Smart Girl | Ushijima x OC

Chapter 28: Peak of Momentum

Ushijima took a deep breath, and followed Hana into her home. He wouldn't say he was exactly dreading this, but he was definitely more shaken up than the previous two times he'd been tutored by her. They'd made occasional small talk on the walk home from school, but nothing of any depth.

They set up in her room and Hana lay out her papers on the table.
"Right so, you seem pretty versed in everything that was in the mark scheme. There isn't anything new to go over, so I thought we should just make up flash cards and mind maps today. Just small things you can easily look through on the go- are you listening?" Hana poked Ushijima and startled him.

He hadn't exactly focused on what they came to do. His mind was dealing with... other things.
"Ah, yes. Sorry, that sounds fine." He replied, and they got to work.

Apart from helping him with a few minor problems, Hana just sat and watched Ushijima scribbling away on the pieces of card. His eyes were half lidded, looking down the page, finally with all the his concentration on math... for once.

Hana found it oddly appealing when he'd clench his jaw every time he wasn't exactly sure about something, thinking upon it, and then eventually having to ask her to ensure he was doing it right. It satisfied her in a way, watching the process.

Eventually Hana grew bored of sitting doing nothing, and decided to join Ushijima in making notes, sitting herself down beside him at the small table. She didn't have any specific tests coming up, but they'd lighten the workload for the future.

They sat comfortably in each other's presence, the background noise of pen on paper dominating the silence. Hana's mother made sure to make more food again, for the sole purpose of wanting Ushijima to eat with them.

Hana wasn't complaining though. It wasn't too awkward anymore, so she didn't mind having Ushijima around. If anything she enjoyed him being around her. She stopped evading that fact a while ago, yet still refused to put a label on it. Hana couldn't face it just yet.

After a quick meal break, Hana and Ushijima both got back to number crunching. However, soon enough Ushijima attention was averted.

His eye caught onto Hana's picture of her and her family, remembering it from her birthday. He lightly smiled at the happy girl in the photo, just like last time.
"Have you heard from your dad in a while?" He asked spontaneously, breaking the silence.

Hana looked up from her page, following his gaze to her picture frame.
"Yeah, we talk almost every day over the phone. Apparently he's not as busy as usual which is good. We usually just talk about work and school over the phone. He's pretty excited now that I'm in the volleyball team. He even knows about you." She smirked.

Ushijima eyes widened, wondering what she could've possibly told him.
"All good things I hope?" He questioned. Hana sniggered and rested her chin on her hand.

"I told him about the star ace of Shiratorizawa that I used to yell at every practise. And also how he's huge as fuck."
"I suppose that's all accurate," He replied. "Do you only talk about school with him then?" Hana thought for a moment, referring back to her recent conversations with her dad.

"Hmm.. pretty much. Since he's never there to see me in person, I've kinda made a reputation with him for being a perfect high school student. Sometimes I feel like I need to be the perfect example just to impress him, even if he won't find out about it, which is weird, I know. He never really found out how unsociable I can be though, which kinda gets annoying at times, but I deal." Hana listed.

She never seemed to realise when she went on rants when talking about her father. Ushijima found it cute if he was being honest with himself, but that didn't change the fact that what Hana said didn't sit right with him.