A Thousand Cranes for a Wish (USHIJIMA X OC)

Barren Land

Umeko furrowed her eyebrows as she read her latest email. She had felt the notification in the middle of class so she had to wait till it was lunch before she could actually open it. Usually she could wait a little longer but considering that no one ever emailed her it was an odd occurrence. She turned the corner and bumped into another, much sturdier body. Umeko stumbled back about to fall before she felt two arms wrap around her to keep her upright.

"Ume. You need to watch out when turning corners." Ushijima effortlessly pulled her into his chest so she would be able to right herself easily.

Umeko blushed as she smelt peaches and heard the familiar voice. At this point she was glad her face was hidden in his chest. "S-sorry, are you alright?" Her words came out muffled.

She feels so tiny. Ushijima reluctantly loosened his grip on her, partially because he was worried if he held her too tight she would break, but mainly so she could move enough to regain her balance. As Umeko stepped out of his arms he felt a strange disappointment. He wanted to pull her back in. It was odd because he had never felt such a strange desire. "You are too small to hurt me." Ushijima deadpanned in return. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

Umeko looked up at him and beamed. "You caught me this time, so I'm not hurt at all." Umeko slipped her phone back into her pocket. "Thank you"

Ushijima nodded in acknowledgement before he processed her full statement. "This time?"

"Yeah. Remember the first time I bumped into you? I fell down." Umeko's cheeks turned just a hint of red from embarrassment.

"Ah, that seems so long ago." The pair began to walk to the cafeteria once they noticed the flow of people traffic. "So, what were you so focused on?"

Umeko furrowed her eyebrows. "There is this really important youth art competition they hold every year for high schoolers. The first two times you compete in the competition you have to submit a piece of artwork to see if you qualify."

Ushijima listened intently. "What about if you compete for the third time?"

"If you scored high enough and it is your third year competing you will get an invitation to go straight to the first round." Umeko held up her phone. "It'll be my third year competing, and I received an invitation."

Ushijima gave her a confused look and stopped walking. "Do you not want to compete?"

"No, no! It's not like that! I'm excited but I'm also just really nervous. This year they are giving out scholarships for the winners or any of the participants they find promising. And I'm just really nervous about that. And like, what if I don't get it? What if I don't rank? Both years prior to this one I was in the top three, but what if I can't live up to that expectation anymore?"

Umeko felt a large hand settle gently on her head. "You don't have to worry." Ushijima gave Umeko a small smile. "I believe in you."

Umeko felt the bubbles in her chest return as she hastily broke eye contact. His smiles have to be illegal. Honestly he didn't do much, but somehow, he managed to dispel her troubles away with a few words and a gentle smile.

Ushijima took her silence as confirmation and moved his hand off her head. "Let's go to the cafeteria."

- ----AFTER SCHOOL-----

As soon as all the classes were over Umeko hastily ran to the store. During lunch she had agreed to watch one set of the practice match between Shiratorizawa and Koreha University, which meant she only had as long as the warmup and practice drills to run to the store, buy things and run back.