Moonlight

Chapter 3

"Akane-san!" 

"Sato!"

"Akane!"

The bell rang for recess and I was immediately surrounded by my classmates as they tried to get a good conversation from me. Joke's on them, my mouth won't cooperate. I feel stupid smiling at them. I can't seem to make my own words out.

"Excuse me, please leave her for a while. She can't talk to all of you at once, you know?" the tall guy from earlier, Yamaguchi, spoke up behind the small crowd. He dispersed them effectively. Looking at him closely he's got the the friendliest aura so far. Someone safe and not too loud.

"Thanks." I muttered as I grabbed the bags Shimizu-senpai gave earlier. I have to give them to Tobio and Hinata as soon as possible, I really wouldn't want to be accused of anything if these gets lost.

Tall yellow-haired guy came into my view and I looked up at him. If he weren't so scary, I'd call him Vanilla-san. He's got the coldness of the ice-cream, I'm just not sure if he's got the sweetness.

"Uhm, are you To-" I was cut off when a bouncing orange bombarded between us.

"Akane-san! I am Shoyo Hinata! I would be very glad to be your friend. I play volleyball. Do you play? Do you think you want to play some with me? Are you free this afternoon? I could show the volleyball club, it might be a good exposure for you and all the guys there are super friendly. I'm pretty sure they would like you, especially Tanaka-senpai and Nishinoya-senpai." He babbled about and honestly, half the things he said just melted out of my ears.

"Boke!" Another guy came to join our little group and smacked the short one's head. "Do you think you're giving her space to answer all of those?"

They exchanged glares, "You always are a downer, Kageyama!"

"Hey. Tobio Kageyama." He introduced himself and kept a firm hand on the short one's head, "This stupid, ball of energy is Hinata Shoyo. I apologize for his energy, sometimes it hurts."

I smiled, unsure on how to take it all in. 

Wait, did he just say-

"You're both Hinata and Tobio?" I asked, my voice rising. Upon noticing that, a blush creeped on my cheeks and settled a good shade. "I'm sorry, I was just looking for you two."

I glanced at Vanilla, "I thought you were Tobio, I'm sorry for having troubled you with my glances earlier."

My seatmate laughed, earning a glare from Vanilla, "This, haha! This guy is indeed a shade lighter than Kageyama."

"Shut up, Yamaguchi."

"Introduce yourself, Tsukishima!" Hinata's loud voice rang out from beside me. His energy is contagious, but I'd bet sometimes, he's a pain in the ears.

"Tsukishima Kei."

I bowed before all of them, silently memorizing their names. 

"Ah, before I forget." I held out the bags to Hinata and Tobio, "Shimizu-senpai had these for you. They were going somewhere else so they couldn't give it to you personally."

"Woaaah! The volleyball club's jacket!" Hinata exclaimed. Loudly. Again.

"Yeah, you guys just had to wear it under the rain to the point you had to have it dried off at the laundry with Shimizu-senpai having to take care of it." Yamaguchi smiled sheepishly at the pair.

It does not take much for me to realize these four are in the school's volleyball team. I was curious for Hinata as he is the shortest out of them all.

The bell rang again and classes resumed. The day sped by as I slowly returned the conversations with my classmates. Some were quite eager to be friends with me and some were not. I gave both parties no heed. All that society requires is for one to be civilized with each other. Nobody said anything about making friends or keeping away enemies.

---

"Hey, Akane-san!" Hinata called out to me as I started to pack my things. I looked up at his approaching figure.

"Do you want to swing by the gym? We're out earlier than the rest of the team, maybe we can play for a while." He grinned widely. If sun was a person, it'd be him totally.

"I'd give it a try, Hinata." I replied, "I don't want to have trouble and ruin my uniform."

I winced internally at the thought that the only adult supervision I have is my uncle, who, I can bet me life on, does not know how to fix uniform tears. Mother always fixes mine. A ghost smile played on my lips but I covered it up as I finished packing up.

"We'll play softly, I also don't want you feeling uncomfortable in moving around with a skirt." He said, his grin softening to an understanding smile.

I was taken aback at his consideration.

"I have a sister, too." He told me, as we walked out of the room with Tobio tailing behind, "If anything, I want to make a good influence on people around me so my sister can have a safe world, too."

"That's sweet." I smiled. 

And lucky.

While walking towards to gym, Hinata had his hands on the conversation wheel. It would seem that Tobio is not the talkative type. They are an odd pair to be friends. We stopped by the vending machine at Tobio's request. I gathered that he likes having milk along whenever he can. 

Cute.

We reached the gym and sure enough, no one else is around. Just the three of us in the vast space, Hinata exploded to a bouncing ball of energy again, sprinting and jumping as much as he could. 

"Come on Kageyama! Let's play with Akane!" Hinata called out, grabbing a volleyball.

"I'll just watch here." Came the short reply.

I walked towards Tobio and settled my bags beside him. His eyes were steely against Hinata and I couldn't help but wonder if these two really are friends. 

"If you won't play, may I put my bags here instead?" I asked him. He looked up at me and gave a curt nod.

"Thanks, Tobio!" I chirped. A lame attempt to warm up with him, I know.

"Kageyama." He replied. I gave him a confused look and he gave me a soft look, "Call me Kageyama."

I nodded and with a smile, jogged towards the center of the court. Alright, that's 2 confirmed civilians. That's enough for me to talk about with uncle. 

Hinata and I decided not to bother with a net since it's just the two of us. We'll both be rallying instead. In the middle of our little game, Kageyama would signal a substitution and Hinata would let him take place. Not long after, we were all sweating and plastered with wide smiles. I am having fun. My heart is happy.