Bokuaka (Haikyuu!!)

Chapter 2

       The teacher continued muttering such foreign sounding math concepts at extremely high speed. Akaashi felt hopeless staring down at the problems he was supposed to be solving. No matter what he tried, the answer was always wrong, and he couldn't make sense of what he was doing. It was all he could to to keep from screaming. The content was going to be on the exams, he knew it. He knew he should study for the exams instead of staying behind for extra practice. He looked down at his work, almost ripping it up in frustration. It was pointless, he couldn't understand it. He just wanted to go home and sleep, but he knew he couldn't, he had to study.

        Just when Akaashi thought he couldn't take it anymore, the bell rang for lunch. Akaashi blinked wearily, and began eating his lunch. Although couldn't tell how much time had passed when it happened, he suddenly felt a throbbing pain in his foot. They're here again. He thought to himself, as he glanced up. A few of his classmates were gathered around his desk, sneering at him. The largest one, presumably the "leader" of their group made a point of putting as much weight as possible on Akaashi's foot, via his own. Akaashi sighed. "What do you want this time?" He asked irritably.

        "Cocky today, aren't we?" The 'leader' sneered, leaning forward, putting a hand on Akaashi's desk, and making a point of shoving his face into Akaashi's. Despite his best efforts to hide it, Akaashi recoiled slightly "You're so annoying. You're good at a girl's sport, you have good grades, a pretty face, seriously, why are you so perfect? And then you go and act all tired and stressed, how do you think the rest of us feel? Acting so self important just because some third years pretend to like you, it's seriously annoying." Akaashi knew he shouldn't let their words get to him, that he should reply back, and make them go away. But he couldn't.

        "What's wrong, cat got your tongue?" The 'leader' laughed. "Listen, when are you going to realize they only like you because you're on a team with them? That's the only reason they put up with you in the first place but, can you blame them?"
        "Shut up." Akaashi muttered, before realizing he'd thought aloud. One of the group members leaded forward, a grin spreading across his lips.

          "What was that?" Akaashi opened his mouth ever so slightly, as if to reply, but no words came out. The group members all laughed.
          "Good. Just remember, they don't actually care about you, I mean, who wouldn't hate someone as annoying as you?"
           They left, laughing, as the bell rang. As the teacher walked in, and started talking, Akaashi was suddenly aware that he was shaking. He forced himself to take a deep breath, it's okay, they were just trying to mess with you, you know it's not true.

        But what if it is?
        It's not! They do this every day, why would you start believing them now?

        Are you sure? Makes sense, doesn't it? Besides, you aren't exactly a nice person, why should they care about you? Why is it hard to accept, they don't really care about you, no one does. Be grateful, they can tolerate you at least.

         Underneath his desk, Akaashi clenched his fists to try and stop his hands from shaking. It was true, they didn't care about him. That was fine, there were plenty of people who didn't care about him. So why did it hurt so much? Was it because he thought they did?

       "They don't actually care about you."

       The words resounded painfully around his head, but they were true. I could die, and no one would give a damn. No, he couldn't start thinking like that, he just couldn't.

  "They don't actually care about you."

     Why though? He was their teammates, he dealt with hard practices with them, talked with them.