Hereafter | Haikyuu!! Oneshots | Hiatus!

IV: A Weakness

A couple of weeks passed, and life continued as usual, with the exception of Wakatoshi and I messaging each other more often. We chatted about our lives and frequently discussed our schedules to see when the best day to meet again was. During this time, I found that Ushijima had relocated to a space in Tokyo, closer to where the Adlers team would usually practice.

Unfortunately, it was far from where I lived, but I was determined to make it work. Both of us were free on the weekends, but the problem was the transit price. If he lived close enough to me, I would've loved to come and visit every weekend via bike or car, but it wasn't an option when he lived over 200 miles away. I couldn't afford to spend a week's groceries on some train ticket every 7 days.

Sighing in frustration, I set my phone down and rubbed my temples, trying to make the ache in my head go away. The confounding problem of calculating the price and time for a small getaway only got worse considering that I was absolutely swamped with article samples to proofread, as well as an editorial to start -- all of which were due next week. My eyes settled on an unfinished manuscript in the background and narrowed, my eyelids trying to block out the unsightliness of it all.

A few minutes later, I heard a ring come from my phone. Checking to see who it was, I peeked at the screen and immediately sucked in a breath, making a face at the Caller ID. Ushiwaka was on the other line, and he'd dialed in for a video call. Feeling a sudden heat creep up from the base of my neck at imagining what he'd look like at this hour, I rushed to tidy myself up.

Quickly fixing my hair and brushing any dust off the visible parts of my top, I answered the call with hopeful eyes and a slight smile.

"Wakatoshi!" His eyes brightened as soon as my image popped up on his phone, waving to me through the screen. "It's so good to see you again!"

"It's nice to see you again as well," he replied, "How are things going for you? Hope you're not too busy trying to figure out the whole situation with the tickets-" I interrupted him, brushing the topic off, not wanting to bother with telling him the whole story.

"No, everything is fine -- just finishing up some writing projects. Y'know, the usual." Ushijima's eyes widened, as if regarding something tactless. He acted like he was guilty of something, though at the moment I didn't think that there was anything wrong until he piped up.

"If you're busy I can call back. I didn't mean to impose on your manuscript writing." I immediately gasped, panicking over on the other side of the call, afraid that I'd given him the wrong impression.

"No, no, not at all! You're perfectly welcome!" I exclaimed, hurriedly waving my hands around like a madman, "I was in need of a break, anyways." Wakatoshi seemed to relax a bit, his shoulders losing the tension that they previously held as his chest deflated a bit, relieving his lungs of a held-in breath.

"I'm glad," he said, "But you didn't answer my question about the tickets -- have you found anything yet?" I sighed, hesitantly glancing to the side, debating whether or not I should tell him about the situation regarding the calculations and workload.

"I actually... don't know where I'm gonna find the time for all of this," I admitted, putting a hand to my forehead and laughing, "Y'know, I honestly wish I could be a better person and manage these things, but-"

"I bought a ticket for this Saturday, actually." My eyes bugged out and a clapped a hand over my mouth in disbelief.

"What?" I shouted, "Wakatoshi, you really didn't have to! I could've done it myself, I-" He shrugged, holding up a printed ticket, the black and white ink heavily contrasting with the warm background it was presented in.

"Well, what's done is done. You can just get the ticket from me and-" I started to chuckle upon realizing that Ushijima had a physical copy of the ticket, which defeated the purpose of it, as I was travelling to him. He seemed perplexed as I caught my giggles in the cuffs of my sweatshirt, my eyes averted to keep my composure and to avoid bursting into spontaneous snickers at his full expression.