𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 - 𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘰 𝘬𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘰

12: no umbrella

Tuesday's sky was full of dark gray clouds and Rini found herself distracted as the day went on. She hadn't been feeling well all day, and realized shortly after getting to school that her period was due.

She didn't feel sick necessarily, but the general discomfort made it very hard for her to focus during class. She often had pretty bad headaches during her period as well as cramps, so as long as she could get through the day and avoid those, she would be fine.

Eating lunch with the girls from journalism club felt like a chore but she did it anyway. The amount of questions she had to answer about her and Kuroo's supposed rendezvous the other day had very quickly become tedious. A lot of people refused to believe her when she said she wasn't interested in Kuroo. Her friends from the journalism club where especially skeptical, and brought him up in conversation constantly to try and gauge her reaction. It had irritated her a lot at first, but after a while she realized they were just trying to encourage her in her romantic endeavors; she'd never really hung out with any of the other guys from school so when she was seen with Kuroo, naturally her friends were thrilled for her. She wondered how they'd react if she told them about how Akaashi had confessed to her...

After reading his note, Rini had slipped it into her pocket and mulled it over and over in her mind as she walked home. He'd been so clear about his intentions, but she didn't feel pressured to return his feelings. Whether or not she even decided to see him again in the future, she felt sure he'd accept her answer and simply move on without question.

That being said...she wanted to see him again. He was charming, unapologetic, and chic. Without question, he was exactly the type of boy she'd always pictured herself with. Whether or not she could develop any deeper affection towards him was yet to be seen...their interactions at the café had seemed to cloud her judgement given how pleasantly spellbinding his presence had been. Her current feelings towards Akaashi could have been described as infatuation and curiosity. The two of them had obvious chemistry, to a point where it was almost intoxicating. To Rini, it was thrilling but at the same time it kind of scared her.

He hadn't texted her at all since then, and she got the feeling he was waiting for her to initiate the conversation when she was ready.

"Oh my gosh, Rini! I can't believe I forgot until just now." Emiko's loud proclamation drew Rini out of her thoughts.

"What is it?" She tried to remember what the conversation just now had been about, but she hadn't been paying any attention.

"I was supposed to ask you if you'd be willing to go to the next volleyball practice game and write another feature on our team!"

Oh..great...

"Yeah, that sounds great!"

She tried to focus on how well her last volleyball feature had done and how much the students had enjoyed it. The student body of Nekoma was enthusiastic about sports, and the volleyball team was the pride of the entire school, so it didn't come as a surprise. But the idea of riding in the team bus to a practice game hosted at another school...that was an uncomfortable thought.

"Um, what school is hosting us?"

"It's Fukurōdani!"

Of course it is.

The game hosted at Nekoma recently had ended in a tie, and instead of forcing it into overtime and risking overworking the players, both coaches had agreed to a tie breaker the following week instead.

"The editor said he was really impressed with your work last time and he'd be really glad to see another volleyball article from you but this time he wants you to focus on both teams and the game itself rather then the skills of our players." Emiko went on.
"He'll be glad to hear you're willing to do the article!"

The rematch game would take place on Wednesday. At least she had a bit of time to mentally prepare herself then...seeing Akaashi and Kuroo both at the same time was bound to be overwhelming at the very least.

Kuroo hadn't spoken to her since she'd asked him to stay away, so he was keeping his promise. The stupid part was how Rini kept seeing him in the halls and almost wishing he'd come and talk to her. When she'd first entered home room and met his eyes, it was like her heart had jumped into her throat.

The rest of the school day progressed slowly, every class seeming to drag by as Rini struggled to concentrate. The clouds outside were darkening more and more, and it seemed to be having an effect on her mood. Not that she'd been in a stellar mood to begin with.

The rain held up until school let out, at which point it began to pour.

Rini slumped down on the stairs outside of school, staring at the unread message she'd sent to her mom asking if she could pick her up. Rini hadn't remembered to bring her umbrella, and the walk home was 20 minutes long. As she sat there, her eyes started to well up with tears. Today had just felt like too much. In all honesty, she'd been holding back tears for most of the day. She was glad she'd been able to remain composed until now, that way she didn't have to face the humiliation of crying in front of her peers.

"Are you okay?"

Kuroo's unmistakable voice broke through the white noise of the rain. Rini sniffled as she looked up to see him standing right next to her.

"Just feeling sorry for myself." She said, wiping her tears and staring straight ahead.

"No umbrella?" He asked.

She shook her head. "I forgot it at home."

"That makes two of us. Here."

She looked up again to see him holding his uniform jacket towards her.

"Cover your head with this, then your hair can stay dry at the very least."

"O-okay..." She accepted the jacket, standing up before wrapping the jacket over her shoulders and pulling it up over the back of her head like a hood.

"We can run to my place, it's close by. You can stay there until the rain lets up."

♥

𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆
O M G it's been so long !! i feel like i'm actually starting to get back into this story finally, and i really hope that i can start posting a bit more consistently !! please make sure to follow so you get notified when i update !! and of course don't forget to comment 🫶 i love you all and thanks so much for reading !!