Try Your Hardest | Ushijima Wakatoshi

Year 3: Part 3

Healing is much easier said than done, but a few things had begun to get better more or less. The more Uta interacted with her mother, the easier it got and less anxiety she experienced.

Sometimes she wouldn't eat lunch with the group, and at times Ushijima caught her sitting on her own just staring at the sky. What she thought about? He had no idea. Sometimes he would ask, sometimes he'd let her be.

That was before the Spring Qualifiers came around the corner. Once it got to this point, it seemed like the only thing he ever thought about was volleyball, volleyball, volleyball. It was concerning, even for his teammates.

Before, the two worked out an agreement that Uta would wait for Ushijima to finish practice and he would walk her home, but at some point he told her "don't wait around for me. I'll be practicing late." And so she didn't.

Uta let out a sigh as she thought about Wakatoshi. It had been a few days since they saw each other or even spoke a word. She would message him things like "I hope you had a good day!", "Remember not to push yourself too hard!" or "Make sure to eat properly!" but he would almost always vaguely answer: "Thanks."

She thought it was only her, but eventually the rest of the members voiced their concerns to her, it was becoming a problem.

It was the weekend before their Spring Tournament, Uta was out for a walk to buy groceries and stop for a few Sakura mochi to brighten her mood, but something felt off...almost like someone was watching her.

She turned around and behind a wall, saw a black shoe sticking out.

She crept forward a little, then turned around and saw an orange tuft of hair sticking out behind a trash can.

"Hmmmm," she narrowed her eyes.

Uta ran into the block close by and waited until the two young men followed her into the alley.

"You two are terrible at stalking people! What are you trying to do?!" she pointed a reprimanding finger at them.

"A-Ah! KAGEYAMA it was your idea you explain!" the bright headed boy pushed the taller boy forward.

"Don't tell her that Hinata-boke! It's not like that!" he was embarrassed.

"Answer me!" Uta raised her voice.

The two quickly got to their knees and bowed in apology, "we are sorry! We didn't mean to be creepy we just saw your jacket and haven't had the courage to talk to you..." Hinata explained.

Uta was wearing her Shiratorizawa swim jacket, which would explain why they had questions.

"What? You two from another school? Do you swim?" Uta asked.

"No, we play volleyball. We were hoping you knew something about the volleyball team," Kageyama asked.

Uta let out a cackle as she held her stomach. The two were almost scared for what she would answer.

"Are you scared of them?"

"N-no! Of course not! We're going to beat Ushiwaka and his team!" Hinata proclaimed.

"Ah, so you want to be the great Ushiwaka do you?"

They nodded their heads.

"Have you met him?" Uta questioned.

"We ran into him a while back while he was on a run. We told him we would defeat his team, but that's about it," Kageyama responded.

Uta let out another boisterous laugh. "HAHAHA you said that to Waka- I mean Ushijima-san?! You two got some nerves, I like you!"