Key Notes | Y.N

sixteen

the next three days went by quickly for the two oblivious teenagers.

they both seemed to push away the feelings of that one night, and replaced it with the same phrase,

"we're just best friends."

airie became wonderful at playing adagio, even managed to perfect her original song for the audition. she was even able to catch some of the practice matches with kyo, who seemed to love the sport more and more everyday. airie had to be saved by akaashi, nishinoya, and yaku multiple times from bokuto and his flirtatious moves. she spent most of her time during the matches watching nishinoya in action. her feelings for the boy only grew deeper with every dig, receive, and rolling thunder he did. her smile grew whenever the boy would look at her after every receive for recognition.

but she kept those feelings for the boy hidden and didn't let her self acknowledge them.

nishinoya spent the past three days working harder than he's ever done before. he couldn't handle being around airie because every time he'd feel himself stumble over his words and his face felt like a volcano. so the best way to push away those "unrequited" feelings was to force himself to overly love the third year manager. every time he'd think about airie — boom rush over to tanaka to talk about kiyoko to feed off of his friends feelings. but he couldn't help but be around her. he needed her warmth and kindness to keep him grounded. it was a confusing predicament. every practice he'd make sure she was watching him, he'd feel jealousy rise up in him when she'd cheer for yaku. the libero hated when she was around yaku, he could see the rival libero was in love with her and he couldn't stand it.

♭

"are you ready?!" nishinoya jumped up and down beside me. i watched him with a weary smile, i don't understand how one can have so much energy after three practice matches. "i think so," i mumbled walking toward the front gates of the school, ichigo and ms. honda we're going to be here shortly. "you'll do amazing airie! i know it!" i giggled from nishinoya's proud smile. i turned my head back forward and felt the nerves still gnawing away at me. "hey," he grabbed my hand softly, "you really will do amazing, they'll be fools to not see that." i felt my heart doing flips from his warm smile. i couldn't speak so i just nodded my head slowly, and pulled my hand over my chest.

we continued the walk to the gates and saw no one was here yet. nishinoya pointed out the bench by the front and we both sat down. it was quiet between us, my eyes were looking at the song in my notebook, i named it nishinoya's song. cliche, but suited exactly how i felt. i could see the said boy trying to sneak a peak at the book so i quickly shut it. "noya i'm not going to let you see my book." i grinned. i watched his face morph into a narrow glare, "what are you hiding in that book?" he grumbled to himself. i stood up and crossed my arms, "songs you'll never see." i said simply. "eep!" i let out a squeal when i felt nishinoya grab my from behind.

he held me in his arms as he struggled to get the book out of my grasp. "n-noya! it's private!" i giggled and wiggled. "i'm your best friend! i don't care about the privacy card!" he pouted grumpily trying to reach the book that i held over my head. which honestly wasn't a good idea due to us being pretty much the same height. i gasped when he almost took it out of my hands, i quickly ducked under his arm and held the book behind my back. "it so does count still!" i pouted, my hair falling out from behind my shoulder. nishinoya was panting as he turned to look at me, he had a sneaky smile on his lips. slowly he walked over to me, "n-noya?" i took a few steps back, he just kept coming forward. then he went to lunge at me but froze midair from someone clearing their throat.

"ichigo!" i beamed and ran around nishinoya, yanking the blushing teen into a tight hug. i could feel nishinoya's intense glare on ichigo, i missed that. "airie i missed you," ichigo spoke smugly and snuggled into my hug. i giggled seeing nishinoya turn into some sort of dragon, twitching with anger. "oh airie! i brought this for you! for the audition!" ms. honda appeared in front of me holding up a hanger that held a black cover over the clothes underneath. "for me?" i pointed to myself, ichigo still clinging onto me. "mhm! i hope you don't mind, i saw it and thought about you. i think it'll look beautiful on you!" she blushed slightly and draped the hanger over her arm. "mhm i don't mind, thank you." i said softly feeling lucky, totally blocking out nishinoya trying to rip ichigo off of my body.

ms. honda casually glanced at her watch and her eyes widened. "oh my! we have to get you ready! your audition is in forty five minutes!" she squealed and started to push me forward. "young man! meet us at the auditorium for the audition!" ms. honda yelled behind us.

♬

"heh." my eyes flashed to ichigo. "jealous?" he snickered. i stomped my foot, steam coming from my ears. "jealous of you?! yeah right!" i yelled marching away from the brat. he jogged over to match my pace, his hands in his pockets. "hey." he kept his eyes ahead, how is this middle schooler so smug. "what?" i retorted. "airie, she's special to me." his words caused my eyes to grow for a second. "don't hurt her or i'll make sure you never see her again." he said plainly and kept walking. i felt the grimace form on my face, what was that kid talking about. of course i'll never hurt airie, she's special to me too.

"ichi!!" kyo cheered as we entered the gym. "yo," i saw him grin as he bent down to catch the little boy. apart of me resented how close the two were, i didn't know why i was so envious but i wanted kyo to like me as much as he liked that brat. "nishi why are you being scary?" kyo pouted tucking his head into ichigo's shoulder. "ah!" i froze realizing i must've been glaring at the two. "k-kyo i wasn't i promise!" i waved my hands frantically. "it's okay kyo, i'm here to protect you." ichigo smirked, i felt the tick marks pop all over my head. i opened my mouth to shout at the little brat but stopped when i felt a hand on my shoulder. "nishinoya?" yaku's voice turned me around.

"yeah?" i asked sharply. the older boy just chuckled and stepped closer, "you really don't need to add the hostility." he smiled kindly at me. "i'm not going to try and win her over," i felt relaxed suddenly hearing his words. "for now that is." he sent me a sharp stare. "wai- what!" i shouted, my face turning bright red. yaku started to walk off with ichigo and kyo, i slowly started to walk behind them. my chest filled up with jealousy, everyone wanted airie. my airie. i pounded my fist into my palm, it's my job to keep away any and all boys away from her. i'll protect her! "can you hurry up? she's up next." ichigo's lazy voice pulled me out of my thoughts. my whole body perked up. "let's go then!" i smiled ear to ear and rushed the trio inside.

"there's ms. honda," ichigo pointed to the third row. i glanced around, not many people were here, maybe a small group of each kids family and the four judges sitting directly in the first row. "oo ms. airie has so many handsome boys to cheer her on!" i groaned at her words as she shook hands with yaku. "where's onee-chan?" kyo whined, leaning closer to my face as we sat down. "she's coming up, want to sit on my lap and watch her together?" i beamed. kyo nodded happily and crawled over the seat he was sharing with ichigo and onto my lap. i grinned smugly seeing ichigo's grimace.

i pulled my attention back to the stage, there was a tall blonde girl playing a large instrument. i'm pretty sure it was a bass but ichigo kept telling me it was called a cello, sure. "thank you, bring the next one please." one of the judges called. "ooo there she is!" ms.honda silently cheered. my eyes quickly moved back to the stage and i instantly felt all the air leave my body.