More Than Anything Else (Tooru Oikawa)

Please

My life continued on as usual a while. School was a struggle as I slowly attempted to drag up my grades. Most of my time was spent studying, but I still wasn't getting the grades I needed in order to succeed. My friends continued to cheer me on though, especially Yui and Oikawa. Speaking of the latter, I've spent almost every Monday with him and Takeru, besides a day I was sick and another where I had a big exam on that Tuesday. Usually Mondays are everyone's least favorite day of the week, but for me, they quickly became the best. Every Monday turned into a crazy adventure at the park, a debate where to eat at, or teaching the kids more volleyball.

The kids were really fun to teach. They were enthusiastic and absolutely hilarious sometimes. Itsumi is now able to hold her own against all the other boys, especially her brother, and Ibuki was giving his all to stay ahead of her. We would play three on three games a lot for fun. Of course Oikawa and I were made to have weird handicaps like needing to play on our knees so we would be on equal playing ground with the kids and for their entertainment to watch us struggle.

The time that I spent on my Monday afternoons was the most fun I've had in a long time.

As the weeks pass, the next volleyball tournament approaches. Now it's only two weeks away, and the Karasuno teams are starting to feel a bit antsy. So antsy and even when I stopped the usually confident libero, Nishinoya, he seemed excited yet nervous.

"You should swing by practice sometime," he tells me. "Knowing that your rooting for us would really boost some of the guys' confidence and not just your brother's."

"Yeah, I might, but I'm busy today," I tell him. "Maybe another day."

"Studying?" he asks me. "Asahi-san mentioned that's all you've been doing after you quit the team."

"Uh... yeah," I lie, weakly.

There's also the fact that I still haven't mentioned who I've been hanging out with on Monday's. My mom gets home from work after I get home, and Asahi not only gets home late as well, but volleyball is the only thing on his mind. No one has really seemed to care what I do after school. I also have just not mentioned it since I know all the boys on the Karasuno team kinda hate Oikawa's guts. At first I understood why, but these past months getting to know him, I see past the cocky and flirty volleyball star. He still is very narcissistic and flirty some of the time, but he's also very kind to me. He's patient when working with the kids, and he's very passionate about the things he loves, which is mostly just volleyball. Oikawa is also a goofball who never fails to make me laugh, and he has become a very dear friend to me.

As I sit with Yui at lunch at our desks I see my phone buzz and light up on my desk. Both Yui and I look at it to see that I got a text message from "Dorkykawa."

"Ooh, what does your prince charming want?" she asks, reaching for my phone.

"Oh, no you don't," I growl, snatching it up before she could take it. She just grins at me and eats another piece of chicken.

"Well what did he want?" Yui demands, her mouth full.

I open my phone and look at the message

(12:52) Dorkykawa:
C

hange of plans today. Takeru and I are going to the gym. You can join us if you want but I'm mostly going to be practicing.

"Guess I'm going to the gym today," I say. "I think Oikawa is in one of his moods and is only thinking about practicing even though he needs to watch Takeru. It's been happening more often since the tournament is almost here."