"Holy shit!" Chihiro repeated, her usual calm voice was replaced with an excited one.
"What am I going to do?!" Aino shouted, blushing like mad. She is damn inexperienced when it comes to romance.
"Answer it, dumbass. I'll hang up now, good luck," Chihiro said.
"Hey--" Aino was answered by a long beeeep indicating that Chihiro hung up on her.
"That little shit..." Aino cursed silently, though she was fangirling inside.
The continuous ringing of her phone snapped her back to reality. The ravenette took a deep breath before answering the phone call.
"Hello?" She said.
"Aino-san," Akaashi's cool voice said over the phone.
Aino met Akaashi last year during the joint training camp of Nekoma, Fukurodani, Shinzen, and Ubugawa High School when Nekoma's girl's team came with them. The moment she laid her eyes on him, she knew that she would be attracted to this guy.
She's just a first-year right? How come she was with them? You ask. It will be explained in the later chapters.
During the training camp, Aino hung around Akaashi most of the time. He would complain about Bokuto while she would complain about Tetsurou. They enjoyed each other's company since they really understand each other.
At first, Akaashi also called her 'Kuroo-san' but she insisted to call her Aino instead so he won't be confused when Tetsurou is around. In return, Aino can also call Akaashi by his first name.
"Keiji-san! Hello," Aino said, trying to hide her excitement.
"Good evening, I just want to check on you," Akaashi said. Why does it seem like this conversation is going the same way as Aino and Chihiro's?
"O-Oh," Aino mentally slapped herself for stuttering, blushing even more.
"We had a practice match earlier near Nekoma," he said. "I thought I should pay you a visit but you weren't answering your phone."
Aino's beautiful hazel brown eyes widened. Her crush wanted to visit her but she wasn't answering her phone. No, no, it's impossible. It's too good to be true.
'Is this a dream? Fuck no no, it can't be a dream. Well it can't be real too! Why didn't I receive any of his calls? Is Miyagi out of reach? Maybe--' her thoughts were interrupted by Akaashi's voice.
"Aino-san? Are you still there?" Akaashi called out.
"Ah, y-yes Keiji-san. Um, did I hear you correctly? You were planning to visit me?" She asked. Maybe there is hope for her!
"You and Kuroo-san, so partly yes. Bokuto-san also wants to see Kuroo-san," Aino can feel her hopes crumbling down, her wide smile faltering. There was no hope afterall.
'I'm so dumb to keep my hopes up haha,' she thought to herself. 'Of course he doesn't like me. It's just my brother, he just wants to visit my brother for Bokuto. What is this feeling? Am I disappointed?' She asked herself mentally.
'Why am I.. crying??' She wiped the tears that were falling down her cheeks. 'What the hell?'
"Tetsurou and I are at Miyagi right now for a training camp," she explained with fake cheerfulness, thankful that she managed to talk without stuttering.
"I see," he said. "Good luck then."
'He's not even disappointed?' She thought. 'Shit, what the hell am I thinking?'
"Ah, I-I have to go now, Tetsurou is calling me. We have to wake up early tomorrow so I'll go now. G-good night, Keiji-san," Aino lied, unable to keep her voice from wavering this time. She needs to hang up now or else he will notice that she's crying.
"Ain--"
Aino did not let Akaashi finish his sentence, as she ended the call. Tears were now streaming down her face like a broken dam. 'What the hell is this feeling? Fuck fuck, it's just a crush. Nothing to worry about. Keep yourself together dammit.'
The blackenette wiped off her tears. "It's just a simple crush, not something to cry about," she murmured.
Aino entered the room again. She plopped down on her futon which was on the corner and next to Kuroo (to protect her from the perverts). On the south of Aino was Yaku, whom Aino was sure, would not let any other boy come near her.
The girl pulled the blanket up to her head and pretended to be asleep. She just wants to rest and forget about that phone call and her pathetic crying.
Kuroo glanced worriedly at over his sister. He did not fail to notice that her eyes were a bit puffy when she came back. Something must have happened.
"You noticed, didn't you?" Kenma said, looking up from his phone. It might not be visible to other people but Kuroo can clearly see the concern in Kenma's eyes.
Kuroo turned to Kenma. "Yeah..."
"She's tough. Whatever it is, she'll get over it soon," Kenma mumbled before returning to his game.
Tetsurou was not really surprised to hear those words from Kenma. The three grew up with each other, and Aino is one of the only people Kenma deeply cares about. He grinned and nodded, believing in his best friend.
.~*~.~*~.
Another day of practice match and training passed. Aino did not show any hint of sadness, which actually made Kuroo worry, but decided to trust Aino.
Then finally...
May 6th, 8:50AM
"Come on, come on," Coach Naoi ushered the players.
"Gah, finally we're gonna meet them," Taketora said. "If they have a manager..." He raised his fist emotionally as anime tears flowed from his eyes.
"Not that manager issue again," Kuroo sighed annoyedly. "Line up, line up!"
Aino walked behind the team. As they lined up, she stood slightly behind Coach Nekomata and Coach Naoi.
The blackenette observed the members of Karasuno. "Line up," their captain, she guessed, also commanded.
'They seem familiar...' She thought. There was this bald guy sneering at Taketora, a short guy with bleached hair on the front, and finally, the one who piqued her attention the most, a blond-haired boy with glasses.
'Ah I remember now! They're the jogging group I encountered when I was looking for Kenma,' she said to herself.
She brought her attention back to the tall blonde. 'Man he's pretty tall. Lev is obviously taller but well, Lev is half-Russian. This boy.. He's probably taller than Tetsu,' she stared at him with a gaping mouth. 'And he's about a foot taller than me!'
Then the boy turned to her, making her freeze in place. She can feel her ears heating up; Aino immediately looked away.
'Dammit he caught me staring. What is he going to think of me now?! What if he thought that I'm checking him out? Hell no. You're so dumb Aino, good job,' she scolded herself.
Hesitantly, she checked if the boy is still staring at her. Luckily, his attention was now focused on the gingerhead beside him.
"Gwah?!" The orange-haired boy exclaimed. He was staring at Kenma, his mouth agape; Kenma was looking down.
Aino tilted her head in confusion.
"Greet your opponents!" Their captain ordered.
"Let's have a good game!"
"Have a good game!"
Both teams bowed at each other. Afterwards, they began to enter the building.
"Kenma!" Aino heard the orange-haired boy call out.
'He knows Kenma?' Aino thought. 'Have they met before?'
Kenma turned around to face him.
"You're from Nekoma?!"
"Oh.. Yeah.."
"Why didn't you tell meeeee?" Little ginger whined.
"You didn't ask..."
"But you said "until next time" when you left! So you must've known!"
Aino gasped silently. 'Kenma.. Our dear Kenma is... SOCIALIZING!' The girl clenched her fists and let anime tears fall out of her eyes like a proud mother watching her child go to his first day of school.
"That was because 'Karasuno High School' was written on your shirt..." Kenma said silently.
Taketora appeared at the scene.
"Hey, hey, hey, what d'you want with our setter, huh?" He said, releasing an intimidating aura.
Aino facepalmed. She was about to approach Taketora and give him a good beating when the bald Karasuno player appeared behind the short orange-head.
"What do ya want with our first-year huhhh?" The baldy said, wearing a 'scary' face.
'Oh great, Yamamoto's match,' she thought.
"The hell was that?"
"You wanna rumble, city boy?"
Aino stifled her laughter. 'It sounds like shitty boy BAHAHA.'
A gray-haired male approached Mr. Baldy; the team's momma, Aino guessed.
"Saying "you wanna rumble"... We're here for a match so of course we're going to," he said, a momma frown drawn on on his face. "And stop with that 'city boy' stuff, it's embarrassing."
Yaku also appeared behind Taketora. "Yamamoto, stop immediately picking fights with people. It makes you look like an idiot."
The mommas apologized with each other while the other two looked dejected.
Aino started to walk towards the entrance when she heard Taketora shout. 'Oh gods, not again.'
"HUWAAH?!" He burst out.
A girl with silky black hair and gray eyes walked behind the bald Karasuno boy. She wore pink-framed glasses which fits her perfectly and has a mole on the left side of her mouth which makes her look sexy. Man, gorgeous is an understatement.
Aino froze and suddenly felt self-concious. 'Dammit, she's a goddess. I should have combed my hair earlier. I look like an insect compared to her!'
'Just walk normally, Aino, walk normally,' she told herself, looking down so no one could see her face.
"UWAHH?!" This time, it was the baldy who shouted.
Aino nervously glanced back and looked at him, her hair unintentionally flipping as she did so. She was clutching the hem of her Nekoma jacket due to nervousness. 'Did I do something wrong?!'
The bald boy looked thunderstruck, staring at Aino with wide eyes and open mouth.
She tilted her head slightly in confusion, which made the male clench his heart.
"S-So cute," the boy whispered, blushing.
'Eh???' Aino thought, unable to understand what the baldy said. She began to walk away quickly once again and entered the gymnasium.
.~*~.~*~.
There goes Tsukki HAHAHA i'm sorry, his first appearance was short crii. But don't worry! There will be a lot of Tsukki screen time on the following chaps lololol
I wasn't really planning to update today buT OMG WHEN I CHECKED THIS EARLIER, IT ONLY HAD 104 READS BUT NOW IT'S 123 I'M CRYING AGAIN HELP . I JUST PUBLISHED THIS THE OTHER DAY HOW TF ;-; we're now #41 at the tag 'tsukishimakei' ;-; i can't explain how happy i am rn. I'll try to update as much as possible (every two or three days).
Also, Hashiya Chihiro belongs to Bungaku-Nerd (chihiro is Bungaku-Nerd 's oc). And special mention to @RyudShawn, the first person who added this story to their reading list ;-;; THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT EVERYONE iLY ;-;
[Edit: I changed the title from 'Attraction' to 'Just a Crush' c:]