𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 | 𝐤.𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐨

seventeen

silence. again.

having awkward walks home with kageyama wasn't something new for ayako, but she knew today's silence wasn't because of their awkwardness.

her heart still hurt for him.

"m-miyazaki-san?" he broke the silence as they approached the vending machine.

"yeah?"

"i-i uh, kind of need you to listen to me," he stuttered, fumbling with his words.

"you mean you want to talk?" she chuckled.

he nodded. "uh yeah, that."

the girl headed over towards the vending machine, before quickly turning back to kageyama-two packets of strawberry milk in hand.

"so, you okay?" she asked, handing him the drink.

he leaned against the bench, sighing.

"today's match...we lost."

he paused, before continuing. "we lost...damnit. we worked so hard...a-and still lost, to seijoh."

his voice cracked but his head faced the ground, ayako couldn't tell if he was crying.

"i-i should've played better..."

he let out a choked sob.

ayako patted his back, in an attempt to comfort her friend.

"it's okay..." she cooed.

"i-i'm such a bad setter...miyazaki...i-if our quick set wasn't blocked...w-we wouldn't have..."

she shook her head. "you're not, don't think that way...it's not your fault."

"if it's not my fault, then who's is it?!" he exclaimed, shaking. "the setter is the team's foundation! he's the core of the team! if the setter does badly, everything else will crumble!"

that's when he broke down.

the tears started flowing, his entire body shook as he let out racked sobs.

ayako threw an arm around his shoulder, pulling the boy into a shoulder hug.

"it's okay...let it all out..."

in between the tears and sobbing, he buried his head into the girl's shoulder.

she let him be, occasionally stroking his hair, like he was a child she was comforting.

this side of kageyama...she'd never seen it before.

she knew how he was when he got riled up-pretty easily, and she'd seen him elated over a win, but never-in the 10 years of her life that she knew the raven-haired boy-she'd never seen him so vulnerable before.

not when he lost an important match in middle school, or when he got injured.

but then again, she'd never shown him any sort of vulnerability either, so she would expect him to do the same.