Serendipity: Haikyuu Fanfic

Chapter 12: A New Friend

Luckily for her, the question prompted Lev to ramble about his life — about how he's half-russian, but don't know how to speak it, how he's 194.3 cm and he grew 3 millimeters this past month... In that span of the lunch break, she can probably say that she knows more about Haiba more than she knows about anyone else in this school.

-*-

"Hey, what's up, Jun?" Yaku eyes Jun's exasperated expression. "You don't look well."

"It's nothing," Jun says, an automatic answer out of habit.

Kuroo quirks his brow questioningly at Jun. Could it perhaps be a delayed reaction of the night when the creepy basketball player... No, does hiding her gender been stressing her out..?

Kuro speaks lowly with hesitation: "Is it because...?"

Jun tilts her head in confusion. Yaku looks just as confused.

Kuroo had no choice but to lean in and whisper to Jun. Yaku had also leaned in to the conversation. Yaku's mouth gapes open.

"JUN'S A GIRL?!"

"EH?!" Inuoka screams. Taketora chokes as he drank his water bottle, water spurting out of his mouth and his nostrils.

"I had a feeling," Nobuyuki admits, smiling sheepishly. "But it was never my business to ask."

"Well... I guess the cat's out of the bag." Kuroo says. He pats Jun in the back reassuringly. "Don't worry, they're good people. They can keep a secret."

He faces the team members now. "I've been planning to tell you guys this, but now you know. Now that you do, you all have the same responsibility of keeping Jun's identity a secret. Clear?"

"But Captain," Inuoka interrupts, "what happens if the word gets out?"

Kuroo's face suddenly becomes grim. "I'll be suspended. And I won't be able to compete in the tournament."

"I see..." Yaku says. "Well, I guess you're officially a part of the team now."

"I suppose..." Jun says. To Kuroo's confusion, Jun still looks quite glum. Even having everything cleared up, there is something off about her demeanor.

"Thanks for all your help, but I wasn't really concerned about my whole gender thing. It's just..."

She wanted to talk about how Lev has been following her around restlessly, and how she finds him too loud and exhausting to be with. But upon listening to herself with these thoughts — thoughts that would hurt this 'friend' of hers— she closes her mouth and shakes her head.

She'd rather not become the kind of person that she hates the most.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it."

-*-

And in the next few days, Lev followed Jun around. He is like a kitty attached to a new owner. During lunchtime, Jun notices that Lev seems preoccupied.

"Is something bothering you?" Jun is not fond of Lev being loud, but it seems that Lev being quiet puts her off a little more.