A Thousand Cranes for a Wish (USHIJIMA X OC)

A Special Friend

Umeko furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head. "Well, if I'm being completely honest. I don't really know much about it. I have two friends who are practically obsessed with the game but nothing other than that." She shuffled uncomfortably in her seat and twiddled her thumbs. Even Umeko herself had to admit that she was rather ignorant of most topics not pertaining to the arts.

The trio stood up as they noticed the time. "You should come watch us!" Tendou suggested with a mischievous grin. While they put their plates away Tendou whispered something in Ushijima's ear without Umeko noticing.

Umeko shook her head. "No, I couldn't intrude like that. Besides I don't think I'd be able to properly appreciate the team's skills since I wouldn't know what would be happening."

Ushijima took a step closer to Umeko and put his hand on the wall beside her, effectively trapping Umeko between himself and the wall. If memory served her correctly this would be the perfect example of a Kabe-don. "U-Ushijima?" Her voice was shaky as heat rose to her cheeks. He was so close that he had to lower his gaze just to meet her eyes.

"You wouldn't be a bother if you came." Ushijima's voice was a low rumble that sent tingles down Umeko's spine. She was practically swooning at this point. Umeko feared that her heart would leap out of her mouth if she dared to say anything.

Ushijima looked towards Tendou briefly. "Am I doing this right?" He waited for his friend's response, still not moving from his position. The night prior Tendou had slipped him a manga scene where doing so would supposedly make it easier to convince people to agree. Or so he claimed.

Tendou face palmed. Ushijima wasn't supposed to ask him about technique. "I wanted to make her heart go doki-doki, you weren't supposed to ask me if you were doing it correctly midway through the scene."

Umeko could have sworn she was so close to foaming at the mouth from the proximity. Ushijima was close enough that she could smell the faint hint of peaches surrounding him. If she could identify what a person could smell like, they were far too close.

Ushijima looked back towards her, his voice a little softer than before "Is your heart going 'doki doki'?"

It took all Umeko had not to freak out or even fall to her knees. She managed to squeak out a single word. "Yes."

- ----END OF LAST CLASS-----

As soon as class ended, she was confronted by Tendou. "Ready to go?" he chirped with a grin on his face. He picked up Umeko's bag for her.

Umeko resigned herself to her fate but allowed Tendou to hold onto her bag. "Yes." Much to her dismay it didn't take very long to walk from the main building to the gym. Umeko stopped outside of the side entrance and fidgeted with her fingers behind her back. She was convinced that maybe the leap in number of people was far too big for her.

Tendou led Umeko in through the door before he bounded over to his teammates. "Look who I've brought!" The rest of the team looked towards the pair attracted by Tendou's noise.

"Akiyama. How are you?" Ushijima walked closer.

She smiled a little, comforted by his presence. At least she knew two people who were there. "I'm good. How about you?"

"I'm also good."

Tendou's smile only grew wider. "This is Umeko. She is in my class!" He turned back to face Umeko. "Umeko, this is the team." Tendou pointed to each of the members as he started to list their names. "From right to left, this is Yamagata, and this is Kawanishi." He pointed to the shortest boy with spiky hair then to the tall ginger with messy hair. He moved on and gestured to two other people. "This is Oohira and Goshiki."