𝙃𝙐𝙎𝙏𝙇𝙀 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙃𝙄𝙏 // 𝙤𝙞𝙠𝙖𝙬𝙖 𝙭 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

𝙭𝙭𝙫𝙞𝙞

"He was a real bastard. His spikes... they were incredible. Like nothing I've ever seen." Sakiyama's elder brother growled. "and they had this bastard blocker, too. He gave off this creepy vibe, none of us liked it... but we lost to them. Our setter, he- he took it personally. Real personal. Stayed late after practice, overworked himself, the poor kid collapsed more than once. And then one day, he collapsed again, but for real, after hours. I heard that he'd really fucked his leg up and his spiker buddy had had to call emergency services for him. I didn't see him at practice for a few days, maybe weeks. And when I did, he had his knee all done up."

"I had no clue that's how he hurt his knee." you said with a frown.
"I suspected it." Sakiyama added. "I mean, he's always been devoted to volleyball."

"Of course." Samuru sighed. "he was devoted. Really devoted."

Uncaring of the conversation - well, about the subject of the conversation - you pulled out your phone to see over a dozen missed calls from none other than Bokuto Koutarou. Your brow furrowed with concern and worry, and you clicked the notification to call him back. It rang once, twice. You heard the familiar sound that signalled he had answered the phone and opened your mouth to speak when he started.

"[L/N], I called you so many times!" he whined.
"Sorry, I'm out on the town with my team." you said apologetically. Sakiyama sent you a quirked brow, to which you shook her head to tell her not to worry. She nodded and went back to talking about Oikawa with her brother.

"So, Bokuto, why'd you call me?" you asked.
"Remember Akaashi?" the way he pronounced the setter's name was laughable - you bit the inside of your cheek to stop it from spilling out.
"Of course I do. Why?" you said, giggling.
"Well, I was just with him." Bokuto spoke.

"You're always with him-" you started.
"No! Shh! Let me speak." the Fukuroudani captain cut across. "as I was saying, I was just with akaashi, and we kissed again and we held hands, but I don't know if he likes me."

You took a moment to let yourself process his stupidity.
"I'm hanging up the phone." you said.
"No, no!-" his voice cut off as you pressed the red 'hang up' button.
"Who was that?" Sakiyama turned to look at you.
"Bokuto." with just a single word, she nodded with an "ah."

"As I was saying... Oikawa-" samuru started.
"Samuru. As much as I enjoy hearing about your adventures at Seijoh, i don't really want to talk about Oikawa-san." you said.
"What, did he break your heart too?" Samuru smirked, quirking a brow. Sakiyama elbowed him in the ribs, to which he swept her into a headlock, ruffling her hair.

"Samuru! You can't- just ask- people that!" she yelled.
"You can't assault me! I'm an Olympian!" he cackled.
"Nobody cares!" Sakiyama responded. Samuru broke out of his fit of evil laughter and let his sister go.

"Yeah, yeah. Plenty of people look up to me." he rolled his eyes. "let's go look for the others, shall we?"
"Yeah. Let's go." you nodded, turning to Sakiyama as you walked.

"What was Bokuto calling about?" she asked.
"Akaashi." you said plainly. She nodded, her mouth forming an 'o' shape.
"Ah. Well... whenever does he talk about something other than volleyball or Akaashi?" Sakiyama said.

She had never actually met Bokuto, but purely from the stories she'd heard from you as well as Hinata, she knew as much as she needed to know.

"I saw Oikawa-san today." you spoke after a while.
"Oh." Sakiyama's nose curled. "really?"
"Yeah. I found his nephew wandering alone outside the grocery store and I returned him." you confirmed.
"I didn't even know Oikawa was an uncle." the ace said.
"Neither." you agreed.

- -

The day ended rather uneventfully for [L/N] and her friends. Everyone eventually met up at the front of the mall, and walked home until they had to go their separate ways.

It fell to dusk earlier that night. With winter creeping up, it was hard to be out past 4pm. [L/N] was walking beside an abandoned warehouse, alongside various other industrial builds that had been deserted. She was on the phone with her father.

"Yes, Chichi, I'm fine." sighed she for the fifth time.
"I'm just making sure, dear. You know it's dangerous to be alone at night." he answered.
"You know me - I'll be fine!" the [H/C]-haired girl replied.
"Just be careful, Tsubaki." Chichi sighed.
"I will. I'll be home soon. Bye, Chichi." with that, she hung up.

Yet at the idea, [L/N] turned to look behind her. She felt her heart rate ameliorate at the sight of a silhouette walking behind her.
'Calm down. It's probably just another person like myself on a walk.' she thought, crossing to the other side of the road and briefly glancing back. She saw the figure follow her across the street and her chest clenched as she began to walk faster. At the same time, the footsteps behind her increased. She looked around. Nobody would hear her if anything happened.

"No, no..." she whispered to herself, clutching her bag straps tightly. She took another glimpse behind her and saw the stranger gaining on her. With that, she took off running. The sound of heavy footsteps behind her only made her run faster, her pulse pounding in her ears. A pair of arms flattened her arms to her sides, raising her off of the ground slightly. She screamed and flailed, kicking her legs and throwing her weight around to deter her assailant.

"No! Get off of me!" she wailed, letting out a guttural sob before shrieking again in almost futile hope someone would hear her.

"Hey!" the sudden shout made the attacker freeze and turn to yet another silhouette at the end of the road.

Immediately deterred, the stranger dropped [L/N] and instead made off with her bag which had been clutched so tightly to her chest. She immediately got to her feet, fearing that the new figure would finish the job.

"[L/N]-chan! Are you okay?!" they jogged over and [L/N] realised that her saviour had, in fact, been Oikawa Tooru.
"Oi-Oikawa-san..." she snivelled, wiping her nose.
"Did that person do anything to you? What just happened?!" he exclaimed.
"I-I was walking home from the mall and they came up behind me, a-and I tried to scream for help but no one would hear me." she tried to keep herself composed.

"Come here..." he sighed, opening his arms for her. As an offer of comfort, she couldn't refuse and retreated into his arms, shaking.
"W-why are you here, oikawa-san?" [L/N] asked.
"I was following you." he admitted. "I thought something might happen to you, so I did. Which I'm glad I did, now."

"Thank you." she sniffled. "thank you so much, Oikawa-san."
"What did they take from you?" he asked.
"Mu bag... it had everything in it. My money, my phone, my keys..." she replied. He moved so just one of his arms was tightly around her shoulders and started walking.

"Let's get you home."