the tide [ikuya kirishima]

《3》better judgement

He was tired, and it was only morning. Ikuya sat down at his usual seat at his college campus cafeteria, drawing in a breath. He was exhausted, a feeling that wasn't foreign to the teal-haired swimmer. He hoped to make progress on a paper he had for one of his classes, but it seemed the universe had other plans in mind for him today. His amber eyes landed on a lightly distressed black spiral notebook at the seat across from him, seemingly left behind. The boy sighed, as he didn't have time for this today; but picked it up against his better reasoning.

Flipping to the first page, he immediately recognized who the notebook belonged to. He felt his heart skip a beat as his fingertips traced the name written down onto the lined paper. He rolled his eyes, wanting to push the feeling that seeing (Y/N)'s name gave him to a place far, far away. But yet again, against his better reasoning, he skimmed through the journal.

With his vague knowledge of science, Ikuya concluded that (Y/N) probably used this journal to take notes for one of her many pre-med requisite courses. Scratching his head, he was in slight awe of how the (hair colored) haired girl managed to keep up with all of this... Which is probably the reason why Ikuya felt his legs walk him out of the cafeteria and to the direction (Y/N)'s current class was at.

To be clear, Ikuya was not a stalker. He just happened to know (Y/N)'s schedule because whenever he was near the girl, he felt his palms sweat and throat itch; so he deemed talking about classes and school the easiest to get away with whenever he found himself engaging in small talk with her. Her current class was set to end three minutes from now, at eleven P.M. Ikuya mentally rehearsed what he would do.. He would approach the girl, hand her the notebook, and return to what he was doing. Right?

Wrong.

Ikuya leaned against the wall, drawing his hand over the rough texture. He tapped his foot impatiently, wondering just how the hell he got himself into this mess. He stepped back as a myriad of students emerged from the classroom doors, all eager to leave. (Y/N) was one of the last people out, sporting her usual flask of coffee and tired eyes.

"(L/N)," Ikuya called out, drawing her attention. She snapped her head up at him, surprise etched on her pretty features.

"Oh, Kirishima." she mumbled, giving him a small smile as she drew closer towards him. "What's up?"

"I found this in the cafeteria. It seems to belong to you." he explained, holding the notebook out to her.

"I've been looking for this! Ah, this makes my day a lot better! Thank you." she beamed, her hand brushing against his as she took the object from his grasp.

"No problem. It looked important."

"Well, it's for an important class, one I was supposed to have in ten minutes actually, but it got cancelled! So what do you say I take you to lunch as compensation for your time?"

Ikuya cleared his throat. Common sense was telling him to say no, that he has work to do. But common sense wasn't really common when she came to mind..

"Sure." he replied, giving a small smile. The girl gave a small laugh, leading Ikuya into the direction of the nearest brunch spot.

▬▬▬▬▬▬

The two college students sat across from each other at the outdoor table, enjoying the breezy weather. Ikuya sat with his hands folded on the table, afraid he was coming off as awkward or unapproachable. After all, the two were still calling one another by their last names, and he felt he didn't know much about (Y/N) other than the fact that she's extremely beautiful, working to become a doctor, and dating Kisumi.

'That's right, she has a boyfriend,' he mused.

Ikuya watched as she brought the small white cup in front of her to her lips, taking in the aroma of the caffeinated beverage. She took a small sip, eyes widened a bit when she realized how how the drink was. Ikuya held back a chuckle.

'She's so cute,' he found himself drifting, mentally slapping himself over the head for letting himself think these thoughts.

"Ahh, that was hot," she mumbled, blowing on the drink in an attempt to cool it down.

"You sure seem to drink a lot of coffee, (L/N)." Ikuya observed.

"Yeah. And you can call me (Y/N)." (Y/N) corrected, dismissing his comment with the wave of her hand.

"You can call me Ikuya."

"M'kay then, Ikuya." she replied giving him a playful grin that made Ikuya want to melt inside.

"So, Ikuya, how long have you been swimming?" she asked, looking up at him with curious eyes.

"For as long as I can remember."

"Hmm.. You must be passionate."

"I guess." he responded, not really ever thinking himself as "passionate" before.

"Did you do any sports?" Ikuya questioned, drumming his fingers on the table as he began to relax into the conversation.

"I played volleyball up until this year."

"Nice. What position?" Ikuya asked, thankful he had a considerable amount of knowledge on the sport.

"I moved around a lot on the court until my first year of highschool when a certain second year setter thought I had what it took to be the female version of him, so he taught me everything he knew and eventually crafted me into the team's official setter." she explained, rolling her eyes as she reminisced about the old memory. Ikuya assumed the gesture was towards the second year she mentioned.

"Your first year, you were the official setter? You must have been good. Why didn't you pursue college volleyball?"

"Well, I still play volleyball for fun with some old friends. To me, it just wasn't what I wanted to dedicate my time to." she confessed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"So you've just always wanted to be a doctor, then." Ikuya concluded.

"Not exactly. I used to be really insecure. For a while I didn't think I have what it takes. But my team, my friends, when they depended on me as a setter and a teammate.. It made me feel like I could do anything. I eventually gained some confidence. I still have my bad days, though."

"You don't really look like you have very many bad days," Ikuya muttered, not even aware he had said it aloud. He had been hoping it slipped past the girl, but Ikuya would come to find out that not a lot slipped past the former volleyball player.

"It's just so tiring, sometimes. I just wish I could catch a break." she sighed, dreamily gazing off into distance.

"I can relate to that." Ikuya stated, a pink hue creeping on to his face as the words escaped his lips.

"Well, here's to us, Ikuya. Hopefully our first year of college doesn't kick us in the ass." (Y/N) chuckled, tapping her cup against his. The clashing of the two objects echoing through his mind, Ikuya mentally cursed himself.

He couldn't be falling for her. He just couldn't.

But he was.