The Stupidity Of Love (Lev Haiba)

Teaching Lev

Lev had asked to meet up after his volleyball practice to study. But there were some issues with that that neither of us had really thought about at that time.

One of those being that after-school practices for most of the sports teams tended to run a little late. That meant we'd only have a small amount of time to study.

Another was that I'd have to wait for him. If I actually had a place to do my own practices or if the boys that I used to practice with weren't jerks, I could have done that to pass the time. But no, they were and I didn't, so I had at least a couple of hours to kill.

Sure, I could go home and then just come back, but what would really be the point? Besides, if they just happened to get done early, I wouldn't have any way of knowing if I weren't here. No, I was pretty much stuck here.

Unable to think of what else to do, I made my way to the gym where the volleyball club usually had their practices. If I had to wait for it to be over, then why not just watch? If the coaches allowed it, of course.

Standing outside the door now, I felt as nervous as I had before. I wasn't usually a nervous type, but typically coaches weren't that fond of random people watching their teams practice. I remember one time in middle school, one of the guys from the basketball club tried to watch us girls during practice and the coach nearly ripped off the poor boy's head. Obviously, he didn't come back after that.

Taking a deep, relaxing breath, I quietly pushed open the door and slipped inside. Luckily the club members were still busy and didn't notice someone else had shown up. As I continued towards where the coaches were, a now familiar voice called out. "Hey Reisa!"

And cue the mental facepalm... I turned towards Lev's voice with a slightly embarrassed look on my face. He was waving at me with that idiotic smile, giving me no choice but to give a little wave back. So much for not being noticed...

"What are you doing here?" the captain asked, looking at me with his arms crossed.

How could I possibly explain it without sounding like I didn't have anywhere else I could be? "I've got some time to kill and figured I'd just watch you guys," I said with a calm smile. Hopefully, they didn't question me too much. "If it's alright with you guys, anyway."

"She has to wait for Lev anyway," Shibayama added, trying to help me out.

"Yep!" There was that idiotic grin on Lev's face again. Was he always this cheerful-looking? "She said she'd help me study since Shibayama said he's too busy!"

The other members of the team didn't say anything else. Though one of them appeared to be hiding behind one of the players that I didn't know. The captain looked over at the two coaches, silently giving them the decision on whether or not I was allowed.

"I see no reason why she can't stay," the older one said, a friendly smile on his face. If I remembered correctly, he was Coach Nekomata. "As long as she doesn't get in the way or become a distraction."

For all his excitement about volleyball during our lunch conversation, he was actually quite terrible. But if you considered that this was the first year that he'd played, wasn't that bad. Not quite terrible, but still pretty bad. His massive height was probably a huge help and without it, he probably wouldn't have taken Inuoka's place as a regular. Or so I heard.

Maybe that was why he was taking this studying thing seriously. Based on what I'd been told by Shibayama, Kuroo, and a few other members of the team, if his grades slipped any lower, Lev wouldn't be allowed to play. And unfortunately, no one wanted to help the poor boy, many of them making the excuse that they didn't have time or saying their grades were bad too.

However, there was one member of the team who simply said no without bothering to make an excuse. That was their setter, a second-year whose name I remembered Lev saying was Kenma. From what I could tell, Kenma seemed to dislike Lev, though I couldn't figure out the exact reason why.

His teammates seemed a little too eager to get rid of him after practice had come to an end. They practically shoved him out the door, insisting that he leave right away saying things like "Studying is more important right now" and "You kept your friend waiting long enough now go before she changes her mind about helping you." It almost made me wonder if they really just wanted to get rid of him.

Now we were sitting in his room, getting everything ready to start studying. Sitting in the living room would have been preferable, but his bedroom was the quietest room. Take what you can get, I guess.

I glanced around the room. It was actually a lot more normal than I'd expected, but then again, Lev seemed to be full of surprises. However, one thing in his bedroom definitely stood out.

"Lev, what is that?" I pointed over to one corner of his room. There stood a life-size cardboard of a familiar-looking girl wearing cat ears and a tail.

I actually knew exactly who she was. That girl was the lead singer for a new popular band called Kokoro Claw. Each of the members went by a stage name that was cat-related; the lead's being KittyKat. Their songs were good and catchy, the kind that you don't mind having stuck in your head. However, I think they were getting a lot more attention than necessary. They were still high schoolers after all.

"The most amazing singer ever." He then went on to talk about the singer and the rest of her band. He sounded really excited about it and I really couldn't understand a thing he was saying. One thing was very obvious though.

"Okay, so you're a fan of her," I said, calmly summing it all up. It was clear he was pretty obsessed, but this was pretty weird. Though I guess that's just Lev for you. "But is a cardboard cutout of her really necessary?"

Oh look at that, Lev is actually frowning. Somewhat. "You don't like her?"

Did I dislike KittyKat? No. Was I a fan? Not exactly. "I like her, but I'm not crazy enough to have a giant cardboard cutout of her. That's just weird."

Lev sat on the floor, his mouth hanging open but no sound coming out. In the short day that I'd known him, this was the only time I hadn't seen him acting extremely hyper or talking non-stop. It was almost scary. Could what I'd said really have upset him enough to cause this?

"Lev?" The tall boy just pulled his knees up to his chest and turned away from me. So I tried again. "Lev..." He put his head down, burying it in his arms. Yep, he was trying to ignore me. "Lev, come on." Nothing.

I gently touched his arm, trying to force his attention on me. "Lev, we're supposed to be studying." He lifted his head slightly, just enough to peek out at me. So childish... "This is going to be a long night..."

The rest of our time was spent dragging Lev out of his mood. After having to apologize several times and being stubborn about it, I finally got him back to normal. But by then it was already too late to get anything done.

Day One of Studying: Complete Failure.