Untold | Kei Tsukishima

Chapter 4: After School

*Tsukishima's POV*

It was finally the end of the school day and I now had to help out with setting up the class. Did I really just say finally? I just can't wait to get back home and to my room, yeah that must be it.

As Yamaguchi, Y/N, Chloe, and I are given instructions by the teacher, I can't help but notice my sweaty palms. Just get the boxes from the top cabinets in the back of the class, distribute the materials where they belong, and clean up a little, that's all I need to do so I can finally leave this place.

"Alright welp I'm okay with taking over the cleaning. You guys can take the tasks you want," Chloe says leaving the room to get a broom.

I see Yamaguchi and Y/N shrug at each other, not really sure what to do.

I decide to take a small music break before I speed run everything. My knees hurt from sitting properly. The space in between the bottom of our desks is too small for my legs. I just want to enjoy sitting improperly, letting my legs stretch across the aisles in between the desks.

Yamaguchi is the first to move, he heads to the back of the class to get the boxes from the top of the cabinets so he can start distributing materials. Y/N takes a little while, she looks like she is about to head after Chole but realizes that she must be too far for her to catch up considering she doesn't know where the janitor's closet is. With that, she faces Yamaguchi to help him.

At this point, Yamaguchi is struggling pretty badly with getting the boxes down from the cabinet. Eventually, he just pulls the corner of a box with one finger as best as he can, failing to see that the door to the cabinet is just slightly above the rest of the cabinet. With how hard he was pulling and the uneven surface, a couple of the materials, and eventually the whole box fall on his head.

"Pfft," I let out a small chuckle. What an idiot.

"Oh my goodness, are you okay!?" Y/N goes running to him and kneels down next to him.

"I'll be okay. Believe it or not, it's not uncommon for me to get hit in the head with things. Hehe, I'm used to it," Yamaguchi nervously smiles at Y/N from how close she is to him.

Y/N helps Yamaguchi put the materials back in the box. It's all chalk and erasers for the board, so Yamaguchi immediately runs to the front of the class where the board is. He feels too embarrassed to be around Y/N for one more second.

Y/N sighs and I can tell she knows how embarrassed Yamaguchi feels and continues to to get up and head for the rest of the boxes.

Realizing how difficult it will be for her to reach the boxes, she stands there looking up at the boxes for a bit. Her best bet would be using the pointer at the front of the class to push it off, but that would make her lose too much control and have the box fall onto her like Yamaguchi. If I were her, I would just use a chair to reach the boxes. It's pretty simple common sense, so I decide to rest my eyes for a little.

A couple seconds of peace go by until I hear huffing and loud stomping. It makes me curious, so I open my eyes. I can't believe this girl.

Right before my eyes, Y/N is just jumping as high as she can, slowly pulling the box closer and closer to the edge of the cabinet. How does she think she will bring the box down? Does she just want to drop the whole box down? Unbelievable. She's going to get crushed with the box.

As if the universe heard me, the box starts to tip back and forth off the ledge of the cabinet and back. It just needs one more push before it's tumbling down.

*Y/N POV*

I know this is probably the least efficient way to bring down the box, but that's not what I care about right now.

If Yamaguchi hadn't accidentally dropped the box on himself, then I would be using a chair to take this down. Because he embarrassed himself, I thought it would be nice if I made the same mistake, hopefully that'll make him feel better.

I'm only one push away from dropping the box. This is taking much longer than expected, I think I underestimated how heavy this box was. Should I try for the other box? Nah, I'm already so close with this one. I jump one last time and the box starts sliding off the edge.

I messed up.

I look down as fast as I can and put my arms over my head to hopefully lessen the damage I take. I'm bracing for impact. I feel myself breathing heavily onto the cabinets and I feel one hard item from the box land on my back and not slide off. I hear the box crash on the floor, along with a couple items that got out of it.

That's when I realize I didn't feel any of it.

I slowly lift my head and realize that I'm not breathing into the cabinets, but Tsukishima's chest. It takes one more second to realize that the object that landed on my back and didn't slide off was actually Tsukishima's hand when he pushed me into him.

He's towering over me in a way so he can be the one to take all the damage from the falling box.

"Ow," is all he says, starting to kneel down in front of me.

My breathing hitches and his face goes down past mine as I just now realize how close we are to each other.

He picks up his glasses from the floor. I guess they were knocked down from the force of the box.

"Be careful idiot," he whispers loud enough for only me to hear.

He starts to pick up the pencils and erasers from the floor and puts them in the box. I stand there confused for a few seconds and start mimicking his actions with the mess on the floor.

Why did he do that? When did he get here so quickly? Is he hurt? I had so many questions I wanted to ask him but was too stunned to speak.

I then remember we weren't alone in the room. I realize that I heard a gasp from the front of the room and look over. Both Yamaguchi and Chloe are looking at Tsukishima and I with eyes wide open.

Yamaguchi's jaw is practically hitting the floor and Chloe's smile reaches from ear to ear.

My eyes go wide when I realize they saw the whole interaction. I stay looking at them with the same wide eyes as them for a couple seconds as I absentmindedly continue to pick up the mess. The last of it is a stack of printing paper. I reach for it right as Tsukishima does too.

I look away from Yamaguchi and Chloe and I snap my attention back to Tsukishima. We're now making eye contact. We look at each other for

One

Two

Thre–

Tsukishima makes a face similar to a grimace as he pulls at the stack. I have a death grip, so all that does is make me move towards him.

Because of the way I was poorly balancing on my toes, the pull just makes me fall. Unfortunately for Tsukishima, he just so happens to be in my way.

Since he was on his knees and had much better balance, he doesn't fall back when I crash into his chest again.

I push off from him right away and we make eye contact.

I don't know how long goes by with us just looking at each other. A chuckle from the same direction as the gasp is what snaps me back this time.

That's when I realize my hands are still on Tsukishima from when I pushed off from him.

I quickly take my hands off of him and stand up. He does the same.

I look at Yamaguchi and Chloe and realize that their reactions haven't changed from when I last looked over at them.

Chloe is the one who is laughing as she shouts, "Holy Sh— !"