Chasing Pavements (Hara Kazuya)

fourteen

Chizuru stared out the window of her classroom, the class had been going on with the teacher rambling about who knows what. Ever since yesterday the only thing that the female has been thinking about was Hara's words before he parted. Her eyes avert to the notebook and read the words she had written.

I would never leave you for anyone

A sigh escapes her lips and Chizuru looks forward to at least show as if she's paying
attention. Maybe Hara had meant it as a joke because of how they started it all, yea it was all part of the joke that he was going alone with... but he was so sincere about it—no, it was part of a silly little joke no matter what. He has somebody he likes, Chizuru herself also likes somebody, both know that about each other.

Her head lifts up instantly after hearing the bell ring and chairs scrapping the floor, the female still sat on her seat a bit longer before standing up and picking her things up. She reached the sports hall and saw the team mates of the volleyball team going to the benches, Chizuru just did the same and soon enough, she saw Miu come through the doors with a slightly grim expression.

She had a bad feeling just from her captain's face and so she cleared her throat before speaking.

"I have bad news... with no good news attached to it." She heard no response from her team mates and so inhaled deeply before speaking once more. "Our game was... changed dates for tomorrow right after school." The girls gasped and murmur began to arise in between them. Chizuru had her eyes wide at Miu's words who was also debating to whether say the next words or not.

She lifts her hand and the team had gone silent again. "So, I discussed this with teachers, our coaches specially and they had come to an agreement that this was all sudden. So, what I proposed was..." Yoshi walked to the captain's side and coughed lightly.

"We suggested that we practice as much as we can today and tomorrow, there will be no school for the people who are taking part in the girls' volleyball team as we can't tire ourselves out too much before a game." A part of the team sighed in relief, but Chizuru still didn't feel relieved as she still saw the distressed look on her captain's face.

Everybody had gone into the changing rooms and Chizuru was first to come out so that she could talk privately to Miu. She sae the ash blonde female sat over the benches and approached her quickly.

"Miu-san?" She got her captain's attention who smiled tiredly at the ace and sat up properly to listen to what Chizuru had to say. "The team we're playing against, is it in the same order as when we played in our first year?" The female hesitantly nodded and the atmosphere between the two had become tense until Chizuru reached out for Miu's hand.

"Miu-san, this time we will win. Don't let their words get to you." The black-haired ace stared straight into the girl' brown eyes which were wide at her words. "Remember that our team mates will be there for us, we can defeat them this time with our abilities." The captain nodded her head with a smile.

Both stood up from the benches as soon as the rest of team came out and had already started to do laps, the captain and ace doing the same.

** ** **

The black-haired female was laid upon her bed, tired out after practice. The videos she watched with Miu during lunch break and the moves they copied would suffice for the time being. Chizuru would be lying if she said she wasn't at the very least nervous, luckily, she wouldn't tire herself out at school tomorrow and so would only have to show up the time she would usually go to the club activities.