paper balls, shidou ryusei ✓

𖥻 02 - paper balls.

you hated sports lessons more than anything else.

you could neither catch nor throw balls, moreover, your stamina was, so to speak, non-existent in the first place, and only recently you had sustained a nasty injury to your shoulder during gymnastics, which was really not to be trifled with.

ryusei, on the other hand, was an ace at sports. he also trained a lot in his free time and was a passionate soccer player, something you could be quite envious of from time to time.

how often had you been at practice just to watch him play?

ryusei looked forbiddingly good at sports, and you naturally hadn't missed the opportunity to idolize him from the stands.

now you were playing dodge ball - you were playing on the opposing team, and as many times as you tried, you couldn't take your eyes off ryusei; he was already a little sweaty, his blonde hair hanging down his forehead and somewhat obscuring his pretty pink eyes, which were intently following the ball.

ryusei, unlike you, was quite focused on the game and was making a big contribution to his team's win - you instead stood around indecisively in your field, dodging the ball every now and then instead of even trying to catch it.

after all, you were sure that there was a certain magnetic attraction between the ball and your face - just like right now.

"y/n, watch out!"

before you could even react, you saw the ball flying straight at you, when it already hit your nose with a hard thud and then the ground. almost instinctively, you raised your hand and brought it to your face, feeling a sharp pain as you carefully palpated your nose. your fingers became slightly moist from the blood that was now leaking incessantly.

squinting your eyes you bit down hard on your lower lip.

"y/n, don't you have eyes in your head?!" you heard mr. park's loud voice, which is why you slowly opened your eyes, wanting to move your head in his direction.

however, the small black dots that suddenly danced around in front of your eye didn't really make it easy for you, which is why you only closed your eyes again, whimpering, and continued to press your hand against your nose.

"here, take these." sae weakly smiled and pressed a couple of paper towels into your hand, which he must have retrieved from the young toilet, while everyone else just stared at you, somewhat overwhelmed.

looking around again, you could see mr. park tugging on ryusei's ear and dragging him over to you.

"you're going to walk y/n over to the nurse's office nice and think about what you just did wrong!" mr. park let go of him.

ryusei contorted his face and rubbed his reddened ear "how many times? i didn't throw her off on purpose at all, damn it!" the pink eyed tried in vain to prove his innocence to his teacher.

"from now on! or there will be a remark regarding your rude behavior! "

rolling his eyes before nodding slowly ryusei gave you a quick glance while you continued to silently press the paper towels, which were almost completely soaked with your blood, against your nose.

"come on, let's go." the blonde one briefly ran a hand through his hair, which was slightly sweaty from sports, and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

on the way to the school nurse's office, you two made a quick stop at the restroom to change the paper towels - while you helped yourself to the paper dispenser, ryusei looked at you through the mirror mounted above the sink. it was strange, because ever since you two had had a rather indefinable relationship, you haven't been alone in a room.

however, when ryusei stopped paying attention to what he was doing and looked in the mirror to check your condition, your eyes met. his pink eyes widened a bit and your heart also stopped for a moment as you looked silently into each other's eyes for a few seconds, trying to read each other's thoughts. but as quickly as he turned his gaze away from you again, you almost believed that you imagined the slight concern on his face.

the next day, you two sat in class again.

fortunately, you only got away with a swollen nose, but everything else on your face remained intact.

as usual, ryusei made some unpleasant comment about everything you did, unaware that he was tearing your heart more and more into pieces; like a small piece of paper, which became smaller after each tear, until at some point it was no longer there.

"hey, big nose," you felt the back of your head being dropped with a paper ball but you didn't move and nothing happened for a moment. "y/n, turn around!" another paper ball.

again, no reaction.

you knew that if you turned around to ryusei now, you would only be told mean things that hurt your heart again.

after hearing a soft snort behind you, your heart stopped for a quick moment, which left a heavy feeling on your chest - you would love to be able to talk to him again, to be able to laugh with him again, to just be with him.

however, if you talked to him, you would be completely insulted. if you ignored him, you were not doing yourself any favors. besides, you just didn't understand what ryusei and his little paper balls were all about.

it wasn't like it was annoying you beyond belief, but still, the pink eyed threw it at you every day in class.

again, you were the last to sit in your seat after class ended while slowly packed up your things.

picking up the paper balls that had collected on the floor throughout the day you put them in your pocket.

why did you collect them in a jar instead of throwing it in the trash?

it was just pure curiosity to know if ryusei would throw it at you so many more times until the jar was full of it - because the day it would be full, you would try to forget him and your feelings for him.

on the way home, you checked your messages, your eyes widening a bit at the message you just received from your mother. ryusei and his family, who were good friends with your mother, as you had once been with him even, would be coming over for dinner again tonight.

AN; i think i forgot to mention but this will be a short story lol <3