PERSISTENT - K.SUGAWARA

24

"hamasaki?" sugawara spoke with a heavy sense of surprise in his voice, using her last name for formality. makoto gave a soft smile and waved him over.

sugawara made confused eye contact with daichi beside him, who was completely aware of the events that happened the previous weekend. sugawara ranted to him the whole night once he got home.

the volleyball captain gave his friend a reassuring smile and nodded, motioning him to go over. sugawara hesitated for a moment but listened to daichi and went over to the curly haired vice captain.

"can i help you?" sugawara asked, attempting to mask the nervousness in his voice. makoto give him her classic large smile.

"yeah actually i want to talk to you," makoto told him, taking his hand and dragging him out the classroom. sugawara let out a small yelp of protest but was ultimately ignored.

holding hands with makoto reminded him of [name] in a weird way. that one night when he took her hand and pulled her along on the walk home. thinking about it, that was barley a week ago. oh god. no wonder [name] panicked when he told her he loved him. they'd only known each other for barely a month. he's such an idiot!

makoto finally stopped and released her grip from his hand. she turned on her heals to face him and leaned on the wall next to the vending machine, her leg — covered in numerous amounts of plasters from her overly ambitious stunts in cheerleading — bent to let her foot rest on the wall behind her. the sunlight hit her face emphasising her features and dark skin. makoto's eyes squinted due to the light, her easy smile travelled all the way to her deep brown eyes.

sugawara had almost forgot this is where he first asked [name] to cheer at their volleyball tournament. to think that was only a couple weeks ago now. she was so blunt, serious and rather rude back then. he had never seen her smile and they definitely weren't on a first name basis. sugawara could remember stuttering out her last name while she pushed the buttons on the vending machine like a nervous boy confessing to his first love so clearly in his mind. ha, that metaphor is ironic.

"uhh, sugawara?" makoto laughed awkwardly, staring at him with a confused expression. he snapped awake from his thoughts.

"oh y—yes?" he stammered out. makoto took a long breath before speaking.

"[name]'s been acting really strange..." she began, tapping her darkly painted nails against the brick wall behind her, "well, like she used to," she went on. sugawara stared intently, he could pretty much predict what makoto was about to ask. "did something happen?" she asked softly. there it was. sugawara let out a puff of air and stared at his shoes. he was debating in his head whether or not he should tell her. makoto's brow furrowed due to sugawara uncomfortable mannerisms. "look you don't have to stay anything if you do want too—" she tried to reassure him.

"no it's fine," he butted in, saying it a bit too harshly than he would liked but makoto didn't seem to mind. "when i went out with her to see that movie because you and ami were to busy to see it with her and i—i told her i loved her," he admitted with a blush on his cheeks and i unhappy expression.

makoto's eyes widened at first but quickly changed into a relatively sad expression. she sighed before speaking, "and she freaked out yeah?" sugawara nodded his head shamefully. makoto let out a sort of pitiful laugh which almost made sugawara die inside.

"[name]'s not had the best experience and influence when it comes to love," makoto began to explain, "i mean, i don't really know the details since she never talks about it but her dad is an asshole from what i know." sugawara made note of that, remembering her mentioning her dad during her freak out and the fact that her father was never, ever around when he went to her house.

"i just think she's really scared, you know?" makoto said, shifting her weight from one leg to the other, "to be honest there's not a doubt in my mind that she really likes you suga but she just can't admit it yet."

"so what i do i do?" sugawara asked her, his eye stared deeply into makoto's begging for an answer. makoto gave him a kind smile.

"i don't think you're going to like this but," she paused and took a breath, "just give her time, okay? i'm sure she'll come around."

sugawara furrowed his brow and thought for a moment. if anyone knew what to do about [name], it would be makoto, so he should listen to her advice. he sighed heavily. "alright," he said to makoto. makoto gave home around big smile and pushed herself off the wall she was leaning on.

makoto traveled towards sugawara and placed an umber hand on his shoulder. her dark painted lips were still curled into a smile. to be honest, sugawara was starting to feel a lot more a peace with the events of the other day. makoto was good a comforting, he could see why [name] was friends with her.

"and just so you know..." makoto spoke again in a low voice, her lips transforming from a sweet smile to a devilish smirk, "[name] never asked us about a movie, so make of that what you will," she winked before strolling off back into the school building.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

i wrote a new story called ghost it's bungou stray dogs pls read it 🥺🥺

and thank you so so much for 50k i am losing my mind