Opposite Worlds | Ushijima Wakatoshi

2. | Strangers

You woke up the next day, finally the weekend and you didn't have class. You got up, doing your morning routine as usual before putting on your gym clothes and heading to the weight lifting room. You brought your workout bag, not forgetting it like your dumb brother.

You started your basic routine, you being the only one in there, you felt pretty comfortable. After about an hour, the door opened to reveal Ushijima. He saw you, but you ignored his presence and kept doing your routine. He didn't bother you, but seeing you work out and lift so much was impressive. He walked over to you, you ignoring him as he stared at you. You eventually stopped and looked at him, wondering why he was just standing there.

"Do you need someone to spot you?"

"No, I'm fine."

"You need a spotter."

Unwillingly, Ushijima spotted your reps. He helped you work out and gave you tips. You then helping and spotting him as he worked out. After about an hour and a half, you two took a break. You stood up and drank you water while he continued to stretch and occasionally get his water. You admired his body, how toned it was...

"Do you mind?"

You snapped out of it, seeing Ushijima lifting his shirt, signaling to taking it off. You said you didn't care, Ushijima taking off his shirt. Your eyes widened at his skin, his body. You avoided looking at him, looking everywhere else but him.

"You're Y/N? Eita's twin?"

"Yep."

"You two act so distant and mean to each other. Has your relationship always been that way?"

"No, not until we both came here.. we used to bond over everything, especially music. Now he's so distant and doesn't seem to care about anything other than himself and volleyball. When I found out he wasn't the main setter, it explained a lot of things to me. How he wanted to work harder, why he was insecure and put himself down, why he just changed as a person...

He's not my brother nor my twin anymore,

He's like a total stranger to me now."

Ushijima listened to you carefully. Hearing you say that your own twin was like a stranger to you kind of shook him inside, he felt bad hearing that. He remained quiet, not wanting to press you anymore about the subject. He looked over at you, seeing you staring off, clearly thinking about your relationship to your twin.

Ushijima got up, saying you two should get back to work. You agreed. You two helped each other for the rest of your workout, no conversation could lift the heavy tension in the room, in your heart. Once you two were done, you two cleaned up the workout room in silence until you said something.

"Ushijima-San, how does my brother act around the team? Does he smile more? Talk or laugh at all?"

Ushijima paused for a moment, thinking about how to respond as truthfully as possible. He finished putting the weights up, turning to face you before answering.

"Eita speaks his mind and he's helpful. He gives advice to Shirabu and teaches him. He laughs and smiles, makes jokes and keeps people in line. You two are good at that, teaching and keeping people on their feet. It's admirable."

You let out a breath and nodded to yourself. You both finished cleaning up in a more comfortable silence. You bid him a good day before leaving with your things, heading back to your dorm to shower. Ushijima left a little while after you, heading back to his dorm room to see his roommate Tendo and the rest of the third years.

"How was the gym?" (Yamagata)

"Well, I helped Y/N workout."

Semi almost spit out his drink, Reon patting him on the back as he coughed. The other two were laughing, Ushijima walking away to the shower. Semi looked at them and yelled "it's not funny!" Which only made everyone laugh more.

About 10 minutes later, Ushijima came out of the shower, drying his hair with a towel. He sat with everyone else who were playing video games on the TV.

"So, how was working out with Y/N?" (Reon)

"Good, she's pretty strong despite her appearance."

"Did you two talk about anything~" (Tendo)

Ushijima was about to reply truthfully, but hesitated for a moment due to Semi's expression, one that seemed curious but sad at the same time. Ushijima said the truth, saying yes and that they talked about Semi, telling them about what you had asked about. Semi looked sad for a moment, probably processing how he acts towards you, how you said he feels like a stranger to you.

"Semi didn't even know about Y/N being the top percussionist in the country." (Yamagata)

"Semi-Semi, why don't you talk to your sister more?" (Tendo)

"...I didn't know that she thought that way about me... I never realized how little time I even see her or talk to her..." (Semi)

"You should probably talk to her, maybe telling her everything might make things less rocky between you two." (Reon)

"...Let's just get back to the game." (Semi)

Semi picked up his control, looking at the others to do the same. They went back to playing the game while Ushijima watched. He thought to himself about Semi's reaction, how he realized his mistakes yet didn't do anything to fix them. Instead he chose to ignore them, ignore you.

Seems like he does that quite often...