Pterodactyl - Tsukishima Kei x OC

Chapter 19: Princess

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Mizuki chewed on her fingernails apprehensively. There was a girl that almost had all 10 items for the scavenger hunt. She recognized that girl as one of Rina's classmates and she seemed to really want to win.

"All I need to find is a mug that says '#1Teacher'," The girl beamed enthusiastically, "Then I'll win the scavenger hunt!"

"You get to spend the whole day with Tsukishima-kun!" Her friend giggled, "You're so lucky!"

Mizuki didn't know why but it bothered her thinking about Kei spending a whole day with a random girl. She tried her best not to pay attention but as soon as the girl left, she found herself sprinting towards a boy from Kageyama's class that was participating in the scavenger hunt. Yamaguchi sat beside him as he evaluated how many items the boy currently had.

"Sato-san!" Mizuki exclaimed, panting slightly, "You have to win the scavenger hunt!"

"But that girl already has 9 out of the 10 things I need..." He groaned, "I only have 6!"

"Don't you want to win and spend the whole day with Mina?" She urged, hoping that she didn't come off as desperate.

"Of course I do!" He whined, "She's the true love of my life!"

"I don't think that's true but okay..." Yamaguchi mumbled softly.

Before she could say anything else, Mina and Rina walked inside her classroom. Rina's uniform seemed wrinkled and her hair seemed too messy, meaning that they were probably fighting earlier.

"Suzuki-chan!" Sato cried out as he ran towards her. She immediately dodged his hug as she and Rina walked towards Mizuki.

"Yamaguchi, can we have a minute to talk to Mizuki?" Mina asked, smiling at him.

"Y-yeah," He stammered, blushing cutely, "I'll be over there..."

As Yamaguchi stood up to leave, they heard Sato declare how he was going to win the scavenger hunt. Mizuki hoped that he would... obviously, for his sake...

"Rina, are you alright? You look a little..." Mizuki trailed off, trying to find the right words to describe her current appearance.

"Listen, Mizuki, what I'm about to tell you..." Rina took a deep breath as she sat down slowly, "It's stupid. Like, crazy stupid."

Mina slapped her arm and urged her to just tell her best friend. Mizuki was concerned and hoped that everything was alright. Finally, Rina explained how she currently had romantic feelings for Kageyama. She didn't know why or how it began but it was definitely after he stood up against those gossiping girls who she thought were her friends. She also explained that when Kageyama and Mizuki went on their date last month, they spied on them out of curiosity and concern.

As Mizuki tried to process what her best friend was explaining, she started to tear up out of guilt and shame. Was she that selfish that she didn't realize that her best friend likes the guy she went on a date with? Was she too preoccupied with her own life that she failed to help Rina deal with her feelings? Was she a terrible friend to someone who had been there for her for what seemed like forever?

"No! No!" Rina panicked, hugging her friend tightly, "Don't cry! It was my fault for not telling you!"

"But... But..." Mizuki tried to fight the tears that were blurring her vision, "I'm sorry... I didn't know..."

Mina sighed, joining in on their hug, "I told you so. You should've told her before all this happened."

"I'm sorry," Rina bit her lip in order to stop them from trembling, "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to feel guilty!"