one step further // haikyuu x OC

i'm being followed!! // 6

~ Shouyou Hinata ~

"I swear she's been following me all day. That new girl wants revenge! It-it's not all my fault I almost ran into her with my bike... she was just standing there spacing out! Tanaka, what do I do?!" I pleaded with my upperclassman as he bounced a volleyball absentmindedly. He pondered my words for a minute.

"Is she cute?" He asked with a grin.

"Idiot! That's all you have to say?! I seriously need help... Senpai!" I knew referring to him like that would do the trick, he sputtered and rethought for a second.

"Shouyou... what makes you think she's out for vengeance? How is she following you?" A serve flew past us as he spoke, me barely escaping the path.

"Well... to start, I was sitting in homeroom after the bike thing, and when I looked up - there she was! Teacher telling us she was our new classmate!" Tanaka doubled over laughing.

"Dimwit! That's just a coincidence!"

"That's not all! I kept seeing her in the hallways, and in my other classes!"

"She's enrolled here too, Hinata, and she's in your class. Did you apologize for almost running her over?"

"I did!" I shouted. "Well, I tried! She said I was embarrassing her and then had to leave. She told me to talk to her after school, but I forgot and went straight to practice instead..." Right in that moment, my heart dropped as I saw her rush into the gym. I jumped behind Tanaka. "There she is!!" Pointing and whispering for him to look.

"Ah, maybe she is following you... I wonder who she's looking for?" He insinuated and teased me, making me uneasy. I glanced at Kageyama warming up, in a small moment I watched as he noticed her, then took an approach for his serve. I could've swore he looked like he aimed it right for her! Tanaka and the other guys yelled for her to watch out. But, I blinked and nearly missed her reacting in a split second and perfectly receiving the crazy serve! At first, I only stared because I was surprised, but then it sent chills down my spine. It made her seem more intimidating.

"*Hey,*" woah, she said 'hey' in English again. I had heard her do it more than once that day. "who served that ball at me?" She yelled through the gym. I stayed still and remained in my hiding spot as dummy Kageyama actually admitted to it. He said it was an accident. I got nervous when she marched over to him, was she gonna fight him?! She had no idea how brave that was... but he seemed a little intimidated by her actions too. We were all confused when she broke out laughing and told Kageyama how good his serve was.

"Your stalker is pretty impressive. You could've warned me how cute she was."

"Now do you believe that she's following me? Why else would she be here?" And just then, as if the gods were listening and wanting to laugh at me some more, the captain of the girl's club emerged from the door and ran toward the new girl shouting a nickname. They seem close, but how does she know the new student so well?

"Oh look at that Hinata, turns out she's a volleyball player. You seem to be plagued by coincidences today." He teased and chuckled at me some more, I just slumped forward in defeat as we watched her run with her stuff to the girls' club room.

xxx

I knew I couldn't ignore her forever, she finally noticed me when we were standing with our clubs, and now it felt like she was watching me like a hawk from the serving line as she waited for the match to start. There was sweat on my forehead already, but it was from nerves rather than playing. The whistle blowing made me jump in my skin. Is she looking right at me...?

With more power than I was expecting, she sent her serve right for me, and I ended up sending it out of bounds. The next serve, the same thing! Then two more, gah! And because of her, Kageyama yelled at me... Was she planning to bully me the whole game? After Kageyama said something, she changed her pace and served with even more power to someone else, I watched her. I couldn't figure her out! What was her game here?? She took no notice of me anymore, her eyes calculating and focused, and in a split second she dove to the side and received an upperclassman's hit. Her reflexes... she's so quick.

My curiosity piqued when she finally rotated to the front row. She was crazy good on defense, able to dig almost every hit and get to every flyaway ball. And she even got dummy Kageyama to make googley eyes at her like an oaf when he saw her toss to Tanaka from the back row. Pfft, as if he hadn't seen other girls toss before. But now, I got to see how she battles in the air at the net. Scary girl was surprised by my quick attack, but the look on her face when she turned around stopped all my gloating.

Is she... smiling?

I involuntarily shivered under my skin. It's like nothing could phase her! But I was gonna show her, another freak quick would get her to crack!

Except I didn't really get that chance...

When my team served the ball over, Team 2 easily received it, and she loudly called the toss from Sugawara on the outside.

I know I shouldn't underestimate my opponents but... she doesn't look like that powerful of a wing spiker?

I jumped to block with Kageyama and in a blur... she was there. Her intense face was right there above the net; and in that moment of slow motion her eyes met mine, catching my breath in my chest. When she slammed the ball through my hands, just a ghost of a smile lingered on her lips. I was so caught off guard that I forgot to fall to my feet, and instead fell on my butt - yet it didn't matter - all I was focused on was her.

Amazing. She can hit like that?

She noticed the silence from everyone, and suddenly looked a bit shy and confused, holding out her hand to me.

"Sorry..." Her voice was small then, a complete opposite to how I just witnessed her. Sorry...? For what? That hit, that jump...! I accepted her hand and stood to her. Not being able to contain my excitement I asked how tall she was, how high her jump was. It took her by surprise. Her cheeks became rosy and her grey eyes that contrasted to her dark eyebrows widened at everyone that joined in on talking to her. I observed closely when she looked all around becoming flustered by the attention, from here I could tell that she was only a few inches taller than me.

She's not so intimidating when she's like this...

"Hinata..." She focused back on me and I answered, hoping she'd finally tell me how high she could jump. "You... you're still holding onto my hand..." I looked down with horrifying realization and began apologizing immediately, but my team already had begun the teasing. My face was on fire! My embarrassment was crippling! Suga broke it up, but the damage was done - I felt like I would just disintegrate right there! Before I could stagger back to my spot, there was a tug on my sleeve. It was her, she spoke under her breath to me. She told me to ignore the teasing, and that we still had to talk after practice. The concern she had on her face... it was comforting. Comforting enough to help me finish the game. I was still too out of my head space to play well, though.

I hope she'll accept my apology. I don't think I want to be on her bad side...