Bestfriend | Ran Takahashi

Jealous

The Olympics was cancelled. Actually, a lot was cancelled due to the pandemic. Life continues but with great care. Classes continued, my therapy continued, and my friendship with him... well.. for lack of better words, uneventful? I decided to stay with my brother, Daisuke, to save money while studying. As dad said before, he's the most irresponsible child out of the 5 of us. His apartment was dusty and there were a lot of dirty dishes, sports gear were every. It took me about a week to clean the apartment and made sure to tell him to clean after himself, which he occasionally does.

It was around November when restrictions were lifting. People were enjoying themselves. This was when I decided to hit up Hana for coffee just to catch up and see how she's doing. We ended up picking a place in Shibuya. I did not recognize her when she arrived at the cafe. Her long hair that ended on her waist now ended just below her ears. She seemed more confident and she was glowing.

"You look amazing!" I said.

"Oh, it's nothing, you look great as well," she replied.

We ordered our coffee and sat down on a table.

"How's Waseda?" I asked, taking a sip.

"It's been pretty great, I joined their club and everyone is just very talented. I feel like I'm playing catch up," she admitted.

"It must be fun then, how are your taping skills?"

"It's getting better, but not as good as yours. Honestly, how even?" she laughed, "Did you join their volleyball club?"

It took me a moment to answer. To be honest, I have not joined it, yet. I wanted to make sure that I am healed before joining. Although, my therapist and doctor did say that I can start playing again.

"No, not yet at least"

"Don't let your talent go to waste, at least get someone to help you practice a bit"

"You mean my irresponsible brother?" I laughed.

"Or Ran-kun, I heard he's on the team"

'I heard,' are they not going out anymore? Did something happen? Curiosity is nagging at me.

"He is, but I don't want to impose. How are you two doing?" I asked, curiosity got the better of me.

I noticed her stiffened at the question before she took a sip of her drink. I could tell she's trying to think of a way to explain their situation or a way to explain to me what happened.

"It didn't work out, it was great while it lasted, but I guess we're not as compatible as we thought we were. So, we decided to end it back in September since it was going nowhere"

"I'm sorry to hear that"

"Oh, no need. It was a mutual decision and we're actually better as friends, you  know. Anyway, any lucky guy?"

Question caught me off guard. Being in a relationship was the last thing on my list right now.

"Not really, I do enjoy spending some time with this guy though, whenever he's around," I told her.

"Ohh, do I know him? Does he play volleyball too?"

Hana did not believe me at first until I showed her some pictures we took a couple of weeks ago. She begged me for details. She wanted to know how I met him and such. I told her I met him when I was applying for a part time job at JVA and that we hit it off.

"He would be so jealous," she said.

"He?"

"Ran-kun, who else?"