STONE HEARTS ❨ ushijima wakatoshi ❩

「 EIGHTEEN 」

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

As the night deepened, all Hara could do was sigh. She was still troubled about the same thoughts, conflicted about what she should do. Should she act on it before or after the match?

It was dark and everyone in her team already went home. Sai insisted that they should walk home together but Hara declined the offer saying that she had to go somewhere first. Although the vice captain didn't fully believe what she said, Sai just let her be.

"Now I'm left all alone here. What did I want to achieve by walking home alone right now, anyway?" The captain talked to herself, hugging her jacket closer to her body as she felt the cold night breeze.

The girl looked around, seeing that it was already dark out and that the streets have turned quite eerie. If she was a scaredy cat, she'd crawl back inside the school thinking that there'd be a kidnapper ready to capture her and sell her organs in the underground market. But that wasn't her.

Hara continued walking away, looking up at the sky and admiring the stars. As she stared at them, she kept thinking about what happened to her life all because of Ushijima Wakatoshi. After all, she'd be lying if she said that he wasn't a big element of her life. He was, he definitely was.

He was her driving force, he gave her the motivation to strive to be better. He was someone she looked up to, and it was something that the old her wouldn't admit. But now that they've made up and that everything's turning into something more deeper, she started wondering if it was really something that she needed in her life.

Did she need Ushijima to be by her side? Did she need him to be the one who would make her feel like she was the most wonderful person to grace Earth? If that conflict was resolved, did she even need his approval this time around?

Hara sighed and looked down. She'd been walking for god knows how long, her mind drifting off from one thought to another. With the match coming up, she just wanted her mind to be cleared off of these confusing feelings regarding Ushijima.

"Oh, sorry-"

"Hara-chan!"

Widening her eyes, she looked up to find out who it was that called her. Especially with such a nickname. But thinking about it, there's only one person who called her Hara-chan. He did it to piss her off, she was sure of it.

"Oikawa," Hara called, brows furrowing when she saw the male.

"Yahoo! Hara-chan, you stopped replying to my messages. Were you busy?" Oikawa asked, and the girl nodded slowly.

It wasn't like she was too busy or something. She just found herself not replying to messages, whoever it was that messaged her. She had been neglecting talking to others aside from the girls' and some of the boys' team. She wasn't in the right head space to have a conversation with people, especially through messages.

"I'm sorry, Oikawa, but why are you around this area?" Hara asked, staring directly into Oikawa who was surprised at the sudden question. His brows shot up and his mouth was in an o-shape, before he closed his eyes and smiled.

"Right. I've been trying to see you lately so I wondered if you'd be around this area if I went here. Turns out I was right. I just wanted to wish you good luck on your upcoming match," Oikawa replied, chuckling as he scratched the back of his head.

"Oh? Thank you. You, too, I guess..." Uehara said, startling Oikawa a bit. "Good luck."

"Huh? Really? You're wishing me good luck?!" the Seijoh captain asked, blinking rapidly with his arms flailing around. He was overjoyed, definitely.

"Silly. What's gotten you so excited?" she asked, furrowing her brows and shaking her head.

"Well, shouldn't you wish Ushiwaka good luck instead of me-"

"What? No! Why would I wish him good luck? It's not like I like him or that he likes me. We're not like that. It's not that we can make him jealous-"

When she realized what she just said, she cursed under her breath and covered her face in embarrassment. How embarrassing.

"Oh? I never mentioned anything, though, Hara-chan? But, it's alright. You want me to help you make him jealous, don't you?" Oikawa asked, raising his brows mischievously. "I like the idea of that. It means pissing him off so I'm in. So you do like him, after all."

"Uh, unfortunately. You don't have to remind me," Hara shyly admitted, looking down. "You have every right not to go along with this."

"Hah. Why wouldn't I? It's only rare that Hara-chan asks me for a favor. But I just wanna clear something up..." Oikawa replied, trailing off at the end of his sentence.

"Yes?"

"Helping you like this doesn't mean that I don't like you just as much as Ushijima does. I've been chasing you for a while, Hara. But don't worry. Don't mind me. I'll help, absolutely."

Hara bit the inside of her cheek. Of all the things that could have happened, it was that Oikawa happened to like her but she didn't. She liked Ushijima Wakatoshi, and she wasn't even sure if he liked her back. Guilt slowly ate away her insides, hesitating for a minute.

She felt cruel. Knowing that Oikawa fancies her, asking his assistance on making Ushijima jealous might just kill him. But she didn't know what to do. If she told Oikawa that it was fine and that he should forget it, he will just insist to do it even more. That was how Oikawa was with her. He always gave in to what she wanted, whether she told him whatever it was or not. Although he loved teasing her, it was a way he found, just to get closer with her.

"Oikawa..."

"Let's work hard, Hara! I'll see you after your match, okay? Oh, or should I see you tomorrow during your practice-"

"Will you be fine?"

"Stop asking questions like that, of course I will! I'll head our first, then."

Oikawa ruffled Hara's hair, and then he ran off somewhere else. The girl was left standing there, understanding a little how cruel liking someone can be. She, at that moment, realized how she didn't want to be in the same situation that Oikawa had with her.

The girls' captain fixed her eyes to the ground, clenching her fists. Liking someone was indeed cruel. She feared about Ushijima even more.

However, what she didn't notice was the halting of footsteps earlier.

Just before Oikawa would run off, there came Ushijima who happened to look for her.

Did she like Oikawa, after all?, Ushijima thought, shaking his head before jogging away.

Before Uehara could confirm the existence of someone staring at her, Ushijima already jogged away from her sight.

Maybe, just maybe, it was yet another mess that would ransack their lives.