|| Tucked Away || Haikyuu Fanfiction ||

Chapter 8 - Progress

"Mitsuko-chan! Can we talk?" The blonde quivered as she asked. It was nerve wracking for Yachi to confront the brunette but the awkward atmosphere that continued to linger between them was worse.

Mitsuko turned around, taking a deep breath. She had expected this somewhat but didn't think Yachi would ask so quickly. "Sure, let's go somewhere more private to talk."

With small, hesitant steps, they moved to an empty classroom before sitting down and facing each other. Mitsuko's heart was beating rapidly. It was her first time in a couple years that she was telling anyone about her situation.

"I'm going to keep this short without going too much into detail." Mitsuko stated. She closed her eyes before speaking again. "Im a- well, I used to be a volleyball player. Due to a car accident I'm unable to play anymore."

Baffled, all Yachi could do was stare.

"Please keep this a secret," Mitsuko whispered.

The blonde noticed how terrified she sounded. Yachi looked up and before her, the blonde saw a fragile, timid girl, shaking in her seat. She let out a small smile before reassuring her. "Of course I'll keep this a secret. I won't pry into details but I'll be here for you okay?" She pumped up her fists. "You're my friend after all!"

Mitsuko froze in place.

Friend.

An idea so well-known but so unfamiliar to her now. A scary concept that made you place your trust in someone.. trust that could be so easily broken.

But she wanted to believe. And so, she took her last bit of hope and took a leap.

"Then, can I call you Hitoka then..? Since we're friends.." the brunette said rather timidly.

The blonde stared at her, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Eh-eh, why are you crying!?"

"I'm just.. so happy!" Yachi wiped away her tears. "Of course it's fine with me! In exchange I'll call you Mitsu!" She said, smiling amidst her tears.

Shocked, all Mitsuko could do was stare. It was her first time dealing with a situation like this. A situation where someone was crying tears of happiness.. because of her. It made her wonder.. made her hope that this small trust that she had placed in the blonde would last. That her trust would continue to grow from here on.

And so, before she had even realized, Mitsuko spoke, telling Hitoka things she may regret later but certainly not in the moment. She told Hitoka her entire story. From start to finish. The happy moments, the sad moments, the lonely ones, and of course, the ones of betrayal. The blonde didn't speak much. Instead, she gave Mitsuko her full attention, letting her tell her story. She listened to every single detail, and not once, did she interrupt the girl. After all, this time was for Mitsuko, she was sharing something deeply personal.

As the brunette progressed in her story, getting closer to the present, Yachi couldn't help but cry yet again. The girl had been through so much, in such a short period of time that it was cruel to make someone as young as her go through all of that. Mitsuko, noticing this, paused for a moment only to be encouraged by Yachi to continue. And so she did.

With a hoarse whisper, all Yachi could say to Mitsuko when she was done was "It's okay, I'm here for you now."

And, with these words, it was Mitsuko to break down into tears. This surprised the brunette as well. Who knew that she was so weak? That just a few comforting words would provide such a great amount of relief to her? And so, for the next several minutes, the two girls sat together, crying and comforting each other .

---

"By the way, why were you late to the camp?" Yachi asked after they had finally calmed down.

Mitsuko scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Well, uh.. I was doing a modelng job.."

The blonde jumped out of her seat, shocked.

"It was for the bus we rented.. our club needed funding so I wanted the money you raised with your drawings to go towards equipment.." Mitsuko continued.

Yet again, tears began to well in Yachi's eyes. Although Mitsu seemed like a cold girl who didn't care for the club at all, it was the exact opposite. Just then, Yachi took a glance at the clock before panicking. Grabbing Mitsuko's hand, she began running. "huRRY! WE'RE LATE FOR OUR DUTIES!"

"A-ah, calm down Hitoka! I'm going to fa-AHHHH"

At that moment, Mitsuko tripped over her shoelace, letting go of Yachi's hand. She closed her eyes, preparing herself to hit the ground face firs- huh? The girl blinked. She had stopped falling... and was floating in the air? Then she heard a familiar chuckle as she finally realized there was an arm wrapped around her waist.

"I never expected you to be so clumsy, Aoyama-san."

Mitsuko felt herself being lifted by upwards and she spun around. Bad mistake. Her face was now inches apart from Sugawara's. Once again, she could feel herself blushing due to the close proximity. Being as flustered as she was, Mitsuko quickly took a step back, however this only caused her to slip backwards.

Acting quickly, Sugawara grabbed Mitsuko's left hand with his right, and held her up. Now the space between their faces was merely centimetres apart. Panicking, Mitsuko began to babble as she tried to find the right words to get out of this situation. Yet, in this situation, all Sugawara did was continue to stare at Mitsuko, making her blush even more. After what seemed like an eternity, Sugawara let go of her, before bursting out into laughter.

"You- I'm so sorry," the setter said between chuckles. "You always seem so calm and collected that it was interesting to see you like this." The setter smiled, before patting the brunette on the head. "Good luck on your duties~" Sugawara chanted as he walked down the hallway.

Baffled, all Mitsuko could do was stare at Sugawara's figure as it got further and further before turning around the corner. What had happened to the calm, collected persona that she had? Mitsuko was used to Oikawa calling her cute but when it was Sugawara, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed, even if they used the same words. What was the difference between the words they said, that made her react so differently? Was it the way the spoke? Or perhaps... it was because of how she thought of them.