one step further // haikyuu x OC

don't shoot the middleman // 23

~ Tadashi Yamaguchi ~

I was never that good at making friends. After all, it was by chance that Tsukishima saved me from those bullies. Then again... who knows if he was antagonizing them or me. Even so, we both only had each other. Neither of us really straying far from the other or making many other friends. I guess you could say I get kind of jealous of people who can make friends so easily. Who can trust so easily.

That's why I didn't like her at first. That first-year transfer student on the girl's team. It was easy enough to ignore my envious feelings at first. Then day by day, more and more people gravitated towards her. Even Tsukki... I couldn't help but ask myself if it was bad to be as jealous as I was.

After all... Tsukki is his own person. He can have his other friends besides me. But seeing how they talked to each other so freely. How she could keep up with his taunting and still have fun with him. I became... paranoid. Afraid that my best friend would drop me for someone else, for someone more fun. It was stupid to think such things, but I couldn't help it. Especially after golden week. Something seemed off between them on the last day after practice.

For a while, I was able to avoid her attempts at making nice with me without her really noticing. She seemed kind of oblivious to people who disliked her.

Or so I thought.

The range of emotions that powered through my chest when she grabbed my arm, looking up at me and asking what she did wrong... it was intense. I felt guilty. Because in reality, she didn't actually do anything wrong, it's not like she was out to take my friends away from me. I'm glad she accepted my offer to stand with me at the Nekoma practice match and talk.

When her attention was fixated on the game I observed her without her noticing. She had a bright smile, she shouted at the boys on the court - cheering them on in a hilariously oversized jacket. Her grey eyes were so mysterious, but captivating at the same time. It didn't help that she looked at me so intensely.

She doesn't seem like the type of person who was ever lonely. I mean look at how quickly she makes friends... does she even know what it's like to get made fun of?

And the moment I made that step, to talk to her and get to know her. When she talked to me comfortably like an old comrade, is when I finally realized why she was so good at making friends. The way she empathized with people and her honesty made her attitude magnetic. She was candid with the people closest to her. And for no reason at all, she told me she trusted me. Enough for her to be vulnerable about her past. And she even gave me her special nickname from home.

I wanted to ask her why. I wanted to tell her that I didn't deserve her kindness, because of the way I had viewed her for the last two weeks. But something in her genuine smile replaced my apprehension with acceptance. And it was like a breath of fresh air, the tension I had created between us was gone in an instant.

Still, Kei was acting strange. It wasn't much, and he thought he was good at hiding his feelings most of the time. But I had known him for so long that I noticed even the smallest changes. So after the Nekoma match, I brought it up as we began our walk home. We were close to the front of Sakanoshita Store when I finally asked him what's going on.

"I don't know what you're talking about Yamaguchi." He said exasperated, tired from the many matches we had that day. I clicked my tongue at him.

"C'mon Tsukki. Enough already. I noticed something is up, so stop trying to hide it." He sighed and pushed up his glasses, about to speak. We both jumped at the commotion quickly approaching.

"TOSHIKO, RYU!! GET BACK HERE, BASTARDS!!" Noya shouted.

"AAAH! TANAKA PUT ME DOWN!!" Toshiko was laughing and yelling at the same time. It was at this point we both turned to see what was happening. Tanaka had Toshiko hauled over his shoulder, they were both escaping from a pissed off Nishinoya. It was hard to tell from our distance, but it looked like she had something clutched in her hand.