey blonde setter was another girl, as tall as Sakusa himself. She attracted a mix of mystified and intimidated looks from the other passengers in the train, who were all rather startled and most probably scared of the five people all over the height of 5'8" standing in one row by the train's middle, holding onto the handrails. Her shoulder-length black hair framed a heart-shaped face with stormy grey eyes and blue, metal-rimmed spectacles.

Akane Miho, Sakusa frowned as he blinked in dismay at the Ōkamikumo ace, who blinked back at him, mirroring the expression of distaste evident on his face. Beside the onyx-haired female, Kina observed the spectacle before, humming in amusement. Totally unbothered by the hostility her best friend and friend(?)-acquaintance sent each other.

Stuck in a thirty-minute train ride with three Ōkamikumo volleyball players.

(Sakusa couldn't help but think that if another person was here, that would be enough to pull off a volleyball starting line, if Motoya played as a wing spiker and there was no libero.)

"Motoya-kun, hey." Kina raised a hand and smiled at her elementary school friend, who greeted her back with a much more enthusiastic "Tsukki-chan, hey!".

Akane didn't seem to be eager to look away any sooner, examining Sakusa as if he were some pesky dead insect sitting on her room floor, a bother to clean — Sakusa, despite not having confirmed the female ace's thoughts, scowled behind his white surgical mask, extremely offended at both his mind and Akane. How in the world could he actually compare himself, a fully functioning human to an insect festering so much damn microscopic bacteria and germs? Sakusa's frown deepened, and Akane also scowled.

She gave him a rather hostile look, eyebrows rising. She propped her glasses up higher on her nose, the golden frame glinting in the sunlight. Muttering something along the lines of "asshole-looking guy", "probably gonna do some shit like", and "cheating and using, shitbag". Her muttering ended as she said, a little louder though she did keep her tone down; this was a public setting, a train at that; "gotta prove his worth if he wants her."

She definitely meant for Sakusa to hear her stream of muttering, her lamplike yellow eyes just boring into his as her lips moved in formation of a shitton of insults. And — "wants her"? Who? — whatever the ace was saying, it was gibberish.

A bout of silence passed as the five high schoolers stood, holding onto the railings (Sakusa's hand covered in a latex glove) as the scenery of houses, buildings and roads blanketed by the bright blue sky of the Tokyo morning. Sunlight streamed into the wide, open windows of the train, casting sharp shadows and a warm, golden glow in the interior of the train. Every ten to five minutes, the robotic female voiceover would announce their next stop, and passengers would alight and board the train.

Most of them were respectful of personal space, which Sakusa was grateful for. If someone brushed against his once clean Itachiyama jacket one more time, he was going to take his cleaning spray out of his duffel bag and spray the whole damn train carriage right then and there.