Teach Me How To Fly (A Koutaro Bokuto Story)

Owls

I rolled the volleyball across the gym floor. The match was over now, the winner: Fukurodani. With our cheers, the two managers and I had successfully pulled Bokuto's mood back to normal. However, that didn't mean the rest of the match had been easy. In fact, we'd just barely managed to win.

Now we were working on cleaning up. Several players though, on both sides, just stood around and talked with each other. Everyone appeared to be getting along, so I didn't worry about keeping an eye on Bokuto. It was better if he could function without me around, whether I liked the idea or not.

As I rolled the ball along, it was suddenly rolled away from me. Glaring at the ball thief, I noticed they were a familiar feathery face. Genma rolled the ball around a bit before stopping and looking at me. If he was trying to impress me, it wasn't working.

Wanting to finish my task, I took the ball back and continued on my way. Genma did it a second time. So I took it back again. Then my ball was stolen a third time.

I heard laughter a little ways away and a voice. "Look Iwa-chan! He's just like you: he can't get a girlfriend either!" There was a loud smack, followed by the same voice whining and saying how mean the Iwa-chan person was. If I had to guess, the one had been talking about me and Genma.

Taking my ball back once more, I finally managed to get it to where it needed to be. However, that didn't stop Genma. The other owl followed me around, no matter where I walked to. Eventually, I gave up trying to run from him; it wasn't really working anyway. When I stopped running, he put his wing over me just like before.

I felt like everyone was staring at me. The familiar clicking sound of a camera wasn't exactly helping with that either. There were voices talking and laughing and I felt like it was because of Genma. Seriously, where's Akaashi when you need him?

Genma leaned over and started doing something to my feathers with his beak. I wasn't sure what it was, but if I had to guess, it was probably some sign of affection. Had I been born an owl, I might have actually understood what he was doing.

What the tan owl did next though, I did understand. I recognized it because it's what I did to Bokuto when I wanted to cheer him up or show that I cared. He rubbed his cheek against mine and leaned against me. Yeah, that one was definitely a sign of affection; which I didn't want from Genma.

Spotting Akaashi nearby, I quickly made my way over to the setter. Unfortunately, Genma followed right behind. Luckily though, Akaashi was smart enough to rescue me by picking me up and placing me on his shoulder. Of course, that wasn't going to stop Genma...

Now, where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, this happened yesterday. Once more, I was stuck with a cuddly Genma. He'd made his way onto Akaashi's shoulder and now sat right next to me, wing around my shoulders and cuddling against me.

Poor Akaashi was probably pretty annoyed by now. Unfortunately for him, he was about to be more annoyed: the other team's setter was headed this way and from what I could tell, he had the potential to irritate Akaashi even more than Bokuto did.

Soon I found myself back on the gym floor. I didn't really mind that though. This way I could at least keep some distance between me and Genma. That didn't stop him from trying though.

Now the two of us sat on the outer edge of the gym, watching all of the humans talking amongst themselves. They all appeared to be getting along, though I had a feeling Akaashi was a little annoyed by the two captains.

As I watched them, I really started to miss being human. Even if I wasn't the most social person, it was nice to have the option of talking. Until I'd become an owl though, I'd never have thought that I could make friends with the people here... Of course, if I weren't an owl hen I probably couldn't have.

A sad and frustrated hoot sounded beside me, distracting me from my thoughts. Shortly after, an unfamiliar voice spoke. "You dislike me, don't you?"