Tomorrow [Tsukishima Kei x Reader]

13

Tsukishima Kei's POV

"Just tell her I said get well, Tsukki!" Yamaguchi said.

I nodded and watched as he walked away. Once our meeting ended, I didn't take much more time to start walking home— but this time I was going to take a detour to the hospital first. Yamaguchi was supposed to come with me but he had to do something else.

I plugged in my headphones and wore them as I listened to one of my playlists. I walked with hands in my pockets as I looked around the familiar buildings I often pass by going home.

Normally, I'd take a right turn to head home now but since I decided to visit a certain volleyball idiot who fainted, I took a left.

It didn't take more than five minutes to arrive in front of the hospital she was brought to, Hironaka Hospital. Before going in, I looked around and saw a bakery.

'Should I? Wait, was she even allowed to eat sweets after fainting?'

In the end, I decided to buy some chocolate chip cookies before heading to the hospital's lobby. I approached the desk and asked for [Surname]'s room number.

"Room 611, sixth floor."

"Thank you," I said to the lady over the counter.

I went inside the elevator and pressed the button for the sixth floor. Some people entered as well, each of them pressing a different button. Once we got to the sixth floor, I went out of the elevator and looked at the signs near the doors.

I started walking towards the end of the hall that started with the door nearest to the elevator having number 620. The more I walked away from the elevator, the lower the number of the rooms got.

Once I was in front of room 611, I knocked first before opening the door. When I stepped in, I was immediately able to get a view of [Surname] sitting on the white hospital bed.

"Tsukki! You came to visit me!" she said, giving me a tired but wide smile.

I frowned as I got a clearer view of her face. Her hair was a little better in comparison to everything else. Her eyes looked tired and her skin was a little paler than usual.

"Sorry to disappoint you that it's me and not Yamaguchi," I said, smirking afterward.

"That's okay. I'd want you as company for now over him. I might just get suffocated with the awkward air if I get to be in a room with him alone," she said, still smiling.

"You're really hopeless," I said.

"I'd love to retort back but can you walk a little closer to the bed? My contacts dried up and I don't want to keep squinting at you while I fight back."

I chuckled as I walked towards her.

"How bad is your eyesight?" I asked.

"I hate to admit this but, I think my eyesight is worse than yours. Anything beyond the bed is absolutely fuzzy and my brain hurts from having to look at it."

I snickered into my closed hand. "I can't imagine how thick your glasses would be."

"Please don't," she said, laughing.

I stopped beside her bed and sat on the stool that was on it.

"You look like crap," I said.

"I feel like crap too." She groaned. "Anyway, I heard your team won against a strong school. Congrats!"

I nodded, not really feeling like I did much for the team.

"It was mostly Azumane-san and the shrimp doing the work. Tanaka-san had pretty good spikes as well. I didn't do much."

"No way! I don't believe that!" she said. "I'm sure you helped more than you give yourself credit for."

"Sure," I said. "How about you? What happened?"

"To?"

"Your first match? I know you probably lost but how was it before you fainted? Did you prove yourself?"

"I guess," she said, shrugging. "I had twelve service aces so that's something, I think."

It was honestly impressive.

"What happened?" I asked. "Why did you faint?"

"From being tired too much, I guess?"

"I don't believe you. You're telling me you got rushed to the hospital just from being too tired? If you're gonna lie, make it believable," I said.

"I can't get past you now, can I?" she asked. "I probably fainted because of my anemia. My parents want me to go through tests to confirm it, I guess."

"You're anemic? Also, is it the first time you fainted?"

"Yeah and yeah. This is all a new sight to me," she said. "Thank you, by the way."

"For what?" I asked.

"For not teasing me about my team's loss."

I only nodded as a response. Although it was certainly something I'd probably do, I decided not to tease her about it for now. When I walked in, I was also able to notice how her eyes were a little red-- probably from crying.

"I bought cookies but I don't feel like eating them anymore. You can have them," I said as I handed her the paper bag that had the cookies I bought earlier. "Also, you don't have to pretend you're okay with losing. Knowing you, you probably want to cry until you're uglier than usual."

[Surname] grabbed the paper bag and got a cookie. She took a bite while looking down.

"It's nice," she said, swallowing the cookie.

I watched as the hospital blanket started to catch some of the tears falling from her eyes. I turned away as soon as I heard her soft sniffling— deciding to give her a little privacy for her crying.

"Tsukki," she said, her voice cracking a little.

"What?" I asked with my back still facing her.

"Can I hug you?"

"If you get any of your snot on me, I'm gonna send it to you and ask you to clean it once you get out of here," I said.

[Surname] didn't talk anymore. I felt her wrap her arms around my chest and pull me closer. I could still hear her sniffling, but I didn't comment on it.

I stared at her arms that were around me as I wondered what I was supposed to do. I had no clue on how to comfort people at all, especially those whose own pain stems from disappointment to their own self.

"I'm sorry but, can we stay like this for a while?" she requested.

"Sure, whatever."

I've always known she was more of a touchy person. Her method of preferred comfort was probably things like this-- hugging and such.

Since I can't do anything else, I just let her do what she wants. That's the least I could do as her friend.