Shy

Chapter 9

He had his hand on the back of his neck while still avoiding eye contact. "Y-you know, you don't have to walk behind me just because I'm older than you. I'm okay with you walking next to me." He finally looked at her and gave her a lopsided smile. "I-I won't bite." He gave a nervous laugh.

Tsukiko looked up at him, surprised. During volleyball practice, he was loud and confident. Now, he was being a little shy and a bit submissive, which was completely unlike how he was before.

Tsukiko found herself liking both sides of him.

She nodded at Tanaka and started walking alongside him. They were back to avoiding eye contact and becoming tomatoes.

Tanaka peered at Tsukiko through the corners of his eyes. This was the first time that he really got a good look at her. This was the first time he could look at her without a clouded mind. No worries about having to find out her name and no frantic thoughts about her actions.

The more he looked at her, the more he found her to be cute. She wasn't cool or attractive in the same way that Kiyoko was, but Tsukiko was a different beauty. Her clean appearance and shy nature offered its own kind of attractiveness.

She was tightly clutching her briefcase book bag with both hands, her face devoid of its normal paleness and replaced with a bright red, her head looking down at her feet, occasionally looking up to make sure she didn't run into anything.

Her actions made her even more adorable to Tanaka, if that was even possible.

All of sudden, Tanaka realized what he was doing was all wrong. Sugawara and Daichi gave him a golden opportunity! He shouldn't be wasting his time just staring at Tsukiko (As much as he would have liked to do so). He should be using this chance to get further acquainted with her!

"S-so! Uh, I'm Tanaka Ryunosuke!!"

.

.

.

The hell kind of way to get further acquainted is that? She already knows your name, idiot.

Tanaka was internally screaming at his idiocy before he heard Tsukiko give a small giggle. He blushed further as the sound tickled his eardrums.

"I-I know. You i-introduced yourself b-before." She became a little relieved to know that she wasn't the only one who was nervous. She decided to play along now that she gained some confidence. "W-well, I'm Kita Tsukiko! N-nice to m-meet you!" She smiled at him with her eyes closed.

Tanaka swore he heard and felt his heart skip a beat.

He laughed loudly to play it off. "Haha! That was pretty stupid of me, huh?" He gave her his own eyes-closed, wide, million-dollar smile.

Tsukiko swore she heard and felt her heart skip a beat.

She laughed along with him. Before either of them knew it, they had made it to her house.

"I guess this is your stop..." Tanaka was disappointed that he had to leave her already. The time he spent with her didn't feel long enough at all.

Tsukiko nodded at him, but she had yet to go into her house. Tanaka wondered why she was just standing there and not moving.

Tsukiko gave one of her signature 90-degree bows, surprising Tanaka. "I-I'm sorry!"

Tanaka was utterly confused. "S-sorry for what?"

She looked back up at him. "I-I'm sorry f-for coming to your p-practice so late."

Oh, that. Tanaka was so happy with today's events, he completely forgot about that.

"I-I was about t-to go, b-but sensei s-stopped me. He w-wanted me to join the s-student council." Tsukiko looked ashamed at her own actions, so Tanaka quickly jumped in to assure her that he didn't take offense.

"Hey, it's okay! I'm not mad! I love volleyball so if it's club activities, I understand. I mean, it's not like you purposefully blew me off and it's not like you forgot or anything, so I'm happy about that." Tanaka rubbed is index finger underneath is nose and his cheeks had a slight tint of pink to them.

After realizing the last thing he said, Tanaka became worried he might have freaked Tsukiko out. He became flustered, trying to say something – anything – to fix the problem. His arms were flailing everywhere and the slight tint of pink on his cheeks from before turned into a hearty scarlet.

Tanaka paused his actions once again at the sound of Tsukiko's giggling. "I'm g-glad that you u-understand, but I s-still don't feel r-right. As an a-apology, would it be all right t-to come to your p-practice again t-tomorrow?"

Tanaka's eyes widened. Did she really just ask to see him practice again? He gulped and replied nervously, "Y-yeah! You can do that, but you don't have anything to feel sorry for. You don't have to do this if you don't want to!"

Tsukiko shook her head vigorously. "N-no! I-I want to d-do this!" She was sure that she would have a fever by the end of the night with how much she was blushing. "A-anyways, I should g-go inside. I-I don't want to w-worry my parents m-more." With that, she quickly retreated into her home.

Tanaka was left standing outside, stock-still with saucers for eyes and warm cheeks. He lifted both of his fists up before his torso and swiftly drew them back towards his body in a sort of double fist pump. "YEEEESSSSSS!!!!!!!!"

In the Kita household, Tsukiko had her back against the front door she just came through. She could clearly hear Tanaka's cheers of celebration. She blushed profusely and clutched her hands to her rapidly beating heart.